all the to-do about a blog...

we hit the big time when my blog was featured on a facebook group :)
nothing major, but its nice to be in groups where i can discuss training. hopefully we all learn something, right?

matched the baby dogs last weekend. they did great - the first run cherry was scattered and distracted, afraid of the post and her coffee mug and couldnt pull it together. her second run she was able to focus on me and work and push and heel and be a smart baby dog. i think she just needs a lot more time than any of my other dogs ahve needed to adjust to a location - even if its her training building, because everyone and everything was different. she had quite a few good SFE's with great focus, and in the end she was bouncing in heel.

chill on the other hand could care less. he's a super star and just takes everything in stride. he worked and focused on me the entire time both runs. we did heeling, attention work, db work, marking, sit/stand/down work, and just did a lot of work. he was even able to work at the ring gates with other dogs sniffing him through the gate -w hat a good boy!


time to get matching again. cherry was finally spayed so i can ILP/PAL her soon, and then id like to do beginner novice with her sometime this year. and maybe some rally?

i leave you with this:
the cuteness of my littles.

salvation

so i havent been posting much, because ive been having issues. ive got a lot going on here, but the dog training has been tough - mostly because cherry and i were having major issues.

 chill is sweet and drivey and sensitive and biddable and wonderful. he loves heeling, he loves trying, and i adore him.

 cherry i love, but i was so concerned about her working. she started acting spooky and spacey a few months ago, and i was concerned something was wrong - was she going into heat (no), was her thyroid off (no), was anything else going on (not that i could find). i had friends tell me she needed anxiety meds, i tried DAP collars, diffusers, i was banging my head against the wall. all of a sudden she had no attention at training, no ability to focus on me, no desire to look up. all our previous issues (she never liked moving watch, for instance), were magnified. she would go off sniffing in the middle of working, she would try to wander to visit dogs, she would glance at anything around the room and focus on it like it was the newest most exciting thing. hell, she actually laid down in the middle of class once and started rolling on her back. she couldn't work more than 10-15 minutes without a "cherrybomb brain break".

 i was lost. this dog could be on but now she was off more than anything else, she had no desire to engage me, and nothing i was doing seemed to bring her back. worse, she seemed to be getting softer and softer - the sound of other dogs collars would make her turn and stare, she got attacked three times int eh space of a week by other dogs (She must have a kick me sign attached to her tail!), and quite honestly none of us were enjoying work. people suggested seeing a behaviorist (to tell her what? my dog is an awesome pet, great with people and dogs, doesnt destroy things, but she wont heel with her head up and at TRAINING only she's a marshmallow?). there was even mention of rehoming her to a house that doesn't have her arch nemesis - oohrah (who still hates her).

 cherry and i had a private lesson with my trainer on sunday (chills breeder). i was so concerned about my dog shutting down, my dog being so soft, my dog being so sensitive. well she's not. kathy had me bring her out and work her and even in a quiet building with no dogs, cherry chose to start being distracted and spooky. kathy had chill's gpa blake out and cherry knows and loves this dog - but she was acting all afraid. kathy told me to tell her to leave it, and come here. JESUS FRIGGIN CHRIST. cherry turned and left it and stared at me. and that was apparently the key - letting her know exactly what was inappropriate and what she was supposed to be doing.   lo and behold, cherry worked an hour and 20 minutes.

we broke down heeling and used a special toy - we took it slow and wouldnt let her take a step without attention on me. if she lapsed she got pops for not following, or a reminder to look up. 20 minutes in, she was doing loose leash walking with attention on her own volition. she couldnt take her eyes off of me.

 kathys assessment? i had a lazy bitch. cherry found out when she was confused, didnt want to, or plain had something else she wanted to do, if she did all her behaviors she got out of work and i gave her a break. she worked through every one of her previous "stress" moments without any problems and had happy ears, an up wagging tail (no way to hide her feelings when she has a big flag!) and bright eyes. in short, she was playing me. we formulated a plan for classes and how i would approach training - i found out a lot about her and how much she actually does love this (another dog that gets TURNED ON by left turns!)

i left the lesson feeling triumphant but hesitant about wednesday class - the true test.

but it went perfectly. cherry was a different dog (because i was a different handler). i warmed her up barely at all - she did 35 seconds exactly of PERFECT moving watch with her chicken, and then started flying into heel position - i couldnt keep her out. when they started to heel, i stood off to the side and worked her slow heeling attention work, both with food and toys. after 5-7 minutes, i joined the class for a few runs. then while they kept heeling, i went and worked on fronts and running to a target. she was flying through the air, barking, spinning, jumping all over me. we did stands and kathy had me hold her chicken out - she never even FLICKED AN EYE at anyone who approached (as opposed to her normal whole head turn). she was positively quivering. recalls were great and at one point she fronted and actually started BARKING at me to demand a reward - kathy asked if i had asked her to bark and i said no, and she said good for her. the entire night if she flicked a head away she came back immediately, understanding that this was what i wanted. she never once sniffed the floor. if she got too focused i used a leave it, come here and she did it.

this is a game changer for both of us, but im just glad to get my cb back!

new classes last night

last night was the start of a new session with the doggies. and i guess the start of the new era at the somjen household - we the ooh-roo dogs are retired and staying home, and the chillicherr duo are the up and comings.

chill started class last night for the first time ever. in some ways i always feel bad for my dogs when we start - i feel like i dont do much foundation or teach my dogs aything - a puppy in class like 2-3 weeks older than him was able to sit and control himself and stare at his owner, and chill can't be on the ground and focus more than 2-3 seconds. though iam hopeful that i may FINALLY have a dog that can settle outside the crate ha ha.

but chill is a little natural at this. i get why people have border collies - its not because they are obedience superstars - its because they STARE ha ha. he's got natural attention and focus. it isn't long right now. but its there! he also is SUPER smart and caught on very quickly that when things like the dog next to him squeaking the toy if he looked at me i gave him a cookie. if he sat calmly in front of me i gave him a cookie. so every distraction there he immediately turned back to me - and i was stunned, because this is the basis of obedience essentially and he caught on at least a little bit at day one?!?!?!?!?!?!

so mostly for my own knowledge (not that i think i ever look back here to remember what we do, which is also a problem) - things we worked on for chill:
1) tuck sits
2) fold back downs
3) the name game
4) moving towards you on the name game
5) moving towards you as you back up with the name game
6) controlling a settle/cuddle
7) the start of come here - collar grab and feeding/coming up to face.
8) self control - having to sit still for a few seconds and stare at us before the cookie was produced

i think thats about it - he was very good and super for all of this and it made me excited to train him!!!! and he also played like a monster when he needed a break - he tugged like mad! he was also a bad boy and got hung in the air once because he bit me badly on the hand (BAD DOG) because he was getting tired bitey in the last 10 minutes - but we did cuddle last and he was able to last the entire class.

so then we went to cherry - cherry missed 2 sessions of attention i think when i stopped classes in october when rah was hurt... so she was a little bit behind the class when we started back last session - but i think she's caught up pretty well and is probably towards the top of the class - some of that may be beacuse ive trained a dog for competition before seriously (some of the others have put CDs but never went higher). but by virtue of starting chill's class at the bottom in the super star puppy class, cherry had to move up to the big dog novice class - some of these dogs have CDs or CD legs (with 197s!) and some are certainly ready to show, there are OTCH handlers in there (!!) and then... baby cherry face. she worked so hard but it was a lot for her and at one point we sat out for 5 minutes because she needed a brain break!

we started with cherrys weakest exercise - the moving watch. she's getting better and when she is ON she's friggin adorable with this - she prances her ears are up and her eyes are HUGE (theres this thing with the light colored eyes on the blues - when they stare at you they dilate over and over again a little bit - rah did it and so does cherry!) and she's so into me - and then kathy was mean. kathy started throwing DUMBBELLS!!!! cherry's mind was BLOWN. some dogs were afraid. some dogs were curious. cherry was MUST. RETRIEVE. DUMBBELL. she loves it. she loves retrieving. she, like rah, is a stupidhead for them and she saw this and her mind was done. she was frozen and could not be reached at first. so we had to stop class for a few of us and work on "come here" again and incorporate that into the db distraction work. she got a little nervous then because she wanted to look at the db, but she knew she shouldn't - ears would go back at the throw and then she would sneak a peek, but as long as she looked back quickly we were good. eventually she figured out what to do and we rewarded heavily - but after over 20 minutes of this cherry was FRIED! we did heeling next and she was cute - probably only 20 seconds or so at a time, and i would stop her if she had enough - remember last week was the first time we even incorporated halts and now we are group heeling ha ha. but she's honest and tries hard - and she has the cutest left turns where she flings her butt behind me! she worked hard but by the change of paces i could see her brain start to check out - so she got to lay down and rest and cuddle with me for 5 minutes until she was starting to play and chew on her leash...

then we worked on easy things - backing up in the stand or the down... she knows this already but need to clean up cues. and then we went to stand - and i want to clean up her stand cue and get her going on just a verbal and get her kick back cleaned up (i trained the stand differently than everyone else in class) - so i went off to the side and did that, and then worked on attenetion in the front of the dog for a few seconds. but cherry is funny and part of the switch from stand in front of me to stand next to me involved a hop and i thought it was cute and rewarded it - so now she flies up in the air and kicks her back legs up and out - its hilarious. its SO MUCH MORE EFFORT than is required and kathy saw it and started cracking up - its like when she spins - she literally gets 4 feet of air when she spins instead of just going quick. but she does it because people laugh (reminiscent of rah, who puts on a show?!?!?!). we ended class with group stays - again, her first! and she rocked - i rewarded and stayed 2 feet away, feeding every 20 seconds and she was awesome. i know its early to say, but maybe i will actually have a doberman that does a curled down?!?!?!?!?

side note- cherry is getting really good with "tell me" too - she loves to speak!

so this week i want to work the dogs. for the first time in months i am actually excited because both dogs were amazing last night and while it wont be rah and berlin, i can and will have fun showing these guys. amy was right - its still my OTCH quest, its just not rah, but he was the start. and he will always be the start, but these guys are the next step, my next options.

always late

i had planned on updating more, but again life gets in the way.

i had hopes of bringing rah out of retirement - his favorite shows are coming up and the judging panel is amazing for him.
but whatever is going on with his elbow is still there - hes mostly sound, but he wont drop - for signals or the DOR.
so i guess his retirement is for real. i started crying when i emptied his stuff out of my training bag but its time to make way.

cherry is doing really well. she's a good girl and tries so hard - she has a lot of rahs good qualities and less of his bad ones. shes still learning focus, and her response to commands is ... well... blue : ) but she tries hard. she's softer and more sensitive than him, but she's got lots of drive and she's more biddable. she's very willing to offer me behaviors and she's super cute with a great sense of humor.

chill is a butthead. he's a tough dog and i love him - his class starts next week. he's very funny and VERY cuddly - and he's a lot like my dobermans. i can see border collies becoming fixtures in this house. i was so nervous about adding something else to the house, but he's an awesome dog. the surprising thing is how cuddly he is - just as much as my dobes. and hes much more self-controlled at a young age than ANY of my dobes. he comes out of his crate and rolls over for me to rub his belly. if i sit on the ground he runs over and jumps in my lap and collapses for cuddles.

he also loves the girl dobes - he wont ever be meeting rah for obvious reasons - but the girl dobes love him. and he LOVES people - he sees them and he starts wagging furiously and his ears go back and he licks licks licks. he's going to be interesting to train but he's wickedly smart.

so, im toying with changing the name of the blog... or maybe the description. this isn't rah anymore, this isn't my novice A dogs. or should i start a new one?

its been so long

and ive thought about this post for awhile but its been hard to write.

i took a big break from obedience. rah and i went up to nationals with cherry bomb, and rah was terrible. not any fault of his own really, but something was off. he was not performing because something was hurting. we came close to qualifying utility one day, and rah got called on his jump height and had to jump 30 inches and i regret that... but he came back hurt.

ive spent months trying to figure it out but the end result is, and it pains me so much to say this, rah is probably retired from obedience.

i never thought id ever have to retire him. i thought (and i know this is morbid) that he'd be dead before he couldnt work. i simply cannot keep him sound.

he has neck pain, and it manifests in a right front leg lameness. i know, in my heart, theres a good chance this is wobblers. i dont want to get my hopes up beacuse he is sound when hes only hanging out and being a pet - but work makes him lame. i cant keep him in active shape and ready to show because he keeps coming up lame.

so im forced to retire him too. its painful and hurts so much - to lose BOTH my competition dogs in the same year.

once rah got hurt, i didnt have it in me to work. i couldnt go to training, i couldnt show up, i didnt want to be around them. i even pulled cherry from classes - everything she did was a comparison to rah and it just didnt work. to top it off she also got injured and had issues but those seemed to have thankfully cleared up - if it recurs it will be MRI time for her too.

i missed obedience, but it still hurts to this day. i havent brought myself back to class, but ive started working cherry again at home. and i thought long and hard about it, but i got another dog.

introducing: katwalk calm like a bomb


some of you may know, but this is one of the border collies born and raised in my house this year. he was born 11/20 to my trainers bitch, secret, currently working on her OTCH. i had to change breeds - i cant take all the health problems in mine and i need something that will stand a CHANCE at least of being healthy.

so far the puppy currently known as chill is 7.5 weeks and hanging in his crate, we are working on housebreaking but hes also a little genius. is this what happens when your puppies are raised with obedience from the start and the clicker comes out at 5 weeks? he knows sit/down/back/twist/spin/front/get close and tugs like a MANIAC. he's fearless and while his littermates are all still here, he's chilling (haha) in his crate separate because he's a very confident puppy with teeth a mile long and needs to learn some control as well - he was certainly confident enough to be kicked out of the litter early!

so, thats me. hopefully i will be back here for some more regular posting, but its sad that it wont be with rah. i dont know what else to say...

it's finally happened...

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!

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.