Wednesday, September 19, 2012

ups and downs

chill had class tonight - i had wanted to go for a walk and train before class too, but i was too tired. this whole having to work to afford my dogs and afford my lifestyle is ridiculous. isn't it time to retire yet?

chill's grandpa (who is about to turn 14) had a seizure this morning :( everyone is pretty upset - i was glad i got to see him tonight at class, but he's not able to walk well since the seizure and we're all holding our breath. old animals are so hard.

chill in class was a mixture of He Who Cannot Control His Teeth and wonderfullness. Who would have ever thought I would enjoy petting a fuzzy. We started with heeling - last week Kathy had me lengthen my heeling leash to try to cut down on his hopping for the cookie. This week that resulted in a jumper collie, since chill viewed that as an open invitation to jump higher (which he can). When he did settle down he was cute though - very nice! I have to remember to make eye contact and also push forward - the problem is i tend to lean over him to my left and it makes me drift. nothing like walking like youre drunk :)

then worked turns - about, right and left, and then about at a gate and then halt at the gate. chill did nicely on some of them - not consistent enough for me, but we will get there. he stopped that weird rain man head movement for the left turns so that was nice, but its hard to move fast when you have multiple dogs doing squares without being roadkill in the way.

worked sit for exam and my dog is retarded and when i tossed the cookie it landed in his ear fuzz and he lost it. must be hard when you have so much fluff it steals your food

(the doberbitches are seeing dead people in the cat room and barking and growling. i now have the official loudest house in the neighborhood).

worked recalls - one at a time, restrained full length. he had some mad speed for this, and the second one even managed an almost nice front :)

so class was nice. im wiped and my body is fighting some plague (for a change). the energizer collie is not tired, however, and would like to herd cats. is it possible herding cats will become a titling sport at any time? because all my dogs would kick ass at that.

1 comment:

Cat said...

I found you on a Doberman forum. A couple of years ago, you had a Doberman that had lost her front leg. Did you find that she would walk out of her collar? My fawn Doberman was born with 3 legs and has always walked out of his collars. We went through obedience training and the trainer had no suggestions on a better collar or halter for him. I've also talked to a couple of local vets, but they don't have the experience with 3 legged dogs. It's no problem when we are home, however when we need to go to the vet he escapes his collar. Any suggestions would be a benefit.

Thanks!
catharrell78@gmail.com