A beautiful day at Willard's Woods

Today was a nice, sunny, somewhat warm day (46 degrees!) so I took Spot and Shelby to Willard's Woods. It was a popular destination. We saw a bunch of dogs, mosts labs, which is kind of odd. When I go to WW, I'm still aware of Shelby because she's not totally trustworthy, so I bring cookies with me, if I remember. Whenever Shelby heels (on her own) I give her a cookie. If she's running around and I call her and she comes to me, she gets a cookie, plus a lot of praise. Occasionally, I just say good girl and release her. I'm trying to condition her that being next to me is a great place to decide to be, since that's where the cookies get delivered. It seems to be working. Well, this guy was walking his big lazy lab behind me and as he passed, he said, "oh, that's your secret. You give a cookie every ten steps." So I said, "well, I'm rewarding her for choosing to be with me, rather than running off." To which he replied, "Well, eventually you need to wean her off the treats." Really? I don't see why. What's wrong with rewarding your dog for doing something you like? True, eventually I hope it becomes second nature to Shelby to stay with me, but if I still need to give her cookies occassionally, that's fine with me.

Friday night agility with Shelby

Our class on Friday night was very interesting. The course was pretty hard, but do-able. There was an unusual opening, with 2 jumps, then a rear cross over 3, and another rear cross to the dog walk. From there, the tunnel, which was an obstacle discrimination because the table was there as well. From the tunnel, it was the teeter, then another obstacle discrimination between the tunnel and the A frame. There was a choice of handling the teeter and the tunnel on the right or the left, depending if you wanted to layer the A frame or not. That was if you handled the teeter on your left. If you handled it on your right, you would have to do a rear cross coming out of the tunnel. I chose to layer the A frame, just because I don't often get the opportunity and it's a good skill to have. So the first time we did it, I didn't talk to Shelby while she was in the tunnel, so she turned the wrong way coming out. But the next time it worked fine. After the tunnel was a jump, then a 3 jump serpentine with a flip over the last jump, which can be tricky, but Shelby is a great flipper! Then another jump to a 180 and the A frame. Then a pull to the tunnel under the A frame, to the weaves. I thought this would be tricky, but Shelby took the poles like a pro. Then finally, the tunnel and the table to finish. On top of this interesting course, there were 3 people and 3 new dogs who stayed to watch from the previous class. So I kind of let Shelby do a drive by during the warm up, just to take the edge off. Then while we were running, she did turn to go over and say hello, but I called her and she turned right back around, so it was good. A very fun class!

Lo Baker Seminar at Riverside K9

Yesterday Shelby and I attended a seminar hosted by ARFF at Riverside K9 with Lo Baker. It went really well. Not so much because of the agility, but more because of how Shelby acted overall. There were 8 dogs there. A couple of aussies, a couple BCs, a sheltie, a Portuguese water dog I think, and Irish terrier and us. One of the dogs was the one who attacked Shelby at the ARFF agility field last summer. And a couple of the other dogs were reactive, which was great! Because I got to work on keeping Shelby calm and attentive when other dogs were acting up. Plus I was proud of myself for making our needs known to everyone as far as Shelby liking to visit and that we were working on it. So Lo asked people to crate their dogs and not engage with Shelby if she came over. She did stray once, but overall, not too bad. Her performance wasn't as good as it normally is, but we were in a different place with different people, so I didn't mind.

We did one run-through, then Lo gave us some pointers. Nothing I didn't already know, really. Then we worked on weave poles. She had 12 poles set up. Shelby did pretty well, considering we normally work on 6 at a time. Her entry was pretty good, she had a tendency to pop out in the middle, but finish ok.

Shelby paid good attention to me, and wasn't overly interested in the other dogs. At one point she even laid down at my feet and just relaxed, which was awesome. There was one little BC who was very barky and was getting everyone riled up. At one point I put Shelby in her crate with a PB Kong so I could run out to the car and grab my donut that I forgot, and when I came back in there was a huge commotion and I heard Shelby barking and crying, and I thought, "Uh-oh". I thought maybe I hadn't closed the door and Shelby escaped or something. But it turns out the little BC came running over to Shelby in her crate and instigated a fight. So Shelby wasn't in the wrong at all, which was great. The other owner felt horrible, but it was fine.
I think we probably could have been in the Intermediate session, but I was happy overall with the outcome of the morning.

Easter Sunday at Willard's Woods

This afternoon I took the pups to Willard's Woods. I'm watching Cara again while Holly and Marcus visit family in Maryland for Easter. We went to WW with Tanya and Halle. Halle is an English Cocker Spaniel, and Shelby loves her. Halle doesn't love Shelby so much, but I think it's all for show. They get along fine, Halle just tells Shelby to buzz off sometimes.

We had a really nice walk. It has warmed up since yesterday and the wind died down. We took it nice and slow. There were only a few other people there. There was some mud, and actually still some snow in a few places. Halle was rolling in the snow. Shelby was super super good. She stayed with us all the way and was friendly to everyone. Spot did run off in the woods towards the end, but he met us in the parking lot, so it was ok. Cara was perfect, of course. She never strays.

Beginner Agility for Spot

Spot went to his first agility class as Gemini on Thursday. He doesn't need to go so much for learning the obstacles, he needs it more so that he can get used to working with me and being more comfortable around other dogs.

When we got there, there were a couple of other dogs. Right away Spot is excited and barking his head off. I had to get out the treats and start feeding. The other dogs all seemed pretty calm, which was good. Once we started working, Spot had a heard time calming down, especially when we did exercised when we were moving back and forth. For some reason, all the dogs moving gets him nervous. So I just took him over to the side and we worked on our own a little bit and he was better. About a half hour into class he was feeling calmer. I think the next class he will settle down quicker.

Carolyn used Spot to demonstrate how to shape a behavior with a new obstacle. Spot is awesome at shaping. He has a natural curiousity and loves to try different behaviors to get treats. Carolyn had a little sled or something-it was circular and concave. She wanted the dogs to use their paw to move it so they get used to things moving underneath their feet, like the teeter and dog walk will. But by using the sled, you don't make any negative associations with planks, just in case the dog doesn't like it.

It will be interesting for me to see the different ways Carolyn trains vs Denielle. I already see that Carolyn likes to talk a lot more, which can be a problem because I missed a lot of what she was saying because I was trying to keep Spot quiet!

Super Cute Agility Collars and Leashes

I just ordered a new collar and leash for Shelby from HelpingUdders.com. It's a cool site that makes a donation to charity with each purchase you make. They have a lot of unique toys, plus fun t-shirts and things.

Blech. Grossest Dog Toy Ever!

Ok, I am pretty open minded about things dogs like to chew, play with and eat. I am on board with pig ears, bull penises and lamb lung. But there is one thing I will never buy!

CPE Games Seminar-Fullhouse and Wildcard

Saturday was the third and last CPE games seminar at Gemini Dogs. We reviewed Fullhouse and Wildcard.

Fullhouse is a game in which there are 2 requirements needed to Q. You need to accumulate a specific number of points, depending on your level, and you also need to complete 3 single jumps (three of a kind), 2 circles, which are tunnels, chutes and tires (two of a kind), and one contact, either the dogwalk, A-frame or teeter (joker). You have either 30 or 35 seconds, depending on jump height, and then 5 seconds to hit the table and stop the clock. At my level, which is level one, all we need to do is 19 points, or 3 jumps (3 points), 2 tunnels (6 points), and two contacts (10 points), which can be the A-frame twice, etc.

We did really well at Fullhouse. It's a fun game, because no matter what your dog does, it's pretty much ok, as long as you get the correct mix of obstacles in, and pretty much everyone can, since they give you 35 seconds to do it. Shelby was super fast off the line. I try and do a fast opening with her if I can, since she really likes to run and catch up to me.

Next was Wildcard, which presents 3 spots where you need to chose an obstacle. The obstacles are either 1 point or 2 points. Level 1 and 2 need two 1 point obstacles and one 2 point obstacle. This is really a test of the dogs obstacle discrimination skills and how well the handler can adjust if the dog takes an incorrect obstacle. I have to admit, this game confuses me the most. During this run through, I didn't really plan the course that well, and dogs for the next class had come in, so Shelby was nervous and distracted. But we did ok. It was still fun. A lot of people had trouble, so I didn't feel bad at all.

One *very* exciting development! There was a litte white dog in the class. It had long white hair like a Shih Tzu, but a terrier face, so I'm not 100% sure what it was. But we sat down only about 5 feet away from it and Shelby looked at it really hard for a minute, but I got her attention and asked for some tricks, and she was fine. Never gave the dog a second look. We also had a couple instances where another dog started growling and getting worked up and Shelby started wanting to join in, but I got out the food again and treated her for paying attention to me and she settled down really quickly. To me, that's even better than performing well at agility!

Apparently there will be an all day seminar with video taping on April 19th. Yay! Can't wait.

Back to agility class

Last night we had agility class for the first time in a few weeks. We had a class cancelled because of snow, and then last week I had a party to go to, so it's been 3 weeks since we practiced.

Shelby did really well. It was a 20 obstacle course which is a little long. The opening was a tight setup, with a somewhat challenging first 3 jumps. Jump 2 was at a more than 90 degree angle, so we had to make sure we set it up in a way that the dog could switch leads in order to make jump number 3. Shelby was able to force he way through it the first time, but then we ran it again and she figured out that she could switch leads.

The rest of the course was pretty easy until a section where there were 2 jumps, then the tunnel. It was hard because the natural choice after those 2 jumps would be the A frame, so you had to be careful not to use too much forward motion in order to get the tunnel. Complicating it further was the fact that the tunnel was under the dog walk, so you needed to send the dog to the tunnel from about 5 feet away in order to be able to run around and meet them on the other end. Shelby handled the call off the A frame no problem and I sent her to the tunnel, but she wasn't 100% sure, so I had to hold my hand out for a while, but then she got it.

She was very good about staying engaged with me as well. She didn't sniff or run off to say hi to the other dogs, which was good. Plus, I got her to do her new trick of jumping into my arms, which was awesome!

A sunny afternoon at Willard's Woods

Today was a beautiful sunny day, so I decided to get off my butt and take the dogs to Willard's Woods for some exercise. I'm dogsitting Cara for the weekend, so it's a little crazy with three dogs, but still do-able, especially since Cara always sticks close. I was a little nervous since we haven't been to WW in probably a month or month and a half, just because of the weather. Last time,they ran off into the woods and it took about 20 minutes for them to come back, so I wanted to avoid a repeat performance of that!

We got there about 2pm and there were probably about 8 cars in the parking lot, so busy, but not crazy. I kept Shelby on leash at the entrance because I'm still wary about her response to small white dogs. The first dogs we met were big dogs, so I let them all off leash and they were having a great time. I had brought my new Yaktraxs, but decided not to put them on because it didn't seem that bad. I actually could have used them, since the trails in the woods kind of icy. Luckily the snow provided some natural traction.

We had a really nice walk. We ran into a lot of friendly dogs and people, including some children. The only negative thing that happened was on our way back to the car. We were passing over the bridge and I saw a little white dog, like a bichon or something, chasing a tennis ball. So right away I called Shelby over and put her on leash. It was a good thing, because as soon as Shelby saw the other dog, she growled. I corrected her and tried to walk on by. The other dog was off leash, and even though Shelby growled, still came over for a sniff. What's up with that? Then it started growling back. Good thing Shelby was leashed or there would have been an incident. I was a little annoyed that the owners didn't react that quickly to remove their dog. I was trying to control Shelby and the other dog kept running around her and growling. I was a little disappointed that even when the other dog ran away, Shelby still was interested and would have run back over if she hadn't been on leash. But I was able to get her attention back and we headed home. Overall, a nice time.