Connecting with the Dots

Rest in Peace my sweet girl! Logan 3/21/98 - 1/28/12

2012-01-29T01:11:00.000-05:00

My sweet little girl lost her battle tonight. She's had a rough couple of months. I am not sure what she was battling, but it doesn't matter now. Now she can run pain free and breath easy.

she put up with just about anything

I hate winter!

She was my first dog, and of course I got her for all the wrong reasons. We went to the shelter just to "look." I had just been laid off, so obviously it was a perfect time to get a dog. She was all alone in her kennel and she was just so cute that I couldn't resist her. She and her littermates had been dumped at the animal shelter because they had come down with coccidia. Logan taught me about dogs in general and what owning a dalmatian was all about. We started a general pet obedience class together and soon moved on to agility. She was never an agility superstar - she did agility because she enjoyed being with me. Her favorite course was USDAA Jumpers! She could really fly when she wanted to - and even better no weave poles in jumpers! She always did try to entertain the crowd a little though.

She loved to run in the woods, and never met a dog she couldn't play with. She alway knew just what to do if a dog was scared or nervous about meeting other dogs. She especially loved the big dogs! We used to run into a guy walking his great dane - oh it was so entertaining to watch them play! As a TDI test dog she had to be told that she couldn't flirt with the other dogs while doing the test. She was supposed to be a neutral dog!

the original trio

She loved almost everyone - the couple of times that I remember she didn't like a person, I heeded her wisdom - especially since this usually happened in the woods while I was walking with her, Keegan and Puka alone.

If I stare at this piece of cheese hard enough - someone will give it to me!

Because of Logan I have friends I never would have met otherwise. I will miss you my sweet little girl.

Happy Birthday Steeler!!!

2011-12-10T09:50:00.000-05:00

It's hard to believe - but my puppy is 6 years old today! I'm not really sure where the years went! I think having a birthday is a good excuse to post some puppy pictures!!!

6 weeks

4 months - playing with Luke.

November already????

2011-11-13T21:40:00.000-05:00

How on earth did November get here so soon?

Steeler and I have been training the last several months. Mostly in obedience, but also some agility. Since our last update - Steeler got his second Beginner Novice leg with a 2nd place and a 195 at the Wampanoag Kennel Club in October. One of my friends got the video on her iPhone. :-) I was a little bit frazzled. I didn't think I was too nervous - but apparently I put Steeler in the car and left the house without anything else ... like cookies for my puppy???? Guess I was a little more nervous than I thought!

This run is MILES from where we were last March. I am just beyond pleased with my boy and how well he is doing.

Then in late October we had a freak snow storm here in New England that resulted in much of Massachusetts being without power for several days. Halloween was cancelled, work was no open due to the power being out. Thankfully it was not too cold during the day so the nights weren't too bad. But 5 nights of no electricity was getting to be a bit much! I hope this is not an indication of what winter is going to be like!

This weekend Steeler was entered in another CDSP trial on our home turf. I suspected that this might actually be tougher for Steeler rather than going to some other places. He is used to a certain "feel" to the building when we train and at class, and definitely the atmosphere is different at a trial. I able to squeeze in an obedience lesson on Friday and E asked me - Why are you entered in Novice C, why didn't you enter him in Open????? OPEN????? Me and Steeler? Well honestly when I entered I didn't think that his drop on recall or his go out was ready for the open ring. And I figured, any good experiences in the obedience ring at an actual trial would be a good thing. But I've been working on his drop on recall, and that is almost ready for prime time. So - just for giggles, we decided to see if we could teach him a "go out" during our lesson.

For the CDSP Open class - the last exercise is the "go out". The dog must travel half the distance of the ring and turn and sit within a 6 ft box. This is the first part of the directed jumping exercise in Utility. Steeler has been playing with this exercise for a while - purely as shaping games. So he can go out and sit in a hula hoop, and he has pretty strong targeting skills. He's done some targeting to a stantion and ring gating, but not in a really long time. So in an hour we had him going out about 20 feet or so and turning and sitting at the ring gate. What a brilliant boy! I wish I had some video of the lesson because it was a ton of fun!

So on Saturday I decided that I would do my first run in Novice C and my second run in Open A. His Novice C run was a little rough on the figure 8 - he was REALLY interested in one of the posts. But the rest of the run wasn't too bad. He was the only qualifying dog in Nov C - so we got to take home a blue ribbon! His open run was FABULOUS! He didn't get the go out - but the rest of it more than made up for not being able to do that under pressure. One of my Monday night classmates was kind enough to get it on video without telling me so I wouldn't get nervous about it.

His runs on Sunday were a little more stressy - we did Open first, and then because he was having a hard time I decided to leave him in Novice C for the last trial. In open, Steeler didn't want to go get his dumbbell for retrieve on the flat, and he didn't really want to drop so far away from me. I just went into training mode and tried to make things easy for him. In Novice C, he again had a bit of trouble with one of the posts, but otherwise had a nice run to finish up the weekend. I am super proud of my boy! He did a great job for me, and as a bonus he was quiet in his crate today during the show.

Back at home - Logan and Keegan got to spend some time with my folks this weekend. :-) Something they always enjoy. Logan's been coughing a little bit lately - so I need to call the vet on Monday.

New Obedience Title for Steeler.....

2011-09-11T21:10:00.000-04:00

What a weekend Steeler and I had! Steeler and I competed in the first CDSP Obedience trial in New England this weekend. 4 trials over 2 days! Steeler was entered in Novice B because we have Rally titles in AKC and APDT. The Novice A class is for DOGS (not handlers) that do not have any obedience or rally titles in other venues. Competitors can continue to compete in the Novice C class after they earn their title. If you qualify 10 times with scores of 185 or better you earn your Novice Championship (CD-CCH). I had a great time this weekend, and I think Steeler had fun too. He earned his CD-C in 3 straight efforts with scores of 197.5, 199, and 196.5. For the last trial I moved him to the Novice C class since he is not quite ready for the open class yet. In his Nov C class he scored a 198 - and earned High in Trial! Go Steeler!!!!! Needless to say I am still smiling when I think about how well he did this weekend.

This is the second trial!

Here is run #3

And his first Novice C run!

As you can see from the video's - CDSP is similar to AKC obedience with some changes. In Novice, the exercises are:

- heel on leash
- Figure 8 off leash
- Stand for exam
- Recall over the high jump
- Honor Stay (you choose Sit or Down for the next dogs heeling pattern)

Now I am more motivated to actually train the Open exercises more!

Past due for an update

2011-09-05T20:02:00.000-04:00

As I have been reminded recently - I am way over due for a blog update. Life has been pretty busy - between classes with Steeler and work - I don't seem to have much time for anything else.

We've finished 6 more weeks of "advanced" control unleashed classes up at Nevin's Farm and the MSPCA in Methuen. It was a ton of fun and Steeler did really well with the class. I think there are plans to maybe take the next level outside. That should be a lot of fun.

In addition to our weekly obedience class we are taking a foundations class just for fun that a friend teaches in NH on Tuesday nights. It's always good to revisit foundation behaviors.

I finally got talked into actually entering Steeler into an agility trial. Well two agility trials since they were nearby. The first trial was a CPE trial - I only entered one day, which was a good thing because the following day tropical storm Irene came through.

I am not sure I really remember much from the trial .... it was kind of a gray drizzly day. Steeler had some nice moments and he did qualify in his first level one standard course. We also entered Full House, Wildcard and Snooker. By the time we got to snooker it was POURING! And Steeler is not a dog that likes to run in the rain! Here is his standard run.

Steeler had a bit of visiting to do with the ring crew, but considering we haven't been to agility class in 8 months and his last outdoor trial was last October, I was pretty pleased with his runs.

In addition to his first CPE trial - Steeler also entered his first USDAA Trial this past weekend. Since the trial was about 7 minutes from my house Steeler sent in entries for both days .... for everything that he thought would be fun. That included Performance Speed Jumping, Standard and Gamblers on Saturday and Standard, Gamblers, Snooker, and Jumpers on Sunday. I didn't get much on video - but overall I was pleased with his runs. On Saturday Performance Speed Jumping was first and his run was a big WAHOOOO! We did have some flashes of brilliance. I tried to keep moving and not worry about fixing things since I entered just for the ring experience. He nailed his contacts, got his weave poles the second time through and didn't leave the ring without me! He definitely was a bit distracted by being outside and having so much going on around him.

After PSJ there was a lot of down time. So we walked around, watched some runs and I was able to run home and let the older two dogs out. P1 Gamblers was up next. It was (for those of you agility folks) a 1, 3, 5,7 system. Steeler needed to collect 14 points in the opening and do the gamble to Q. Which he did - with 2nd place. Standard was the last run of the day and by that point I know I was tired! I think was had some moments of working together as a team and apparently we didn't miss any of the obstacles on the course because he took 3rd place. He was over time - due to ring crew visiting and not wanting to down on the table- but again he hit all his contacts, got his weave pole entry .....

On Sunday - our Standard run was first. I walked into the ring with the intention of trying to remember to run it like I would in class. And wow! What a difference. He did have to do a little bit of visiting with the ring crew - but he dropped on the table much quicker and was generally much more focused. I got his standard run on video but didn't get anything else. (which is ok with me!) Snooker was next and Steeler derailed my plan and ran out of the ring .... I of course panicked - but he did come back. Gamblers was after that and I think I had a good plan - but again he was just a bit distracted by the ring crew and what was going on outside the ring. I wasn't quite where I wanted to be when the whistle blew and I totally muffed the gamble. Jumpers was better - not as nice as the standard run - but definitely better than snooker and gamblers. This time I got distracted and sent him over the wrong jump and then totally got confused. hey - it was the end of the day and I was tired! Here is his standard run.

Stay tuned for more happenings with Steeler in September!

VERY BAD Blogger!

2011-06-21T21:06:00.000-04:00

Well I started this blog with the hope that it would help me keep a record of Steeler's training life. I haven't been doing a very good job - that is for sure! I am not sure we have really been up to much since the National's other than our regular obedience class and a Control Unleashed Class that I have been taking up at Nevin's Farm. We are on round two of the Introduction class because there weren't enough dogs to run the Advanced class. As I am sure that many people know - The Control Unleashed class is based on Leslie McDevitt's book of the same name. I was lucky enough to attend one of her early seminar's in the Pittsburgh area a few years ago. I absolutely loved the concept - but had a lot of trouble trying to implement things on my own. So when I moved and there was a class starting near me I decided that I wanted to give it a try. I love our instructor! M is great at setting all of the dogs up for success.

Our first session was before the national and in that class there was one Golden Retriever and 3 small dogs. So Steeler did really well in that class - there wasn't much there that pushed his threshold. This time around we have another golden, a large yellow lab, a large barky sheltie, a pug, and an Aussie that seems a bit timid. The Aussie is being handled by a very experienced handler - so I am sure I don't see the issues that led to her joining the CU class. All things considered - it is a good mix of dogs for Steeler. He is doing really well with the GR - which previously would have been a huge trigger for him. He is a bit bothered by the lab, but getting better, and the barking sheltie has been great practice for us - because barking dogs while he is working have sometimes been a problem. I am sure the sheltie's owner would like him not to bark, motion is a big trigger for this dog - he wants to control all the movement!

So we just finished week five! This week we played some new games - There's a dog in your face and Mat racing. For "There's a Dog in your Face" we had some ring gates set up with dogs behind them - and then dogs on the other side with space to approach the gate. Steeler was paired with the GR - and we were the approaching dog first. Steeler did AWESOME! No reaction to the GR even when we were running towards him. We even approached at a run and stopped at the gate with no issues for either dog. Then it was Steeler's turn to be the stationary dog. His new cue for there is a dog approaching is ..... "INCOMING" We worked up to the same type of things, the GR running towards us, stopping at the gate .... No reaction what so ever other than to look at me! Now I just need to work on translating that to "the real world". Steeler also got to work with the Sheltie - again with no issues at all. I was very very pleased!

As far as Mat Racing goes - this game makes me a little bit nervous because all the dogs are racing to their mats from across the room - and there is lots more motion, dogs moving ahead of us and chance for leashes to slip. But all the dogs did really well. We started all on the same side, then moved to every other on opposite sides of the room, and then some moving and some playing "look at that" on their mats. It was a very active class! But Steeler did really well as did all the dogs.

Now just for some fun - here is some video of Steeler trying to find a good place to hide his bone. At one point he actually jumps into the closet with it.

Agility at the DCA national specialty.

2011-05-19T12:00:00.001-04:00

The plan for agility day .... get up and be out the door by 6:30. I am so not a morning person any more. However, we did manage to get out the door and over to Dunkin Donuts for coffee and a snack, and be on the highway by 6:40 I think. We got to the agility site around 7:15 in plenty of time for the first briefing and walk thru. Steeler had to be measured as well. This time he measured right at 22 inches so at least I didn't have to move him to the 24 inch class. Although, looking at the photos from the trial I really had no reason to be concerned. I am probably going to order some prints so I will have to see if I can scan them and post them.

First up for the day was Novice FAST. A general explanation of FAST is that you have a set amount of time and you make up your own course to accumulate points and somewhere in your plan you have to do a series of obstacles from behind a line before you run out of time. In Novice (20 inch) you have 32 seconds and you need 51 total points to qualify. You have to get the "send" and that gives you bonus points as well. So basically - for this course - Steeler needed to get 21 points and the Send. Well, he got 63 points in 26+ seconds! That got him a second place! Missed first place by a point. :-)

Next ... a lot of waiting. :-) We watched open FAST, Excellent FAST, Excellent Standard and Open Standard, and then we got to run again! We had a few handling errors in our Standard run - but overall I was pretty happy with our efforts. Our last class of the day was Novice Jumpers with Weaves. Steeler had a great run for another 2nd place and a Q.

All things considered - I was very very pleased with the spotty boy's performance in obedience and agility! Now we just took it easy for the next several days and played "kennel help" for my friend Dawn. There was the welcome party, the top twenty and the awards banquet to go to during the week.

I also managed to take some time to visit my great Auntie Berna in Cincinnati which was fun. I took Steeler with me and she had to knock on all her neighbors doors and introduce me and Steeler. I can only hope that when I am almost 90 years old I am in half the shape that she is in!

Wednesday night after the banquet we got most of the car packed up so we could leave bright and early Thursday morning. On Thursday we drove from Ft Mitchell to Afton NY to see one of Dawn's puppy owners. We got to NY around 4:30 and the dogs got to stretch their legs a bit. We got to sit down and visit and have dinner and then we let the dogs play. Steeler got to take turns playing with both puppies (8 months old) and he got to RUN. I don't think he has had much of a chance to do that since we moved in December. He definitely needed it. We got on the road again around 7:30 and the dogs were all silent for the next 4+ hours that it took to get home.

Dalmatian National continued ....

2011-05-18T22:27:00.000-04:00

..... OK so here is the rest of the National story. I picked up Steeler's number for Beginner Novice. And yes I was my normal neurotic self. LOL. I am pretty sure that I watched 7 dogs compete before me but when I entered the ring I had no idea what the heeling patter was! In Beginner Novice the heeling pattern is done with Rally signs. His heeling wasn't pretty - or at least not as pretty as it can be when I am not nervous, but it was TONS better than it was the first time we entered the obedience ring. It got a little bit better with the figure 8 exercise as well. I think I need to work on my attitude entering the ring - when we are just practicing things seem SO much easier! Steeler's sit for exam, and his stay were solid! His recall however - well he came, with a LOT more speed than usual. I was pretty sure that I had NQ'd here - not that I was worried about whether we qualified or not. But since that was the last exercise I was on my way out of the building to spend some time outside with Steeler when everyone asked where I was going .... "you qualified ... come back!" Who knew! Out of 9 dogs that were entered and the 8 that competed, there were three qualifying runs. Steeler came in third with a 181. I entered the ring knowing that I wasn't there to worry about a great score - I was going to tell Steeler to sit if he needed the reminder, and I was going to double command if I needed to. So I know I lost a lot of points for things like that.

We were also entered in Advanced Rally, which didn't go so well. We pretty much went from the obedience ring to the Rally ring. Steeler got his nose stuck on a spot on the floor. So I ended up walking him out of the ring. So many people came after me to tell me it wasn't his fault that someone's dog had pee'd in the ring. Which was fine- I wasn't mad at Steeler. Part of our new program is keeping things as black and white as we can. If he chooses not to work with me (and clearly dog pee at that moment in time was more interesting than a stressed out Momma) that is fine but he is not going to get rewarded for it.

After all my obedience and rally stuff was finished we hung out and watched and chatted with friends for a while. Then we headed over to the agility venue for run thru's. The training club has hosted run thru's the night before our agility trials when the nationals have been in KY. It's a nice facility, indoors and air conditioned! There is not a lot of shade around - but we were lucky to have cool days so it was easy to crate out of the car for the run thru's. We hadn't been to agility class in a month, and the last set of run thrus that we went to were not all that successful. So I wasn't really sure what to expect. I decided that since there was no food in the ring (toys were ok) I would start away from the ring gate for my first run. I was sufficiently nervous that I decided to leave Steeler on leash and ask him to do the dog walk and offer him the toy to see if he wanted to play. WELL - he did want to play! OMG!!!! :-) So I took the leash off and we did our own thing and played tug with his stuffed sheepie. Our second run I was more confident and we started at an actual start line near the ring gate. Steeler was great!!! Of course I had to pick up stuffing along the way - but just the fact that he was willing to play with me in a new place with lots of people around - well that is awesome!!!! After our runs Dawn and I packed up the pups and headed back towards the hotel, picking up dinner along the way. I think both of us were exhausted, and Saturday was going to be an early morning!

The Dalmatian Club of America National

2011-05-18T07:51:00.000-04:00

So..... D and I left for Fort Mitchel KY later than planned with less stuff than planned. We had planned to take the car top carrier to put extra crates for the room and stuff in it, but we were driving into tornado warnings and bad storms and D's jeep didn't have the cross bars that my carried needed to attach properly. To say that our departure was a bit chaotic might be an understatement. I didn't help matters by being later than I thought I would be. So we got a late start and we were both a bit stressed out. We did manage to get all three dogs in the car and all the stuff we HAD to have.

We made it to Scranton PA before deciding to find a hotel for the night. We had pulled off the highway to get gas, and the attendant said that we were driving into tornado warnings. FUN! So we stayed at a Days Inn. And remember, there is no more pulling in Steeler's world. EVER, and that means in a downpour there is still no pulling. I don't think either one of us were happy with how wet we got. And then we had to do it all over in the morning. We had a few hours of tough weather driving wise, but once we got through the remainder of the storms the roads were fine.

We pulled into the Drawbridge Inn sometime between 5 and 6. Checked in, moved the crates around, and got the dogs in. I managed to get in touch with Lisa and join her group for dinner. I got to hear about the road trial and had a great time.

Got to bed around 10 PM, and didn't set the alarm since I had decided last week that I wasn't going to show Steeler in Obedience. So I didn't need to be at the show ring at 8AM.

So we got up, went to breakfast and then Steeler and I wandered over to see what was going on in the obedience rings. Steeler settled pretty well and we hung out and watched for a while, exchanged some text messages with E and eventually ended up on the phone talking. After some discussion about the pros and cons we decided that if I felt like I wanted to I should go ahead and pick up Steeler's number for beginner novice.

May???? How did that happen???

2011-05-17T19:49:00.000-04:00

Oh my! How on earth did it go from January to MAY!!! LOL Well I must say I thought I was back to my training blog in January, but that was apparently not the case. Now that winter has come and gone, the house is rented, and my stress level has finally decreased - things are finally calming down. Steeler and I have been working on agility and obedience between January and the end of March, with the goal of competing at the Dalmatian National in Fort Michell, KY at the end of April. Well as a warm up, I entered Steeler in a Beginner Novice run at a real actual trial. UGH! What a disaster. I don't know what the problem was, my nerves? Steeler's anxiety? But he literally pulled me from sign to sign on the heeling pattern. We do a lot of Rally. The sign's really should not have been interesting to him at all, or so I thought. There is always something to learn as Steeler has reminded me time and time again. So after viewing the video, and a lesson with my obedience instructor (E), we devised a plan. This is going to sound so incredibly simple, but really it's not. In the discussion with E - she reminded me that really the last couple of years we haven't really been doing a lot of training, yes we go to class every week, we occasionally go to run thru's or show n go's but really how much time have I spent training outside that environment. The reality is that really I wasn't doing any real consistent training.

I don't really remember how we arrived at this idea - but it was a relatively simple thing - no more pulling on leash EVER!!!! No more getting cookies for just sitting around, no more Mom being a Pez dispenser. It sounds like such a simple thing. But really it was and is HARD!!!! But what a change. I worked hard for the month between our decision to give this a try and the national. 25 out of the next 30 days there had to be some sort of training if I were to consider showing at the national. We dropped just about everything else as far as training went. No working on heeling or retrieves etc. Everywhere we went, you will walk right here with me .... you don't get to pull me to the next bush to pee. You don't get to pull me over to friends to say hi. Those things became "real life rewards".

Steeler didn't really think this change in "The Rules" was such a good thing at first. We were entered in an APDT Rally trial the following weekend, and after some discussion I decided that I was going to go and give Steeler the opportunity to decided whether he wanted to work with me or not. The Saturday trial was not pretty! We walked into the ring, got the slowest sit ever, and when I asked him if he was ready he wouldn't even look at me. LOL oh that was hard. I said thank you to the judge and walked out of the ring and put Steeler in his crate, no words and he had to walk through a crowd of kids saying LOOK IT'S a Dalmatian. We did that twice on Saturday. Sunday was a bit better, I got more attention and was able to do a couple of signs and have a big party in the ring.

The following weekend we were again entered in another APDT Rally trial. Thankfully close to home. Huge change in attitude during the week. We were able to do the whole courses with lots of reinforcement for choosing to work in the ring. So after three plus weeks of working I was still undecided about whether to even bother going to the National. E didn't think that we were actually ready to go in the ring just yet, but at the very least, it would be a week where I could concentrate on working on our program. So we went......

To be continued!

I'm Back!

2011-01-26T20:48:00.000-05:00

So the move is over. I still have a garage full of stuff to unpack and find a home for, but other than that things are settling down. Logan is still a little bit stressed, but hopefully will start to feel better soon. Meanwhile, amidst the chaos of moving Steeler has been catching most of his obedience classes and a few of his agility classes. We were at least able to catch run thrus a couple of weekends ago at the barn. We also took a ride out to Fitchburg to catch a show and meet my friend Dawn's new puppy.

I also signed him up for a class at Nevins Farm. It's just a "Beyond Manners" class on Saturday afternoons, but I thought it would be good to expose him to some new environments and new dogs. We had our first class last Saturday, and while it was pretty basic stuff it was good for Steeler. There were two Swiss Mountain Dogs and a Maltese in the class with us. We worked on loose leash walking, recalls with distractions, and the Look at That game. We also worked on a new trick. I've never actually taught Steeler how to "wave" or "shake" so that is what I was going to work on. I started with trying to shape just lifting a paw up. It's tough! Steeler is very quick and if I am not quick he starts going into his repertoire of tricks to try to get me to click. I really need to put some more of his tricks on cue!

I also took Logan and Steeler snow shoeing and Steeler got to meet my friend's year old whippet, Poppy for the first time. Steeler had a blast! He was very good with Ms. Poppy, even with her jumping on his head several times. However I think that Logan's snow shoeing days are over. At least when there is a lot of snow. It's hard for me to believe that she is going to be 13 soon.

We are also starting to think about going to the DCA National. I was debating signing him up for his first Novice Obedience run, but instead I think we are going to do pre-novice, and advanced rally. And agility of course! Steeler and I will go with my friend Dawn and her dogs. I can't wait!

Sunday Agility Match

2010-12-15T07:26:00.000-05:00

Life is crazy as usual - but on Sunday I took a break from all the packing and took Steeler to an agility match at the barn. He did pretty well! I am working on conquering some of my superstitions. First - he ran NAKED! And second I actually had him jump 24 inches first. I am not sure what I was thinking - but we did 4 runs! 2 at 24 in and 2 at 20 inches. One thing I really need to remember - if I leave the inhaler in the car in the winter - it doesn't work so well when I need to use it. Oh and for the first time I didn't walk in and automatically walk the novice course! And I didn't have them close the gates completely. So I think we are making lots of improvement! Or should I say that I am making lots of improvement! :-) We worked on the open course which had lots of wraps! I left the audio in for your entertainment. :-) Now we are going to start working on SPEED! Oh boy!

FIVE!!!!

2010-12-11T18:44:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it but Steeler Dealer Puppy Dog is FIVE years old already! Where does the time go? Here's the birthday card Gramma LaDonna sent!

This seems to describe my life at the moment.

2010-11-21T09:43:00.001-05:00

Well at least the packing part. I am sure I could add to it. :-)

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/11/dogs-dont-understand-basic-concepts.html

What a weekend

2010-10-24T18:54:00.000-04:00

Well I finally did it .... a classmate goaded and taunted me until I actually entered Steeler in an agility trial. :-) So this weekend Steeler competed in his first "real" AKC trial in Falmouth at the Cape Cod Kennel club show. It was a three day trial and I decided that if I was going to enter I might as well enter everything. Friday was Novice FAST, Novice Standard and then Novice Jumpers. I think we finished around 6PM and it was a COLD and windy day. Steeler had some nice moments in all of his classes, but did a LOT of visiting with the ring crew in his FAST and Standard runs. He did however Q in Jumpers with weaves. YAY! I was exhausted by the time we got home! Saturday was another long day, but it wasn't quite as cold and windy. Today we actually were finished by 3 PM I think since we just had Standard and Jumpers. Friday's video's are below - but if you want to check out the rest of the weekend - check out our youtube channel.

novice standard -

novice FAST -

And here is Novice Jumpers with weaves for a Q and second place

All things considered - we had a great weekend! Steeler Q'd twice in Jumpers with a second and third place, he didn't leave the ring, he didn't get snarky with any dogs and he was good hanging out ringside. Now we just need to work on visiting the ring crew.

Where does the time go?????

2010-09-13T20:05:00.000-04:00

Just where does the time go? Since my last post Steeler and I have been busy. We had an APDT Rally trial at the end of August. Steeler was entered in his first Level 2 run - which is off leash. I entered him in a level 1 and level 2 run that morning. Neither run was very pretty. :-) He's never been up to All Dogs Gym before and while he did great hanging out in his crate and hanging out ringside with me - when he got in the ring he was totally distracted! ARGH!!!! The level one run was first and is on leash - so I wasn't sure what I should do for his level 2 run. Well his level two run wasn't pretty either and I ended up putting the leash back on so he couldn't practice things that I don't want him to do - but he didn't leave the ring and we had a few moments of being connected. In thinking about it and talking about Steeler's propensity to be distracted in new environments with some training friends - we have a new training plan. :-) Poor Steeler - I keep changing the rules of the game with him. More on that in the coming days. We have a couple more weeks of working on things before we are entered in another APDT rally trial - 2 level 1 runs and 2 level 2 runs .... sometimes I think I am completely nuts - but the only way I know how to work through some of the anxiety related behavior is to actually enter trials and deal with the anxiety. I really think that my anxiety levels are much lower than they used to be, but with all the practice that Steeler and I have had where we enter the ring and disconnect because of my nerves and his concern about the environment around him it is just going to take some time for us to find a way to remain connected in the ring.

We've been working on some agility stuff too. We've been doing some of the things that we explored at the Julie Daniels Seminar, and we are working on a new way to teach rear crosses after our instructor went to a seminar a few weekends ago.

Just for kicks I took Steeler Lure Coursing on Sunday. What a hoot! He had a blast! He lost the lure on the first run - the grass/weeds were kind of long, but his second run he had that game figured out! Here's some video for you entertainment.

Notes from the Julie Daniels Seminar

2010-08-27T09:56:00.001-04:00

Julie Daniels Seminar – Aug 21 – 22, 2010

Your dog needs you to:

Show up!
Stay Connected
Inspire your dog (criticism is not helpful)
Keep your dog safe: being happy in the face of the unexpected is critical. For example: if a dog comes into your space, don’t scream at the dog – start feeding your dog – Keep the other dog away if you have to.

Think about your personal energy: ie it does not create good energy to go thru a crowd telling everyone to move their dog because your dog is scared, aggressive etc.

For dogs that won’t eat: continue to offer food for 2 seconds. Then put back in bait bag/pocket. The day will come that they will take food – so don’t stop offering.

When not working your dog – put them away. If you can not stay connected …. Put them away. DO NOT put them in a down stay or disengage and go move equipment etc.

First exercise – 1 dog 2 people. Building drive to play or get reward. So with Steeler – hand in collar – do you want this toy … do ya … really ….. GET IT. 2^nd person plays with dog the same way. You can use this game whenever you have a helper …. “oh my gosh she’s got your toy … wheres’ she going with that toy … then release dog to get toy. You can also do things like put a jump in between you and helper. Jump become incidental (and therefore the cost of doing the jump is low)

Cookie Jar

- use glass jars for big dogs (except on concrete) - kind of like a food tube. Want something that will not allow dog to self reward.

- You want the dog to decide to come to work. Let the dog sniff, paw, etc – do not call dog away.

- Work needs to be EASY when beginning.

- Make dog part of process (Let dog think things thru???)

- Cookie jar goes before the obstacle that you want to reward.

- All cookies are unpredictable

- Feed from the jar, This will make the cookies in your hand/bait bag unreliable!

- ALWAYS HAVE LEFT OVERS!!!!

Send exercises

Two jump exercise:

First time – stand in between 2 jumps leg/hand closest to dog … send straight over jump

Second time – stand in between 2 jumps as before this time you want to send dog to jump behind you. You step sideways away from dog, picking up dog with furthest arm to turn and send dog behind you. (get out of the dogs path)

Tunnel games - can you send dog into tunnel with a handful of cookies in the sending hand.

Motivation: motivation = Rewards – cost

- most of us know how to increase rewards …. But how can we lower the cost. Remember to work one issue at a time! For example – do you need to work on your start line stay at the same time you are trying to work a new skill or set of obstacles. Remember – it is the DOGS perception that counts.

- Julie like to work on “go” before working on “stay”

- Watch out for unconscious patterns.

- Remember to reward even if you are not happy with performance – do not deprive your dog of a reward because of lack of enthusiasm

- Or another example – dog leaves to check things out – first reward when dog comes back no matter what! Work up to the dog coming back for a chance to earn a reward. (ie dog comes back and you ask for known behavior and then reward)

Things that are part of cost – Difficulty, Duration, Joy or Pleasure (handler derived), Drive (or desire)

Cookies (or toys) should be delivered in the ring – not outside. You want the GOOD STUFF to be inside the ring rather than outside. Stuff happening inside the ring should be better than the stuff outside the ring.

Reinforcers:

- can be lots of things – food, toys, touch, play. And don’t forget about the power of relief of pressure.

- You should know your dogs reinforcement hierarchy. What does he value most? Least?

- Reinforcement hierarchy is context specific

- Remember ALL learning ins contextual.

- For dogs that are really stressed in the ring, relief can be your best friend. Start with entering ring – Oh my gosh you are brilliant! What a good puppy you are – C/T and run out of ring.

Be creative about variables.

Somethings to think about

- Orientation (of handler, dog, obstacle)

- See saw example – change pivot point by duct taping paper weight underneath to change pivot point

o Put cookie sheet under to change noise

Possibly one of my favorite quotes from JD (who heard it in a psych class)

“You can’t help anyone unless you accept their premise as valid”

- you need to accept your dogs starting point and work from there.

Games to play ….

- weave poles: showed us a method using ex-pens

- 2 rules Stay on your own side, and only click when dog is going away from you

Noise game – build a tower using dog bowls, soup cans – pay dog for knocking it down.

See Saw games –

- wobble board and balance games

- drag dog around on bed

- see saw between 2 tables

- see saw backwards so dog has to use paws to pull down to table

- play push back game to increase desire to be on the board – when dog is pushing and fighting to stay on the board dog is ready to run down. (train contact behavior separately)

As far as contacts go – JD first establishes the yellow zone as a place of many many cookies. At first this is solely the responsibility of the handler

Raising Criteria

Remember the three D’s – Duration, Distance, Distraction

- can raise criteria when at least 75% reps are correct

- or another way to look at it … 75% are correct, 10% are excellent, no more than 25% are incorrect.

Example: Target Stick Training

- at first only a direct touch to the hand would be incorrect (not reinforcable)

- then the bottom 25% of the stick would not be reinforceable … etc

When shaping something and you have a GREAT step one and you take too big a step 2 – go back to step one! You can shape failure just as easily as you can shape success.

Jackpots – Differential Reinforcement for Excellence (for the science geeks)

Rough rule of thumb – jackpots should happen about 1/10^th the time for 10X as many treats. (not really a hard and fast rule)

Oh boy! Tomorrow is Saturday.....

2010-08-20T11:00:00.000-04:00

....and that means that Steeler and I will be attending the Julie Daniels Seminar down in RI at K9 Connection. I didn't think that I was that nervous about it .... but I was wrong! :-) I am sure it will be fine and lots of fun. I know there will be at least a couple of people there that I know - so know I will be able to relax and have fun with the spotty dog.

JULIE DANIELS!

Speed’em Up Seminar

Emphasis on motivational games and handling techniques to bring out SPEED, DRIVE and CONFIDENCE!!

Topics Covered:

How to help the dog who is too serious

Shaping for DEMAND on the obstacles

Learn how to inspire your dog

REAL help on how to "lighten up!"

How to use differential reinforcement, clickers and jackpots

Learn to increase your yards/second to qualify and/or get more MACH points.

Plenty of individual help! A lot to do and learn, even without a dog!

Julie is a top agility competitor both nationally and internationally. She and her dogs have earned multiple trophies and medals at the IFCS World Agility Championships and is an award winning author of agility books and instructional dvds.

Busy Saturday for Steeler!

2010-08-15T21:20:00.000-04:00

Saturday was a busy day for the Steeler pup! First we met Ann and Matteo at PetsMart. Ann is dog sitting for Matteo a Lagotto Romagnolo. The store was Busy Busy Busy!!!! While we were there the puppy class got out and paraded by Steeler. And then there were the adolescent dogs that were there for the next class ... Lots of dog traffic and barking ... and lots of people too. Steeler did GREAT! Totally able to hang onto his brain and function. No snarking at any dogs that got close enough to stick their nose in his butt ... and the puppies were no big deal.

Then we went to a park in Braintree just down the street from the store. It has trails in the woods and a paved bike trail/walking trail. It was a really nice place to take the dogs for a walk. We ran into a couple of dogs - but at a distance. Lots of runners and bikers though. Again - Steeler was AWESOME! He only barked a bit at a dog that was tied to a tree while we were talking to her owner. I was hoping for a spot where the dogs could swim - but the water looked really mucky.

Then we went to Ann's for lunch ... first we let Steeler and Matteo play in the back yard for a few minutes. I only had one tense moment when the play got a little more rambunctious than I was comfortable with and Steeler had to tell Matteo to take it easy. Took the dogs inside where they settled while we had lunch. Even spent some time working on Steeler settling in a crate. :-)

THEN - we went to see the horses. Steeler has decided that horse are really not a big deal any more. Even the two horses that were loose (well one horse and one pony) for a while were ok.

Steeler was exhausted last night! Here's a clip from our visit to the barn!

Video!

2010-08-14T19:01:00.000-04:00

Here is some video from the agility match in July!

Crazy week!

2010-07-24T21:52:00.000-04:00

It's been a crazy kind of week. First the speedometer on the van died again on my way home last Saturday night. That scrapped my plans for Sunday that I had been looking forward to. So I dropped the van off at Sullivan Tire near work Monday morning to have them take a look. I was really hoping that it would be a matter of some loose wires since I knew that the computer was going to need to be replaced. Well Monday they called and said that everything going on was tied to the computer and there wasn't anything they could do. The car had to go visit the dealer. UGH! That was going to be difficult enough since when the speedometer dies the car goes into Safety Mode and it won't go any faster than 35 miles an hour. That means no highway driving ... and the nearest dealer was at least 30 minutes away on the highway. So obviously this was not making me happy. I go to pick up the car and see a note about the exhaust leaking. Ummmm ... you guys were supposed to have replaced the exhaust in May - why is it leaking????? So the tech goes out and crawls under my car again - guess what THEY NEVER REPLACED IT! On one hand I am horrified, but on the other - since I decided that I really just needed a more reliable vehicle I am kind of glad that they did not replace it. Now I will get that money back. So after much debate I ended up buying a 2008 Forester. It sure is nice to be able to go faster than 35 mph. All the stuff that was in the van is now piled in the entry way so I have a bit of organizing and cleaning to do.

We never made obedience class last week but we did make it to agility class on Wednesday night. We were working on "go outs" and Steeler did really well. I really need to find the battery charger for the camera so I can go back to getting some video!

Today we went down to Rhode Island for an agility Match. Steeler did really well. We got there about 2:30ish and hung out for a while with Lisa and Bob. Met Kelly who also trains with Catie. I get pretty stressed out about Steeler's behavior sometimes and Lisa was there to remind me that he is just a normal dog. But I still asked Lisa and Bob to stand at either ring entrance just in case! His first run was pretty distracted. He really needs to check out the environment in new places. But he is definitely getting a bit better about that. He didn't try to leave the ring but he did have to say hi to the ring crew. I was able to get him back and working. Then his second and third runs were GREAT! No visiting the ring crew or checking out other stuff. Lisa was kind enough to video - so hopefully I will get those this week. Steeler is now napping on the bed. Tomorrow is going to be cleaning day. (YUCK!)

Agility Night

2010-07-14T22:37:00.000-04:00

Tonight Steeler went to agility class but didn't get to run. I don't want to take any chances with that left foot. He still had a good time. We went early to help set up and then hung out and did our own thing during the obedience for agility class, then only one person showed up for the 7 PM class - so Steeler got to work on watching the golden retriever run. That was good for him because he sometimes doesn't care for goldens. Then we watched a bit of our class and steeler worked on just chillin' out and hanging with the crowd. He's decided that one of the Papillons is just the cutest thing! He was wagging his tail and trying to get her to play with him. It was really cute. I really do LOVE how he just loves EVERYONE. After not seeing them for a week he just had to greet everyone - hopefully that won't translate to greeting the ring crew and judge when we trial. I am not really sure I should have had him at the barn - so he got a foot bath when we got home. He is not thrilled about that - but did jump into the tub on his own! :-) And now to get some sleep!

"Crash"

2010-07-13T21:26:00.000-04:00

Steeler was given a new nickname Monday night at obedience class. His buddies are now calling him "Crash"

I can't wait till his stitches come out! We did go to obedience class last night though. We mostly just worked on some heeling, recalls and Stays. He still has a little bit of trouble with one 8 month old puppy in the class - but he is getting better and better every week. So it was a good class for not putting to much stress on his left front leg. The other incisions look great ... but that left front he definitely did a number on. Poor boy. On top of that he is ITCHY ITCHY. *sigh* I am guessing that the kibble I tried for the week I was gone is the culprit ..., or maybe a delayed stress reaction? At the moment he is crashed out next to me though and not chewing on his feet anymore. Hopefully going back on raw will get the itchies back under control. For the past couple of months we had been doing a really strict no grain, no dairy and no root veggies diet and his feet were doing GREAT! The kibble was no grain - but one I hadn't used before.

On Sunday we were up in Westford at the agility trial to watch some friends compete. Steeler was an awesome boy! He made a couple of new friends, and didn't react much to the ridgeback that lunged at him - he just looked at me .... "Did you see that? Where's my cookie!" It was great to see old friends that I haven't seen in a while! Steeler was even polite to a friends 5 month old puppy! What a good dog!

Tomorrow night is agility class .... and I think Steeler needs another week to heel before we are doing a lot of running and jumping. *sigh* I will probably go help set up and then work him in the obedience for agility class - that won't be too taxing for him. Thursday there is nothing on the calender and then Friday we are going to a Rally Training party. And then I will have survived the week at work. :-)

Bad Blogger!

2010-07-10T19:33:00.000-04:00

WOW - the end of March was my last post. I guess things kind of got away from me.

Steeler has been doing pretty well the last few weeks in agility and obedience class. I'm sure I have lots of video of various activities. Check out for his latest activities. I actually took a week off and went to the beach with my folks, and my sisters family. For the first time ever I boarded Steeler. Poor Steeler - he is officially a serious mamma's boy. He ended up going through a glass plate in a screen door less than 20 min after I left him. He ended up with a trip to the emergency room and stitches in 4 spots. The first 48 hours were kind of rough for him - but he got better every day and Katrin took excellent care of him. For the most part he got along with the 3 resident dogs as well which made me very happy.

Logan got to stay with my friends Ann and Paul and I think she wants to go back! She got to go for a walk in the woods every day with Nico and Brandy and basically took over the furniture at their house. I think she is officially going deaf though. She didn't hear me come through the gate or talking to her when I picked her up. She definitely was not going to let me leave their house with out her though.

Keegan stayed with Brian who always takes great care of him when I go away. I am sure he was happy to have some time away from the other two and some undivided attention.

It is HOT back here at home! It was so nice at the beach! Hopefully I will be back to getting some video soon! steeler is out of commission for a little bit longer - so probably no agility this coming week.

Steeler meets his match

2010-03-27T10:07:00.000-04:00

After Wednesday's agility class Steeler got to play with Trixie. Keegan will sometimes play with Steeler - but he can't really keep up with him and Logan wants nothing to do with the chase me game. BUT Trixie .... LOL she can keep up with him and give him a run for his money.

Noseworks - training party

2010-03-14T11:56:00.000-04:00

On Friday we got together with Scott and a bunch of classmates to work on some noseworks stuff. We did the first two runs with food and scent in the box, then the remaining runs were scent only in the box. This was the first time Steeler had done "scent only". He's such a good boy! He didn't seem to have much trouble making the transition from food + scent to scent only. I totally mucked up his last run though - oh well....

Wednesday Agility class

2010-03-14T11:27:00.000-04:00

Last weeks agility class went pretty well, though Steeler was a bit distracted this week. Apparently people hanging out behind the tunnel was just too inviting this week. Everyone was good though and just ignored him. No attention for the spotty boy when he is supposed to be playing with his Mom! Class was also a bit louder than usual - not sure if that really bothered him or not. A couple of times I thought he was a bit concerned by Cheyenne barking. I was really happy with his weave poles this week! He seemed to have more enthusiasm this week than in the past couple of months. I think there were also several places were I could have given him a cookie and I would have a more focus. Oh well - can't do much about that now. Just try to be more aware in the future.

Yup - definitely needed more cookies! Bad Handler!

second time thru....

Last exercise ...

Bad Dog?

2010-03-10T22:42:00.000-05:00

Ok - really I have only myself to blame here ....

Left my chicken in the crock pot on the counter when I took Steeler to agility class. Left Keegan in the dining room behind the baby gate. Any guesses on where this is going? LOL Keegan was NOT behind the baby gate when I got home. And my chicken was NOT in the crock pot! *sigh* At least he didn't break the crock pot this time.

Catching up ...

2010-03-06T22:38:00.000-05:00

So behind again ... sigh. Oh well. Here is some video from noseworks class number 6. Unfortunately I don't think we are going to do the next session as I already know that I would miss two classes out of the six. We'll continue to do some work at home and with friends though.

Other stuff that has been going on -

we did an obedience show n go on Sunday last week, Steeler had two novice runs that went pretty well. The only exception being when I lost his focus during the first run. In watching the video and talking to E about the runs - I think Steeler does not find our targeting game as much fun as I thought he did. We talked about some other ways to reward between exercises as well. Obedience class is going pretty well. Last Monday there were puppies around outside the ring while we were working on heeling. Steeler isn't too sure what he thinks about puppies and used to bark at them. Outside the ring this week was a newfie puppy (already weighs more than Steeler!) and a 8 or 10 week old Aussie puppy in the owners lap. Steeler was able to heel towards the puppies and then turn around and heel in the other direction without a backward glance! YAY! I think we got probably within 5 feet or so of the puppies - I wasn't really paying attention to the dogs - I was focused on Steeler and what we were doing because I trust E to not send us over what Steeler can handle. Steeler and I can do great things when I can focus on him and the job at hand rather than trying to scan the environment for problems. And I am learning - that focusing on Steeler and our activities - Steeler doesn't even see the other distractions that I used to obsess over. Here's one of his runs. We still have a few things to work on, like getting into the ring with the long line not so tangled.

On Wednesday Steeler had a great agility class - but I forgot the camera! And now I can't remember at all what we worked on. I know it was short sequences again .... but I can't for the life of me remember what specific skill we were working on! I think my brain is full.

Today we went to the barn for an agility match. Steeler had three runs. The first two at 20 inches and the third at 24. Laurie was there with our old classmate Solo the Briard, and her husband was nice enough to video for me! (Thanks Dave!!) Steeler's first run was ok. Not great but not horrible. He got distracted after the teeter by something that must have smelled really good! I probably didn't react quickly enough to Steeler deserting me. But I did get him back and working.

I think I must have worked out what ever nerves I had during the first run because his next two runs were much better I thought.

For his third run I had Lisa and Trixie hang out in the ring. I really need (in my mind) to work on things that I think are distracting. So since Steeler likes Trixi and I don't worry about what MIGHT happen with her I decided to start with pretending that they were hanging out near the ring. Lisa is great because she does exactly what you ask her to! So we will work up to having Trix moving and work on maintaining focus! He is clearly not bothered in the slightest by Trixie just hanging out which makes me very happy! :-) Steeler has made so much progress in the last 9 months since we started class with Catie! I was so happy with the spotty boy today!

Agility Class

2010-02-28T22:10:00.000-05:00

Once again I am falling behind. Last week we had Obedience class, two agility classes (Tuesday and Wednesday) - one a make up class from a snow storm, noseworks class, and today the obedience show n go. I am exhausted.

The last few weeks I have felt like I was really struggling with Steeler's attention and focus in agility class. In thinking about it (obsessing about it?) I realized that the nights that I felt like I was really struggling (video here if you really want to see how bad it was) I had brought Steeler's dinner to class with me. My thought was that since dinner of ground beef and veggies was VERY reinforcing to him - I could start building some speed and drive from him. Unfortunately I think it sent his poor spotty brain into overload and he just couldn't focus at all. *sigh* Some day I will remember not to up the criteria so much at once. If he can't practice obedience stuff at home around his full food bowl with out loosing his brain - why should it be any different at agility class! So after Tuesday's class I felt very discouraged until I had that epiphany and on Wednesday I did not bring his dinner with us to class. It was in the car, but not in the building. This helped! Wednesday we worked on threadles - so we were doing a bunch of drill type exercises. I worked on making sure we were connected getting to and from the start line and paid him for his attention - and he was great! No running off and he was very attentive! Yippee! Meanwhile - we will work up to those distractions at home first before bringing them to the barn! Here is some video of what we worked on.

Noseworks - class number 5

2010-02-21T17:49:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a busy day for Steeler and I - first in the morning we attended a Seminar - more about that later. Then we drove up to MasterPeace for our 5th Noseworks class. This week the dogs were introduced to their first odor - Birch. The odor is introduced by scenting a few q-tips with sweet birch essential oil, and the Q-tips are placed under the food in the box. We started with a simple box drill in a straight line on leash. Then we separated out the boxes around the room and let the dogs search off leash. Odor recognition is the first skill that the dog has to demonstrate if you want to participate in a National Association of Canine Scent Work (NACSW) trial. The odor recognition test (or ORT) consists of a box drill type exercise with no distractions. There must be between 12 and 20 boxes at least 48 inches apart. Click here for more information.

Wednesday Agility class - Fun with Rear Crosses

2010-02-19T22:40:00.000-05:00

Class tonight focused on 4 short courses that used rear crosses in various places. Our first run was definitely our best! I've decided to start bringing the video camera again - and Andi was kind enough to video for me. I got the first three exercises on video.

Things went down hill fast when I decided that to build some drive over the teeter I was going to have his dinner as a target. That was a big mistake! We aren't quite ready for that level of distraction just yet. And I probably didn't increase the rate of reinforcement for Steeler enough to keep him from running to check the spot out. However - I did get a lot of drive coming out of the tunnel. :-) I was going to edit the next two clips - but I didn't have the patience - so you can see just how bad it was.

On the second exercise we changed the location of one of the rear crosses and added the teeter and jump after the table. One thing that I did work on successfully was having Steeler jump that last jump with Trixie (who he adores and really wants to play with) maybe 10 feet away just hanging out being a dog. Steeler paid little or no attention to her! After we have some success with that I want to start having Lisa play with Trixie a little bit and work on keeping Steeler's attention.

With the third exercise the opening sequence was the same - but then we added a turn to the weave poles. Another thing that I want to spend some time working on is building some speed through the weaves. At home and in a couple of other places I have nice speed but not yet at the barn. Clearly I need to put more time into rewarding speed thru the poles at the barn.

We didn't get the fourth run on video - I think we were all running out of steam. This exercise was jump - weave - jump (rear cross) jump - tunnel. The tunnel entry was a tough one - we had send the dogs over the jump towards the far end of the tunnel and pull them back to us to go thru the end closest to us - basically rear crossing the tunnel entry. One thing that Catie pointed out at the end of class is that I wasn't finishing with Steeler ... I was giving up just before the course was finished. Maybe giving up isn't quite the right words - but I was stopping or slowing my forward momentum and still expecting Steeler to go full speed ahead. Something else to work on! :-)

noseworks - class number 4

2010-02-14T19:45:00.000-05:00

This week we worked boxes off the ground again and we also worked the "horseshoe" exercise where we didn't know where the food was hidden. In the first exercise - the first two times the boxes were on chairs, and the third time the box was on the floor. You can see that Steeler was a bit distracted for some reason on the third run down the line. Scott had me set up Steeler and re cue him to "search" again at the other end.

At the beginning of the horseshoe run Steeler was still a bit distracted - I edited out probably 10 or 15 seconds of him just looking around - I tried to cue him to search when he seemed to focus on the task at hand.

Agility Match

2010-02-14T08:46:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Catie had another agility match at the barn in Duxbury. Logan got to come with me to help set up again. It was a bit chilly in the barn for her - but she enjoyed hanging out for a little while and exploring the empty horse stalls. The little (8 - 16 inch) dogs ran first. We got to see some friends from CT that came up for the match and their dal Abby. Some other old classmates were there as well that we hadn't seen in a while. I had Steeler out several times and he was totally unfazed by the dogs around him. Even dogs that were barking at him. I had him hanging out in the middle of things to watch a couple of friends run - and yeah he had a couple of barky dog moments while other dogs were running the course - but for the most part he was happy to watch. And lot of dogs bark while other dogs do agility and their owners don't seem to care - so I know I am expecting a lot from Steeler. Catie was nice enough to let me run him at 20 in first and then with the big dogs at 24 so I could get two runs in and then head out to noseworks class in Franklin.

His first run I did get on video. I ran him at 20 inches first and then at 24. The first time he missed the entry to the weaves - I don't know if he just didn't see them or if I was out of position. So that is something to remember to try this spring with the jumps angled like that. I sent him back over the second jump and he had no problem with the weaves the second time - the next group of obstacles was no problem. Tunnel - front cross - jump - Tire - tunnel - dog walk! From the dog walk - there was a jump which I want him to turn tightly - he didn't the first time, so I think I had too much forward momentum? The second time was no problem - possibly because he knew where we were going. :-) From the teeter there were two jumps that he was supposed to take and I kept sending him to the tunnel. I think I didn't drop my arm soon enough - but we worked through it. We missed one jump at the end - but clearly I didn't cue it and I was seriously running out of steam! Two minutes in the ring is a long time - especially when you forget the dratted inhaler that is supposed to help you breath!

So there were a few things that I was especially pleased about - first he kept working with me even when we were repeating things. He didn't get distracted and wander off. Second - Jumping into the crowd with people and dogs watching - he didn't get very distracted by that. And third when I took my attention off of him for a moment - he stayed on the table! In the past if I took my attention off of him (and he was off leash) he would wander off to do his own thing. I spend a lot of time working on this and trying to set him up for success by not allowing him to wander - and this is really starting to pay off!

In between his runs Steeler hung out behind the orange fence among the other dogs and even with a BC tugging crazily a foot or two away - Steeler was calm and pretty relaxed! His run at 24 inches was great! It had the same focus and attention as the first run. I was able to practice jumping into the crowd and calling him back to me as well as some of the pieces of the open and excellent level courses. I find there are somethings where my timing matters a lot more when he is jumping 24 inches compared to 20. For example if there are two jumps side by side (so a 180?) and we are working on tight turns - my timing is a lot more important to Steeler.

I was so pleased with the spotty boy today! Things are really starting to come together!

Some pictures from the storm

2010-02-13T07:06:00.000-05:00

We were supposed to get over a foot of snow and ended up with about 6 - 8 inches of wet heavy stuff instead. No fun to shovel, but pretty to look at. Apparently when you close all the schools early and the state decides to close all government offices - the storms then go out to sea early. Just a couple miles north of me there was barely a dusting to bother with. The day after the "no-easter" as it is being called - was bright and sunny and apparently Keegan thought it was warm enough to curl up in a sunny spot to enjoy the sun.

Steeler did a lot of run out into the yard and then run back to the porch - full speed ahead as usual. Here he is in mid air ears flying.

Logan of course took one look at all the white stuff and went back to bed.

While we didn't get an overwhelming amount of snow this time - the wind was pretty bad. I am not looking forward to spring when I have to clean up all the branches in the yard.

Nina Ottosson dog toys

2010-02-09T04:06:00.000-05:00

I've been curious about the Nina Ottosson interactive dog toys for a while. But the budget didn't really allow for a dog toy that expensive. :-) Thanks to Kim and Peyton, Steeler got to try his hand at the Brick toy.

of course Logan wanted in on this game too. Logan and Steeler (and Keegan too) say thanks to their favorite spotty agility dog in FL. Thanks Kim! You and Peyton rock!

Saturday afternoon Nose Works

2010-02-06T19:46:00.000-05:00

This is our third week of class. This week we worked on teaching the dogs to search the corners and walls of a room. The first time the food was in the box right as the dog entered the area. The idea was to let the dog catch the scent and then cue them to search. The second an third time the box was in the corner. The next exercise was to help teach the dogs that they aren't always going to be looking on the ground for the scent/food. We ended with a simple box drill so the dogs could end on an easy successful note.

Wednesday night agility!

2010-02-06T17:49:00.000-05:00

Class is going SO well! I think after the night that Steeler was so distracted, running away from me and wanting to play with Trixie, I finally started to truely relax. Nothing bad happened that night and no one made me feel like I didn't belong in class - and it was like a big mental sigh of relief. I don't think I even realized that the stress was there. Every one in class is competing at the Excellent level in AKC - so sometimes I feel a little bit intimidated - not by the people but more by my own expectations. Does that make any sense?

Here's the course map (roughly) for class. This week we stuck with jumping Steeler at 20 inches.

As you might imagine - there were lots of potential challenges in the course. To start there was the two jumps set up on a straight path to the a frame. Initially several of us walked that begining sequence as a lead out close to jump number three. Instead Catie had us try a front cross in front of the 2nd jump - with a slight lead out. Then there was the discrimination between the a frame and the tunnel from 4 to 5.

We also worked a short sequence at the end of class from jump #10 -#15, wrapped 15 to the unnumbered jump to the teeter. I know that things are starting to come together because when I finished that exercise Catie said "WOW - that was great Jenn!" :-) Go do it again. And if felt good.... it felt like Steeler and I were connected and I knew where I was going and what I was doing.

Saturday Noseworks class

2010-01-31T21:23:00.000-05:00

Steeler loves this class! This week we ran through each exercise twice. Our first exercise was the standard box drill with 7 boxes in a straight line. I think the first time the food was in the first box and the second time it was in the last box. Lots of dogs completely bypass the first couple of boxes in their hurry to get through the line. When they start doing that you start putting the food closer to the front of the line until they start to get the idea that they should check all the boxes and not rush too much. This class is definitely a balance between getting the dogs to be excited about working (ie pulling to the line) and control - working the boxes in a methodical manner. The first time through Steeler was very excited and I didn't exert much control when he got to the end of the line and started back down the line. Scott stopped to say he had seen several dogs do this and that we should not have such a frantic behavior at the end of the line. Unfortunately I missed that on tape so I am not sure I am describing what Steeler did very well.

Our second exercise was much the same as the first, except we now had boxes on top of boxes. The idea being to get the dogs to search at different heights.

Our third exercise is what I think of as the most fun. We turn over chairs and get the food out of the box. The first time you can see in the video where Steeler catches the scent of the food. Then the second time he immediately went back to the same spot to make sure there wasn't anything there.

Barking

2010-01-29T21:09:00.001-05:00

OK- the barking when I come home is starting to bother me again. Susan Garrets blog has recently been discussing barking which started me thinking I should really work on the barking frenzy that Steeler has when I come home. I have tried (and obviously not succeeded!) to make departures and arrivals non-events. I have tried different set ups, crates in different areas, dogs separated and dogs together. NOTHING seems to make it any better. On the other hand nothing makes it any worse either.

I know I should try to not enter the house when they are barking - but Logan needs to go out as soon as I get home or she will pee in her crate. She just drinks water like there is no tomorrow. She's almost 12 - I just think that she shouldn't have to wait to go out. And she is usually quiet once I get through the door. Keegan is not too bad - he has a high pitched bark - but usually he is quiet when I ask. Steeler though is a NUT. Here is a video of what happens when I come home.

Here is what it looked like in January 2008 .....

And here it is in January 2010! Clearly we have not made much progress.

I know there is not going to be a magic answer - though I certainly wish someone could wave their magic wand and fix this. Katrin once suggested I try to drop cookies into their crates when I come in - that seems to have worked well for Logan. :-) I will happily entertain any other suggestions people have!

Surviving my worst fear...

2010-01-27T22:59:00.000-05:00

OK - maybe not my worst fear - but definitely one that is high on my list. I have been thinking about working in some runs at 24 inches for Steeler during our agility class. So tonight before actually running the course we broke down a couple of sections to work on some handling skills. Well the first one didn't look that bad so I thought I would try it at 24 inches. Oh what a meltdown we had, Steeler and I. I am not really sure just what was too much for his spotty brain - because I don't think that I was concerned about anything. Steeler ran around and around and away from me and his favorite squeaky toy. He would not take the jump in front of him to save my life! He tried to play with Trixie at least twice. And Trixie was such a good good girl to just ignore him. She so wanted to join him for a run around the barn. Well I got him back and put him on leash and took him over some jumps and rewarded his attention. This is one of my biggest fears - that he will just run away from me at a trial and run up to the wrong dog and get himself in trouble. But I survived this and nothing bad happened! Here is the first handling section.

The next grouping that we that we worked we decided to run Steeler at 20 inches and see how he did as far as paying attention to me. And he was fine - back in working mode. Something about the first set up and the 24 inch jumps was just too much for his spotty brain. Wish I knew what it was.

And here is the actual course that we ran. The maps are probably close to the right spacing - but there could be some wiggle room in what we actually ran tonight. For example - jump 6 to the tunnel was a pretty straight line. It was a fun little course and Steeler actually handled some tricky pieces really well. We are working on "collection" cues and tight turns. Tonight we also worked on wrapping jumps. So the first 4 jumps we kept the dogs on our left with a collection cue (using our right hand) before jump 2 and then picking them up on the left hand as they come over jump three to continue with jump 4, 5,6 and the tunnel. Rear cross the tunnel to the double jump to the table. So from the table - the jump to the poles was pretty straight forward. Or so it seemed when I walked the course. Steeler has developed a table fetish and he kept trying to head back to the table after the jump. Once we got into the poles, jump 12, 13 was an easier wrap for Steeler to the teeter. The end was kind of tricky for us. Catie wanted us to try to front cross the teeter so the dogs are on our left to jump 15 and then rear cross jump 16 and call them back over 17. We had a little bit of trouble with it - mostly my working out the correct timing for Steeler - but he did get it after a couple of trys!

Wednesday night agility class

2010-01-21T22:08:00.001-05:00

Steeler had a great night! And so did I.... We spent our hour working a single course this time. I really should see if I can get the course maps to share. I crated Steeler in the tack room (I think that is what it is called) It is warmer in there than it is in the barn - I think it is heated a little bit at least. And since the car is having heat issues (possibly a thermostat stuck open??) I didn't have the option of blasting the heat and working out of the car which I have been doing the last few weeks. Steeler does not handle the cold very well if he is just sitting around in his crate. The first time thru - we walked the course and then ran without any discussion. The opening sequence was 2 jumps to the weave poles. The jumps were angled and I was able to lead out to the 2nd jump. From the weaves we reversed direction into the shoot and then did a semi circle of jumps. I chose to do a front cross after jump number seven. Then one more jump to the teeter. (now headed towards the front of the barn again). From the teeter (A frame discrimination) to the tunnel to a jump facing the wall, and then reversing direction again to the A frame (A frame/tunnel discrimination). From the A frame there was a series of three jumps down to the far end of the barn. I am going to have to draw out the course I think! At any rate - Catie said that she thought that was the smoothest she has seen Steeler and I run - and the run FELT good!!!! We talked about where we were putting front crosses and we discussed how to tighten up the jump after the tunnel and then ran it again ... and again! Catie had us working to get our front cross in between 8 and 9 (instead of between 7 and 8) and then another front cross in before the teeter! The second time through Steeler had a little bit of trouble sending from the tire to jump number 7 - I am still working out timing with him for things like that - and I know we will get there eventually.

So one thing that I have been trying to work on (in addition to all the other stuff) is my attitude when we get ready to run. I suspect that my attitude was better last night because the beginning of the course was at the far end of the barn - so Steeler and I ran to our starting position. And even though I asked him for a stay at the start line - I was confident that the opening was something he could handle easily - and he did! I have also been trying not to chatter at him while we run - I did that pretty well last night and discovered that he LIKES it when I talk to him in the weave poles - but other than that he prefers to only hear from me when it is important. :-) It was a good night!

OK I downloaded the trial version of course designer.... here is a rough estimation of the course to give you an idea. the spacing is probably not quite right - but you get the idea. :-)

Sunday Show N Go! at Performance Plus in Taunton

2010-01-17T21:35:00.000-05:00

Steeler ROCKS! He was such a good boy today! And I only had a minor little panic attack over stays. :-) Run thru's started at 10 AM and Steeler was in the second and third sets of 8. We got there about 9:30. A bunch of people that we train with were there already and had saved us crate space. We were set up in front of the novice ring - so there were lots of dogs going past up to get to the open ring and the utility ring. Steeler was quiet in his crate even with the crate cover up and just watched the world go by. No whining at all until we were just about ready to leave, at which point he had been hanging out in the building for over 4 hours - even with breaks outside that is a long time in a busy noisy building for my spotted boy.

His first run was pretty good considering that we haven't been to class in over 3 months and have only been doing a bit of training here and there. I thought his heeling felt a little bit laggy - but people watching said no it wasn't that bad. I've been working him on a long line so that he doesn't get the chance to make the mistake of just wandering away from me, and today I only had to step on it once when we were approaching a couple of stacked crates with a HUGE stuffed dog on top. His figure 8 was pretty good too - just a little bit laggy on the outside turn. Stand for exam just a little bit of foot movement .... and his recall was AWESOME!!!!

The first set of stays I found a little bit nerve wracking. There were 8 of us along the short wall - there was definitely about 4 ft between dogs - but for baby dogs it was a bit crowded. I was a bit too nervous to drop the leash for the 1 minute sit, though I did let go of it about 40 seconds in. I stayed close but stayed silent and calm I think. I had trouble getting Steeler to drop into his down for the long down - so I did lure him into it. But once he was down - he stayed down for the 3 minutes. He did pop up as I started to walk around him - but I think that was just a timing thing with all the other people approaching - I decided to not fuss with it.

His second run thru was at least as good as or better than the first one. His Stand for Exam was definitely better, only one tiny foot movement. His recall was spot on again and his heeling felt a bit better. And even better his Stays were good! This time we set up against the longer wall so there was a little bit more space between the dogs. I set Steeler up between Riley (who he has known thru class for almost 3 years) and Ellie who he hasn't seen in a while but wasn't a complete stranger to him. This time I was able to get almost all the way across the ring from him on the sit stay - even with a dog barking in the crate that was directly behind him on the other side of the ring gate! On the long down I did have to lure him down with a cookie - but he stayed down and I was able to get all the way across the ring. We still had the barking dog and lots of activity going on behind him so I did a bit of walking in towards him when I thought he was getting too distracted. And he was able to stay in the down as everyone was walking back to their dogs. He really did a great job today! GO STEELER!

Saturday Agility Match in Duxbury and catch up

2010-01-16T17:47:00.000-05:00

So once again I am behind on stuff. First Thanks to Kim for making my new header!

This past week it has been pretty cold - so we haven't been doing much. Wednesday nights agility class went well. Though I think Steeler was cold. We are also working on hard stuff and I think that I really should have upped my rate of reinforcement much more than I did. BAD HANDLER! But Steeler continues to do pretty well.

Today we were at the barn for an agility match and Steeler was GREAT! Usually I am so nervous at these events that I end up doing restrained recalls with Steeler across the barn and then working in the back corner away from all the people and dogs. Well I didn't feel to nervous (that doesn't always mean much) and I started at the begining of the novice course. I didn't fuss too much since the first obstacle was a tunnel, and damn if Steeler didn't just do the course for me. Of course I completely messed up the novice course the first time through and ended up just making my own course. I don't think that Steeler realized I was lost though. :-) The second run I tried the harder course (It could have been an excellent or open level course) since we had been working on that opening sequence in class on Wednesday. That was a bit too much for Steeler though. Not sure if it was the people and dogs behind him or me ... I went back to running with him and we did get through the opening sequence (4 jumps to the tunnel which was the first novice obstacle) and then we just continued with the novice course. The first two courses I ran at 20 inches then ran the last one at 24 inches. Since I was changing the jump height I decided to go back to the novice course once again. And I have to say I was really pleased with how well we did today. He hit all his contacts and had really nice weave poles! Not to mention that his behavior was just wonderful! Now how much of that was related to me not panicing every time a dog went by and generally being more comfortable with the people around me now that I know them from classes and stuff and how much was related to Steeler growing up..... who knows! LOL it is probably a combination of things. But it was really nice to be so calm instead of worrying about every possible encounter.

Catie had things set up so that the small dogs (8 and 12) ran all of their runs first and then the big dogs were scheduled to start at 11:45. So I took Logan over at 9:30 to help set up. The barn is about 10 minutes from my house and I figured that doing something was better than getting worked up (however subconsiously) about the run thru's waiting for our turn. Logan got to come in and play with one of Catie's border collie's while we were setting up. I am glad that she could - she has been really moping around the house lately. It's been too cold to take her with me when I take Steeler to class. But today we had a New England heat wave (I think it got into the mid 40's or maybe even up to 50 degrees today) so even if she couldn't have come in to play at least she would have gotten out of the house. Plus we stopped at my favorite pet store to say hi and check out Dianes new puppy (what a cutie!)

So that is what has been going on today for Steeler. His favorite liver pal Jenna from Maine got her last three points at the breed show in Fitchburg today as well so Congratulations to Dawn and Jenna!!!!

Tomorrow we are off to an Obedience Show N Go. Oh boy!

Tuesday night agility

2010-01-08T20:33:00.000-05:00

Tuesday night I went back to agility class after taking a couple of weeks off. It was rather crazy around the holidays and there was just too much going on. So at class last night we were working short sequences that involved rear crosses and to some extent pulling and pushing our dogs. I also raised the jump heights on Steeler. He hasn't been measure in a while and I am pretty sure that if I do any USDAA that he is going to have to jump 26 inches (unless I put him in Performance to jump 22 inches - which is an option). For USDAA a dog over 21 inches at the withers must jump 26, for AKC if the dog is under 22 inches they can jump 20 inches, over 22 inches they jump 24. NADAC has a class for those that measure over 20 inches, but they only have to jump 20 inches. So the last time I had Steeler measured he was under 22 inches, but over 21. So I think he can jump 20 inches for AKC but for USDAA he will either have to jump 26" or 22" in performance.

Ok - I got a bit distracted. On Tuesday we tried raising the jumps to a mix of 24 and 26". Up until we moved to the barn he had been jumping 24 in quite well. I don't know if the courses were a bit more difficult for him than I thought, and raising the jump heights made him a bit anxious, or he was cold. He seemed a bit distracted(sniffing and just wandering off as opposed to racing off to investigate) and didn't really seem to want to work. I thought maybe he had to poop. But I had him out before we went into the barn, and I took him out after we ran for 5 minutes and he didn't do anything! His second run was better. He had a great 2 on 2 off on the a frame! And he actually started to go into an automatic down on the table! And on the third run I ran him at 20 inches and that was probably his best run. So we ended on a successfull note which is very important to me. We do need to work on taking the first jump when I release him. For the sequences we were working on we were setting the dogs up at an angle at the first jump, and Steeler went around it several times. I thought at first that it was the higher height, but he did it again on the last run. So it was probably my fault. :-) And that we haven't practiced that much.

Happy 2010!

2010-01-04T22:25:00.000-05:00

Holy Cow .... how on earth did it get to be 2010???? It seems like only a year or two ago that we were saying - Wow can you believe it is the year 2000? I had the last two weeks of the year off this year and I didn't do half or even a quarter of what I thought I would get done. I did get in an obedience lesson for Steeler and some training time with our friends Karen and Ruffi. Other than that I spent some time with Family, took my niece to see a movie and out for dessert at the Melting Pot for her birthday. My brother was kind enough to load my snow blower (that my dad was kind enough and smart enough to fix!) into his truck and bring it back to my house. Good thing too because we got a lot of snow Sat/Sun! The spotty dogs are not that thrilled with the snow, especially Logan. Keegan though is perfectly happy to be hanging outside.

I think I need to decide on some training goals for the Steeler pup this year and try to make a plan of how I want to get to where ever it is that I decide to go! (how's that for convoluted!)

I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays and here's to a happy and healthy 2010!

Here's a couple of snowy pictures - Kim do these make you feel any warmer????? I'll have to get some current snaps so you can see how much snow we have now! :-)

Keegan and Steeler play in the snow!

2009-12-23T21:20:00.000-05:00

On Sunday when I got home there was two feet of snow in the back yard! Keegan thought playing in the snow was great fun. Steeler took a little bit of convincing. I did get some video on my phone - so not the best quality, but you can see they are having a blast!

Steeler's new Rally title

2009-12-20T10:45:00.005-05:00

Whoo hooo - Steeler has a new rally title. This Saturday we competed in our first APDT Rally Trial. Three trials in one day makes for a VERY long day. We drove up to Keene the night before and stayed in a hotel with a friend and her Kees. She and Steeler got along great. We were a bit worried about it - so it was fun to watch them play. Of course they thought the beds were for leaping on and across - but what fun to watch them play. I wish I had had the video camera handy! Of course when it came time to sleep ... well that was a bit of a problem. But we survived. We left the hotel around 7AM the next morning and didn't leave the trial until almost 8 PM. What a LONG day! I don't think we will do three trials again - certainly not that far away! It was great fun though! Karen and Ruffi were there, and got their level two title and finished their last run with a perfect 210! Lisa and Brew, LauraJean and Ares, Sue and Milo and Steeler and I all had some nice runs and got our level one titles!

Steeler didn't have the best scores - but I was really pleased with his first time out! His first run was a 189 - we had some tight leashes, double cues and maybe a retry of one sign. And the first run was definitely the one where I felt the most disconnected. Steeler and I were pretty far down on the run order - so we walked the course and then didn't run for 2 hours! I am out of practice for this kind of stuff!

His second run earned us a score of 200! Again with some tight leashes and extra cues. I think there was about 4 hours between our first and second runs! But Steeler did really well being crated inside with all the other dogs! He did get lots of time outside with his pal Brew for a break from all the chaos - but it was really too cold to spend too much time out there. Here is his second video -

This was a tough start for Steeler to have to come into the ring and put his back to the people and dogs watching.

By the time we got to our third run everyone was pretty much exhausted and video'd out. Steeler and I earned a score of 195 - which is pretty good considering that by the time we got the bonus exercise Steeler was done. The bonus was a call front and side step right or left - the dog is supposed to move with you staying in front. Steeler decided to finish instead. He had probably reached his limit of what he was willing to do.

At some point I will dig out the course maps and post the courses. APDT rally is a lot of fun! And the atmosphere is very supportive and friendly. Much less tense than I have found the AKC trials to be!

Totally awesome class tonight!

2009-12-09T22:29:00.002-05:00

Steeler and I had a totally rocking agility class tonight! I had an epiphany earlier today or maybe last night ... Last week I was so focused on this vision of Steeler heeling out to the start line gazing at me adoringly the entire time. OK so that is a bit of an exaggeration - but you get the idea. And what I realized was that I wasn't doing anything to help him get to the start line while still paying attention to me. I wasn't making it fun for him - because really - heeling in a horse barn? While dogs are doing agility. Seriously - I think that was asking an awful lot from my little spotty boy! Someone hit me with that rolled up newspaper! :-)

So what did I do different tonight you ask?

Well I got Steeler out of his crate while Trixie was running (steeler and trixie have run pairs together in a seminar setting so I have no worries about the dogs meeting) and we did some warm up attention stuff and playing with a toy in the aisle with the horses - it's about an 8 foot wide cooridor and three (or four?) large horse stalls long. Then when it was our turn I RAN to the start line with Steeler. He is a dal after all and they were born to run! We are having a little bit of trouble with sitting at the start line. Steeler does not like to sit in the cold barn dirt.

We ran two crazy courses tonight! Both were lots of jumping and lots of fun. It was a good thing for me to work on with Steeler since we have in the past had trouble with lots of jumping. Steeler did the first course AWESOME!!! There was a series of 9 jumps to a tunnel - and since Steeler has had trouble with that kind of intense focus in the past I decided to reward right before the tunnel with a big jackpot. I of course interupted his perfect run - but I think it was worth it! And we got to do it again - so that was good.

The second course was a bit more difficult for us - lots of wrapping jumps and reversing direction. But Steeler did pretty well. This course included the teeter and that looked really nice tonight. Last week he wasn't driving up it - so I was happy this week he picked up where we left off last week. I wish I had video - but maybe that is why he did so well tonight! I forgot the battery for the video camera. :-)

Totally Awesome Nosework Seminar this weekend!

2009-12-07T19:34:00.002-05:00

So Steeler attended a Noseworks Seminar this Sunday at MasterPeace with Scott Williams. There were 16 working dogs and several people that came to audit. Steeler thought this was LOADS of fun. Search the boxes for food ... yeah how could that not be fun! We covered quite a bit in this seminar and it is very much a "working" seminar.

First up we divided into two groups of 8. Scott and helper Pat, put 8 or 9 boxes in a straight line and walked the dogs up and down the line letting them sniff and then when they indicated in some way that they were really interested in the "food box" (which thankfully was marked for us) we opened the box and gave the dogs lots of praise. Oh and the first couple of times they showed the dogs the food in the box and then hid the box in the line. So we did this three times in a row and then put Steeler back in the crate. We cycled through the first group of eight - the first time the boxes were straight, and the dogs were on leash. Round two - the boxes were in straight line - the first time down the line the dogs were on leash. The second/third time the dogs were off leash. For round three the dogs were off leash and the boxes were spread out unevenly on the floor. some up against the wall some in the middle ... you get the idea.

After this we gave the dogs a break and the second group got their turn to work. Then we had lunch. :-) For the next session with the dogs we made the search area smaller and got the food out of the box! We cut the area in half and added a big cardboard box that was open on it's side, an over turned table, over turned chair, a shoulder bag and several of the original "boxes" that we were using. (I think they were 9 in x 5 in x 4 in) In this scenario, the dogs were once again working off leash and the food was hidden in a bowl around one of the objects and there was a "box" in the general vicinity. For Steeler - the first time the food was placed in the big box open on its side, the second time I think it was either behind the table or over by the wall. The third time it was behind the shoulder bag. It was really cool to see him work. Lots of the dogs were getting tired when we got to this exercise so Scott was very aware of which dogs could handle three searches and which should end with the second successful search and not pushing them to a third repetition. This exercise all of the dogs went through one set. Then we talked for a bit about trials and the sport and had a question and answer period. Then the dogs got one more chance to work.

This time we went back to "box work" and the boxes were arranged in a horseshoe. The really cool part about this exercise that we did was that we (the handlers) did not know where the food was hidden. And we did this exercise on leash. It was our job to let Scott and Pat know when we thought the dog had found the right box. This is where it became obvious that Steeler had clearly caught on to the game. It was SO cool to watch him work! I can see how people could easily get hooked on this. It is really fun to see all the different dogs work.

And Steeler was even able to hang out in his crate quietly for most of the seminar. I did give him a little bit of a break in the car for a bit, but I thought he did very well! Steeler and I were both exhausted by the time we got home Sunday night!

Agility class

2009-11-29T22:14:00.007-05:00

So I decided to pick up agility classes again for the winter since class is literally 5 miles from the house! When I emailed Catie she put me in the advanced class with all the dogs that are already competing. Most of them at the open and excellent level. YIKES! I have to say one of the things that I like about class is that many people crate their dogs while they are not running. This means I can relax just a little bit more. The first week Steeler did great with the dogs that were there. This week there was only 4 of us for class. Of course I can not remember anyone's names yet. There is an aussie named Cheyanne with her dad, a border collie named Trixie (who is Cheyanne's sister) and her mom, and a springer spaniel whose name I can't remember. Steeler has seen Trixie before and even ran pairs with her at a games seminar we did this summer.

This week right before we ran our first exercise Cheyanne got snarky with Steeler. Of course Steeler got snarky right back at her. But I didn't think it was very intense and it might have been because we were in between her and her mom. Even though Dad runs her, she is very much a momma's girl (or so I've been told). So Steeler was a little bit distracted for the first minute. I am sure that I could have handled something different walking out to the start line. I am not sure if he was looking for Cheyanne or if he was just distracted. So if anyone has any thoughts on what they see in the video please let me know! The video is unedited so rather long. I am feeling rather lazy about editing.

The second exercise is apparently still processing at youtube. Not sure why it is taking so long. .... ok that took long enough.

The third exercise had a very tricky weave pole entrance. And it was at the end of the night so both Steeler and I were running out of steam. I wonder if I should have brought his toy back out especially for this exercise. And i think we should have maybe quit after getting through the exercise the first time. At the very end I was having a hard time getting Steeler's attention at all.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-27T22:51:00.004-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope everyone had a nice day with family and friends - or a day of peace and quiet if that is what you opted for.

This year "The cluster" aka the Springfield dog show (obedience, conformation, rally and agility) took place the weekend before Thanksgiving. Usually this 4 day show takes place Thanksgiving weekend. I took Steeler up this year to see friends that were down competing in agility and the conformation ring. Steeler did great with all the commotion! He spent some time watching his spotty friends run in agility and a couple of classmates as well. Then we went out for dinner with the crew from Maine. It was a long day - but nice to see everyone.

Then on Sunday we went up to run thrus at the training center. I am trying to get food out of my hands as I think that I have been using it as a crutch (more for me than steeler) for too long. So we are working through some training issues, and I am trying to incorporate some toys into our training routine outside the house. Here at home Steeler will do almost anything for a chance to chase a toy.

Here is some video from our novice run thru. I actually taped the Stays as well - just because I am always curious about watching the dogs body language.

We also did two Rally run thru's since Steeler is officially entered in his first APDT Rally trial next month. Actually he is entered in THREE trials! All in one day! OH boy! So I thought we should work on some rally stuff on leash. One of his all time favorite persons was at run thrus that night - so we started out a little bit distracted. For some reason - every time he sees Linda he goes NUTS. And it's not like he sees her very often. We were in class together a couple of times, and she was nice enough to take a look at his skin one time after class. That's it! But that's ok - I would rather have to work through thinking people are great than the "there's a dog out there" anxiety. :-) So here is some Rally run thru's for your viewing pleasure. I do have to say that I did feel like we were a bit disconnected ... but the run got better as we went along.

So that is our training update for last weekend. Soon I have some video to post from our agility class on Wednesday night.

The weekend!

2009-11-21T07:09:00.004-05:00

Well we made it to the weekend! YAY! Just a quick note as I am headed out to Springfield to do a little bit of window shopping and see some friends. No way I was going to make the 8AM ring time for the dals today though - so hopefully some will be hanging around for a while.

Steeler had a totally awesome agility class on Wednesday. I am in a new class (same instructor) in a horse barn maybe 10 minutes from home! How awesome is that! When I got to class Catie had said to me - Let's see how he does, but maybe the earlier 7PM class might be a better fit for Steeler. I was a bit nervous (haha go figure) since it is 6 or 7 people and they are all competing many of them in Excellent, and new dogs for Steeler. And really I don't care if he is in the 7 or 8 PM class - either would be fine. But Steeler did AWESOME! It helped I think that I knew most of the people - at least in passing, and most of the dogs were crated when not running. I only had one minor panic attack when we had to do a straight row of jumps towards all the people watching and right towards an aussie that was watching - and then Steeler had to turn 180 degrees into the poles. I am not sure that he realized we were turning after the 3rd jump and I paniced and turned into a Lunatic yelling "come come come" because he was headed right at the Aussie (I thought). The panic only lasted a couple of seconds before Steeler turned and nailed his weave pole entry. And Steeler was able to to complete the whole course of 22 obstacles instead of the half a course at a time that we were doing previously. I did notice that his enthusiasm was starting to decrease a bit - and i realized that I had probably decreased the rate of reinforcement too fast. I get into the feeling of not wanting to hold up the class and forget to stop and give the dog a cookie sometimes. So next week I am going to try to remember to break things down a little bit more for him!

Thursday was shaping class night and I went up a little bit early to get a run thru in before class. He did pretty well - I am trying to get the food out of my hand since I feel like I have been using it as a crutch lately. Shaping class was good - though Steeler had a bit of trouble with a golden when we started moving around. So I just moved him away and we played Look at the Golden for a while. And Jane was kind enough to let us do some work around her new Toller puppy (OMG how cute!) and her Golden retriever as well - so it was a hard working night for Steeler. But he did really well! Oh and we did stays after class as well - and I have to say - those are coming along extremely well!

So today Steeler and I are headed to Springfield so we can practice going in and out of the building politely. Yes - that is why we are going, definitely not going to shop. :-)

Tuesday night agility fun

2009-11-17T22:56:00.002-05:00

So tonight Steeler and I took a trip up to Franklin to drop in on Katrin's agility class. I always pick up something from any class I have taken with her. Tonight - well we know that Steeler knows how to "push my buttons" - our opening sequence was a series of jumps (4 jumps in a straight line but turning after jump #3) Steeler veered into me just a little bit after jump #2 and what did I do - I yielded space to him. And this after playing the space game with him quite a bit. Maybe not so much in the last month or so - but still it is something we play at least once a week. Sometimes I think I focus on the technical aspects of agility - and I need to learn to focus more on what Steeler and I are actually doing. Steeler is such a responsive dog - it only took a couple repeats of doing the opening sequence for him to realize that he had to jump all three jumps and I didn't have to keep repeating jump each time. Of course that also means that every time I drop my arm he comes into me!

The course was also set up to work on changes in lead (I think that is the right term - any horse people?) Katrin calls it "switch" and I use "Flip" as my cue. Steeler actually handled this very nicely once I figured out where I was supposed to be. Actually - I was really impressed since it is something that we work on occassionally and we started the basics in Katrin's Communication class last summer. Honestly I don't know that I have done much with it since then. But Steeler seemed to understand what I wanted when I said it! We had a little bit of trouble with the dog walk - but only in one direction which I thought was a bit odd.

What was also nice is that he didn't have any barking hissy fits with the dogs that he had never seen before. He wasn't real quiet in his crate - but he wasn't at his worst either. And he played tug with me after running - which for us is a key indication of how in sync we are! And I got to catch up with Katrin a bit. All things considered - it was worth the 2 hours of driving. :-)

More on Treat and Retreat

2009-11-16T21:49:00.002-05:00

For a great description of how this exercise came about - check out this article. In checking with a friend to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything, I was reminded that Ian Dunbar was the inspiration for this exercise and Suzanne Clothier had coined the term!

Suzanne Clothier's Treat and Retreat Game

2009-11-09T19:13:00.004-05:00

This is for my friend Kim down in Florida! She has a spectacular spotted boy that runs agility with TONS of enthusiasm. There are a couple of people that they have run into at trials lately that seem to bother the spotted boy. So when she said she was going to see if they would take a few minutes to help her the next time she ran into them - I thought of Suzanne Clothier's Treat and Retreat Game. And Kim thought it sounded like a Blog Post!

Essentially you start with tossing the dog a treat so that the dog has to move towards the "strange people" a little bit. The person tossing the treat needs to move away from the dog - removing pressure away from the dog. When the dog then looks to the "stranger" again - toss cookie and move away while the dog is eating the cookie. I am sure I am not doing justice to the description of the exercise! At the seminar there was a dog attending that was somewhat leary of strangers. And with in maybe 30 minutes the dog was happily approaching one stranger and taking treats from the strangers hand. We then repeated the session with another stranger and the process was even quicker. It is VERY important to remember to take the steps away from the dog - even as the dogs skill and comfort is increases. Here is what I have in my notes:

-toss the treat when you are on the dogs radar then take a couple of steps back
-as the dog looks up toss a treat towards the dog, having it land so the dog has to take a step or two towards the stranger.
-DON'T forget to take those steps away
-Don't always make things harder and harder!
-ALWAYS leave the dog wanting more!
-Remember, the dog needs to tell you where to start.
-The DOG needs to make the choice to close the distance
-The dogs do seem to generalize this pretty quickly and eventually you will get to the point where you have to start working on only greeting people when you give permission.

Maybe if I can get my act together I can try to video a demo soon!

Shaping Class

2009-11-06T20:01:00.005-05:00

Well - the Steeler pup is taking a shaping class. Just a short 3 week session and he has lots of shaping experience, but I figured a class with new dogs would be a good thing since I am taking a break with obedience and agility for a bit. And I have to say, Steeler did AWESOME! Class starts at 6 which is a bit tight time wise for me, and we got there just a couple of minutes before class started. Steeler was excited to get there and get in the ring - so it took us a few minutes to get in the building since I am trying to be consistant about my requirements for a loose leash. :-) We sat next to a great Dane last night - I think Steeler thought he was a small pony. :-) The best part is that Steeler had NO reactions to the other dogs in class other than mild interest! YAY! And he did know 3 of the dogs, two from Obedience class and my friend Ann's dog Brandy who Steeler likes to play with is taking the class too. I was totally incredibly pleased with Steeler last night!

Today I subbed for Play Group and Puppy Kindergarden. Play Group is always rough on my nerves, but I did manage to survive. One of these days I am going to ask folks if they would mind if I video'd - because I sure would love some feed back on what other people see as appropriate play. After teaching we hung for an obedience lesson and Steeler got to do stays with some new dogs. He really is doing well! The sheltie next to him kept looking at him and inviting him to play and while steeler was definitely interested in the invitation (wagging his tail back) he stayed where he was! What a GOOD boy!!!!

Coming up in December with have a "nose work" seminar which I decided to do a working spot instead of just auditing. There will be a lot of people and dogs there that I know - so I think I will be able to work Steeler with out worrying too much about the dogs around us. Ann and Brandy will be there as will my friend Lisa and her husband and their two Malamutes. Plus some other friends that are in obedience class with us. Then there will be an APDT rally training party, and Steeler's first APDT Rally Trial on the 19th if we get in. Oh boy!

A quiet weekend

2009-11-02T20:27:00.003-05:00

It was nice to have a quiet weekend at home! It was even warm enough to get the lawn mowed one more time. Well at least half of it. I am still recovering from a cold and that was all my lungs were willing to handle.

When I first got Steeler, several people told me that I should be prepared to keep Keegan and Steeler separated - possibly for life. Keegan is my recovering reactive boy, and I wasn't sure how how Keegan would react to having a new dog in the house, let alone a male I was intending to keep intact until he was 14 months to 2 years old. Well we did have several moments when I thought that the boys would never be able to be buddies, but with some help (mostly hand holding according to Ann) the boys happily coexist. They play often outside and less often inside. This weekend I caught some play on video. I can't believe that in another month Steeler will be 4 and this winter Keegan will be 10!!!

Good Boy Steeler

2009-10-26T19:31:00.002-04:00

Steeler and I have been working on obedience stuff in addition to agility. Stays are my nemesis, though I am getting less and less nervous about them. Yesterday we went to a show n go at the training center. Steeler's first run was early before the start so that I could Steward for utility. Side note: some people are just plain nuts - though I am not training in utility yet so maybe I am full of it. Someone was very insistant that their articles that were scented not touch the other articles because there were 5 shows coming up and she wouldn't be able to show if the articles got mixed up.

OK - back on track! Steelers first run was nice! Great attention, stayed with me, his recall/front was dead on straight. We do need to work on working with a long line though. His first run can be found here. I need to teach Lisa how to edit - the video is a bit long. Steeler then spent some time in his crate in the building instead of out in the car. And he was actually pretty quiet! Good Boy! My friend Jane was crating her golden nearby so she fed Steeler several time for being quiet.

Later in the day, after lunch I brought Steeler back in for a second run. There significantly more noise and commotion, lots of people and dogs right on the ring gate. Steeler's heeling wasn't as nice - but he did pretty well. I was especially happy with the fact that I only had to call him back to me once (and he was only a couple feet away) - he wanted to go say hello to the border collie leaning up against the ring gate right in front of him. But his turn back to me was instant! And Judge Laurie said I did good! :-) Again his recall was very nice - even with the noise! And then there were those dreaded STAYS!!!! and OMG - Steeler STAYED! I know I shouldn't be surprised by now! But I knew I was rushing into the ring and I was too tight on the leash. Not that long ago being tight on the leash like that and walking past dogs would have had Steeler reacting to the other dogs around him. No reactions at all this time. For stays were were second dog from the end, between a sheltie and a lab. The sheltie he had seen a couple of times in class and a friend knew the woman with the lab - a very sweet yellow girl that Steeler was making eyes at. :-) I didn't actually let go of the leash for the sit stay - but Steeler stayed put even though he was making eyes with the lab. Then for the down Stay I did get all the way across the ring a few times, and spent the majority of the time about half way across. Steeler even held his stay when another dogs dumbell landed right behind him on the other side of the ring gate! What a good boy!

We even got to meet a new dalmatian puppy! She was very cute! And Amy was nice enough to walk her up and down the drive in front of Steeler so I could work on - oh look here comes a puppy! And Steeler was awesome!

One Tired Spotty dog

2009-10-10T20:19:00.002-04:00

Well I have one tired spotty dog today and no pictures or video of what made him so tired. :-( Today we went up to my old stomping ground to pick up our raw food order from my friend Krissy. She usually picks up my order for me so I don't have to make that drive during the week and that gives us an excuse to take Steeler for a walk with one of her dogs. Usually her old girl as she seems to like Steeler and she doesn't like all dogs. Steeler had a great time! After that we stopped by the nursing home to see my Grandmother. Steeler stayed in the car for that visit as he moves too fast for my Gram. Actually he would be fine going for a visit - but since he makes my grandmother a bit nervous I decided he could take a nap in the car.

Then Steeler and I met my friend Ann who is dog sitting this weekend for Maetteo - an intact male Italian dog (I forget what she said he was - basically an Italian water dog). So - anyone that knows me would be reading this and saying - Wow ... Jenn took Steeler for a walk with another intact male dog - I wonder how much valium she needed? LOL - well the answer to that is NONE! Maetteo is a super sweet well mannered little boy! Steeler actually actually played with him! I wish I had gotten it on video. We went for our walk at a park near my house that I had driven by several times but never checked out with the dogs. It was a nice walk - not a long one - but there are places were the dogs can swim - and while we did run into a few dogs - it wasn't super crowded and mostly dogs were on leash. It seems like it would be a great place for training around strange dogs.

What I found very interesting about this walk with Maetteo is that Steeler never once reacted to him in a negative way. Usually we have a little bit of leash fustration to deal with and there was none of that today. We did run into a small white dog on our leash and I was able to actually move Steeler off the trail a couple of feet and have him focus on me and take treats! Usually we have a bit of trouble with this - I think because we usually run into big dogs that are straining to the end of their leash. So clearly I need to get some more practice in with smaller calmer dogs. We did have a bit of a reaction at the end of our walk while we were at the car to a yellow dog - maybe a golden mix. A couple of "let's go" and moving away from the dog got Steeler back focused on me and then I was able to move closer and c/t for looking at the dog and not reacting.

Ann thinks Maeteo's Mom would be up for some play dates - so maybe Steeler will have another walking buddy. I can't tell you how pleased I was with Steeler today! What a good boy! He's so dang cute when he is tired too!

Stress! and a GREAT Tuesday Agility Class

2009-10-06T22:53:00.005-04:00

So - I haven't posted in a while because I have been kind of cranky and whishy washy feeling about training, and work has been insanely busy, and just generally I think the pressure of everything has been getting to me. I am thinking that I might take a break from obedience class for a while. The stress of getting to class on time is just one added thing that I am having trouble with. I know I might not be able to get back into that class again - the competition classes where I go are full and someone pretty much has to die for there to be an opening in the next level class - and I don't want that to happen.

On the plus side - Steeler had a GREAT agility class tonight. We have a new dog in class - a Springer Spaniel who seems very out going. Steeler barked at him as we were coming up the path to the agilty field - so when we did our first run I asked for them to wait on the other side of the fence while we ran. And actually - Steeler was just a little bit distracted - but didn't leave me to go check them out. Catie had set up a novice course since a couple of people are competing this weekend for the first time and Steeler did GREAT. We've started putting him in his crate if he drifts off to be sniffy to break the pattern of leaving me for something he deems more interesting. No harsh words or handling - just a "oh you need a break" and into the crate for 10 seconds. What a difference that has made in just a couple classes. I really need to work on following through at home too. We ran the course 3 times tonight, and the second and third time Elliot (the new dog) was in the ring for the 2nd and 3rd run. On the 2nd run Steeler looked at him once and moved in his direction but was quickly back on course with me when I called him. And when I say "moved in his direction" - well Steeler probably only took maybe 3 steps in that general direction. Probably only because I started to get a litte anxious in that area because Steeler was coming down off the Aframe and then later thru the shute with a direct line of sight to Elliot. But my little boy NAILED his contacts (all of them) and his weave poles. Oh and he was able to run with me when there were a couple of people in the next class watching us who he really really wanted to say hello to. :-) I did let him say hello after - but at that point he was more interested in what I might have for him.

In the last month or so we have done a few other things as well. Steeler and I went to another APDT Rally match and Catie had run thru's at her house at the end of September. I am glad I went - even though it was raining! It wasn't too crowded and the people were all really nice - I played judge for someone and people played ring crew and in general were really helpful. Steeler was a bit distracted and had trouble running with all of those people and dogs watching. So I went back to starting with a restrained recall across the ring and working in the far corner. On the plus side - he was willing to play tug with me down there and we worked a series of jumps to the dog walk - with the dog walk coming back towards all the activity - and he nailed his contacts! On his last run - I did the same thing but instead of spending most of my time down there in the far corner - I played tug for 15 seconds - then did the jumps to the dog walk. Dog walk to table - then ran the entire novice course from the table. :-)

Latest Training stuff with Steeler

2009-09-16T19:42:00.003-04:00

So Steeler has been up to the usual stuff the last few weeks and a couple of new things. We went up to Keene NH for an APDT Rally match that was a lot of fun! Long ride for 2 runs ... but my friend Karen wanted to go - and she offered to drive! Steeler did GREAT! It was a totally new place for him, and while the crowd for the Rally match wasn't huge - it was at the Monadnoc Humane Society - so there were lots of people wandering around and barking dogs. I entered Steeler in 2 level 2 runs - Level two has a few exercises that we haven't worked on much yet - but I thought it would be a good thing for us. Of course the minute I stepped in the ring I realized I was WAY more nervous than I thought I would be! *sigh* I had every intention of doing the entire run off leash - but there were a couple of golden's ringside that Steeler was eyeing so I started on leash and then took the leash off at the first exercise that had a sit in it. Of course Steeler had to go explore a bit ... we really need to work on this! I was talking to my obedience instructor about it and she thinks at this point it is not about the treats that I do or don't have. So I will be thinking about that. This Sunday Steeler is entered in another APDT Rally Show n Go with 2 level 2 runs - but it is at our regular training center - so I expect that I will not be as nervous and Steeler will be more comfortable there. This time I will remember the video camera!

Obedience class and agility class continue to go well. Steeler had some really nice heeling and really nice stays this week. And my agility instructor thinks that I should actually enter Steeler in a trial!!!!! OMG - an actual trial?????

September????

2009-09-15T22:00:00.002-04:00

Ok - once again I am behind in my posting. How on earth did it become September already? *sigh* Lots of stuff going on around here, not all of it dog related. Work is totally crazy at the moment - feels like we are starting our end of year rush to get stuff done a bit early! And it seems like the past couple of months I have spent several days driving to Cambridge for various and assorted science things. Pembroke to Cambridge is not really a fun commute! Thank goodness for Danielle next door who comes over to let the dogs out after school. On top of all the craziness at work, my grandmother fell a couple of weeks ago and though she managed to get up she still didn't feel well and my parents ended up calling the ambulance to come take her to the emergency room. Turns out she had 4 fractured ribs (or was it 5?) On a CAT scan there was no signs of a stroke but they did an MRI and found "water on the brain" ..... at least that is what my mom reported back from the neurologist. So now she is at a nursing home/rehab facility a few miles from my parents. I will hopefully be able to get up there this weekend again to see her. She was doing pretty well when I went up a couple of weekends ago - pretty resigned to realizing that she can't really live alone any more. Mom says she is doing even better now. So hopefully we can get her involved in some activities as well. More on dog related activities tomorrow!

Good week for the spotted boy!

2009-08-30T20:57:00.002-04:00

Steeler has been a very good puppy this week! Tuesday night in class he did a great job. We worked on a lead out that is a little bit tough for Steeler - but when I went back and back chained it he had no trouble with it. We then had a little bit of trouble with a tunnel trap because I was going too far into the pocket - but we worked that out as well. Here is his second run through our little course. I really feel like things are coming together in his little spotted brain! Unfortunately Summer is coming to an end so it is getting dark much sooner these days so I don't know that the video quality will be that great!

Today I took Steeler to an APDT Rally Training Party that a friend had organized. It was fun! The APDT signs are a little bit different from AKC Rally - and in my humble opinion - more fun as well. APDT actually has some of the advanced obedience exercises in the rally courses. So things like signals, moving stands ... you know - the fun stuff! We did a level two course and a level three course today. We had a little bit of a rocky start - but once I figured out that - 1. I was a bit nervous, and 2. that Steeler knew that I was "worried" I increased his rate of reinforcement and he than worked very happily! There are some things that Steeler is not quite ready for - like the signals exercise in level three, and the drop on recall exercise. But we worked on things just slightly modified. And I think I have been talked into trying a APDT Rally Match next weekend up in NH. Oh boy!
Run #1

Run #2

Busy Busy weekend for the Steeler Puppy!

2009-08-23T18:57:00.003-04:00

Well Steeler and I have had a very busy weekend! On Friday we got together with Ann and Brandy and worked on some individual agility stuff and then on some control unleashed exercises together. Brandy and Steeler make pretty good play partners. Then I met Lisa with Brew and Winnie and we worked on obedience stuff. We did stays, stand for exam, some heeling, drop on recall .... the usual stuff. It was nice to be playing in the AC instead of the heat!

Then Saturday morning I got up early threw some boxes of books in the car and headed over to Ann's where they were having a neighborhood yard sale. Didn't sell anything, but Steeler got to play meet and greet with the people that stopped by. He was VERY good with a timid boy that really wanted to pet him - but flinched if Steeler moved. He did eventually pet Steeler for a second. We let Steeler and Brandy play in the back yard for a while, while Paul tried to get some actual work done on the computer inside. We packed stuff up sometime after noon, and tried Steeler and Nico in the back yard. Not such a good idea. Nico is 12 ish and his back legs don't work quite as well as they used to. Nico got just a little bit to forward for Steeler and then couldn't back away when Steeler let him know that he was not happy. :-) No harm done - but probably they will just be walking buddies. Steeler and Brandy got to practice Mat work while we had lunch - then we took Steeler to the barn!

Last time we were at the barn, Steeler was a bit anxious about the horses. But at the end of our session when he saw Ann hand out treats to the horses he seemed to relax quite a bit. I was really happy to see that had carried over to this session - almost 6 weeks after the first session. Something clicked in his brain and we were working within a couple of feet of Ann's horses while she gave them a bath. We spent about 2.5 hours at the barn! Add that to the morning spent hanging out and playing with Brandy - well I had one very very tired puppy last night.

This morning we got up and headed to an Agility Games Seminar with Catie. So, most people know I get a bit anxious doing agility around other dogs with Steeler. I actually had a dream last night that I was at a seminar and the instructor told everyone that Steeler was a bad dog. LOL That is not something that Catie would say at all but still - I woke up nervous. The seminar was geared towards dogs that were novice competitors already and Steeler is not quite ready for a whole course without some reinforcement. There were 12 working spots - so that is 11 other handlers and dogs ... plus there were a few auditors that had dogs with them as well. ACK!!! Actually - everyone was really nice - I think several of them are in classes together, and I did know one woman that was there with her BC, Trixie. Trixie is a sweet little BC girl that I already know Steeler is comfortable with. She doesn't have that strong stare that some of the BC's have.

First we worked on Snooker! Lots and Lots of questions about snooker. When I first started agility years and years ago, we started in USDAA, and the snooker rules haven't changed much. Steeler did really well on the first course we ran. He did drift a little bit - ok actually he drifted right out the back door. Good thing there were no horses out there. So we closed the doors and started again. Second time around was much better. I was reallly pleased with how well he stuck with me and when he did drift because the smells were too enticing he did come back when I called him. That in itself is a big improvement. He is hitting his Aframe contact at full height which is just amazing to me, since we really just started working on that a couple of months ago.
Here is his second snooker run. This course was a bit harder than the first one.

We spent so much time on Snooker that we decided to skip discussing Gamblers and instead focus on Pairs and FAST. And yes I did run Steeler in Pairs!!!! He was wonderful. I ran with Trixie and her mom whose name I can't remember. Steeler never even looked at her when we handed off the baton and he was jumping into the crowd as well. He didn't even become "spazzy boy" while watching Trixie run! By the time we got to FAST, Steeler was pretty much done for the day. It was HOT HOT HOT today and I don't think he napped in his crate at all in between his runs. I can't tell you how pleased I was with the spotty boy today! He was hanging out in the hallway letting dogs pass him by within inches with nothing more than an occassional glance to see who it was. I think it helped that there were only 3 other "big" dogs. Two BC's and a Chessie. We had 3 or 4 Caveliers, a poodle, an ACD, a Havanese I think, and I don't know what else. Steeler is one tired puppy tonight.

The video is up ...

2009-08-20T16:29:00.004-04:00

So the video from Tuesday nights class is up, unedited ...
the first time through is here
second time through and the last time through.

Also - since I don't talk about the other two often ... here is a couple of pictures of Keegan and Steeler playing. You can see Logan in the background sleeping. There was a time that many people told me that I might have to keep Steeler and Keegan separated - Keegan is not fond of new dogs and after a couple of bad experiences he became pretty dog reactive. He is much much better now - but he and Steeler had a couple of rocky starts to their friendship. So now when I see them play together it makes me very happy! The stuffed bunny didn't last long - they are playing tug with his tail! Yesterday we went back to the barn and today we are off to an agility games seminar! I know the rules for the USDAA games - but this will be a great opportunity to see how we cope with a larger number of people and dogs around while we do agility. And by we - yes I mean ME!

Totally awesome class tonight!

2009-08-18T21:44:00.003-04:00

Steeler had a totally awesome class tonight. We were working a sequence of 10 obstacles - haven't looked at the video yet to see how much of it I got on tap though. The first really cool thing for Steeler and I tonight was that I grabbed his ratty old tug toy on a rope out of the back of the van for class because I forgot his frisbee - and Steeler played a rousing game of tug with me. In fact he was so into his tug that when I hid it on the course he couldn't run with me at all. Silly boy. He was all over the place looking for his tug! So Catie had me bring him back and run with the tug in my hand. She said - don't worry about the whether or not he has the self control to run with it out there but not in my hand for now. That even running with the tug in my hand will help build some self control. I am totally psyched about his wanting the tug - because previously he (hmm or is it me???) hasn't been relaxed enough to play with me.

So the first bit of the sequence wasn't too hard - tunnel to the poles to the aframe. I need to work on Steeler getting some independent obstacle performance on it - but once I figured out that I was changing the picture too drastically he nailed his contact. Then starts the harder stuff. I really thought that going from the Aframe to the next jump was going to be an issue - but surprise surprise - when I keep my arm out he understood to come over the jump to me instead of just coming to me ... so lets see ... 4 to 5 were jumps ... They were side by side - so that would make it a 180? then the plan was to come in between the jumps and head straight out to jumps 6 and 7. Handling it that way made the line to 6 and 7 a straight line even though the jumps were angled. What we were supposed to be working on was sending over jump 7 - keeping the arm out (no words) to support jump #8. Then Jump 8 to the shoot to a front cross on the landing side of jump 10.

Even with the humidity up here in the northeast - Steeler was MOVING for class!!!! I am just so pleased with him! :-) Video is going to have to wait till tomorrow though. I need to be at work early tomorrow which means I really need to go to bed!

Distance work!

2009-08-14T17:53:00.003-04:00

So this week at class we worked on distance work. Hopefully the links to the videos work. They can also be found on Youtube - search for agilitydal! So - Distance with sending to jumps and tunnels, sending to the weaves, and distance from the contact obstacles. The first exercise we worked was at full spotty speed over jumps and into a tunnel, over another jump and into a tunnel and then back. It was harder than it looked! We had a lot of trouble with the reverse trip - but I think I know what need to do now to get the path that I want and send Steeler in the correct tunnel entrance. Now I just need to set it up and practice! First I need to mow the lawn though. I tried to stay conscious of remaining upbeat and connected with Steeler throughout the class as well.

Next up was a weave pole exercise. We haven't worked the weave poles much lately and I don't think that I have ever worked entries that extreme with him either. He didn't have a ton of speed going through the poles - but once he realized that is what I wanted him to do he was willing to give it a try. Right before we started the exercise Laurie asked me if I wanted her and Solo to move ... and of course until she said something I hadn't given it a thought! She stayed where she was - and while Steeler was a bit confused at first - he had no interest in bothering solo.

The last thing we did was a quick exercise with the contacts. I was really pleased with his contact behavior - but we definitely need some distance work!

I think Caties class is really starting to pay off for us. When steeler was a puppy I did a lot of foundation stuff with him, but then I didn't really find a good class for us until this summer. The class I was in before just didn't have enough instruction for us! I need the reminders to stand up straight and get my cues out sooner .... etc ... and some one to yell at me when I grab at Steeler. I think Steeler is happy here too! And I decided that he was doing well enough that I should try Caties USDAA games/FAST seminar coming up on the 23rd. OH BOY!!!! 12 working teams .... OH BOY!!!! and the good thing is that it is at the barn in Duxbury which is 10 minutes from my house!!!! So no travel time! YAY.

Tuesday Agilty Class

2009-08-02T10:13:00.002-04:00

So once again I am running behind on posting. :-) Oh well. I am taking a video camera to agility class and using it when I can. Mother nature conspires against me often with rain or mist though. Last class I did get some video though. I knew that my handling had slipped a lot from the days of competing with Logan and Keegan ... but when Catie said I was bending too much I didn't realize just how much bending I was doing until I watched the video! OH MY!!!! Steeler's handler has some work to do! You can watch the video here. It was a tough course for me .... and for Steeler too. We had done a lot of baby agility work between 2 months and 9 months old, but after that we took a long break and just did some private lessons and an occassional class here and there until a few months ago.

Also at this class - Steeler's "sit" at the start line seemed to really fall apart. I have no idea what was up with that. And then my brain fizzled. I had asked him to sit, but he didn't sit ... well now what ... pull out a cookie? Help him sit????? My brain just fried! LOL I don't usually manhandle my dog so much. But like I said - I was feeling a little frazzled!

I also discovered that if I put Steeler in a sit/stay while walking the course without tethering him to something he will stay there ... but having the ability to move (ie not tethered) means he doesn't feel the need to bark. Hmmmm .... you suppose he is anxious about being tethered?

A little bit of sunshine ....

2009-07-23T18:47:00.004-04:00

Should definitely be taken advantage of! Especially this summer in New England!!!! Of course that brief bit of nice weather didn't last long, it is raining yet again. Yesterday I brought Steeler over to my friends Ann and Paul's place. They have two dogs, Brandy and Nico. Brandy and Steeler have done some previous work together recently and I knew that they would probably get along with each other. But it's been probably a year and half since Steeler has seen Nico. And while Nico doesn't really care about the dogs around him, I worry about how Steeler would react if he got nervous. I am doing much better with dogs exchanging butt sniffs... but when they go nose to nose I get just a bit nervous (ok maybe more than a bit). At any rate - we took the 3 dogs for a walk. Ann and Paul are not far from the Blue Hills reservation and near a equestrian facility. So we walked up the trail to look at the horses - no reaction at all from Steeler. Then we walked through the woods up to the pipeline. After Nico was turned loose, and ran full tilt towards Steeler with no reaction from Steeler, we let Steeler off leash as well. I had a couple moments where I was nervous, but I think it was just me being over anxious. Steeler and Nico ran around for a bit, and then Nico had to go back on leash for the rest of the walk. Nico (he's 12) is supposed to be taking it easy and building up to those energetic romps in the woods. We put Steeler back on leash and let Brandy loose. After working on her recall a few times, we let Steeler loose as well. Steeler and Brandy played for a bit, and we gave them a break when it got a bit too exuberant. Neither Ann or I want to have their play tip over into something more frantic. They did great together ... and Steeler seemed totally unbothered by Nico. So Steeler has two more buddies that he can walk with where I can work on relaxing a bit more. :-) Below is a short video from our walk.

Fabulous Weekend for the Steeler puppy!

2009-07-19T19:20:00.003-04:00

This weekend was rather busy for us - though not as busy as some weekends can get! On Saturday my dad came down and we took care of the cedar branches that had come down over the winter and did some weeding and bush trimming. FYI - always keep an eye on the extension cord when you are using the electric trimmer!!! :-) Otherwise the sparks will fly! Dad also worked on the lawn mower - which still won't start, and the snowblower, which still won't start - but probably just needs a new spark plug. (fingers crossed on that one). Didn't quite get the AC unit installed in the bedroom - but it's not too bad with a couple of strategically placed fans. Dad left about 3:30 and then I had to get ready for our class that is based on some of Leslie McDevitt's exercises in Control Unleashed. It was HOT and humid on Saturday even at 4:30 and the back yard doesn't have a whole lot of shade at that time.

We are working on Box Work, and Give Me a Break. This week there were four of us. Lindy the aussie (I think she is ~12), Seamus the Berner, who gets reactive when other dogs rush him, Nahar the aussie/BC mix who was only adopted by his owner in February. While the other dogs were learning about the give me a break game, Steeler and I were working on shaping some relaxation. OMG that is hard!!! I have worked so hard on having Steeler focus on me and not really pay attention to the other dogs around him, that he will happily lie on his mat for extended amounts of time on the off chance I might drop him a cookie. So this week he only got cookies when he was doing something other than looking at me using that spotty will power to get cookies.

Steeler and I did some work around the box while Seamus was working in the box and the boys did great. Seamus didn't seem all that concerned about Steeler or Nahar walking around outside while he was working inside. Seamus was even ready to handle both Steeler and Nahar walking around outside the box. Yay Seamus! Steeler and Seamus did some sits and downs very close together but with the gate between them. Both boys did wonderfully. And Steeler and I practiced some formal heeling as well as loose leash walking around the other dogs. And Steeler was able to hang out on his mat and let Lindy come walking by as well as Nahar .... Both dogs got pretty close to him and he didn't care! Whoo hooo!

Today was obedience day! I volunteered to help out at the Show n Go up at MasterPeace Dog Training from 9 - 12:30. So I went up early so I could work Steeler in the building before the rush started and of course he was a good boy. I worked the open ring today - and it is nice to work the list of people from the begining! Much less confusing than when you take over half way thru. Things were running pretty smoothly for a change! I thought about crating Steeler in the building while I worked - but I really thought that he would just be a basket case in a crate with dogs coming and going all around him - so I left him in the car backed up to the building with the back gate open and reflective tarps to keep out the sun. He was much happier out there and the car actually stayed cooler than it was outside!!! We also took several breaks since things were running so smoothly so I was able to get him in and out of the building several times. I really dislike crowds myself - so it is even harder for me to relax with Steeler in a crowd. Steeler is doing great though!!!! He only had one minor growl when I was trying to get away from a dobie on a flexi lead that was visiting while his owner was talking to someone else. And it wasn't the dobie that he grumbled at but the boxer on the other side of us. *sigh* Honestly - why would you bring your dog into a crowded training facility on a flexi ... if you are going to do that at least lock the leash at 5 or 6 feet. ARGHHH!!!!!! Of course this had to happen as we were getting to do stays - which I dread as it is!!! However - Steeler recovered very quickly and was able to do the long sit and downs without issue. I did sits and downs with the open crowd since the novice ring was kind of crazy. :-) For the first set of Stays - I kept Steeler on leash since I was so wound up. I did another set later with a group of 5 dogs and I was able to actually drop the leash and walk across the ring instead of staying at the end of the leash. So we are making progress!

I was very pleased with Steeler's behavior today - both in the ring and out of it. And he is a tired boy now! Spotty dogs are especially cute when they are tired!

Monday and Tuesday classes.

2009-07-15T06:59:00.002-04:00

Monday night is obedience night at my house. This week we were working outside the ring. Typically I really hate it when we do this! It means working in tight quarters and that other dogs coming in for agility class have to come through us. So even though I hate it - it is good for me to work on that kind of environmental stress. Steeler did GREAT. He grumbled once at Dove (the golden puppy) as she walked in, but he was able to get passed Dove and into the ring without even looking at her. The only other time he seemed to see her was when a group of 4 was working on Stays and the other group of four were heeling behind them on the other side of a ring gate. The first time it was our turn to heel, Steeler sat very nicely beside me and then when I said Heel, he took off towards Dove who was on the end of the stay line. Since he still had a leash on he didn't go very far, and it didn't seem like he did it with and real intent other than maybe investigate - so maybe we are making some progress. And he did come right back and start working with me, which he might not have done a couple of years ago. And the second time around he never showed any interest in Dove. Oh yeah - and when we were doing stays and people were heeling behind us - Steeler glanced in their direction - but never broke his stay! Even when it was Doves turn to heel!

Agility class last night was great! We worked on some really hard stuff for Steeler and I. I can set him up in front of a jump and be in lots of different places and he will take the jump in front of him - but this course required that he take 2 jumps in front of him before turning in my direction! And it was a twisty turning course that we were working on. Of course we only worked the first 8 obstacles - but that was enough. And I am much more confident that steeler is going to stick with me now and was able to have Laurie and Solo in the ring with us and hanging out behind where Steeler was setting up! And Steeler never once showed any signs that he even noticed that there was a dog behind him. Next week I am going to see if can finagle some video. Apparently I am dropping my arm at times and Steeler actually crashed a 16 in jump because of some weird cues I was sending.

Steeler goes to the barn!

2009-07-12T15:51:00.003-04:00

Updates for the past week ....
Obedience class continues to go well. And this week I dropped into a different agility class so that I could head to Maine on Tuesday. The dogs stayed at my parents house with Brian to look after them.
So - after a week away the dogs were very happy to see me again (and Laurie, grandma, Aunt Dot, Barb, the kids and my parents). On Saturday we were supposed to have our self control class in my yard but one person got stuck in traffic in NH, another had a headache, and another classmate also ran into a problem. So it was just me and Steeler ... and Ann and Paul with the video camera. The video still needs to be digitized - but hopefully I will get to see it soon.

Today Steeler and I took a trip to Ann's - me for brunch (yum!) and Steeler to make a visit to the barn where Ann keeps her horses. I don't know why I didn't think of asking her if we could do this years ago! Well other than the fact that there is another dog there that is not always dog friendly and I just never thought to ask.

It took us FOREVER to reach the barn! Ok maybe not that long. From the car it is oh - maybe 100 feet to the barn. I am not that good with distances. I haven't put a lot of emphasis on Steeler being "with me" when we get out of the car in new places. I just tend to loose patience and want to get to the good stuff. Well this time, we took our time. There were LOTS of new smells for Steeler to check out. Eventually he was able to take more than one step before lunging ahead of us. The horses at the barn are very dog savy. Barking dogs don't bother them. So I was able to bring Steeler all the way into the barn to work on being near the horses and the horse noises. There were a couple of times that I thought Steeler was clearly anxious inside the barn and he started barking. But when I moved in front of him to block his view he stopped barking and was able to sit and look at the horses again. We spent some time in the barn and then moved back outside so that Ann could clean hooves (I am sure there is a fancy term for it) and do whatever else needed doing. Steeler was clearly more comfortable outside watching the horses than inside, but one thing that I noticed that was interesting was that when I took the leash back from Ann (She had been holding the leash so I could move to block Steeler's view when nessessary) and Ann went to say hello to the horses - Steeler's whole body posture changed. It was like he watched Ann go rub noses and thought - Oh well the horses must be ok then. He was much more relaxed after that! And our walk back to the car was accomplished easily on a loose leash with no pulling! Hopefully we will be able to do this some more. We've been seeing horses where we walk and it would be nice if he thought they were nothing special. :-)

Now to finish all the laundry and clean the house! UGH!

Steeler takes a walk with Winnie the Malamute puppy

2009-07-05T21:37:00.006-04:00

OK - so she is 7 months old and has about 20 pounds on him, but she is still a puppy and I still worry that he wants to tell all puppies exactly who is boss in his world. Though I think that once puppies hit 6 or 7 months old he generally does much better with them. We started with a quick walk around Lisa's house with the youngsters before heading to the state park. They did great together except when they went nose to nose and I got tense ... just a little bit of grumbling that had Lisa and I debating the wisdom of including Winnie on our walk. We debated and debated and then finally decided (since the dogs were lying down next to each other waiting for us to decide) that we might as well take her. Worst case scenario - I would put Steeler on a long line and keep him with me instead running all over the place. So off we went!

And of course the dogs were all fine together. Steeler and Brew have been walking for a while now, and Logan has never met another dog that she can't take a walk with. Right at the beginning we ran into a few horses waiting to cross the road and another pair of dogs. Lisa was ahead of me and told them the dog on a leash (that would be Steeler) didn't like strange dogs in his face and the guys were great ... Steeler was straining to investigate - but not doing his Cujo impersonation and we just kept walking by them. So a bit of an improvement. After that we ran into two horses on our way back to the car but no other dogs.

Not much else to report on .... obedience class and agility class are going really well. Steeler hasn't reacted to Dove the golden puppy much the last couple of classes which is good. We are getting LOTS of heeling practice and lots of work with long Stay's. Last Tuesday at agility class Steeler "met" Solo through the fence, with no growling until Steeler had his feet up on the gate and Laurie was feeding him and Solo thought maybe he should get a treat too. But Laurie said his "growl" was really half hearted and didn't have much oomph behind it. Then Steeler realized that I wasn't standing there any more and had to come looking for me. Then I sent him back to Laurie and he and Solo were fine! I talked to Laurie after class and we are going to try to get together at some point in the next couple of months to continue working on my relaxing a bit with Solo and Steeler. We also have a "back yard" class running based on some of Leslie McDevitt's exercises in Control Unleashed. We've had two classes so far, and Steeler is handling intruders in the yard just fine. This week we worked more on relaxing on the mat and some box work. I don't know that I will ever have a dog that melts into his mat - but we will continue to work on it.

Behind yet again!

2009-06-24T21:21:00.003-04:00

Some days I feel like I will never catch up! So here is a short run down on our latest adventures! Steeler's Monday night obedience class continues to go well. We are getting used to working around Dove the golden puppy. Dove is very sweet - and just way too cute as well - and I am trying really hard to not expect there to be a problem. The first week we moved back to the earlier class was a bit rough - but this week he hardly seemed to notice her at all. Winnie the malamute puppy now has at least 10 pounds on Steeler and he doesn't seem to concerned about her anymore. Maybe one day soon Lisa and I will take them for a walk together and see how they do. On one had it is nice for Brew to have his walk with Steeler and time away from the "baby" - but on the other hand - Winnie needs the exercise too ....

Tuesday night agility is awesome!!! Steeler is now running with Solo the briard in the ring. Steeler hasn't even looked at him with any intensity in the last two weeks. And this week he did the dog walk with Solo about 8 feet away and in his line of sight. He didn't quite meet my 2 on 2 off criteria - and he kept glancing at Solo - but he didn't bail off the dog walk and he might have been looking at Solo because I was glancing at him to keep track of what they were doing. Last nights course was a lot of fun ... and had some hard parts for Steeler. And it was still raining and misty - so I was thrilled with Steeler's attention and desire to play in the rain. He is not a dog that enjoys being wet! LOL - he did earn his nickname of "sissy boy" a few years ago as his grandma will remember. Last night he did the A frame at almost full height and was able to hold onto his contacts a couple of times. When he didn't - he was clearly thinking about it and knew that he was supposed to stop. Yippee! I think full speed at a trial is going to be interesting the first time out, but we shall see. He is really starting to put things together and I think I better start a sprinting program! He is "border collie" fast!

Last weekend we went to Maine Friday and Saturday to hang out with friends at the agility trial in Cumberland. On Friday there was a match after the show, and we were pretty much looking like drowned rats by then. I had signed Steeler up for 4 runs, but only did 2 of them. The weather was just miserable! I didn't really feel like I got a lot of agility out of our runs - but he stayed with me and he played tug with me in the ring! So all things considered I feel that it was a successful afternoon for us. He handled Sara running under the easy up with Carina before I even saw them coming with no issues at all. Steeler knows Carina - but only see's her a couple of times a year so I was thrilled that Carina could run into his space and he didn't care one bit. We had a bit of a growly moment with Axl the GSD - but I think I caused that by tightening up on the leash and pulling him back. Later that weekend he was fine with Axl hanging out within 6 or 8 feet. After the match we drove back to Dawn's, picking up dinner along the way. Of course once we were on our way home the rain stopped and the sun came out a bit. After drying out - Steeler got to play with Aura, Dawn's sweet little liver girl. Aura warmed up to Steeler much quicker this time and they played well together. Then Rachael and family dropped by with Jenna who Dawn was showing in the breed ring on Saturday. I thought that Steeler and Jenna would play quite a bit since they had spent a whole week together last year at the national - but Jenna was being a little bit bitchy this weekend. Steeler took it in stride though - and I used it to practice calling him away from another dog. He was just the BEST!

On Saturday Steeler and also worked on being near Corey (another one of Sara's dals - he's 4 and still intact) and both boys handled it well. Sara is working hard on Corey's attention because he wants to play with EVERYONE! We also saw Laurie with Solo and met her husband Dave and the rest of her crew ... Rio and Shadow. Steeler practiced walking past their expen several times - and he had absolutely nothing to say about it ... just walked on by wagging his tail as if to say - Mom - I already know Solo!!!! I've been warned that once Steeler like Briards that he will probably like all of them - but they are not all as nice as Laurie and Dave's crew!

On Sunday - Ann came over and brought lunch, which was a good thing since I haven't been to the store yet! We watched the Sara Kalnajs DVD Am I Safe. Well we watched disc 1. We had to keep stopping to talk about what we saw vs what Sara was seeing. It was fun! We are going to do disc 2 at some point.

OK this is long enough for now. Look for a posting on the Suzanne Clothier seminar that I went to a couple of weekends ago! I have to say - she is a great speaker, and FUNNY! If you ever get a chance to see her it is well worth the money!

Classes so far this week....

2009-06-09T22:12:00.003-04:00

Last night was obedience night and I have to say - Steeler did great. We switched back to the 5:45 class since Maria has a new job (YAY!!!!) and wasn't sure if she could make the early class. There are a couple of intact boys in the class - And Steeler really didn't care at all about them. He did join in the barking a few times, but really I guess that would be kind of a normal dog response. And we have a puppy in the class. A few times Steeler has not handled puppies well and I usually avoid them if at all possible. This time though we were able to work through a lot of it - including having to set up for a heeling pattern that started in front of the puppy. We still need some work there - but he is getting better all the time.

Tonight was agility class. There was a new (to Steeler not agility) Belgian Mal in the class. A girl who Steeler thought he just had to say hi too. Our first sequence that we worked on he had no trouble with the other dogs being in the ring. And he handled the sequence really well. Even when I twisted my ankle in the sand. On the second sequence he really just HAD to go say hi to Jazz. *sigh* So we had to work through that a bit. Really he just wanted to play with her. I was a bit nervous at first because she seems a bit reactive, barking and lunging at the dogs while they are running. But maybe that is just part of a herding breed??? I don't have that much experience with Mals, even though I have a friend that has a couple. We had to work the rear cross a bit, but we haven't worked much on rear crosses.

And the best part of class tonight was that Steeler was hanging out withing 4 feet of Solo - the young intact Briard that he initially had some trouble with - and the boys were great. Steeler showed no signs of anxiety around Solo. Solo of course thinks that they should be able to play - but I am not ready to test that theory yet.

I am looking forward to our Communications class this week as we are working on some toy stuff. I really need to build some toy desire back into Steeler's toolbox in places other than the back yard.

Sunday Training Time

2009-06-07T21:25:00.004-04:00

Today Steeler and I went to a "training party" organized by Karen. We all had obedience run thru's and worked on whatever else we wanted with our friends. Steeler was just AWESOME today! First - he took a little short walk with Winnie - the malamute puppy that is now bigger than he is and I think he has decided that she is ok. We might try a walk in the woods at some point this summer. Second - he was SUPER hanging out with dogs going past him and he felt comfortable enough to just lie down and hang out. Third we did some work with a Collie puppy - I don't remember how old she is now - maybe 7 or 8 months? And the two of them went nose to nose at one point, kind of by accident - and Steeler has decided that she is ok too! He had no reaction when I called him away. We worked on Stays as well and we did a bunch of short ones where I actually took the leash off for a change and went all the way across the ring! And to top that all off - his novice run thru was spectacular! His heeling was awesome, his recall was great even if his front was just a little bit crooked. His stand for exam was pretty good too, just a little bit of minor shifting of the feet when Karen walked in to do the exam. He LOVES his auntie Karen - so to stand still while she comes in is really hard for him.

After that we stopped at Ann's house to do some more training. Ann and I have made a pact to try to get together more often to actually do more training stuff with our dogs. Some friends of hers with a little white dog named Harry also came down to add another dog to the mix. While we were waiting for Harry, we started with just Brandy and Steeler hanging out - they are both a lot alike - this is BORING when are we going to MOVE! When Harry arrived, we took the dogs down the street to an area that I think links up with the Blue Hills Reservation(?). At any rate - we took the dogs for a walk through the woods where Steeler and Brandy went nose to nose sniffing the same spot a couple of times with no reaction from either of them. We saw some horses as well. When we got to a wide open spot where we could see for quite a ways we worked on taking the leash on and off with Steeler. It seems I have done a spectacular job of pairing the leash going on, the appearance of other dogs, and mom getting nervous to result in Steeler doing a cujo impersonation. So we are going to try to uncouple that by working with dogs I know first! Instead of trying to jump straight to strange dogs. At least it isn't just putting the leash back on that causes this reaction, so we have a place to start! And I know he can do this - because we can walk all around the agility trials and not have a reaction to other dogs passing within a foot or two.

All in all, we had a great day hanging out with friends! But now Steeler and I are tired! :-)

Tagged! - how my dogs came to me

2009-06-05T14:43:00.009-04:00

So- I've been tagged by Julie - to tell the story of how my dogs came to me.

Logan - Logan is my first spotted dog, my first very own dog, who came to me from the Conneticut Humane Society. Brian and I went to visit the humane society on July 3rd, 1998, where he had adopted Puka (pooka)the year before. Really - we just went to look. I had been laid off in June and I was "thinking" about getting a dog. Brian agreed that if/when I did get a dog that the dog could stay with him since I couldn't keep dogs at my apartment. Heck - they could even visit which meant I was spending most of my time in CT instead of in RI. So - we are at the shelter - and there is this really cute 3 month old spotted dog all alone in her kennel. Her brothers were together playing across the aisle. I just HAD to take her home. I had to! So about an hour later - after going to the bank to get cash and signing all the paper work, I walked out with a little spotted girl. Did I know anything about dogs, or puppies at that time???? Nope! I got her because I wanted a dog and she was cute and all alone! Never gave a thought to whether or not Puka (who was about 1 1/2 yo) would like having another dog around? What was I going to tell my parents .... sigh. The next day we were headed to my parents for the 4th of July cookout and we told them that Logan was Brians dog! It took me until April of 1999 (when Brian got out of the Navy and moved back to Chicago) to finally tell my mother that Logan was really mine. And since I was living with my parents after finding a job in Cambridge, could she come live here with JR (my parents dog - whose name stands for Jennifer's Replacement) who was 11 at the time and had never really been around many other dogs. Thank goodness that JR had the temperament of a golden retriever (he was part golden part chow). JR took to having Logan in the house without any issues! Do you think I realized how lucky I was to have a dog with Logan's personality?

Enter Keegan in May of 2000. Brian had moved back to MA (because he missed me)and I had bought a house. I had discovered agility and dog training. While I absolutely adored Logan's laid back personality (except for some separation anxiety)- she didn't LOVE agility. She was happy to train and play, but would only run as fast as I did. I decided that I wanted a dog that loved to run. So - Brian and I went to the animal shelter up in Salem - to LOOK. The north shore animal league maybe? And there was a litter of black lab mixes that had come up from TN. The puppies were about 14 - 15 weeks old and we were told part Belgian sheep dog and part chocolate lab. We happened to have Logan and Puka in the car and we decided that we should get a boy as we already had two girls. At least this time we checked to see if the dogs would get along. So at 8:30 that evening we left with a new addition to our four legged family. Now we had Puka (Brian's dog) Logan (my dog) and Keegan (our dog). Little did I know what I was getting into this time around. Keegan has taught me a phenomenal amount of things about animal behavior and dog training. Who knew that socialization window was slamming shut so fast and that Keegan would become afraid of big dogs as he got older and lash out with teeth when he felt cornered. He has come incredibly far in the last 7 years (he is 9 now)but doesn't love to compete - probably due to a variety of reasons and not just the fact that he doesn't care for other dogs. He and Logan are my resident couch potatos and bed warmers. So after the addition of Keegan in 2000, I was no longer allowed to "visit" any animal shelters .... 6 years pass ..... I move, Brian moves out to go to Grad School in NY, and in 2005 I decide I am ready to start thinking about adding another dog. Enter Steeler, Kingdom's Thief of Hearts, CGC, TDI.

Steeler Dealer Puppy Dog - OH boy. I thought when I started looking for a dalmatian breeder that it would take me at least a year to find what I was looking for and maybe even longer before there might be a puppy available. I had lot's of things that I wanted in a litter. I wanted a puppy from a raw feeding litter, I wanted someone that did the Puppy Stimulation exercises, I wanted someone that was willing to give me a puppy unvaccinated as I didn't want to vaccinate until the pup was 12 weeks old and I wanted to do single vaccines rather than 5 or 7 at once. For that reason I wanted a winter puppy as well if I could. LaDonna of Kingdom Dalmatians had emailed me that she had a litter arriving for December of 2005. At first I thought - no that is too soon, I'm not ready yet. And so I didn't respond other than to say thanks for the information. Well after the puppies were born she emailed me again to tell me that they had arrived - all 12 of them, 6 boys and 6 girls. Well - I thought - lets see what she thinks of all my questions? And I sent her an email that had to be 3 pages long. Instead of trying to answer that email - she picked up the phone and gave me a call. We almost immediately discovered that we had a lot of common interests as far as dogs went and probably spent 45 minutes on the phone talking. I had said I wanted a girl because I thought that would be easier for Keegan and she said that I could pretty much pick my puppy - after the stud owner picked her puppy and Barb the co-breeder picked her puppy. I could come out and test them if I wanted too, whatever I decided would be fine with her. So when the pups were 6 weeks old I flew out to visit my friend Donna for the weekend who lives in Pittsburgh. Being the BEST friend that she is - we drove out on Saturday to see the puppies for the first time. LaDonna had been telling me that she thought she had the perfect agility puppy for me and it was *gasp* a BOY!!! but I could decide on my own. So we went out and videotaped and did some puppy testing that day. And when I left I had it narrowed down to 2 or 3 puppies. Donna says that she knew I was going to pick Steeler aka Goose the boy that LaDonna thought would be perfect. Luckily Donna's husband Will is a great guy and while Donna was working - he took me back to LaDonna's for another look at the puppies. And yes - LaDonna was right ... I ended up deciding that "Goose" as he was known was going to be mine! Steeler has a couple of spots or combination of spots that are heart shaped - hence his name Kingdom's Thief of Hearts. OK kind of corny I know ... but really I had every intention of getting a girl!!! but he stole my heart. LOL

So I think I am supposed to tag someone else??? So I tag Kim
and Lisa

Saturday's Agility Match

2009-06-02T14:18:00.002-04:00

...or a continuation of my obsession with dog behavior. On Saturday I had planned to spend the day at the agility trial with my friend Dawn and Ghost. Since car trouble and other issues canceled those plans I took my time getting up there on Saturday. I dropped Keegan and Logan at my parents house, got some lunch and headed over to see who I could find at the trial site.

Steeler and I walked around and around the agility rings and I couldn't have asked for better behavior. We were passing within a few (2 -3) feet of other dogs and handlers and the occasional puppy. Even a dalmatian puppy, with no reaction other than occasional mild interest. We stopped at Kathy and Sandy's tent to hang out for a while and chat. I used to train with Kathy when I lived in Chelmsford so it was good to see her and chat for a while. Of course we (I) had to talk about behavior and get her take on what happened on Friday night. And now I don't really remember what was decided - if anything - other than it was good that I had a chance to work through what happened. And that I need to practice putting a leash on in the woods for no reason.

By the time the match was ready to start there wasn't anyone around that I knew - so no video this time, sorry Kim! :-) Steeler's first run was lovely. He was really focused, though the opening was jump - poles and he missed his entry. But I got him back and he handled the next few obstacles very well. Stopped on his dog walk contact and waited to be released! Then into the tunnel. He still doesn't have a full height A frame - so we skipped that, though we practiced his contact behavior. The rest of the run was fine, tunnel, teeter (wasn't exceptionally fast - but he didn't hesitate and held his contact. Table to the next series of jumps (first a 270) then over the broad jump and another jump to finish. I think I should have stopped there! BAD HANDLER for forgetting that he did that whole course with no real rewards during the run. I haven't been able to really get him to play in that environment lately. So I couldn't stop and reward him during the run. In retrospect - I should have stopped after a few obstacles and run out and gotten cookies. *sigh* Some day I will learn. I did take him out to run up and down the dirt road after we finished, and he got cookies. And we tried to play with his favorite rabbit tug - which he did a little bit, but he was far more interested in sniffing the grass than chasing his rabbit.

Runs 2 and 3 I felt were just awful. Run 2 started with him leaving to investigate the shelties walking down the side of the ring. Thankfully the snow fencing was 4 ft and he didn't think about jumping it. But I panicked, which sent him looking for something else to do, and he almost went to visit the next dog that was waiting his turn. *BIG SIG* OK so now I was in complete PANIC mode ... but he did come back and we were able to do a couple more obstacles before I left the ring. Oh and visiting the ring crew was fun for him too.

Third run - probably not as much of a disaster as the second run. Now I had ring crew guarding the exit so Steeler couldn't escape. I didn't even ask them to do that. Steeler was still really distracted and though he would come back to me I clearly wasn't doing a good job of being reinforcing enough for him.

So- plans for the next match in June??? This time I am going to stick to my plan to do 5 or 6 obstacles and then take him out and reward him for doing well. :-) Though at the moment I am vacillating between being done with dog sports, done with agility, or just doing obedience. *sigh* Sometimes I think that these ups and downs just can't be normal.

Since Julie has Tagged me to tell how my dogs came to me - you can look forward to that in another post soon!

My obsession with dog behavior.....

2009-05-31T17:43:00.002-04:00

OK - Anyone who really knows me knows how obsessed I can be over my dogs behavior. This weekend my friend Dawn was supposed to come down Friday night for the AKC trial in Westford. Just minutes from my parents house - so no getting up at the crack of dawn. But between car troubles and her grandmother being ill, she decided not to tempt fate. :-) Probably a good idea to stay home for the weekend. So - even though Dawn couldn't make it down I decided to go to the Tunneler fun runs that were happening in Wrentham.

Note to self - Steeler with no exercise outlet for the day is not good planning! Logan had a chiro adjustment scheduled - so I worked half a day and basically came home, played with the pups for 30 mintues outside and put Logan and Steeler in the car to drive to Framingham. The traffic was awful - which made me a few minutes late. Fortunately that wasn't a problem .... but then I left there later than planned and it took forever to drive the 15 miles to Wrentham. EVERYONE was driving about 10 miles under the limit. So I got to Wrentham later than I wanted to. And Steeler had been in the car for 2.5 hours.

I got him out of the car for our first run and he was a wild boy. Wild boy took the first tunnel and then proceeded to make up his own course. Then saw a barking sheltie on the side lines and jumped the FENCE. ARGH!!!!! Looked at the sheltie and decided not to mess with him but the big black lab also hanging out looked like and easier target. I am sure most of you can imagine how fast this happened. Well all I can say is Thank Goodness for Mark. Somehow he was able to catch Steeler mid stride and pick him up before he connected with the lab. He carried him back out to me and said - take a deep breath - he didn't connect, everything is fine, just get him working with you again. Talk about an adrenaline rush. Fortunately Steeler recovered quicker than I did and ran the course just fine. I of course was shaking. Not wanting to end on that note - I did do two more runs with him, for which he was much more focused and never thought of jumping the fence again, even though the barking sheltie was still there. (I had asked them not to move to far away so Steeler could work through the barking- because after all barking happens A LOT at agility trials)

I am really disappointed that Steeler jumped the fence ... I had thought I could count on that being the one thing that he would not do. Generally he is very respectful of ring gates and has never jumped a ring gate in obedience settings. Some days I wonder whether I should even think about competing in agility with him. I know that I tend to panic and obsess over everything that he does - which doesn't make things any better. On the other hand - Mark's timing was impeccable and the total calm and unemotional manner in which he grabbed Steeler was just amazing. And the look on Steelers face as he was carried back to me was priceless.

On the plus side, we stayed to hang out with Julie, Carmie and Bug for a while, and Logan got to do a Tunnelers run too. Of course at 11 she just trotted through the course - but I think she had a good time. I also took the opportunity to practice our moving stays with Steeler. And yes Katrin - I did actually drop the leash for this. Steeler was totally focused on me while we were working and charging forward full speed to get his cookie when I released him. :-)

And yes I am still obsessing over the fence jumping and subsequent behavior!

The past week

2009-05-23T08:25:00.003-04:00

AHHHH ... a long weekend with no major plans except to relax!

The last week has been a pleasant although busy one. Monday night obedience class continues to go well. Though I think I do need to go back and refresh some of the basics that we haven't worked on recently. This week we worked on retrieving. Steeler is doing great with that - with the minor exception of letting go of the dumbbell when I put my hands on it. It was a pretty common problem in class and we talked about two different ways to work on that. The first way seemed to me to be shaping the dog to want to hold onto it. The other way used doggy zen to maintain the hold. I will likely play with both methods this weekend and see how we do. Meanwhile - Steeler's stays are coming along nicely and I think I might be ready to take the leash off pretty soon.

Agility class on Tuesday - Oh boy! It is so nice to be in a class where everyone seems to care how you are doing! Everyone in the class is competing except for Steeler I think - oh and Solo. OK - so half of the class is competing. Everyone wanted to know how Steeler did at the Match last weekend. We worked on a new lead out skill this week. Some day I will get my act together and maybe get some maps uploaded. It was a hard one, three jumps to the poles and Catie wanted us to be able to lead out to the third jump. Which really wouldn't have been that difficult - except for the fact that it wasn't a straight line! We started closer to jump 2 than to 3 the first time thru to work on the mechanics. Steeler and I are still working on our timing - but we quickly got the hang of it. The second time thru we were closer to jump three, but not quite where we ultimately wanted to be. We had a bit more trouble there - I am still working out what it means for Steeler to be committed to an obstacle. We also added a few more obstacles this time through. So Jump Jump Jump, poles, jump, tunnel table. By the time we finished our turn - I was standing where Catie wanted us close to jump 3 and Steeler was committing to jump 2 before turning into me and he nailed his weave poles and turbo charged the next jump to the tunnel and didn't fall off the table! YAY! And everyone said - OH my doG he is going to be FAST! :-)

On another note - Steeler did have a few things to say when Solo came into the agility ring, but when Steeler set up in front of the first jump and Solo was 4 or 5 feet behind him on the other side of the gate - Steeler didn't seem to care much. He did glance at Solo once, but I just reminded him to sit and walked away. And Steeler held his sit and waited for me to release him! He also got a bit distracted the first time through and left me, not sure if that was a minor stress issue - because we were working on something hard for him. I had a moment of slight panic because he decided to play with the BC girl in our class. Luckily she is a sweet girl that doesn't give off any hard vibes. And after my moment of panic I did manage to call Steeler back to me in an almost normal tone of voice - and he came running back! On our second turn he started to leave again to go play - and this time I had my brain back and just called him before he got very close and he came right back. :-) YAY!

Thursday night is Communications class with Katrin. I am really enjoying this class. We worked on the eye targeting game some more. Steeler had some trouble getting started, he was a bit distracted by a couple of the dogs. We worked with peanut butter for a bit, and then switched to a can of Evangers all meat canned food. All of a sudden Steeler was REALLY into this game. Amazing what you can do with a novel treat. And he seems to be getting the idea that he needs to find my eyes. I will try to video this weekend. We also introduced the space game this week. Steeler LOVES this ... of course any thing that involves motion is good with him. This game is to teach the dogs to move into our space when invited, and out of our space when we step into theirs. I'll have to video that too. It's all about pressure. Creating pressure when you step into them, and easing pressure when you invite them into your space. I talked to Katrin a bit about Steeler's reaction to Solo (and he has a similar, less intense reaction to the golden in class) and I am going to try to be proactive next Tuesday (and Thursday). Before Steeler can notice Solo I am going to start playing the space game with him. And if he does react to Solo, I am going to just back up and reward him for coming into my space. We have lots of homework this week. Continuing with the eye contact game, the space game - moving forward and back and side to side, as well as working on backing up in a straight line. hmmmm I guess I will be doing more training and less relaxing than I thought this weekend. Oh wait - dog training is a form of relaxation! :-)

Agility B Match in Wrentham

2009-05-16T21:46:00.003-04:00

Today Steeler was signed up for 3 runs at a "B" Match after the AKC agility trial in Wrentham. Most of the day I had been thinking that I was nuts to follow through with this. All of my normal agility buddies that would help me keep my anxieties in check are off at a Susan Salo seminar at clean run. But I decided there was bound to be at least one person there that I would know and I loaded Logan and Steeler into the car and off we went. I am glad that I went - I ran into Maggie, who I hadn't seen in a year or so and my friend Nancy with Lola and Butchy. She had Lola with her today. Lola and Steeler aren't too fond of each other - but handled hanging out pretty well.

Steeler handled the commotion of the trial site very well! I was very pleased with his ability to walk with me instead of 6 feet in front of me. LOL There was a fair bit of commotion at the start of the match - lots of people and dogs still around. Closer to a trial situtions than the Tunneler runs that we did in April. The match was run in 2 rings, with 155 runs between the two rings.

Steeler is definitely not ready to trial just yet - but he is getting there. The first run felt pretty good, even though we were just a bit disconnected. Steeler was listening to me and coming when I called - so I was pretty happy with that. The novice course started with Jump, Dog Walk, Jump, Broad Jump, weaves. The first two runs he held his start line but bypassed the dog walk for the tunnel underneath it. Once I got him on the dog walk he hit his contacts and handled the jump to broad jump sequence just fine, but turned into me when I tried to cue his weave poles. On the third run I decided to handle the dog walk on the other side. That was enough to get him on the dog walk without going thru the tunnel first. And he hit his contacts and his weave pole entry without pausing!!!! After the first run I bypassed the Aframe - he really is not ready to handle it at full height yet. I was generally pretty pleased with his runs. His second run I felt he was a bit more distracted and drifty which in turn made me more anxious - but his third run felt pretty good - so I felt really good about being able to pull my mind together and not worry about what "might" happen on the next run. :-)

2009-05-13T19:40:00.005-04:00

Life has been rather busy the last few weeks. Not with anything special - just everyday stuff. I had to spend two days in Cambridge - that was a pretty awful commute. Tuesday wasn't too bad - but Wednesday morning was just awful. I don't know how long it took for us to go from Rockland to Cambridge ... I think we left around 7:40 and got there about 9:15 or so. It's only 20 miles away, but route 93 is just a parking lot at times!

Obedience class continues to go well. Steeler's Stand for Exam is back to where it was before we stopped practicing for a bit. It didn't take much to get it back - just a bit of refreshing his memory. I feel like his Stay's are coming along quite nicely as well. I still feel like I need to do them on leash - but I think we are close to the point of taking the leash off. But knowing me I won't do that until Esther makes me take it off. We did some group heeling this week and Steeler did really well with that.

I decided to try a new agility class with Catie after run thru's at the barn. The people at the run thru's were super nice and I felt welcome even though I was keeping my distance with Steeler. Plus - if I could have a class that was 5 minutes from home - well that would be the best!!!!! We've had one class that went really well after Steeler settled down a bit. In the class there is a Briard, a shepard, and a BC. The first class the BC was absent and there was a malinois making up a class. We worked on start line stays, and rear crosses. Last week we missed agility class - didn't get home until after 7 pm ... but this week we went down and in addition to our regular class we did the beginner class before ours. I could have made up class in a class at the same level - but sometimes the basics are worth repeating, plus I figured it was a couple of new dogs and that would be good for both of us. We worked on the 2x2's and some contacts. I actually felt confident enough to take Steeler's leash off while we were all working at our 2x2 stations. Steeler stayed with me and was focused on the game! Yippee!!! Then our regular class was next. Steeler was pretty good with everyone until Laurie put up Solo's hair (Solo is the Briard). I think Steeler could then tell that Solo was looking at him ... heaven forbid another dog actually look at him. Solo is young and still intact - who knows if that was playing a part ... Laurie took Solo outside the ring and Catie worked Steeler through his "issue" - Steeler barked and lunged a couple of times - but I think when Solo didn't react at all to him Steeler kind of deflated and then didn't have another problem with Solo. Solo is such a good boy!!!! And Laurie is great! It is nice to be in a class where I feel like people understand and don't think that Steeler is "bad" ... I've only been in one other class last summer that I felt that way - but I still hadn't worked through a lot of my anxiety about what Steeler "might" do if he ran up to another dog. So, anyway - last night we worked on some short sequences that Steeler handled very nicely. I was able to lead out 2 jumps and there was a pinwheel and a front cross and the A frame. We haven't worked much on the A frame since I have spent a year or so debating 2on 2off or running contacts. So the A frame was low and Steeler was able to figure out the 2 on 2 off behavior that I have decided on.

Thursday nights are Communications class! We had our first class with dogs last week. It is hard to let Steeler just do whatever rather than trying to manage everything. In class there is a golden retriever - very bouncy and active, young I think, Brew, Steeler's Malamute friend and another dog ... maybe a mix of medium size. This whole eye targeting game is hard work. Basically we are teaching the dogs to find our eyes rather than us finding their eyes. A "simple" targeting exercise - but one I am finding difficult. I am just not sure that the lightbulb has gone off in Steeler's brain yet. But we are plugging along. I took some video this weekend. And we spent 15 minutes tonight working on it. It is so hard to not move my eyes to find his! I think he is just starting to figure things out. He is getting a bit distracted though - I think because he can't figure out what I want as easily as other behaviors we have shaped. We started by shaping eye contact in front of us and then when they seem to get that behavior, we turn 90 degrees and see if the dog can figure out to come in front of us again. Steeler seems to be getting that tonight so we tried the next step which is to turn just your head and see if the dog can find your eyes. Steeler did (woooo hooo!) and then we ended with a couple of easier turns of the whole body instead of just the head. Then I ended the session on that note. Here is the video from this weekend. It is kind of long - need to find some editing software that I can figure out how to use!

This Week with the Spotted boy.

2009-04-25T21:38:00.013-04:00

This week has been a busy week for Steeler. Monday night is Obedience Night. He does very well in class these days. Stays are a bit difficult, especially with agility class running in the next ring - but we are getting there. We were told that we need to spend some time refreshing our Stand for Exam - so we have been practicing that this week. Tuesday night Steeler made a new Border Collie friend. Wednesday night we didn't do much because Tuesday night we got no sleep when the sump pump hose blew a hole at 2AM and sprayed water all over my basement. What fun that was. Thursday night was the first night of our Communications class. The first class was without dogs so that we could go over some of the rules and the basics of what Katrin would like us to start at home. On Friday we went up to Uxbridge and went for a 5 mile walk with Lisa and Brew. We ran into three dogs on Friday. The first one as we were starting our walk, was not a problem. The second one I could have handled better - as is usually the case. The lab was on a leash and at the end of it and pulling - so Lisa and I leashed up the boys and walked off into the woods so they could pass. Both boys took offence at the fact that they were sitting politely and this lab kept heading towards them rather than just passing them by. In retrospect what I think we should have done was asked the guy that was walking if he could move his dog to his left so we could just keep moving by the dog. Oh well - hindsight is always 20/20. The last dog was an off leash golden. Brew had already met the dog before but I am still nervous about Steeler meeting dogs that I don't know. So I leashed him up and just moved on past the dog. Well ... the golden's owner after being told 3 times that Steeler is not always good with other dogs just stood there and called her as she followed Steeler on down the path. It felt like it took forever for Lisa to grab the golden and escort her back to the owner. But - while Steeler was not happy about the golden - he didn't erupt into a barking lunging mess. :-) I found out after that the golden was only 2 - she looked much older probably because she was carrying about 50 extra pounds. :-(((

After walking with Lisa I met Dawn and Ghost at Dunkin Donuts. Dawn came down for the night for the agility trial today. We took the boys for a short walk around the show site and then went up to the NADAC site for "Fun Runs". Fun Runs are a tunnelers run. Oh boy! ALL TUNNELS! This time around there were a lot more dogs and people around. Still not as many as an actual trial - but more than last week. The course was also harder. The first run (that I didn't get on video) was pretty good. Just a little bit of drifting between the first and second tunnel. The second run about the same. I have not been asking for much in the way of Start line behavior -
because as soon as I start to
fuss with him, my anxiety builds and Steeler gets stressed out. So I couldn't beat him to the end of the first tunnel and he was drifting in the middle. So the third run I asked for a sit stay at the start and was able to lead out to the end of the first tunnel! You can tell that he is tired by this point. By the end of the run he was really starting to slow down.

Today we hung out at the AKC trial that Dawn and Ghost were entered in. We shared tent space with Maria and Kirby and the boys all did well together. I had Steeler out quite a bit and Steeler did great. Here he is hanging out in the tent ring side. He was very good in his crate while I was not around. Not so good if I was sitting right there with him, but he got better as the afternoon went by. At the end of the afternoon we did the practice jump a few times. I tend to get nervous about taking his leash off around lots of distractions, but he sat, stayed and jumped when I asked him to without getting distracted and wandering off! I think there is hope for us yet. Tonight he is EXHAUSTED (and so am I)! Tomorrow we have to do Katrins homework a couple of times to make up for not doing it today.

More fun with Steeler

2009-04-19T20:35:00.006-04:00

On Saturday I headed north to my parents house for the afternoon. My sister was down with the kids and my brother had come down from ME so we could have a birthday party for Ryan, my nephew. Little did I know that my brother had a trip planned to the state park that is a couple of miles from my parents house. So the 5 of us and 2 dogs (my brother has a lab, Luke) piled into the car and off we went. Now, normally this is not someplace that I would take Steeler. It is full of off leash dogs and that normally sends me running in the other direction. But I let my brother talk me into it. Actually he didn't say much - just gave me that look that says "get over it". I kept Steeler on leash and he did really well. The worst part is getting past the first pond since that is where dogs tend to congregate and play. We let Luke play in the water for a few minutes and since Steeler is not a water dog we just stayed off to the side and watched. Steeler did really well with a little chi leaving his owner to come check him out ... really didn't seem all that bothered by it. It helped a lot that I don't generally freak out about smaller dogs. We continued on our way and passed a few more dogs without incident. Then we took a side trail and I let Steeler just drag the line for a while. We only had one problem with an aussie sneaking up behind us that I kind of paniced on. I couldn't quite get Steeler's leash shortened up in time - but nothing major happened. Steeler barked at the intruder and the intruder turned and ran back to their owner. I was happy that Steeler went back to just being a dog rather than scanning the environment looking for the other dogs. We had a pleasant walk for most of the remainder of our walk. Well if you don't count Uncle David telling Ryan that we were lost in the woods. One other dog came to visit us towards the end - a larger mix that looked like maybe some whippet in him. I just stuffed dried salmon at Steeler and moved away and Steeler was fine! I was really pleased with Steeler and even more pleased with myself, that I could get through that walk without having a panic attack about all the loose dogs. I am still not sure if I should have taken Steeler to the park or not, but I am happy that everything went just fine. Today we had a quiet day of just hanging around the house, getting ready for a busy week ahead. :-)

Friday Fun

2009-04-17T21:39:00.008-04:00

Today was a good day for Steeler. We started the day with a walk in the woods with our friends Lisa and Brewser. It was a gorgoeus day - about 70 degrees and sunny! Brew is a long haired malamute so he thought it was very warm today. Awesome trails - wide open and you can see for quite a ways. Lisa and I walked about 5 miles so who knows how far the dogs went. Of course by the time we got to the spot where we put the leashes back on - Brew was walking slower and not pulling .... Not my Steeler dealer puppy dog .... Where are we going NOW mom!!!!??!!! If I pull will we get there quicker? The best part was that we didn't run into another soul! Steeler was great - he has never been here before so I didn't expect much check in behavior from him. But once again he surprised me! He checked in very frequently! Every time he checked in he got a cookie. I still need to put as much money in that bank as I can. Steeler apparently does not like getting his feet wet - he was funny to watch by the stream. Hmm .... that brings back some memories of the Finger Lake Shows where Steeler earned the nickname "sissy boy" Brew of course wades right in to cool off ... not my little boy - I couldn't even get him to drink unless I scooped up some water in my hands for him. What a goof!

After our walk, and getting Lisa's car started (the battery died) it was off to PetsMart to get a new mat for the car crate. He did great there. A bit distracted, but Steeler sat still for the little boy that wanted to pet him (even when he stepped on his tail he didn't complain) and was able to ignore the little dog on the flexi with the inattentive owner and was only a little bit startled when a purple dog ran by him. What is it with people dying their white fluffy dogs different colors?????? I have to say I really do just find that bizarre.

After that it was off to the agility show grounds to meet Maria and Kirby for some training time. Maria explained how to lay a track and we started Steeler on some tracking today. So I laid the track, and then I threw bumpers for Kirby. Then we went up to the agility field to see what was going on with the fun runs there. They had a tunneler course set up and Steeler and I ran twice. The first time I didn't set him up very well. I set him up too far from the tunnel and I wasn't really going to be fussy about sitting him and getting him to stay - so he ran past the tunnel - but Steeler came right back to me and into the tunnel he went. We just ran the novice course, so it was pretty easy. But Steeler missed my front cross - it was sloppy ... totally my fault. But again - he came right back to me. And we completed the course without any problem. Well - if you don't count my throwing the frisbee at the leash runner. I didn't mean to do that!!! Our second run was great. I took the time to actually set him up in front of the tunnel and asked for a short wait and I led out a few (maybe 3) steps. I was able to concentrate more on standing up straight and making the cross at the right place and Steeler was able to read that with no problem. I think I got my cues out a bit quicker too. Sometimes I forget that he is MUCH faster than Keegan and Logan were. I have to say - I felt really good about his attention today. It's been a really long time since we have done anything outside that isn't in the back yard and I used to worry myself into a tense knot about what Steeler might do. Amazing what can happen when you can relax a little bit. Granted - there were not a lot of people or dogs around - but there were lots of birds and squirrels! And Steeler didn't bolt or try to leave the ring!!!! I've been told that next time I must get video!

After agility it was time to see if we could get Steeler to follow a track. I have to say - this was not as successful as the agility runs. It was a straight track about 50 ft with 5 articles. He started out ok - but then got distracted by a woman and a little dog that stopped to watch what we were doing. :-) The little dog was making noises at Steeler and Steeler wanted to keep an eye on the other dog. We will keep at it and see how it goes. Then we threw some more bumpers for Kirby - then took the dogs for a stroll ... by the time we got back to the car Steeler was walking nicely on a loose leash. I think he might have been a bit tired by then. He actually fell asleep on the way home and as I type he is curled up next to me - sound asleep. I love tired puppies!

Response to Comments

2009-04-12T09:27:00.005-04:00

Ok - Since I am still figuring things out I thought I would respond to the comments ... It is great to hear from all of you!

Kim - you will have to fill me in on the other spotty blogs that I should check out! I thought it was funny that you are already following Tess and Jazz - Jazz is a half sister to Steeler! :-) And Gambit is Steeler's sister! I love all of your pictures too! If I were in FL you would be doing my photos for sure!!!!

Kathy - Great to hear from you! I heard you ran into my obedience trainer (Esther Zimmerman) at either the Clicker Expo or the APDT conference in KY (I can't remember which) - talk about a small world! I've been following Joey's accomplishments via LaDonna's blog page. Steeler is doing pretty well with obedience and rally - at least run thru wise. I just need to get over my anxiety with Stays and then I think we will be ready! In Nov we did a pre-novice run at a real trial and Steeler actually did pretty well - we wouldn't have qualified because his heeling was not great - but he held his Stays which was all I was really worried about.

Lisa - I love checking out your blog! But I can't let Steeler see all the things that he is missing out on! Unfortunately the easter bunny did not show up for him today. But he did get a new tug toy yesterday for being such a good boy! I've been taking him to trials since he was a pup. Not quite as often as I did with Keegan - but enough so that I think that he is pretty familar with that environment. It is my nerves that cause our problems. There is a B Match coming up in June in Maine that we will be going to as well ... Oh and some NADAC fun runs are coming up this month as well. Oh boy!!!!

Jules - Thanks for helping me get started! Now if I can just figure out how to add pictures and stuff. LOL This is looking like it could be addictive!

Agility Run Thru's with Steeler

2009-04-11T17:57:00.006-04:00

Today I took Steeler to agility run thrus at the barn in Duxbury organized by Catie Williams of WonderDogs. This is the second time that we have gone and Steeler and I were MUCH better this time around. It helped that it was less crowded this time. The first time we went to run thrus about a month ago Steeler did great hanging out and being focused on me until it was time for us to actually go in the ring. When I get anxious Steeler tends to bail on me. I need to work on being less nervous! Last time on his last run my friend Laurie helped me with some restrained recalls with Steeler. The last run was definitely his best. So this time I decided to do restrained recalls right from the beginning! Luckily Laurie and my friend Nancy were there to help today. We ran 24 inch dogs first - there were only 3 I think and then Steeler was the 3rd 20 in dog in. Nancy took one look at me when I brought him in and took him away from me! LOL I think that was a good thing. When it was our turn to go in the ring Nancy took Steeler to the opposite end of the barn and we did a couple of recalls and then started our course. All I can say is WOW ... it was like running a different dog compared to last time. He nailed his weave poles and was very focused. He was running so fast he almost bounced off the teeter - but he did manage to hold onto his 2 on 2off contact position. We repeated the recalls the next run but with the second recall I didn't stop to feed but went directly into our run - Jump to the weave poles and then cookies. We then continued on and Steeler continued to be focused on the job at hand. I am so pleased that he is nailing his contact behavior on the teeter and dog walk! He even downed on the table! I was even able to work in some front crosses! We do have things to work on as well. I still need to spend some time working on his A frame and discrimination exercises, and I need to build some tug drive in places other than the back yard, but overall I am really pleased with my little boy today! Steeler is now sacked out under the covers on the bed. He really doesn't care for this cold rainy weather we are having today!

And a big THANK YOU to Laurie and Nancy today for helping me relax!!!!!

A first post

2009-04-11T17:40:00.005-04:00

This is my training blog - hopefully to help keep me on track with my training plans for Steeler. I tend to write like I talk - so consider yourself warned. :-) Steeler is my 3 year old dalmatian. I also have an 11 year old Dal girl named Logan, and a 9 year old lab named Keegan. I've done agility and obedience with the Logan and Keegan - though I have to say that Logan really hated obedience class. :-) Of course those were the days before I completely "crossed over" to clicker training. Logan and Keegan are mostly retired these days. They do a bit of training here and there - but mostly they get to do whatever they feel like doing. So this is likely to be 99.9% about Steeler.

Steeler has been a challenge in many ways ... mostly of my own doing unfortunately. But we are working on those issues and we have both come a long way since his adolescence. I hope you enjoy our tales. :-)

Connecting with the Dots

Rest in Peace my sweet girl! Logan 3/21/98 - 1/28/12

Happy Birthday Steeler!!!

November already????

New Obedience Title for Steeler.....

Past due for an update

VERY BAD Blogger!

Agility at the DCA national specialty.

Dalmatian National continued ....

The Dalmatian Club of America National

May???? How did that happen???

I'm Back!

Sunday Agility Match

FIVE!!!!

This seems to describe my life at the moment.

What a weekend

Where does the time go?????

Notes from the Julie Daniels Seminar

Oh boy! Tomorrow is Saturday.....

Busy Saturday for Steeler!

Video!

Crazy week!

Agility Night

"Crash"

Bad Blogger!

Steeler meets his match

Noseworks - training party

Wednesday Agility class

Bad Dog?

Catching up ...

Agility Class

Noseworks - class number 5

Wednesday Agility class - Fun with Rear Crosses

noseworks - class number 4

Agility Match

Some pictures from the storm

Nina Ottosson dog toys

Saturday afternoon Nose Works

Wednesday night agility!

Saturday Noseworks class

Barking

Surviving my worst fear...

Wednesday night agility class

Sunday Show N Go! at Performance Plus in Taunton

Saturday Agility Match in Duxbury and catch up

Tuesday night agility

Happy 2010!

Keegan and Steeler play in the snow!

Steeler's new Rally title

Totally awesome class tonight!

Totally Awesome Nosework Seminar this weekend!

Agility class

Happy Thanksgiving!

The weekend!

Tuesday night agility fun

More on Treat and Retreat

Suzanne Clothier's Treat and Retreat Game

Shaping Class

more video

A quiet weekend

Good Boy Steeler

One Tired Spotty dog

Stress! and a GREAT Tuesday Agility Class

Latest Training stuff with Steeler

September????

Good week for the spotted boy!

Busy Busy weekend for the Steeler Puppy!

The video is up ...

Totally awesome class tonight!

Distance work!

Tuesday Agilty Class

A little bit of sunshine ....

Fabulous Weekend for the Steeler puppy!

Monday and Tuesday classes.

Steeler goes to the barn!

Steeler takes a walk with Winnie the Malamute puppy

Behind yet again!

Classes so far this week....

Sunday Training Time

Tagged! - how my dogs came to me