2009-07-31

New Stuff

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And the header above, but it's not formatting quite right with this layout... it is the 750 pixels wide they allow, but that doesn't take up the whole header space. It looks funky. Arg!

2009-07-30

Bailey's friend

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See, she really does have a friend. He stays out of her personal space... what a good puppy he is!

2009-07-16

Tracking Dogs

Bailey's half sister is a tracking maniac. Addie earned her CT this spring. She is the third generation to do so. Her grandma Rosie and her mom Taylor both have their CTs. Bailey and Addie share the same sire, he doesn't track. Addie's aunt (Taylor's litter sister) also has her CT.

Maybe Bailey can be a cool kid too and earn hers. That may be motivation to keep working my dog! :)

Training 7/16/09

I'm working my dogs consistently again. Go me!

Today I laid a track for Bailey as soon as I got home from work. We haven't tracked since we've been at camp... oops!

Terrain: recently hayed field, two small patches of tall grass
Conditions: very windy, 63 degrees
Aged: 15 minutes
Yards: ~400, 2- 90 degree left corners, 1- 90 degree right corner, 1- 45 degree left corner
Success! Bad start as she wanted to follow the scent along the patch of tall grass but I held her and she got right to work. Beautiful corners. No air scenting on them and no checking out other options. Took the corner and ran! FUN track, and fast too.

Buzz and I worked obedience then. I really, REALLY want to trial him this fall for his UCDX. We worked heeling. Improvement from last night. He's been spacey so I walk briskly in another direction when his attention wanes. He catches up with me, I re-cue heel (hand on stomach) and off we go. We worked a lot of short (3-6 steps) heeling with lots of halts. We still have work to do but he was better. Then we practiced a sit-stay. I sat him about halfway down the drive way and walked to the mail box and back. He held it like a rock. GOOD BOY! I wasn't out of sight but we've had an issue with distance lately. I'm hoping to get at least two more sit-stays in today.

I plan on laying a track early tomorrow morning for both dogs. I need to decide on a location for Bailey's still though.

2009-07-13

Reason is 10

A local dog. A wonderful video.

MAC AKC Standard-Bailey

Yeehaw, 100% Q rate!

I'm celebrating because it doesn't happen often! The dogs and I did AKC rally, AKC agility, and UKC rally this weekend. Both dogs qualified in everything they were entered in! Yeehaw!

Friday-AKC rally in Duluth with Bailey
She worked REALLY well and got a 94 in Excellent. We had the off set figure 8 with food in the bowls and I lost her nose twice to that. Bad trainer, we haven't worked around food in a while. She returned when I realized what had happened! We also had to retry a station, and I think we had one out of position, right at the beginning. But she worked REALLY well for me. First place, by time.
Our score in Advanced doesn't really reflect how well she worked, hah. We got a 99 and third place. She was still good, we completed the principle parts of the exercise but it wasn't fluid like our Excellent run.
Earned us QQ #4 for her RAE.

Saturday-AKC agility at Soccer Blast with Bailey
*Novice FAST, my first time playing it. Understood the rules well enough to qualify! smile.gif First place too (though we may have been the only 16" novice preferred dog to qualify heh).
*Novice Standard (I have the video, just need to get it up), we had a disagreement about the table but otherwise it was a nice, smooth run. She has an auto down on the table and it was a sit that day. She got on the table and proceeded to have a very slow down, so I cued sit. She thought I'd lost my marbles. I said, "I really DO want you to sit" and she did... slowly. Need to work on auto downs again before our next AKC trial. I want her to down first, but FASTERRR! That was her second standard Q.
*Novice Jumpers was PRETTY! She was my fast doggy again. Leaving nails longer DOES help. She got her weave entry but couldn't stay in them so we had to redo them, but were still over 10 seconds under course time. We both liked that course. And she earned her NJP on that run! smile.gif Good girly!

Sunday-UKC rally with Buzz
*sigh* This was his first obed/rally trial since being deaf, and outside to boot! He did what I asked, but it wasn't pretty. He had no sustained behaviors. He stayed within the rally heel range mostly and performed all principle parts of the exercises but... blah. We qualified with an 80 and we need work. smile.gif He of course, enjoyed soliciting play from a shiba and schmoozing the crowd.

100% Q rate... I'm excited.

2009-07-09

OFA

The nerdiness has exploded. Both of my speutered, never bred dogs, are in the OFA databse now.

Buzz
hips, elbows, cerf, pra

Bailey
hips, elbows, cerf, pra, thyroid (though it shouldn't be there!)

I think I have a problem... that's the first step right? Admitting you have a problem? :-)

Duluth!

I'm so darn excited! We're headed to Duluth in the morning. I miss it SO much! Bailey and I are showing in rally, ExB and AdvB. Saturday we head to Soccer Blast in Burnsville for AKC agility, and Sunday Buzz gets to play in UKC rally!

the Baby

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the Rascal

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I don't know what's up with the resizing/formatting on here, you can't click to make it full size... grarg! I can't resize it on here anymore, I have to do it before hand so it gets TINY to fit in here...

/end whine... it's a good picture of a naughty kitty!

2009-07-06

Ribbons

I love my new camera. That doesn't mean I actually know how to use it yet. This is the best of what I took, as you'll see. I'm uploading the outtakes because they're pretty darn funny. Anyways, here's Bailey with her 2 Q ribbons, 2 placement ribbons, and 1 new title ribbon for her NAC!

jump

And on to the humor!


Insert your own captions...
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2009-07-03

Oh, about camp...

it was a blast and I can't wait until next year. I keep forgetting to write about it, so for now, here's a basic list of what we did at camp!

Agility

  • Obstacle training-teach an independent performance of each obstacle
  • Sequencing-how to piece the obstacles together, fluidly
  • Handling-where, when, and how to guide your dog around the course


Obedience

  • Handling-footwork, spacing, turns
  • Heeling-attention, pace, duration
  • Stays-sit/stand/down, distraction, duration, distance
  • Dumbbell Retrieves-pick up, hold, deliver
  • Recalls-distance, distraction
  • Rules-each level, each exercise, problem solving


Showmanship

  • Handling-turns, patterns
  • Stacking-free stacking, hand stacking, baiting
  • Gaiting-finding the appropriate gait for individual dogs
  • Rules-turns, health and body questions,
  • Breed Information-size, color, origin, disqualifications, acronyms


Tracking

  • Equipment-harness, articles, flags (start and corners), line, treats
  • Varied methods of beginning-article tracks vs food tracks
  • Articles-what to use (socks, toothbrush, spoon, etc.)
  • Surfaces-tall grass, short grass, wet grass, gravel, dirt, pavement, concrete


Conditioning & Massage

  • Myofascial release
  • Exercise ball-core strengthening
  • Stretching
  • Massage
  • Icing techniques


Health

  • Nutrition-how to choose a dog food, calculation of caloric requirements, how to safely diet a dog
  • Health Check-how and why to preform a basic health check on a dog
  • First Aid-discuss first aid procedures and practice preforming them
  • Sports Medicine-how sports can impact dog health and how to prevent injuries


Service Dogs

  • Different types of service dogs
  • Behaviors necessary for different service dogs
  • Legal rights of service dogs
  • How to interact with service dogs
  • how service dogs are raised
  • Practice training foundation service dog behaviors

Crafts
  • Dog themed cupcake decoration
  • Jump construction
  • Square Shaped Tug toys
  • Braided Tug Toys
    • Donated to a service organization

OFA news!

Buzz's results are in!
Hips-Good EN-11737G132M-VPI
Elbows-Normal EN-EL1231M132-VPI

One thing I can scratch off the list!

/Darrrnit why couldn't he have come from a good breeder!

Ooooh!

We came home with a new NAC!

I think I forgot my dog doesn't run well on the astro turf. Buzz runs well on it, and I love it because it's air conditioned, but I think Bailey was running cautiously. After three slow, for her, runs I took her to Michelle, the massage therapist. She said there didn't appear to be anything wrong. A bit tight on one side, but nothing bad. My dog tried, but certainly wasn't flying.

We missed a tunnel entrance in tunnelers, so over time and NQ.
ALMOST got the chances challenge, but I got a back jump, so NQ.

Q and 3rd in Jumpers! She ran better, but at one point slowed to a trot around a corner. That definitely made me think it's the surface.

Q and 2nd in Regular to finish her NAC!

She tried today, I just don't think astro turf is her thing. We run there again next weekend, but it's AKC so we'll have more time. After that, I guess no more air conditioning for Bailey and I!