Snow days

Well, our usual schedule has been interrupted by weather lately. Last Friday, the 12th, we had the ice storm, so no class. This Friday, the 19th, a snowstorm, so no class. Next week I have guests, so I'm not sure if I'll be going to class. The dogs are going a little stir crazy. I've been home since Friday, since I got to work from home due to the storm. We've been playing a lot in the house. Spot doesn't really like the cold or the snow. Shelby loves though. She's been out in the yard all day. Unfortunately she doesn't like getting cleaned up when she comes in, which is bad because her fur collects snowballs. It's little hard to see with the white on white...














Spot and Shelby did spend some time out in the yard today tracking some mice or something. They love to dig in the snow and stick their faces in the snow to track their quarry.

An update on the Blind Cross Body Line

Our class on the 5th was very good.

We had a Jumpers-style course and practiced our Blind Cross Body Line handling. Shelby was so focused and fast. I almost couldn't believe it. Then again she does lover Jumpers. We seem to get a good rhythm going when we do Jumpers.

The course was set up so we repeated the middle but with one change. The first time we did a serpentine and the second time a threadle. Shelby handled them both beautifully. My timing was a little slow-mainly because I wasn't sure she would do it!

I also had to work on the timing of the threadle because after the threadle I needed to get ahead of Shelby for a front cross. We repeated that a couple times and eventually I got it. All the handlers who had some difficulty the week before did much better this week. I guess it just needed to marinate for a while.

Overall a very fun class. We also had a couple of new people join us. Patricia and Marco, who had been out for a couple months and Nancy and Colby who we hadn't taken class with before.

Class cancelled due to ice

Wow-what a winter storm we've had and it's not over for a lot of people.
Our usual Friday night agility is cancelled tonight because of it. The instructor lives in Worcester and that area was hit hard.

We've had rain for the past 3 days and last night it turned into ice. So my pine trees got coated with ice. Each and every needle was covered. We also had some high wind gusts. Which combined with the heavy ice-covered branched to result in branches snapping off and falling at high velocity.

Spot was running around the house all night long barking at every noise. Eventually I had to put him in the bathroom, which calmed him down a bit.

Thankfully I only have only minor damage to my fence that I should be able to repair myself. Times like these make me want to cut down those 2 gigantic pine trees once and for all.

Dogs have sense of fairness, study finds - The Boston Globe

Dogs have sense of fairness, study finds - The Boston Globe

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Well duh-I could have told them this without doing a University study. Spot and Shelby definitely know when one of them gets something and the other doesn't. They give me a look like, "What gives" and "Where's mine?"

A long-awaited trip to Willard's Woods

Today Tanya called me up and asked if I wanted to join her at Willard's Woods. I had been thinking about going, but it was so gray I was still in my pjs when she called!

But I decided we should go, since we haven't been in months. The dogs were so excited to be there, especially since they hadn't seen Hallie in a couple of months. Tanya also brought Coraline in a sling, and she slept the whole time. I was a little surprised since the weather was so chilly-it was only about 32 degrees. But Tanya said she's been taking her every day.

It was a nice walk. The dogs all behaved and stayed pretty close. I did have cookies, so that helped. :-) Cara had a good time too. We met some nice dogs and had a nice chat.

Blind Cross Body Line

This week we started working on the "blind cross body line" technique. My instructor feels now that it's the best way to handle serpentines and threadles. This theory is credited to Greg Derrett. I know his is the system she feels is better, as opposed to Linda Mecklenberg's system.

Basically, before we were cueing the serpentine by using the inside hand and turning our shoulders toward the dog, while keeping our feet moving forward, like a false turn. With the body line method you use the inside hand but actually turn your entire body, continuing your forward motion by backing up. It's kind of like doing half a front cross. The whole premise is that the dog should drive to your reinforcement zone, which is always in front of you. In Linda's method the dog drives to the heel position, as I understand it.

I see the benefits to both methods. I think really just having a method puts you ahead of the game. But it's really hard to run forward, then switch and back up for a few steps and then run forward again! Plus, Shelby understood the other way just fine. I don't know-my instructor thinks this new method will help with 180s or something down the line. I'm keeping an open mind.

Mending Fences

Well, I hate to push my luck, but I think I've finally secured the yard. I've been letting Shelby out untethered for the past few days. I supervised closely the first couple of times, but I've been letting her stay out there alone and just checking in. When she comes to my call I give her treats, so she's been very willing to come in when I ask.

A fun Friday night

Last night Spot and Shelby both had class and for the first time in a while I was able to leave work at 5 and wasn't totally stressed out before I even got there.

Spot's class was good. It was only Spot and Molly. We worked on the various obstacles and then did a sequence. Spot is really motivated, which is nice, but he's so eager he just takes obstacles on his own. I guess I don't have to worry about independent obstacle performance! We are working a bit on proofing his contacts. Last night I noticed that he tended to break his stay when I would lean away from him, so I'll have to work on that.

When we did the sequence he had a hard time going from jump 1 to jump 2 because it was a 90 degree turn. So we worked on that. He's doing well on front and rear crosses.

In Shelby's class we had Ben, Lilly and Skippy. Shelby loves Ben and he loves her. So we have to keep an eye on them or they will start playing. Shelby was also trying to get Lilly to play.

The course was pretty easy, with one tricky section at the opening. Our first time, Shelby wasn't really paying attention and I was trying to go fast, so I wasn't supporting her at certain points and it was just not pretty. The second time through Shelby was more settled and paid attention more and we did well.

Progress turns into frustration

Well, today it was a really nice day and I had planned ahead and purchased more chicken wire and wooden stakes so I could finally make the fence more secure. Shelby had been jumping one section of the fence, and I had put up chicken wire there, but I realized there were 2 other sections that needed help too.

I had pretty much finished up on the fence, so I decided to let Shelby off the long lead. Things were going well until my neighbor came over and said hello, and asked if both the dogs were out. I said yes, why? It was a weird question. So then he says, "oh, then I guess this is one of yours right here." IN HIS YARD!!!! Somehow Shelby had found a different spot and got out. It was a rotted spot near the ground that she was able to queeze through.

I go running in the house, grab a leash and some treats and go out to the street. Thankfully my neighbor saw where she was, just down the street. She was digging in something and I was able to walk up and offer her some treats and get her on leash.

I was feeling really good, then BAM! brought right back down. I have some pieces of fence that need to get replaced, but I really don't have the money right now, so I have to make due with chicken wire and strategically placed rocks. Ugh.

One positive note: I found Shelby's collar that I thought was lost forever. Now I don't need to go get a new rabies tag.

Dogs 101 on Animal Planet

I've been watching the new series Dogs 101 on Animal Planet. It's been exciting because I actually know some of the people in it.

The show with the dachshunds showed Bailey and Reese, and some other people I know and was shot at a trial in Brimfield MA, and then the episode with the westies featured Nancy Gauthier and her granddaughter, who I see all the time at earthdog. They actually shot some footage at my club's trial earlier this year. Very cool!

Here is a link to a video of Bailey and Reese-at about 4:00 in.