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.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
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!!!
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!!!
Sunday, April 19, 2009
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.
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.
Friday, April 17, 2009
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.
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.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
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!
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.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
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 :)
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 :)
Monday, April 13, 2009
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.
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.
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