2013

Train to win. Trial to learn.
My new motto for 2013. I have a nasty habit of shutting down at trials and not seeing them for what they are, a great big learning experience. No more will I get frustrated at trials. I am there to learn.
On the flip side my training is no longer casual. I am training to win.

My goals are less about titles this coming year and more about being prepared.

We will be

1) Psychically prepared 

    My dogs and I should be able to work for extended amounts of time with out becoming tired. Right now   we can only work a total of 10-15 minutes before calling it quits. This also includes getting the dogs back on raw.

2) Mentally prepared

    Knowing the rules and exercises before showing in any current or new venues/sports. 

3) Prepared for anything

    Working in the rain, on grass, in crowds, tight spaces, anything I can think of we will proof for it.

I expect 2013 to be a very exciting and can not wait to get it started. We have many things to look forward to Obedience, Rally, Conformation and agility. There is also the possibility of Weight pull, Tracking, Dock dogs, Carting and IPO. The possibilities are truly endless.

Happy New Year!

Field Trip

Parking lot Obedience "But moooom I want to go in!"

I told him that mice were once dogs but they were naughty and didn't focus on their training. From the look on his face I think he believed me.

"Your going to buy it all right?"

More parking lot obedience on the way out.

"I swear I saw a squirrel"

 

Teaching Expectations

I decided at the end of the trial this month that I needed to start back at square one with Miss V. Not to reteach her what she already knows but to teach her what she doesn't. What I expect her to do.

My expectations
She must perform at her best with out rewards of any kind (food, toys, praise), as long as I want, no guidance from me(except commands) and in any and all environments.

Where went wrong
I got lost in an attempt to create a happy looking, golden style heel. I lost touch with the fact that Violet is an 10-11 year old pit bull and simply does not show enjoyment in the same way. Don't get me wrong she really does enjoy the work her body, face and personality just express it differently. Even at home she is not what you would call "perky". I ended up not working on anything except "attitude".

What I am doing about it
Short random sessions with no feedback during exercises. Put her through her paces in random places. Work "Heel" and "Go out" until she knows what I expect in all situations.

End result
I hope to achieve a reliable maximum expectation of behavior. The next time we enter the ring I want to know that we will qualify and that I will have the confidence to make it happen.

V Happily sunning herself.

V happily posing for a picture.

If A Toddler Can Do it

My son always wants to help with the dogs. Since he has trained with Violet in a few classes and listens very well himself he has earned the privilege of walking Violet. Don't be fooled by Violet's extensive obedience background if she smells a sucker on the other end of the leash her manners fly out the window. My son has worked hard teaching her to listen to him. 

"Viowet down"

My son is only 3 years old. If a toddler can do it theres no reason you can't.

Note: For safety reasons they stay close enough that if needed I could give Violet a verbal command just in case.

New Title and Lessons Learned

This last weekend was long and exhausting but well worth it.

On Friday Violet debuted in Utility. I was bracing myself for the utter humiliation of showing a dog that had not had enough training. I could picture her on the articles just sitting there staring at me too afraid to move or deciding that she didn't know what a go out was.
Despite my fears Violet did a wonderful job. In fact the only thing we didn't qualify on was the first article(Brought back the wrong one). Even then she only hesitated for a second before going to the pile. It wasn't a perfect performance but to my great relief I was in no way humiliated. 
It helped that I kept a genuinely upbeat attitude the entire time.


On Saturday I showed Charlie in Novice. He hadn't been to a dog show since this time last year so I wanted to get there an hour early. A little before 10am I walked in and went to get my number. The steward informed me that I was next. Chuck and I went in cold.
This heel pattern was the result

I could not have been happier. He usually shuts down at shows and his heel falls apart. I think that fact that I didn't have time to warm up and stress him out helped a lot. He did blow the recall when he got to me though. No front sit and he tried to check out the people behind me.


I spent the duration of the stays holding my breath and praying to what ever god would listen. I just knew that after a year off he wouldn't hold it. To ad to my fears there was a small boy throwing a tantrum right out side the ring not even 3 feet from Charlie.
He held both stays and qualified with a 191 1/2. I lack the words to express just how proud of him I am.
He is now

Plake's Sir Charles of Allston CD RN CGC

On Sunday Violet showed in Utility again. It was a much worse run but still not totally humiliating seeing as most of the other Utility A exhibitors where having just as hard a time. The judge loved V though and kept saying "Look how cute she is. Look at that face. She just absolutely loves you!". 

My friend Trish and her dog Grace also earned their RA on Sunday with a first place! Now I'm hoping to get her into regular obedience too ;-)

All through out the weekend I also got to see Phlox's siblings Dot and Dylan and their owners. I enjoyed getting together and talking about our dogs and the breed in general. His siblings are both beautiful and I hope to see more of them in the future. 

Looking back at the weekend gives me renewed hope that Violet is still young enough and enjoying Obedience enough to continue. I made huge improvements on my attitude and have a new commitment to train year round and not just right before a show.

Show And Go

My courses were a hit! Well, not exactly but at least no one had any complaints. I had wanted to post the course maps but, having absolutely no computer skills, I can't figure out how.

I took Phlox with me just to work on being quiet and relaxed in his crate. I wasn't planning on running him through anything but since we were there any way I took him onto the novice rally course.

I released him often and tried to make sure he just enjoyed himself. He lost focus every now and then but I was pretty happy with his performance.



Notice that at the end even though there is a dog right on the other side of the gate he doesn't take his eyes off of me.

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The reliant show closes on Wednesday and I haven't signed up yet. Charlie and Violet will be competing. Charlie will finish up his CD and I'm hoping to enter V in Utility or wildcard utility. I will be doing a run through tomorrow to determine what to show her in. I'm hoping some one can video it for me because there has not been enough Violet on the blog lately. 

Violet's Session

Last night Violet and I had what I can only describe to be the best training session ever!

It wasn't so much that all the exercises went well, some were down right awful. But the energy was AMAZING!

I decided to work on V's confident with the articles. Before now I had been praising when she got to the right article. I noticed she was relying on my praise as a cue to pick it up. Last night I sent her and she worked the pile with enthusiasm until she got to the right article. She sniffed it, put her mouth on it then turned to look at me. I asked her again to "Find it" and she worked the whole pile over once more ending at the right article. She sniffed it looked at me and sniffed it again. I could she that she was almost ready to shut down so I decided to tell her what I wanted. She brought the dumbbell back and we took off around the room playing chase and tag.
I set it up and sent her again. This time after searching the pile she only hesitated for half a second before trotting briskly back to me with the correct dumbbell in tow. We took off again for a few minutes of play.

Go outs were a disaster but hey no need to stop the party. I got a little improvement and back to tag and chase.

By the time we got to signals and heeling Violet was literally jumping for joy. She was so engaged and enthusiastic it blew me away. I'm sure my enthusiasm and engagement blew her away too.

I'm pretty sure we both left the session exhausted and thinking "that bitch has been holding out on me!"

Sorry no pictures or video I was busy playing :)

Phlox's Session

For some reason I thought it would be a great idea to head out side for some training. I must have had a mild case of amnesia because I forgot we live in Houston. It's 93 degrees and sunny.

We had a little fun and I introduced him to the broad jump. I wanted my husband to film it but the kids were not cooperating and did I mention it was HOT!

These are the clips I managed to get myself.

This one was filmed at the end of our session and we both just wanted to go inside and get something to drink. It's been over a year since he was on a table so he was not on top of his game.

After a good drink we practiced or conformation skills inside. I think we have both improved a lot in the last few months. I'll have him back in the ring in the fall.

Winner!

I rarely if ever win contests but once in a while my luck changes.

I won a Lapper from http://www.ollydog.com/ in their Friday contest on Facebook.com. I chose the orange squares and think it will look great at trials.

I really like a lot of their products and prints. I particularly like their treat bags. I had one for a while but lost it when I lent it to a client and never got it back. 

Small Title and A Normal Dog

Some people are blessed with normal dogs. I have never been one of those people. My dogs have always been found or adopted because they had problems that no one else wanted to deal with. Through hard work and dedication they have all turned into wonderful loving dogs but none are what most people would call "normal".

Yesterday I put Phlox through what in my mind would prove that he is in fact one of those elusive "normal" dogs.
My sister, husband, son and I headed to the park to play some disk golf. Phlox of course tagged along.
We spent several hours throwing disks at ridiculously far targets while Phlox trotted along side us with his leash on the ground.
Other dogs passed by, balls and disks flew over head, bicycles zoomed past and there Phlox was by my side the entire time. If I chose to give a command he complied without hesitation. If I chose to ignore him he would check in every few seconds to make sure there wasn't anything I wanted him to do. An off leash border collie even ran up and stuck his nose in Phlox's butt with out so much as an annoyed glance by my little dog.
We then went and watched my son play on the playground with a number of other children. A few kids and parents came up to pet him but mostly he just sat calmly at my feet. No barking or whining he was just happy to be there.

The only downside to having a "normal" dog is that training is rather boring. No need to be creative or figure things out. The dog just learns, complies and is eager to please.

Later Phlox earned his Novice Trick Dog title (NTD). We decided to go ahead and just see what our dogs knew during our trainer class. Phlox knew almost every single one of the behaviors listed. My mom's Puglet Roxi and one of the other trainers dogs also earned theirs. It was a fun and lighthearted way to spend an hour. Violet and Charlie will get theirs next weekend.

Training Today

Charlie:
I took Charlie out to a very busy street with a small parking lot. We worked on heeling until we were both huffing and puffing. Unfortunately that only took 5 minutes.  We then did a handful of recalls and some sit, down and stand stays.
His attention was a lot better than it has been. I'm pleased with his progress since this summer and may try to finish his CD next month.

Phlox:
Phlox worked in the back yard again because he has the hardest time focusing there. We did a lot of heeling and halts. We also worked on stand for exam and sit for exam. My goal today was to teach him not to lift his head and sniff the judges(my sisters) hand. If his head started to go up I told him to "leave it" as soon as his attention was back on me he got a good boy and treat and the process started again. It didn't take him long to get the concept. In just a few minutes he had a nice solid stay from his nose to his tail.
We got out the dumbbell and worked on him picking it up the right way. He likes to just grab it where every so I want to fix that before moving on. Again it didn't take him very long to figure out what I wanted. I think this one will need a lot of work in the long run because he very much sees the retrieve as play.

I also practiced free stacking and general conformation stuff. After my last attempts at stacking I looked up pictures and videos of people doing it well and today I simply tried to emulate it. My mom was able to be my eyes and give me pointers on foot placement and movement. I think things looked much better today.

Roxi:
My mom's 8 year old Pug mix worked on not being so pug like. She is a fabulously but doesn't get worked with much.

My mom and I at the reliant show year before last. Roxi took 4th in a huge novice class with a 96.

Violet unfortunately didn't get a turn today. I was just too tired after I got done with the boys. I did get my hands on a practice bar jump so that we can really do directed jumping at home. I hope to work Violet tomorrow before work.

Trying To Update My Look + Rally Training App

For the new year I'm hoping to ad some pzazz to the blog. Unfortunately I am not very gifted at anything remotely related to computers or the internet. I can't even figure out how to use paint. Really.

Over the last month I saw a huge increase in page views but no increase in followers. I'm really hoping a fun new look will help to capture readers attention. I'm also hoping that my intensive training this coming year will produce many fun and informative videos and photos. It helps that I have finally found my camera but it would help even more if I could figure out how to use it.

So if you are reading this but not following it yet Click the little blue link on the right side you'll be glad you did.

Growling software's Rally obedience dog training app

I have yet to try any paied apps on my smart phone but this one has my interest peaked. It includes pictures of all the AKC signs with definitions. It has yet to be updated to the 2012 changes but that is one of the great things about smart phone apps, they are constantly updating and adding information.

I plan on downloading it and giving it a proper review.



For 0.99 it seems like a worth while tool for most competitors.

Christmas

The dogs didn't really get much from Santa this year. Phlox had a blast with a paper cup he found and the other dogs have chicken wings and yam chewies to keep them happy. But the only new toys were for my son.

I on the other hand I got a solid wood set of obedience jumps. I am thrilled to be able to train more often and at my home.

My son was also given a stuffed rabies virus by my brother. 

Violet found the rabies

Violet caught the rabies!

I hope every one out there in the blogging world is having a wonderful day. Now on to a large, juicy pot roast!

Rally Gets an Upgrade

The AKC is updating the Rally rules, regulations and signs. It really looks like they are trying to turn rally into a legitimate sport.

Favorite new regulation:

"Substantial Deduction (6-10 points) for each of the following:
• Incorrectly performed station** (Automatic 10 point deduction)
• Failure to complete the Sit Stay Exercise (IP)–No retries allowed
• Failure of dog to go over the jump in the proper direction (IP) – no retries allowed
• Luring /pleading with the dog
• Lack of natural manner"

To me this is a big step forward. I am a "positive" trainer and use treats and a little luring in my training. However, I would never, ever consider taking a dog into the ring if they "needed" to be lured around a course. To me that is not a trained dog it's a dog being tricked into performing.

Favorite new novice sign:

#36 Slow forward from sit

Favorite new Advance sign:

#118 Halt leave dog 2 steps call to heel forwad

Favorite new Excellent sign:

#209 Stand leave dog down dog call front-finish

The only draw back is that I now have to memorize new signs. But I think it will be worth a little extra effort in order to see the sport move forward.

Check out the rest of the new rules and regulations here --> New Rally Regulations

Check out the new signs here -->  New Rally Signs