i cant believe its finally time to write the words -
RAH FINISHED HIS UD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Not to let that be enough, Rah also managed to qualify in Open for our first UDX leg!
Yesterday I decided to go and show him the way he wants to be shown - instead of trying to control him in the ring and keep him calm, I let him party like he wants to. We had spinning, barking (and on our way to set up for signals he also took a bite!), flying feet, he knocked my number off at one point when his foot got caught in the rubber band - but he had a blast and he q'd and that's what matters. It wasn't pretty, but considering I'm not sure he sat for a front a single time in open or utility, I'l take our 185.5!!!!
So, party boy finally got his UD. and now it's onto the UDX - we're also taking a detour back to CDSP this year as i trial him heavily in the next few months to get 2011 ranking opportunities. Let the party begin!
Monday, September 5, 2011
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
trauma
i purposefully havent posted here because it hurts... rah is fine (for now) but berlin is injured, badly. to the point that she's completely retired from all sports right now. its killing me and im reliving all my past failures and shortcomings with all my other dogs, so i have nothing to say here that's inspirational - in fact, i havent even been training my other dogs because quite honestly i have nothing to give them right now.
berlins recurrent neck pain prompted me to take her to the neurologist and have an MRI appointment - the results showed that she has a herniated disk in her neck and early wobblers - stenosis of her spinal canal that is compressing her cord and causing intermittent pain. worse, its progressive to the point of possible paralysis. there are options - both in alternative medicine and traditional, but im not sure how i am going to progress at this point because with rest and light activity she's 100% sound and rarely has episodes of pain. i refuse to stop letting her wrestle with rah - and in fact, she goes CRAZY if i dont take her running with me when i go (she runs around the house frantically getting to each window crying and screaming)... she thrives on the things we did together.
shes the reason i started agility. she's the reason i dropped 75 lbs. she's the reason im becoming a better trainer. and now she's the third fucking doberman in a row that i have that won't be able to accomplish anything she is truly capable of because time just isn't on our side.
so berlin retires Beja's Bombs Away v Bowie, CD BN RN NA NAJ - i may still play around with her in APDT and CDSP rally because she can avoid the jumps, but retrieving hurts. i can go into the symptoms for her later that led to this but right now im just hurt, angry, frustrated and pissed off at the world. and myself.
berlins recurrent neck pain prompted me to take her to the neurologist and have an MRI appointment - the results showed that she has a herniated disk in her neck and early wobblers - stenosis of her spinal canal that is compressing her cord and causing intermittent pain. worse, its progressive to the point of possible paralysis. there are options - both in alternative medicine and traditional, but im not sure how i am going to progress at this point because with rest and light activity she's 100% sound and rarely has episodes of pain. i refuse to stop letting her wrestle with rah - and in fact, she goes CRAZY if i dont take her running with me when i go (she runs around the house frantically getting to each window crying and screaming)... she thrives on the things we did together.
shes the reason i started agility. she's the reason i dropped 75 lbs. she's the reason im becoming a better trainer. and now she's the third fucking doberman in a row that i have that won't be able to accomplish anything she is truly capable of because time just isn't on our side.
so berlin retires Beja's Bombs Away v Bowie, CD BN RN NA NAJ - i may still play around with her in APDT and CDSP rally because she can avoid the jumps, but retrieving hurts. i can go into the symptoms for her later that led to this but right now im just hurt, angry, frustrated and pissed off at the world. and myself.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
no go
so obviously rah didnt qualify or there would be words of wonder and praise here... instead he was his class clown self.
and while i love his sense of humor, its getting old, me funding his comedy career.
he's on his own little rough love program right now - he's being pressured, and hard. no more mr. nice guy over here - he's gotta act like a big boy. all the little things he does that i let slip - from trying to take back his articles instead of finishing, staring at gloves instead of me on a front, jumping on me instead of fronting because he's so happy - no more. he needs to settle down and think about his job. he offers a variety of behaviors attempting to get cookies and while i dont reward his obedience behaviors, i am VERY liberal with cookies for cute spins backing up, etc - no more, not right now. he's got 2 weeks that we are trying that and we're attempting to see if ANYTHING calms him down in the ring - because he flies high as a kite and he is so keyed up he gets in his own way. put a lot of pressure on him for everything tonight - dogs all over his article pile, multiple people on the floor for directed jumping, waving arms and running while he did the go outs and while i gave signals to jump and FINALLY got him to pick his own jump and pressure off the right one...
we shall see.
and while i love his sense of humor, its getting old, me funding his comedy career.
he's on his own little rough love program right now - he's being pressured, and hard. no more mr. nice guy over here - he's gotta act like a big boy. all the little things he does that i let slip - from trying to take back his articles instead of finishing, staring at gloves instead of me on a front, jumping on me instead of fronting because he's so happy - no more. he needs to settle down and think about his job. he offers a variety of behaviors attempting to get cookies and while i dont reward his obedience behaviors, i am VERY liberal with cookies for cute spins backing up, etc - no more, not right now. he's got 2 weeks that we are trying that and we're attempting to see if ANYTHING calms him down in the ring - because he flies high as a kite and he is so keyed up he gets in his own way. put a lot of pressure on him for everything tonight - dogs all over his article pile, multiple people on the floor for directed jumping, waving arms and running while he did the go outs and while i gave signals to jump and FINALLY got him to pick his own jump and pressure off the right one...
we shall see.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
awesome training - are we doomed this weekend?
the dogs all trained really well last night.
which makes me think im doomed for this weekend.
cherry in puppy class was a superstar. we did moving attention with distraction of a person near us (4-6 feet) and she was awesome. i used her name to remind her but i didn't even need to use come, just saying her name she refocused on me and was right back and ready to do moving watch like a superstar.
she is CRAZY for the db. still hates metal articles. so crazy that like rah, she ran away with the db. i love it. love it love it love it. worked fronts - will have to shape those since she's not understanding straight because she's already too tall to teach like a baby dog :) and her stands and sits are nice, will have to eliminate some signals and go to verbal. and put it in heel position.
berlin was awesome in utility too. did two gloves and she marked them1!!!!!!!!!!! go outs i changed her focal point and she got it -need to bring in the turn and sit now. and directed jumping she rocked. she's solidly in the middle of week two of ATC, by the end of the week i will go to week 3. signals i barely worked but she's good at 4-5feet. not bad for a baby dog.
rah was solid in utility.
so im afraid. now rah's not going to finish his UD this weekend because everyone trained too nicely. damnit.
which makes me think im doomed for this weekend.
cherry in puppy class was a superstar. we did moving attention with distraction of a person near us (4-6 feet) and she was awesome. i used her name to remind her but i didn't even need to use come, just saying her name she refocused on me and was right back and ready to do moving watch like a superstar.
she is CRAZY for the db. still hates metal articles. so crazy that like rah, she ran away with the db. i love it. love it love it love it. worked fronts - will have to shape those since she's not understanding straight because she's already too tall to teach like a baby dog :) and her stands and sits are nice, will have to eliminate some signals and go to verbal. and put it in heel position.
berlin was awesome in utility too. did two gloves and she marked them1!!!!!!!!!!! go outs i changed her focal point and she got it -need to bring in the turn and sit now. and directed jumping she rocked. she's solidly in the middle of week two of ATC, by the end of the week i will go to week 3. signals i barely worked but she's good at 4-5feet. not bad for a baby dog.
rah was solid in utility.
so im afraid. now rah's not going to finish his UD this weekend because everyone trained too nicely. damnit.
Monday, July 4, 2011
i fail at this updating thing
so its been awhile since i updated...
berlin finished her NAJ at the trial - did i post that? im very happy with how she's working so far this year. we have come far, still have a lot to do but in about 6-8 weeks she's finished her BN, CD, NA and NAJ. she's made her debut in open standard and open jumpers, and later this month she will likely make her open obedience debut whether we are ready or not :) she will have fun, that's for sure!
training cherry continues to be frustratingly fun. she's a good dog, but just like all my other dogs i sat in that period of "i dont know what to do with her so i will do nothing" until my agility trainer kicked me in the butt. she's on her "ruff love" program right now since she has an unhealthy obsession with all the dobermans save rah (who has an unhealthy obsession with trying to bite her in her soft spots). this has proportionally increased her crate vocalization, but also her focus and willingness to work with me :) she's so smart and just a blast, i sometimes forget she's a baby dog. she's in her "super puppy" class, working on her sits and downs, baby heeling, im also incorporating her shadow handling for agility, baby contacts, front and rear crosses, baby go outs and marks. she LOVES her db like her big brother rah - in fact, she is almost a carbon of him but tempered - she can control herself, has some impulse control, a better awareness of her body, and just toned a bit. i dont want to lay all my hopes and dreams on her, but sometimes i get a glimpse that she could be everything i hoped rah could, but failed in his training and foundation.
rah shows in utility this month. in fact, he shows twice - im hoping that this will be the month that he finishes his UD. we're also for the first time in a long time, also going to be showing in open for a chance at UDX legs (when i entered these trials months ago, i had hoped to be finished already). he's doing well at training but again his articles are depending on what set he is using (???). i changed his glove 3 pivot footwork and words to remind him to slow himself down and it seems to be working, but his signals just went on autopilot and he just does them on his own. please god, wait for me. we shall see. im trying not to stress but ARE YOU THERE GOD ITS ME KIM ALL I WANT IS A UD ON THIS DOG PLEASE LET ME HAVE IT. ONCE WE GET THE UD LEG WE WILL RENEGOTIATE FOR FURTHER LEGS BUT IM DUE.
berlin is a pip. we got into the masters handling agility class - so for the first time in a year she's back in agility. we ran a baby course and she did a nice job but i did a shitty job handling her - we will get there. she didnt once leave me even though there were 3 new people and dogs there and i screwed up major a few times. im very happy with her. in obedience our heeling continues to have motivational issues - but with almost 2 months out, and now focusing on teaching utility i need to bring back her jackpot to heeling since it's been almost 3 months since she showed and had heavy work with it. her articles are coming along nicely - she's solidly in the midst of week 2 of ATC. signals and moving stand are nice for a baby. gloves... i dont know why my dog can't mark. why can't she stare? i took the glove out of the picture and brought in food and a white target and for the past two weeks we just worked on that and it's much better. go outs --- for a baby dog we're ok, but its frustrating because rah is so advanced sometimes its hard to remember he ever sucked. its berlin staring - she's not sure what to mark so sometimes she wanders and i think its a conflict of me telling her to look away and STARE when for so long i get on her case for doing just that - she's not allowed to look away from me and stare/lock onto other things, because that gets her flank pinches and tapped from me. its baby dog/confidence. we will get there. her open is coming along though, she's very cute and flashy when she's on!
mercury will forever be a work in progress. his fronts have been better but i stopped training him for 2 months and just brought him back out in the past few days, his drop and broad jump have been ok as well. just going to reward him like mad for staying with me on heeling and hope he holds out for one trial. and hope we only need one trial!!!!
and if you notice, yes, im training 4 dobermans. the training sessions are taking me 2-3 hours, and im not even getting everything i need in them done - its hard to do open AND utility and puppy dog stuff. i also worked some jump grids these past two days on berlin, as well as having her work the triple from a stand still (since she took the triple down in the last trial three times) to get those feeties up. its a lot to train 4 dogs at 4 different levels with 4 different temperaments...
berlin finished her NAJ at the trial - did i post that? im very happy with how she's working so far this year. we have come far, still have a lot to do but in about 6-8 weeks she's finished her BN, CD, NA and NAJ. she's made her debut in open standard and open jumpers, and later this month she will likely make her open obedience debut whether we are ready or not :) she will have fun, that's for sure!
training cherry continues to be frustratingly fun. she's a good dog, but just like all my other dogs i sat in that period of "i dont know what to do with her so i will do nothing" until my agility trainer kicked me in the butt. she's on her "ruff love" program right now since she has an unhealthy obsession with all the dobermans save rah (who has an unhealthy obsession with trying to bite her in her soft spots). this has proportionally increased her crate vocalization, but also her focus and willingness to work with me :) she's so smart and just a blast, i sometimes forget she's a baby dog. she's in her "super puppy" class, working on her sits and downs, baby heeling, im also incorporating her shadow handling for agility, baby contacts, front and rear crosses, baby go outs and marks. she LOVES her db like her big brother rah - in fact, she is almost a carbon of him but tempered - she can control herself, has some impulse control, a better awareness of her body, and just toned a bit. i dont want to lay all my hopes and dreams on her, but sometimes i get a glimpse that she could be everything i hoped rah could, but failed in his training and foundation.
rah shows in utility this month. in fact, he shows twice - im hoping that this will be the month that he finishes his UD. we're also for the first time in a long time, also going to be showing in open for a chance at UDX legs (when i entered these trials months ago, i had hoped to be finished already). he's doing well at training but again his articles are depending on what set he is using (???). i changed his glove 3 pivot footwork and words to remind him to slow himself down and it seems to be working, but his signals just went on autopilot and he just does them on his own. please god, wait for me. we shall see. im trying not to stress but ARE YOU THERE GOD ITS ME KIM ALL I WANT IS A UD ON THIS DOG PLEASE LET ME HAVE IT. ONCE WE GET THE UD LEG WE WILL RENEGOTIATE FOR FURTHER LEGS BUT IM DUE.
berlin is a pip. we got into the masters handling agility class - so for the first time in a year she's back in agility. we ran a baby course and she did a nice job but i did a shitty job handling her - we will get there. she didnt once leave me even though there were 3 new people and dogs there and i screwed up major a few times. im very happy with her. in obedience our heeling continues to have motivational issues - but with almost 2 months out, and now focusing on teaching utility i need to bring back her jackpot to heeling since it's been almost 3 months since she showed and had heavy work with it. her articles are coming along nicely - she's solidly in the midst of week 2 of ATC. signals and moving stand are nice for a baby. gloves... i dont know why my dog can't mark. why can't she stare? i took the glove out of the picture and brought in food and a white target and for the past two weeks we just worked on that and it's much better. go outs --- for a baby dog we're ok, but its frustrating because rah is so advanced sometimes its hard to remember he ever sucked. its berlin staring - she's not sure what to mark so sometimes she wanders and i think its a conflict of me telling her to look away and STARE when for so long i get on her case for doing just that - she's not allowed to look away from me and stare/lock onto other things, because that gets her flank pinches and tapped from me. its baby dog/confidence. we will get there. her open is coming along though, she's very cute and flashy when she's on!
mercury will forever be a work in progress. his fronts have been better but i stopped training him for 2 months and just brought him back out in the past few days, his drop and broad jump have been ok as well. just going to reward him like mad for staying with me on heeling and hope he holds out for one trial. and hope we only need one trial!!!!
and if you notice, yes, im training 4 dobermans. the training sessions are taking me 2-3 hours, and im not even getting everything i need in them done - its hard to do open AND utility and puppy dog stuff. i also worked some jump grids these past two days on berlin, as well as having her work the triple from a stand still (since she took the triple down in the last trial three times) to get those feeties up. its a lot to train 4 dogs at 4 different levels with 4 different temperaments...
Saturday, June 18, 2011
a good weekend so far
making the sleepings together
berlin rearranging her bed after she got to play in the hose
wait, HOW long until i run?
rah being overstimulated
berlin with her ribbons so far!
running agiity at JAG's new agility site for the trial this weekend - its hot as hell there. the flooring isn't bad, berlin isn't slipping and i love the sprint turf in the one site. virtually no air movement and while its not as hot as it would be outside, its still hot! id definitely still show there again tho and berlin seems to like the venue!!!
yesterday we missed a q in fast when she missed the teeter but nailed everything else.
in open standard i celebrated too soon and she took the last bar (bad handler) - hard course and only three dogs in open qualified, period!
but after 6 months, our drought is over and berlin q'd in jww and was a super star!!!!! it wasnt pretty and she broke her startline stay resulting in a refusal at jump three when she blew past me and we had to circle back to take the jump ... not the prettiest but it was a q!
this morning was day 2 - started out with novice fast, and she aced the run (in 14 seconds ha!) with 58 points to get her second NF leg for what has to be the fastest FAST leg ever. i wasnt going to try to get super points, i wanted in and out and no fancy stuff. we got out points and got out.
JWW - we had another startline problem but we managed to pull out another ugly Q for our TITLE!!! yes, we are forever done with that miserable class and moved up to open jumpers for tomorrow!!!!
open standard - i made two mistakes with her and they were all my own fault (calling her name over the triple so she turned midair and took a bar, i dropped my arm and didn't support a jump and she came in) but other than that she rocked it.
im very proud of her -she's running her heart out, in the heat, hasn't left me once, she's running super fast, she's running with me, she's running like a good girl!!!!!!
Monday, June 13, 2011
still here...
still here, still training.
cherry starting her puppy class. she was cute, if not utterly distracted. heck, at least she didn't scream through it like rah did his first class :)
berlin started teaching utility :) and she was back at agility - and worked her sunday back at 26 inches and she's been fine - which is good since she's entered this coming weekend.
a lot to write about but not enough time!!!
i leave you with bad blues.
cherry starting her puppy class. she was cute, if not utterly distracted. heck, at least she didn't scream through it like rah did his first class :)
berlin started teaching utility :) and she was back at agility - and worked her sunday back at 26 inches and she's been fine - which is good since she's entered this coming weekend.
a lot to write about but not enough time!!!
i leave you with bad blues.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
outside?
this past weekend rah showed (for the first time ever) outside in akc obedience... yeah, nothing like being almost 6 years old before you make your akc obedience debut outside.
the funny thing was, it wasnt that bad. except for the almost 90 degree heat (we were 5th in the ring, so we avoided the high heat and saturday was the nicest day of all of them, had an almost breeze) of course. i kept him and cherry (Who came to socialize and play - two of my favorite judges - betsy baird and phyllis broderick (whom you may recognize from my photo of rah's second leg!) have littermate springer pups that are 5 months old and they came to the show, as well as her fake littermate bc drake and they all got to play - anyway i kept them in the car with the sun shades and they did great, it was nice and cool and much nicer than any crate in the shade would have been! we were out of there by 11, and that included me staying to watch kathy show secret. i was actually done by 9:19 :)
s ironially all rah missed was an article. which isn't surprising, since he had lost all his confidence in articles outside after his craptastic training sessions the week prior - including some very unintentional heavy pressure at the pile including terry's feral cat and many other things. but doing everything else was nice - and just means we can show outside too. not sure i like that...
time to go to work. here's hoping we don't lose power again - which has happened about twice a day for 4-5 hours at a time each day. not so fun.
the funny thing was, it wasnt that bad. except for the almost 90 degree heat (we were 5th in the ring, so we avoided the high heat and saturday was the nicest day of all of them, had an almost breeze) of course. i kept him and cherry (Who came to socialize and play - two of my favorite judges - betsy baird and phyllis broderick (whom you may recognize from my photo of rah's second leg!) have littermate springer pups that are 5 months old and they came to the show, as well as her fake littermate bc drake and they all got to play - anyway i kept them in the car with the sun shades and they did great, it was nice and cool and much nicer than any crate in the shade would have been! we were out of there by 11, and that included me staying to watch kathy show secret. i was actually done by 9:19 :)
s ironially all rah missed was an article. which isn't surprising, since he had lost all his confidence in articles outside after his craptastic training sessions the week prior - including some very unintentional heavy pressure at the pile including terry's feral cat and many other things. but doing everything else was nice - and just means we can show outside too. not sure i like that...
time to go to work. here's hoping we don't lose power again - which has happened about twice a day for 4-5 hours at a time each day. not so fun.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
still here...
still here, just haven't been doing much.
rah showed last weekend in utility b. he did everything. but on directed jumping, he took the wrong jumps. don't get me wrong. he took them BOTH. so most people didn't realize we had NQ'd but he picked his first jump and picked wrong - i sent him to the left and he went to the right - so on the second jump i sent him over the wrong jump again just to get him to go to the left. which is good because he was so wound that he took off on the go out without me actually, but realized that i hadnt sent him and actually ran backwards back to my side two steps and sat down shaking waiting to run out. i could tell right then that this exercise was going to be an exercise in (lack of?) restraint. and sure enough, he turned, sat, and almost took the jump immediately - he got right up and almost jumped but sat back down and backed up to his go out spot probably because i almost yelled at him in the ring and the look on my face was one of absolute shock!, but he was focused on the wrong jump from the start.
this is becoming very frustrating for me and im starting to lose hope. i dont know, maybe it would be easier if he didnt understand or know what he was doing. i could almost make more excuses for him then, that he doesn't know his job. but its like every trial we are at, there's one little thing that i don't know how to explain, one teeny little thing (sometimes outside of my control). which i know is obedience in some respects - but the dog is so heavily trained and proofed, but im going broke showing the dog and its not coming together. i havent even been to training much these past two weeks because im getting frustrated with him and its not his fault, but im truly just getting pissed off. everyone else and their mother have UD's now on their dogs - and half these dogs are nowhere near as proofed or trained as rah, and DONT understand their job as much as him, but they still get the job done in the ring - but rah wont or cant in the ring. he's trying to do everything so exceptionally fast that he's not slowing it down enough to think about what im ACTUALLY asking him to do, instead of what he thinks he needs to do. he's having fun doing this, but having fun doesn't get UD legs. the judge was laughing at him so much in the ring and i just wanted to ask her to STOP because it just makes it worse for him - all the laughing just makes him put on more of a show and get stupider because it encourages him. and everyone just keeps telling me to stay calm and don't encourage him and i try so hard, i know i need to be a better handler.
he's entered this weekend, but its outside and it's been raining for 40 days and 40 nights - so im not hopeful that i will even get to show because the forecast has thunderstorms that day and i wont show him in a storm. much less jump him at 28 on wet grass.
sorry for the whiney post. i know all this is, is whining.
rah showed last weekend in utility b. he did everything. but on directed jumping, he took the wrong jumps. don't get me wrong. he took them BOTH. so most people didn't realize we had NQ'd but he picked his first jump and picked wrong - i sent him to the left and he went to the right - so on the second jump i sent him over the wrong jump again just to get him to go to the left. which is good because he was so wound that he took off on the go out without me actually, but realized that i hadnt sent him and actually ran backwards back to my side two steps and sat down shaking waiting to run out. i could tell right then that this exercise was going to be an exercise in (lack of?) restraint. and sure enough, he turned, sat, and almost took the jump immediately - he got right up and almost jumped but sat back down and backed up to his go out spot probably because i almost yelled at him in the ring and the look on my face was one of absolute shock!, but he was focused on the wrong jump from the start.
this is becoming very frustrating for me and im starting to lose hope. i dont know, maybe it would be easier if he didnt understand or know what he was doing. i could almost make more excuses for him then, that he doesn't know his job. but its like every trial we are at, there's one little thing that i don't know how to explain, one teeny little thing (sometimes outside of my control). which i know is obedience in some respects - but the dog is so heavily trained and proofed, but im going broke showing the dog and its not coming together. i havent even been to training much these past two weeks because im getting frustrated with him and its not his fault, but im truly just getting pissed off. everyone else and their mother have UD's now on their dogs - and half these dogs are nowhere near as proofed or trained as rah, and DONT understand their job as much as him, but they still get the job done in the ring - but rah wont or cant in the ring. he's trying to do everything so exceptionally fast that he's not slowing it down enough to think about what im ACTUALLY asking him to do, instead of what he thinks he needs to do. he's having fun doing this, but having fun doesn't get UD legs. the judge was laughing at him so much in the ring and i just wanted to ask her to STOP because it just makes it worse for him - all the laughing just makes him put on more of a show and get stupider because it encourages him. and everyone just keeps telling me to stay calm and don't encourage him and i try so hard, i know i need to be a better handler.
he's entered this weekend, but its outside and it's been raining for 40 days and 40 nights - so im not hopeful that i will even get to show because the forecast has thunderstorms that day and i wont show him in a storm. much less jump him at 28 on wet grass.
sorry for the whiney post. i know all this is, is whining.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
rahs one year post-stem cell check was today and all is awesome-sauce. so that is good news. he's currently holtered so we wil have those results soon.
all i want for his 6 year bday next month and my 31st is a UD :)
berlin is resting and today i have a consult with a vet friend of mine who is an acupuncturist/physical rehab person who will look at her and mercury and try to discern the source of their random pains.
hopefully for berlin shes just sore. this past weekend she took a slip on the turf at hatfield and landed pretty much on her shoulder while running. i can see how she's sore - combine that with the balls to the wall approach my entire house has towards playing with each other and i can see that lending itself towards being ouchy.
rah is entered in a show next weekend, and im entering him outside at the end of the month (WHAT??). im pulling berlin from all her trials this month.
some thoughts coming as to showing these beasts coming... lots of stuff formulating in my head. the puppy is good but crazy. and updates once i know what carrie says about whitey and blacky.
all i want for his 6 year bday next month and my 31st is a UD :)
berlin is resting and today i have a consult with a vet friend of mine who is an acupuncturist/physical rehab person who will look at her and mercury and try to discern the source of their random pains.
hopefully for berlin shes just sore. this past weekend she took a slip on the turf at hatfield and landed pretty much on her shoulder while running. i can see how she's sore - combine that with the balls to the wall approach my entire house has towards playing with each other and i can see that lending itself towards being ouchy.
rah is entered in a show next weekend, and im entering him outside at the end of the month (WHAT??). im pulling berlin from all her trials this month.
some thoughts coming as to showing these beasts coming... lots of stuff formulating in my head. the puppy is good but crazy. and updates once i know what carrie says about whitey and blacky.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
while this should be a happy post, about how berlin had a good weekend at the agility trial - got her first open standard leg, blah blah blah - instead its sad because she's on rest and she's injured somehow and she's being pulled from everything for the next month. where rah bit her last month he hit her patella and there's chronic changes that we're hoping rest will bring down the inflammation (but its mostly just cosmetic in the odd look to her knee at this point, since it doesnt seem to actually bother her, ive just noticed the swelling), but she's also got random pain???? somewhere in the left front and we can't pinpoint it - she had an orthopod and a neurologist check her out, and thursday the physical rehabber will check her out and see where we go from here. it started monday morning and got worse throughout the day. she's drugged up on the couch next to me and ive already started emailing to pull all her entries...
Sunday, April 24, 2011
another HS dobe
but no UD... rah rah missed a sit signal due to some screaming outside the ring (excuses...).. but the rest of the class he worked was lovely, and its all coming together. maybe tomorrow!
but berlin finished her CD with an ok class, took 4th place and was HS doberman in trial today!
berlin isnt too unhappy she didnt win a platter, instead she won a FRISBEE!!!!!!!!
miss dependable qualified all the classes she was entered in this weekend, finished TWO titles, and placed 2 of the four classes she was in! im very proud of her, she is OFFICIALLY done with all novice classes !!! onto open!
Saturday, April 23, 2011
dancing in the streets
mercury went down on his out of sight sits with 14 seconds left berlin got the second leg of her CD with a shitty score and she's getting worse by the day but you know what
WHO CARES BECAUSE RAH RAH GOT
ANOTHER UD LEG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHO CARES BECAUSE RAH RAH GOT
ANOTHER UD LEG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Friday, April 22, 2011
dobe specialty (cherry blossom day one)
soooo close. soooo very close. i wish one of those ribbons was from utility!!! every class but utility folks, every class.
good day. i feel like crap still. got the show site set everyone up and tried not to die. was back in the hotel by 2 pm and slept until 7:30 (WHOA????since i dont do middle of the day sleeping!) and just grabbed some soup and a frosty for my throat and now im going to take more nyquil and going back to bed - passed out dinner and bully sticks to the dogs and we're done.
so yes, everyone did well. well, its a relative term. the show site is HARD. dobe obedience is on first while everyone is still loading and unloading, and its right by all the doors. excuses, but its hard nonetheless. locationwise, at least.
rah went first. heeling was rough, he was all over the place. i dont think he brought his head up ONCE to look at me, knocked me all over the place. i need to verbally tell him what we are going to be doing more. but he did them!!! lovely.
articles - on the second pivot to the article pile he hit the chair so he didn't sit. but he did both articles - though don thought it had the wrong article???? so he followed him in.
gloves. gloves gloves gloves. argh. we had glove 2. i for some reason pivoted really poorly and rah took glove three. argh.
moving stand was fine.
go outs - first one was lovely. second one he pulled up so i tried to fix it, but it didnt go as planned :) it would have been qualifying but he already NQ'd...
so, just one glove. ONE GLOVE!!!! but he did utility, under a man!!!! and he almost q'd - it was much nicer. he ddnt know for sure where to mark for go outs, but i backed him out and remarked it and it was better. im very pleased. slightly concerned about the pulling up short on the second one, but i can fix that tomorrow (hopefully if its not raining i can set up a ring outside - its raining today so i didnt want to do it).
open B was next - to freak me out, they did open b and a stays together, so i had to find someone to handle rah. rah was a lunatic in open B too. again, the heeling. the heeling. his other exercises weren't bad, except that he raced don on a rethrow to the db because he didnt tell me "exercise finished". enthusiastic as always. going to the right on the fig8 isnt going to work because he wasnt sure what was going on. we lost 8 pts on heeling!!!!!!!!! but he q'd - sue ann took him in for stays. no placement because he sucked.
mercury in open a - outside the ring he cried during warmup but i didnt want to be too into what hurt, he was walking fine. didnt stress the sits tho. and i didnt get a SINGLE SIT on the heeling. in fact, he was so freaked by don, i had to give a second heel command. 15 points on off leash. BUT HE DID EVERY EXERCISE. and he held his sit stay to be the loooone qualifier in open A and even though he had a shit score, its still a second leg!!!!! i knew i had to take him in for stays instead of rah, since he ahd no chance of doing stays for someone else... rah was very confused tho.
berlin for novice. i have to jazz her up more. she wasnt paying attention to me for on leash and we lost 8 points for on leash heeling. ON LEASH! how far can she get? she had swivel head and stared everywhere but me. fig8 was better, sfe fine, and off leash she finally kicked in! she did fine for stays and got her first CD leg and af irst place as well !!!! and she also got first in beginner novice to finish her BN....
so, all in all a very good day. 4/5 and three first places. IM FEELING A UTILITY Q coming this weekend, I JUST KNOW IT.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
all my bags are packed
(well actually they arent)
leaving tonight or sometime for the timonium MD cherry blossum cluster with the big dobes today. im terribly sick - started monday night. huge head cold, neck hurts, draining my brains from my nose, coughing, sore throat, you name it. taking drugs galore.
didnt even train the dogs this week so far - will be interesting. but im confident in the dogs that we can do this. WE CAN.
i dont know what im thinking showing three dogs in three classes (FIVE on friday!) ... eek.
three varikennels
(2 500s, 1 400)
4 soft crates
ring gates/stanchions
full set of jumps for utility
four sets of articles
full training bag with 3 dbs
chuckit with spare tennis balls
four flexis
and now i just have to pack myself up. but first another nap, since i feel like crapola.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
ahhh... shows coming up and on wednesday both boys couldnt remember how to do everything. mercury broke broad jump (wait, we've never finished after the jump), rah broke articles (i dont know what you want me to do and i know there's 40 articles out there i will bring you back all leather la la la la la la la la NO none have your scent what are you talking about here's another leather!) both were just dumb. nothing like seeing in front of your eyes 300 dollars of entries being flushed...
thursday was better, both boys did their jobs and it was significantly improved. berlin was steady and good both days.
my trainers have said there is nothing else to do for rah :) im not sure that makes me happy or sad, ha! they said they have proofed this dog past the proofing of any other dog, he's proofed as far as any OTCH dog. the problem is me, and him. he doesn't think in the ring - the ring simply isn't hard enough, so he's not paying atention- he can let his mind wander because no one challenges him - he gets into the thought of "oh isn't this easy" and he stops thinking. and then i get frantic and make it worse.
think i can ask the judge to walk in his path for go outs, or touch him on signals? maybe push him on moving stand or talk to him on articles?
im leaving the baby home (aka, rah's minime) and just taking the big dobes - rah needs all his faculties with him and its hard enough having mercury, one dog he hates, there. but cherrybomb is really so much like rah its almost eerie sometime. she is picking up his mannerisms and she's sooooo much like him its adorable. i love her and i hope she turns out to be the dog i want her to be.
thursday was better, both boys did their jobs and it was significantly improved. berlin was steady and good both days.
my trainers have said there is nothing else to do for rah :) im not sure that makes me happy or sad, ha! they said they have proofed this dog past the proofing of any other dog, he's proofed as far as any OTCH dog. the problem is me, and him. he doesn't think in the ring - the ring simply isn't hard enough, so he's not paying atention- he can let his mind wander because no one challenges him - he gets into the thought of "oh isn't this easy" and he stops thinking. and then i get frantic and make it worse.
think i can ask the judge to walk in his path for go outs, or touch him on signals? maybe push him on moving stand or talk to him on articles?
im leaving the baby home (aka, rah's minime) and just taking the big dobes - rah needs all his faculties with him and its hard enough having mercury, one dog he hates, there. but cherrybomb is really so much like rah its almost eerie sometime. she is picking up his mannerisms and she's sooooo much like him its adorable. i love her and i hope she turns out to be the dog i want her to be.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
can't believe im even writing this...
but its good news!!! there's a new dog in the house :)
wasn't supposed to be. there was no puppy for me in kathy's litter. no dog at all. i was resigned that this wasn't the right time.
then a week and a half ago i got the message on facebook (OF ALL PLACES) from sophia (the vet who cropped berlin, OF ALL PEOPLE) - that there was a couple of all natural blue puppies that needed a home asap, did i want one?
um, do you have to ask me twice?
see, two weeks ago all of a sudden people were throwing dobermans at me left and right. people were throwing older fawn females in shelters on LI at me. people were throwing me 1 year old twitchy red females in rescues (i did look at her). a litter of blues born in rescue 2 weeks ago (offered me a pup from this litter too). a breeder even emailed me asking me if she bred a litter, did i want one because she would have the potential to make blues, it would be a CH/Sch I male bred to an almost MACH female. all of a sudden i had options...
then i went and saw this little female.
now, this little one isn't a definite. if for some reason she doesnt work out, im willing to rehome her if the need be, but honestly i dont see how it wont work. she's crazy. she's a spitfire. she's rah 2.0 (this upgrade seems to be the same, just includes tail but comes without a penis). she loves food. loves to tug. loves people. huge sense of humor. but for now im taking her, seeing how it works.
her "breeder" wanted to experience the miracle of life with his kids so he bred blue to blue to make... you guessed it, blues. and surprise surprise there isn't a huge demand for all natural blue puppies so all of a sudden at 8 weeks old there wasnt a lot to do with 4 remaining all natural blue bitches. his parents took 2 of the females and when i drove up they were on the deck in the rain :(
she's handled everything in stride - except the crate. she is drama with a capital D with the crate, though she is getting better. most of her training has involved that, since its non-negotiable that she go in the crate here. she is super-respectful of rah which is how she survives since he took a hit out on her from first site (he is not so fond of puppies. or dogs. or, well, anything, mr crankypants) and with a flick of his lip can levitate her from 3 feet away though he has never actually laid any tooth upon her blue blue hide. we have no blue on blue action here, though berlin is perplexed why she will not play with her (probably because berlin is psychotic and moves way too fast).
her name is cherrybomb. and she will be ILP'd as...
Bowie's Here Comes the Boom
(wait, i guess that means i kinda plan on keeping her... ?????) no it means if i DO keep her i just happen to have a name.
and about 120000 nicknames already.
she is learning crate games and impulse control. and she learned to wave. and today she will learn to spin and pivot and speak i think.
she's a goddamned pistol and im pretty sure she's staying, because im pretty sure this is the competition dog ive been looking for. im going to grow her out until 6 months old, but she's unflappable. she has been to puppy class, an obedience match, to work, to strangers houses, to the vet, you name it - NOTHING phases her. (except rah).
AND YES SHE"S KEEPING HER EARS AND TAIL FOREVER AND EVER.
(unless i shut her tail in a door).
Sunday, March 27, 2011
and the name of this pity party shall be
i suck.
everyone else got UD's this weekend but me (shut up, i know rah wasn't even entered in obedience, yes there are 6 trials but i was shut out of 2 trials for living with a judge who was judging, 1 trial had a shitty judge, and then sat/sun had 3 trials and i opted to show in agility...)
and then yesterday i totally fucked up berlin and she could have qualified but it was all my fault and i dont know how to handle her any better. every time something goes wrong she still takes her stress trot away from me to go visit and I HATE THAT. i dont know the rules (clearly) for the four paw rule because i thought berlin did it because she bailed off the teeter because she approached it sideways and actually jumped it and then put herself cutely on it the WRONG way and nailed a 2o/2o ha ha ha and because she did it twice i walked her off... the judge said later because she did it herself and i never told her that she wasnt going to call it. but we had already NQ'd at that point with an off course double. lydia said i got the benefit of the doubt with the four paw rule because we were in novice. oh well.
in jumpers we were q'ing up until she visited the corner sign and backjumped to get to me :( damnit STOP VISITING.
i guess i just feel really frustrated because everyone else has what appears to be worse trained dogs than me, but their dogs get the job done. and here i am with doberdorks 1 and 2, who cant get a leg between the two of them to save their lives.
AM I JUST A CRAPPY HANDLER?
and now im overanalyzing berlins issues ...
everyone else got UD's this weekend but me (shut up, i know rah wasn't even entered in obedience, yes there are 6 trials but i was shut out of 2 trials for living with a judge who was judging, 1 trial had a shitty judge, and then sat/sun had 3 trials and i opted to show in agility...)
and then yesterday i totally fucked up berlin and she could have qualified but it was all my fault and i dont know how to handle her any better. every time something goes wrong she still takes her stress trot away from me to go visit and I HATE THAT. i dont know the rules (clearly) for the four paw rule because i thought berlin did it because she bailed off the teeter because she approached it sideways and actually jumped it and then put herself cutely on it the WRONG way and nailed a 2o/2o ha ha ha and because she did it twice i walked her off... the judge said later because she did it herself and i never told her that she wasnt going to call it. but we had already NQ'd at that point with an off course double. lydia said i got the benefit of the doubt with the four paw rule because we were in novice. oh well.
in jumpers we were q'ing up until she visited the corner sign and backjumped to get to me :( damnit STOP VISITING.
i guess i just feel really frustrated because everyone else has what appears to be worse trained dogs than me, but their dogs get the job done. and here i am with doberdorks 1 and 2, who cant get a leg between the two of them to save their lives.
AM I JUST A CRAPPY HANDLER?
and now im overanalyzing berlins issues ...
Saturday, March 19, 2011
just a little frustrated.
i know i still need to post about a lot of stuff, including berlins CD and another UD leg for rah.
last night after work my trainers invited me to do some training with them when they worked their own dogs. we just did our own thing - the arcade in our shopping center is having a donkey kong tournament because its the 30th anniversary and there are tons of gamers there, so its actually a good distraction, rah was all over the place.
and he couldnt do go outs. im so disappointed - he was in his own building, to a wall he trains to, and for 2 of the go outs he couldnt get his mark. i was so frustrated and it makes me feel like hes never going to get this darned UD.
ARGH.
they kept reminding me hes a baby dog and these are baby dog mistakes, these are things green dogs make and i can absolutely see that what happens is rah starts to think about things outside the ring then because he knows hes not focusing, he overfocuses and he confuses himself about what his job is - he overthinks and forgets.
ugh.
i know i still need to post about a lot of stuff, including berlins CD and another UD leg for rah.
last night after work my trainers invited me to do some training with them when they worked their own dogs. we just did our own thing - the arcade in our shopping center is having a donkey kong tournament because its the 30th anniversary and there are tons of gamers there, so its actually a good distraction, rah was all over the place.
and he couldnt do go outs. im so disappointed - he was in his own building, to a wall he trains to, and for 2 of the go outs he couldnt get his mark. i was so frustrated and it makes me feel like hes never going to get this darned UD.
ARGH.
they kept reminding me hes a baby dog and these are baby dog mistakes, these are things green dogs make and i can absolutely see that what happens is rah starts to think about things outside the ring then because he knows hes not focusing, he overfocuses and he confuses himself about what his job is - he overthinks and forgets.
ugh.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
agility private
a lot to post about - obedience training for wed and thurs, the agility private, and the trials from the weekend.
but im going to start with the agility private.
here are the courses i ran - this isn't the best copy of what i ran - my drawing isnt wonderful, my photo isnt clear...
this was all us, all hour. it was rough and after 50 minutes we were definitely tired!
sherrie had a lot of good input for us - both on technical stuff and skills, and relationship stuff. she said use food less and tugs more, since berlin is so toy and motion oriented. i had berlin hold her in between when i walked since she cries and doesnt like the crates there - and she wont hold a down stay sometimes. also, when im not working her if she walks or gets sniffy if she gets away from me she wants me to get a tug toy and just run straight away from her - no big to do, no calling her - literally just go and hide, all the fun disappears. berlin was likE WTF ARE YOU DOING MOM. her attitude totally changed. i stopped using toys with rah because getting them out of his mouth was a battle and a half - so we worked that this weekend at the show too, so we reintroduced that as well...
running was ok - i need to not be so frantic and slow down - running faster isnt going to get me ahead of her and get her cues in faster, it just hypes her up and because im running so fast and trying to outrace her, it shoots her past where she needs to be.
the other thing i keep doing is staring at her and watching her, instead of giving her cues and verbalizing to her what needs to be done. watching her and waiting and seeing if she's going to come in and come to me, instead of saying to her "over" or whatever... of course, without instruction as to what comes next im leaving her in a vaccuum...
bad handler!!!!
but im going to start with the agility private.
here are the courses i ran - this isn't the best copy of what i ran - my drawing isnt wonderful, my photo isnt clear...
this was all us, all hour. it was rough and after 50 minutes we were definitely tired!
sherrie had a lot of good input for us - both on technical stuff and skills, and relationship stuff. she said use food less and tugs more, since berlin is so toy and motion oriented. i had berlin hold her in between when i walked since she cries and doesnt like the crates there - and she wont hold a down stay sometimes. also, when im not working her if she walks or gets sniffy if she gets away from me she wants me to get a tug toy and just run straight away from her - no big to do, no calling her - literally just go and hide, all the fun disappears. berlin was likE WTF ARE YOU DOING MOM. her attitude totally changed. i stopped using toys with rah because getting them out of his mouth was a battle and a half - so we worked that this weekend at the show too, so we reintroduced that as well...
running was ok - i need to not be so frantic and slow down - running faster isnt going to get me ahead of her and get her cues in faster, it just hypes her up and because im running so fast and trying to outrace her, it shoots her past where she needs to be.
the other thing i keep doing is staring at her and watching her, instead of giving her cues and verbalizing to her what needs to be done. watching her and waiting and seeing if she's going to come in and come to me, instead of saying to her "over" or whatever... of course, without instruction as to what comes next im leaving her in a vaccuum...
bad handler!!!!
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
even more belated
i have to update with all the details but --
RAH RAH got another UD leg with a first place and a 195 sunday morning, and berlin finished her asca CD with 4th place, winning a run off!!!!!
so proud of them both!!!!
RAH RAH got another UD leg with a first place and a 195 sunday morning, and berlin finished her asca CD with 4th place, winning a run off!!!!!
so proud of them both!!!!
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
no puppy for kim
well, secret had the litter. if you can call your singleton litter a litter :) kathy moved her clan into my house last weekend, and we've been doing very well here (my dog number is INSANELY HIGH right now, but you'd really never know it thank you for training - the worst is sometimes we get barking when one dog makes some noise and its actually less than normal because rah is on his best behavior) - rah is in trauma mode because kathy is here and she makes him work for everything! you should see the sad eyes he gives sometimes - is she STILL here mom?
thursday was the start of the due date, secret had no signs of labor. same with friday. i had cautioned kathy that there may be no way she would have the litter - we knew there was only one puppy and he was large and even if secret could pass him vaginally, theres a really good chance that one puppy doesn't stimulate enough labor to make it happen. friday we monitored fetal heart rate and it was stable, but saturday it started to drop and he was nearing distress, so we went to c-section. one little puppy was born at 11:30 or so and he's doing well. we brought him home about 2 pm and secret's been... an ok mom :) lets him nurse but still not so sure she wants to clean this baby.
then yesterday afternoon my friends dobe litter (literally 4 min down the road) and she stopped at 4-5 babies - we knew there were more in there, so at 6:30 i went and gave some oxytocin - 2 more came out. and then more. and more! ive never been so wrong on an xray before... it was amazing. 10 babies - and we decided that since brandy as a young first time momma with a huge litter, and secret as a first time momma with a small litter, both the mothers and the babies would be benefitted to have the litter of dobes split up so i took 3 dobe babies back to my house...
they are nursing well this morning. secret still doesnt want to clean them much so thats our job for now. hopefully she kicks in soon. yesterday she was still a little dopey from the csection, today she is much more herself.
im mixed emotions about there being no baby bc for me. part of me is sad that there isnt one - this was the litter i was waiting for, and seeing the xray hurt a little bit - so many plans for this little baby. so many accomplishments, going out into the ring and wowing the people. all the little training things i was going to do, all the changes i was going to make and do differently from my other dogs, fix all the mistakes. so many hopes and aspirations. i had second pick out of this litter, it would have been born in my house, my trainer would hand pick and hand raise this pup with me. multiple OTCH trainer, no less. we had our weekends of travelling up to terri arnold already planned for puppy lessons!
but part of me is relieved. for selfish and not so selfish reasons. first and foremost, i dont need another dog, not really. i mean,i know something could happen to rah at any time and then what... but i dont need to replace him. i have two dogs i can actively train and show right now. they are more than enough, one is showing and training in two sports. i have two dogs i can barely afford to campaign, ha! financially i can afford the dog, but it would be tight no doubt because of all the sports and training and showing - i can cut back LESS now that theres no pup coming. and part of me still felt guilty about not getting a dobe - because they will forever be my favorite, my heart breed. they will the breed i want the most, the breed that catches me and makes me yearn to own them. they are also going to be th ehardest one to train and work probably, and the hardest to find the type of dog i want, but ill get there.
so i guess ill just wait for now - wait and see how things play out. the right dog is going to find me in the future. i checked out 3 dobes in the past year and none of them were the right one. clearly this litter of bcs wasnt going to give me the right one. two people have already told me now that there's no puppy that they didnt think this was the right time anyway and i needed to focus on berlin and rah, and they are right - we're on the cusp of a UD with noodle and berlin is JUST coming into her own right now and we're just setting into our relationship with the princess.
but i will tell you now that i have dobe babies in the house it may be hard to turn one of them away, haha! its why i took reds!!!!!!
thursday was the start of the due date, secret had no signs of labor. same with friday. i had cautioned kathy that there may be no way she would have the litter - we knew there was only one puppy and he was large and even if secret could pass him vaginally, theres a really good chance that one puppy doesn't stimulate enough labor to make it happen. friday we monitored fetal heart rate and it was stable, but saturday it started to drop and he was nearing distress, so we went to c-section. one little puppy was born at 11:30 or so and he's doing well. we brought him home about 2 pm and secret's been... an ok mom :) lets him nurse but still not so sure she wants to clean this baby.
then yesterday afternoon my friends dobe litter (literally 4 min down the road) and she stopped at 4-5 babies - we knew there were more in there, so at 6:30 i went and gave some oxytocin - 2 more came out. and then more. and more! ive never been so wrong on an xray before... it was amazing. 10 babies - and we decided that since brandy as a young first time momma with a huge litter, and secret as a first time momma with a small litter, both the mothers and the babies would be benefitted to have the litter of dobes split up so i took 3 dobe babies back to my house...
they are nursing well this morning. secret still doesnt want to clean them much so thats our job for now. hopefully she kicks in soon. yesterday she was still a little dopey from the csection, today she is much more herself.
im mixed emotions about there being no baby bc for me. part of me is sad that there isnt one - this was the litter i was waiting for, and seeing the xray hurt a little bit - so many plans for this little baby. so many accomplishments, going out into the ring and wowing the people. all the little training things i was going to do, all the changes i was going to make and do differently from my other dogs, fix all the mistakes. so many hopes and aspirations. i had second pick out of this litter, it would have been born in my house, my trainer would hand pick and hand raise this pup with me. multiple OTCH trainer, no less. we had our weekends of travelling up to terri arnold already planned for puppy lessons!
but part of me is relieved. for selfish and not so selfish reasons. first and foremost, i dont need another dog, not really. i mean,i know something could happen to rah at any time and then what... but i dont need to replace him. i have two dogs i can actively train and show right now. they are more than enough, one is showing and training in two sports. i have two dogs i can barely afford to campaign, ha! financially i can afford the dog, but it would be tight no doubt because of all the sports and training and showing - i can cut back LESS now that theres no pup coming. and part of me still felt guilty about not getting a dobe - because they will forever be my favorite, my heart breed. they will the breed i want the most, the breed that catches me and makes me yearn to own them. they are also going to be th ehardest one to train and work probably, and the hardest to find the type of dog i want, but ill get there.
so i guess ill just wait for now - wait and see how things play out. the right dog is going to find me in the future. i checked out 3 dobes in the past year and none of them were the right one. clearly this litter of bcs wasnt going to give me the right one. two people have already told me now that there's no puppy that they didnt think this was the right time anyway and i needed to focus on berlin and rah, and they are right - we're on the cusp of a UD with noodle and berlin is JUST coming into her own right now and we're just setting into our relationship with the princess.
but i will tell you now that i have dobe babies in the house it may be hard to turn one of them away, haha! its why i took reds!!!!!!
Thursday, February 24, 2011
a wednesday night revisit
well, stayed home for part of last night because kathy was nervous that secret would whelp her litter - i knew she wasnt going to , but to make kathy feel better i hung back for a bit. as a result, i only took rah to class (he's the only one officially entered anyway) for utility and left every other dog home. i felt bad leaving berlin "home alone" as i said it, since i took rah - then lydia scoffed because with kathy currently here we had 6 dogs (and one unborn), and 4 cats here with her when i took rah - hardly alone :)
the puppy is a sad story - it looks like secret only has one pup. a gigantic one, that may need a csection but only one. we keep hoping against hope there is a hidden one in there for me, but i dont think thats really likely. of course, having any puppy at all is amazing since the timing and obstacles to this breeding were immense and ridiculous, any puppy is a miracle. still its sad. if no pup, ill likely hold off and not get anything this year since i dont NEED anything this year i can focus on trialing the two dogs i already cant afford to show as much as i would like :)
speaking of, need to enter both dogs in trials coming up - rah needs his next batch of obedience, and i just sent in some more entries for berlin.
i got closed out of dauphins thursday trial (what?) - actually waitlisted, but im not holding my breath.
i got wait listed for sat 3/26, but into sundays trial 3/27 at dream park.
just sent an entry in for keystone on 4/8 and 4/9 --- hopefully i get in since i forgot and mailed them this morning.
i hate that good trials close out so early...
im going to enter rah in the first day of timonium since its a dobe specialty - i just cant decide if i should stay down for additional days of obedience. the judges there are a GREAT panel for him, so i think i should suck it up and spend the money for a hotel and just show him. im hesitant only because ill have both boy dogs and berlin with me - while i can HANDLE all three dobes just fine, i hate having to bring mercury into a hotel room alone since he is legitimately going to spend the entire time in a crate he's at this show. maybe ill bring him an expen so he can have half the hotel room, or something. lydia isnt coming to this show as far as i know...
class last night was ok. kathy was understandably a little distracted so we kept it quick. started with articles - and rah nailed them ON THE OLD ARTICLES. apparently he cannot, cannot CANNOT scent his new articles which means its not a me problem or a him problem, these articles, despite after airing for a week, being washed twice, and me scenting multiple times, are still stinky. i love them but i cant use them!!!!! so back to washing daily and scenting daily - scenting HEAVILY - until he can do them. its not his fault, clearly hes smelling something odd out there - but on the old articles he's nailing them quickly and working the pile. the newer articles he fakes working the pile...
moving stand was lovely - he even added in a cute little hop, but he locked in. very very nice.
go outs - very nice go outs - crooked on one, he straightened himself on the other. i gave him his ball and he pulled up short (halfway) on the other because i had just stopped him tugging, had his ball still in my hand, and he was crazed in "ball la la land" - he was staring waiting for it. i took him, popped him out and reminded him what i wanted. next one pulled up short again (but pulled up at gait, instead of driving until i turned him) - i popped him and he beat the pop going out the last few feet.
the last go out? a thing of BEAUTY. he ran - RAN - out there - and was running his heart out and showed no signs of slowing and i turned and sat him and we had a PARTY!!! as kathy said - THAT is what a go out looks like.
i kept the ball out - figured if it gets him so amped up that he has trouble thinking, thats exactly the sort of state i need to train him in. did signals and he had a few problems focusing on me and not the ball, and did get corrected once for walking when he was thinking about karin running with simon and not me, but we worked through it and he did nice signals with ears on the top of his head.
gloves were funny as he came closer and saw that his ball was under my chin his ears went higher and he started to shake in anticipation of getting it. im going to make him come in closer to get the glove (and maybe his article though he doesnt come in and sit out that far for them) - i can see him getting further and further with his prize in the ring :)
all in all nothing bad. some ideas...
the puppy is a sad story - it looks like secret only has one pup. a gigantic one, that may need a csection but only one. we keep hoping against hope there is a hidden one in there for me, but i dont think thats really likely. of course, having any puppy at all is amazing since the timing and obstacles to this breeding were immense and ridiculous, any puppy is a miracle. still its sad. if no pup, ill likely hold off and not get anything this year since i dont NEED anything this year i can focus on trialing the two dogs i already cant afford to show as much as i would like :)
speaking of, need to enter both dogs in trials coming up - rah needs his next batch of obedience, and i just sent in some more entries for berlin.
i got closed out of dauphins thursday trial (what?) - actually waitlisted, but im not holding my breath.
i got wait listed for sat 3/26, but into sundays trial 3/27 at dream park.
just sent an entry in for keystone on 4/8 and 4/9 --- hopefully i get in since i forgot and mailed them this morning.
i hate that good trials close out so early...
im going to enter rah in the first day of timonium since its a dobe specialty - i just cant decide if i should stay down for additional days of obedience. the judges there are a GREAT panel for him, so i think i should suck it up and spend the money for a hotel and just show him. im hesitant only because ill have both boy dogs and berlin with me - while i can HANDLE all three dobes just fine, i hate having to bring mercury into a hotel room alone since he is legitimately going to spend the entire time in a crate he's at this show. maybe ill bring him an expen so he can have half the hotel room, or something. lydia isnt coming to this show as far as i know...
class last night was ok. kathy was understandably a little distracted so we kept it quick. started with articles - and rah nailed them ON THE OLD ARTICLES. apparently he cannot, cannot CANNOT scent his new articles which means its not a me problem or a him problem, these articles, despite after airing for a week, being washed twice, and me scenting multiple times, are still stinky. i love them but i cant use them!!!!! so back to washing daily and scenting daily - scenting HEAVILY - until he can do them. its not his fault, clearly hes smelling something odd out there - but on the old articles he's nailing them quickly and working the pile. the newer articles he fakes working the pile...
moving stand was lovely - he even added in a cute little hop, but he locked in. very very nice.
go outs - very nice go outs - crooked on one, he straightened himself on the other. i gave him his ball and he pulled up short (halfway) on the other because i had just stopped him tugging, had his ball still in my hand, and he was crazed in "ball la la land" - he was staring waiting for it. i took him, popped him out and reminded him what i wanted. next one pulled up short again (but pulled up at gait, instead of driving until i turned him) - i popped him and he beat the pop going out the last few feet.
the last go out? a thing of BEAUTY. he ran - RAN - out there - and was running his heart out and showed no signs of slowing and i turned and sat him and we had a PARTY!!! as kathy said - THAT is what a go out looks like.
i kept the ball out - figured if it gets him so amped up that he has trouble thinking, thats exactly the sort of state i need to train him in. did signals and he had a few problems focusing on me and not the ball, and did get corrected once for walking when he was thinking about karin running with simon and not me, but we worked through it and he did nice signals with ears on the top of his head.
gloves were funny as he came closer and saw that his ball was under my chin his ears went higher and he started to shake in anticipation of getting it. im going to make him come in closer to get the glove (and maybe his article though he doesnt come in and sit out that far for them) - i can see him getting further and further with his prize in the ring :)
all in all nothing bad. some ideas...
Sunday, February 20, 2011
agility
had obedience this week - nothing spectacular that i want to post about - both dogs are entered in an ASCA trial in a few weeks (2 maybe?) ...
berlin had another private agility lesson.
the first lesson we worked on basics and foundation - coming to side without crossing my lines, reading my cues. for her its really going to be important to focus on cues and being consistent and clear - if i dont send her or call her over something, she cant take it. and she NEVER gets to do a tunnel unless i tell her :)
things to work on:
1) re-enforce stays where she is in sit and i walk past her, then run past her, then front cross her.
2) take that on the road and add it into a contact - and peel off, get lateral distance.
3) work on her foundation positions again to really focus on her reading the cues quickly and cleanly - coming to side, lateral send, forward sends.
4) impulse control (HA) - sherrie said start playing some crate games with her. neither of my dogs have any impulse control (i could have told her this)
5) shadow handling around tunnels -first on leash, slow, far away - and then increase speed, off leash and closer - and she CANNOT take the tunnels. then introduce her taking some tunnels and not others.
6) we also worked on some desensitization protocols with her reactivity when she's working alone and strangers enter the barn - i see it at trials where a long person will be hanging over a gate. in large groups she doesn't notice or care about the people, but in situations where one person is easily visible and prominent, its much worse. feed feed feed.
obviously this trainer is a positive based trainer, and i will give things a try. berlin already has the foundation of crate games, i just never continued.
afterwards we ran a course that was pretty cool and she did fairly well
i cant make a pic of it on this computer since i dont know what programs i have (i just got a mac!) but heres a facebook photo :)
sherrie said if i didnt need to stay close to 3/4 then i should just send her - and she was right - being too close meant she extended over three and had to curl back in, when i wasnt running so hard towards her she didnt push so hard out and had a much better natural line to the aframe.
here we discovered that while if i babysit her contacts shes golden, if i move on she hits the contact then self releases - oops!
we discussed where i wanted to do the landing side front cross at 5, and she made me think :) and then i did as much of a forward send as i could get to the tunnel at 8 so that i could get my but nearer to 9-10 and call her to me (and away from her love the tunnel she came out facing). we had trouble with the rear cross into the weaves because i personally had trouble walking the fine line of having her drive to the poles but not pop her out, v. hanging back so she doesn't feel my pressure but being too far back so she stopped and looked for me and said, huh?
worked that out (had to remember not to do the front cross after the poles too soon or i pulled her out) and needed to stay closer to the poles so that i could have a nice line from the poles to the far side of the tunnel, then took off and called her through the jumps to the tunnel again.
i picked her up with a blind cross at the end of the tunnel and turned her on my left from there to the far side of the other tunnel, then took off for the dog walk, making sure to have NO motion at all towards the tunnel discrimination.
so thats the course... i wish i had some videos. need to plan another lesson soon - kinda in a stand still since im whelping a litter for my trainer - but sad because it appears that there's only one puppy in there, which will be hers obviously! we will try to have some hope for a miracle :)
berlin had another private agility lesson.
the first lesson we worked on basics and foundation - coming to side without crossing my lines, reading my cues. for her its really going to be important to focus on cues and being consistent and clear - if i dont send her or call her over something, she cant take it. and she NEVER gets to do a tunnel unless i tell her :)
things to work on:
1) re-enforce stays where she is in sit and i walk past her, then run past her, then front cross her.
2) take that on the road and add it into a contact - and peel off, get lateral distance.
3) work on her foundation positions again to really focus on her reading the cues quickly and cleanly - coming to side, lateral send, forward sends.
4) impulse control (HA) - sherrie said start playing some crate games with her. neither of my dogs have any impulse control (i could have told her this)
5) shadow handling around tunnels -first on leash, slow, far away - and then increase speed, off leash and closer - and she CANNOT take the tunnels. then introduce her taking some tunnels and not others.
6) we also worked on some desensitization protocols with her reactivity when she's working alone and strangers enter the barn - i see it at trials where a long person will be hanging over a gate. in large groups she doesn't notice or care about the people, but in situations where one person is easily visible and prominent, its much worse. feed feed feed.
obviously this trainer is a positive based trainer, and i will give things a try. berlin already has the foundation of crate games, i just never continued.
afterwards we ran a course that was pretty cool and she did fairly well
i cant make a pic of it on this computer since i dont know what programs i have (i just got a mac!) but heres a facebook photo :)
sherrie said if i didnt need to stay close to 3/4 then i should just send her - and she was right - being too close meant she extended over three and had to curl back in, when i wasnt running so hard towards her she didnt push so hard out and had a much better natural line to the aframe.
here we discovered that while if i babysit her contacts shes golden, if i move on she hits the contact then self releases - oops!
we discussed where i wanted to do the landing side front cross at 5, and she made me think :) and then i did as much of a forward send as i could get to the tunnel at 8 so that i could get my but nearer to 9-10 and call her to me (and away from her love the tunnel she came out facing). we had trouble with the rear cross into the weaves because i personally had trouble walking the fine line of having her drive to the poles but not pop her out, v. hanging back so she doesn't feel my pressure but being too far back so she stopped and looked for me and said, huh?
worked that out (had to remember not to do the front cross after the poles too soon or i pulled her out) and needed to stay closer to the poles so that i could have a nice line from the poles to the far side of the tunnel, then took off and called her through the jumps to the tunnel again.
i picked her up with a blind cross at the end of the tunnel and turned her on my left from there to the far side of the other tunnel, then took off for the dog walk, making sure to have NO motion at all towards the tunnel discrimination.
so thats the course... i wish i had some videos. need to plan another lesson soon - kinda in a stand still since im whelping a litter for my trainer - but sad because it appears that there's only one puppy in there, which will be hers obviously! we will try to have some hope for a miracle :)
Thursday, February 10, 2011
i havent forgotten
that i need to update about this weekend ! i will, i swear!
last night we had training. i worked berlin on the side during novice class, and worked mercury a bit during open (mostly retrieves, speed, and attitude) before rah got to do utility.
berlin we worked a lot on finishes. here is a video of one of the finishes- while she's got the height, i need to eliminate that head down spot because that one little split second she looks away is unacceptable... im glad i got it on video because i can see it now. i experimented with bringing my hand back up to heel but down gets her straighter.
we worked some heeling and some fronts. she's funny because at some point i must have clicked a crooked front and she experiments when we are working them to see if her butt can go just a little to the right (her right) before she straightens it. i will try to use my leg to keep the pressure on that side to eliminate it - she did some nice lateral moving fronts and some nice rotating around the clock - now to bring that accuracy at distance!
here is heeling for her - overall this is heads and tails above where i was with her - lydia said she looks great, her ears are up and i'd say 90% of the time she's got her attention on me :) (i can still see her mentally check out a few places, even if her head and ears are at me - an act that rah has perfected, since he can look like he's paying attention to me, head straight up, but his brain is no where on the exercise at hand). i want to tighten up her about turns (and that is something we work constantly) but this was without practice and reminding, so its nice to see that she CAN do it. im happy with the lefts but i do need to work more on footwork, and i want more movement of her hind end during the left - we worked that later and she did nice (over-corrected even, which i am happy with!).
overally i was happy. she's got some entries in the beginning of march in an asca trial, and i think ill bring her out in april...
rah's utility class - started with moving stands and he moved on the first one and terry had his remote and i said a second "freeze" the exact moment that he got a stim - PERFECT timing and he was solid. he did get corrected for not locking up immediately, but the minute he got it he was like OH you mean DO NOT MOVE? (why can't my dogs do things that involve being still??).
go outs were nice - full 70 feet to the agility equipment, and i got a "long distance" (ok 25-30 foot) "go zoom" (touch the stanchion) on one he was going to pull up on! he marked and he ran and we worked on the ever present rah using the gate to pull up (he's not pulling up at the jumps, but he knows he cant go through the gates so he pulls up a bit to be turned and i constantly battle that...)... jumps and fronts/finishes were nice. we played with remote sends and rah sucked at that :) he needs his mark to know where to go.
articles - we were able to recreate the mistakes from this show - worked them in a line and all articles were in the front. rah nailed the first two, and when we moved to article 3 and 4, he made mistakes on both. his correction (ah ah, no x 3 - straight out of ATC) made him fly back to the pile to get the correct one. he kept grabbing article 5 leather - so i aired them all out at the center today - and on the last send he went to take the wrong article, got 2 steps out of the pile, and went WAIT this isn't right and went back to find the right pile. not exactly how i wanted articles to be done, but at least he understood he made a mistake and corrected himself, and that's a step! when he blows articles, he blows them big and i truly have very little control over the decision he makes there (what exactly goes on at the pile and what he smells isn't me) so i have to give him the confidence that he can be wrong and fix it... i'd take those points if it gives me a run!
signals were funny - again able to distract him into a mistake - he had toys and cookies thrown in front of him while i signalled him and i couldnt get him to come in from the sit - he ran to kathy because he knew he was going to make a wrong choice. i almost peed my pants there and we set it up again and he came in, good boy!
gloves - need to work pivots on my part - and i dont know, im giving up on the glove shaking? just bring them back and give them to me...
had a good chuckle about the people they judged this weekend, discussed more puppy plans (puppies due 24th-26th!) and time to get the whelping box over here, and messed around with puppy names again...
ok i will try to do the show update soon. berlin has an agility private today and class again tonight.
last night we had training. i worked berlin on the side during novice class, and worked mercury a bit during open (mostly retrieves, speed, and attitude) before rah got to do utility.
berlin we worked a lot on finishes. here is a video of one of the finishes- while she's got the height, i need to eliminate that head down spot because that one little split second she looks away is unacceptable... im glad i got it on video because i can see it now. i experimented with bringing my hand back up to heel but down gets her straighter.
we worked some heeling and some fronts. she's funny because at some point i must have clicked a crooked front and she experiments when we are working them to see if her butt can go just a little to the right (her right) before she straightens it. i will try to use my leg to keep the pressure on that side to eliminate it - she did some nice lateral moving fronts and some nice rotating around the clock - now to bring that accuracy at distance!
here is heeling for her - overall this is heads and tails above where i was with her - lydia said she looks great, her ears are up and i'd say 90% of the time she's got her attention on me :) (i can still see her mentally check out a few places, even if her head and ears are at me - an act that rah has perfected, since he can look like he's paying attention to me, head straight up, but his brain is no where on the exercise at hand). i want to tighten up her about turns (and that is something we work constantly) but this was without practice and reminding, so its nice to see that she CAN do it. im happy with the lefts but i do need to work more on footwork, and i want more movement of her hind end during the left - we worked that later and she did nice (over-corrected even, which i am happy with!).
overally i was happy. she's got some entries in the beginning of march in an asca trial, and i think ill bring her out in april...
rah's utility class - started with moving stands and he moved on the first one and terry had his remote and i said a second "freeze" the exact moment that he got a stim - PERFECT timing and he was solid. he did get corrected for not locking up immediately, but the minute he got it he was like OH you mean DO NOT MOVE? (why can't my dogs do things that involve being still??).
go outs were nice - full 70 feet to the agility equipment, and i got a "long distance" (ok 25-30 foot) "go zoom" (touch the stanchion) on one he was going to pull up on! he marked and he ran and we worked on the ever present rah using the gate to pull up (he's not pulling up at the jumps, but he knows he cant go through the gates so he pulls up a bit to be turned and i constantly battle that...)... jumps and fronts/finishes were nice. we played with remote sends and rah sucked at that :) he needs his mark to know where to go.
articles - we were able to recreate the mistakes from this show - worked them in a line and all articles were in the front. rah nailed the first two, and when we moved to article 3 and 4, he made mistakes on both. his correction (ah ah, no x 3 - straight out of ATC) made him fly back to the pile to get the correct one. he kept grabbing article 5 leather - so i aired them all out at the center today - and on the last send he went to take the wrong article, got 2 steps out of the pile, and went WAIT this isn't right and went back to find the right pile. not exactly how i wanted articles to be done, but at least he understood he made a mistake and corrected himself, and that's a step! when he blows articles, he blows them big and i truly have very little control over the decision he makes there (what exactly goes on at the pile and what he smells isn't me) so i have to give him the confidence that he can be wrong and fix it... i'd take those points if it gives me a run!
signals were funny - again able to distract him into a mistake - he had toys and cookies thrown in front of him while i signalled him and i couldnt get him to come in from the sit - he ran to kathy because he knew he was going to make a wrong choice. i almost peed my pants there and we set it up again and he came in, good boy!
gloves - need to work pivots on my part - and i dont know, im giving up on the glove shaking? just bring them back and give them to me...
had a good chuckle about the people they judged this weekend, discussed more puppy plans (puppies due 24th-26th!) and time to get the whelping box over here, and messed around with puppy names again...
ok i will try to do the show update soon. berlin has an agility private today and class again tonight.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
class tonight... some videos
tonight was class - the dogs ran outside and did crazy stuff for about 3-4 hours today, and i shoveled for almost 3 - needless to say we were all tired.
this is what my dogs did for half the day it seemed:
so we got to class and were FRIED. but we carried on...
after novice we worked on berlins trick... officially debuted -
PEE LIKE A BOY!
i worked mercury with some fronts and such during open but he is very lame today after playing too hard so i quit after 5-10 minutes.
and by the time we got to utility i was exhausted. small class since only two of us showed up - we talked about go outs and signals - since both of these boys ONLY failed go outs at the last trial they were in, we worked on heavy distraction again.
this is rah doing his hardest go outs so far- with berlin and bunny running loose with lydia chasing the wiggly giggly.
sorry its fuzzy - camera didnt know where to focus, and i couldnt get us all in the frame all the time
he actually is going straight - the center is 2 feet to the right of that stanchion - and he does it perfectly for the most part. he's like rain man...
this is what my dogs did for half the day it seemed:
so we got to class and were FRIED. but we carried on...
after novice we worked on berlins trick... officially debuted -
PEE LIKE A BOY!
i worked mercury with some fronts and such during open but he is very lame today after playing too hard so i quit after 5-10 minutes.
and by the time we got to utility i was exhausted. small class since only two of us showed up - we talked about go outs and signals - since both of these boys ONLY failed go outs at the last trial they were in, we worked on heavy distraction again.
this is rah doing his hardest go outs so far- with berlin and bunny running loose with lydia chasing the wiggly giggly.
sorry its fuzzy - camera didnt know where to focus, and i couldnt get us all in the frame all the time
he actually is going straight - the center is 2 feet to the right of that stanchion - and he does it perfectly for the most part. he's like rain man...
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
i love snow but
i love training too.
and i cant train in the snow :(
no class... hopefully we will have class tomorrow. got entries for next weekend. rah is first in utility A which is first in ring 2, and mercury is 8th in open A with his first in ring 1 (in a separate building). i may ask to move one of them... cant decide which.
and i cant train in the snow :(
no class... hopefully we will have class tomorrow. got entries for next weekend. rah is first in utility A which is first in ring 2, and mercury is 8th in open A with his first in ring 1 (in a separate building). i may ask to move one of them... cant decide which.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
lori drouin
a great post on one of the email lists from lori drouin...
"The trainers I know who are most consistently successful with many dogs
use a lot of motivation through personal interaction and yes, rewards in
their training system; but every one of them also has clear ways to
inform their dogs when the dogs make mistakes that is not based on a
barter system. It holds up in the ring because they don't show their
dogs until the dogs are seasoned enough that corrections are extremely
rare in training because mistakes are not being made very often at all.
The dogs know they are right because correct and incorrect variations
have been clearly and consistently identified, and good habits of
performance have been set. It holds up because these folks match their
dogs and generalize their training locations enough that the dogs no
longer wonder if either the reward or correction contingencies are in
play in new places; they believe that they are. The dogs already know
they are right in the ring, and praise that is allowed in the ring
affirms it, and absence of any of the "you need to fix this" messages
also affirms that they are right. The dogs may well be thinking about
the tug game or the treats they will get when they come out of the ring
with anticipation, but they aren't thinking that the absence of the
treats in the ring means that they are wrong."
"The trainers I know who are most consistently successful with many dogs
use a lot of motivation through personal interaction and yes, rewards in
their training system; but every one of them also has clear ways to
inform their dogs when the dogs make mistakes that is not based on a
barter system. It holds up in the ring because they don't show their
dogs until the dogs are seasoned enough that corrections are extremely
rare in training because mistakes are not being made very often at all.
The dogs know they are right because correct and incorrect variations
have been clearly and consistently identified, and good habits of
performance have been set. It holds up because these folks match their
dogs and generalize their training locations enough that the dogs no
longer wonder if either the reward or correction contingencies are in
play in new places; they believe that they are. The dogs already know
they are right in the ring, and praise that is allowed in the ring
affirms it, and absence of any of the "you need to fix this" messages
also affirms that they are right. The dogs may well be thinking about
the tug game or the treats they will get when they come out of the ring
with anticipation, but they aren't thinking that the absence of the
treats in the ring means that they are wrong."
Friday, January 21, 2011
obedience and a return to agility
wednesday obedience class and we worked on go outs for rah - tell me how the dog can do go outs with people chasing him, go outs with people poking and talking to him, go outs with people throwing toys at him and around him - BUT HE CANNOT DO THEM AT A SHOW?
i now why they call this futility. how much harder can this be at training before he does it in a show? :) i shouldn't complain, he does them many times- sometimes he just cant seem to focus. and i saw the video from this past weekend - and i can see exactly why he didn't -= i can't share the video out of respect for the judge though.
thursday berlin had a private with our new possible agility trainer - and we did fairly well for a baby dog thats been out of class for 6 months. she was very friendly (BBERLIN as well as the trainer, ha ha) - and she zoomed and was super fast and the trainer said she had a ton of drive and a nice foundation - i need some handling help obviously! she ironically nailed weaves, nailed all her contacts - and had full of fail start line stays. *shrugs*. i will try to take privates until berlin will be ready for her masters level handling class, which will hopefully be soon. berlin loved her, it was funny.
rah is entered this weekend in an AKC trial - but im not sure we're going. im not feeling it right now, and im not sure i want to drive 2.5 hours one way (without traffic, which im not sure will happen on the LIE?) - and my biggest concern is this venue said NO SOFT CRATES. its an ob only trial - so what am i supposed to put rah in? i cannot and will not carry his wire crate in - its great dane sized. and iw ont let people stack on him. grrrrr.
im tired. and i am teaching berlin to pee like a boy. its cute.
i now why they call this futility. how much harder can this be at training before he does it in a show? :) i shouldn't complain, he does them many times- sometimes he just cant seem to focus. and i saw the video from this past weekend - and i can see exactly why he didn't -= i can't share the video out of respect for the judge though.
thursday berlin had a private with our new possible agility trainer - and we did fairly well for a baby dog thats been out of class for 6 months. she was very friendly (BBERLIN as well as the trainer, ha ha) - and she zoomed and was super fast and the trainer said she had a ton of drive and a nice foundation - i need some handling help obviously! she ironically nailed weaves, nailed all her contacts - and had full of fail start line stays. *shrugs*. i will try to take privates until berlin will be ready for her masters level handling class, which will hopefully be soon. berlin loved her, it was funny.
rah is entered this weekend in an AKC trial - but im not sure we're going. im not feeling it right now, and im not sure i want to drive 2.5 hours one way (without traffic, which im not sure will happen on the LIE?) - and my biggest concern is this venue said NO SOFT CRATES. its an ob only trial - so what am i supposed to put rah in? i cannot and will not carry his wire crate in - its great dane sized. and iw ont let people stack on him. grrrrr.
im tired. and i am teaching berlin to pee like a boy. its cute.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
sunday recap
ok so the show sunday - i felt like poo but i survived! i was so afraid he would mess up articles i refused to take cold meds!!
so we were 10 from the end or so - entered in utility B because i wanted to show to this particular judge. i was nervous and concerned about when i was going to go into the ring because ob was going on at the same time, and they didnt reverse order at all so the same dogs were going into the ring at the same time - i as predicted, i had to go out of order since no one else was available (and that was with nancy taking 2 bathroom breaks!)
once again a huuuuuge thanks has to go out to my trainer - its really something to go to a show and have your awesome trainers there helping, and have your super multiple OTCH trainer warm up up and walk you to the ring - to control your warm up, to talk you through the little things we have to think of (where is the steward taking the gloves once we are done? where will your path be, and will he see his gloves once he is done?) - these are the things that make up the little points...
so we warmed up and i entered the ring - gloves were first. went over to gloves and set him up - it was glove two. nice pivot, he marked the glove immediately instead of waiting for my signal, but he raced out. shook a few times coming in, and then fronted. and then refused to give me the glove. i literally had to rip it out of his mouth and said "around" just as i was getting it from him.
transitioned over to signals - i was so nervous, since he hasn't had successful signals in a SHOW ring since july!!!!! this has been the exercise that i've been working on the most - this exercise has been the single exercise we've failed the most consistently (as in all but 2 trials) and has been the ONLY thing he failed in the last 3 trials.
so we're starting signals - he's of course forging, but not that bad. the pattern is good for him, no fasts into a left and its not an about turn stand your dog - but right before the last leg of the heeling, rah's forging and im too close to the stanchions and he hits three in a row, including the last one right before i turn into the stand - i stand him but hes a little forged and definitely flared since he swung his butt out after hitting the stanchion.
i give him a strong stand signal, and then another stay - and walk. the entire time im taking deep breaths and just thinking to myself "I DONT HEAR FEET I DONT HEAR FEET" because you can hear the pitter patter of rah running... and nothing. i turn and -- RAH IS WHERE I LEFT HIm.
im beaming at this point - i give him the drop, he hits the ground. give the sit and have to use a little added umph to get him up but he pops straight up. call him in and you can see on his face he knew he did it --- because ehe comes flying in and lifts his front and and lands on my chest. he's staring at me, and then he goofs off further and drops into a down. im laughing now, but finish him on a signal and we're done.
RAH DID SIGNALS!!!!
of course, the next exercise was go outs, and we failed that :) wont say much here since the judge was awesome and let me train in the ring :) some of the failure was that i didnt prepare rah enough for the exercise and didn't give him enough verbal heads up...
next is moving stand - he was perfect. didnt lose any points at all. locked in, didnt move a muscle.
last were articles - i was so stressed since not only did he miss articles at wilmington's match but also friday at work. i send him and he works the entire pile, but hasnt checked the center of the pile, directly under where he's standing!!! finally gets in, comes back and one article down.
send him for the second article - finds it quicker, comes back... and again, just like with the glove, rah won't out the article! i fight him for it and get it out of his mouth, finish him..
so that was it - we passed everything but go outs. nancy was super nice and complimented me on how nice he looked and what a good job we were doing.
im sad we didnt get a leg - i feel he knows what he's doing and if i can just get him to THINK, we will be there. im most happy that signals seems to have reached some inner core of him that we're finally getting through.
so, next show sunday. kathy says she has something special for rah's training :)
so we were 10 from the end or so - entered in utility B because i wanted to show to this particular judge. i was nervous and concerned about when i was going to go into the ring because ob was going on at the same time, and they didnt reverse order at all so the same dogs were going into the ring at the same time - i as predicted, i had to go out of order since no one else was available (and that was with nancy taking 2 bathroom breaks!)
once again a huuuuuge thanks has to go out to my trainer - its really something to go to a show and have your awesome trainers there helping, and have your super multiple OTCH trainer warm up up and walk you to the ring - to control your warm up, to talk you through the little things we have to think of (where is the steward taking the gloves once we are done? where will your path be, and will he see his gloves once he is done?) - these are the things that make up the little points...
so we warmed up and i entered the ring - gloves were first. went over to gloves and set him up - it was glove two. nice pivot, he marked the glove immediately instead of waiting for my signal, but he raced out. shook a few times coming in, and then fronted. and then refused to give me the glove. i literally had to rip it out of his mouth and said "around" just as i was getting it from him.
transitioned over to signals - i was so nervous, since he hasn't had successful signals in a SHOW ring since july!!!!! this has been the exercise that i've been working on the most - this exercise has been the single exercise we've failed the most consistently (as in all but 2 trials) and has been the ONLY thing he failed in the last 3 trials.
so we're starting signals - he's of course forging, but not that bad. the pattern is good for him, no fasts into a left and its not an about turn stand your dog - but right before the last leg of the heeling, rah's forging and im too close to the stanchions and he hits three in a row, including the last one right before i turn into the stand - i stand him but hes a little forged and definitely flared since he swung his butt out after hitting the stanchion.
i give him a strong stand signal, and then another stay - and walk. the entire time im taking deep breaths and just thinking to myself "I DONT HEAR FEET I DONT HEAR FEET" because you can hear the pitter patter of rah running... and nothing. i turn and -- RAH IS WHERE I LEFT HIm.
im beaming at this point - i give him the drop, he hits the ground. give the sit and have to use a little added umph to get him up but he pops straight up. call him in and you can see on his face he knew he did it --- because ehe comes flying in and lifts his front and and lands on my chest. he's staring at me, and then he goofs off further and drops into a down. im laughing now, but finish him on a signal and we're done.
RAH DID SIGNALS!!!!
of course, the next exercise was go outs, and we failed that :) wont say much here since the judge was awesome and let me train in the ring :) some of the failure was that i didnt prepare rah enough for the exercise and didn't give him enough verbal heads up...
next is moving stand - he was perfect. didnt lose any points at all. locked in, didnt move a muscle.
last were articles - i was so stressed since not only did he miss articles at wilmington's match but also friday at work. i send him and he works the entire pile, but hasnt checked the center of the pile, directly under where he's standing!!! finally gets in, comes back and one article down.
send him for the second article - finds it quicker, comes back... and again, just like with the glove, rah won't out the article! i fight him for it and get it out of his mouth, finish him..
so that was it - we passed everything but go outs. nancy was super nice and complimented me on how nice he looked and what a good job we were doing.
im sad we didnt get a leg - i feel he knows what he's doing and if i can just get him to THINK, we will be there. im most happy that signals seems to have reached some inner core of him that we're finally getting through.
so, next show sunday. kathy says she has something special for rah's training :)
Monday, January 17, 2011
should change the name
of this blog to "i dream of UD" because right now both seem as equally unlikely.
perfect MS on sunday. RAH DID SIGNALS. and articles, which broke the entire week before were good (except not wanting to out the article, just like with the glove, AHEM).
no go outs.
= F.
perfect MS on sunday. RAH DID SIGNALS. and articles, which broke the entire week before were good (except not wanting to out the article, just like with the glove, AHEM).
no go outs.
= F.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
match updates...
yesterday in the snowstorm lydia and took off with all the dogs.
she took the fuzzard to dream park for agility (USDAA) and i took all the dobermans, including mercury, to delaware for a match. i only drove down because both mercury and rah will be showing at this very site in february and ill do anything i can to get a UD leg...
got there 10 minutes before the show and go started, and waited in line for my runs - i got 2 utility for rah, 2 open for merc, and 1 each of open and novice for berlin. the bad thing was there's two buildings - so of course the dogs were in different buildings. the hill wasnt huge, but in the snow it was slippery enough! set up berlin and merc down hill and then drove up to put rah in the utility building.
berlin was up first - did her novice run. her food bowl was outside the ring and she did a fairly good job. she was a little squirrely off leash and had swivel ears on, trying to see both the judge and the front door to the building, where people were still coming in. she was with me (but on leash!) but not 100% mentally there. did the fig8 - the inner post wasnt bad, the outer ones she was there and driving but she wasnt up far enough and head wasn't up - she was kinda daydreaming and doing it by rote.
SFE - perfect, i threw her frisbee for her instead of finishing it formally since she looked like she wanted nothing to do with the judge, but did it.
her off leash was BETTER than her on - she was jumping and popping up, bumping me, all sorts of cute. loooooved it.
her recall was cute - she tried to bypass me to get the target - NEED TO WORK ON THIS - but the next one was nice.
mercury was next - his first run through was sorta crazy. on thursday at training we had a meltdown with the ROF - he wouldnt bring the db back to me (instead going to his mom) and i had to correct him. hes a marshmallow in color and brain, so this was hard for him. then he came back but wouldnt leave my side... it was a big deal for him. so today, he was funny - he anticipated the retrieves! id much rather see that - i eventually just called him off the db and that seemed to fix it. his drops werent bad - the first time he wouldnt come off the drop, i called him a second time and repeated and he did it. the b iggest thing we need to work with is his fronts - he coems in but doesnt sit, or putzes - just like rah used to do.
rah in utility - argh. signals werent bad, gloves were ridiculous - he would NOT out the glove for me period at the match and twice i had to literally rip it out of his mouth. his moving stands were fine.
articles - ARTICLES. the first run he couldnt find his articles for the life of him. i have no clue what the problem was, since it was the same articles he showed with the last 2 shows, and nothing has changed. i corrected him twice and he finally did them right, and i moved on - the second run through he was pERFECT. go figure. im not going to worry about it, because he hasnt missed an article since august.
go outs were my worry since this is the exact building that in august he couldnt find go out for the life of him - the first one i just sent him on his mark and iw asnt sure he knew where he was going - he ran out and veered off towards glove 3 but went out. i let him go, sat him, and then got him up, moved him closer, and sent him to the right place (he marked it correctly this time). all his other go outs were good - except he started picking his jumps based on what the judge says instead of what i indicate - BUTTHEAD!
so it was a good day. stopped by dream park on the way home and saw lydia and bunny run - no q's for them that day.
rah's entered 4 times in the next month, mercury twice. im still trying to see if i have the money to show berlin in agility. i REALLY want to... but she's been out of class for almost half a year now... i need to get her back in class!!!!
she took the fuzzard to dream park for agility (USDAA) and i took all the dobermans, including mercury, to delaware for a match. i only drove down because both mercury and rah will be showing at this very site in february and ill do anything i can to get a UD leg...
got there 10 minutes before the show and go started, and waited in line for my runs - i got 2 utility for rah, 2 open for merc, and 1 each of open and novice for berlin. the bad thing was there's two buildings - so of course the dogs were in different buildings. the hill wasnt huge, but in the snow it was slippery enough! set up berlin and merc down hill and then drove up to put rah in the utility building.
berlin was up first - did her novice run. her food bowl was outside the ring and she did a fairly good job. she was a little squirrely off leash and had swivel ears on, trying to see both the judge and the front door to the building, where people were still coming in. she was with me (but on leash!) but not 100% mentally there. did the fig8 - the inner post wasnt bad, the outer ones she was there and driving but she wasnt up far enough and head wasn't up - she was kinda daydreaming and doing it by rote.
SFE - perfect, i threw her frisbee for her instead of finishing it formally since she looked like she wanted nothing to do with the judge, but did it.
her off leash was BETTER than her on - she was jumping and popping up, bumping me, all sorts of cute. loooooved it.
her recall was cute - she tried to bypass me to get the target - NEED TO WORK ON THIS - but the next one was nice.
mercury was next - his first run through was sorta crazy. on thursday at training we had a meltdown with the ROF - he wouldnt bring the db back to me (instead going to his mom) and i had to correct him. hes a marshmallow in color and brain, so this was hard for him. then he came back but wouldnt leave my side... it was a big deal for him. so today, he was funny - he anticipated the retrieves! id much rather see that - i eventually just called him off the db and that seemed to fix it. his drops werent bad - the first time he wouldnt come off the drop, i called him a second time and repeated and he did it. the b iggest thing we need to work with is his fronts - he coems in but doesnt sit, or putzes - just like rah used to do.
rah in utility - argh. signals werent bad, gloves were ridiculous - he would NOT out the glove for me period at the match and twice i had to literally rip it out of his mouth. his moving stands were fine.
articles - ARTICLES. the first run he couldnt find his articles for the life of him. i have no clue what the problem was, since it was the same articles he showed with the last 2 shows, and nothing has changed. i corrected him twice and he finally did them right, and i moved on - the second run through he was pERFECT. go figure. im not going to worry about it, because he hasnt missed an article since august.
go outs were my worry since this is the exact building that in august he couldnt find go out for the life of him - the first one i just sent him on his mark and iw asnt sure he knew where he was going - he ran out and veered off towards glove 3 but went out. i let him go, sat him, and then got him up, moved him closer, and sent him to the right place (he marked it correctly this time). all his other go outs were good - except he started picking his jumps based on what the judge says instead of what i indicate - BUTTHEAD!
so it was a good day. stopped by dream park on the way home and saw lydia and bunny run - no q's for them that day.
rah's entered 4 times in the next month, mercury twice. im still trying to see if i have the money to show berlin in agility. i REALLY want to... but she's been out of class for almost half a year now... i need to get her back in class!!!!
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