ResqTails

As usual, I’m about 4 or 5 days behind in posting pictures or video. We had friends here visiting last week, and we went on a really fun walk on Sat., but I’m just getting around to posting now. We didn’t go as far across the country or anything, just up the mountains nearby. That’s probably good though, because we didn’t find ourselves needing any Chicago auto repair for this trip.

Here is a picture of Layla, Dare and Maizey enjoying the perfect weather and gorgeous trails.

The girls had a great time. We all had a great time really, except for the snake, (which reminded me of Diana and Miley), and the cockle burrs. The girls all managed to find the bush of cockle burrs and poor Maizey had to sit for quite a long time while we patiently tried to free them from her pretty ears. Dare kept grabbing brushes out of the bag and bringing them to us, like, “Will this help?” “Do you want to try this brush?” Eventually she gave up on the brushes and started bringing us poop bags. LOL Maybe she thought we could use them to throw the burrs away. She’s such a nut!

Here’s a picture of the three pretty girls, before the cockle burr incident.

After a nice relaxing walk, we all piled back in my car, not the Toyota Corolla that needs a water pump and came back home. It was lots of fun. Thanks to Maizey and her mom for joining us on our walk!

So, today’s drills proved to be quite a bit more difficult than the previous ones. Isn’t that always the way it works when you start adding motion and a little speed to things? What was once so clear and simple can turn into a real mess. All in all though, the girls did really well.

On her first run through, Raven apparently thought that my hand signal for the “out jump” looked enough like the obedience hand signal to drop into a down, so instead of going “out”, she went “down”. I had a devil of a time convincing her that we weren’t doing obedience signals. LOL Once she figured out what I was asking for though, she did great.

Zoe on the other hand, is still convinced that she already knows everything. So, I got another earful of her opinionated banter in between each portion of the drill. Amazing to me how quiet my younger girls are when I work with them. Despite her sass though, Zoe is still my favorite dog to run.

Layla did good for such a youngster. I think as she matures more and we run together more she’s really going to be lots of fun! One thing that I do notice in watching Layla’s videos, (not just in this one), is how much I lose her in between training. I could really do a better job of keeping her engaged with me in between going from the finish of one thing to the start of the next. It seems to me that the new book I got, Agility Right From the Start talks about that training issue. I haven’t had much time to read anything lately though. Guess I need to make some time. I’ll let you know if I find anything helpful. At any rate, here is Layla’s video.

With all these videos that I’ve been taking lately, I’ve been thinking that I need to sort through my pictures and videos. They are both really starting to get out of control. Maybe make up some slide show of the pictures, and just get the videos organized into a better filing system. It sure does turn into a daunting task in a short period of time. LOL

Today I thought I’d set up a different obstacle to work on the second drill some more with the girls. I was lazy as usual, and I thought that I’d cheat a bit. Instead of hauling out two different obstacles, I thought I’d make use of one with two ends. LOL Actually, I thought it would be a good idea anyway, since a lot of times you have to discriminate between ends of a tunnel on course, even when it’s not a gamble. So, this is just basically the same drill as I posted last time with the jumps, using the tunnel entrances.

First, Layla…

Then Raven…

Then Zoe…

Sorry, if it’s so repetitive. Don’t feel like you have to watch the same drill over and over and over with each of the dogs. I just like being able to see the similarities and differences of each one doing the same drill. The next part of the drills start to incorporate motion on the handlers’ part. Should be fun! I really should spend some time inside cleaning house at some point too, rather than just out playing with the dogs. Next thing you know I’ll need some hospital disinfectant to get things clean around here.

The part of the distance drills that we worked on today is adding a second obstacle into the picture. You start out with a second obstacle, they don’t have to be identical, but that was easiest for me today because I had the pvc jumps out of the lawn already.

I didn’t do the greatest job of filming today but my options for setting up the tripod and not having it blow over in the aweful wind were a bit limited. Because of this, it may be a bit difficult to see, but the second obstacle is set up closer to you, but beyond the original obstacle. Like several feet out in front of the other obstacle to start with. If the dog is successful at still going “out” to the correct obstacle, you move the other jump closer. If you’re still successful, you can continue to move it until it is line with the original one. Once you can successfully send the dog to the further obstacle, it’s time to test whether they are just getting patterned to take the original obstacle or if they are really following your direction.

To test it, you set the dog up the same as you did on the previous attempt, but instead of giving an “out” command, you
ask them to come in to you and take the closer obstacle. It’s amazing how the dogs get patterned to taking the other jump or obstacle so quickly. I remember Jim saying at the seminar that it was having to “break the spell”. Anyway, once you get the dog to come in to the closer obstacle then you try sending them out again.

I hope the video is helpful, I just gave a quick overview of the drill. Layla had done this before we got the camera out, and because of the wind I didn’t want to mess around much. Sorry. At the end of the video you’ll see the wind catch the jackpot bag when I toss it and throw it back to the take off side of the jump. I decided that was enough. LOL

I’m really pleased with how well Layla’s doing though. If she keeps this up, I might need to start looking for gifts for her. Just like with the first drill, I need to do this with other obstacles. I also need to start increasing the distance laterally away from the “out” for the dog and then for where I am. Anyway, here’s today’s video.

So, if my memory and notes serve me correctly…the first distance drill only involved one obstacle. In this case I used a jump, but I also remember him having several stations set up and one would be with a tunnel, one with a tire, etc. So, I should probably make a point of switching obstacles out so that the dogs generalize what we’re doing to any obstacle.

Anyway, back to the drill. It just involves setting the dog almost in line with the obstacle, with enough space left between for you to set yourself up in what forms almost a triangle with the dog and the obstacle. You are a little ways out to the side of where the dog is positioned. I don’t know if that makes sense or not now that I’m typing it. Once you’re in position you take a step in the direction of the obstacle and the dog, hold your arm out and tell the dog “out over”. As soon as they’ve committed to the obstacle you toss a reward in front of it.

Gradually you increase the distance to the side of the obstacle where the dog is and also where you are, so that they have to actually seek out the obstacle. Still with me? I’m not the best at explaining this. Anyway, I took Layla, Zoe, and Raven out and did this drill. They were all doing really well. Raven especially. Here’s the video…

First Layla…

Then Zoe…

Then Raven…

I have Dare to thank for all the obnoxious barking commentary in the background of the videos. She wasn’t happy in the least that she was inside while they were playing. I don’t think any eczema treatment will help with barking, or maybe I’d be looking into buying some.

I need to look at my notes, but I think all the girls are ready to move on to the next distance drill. If I remember right, they got much more difficult pretty quickly. Stay tuned…

After Zoe managed to complete her Elite Gamblers title this last weekend I got to thinking…maybe improving her distance skills wouldn’t be impossible after all. I keep putting it off with her because she’s older and I just know that teaching her new skills turns into such a fight sometimes. Especially since she’s an opinionated girl that thinks that she knows how everything is done already. LOL But the way she’s running, she’s not ready for the retirement home, checker boards, ping pong tables and a hammock just yet. So, maybe I should just give some distance training a try with her. What do you think?

I thought I’d set up the first drill today from the beginner’s day of that Jim Basic distance seminar that we audited last year. For sure I’ll work it with Layla, and I might even see what Zoe thinks of it too. We’ll see how it goes. I have every intention of my younger dogs having better distance training than Zoe got in the beginning. I’ll try to set up the camera and post something later on this evening.

Everyone knows that if you’re looking for those appropriately tipped, beautifully groomed sheltie ears, you won’t find it here. Twist and Layla both have prick ears, Raven has these really heavy, almost Aussie looking ears and Zoe has one tipping and one not most of the time. The only thing I can say in my defense is that they are all brushed and you won’t find any mats in those ears. You can see what I mean in this picture from back in December. I can almost feel the real sheltie people out there cringing already. LOL

When Dare came along and her breeder showed me how to get her ears to tip nicely, I was happy to oblige, although I really don’t think having tipped ears or not is earth shattering in and of itself. I really kind of figured that if I got the ears to tip, (which we did) that would be the last of the ear discussion I’d hear. Well…I was wrong. As of late, the hair on her ears has gotten a bit out of control. Here’s what I mean…

Several people have recently brought it to my attention that I really need to trim up these out of control ears. I find the thought a little daunting. I have visions of how my own hair has looked after I’ve attempted to “trim” it myself. LOL I’m convinced that if I tackle this on my own, Dare is going to look like the moths have been chewing on her ears.

No more procrastinating though. Today is the day. Nope, we’re not in a quest for diets for quick weight loss today. Today Dare is having pictures done with her friend Jet and I decided to break down and get her groomed up and get those cute little tipping ears looking proper again. I will tell you that I’m not doing it myself though. I’m taking her to a groomer friend and hopefully she’ll give me a little hands on tutorial on what to do. Stay tuned for how the ear “make-over” turns out…

Ok, so here is the promised video of the jump training Layla and I were working on today. It’s serpentines and threadles. She’s doing really well. I can see in the video that I probably need to improve my timing and make my cues a little bit better, but she’s doing a good job responding to me regardless. LOL

Now we’re loading up the car to take Twist and Raven over to my friends house. I’m going to set up a Rally Obedience course for them and see what we need to work on before the Sheltie Specialty in a couple weeks. Then back home and possibly a walk for the younger two dogs. No need for any fat burning pills pills today. I should be busy enough just keeping up with the dogs today.

So, I’ll start off with “the good”. We got to spend yesterday at another Stacy Peardot-Goudy workshop. The weather was pretty nice in the morning…while I was auditing. That all changed though as soon as the afternoon session was about to begin. A rain and hailstorm rolled in and stayed the rest of the afternoon. Thankfully, they had the workshop at a location with the option of moving inside a barn if needed. I was so grateful for that! Regardless of the weather, the training sequences were challenging and fun. I have to say that Stacy really has a talent for making you feel at ease, and yet being able to push you outside your comfort zone in your normal handling.

Another good thing from yesterday was that Layla seemed to be back to herself in regards to people. She was more than happy to go visiting everyone. I had been really worried that she was going to have trouble with this because on Sunday we had gone out of town for the day. I had a friend stop by the house to let the dogs out and she said that Layla gave her trouble when she tried to get her to come back inside the house. Even with treats, she apparently was slinking up and grabbing the treat and then jerking backwards, so she couldn’t touch her. I still don’t understand what is going on. I mean I would have assumed that she would have been more comfortable here on Sunday with someone that is familiar, than up at the workshop yesterday, but it wasn’t the case. Go figure.

Now for “the bad”. Even though Layla seemed comfortable with the people at the workshop, she didn’t seem relaxed to me when we were running the courses. She got a little sniffy a couple times, which I think were signs of stress, and she had problems weaving again. Everyone at the workshop is really sweet and they kept saying that her weaves looked better than last time. The thing is that the last time we were there, she did 3 sets of 12 weave poles without any trouble, and then she started bobbling. This time, she never did do a complete set of 12 on the first attempt and eventually Stacy just had me take her through 6 poles to help her be successful. So, in my mind, her weaves were much worse this time. I finally asked Stacy if I should put the guides back on the weaves at home for a while and see if that helps. She said that would be a good idea. I think it’s just a green dog problem and the fact that we haven’t been able to weave in places other than at home hasn’t helped. Now that the weather is getting better I’m going to make a point of getting out and training other places again.

And for “the ugly”. I have decided after my drive home last night that the “ugliness” is mostly coming from inside my head. The last few weeks with Layla acting strange have really freaked me out. I know it’s not reasonable, but I get so worried that these recent sensitivities and quirks that are showing up might be an indication of her becoming more reactive like Rogue. I don’t think I could handle going down that road again. In fact, I know that I just don’t have it in me to deal with another reactive/sensitive dog right now. I wish there was some easy way to change a thought process once your stuck in it, like just clicking a button. I guess that kind of solution only works if you’re looking to clear up your acne problem though. click here Since I know there isn’t a magic button, I’m just trying really hard to remind myself to live in the present, not relive things that happened in the past. Too bad my mind doesn’t work more like the dogs in that respect. LOL

So, it’s been a busy week so far. We had a friend come visit and she brought her adorable girl Maizey along with her. We spent the week taking walks, doing a little bit of training, taking pictures in the mountains, visiting my parents farm and just relaxing in the evenings! I think we talked about every topic pertaining to pets that you can possibly think of.

Maizey and Layla hit it off like they’d known each other forever. Here’s a picture of Layla, Dare and Maizey up the mountains.

Then we went to the lake. Maybe we could have packed some lifejackets for pets, but everyone seemed to do just fine without them. Penny didn’t seem to want to swim much, but I don’t think she needed a lifejacket. I just think she got sick of Zoe and Raven barking out instructions on how to swim out and retrieve the sticks, while they waited at the shore.

Then we went to my parents farm and visited all the spring babies and also all their dogs. Do you think we could find a few more professional beggers to join this motley crew?

After such a busy day, we came home exhausted. Well, I guess not all the dogs were exhausted, but I know the people were. LOL I spent a good portion of the rest of the evening searching for the best shampoos for pets, after all the sights and smells that the dogs had been busy investigating that day.

Anyway, we sure did enjoy being able to get out and enjoy the nice sunny day with good friends!