These obedience dogs

Pegboard

2011-12-16T09:34:00.001-08:00

I need to take some pictures today... I finally got Scorch a pegboard for articles. I was worried that he would get discouraged or have lowered confidence if I tied down the scent articles. But his confidence has gotten out of control, so it was time to take him down a notch. :)

Scorch has had some good, focused finds, but he tends to get so excited and amped up that he'll either air-scent quickly (which can lead to mistakes) or he'll just snatch and grab the first one he comes to. I didn't feel that he had a clear understanding or was careful enough, so when our instructor brought her pegboard, we gave it a try. What a difference it made!

We've had two sessions with the new pegboard. Lisa has me starting him with around the clock training. It makes sense when an instructor can put it into context. I'm starting him at 5 o clock every time so that he tends to make a straight line and search counter-clockwise. We've had some good finds and some attempted snatches, but last night he had such an amazing search. He'd attempted snatching a few times, and had even left the pile twice. He'd always gone back and found the right one, but he was still rushed.

So on the last send, I put the correct article at 1 o clock. He went to 5 o clock and the light bulb seemed to turn on. He carefully sniffed, somewhat counter-clockwise, somewhat through the middle. He almost put his mouth on 12 o clock but stopped before he made contact, thought for a moment, then sniffed over to the right article, and he KNEW. The comprehension dawned on his face, he grabbed it, and came running over. We ended it there... we'll see how long it takes to get there again today.

Scent articles are AWESOME. I love watching my dog figure it out. We signed up for the next Utility class, because we're ready and they won't be offering one again till later next year. The only thing that bums me out is that no one is teaching an Open class, and I really think we could use it. We're still practicing Open and getting ready for our next trial, but I would love a structured teaching environment. Apparently so would the Utility B people... so maybe someone will step up.

Go-outs and articles breakthroughs

2011-11-30T17:47:00.000-08:00

Tonight was Utility class again, and we had some "ah-hah!" moments!

First of all, watching Scorch work articles is amazing. It literally takes my breath away, that MY dog is working scent articles. It's so fascinating to be working at something new.

I'm still putting a thin layer of cheese on the bar the first time, but I'm generally not adding any more for subsequent retrieves. We're up to 2 metal and 2 leather unscented. Scorch generally works the pile at first, but as he gets more excited, he tends to start "air scenting" and rushes it... but he's still right, so we're not too concerned with that right now. Lisa says I may have to slow him down in the future.

He also did a couple of "visits" but he did return to the article pile and went back to work. As he gets better, I'll start adding a retractable if I have to but I just want to build his confidence for now.

For go-outs, Lisa had me loop the (unfastened) leash around Scorch's chest to build some opposition reflex, and also to get me in an upright position where I could still restrain him (and quickly let him go). He did some of his best go-outs to date. Just a couple of weeks ago, he couldn't even FIND the cheese on the stanchion, and still wasn't sure about looking away from me. Now, he's marking when I tell him to ("Spot!") and leaving straight on the send ("Run away!"). We got to about 20 feet away, which is tremendous improvement from the 5 feet or so we were stuck at. If he keeps this up, we're about ready to start using less cheese and sometimes adding a sit.

Go-outs have been our biggest challenge, and it's taken some outside the box thinking, but we're seeing the results. I've had a hard time practicing because I don't have a great stanchion right now... I'm hoping to build something out of PVC and wood that will work, because the materials I have aren't cutting it. Money's been super-tight, so it's just had to wait. At least I know our work in the training building is starting to pay off, and I know our progress will be better when I have the right "stuff" at home.

I discovered that Scorch has a great signal-sit... as long as it follows a drop from a stand. Uh oh. So I'm working to separate those a little more. I've also taken signals on the road a lot more; we worked outside of a Target and he did well. Another night, we did signals outside of JC Penney's and he had more trouble. So in comparison, he was on fire with attention in class. He didn't mind being in a line-up of dogs at all, even with an intact male next to him. He gave me some great drops, and he was attentive but confused during the sit. I'm happy with the attention and progress we've made.

But there's still nothing like watching him work articles. :)

Beginner Utility work

2011-11-19T05:42:00.000-08:00

I guess what's interesting about spending the past 4 years working on Scorch's attention is that now it's hard to get him to look anywhere else. We ran into this problem in agility, when he was supposed to target facing away from me. Now we've run into it again with go outs.

My instructor, Lisa, puts cheese on the stanchion, Scorch is in a heel position looking at me. I stare at the cheese, Scorch is in heel position looking at me. I go up and point to the cheese, return and Scorch is in heel position looking at me. Lisa makes noises and points to the cheese, Scorch is in heel position looking at HER, deliberately NOT looking at the cheese, then looking back at me.

Oy vey.

So after a couple of weeks of not making much progress, Lisa recommended we take him out of heel position entirely. She had me straddle him, lace my fingers under his chest, and lift him up slightly. AH HAH! That got him looking at the cheese. So I've gradually faded that position. We still have to start with an off-heel position somehow, but after a couple of go outs, he can be sent from heel. I'm using the word "spot" to have him focus on the stanchion. It's the word my instructor uses, which makes it easy to remember. I was going to use "look", but we play the "look at that" game sometimes with dogs he doesn't care for, so "spot" it is.

Speaking of dogs he doesn't care for... Scorch made HUGE progress yesterday at work. First, we were walking towards my office when my coworkers MASSIVE chocolate lab, Cooper, came galloping towards us (on leash). Even though he's neutered, he's still huge and Scorch froze in place. The fear on his face broke my heart. Cooper sniffed Scorch, who was stiff as a board, and then turned away, distracted by someone else. I encouraged Scorch to go visit, and he sniffed him tentatively. Once he realized he was neutered and not paying attention to him, I think Scorch relaxed a bit.

Then we walked into the office, and Brooklyn the boxer was sticking her head out from under Tara's desk. Scorch wouldn't even come through the door. No one else was in there, so I had to encourage him to pass her. He rushed past quickly and greeted his usual office-mate, Bentley. I let him off leash and eventually, curiosity got the best of him. He went over to sniff Brooklyn. She's female, which helped, and pretty gentle for a Boxer. Long story short, within a couple of hours, they were playing nicely together. What a HUGE step for a dog who was paralyzed by his fear of her.

We saw Duke the pit bull later, and Scorch politely declined to play with him. He kept his tail up and wagging though, so that's still a positive step forward.

Bliss with his fleece tug, a gift from a coworker.

In other training news, we've started scent articles!!!!!! It's really exciting to learn things that I've never gotten to work on with previous dogs, and I always dreamed of having a dog I could take to Utility. We still have to finish Open of course... but we're still having fun prepping and training. Scorch is still largely guessing with the scent articles. The nose games haven't quite kicked in yet. I'm using very small amounts of squeeze cheese, so hopefully it'll be easy to wean off of. When there's too little cheese, he starts guessing. I'm sure he'll put it together soon.

Directed jumping is also ten thousand times better than the last time we attempted it (which was the beginning of this year). The jump training we've done has paid off. Lisa recommended I do some directed jumping and put a dumbbell in Scorch's mouth too. Hopefully that will help with the Open jump refusals (only ever when he's holding the dumbbell, which makes me think it might be a comfort issue... he hated the dumbbell to start with after all).

Sunday: Open A and Rally Exc B

2011-11-02T18:33:00.000-07:00

Well, Sunday was a better day. We got there early and met up with the boxer from the day before. We did some heeling together and stays. Scorch was fine with him; certainly not interested in playing but happily ignored his presence. I'll take that. The boxer's handler admired Scorch's attention and happy attitude. I had loved the boxer's pounce on the dumbbell the day prior, but that was the only part of his performance I got to see.

We went into the Open A ring under judge Harold Doan, who had previously judged us in Rally. Scorch felt much better walking in; calmer and more in control.

Heel free: This got off to a great start. His slow transition and first sit were great. He went wide on the about turns and bumped me on the left, but his fast transition and quick halts made me happy. Maybe he was a touch forge-y on the halts... it looked like the judge might have marked me off. It's funny, some judges mark us off and some don't... probably those with forge-y dogs who understand that it's my dog's default position. I also understand how it's scorable forging. But I'm VERY pleased with his heeling. We're working on tighter about turns.

Figure 8: Oh boy. Scorch definitely knows that the judge has the dumbbell and his bumping me on the inside turn was awful and interfering... the whining also started at this point. I guess it's good that he's come so far from the dog that thought the dumbbell was "icky" (and no force fetch... EVER). Time to start working with dumbbells as a distraction more often (especially HIS dumbbell).

Drop on recall: Late but I don't care. Hurray Scorch!

Retrieve on the flat: That was the worst admissible throw ever! But my little champ tore out after it, worked through a distraction and... didn't sit. But that was AWESOME, good boy Scorch!

Retrieve over the high jump: Well, at least he didn't anticipate! During set up, he whined and got antsy. He came back around the jump... and it was such a good throw too! Ah well, things to work on. I'm proud of him for being slightly less frenetic. Then I had to tie my shoe, and my boyfriend didn't want the world to see him filming my butt so... the camera goes haywire for a second. :)

Broad jump: Wellllll... he jumped 2 boards instead of 0.5! He was headed directly for the center of the jump and I think he second guessed himself. Oh well, we were already NQ'd. The judge said my dog needs some downers or prozac. :) Probably true! I get jazzed up and it goes right down the (invisible) leash.

Out of sight stays: WE DID GROUPS TODAY!!! HURRAY!!! Scorch sat next to the boxer. As soon as we left, the boxer laid down and was really close to Scorch... but not quite interference close. The judge almost called the owner back, but decided he was ok. Whatever, because Scorch STAYED SEATED FOR THE ENTIRE THREE MINUTES!!!! Four out of the seven dogs laid down on the sit... not my boy!!!!

Then, during the down-stay, apparently the boxer got up, looked at Scorch, looked at the husky on the other side, and decided to go play with the husky. Hmmm, maybe it's a good thing Scorch told him off outside the ring... because if a strange boxer had tried to interfere with Scorch, he might have been missing a face. The husky and the boxer were both out of the ring when we returned... and my boy was holding his down-stay and hadn't moved an inch. SO PROUD.

Only one dog qualified in Open A on Sunday; but it was a very nice group of people and I enjoyed chatting with them during the stays.

After we were done, I did some quick tugging and heeling-with-treats, then I had to run over to the Rally walkthrough. The course was more challenging somehow (although we still have never encountered "heel backwards 3 steps"). I was happy to see a broad jump... that meant that Scorch would get a positive encounter with it. He kept looking back at "dad" during set-up, but boy when I said "ready", he locked on.

I took a tiny step on the 90 degree pivot, losing 5 points. Without that, we would have had a 98 and won the class... c'est la vie! It's funny, because I was most worried about the 180 degree pivot... so of course, I did that perfectly. Still, we finished 4th and completed our Rally Excellent title. :) As judge Withers says... YAY!!!!!

Saturday: Open A and Rally Exc B

2011-10-30T17:02:00.000-07:00

We showed in Tampa this past weekend with mixed results. As great as Scorch performed at the Orlando trial, he's not just not quite ready for Open yet. The behaviors are there but the foundation is a bit shaky.

Saturday was... interesting. The venue is REALLY small; there's only room for 2 rings. The entry numbers were low but it was still crowded and the tension among the dogs seemed to be running high. There were a couple of near-fights soon after we got there. Then, as we were waiting for our turn in Open, Scorch had an unpleasant encounter with a boxer. I noticed that we were standing close by another dog, but didn't think much of it. Scorch sniffed his butt briefly and then refocused on me... but then the dog turned around and Scorchie realized the breed. Without warning, he snarked at the dog. The scars from the attack in August do run deep; I should have anticipated it but I didn't.

Anyway, the snark was very brief and the woman was, thankfully, very nice (and understood when I said my dog had been bitten). It almost looked more like the correction Scorch gives to obnoxious puppies. Unfortunately, the boxer owner and I realized that we were in sequential order and we would be next to each other during groups. We spoke to the judge, but she said the order would stay. So we walked them around a bit together, and then it was time for me to go into the ring, under Rose Doan.

Heel free: The judge said "forward", I said "heel", and as if on cue, two dogs got into a fight right outside the ring. REALLY? It rattled me and I'm sure it didn't help Scorch's anxiety, but in the video, he handles it very well. A lot of handlers say they're envious of his attention, but it did wander somewhat. His turns were wide until the last about-turn. He felt barely restrained at times, but in the video, his prance looks very nice.

Figure 8: Scorch usually has this one in the bag, but he bumped me on the inside turn. I realized on Sunday (when he was way worse) that he figured out that the judge has THEDUMBBELL. Whoever has THEDUMBBELL controls the universe, or something.

Drop on Recall: The judge called this one a bit late on some of the fast dogs, but Scorch nailed it anyway. Crooked front, nice finish.

Retrieve on the flat: This was great (and I even did a great throw!) until the finish. I didn't put my dumbbell hand by my side, and he tried to grab it while finishing. This might have signaled the beginning of the end.

Retrieve over the high jump: Aaaaaand here's where the wheels came off. He had been quietly whining at times, and the vocalizations became more audible during set-up. Scorch anticipated the send and I think he knew that something wasn't right. So he reverted right back to his old "come back around the jump" trick. He also decided to tug on the dumbbell.

Broad jump: I think Scorch's anxiety/excitement was through the roof at this point. I stood farther back from the jump than I usually do (I think I was having a confused day, haha), so he pretty much just skipped it. Again, I got the feeling that he knew it wasn't right... he didn't quite front or finish, and he went back to the jump, like "Wait a minute, I was supposed to do something here...". Our broad jump foundation is definitely weak and I think it just fell apart under stress. The judge laughed and said, "Well THAT'S an interesting way to do the broad jump!" I replied with, "Yep, that's a new one to me!"

We asked to be excused from groups due to the issue with the boxer. We did groups on Sunday, which I'll write about later, and Scorch had no problem with the dog (even though the boxer got up and visited another dog)! I'm glad we skipped the tense day.

I've always sworn I wouldn't be a "frowny face" handler... you know, those handlers who get done with a less-than-stellar run, put their dog in the crate, and walk away, or complain about it. The best part about our performance is that Scorch was happy; his tail was wagging, he was bright, and his attention was on me. We need to take our show on the road MUCH more and proof MUCH more; I think that will bring down some of the hyperness. As I get more experienced too, hopefully I won't send so much anxiety right down the leash.

But I know one thing; I am not a "frowny face". We went right out of the ring, got his tug toy, and played. Then we heeled with some treats. And then it was time to play at Rally!

Our Rally Excellent B run was great. We got a 95/100, which is the same score we got last time. I sent him a little late on the jumps, and I could have backed him up a little better on the lefts, but overall it was very nice.

Bob Withers was the judge (yay!) and as always, he made the ring a pleasant place to be. It was a fun bunch of handlers too, so we started saying we were the "Rowdy ring". One of my instructors, Fran, placed 1st with a score of 100. We were 2nd! Fran was happy that SOTC was represented in the top placements. I'm proud to be running Rally with the "big dogs".

Love this dog. I'll write about Sunday later (and Orlando's Rally Q).

Open A debut

2011-10-10T17:01:00.000-07:00

I think I have decided that I will never FEEL ready to show... but sometimes, you just gotta do it anyway. That was the case with our debut in the Open ring. At least with the Novice A ring I had *some* frame of reference, from showing Jack briefly in UKC. But Open is a whole different monster... or at least, that's what I'd made it up to be in my head.

But Scorch's work was brilliant. I started to feel better when we got there and he was the BEST behaved he's ever been at a trial. Getting to go to work with me has changed his behavior in dramatic ways, and allowed us a chance to really work training into our daily routine.

We debuted under my favorite judge, Robert Withers, and he told me later that we were working on a pretty good score. I didn't stay long enough for scores to be posted, but I heard it was in the low 190s... good enough for first place probably.

Alas... the 3 minute out-of-sight sit-stay got us. Part of me is beaming with pride that he made it to 2 minutes and 50 seconds before laying down, and part of me is going, "Reeeeaaallllllyyyy? Ten seconds, Scorch?"

So that's a big thing we'll be working on before the Tampa show. But considering how hectic the week leading up to the trial was, I'm pretty amazed he did so well.

Video posted below!

Heel Free: It was a bit frenetic but generally was ok. His forging has gotten so much better; his heeling demons now mostly consist of wandering attention. Kudos to him though for returning well to heel position when he found himself in an unexpected position. He made the judge chuckle quite a few times with his quick, precise adjustments.

Figure 8: I wish we could start with the figure 8. That really seems to be when he pulls it together. I REALLY like the way this looks. All I need to do on my end is smooth out my footwork.

Drop on Recall: It's a running joke with the people I train with that as soon as you send in the check for a show, something breaks. That was the case with our drop on recall. Then, two days before the show, we had a breakthrough and it came back. I didn't even want to write about it... didn't want to jinx it. But it held and he did it under the pressure of the trial.

Retrieve on the Flat: You know what my favorite part of this is? How I was lined up with the mat line right down the middle, and Scorch retrieved the dumbbell and came STRAIGHT down on that line. I don't know if his perfect front would have been as obvious by video without that line. I really wish I had stayed to see the score breakdown, because I like to think we got full marks for this.

Retrieve over the Jump: My throwing is better than I thought. Scorch still had to make a decision about coming over the jump versus going around it, and you can see him consciously make the right one. The leashwork my boss suggested was a great solution.

Broad jump: From the video, it sort of looks like he cut the corner but from my view (and the judge's!), he actually did have plenty of room to spare. The glowing pride I felt seems obvious even with my back to the camera, as I spread my arms to Scorch and showered him with praise. I saw one dog skip the jump entirely and run directly to the handler (former problem of ours!), and another dog carefully stepped between each board in a perfect straight line, and finished with a perfect front. This exercise really is harder than I thought it would be, and I'm thrilled with our result.

And then, of course, we had our stays. We got to stay in the building due to the torrential rain outside, which made me feel better. I did have images of turning the corner and finding a steward hanging on to my dog for dear life... but I was careful to put the image of a perfectly seated dog into my head. It was not meant to be that day, and I put the blame squarely on my shoulders for lack of practice lately. Mr. Withers came over to tell me there had only been 10 seconds left. Oy! Scorch's down-stay was, of course, perfect. Open A was a bit of a blood bath. 23 dogs entered and present, 4 qualified.

Still, we had a beautiful day. :)

Post about our awesome Rally Excellent run will be next!

Beginner Utility, class 1

2011-10-05T19:01:00.000-07:00

Quick overview of what I learned tonight:

1. Scorch is SO MUCH BETTER BEHAVED since I started bringing him to work and using the Easy Walk harness. We haven't been to SOTC since the spring (agility) and not inside the building since last year. This class had a lot of observing time and he wasn't jumping out of his skin like he used to.

2. Easy Cheese on the ring stanchion: Scorch tends to want to target the floor instead of paying attention to where I'm telling him to look. Good response to the "run away" though.

3. Glove: Scorch marked the glove well and was allowed to "get it" because he had such a nice look. We'll work on increasing the time of the look and working to reduce looking back at me. Lisa was having us use "spot" to mark the go-out, but Bev was using "look". So Bev encouraged me to use something other than "look" for the glove. I guess I'll use "mark" for that.

4. Signal drop: The biggest eye opener was that even quick drops had the dog creeping forward. Several handlers, including myself, had to redefine what they consider a drop. Even if the dog doesn't sit first, even if the elbows and back end go down simultaneously, if it's not a fold-back drop, the dog will have moved forward almost a full body length. The feet don't have to move forward for that to occur. So we did some drops behind a bar. I told Lisa that I could guess that Scorch would put his paws on the bar. She explained that I needed to claim the bar as mine and tap his feet if I had to. His first drop was solid, but his second had a paw on the bar. I stepped towards him and he immediately popped up; I stood on the bar, tapped it with my foot and said "MINE". Then I asked for a down while I was standing on it... PERFECT. Lisa also kept stressing that it was important to "feed the floor" by dropping the treat between their paws, to help enforce the fold-back down. I'm going to try the bar again to help with our broken drop-on-recall.

5. Attitude: I saw a surprising amount of negativity, frustration, sarcasm, etc from other handlers. It reminded me to keep a good attitude and to smile at my dog. Maybe it's partially because Scorch is my Novice A dog, but working with him generally makes me happier, not angrier! If I'm frustrated, we're not going to get anywhere and I usually stop training for the day. But I'm going to really make myself more accountable for my attitude.

2011-10-03T16:57:00.000-07:00

Well, we're entered to debut in Open A this Sunday. We're also working in Rally Excellent B (had to do a move-up because I chose A for some reason...).

I just did a mini run-through with Scorch outside to see how he would do more amped up, with minimal treats. We were in the front yard, but it was still more intense than our play-training sessions have been. Everything is looking great (even better than I expected!) except for the drop on recall, which has suddenly broken. It was never fantastic to begin with... I'd say there's a 50/50 chance he'll drop in practice, probably less in the ring. I've been walking towards him and giving a hand signal as well as the verbal, but he can't seem to handle it well when it's just verbal... maybe I'll try switching to just the hand signal? I don't know.

I'm more anxious about the out of sight stays, namely the sit-stay, but it's been going well on practice. I'd rather NQ on the drop on recall rather than the stays... but whatever, I'd rather not NQ at all so let's just go with that. :)

His dumbbell retrieves today were spectacular. He soared over the jump and tore after it on the flat... no hesitation, no anticipation, just absolute glee. Broad jump is going well, although we still rarely do a completely formal one. When we do, it looks good. Heeling has been better, less forge-y.

I'm also trying to integrate more play with ME versus toys or treats... he's still anxious and amped when I do it, but I think he's finally HAPPY about it at least, not just looking for other reinforcement.

We also went to North Carolina.

Love my Easy-Walk harness... makes managing excited border collies so much better!

Scorch was amped and anxious at times, especially with all the changes. We spent every second together for 3 days straight... I even got to take him as a demo dog to one of my meetings. But I had an evening meeting at a mall and had to leave him behind. It was actually really difficult after relying on him so heavily for company during the trip... but we both survived the bout of separation anxiety.

I've decided to stop letting him bark at cows... because while we were in downtown Savannah, a horse drawn carriage came around the corner. WHOA did Scorch ever dislike that. Hoofed animals did NOT belong in the city according to Scorch and he felt like everyone needed to hear all about it.

Despite the stresses, he was good company, and I think it was a good experience to have him work through that stress. When we reached our hotel in Savannah for the second time, on the way home, he visibly relaxed in the familiar setting.

I also took him to Jacksonville's Dog Wood park for the first time. That is my favorite park and I hadn't gotten to take him yet. He had a blast splashing in the lake.

It's also nice to be able to relax about my dog... there was a minor dog fight while we were there. Jack would have instantly leaped in, and probably Wolfie too. I looked up at the scuffle, then back at Scorch, who was just happily staring at me and wagging his tail, waiting for me to throw the ball.

I don't know if we'll have a spot in the upcoming Utility class at our dog training club, but for now we're having a great time prepping for Open and hitting the road.

Happy 4th birthday Scorch!

2011-09-19T18:01:00.001-07:00

My heart beat...

...my best friend...

...the dog of a lifetime...

4 years old today. And very happy about it.

Even from puppyhood, he knew how to ham it up for the camera.

He was good company for Dad when things were changing. And he would never judge him for wearing mis-matched socks. :)

He is the best dog I've ever known. And the cutest.

So today, we played ball at the park.

Bryan came too. Those are not my legs

Scorch finally agreed that kiddie pools can be fun.

We followed up with a trip to Petsmart for some toys and treats. I even snuck in a few heeling sessions and drops-on-recall. For fun, we did a few moving stands, which we haven't practiced in a while, and he was fabulous as usual. Then we shared dinner at Cheeburger Cheeburger. Scorch VERY MUCH enjoyed his hamburger with mozzarella.

It was a great day, with a great dog, and a great boy. I can't believe 4 years has already flown by from when I first brought the little puffball home. I was watching some videos I took of him at 6 weeks old... already a tugging machine and connected with me. He even still runs exactly the same, just a little more gracefully now.

I love this dog.

Starting scent work & Open prep

2011-09-11T16:41:00.000-07:00

Tonight's training was fantastic! My scent articles came last week. I've had to resist really playing with them a whole lot, because I don't want to mess anything up. But Scorch is so visual, we've started to work on teaching him to use his nose. Connie Cleveland has a great technique written up in Front & Finish, July/Aug 2010 and we're trying her technique.

Basically, her method uses metal cookie tins to teach the dog to locate a treat in a scented tin. The articles also get put in the tin, and the dog learns to alert to the correct tin to get treats. Eventually, all the tins get cookies (and articles) but only one is scented; then none of the tins get cookies and the dog is working for scent alone.

This time of year, I'm having some trouble finding tins in the stores; I suppose they're a seasonal item around here. So for now, we're playing with plastic containers. It's really fascinating watch Scorch problem solve. The lightbulb has tentatively gone on a few times, but I don't think the connection has entirely been made. We've only had 3 days of work on this, so I'm pleased.

We're starting Utility class next month, so it'll be nice to at least have a headstart with Scorch understanding that sometimes he can use his nose to work out a solution.

Our broad jump routine right now is about 4 reps of "Jump, *toss treat*, front" followed by a rep of "Jump, *no treat toss*, front". As long as we warm up with treat tosses, he's having perfect broad jumps. We've done some barrier work in the past and he tends to trample right over it, or avoid the jump entirely, so I'm liking this method right now. We'll see if the success continues. We have to make a decision about an October Open debut (under Bob Withers!) by September 21st... I think we'll be alright as long as nothing breaks between now and then.

His drop on recall is having a few blips. When I'm very firm with my "down!" and/or step towards him, he remembers what to do, but obviously I can't be gruff or move in the ring.

His go-out training with the target and PVC box is going great so far! I'm able to send him from farther out, which I think is actually helping him stay straight at the target. He's not tempted to keep an eye on me when I'm farther away.

I've also been asked to teach a tricks class. Which is great, except I haven't really had a "trick dog" since Jack. Wolfie knows "bang" and "wave" and that's it. So I've got to get Scorch working on some tricks if he's going to be my demo dog. All of my competition instructors have told me that tricks would be good stress relief for Scorch at shows too... I'm just always afraid of "breaking" something (obedience-wise).

So for now, we're working on a little "bang!". I'm trying to get him to lift his paw AT ALL for "shake" or "wave"... he thinks I'm testing him on "stay" and holds his feet even tighter to the ground. I've been manually lifting them but I might just work with a target for his foot and then try to take it away. That's one of the first tricks most people teach a pet dog, and all my dogs have known some variation of it... except for Scorch. Oh well. I also might try "take a bow", although I have to come up with a name that doesn't sound like our other commands. Part of me thinks it could help with his drop on recall/stationary drops by reinforcing that the front end goes down first, and part of me is afraid I'll break the behavior.

But there are plenty of people whose dogs known HUNDREDS of commands/tricks and differentiate between them all. My dog is definitely smart enough, *I* just have to be.

My precious boy turns 4 years old next week. It's been an incredible journey and I'm ready for so much more.

Training today

2011-08-28T15:25:00.000-07:00

We had a good training day today; short but sweet. Most of what we've been doing has been throughout-the-day-type work: stays at my desk, heel-up while we're walking, random drops, etc. Now it's time to get back to regular sessions.

Willard Bailey, author of two of my favorite dog books, posted on his blog about his method for teaching go-outs. I've never liked the "treat on the ring gate" technique; it's just not for me. I tried it with Jack and he was very focused on the gate itself. While we never got to finish our training or get to Utility, it seemed like searching the gate for food is a behavior that would re-emerge under stress. I've seen it happen to dogs in the ring, and I can absolutely see it happening with my dogs.

I've done some targeted go-out work, and I've worked with boxes and barriers for our straight heels and fronts, but I hadn't ever combined the two. So my challenge to myself is to try Willard's technique and see how it goes. Basically, we're starting with 3-sided PVC box; I put the target and the treat at the far end of the box, and right now, I'm just leading Scorch up to it and telling him to get it. I want to work up to him running to the target in a straight line from a greater distance. When we add the turn-and-sit, the box (plus a long leash) will help get the desired behavior in the desired way. I also like teaching differentiation between "get the cookie" and "turn and sit".

So that's something we're building up to. The toughest thing that has always haunted us is that Scorch turns his body when getting to the target; he prefers to eat the treat while facing sideways. I may have to set up stronger, tighter barriers to work with this. It was a huge problem in agility too.

Anyway. Scorch's dumbbell retrieve was beautiful today. No laying down when returning to me.

The dumbbell is really a bit too big for him, but he's retrieving it happily so we'll stick with it for now.

On the retrieve over the jump, we've hit some snags. He'll happily leap over the jump to get the dumbbell but tended to run around it on the way back, especially if I threw the dumbbell crooked (and if you know me, you know the likelihood of that happening in a trial is about 99.9999%). He's so pressure sensitive that running towards him to intercept was making him hesitant about the whole exercise. Interestingly enough, I talked it over with my training director at work. Now, he comes from a much more... let's say "traditional" mindset when it comes to training. He's the epitome of old school, seeing as he was a K9 handler in the military and law enforcement. I fought tooth and nail to get clicker training into our program at work, and he has really come around to it. We've had some great training discussions.

Anyway, we discussed the jumping problem and he suggested putting Scorch on a retractable lead. Brilliant!

We did a few retrieves without the jump to make sure Scorch was comfortable with the lead. Then we started doing some jump work. He was doing fine until I threw the dumbbell crooked. Scorch starts to veer, leash gets tight...

...Scorch corrects his path immediately!

The next crooked throw needed no correction, and we ended that particular exercise on a high note.

Please excuse my disgustingly overgrown lawn. Our mower broke, and now our weedwacker is leaking gas and oil everywhere. Ugh.

Anyway, Scorch is very space-sensitive; I find it interesting that a light collar pull or pop is much less aversive to him than body pressure.

Another issue we worked on is glove retrieve. He tends to be a bit lazy with holding the glove and lets it sort of hang on his tongue...

I reminded him to hold, put my hand under his chin... much better!

His fronts and finishes were nice today too.

We finished with some broad jump work and out of sight stays. On the broad jump, I think I'm just going to have to toss a cookie or toy about 1000 times to get his muscle memory locked in. I don't feel like his motivation or understanding is quite where I need it to be. We had a great session today... I think now that we have so many things we're working on, training has gotten a lot more exciting for both of us.

Recovery

2011-08-28T06:56:00.001-07:00

Well, Scorch has had a few hiccups in his recovery from the dog attack. Not physical, mind you; he is healthy as a horse. But mentally, he has had a few setbacks that we're working on.

Right after the attack, he came to work with me. One of our techs had brought her extremely sweet, very non-threatening female Basset mix. So Scorch had his first strange dog greeting with her, and it went great. I also paraded in a host of strange dogs for board-and-train or dog sitting. All of this, he took in stride.

However, when he started regularly coming to work with me, things changed.

He didn't much care for Bentley, the 6 month old intact male Lab we shared an office with. Ok, yeah, he'd met Bentley when he was 12 weeks old and they were fine together, but now a lot of time has elapsed and Bentley is a teenager, so his intolerance is understasndable. He also didn't care for the boys Hartwell, 10 month old intact Lab, and Hamish, 2 year old intact Golden Retriever. But Scorch has never liked unneutered males, so I let that slide.

But Troy, the long-neutered, friendly, 5-year old Australian Shepherd? He usually LOVES Aussies! Two female Bulldog puppies in class? Why is he growling and snapping at them? The clincher for me though was Duke... the realization finally kicked in that we have some work to do. Duke is a rescued pit bull mix one of my coworkers brings in. He's young, playful, sweet, and neutered. Usually that would be Scorch's ideal playmate.

But we couldn't even walk past their office without Scorch hackling up and making a wide berth, usually while pursing his lips or even showing his teeth. Scorch was afraid of the dog who resembled his attacker, and was going on the offensive. Duke wasn't even bothering to get up when we passed by and Scorch was still freaked out.

So we've been playing the "look at that!" game, taught to us by one of our mentors. I think it comes from Control Unleashed, but I'm not sure. Anyway, every time we'd get near one of the dogs he didn't care for (especially Hamish and Duke), I'd tell Scorch, "Look at that!" When he'd glance at the dog, he'd get a treat. It only took a few repetitions for him to start tolerating their presence.

We have a play yard at work for the pups (heaven!) and while we had a group out there, someone brought Hartwell out. I was worried about Scorch... but I waited it out because Hartwell is such a NICE dog. Sure enough, with some careful supervision, Scorch decided he no longer wanted to eat Hartwell... instead, we got obnoxious, herding-type behavior (barking, heel-biting, increased barking when Hartwell would stop to sniff something), which Hartwell thought was delightful, so we let it go.

Then later, Duke came out to play. Scorch would start to play with him, then would get a little skittish and slink away. Duke, despite his youth, was VERY respectful of this and patiently waited for Scorch to come to him.

So... we're making progress. Scorch doesn't have to like everyone, and border collies are notoriously picky anyway. But I want him to at least ignore dogs he doesn't like; I never want my boy to be afraid ever again.

Breather

2011-08-14T05:57:00.000-07:00

So first, the bad news: Scorch and I aren't showing at all this month. We didn't have everything together (money, healing, training) to register for the shows, so I'm not getting my birthday wish. But we can start showing again in October. There aren't any shows in September due to DOCOF so we have a whole bonus month of work.

The good news, however, is that we are back down to three dogs. It was interesting to watch the interactions and reactions of the house dogs. Norman, of course, does not care much for strange interlopers but tolerated some more than others.

1. Mocha, in-law-pooch: 2 year old Chocolate Lab, spayed female. Mocha is a very submissive dog; you could possibly describe her as "wimpy". She has little concept of personal space, as with most Labradors, and insists on cuddling with the collies when she's here.

Norman has decreed himself to be the schoolyard bully when it comes to Mocha. He's the kid that steals her lunch money on the playground. In his mind, Mocha is not allowed to possess ANY toys. He might be willing to let it slide if she's holding a toy that isn't one he plays with often, but generally he'll launch himself off the couch to "correct" her when she decides to pick up a toy. He's gotten better about it as she's finally standing upright and not slinking around him all the time, but he's still a butthead occasionally.

2. Prince: 8-10 week old Golden Retriever puppy, male. Norman's tolerance for him was greater than for previous puppies. He sent Prince "ki-yi-ing" away a total of twice; otherwise, his corrections were appropriate, and Prince was allowed to possess toys. I'm guessing it's because Prince was a confident puppy, respected Norman's signals, and was generally a nice dog.

3. Jessie: 9 month old yellow Labrador, intact female. Now here was a dog Norman actually wanted to play with, probably due to being unspayed. Strangely though, Prince the puppy didn't much care for Jessie; he would play with her, but often got mad when Jessie would crush him with her body weight. Prince never lost his temper with the collies, but I had to pull him off of Jessie's face a few times (Jessie didn't have a clue and didn't seem to much care that there was a puppy angry with her). Norman still didn't want her to have his favorite stuffy, but she was allowed any other toy in the house. Occasionally, he would charge at her, barking and growling... which is his social-idiot way of asking her to play. You just have to know him to hear and see the difference, I suppose. His barks are less serious and he sort of "bounces" off of the other dog's body.

Norman still postures with Wolfie at times, and once even got into it with Scorch while I was out of the house. But generally, the house is at peace. Now that my back has healed up, I've upped his exercise routine again and I'm definitely seeing a difference. Just now, thunder rumbled in the distance and he perked up, then went back to sleep, unconcerned. Yesterday while we walked, thunder started rumbling and he was too busy focusing on his walk to really bother acknowledging it. What a huge improvement.

So. Back to Scorch. My new job promotion involves a lot of driving travel... and Scorch gets to be a road warrior with me. He already gets to come into the office (the first few days, I didn't bring him and was barraged with requests to have him join the "office pooch crew"). We're also taking a trip in September to Atlanta, GA, Nashville, TN, and Northern Alabama. It'll be great having my best buddy with me, and it'll also be good for training and proofing. I'm actually most excited about getting his loose leash walking more under control. On yesterday's walk with Norman, I couldn't find Norm's easy walk harness, so he was on a regular collar. I was really having to work with him and get on him for pulling... so Scorch's loose leash walking was the best it EVER was, due to the constant stop-start and reworks with Norm. I guess I need to start doing that with Scorchie too. DUH!!! Why can't I take my own advice? I have such a blind spot for Scorch I suppose.

I'll bring an actual camera with me... my cell camera is great, but my point and shoot is still better with dim lighting.

Photo time!
Wolfie standing in as demo dog while Scorch was injured.

Attempts at posing Norm and Scorch wearing bandanas my mom gave them... at least one dog likes the camera.

While at Red Fern Canines training center in Pennsylvania, I got to see a picture of a very accomplished Cairn! It's always nice to see people working their Cairns to high levels. If I could focus on Norman... err, and also control his dog aggression... I'm sure he would excel! He already has a great repertoire of commands. Anyway, this Cairn also looks just like my Mugsy.

Speaking of Mugsy, I found a baby picture of her. The Cairn that started it all, my first dog, my baby girl puppy.

And finally, puppy snuggles!

Getting back to work

2011-07-25T13:04:00.000-07:00

Sometimes life throws curveballs at you and your dog, and you have to learn to roll with it.

I've been pretty shaken up by the attack on Scorch, but he seems to have recovered well and taken the whole thing in stride. There's something to be learned there. If my little border collie can be brave and move on with his life after a terrible bite from another dog, maybe I can learn to not overreact to things so much...

...yeah, right. I'll let you know how that goes.

On a brighter note, we got the ok to return to training. Scorch limped for one day, had a minor hitch in his step on day two, and by day three he could not understand why he wasn't allowed to romp and play. During that time, Animal Control continued to investigate until they found the owner and fined him heavily. The owner's father also reimbursed me for my vet bills. So there was a happy ending at least.

I'm starting to realize how stellar Scorch's drop on recall has become... and that I really need to work on EVERYTHING as hard as we've worked on that. I'm also trying to "take it on the road" more, but for now, I feel pretty good about it. His heeling has improved somewhat, but when he's excited and anxious, he reverts to his forge-y ways. Gee, excited and anxious, that NEVER happens at a show... -_-

I'm doing better at staying in a straight line and I think that's part of the reason Scorch's heeling has shown an improvement. Heeling works when the dog isn't afraid of being stepped on or bumped.

His broad jump is the fastest thing I've ever seen. I need to get a video of it. He jumps long and low; there's no little "hop" that I see most other dogs do. He flies over it in a way that looks like it's part of his normal stride. Right now, we're mostly working on jumping straight straight straight. I don't know if there's muscle memory involved but since Scorch is the King Anticipator, I've only asked for a front a couple of times. Everything else has been a straight jump for a toy toss.

Speaking of videos, I have an 8 week old Golden puppy living with me right now (he's not mine, he's from work!). We've had to have several incarnations of baby-gate containment because he's very determined to escape. Here is a video of his early efforts:

Note the carpet has some (cleaned) wet spots. He was baby-gated and had finally stopped crying. I was so proud, until I realized he was quietly waiting for me to emerge from the bedroom and play with him. Of course during that time, there were some accidents, but he was actually pretty good considering.

Norman's head is about to explode from all the dogs that have been coming in. Hopefully we'll be back down to 3 for a while... God, I remember when I thought 3 was a lot of dog!

Attacked

2011-07-07T12:59:00.000-07:00

Writing this is really hard... we'll see if I can get through it.

First, let me start by saying that Scorch, Norman, and I are ok, and we're going to be ok.

Last night, I took the two dogs (Wolfie is out of town with Bryan) on one of our usual routes. A few dogs barked and charged fences, which provided me a good chance to work on Norman's attention. However, there is one house that contains three boxers and a pit bull. The house is ~600 square feet. There are plywood sheets on the windows (to prevent the dogs from going through them, I've always assumed) and boards over the bottom part of the doorway. The dogs always bark and carry on when we walk by.

As we approached the house, I was paying attention to Norman when I heard a neighbor scream, "Watch out!" I looked up to see the door to the tiny house was open and one of the boxers had almost broken through the boards. Before I had time to think, they were out. I scooped Norman up as the 4 charged us.

The boxers stopped. The pit bull hit Scorch like a mack truck, grabbed his leg, and started shaking it violently.

It's all a blur of hackles, sceaming (mine and Scorch's), kicking, neighbors jumping in. It seemed to last an eternity. One of the neighbors swatted the pit bull with a towel and, shockingly, that stopped the assault (and kicking didn't?). They told me later that the owner (who wasn't home) uses a towel to swat at the dog to break up fights in the house.

Those kind, saintly neighbors corralled the dogs into the house and came to check on us. Scorch was limping badly, although we couldn't find any punctures at the time. Everyone else was unharmed. I gave the neighbors my contact information and walked home.

If that couple had not been outside... I was screaming "HELP!" and no one else came... if they hadn't been there, the consequences would have been far greater. I can't even think about it... the very notion makes me want to vomit.

I have never NOT been able to stop a charging dog before. That dog neatly swerved around me and attacked with more force than I've ever witnessed. To her credit, her aggression is truly dog-directed; she demonstrated none towards myself or my helpers. But it is fierce and deadly. I am a terrier proponent, and a pit bull one at that. But that dog is out of control.

I've had a theory that the owner doesn't even live there full time, but the dogs do. They're fat, underexercised, and understimulated. When I got home, I called the police and filed a report. They sent an ACO to meet me at the emergency clinic, where we found 3 serious punctures and several smaller ones. The ACO went right to the house, where still no one was home. He saw the conditions, so I hope that alone sparks action. I'm sure I'll never see a dime for my vet bills, but I want to hit this guy where it hurts: his wallet. Those dogs are in a dangerous situation and every dog who passes the house is in danger.

Scorch had a rough night on Acepromazine and neither of us got much sleep. He went to work with me today and played the pathetic card VERY well. He was the darling of the campus and garnered sympathy everywhere he went. When people would fawn over him, he would grunt and whine; we joked he was "telling the story". We did a careful intro with a coworker's non-threatening basset hound that went well. I want to make sure he gets slow reintroductions to only submissive, gentle dogs.

This certainly puts a damper in our plans to debut in Open under our favorite judge. That was supposed to happen at the end of this month. Hopefully August isn't out of the question, but the most important thing is that my dog is ok. And also that the asshat owner down the street gets what's coming to him.

A special delivery!

2011-06-22T16:23:00.000-07:00

This week's work schedule has been really rough... I have like 4 blog posts in mind and I just haven't had the time or motivation to write them.

So what perfect timing to receive a special package in the mail from Loretta of Full Tilt Border Collies! I knew I had won a contest on her blog, but I've been a little distracted lately, so it was a pleasant surprise to come home to!

I know about her husband's sock monkey fetish so I was sort of thinking that might have been involved in the prize somehow. :) But I had NO IDEA how amazing and extensive our prize would be!

I could barely get the dogs to hold a stay... Norman was especially amped up to get at the goodies. (And no, I didn't bother to sweep before taking these pictures)

Wolfie found one of the bully sticks and decided that nothing else was as worthy of his time.

Scorch predictably decided that squeaking the tennis ball repeatedly and loudly was the best way to spend his time.

Norman commandeered control of the sock monkeys and immediately concentrated on pulling the fringe off of their hats.

Unfortunately, Norman couldn't handle the concept of "sharing" so he's sequestered in his crate right now. He doesn't handle excitement well. There are still some edibles left in our box; Norm can enjoy his bully stick in private. Scorch has decided that the tennis ball is still more important (OH MY GOD THE SQUEAKING IS ENDLESS) for now.

The dogs have been very bored with my new schedule and this really made our day! One of the sock monkeys has a giant hole where his jaw used to be, but actually they're holding up really well to all the abuse!

Loretta, I cannot thank you (and Klink and Gator and Ace and Even and Lynn and Crackers and Vittles and the sheep too!) enough!

Drop on Recall breakthrough!

2011-06-12T13:03:00.001-07:00

Today was a banner day for Scorch.

Today, I feel like we actually will be ready for Open by August.

The only real hurdle left was the drop on recall. Everything else has been at least satisfactory; we just need more practice and proofing.

1. Heelwork and figure 8 - Scorch tends to go a bit wide on about turns. We, of course, always have a forging problem, which will undoubtably get worse when we're in the ring. He forges partly out of excitement and partly because he's just SO. DAMN. FAST. I've learned that speeding up my pace considerably helps with his positioning. However, that also makes my footwork sloppier on halts and about turns (which might explain why he goes wide).

His attention is great, however, and that's really the important part. Everything else is fixable; our necessary foundation is there. Also, his figure 8 is usually amazing.

2. Retrieve on the flat - Amazing. His fronts even seem to be straighter when he has a dumbbell. My only concern is if he is too excited, he might break his stay and retrieve the dumbbell before my command, but that rarely occurs in practice. Also, my throwing could be better.

3. Retrieve over a jump - Amazing. Again, I worry a bit about him breaking his stay but other than that, I'm pretty confident that he'll jump.

Actually, another competitor chatted with me after her Open run; her Weim went over the jump on the way back from retrieving on the flat. She was still happy because she'd rather he be eager to go over the jump. She'd been working on him retrieving horribly thrown, off-center dumbbells and making sure he re-aligned himself with the jump. So even though he should have stayed on the flat, he had a decision to make and he chose the jump. I definitely want a dog who jumps, especially after Jack's refusal pattern.

4. Broad jump - This just needs more practice. We worked on it a lot when prepping for our Rally trial. He jumps it straight most of the time; I need to wean him off of me moving or me tossing something to keep him straight.

5. Out of sight stays - I need to work on increasing the length of time; my only real concern is him going down on the sit. I need to find several ideal spots to work on this instead of just our driveway or my training building.

6. Drop on recall - This was the single greatest area of concern I had. We just weren't getting it. He would generally walk in unless I stepped towards him and used verbal and signal combined. I tried using a barrier and he tended to drape his paws over it... he takes shaping very literally at times and we both get frustrated. That was what he thought I wanted and it kept too much focus on the barrier. Then his downs in general became slower and he was folding into a sit first.

So I've just been dropping him more frequently throughout the day. I also make him sit at curbs on our walks, regardless of his position. Yesterday, the dogs were being obnoxious at dinnertime, so I boomed, "DOWN!" This was mostly directed at Wolfie and Norman, who were leading the obnoxious charge, but they of course ignored me. Scorch, on the other hand, hit the deck hard. THAT was what I'd been looking for!

So this morning, I took him out on the retractable. When he was ~20 feet ahead of me and nearing the curb, I'd tell him to sit... and he DID IT, without attempting to turn or come back to me. So he got his off leash run and then we went to teach a class. Before class, we worked with the dumbbell a little. After class, I decided to work on some drops.

I dropped him, then tossed the treat behind him. As soon as he ate it, I dropped it again. This was a drill he was familiar with, but his drops were much faster and more confident. Then, I called him to come and dropped him. He walked in and downed. I told him, "Try again!" and brought him back to the starting point and put him in a sit. Then I walked across the room and called him to come. He wasn't a crazed maniac this time, and I called a down.

PERFECT!!!

I super-jackpotted him, and then, I admit it, I got a little greedy. I jazzed him up and set him up in a sit-stay again. Called him, dropped him...

PERFECT AGAIN!!!

Finally, my sensible trainer side stepped in and I ended it on a high note. We stopped all training for the morning and hopefully that's resonating in his mind. I might tempt fate and work on it some more tonight (along with the broad jump and some left-turn-stars).

Affording the cluster of shows is still a concern, but at least, from a training standpoint, I feel like we have a shot. I have an Easy Walk Harness on order in Scorch's size so maybe I can finally get a handle on his loose-leash walking. I've been "dialing the wrong number" with my techniques for too long. Time to bring in a training aid. It's amazing that a dog with such a beautiful heel has such an atrocious casual walk.

2011-06-07T12:25:00.001-07:00

Sick and tired of being sick and tired.. after being hit with the flu a couple of months ago, I have a sort of mini-flu taking me down now. I'm sweating buckets, and training is just NOT happening right now.

Add in the stress of the unknown, because Bryan got laid off of his job, and our training schedule has ground to a halt.

I'm still hoping to do some showing in the show cluster coming up in August; but maybe instead of debuting in Open, we might have a more enjoyable experience in Rally Excellent. If I can afford any showing at all.

At the very least, I've started taking our loose-leash walking more seriously, and Scorch has gotten some good work around the neighborhood. He's still just a FAST dog, and that may always be a hurdle for us.

Ugh. Here's hoping for a change in luck.

The Transporter

2011-05-21T09:36:00.000-07:00

(Please note: all of the pictures in this post were taken by a cell phone. So there is some bluriness/fogginess in some of them)

So. I've had a temporary job description change. I've been working extra-hard lately to bring in some outside lines of puppies at work, who will hopefully go on to become breeders. It's at times frustrating and disappointing, but also exhilarating and exciting.

And, oh, did I mention adorable?

That little girl earned her wings (check the bottom of her coat) after flying to Florida with me from Montana. She's my most recent transport. She was a champ, enduring 2 long flights without so much as a peep (either vocally or accident-wise). Of course, as soon as we arrived at Tampa airport, I rushed her outside, thinking she'd be ready to burst. She simply looked at me and chewed on some sticks. I brought her back inside to head towards the parking garage, and she finally squatted on the tile floor. Oh well.

I actually went to Montana with the intentions of picking up an 8 month old female. Every potential dog that we visit must have a family history full of very specific health clearances. However, they also must have a stable, confident, trainable temperament.

The female I went to evaluate spent the good part of an hour looking like this:

Needless to say, I didn't go home with her. Luckily there was another puppy available. There was still some question about some of the health history, but I decided she was worth taking.

Where I stayed in Montana:

I love watching the milk bar:

Last week, I also made a trip up to Maryland. I had two puppies to choose from:

I chose the one who had a softer mouth. Otherwise, temperaments seemed very uniform and I could have taken either.

I stayed in Baltimore:

...which was sort of hilarious because I am NOT used to parallel parking. I managed to do it, and was so proud of myself for being straight and not hitting anything... until I realized I was a foot away from the curb. Oh well, it's still an accomplishment.

I picked out a restaurant on Yelp that sounded promising. The reviews did mention that the restaurant looked a little rough... yeeeeah, a bit of an understatement. I think there was a drug deal going on down the street while I was there. But whatever, because THIS is the magnificent sandwich I got to eat:

I've never had a crab cake whose size I could compare to a tennis ball. I was full for the next 12 hours or so.

Puppy was amazingly well behaved on the plane. I've really encountered very little static from airport staff, thankfully. These pups are service dogs in training, and legally I'm allowed to bring them with me. But that doesn't mean everybody knows that. I think the super-dose of cute, plus the peaceful behavior of the pups I've worked with thusfar, make acceptance much easier.

I also transported a lab from the east coast of FL. I could drive for that one luckily. I don't have a great picture of him, but I do have a photo that documents Norman's tolerance... he's finally learning how to deal with incoming dogs.

I sent a trainer to Louisiana, and my searching partner sent a trainer to Georgia. My upcoming planned trips include Wyoming, Virginia, Arizona, and Chicago. Traveling is exhausting but also fantastic. Scorch wasn't speaking to me much when I returned from this last trip... I don't think he's much of a fan of me leaving all the time. I keep promising him it's only temporary.

Scorch CD RA

2011-05-08T16:33:00.000-07:00

The nice thing about competing with Scorch for the 10th time is that things are starting to come together. I wouldn't call him "seasoned" yet, but today was the first time I really felt like we walked into the show site and he knew exactly what he was there to do. And we went in and he did it. He was pretty much perfection today. I couldn't have asked for more.

This was definitely a smaller trial than what we're used to. But the audience ringside is growing when it's our turn to show. Scorch knows how to draw a crowd. We earned High in Rally Trial (I didn't even know that was a thing!) and won a pretty dog bowl. I just need to work on his loose leash walking in the venue... it's atrocious. Other than that, he's calmed tremendously and isn't as revved up when we go in now, which is a relief.

Welcome to your Rally Advanced title, Scorch. We did it, together.

Norman

2011-04-24T07:33:00.000-07:00

I suppose it's time to introduce Norman.

Norman came to me as a foster from Cairn Rescue USA. He was described as a "border collie in a cairn terrier suit". He was dog aggressive, loud, and obnoxious, but would melt like butter with people. I remember the day I met him; his first foster mom brought him to the dog training facility I worked at. We wanted to do intros with my dogs on neutral turf. Norman came screaming and shrieking out of the car, ready to eat my dogs that were behind the fence.

Somehow, we worked it out and Jack, Wolfie, and Norman reached a state of tolerance that was acceptable to all. I fostered him for over a year; he was a demo dog in my classes and became a little shining star. He even made several doggy friends, including a Maltese named BeeJay who also hated other dogs. However, his involvement in off-leash playtimes with my group classes ended when he attached himself to a poor mastiff's face.

Still, he came a long way, and my mother adopted him to be a companion for her, my alzheimer's-stricken father, and our older Cairn Mugsy. Cairns tend to prefer the company of other Cairns, and despite Mugsy's reluctance, they became friends. She made her first canine friend shortly before she succumbed to various organ failures.

Fast forward to about 4 years later. Dad's disease has progressed rapidly in recent years and he was barely aware of Norman's existence. Norman still liked to sit by him and follow him, but when Dad would have a temper tantrum, Norman would often be in the way... and he got stomped. Norman's stress response is aggression... a bite occurred.

That was enough for everyone. We always knew it was a possibility that Norman would come to live at my house again, and the time had arrived. It's very sad for many reasons, not the least of which is that my mom has become very attached to him; he ended up being much more for her than my dad after all.

Someday, when it is safe for him to return, Norman can go back home. Until then, he's staying here with us. He and Wolfie have never been fully comfortable with one another, but after a couple of weeks, the posturing settled down. He has always liked Scorch, which is shocking considering how long Scorch was intact, so they're fine. He has an unhealthy love for the cat.

He did get snappy last night with Bryan and Wolfie. Again, his response to stress is aggression; yesterday, I took him to work for 2 obedience classes and then we had people over playing Kinect (lots of stomping). He snarled silently at Wolfie while sitting on the couch, and then later snapped at Bryan when Bryan told him off for sniffing a bag of Doritos. It's always an adventure in this house... but Norman will always have a home here if he needs it and overall I do think he's happy.

Awful picture, but I do have evidence of actual SNUGGLING... Scorch isn't too sure about the whole thing, but Norman wanted nothing more than to sleep next to him.

Houdini

2011-04-23T05:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I taught a private lesson to a client from my puppy class. The appointment was actually scheduled for Monday, but Scorchie was on crate rest... and if Scorchie couldn't make it, she wanted to reschedule. I swear, it's really all about Scorch, not me. :)

So the dogs had a nice little playtime, and then her cocker spaniel had a nice little lesson. My client, by the way, lives in a BEAUTIFUL condo with fantastic gulf views. Scorch considers himself a society dog after having been there. So we were working the dogs in the courtyard and then took them into the small parking garage for some off-leash playtime. We entered through the open garage door and rounded a corner. There was another slatted garage door there, pulled down. My client said, "They'll be fine in here, the only way out is the way we came in."

In literature, this device would be called "foreshadowing".

The boys were running around joyfully, and no sooner had the words come out of my clients mouth that Scorch found a gap in the closed garage door and squeezed through it. He stood right outside the door looking victorious, then started sniffing a bush while we stood there open-mouthed. When I recovered my senses, I called him and he squeezed back through.

There truly isn't much that can contain this dog. Bedroom doors, backyard doors, sliding doors, windows, soft crates...

...he has opened representatives from each of these categories with ease (although no destruction, thankfully). Now we can add GARAGE DOORS to the list.

It was a beautiful day outside, so after his demo-dogging job, we stopped at Bird Key park for our daily training session (daily!!! I've actually kept up training him EVERY SINGLE DAY!).

He was a little wired at first, as always, but it definitely took him less time to settle down. The new location work we've done lately has helped. He gave me some nice heelwork (forge-y, but our criteria was more attention than position) and we worked on signals. He needed some gentle reminding that he needs to look at me when left on a stand-stay because signals might be coming. He made some nice improvements.

And of course, we worked on "stays" so I could take his picture by the water. (All photos in this post are unedited cell phone pics, so pardon any weirdness)

Overall, a beautiful, successful training day... with standard Houdini behavior.

ODTC Rally trial, 2 RA legs

2011-04-19T14:21:00.000-07:00

As I was driving home, elated from this amazing, successful weekend, I had a thought: very few people get to be conscious of being right in the midst of some of the best years of their lives.

That's where I am, working with my dog Scorch; trialing and training with my brilliant, enthusiastic, happy-go-lucky border collie, the first dog I've ever been able to seriously compete with. Scorch really is the dog of a lifetime.

This dog has not met a training task that he could not overcome.

And so it was with Rally Advanced B. Scorch and I were up against the "big dogs". Most of the dogs in our class were also working on their RAE titles, and so had already worked in Rally Excellent that day. We don't have an RA title, but Rally rules state that any other obedience title (our CD in this case) excluded us from Advanced A, where the "green"er dogs usually compete.

Day 1, Scorch held his own, even as he rushed out of position with excitement upon spotting dad, with a respectable 93/100.

Day 2, Scorch scoffed, "Big dogs, schmig dogs," and dominated the ring. We left with a score of 100/100 and a time of 1min 8sec, nearly 30 seconds faster than the only other 100 in the class.

Day 1:

Day 2:

I KNEW as we finished the day 2 course that we scored highly... I was hoping for that 100 but you never know if there was an error you can't see from handler perspective. Overall, Rally has been a great, positive way to get more trial experience. I'm proud of Scorch for more than holding his own against "B" level dogs, even beating them.

Judge Bob Withers (probably my favorite judge so far) called Scorch a "spirited animal". Scorch's fan club has grown; "that fast dog" has gathered a group of spectators that look forward to our ring time; they ask when we're competing so they can watch. He was by far the fastest dog in any of the Rally classes; I'm finally learning the pace that best showcases his heeling.

ALTHOUGH.

At one point, Bryan and I crated Scorch and went to watch some more of the runs. There had been a dog nearly out of his soft crate earlier, so when Judge Withers calmly called out, "Loose dog!", I curiously looked over to see if the dog had gotten out.

"OH MY GOD, THAT'S MINE!"

Scorch was being held by the collar by another competitor, grinning and straining to get to me. The competitors laughed and remarked, "He sure knows his mama!" I don't think they would have nearly been so genial if Scorch had run amok, but all he wanted was to be with his people.

When we went back to the crate, I discovered that he UNZIPPED IT FROM THE INSIDE. There are very few doors, windows, and now crates that can best Scorch. He casually attempts to open everything; he is never destructive, just resourceful. Ugh. He spent the rest of the runs happily in a down-stay by my side.

Needless to say, it was an eventful trial.

While we were there, we heard an explosion of applause and cheering at the Utility/Open half of the building. Even though I'd never witnessed one before, I instantly knew that someone had just won their OTCH. Sure enough, a man I recognized from training at ODTC years earlier won his OTCH on his Novice A dog. I had goosebumps. A woman sitting near me mentioned, "That's always in the back of my mind, but I just haven't found the right dog."

I replied that I had... hopefully he has the right handler.

Time to buckle down on our Open level training. Unfortunately, Scorch scraped up his paws playing with some neighbor kids so we've been taking it easy. I entered him in the St Pete Rally trial and hopefully we'll finish our RA there. My goal is to be showing in Open this summer. Might that be the time we meet our first NQ? If it is, so be it; I'm just happy and honored to work with this amazing collie.

Agility + obedience can actually work

2011-03-22T17:54:00.000-07:00

I have to admit, at times I was worried that playing at agility on top of obedience might be overwhelming at best, detrimental at worst. I was worried that maybe I would have to choose one over the other... after all, three years of "watch me" certainly created a dog who will twist around on agility equipment to continue to stare at me.

But having both agility and obedience in our lives has improved things tenfold.

Maybe it's the added challenges. Maybe it's the increased exercise and conditioning. I think those things are big contributors, but I also think that engaging in exercises where Scorch gets to run ahead of me and set the pace really opened up a whole new world. With heeling, Scorch often felt barely restrained. But suddenly, heeling feels more natural, and I think it's because he has an outlet for his desire to work and run at the same time. He also seems less anxious and frenetic. He still whines if he's bored, but he calms down much faster overall.

And we've only just begun!

There's still an ongoing struggle to teach him to target 2on2off without me right in front of him. He tends to want to turn around, face me, then target, thus falling off the obstacle. But we've had a few successes and we're getting somewhere.

Tonight I pulled out the dumbbell for the first time in a while. We did 6 retrieves on the flat and 4 retrieves over the jump. We had a 100% success rate on the flat (although he was occasionally a bit far away on the front, he did better when I upped the encouragement) and a 50% success rate with the jump. He always jumped on the way to the dumbbell but in the two middle sessions he came back around the jump. Still, he held on to the dumbbell so I calmly took it from him and started over. He got jackpots the two times he was successful and we ended it there.

The biggest Open exercise we need to work on is the broad jump. His out of sight stays are coming along great and are pretty solid. I need to start attending Friday night run throughs and buddy trains to get him back into a line of dogs. It's been a while since we've done figure 8s but he always has gotten full points in trial, so I'm not too concerned.

The plan right now is to show in Rally Advanced at the Orlando trial. It'll give us some low-stress trial experience, and the judge is Robert Withers, who is a pleasure to show under. My expectations are pretty high, but I'm not putting a whole lot of pressure on it (yet).

Agility update... my downfall as a trainer

2011-03-13T18:31:00.000-07:00

Scorch's agility training is revealing a lot to me about myself as a trainer. I'm really not as skilled as I'd like in breaking things down into small pieces, and not pushing training sessions too far.

I'm VERY lucky to have a dog who is so eager to work and does not get discouraged easily.

I want to see results. I'm very eager to see Scorch run that agility course... and I get frustrated with myself when I push him too far and behaviors fall apart.

For example: targeting the lid. Scorch is so enthusiastic about targeting that he throws his body all over the place and isn't always content to wait. I keep trying to combine multiple elements together, when I really need to be working on each element separately: the stay/rewarding for multiple targets, the targeting at a distance, sending him to target without my being at the target to reward, and targeting 2on2off without falling off the board.

So tonight we worked inside (thanks daylight savings time for stealing my daylight). I put Scorch in a stay and set the target down about 20 feet away. I set the coffee table to help channel him, and then I walked back to him before sending him. Every time we practiced distance targeting, there was either a helper ready to deliver a treat or a treat was already on the target. I don't know what universe my head was in thinking this was a logical next step... but predictably (to everybody but me), he ran to the target, touched it with his nose, then proceeded to spin around it, mouth it, pick it up, run back to me, run back to the target, then bring it to me. After I smacked myself upside the head, I simplified it a teensy bit.

I did a few refresher drills with multiple target touches so he would stay there. I still used the table as a channel. I stood right by the target and didn't ask for a lot of distance. Once he was properly refreshed and performing with a high rate of accuracy, I added distance but stayed next to the target. I would click for the first target after distance, then click when he repeated the target behavior (sometimes after 2 touches, sometimes 1, rarely 3).

Duh. I know this. Why is it so hard to follow advice that you give out? I tell students to break down behaviors all the time. Scorch was successful when I followed my own advice.

We're on day 2 of 2x2 weaving. It's tough for me. I feel very uncoordinated, but luckily Scorch is a supertrooper and is picking it up despite my bumbling efforts. Week 5 (I think? We had a skip week) of agility class is tomorrow and hopefully we'll start practicing our contacts on equipment!

Jump drills are going well. Scorch is rounding his back and is doing well with a 16" height. We'll probably go up to 18" next week if he continues. Tunnels are of course no problem. We got a super practice tunnel for $40 on eBay... it's 18' and a blast. We even can sequence the tunnel with a jump and vice versa.

I think I need to get out there and start photographing again. Or having Bryan do it. That would break up my rambling quite a bit. :)

First comp agility class

2011-02-16T11:51:00.000-08:00

First night of agility class was... ok. The other dogs in class have had a good obedience foundation, but there is a reactive dog in class whose barking makes Scorch a little on edge. Still, we had fun, and Scorch even got to work some calming signals on Reactive Dog *and* a little beagle mix who was pretty anxious.

Scorch's reaction to the agility field was pretty amazing. I wasn't sure how he'd take to agility, but he went on the field convinced that all the equipment was put there JUST FOR HIM. He tried to get on no less than 10 pieces of equipment. We did some ground work with ladders, which he picked up quickly. I guess the foundation work with cavaletti we've been doing paid off. We did some heeling on both sides, and GOOD LORD I need to work with him on right-side heeling. Both of us were uncoordinated and uncomfortable with that at first.

We did some target work with margarine lids. Scorch tends to target with his paws as well as his nose, and I'm trying to shape just a nose touch. I'm going to hold it in my hands for a bit, then gradually lower it to the floor to try to eliminate the pawing. Since Scorch is enthusiasm personified, he also wanted to target everyone else's margarine lid too. It's a good thing he's on leash.

We worked with a small teeter and balance board. The instructor gave a speech about shaping the behavior gradually because the dogs might be nervous with the balance board.

Scorch clearly didn't listen, because when his turn came up, he gleefully leaped onto the board and banged it on the ground repeatedly, tilting it every which way. The rest of class was a delighted audience, which egged him on even more. He tackled the mini teeter with the same unbridled avarice.

Overall, it was a good night. Scorch sliced through one of his new tugs in about 2 seconds, but other than that, I think it was a success. I'm definitely proud of the foundation work Scorch already has under his belt, and I think he's going to be a shining star at agility. Now if only I can get my back healed up again...

Breaking in the new jump

2011-02-13T10:35:00.001-08:00

Agility is going to be a fun career for Scorch I think. :) And I'm damn proud of myself for building 2 jumps (fun-noodle tire jump not shown).

Return to demo dogging

2011-01-23T14:52:00.000-08:00

While in the middle of trying to find space to rent for teaching training classes again, work decided that I would be the best candidate to teach THEIR training classes. It won't make me as much money as I'd planned on, but at least they're letting me design the curriculum. I refused to teach it when I wasn't allowed to use treats.

They're also (at this time) allowing me to teach private lessons at my current rate. I had my first one yesterday and Scorch got to reprise his role as demo dog. Neither Scorch nor Wolfie have had demo dog experience in about 2 years. Needless to say, they're a little rusty.

Still, I had Scorch with me all day along with two service dogs in training (Casey and Dutch). Other than being a little jumpy (not something I've bothered to discourage) and COMPLETELY forgetting how to walk on a loose leash, he was actually very well behaved. He played nicely with Casey and Dutch in the playpen, greeted mobs of people, and performed obedience every time he was asked. It was so much like a show setting, I think he settled in quickly. He was a bit frantic with the first couple of kids he met, then he calmed down to his normal, only somewhat neurotic, self.

I realize now that I may have overstimulated him somewhat by allowing a rude pup in the puppy-raising program to harass him. I let Scorch correct him for his overzealous greetings and humpings, which the owners appreciated, but Scorch grew weary of. This has carried over I think, because today Scorch is picking fights with Wolfie (he is currently in his crate due to the last display of teeth).

Other than that faux pas on my part, Scorch was a lovely ambassador, even if he's not a program dog.

My client arrived as the crowds left, and we began working on her dog's distraction issues. The dog was a young female cockapoo with a nice foundation of training. The owner has been very responsible, reading books on positive behavior and training. They live in NYC most of the year, and a distractable dog can find all kinds of trouble there. Scorch couldn't hold his stay while I was working with the client's dog, so he had to be put away until I could use him as a distraction. We worked on loose leash walking and attention, then I brought out Scorch. I couldn't have been prouder. The owner worked diligently on turning around or backing her dog up when she pulled, and Scorch waited patiently by my side. He may not have been walking nicely on a leash that day, but his stays were awesome (as long as I wasn't handling another dog... I'll still take it).

Then I brought out Casey and Dutch in turn. Scorch whined for a moment while he was put away, then accepted his fate. Good demo dog! I brought Scorch back out for off-leash time with the dog, so that I could talk the owner through dog behavior interactions. He was an angel.

Today, as mentioned earlier, he seems stressed to me. I'm going to take him out and work him a bit to see if that helps at all. We need to start venturing downtown and to the park again to work on loose leash walking with distractions. I'm getting too reliant on the micro prong to manage situations. Besides, that tends to wake up his dog aggression, so I try not to use it often.

I have a post coming up that I've been looking forward to writing. We had a visiting, intact Westie (soon to be neutered!) and I got a photographic series of the behavior between him and my dogs (mostly Wolfie). Posturing galore, as well as nice shots of the Westie backing off, all taken with my point-and-shoot in crappy lighting (woohoo!). Oh well, I'm still excited about it. For now, here's a cell phone camera dump.

Lunch at a cafe in West Palm Beach, in town for a wedding. This was back when it was summer and WARM.

At a park in West Palm, Wolfie gets the sillies, then looks handsome.

Scorch in our favorite field with his favorite toy.

Rambo, an adorable rescued pittie that comes to visit sometimes.

Christmas.

Costco dog beds on sale, woop woop! We now have twice as many dog beds as dogs.

Pouty face.

Happier times, when Scorch isn't being a butthead. He looks huge in this pic, but Wolfie outweighs him by 20 pounds.

Nose work

2010-12-12T08:06:00.000-08:00

Scorch and I are hoping to begin tracking early next year, but I couldn't resist starting some nosework with him now.

I started out very simply, with one of his highest motivators: the tennis ball. We started playing Chuck-it out in the field; then, I put him in a stay and "hid" the ball a short distance away. I released him to "find it", which of course he eagerly did. We progressed to harder and harder "finds" (with lots of chuck-it release in the middle).

The most amazing thing to see was what a default using his nose was when it came to problem solving. He started sniffing out the ball when it was out of sight in the high grass and would smell it out. It took a few tries before he began tracking my scent to get to the ball, but then he really began working my trail. The next time we try it, I'll put his tracking harness on so he gets used to it. He does look awfully adorable in his harness.

Open work is going well too, except for the broad jump. I really need to build one. His high jump is far more advanced. He thinks short jumps are for climbing over, probably due to his relatively little exposure. His drop on recall is getting nice, as is his retrieve. For utility, signals has improved tremendously. We really need to work on proofing.

2010-11-13T15:24:00.000-08:00

Oh sweet sleep, how I missed you.

It has been a rocky month. I'm teaching a guide dog class right now, and pretty much the ENTIRE CLASS is sick with a bad head cold. On top of the students being sick, so is Chef and the other trainers. I'm one of the few that's been successful in fighting off, probably because I just came off a Z-pack for a nasty sinus infection.

Still, sleep has been my friend.

Scorch and I miss class terribly. I'm hoping to start up again in January. It just wasn't possible to make the new sessions with my teaching schedule. To keep us busy, I've been reading up on the "nose bridge". I'd seen a few border collie people having their dogs nose bridge at shows, but I wasn't sure exactly what it was. I figured it was a focusing technique, and it pretty much is, as well as giving the dog something to do rather than passively sitting there. I'm not sure if it would help us or add more frustration... I think it's worth trying. I think Scorch has a tendency to get overstimulated and winds himself up. If I can teach this properly, maybe it will calm him down.

I also think it's time to embark on some trick training. Both Scorch and I enjoy learning new things together, and that cute video of the Jack Russell inspired me. Plus, he doesn't have many "parlor tricks" he can show off. Our obedience routine doesn't quite delight people the way pulling off my socks might.

Introducing: Scorch CD RN

2010-10-17T08:51:00.001-07:00

I finally have a minute to sit down and write about our amazing, emotional, victorious return to Orlando for our latest obedience trial.

Coming off of the high from the previous weekend's scores of 87 and 100 in Rally, we were raring and ready to go. However, during the week, my dad was hospitalized with pneumonia, adding a major layer of stress over the proceedings. Training was minimal in the week before the show; depression is a real pain. But buoyed by dad's improvement, we arrived in Orlando ready to do our best.

The Orlando Dog Training Club is a large, fairgrounds building. Compared to Sarasota, which has room for two rings, and St Pete, which has a divider between two sets of rings, ODTC is a massive, echoing space. There were 6 or 7 rings, and a massive amount of activity.

Entering the Novice A ring on the first day was nervewracking. ODTC was a place I used to train, but Scorch has never been there before, or been any place quite like it. When we started the on lead heel, and indeed through most of the exercises, I felt like I had a dog barely restrained. He was giving me pretty good attention, but was forging repeatedly and bouncing. Still, we got through the heel on lead and figure 8 ok. After being a little shifty during the setup, his stand for exam was steady, although he moved his feet right as the judge said "exercise finished".

Then came the off lead heel. Again, I felt he was right on the edge of control. Scorch was bouncy and there was a mischievous sparkle in his eyes. He started the "fast" without me and came completely out of heel position... but somehow, on the about turn, responded to my call to heel and we finished gracefully enough. I was proud of him for ignoring the Open ring Drop on Recall occurring right next to us. As we set up for the recall though, the lure of the Open ring was *nearly* too much, and the judge mercifully told us to wait until it had quieted down. Then Scorch gave me the best front and finish on a recall to date.

Stays were not a problem, and so Scorch became Scorch CD. No placement, but a new rosette and new letters to his name.

We had a little bit of a wait to try and burn off some more of his energy. I see so many people keeping their dogs in kennels to make sure they bring them out fresh and to reduce lagging. We do not have that problem. I need to keep Scorch burning energy. I don't want him too fresh.

Next came Rally Novice A. We were only entered once in Rally, so this was our only chance that weekend to finish the title. No problemo. Scorch's only mistake was a little bit of interference during the 360 left. We rocketed through fronts and finishes, halt 1-2-3 steps, pace changes, and turns. We finished our run with a score of 99, first place, and our title.

By the end of Saturday, I was the proud owner of Scorch CD RN.

I spent part of the afternoon at the hospital with Dad, then Bryan and I had dinner with Mom. Dad was improving and would get to go home soon; still, I was glad I happened to be in town that weekend. It worked out well, but I was exhausted.

Sunday was a long day. We arrived a bit later to the show but ended up having a much longer wait than I anticipated. Bryan is a trooper. However, there was trouble afoot. I had bought Scorch a new slip lead at the show, and the night before had taken his collar off to do some work with the slip.

I forgot to put it back on.

So we showed up at the trial with no collar on his neck. There was one in my bag, but it had tags on it. I went into the Novice ring with Scorch on his slip lead, unaware of the points it would cost me. His performance, however, was much improved on the day before. He gave me steadier attention, did not try to bounce ahead, and overall gave a beautiful performance.

After our nice on lead heel and figure 8, I handed the leash to the steward and the judge asked, "Is that dog wearing a collar?" My heart sunk. We waited while a Novice B competitor (with a lovely red border collie) generously took the collar off of her dog for us to borrow. I stammered out an apology and the judge said, "Don't apologize to me." I knew we were in trouble, but I held it together, put the collar on, and started our stand for exam. My wonderful, wonderful dog gave a perfect performance. His off leash heel was nice, with a brief lapse of attention, and he gave me another perfect recall.

We got a nice round of applause from the Novice folks (the only people left at the show), and the judge told me he docked major points for handler error, but that otherwise my dog was very nice and we'd qualified. I held it together until I'd give Scorch his treats, and then I went outside to cry.

I didn't have long to calm down. We were near the end and we had stays to get through. I calmed down and Scorch gave his usual rock solid performance. Then, when we came back to the ring for ribbons, I stepped on his foot AGAIN and he screamed. I fell apart. I got down on the floor and cried into his fur, then lined up for ribbons, tears running down my face. It was extremely embarrassing, but I stayed there. I don't even remember what the judge said, although I do remember he said something about Novice A being hard work and sometimes tears. But all of a sudden, he was announcing, "And in 4th place, with a score of one-eighty-something [my memory goes blank here], dog and handler 510."

I stood there for a moment, then looked down at my armband. THAT WAS US? Suddenly, we were getting a trophy, and a toy, and a leash, and a ribbon, and a rosette, and I was crying even harder, from shock and happiness this time.

I can't believe it. Not only did we achieve our titles, we even managed to salvage a stupid error on my part and come back with a placement.

We're now getting ready for Open. Dumbbell work has been great, on the flat and over the jump. We just need to raise the jump to full height, and broad jump needs A LOT of work. Out of sight downs are pretty good but I'm not fully confident on the sits. Drop on recall needs to be, erm, started.

But my little boy loves the new stuff we're learning, and I love working with him. I'm hoping to debut Wolfie in Rally next year as well, since I think his hips can handle that. Scorch is just about ready for Rally Advanced.

Hmm

2010-10-05T13:32:00.000-07:00

http://www.wsbtv.com/slideshow/pets/16820327/detail.html

Most Aggressive Dog Breeds

My brief thoughts:
I will say as much as I love pitties and border collies, I'm not surprised by the presence of either. The pit bull is a much-maligned and mistreated breed, so the fact that bites occur isn't surprising.

I *am* shocked by the lack of chows, dalmatians, cockers, and GSDs. I would think all are more common than the Akita, and therefore would have a greater number of bites total. None of the other breeds are much of a surprise to me, just the omissions are.

Rally day 2

2010-10-03T17:20:00.000-07:00

Today was the second day of Rally trials. I was still nervous, but feeling better about what we were facing and felt better prepared. This morning, I took Scorch out for a chuck-it session and did some obedience practice. He felt more "on" and focused. A lot of his frenetic energy seemed to have dissipated. Seeing that gave me a big boost, and we set off for St. Pete.

Our judge was Robert Withers again, and we had a wait while he finished up his traditional obedience judging duties. There was a fairly large Rally entry, and one poor pooch had diarrhea in the ring, so we had a lot of downtime. I took the opportunity to practice the elements of the course. It was a bit more complicated than the prior day's set-up, which I viewed as a positive; it seemed to be a course that would keep Scorch more engaged. My biggest worries were the spiral with the dog inside and the halt, 1, 2, 3 steps.

After some remedial "slow" work and a good leash correction during "fast" practice, we seemed to have the spiral tackled. I worked on smoothing out my handling for the halts and took slightly more deliberate steps. This seemed to help (as well as liberal amounts of bologna).

Finally, it was ring time. One of the stewards told me that I looked nice, and conspiratorially whispered that it drove her crazy when people didn't make themselves presentable for shows. I was pretty busy trying to slow my heart rate down, but I did register the compliment/gossip. I asked for Scorch to heel into the ring so I had complete control from the beginning. I kept my voice even and cheerleaded less. The judge asked if I was ready, and one glance at my dog told me all I needed to know: Scorch was locked on and ready to go. My "ready" reply intensified his gaze, and I HAD HIM.

Heel, halt, sit. One step with an immediate sit, then two steps, then three... perfect, quick responses, maybe just a touch forge-y but still in position. A couple of 270 degree turns to the left, a sit-stay walk around dog, a 360 right circle, no problem. Spiraling around cones with the dog on the inside... he held his heel position! I reminded him "back" and "easy" on the turns around the cones, and he was responsive without crowding. I began to get very excited as we came out of the spiral. Only one exercise left: front, finish left halt. I called him to front... and he gave me one of the straightest fronts he's ever done. Then he heeled up into a lovely flip finish, and we heeled to the finish line. I heard the judge's "YAY" that signaled the end of the run, and I got on the floor with my wonderful, wonderful dog.

We ran out of the ring to Bryan, and the first thing I said was, "That felt good."

While Scorch played/feasted on bologna, people came by to compliment our run. Everything was a whirlwind of activity, and my memory is a blur up until the point where the steward from earlier came up to me. What she said to me is crystal clear in my mind.

"I think you got a 100."

It felt like my head was floating away. Bryan and I looked at each other in shock and elation.

MY dog? MY dog got a perfect score his second time out in Rally? But I already knew... I knew it was perfect when we completed the left finish. I'd known then but hadn't wanted to hope. But it had felt so good.

We won the class yesterday. But today, I felt we REALLY, TRULY earned our blue ribbon. I couldn't have asked for any more. When we lined up for our ribbons, the judge commented that our time had been 1 minute and 9 seconds... almost a full minute faster than the next fastest time. He just laughed and shook his head. I laughed too and told him, "Well, he IS a border collie!"
He replied, "It shows! But you did a great job keeping up with him; you're a good team."

Yes. Yes we are. And hopefully, our teamwork will continue to shine through next weekend when we attempt to finish our CD and RN.

I asked for a picture with Mr. Withers, because I felt our first perfect score deserved documenting, and also because he was one of the most encouraging judges I've ever encountered.

I think he made the weekend a positive experience for all that competed under him, no matter how they fared. Let's hope next weekend is as amazing as this one.

Broad jumps and a Rally Trial

2010-10-02T14:13:00.000-07:00

Only my dog.

Scorch and I had class last night, and the instructors set up the broad jump. Angie offered to put a short bar over the top of the jump, to prevent the dogs from ticking it with their feet (or trying to climb over it).

Scorch decided that, when called to jump, he would CLIMB OVER THE JUMPS WHILE GOING UNDER THE SHORT BAR.

I reiterate, only my dog. I wish I'd had a camera.

Anyway, we got the broad jump going better but I definitely need to build a set to start working on it at home.

Scorch's dumbbell work has improved tremendously, and he had several successful retrieves. He even made a liar out of me and retrieved it perfectly over the high jump. I was so sure he wouldn't... but he can make a liar out of me any time!

So TODAY was the first day of our Rally trial. I'd never been a competitor in Rally before, but I was somewhat cocky about Scorch's skills. We warmed up and everything went great. I was hoping for a score in the 90s (and maybe even the elusive 100). So into the ring we went (although despite my cockiness, I still had a crampy tummy and suddenly had the urge to pee).

The serpentine weave went well, and Scorch stayed right with me as I babbled at him. But then his attention began to wane. He was with me, but his eyes were wandering and I may have had a tight leash a few times. Still, he turned appropriately and I tended to get his attention back on 270 and 360 degree turns. The front and left finish (no halt) went ok, but later when there was a front and right finish, I lost him. I don't know what he was looking at, but he was whining and not watching me at all. I told him "front" and nothing happened. So we backed up for our one retry, and he sort of crooked fronted but ended up more in heel. I asked for a right finish and he didn't move. Sigh. So we went on to the final halt-stay-walk around dog, which he did perfectly, and then we were done.

The judge, Robert Withers, was really nice and encouraging. I was definitely frustrated, but I was always conscious that I never wanted to take any of it out on Scorch. So we ran for treats and the tug rope, which I played with him while I figured out if we'd NQ'd or not.

Thank god for my mentors. Bev and Fran were both warm and reassuring, and helped me understand the rules of NQ better. They thought I'd just get 10 points off (which was fine with me!). Bev told me to go and see if they'd written my score up yet.

So we went by the scoreboard and waited... and waited... we watched another couple of performances, and I prevented Scorch from eating an intact male lab that got in his face. Rally Novice A was a rough ring that day, and I knew I wouldn't be alone if I had a low score (or an NQ).

I heard one of the stewards ask another, "Do you need any other scores?"
"Yes, border collie 603."
She flipped through her paperwork. "87."

87?? Not only did we qualify, but when I looked over the board... WE HAD GOTTEN FIRST PLACE!! Granted, it wasn't our best performance, and I'm more proud of the second place we got in Novice a few weeks ago... BUT WE DID IT!

I definitely think I cheerleaded him too much. Scorchie is wound up enough as it is, and doesn't need any help from me. So tomorrow, we'll try again with a more formal presentation. I'm still so proud of him, and all we've accomplished. Now we have a blue ribbon tacked beside our 3 green qualifiers and our red second place.

Good, good dog! And I cannot stress enough what a relief it is to have amazing mentors. I encountered a teensy bit of bitchiness today, but it didn't bother me, because I have an incredible support system. Bev is becoming not just an instructor, but a friend. Scorch has even decided that her intact male Aussie, Jack, is NOT the devil. So I think that's a good sign.

We'll try again tomorrow!

Registrations and dumbbells

2010-09-20T02:44:00.001-07:00

Post and run before work...

Last night we had a dumbbell breakthrough. We were able to put together the 3 elements we'd been working on separately: the pick up from the ground, the hold, and walking/sitting while holding the dumbbell. We finally got to the point where it was time to challenge Scorch a little bit and make him figure out what I wanted. I've worked away from having to keep my hand under his jaw for the "hold it", and I began to make him pick it up again if he dropped it. I'd been so afraid of breaking him, or making him not like the dumbbell, that I'd been playing it safe. Which may have put a really good foundation on him, because he was confident and happy last night. When we got to the point where he would pick up the dumbbell and bring it to me, we did a few reps of that, and then for the last one, I asked for a sit and hold... AND HE DID IT!!!!

We ended the session there and he got a good tug with his training rope (sorry physical therapist).

Also, I hope I got my registration in on time for the St Pete show (it was a little last minute... whoops), and I just registered online for the Orlando show... which was a little confusing. I think I'll stick to mail-in entries. I was planning to do one Rally and two Novice Obedience runs at Orlando but I might have an extra Rally run now... oh well.

We're ready for whatever is thrown at us!

New Class

2010-09-18T04:28:00.000-07:00

So Scorch and I are enrolled in the sequel to our competition class. He'd done extremely well in it, as the focus had been mostly on Novice-type exercises.

Last night, we were reminded of just how much more we have to learn. That is awesome.

I'm really thrilled to have such a challenge laid before us. We're really focusing on breaking down much more complicated behaviors. Teaching the dumbbell alone is making me a better trainer, because it's such a beautiful exercise that is so much more complicated than it looks.

Jack had always been thrilled to clamp down on the dumbbell. Hell, he would pick up a steel pole if I'd asked him to. The pit bull in him blessed him with strong jaws and a certain lack of sensitivity.

Scorch, meanwhile, is fastidious and sometimes known as "princess tender toes". He has to carefully dissect and ponder his raw meals before eating them. Here he is with a marrow bone I gave the boys after we earned our first two CD legs:

He would pretend to eat it, or attempt to gently, if Bryan or I came near.

But mostly he just laid there, wondering what the heck he was supposed to do with something so hard and tough.

Finally, I took pity on the pathetic pup (ooooo, alliteration) and put the camera down in order to HOLD THE BONE FOR HIM. With some encouraging words, he finally licked at the marrow and decided the bone was tasty enough to ignore it's unforgiving texture.

Wolfie, meanwhile, was in a corner going to town.

The point of all this is that Scorch is reluctant with the dumbbell. He will eagerly bump it with his nose, but taking it in his mouth was a process. Now I want him to hold it? "Please," he seems to say, "you're asking a WHOLE lot of me here."

I've considered buying a softer dumbbell, but he does seem more inclined to hold on to it now, so we'll continue. I just may have to get used to the difference between soft-mouthed Scorch, who lets the dumbbell gently rest between his teeth, and bully Jack, who left many teeth marks in this hard plastic monstrosity.

Since the dumbbell is still a work in progress, I sent him on a retrieve over the jump with a rope toy. Bev asked me if he would stay while I threw the toy, and I assured her, somewhat tentatively, that he would. So I commanded him to stay, threw the toy, and over the jump he sailed! Whoops. So I held onto him for the next couple of tosses until he remembered what "stay" meant. And we encountered a new problem. My jump-loving dog has decided he only wants to jump over towards the rope, and then he wants to run wide around it to return to me. Hmm. It could be because he's playing, rather than dealing with the more serious dumbbell, but I want to nip this early. So I'd send him, and as soon as his head moved towards the toy, commanded "Scorch JUMP", while moving myself closer to the jump. That seemed to remind him what he was supposed to do (and he only got a game of tug when he successfully completed it). I have plans (and the wood) to build a heavy duty high jump, but it looks like I may need a light one for the hallway too, so he doesn't have the option of going around.

Signals went well, and Scorchie was the only one who would consistently drop from a stand without moving foward. His signal sit from a down has always needed work, but we got a complete success after a few tries so we ended it there. Our foundation work in that respect really paid off. I'm going to be careful not to overdo the drop before our next show though, where we have stand for exams. We need to refresh that a whole bunch.

The broad jump is definitely his favorite, and it was cute when he went searching for the treat I didn't throw. He remembered it and is always happy to sail over them (although he nicked it with his feet on the first try).

We've got a whole lot of homework, but the new tasks are a refreshing addition to our Novice practice work.

Dog beach

2010-09-11T07:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was an adventure. The boys had a chance to earn their kibble (or raw chicken, as the case may be) by working with me on a dog distraction case. The dog in question is a working guide dog and the handler has been having trouble controlling him around other dogs. So out came the border collies. Both Scorch and Wolfie did a fantastic job playing distraction (especially whiny-butt Scorchie).

So I decided that since we were in Venice, we'd take a visit to the dog beach.

Now, we've never been there before, for a couple of reasons. First of all, Wolfie is not the most pleasant dog-park dog. He has that irritating tendency of thinking that "play" involves bowling over other dogs and grabbing anyone (canine or human) by the butt that happens to run by. Secondly, this was the real deal gulf, not the calm, reliable bay. The currents in these waters are stronger, although not as rough as Florida's east coast.

Still, it was the middle of the afternoon on a hot, still day, so I knew we'd be unlikely to encounter many dogs, nor large waves.

And what a day it was.

Scorchie spent most of the day frolicking with his tennis ball toy and happily ignoring the other dogs.

He's not nuts about the saltiness of the gulf (compared to the freshwater lake we used to have access to), but he will gladly cool off in the shallows and return soaked to demand more ball throwing.

Wolfie, while not a total butthead, was definitely feeling his oats. He charged at a few dogs, and even bowled over a small one, but luckily the dogs and owners were good sports and recognized him for what he is: a social idiot. I realize that although he had a lot of positive dog experiences in puppyhood, he did grow up with Jack, and while Jack was a number of wonderful things, he was also pushy, loud, and occasionally aggressive with other dogs. Wolf learned a lot of bad habits from him, and they have been tough to break. He means well, but comes across so poorly, I often have to remove him or leash him up. Hence, our trips to parks are few and far between.

Once he got that out of his system (and realized no one wanted to play his version of tag, which involves teeth), my views of him were generally this:

He spent a lot of time running back and forth in front of me, occasionally plunging into the water, drinking a bit of it while making a yuck face, and then diving face-first into the sand for a good roll. He had a big, toothy grin pretty much the entire time.

And apparently, the birds and squirrels in the backyard have made Wolf fancy himself a hunter. See that brown dot waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off in the distance?

Yep, that's Wolfie, after some long-gone pelicans. Birds were infinitely more interesting to him than they used to be, and he tried to swim after a few. His recall has diminished significantly since he's been retired. I think it's time to bring him back into the world of being obedient, if not the obedience world.

However, overall it was a successful day and it concluded with two sandy, hot, tired dogs (and the same can be said for their owner!).

Dumbbell work

2010-09-09T03:59:00.000-07:00

So since we only need one more leg for our CD title, Scorch and I have begun Open work. We had played around with Sue Sternberg's shaping the retrieve techniques, but hadn't taken it very far.

Tuesday night was our last comp class of this session, and Angie brought Bev in to work with us on dumbbells. She asked to see where Scorchie was with it, and he tentatively put his mouth on it and that was about all. I explained that we hadn't taken the dumbbell "on the road" yet but he hadn't gotten farther than occasionally picking it off the ground. His hold was non-existent. I'm glad I didn't push it, because he ended up being a little sensitive at first. But after a few minutes of gentle encouragement (and freeze-dried lamb lung), Scorch had a tentative but definitive hold. There were a few moments where he sat in front of me, gazing up at me, personifying that "want-to". Bev just smiled, shook her head, and kept saying, "This dog is just so cool."

We worked on a full broad jump for the first time, and I think that's Scorch's new favorite. I stood close to the jump, called him over, and tossed a treat straight back. He soon was eagerly jumping straight without a treat visual and coming nicely to front.

He went down on a sit-stay for the first time in a loooooong time. I had a feeling he might, because he'd lain down at heel a couple of times. So we did a 3 minute sit instead of a down, and he held it like a champ, even when one of the Daisy's got up and ran over to a dog retrieving a dumbbell.

I'm debating whether to take the next level class right now, or be able to feed myself. :P Our current plan is to show in Rally in St Pete the first weekend in October, and then Rally and Novice the next weekend in Orlando. Then maybe my mom can watch us get our CD and/or our RN. She hasn't gotten to come to a show since Jack's disaster in Jacksonville.

Fingers crossed! We're doing dumbbell work a few minutes each day and brushing up on coming to heels and fronts. Everything seems to be going well. Picture post coming soon!

ScorchShow

2010-08-28T11:18:00.000-07:00

My boyfriend posted the video of Scorch's performance for me. 12 minutes of GOD I LOVE THIS DOG.

SOTC Trial, day 2

2010-08-23T13:58:00.000-07:00

I'm still on a high from this past weekend. Day 2 had it's bumps in the road but as a whole, this weekend was a priceless experience that I will never forget.

We started the day driving through a veritable monsoon. The pouring rain did little to dampen our spirits though, and we were raring and ready to go when we arrived at the training club for our second attempt at a leg. Bryan offered to drop us off and park the car. I gratefully agreed, forgetting to remind him that my headlights weren't on auto (an omission I would come to regret later).

We settled in to watch Novice B. I had heard of our judge, Louise Botko, although I could not remember exactly WHAT I'd heard. Luckily, I found her to be warm, friendly, and fair. We signed in and waited for our class to begin. Thunder echoed in the warehouse-like building, and several dogs reacted. I kept Scorch occupied with tugging and obedience practice and he held up well. He spent a lot of the day in MY chair.

Novice A began, and I murmured to Bryan that I had spotted our biggest competition of the day. A pale yellow lab was putting on quite a show. I knew we'd have a big act to follow.

Remembering the problem that had plagued us the day before, I worked on Scorch's heel up, only rewarding him if he sat at heel. He would do it well a couple of times and then would move into heel and just stare up at me. After some experimenting, I found that he seemed to prefer the hand signal to the verbal command. A couple of weeks prior to this, it had seemed just the opposite, but who am I to argue at zero hour? Hand signal it was! We suddenly had the consistency I was looking for.

Once again, time flew and I suddenly realized the judge was smiling at me and calling our number. We took a few moments to make sure Scorch was in proper heel position.

Are you ready?
"Ready!" Scorch's eyes locked on.
Forward!

What a start. Scorch was high-stepping, driving forward, quick to sit at halt. We had a really beautiful heel. Our slow was nice, about turns were prompt, and then he was bouncing next to me during the fast...

OH GOD I STEPPED ON MY DOG'S FOOT. OH GOD HE YELPED. I AM THE WORST MOM EVER.

I blurted out, "I'm sorry!" and I don't think the judge deducted points for that. We continued forward and his heel definitely faltered... but my little trooper kept going. We had a no-sit, but at least he was paying attention to me. We moved on to the figure 8 and he was distracted by some barking dogs and threw in a no sit. But he regained his composure and finished nicely, although thankfully the judge said "exercise finished" before he decided to scratch an itch.

I didn't have any memory of the stand for exam. I only know what happened because of the video. But Scorch held steady for the exam and only moved a foot when I returned to him.

He turned it on for his off leash heel. I had my boy back for the most part, although it did feel a tiny bit off. Still, he came through nicely.

Recall... again that nervousness after I turned my back on him and walked away. Will he still be sitting in the same spot when I turn around? Yes, he stayed. The judge signaled silently to call him and again he raced in. Crooked front, but I called him to heel and HE SAT! A bit far forward but he flipped in and HE SAT!!!! Exercise finished and we had a praise party. The judge chatted with us briefly and echoed a sentiment Judge Happersett had expressed the day before: his off leash heel was far superior to his on leash. In this case, we lost 10 points on heel on lead and figure 8 (eek!)

We raced back for some treats and for other competitors to commiserate about stepping on my dog. One woman from SOTC had stepped on her flat coat the day before. I still felt bad, but I was glad I wasn't the only one. I previewed some of the video and realized our performance was a lot better than I had perceived it to be.

Back in the ring for stays. I had a brief flutter of panic when I realized Scorch was sitting slouched on one hip, but he held steady and passed the stays with no problem.

The ribbons and placements were handed out. Only 6 of us had qualified (out of 16). Scorch and I didn't place, and I wasn't expecting to... but we got a 187! Good enough for me, and good enough for our second leg!

We did it Scorch. You and me. One more leg to go and hopefully that will happen in October. Angie (who went High in Trial on Saturday by the way... go Angie!) said it's time to start seriously introducing Open and Utility work. We've gotten to picking up the dumbbell and that's about it. But showing Scorch is just about my favorite thing to do... I'm looking forward to many more accomplishments with my heart dog.

SOTC Trial, day 1

2010-08-21T13:02:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of the Sarasota Obedience Training Club trials. Scorch and I were entered in Novice A, which started at 8am. My boyfriend was quite a trooper about having to wake up at the buttcrack of dawn in order to get there and get set up. Especially since we'd never been there before, I wanted to arrive early to have enough time to set up and acclimate Scorch to the venue.

I worried unnecessarily. Scorch took to the new location like a champ. He's always excited to be anywhere, so he had his usual couple of happy attacks but overall, he was calm and composed. He didn't have a single snarky moment with any other dog, even though a German Shepherd in a crate near us exploded with barking a couple of times.

Before I knew it, it was time for the walkthrough of the heeling pattern. The judge, Mary Happersett, was very brusque, efficient, and professional. She took time to talk to all the handlers and make sure they understood how things needed to be done. Scorch was the only Border Collie in the class. Competing along with us were a Boston Terrier, two Dobermans, two Shelties, a Newfoundland, a Standard Poodle, and a Flat Coated Retriever.

We were fifth to enter the ring, so I had four novice runs worth of nervous fidgeting, practicing with Scorch, and trying not to visualize possible disasters. We saw the Boston have trouble, a blue merle Sheltie excel, and another couple of tough runs.

While we were practicing, Scorch stopped sitting when called to heel. He would get into perfect position, and remain standing. We worked on it for a couple of minutes but he was still showing a concerning ratio of not-sitting to sitting.

I barely had time to contemplate that issue before they were calling for dog and handler 104. We lined up at the starting line and I called Scorch to heel. Crooked. So we turned a small circle and made some adjustments. I wanted to start out on the best note possible. Then the judge smiled and asked if we were ready.

"Ready!" Scorch's eyes locked onto my face.

Forward!

"Heel!" And away we went. I'm not sure exactly what happened; I'll have to review the video... but at the first halt, Scorch failed to sit and walked a circle around me, coming back into heel position and sitting. Again, I didn't have much time to process what happened, because then it was time to forward.

And I had him.

All of a sudden, I had Scorch's full attention. He was bright, animated, and the subject of much admiration and conversation ringside. Or so I heard. I was in my own personal heaven, heeling with my heart dog, moving as one team.

Slow!

We eased into a slow, steady pace, and he slowed rather than trying to sit! A big accomplishment considering we hadn't been able to practice that crucial part of heeling much due to my back. When I returned to a normal pace, he transitioned right with me. Turns were nice, and then time for a fast. He bounced along next to me happily. Halt, and then time for figure 8. I kept up a mantra in my head, "Watch their shoes, watch their shoes." Keeping my eyes on the stewards' shoes allowed my shoulders to give Scorchie cues about when to speed up and slow down. He bumped me a little when he was on the inside but otherwise was excellent.

Leash off and to the steward. I am much less worried. Time for stand for exam. Scorch stood promptly and held steady. 30 points in the bag; he didn't even shift a foot.

Heel off lead: even better than on. He was rapt with attention, driving forward but not too forge-y. And then it was suddenly time for our recall, the last single exercise.

Leave when ready. "Stay." I walked across the ring hoping to god he wasn't up or following me. I turned around and hallelujah, Scorch had held steady. The judge, bless her heart, mouthed and signaled silently to me to call my dog. "Scorchie front!" And he was off like a shot. Crooked but well within reach. Mouthing again, finish your dog. "Heel up!" Perfect flip into heel aaaaaaand... he just stood there. The judge bit her lip and waited... and waited... and it became clear he wasn't going to sit. Oh well, we still had qualified.

Exercise finished. I got on the ground and grabbed up Scorch and breathed into his fur, "Oh you wonderful dog!" Up walked the judge. "You did very well," she said. "There were 2 substantial deductions of 3 points for a non-sit, once during the heel exercise and with that recall. But other than that, he was fantastic. That dog has a lot of potential. A LOT of potential." I thanked her and left with an ear-to-ear grin.

Group stays... in the bag. He didn't move a muscle. In fact, in the entire Novice A class, only one dog got up for the stays.

And suddenly we were going back into the ring with the other qualifiers. 1st place went to the blue merle sheltie.

"And in second place, with a score of 191, is dog and handler 104."

You wonderful, wonderful dog! Now we have our first CD leg... I can't believe it.

The night

2010-08-10T18:40:00.001-07:00

Tonight's class was monumental in ways I can only somewhat understand. Tonight, Scorch and I clicked into a true team, moreso than I ever have with any dog. The dog you hear about that can almost read his handler's mind, that works hard to get into the "flow", that exudes the want-to, the desire to learn new things and streamline them and earn that cookie or belly scratch or cooing praise.

I'm not saying we had the most successful night of training as far as perfecting our routine goes. We still have things to work on and we will be gently, casually tackling them and reinforcing the most correct responses.

But tonight, Scorch really "got it". Got what this whole thing is about. He started paying attention to his positioning and realizing I was only reinforcing the straightest responses. He worked with me instead of just working for the cookies. I was a gimpy, painful mess from my physical therapy session today (damn you, sadistic man) and he still stuck with me at heel position as best he could. At one point, as he looked up at me with rapt attention, I saw my baby puppy, my adolescent leggy-monster, and my beautiful adult dog at the beginning of his prime all at once.

Angie was out with a migraine, so Fran taught the class. I adore Fran. She has a little blonde Schipperke (with a tail) who was in Intermediate with us. He's similar to Scorch in energy level and enthusiasm. She has another Schip and a Corgi who are trained to high levels of obedience, and is always available with advice or answers to questions.

She gave us some pointers on straightening him out in fronts and finishes, which helped a ton. We're pretty much polishing most of our act at this point and working on his forging (our biggest issue but I'm not too stressed).

I ended the night asking her how far to push working formally with him since I didn't want to overstress him for the upcoming show. It made me laugh because she gave me advice that I have given clients over the years dealing with basic obedience and manners: work it into the every day routine. Have playtime and occasionally ask for a front. Give him the ball even if he isn't totally straight, but if he is, jackpot him with treats and more play. Have him work a finish before dinner. Etc, etc. Make it casual. It was nice to hear my own advice turned back around on me.

The best part was what she left me with. She adores Scorchie's drive and passion and attention and kept commenting on it. She mentioned dogs who seem lackluster in the ring, who aren't having fun doing it, and she was thrilled to see us enjoying ourselves so much.

"If we can keep it together and keep it fun, I think he could be a really spectacular obedience dog," I said.

She said, "He will be."

Gimpy, Fatface, and Baldy

2010-08-10T14:02:00.000-07:00

We are a dysfunctional trio lately.

Case #1: Scorchie has managed, on two occasions now, to get ahold of a wasp and presumably attempt to bite it. The first time, his face swelled to near-shar-pei levels, making him squinty, itchy, and miserable. He didn't learn his lesson, clearly. This time, I noticed the swelling and face-rubbing earlier and it only reached baseball-in-the-cheek proportions, thanks to a HEFTY dose of benadryl.

Fatface:

Case #2: Wolfie has two small hotspots and has been generally unhappy with allergies this year. A raw diet eliminated most of the problem but he still gets a case of the itchies occasionally. A brief bout with ticks has not helped any, and alas, I've had to cut away two patches of fur to allow the hotspots to breathe. Thus, Baldy. I have chosen not to embarass him with pictures at this time. As if the allergies weren't enough, some unexplained weight loss has led the vet to believe he has some weird tapeworm or other parasite... but he seems to be recovering from that at least. I can't have normal animals.

Case #3: Myself! My coworkers have bestowed the lovely moniker "Gimpy" upon me. My back has given me chronic issues but I've sort of learned to live with it. The limp this time crept on up me and finally one day exploded mid-step into a terrible sciatic attack. Following acupuncture, doctors, and various drugs later, I found myself in the physical therapist's office today being manipulated and examined in very painful, tear-inducing ways. Seriously, who cries in a PT office? I guess lots of people, because they didn't seem much bothered, but I was terribly embarassed. It's bad enough that I'm on prednisone, which makes me cranky, thirsty, hungry, cotton-mouthed, bloated, and broken out. Then I have to embarass myself by bawling at physical therapy? My fragile emotional state was wrecked further. Luckily the PT announced that I had a rotated, uneven pelvis and was able to pop it back into place. It's very tender right now but I have an easier time walking.

Oy. Enough whining.

I made a nice Goodwill find the other day, and now I have figurines adorning my desk that barely coordinate with my dogs... but I'll take it. The sable collie is the new addition that vaguely looks like Wolfie, and the border collie... well, he's sort of got Scorch's intense face, so I'll take it.

My little girl, my first doggie, Mugsy sits in the frame below them. She used to climb into my suitcase any time I took a trip. Both Jack's and Mugsy's ashes are on a shelf next to my desk... maybe to be scattered one day, maybe not.

Tonight is class with Scorchie. Hopefully I can walk ok for it. This post has been a bit all over the place... I'll try to keep the next one more on track with our training progress, because there is lots to report. Number 104 and 108 in Novice A classes! Not too early, not too late... sounds good to me.

2010-08-07T04:17:00.000-07:00

OK no more excuses. Scorchie and I are entered in SOTC's show August 21-22nd. I most likely have a herniated/slipped/bulging disc, so that has put a real damper on our training sessions (MRI results pending). Nevertheless, we had a run-through at the SOTC last night and Scorch and I would definitely have qualified. He got full points on stand for exam and the long sit/down. Slightly crooked front on the recall but a perfect finish (although I used a verbal and a hand signal... whoops). Some forging on the heel and very distracted for the start of the figure 8 but then we got it together pretty well. Heel off leash was no different than on leash, so I'm glad our off lead training has paid off.

Angie thinks we're ready and so do I. We may flub but I think we'll have fun. It's actually not at SOTC unfortunately; Scorchie and I are going to try to get to the St Pete club on Friday to at least try out the venue so it's not completely unfamiliar. If we don't get there, we're going to do some serious warm-ups before going into the ring. I think he'll do ok though. I'm waiting for my armband and program to come in to find out the judging order.

Scorchie made an ugly face at an intact Aussie but did not escalate and after a moment of realizing the Aussie was ignoring him, he settled right down. He wanted to play when we first got there, or when we were sitting around, but he was pretty much all business in the ring. I need to get some photos of him working but I get too focused to bother with the camera. I'll probably drag Bryan along on Tuesday, mostly so Scorchie can learn to focus with him there but also to have a photographer.

My baby is a big competition-ready dog now. *melt*

2010-05-18T17:26:00.000-07:00

Scorch and I took a few weeks off (to my dismay). Tonight I made time to take him to the train track field again. I've been re-reading Shaping Success and we worked on the Premack Principle tonight. We went out without a tennis ball, but of course he managed to find one.

Loose leash walking to the field went VERY well, probably the best it's ever been. We worked on fronts on the way and heel-up. A group on a porch commented that he was a good dog. *beam*

In the field, we worked on recall. I'm thinking of using the word "front" for my show recalls. That seemed to work better with Jack and let him know I needed a specific position. Right finish was a bit awkward, especially since I forgot what command I was using (finish? return? I think it's finish...).

His free heeling was excellent. We kept it in short bouts. On a break, he found the aforementioned tennis ball and I made him leave it, heel up, and/or stay before allowing him to take it. I used the hand signal for directional take-its to get him accustomed to that signal. I'll have to be careful to not always pair it with the release.

His stays overall were really nice, although he was a bit shifty when the tennis ball was out. We ended it on a high note. His loose leash walking fell apart on the way back when we passed a beagle, but he made friends with her, so I'm pleased.

A nice return to training overall.

Field work

2010-02-21T10:12:00.000-08:00

Today, Scorch and I walked out to the train track field in our neighborhood. His loose leash walking in the neighborhood isn't where I'd like it to be, but it's not a constant battle at least.

- Initial on-leash heeling took some work. He was distracted and I was impatient. I realized I was expecting too much and backed down my requirements, as well as upping my treats.
- 1st long line recall: perfect stay, seemed to be heading right towards me, and then blew past me. He got a stern verbal correction/reeling in, then I led him back to where he started and firmly told him to stay. I went out about 20 feet instead of 30 and called him. He came in slowly but accurately, and I CR'd and treated heavily. Subsequent recalls were good. I have begun weaning off of directing him with my hands to "front" and instead am keeping my hands at my side. At first, he would veer towards my right hand and sit crooked. I backed up repeating fronts until he sat straight, then CR and treat. At the final recall, he came in fast and sat straight, so I jackpotted and ended it there.
- Long line stays went well. I had his focus and he didn't get distracted by the scents around him. The first time I went around to return to heel, he got up, but after that, he held his stay. I did several returns without releasing him.
- Heel free: I felt confident enough to remove his leash. Heel free went better than leashed heeling. He had excellent attention, maintained position pretty well, and shined on the figure 8s. We'll work on heel free more often and I'm going to work on correcting with the leash less often during heel on lead.

What today showed me is that I need to focus more on short, frequent sessions. We're going to work by the train tracks as many days this week as possible. Our goal will be training in that field at least 2-3x a week, and adding one new location at least every other week to begin generalizing.

3rd Class

2010-02-20T05:43:00.000-08:00

I was going to be so happy to record that Scorch made it through an entire class without snarking at another dog, but alas, he managed to get one in at the very last moment.

Class was great though! Only 4 dogs in class that night. Angie was out sick, but the assistant Mary Lou was there as well as puppy instructor Terry. I REALLY like Terry, and Jonathan agrees. He had some great insight, and really seemed to enjoy the dogs. I'd love to take another class with him, but I don't think he generally teaches advanced classes.

- Heeling around the ring was much improved. He forges a lot but generally keeps his attention and I'm having an easier time using my wrist on the leash to steer him into proper position. He's pretty good at the fast pace change, but kept trying to sit during the slow. Calling to front was excellent. About turn was pretty good, although Scorch can be a little frantic.
- Figure 8 was nice. My handling skills were pretty good I think. I maintained a consistent pace and Scorch did a good job of keeping his heel. Great halts.
- Stays were done next to Blitz, the intact ridgeback. I kept them about 10 feet apart. Blitz was up and down a few times, but Scorch kept his focus beautifully. During the down-stay, he got up to sniff some crumbs, but other than that his stay was flawless. He stayed when I returned around him.
- Recall was spectacular 3 out of 4 times. Perfect straight line, generally a straight front. On the 4th recall, he (for some reason) ran around the back of the assistant, forcing her to toss the leash over her head so she didn't get wrapped up. He still ended up with a perfect front, and gave everyone a good laugh. Hope that doesn't become habit though!
- The instructors talked about leave it/take it. I pulled Mary Lou aside and asked her about using the words "take it", because I'm teaching them in conjunction with the dumbbell. She and Terry agreed I shouldn't use it, and we came up with "here" when he's allowed to take the treats.
- I've been having a bit of trouble with stand. I have to put my foot out in front of him to make sure he doesn't step forward and it hasn't been sticking. Mary Lou told me I'd have to ask Angie about it, but said that Angie tries it during sit at heel and lightly taps their back feet to get them up. Even though I'd read that before, the way she said it finally clicked, and we got it to work. I was just patient and eventually got a kick-back stand, which I CR'd immediately. Then I continued to CR for a stand stay, and he held it long enough that I actually released him out of it. Success!
- Scorch's loose leash walking in the building was much better. I had paper towels as drool rags, which I used but his overall anxiety/drooling seemed to be reduced. At the beginning of the night, a few intact male dogs (including a young flat coat, 2 bull terriers, and a viszla) passed by and even sniffed him, but he maintained his focus on me. Blitz was near us several times during class, and he didn't react. But at the end of the night, Blitz passed very close while we were in a corner and Scorch reacted. I can't really blame him though. I should have been paying better attention.

This class has really made the obedience bug bite down. I think he might be ready to try for an RN soon. It's funny, because in showing Jack in UKC, I had to plan shows months in advance because there were so few anywhere in the state (and none were closeby). With AKC, there are a ton of shows coming up closeby in a very short time.

My list:
ODTC
4/17-4/18, close 3/31
$23/14

Zolfo Springs, Heartland Dog Club
4/24-4/25, close 4/7
$27?

IPOC
5/1-5/2, close 4/14
$25/15

St Pete (right before I go into my class at work)
5/8-5/9, close 4/21
$25/15

IPOC
6/19-6/20, close 6/2
$23/15

Deland (only on here because it'd be cool to get Scorch's breeder out)
7/17-7/18, close 6/25
$24

SOTC (my birthday!! how cool it would be to get titled that day)
8/21-8/22, close 8/4
$22/12

And plenty more after that. My new goal is a CD and an RN by my birthday. I need to do his PAL registration asap. I need Bryan to help me set up pictures though. Fingers crossed. Lots of hard work ahead, but I think we can do it.

After class work

2010-02-06T14:47:00.000-08:00

Accomplished today:
- Loose leash walking. That is long overdue without a prong collar. Working with a martingale. Started with sequence: leash tight, stop, Scorch looks back at me, CR and treat when he returns to me, resume walking. Definitely saw marked improvement initially. When responses began declining, worked on stopping and penalty yards. Wasn't much interested in treats.
- Sit stays on walk. This did help him resume interest in treats. Worked on staying across the street from barking pit mixes. Also seemed to help calm the fenced dogs down. First pass, Scorch was a bit stressed and had an initial bout of reactivity. Second pass, he successfully stayed although he turned his back on the fenced dogs and lifted a paw. The dogs went back to sniffing around their yard. Great use of calming signals.
- Returning to heel after a stay. Did 2 sets with treats in front of his nose. After that, just a verbal reminder of "good stay" and he held it perfectly every time. Calm jackpot. Worked it at several locations on our walk.j
- Stand. Worked on it in the house first and he was all over the place. Tried it on the walk and it went much better. Lured into a stand after returning to him on sit stay. He did a kickback stand perfectly and calmly.
- Take it/dumbbell. I've been working with shaping techniques, and he would tap the dumbbell with his nose but that was about it. Using Sue Sternberg's technique (sort of), worked on manual repetitions of putting the dumbbell in his mouth and quickly swapping it for a treat. Worked up to where he's reaching out and taking the dumbbell (and gripping about 50% of the time) reliably. Introduced the command "take it".

Recent pictures of Scorch, Wolfie, and Norman.

First 2 classes

2010-02-06T14:24:00.001-08:00

It's been a long, long time since I've even looked at this. Time to resurrect it as my training diary.

After a long hiatus, Scorch and I are back in the training game. We've advanced to Beginner II class at SOTC (after trying Beginner I and discovering that we were skilled well past it).

Summary of our first class:
- Instructor Angie liked Scorch's name. She went around meeting the dogs and incorrectly called Scorch a "chunker". Once she put her hands on him, she realized he was all fur and is in stellar shape.
- Scorch showed a lot of frustration and anxiety with all the other dogs around. We worked on very tight heels/pivots to keep him engaged. Heel around the ring was mediocre. Auto sit at heel was good when focused or in a tight circle heel.
- Recall on a long line was stellar. He held his stay while I walked away, continually turning to tell him "good stay". He flew across the room when I called and landed in a perfect front. Repeat was the same.
- 1 min 30 sec group sit stay. He tried to lay down a few times but responded to a light pull up on the leash + 1 step towards him. He did not get up at all.
- 3 min group down stay. Perfect, with occasional verbal reinforcement.
- Heel up. Working on final positioning. He flips well but lands far back. Using luring to prevent him from getting incorrect positioning.
- Mild to moderate reactivity to intact male Ridgeback in class. Ridgeback is friendly but not well controlled.

Summary of our second class:
- Much more anxiety, drooling. Mild to moderate reactivity to Ridgeback, as well as small female Rottweiler. We worked on attention, CR (conditioned reinforcer) any time he looked at one of the dogs and then looked back at me without reacting. Also brought tennis tug rope.
- Heeling around ring was mediocre. Heeling in wide circles was better. Angie pointed out that I'm giving the CR when he's forging. She showed me how to lightly correct back with the leash to keep him in position. This forging seems to stemming partly from his anxiety. Auto sit was better.
- Group stays were good. I asked Angie if we could treat during the stay and she encouraged us to do so. He maintained his stay this time. Worked on holding the treat in front of his nose and returning to heel around him.
- Recalls on long line. He broke his first stay and Angie told me to enforce it. Perfect 1st front, 2nd needed adjustment. Still very enthusiastic.
- Worked on around the back finish. Not sure if "around" will be our word, although it's getting late to change it. Used to "finish". He quickly remembered how to do it, although still needs a treat lure to ensure proper final position. Worked on heel up as well, and discriminating between the two.
- Dog fight broke out between 2 intact males in the conformation class next to us. Heavy treat/CR with Scorch and then tugging with the rope. He handled it well, although all the class dogs were a bit shaken.

Happy 1st birthday Scorchie!

2008-09-19T06:54:00.000-07:00

When I first met you, I knew your spunk and attitude were exactly what I was looking for.

And clearly, you felt it too.

I didn't know how I was going to survive after losing Jack, but you became the light of my life, the little bit of hope and love I needed.

You were such an itty-bitty precious baby, but so smart right from the beginning.

Your brother grieved hard for Jack, but it wasn't long before you won him over.

And surprisingly, grumpy-pants Norman fell in love with you.

You were one cute puppy.

And even in your gangly, awkward stage, you were ALWAYS handsome.

So here we are Scorch, a year old and I'm more in love with you than ever. I cannot imagine a life without you. You're everything I hoped you would be and more. I look forward to many more years of companionship, and your sure-to-be-stellar obedience career.

Wolfie thinks Scorch is weird

2008-07-11T05:17:00.000-07:00

Occasionally, Scorch decides that he would not like his breakfast. For me, that's the equivalent of not wanting to breathe. Every dog I've owned or fostered has eaten like they'll never see food again.

I've learned to accept it as one of his idiosyncrasies, but that doesn't stop me from attempting to encourage him.

Today, I set his chicken leg quarter in front of him. He sniffed it, turned his nose up, and went to lay down by the sink. I brought him over to it and started cheerleadering him.

"Get the chicken Scorchie!! Get that chicken! Good boy!"

I would praise him every time he touched it or licked it, and all I ended up with was a dog who was enthusiastically targeting the chicken. Great.

So I picked up the meal and brought it to his crate. He leaped into the air, twirling and dancing the happy dance, then ran into the crate eagerly awaiting the leg. I put it in there with him, shut the door... and he pushed it aside, laid down, and sighed.

I left him in there for a few minutes, then decided he wasn't going to eat it and let him out, shutting the crate door behind him. Wolfie, at this point, came up to see what was going on, and why his moronic brother wasn't touching a perfectly good leg quarter. Scorch lay against the closed crate door and apologetically cowered while showing Wolfie his teeth.

I patiently explained to Scorch that he could not guard his chicken if he wasn't prepared to eat it. Apparently, he did not agree. Eventually, Wolfie's desire for the abandoned food overrode Scorch's desire to be a stubborn jerk, and he is currently munching away inside his crate.

...I just don't get it.

October Tampa Show

2008-06-23T12:09:00.001-07:00

There is an obedience trial in Tampa in October. I think I can have Scorch ready by then if we just step up the training schedule. We're going to start Novice classes at the SOTC (if they will let us jump ahead of Basic) in a few weeks.

Right now our goals are:
1. Stand for exam. The current state of this command is wretched. I'm ashamed to have neglected this exercise for as long as I have.
2. Anticipation of commands. "Come" and "sit vs. down" in particular.
3. Longer stays.

Other than that, we need to polish up our heelwork and start proofing. Oh, and be neutered. :) I don't know that I can bear waiting until 11 months.

Pictures from the park:

Wolfie is a whole lotta crazy.

Cherry, a rescued Newf.

Harvey, her Newf brother.

Sammy, an older Lab.

I don't know this dog's name, but he enjoyed spending time with my pups.

Good lord, keep her away from photoshop!

2008-06-20T19:07:00.000-07:00

Um, I may have gotten a little carried away playing around with photoshop. :)

It certainly does make me feel better about using the Kodak point-and-shoot though. I do hate that blogger snips my pictures on the right though. Any way to fix that?

Yes, I like vignettes. Shut up.

My puppy is gone

2008-06-18T17:26:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure where he went. One day, I had this little fuzzy thing...

...and now he's gone. In his place is this hairy beast:

I guess this guy is pretty cool too, so I'll keep him around.

Wolfie approves of the obnoxious adolescent.

Wolfie tries for regal...

...and then FAILS.

So my mother is lending me her camera. I hate it. But it's better than nothing. I've been scheming ways to get my hands on a digital Rebel sometime soon... we shall see. I'll still want a point-and-shoot most likely, but I may wait a little longer and go with the Rebel first.

Sarasota is still fantastic. I am happier here than I've been in a long, long time.

Even when Scorch sets out to prove that he can remove all of his toys 100x faster than I can put them away...

My camera is broken

2008-05-17T05:20:00.001-07:00

So no pictures today, unfortunately. I've tried taking it apart... basically I've tried everything short of actually getting it professionally repaired, because for that cost, I might as well buy a new one.

Anyway, we're in Sarasota now and it's gorgeous here. We haven't gone to the dog beach yet because I went to Casperson (which is connected and right down the street) and the rip current was pretty intimidating. So we've stuck to the "dry" dog park down the street.

We've made some friends there, including a dog named Lunchbox. We're going to a bay side park this morning, so hopefully the dogs can swim safely there.

I'll post pictures and a training update as soon as I can.

Another beautiful day at the lake

2008-04-25T11:01:00.000-07:00

Yep, this is where we hang. The water was clear enough today that we could all be sure there were no gators.

Scorch was a little worried about the gators, though.

The wookie was worried that his face wouldn't show up in the photos.

He was correct.

Scorch was worried about big floofy shepherds and sleek greyhounds.

Loki was worried that Scorch is the only one with balls.

Despite what this picture may lead you to think, Scorch is still the only one with balls (not for long!).

Wolfie was worried that he wasn't covered with enough sand.

Scorch was worried that I would decide to keep taking pictures instead of throwing the ball.

For a while, he was correct, and he yelled at me.

Throw. The. Ball. NOW.

Scorch was worried about the wookie who couldn't retrieve his own damn ball (notice the ball on the right).

Loki was obviously not very worried about his ball. Loki was clueless.

Wolfie was worried that he wouldn't get enough face-time in this blog entry.

Don't worry Wolfie! You're certainly easier to photograph than Scorch.

The border collies were worried that the wookie might be here permanently. (GET OUT OF THE SHOT, LOKI!)

Don't worry boys! Loki goes home to Dr. B tomorrow, and you two can be the stars again.

Two border collies and a Wookie

2008-04-22T18:16:00.000-07:00

Why, what is this shaggy thing?

The strange bear-looking guy is Loki, a dog belonging to one of the vets I work with. She's out of town, so I'm puppy-sitting and he's joining us at the park.

Dr. B warned me that Loki didn't really know how to fetch. Yet, somehow, he picked it up from watching Scorch and proceeded to steal the ball every chance he got.

Scorch usually got it back though.

We had The Squeaky Ball, as well as a Jolly Ball that had been abandoned on the trails, so I thought I'd have enough to keep both boys occupied. Of course, a crazy lab-mix named Bear who ONLY WANTED OTHER DOG'S BALLS kept coming and ruining our fun. Scorch has turned into a barking fiend when he has the ball, which is what kept attracting Bear in the first place.

Wolfie pouting, on time-out for biting other dog's butts.

Now vogue.

--------------------------------------------------------

We did finally meet the owner of Scorch's doppleganger. The dog is a female named Leta, and came from Southeast Border Collie Rescue. So strangely enough, we got our dogs through the same lady, although Scorch came more indirectly and was not a rescue. Leta is a lovely girl though, and I hope to see more of her at the park.

Countdown until moving to Sarsota: 18 days

At the park today

2008-04-13T09:38:00.000-07:00

Oh, hihihi!

Are you going to throw the ball for me?

I can swim out to get it now.

I'm not a very graceful at swimming yet.

But I'm getting there!

**************************************
THIEVERY!

Wolfie usually tires of keep-away, and Scorch emerges victorious.

This dog was really neat looking. She reminded me of a tiny Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever... maybe crossed with a delicate little bird.

We ran into some old friends of Wolfie's, and there was a fantastic chase.

Which ended with Franklin making "sand angels".

We met some other Border Collies there, and for THE FIRST TIME, a stranger accurately identified Scorch's breed. This little red fetch machine is ELEVEN years old and still lively as ever.

This BC actually looked and acted remarkably like Scorch, but I couldn't figure out who his owner was. He had the same overbite, expression, and posture, although he was obviously not a puppy. He LOVED Scorch, and Scorchie just wanted me to throw the damn ball.

Overcast or not, it was a fantastic day.

Growing up

2008-04-02T18:56:00.000-07:00

New pictures are forthcoming. I haven't really been in the mood to update.

Mugsy passed away on February 25th. My first dog, my companion and teacher for 12 years. We got 2 great months that we didn't think we'd have, and I was able to come to terms with her passing (as much as I ever could anyway). My sweet terrier girl... I can't even really speak about it yet. I will try to give her a tribute befitting such an amazing dog.

Since then, I've been going through the motions. Scorch and Wolfie keep me sane, of course, and the show must go on. I'm finally starting to feel normal again, although there are a million things to stress me out, what with my upcoming move and all that.

We started visiting the dog park this week. It's the first time back since losing Jack, and Scorch's first visit. He's done extraordinarily well, and we've made sure to go at fairly unpopulated times to avoid any problems. Wolfie is a bit of a butthead (since he learned some bad habits from Jack) but we're working on toning down his overbearing ways. On the very first trip, Wolfie plunged into the lake with great enthusiasm like he always does, and his little shadow happily ran in after him. But once Scorch got up to his chest, he looked down, shocked and confused at being wet. He ran out of the lake and shook himself off, but was back in within minutes. He's decided he likes wading, if not actually swimming.

Scorch and I have begun our formal obedience work. His foundation behaviors are strong, so we've begun to chain it all together. I am so proud of his focus, and his heelwork has gone so well. Stays are tough, more difficult for him than they were for Jack and Wolfie, but we've managed to add a fair amount of distance and time. He's also picking up on directional instructions, learning how to focus on what I'm pointing at and stare at an appropriate target. The toughest part is reining in his enthusiasm, but that's a problem I wanted to have. He LOVES to work, and I love to work with him. I've never had a dog understand behaviors so quickly, and he performs them with an enthusiasm that astounds me.

I have found my heart dog.

How to embarass a border collie

2008-01-25T10:36:00.000-08:00

1. Dress him up in silly holiday clothes.

2. Make him take a bath.

Alas, it is all too easy for a puppy such as Scorch to regain his dignity!

------
It has been an extremely hectic few weeks here. My older Cairn Terrier, Mugsy, who lives with my parents, was diagnosed as being in kidney failure. Over the Christmas holiday, she crashed. She had stopped eating, and was essentially dying. I raced into work to pick up a bag of lactated ringers for subQ fluids, and some wet dog food for syringe feeding. I kept her going until I could bring her into work, where I sobbingly prepared to euthanize her.

My boss encouraged me to try a round of IV fluids before making a decision... and he was right. She is doing much better now, although it has been a rollercoaster of up and downs. Sometimes she eats (boiled chicken only, plus supplementation mixed into her lixotinic iron liquid), sometimes she doesn't. She developed a UTI + vaginitis so we're battling that, and waiting to see if the antibiotics for that make her nausea worse.

(She's the wheaten Cairn, in the sweater)

Plus I'm working on my May move to Sarasota, which has proven stressful. There are still too many unknowns... all of this, plus raising a puppy and some personal issues have left me stressed. Thank god for Scorch and Wolfie, who have been infinitely patient while I tend to Mugsy.

Scorch's training has progressed beautifully, despite having less time than I'd planned. The latest trick I'm proud of involves him putting his front feet up on a milk crate and consciously moving his back feet around. It's not very graceful yet, but it's entirely free-shaped and I'm damn proud of that. He's beginning to understand the concept of free-shaping. I don't use a clicker very much, mostly because I keep leaving it either at work or home (wherever I'm not), so our marker word "good" has become very strong.

He is a lovely little puppy, and I couldn't be happier.

Somewhere along the way, the tiny white tip on his tail disappeared. He's changed colors so many times, I've lost track.

He's turning out so amazing though. He's been universally appealing, to all kinds of breed lovers. He's also shaping up to be a great demo dog, laying quietly beside me while I instruct. I'm so proud of him.

Long ovedue Scorch update

2007-12-09T17:53:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since my last Scorch update. My card reader has gone missing (probably in the no-man's-land known as my car), so I didn't upload any photos for a while.

He's 11 weeks old now, and his ears stood up at about 9 1/2 weeks.

Here is what he looks like now:

Here's a flashback to dropped ears:

Here's a general assortment of cuteness, from my parents' house:

Training is going very well, although I'm impatient for advanced things. Still, everyone is quite impressed with his "down" (no lure, good response to verbal signal), and of course his "sit" (great response to hand and verbal signal). His backing-up is exquisite as long as I'm backing up with him, but I'm happy that he's learning hind-end awareness so early.

I'm anxious because of the raw diet. I love what it's done for Wolfie, but this is my first puppy on raw, so I'm constantly monitoring his growth, comparing him to his brother or other puppies, obsessing about his size and fur... I need to relax.

Overall, he's doing fantastic. I have pictures from the Border Collie party we went to at the Southeast BC Rescue, but I'll get those set up later.

Diet woes

2007-11-25T17:46:00.001-08:00

No new pictures today. I'll work on that tomorrow.

Scorch has been having loose stools since I brought him home. This is the first puppy I'm trying to raise on raw, and it hasn't been going well. I've only been feeding chicken, trying not to have any variety, and it hasn't gone over well.

I went to pick up Innova Puppy, and the store that sells the holistic kibble is gone. The other sources are closed on Sundays or farther away. So we're trying raw ground turkey mixed with pumpkin and FortiFlora (probiotics from work). So far, so good, no more gurgling noises from Scorch's gut.

He's still amazing. I've been trying to free shape the "down", which is somewhat challenging but he's really making the connection now. He's also learned how to have an "off switch", and is currently relaxing under the desk. Every day has been a socializing experiment and he's already been exposed to many kinds of people and animals.

He fell in the pool while at my parents' house (walked backwards into it!). Of course I was right there to rescue him, but I was so proud of him for bouncing back quickly. I wrapped him up in a towel and he wagged his tail happily at being picked up, even though he had just been dunked. I've been careful not to coddle him and he's coming along nicely. I love this confident little pup.

He's definitely filling Jack's shoes well. He's a talker like Jack, and likes to test the boundaries... and some of his little quirks are so... Jack. It warms my heart.

Demo dog

2007-11-20T03:32:00.000-08:00

One of Scorch's Very Important Jobs is to demonstrate behaviors and exercises during my training classes. This job usually takes lots of preparation and training to be reliable, but I start puppies and foster dogs on it right away.

I think Scorch is up to the challenge.

Here I am explaining the game 101 Things To Do With a Box (erm, in this case a traffic cone). Look how tiny Scorchie is!

Scorch just offered me a nose touch on the cone and has heard the click.

Click is followed by a treat! I have a bad back, so I look ridiculous reaching down to him.

And a demo of attention. Not too bad for 8 weeks old (and 6 pounds, 6 ounces)!

(Why don't jeans ever fit me properly?)

I went to bed early last night because it had been a very long day at work. So that meant I had to wake up several times in the middle of the night to take puppy out. And now this morning, he is a bundle of energy while I'm not quite awake yet.

Yesterday, he went to Baby Puppy Daycare at work. The only other puppy there was a tiny Labrador who looks exactly like the Cottonelle Toilet Paper dog (that's a compliment, trust me). I'll try to get pictures of her. But not only did he have a great day playing with the baby Lab, he also got LOTS of socialization with the kids that were in and out of the building all day. He was quiet, sweet, and well behaved while he was inside, but apparently has a penchant for mud puddles and tossing around the water bowl while outside.

He's lucky that he's so charming. :)

Clicker training, session 1

2007-11-18T19:07:00.001-08:00

No new pictures today, because I can't find my memory card reader and Chuck (my coworker) still has pictures to send me.

During the Cowboys game, I decided to introduce Scorch to the clicker. I'd been using "good" as my marker word, and I'd done some preliminary clicker loading, but this would be our first working session.

This is the first dog I am seriously free-shaping.

Sit is no problem, of course. I've been free-shaping that for the most part, but luring as well to get a tuck-sit instead of a rock-sit. I started luring into the down, and clicking for elbows touching the ground to get him started. Then I lured back up into a sit, click.

Then I started clicking when he looked down. It took a few reps for him to start deliberately offering the behavior, but then the lightbulb went on. I lured every few tries, just to keep giving him the idea. I'd already been marking any laying down he did during classes, so he "guessed right" a few times.

I want to free shape the weaves (and lots of other behaviors), so I'd like Scorch to be proficient at it. So far, I'd say our first session went well. :) He sits for his raw meals like a champ, and sits with great attention any time he wants love.

I'm being extremely careful to make his stealing objects not a big deal, knowing BCs' tendencies towards stealing items and making off with them, plus resource guarding. So far, I've been letting him have socks for a few minutes, then repeatedly trade other items back and forth, so the sock does not become a big deal.

He's a smart little bugger. Only one accident, on day 1 when I took a nap while he was uncrated (my fault). He actually ASKED to go out today, which I praised heavily and I hope he will repeat. He urinates in small amounts quite often, so I'm going to have a urinalysis done, just in case.

First bath at 5am this morning, when he decided to roll in godknowswhat outside. He didn't appreciate it, but it wasn't awful.

I'm smitten with the little pooch.

Be still my beating heart

2007-11-17T07:13:00.000-08:00

I. Am. In. Love.

Scorch is HOME!

2007-11-16T11:00:00.000-08:00

My little firecracker has made it home, finally. I picked him up last night, rushing to get him the millisecond I got off of work. Already, I've learned a lot.

1. My original method of getting new dogs used to the car was working just fine. Usually I just wear the pup out and leave them loose in the backseat. I build up to crating/seat belting later. This time I started with the crate... the result: carsick! After two bouts of sick, I learned my lesson and Scorch was crate-free and puke-free on the ride home from the vet.

2. I forgot what puppies were like, and I forgot what BORDER COLLIE puppies are like. Wolfie wasn't quite this active, although he was close. Scorchie is finally passed out under the desk right now and it took a lot to get him to that point.

3. Having a new puppy and all these big plans ahead of us makes me flustered!

We saw Dr. Jeff (my boss) today for shots and Scorch did beautifully. He charmed everyone like an expert, and did his best to portray a calm, docile demeanor. Little liar. Dr. J said that Scorch is in great shape, appears healthy, and is going to be a beautiful dog. Everyone likes Scorchie's ears.

He's decided that he looooves Wolfie. The size difference is still a problem when they play, but Scorch is trying real hard. He humped Wolfie twice, and a low growl was enough to back him off. The Wolfman seems to like Scorch, but isn't quite enamored with him yet. I think he'll be happier when Scorch is big enough to wrestle with.

We went to bed last night at 10. Scorch woke me up at 12:30, we went outside to potty, and then he slept until I woke him up at 7am. Not too shabby. No accidents yet (fingers crossed!), and my goal is to maintain as close to zero as possible.

I was only able to get two decent pictures during this freezing morning. Once he wakes up again, I'll get some sunnier pictures to post.

The way we were

2007-11-12T18:24:00.000-08:00

Time for a trip down memory lane. It helps when I'm missing Jack.

Baby Wolfie

Blurry but I love looking at this series. One of my students took this while I still worked at Petsmart as a trainer and it documents nicely Wolfie growing up next to a very nervous, but sweet Bedlington puppy.

He's changed colors so many times! Wolfie recently, with foster dog Delilah:

And at training class, with BeeJay the Maltese and Norman the Cairn (the terrier belongs to my parents, more on him later):

I like the dark sabling a lot better than the "plain" brown... but I love Wolfie no matter what. He keeps me going.

The players in Scorch's life

2007-11-11T17:02:00.000-08:00

There are 3 puppy siblings in Scorch's life right now. Going to visit the pupster is like going to puppy heaven. Basically I get to roll around in the dirt with puppies and take pictures of them for as long as I please.

So without further ado, here are the very willing hams:

Socks used to be a gentle, cuddly soul.

Now he has discovered uses for his teeth.

Sage is Scorch's twin, except with more white on his feet and no white on the tip of his tail.
See? White feet:

Black tail:

Dirty face:

Scorch and Sage share nicely.

This would have been an "S" litter if not for the only female, Dottie, AKA Miss Piggy since she is the largest pup.

Mmmm plant!

Dottie likes to show off her tootsies.

Mad teeth™ at such an early age!

And my little boy, just because he's adorable.

Fuzzbutt comes home on Thursday night!

Scorch

2007-11-10T03:54:00.000-08:00

Introducing: Scorch! This delightful little Border Collie puppy hails from Deland, Florida. His parents, while excellent sheepherding and agility dogs with good hips, were not meant to be bred together. So my check was written to Southeast Border Collie Rescue, and Scorch will go through a wonderful testicle removal sometime before a year of age.

He is already the dog I've dreamed of. He's got it all! Looks:

Personality:

Naughtiness:

Some of you remember how I fall for naughtiness:

(For those of you with poor memories, that's my favorite of my foster litter from a year ago, Gemma).

Yeah, I'm in trouble with this one. I think Scorch is going to live up to his name. An AKC Obedience judge came by to see the litter... and he was her #1 pick.

Needless to say, I am excited.

Dreaming of trialing again

2007-09-21T06:05:00.000-07:00

Well, Jack and Wolfie are on a break from showing, and I miss it. The only titles we ever got were CGCs for them. Wolfie's weak rear end makes it near impossible for him to hold a "sit" for very long and has caused him to lack hind-end awareness (he's unsure where to place his bottom in order to be straight or not tripping over obstacles).

Jack, on the other hand... well, Jack has turned into an asshole. My loving, sweet dog who used to go to dog parks and manage doggie playtimes at training school is no longer trustworthy around other dogs, and even some people.

Here is proof that he used to be friendly, swimming with Wolfie and his friend Cosette.

I don't know what to do. He was my trialing dog and I want my old Jack back. Hopefully the thyroid medication will help. But last night was EXTREMELY frustrating. I took him to my training class, hoping to see some improvement. He acted like he did when I first got him... we've spent 3 years desensitizing him to strange dogs, and last night he was exploding at them, even while at safe distances. It feels like we haven't made any progress at all. :(

I just want my old boy back.