APDT photos and a video

We'll start with the really bad one. Dog is great, judge is good... just ignore me ok?! Not only is the lens dirty (Mom's p&s) but I look like a heyena!

So I tried to get a photo of just Buzz with his ribbons. Did those turn out? Nope! I don't care anymore though. I present to you, Buzz with his Level 3 Q/2nd, Level 2 Q/2nd and Level 1 Q/1st!

Maybe I'll try again tomorrow, or I'll just give up!

Old Man Joint Support

I got quite a few "how do you keep him acting so young" this weekend at the trial. Buzz is 11 now and acts like he might be turning five. He's been on a "health care plan" since we started competing semi-competitively (which is all we do hah) in dog sports.

I can't remember exactly what we did in the beginning but I know what we do now!

He takes a joint supplement (Glyco-Flex II) twice a day. This is a double dose for him because we found it works well to be giving it to him twice a day as opposed to once (which I would be doing with Glyco-Flex III).
From the Glyco-Flex website:
All of our new Glyco-Flex ® formulas contain 600mg of Perna and 100 mg of Dimethylglycine. In addition to that Glyco-Flex ® I contains 500mg of Glucosamine HCl. Glyco-Flex ® II contains 750 mg of Glucosamine, 500 mg of Methylsulfonylmethane, and Manganese. Glyco-Flex ® III contains 1,000 mg each of Methylsulfonylmethane and Glucosamine along with Vitamins E and C, Grape Seed Extract, Glutathione, Selenium, and Manganese for additional support. http://www.glycoflex.com/glyco-flex-canine.php

He receives at least 4000mg of Fish Oil daily. This serves multiple purposes, but the main two are for his joints and to combat his allergies. (If he gets ahold of something he shouldn't... like crappy treats someone left on the floor near his crate at the trial... I will "overload" him and that really helps with him reacting less to the foods he's allergic to.)

And the part that some people will agree or disagree with. My vet gave me Rimadyl to "keep on hand" for if I do overdo it with him and he comes up sore. Despite having a good massage program and chiropractic schedule, there are times we overdo it. I use it quite sparingly, but it allows him to be happy and continue doing the things he loves.

With these things, he gets to stay active without hurting and that is what REALLY helps him out. He may not be as fast as he used to be, but darn it if he doesn't have MORE fun.

He also stays at a good weight (right now we're almost back to his "good weight" after gaining weight on crate rest... erg) to put less stress on all parts of his body.

What do you do?

MMBC APDT

Fun trial, good runs, and a very good dog.

Saturday we did Level 3. The first course kicked our booty and we NQ'd. A very fun course to run but he didn't take either jump. Lots of speculation, and it's up for discussion, I may post details at a later date and look into it further. Our second run in Level 3 I lowered the jumps to 12" (yay APDT having modifications) and it went smoother, though not entirely better. He still took one jump awkwardly and wouldn't go out to the other, so I had to move with him. Regardless, the rest was very nice and we Q'd with a 183 (5 points on the jump, we only got 6 of the bonus points, so there's 9 already). We had a retry on two stations (6 more points, we're up to 15 hah). Anyways, very happy.

Sunday we worked for our first double qualifying runs, and we got it! Q/207/1st in Level 1 B and Q/203/2nd in Level 2 B. He was VERY good for these runs. Yay Buzz!

I do have a video from our level 2 run that I still need to get off the camera!

If you have APDT in your area, go try it... it is a BLAST! You can actually get out and MOVE. There IS room for heeling!

New Stuff

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!

Bailey's friend

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

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.

Reason is 10

A local dog. A wonderful video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rkm-EyHRuCA

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! 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! 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. He of course, enjoyed soliciting play from a shiba and schmoozing the crowd.

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

OFA

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

Buzz

http://offa.org/display.html?appnum=1313481#animal

hips, elbows, cerf, pra

Bailey

http://offa.org/display.html?appnum=1216954#animal

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

the Rascal

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!

the Bailey

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!

And on to the humor!

Insert your own captions...

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!

Bailey-heeling, etc.