Obedience match report for today:
Excellent attitude in the ring! Wagging tail and smiles.
Running broad jump exercise: A+, Ein and I have practiced this and it showed. No more stepping on the BJ.
Dumbbell Retrieves:
The judge reversed the direction from our experience last month. This time Ein had to retrieve his DB running towards ringside and the stewards table. He could not do it. He went out strong and fast, nose touched the DB and returned to me quite happily and sat at front. Uh, Ein? Ya missed something! The issue is that Ein was worried about running towards people and to dip his head down and break focus on (keeping a close eye on) them was more than he could deal with. That's okay...we can work on that. I switched direction and sure enough Ein was happy to do both Retrieve on Flat and over the Jump if he could run away from the people and towards the not-scary back of the ring. This was really good information! Back in the winter, Ein had an issue picking up his DB during a rally trial - because the judge was standing directly in front of his DB (a few feet back.) We did some work on that, but at the time he was not as solid with his retrieve as he is now. I had thought the issue resolved itself with more confidence - and indeed Ein is somehow okay to run past a judge to do his retrieve. But going towards them is not the same for him - in fact, I just now realize how truly challenging this is for a dog like Ein. He fears people - and here he is asked to run away from me (his safe zone) to perform a job independently, near the "danger zone". And a judge in the ring is a trustworthy factor - for how many years, the judge is a "safe" and "known quantity". Ringside? The stewards might be doing something different, talking, standing up abruptly, and perhaps entering the ring unexpectedly....the dogs and people ringside could be doing any number of troubling things. Tugging, jumping, making noises... There is a lot more to worry about on the entrance end of the ring than there is inside the ring. This has always been a problem for Ein. He has changed so much, he has come to love the ring so much - but that entrance side of the four walls of the ring has always brought out many weak moments and worrying for him
Drop on Recall:
I went ahead and made some time for this one today. I accidently dropped Ein without the judge's direction! I got rally-o brain, because in rally for the DOR you drop your dog whenever you want to and I just....brain farted! The judge kindly reminded me that I must look to the judge for that instruction, so we repeated the exercise. This time we did a great job, and Ein dropped right when I told him to! I am feeling very confident about this exercise. However, we did set up the DOR so that he was coming in towards me and the back of the ring. Next time, we will try the opposite direction.... I felt that he had had enough challenge in that category today.
We ran out of time so I could not practice my Go Out work at all in the ring. We were so focused on DB and making sure Ein had a really great experience in the ring with his retrieve, so that is most important. I think next time I will purchase two different time slots. Ein does not seem to be very tired after we work in the ring and I think he would be happy enough to do some more work and training.
The volunteers at the training center where we went today were so supportive. The judge even made sure to tell me that she loved my relationship with Ein. The best kind of compliment, if you ask me!
Showing posts with label matches. Show all posts
Showing posts with label matches. Show all posts
Sunday, October 2, 2016
Sunday, September 4, 2016
Open Obedience Match plus Adventures!
Today Ein and I did our very first obedience match at Open Level. I realized today that I am getting better at knowing what I want at a match. Initially I did not have a plan, I would just show up and do the routine...have no Plan B for if things went wrong, that kind of thing. Today I did not want to do the Open routine.
Today I wanted to test the waters of where Ein is at with his skills. I did choose to do a heeling pattern, but that was mostly so that I could practice my striding - I tried to take shorter strides and it really made a difference for Ein. A "corgi person" advised me to give this a try after she watched me heel Ein at our title leg for his CD.
The main goal of today's match was to see how our retrieve is looking under the pressure of a judge in the ring. I was quite shocked that Ein went out strong and rather fast on the Retrieve on the Flat and returned at a very close front! (After several false starts while I was fooling around with his platform - and I didn't even end up using it.) Retrieve over High Jump was lovely and Ein actually started to return quite wide, I thought he would go around the jump but...he corrected himself! I was super impressed!
We repeated both exercises at the end of our ring time, two more nice repetitions. Every time I sent him out he gave the judge a glance and near-stink eye but I can see he is confident enough in his job now despite "judge" pressure - on the right path! Of course, there is one "little" problem - Ein is holding the DB soft when he returns and is dropping it as I reach for it. One time he actually started mouthing it as I moved my hands towards him, and when I pulled back to give him a chance to regrip, he dropped it. No big deal, just information! We will focus on this and see if there is an improvement at our next match.
I skipped the Figure 8 and the Drop on Recall - though I probably should have done the DOR to see what I had. I did do the broad jump and we did it as we will see it in CDSP and Ein ran right over the top of the broad jump with a loud clatter and grinned up at me. "Aren't I great?! Where's my treat?" Ha!! Ein "knew" the BJ at one time, we trained it when he took foundations agility class and he remembered that long enough to perform it at a rally trial and a rally B-match one time (the only two times I saw it in rally-o ever!) but that was years ago. I thought he would have remembered just fine, but no big deal - we will do a little tune up and see how that looks at the next match!
I do wish I had done a test drive of the DOR to see what I have. Ein does that exercise really well in Rally-O when it is included in a Level 3 course, we have never had an issue with it but I do need to see what he will do in an open ring (no rally signs) and a longer distance. Next time!
So, we have some direction, we have some things to focus on. Ein will need a Go Out for CDSP Open but we have been hard at work on that and things are looking nice - we may try that at the next match.
After the match, I had a geocaching agenda. First stop, a geocache on an island accessible only by boat or wading. I was a little intimidated by wading at first, because the half of the river closest to parking was about waist deep and the current was strong. I would not have minded just swimming across but I had to take my phone so I could, ya know, find the geocache. (It was a reasonably big island, not having the coordinates would have been like finding a needle in a haystack.) Then I had Ein and Perri with me, and I had to make sure they could handle the task. So in we went. I actually leashed Ein up and ended up holding his collar the whole way across, the current was very strong indeed for him and even for Perri - she actually swam across totally sideways, wasting energy trying to swim upstream to me and doing her yodel the whole way across because she couldn't get to me! We reached the island no problem and the dogs got to run around off leash, fetch sticks and play while I found the geocache quickly.
Today I wanted to test the waters of where Ein is at with his skills. I did choose to do a heeling pattern, but that was mostly so that I could practice my striding - I tried to take shorter strides and it really made a difference for Ein. A "corgi person" advised me to give this a try after she watched me heel Ein at our title leg for his CD.
The main goal of today's match was to see how our retrieve is looking under the pressure of a judge in the ring. I was quite shocked that Ein went out strong and rather fast on the Retrieve on the Flat and returned at a very close front! (After several false starts while I was fooling around with his platform - and I didn't even end up using it.) Retrieve over High Jump was lovely and Ein actually started to return quite wide, I thought he would go around the jump but...he corrected himself! I was super impressed!
We repeated both exercises at the end of our ring time, two more nice repetitions. Every time I sent him out he gave the judge a glance and near-stink eye but I can see he is confident enough in his job now despite "judge" pressure - on the right path! Of course, there is one "little" problem - Ein is holding the DB soft when he returns and is dropping it as I reach for it. One time he actually started mouthing it as I moved my hands towards him, and when I pulled back to give him a chance to regrip, he dropped it. No big deal, just information! We will focus on this and see if there is an improvement at our next match.
I skipped the Figure 8 and the Drop on Recall - though I probably should have done the DOR to see what I had. I did do the broad jump and we did it as we will see it in CDSP and Ein ran right over the top of the broad jump with a loud clatter and grinned up at me. "Aren't I great?! Where's my treat?" Ha!! Ein "knew" the BJ at one time, we trained it when he took foundations agility class and he remembered that long enough to perform it at a rally trial and a rally B-match one time (the only two times I saw it in rally-o ever!) but that was years ago. I thought he would have remembered just fine, but no big deal - we will do a little tune up and see how that looks at the next match!
I do wish I had done a test drive of the DOR to see what I have. Ein does that exercise really well in Rally-O when it is included in a Level 3 course, we have never had an issue with it but I do need to see what he will do in an open ring (no rally signs) and a longer distance. Next time!
So, we have some direction, we have some things to focus on. Ein will need a Go Out for CDSP Open but we have been hard at work on that and things are looking nice - we may try that at the next match.
After the match, I had a geocaching agenda. First stop, a geocache on an island accessible only by boat or wading. I was a little intimidated by wading at first, because the half of the river closest to parking was about waist deep and the current was strong. I would not have minded just swimming across but I had to take my phone so I could, ya know, find the geocache. (It was a reasonably big island, not having the coordinates would have been like finding a needle in a haystack.) Then I had Ein and Perri with me, and I had to make sure they could handle the task. So in we went. I actually leashed Ein up and ended up holding his collar the whole way across, the current was very strong indeed for him and even for Perri - she actually swam across totally sideways, wasting energy trying to swim upstream to me and doing her yodel the whole way across because she couldn't get to me! We reached the island no problem and the dogs got to run around off leash, fetch sticks and play while I found the geocache quickly.
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| I should have taken a photo of the deep area we crossed, it is off to the left. |
I really did not want to wade back! This time I walked upstream as far as possible, so that the dogs could swim across and though the current would pull them downstream, they would sort of be swept to our entry point nicely. I left Ein off the leash this time. Both of them, especially Ein, kept looking back after me. It is so nice to have dogs who are trained, because I kept telling Ein "go on!" and he would turn away and paddle for shore. This was way more preferable than him trying to swim upstream towards me, and it was good that he understood.
Our next stop was called "Stephen King cache" and it was at a pet cemetery! For the geocache that I was searching, you had to do some simple math based off of dates on some of the memorial stones in the cemetery - and of course it was a nice walk in a level field for both dogs. Ein was happy to sit and rest while I worked out coordinates and math.
Our last stop was for an actual lengthy walk on the trail along the Canal. Ein got to be off leash nearly the entire time and we had a very nice 2-ish mile out and back walk with good evening sun.
I am so grateful for everything I have with Ein. He is not ancient, but he is not young. Yet he is learning advanced Obedience exercises and performing them and wanting more, he is swimming a strong river and he is not afraid and he still had plenty of "gas in the tank" for our canal walk. His body is not what it used to be, and towards the end of the day I could see his rear leg shaking - but he has so much heart. Today was one of those days where I let him "run it into the ground" activity wise. I gave him a rimadyl when we got home and he is doing well. Walking through that pet cemetery today I saw all those little memorial stones, all of those pieces of somebody's heart that has left this world and I know that someday I will not have this incredible little dog by my side. But on this day, today, I did - and it was one of our countless Best Days Ever.
Saturday, March 12, 2016
Catch Up, Hiking, Life is Grand!
Perri and I have been enjoying a lot of hiking recently. I so love hiking with Perri and the feeling is mutual! Spring has been off to an early start and we just can't walk enough miles - it is probably time for some backpacking because I can't get enough of being outdoors!
Last weekend Ein had an obedience match at a new-to-us training center, so we did some hiking around the area afterwards. It was thankfully quite cool outside and Ein was able to relax in the crate with a bowl of water and some snacks while Perri and I hiked. I tried to take him walking but his left rear leg was bothering him after not even a mile - shaking and he was favoring it very obviously.
(The Obedience match was our last before we actually trial in Novice Obedience and it went pretty well! Flawless stand for exam. Some anticipation on the judge's "forward" command on his heeling, with Ein blasting off without me! Lovely Figure 8. Lovely recall and finish. Some stress on the heel free when the door to the quiet training building slammed open and there was some commotion. I am not too worried about that - there is no sense fretting over Ein's stress levels. The best thing I can do to help him be confident in the ring is to be a confident handler.
Anyway, our hiking! On Sunday we went to a frisbee golf park and found all of the geocaches there, that gave us about a mile.
Then we discovered a fascinating little outdoor art enclave created by students at the local college. The Lehigh Valley Millennial Folk Art Enclave. It was incredible! They even had a throne for Perri to perch on!
!!!!!!
Too cool right! It's not every day I find something t his fascinating out in the woods. Totally made my day.
Even had a dream catcher tree. I asked Perri to pose dramatically next to it.
Fast forward to Thursday and I was sent home early for work because of a slow day so out to the Gamelands for Perri and I! This time we stayed close to French Creek State Park and found a "multi cache" that took us several hours of hiking on both trail and through brush.
I bought this dog back for Perri well over a year ago, for backpacking, but since we have not backpacked....we have not used it! I plan to do at least one or two overnights in the woods with a friend this year, so Perri will need to get used to her pack. I thought Thursday would be a good day to get started. Perri acted like she could not walk at first (she does not even really like her harness) - but eventually hiked with the empty pack on as though she had nothing on at all.
I selfishly left Molly at home for this hike. It was a hot day (for Molly), 81 degrees and I knew she would do her "boat anchor" routine before long. The non-selfish reason, and deciding factor, in my leaving Molly at home was that there was an outdoor shooting range next to the parking area for this Gameland. Molly is very gun shy and would have been miserable and afraid if I had brought her. For as many worries and strange fears as Perri has, she could not care less about gun shots. Dogs, who can understand them!
So, we are caught up on our outdoor adventures! Looking forwards to more.
Last weekend Ein had an obedience match at a new-to-us training center, so we did some hiking around the area afterwards. It was thankfully quite cool outside and Ein was able to relax in the crate with a bowl of water and some snacks while Perri and I hiked. I tried to take him walking but his left rear leg was bothering him after not even a mile - shaking and he was favoring it very obviously.
(The Obedience match was our last before we actually trial in Novice Obedience and it went pretty well! Flawless stand for exam. Some anticipation on the judge's "forward" command on his heeling, with Ein blasting off without me! Lovely Figure 8. Lovely recall and finish. Some stress on the heel free when the door to the quiet training building slammed open and there was some commotion. I am not too worried about that - there is no sense fretting over Ein's stress levels. The best thing I can do to help him be confident in the ring is to be a confident handler.
Anyway, our hiking! On Sunday we went to a frisbee golf park and found all of the geocaches there, that gave us about a mile.
Then we discovered a fascinating little outdoor art enclave created by students at the local college. The Lehigh Valley Millennial Folk Art Enclave. It was incredible! They even had a throne for Perri to perch on!
!!!!!!
Too cool right! It's not every day I find something t his fascinating out in the woods. Totally made my day.
Even had a dream catcher tree. I asked Perri to pose dramatically next to it.
Fast forward to Thursday and I was sent home early for work because of a slow day so out to the Gamelands for Perri and I! This time we stayed close to French Creek State Park and found a "multi cache" that took us several hours of hiking on both trail and through brush.
I bought this dog back for Perri well over a year ago, for backpacking, but since we have not backpacked....we have not used it! I plan to do at least one or two overnights in the woods with a friend this year, so Perri will need to get used to her pack. I thought Thursday would be a good day to get started. Perri acted like she could not walk at first (she does not even really like her harness) - but eventually hiked with the empty pack on as though she had nothing on at all.
I selfishly left Molly at home for this hike. It was a hot day (for Molly), 81 degrees and I knew she would do her "boat anchor" routine before long. The non-selfish reason, and deciding factor, in my leaving Molly at home was that there was an outdoor shooting range next to the parking area for this Gameland. Molly is very gun shy and would have been miserable and afraid if I had brought her. For as many worries and strange fears as Perri has, she could not care less about gun shots. Dogs, who can understand them!
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
After our hike we stopped off at the State Park for some lake swimming and fetch! Perri is happy to retrieve her ball!
We tried some off the dock work but Perri was reluctant to jump off even the side of the dock. There was a spot where she could jump from the side and into shallow water and we did work up to that - so there is hope!
And then she got cold and shivery and "can we go home now?". We found the lei in a geocache and she wore it the rest of our hike and into the lake - funny!
And Friday, there was rest!
But today, there was the Appalachian Trail! I had been wait-listed for an AKC agility trial for today, but did not get in. My friend told me she was meeting someone to go hiking and asked me if I was free to go along...I sure was! We met up and climbed "cardiac hill" from the Hamburg Reservoir to the "spectacular Pinnacle". It was a gorgeous day in the low 60s and although I was bummed initially to not get into that agility trial, I was way happier to be out hiking! The day was made for it.
Pulpit Rock
The Spectacular Pinnacle (the trail guidebook calls it "spectacular" and I have always loved that.)
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| Rock Poodle! |
So, we are caught up on our outdoor adventures! Looking forwards to more.
Sunday, December 20, 2015
Ein's First Obedience Match!
Ein got to go to his first Obedience match today! I had wanted to go to this match, but missed entering because it filled up. I got lucky because somebody ended up not wanting to go, so she was giving away her two Novice slots to the first taker. Meant to be!
I don't know if it is because Ein makes me more confident, or because I am finally learning something, but I felt like today I had A Plan and I stuck with it! A big deal for me!
My plan was to do our heeling patterns exactly as we would do them in the ring. No food, no extra hand signals and no chatter during heeling. I planned to take Ein out of the ring to our crate for a special treat (salmon brownies!) after each successful exercise. I planned to take advantage of having the "judge" to work on Stand for Exam - Ein and I have been working very hard on this exercise at home with great success. We are really enjoying the "Stand with Me" class on FDSA from Bronze level and Ein has risen to the challenge of having his stand-stay proofed and made extremely valuable.
Heel on Lead he was distracted and sniffy for the first half - he missed the first halt because he was not paying attention (he did feel me stop and sat about two paces ahead of me). I stressed but talked myself through it and reminded myself to handle my dog instead of wilting. It worked. We hit the first about turn and I had my dog back, bright eyes and that big grin and prance and he nailed the rest of his heeling. He was forging on the figure 8, both times!, and that is such a new problem for us...I'm not even sure I actually care! I'm still so charmed by the change in his attitude.
Stand for Exam: our first time in I asked the judge to do a wide walk around. Ein was solid. I asked her to walk along side of him and pause near his shoulder, about two feet away. He looked at her but refocused on me ("you're not gonna get me, mom!") I released Ein and partied with him and then I we reset and I asked her to do the exercise as directed. He never even looked at her. I could have cried. My boy!! Our second ring time I asked her to just do the normal exercise and once again, he never moved a paw, never looked at her. She was just another silly distraction for him. WOW. Very encouraging for me!
Recalls...wow that's a long distance! Ein was a little unsettled by that big open ring floor but he came trotting into front and sat nice and close, although off to the side slightly. Crooked finishes because of that. I'm sure Ein will enjoy some sharpening up with a platform - not that I care too much about crooked fronts or finishes, but Ein loves training so why not?
Group stays: Ein was solid as a rock. I assumed that he would be, but it was good to test drive. The dog next to Ein was very antsy, sniffing the air next to Ein and moving around with the handler coming in every few seconds to reward or reset. It was a good challenge for Ein and no one actually invaded his space, which I was grateful for.
Very very positive first time for Ein at a match. I really wish that I had been smarter before I introduced Ein to the CDSP Novice ring, and prepared him better. We will probably revisit CDSP this spring, because it will be fun for him and I would like to see him in the ring as the prepared and confident dog he is now!
I don't know if it is because Ein makes me more confident, or because I am finally learning something, but I felt like today I had A Plan and I stuck with it! A big deal for me!
My plan was to do our heeling patterns exactly as we would do them in the ring. No food, no extra hand signals and no chatter during heeling. I planned to take Ein out of the ring to our crate for a special treat (salmon brownies!) after each successful exercise. I planned to take advantage of having the "judge" to work on Stand for Exam - Ein and I have been working very hard on this exercise at home with great success. We are really enjoying the "Stand with Me" class on FDSA from Bronze level and Ein has risen to the challenge of having his stand-stay proofed and made extremely valuable.
Heel on Lead he was distracted and sniffy for the first half - he missed the first halt because he was not paying attention (he did feel me stop and sat about two paces ahead of me). I stressed but talked myself through it and reminded myself to handle my dog instead of wilting. It worked. We hit the first about turn and I had my dog back, bright eyes and that big grin and prance and he nailed the rest of his heeling. He was forging on the figure 8, both times!, and that is such a new problem for us...I'm not even sure I actually care! I'm still so charmed by the change in his attitude.
Stand for Exam: our first time in I asked the judge to do a wide walk around. Ein was solid. I asked her to walk along side of him and pause near his shoulder, about two feet away. He looked at her but refocused on me ("you're not gonna get me, mom!") I released Ein and partied with him and then I we reset and I asked her to do the exercise as directed. He never even looked at her. I could have cried. My boy!! Our second ring time I asked her to just do the normal exercise and once again, he never moved a paw, never looked at her. She was just another silly distraction for him. WOW. Very encouraging for me!
Recalls...wow that's a long distance! Ein was a little unsettled by that big open ring floor but he came trotting into front and sat nice and close, although off to the side slightly. Crooked finishes because of that. I'm sure Ein will enjoy some sharpening up with a platform - not that I care too much about crooked fronts or finishes, but Ein loves training so why not?
Group stays: Ein was solid as a rock. I assumed that he would be, but it was good to test drive. The dog next to Ein was very antsy, sniffing the air next to Ein and moving around with the handler coming in every few seconds to reward or reset. It was a good challenge for Ein and no one actually invaded his space, which I was grateful for.
Very very positive first time for Ein at a match. I really wish that I had been smarter before I introduced Ein to the CDSP Novice ring, and prepared him better. We will probably revisit CDSP this spring, because it will be fun for him and I would like to see him in the ring as the prepared and confident dog he is now!
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| Ringisde DB practice. |
Speaking of dumbbell, more progress there at home. I started placing the dumbbell next to 'upsetting" objects, like the vacuum cleaner or piles of trial gear or any jumble of "stuff" that would throw Ein off. He progressed quickly with that so I really wanted a person to stand there because that is what threw him off at the rally trial...but Vince has been busy working so...Perri to the rescue! Who says those long stays aren't helpful in real life?? I put Perri in a sit-stay and placed the dumbbell a few feet away from Perri. Ein acted exactly like he did at the trial, bingo! He came back to me without the DB. This is a good challenge for Ein, he is very uncomfortable going into Perri's personal bubble to get the DB. But! Ein is overcoming these challenges with ferocity, I think another session or two and his confidence will grow that he can get that DB no matter what! (He did, he was just reluctant about it.) And the upside is that Perri was very eager to do a dumbbell retrieve after having to hold that sit-stay and watch Ein have all the fun!
And speaking of Perri: she came to the match today and all we did was work on her comfort level and engagement. I got a pocket full of treats and just stood and waited. She was scanning intensely, she cannot focus on every thing at once so she goes into a tizzy and becomes paralyzed with sensory overload. This is why she cannot heel. We are going to progress slower from here on out, and give it as much time as it needs. I waited for a good long while and she eventually looked at me. Treat. And so the game went. We moved to different locations and for focusing on me, she got a treat. I noticed her response was much more enthusiastic and her focus stayed on me longer when I asked for a "sit pretty" or another trick that she liked. One time she focused on me and offered her back-up (heavily rewarded from when we were doing it twice daily during her active rehab!) She was much more comfortable when we left the building and I felt very good about the whole thing. We will do this at Ein's next rally-o trial as well as his next match.
A raging success all around! And we had enough of the day left afterwards that I could take the girls on a hike (and found my 1000th Geocache!)
Saturday, July 11, 2015
Sad July Obedience Match
Perri and I went to Let's Speak Dog for another obedience match today. As uplifted and good as I felt when we went to our obedience match in June...I felt pretty crappy today.
I got there only five minutes early. I did not set Perri's crate up. We went in, did a little acclimation and went into the ring. I don't know if that was "the issue", I don't think that it was but I don't think it helped. Every time I bring my dogs (Ein or Perri) to this training center, they are more stressed than usual.
Perri was stressed. She was scanning big time. Scanning the mounds of equipment on the opposite side of the one ring gate (agility stuff, boxes, lots of stuff.) She was scanning the opposite ring. She was scanning the two vacuum cleaners in the building, one was inside of the ring and one was outside of the ring. Despite that she did try to play with her bunny tug, but it was very mechanical and her heart was not into it. I could see that. Things were bothering her that did not bother her at our match last month. I left her leash attached, same as I did last month. But today the leash bothered Perri. When the leash grew tight while she pounced for her toy, she recoiled as though I had strangled her. When the leash slapped on the ground when she went after her toy, she became afraid of it. Both of those things happened at our last match, and Perri was too into her playing to care. It sticks in my mind how proud I was of her rebounding to toy play after that golden retriever smashed into the ring gate towards her and barked last time. There were some very intense distractions and Scary Perri things last month, but those things did not bother Perri.
I tried to do some Work, but she could not remain engaged with me. And I can't just survive heeling with Perri, I know that we can do better than just trudging along. I tried to look where I was going and be confident and not melt down, but despite that but I had to break off our heel patterns over and over again. Not good for Perri, not good for me. She sniffed the steward's butt on the figure 8. We broke off and started again. Perri actually lasered in on me and did a beautiful figure 8 loop. I pushed it and tried to go for the second half of the loop and she lagged. I am so angry at myself for not rewarding her with her toy and finishing up. But every time I threw her toy, she was just not interested. Still, I should not have pushed it.
Not the best time with Perri. I promised myself that these matches would not be "make or break" with Perri. (As in, avoiding "if Perri does not do well at this match, we are done with obedience!" type thinking.) And we have done enough matches for me to know that if Perri might stress and scan at one match, she could do very well at another. After two matches at Let's Speak Dog, I have to say this is her poorest place to practice obedience. We will not return. I want to go ahead and say "If I could get Perri to Not Worry and Stay Engaged here, she could do it anywhere." but...you have to ask yourself when you have a sensitive dog... Should I cherry pick locations where we can be successful? Or should I try to bulldoze ahead for the elusive bomb proof dog. The latter is never going to happen. I will be amazed if Perri and I ever achieve even a Companion Dog title. I dream so often of the day when I finally feel that we can try Novice again. I dream of it being this winter. A fool's dream, maybe. Probably.
I have to accept that. Perri is who she is. She is three years old. She is teaching me so much about building ring confidence, about listening to my dog, and about expectations. I could desensitize her to the slap of the leash on mat flooring, to a vacuum cleaner in a room. But those things might not bother Perri at a different training/trial site. I have so much to learn still. But right now, attending matches is about building mine and Perri's confidence in the obedience ring. We need to stay away from training centers that, for whatever reason, Perri cannot handle. For now, maybe forever.
By the way, her group stays were solid. As ever.
I got there only five minutes early. I did not set Perri's crate up. We went in, did a little acclimation and went into the ring. I don't know if that was "the issue", I don't think that it was but I don't think it helped. Every time I bring my dogs (Ein or Perri) to this training center, they are more stressed than usual.
Perri was stressed. She was scanning big time. Scanning the mounds of equipment on the opposite side of the one ring gate (agility stuff, boxes, lots of stuff.) She was scanning the opposite ring. She was scanning the two vacuum cleaners in the building, one was inside of the ring and one was outside of the ring. Despite that she did try to play with her bunny tug, but it was very mechanical and her heart was not into it. I could see that. Things were bothering her that did not bother her at our match last month. I left her leash attached, same as I did last month. But today the leash bothered Perri. When the leash grew tight while she pounced for her toy, she recoiled as though I had strangled her. When the leash slapped on the ground when she went after her toy, she became afraid of it. Both of those things happened at our last match, and Perri was too into her playing to care. It sticks in my mind how proud I was of her rebounding to toy play after that golden retriever smashed into the ring gate towards her and barked last time. There were some very intense distractions and Scary Perri things last month, but those things did not bother Perri.
I tried to do some Work, but she could not remain engaged with me. And I can't just survive heeling with Perri, I know that we can do better than just trudging along. I tried to look where I was going and be confident and not melt down, but despite that but I had to break off our heel patterns over and over again. Not good for Perri, not good for me. She sniffed the steward's butt on the figure 8. We broke off and started again. Perri actually lasered in on me and did a beautiful figure 8 loop. I pushed it and tried to go for the second half of the loop and she lagged. I am so angry at myself for not rewarding her with her toy and finishing up. But every time I threw her toy, she was just not interested. Still, I should not have pushed it.
Not the best time with Perri. I promised myself that these matches would not be "make or break" with Perri. (As in, avoiding "if Perri does not do well at this match, we are done with obedience!" type thinking.) And we have done enough matches for me to know that if Perri might stress and scan at one match, she could do very well at another. After two matches at Let's Speak Dog, I have to say this is her poorest place to practice obedience. We will not return. I want to go ahead and say "If I could get Perri to Not Worry and Stay Engaged here, she could do it anywhere." but...you have to ask yourself when you have a sensitive dog... Should I cherry pick locations where we can be successful? Or should I try to bulldoze ahead for the elusive bomb proof dog. The latter is never going to happen. I will be amazed if Perri and I ever achieve even a Companion Dog title. I dream so often of the day when I finally feel that we can try Novice again. I dream of it being this winter. A fool's dream, maybe. Probably.
I have to accept that. Perri is who she is. She is three years old. She is teaching me so much about building ring confidence, about listening to my dog, and about expectations. I could desensitize her to the slap of the leash on mat flooring, to a vacuum cleaner in a room. But those things might not bother Perri at a different training/trial site. I have so much to learn still. But right now, attending matches is about building mine and Perri's confidence in the obedience ring. We need to stay away from training centers that, for whatever reason, Perri cannot handle. For now, maybe forever.
By the way, her group stays were solid. As ever.
Sunday, June 28, 2015
June K9Jym Obedience Match
I was nervous to do it, but I finally signed Perri up for some Obedience matches. Time to get back in the saddle!
The last match that we went to had promise, but went downhill fast because I did Too Much. I was not going to let that happen this time. That match really shook my confidence. This time around, I made a plan, and stuck with that plan. I was still nervous before leaving for the match and upon arriving at K9Jym. I had a funny idea when I was sitting by Perri's soft crate waiting for our turn: take your shoes off! I did. I always feel more happy and relaxed barefoot, so why not? As silly as that is, it really really helped! Whatever it takes, right?
My plan was to work on ring entrances. We enter the ring, I throw Perri's toy and have a party. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Mix some work in. Exit ring. Enter ring, do the heel on lead. Party party party. Do the Figure 8, one loop only. Major party! Stand for Exam if there is time.
We did it. We did all of that, and I did not deviate! And she was gorgeous. I was absolutely buzzing! with joy. I channeled my instructor's voice in my head: "Watch where you are going!" and I did it. It is so hard for me to not look at Perri, but it is detrimental for us. We did an entire heel on lead pattern without any praise from me, without any treats...just a poodle hopped up on her fleece bunny fur toy (I had it tucked under my right armpit while we heeled.) The Figure 8 I felt her start to lag on the outside turn, just a little bit, and I started to look at her and shoulder into her. That was a split second. I thought "No. Not going to wilt!", squared myself up, looked ahead and walked the outside turn and she flew around it with me and came into a straight sit at the halt. PARTY!!!!!!! No ring steward butts were sniffed, she was too happy heeling with me!
Something unexpected happened before any of the heeling work though. On our second or third time exiting the ring, a golden retriever in the adjacent ring was working on his go outs. He was frustration barking. Just as Perri and I walked out of the ring, right in her face was the edge of that gate...that golden charged the gate looking for his target and absolutely shrieked and hit the side of the gate. Perri was rattled. I waited a second and she amazingly reoriented to me and we went back into the ring and had a party. I was floored that she was willing to play with her toy again! We exited and re-entered the ring and this time she was bouncing beside me with her eyes lit up. She knew that getting in that ring was pretty cool! And with that we began working on heel work.
I needed this. Oh, I need this so badly. By the way, group stays were solid as a rock. As always.
We left the Jym, I got some candy to enjoy, and we went to Peace Valley Park for a few miles of hiking and geocaching. Swimming for Perri and just generally relaxing and feeling like we were on top of the world. This was truly our best match ever, for so many reasons. I am proud of myself for finally understanding what Perri (and I!) need to feel confident and good in the ring. We have another match, different location, in two weeks. I am looking forwards to it. I feel like I made All The Right Decisions today, and I feel like Perri and I both felt great working with each other. Two good matches, in two different sports, all in one weekend. Can't ask for more!
The last match that we went to had promise, but went downhill fast because I did Too Much. I was not going to let that happen this time. That match really shook my confidence. This time around, I made a plan, and stuck with that plan. I was still nervous before leaving for the match and upon arriving at K9Jym. I had a funny idea when I was sitting by Perri's soft crate waiting for our turn: take your shoes off! I did. I always feel more happy and relaxed barefoot, so why not? As silly as that is, it really really helped! Whatever it takes, right?
My plan was to work on ring entrances. We enter the ring, I throw Perri's toy and have a party. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Mix some work in. Exit ring. Enter ring, do the heel on lead. Party party party. Do the Figure 8, one loop only. Major party! Stand for Exam if there is time.
We did it. We did all of that, and I did not deviate! And she was gorgeous. I was absolutely buzzing! with joy. I channeled my instructor's voice in my head: "Watch where you are going!" and I did it. It is so hard for me to not look at Perri, but it is detrimental for us. We did an entire heel on lead pattern without any praise from me, without any treats...just a poodle hopped up on her fleece bunny fur toy (I had it tucked under my right armpit while we heeled.) The Figure 8 I felt her start to lag on the outside turn, just a little bit, and I started to look at her and shoulder into her. That was a split second. I thought "No. Not going to wilt!", squared myself up, looked ahead and walked the outside turn and she flew around it with me and came into a straight sit at the halt. PARTY!!!!!!! No ring steward butts were sniffed, she was too happy heeling with me!
Something unexpected happened before any of the heeling work though. On our second or third time exiting the ring, a golden retriever in the adjacent ring was working on his go outs. He was frustration barking. Just as Perri and I walked out of the ring, right in her face was the edge of that gate...that golden charged the gate looking for his target and absolutely shrieked and hit the side of the gate. Perri was rattled. I waited a second and she amazingly reoriented to me and we went back into the ring and had a party. I was floored that she was willing to play with her toy again! We exited and re-entered the ring and this time she was bouncing beside me with her eyes lit up. She knew that getting in that ring was pretty cool! And with that we began working on heel work.
I needed this. Oh, I need this so badly. By the way, group stays were solid as a rock. As always.
We left the Jym, I got some candy to enjoy, and we went to Peace Valley Park for a few miles of hiking and geocaching. Swimming for Perri and just generally relaxing and feeling like we were on top of the world. This was truly our best match ever, for so many reasons. I am proud of myself for finally understanding what Perri (and I!) need to feel confident and good in the ring. We have another match, different location, in two weeks. I am looking forwards to it. I feel like I made All The Right Decisions today, and I feel like Perri and I both felt great working with each other. Two good matches, in two different sports, all in one weekend. Can't ask for more!
Monday, March 9, 2015
Matches: Hard Learning (This is a Long One!)
WARNING: This is really long and journal entry-ish and this is after I let my emotions calm down about the whole day. But it is here because I am keeping a record of what we do and how our journey is progressing and I think someday I will appreciate looking back on this.
So, unless you want to see a girl whine about her inexperience and her poor poodle, may want to visit some other blog!
The plan on Saturday was:
Go to an Obedience match. Perri does two ring time's worth of Novice, separated by roughly an hour. Ein does Rally Advanced.
Then Ein and Molly got into a little fight over an ice cream bowl and while Ein is fine now, he was drooling and sore in the morning. I could not and still could not find any wounds externally or in his mouth or gums and I have to wonder if he bit his own tongue. Still keeping an eye on him and rinsing his mouth daily, but he is eating normally and chewing his bones and does not seem uncomfortable anymore.
So now in the middle of my two neatly planned Novice entries, I had a RA entry. And I should have scratched it. But I thought, "Why not?"
The environment was way over our heads. It was at the K9Jym, where we played agility last weekend. There were four rings in that space with the walkways standing room only, lined with crates and people and dogs and lots of all of those things. I felt claustrophobic and irritable and I can't imagine what my space sensitive strange-dog-fearful Perri felt like.
We started with a round of Stays, because of time conflicts with my rally ring time. The Rally ring was adjacent to the Novice ring and the stays line was made with the dogs' backs to the Rally ring. The handler was very talkative, the dog not having the most cooperative time so there was lots of "Down! No DOWN!" and a lot of erratic movement from the dog. The entire stay time. And Perri didn't move a paw. Very proud of her. If Perri is consistent in anything with Obedience, it is her group stays.
Our first ring time I am proud of: we worked on offered focus and engagement while waiting our turn. We worked on ring entrances. We worked on playing in the ring and Perri did a bang up job of that. You would have thought we were in our own back yard with how well she was playing with me and how engaged she was. I would ask for a toy release and then ask for heeling and it was all quite pretty. We did a formal heel pattern with the judge and it was wonderful. We worked on the F8, heeling past the first post and not sniffing his butt. Another success! We did one formal loop around the F8 to follow, gorgeous. We left with a minute of ring time to spare and I felt great about it.
Then I had to do what I don't like: hurry. I had to put Perri in her crate, rush back to the rally ring. Do my walk through. And we had to be the first dog in. And here's where my painful lessons learning started: that was too fast for Perri. She even had more turn over time last weekend when we had to repeat that Jackpot run (and I knew she needed it!) - and that was agility, which she is most certainly more relaxed with. And it did not help that we had to walk through the entire crowded room all the way to the back past countless large dogs with the end of it walking through a group of four large black dogs on either side of her. That is the stuff of nightmares for Perri. She shut down very badly in the rally ring. I had no dog, I had no engagement. And I just wanted to leave. (I will say she still did a beautiful kick back stand and I heard someone say "pretty!" ring side. So, there was that. Ha.)
The stewards told me to try some cookie throws and use up my ring time. And I did that and we did some fun stuff on the 16" rally jump but Perri was just going through the motions. I should be and I am grateful that she did at least that. There was a time when she would have shut down on food or any sort of play. There was a time when she was afraid of a jump, in fact. Now it was the most relaxing and stress free thing for her.
I carried her back to her crate, I just couldn't walk her through all those dogs and people. I couldn't make her bump into them and let them sniff her butt when she was feeling so uncomfortable.
We had a half hour before our next Novice ring time and I wasn't sure how that was going to go. I was torn with indecision: what is the Right Choice here? Go home or go in there and try for a positive experience. We did go in, and unfortunately I tried for a formal run through. Sigh. The wrong decision, I always make the wrong one. (Like why on earth wouldn't I just try to repeat what I had done earlier? Live and Learn.)
And just when we went in the environment rose to a high volume clanging of scent articles and a handler who clapped loudly at intervals of about 30 seconds and someone else was using a clicker. Too much for a fried dog and handler. And Perri worked so hard. Her heel on lead we had some disengagements but she really was trying to stay with me. The Figure 8 there was no butt sniffing but there was lagging due to environment staring. It broke my heart when she would look back at me and rush back to heel position: she knows where to be, she wants to be there. But she just couldn't do it. Maybe I'm giving a dog too much credit, but I know my girl. She wants to be right and she really is a hard worker, she just gets overwhelmed too fast.
The SFE was beautiful. The heel free we fell apart. I had told the judge that we were feeling very delicate before we went in, so when Perri shut down again I told her that I wanted to leave. The judge was very nice, and she loves poodles and she said "Why don't you try some cookie throws and why don't you try some short heeling if you can get her into that with releases to cookie throws...."
It worked. Then we did a few steps of heeling into an about turn and cookie throws. And I had my dog back! We finished with the recall: Perri as still as a statue in her stay. No anticipation twitches, not a muscle moved. The judge said verbally to "Call Your Dog" and still she stayed. I waited a few beats and called her and she exploded towards me and she was relaxed and full of joy (versus "Oh god let me get back to you I'm going to die!"). I met her with personal play and cookies and finally made a good decision: no formal front or finish! She had worked hard enough.
I am so grateful for the judge who gave me the strength to continue our ring time and make it a positive experience for Perri. I shut down just as much as my dog did and it was nice to have some support, it truly was. I have so much to learn. So very, very much.
I did not leave feeling great. I left feeling never in my life so close to quitting Obedience. Perri and I were going to try Novice again. At the Poodle Training Club of New York trial next month. I almost e-mailed the trial secretary right from the K9Jym Parking lot to scratch those entries. But I made myself think on it. Give it 24 hours.
I still scratched the entries. I scratched them because I know we are getting close. We just aren't there yet. Denise Fenzi's wonderful blog article, The Miracle Method, came to mind. And if I am totally honest, going to that April obedience show would be classic Miracle Method behavior. And I won't do it. I swore I would not do it again.
Perri was able to do a whole lot of things at that match (a busier atmosphere than we have ever worked before) than she was ever able to do before. Recover from multiple shut downs, play with true relaxation, hold four minutes worth of stays with a large dog working behind her back in another ring. But she is still so delicate. And so am I! The minute things started to get hairy I got stressed out and started turning into Perri and slowing her heeling down even more. I shut down just like my dog. We both need more work, more polishing, more confidence. Agility is helping us. More matches will help us. And you better believe our next match I will be going in with a Perri-friendly plan that I will not deviate from!
We know the behaviors. But the environmental acclimation is something we are sorely lacking in. We need to get to Home Depots, Petsmarts and we need to take the formality out of this stuff and just work on play and short short spurts of work when Perri asks for it. Hell, we need to probably work on just eating cookies and hanging out in those types of places. We can do this, it's just going to take time. I saw a thread on Facebook where looking away in heeling was the subject and one sentence stuck in my mind that Denise actually said. "And most dogs do outgrow their need to look at stuff as they grow into their work." That meant a lot to me and since I do not think Perri's issue is one of true intense fear but more one of "low confidence and concern/worry", I firmly believe that Perri will grow into her work. She has already begun to. She just needs me to make good choices for her. And I just need to learn how to.
So, unless you want to see a girl whine about her inexperience and her poor poodle, may want to visit some other blog!
The plan on Saturday was:
Go to an Obedience match. Perri does two ring time's worth of Novice, separated by roughly an hour. Ein does Rally Advanced.
Then Ein and Molly got into a little fight over an ice cream bowl and while Ein is fine now, he was drooling and sore in the morning. I could not and still could not find any wounds externally or in his mouth or gums and I have to wonder if he bit his own tongue. Still keeping an eye on him and rinsing his mouth daily, but he is eating normally and chewing his bones and does not seem uncomfortable anymore.
So now in the middle of my two neatly planned Novice entries, I had a RA entry. And I should have scratched it. But I thought, "Why not?"
The environment was way over our heads. It was at the K9Jym, where we played agility last weekend. There were four rings in that space with the walkways standing room only, lined with crates and people and dogs and lots of all of those things. I felt claustrophobic and irritable and I can't imagine what my space sensitive strange-dog-fearful Perri felt like.
We started with a round of Stays, because of time conflicts with my rally ring time. The Rally ring was adjacent to the Novice ring and the stays line was made with the dogs' backs to the Rally ring. The handler was very talkative, the dog not having the most cooperative time so there was lots of "Down! No DOWN!" and a lot of erratic movement from the dog. The entire stay time. And Perri didn't move a paw. Very proud of her. If Perri is consistent in anything with Obedience, it is her group stays.
Our first ring time I am proud of: we worked on offered focus and engagement while waiting our turn. We worked on ring entrances. We worked on playing in the ring and Perri did a bang up job of that. You would have thought we were in our own back yard with how well she was playing with me and how engaged she was. I would ask for a toy release and then ask for heeling and it was all quite pretty. We did a formal heel pattern with the judge and it was wonderful. We worked on the F8, heeling past the first post and not sniffing his butt. Another success! We did one formal loop around the F8 to follow, gorgeous. We left with a minute of ring time to spare and I felt great about it.
Then I had to do what I don't like: hurry. I had to put Perri in her crate, rush back to the rally ring. Do my walk through. And we had to be the first dog in. And here's where my painful lessons learning started: that was too fast for Perri. She even had more turn over time last weekend when we had to repeat that Jackpot run (and I knew she needed it!) - and that was agility, which she is most certainly more relaxed with. And it did not help that we had to walk through the entire crowded room all the way to the back past countless large dogs with the end of it walking through a group of four large black dogs on either side of her. That is the stuff of nightmares for Perri. She shut down very badly in the rally ring. I had no dog, I had no engagement. And I just wanted to leave. (I will say she still did a beautiful kick back stand and I heard someone say "pretty!" ring side. So, there was that. Ha.)
The stewards told me to try some cookie throws and use up my ring time. And I did that and we did some fun stuff on the 16" rally jump but Perri was just going through the motions. I should be and I am grateful that she did at least that. There was a time when she would have shut down on food or any sort of play. There was a time when she was afraid of a jump, in fact. Now it was the most relaxing and stress free thing for her.
I carried her back to her crate, I just couldn't walk her through all those dogs and people. I couldn't make her bump into them and let them sniff her butt when she was feeling so uncomfortable.
We had a half hour before our next Novice ring time and I wasn't sure how that was going to go. I was torn with indecision: what is the Right Choice here? Go home or go in there and try for a positive experience. We did go in, and unfortunately I tried for a formal run through. Sigh. The wrong decision, I always make the wrong one. (Like why on earth wouldn't I just try to repeat what I had done earlier? Live and Learn.)
And just when we went in the environment rose to a high volume clanging of scent articles and a handler who clapped loudly at intervals of about 30 seconds and someone else was using a clicker. Too much for a fried dog and handler. And Perri worked so hard. Her heel on lead we had some disengagements but she really was trying to stay with me. The Figure 8 there was no butt sniffing but there was lagging due to environment staring. It broke my heart when she would look back at me and rush back to heel position: she knows where to be, she wants to be there. But she just couldn't do it. Maybe I'm giving a dog too much credit, but I know my girl. She wants to be right and she really is a hard worker, she just gets overwhelmed too fast.
The SFE was beautiful. The heel free we fell apart. I had told the judge that we were feeling very delicate before we went in, so when Perri shut down again I told her that I wanted to leave. The judge was very nice, and she loves poodles and she said "Why don't you try some cookie throws and why don't you try some short heeling if you can get her into that with releases to cookie throws...."
It worked. Then we did a few steps of heeling into an about turn and cookie throws. And I had my dog back! We finished with the recall: Perri as still as a statue in her stay. No anticipation twitches, not a muscle moved. The judge said verbally to "Call Your Dog" and still she stayed. I waited a few beats and called her and she exploded towards me and she was relaxed and full of joy (versus "Oh god let me get back to you I'm going to die!"). I met her with personal play and cookies and finally made a good decision: no formal front or finish! She had worked hard enough.
I am so grateful for the judge who gave me the strength to continue our ring time and make it a positive experience for Perri. I shut down just as much as my dog did and it was nice to have some support, it truly was. I have so much to learn. So very, very much.
I did not leave feeling great. I left feeling never in my life so close to quitting Obedience. Perri and I were going to try Novice again. At the Poodle Training Club of New York trial next month. I almost e-mailed the trial secretary right from the K9Jym Parking lot to scratch those entries. But I made myself think on it. Give it 24 hours.
I still scratched the entries. I scratched them because I know we are getting close. We just aren't there yet. Denise Fenzi's wonderful blog article, The Miracle Method, came to mind. And if I am totally honest, going to that April obedience show would be classic Miracle Method behavior. And I won't do it. I swore I would not do it again.
Perri was able to do a whole lot of things at that match (a busier atmosphere than we have ever worked before) than she was ever able to do before. Recover from multiple shut downs, play with true relaxation, hold four minutes worth of stays with a large dog working behind her back in another ring. But she is still so delicate. And so am I! The minute things started to get hairy I got stressed out and started turning into Perri and slowing her heeling down even more. I shut down just like my dog. We both need more work, more polishing, more confidence. Agility is helping us. More matches will help us. And you better believe our next match I will be going in with a Perri-friendly plan that I will not deviate from!
We know the behaviors. But the environmental acclimation is something we are sorely lacking in. We need to get to Home Depots, Petsmarts and we need to take the formality out of this stuff and just work on play and short short spurts of work when Perri asks for it. Hell, we need to probably work on just eating cookies and hanging out in those types of places. We can do this, it's just going to take time. I saw a thread on Facebook where looking away in heeling was the subject and one sentence stuck in my mind that Denise actually said. "And most dogs do outgrow their need to look at stuff as they grow into their work." That meant a lot to me and since I do not think Perri's issue is one of true intense fear but more one of "low confidence and concern/worry", I firmly believe that Perri will grow into her work. She has already begun to. She just needs me to make good choices for her. And I just need to learn how to.
Friday, February 13, 2015
Novice Obedience Run Thru
Last night I got the rare opportunity to do a Novice Obedience run through at my dog club. Run thrus are not offered very often and when they have been in the past, I wasn't able to attend. I was told that only Perri and one other dog were going to be in attendance, so I decided to bring Ein with me as well.
Ein hasn't been to a dog class in probably over a year. He was pumped. It was absolutely adorable and made my heart melt. Ein was forging on the heel on lead. FORGING. Never before! He was forging and gazing up at me and panting and absolutely and utterly in love. This dog missed the memo that "heeling is boring." The Figure 8 was great and not so much forging, Ein paid a little more attention to where he was stepping since we were not going in a straight line. The stand for exam was pretty much "eat this cheese while our instructor touches you." but he was still not comfortable with it. He never will be. The heel free he heard "forward" and shot off without me! I was shocked, I was laughing. Ein did do some disconnecting during the heel free, and some stress sniffing. He has always had a hard time with feeling insecure when the leash is off. Either that or he was mostly rattled from the SFE. We had a recall anticipation but after that he did a lovely recall, front and finish. Good boy!
It was fun. It was far from perfect but "happy" is my main criteria for Ein! No more stand for exam, I should not have even done that last night. He loves to heel with me and do recalls, but stand for exam? No. (We also did not do group downs.)
Perri was next. Her heel on lead was a dream come true for me. Her figure 8 was also good. She lagged a little on the outside turn and I had to think to myself "keep walking!" and she caught up to me with head up and happy attitude. Earlier before the run thrus we did some figure 8 practice and Perri did one butt sniff. I broke off our heeling right away with an "oops!" and reset her. For the rest of the evening she did good work on the figure 8. The stand for exam was good. The heel free was interesting. There were two different times where she spaced out, very briefly, during our heeling but she snapped back into it and locked back into heel position and continued her head up happy heeling. The second time was after an about turn. She saw our instructor and started walking away from me as we completed the about turn, only a few inches and then chose to come back to heel position. Some people might be very unhappy with that, and I certainly would have preferred no disengagement, but that was a pretty amazing choice for Perri. (Understand - Perri used to get completely lost and shut down and that would be the end of any type of teamwork. Seeing this dog bounce back from any shut down is dizzyingly beautiful for me.)
The recall was fast and happy, the front was straight but further away than I would like. The finish was fast but too far behind heel position. Both of those things were a little strange for Perri - but one thing I did consider was that I had recalled her to front in the exact area of our training club where, last week, we were working on some ring confidence exercises and I was wearing fleece and kept shocking Perri's nose with winter static. She was very upset that night and could not focus on me inside of that work area. I have to wonder if there was some residual nervousness.
Group stays were good. The down stay was a little hair raising. The class before us was a manners class and there were a lot of treat crumbs all over the floor where the dogs were in their stays. Perri sniffed the ground and licked the ground and stretched her giraffe neck as far as it would reach while keeping her body in the stay position. There were also some loud banging doors and commotion as the class in the neighboring room left for the evening. She stayed, though. Through everything we have struggled with, Perri has always been a great stays dog.
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| Jailbirds. |
It was fun. It was far from perfect but "happy" is my main criteria for Ein! No more stand for exam, I should not have even done that last night. He loves to heel with me and do recalls, but stand for exam? No. (We also did not do group downs.)
Perri was next. Her heel on lead was a dream come true for me. Her figure 8 was also good. She lagged a little on the outside turn and I had to think to myself "keep walking!" and she caught up to me with head up and happy attitude. Earlier before the run thrus we did some figure 8 practice and Perri did one butt sniff. I broke off our heeling right away with an "oops!" and reset her. For the rest of the evening she did good work on the figure 8. The stand for exam was good. The heel free was interesting. There were two different times where she spaced out, very briefly, during our heeling but she snapped back into it and locked back into heel position and continued her head up happy heeling. The second time was after an about turn. She saw our instructor and started walking away from me as we completed the about turn, only a few inches and then chose to come back to heel position. Some people might be very unhappy with that, and I certainly would have preferred no disengagement, but that was a pretty amazing choice for Perri. (Understand - Perri used to get completely lost and shut down and that would be the end of any type of teamwork. Seeing this dog bounce back from any shut down is dizzyingly beautiful for me.)
The recall was fast and happy, the front was straight but further away than I would like. The finish was fast but too far behind heel position. Both of those things were a little strange for Perri - but one thing I did consider was that I had recalled her to front in the exact area of our training club where, last week, we were working on some ring confidence exercises and I was wearing fleece and kept shocking Perri's nose with winter static. She was very upset that night and could not focus on me inside of that work area. I have to wonder if there was some residual nervousness.
Group stays were good. The down stay was a little hair raising. The class before us was a manners class and there were a lot of treat crumbs all over the floor where the dogs were in their stays. Perri sniffed the ground and licked the ground and stretched her giraffe neck as far as it would reach while keeping her body in the stay position. There were also some loud banging doors and commotion as the class in the neighboring room left for the evening. She stayed, though. Through everything we have struggled with, Perri has always been a great stays dog.
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Girldog Saturday
I had a very cool day out on the road with my girl dogs today.
First stop was an Obedience match with Perri. The last time that Perri was at Let's Speak Dog was for a January CDSP trial and she was a stressy mess for that. And she was a stressy mess today. She was worried almost as soon as we walked into Let's Speak Dog. Ein has struggled with this place in the past too, I don't really understand why. Perri did not want to practice her "crawl" trick. Her Sit Pretty was the most feeble of upward movement. She was barking at noises and staring at big dogs.
I was not panicking. We went into the ring and started the Heel on Lead. And I got pretty good engagement! I lost her after the left turn, her nose went to the floor. I immediately ended the exercise and walked away from Perri. When she reengaged with me (which did not take very long) we began again and finished out the heel pattern with excellent attention. The Figure 8 I lost her on the second step to judge sniffing and I again ended the exercise. We restarted and I had a poodle by my side! She was nervous but she was trying so hard and she did not sniff anybody's butt and she stayed in heel position and I was so proud of her I could go insane. The Stand for Exam was beautiful. She kicked back into a Stand on a verbal only command and held her stay rock solid. Heel Free she got stuck on the set up. Twice. This has not happened in a while. The third time I supported her with a hand and verbal signal and she came up with me and we really had a nice heeling pattern after that with no disengagement. She flickered when we came towards the mirror on the wall but reengaged with me so quickly that I let her keep working. The recall she did not anticipate, she recalled at a nice clip. She sat about a foot away from me but given how nervous that she was and how she was recalling towards a lot of people and dogs moving behind us outside of the ring, I felt it was best not to make her repeat. The finish she move on hand signal alone, but paused and stared at something behind us. I repeated my signal and she popped back into heel position, quickly and straight. I regret not setting her back up in front position and repeating the signal that way, but oh well.
Group stays were...so Perri. She held her square sit and stared at me with a most noble and serene expression on her face for the entire minute. On the down I gently pushed her into a rolled down. As soon as I reached my spot on the other end of the ring, she popped back into a sphinx down and held that the entire three minutes. She was looking around a lot, she was sniffing some, she was disturbed by the door opening and closing, but she never came close to breaking her stay.
It wasn't perfect, and it wasn't as flashy as our match at Suburban a few months ago. But! Perri was incredibly shaken by the environment and she still worked so hard. She did not shut down one single time on me. And I am proud of myself for holding my criteria. This is so difficult for me. I want so much to do a good job and to fit into the picture of a proper ring performance that I want to lure Perri into that picture. It won't do. We are not heeling, sniffing, coming back into heeling for a treat. We are heeling. Period. Perri seemed to respond really well to this consistency because when I know exactly what I want and behave as clearly as possible towards her, she knows exactly what I want and that helps her feel secure.
After our ring time and between the group stays, I let Perri rest in the car. On our way there a couple nervously approached me and asked if they could pet Perri and ask me a few questions. I said "Well Sure!" The girlfriend seemed relieved and asked me how long I had been training because my dog was amazing and listened to me so well and was "spot on." I was really surprised and spluttered that she did okay but that she was really nervous. "Oh no, I thought she was amazing!" The couple were first time dog owners working their puppy into manners and had stopped by Let's Speak Dog for some information on continuing and stumbled into an Obedience Match. We all laughed at how "those people seem really intense." Ohhhh you have no idea. Yes, they were "pet people." But it was still a wonderful compliment and a reminder that I have a great little dog and sometimes I can't see the forest for the trees. In about fifteen minutes, I brought Perri back inside and let her relax in my lap and eat Charley Bears. And then we worked on set ups outside the ring. Moving from static position into heeling. Perri was much more relaxed and did a really super job. I have been really tempted to try Novice again with Perri, but I think at this point we need to continue doing agility trials, continue doing matches, and get that confidence and comfort level up more. For both of us.
From there we drove out to K9Jym to meet our friends and play some agility with Molly! Saturday afternoons are "OpenJym" days, so you can practice whatever you like on a course while taking turns with others. And I wanted to practice generalizing weave poles!
Molly did amazing. She was ridiculously high and panting really hard on her first time out on the course. She flew into the weave entry and back to me. I sent her again and she flew into the weave entry and skipped two poles. After that she did the 12 weaves very nicely so she got to play tug with her Wubba and then we did a jump sequence into the poles. And so it went. By the end of Open Jym Molly was nailing those weaves from any angle no matter what I was doing and hopping through them pittie style, tongue lolling and froth flying. (I don't know if she will ever be a "one stepper" with that big old front end of muscle and skull!) And I don't care, as long as she is consistent and happy.
I showed this video to my husband, because he was ring crewing Molly's Wildcard run at my club's October trial - the run where I asked Molly to weave and she stressed up hard and zoomed in response. After that class was done he came to pet Molly and told me most somberly, "She doesn't like those weave poles." He was really impressed by this improvement. And so am I. Some might have said Molly was ruined for the weaves. I certainly never expected such a turn around from the sneezing, sniffing, oozing and slow mess that Molly had stressed down into when it came to the weave poles. Trial weaves will still be a work in progress, but right now I am absolutely amazed at how resilient this dog is. We have been working on retraining since August and here she is, really enjoying something that used to stress her out incredibly. I never taught her the weave poles properly the first time - and I had no clue that I had not taught her properly. I have been and still am clueless of so many things, but one thing is for sure... my dogs do not hold it against me. My dogs grow and learn with me, they teach me as much as or more than I teach them. They are true partners, and they are amazing.
First stop was an Obedience match with Perri. The last time that Perri was at Let's Speak Dog was for a January CDSP trial and she was a stressy mess for that. And she was a stressy mess today. She was worried almost as soon as we walked into Let's Speak Dog. Ein has struggled with this place in the past too, I don't really understand why. Perri did not want to practice her "crawl" trick. Her Sit Pretty was the most feeble of upward movement. She was barking at noises and staring at big dogs.
I was not panicking. We went into the ring and started the Heel on Lead. And I got pretty good engagement! I lost her after the left turn, her nose went to the floor. I immediately ended the exercise and walked away from Perri. When she reengaged with me (which did not take very long) we began again and finished out the heel pattern with excellent attention. The Figure 8 I lost her on the second step to judge sniffing and I again ended the exercise. We restarted and I had a poodle by my side! She was nervous but she was trying so hard and she did not sniff anybody's butt and she stayed in heel position and I was so proud of her I could go insane. The Stand for Exam was beautiful. She kicked back into a Stand on a verbal only command and held her stay rock solid. Heel Free she got stuck on the set up. Twice. This has not happened in a while. The third time I supported her with a hand and verbal signal and she came up with me and we really had a nice heeling pattern after that with no disengagement. She flickered when we came towards the mirror on the wall but reengaged with me so quickly that I let her keep working. The recall she did not anticipate, she recalled at a nice clip. She sat about a foot away from me but given how nervous that she was and how she was recalling towards a lot of people and dogs moving behind us outside of the ring, I felt it was best not to make her repeat. The finish she move on hand signal alone, but paused and stared at something behind us. I repeated my signal and she popped back into heel position, quickly and straight. I regret not setting her back up in front position and repeating the signal that way, but oh well.
Group stays were...so Perri. She held her square sit and stared at me with a most noble and serene expression on her face for the entire minute. On the down I gently pushed her into a rolled down. As soon as I reached my spot on the other end of the ring, she popped back into a sphinx down and held that the entire three minutes. She was looking around a lot, she was sniffing some, she was disturbed by the door opening and closing, but she never came close to breaking her stay.
It wasn't perfect, and it wasn't as flashy as our match at Suburban a few months ago. But! Perri was incredibly shaken by the environment and she still worked so hard. She did not shut down one single time on me. And I am proud of myself for holding my criteria. This is so difficult for me. I want so much to do a good job and to fit into the picture of a proper ring performance that I want to lure Perri into that picture. It won't do. We are not heeling, sniffing, coming back into heeling for a treat. We are heeling. Period. Perri seemed to respond really well to this consistency because when I know exactly what I want and behave as clearly as possible towards her, she knows exactly what I want and that helps her feel secure.
After our ring time and between the group stays, I let Perri rest in the car. On our way there a couple nervously approached me and asked if they could pet Perri and ask me a few questions. I said "Well Sure!" The girlfriend seemed relieved and asked me how long I had been training because my dog was amazing and listened to me so well and was "spot on." I was really surprised and spluttered that she did okay but that she was really nervous. "Oh no, I thought she was amazing!" The couple were first time dog owners working their puppy into manners and had stopped by Let's Speak Dog for some information on continuing and stumbled into an Obedience Match. We all laughed at how "those people seem really intense." Ohhhh you have no idea. Yes, they were "pet people." But it was still a wonderful compliment and a reminder that I have a great little dog and sometimes I can't see the forest for the trees. In about fifteen minutes, I brought Perri back inside and let her relax in my lap and eat Charley Bears. And then we worked on set ups outside the ring. Moving from static position into heeling. Perri was much more relaxed and did a really super job. I have been really tempted to try Novice again with Perri, but I think at this point we need to continue doing agility trials, continue doing matches, and get that confidence and comfort level up more. For both of us.
From there we drove out to K9Jym to meet our friends and play some agility with Molly! Saturday afternoons are "OpenJym" days, so you can practice whatever you like on a course while taking turns with others. And I wanted to practice generalizing weave poles!
Molly did amazing. She was ridiculously high and panting really hard on her first time out on the course. She flew into the weave entry and back to me. I sent her again and she flew into the weave entry and skipped two poles. After that she did the 12 weaves very nicely so she got to play tug with her Wubba and then we did a jump sequence into the poles. And so it went. By the end of Open Jym Molly was nailing those weaves from any angle no matter what I was doing and hopping through them pittie style, tongue lolling and froth flying. (I don't know if she will ever be a "one stepper" with that big old front end of muscle and skull!) And I don't care, as long as she is consistent and happy.
I showed this video to my husband, because he was ring crewing Molly's Wildcard run at my club's October trial - the run where I asked Molly to weave and she stressed up hard and zoomed in response. After that class was done he came to pet Molly and told me most somberly, "She doesn't like those weave poles." He was really impressed by this improvement. And so am I. Some might have said Molly was ruined for the weaves. I certainly never expected such a turn around from the sneezing, sniffing, oozing and slow mess that Molly had stressed down into when it came to the weave poles. Trial weaves will still be a work in progress, but right now I am absolutely amazed at how resilient this dog is. We have been working on retraining since August and here she is, really enjoying something that used to stress her out incredibly. I never taught her the weave poles properly the first time - and I had no clue that I had not taught her properly. I have been and still am clueless of so many things, but one thing is for sure... my dogs do not hold it against me. My dogs grow and learn with me, they teach me as much as or more than I teach them. They are true partners, and they are amazing.
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Molly CGCA and Perri's Best Novice Work Ever!
The girl dogs and I went to Suburban Dog Training Club today for an Obedience show 'n go. Since they were offering CGC and CGCA tests, I decided to have Molly tested. I was not sure how it would go. I was only 15 minutes early, and that is not enough time for Molly to get to a place and settle in and stop chattering and howling. Molly lacks a solid "leave it" when it comes to food on the ground. And I had no idea how she would handle the Recall with Distraction. I forgot entirely about the test item that requires the tester to put a bag down in front of your dog and ask to pet them until the test itself! Oops! I also had not slept well the night before and I was feeling rotten and anxious about the test and not at all enthusiastic about it.
There are ten test steps for an AKC Community Canine test -
1. Dog sits/stands/lies down under control while owner fills out paperwork. Molly was coming down from chattering and was acting stressed out during this test step. She was stress panting and very uncomfortable looking. Regardless, she behaved and sat beside me while I filled out the paperwork.
2. Walks on a loose leash in a natural setting. We were taken into another room and asked to loose leash walk and were given fast pace, right and left turn directions. Molly was not engaged with me at all, but she was trudging along well enough to pass. She was not leash pulling whatsoever, but she was stressed and not having very much fun.
3. Walks on a loose leash through a crowd. We were asked to walk around the crating room of the obedience club. There were crates around, and there were other dogs and people around. This step was combined with step number 4 (dog walks past distraction dogs and does not pull). Molly noticed a golden retriever warming up for the Open ring and I asked her to "Focus" and she came right back with me.
4. Walks past distraction dogs.
5. Sit-Stay in small group (3 people with dogs.) This was probably, in the actual test, the thing that was the most stressful for me. Molly did some low whining and sniffing and licking the air. This was really pushing it with her and I am genuinely surprised that she stayed sitting. The dogs with us were two large irish setters and a standard poodle.
6. Dog allows somebody carrying something (a purse, bag or backpack) to approach and pet it. Again, I completely forgot about this. Molly stayed sitting and wagged her tail when she was petted but did not jump. She looked at the bag but did not get up to sniff it.
7. "Leave It" Dog walks by food on the floor and follows owner instructions, "Leave It."
For this we had to walk by two food bowls with milkbones inside of them and wire covers on the top. Molly really did not even notice that there was food in the bowls, she was still in blah-unenthusiastic mode and was just sort of walking around aimlessly with me past the bowls.
8. Down/Sit Stay The dog has to stay while the handler picks up a bag off the ground and places it by the evaluator and returns to the dog. Easy peasy.
9. Recall with distractions present. The dog has to recall 20 feet offset, so I had to leave Molly and walk diagonally across the room to call her. The evaluator is the distraction. When I called Molly she exploded towards me and was full body wagging to return to me.
10. Dog will sit or stand stay while owner walks through a door. Owner calls dog through when ready. If I had to guess, Molly thought this was totally stupid but she did it just fine.
I need these moments with Perri. I especially needed this moment after last night. When a ring steward told me that Perri "prances so beautifully" it seemed surreal that she might be talking about my dog. My dog that lags, my dog that freezes and stares. It is hard to figure out if you are helping an anxious dog find her way or if you are forcing her do a sport that she hates. Moments like these are so very necessary for me. They help me to understand that I am not torturing Perri and that she does enjoy what we do together, if only I will give her the time and support that she needs.
There are ten test steps for an AKC Community Canine test -
1. Dog sits/stands/lies down under control while owner fills out paperwork. Molly was coming down from chattering and was acting stressed out during this test step. She was stress panting and very uncomfortable looking. Regardless, she behaved and sat beside me while I filled out the paperwork.
2. Walks on a loose leash in a natural setting. We were taken into another room and asked to loose leash walk and were given fast pace, right and left turn directions. Molly was not engaged with me at all, but she was trudging along well enough to pass. She was not leash pulling whatsoever, but she was stressed and not having very much fun.
3. Walks on a loose leash through a crowd. We were asked to walk around the crating room of the obedience club. There were crates around, and there were other dogs and people around. This step was combined with step number 4 (dog walks past distraction dogs and does not pull). Molly noticed a golden retriever warming up for the Open ring and I asked her to "Focus" and she came right back with me.
4. Walks past distraction dogs.
5. Sit-Stay in small group (3 people with dogs.) This was probably, in the actual test, the thing that was the most stressful for me. Molly did some low whining and sniffing and licking the air. This was really pushing it with her and I am genuinely surprised that she stayed sitting. The dogs with us were two large irish setters and a standard poodle.
6. Dog allows somebody carrying something (a purse, bag or backpack) to approach and pet it. Again, I completely forgot about this. Molly stayed sitting and wagged her tail when she was petted but did not jump. She looked at the bag but did not get up to sniff it.
7. "Leave It" Dog walks by food on the floor and follows owner instructions, "Leave It."
For this we had to walk by two food bowls with milkbones inside of them and wire covers on the top. Molly really did not even notice that there was food in the bowls, she was still in blah-unenthusiastic mode and was just sort of walking around aimlessly with me past the bowls.
8. Down/Sit Stay The dog has to stay while the handler picks up a bag off the ground and places it by the evaluator and returns to the dog. Easy peasy.
9. Recall with distractions present. The dog has to recall 20 feet offset, so I had to leave Molly and walk diagonally across the room to call her. The evaluator is the distraction. When I called Molly she exploded towards me and was full body wagging to return to me.
10. Dog will sit or stand stay while owner walks through a door. Owner calls dog through when ready. If I had to guess, Molly thought this was totally stupid but she did it just fine.
Success! I wanted this test with Molly for two reasons. The first is that she is a pitbull and I think that a pitbull can use all of the Polite Dog evaluations that they can get. The other reason is that when I had Molly tested for the CGC in 2011, it was not a title. So when I look Molly up on the AKC website, the CGC is not listed there. I was not willing to pay an extra twenty bucks just to have the CGC turned into a title, but since CGCA is a new title and test and we could take it on top of the original certification...all the more reason! The latter reason is a little bit silly and I know that.
We waited about half an hour for our turn in the Novice ring. I felt much calmer, enjoyed coffee and a donut and practiced a calm down stay with Molly while there were other dogs present. She seemed a lot less stressed (probably because I was less stressed.) and did really well with being calm while we waited. Her ring time was nothing spectacular, it was nothing like the match that we did at K9Jym a month or so ago. She was laggy and disengaged on her heeling. She was sloppy with her finishes and halts at sit. On the figure 8 , on the outside turn she completely left heel position and met me on my right side for the halt. My two favorite things were the Sit-Stay Walk Around the ring (beginner novice style.) Molly has never been able to hold that stay before, but today she did. Sort of. Her two front feet moved slightly, but her butt stayed where it needed to be. I will call it progress. On the recall she flew towards me so fast, with such a gaping shark grin that her tongue flew up and smacked her face. She had foam splatted on her face when she got to me. Oh god I love this dog. And then she did a trainwreck of a finish. It is okay, I got what I trained today and if I want to continue this with Molly (I do.) I need to put more effort into engagement in heel position.
Perri's ring time was next. And before I discuss that, I will mention last night's agility class with Perri. It was awful. We have had a run of really great agility classes lately. She is not perfect, she is not a speed demon but she has been enjoying herself and not shutting down. When I throw her toy after a run she makes everybody, including myself, laugh with her silly pouncing. Last night, right from the start, Perri was not into it. No toy or motivator was strong enough. I got barely more than a trot out of her. The only thing that brought her any joy was entering the weave poles, but she would slow to a crawl through the poles. I joked with my teacher that I was going to drop her off at the SPCA. I drove home in tears. Stupid, silly sobbing tears about my brilliant dog that is trapped inside of her own head. Tears for no end in sight. Tears for trying so hard to work at Perri's pace, tears for feeling so stupid to think we were getting anywhere at all.
Anyone can imagine how I thought today was going to go. The last time we were at Suburban for a match in January, Perri was very stressed. She shut down almost immediately. She stared out of the ring gating into the opposite room at the dogs. She froze in front of the mirror in the room and could not work. It was a mess.
I "put on my big girl panties" and got in there. We played tricks and pivots ringside. I made sure that she did not see the hulking rottweiler leaving the ring. Perri heeled. And heeled. And I reinforced with tuna fudge. And reinforced some more. I did not once clap or pat my leg to entice her with me, she was right there. She earned her food from where it was in my pocket instead of me luring her with it in my hands. She got one goose in on the figure 8 and I broke it all off and started her again. (I warned everyone that Perri is a gooser, and they all laughed and it made me feel better to have confessed her poodle sins.) This time she spun around the whole thing beautifully. On the heel free I had a dog the entire time - I don't think I have ever had Perri right there at heel position with me for an entire heel free. And when we walked past the mirror I saw my little poodle dog pinned to my left leg with her tail wagging and gazing up at me and I almost started crying all over again. Instead of the mirror being a major issue and distraction, I was the only one in our team who noticed it. And I noticed a dog and her girl dancing together.
And again,
"Without thought or effort, I could find the cool white space within myself where no ego existed, where I had a goal but also no goals at all, where there was only the dog who accepted my invitation to dance, and the world fell away." - Bones Would Rain From the Sky, Suzanne Clothier.
I need these moments with Perri. I especially needed this moment after last night. When a ring steward told me that Perri "prances so beautifully" it seemed surreal that she might be talking about my dog. My dog that lags, my dog that freezes and stares. It is hard to figure out if you are helping an anxious dog find her way or if you are forcing her do a sport that she hates. Moments like these are so very necessary for me. They help me to understand that I am not torturing Perri and that she does enjoy what we do together, if only I will give her the time and support that she needs.
Sunday, June 29, 2014
GirlDog Obedience Match
I took Perri and Molly both to an Obedience match today. I was feeling completely relaxed about the whole thing until this morning. Then I was feeling like, "Why would I do this?!"
I went into this with very specific goals for Molly: Good Ringside Behavior. Reinforce Heeling A Lot.
We did the Heel on Lead and I had a dog the entire time and she was a fun dog! I really enjoyed myself and I was totally able to relax in there. On our first halt she forged out and sat crooked, but after that she did a much better job. We were having so much fun that I forgot to give her many treats, but she seemed happy enough to work until halts for them.
The figure 8 I did the outside loop first and got a bit of lagging, but she quickly caught up with me and was just lovely and again: fun! She did not fuss with the stewards or try to give kisses or any of that stuff. FLOORED.
The figure 8 I did the outside loop first and got a bit of lagging, but she quickly caught up with me and was just lovely and again: fun! She did not fuss with the stewards or try to give kisses or any of that stuff. FLOORED.
I did not do the Heel Free with Molly. I don't think we are ready for that yet.
We did the recall and something happened that I did not expect! I left her, and just as I turned the handler in the Open ring right next to us threw a dumbbell. And OH how Molly noticed. Her eyes got huge and she got as tall as possible in her sit-stay and looked back at me. I am furious with myself for not returning to her and rewarding her! Bad handler, bad handler! She held her stay, though and I recalled her and she came in fast and a bit wobbly but she did good! Great straight finish.
We did the Sit for Exam and Molly did great with that!
We did the exercise where the dog is asked to Sit-Stay in the center of the ring and the handler walks around the outside. Molly did good until I walked behind her and then she turned to look at me and got up. I reset her and walked a wide circle around her and around her back. We can fix that!
We did the exercise where the dog is asked to Sit-Stay in the center of the ring and the handler walks around the outside. Molly did good until I walked behind her and then she turned to look at me and got up. I reset her and walked a wide circle around her and around her back. We can fix that!
I also took a leap of faith and put her into the group stays. If I was angry at myself for not reinforcing the stay when she heard a dumbbell being thrown on the recall, I got my opportunity during the group stays! I think a dumbbell was thrown at least three times during her stays. I waited (and sweated!) for her to return her attention to me, and I went into her and rewarded that. Molly held her stays, the entire time. She didn't budge. Oh, I stayed close. 10-ish feet away. The leash was on and laying on the ground beside her. Her and her neighboring irish setter looked at each other and air sniffed and I don't think that I breathed, but she returned her focus on me. Wow.
Who is this dog??
I had 100 percent fun in that ring with Molly today! She is so cute when she heels, and she wants to do it. There were so many moments that I was so proud of her, and she completely blew by all of my expectations for her today. Ringside behavior was great as well. I had her in a down stay with me most of the time and rewarded her handsomely for offered focus. I am very excited about Molly's "obedience future."
And then it was Perri's turn. Perri was Perri. My goal for Perri today was for her to not sniff the ring steward's butts on the Figure 8. It sounds so funny to say, but Perri's ring-goosing is a major stress behavior and a lack of engagement during heeling.
The Heel on Lead was fine. Perri was stressed and somewhat disengaged, but about halfway through she locked into me a little better. Straight sits at all halts. And here again is another minor show of progress - when Perri stresses she does not keep any focus on me whatsoever and does not sit and if she does it is well after the fact, and crooked.
The Figure 8 she did NOT sniff a butt! No butts were sniffed! I again chose to go to the right with her to keep her from the butt, but I do wish that I had gone left to get her engaged with me - going right is harder for Perri to start out with. Sitting at every halt, and straight! I anticipated the judge's "Halt" at the end of the Figure 8 and she asked if I would like to do it again. Sure, why not. But I had nearly lost my dog.
I tried the Heel Free but Perri was just nearly gone and I asked if we could just stop the exercise right in the middle of it after I got some good attention and a sit from her. She just wasn't there. My goal for the next match is to have a game plan for how to help Perri get through that, how to play with her, how to help her relax more (and how to help myself relax more!)
The Stand for Exam was perfect.
The Recall .... I have been having some problems with Perri being sticky on the recall. She doesn't want to budge. She seems to think I am trying to trick her into breaking a stay. Or, she anticipates entirely and breaks the stay. So, she stuck today. I called her a second time and showered her with praise , and she had some good speed going.
The Group Stays were flawless with Perri, and leash was off and I was the full distance away.
So, I am a bit disappointed in myself with Perri's ring time. I feel that I didn't reinforce her enough, didn't encourage her enough. Something. I tried to remember to walk faster and to not turn my shoulders. Perri is truly so talented. When she stops worrying so much she can really turn it on. Part of me wonders if the two of us as a team have so much baggage and sour ring experience from our bumpy start into the world of Obedience. Part of me wonders if Perri is just Perri, and confidence will take its good old time to develop. There were things about today that were downright more solid than they ever have been. There were other stubborn things that were exactly the same. My ringtime with Molly felt so fun and light hearted. With Perri so heavy with worried glances in the neighboring rings, so heavy with my concern over doing the Wrong Thing every time. Everything feels so weighted down and intense with Perri.
Saturday, January 18, 2014
Obedience Crossroad
Perri and I did an Obedience match today. Novice, of course. I thought that I might see some improvement in her heeling. After all, she heeled very nicely at the CDSP trial and has been doing pretty well in class and also the Rally ring.
She was a bit of a disaster. Just before we went in she would not do her "sit pretty" trick, not a good sign. She was stressing. The training center is a bit cramped and noisy, there was a mirror on the wall, a wolfhound in the room. All the normal things that bind Perri's mind up did exactly that today.
The heel free she lagged and did not sit at her halts. The pretty turns that I have been seeing in classes were nonexistent. The figure 8 she goosed the ring steward (sigh.) and lagged, although on the second go around she did a nicer job. The stand for exam I had to re-cue her to stand since she was staring in horror at the steward table ("MY GOD THEY ARE LOOKING AT ME!") but she stayed solid and did not move even a foot. The heel free was better. I got a little more dance and connection from her though I had to clap my hands and encourage her to stay with me. The recall was the only thing that I really liked. She stayed put and when I called her she thundered toward me with enthusiasm and sat squarely at front with a smile on her face. She finished promptly and sat straight at heel with a dual verbal/hand cue. We had two minutes for our ring time so I wanted to retry the Figure 8. I tried it off leash but she went for another steward sniff and was not heeling with me whatsoever so I put it back on. Even then she was a bit of a mess. Her group stays were completely solid. There were several dogs sitting up and breaking during the long down and even then she held her stays. This is definitely Perri's strong area.
I feel very discouraged.
The club people were very kind and welcoming and I would certainly do another match here. I probably will. I feel like Perri has not improved one little ounce since September. I feel like I did not support her out there. I feel like Obedience is so hard and we will never ever "get it".
But then, it was only a match. I am not planning on trialing AKC Novice again anytime soon... I cannot imagine ever being trial ready for AKC Novice and today's experience only solidified that fact in my mind. I will continue to do matches and the odd CDSP trial because it is Good For Us. My discouragement runs deeper, to the point where I want to pull out of Open class and just take a step back. Perri is so behind with the exercises as it is. It would only be right for a dog who needs to become confident picking up balls of paper to take some time to catch up to dogs who will pick up a dumbbell, right? It would only be right for a dog who needs to build confidence doing a plain verbal "down" to catch up to dogs who will happily do a drop on recall, right?
I have continued Open class with Perri to challenge ourselves as a team and to get a foundation hold on the Open exercises, while continuing to work on the Novice exercises (and we do that in class. The class has vastly improved Perri's "non-stress" heeling.) But now I am seriously asking myself if it is time to pull out of class and work on what we have learned at our own pace. Decisions, decisions.
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Big Post On Just About Everything
The dog sport weekend continues!
This morning I took Perri to her final match before next week's shows (starts Thursday. gulp.)
We were the 18th dog in the run order and group stays were being done in a separate ring, so we did those first. Despite having a very noisy chesapeake bay retriever on her right, and a boxer that broke her down stay and had to be fussed around with by both the judge and handler, Perri stayed. Good girl.
This morning I took Perri to her final match before next week's shows (starts Thursday. gulp.)
We were the 18th dog in the run order and group stays were being done in a separate ring, so we did those first. Despite having a very noisy chesapeake bay retriever on her right, and a boxer that broke her down stay and had to be fussed around with by both the judge and handler, Perri stayed. Good girl.
The day was alternately Really Hot or Kinda Chilly, depending on the clouds. 20 minutes before Perri's ring time and onward, it was Really Hot. Perri doesn't do to great in the heat, and I also have to watch her water consumption because Hey. Remember that time she peed in the Obedience Ring??
The judge is also our novice teacher when we go to obedience club night, so in addition to friendly advice she was also hands on with helping and instructing.
When I set off on the heeling pattern I could feel Perri by my side, but the judge told me to release her and that I "don't have a dog." Perri was walking with me but not heeling with me.
I hyped Perri up a little bit with food lure and we went back into the heeling pattern, with me moving at brisk pace and jollying her up with praise. It went better. She sat at every halt.
The Figure 8 was world's better than it was at the last match, most likely owing to my brisk pace. Perri did not sniff any of the ring stewards, and that is progress. That, and her total lack of ground sniffing today, shows me upward progress of Perri being comfortable at events and in the ring.
The Heel Free was about the same. Hot poodle, okay heeling with some lagging. Sat at all halts.
The Stand for Exam was great, not a paw out of place.
Before I knew it it was time for the recall. I remember thinking, "This is going really fast!" I think that the whole Novice routine used to seem to take forever in my mind because I was intimidated by it.
Perri's recall was fantastic and FAST, very prompt response to me. The judge complimented it, and so did two people that watched it from outside the ring. That made me proud. Crooked front, though. Good finish.
Good poodle!
So. Thursday kicks off four days straight of Obedience shows. Will four be too many? This is a question that has me concerned, moreso than even "Will she qualify?". I won't have that information until we try. If I could do it over again, I would still have entered these shows. All four of them.
I did not feel that way in June. If I could have withdrawn those entries, I would have. I did not feel ready then. I feel like we have a really good "fighting chance" now, and I am actually looking forwards to it like crazy.
Speaking of Too Many... Mr. Ein is doing much better! I asked him for a front and finish this afternoon and he corgi grinned at me and did as I asked. A nice long nap under my bed must have restored him to his prior awesomeness. And since we did get two really cool ribbons for his Level 1 and 2 championships...
I have been mentally processing yesterday's trial. A lot.
First: a one ring double trial is going to be a long day. Like, eight plus hours long. That's worse than agility! I am a lunatic and actually enjoy trials, but I will admit that even I become sick of being at a "one ring double trial." I can only imagine how my nervy dog feels about enduring trial noises and stress for hours on end. Avoiding in the future.
Second: the club that we belong to is putting on a trial in December. Ein does consistently well at that club and is even more comfortable since we started training there. We will enter there for his last QQ towards the ARCHX and a Level 3 leg as well, because it sure would be nice to earn one or both titles at a place that we both like so much. This will give us more time to perfect our directed jump, and proof the Stand Dog-Leave Dog-Down/Sit Dog sign so that I can go forth and feel confident that he will do them.
And what's that Molly up to? My town had their annual "Yip and Dip" since the public pool is shutting down for the season. This is entirely Molly's event since Ein dislikes social outings and Perri won't jump into a pool (yet.)
Aunt Glenna came to visit last night with Everett and we took the dogs for a few hours of fun!
We finally had to quit because Molly wore every single one of her back claws down to the quick by launching from the concrete sides of the pool. That dog.
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| I. LOVE. THIS. BALL!! I. LOVE. THIS. POOL!! |
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| This dog was having an even better time than Molly, and that is quite an accomplishment! |
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| Hey, it's Luna! The chlorine water was not to her liking, but it had to be tested! |
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| Back home. Exhausted. |
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| Exhausted X 2. |
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