Marie Sawford Companion Dog Training

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T11:50:00.001-08:00

Well, 2012 is here. I am hoping that this will be a much better year for me and my family. The weather has been co-operating so far. I have been able to get all my outside chores done, dogs walked (and cleaned off). Most of the decorations are down and packed away. Two loads of laundry are done. Now I need to sit down and go through some websites to figure out when I am going to trial next. I think realistically I am looking at March before I can Gali back in the ring. I am away doing seminars for the last weekend in January and then the first week of February. Then we go on our CRUISE (which I am only slightly looking forward to, can you tell – 40 days and counting!!!). When we come home from that trip, February will be almost over, so March it is.

Gali is currently sitting with 2 UD legs. We have had our ups and downs, but mostly I feel like I am getting my head back together. My ability to concentrate in the ring is really improving and I feel more like myself every day. I think that it will be better to finish the title this year and feel proud of our accomplishments, instead of just "getting it over with" which is how I felt about 2011. Gali will also be getting his last leg under the new rules, which means he will be completing in the Utility "B" class and doing out of order exercises – which I love to do!!

Ribbon is coming along great. I have some things I would like to work on before she goes into the ring for her CD. I also think that I will do her CDX this year as well. I would like to compete in more rally with both dogs this year too! But the main focus is Gali's UD, Ribbon's CD and then we will see where we are and look at Gali's OTCHX/MOTCH and Ribbon's CDX.

Planning, Training then Trialling – here we come!!

Judging this weekend

2011-11-17T17:40:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow we are heading to Barrie, Chad, Aydon and all the dogs are along for the ride. On Saturday morning I am judging Rally for the NSDTR trials. The entry for the rally has been really great for the whole weekend. In fact the club had to assign overflow judges. Who says obedience entries are dying!!!!

I am really looking forward to judging on Saturday. My courses are ready and photocopied and my judging bag is packed. I am really hoping that my toothache subsides enough that I don't have to judge with an ice pack held against my face!!

Whenever I judge it always gives me some great ideas for things to do in classes, so heads up for some new drills and handling ideas!!

Happy Training

Gali’s first utility leg

2011-10-23T17:58:00.001-07:00

Well we did it!! Gali got his first leg today. For me it felt good to get back into the ring at the end of the class. Gali always has a good time showing so he doesn't mind one way or the other. He worked hard and did some really nice stuff. We missed the sit at the end of the seek back which was pretty costly and because of the string of unsuccessful directed jumping exercises I think he thought he should add his own twist to the exercise and laid down instead of sitting on the second go out – again costly, but we will take it.

I was really happy with his heeling and his fronts and finishes. It was his third trial of the weekend, which we have never had an opportunity to do before, so he hung in there really nicely. His articles were fantastic all weekend. His signals were great except for one trial but that my fault, Gali has graciously accepted my apology and we have moved on.

Here is the funny part. My friend Susie Bell and I were waiting for the end of the class and some of people I get to help with their dogs were waiting around for the end of the class to see the results. It was mentioned that perhaps we should get our dogs ready for a run off. Gali was sound asleep in his kennel, so I got him out and started to wake him up. Sure enough we got called in for a run off. In Utility the tie is always broken with signal heeling. I have known this for a long time, the judge reminded me this fact and when she said forward I promptly said, "Gali Trot." Silly, silly mistake. I was tied with Susie, so needless to say she won the run off. It was funny and we both took some ribbing, but for me it was also a reminder that my concentration level is not back to what it was before I lost my parents.

So I guess the theme to our weekend was that I am still healing while Gali keeps on heeling too! It felt good to be back out and hang out with the friends and support them and their lovely dogs.

Happy Training

Heading into the home stretch

2011-10-14T10:10:00.001-07:00

I was just emailing someone about classes and they were wondering when the next set starts after the November session and I wrote, "the next session will begin in the New Year." I can't believe this year is coming to an end. Although from a personal stand point I am glad to see it end. But I haven't achieved any of my doggie goals this year. I am a little disappointed in that. I am entered in some trials next weekend (3) and then some more at the beginning of December and then I am heading to one of my favourite trials (Sudbury) just before Christmas. I hope that Gali can wrap up his Utility before I have to enter Sudbury because I would like to play with doing some OTCGX/MOTCH work with him at the Sudbury trial. He is working great and I am really looking forward to getting him back in the ring. I think that once he gets his first leg the other two will come really quickly.

It also feels good to be back writing again. Truthfully I escaped the house today and I am over at our new library enjoying the peace and quiet (and wifi). It is rainy windy day – perfect for writing and staying indoors.

I am going to a match in Barrie tomorrow. We are going to make a little family trip out of it. We are packing up all six dogs and Aydon and staying in a hotel over night (more wifi!!), going to the match in the morning for Gali and Ribbon to work in a new environment and then a leisurely drive home to see all the fall colours and find somewhere for the dogs to have a big run.

Happy Training

Getting ready for the fall

2011-08-11T11:45:00.001-07:00

I am ready to get back at it. I have Gali entered in two trials before the arrival of my relatives from England. I am excited to be going back into the ring again. Gali has been working REALLY well. I have done several run throughs over the last few weeks and he aced them all. I have also been doing regular short training sessions to keep his heeling, fronts and finishes crisp. The thing that I am particularly impressed with is that at the end of each training session Gali doesn't want to leave the training hall. He wants to do more. That is a nice feeling for me, but I have to find a way to end my training session and not have Gali sulk all the way back up to the house.

After spending the summer re-working my go-outs and directed jumping I feel like we are ready to go for it. The plan is to trial during the fall and finish off the OTCH title. If Gali is still working well then I plan to put him in for OTCHX/MOTCH and see how far we get before the end of the year. In the spring I plan to get Ribbon ready for her CD and give Gali some time off, so it will be an interesting run to the end of the year.

Lately we have doing quite a bit of videotaping of runs and then reviewing them during class. I love it when people see their dog on video for the first time. There is a big difference between how the dog feels and what the dog looks like from the judge's point of view. Because I always get this view, it gives me great pleasure when the handler says, "hey he looks really good!"

Happy Training

Sniffing right along

2011-07-07T18:43:00.001-07:00

Ribbon is progressing so well on her articles. We are off the matt now, which is always an exciting step for me. She did great today. Her attitude couldn't be any better. She blasts out to the pile, finds her article makes full eye contact with me and then runs at me full tilt. I have been alternating hiding behind the chair and letting her chase me once she has her article or having her front and then tossing the article for her to retrieve. The only problem I am having is that she is growling (playfully) at me as she is returning the article, but I can't see this becoming a big problem.

I have done a silly thing though, that I will have to fix. While setting out my articles and placing the ones I want to scent on a chair, Ribbon comes running over to see what we are doing. I have let her choose her own article from the chair to scent, which has blossomed into Ribbon wanting to be in the chair. I think this might not be a thing I want to teach her, but it is pretty cute and she always picks a different article to start with. Today was metal and yesterday was leather.

I haven't done many formal sends, just a few to give her the idea. Lots of time for the precision part, right now I just want her to love doing the exercise.

I thought my border collie was...

2011-06-07T13:42:00.001-07:00

I thought my border collie was getting lazy. So I set out this morning to work her continuously for 40 minutes. I had a variety of things that I had planned, utility articles, duration exercises for heeling, turns, halt, hidden retrieve games, play sessions with a toy, front exercises, signals, go-outs. As it turned out my border collie is not the one getting lazy!!! I made it to about 30 minutes then needed a break. So now I am feeling bad that I have not worked my dogs enough. My life had been a little upside down, I have been normal some days and others quite sad, to the point that I just want to sit still. Well, I can't do that forever.

I worked Ribbon again this afternoon for about 10 minutes of obedience and 10 minutes of agility because I am entered in a trial this weekend, so I thought I should put an effort in. Ribbon worked great, such a great little dog. All this work in one day and she had already been for a big romp with the other dogs. I also worked Gali on his utility (which is a whole different post). He is also running in agility this weekend. I am actually looking forward to it.

Bye

My Mom

2011-05-07T06:01:00.001-07:00

I can't believe that I am about write this but, On April 27^th, 2011 my Mom passed away. She died the day before what would have been my Dad's 70^th birthday had he not died very suddenly on November 14^th, 2010. I can't quite comprehend that both of my parents are gone and in such a short time. My Mom had been suffering from depression over the loss of my dad. In March it got bad enough that she really wasn't eating and had lost some weight. She went on some medication and she started to get better mentally, but still wasn't interested in food and had troubles finishing even the smallest meal. We took her for another visit to the doctor and when he saw how much weight she had lost and how low her blood pressure was he had her admitted to the hospital that same afternoon. She had a blood transfusion and some fluids and seemed to perk up. She started eating and I thought things were on the mend. The next day we got some results back from tests and the news wasn't good. It seemed that Mom had a mass in her colon and another on her liver. We were shocked to hear over the course of the day conversations with doctors that went from treatment options, to palliative care and within hours being told that she didn't have long to live and we should get our family and friends together. The word "Stunned" doesn't cover how we felt. That was Tuesday and Mom passed the following day at 5pm. We have had her service, but I still don't think it has all sunk in. Support for my family has been pouring in daily and it makes us realize how lucky we are to have each other and the people that make us smile every day. So yet again I have been absent from this blog because of a family loss.

Last night I had a dream that I was competing with Gali, but at the same time I was also sitting on the side lines watching. When I woke up I realized that the dream was trying to tell me to get back to doing what I love but at the same time take the time to do things I need to take of myself, so that when I get back in the ring I can wholly be there to do my best. My "TO DO" list for this weekend included the words "Train Gali, Train Ribbon" and I intend to do just that.

Short and Sweet

2011-03-11T11:27:00.000-08:00

Last night after classes were over, I was goofing around with Ribbon and I was practicing some handling while tossing a toy for her. The cool thing was that she left the toy and came to heel with me. We did a few turns and some halts. Then I broke it off and played with her. I was also impressed with the fact that she stayed to interacted with me, even though she could have left and played with the toy, but she thought it was more fun to play with me!! How cool is that?!?!?

Getting somewhere

2011-03-07T19:32:00.001-08:00

For the past two weeks I put myself on a self-imposed front and finish 14 day push with Ribbon. I did fronts and finishes every day, for a few minutes. Sometimes I did them in my living room, the training hall, and the kitchen and once I even did them in my closet. I went in there to get changed and Ribbon followed me in with a toy in her mouth wanting to play so I took advantage of the situation and had her do some finishes with her toy tucked under my left arm. When she completed the finish correctly I dropped the toy to her and then played with her. It was fun. The improvement is immense. Her finishes are much more polished and animated. I figured out my right finish signal. I hadn't been happy with her response to my usual signal, but now she is jumping up out of her front position and makes her way quickly to heel position. She has also greatly improved her precision work. She is remembering to tidy up her front feet and line up her body in a straight line. The best part is that her eyes are very bright and she is feeling very proud of herself.

For fronts I played this game with her where she was sent to lay on one of couches and called to front going between two small ottomans to front position. I found the ottomans were most effective if the one on my left leg was further away from me that the one on my right leg. Since Ribbon often sits with her rear end tipped to my left the ottoman on that side prevented that mistake. After a few days I set up further away from both ottomans so that she had to take more responsibility for organizing her body in front position. She certainly made some mistakes, but she was also thinking about it. I kept up her motivation with a high value reward and made a game of sending her onto the couch to lie down or sit before calling her to front. Also I could set up off angle recalls so that she had to work even harder to front proper front position. She is doing quite well. When I was working her in the training hall this weekend she gave me a whole bunch of perfect fronts. I was even more impressed because she was this accurate from about 50 feet away in a full canter.

In my current session of classes, my friend Susie Bell offered to teach one of Novice classes so that I could train Ribbon in a class with distractions. It is a big class, 10 dogs and lots going on. This is exciting for me because this is something we have been lacking in our training. So thank-you Susie! This means that even if I get really busy I get to train Monday night in Rally class and then Tuesday in the Novice class.

Happy Training!!

Gali north, east and west

2011-03-06T18:02:00.001-08:00

This weekend I did a whole mix of things. I cleaned the house, did the laundry, took Aydon clothes shopping (always interesting), went to a Guelph Storm hockey game (also with Aydon), puppy tested Susie Bell's 6 week old lab puppies, watched the leaf game (sigh), finished my bookkeeping for last year (I am now ready to file!!!), started bookkeeping for this year, all four of us went out for a really nice dinner (I even had dessert) and ....I trained my dogs three days in a row ( happy dance!!).

I have been obsessing over Gali's go out problems, so I spent some time figuring out my plan of attack. I looked through my book and lo and behold I found something that I had forgotten all about. When Megan was having problems going out over the jumps instead of between them, I set up a chute of broad jump board from the inside standard of each jump gradually narrowing to the location where she was to touch the barrier and sit (or just sit depending on what I asked her to do). It worked really well because it was difficult for her to make a mistake and this was always the best way to teach her anything because she simply hated to be wrong. I decided to give this a try. I set up two lines of broad jump boards on their ends about 2 feet apart gradually getting wider and wider apart. I spend two sessions just sending Gali through the chute to the wall. I kept him away from the visible metal supports that are every 16 feet in my training building. Then I added the jumps and organized the chutes so that the inside standards of both the jumps became the entrance to the chute. He did really, really well. Rewards were high (meatballs), chase and tug o war sessions. I randomly asked Gali to touch, then sit or sit without touching or sit/touch/sit. It all went very well. The third time I attempted this drill I changed the direction of the go-out, going west instead of north (which is our normal direction). After one set of work I added the directed jumping back into the picture. Gali had to make some adjustments to find a path between the broad jump boards to find a way to the high jump. The first time I asked him to do the bar jump he hopped over one of the boards and then cut in without jumping the bar. I was so happy that this mistake FINALLY happened in training. I said,"HEY" ,which is my catch-all phrase that means "Not what I wanted." I took him back to the bar jump, signalled and asked him to jump it again which he did. I repeated the whole skill again and he did it perfectly. Today I changed it again, the go out direction was east this time and to a line of baby gates. I even paired moving stand before the set up for go-outs to help him recognize that sequence. He was flawless, once he stepped off his line, I think he was going to jump but quickly switched back and continued on his merry way. So good for him for thinking his way through it!! Such a smart boy!!!

The next steps are to change the direction again, reduce the visibility of the chute boards and take it on the road, good thing spring is almost here.

Tomorrow tales of training Ribbon

Hmmm

2011-02-14T18:04:00.000-08:00

Just finished training Gali this evening. I hate to speak negatively, but our training session was not very successful. Good thing is it only Monday!!! Warm up was not very good, signals fell apart. Although during the run through - they were spectacular!!! Go-outs are still troubling, but it will get better as the week goes on-- right??

Yesterday’s Training Session

2011-02-12T07:40:00.001-08:00

Yesterday we had a great session of social club. I got to do a few jobs around the training hall and it was nice to have some company. When I finally got to train my dogs I had such a great training session that I felt like I accomplished month's worth of training. For Gali he got to heel and work through a utility run through with many dogs around and people coming in and out of the door. Bonnie helped with the moving stand and both Patricia and Bonnie helped with my little problem of Gali not wanting to jump on the side of the ring where the other dog is working or people are moving around. He had no trouble with it, he noticed for sure, but he motored on through – GOOD BOY!! It felt so nice to have addressed the problem. His heeling was lovely and I spent some time on front and finishes – Gali is awesome at finishes, so that is always fun to work. Sits on his go-out were perfect!!!

I traded Gali in for Ribbon for the rest of the training session. Again it was great to have so many different dogs around. We had 2 boxers, St. Poodle, 2 Min. Schnauzers, 2 Am. Cocker Spaniels, English Cocker, Min. Poodle and 3 Goldens – it was a party. One thing I realized about Ribbon is that she is only medium dog savvy. When she saw Dawn's Min. Schnauzers she was quite fascinated. A few minutes later Dawn wanted to go for a walk with her dogs, so Ribbon and I decided to tag along. After a moment of telling Torin (silly, lovable in your face St. Poodle) that she didn't want to be crashed into they all ran around and had a great time. She tried to lure the Min. Schnauzers into running around in the deep snow, but they weren't gonna fall for that and stayed on the path. Torin, however thought his long legs were up to the task, so they raced through the deep snow, jumping over snow drifts. My favourite thing about having dogs is watching them run around for the simple reason that they feel so good!! So this sight was a real treat. Ribbon got some nice experience running and playing with dogs of two different sizes and she completely enjoyed herself. Okay, back to training in the hall. With Ribbon I worked on some broad jumps, I had some wait problems, because she was still pretty excited from her walk and then I plopped her in front of a jump. I did some dumbbell work and worked on waits and fronts with the dumbbell in her mouth, she did great, once she dropped it as she sat in front of me, but quickly snatched it up and sat without having to be told again. I worked and novice and open recalls and yes I even remembered to work on calling her to front from the drop. She is still not quite sure about that, but she is getting better. When I worked on my fronts I had my ah-ha moment for this session. Ribbon has usually got pretty good fronts, she might be a touch off like a quarter point front (if that point deduction existed) but lately she has been quite off, always on my left leg and her body is not straight. I thought she might be anticipating the left finish, but I realized that her poor finishes started when my back started to hurt me. My right side is quite sore in particular my right leg is hurting. I bet that I am putting more weight on my left leg and twisting my upper body so that I am not in pain. I'm sure that is the answer!! I got my fronting chute out and used it a slightly different way. I put my toes on the cross bar, this helped me distribute my weight better – guess what...straight fronts. Now you might be thinking that it was because of the chute, but earlier she had been sitting improperly in the chute, in fact for the first time she started to sit with her back leg outside the chute, she really didn't want to sit straight, so I think I may have found the answer. In my next session I will try two things:

Place only the bar under my toes and
Get all of my weight in my heels (both of them) – maybe I could also take Advil before training?!?!

Well I am off now to trim my dog's toenails, I am sure they are looking forward to it, and then I have to get the hall ready for the match tomorrow.

Match number 2

2011-02-10T18:41:00.001-08:00

Last Sunday I went to the second of three matches with Gali and Ribbon. This was also a new environment for my dogs. Ribbon went in Novice. She did a fabulous job. I remembered to let her investigate the area before asking her to do any work. She had also had a good romp in the snow with her favourite Buhund. When I got her ready to practice some heeling she was fully focused and ready to do her job. I was really impressed. I did a few short sessions putting her back to relax in her kennel in between. I found a corner that was matted to toss her dumbbell around and play some games with drop on recall. It went really, really well. On the strength of her confidence I did my Novice run with food in my pocket but not in my hand for the entire run. I did reward after each exercise and play with her for a few moments. Her figure 8 was spectacular, I was so pleased. In the next door ring Open was going on and she completed ignored the dumbbell crashing against the wall right behind her on one of the about turns. The only problem we had was on her front , she is tipping off to the side as she gets within a foot of me. So I think I will do the next match with her fronting chute in the ring and see if that helps. The finish was better because I did the signal with a lot more umph (if that is even a word??) In open we did everything up to the drop on the recall pretty formally. Before I set her up for the exercise I played with her for a second and then did a random drop. I think this helped her prepare for what was about to happen. She cantered when I called her and dropped very nicely. Much to my surprise I don't think I have taught her the call to front from the drop (oops). She wasn't too sure, so I just aborted it and played with her. Then she saw the steward approaching with the dumbbell and her eyes lit up. I didn't do any waits, front or finishes. I just let her enjoy herself. I kept the jump low, thinking that she was going to be pretty excited and I didn't want her to hit it. For the broad jump I stood beyond the end of the boards and once she landed and pivoted and called her to front (which was lovely) and her finish was very nice. Overall I am extremely pleased with how she is coming along. It doesn't feel smooth just yet, but we are getting there!!

Gali gave me some more problems... I shouldn't really say problems, because he always tries so hard. He missed the second article because he got distracted by some dogs barking quite furiously not far from the ring and then grabbed the first article he found when he put his head down. The other two articles were great. For signals I decided I was going to be really picky and make sure Gali dropped on the spot, no forward movement at all!! As soon as he moved one front foot, I told him "No" and walked towards him and reset the exercise. I gave a drop signal and he dropped in place. I praised and fed him. When I walked back to the other side of the ring to do the sit signal he had his chin on the floor (looking like his cute little self). I gave the sit signal and he rubbed his chin on the floor and wagged his little curly bum at me as if to say, "Well if you liked that down, you are going to love this!" I know it wasn't the best training response but he was so cute... I laughed. We did get through it and moved on. Moving stand was great. My go outs were not, he came up short (thinking about the sit I have been working on no doubt). Then he wouldn't jump the bar jump that was closest to crowd, this has happened before, so I really need to work on that. Maybe tomorrow during social club I can get people to stand there or heel with their dogs while he does the jumps. I still feel like we are ready, next week I will go into preparing to trial mode. Practicing things in sequence and being more sporadic with my rewards.

Oh by the way Ribbon's Novice run is posted on my youtube channel. Just search for Ribbon Novice Feb2011. Let me know what you think.

Well that was interesting...

2011-02-01T05:47:00.001-08:00

On Sunday I went to a match with both my dogs. I ran Ribbon in Novice twice. When I was warming her up around the different areas of the match, which also had conformation and announcements over a loud speaker from time to time, Ribbon was having a hard time focusing. I tried stationary attention, I tried lots of verbal encouragement, I tried a correction she still had a hard time giving me the kind of focus I know she can give. So I stopped, relaxed my body posture and released her. She immediately started sniffing the floor and acting like a dog in a new park for the first time. I felt silly for making such an assumption that she could work to her highest potential anywhere. For about 5 minutes we just wandered around and I let her be a dog. I put her away and got Gali out for some fun warm up drills. When Ribbon came back out, she was ready to rock and roll. She heeled through puppies coming up to sniff her as she heeled by and baby in a stroller, announcements on the loud speaker. I learned my lesson about her warm up. She needs to explore her surroundings and take some time before she can get down to business.

Because of her first warm up attempt I revised my plan and did my first run through with food in my hand. She worked VERY nicely until we were heeling along the back wall and she noticed a gap in the mats and dropped back out of heel position. I stopped after one step and we repeated that section with some collar tension and verbal encouragement when she stayed in position. The rest of the pattern was very nice. For the last leg of the pattern (right turn, slow) she was jumping up to my hand because she thought I should have fed her earlier, but I just kept heeling and she settled in for the final about turn and halt. Her figure 8 was excellent. Heel free was great and she gave the gap on the floor a small look but kept working. I did get her rev'd up before we hit that location to try to keep her mind off of it. Recall was nice, but I felt so wimpy about my finish that she reacted lacklustre. I have to be more definitive about what finish I am going to use and give my command with confidence. Stays were fine.

Her second run I had food in my pocket but not in my hand and a played with her a lot more between exercises. Ribbon responded to this very nicely and we had a lot of fun in the ring together. On my heel on lead I faded off the wall so that we would be further away from the gap. She glanced at it but kept working and then didn't notice it all on the heel free. So mission accomplished there. Figure 8, stand for exam and stays were great again. I need to work on her halts; she is starting to wrap her head across my legs. I wonder if I am changing my head position too much. I will have to think about that while training this week getting ready for the match on Sunday in another new environment.

Gali was his normal happy self. Heeled beautifully and was very upbeat in the ring. On articles, he got thrown off because the judge asked me if I was ready after placing the article in the pile. I nodded my head which Gali seemed to thing meant go to the pile. I gently called him back to reset the exercise. He seemed to think that I didn't want him to go to the pile. Because when I sent him again, he took the article off the chair. So we restarted the whole thing and it was fine, both articles were great. I will have to get someone to help me set that up, so that I can practice it. Another drawback of training alone I guess. Signals were fine, moving stand was fine. On the first go out I let him touch the wall and asked him sit, did the jump on my right, no problem. Set him up for the second go, sent him and didn't let him touch, when I asked him to sit, he laid down. So I officially have a problem with this. I worked on it a little bit, but then just moved on to complete the exercise. This will be high on my list of things to practice this week. Always nice to have a challenge.

Trio of matches

2011-01-22T06:50:00.000-08:00

starting next Sunday there are three matches to get out to. One of which is my building but the other two are in new or fairly new environments for my dogs. I plan to go to all three matches. It will be a great chance to see how Gali does doing "Trials" three weekends in a row. Well four really since the following weekend he is entered in a trial. I haven't been practicing any run throughs with Gali, just doing some proofing drills and mixing up the exercises to keep it interesting.
It is funny how time progresses on. I can remember having a conversation with my friend Susie and saying that I couldn't fathom ever running Gali in utility. He still felt like "the new dog". Not that I ever had any doubt about if he could do it or not, but I just couldn't get the picture in my head. Now I have the same feeling about Ribbon, and Gali feels like an old pair of comfortable slippers. I wonder how long it will be before I write about Ribbon getting ready for her utility trails??

On unrelated matters...Static electricity is driving me insane!!! my dogs are starting whince as I reach to pet them, knowing there is going to be a shock.
Also, watched Julia/Julie last night - really good movie - watch it if you get a chance. Now I want her cookbook!!

Social Club

2011-01-16T07:14:00.001-08:00

One of the new things we will be doing this year is inviting our students and friends to join us for some extra training time. I am really looking forward to it. It is a way to put to the hall to use instead of letting it sit empty. But truthfully it is a way for me to get an opportunity to train with some distractions around. I can do whatever I want, I am not teaching or setting up any drills so it presents are great chance to put some time in on Ribbon and Gali.

The question is, what will I do?

Gali needs

Work on cold turkey go-outs in different directions.
Signal work from various distances
Scent work with focus on fronts and finishes
Heeling (my favourite!!)
Play games with him
Moving stand (because there will be people to examine him!!)

Ribbon needs

Rear end work particularly on right turns and outside post of figure 8. The batting cage drill would be good for this
Halts with and without footwork
Add variety by including signals, jumping and some retrieving
Fine tuning heel position with some proofing drills like slow pace turns
Fronts with a chute
Duration heeling to build up how long she can work for
Stand for exam, not that this ever bothers her, but she still has to do it
Sit and down stays during distractions and with other dogs (because there will be people to do them with!!)

Very excited!! First on the agenda today though is Ribbon's herding lesson, busy, busy day!!

Always and Never

2011-01-12T07:26:00.001-08:00

Two words you shouldn't hear when talking about dog training. "I would never do that when teaching a dog to do..." or "I would always do it this way". Certainly my life would be easier if I could say "ALWAYS teach your dog to do a drop signal from a stand" "NEVER let your dog do that." But there is so much opportunity to let the dog show us what makes sense to him please don't cut yourself off to finding different ways of getting to your goal because someone tells you this is the ONLY way to get the job done.

However you should still have a plan of attack on how to teach a dog a skill and you should have in your mind a perfect mental picture for how the exercise should be completed. But the path you take getting there can take many different avenues and keeping an open mind in your training session will keep your training time less stressful for both you and the dog.

ALWAYS REMEMBER THIS AND NEVER FORGET IT!!

My Dad

2010-12-31T18:29:00.001-08:00

I haven't posted in a while. The last part of this year hasn't gone well for my family. On November 14^th, my Dad died very suddenly. He had a heart attack while he was driving down the country road we live on to get a battery from the store. I saw him go down the driveway and he simply never came back. My family's world has been turned upside down. We are thankful for a few things. First of all no other vehicle was involved. Secondly Mom, Dad, Chad and I had been out sheep herding that afternoon and we had had a great time. My dad's dog Pepper worked really well and he was very happy. It was a good day.

Chad and I spent a lot of time with parents, we went to the Canadian Open golf tournament for the past five years and last year went to the US Open and this year our trip took us to the Bridgestone Invitational. We had a lot of fun on those trips and there are so many fond memories. We also did a lot of dog stuff together, going to agility and obedience trials over many years. I am very lucky that I have no regrets about my relationship with my dad. I miss him terribly and I have never experienced such deep sadness. I feel like I haven't been able to breathe since the policeman told me my dad was dead.

In December of last year I lost two dogs seven days apart and so have been also dealing with the anniversary of Quinn and Presto's deaths. I feel like I am surrounded by sadness. I know this will get better or at least easier to cope with. But right now I feel consumed by grief.

I didn't want the end of this year to pass without posting what has been going on. My dog's Gali and Ribbon have been trying to make me feel better. They have been remaining very close to me and in the two times I have trained since losing my dad they both have worked really nicely and looked disappointed when training time is over. In the New Year I plan to rewrite my goals and start working towards them. Gali is really ready to get back into the Utility ring and Ribbon is ready to matches at the Novice and Open level.

Here's to a better year in 2011

So Close

2010-10-04T07:02:00.001-07:00

Gali has officially lost his utility virginity! He did really, really well. The only thing we missed was the last jump on the second half of the directed jumping exercise. When I signalled him to go to the jump on my right he took the jump on the left. I will have to look at the video to see if I moved my left hand as I gave the signal with the right. It is disappointing to not qualify, but I am so happy with the way he worked. I think he quite enjoyed it. It felt good to be back in the utility ring, it has been awhile.

We had some bobbles during the routine, such as lying down on the turn and sit for the first go-out. He did that at the match too. So I officially have that problem to fix. I will have to try to create that during training and see what I can do to fix it. On the moving stand he moved his rear feet away from the judge during the exam, she very nicely tried to move his back to which Gali gave her a look and put his feet back where they were. It was sort of funny. So one more thing to work on is that I need to get more people to examine him and have them approach from different angles and then I can reward him for holding his position. Also for go outs I have get to more different places and practice having him go in a direct line in strange environments.

I had Echo entered in Novice Rally. She is Chad's thirteen year old Border Collie. I have shown her a couple of times before. I wanted to finish her Novice title and use it as practice for the US Nationals in a few weeks. She did great. We were second in the class with a 99 and she seemed to really enjoy herself. She even had fun walking around the show making friends with people. I would see her during the day laying in her kennel watching people doing things and wagging her tail at them.

I have posted both these videos on YouTube if you would like to check them out, search for Buhund doing utility and Echo Novice rally and you should find them. If not I think I can post them here in the blog. I am just not sure how to do it yet.

Gali's next trials are about a month away. I can't wait!!!

Match night

2010-10-01T18:53:00.001-07:00

Tonight was the fun match at the hall where Gali and I will be trialling on Sunday. I also took Ribbon along to do Novice (and to make Gali jealous!) I was feeling pretty good about how things were going, when I trained Gali on Thursday he was amazing. I did a run through in the training hall including a warm up how I have planned for the trial. During the run through the only glitch was that I somehow managed to step on Gali's tail. Quite a feat given that he has a really tight Buhund tail. So I had one finish that he didn't sit, but I can't really blame him. Other than that he was really, really good. I jackpotted him after the signals and fed in a few other places, but went from exercise to exercise.

So tonight at the HDOC match he was feeling pretty perky. He had a large dump while I walked him outside, so he was feeling rather fresh. (You probably didn't want that detail, but there you go). We repeated what we did on Thursday with a warm up and also included a game of tug on his leash. We went from exercise to exercise; I had a no sit on one finish again. We got down to the last jump (bar jump against the baby gate) as I sent him to the bar jump the Novice dog in the next ring halted in line with the jump and Gali pulled off the jump. I quickly took him back out to his go-out spot and redid the jump and he was fine. One other thing that happened was he laid down on his first go out instead of sitting. Not sure why, he hasn't done that in a very long time. When he sat on the second go-out I praised him, hopefully that will help. His heeling was really nice and his fronts where quite good. And he is so darn cute!!!!

I did learn a couple of things about the venue. Sound proofing panels have been added to help with an echoing problem they had, I think it deadens the sound, so I needed to project my voice a little better. The other thing that I learned was that Gali had no problem with the siding on the wall for a go-out surface; he just marched out there and did his thing. So overall I am feeling pretty good about Sunday. I think our team work is pretty solid and Gali is relaxed about his jobs.

Ribbon did a nice job tonight too. I was really focused on Gali, so my run with her felt a little choppy and she got into trouble for losing attention on the fast pace. She was distracted by the utility ring beside us. Her attitude was really up. Nothing seems to bother her. I am really glad that I had asked for her to be videoed (thanks Dawn!!) on the video you can see how hard she is working and how happy she is while heeling. On the figure 8 she is really using her rear end around the circles. As the run went on her sits got a little crooked, but she was pretty excited. On the recall she came beautifully and popped up in the air and came down really slowly with her front end into a perfect front. For some reason I sent her to the right for her finish, which isn't her best finish, but she an okay job of it. I would like to see her go around faster and sit closer, but the foundation work is all there. Judging by tonight I would say we are about a year away from entering Novice.

I am ring stewarding tomorrow as one of the many requirements to apply for judging licence. I am so excited to see how all the Companion students do. Everyone looked fantastic at the match tonight. There are students in every level!!! I better adjust my eating plan and leave room for lots of cake!!!

Still counting

2010-09-28T06:51:00.001-07:00

When I trained Gali last night, I was trying to squish it in before classes started. It didn't go as well as I had hoped. He was distracted by everyone arriving and I had to get on his case about working with distractions. This was not what I wanted to achieve during my training session. He did do quite a number of things really well. His attitude was quite nice, even though he got into trouble over running to the door to greet Jaimie arriving to teach her rally class. I was able to settle in and just stay focused and keep Gali on task and get some good feelings out of the session.

A few minutes ago I went to the hall with lots of time to spare and I worked on articles (which he missed the first one), Front exercises, Heeling with turns at a slow pace and random rewards for different elements of heeling. When I worked on my signals I worked from a much further distance than will be required this Sunday. He was AWESOME!!!!! I always say that Gali is a fun little dog to live with and to train, but what I sometimes overlook is how talented a dog he is. I really want to showcase that side of Gali at the trial this weekend. I am so lucky to have a dog like him.

My plan at the trial is to arrive with lots of time to spare. I know from past experience that Gali likes to do something as soon as possible at the trial site. So I will do some heeling with him and a few signals. But I will also need to find a time closer to our run to calmly warm up without having to keep my eye on the ring. Gali needs to have energy from my, but he really needs me to be calm and focused to lead the team.

Five days to go....

Also, I did a no-food run through with Ribbon in her rally class last night and she was amazing!!! Her eyes never left me, we moved together as a team and her rear end was fantastic. It feels really good to have her work this well as we approach the speciality and the fact that I am hoping to enter her in some pre-novice trials and rally trials this fall while Gali is out doing utility.

The Countdown has begun

2010-09-24T13:07:00.001-07:00

One week and two days from today Gali will be in his first utility trial. I am really looking forward to it. I can't wait to see how he does!!! I just finished training him and I have a pretty good idea on what I will be working on this week. EVERYTHING!!! I started off my training session with some heeling and signals from a short distance, (which he didn't drop all the way to the ground). I also worked on some fronts and finishes. I took him into the "ring" on lead, no food on my body, but he knew where the food was (specifically meatballs, the new wonder drug for training) I worked formally through each of the exercises and didn't do anything that I wouldn't be comfortable doing at a trial.

He jumped on the way back from retrieving the glove, but tried pretty hard to correct his front. He did both articles very nicely. On signals he did a horrible about turn after the slow pace. It was as if he felt squished by the gate and sort of shot forward out of heel position and then waited for me to catch up. He did a LOVELY drop and then walked in on his sit signal (so no pass on this run through), I kept going with the routine. His moving stand was really nice and his directed jumping was fantastic!!! I trained for about 15 minutes more and did some heeling, more signals and some fun proofing drills such as verbal only directed jumping and rewarding touching on the go outs. We ended our session playing with the Frisbee. Gali seemed relaxed through most of the routine and training session except on the signal recall; his body language was telling me that he was pretty unsure.

Here is my list of things to work on:

Glove exercise coming through the jumps, reminding him to watch and/or maybe a chute on the ground.
Heeling
Fronts and Finishes
Fun article things to keep him up and relaxed
Working our signals from various distances, and rewarding different parts
One or two run throughs this week
Getting people to do moving stand with me this week, I am always practicing alone
Various distances for go-outs and distance between the jumps. Randomly rewarding go-outs and surprise endings after jumping.
I should also ask Susie if I can train in her hall this week to give him a change of environment.

It is going to be FUN!!!!

Not all fun and games (or is it?)

2010-09-06T16:23:00.001-07:00

It's Labour Day weekend and I've been off since Thursday night. I've had things to do, you know the usual, laundry, clean the bathroom (hummm.. still have to do that). Chad and have had two herding lessons, one today and one yesterday. Basically though, I've had a lot of time off this weekend to lie around read, watch the tennis and golf. The thought has occurred to me that I should post something on my blog. I wasn't really sure what to write about. I've been getting Gali ready for our first utility trial in October, he coming along really nicely. I think we may be peaking at the right time. So other than bragging about my fabulous Buhund, which I am happy to do, there is not much to say. Ribbon's heeling is suddenly coming together. Her understanding of head cues has come together and I am working on perfecting her figure 8. Signals and articles are coming along great; she is really enjoying those skills. While training random drops and figure 8 tonight I momentarily heard myself saying to classes this week, "Make sure you choose two things each week that aren't your favourites to train and put some time into those skills." Well, guess what I was doing? Heeling (favourite), Articles (another favourite) and random drop with food tossing (nothing more fun than watch your dog chase a piece of food across the floor and then drop). What wasn't I doing? Fronts (least favourite thing to teach) and Dumbbell (not high on my list either).

So before I left the training hall I did some doodling and worked on fronts reminding Ribbon where her focal point is for this skill (my face). She has a habit of planting her rear end quickly and then moving her front feet off to my left which makes her crooked. Sort of an unusual thing I think. By reminding her to watch she picks her head up higher and keeps her front feet still. Then I added some distance, we had some anticipation problems, but no big deal. One thing I really like about my new little girl is that she holds onto a concept really well. What I showed her to do only travelling a few feet easily transferred to a full length recall and she nailed 4 out of 5 fronts. Guess what?? My dog was reinforcing me for training a skill that I am not usually that motivated to train!! How cool is that? Next I got my chute out and worked on sharp off angle fronts allowing her to chase a piece of food to get her away from me. As she was coming back towards the chute, if she wasn't looking up I reminded her to "Watch" and cocked the knee closest to her to make her go around it and into the chute. Worked like a charm and again I think I got 4 out of 6 fronts perfect. I can't wait to train fronts tomorrow!!!!

Good girl Ribbie

Up too early

2010-08-27T03:48:00.000-07:00

Chad and I (and all six dogs) are leaving in a few hours to go to the Canadian Border Collie Associations Sheep Dog Championships for the weekend. I am so excited I can't even sleep. We are only volunteering. Isn't it silly to be this excited??? I have certainly spend more time herding this summer than anything else. I had a lesson with Ribbon yesterday that went really well for Ribbon, but I felt like a complete idiot. I am trying to get ready to do a HT at the BC Specialty in October (AKC). I have never competed in herding, so I feel like a have three left feet. To cut myself some slack this was the first time I have put together all the elements of this test. But I really struggled with the parts of the test not going as I had imagined and then having to remember which direction to walk in and then to turn clockwise or counter-clockwise. Keeping Ribbon where I wanted her and to continue to walk so that the sheep and Ribbon knew where we were going---It is frustrating just writing it down!!!! I really struggled with going from training mode to trailling mode. If something didn't go as it usually did, like getting her to bring me the sheep, right away I wanted to get in there and fix it, but Steve kept saying, "go with it, keep everything moving." Why is it so hard to switch from being the leader of the team to being part of the team??

This certainly reminds me to spend more time with my Novice students (or any students showing for the first time at any level) on the strategies of moving around an obedience ring and setting up for exercises, so that it becomes second nature for them. Someone has to guide the team from location to location and the dog is not the likely candidate for the job. Something else for me to remember is that each handler needs more than one plan. What do you do if your first step of heeling doesn't go well, your dog hesitates to move or doesn't move at all?? What do you do if your dog become fixated on one of the figure eight posts?? At what point would you use a second command?? So many scenarios to think about.

Using visualization certainly makes a difference as far as the perfect mental picture, practicing the routine over and over again. I believe that you should also include some bumps along the road, so that your reaction to a mistake is pre-planned and then you can return to your routine more smoothly and feel good about things.

Okay so now I have a plan for my next herding lesson. A few weeks ago I sent Ribbon on a gather and when I asked her to lay down she did it immediately and the sheep were calm and with me. Steve's comment was, "You can't do it any better than that." This is only time I have heard Steve say this, so I am going to put that into my visualization and then add turning counter clockwise and clockwise at the cones and Ribbon pushing too hard on the sheep or over flanking and how I would deal with that and then return to my perfect mental picture. Three out of four times I am going picture the test going perfectly, but one out of four times I am going to add the bumps in.

I guess getting up early has its advantages!!! Gotta go pack the van now

Golf and Dog Training

2010-08-09T06:34:00.001-07:00

Some of you know that I like to watch golf. I have never played a day in my life (but would love to) but I find this sport interesting. For the last five years I have attended the Canadian Open to watch the players do their thing. Last year Chad, my parent's and I ventured to Long Island, New York to watch the US Open (that is a whole story in itself...) and late last night we got back from going to the Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio. It was a great trip; I would go again in a heartbeat. I saw the world's best golfers and got to follow my favourite, Canadian Mike Weir. I proudly wore my Canada shirt that says "True North Strong and Free" on it. I had a number of people coming up to me to ask if I was Canadian and then conversations where started about where everyone was from and so on. By the end of the day I would see these people on different parts of the course and we would share a wave to say that we knew each other. It was pretty neat. I have to tell something else that was totally cool... actually there are two things. This has nothing to do with dog training or how I am going to segue into dog training. I just want to share this experience with you. If you don't care about my golf story please skip ahead to the next paragraph. ... The one thing I really wanted to do was to be on the first tee when they announced Mike Weir, so that we could cheer for him. We planted ourselves in the stands (the front row of course!) and cheered with many other Canadians and Mike's fans when his name was announced. It was quite a thrill, firstly because it was the biggest cheer we had heard all day and secondly, I think he was a little shocked by it and looked up and acknowledged us with a wave and a head nod. I think we made him feel good. I would like to say that he looked right at us and maybe, just maybe he recognized us from all the years of stalking him at the Canadian Open. My second story is really, really silly... it was late in the day and the final pairings were getting ready to go. We were walking to first tee to see Phil Michelson tee off. Chad and I were crossing the first hole near the tee with about 40 or so other people. I started to hear people yelling "Hey Phil", (I want to go on record to say that I am not really a big fan of Phil's) I started looking around to see what people were yelling at, and lo and behold Phil is standing about 6 feet from me. Being the very cool person I am, I pointed and said "Hey look Phil Michelson" (duh). He answered someone's question from the crowd and went on his merry way. Once Chad and I regrouped on the other side of the crossing my immediate response was "okay, I know I am not a fan, but that was pretty cool." It was very cool to see someone you watch weekend after weekend on TV that close to you. It was also very interesting to feel the energy around him. The fans were excited to see him and he was responding to their enthusiasm. Lastly I also think that when you are good at what you do and you are embedded in that environment you feed off of it and the result is a very palatable type of energy. My response was silly, but what a neat experience.

While waiting for Mike Weir to tee off, we stopped by the practice range. The golfers can warm up their driving and putting. Often the coaches and caddies are present and you can see some of the things that they are working on and hear some of the banter that goes on between the players. This brought to mind that the same feeling is true at obedience trials. Many of us are there to compete but there is the underlying social aspect to the shows. Friends group together and get caught up on each other's lives. For some of us we only see certain people at certain shows, so that is a part of the draw to that event. The other similarity to golf that I noticed was the ratio of time spend preparing vs. actually competing. Some of us train for years to complete a title that takes about a total of about 45 minute to complete (actual time in the ring + stays). These players practice every day, some play 36 holes of golf a day, plus time at practice ranges and watching video and play four rounds in a tournament for a total of 16 hours of golf. They still have family life to balance and most do charity work and have other irons in the fire with sponsors. They live very full lives just like those of us who choose to compete in dog sports. Another thing I noticed was that the players and coaches fussed about the little things. Where is your head? Keep your left elbow tucked in, routines leading up to hitting the ball and visualization are big components in golf. Sort of like front and finishes for the dog and handling skills for the human part of the team. I think the biggest comparison is that golfers practice, practice, practice and then compete under pressure to put everything they have worked on to the test. Once they hit the ball they can't take it back, just like we do when we start our heeling pattern, whatever happens happens and you have to work forward from that point. Maybe this is what draws me to golf; too bad that dog training can't have corporate sponsorship and prize money equal to this sport. Now that would make things really interesting.

Happy golfing, I mean training!

So proud (part two)

2010-06-22T18:37:00.001-07:00

On my way to the match on Friday I reviewed what my plan was for Gali. I was really looking forward to seeing where Gali is at in terms of when he'll be ready to trial. The seek back exercise went as planned, he managed to jump the bar on the way back to me, but no biggy. It was really, really hot in the arena, so setting up for articles I wondered how Galibwas coping and if what I was seeing was the heat or the fact that we had a male steward hovering at the ring gate. I let him do the first article and I thought he did a great job with it. To test my theory on heat vs man at gate, I asked the ring steward to back up a bit before Gali did his second article. I think he was pretty much his normal happy self, so I guess he was just hot. He had to work his second article much harder than the first and really did a nice job with the whole exercise. For signals I used my one verbal praise that I had planned about 5 steps before we started signals, everything wad going well, I gave my drop signal and he dropped like a stone, but immediately lifted his elbows back off the matts. I re-enforced the drop told him he was a good boy and went on to the sit, which was lovely. I had planned to feed after each signal, but didn't feed the drop because he popped up. My lesson learned wad that I have been putting too much focus on the sit. Moving stand went fine, one little movement on the exam. Our go outs were going to be tough, Gali has done few go outs in context away from home. I did the one short go I had planned, but it didn't help, he went to the jump. I reset a couple of times and had moderate success. His directed jumping was fine. So no real surprises from the whole run, he is pretty much where I thought he was. I was very happy with his heeling and his attitude was fantastic. So over all I am proud of my curly bum dog!!

So proud

2010-06-22T13:13:00.000-07:00

While I sit here watching the FIFA world cup soccer, I am reflecting about the match on Friday night. It was a tough one for me because I would have been Presto's 12th birthday. I am certainly struggling with getting back in the game since losing Quinn and Presto at Christmas time. So for me this match was a big deal. The result is that I am very proud of myself for going and enjoying being with my dog show friends and being able to concentrate on what I wanted to achieve. I'll come back to Gali and Ribbon in a minute.

What was really cool for me is watching the people that train with me do there thing at this match. I was sitting in the stands taking in the atmostphere and I realized that all three rings had Companion Dog Training students in them. I was so proud to see their dogs working with attention and tails wagging. What impressed me the most is that they all had a plan. I saw Dawn rewarding fronts and keeping Emma relaxed in utility. Cheryl was working Indigo and was keeping her attention between exercises and alternating rewards of food and a tug toy in the novice ring. In the open ring Angela was working her green open dog and making sure he knew what exercise he was doing and spending time playing with him between exercises. If the dogs made mistakes all three handlers dealt with the mistake quickly and got the dog back on track. There were quite a few others that also did a fabulous job. I have to admit to feeling a little pressure to do just as good a job. One little side note is that Jaimie St. Maurice and her Beardie Windy, finished their CDX and HIT!!! Way to go you two!!!

I will post later and tell you how I handled the pressure of having such great students!!!
My family is calling me for dinner.

2010-06-16T05:59:00.000-07:00

It is a rainy Wednesday morning, I have some time before classes begin this morning to think about my training plan for the match this Friday. Gali is going to do utility, this is his first match away from his own training hall. The match is at Pine Point arena, a place we both are very comfortable at. In fact Gali has earned one Novice HIT and one Open HIT at this venue. My plan is to Play around with warm up exercises just like novice and open, keeping him relaxed and animated with games. I will add some tug with his glove and reward response to his signals. I want him to walk into that ring like he owns it. I am going to do seek back formally, reward his set for the articles and reward after each article. For signals I am planning on one verbal praise and then 8 steps away for signals. When he gets his drop and sit I will run in and reward, then back away for the recall. For moving stand I need to remember to fade to the right do that he always has a direct line of sight to me. This seems to help him keep his feet still during the exam. Depending upon his attitude I may do a food toss recall to keep him going strong. I am planning one short go out and then back up for two full distance go outs and directed jumping.

GO GALI!!!

The things you never stop working on (part three)

2010-06-01T18:48:00.000-07:00

Hey this is my second post of the night!!! Good for me...
Finishes... the simple little exercise that can bring your score down in a hurry. I will admit that training the "fiddly" stuff is not my favorite, so over the years I developed ways of teaching the left and right finishes that I find interesting. For the left finish I like to see my dogs lift out of the front position and then use their rear end to complete the exercise. I focus on the tidiness of the finish and the intensity of the eye contact between my dog and I. One of the pickiest definitions is that the spine is paralel with the handler and the dog's front feet are not ahead of the handler's feet. This is the definition I go with. I use a my fronting chute for finishes. I think it helps the dog to do the job all by himself and because a properly fitted chutes allows very little room for error the reinforcement on the exercise is high.

Here is a list of things to cover in your training sessions: Keep note of which way he is most accurate in the different situations for use later in the ring, just in case you lose half a point on a front you can save yourself another half point deduction by using he most accurate finish.

Finishes from not perfect fronts. Position your dog so that he is off center. Send him in either direction.
Finishes from a stand. Place the dog in a stand about 1 foot from proper front position. Practice sending the dog on a verbal or a signal in this situation. Your goal is to find out if the dog understands his cue for finishes in different situations.
Right finishes from heel position. Will the dog go all the way around you and return to heel position??
Perpindicular set-ups. Position yourself so that you are perpindicular to your dog (he would be staring at your left hip) Have him do a finishes from this position.

Always ask yourself how many finishes you should be doing in a row. It can be pretty dull from the dog's point of view. Play in-between sets of finish work. Reward random parts of the finish to keep his reaction prompt and his expression relaxed and interested in what you are doing. Extra special reaction for a job well done never goes un-noticed by your dog. Even for the most food driven dog, a regular "Good Boy" piece of food in the mouth doesn't hold a candle to a "WOW.. you are so smart!!!!" big smile on your face, cookie in the mouth reaction.

I'm back

2010-06-01T18:15:00.000-07:00

My new computer has arrived... finally and the Ontario agility regionals are over, so now I can settle back into my routine of writing. The regionals were lots of fun and on thursday night I stayed by myself in the trailer with 3 dogs and did some work on my new book. I started the turns chapter and got started on a new topic about corrections/commands and how to keep them separate to reduce stress in training. Writing must take more energy than I remember, I was totally consumed by the turns topic. I don't think I was talking aloud, but I glanced up from my computer to find Echo, Ribbon and Gali staring at me. It was interesting and weird at the same time.

If all goes well the book should be out in the spring/summer of 2011. In the short term I will be making every effort to post more regularily. It would be great if you would post some comments/questions too.

The things you never stop working on (part two)

2010-04-28T13:25:00.000-07:00

Attitude---- I am sure this is not a shock to anyone reading this blog, but your attitude will be mirrored by your dog. I can remember once showing Megan when I had a really bad cold, I felt like crap and Megan was there to share in the misery. We got through our weekend of showing, but more than a few people commented on how "down" Megan was. However, my next statement might come as a shock to anyone reading this blog... Have you tried spending one whole week and not training with food or toys??!! It is a great way to discover how to motivate your dog with your energy and enthusiasm. When practicing heeling I will zig and zag and make weird noises and move in unpredictable patterns. I am not worrying about footwork I am only looking for ears up, eyes wide open, interested look on my dog's face. Skipping is another thing to try. Playing hide-n-seek is a great way to play with your dog. Right now Ribbon has to find me after retrieves. She loves it, she flies out to pick up her dumbbell or article and then turns back growling, trying to find me. I might only be hiding behind a chair or in the bathroom and when she finds me we play a game of chase. Hell, this is the only exercise I get!! Releasing from exercises is a great time to develop interaction and attitude building. Play with your dog physically for a few seconds. Get a hold of the hair on the side of their neck and rough house with them. Mimic how another dog would hang onto your dog when playing, let go and take off running.
I am curious to see if you will try it and if you do let me know what you came up with.
Happy no food training!!!

The things you never stop working on (part one)

2010-04-19T12:46:00.000-07:00

Fronts, Finishes, Heeling, Attitude and Motivation.

Choose one or choose several, but these are the things that you should always keep on your training schedule. For today let's talk about fronts, I think that if you asked your dog what a front is he would say it means to come close and sit. For the handler the definition is different. Mine is: Dog sitting tidily with his spine straight, paying attention in the center of my body. The question is how do I transfer this very detailed skill to my dog? The answer is keep working at it. There are other variables that come into play.

Is the dog trotting towards you or cantering? When trotting the dog reaches forward with both feet to an equal distance, when cantering the dog will be on a specific lead leg. This means that one leg will reach forward further than the other. This might cause the dog to twist his body as he gets close to you throwing off his front.
The dog's focal point can make a difference. Is the dog looking at your face, your hands, or somewhere else? Generally where the eyes are looking the dog's body will follow. If the dog is looking up, in theory he will sit up straighter and have his feet underneath him when he sits. His focus will be center, providing that you are looking where you want the dog to be. If he is looking at your hands he will sit more off center closer to the hand that has his attention (usually the hand you feed more often with). He is unlikely to sit with his feet underneath him because his head will be lower and his feet will be spread further apart.
Is the dog carrying anything in his mouth. Often a dog will front differently with a dumbbell or glove in his mouth. The weight of the dumbbell may change how the dog holds his head and thus how he fronts.

Training Tips
Use a fronting clip (like a target) to help the dog come close enough
Use a front chute (two boards stood on their ends) to "mold" the dog into a straight front. The use of the chute is valuable because it increases the number of correct responses and rewards, with little help from the handler. You just stand there and let the boards do the work.

I will try to get some pictures of these two ideas and post them in the next few days.

Happy Training!!!!

Training what training

2010-04-16T08:45:00.000-07:00

I thought that running your own school would mean that I would have lots of time to train my own dogs and have a facility to do it in. I am discovering more and more that having your own school actually means that you have to take care of business first and then if you aren't too tired or if your to do list isn't too long you can spend some time with your own dogs. Lately what I do with my free time is to take the dogs on walks or swimming. It is fun to spend time with them and it also is a stress reliever for me. I have been make a conscious effort to train my dogs on a regular schedule. Gali is getting ready for Utility in the fall, so I have lots to work on there. Ribbon is learning all her foundation skills and my first goal with her is to have her ready for rally at the border collie specialty in October, which I don't think will be a problem. What I have learned from getting back into the groove is why I do this in the first place. I REALLY enjoy training my dogs. I learn something from them each time. My relationship with my dogs gives me something to be proud of. My achievements with my dogs gives me something to celebrate. My mind never stops taking in the information the dogs are telling me. Does he understand this? Are we ready for matches? What is my next step?

So I guess that having your own school has its perks, I just have to remember not to miss out on them and keep doing the things that got me here in the first place.

Welcome to my blog

2010-04-14T20:26:00.000-07:00

I will be honest I have never done this before. I could start at the beginning but instead I am going to start with tonight. It's Wednesday and I get to train Ribbon in a Mixed Skills class. This is one of my favorite classes to teach and I am discovering why so many of my students take it over and over again. In one hour we covered retrieving over the high jump, heeling, finishes, directed jumping, go-outs, sit stays and scent articles. My puppy was completely enjoying training and I didn't even notice the time going by. So, I guess I should give a big thank-you to Kelly Morrow for teaching the class so that I can have fun with my puppy.

It has been 14 years since I have had a Border Collie puppy, I guess Ribbon technically isn't a puppy now, since she is a year old now. I am thoroughly enjoying training her. She is different than my other border collies, she has a great work ethic like my other dogs, but no sense of humour when she is working. It will be interesting to see if one develops. I am a big believer that you get the dog you were meant to get. So the question is why do I need a dog like this? I can't at this stage of our relationship even picture what it will be like to walk into a ring with her and compete. But I am in for the challenges and effort it takes to get there.