1 week, 3 bronze, what a good boy!

Today Peso and I headed to Spot On for our last trial before Nationals. We earned our Expert Bronze titles in Gamble and Steeplechase. Poor Phoenix has a lot to live up to. She spent the day practicing remaining calm around the ring, circle work, waiting and turning tight at the practice jumps, recalls to my side etc, etc. I'm pretty sure she would rather have been in the ring but she handled herself well and gave me some great tugging. Tomorrow I am going to try and videotape some of Peso's runs so hopefully I will have something to post.

Keeping It Simple

After a long trial this past weekend in which I ran 13 runs my brain was not co-operating with me when i tried to plan my training session tonight. So what to do with a tired body and a mind that's taken a leave of absence...take the night off? grab a beer, a good book, take a long bath, all very tempting but Peso's big brown eyes gazing at me tell me I need another plan. Solution, a relaxing, laid back session that will be full of success and reinforcement for the dogs but require minimal effort from me - Jump Grids!

After doing a number of intense handling training sessions I abolutely love going back and working on excercises that I know the dogs will have fun with and get tons of rewards along the way. With jump grids every effort is rewarded with a game of tug and I find them such a great relationship builder while giving the dogs a chance to practice proper jumping form with minimal interference from me. So now that we're feeling refreshed and connected we're ready to tackle some more difficult challenges next session.

Hmmmm....now where's that beer?

The Demons Have Surfaced

This weekend Phoenix and I attended our last trial of the summer together. I’ve decided her skills are not yet proofed enough to be in the ring so we’ll take a few months off of trialling to work on them. Phoefers did some great stuff this weekend and overall I’m very proud of the little girl but my decision to pull her was reinforced by a few missed weave entries, one flick and by the vulture that was staring back at me when I looked back to the startline from my lead out position. Phoenix really has not been in very many trials so I’m hopeful that I have not rehearsed behaviours I don’t want enough times that they’re going to be problematic for me in future, I know, I know one rehearsal is too many but hey we all must live and learn.

The most startling discovery of the weekend is that my little girl has moved from what was an occasional whine/scream around the course to full out growling. During the first jumpers I thought it must have just been bad timing or something on my part but no the demons reappeared in the second run and Miss Phe growled her way around the course. Maybe the intensity level is getting a tad bit too high for the little red devil. On a positive she did put in some really nice course times!

Peso had another awesome weekend and came away with his ExJ Bronze title. His contacts were really good and he nailed every weave entry including a really, really, really tough one – you can probably tell I’m super thrilled! He gave me a scare with a colossal teeter flyoff, the first of his career, but he took it all in stride, landed on his feet and dove into the chute. I think part of the problem is that for Phoenix I say “Teeter, Touch” and for Peso I’ve always said “Teeter, Tip it, Touch”. I’m thinking it probably shouldn’t matter but I know I didn’t say tip it and then was thinking that so I was late on saying touch and next thing you know he’s in the air, it also didn’t help that the teeter had a way different tip point then the one we practice on.

One of the absolute best things about this past weekend though was that some of my friends made their debut with their young dogs. I was so proud of them all – they really did great and should be thrilled with both their dogs and themselves. Way to go guys!!!! Peso’s breeder was one of the people starting with Peso’s half sister Ponder, I was really impressed with how comfortable Diana looked in the ring, especially with her whole entourage watching, it really was impressive how many people came to see her run! Peso’s Mom also came out to watch and we were able to get a picture of Fiesta and Peso together for the first time since my boy’s been grown up.

Today I am grateful for a fun weekend spent with friends, both two and four-legged.

A Sad Day

Yesterday I received some sad (for me) but not totally unexpected news that my friend and training partner is moving to Ottawa. I know this is a great opportunity for her and I think her heart and mind have been there for awhile now anyway but I still can't help but feel a little sad for what I'm going to be losing. It made me think of how much my life has changed over the last few years and how happy I am to have found the path I'm on.

Shona was instrumental in getting me as involved in agility as I am today and while my bank account may not be very happy about it I certainly am. I've been in a bit of a funk all day thinking about how much I'm going to miss seeing my friend every week. But then I remembered that we live in a cyber world and I'm sure we'll be emailing each other every day and how much more fun it will be now when I see her at a trial. So I'm putting on a brave face and stepping into the world of weekly agility training minus my teacher and friend.

Today I am grateful for the time Shona and I have spent together over the last few years. I'm also grateful we live in a world that will allow us to stay in touch so easily so that our friendship is not ending, just entering a new phase.

Passing the Test

Just over a week ago Phoenix and I ventured into the Starter Standard ring for the very first time. This is also the first trial we've done more than 2 runs at a trial with Starter Gamble, Starter Standard x2, Starter Snooker and Advanced Jumper on the menu. Before entering the ring I set out for myself what I would do if I saw things I didn't want to see repeated, you all know what I'm talking about, movement on the startline, no nose touches, no down on the table etc, etc.

I really felt I had a pretty solid plan going in but you know how adrenaline works its black magic and next thing I know I'm in a race to get through the run and out of the ring. Phoenix and I Q'd on our first Standard and I was overall really thrilled with our run but...why did I release her after one nose touch on the dogwalk and none on the teeter????? And of course it came back to bite me in Standard 2 where Phoenix clearly decided tables and nose touches were for suckers and became "sticky" (putting it mildly) frozen in 2on2off on the end of the dogwalk staring at a tunnel. Didn't matter how many times I changed position that little red girl brain was chanting "tunnel, tunnel, tunnel, tunnel, tuuuuunnnnnnnelllllllll" and there was no room for a nose touch to sneak in. So the wistle went and we walked out of the ring after doing half the course.

After a week of reminders on the plank, the stairs and finally the contacts Miss Phe has decided once again that nose touches ARE fun and highly rewarding. So have I learned my lesson for my next trial, I think the answer is yes but only time will tell...

Today I am grateful for giblets, liver, cornmeal, flour and garlic all baked for 15 minutes - or as Phoefers refers to it - doggie crack.

ATChC Peso

Yay we did it! Last weekend Peso and I got our last snooker Q and our ATChC!!! For those of you who know me best you know that snooker and me go together like oil and water, like night and day, like Paris and Nicole, well...you get the picture. Surprisingly to me Peso and I have been able to get 3 snooker Qs in limited trialling this year after going what seemed like a loooong time without one so maybe my ideas on the game of snooker are changing LOL

Anyway on to the matter at hand. We faced a challenging course with the best option being a fairly safe opening of 3 7 point weaves...hmmm fairly safe but weaves can be a huge time waster if we don't get the entry and if he pops then what??? Maybe need to re evaluate but looks very challenging to get to the other obstacles and risk off course. Okay stick to weaves, walk the course again and again. Feeling positive but what's this, stomach is flipping, heart is racing, haven't experienced this feeling for a long time...find closest tree and leave all nerves with it to be picked up later if needed (read previous posts re tree reference). Get Peso, try not to touch him too much in case convey some sort of cosmic energy that mommy really wants this through fingers. Enter ring, lead out 1/2 way across ring, take a deep breath, say "ok", Peso charges full speed ahead over red jump straight towards me...and as they say... the rest is history.

Okay I'm going to be one of those really annoying people and use the rest of this post to say thank you to some people who have been integral to my life and training. And yes I know this isn't the nobel peace prize, it's just a dog title, but still it's nice to say thank you :)

To my Mom - you are the most incredible woman I have ever met. I know I don't express my appreciation of you enough but know that I love you and that I am grateful for the time, energy, love, support, etc, etc, etc that you give to me and to your grandpups.

To my Over the Edge Agility friends and in particular my training partner Shona thank you for putting up with all my various moods over the years, for making me laugh and for being friendly faces I get to see every week. Colleen - thanks for being blonde!

To Kathryn thank you for being a wise person in a crazy world. Thank you for sharing your perspective on all things agility and life, you are amazing! If anything happened to me and my Mom it would be you who I would want to take my boy. I know you would give him the most amazing home!!! Thank you for celebrating with me on the weekend. It was so cool that Peso got his ATChC at the place he did his first trial. Thank you for your gate lists on Sunday too - you made me laugh all day, although I think Phoenix might still be a little peeved.

To Linda thank you for being the person I can fight with and then laugh with all with the span of 10 minutes. Thank you for hugging me after my run, bet you never thought I'd thank you for a hug LOL

And most importantly of all thank you to Peso for being everything I ever wanted in a friend. For his loyalty, his love, his ability to forgive, for his never ending willingness to try again, even for his intense impulsiveness that has resulted in more than one unintentional scratch, bruise or broken lamp. I could not love him more, he is my heart.

Working Out the Kinks

Today was our first outdoor trial of the season and we used it to make sure we got all the craziness that seems to come with going outside for the first time worked out before Regionals in two weeks.

As usual Kathryn but on a great trial and overall I was really happy with our performance. Peso's contacts were very good and he actually nailed most of his weave entries. I tried some more advanced handling stuff then I might have used in the past and he responded well. The weather was a force to be reckoned with though with overcast and showers on Saturday and the tornado from the Wizard of Oz on Sunday. My face is still red and raw from the wind hitting it all day. In the end we came away with a Snooker, Jumper and 2 Steeplechase Qs, which means we only need one more snooker Q for our ATChC.

Phoenix got to play in Starter Gamble and Advanced Jumpers. I tried a contact for the first time at a trial with her in the gamble and she gave me a beautiful 2on2off on the dogwalk the first time with nosetouches and all - unfortunately the second time over she stopped just off it...hmmmm how quickly things degrade! We did get the Q but I'm thinking maybe I should avoid gambles for a little while as teaching the red girl to run away from me into a tunnel at mach speed while I'm standing still may not be the best thing to be practicing right now. I thought Phoenix rocked the Jumpers which was really hard, we had two little mistakes and both were mine - not supporting her enough. I need to remember Phoenix is NOT Peso and I need to give her a little more help in the ring.

Today I am grateful to have such an amazing place to play so close to home. Thanks Kathryn for another great trial - see you Tuesday :)

A Wake Up Call

Last week Phoenix and I went to a class with 5 other high drive bordercollies. This was a needed eye opener for me on how much farther I still have to go in working focus with Phoenix. She started out great, able to hold her down while the other dogs worked and still responding quickly to cues. By the end of the class I had to walk her off as she was totally back into staring mode...staring at the other dogs, staring at the equipment, staring at the corner, I think you get the idea basically looking anywhere but at me LOL

So solution is to go back to the head halter so that I can get control of her head in these situations and just work on her getting to do simple behaviours around the excitement of other border collies working. This little girl loves to test my ability to stay patient yet enthusiastic and to maintain criteria.

On Sunday I stopped by K9 Klubhouse's trial to cheer on some friends and students. It's a big reminder of how far I've come when I watch our students trial their dogs for the first time. I remember being just as nervous and stressed out as they are but thankfully I have learned to control that and now I'm generally pretty relaxed when I enter the ring with my canine partners. The best advice I got was from Kathy Keats who said that if you are feeling nervous or worried to find a nearby tree, put your hand on the trunk and just transfer all your stress and nervousness to the tree. She said it will always be there later if you feel you want to pick it up again. There was obviously a more detailed explanation but you get the idea. Anyway this totally works for me and I love it.

Today I am thankful for all the trees in the world and that they are okay with me leaving all my worries with them for awhile...ok truth be told I rarely go back and pick them up :)

It's a bird...it's a plane...no wait it's just Phoenix

Well this weekend did not go at all as planned but was still lots of fun. We we're supposed to head out to the Morningstar agility trial in Kingston on Friday but luckily I checked my email before we left and found out the dome actually came down Thursday night during a storm!!! So no 4 snooker runs for Peso but hopefully will be rescheduled soon.

So instead of getting to play agility all weekend I was put to work on various projects including staining the wood at the front of the house. Summer porch looked nice on the paint chip but VERY blue in real life - we'll see what the second coat looks like. Anything will be better than the dreary dark brown that was there before.

Sunday we headed to Spot On to help Kathryn clean the place up a bit but mostly to put her two agility rings to good use. Apparently I'm an idiot though as I didn't wear a hat or sunscreen and now look like a very ripe tomato. Below is a pic Shona took of Phoenix doing her best Superman impression.

We also took some group shots of Shona, Linda and my dogs. After getting Chase to stop running around with a toy hoping for someone to, well, chase him (always watch what you name your dog it will bite you in the ass everytime) we managed to get some cute pics.

Today I am grateful some unforseen force interveened and caused me to check my email at 5am Friday morning before heading out on the road to Kingston. I am also grateful for Shona's really cool camera and her expertise in using it.

Exhausted!

This week has been crazy but so much fun. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday Peso, Phoenix and I attended Laura Derrett workshops which were amazing but then I had to come back to reality today and work a double shift at work so needless to say I'm ready for a hot bath and bed. I have to work all weekend but I also need to find some time to work Phoenix on the plank in the back yard with a target plate as I've found some holes in my contact training with her.

Tuesday I did Double Box with Phoenix. I ended up putting her in a down at the startline as her sit is way too vulturish and I really want to fix that so I didn't want to rehearse bad behaviour all day. She did great starting in the down and actually did not take any of the first bars. She was rockin at the seminar and is such a blast to run. It feels right on the edge of out of control all the time but she's so responsive that as long as I have my act together things go really well. It's just such a rush to play with her and she really does seem to give it her all and had her head together really well for our first time outdoors. The only times things got a little sketchy was at the end of the day when the rain started and the tunnel made it's first appearance. She really turned on the afterburners but there seemed to be some sort of vortex drawing her towards the tunnel.

Wednesday and Thursday Peso got to play. I really love working with my boy. I have been so blessed to have him so early on my dog training path. I feel we are connected on such a deep level and I could not love him anymore than I do - he has my whole heart. Anyway enough with that stuff. Wednesday was interesting, it really opened my eyes to how weak my rear crosses are. I can totally do them on course but I'm not executing them properly and he's really questioning them. One really great thing was that we did this frontcross drill which tests your dogs respect for your blindcross body line and Peso was such a good boy. When we did it last October he totally cut behind my back and took the wrong jump but this time he came in between all the gaps - what a star! I guess consistency really does pay off LOL On Thursday we did some exercises in the morning on finding and driving lines and again I found some holes in my training - a bit of flicking going on but I think I can clean that up. In ther afternoon we ran some courses - I can't believe how much more difficult the European courses are then the ones we see here in Canada. I was really proud of how Peso and I handled them - need to work those weave entries though.

Okay I'm too exhausted that's all I can remember. I'm buying Shona's old camera this week so hopefully next time I'll have some video to post.

Red and White Bling

Phoenix's Mom Rio and Aunt Encore along with their fabulous handlers have been selected to represent Canada at the FCI World Agility Championships this September in Austria. We're super excited for them and all the members of the 2009 team and are pleased to announce our new fundraising initiatives to help get them to Austria.

Now you can show off your Canadian pride here at home and support the team by purchasing your very own Canada Flag ID Tag and lets face it all dogs look good in red and white! Tags are only $15 and include 3 lines of engraving and free shipping. Don’t have a dog and still want to support our team – these tags make great key chains and zipper pulls too! Quantities are limited so don’t delay order today!

Click on the link below to place your order.
http://www.overtheedgeagility.com/2009CAT.html

Go Canada Go!!!

Random Thoughts

Today a friend and I had a lengthy conversation on all things dog training and ended up discussing some "touchy" subjects for me including relationship and punishment. It was interesting to hear the take of someone who pursues herding as it requires the dogs to have a great deal of respect for their handlers commands and requires a great deal of self control. This is true in agility as well but in agility we're not playing around with a dogs prey drive with a bunch of sheep in the ring and in general our livelihood is not tied up in how our run goes. Another interesting difference I found is that in herding the reward for the dog doing well is "letting them have their sheep" where as in agility we do use continuing on in the excercise as a reward but we primarily use food and toy interaction as reinforcers for our dogs.

So one of the things we talked about was relationship with our dogs and how much of our dogs behaviour results from a poor relationship with their handler versus poor training by the handler. It all went round and round and in the end I'm not even really sure where we ended up LOL One thing I will say is that I believe a great deal of the problems we see in our training is the result of having either poor timing or in rewarding crappy behavior. For example if a dog is breaking its startline the first place I would look is in how the startline was trained and how it has been maintained (has the dog ever been allowed to keep going when it breaks its startline?, how much reinforcement has the behaviour had and what was the dog doing when it received the reinforcement) verses saying the dog doesn't respect the handler or they don't have a good enough relationship and this is why the dog does not stay. I am not negating the impact (good and bad) that our relationship with our dog has on our training but I do think we have to be so careful when we talk to others about their dogs and use the word relationship. It doesn't feel good when someone tells you they think your relationship with your dog sucks and I'm not so sure it get people all excited about dog training. A more successful approach may be to focus on the dog training and on rate of reinforcment, timing, criteria etc. By keeping training fun yet still focussing on the mechanical skills involved in the end we'll probably have the biggest effect we could have on our relationship with our dog anyway.

One of the other things we talked about was punishment and its place in dog training. I do believe that punishment does have a place in dog training provided a person has excellent mechanics and there is a long history of reinforcement for the correct behaviour. I also beleive it is way too often used by people who have no business doing it - they have crappy dog training skills, they have not successfully taught the dog the correct behaviour or are inconsistent in their criteria (ie sometimes its okay to pull on the leash but sometimes its not) and they end up creating a stressed out dog who has no idea what to do to avoid being yelled at, confined to their crate or worse yet collar corrected or physically corrected in some other way.

Personally I am trying to minimize/eliminate my verbal corrections and physical corrections for sure no longer has any place in my dog training. I do still use negative punishment (time outs, removal of opportunity for reinforcement) when I feel they are appropriate.

Today I am grateful to have friends who offer both simillar and different perspectives to my own ideas and who can discuss differences openly without getting personally offended. I am grateful that my thoughts on dog training are always evolving and incorporating new ideas and information.

And they called it puppy love...

Yesterday Shona and I did an impromptu photoshoot with our two youngest dogs. Phoenix and Ripley are such cuties I just had to share this pic.


I know, I know you've heard enough about Say Yes but since going I've become much more interested in the science of dog training as opposed to the art but I wasn't sure where the best place to pursue resources was. I had a total light bulb moment though - my Dad is currently a PhD candidate in psychology at UofT so I convinced him to sign me out some books from the library on learning. They looked very intimidating at first but I started with the one he used as a text book in one of his courses on behavior and learning and I must say I'm actually getting into it. I can't believe I'm reading a text book for fun!

I still believe that there are those who train animals who just have an inate ability to do it well and produce amazing results and that some of us will never be able to do the things they do, that there is an "art" to it. Having said that the science behind animal training is undisputable to me and I know that through practice my mechanics will improve immensely and I will be able to achieve pretty much everything I hope for with my guys.

Today I am grateful there are so many resources available to all of us and that I've just found myself another one.

Phoefers Meets the Frame

Okay so if all goes well I now have a blog post with the frame video I mentioned yesterday. If all does not go well then I will have to regroup and try again tomorrow.

This is a video of Phoenix's second session on the frame. I did not video the first session but felt things were not going as planned so I taped this one as an evaluation session. I clearly do not video myself enough as I noticed several things in this short session that need work. For example I wait until she touches and then I bend over to deliver the food and I never return to my original position again (and really why do I need to bend over in the first place), second I feel like I'm leaving space between the release word and my movement but I think I could make it more definitive for her. There are other things too like not lifting her feet off the ground when tugging, not having her so far over her shoulders in the sit at the start, being more enthusiastic etc, etc but I won't beat myself up too much - life is too short!

Today I am grateful to the Say Yes team for teaching me so much in the few short months I've been going there and for being such an amazing resource to turn to when I encounter difficulties.

2 Shiny Dogs

Today Peso and Phoenix got groomed! It was so needed after a winter at the barn. Don't get me wrong I love having a place to train in the winter but the dirt just clings to everything it touches - it could be the star of its own horror movie the way it invades your person, car, home, dogs etc. Thanks Michelle for making them look so beautiful, I think I may even have to leave them home tomorrow just so I can keep them so white.

Last night was very productive at the barn. Shona took video of Phoenix's frame which is in need of some immediate first aid which I will be sending off to my instructor for tips on how to proceed. She is "shuffling" down the downside of the frame so an intervention is needed. I will post the video when I get it so you can see what I mean.

We set up the modified Steeplechase courses from April's Clean Run last night and ran them with Peso and Baxter. Peso is so much fun to run on those types of courses and other than his weave entries we rocked. At some point I really will have to come up with a plan to work on weave entries with him but too much on my plate right now with the red girl to think about retraining Peso.

Today I'm grateful for my groomer Michelle and her never ending patience and positive attitude with my wild dogs. Thanks again :)

I've taken over...

Peso has been very, very lazy updating his blog so he's been banned from the computer and Mom's taken over. I can't believe how much we've done since our last post. We had a great summer competing and finished all our Master titles, except for Snooker and Team. The rain was a complete downer and I learned that Peso does not like to run when it's wet...he seems to decide that 2on2offs are for suckers and weave poles are best done by running straight by them. Let's hope this summer does not rain every single weekend I have off!!!!

2009 has started off well for Peso and I, we haven't done many trials but we've been successful in the ones we've gone to. Thanks to the changes in the AAC rules we no longer need Team for our ATChC - I am super thrilled - even though it means I have to get one more snooker leg. So we are down to two snooker Qs for our title - YAY. On the first weekend in May we are heading to Kingston for Morningstar's trial and we have 4 snooker runs so keep your fingers crossed for us. Besides finishing our ATChC this year we are working our butts off to get ready for Regionals and hope to qualify and attend our first Nationals.

My soon to be 2 border collie, Phoenix, and I are finally starting to come together as a team. She's a faaaaaaast little girl who has done a few Jumpers runs this year and has moved into Advanced. I'm hoping to be able to start fully trialing her this summer. She is really testing my abilities in completely different ways then Peso and I love it! In December 08 we went to our first Skills Camp at Say Yes and we are hooked - if you can get to Say Yes you should go - Susan and her team are inspirational! I'm heading back next week for Laura Derrett's workshops but the weather looks awful :( Hopefully Susan will let us in her building....pleeeeaaaaaase. I have also fallen in love with the way Susan ends every post on her blog with something she is grateful for and I've decided to do the same.

Today I am grateful for my dogs. They are truly incredible and gifted animals and they have taught me so much in the short time I've had them. Thank you to their breeders for entrusting these amazing creatures to my care. I love them with all my heart.