The Pink Pin

How important are you?

2011-08-22T16:29:00.001-05:00

For the past few days I've been struggling with the death of friends. The first was Karen Kahler, fitness instructor extraordinare, beautiful, sunny, intelligent woman who was murdered by her estranged husband over Thanksgiving weekend 2009, along with her two daughters and her 91 year old Grandmother. Kraig Kahler's capital murder trial began last Monday, so the wound has been fresh.

Then this past weekend my long time friend Laura Hulke was killed by her husband, who then killed himself. Laura and I hadn't been in constant touch over the past few years, but I still considered her a close friend.

Such memories I have of Laura. We used to see each other all the time at various agility trials in the Kansas and Iowa area. She with Rocket, one of the first Top 20 agility Dobermans and me with Viva, Rocket's half sister. That was in the early 2000s and already seems so long ago. To me it was the exited anticipatory time of early agility days, when it was all fun and new. Occasionally we would share a hotel room, and I remember us each laying in our beds, giggling and whooping like 13 year olds over silly stories and our personal grades on handsome men (and ones who only thought they were handsome) in the Doberman world. The kind of laughter that leaves tears on your cheeks and an aching stomach. Laura had an incredible dry and deprecating sense of humor and her laugh was completely infectious. I'm just having a hard time thinking that she will no longer wander up to me at a show, give me a huge hug, and say, "So. What's goin' on." in that soft voice with its strong Minnesota accent.

Laura was like a lot of dog people. She adored her dogs, she was connected to her friends, and she helped where she could. I'm not sure anybody really knew how much she did until she was gone. Did you know she made me two fleece coats just for Viva and Cala and sent them to me for no other reason than because she wanted to? And she gave me an old copy of the William Sidney Schmitt Doberman book because she knew I loved the history of our breed. But beyond those personal kindnesses, Laura was very active in rescue in the Minnesota area, finding many dogs loving homes. She was Vice President of the United Doberman Club, and was helping get the UDC Focus (the club magazine) back on track after delays and mismanagement threatened to kill it all together.

Laura was like so many of us and some would say, a fairly ordinary dog person. But she was so important. And now, in the wake of this tragedy, everyone is scrambling. She had the Focus almost ready to go. Now it has come to me, and I am starting it over from scratch, because nobody can get to Laura's computer. Her own beloved dogs are being taken in by a wonderful agility family, the Hougs, who had shown Ava in breed and knew Laura well. The UDC is scrambling desperately to compensate for the hole she left. It's a small club. This is a huge blow.

So how important are you? I bet you are more important than you think. Laura certainly was. She touched hundreds of lives in and out of the dog world and she will be terribly missed.

Summer training

2011-06-04T11:33:00.000-05:00

We are heading back into summer here in Missouri, which means high humidity and high temperatures. And this year, a massive invasion of periodic (13 year in this case) cicadas. I have thousands and thousands of them in my yard. Who knows, maybe hundreds of thousands. They coat every tree, reside on every branch, and are deafeningly loud. The dogs think they are candy.

All this coincides with my attempts to teach Prada to weave. At the beginning stages, I like to train weaves at least 5 times a week, preferably daily. And I have weaves right here at home. But they are mostly useless, covered in cicadas. So this morning I drove all the way across town, snapped all the weave wires on a set at the building, then trained her for about 3 minutes. Then took all the wires back off so the next person who might need the set wouldn't have to deal with it. And left. It took a lot longer to set up than to actually do the training; typical in agility. At least I have a building to go to!

I am aiming Prada for a debut in ASCA at the end of August. She's taking to agility like a duck to water and has a natural running contact (thank God!). She does far prefer rubber to non-rubber; I hope more clubs switch over soon. Our biggest challenge, as is common with Min Pins, is focus. In her case she's not quite as glued to the floor as Zipper is, but she IS very motion sensitive and thinks she is tougher than any dog out there. She does not want to fight with other dogs, but she does want to dash over to them, see who they are, and pose, all 9 pounds of her up on her teeny tiny tip toes, so they can see how superior she is. Problem is, she's gonna get hurt if she keeps it up. Her recall is coming very nicely, but I am hoping that once we really start more sequencing she will find that so self-rewarding she will quit looking around for other stuff to go see.

Vent from an Unmarried Woman

2010-12-23T07:58:00.003-06:00

Some of my friends got to hear this back when there was controversy over Elena Kagan's bid for the Supreme Court. She was accused of being a lesbian because she has never married. It's back on my mind again due to Kraig Kahler's sleazy attempt to justify his murder of his wife Karen, their two daughters and Karen's 94 year old Grandmother because she was allegedly having an affair with her female friend Sunny Reese. And I'm absolutely furious. So listen up.

Let me tell you something that may shock some of you. Just because a woman is not currently married, never married, is not currently dating/pursuing/angling for a man and/or has close friendships with other women, IT DOES NOT MEAN SHE IS A LESBIAN! Maybe men are incapable of being really close friends with anyone without it involving the pelvic rhumba. I kind of doubt that's true (I sure hope not, how impoverished a life that would be) but I'm not a guy. I have, however, been female for 50 years now. And I can tell you with absolute 100% truth that women can and do have really close friendships with other women without being sexually involved/turned on/tempted/curious or any other such thing. We can do it with men too! Imagine that.

I am sick and tired of the attitude that our entire female lives must rotate around getting/keeping a man. And that any woman who doesn't buy into that antiquated stereotype must be mentally challenged, horribly ugly, a complete social loser, or a lesbian. Because, gee, there could never be any other reason why a woman might choose to not either be clinging to a guy or desperately seeking one, right? We couldn't possibly have our own fulfilled lives, our own social circles, and God forbid, we couldn't possibly be <gasp> well-adjusted and happy and single and straight. Right?

For some reason the idea of a well-adjusted totally normal woman who doesn't have a man in her life is bizarre and weird. Elena Kagan couldn't possibly be single for any reason other than being a lesbian. Karen couldn't possibly be leaving her husband because he was an abusive dickhead who beat her; she must have been having an affair with another woman. I think it has its roots in our straightlaced Victorian past, where any woman who did not marry was a failure, destined to be a miserable "old maid." Or the 1950s, when the little woman was supposed to stay home and keep the house pristine, have her man's paper and slippers and a highball ready for him when he stepped in the door. The marginalization and dumbification (okay I made that word up) of women. This is just an extension of the "no normal woman can survive without a man" crap we've been hearing for hundreds of years. And in spite of the womens liberation movement of the 1960s, it is still here, lurking darkly in the corners.

Maybe some hetero single women didn't marry (or aren't dating) because the right man hasn't shown up, or did show up but left again, or time caught them by surprise or they just plain flat have other priorities that came first. Who knows. Who cares! It's not important.

Don't get me wrong. I have nothing at all against homosexuality. Some of my friends are gay/lesbian, most are not, but neither status means a hill of beans to me. It's not how I identify them as friends. What pisses me off is the attitude that I can't be a successful woman who likes men yet who manages to survive happily without one actively in my life.

How is this dog related? It's really not, except that I am lucky enough to have a large community of mostly female dog training friends who are incredibly talented, smart, socially and financially successful.... and single. We are tied together by our love of dogs, we are close and would do anything for each other. We are no one's cripple or loser. Most of us are hetero. None of us are married. Yet gee, we manage to live productive lives and for the most part we are happy. Happier, in many cases, than our married friends.

So next time you see a single woman hug or kiss another single woman, next time you wonder why someone hasn't married, don't stereotype or judge. Maybe they are lesbian. Maybe they are not. And who the hell cares anyway?

ETA: In reading this, I think it may be taken by some as an inadvertent slam against marriage. That is not at all intended. I do believe in marriage and loving relationships. I believe in loving relationships of all sorts; platonic and not, marital and not, hetero, homo, bi, whatever. Life is short. be happy!

Why I Oppose Proposition B.

2010-10-18T14:59:00.000-05:00

In November, Missourians will get a chance to vote on Proposition B, the “Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act.”

For most of us, “puppy mill” conjures images of shivering, emaciated, matted dogs standing in their own filth, terrified of people, bereft of the most basic necessities, socialization and care. None of us want puppy mills in Missouri, and for those of us involved in dogs, as I have been for over 25 years as a trainer, exhibitor, local and national club member and instructor, it’s a passion and a vocation to try to eliminate them. So why would I oppose this bill?

There are several reasons.

Our existing laws are better. Misssouri’s Animal Care Facilities Act (ACFA) is more clear, detailed, specific and typically more stringent than Proposition B. Prop B covers only breeders. ACFA covers “any person or organization operating an animal shelter, boarding kennel, commercial kennel, contract kennel, pet shop, pound or dog pound, or acting as a dealer, commercial breeder, intermediate handler or exhibitor in Missouri.” Violating Prop B will be a Class C Misdemeanor. ACFA starts right out with a Class A Misdemeanor, which is up to a year in jail and up to $20,000 fine. To see a detailed side-by-side comparison, go to http://www.totaldobe.com/propb_acfa.pdf.

Proposition B punishes legitimate breeders. Prop B caps at 50 the total of intact dogs to be owned by any breeder. The inference being that no one can adequately care for more than 50 dogs. I mean, that’s a lot, right? Who has the time and energy to take care of all those animals? But the bill sponsor, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is confining their proposed legislation to breeders. What about kennels, rescues, shelters, humane societies and pet shops? If you’re going to say that 50 is too many dogs, it should apply to them too, right? So this really isn’t about numbers of dogs, it’s about punishing breeders.

Proposition B redefines “pet.” Prop B defines a pet as “any domesticated animal normally maintained in or near the household of the owner thereof.” So according to Prop B, all domesticated animals, including livestock, are pets. This wording is a large foot in the door toward the HSUS’ animal rights agenda of ending all use of domestic livestock. Wayne Pacelle of the HSUS has stated, “We have no ethical obligation to preserve the different breeds of livestock produced through selective breeding ...One generation and out. We have no problems with the extinction of domestic animals. They are creations of human selective breeding.” — Animal People News, May 1993. (More information about the HSUS and its enrollment in the Annimal Rights Movement can be found at www.naiaonline.org, www.activistcash.com and www.humanewatch.org.)

Proposition B is an unfunded mandate. Estimated to cost around $650,000 the first year. We can’t fund our existing law. We don’t have the funds for this one either.

What is the answer?

Unfortunately we do have a problem with bad breeding operations in Missouri. How can we better enforce existing laws and statutes?

We need more inspectors. We have 12 inspectors to cover over 3,000 facilities. They are hopelessly overwhelmed.

We need to educate judges. Too often when these cases do come to trial, charges are dismissed or plea bargained. We need to prosecute violators to the full extent of the law.

We need to educate Missourians on why eliminating bad breeders is worth spending state money on.
In addition to many agricultural and rural interest groups, The Columbia (MO) Kennel Club, the Show Me Canines dog club and the Missouri Veterinary Medical Association have all taken positions in opposition to this bill. Proposition B will not solve our problem with substandard dog breeding facilities in Missouri. Please vote no on Proposition B.

System fail

2010-08-29T16:08:00.000-05:00

I haven't trialled all summer. Well I have, but in AKC Rally and at the UKC Premier. So this weekend was my first weekend back to AKC agility since April. And Thank God, it's the last weekend of a position on a table. Next weekend, no position!

The weekend coincided with some discussion on the Clean Run list on systems, and which system is the best to follow. Of course there was lots of chiming in; Linda's (Mecklenburg) system, Greg's (Derrett) system, Susan's (Garrett or Salo) system. Even Jane Simmons Moake's system. But what struck me this weekend was not anyone's specific system but rather how insistence on adhering to a certain style was failing dogs.

There is the group who insists on putting a front cross wherever one can fit. I watched handler after handler drive for a front cross and push their dogs off course or jam their dogs. In one instance, the turn was just before the very last jump. One spectacularly fast dog took three extra strides, two of which were trying to screech to a halt and get out of the way of his handler's front cross. Less flashy handlers just turned their shoulder and pulled their dogs to the jump; far smoother and much faster. There was NO reason to put a front cross there. But for that handler, that was the system.

There is the group with all the hand and shoulder motion. Both arms going, one pulling, one pushing, wrists turning, fingers pointing. You know, dogs don't see that well. A single pointing finger just isn't that useful. And if you're pulling with one hand and pushing with the other, what is that telling the dog? If it's a small dog, you're probably telling it nothing. I have a dear and beloved friend who uses this system and loves it. But every time I see her run her small dog, he's looking at her feet. He doesn't care what's going on up there in the air, he isn't looking that high! Yet the person she trains with has great success with it; it works for her dog.

Some systems do not allow certain moves. In some you are never allowed to use an off arm. Or blind cross. And frankly I think it's just kind of dumb. Don't want to use a blind cross? Fine, don't do it. But you can't say a blind cross is always bad when there are World Team handlers using them successfully all the time.

For every system out there, there are dogs who do spectacularly well with that system. So they definitely work. For some dogs and handlers. But I also see far too many dogs stuffed into a system that just doesn't work for them. If you really don't have a lot of send distance on your dog and/or are not a track star, why insist on jamming your dog with a front cross when a rear, or even no cross works even better? If your dog is watching your feet, why waste all that motion up top? If your dog is motivated by blind crosses, why not use them?

At its heart, a system is a consistent set of cues. And consistency is critical. But IMO adherence to only one single system's rules is not. Me, I want to use whatever works for my dog. What worked for Viva, a high drive but very sticky dog who despised front crosses, does not work at all for Cala, a dog with huge speed and distance who needs directionals and me the heck out of the way. And that in turn doesn't work for Zipper, who is moderately fast, watches my feet, wants me to run with him and is very sensitive to acceleration and deceleration. I run, he runs. I stop, so does he!

Consistency is key, but so is the ability and willingness to change the system to suit the dog, instead of trying to shove the dog into the system willy-nilly. I'd rather know about each system then pick and choose the parts that work best for the dog I have. And judging by what I saw this weekend, I wish a few other people would do that as well.

Yet another "Goals" post

2010-04-06T10:28:00.007-05:00

Goals. We all have them. Or at least we're told we should have them. We're pestered to have them. And not just to have a goal but a GOAL. A worthy target.

I'm as guilty as anybody else about lecturing students (and on lists, and whoever is reading this) about how to set goals and what kind of goals to set. The right goals help you and your dog progress. The wrong goals may not only keep you from being successful, they might actually damage your relationship with your dog and your attitude towards whatever dog sport you participate in.

My big thing is setting performance goals instead of outcome goals. What's the difference? Well an Outcome goal is dependent on an outcome. "I want to Q." "I want an AXJ by this date." "I want a perfect score." A performance goal, in contrast, is task oriented. "I want a smooth front cross." "I want faster weaves." "I want a nice startline stay." Outcome goals can be poison. Because if you set an outcome goal and fail to meet it, then you feel a failure. Even if many parts of your run or performance have been fabulous, if you set your heart (and goal) on getting a Q and your dog dropped a bar, then you've failed. But if you have set a good performance goal and you reach that goal, then even if you don't Q you can still feel successful and good about your team.

The trick to setting Performance goals is to make them fair and doable while still pushing your skills a bit. It's not fair to set a goal to have 2 second weaves if you never have gotten close in practice, or to have a perfect call front if you haven't trained for one. I tell my students that it's best to do three. One for the dog (a good get-out, nice attention, etc.) one for the handler (keep shoulders back, execute a good turn) and one for both of you (work a correct contact or smooth transitions).

Even with my lectures and preaching about goal setting, I realized a couple of months ago that I rarely speak about my primary goal in dog sports. It's a goal I feel very strongly about, but it's a goal that many people seem to rank fairly far down their list. Some people don't think about this goal at all, it is completely immaterial to them.

My absolute NUMBER ONE goal in all of my dog training in dog sport is simple. THE DOG MUST HAVE FUN. If my dog is not enjoying training, if he is stressed and shut down and hating it, then I am doing something wrong. And if I can't fix it, if I can't work the dog through it or if I feel the dog really isn't going to get to a spot where he can truly enjoy the task and the game we play together, then I'm just not going to do that sport with that dog. It's as simple as that.

Now I can hear the cries of protest already. I'm not saying that no dog should ever be trained if they have stress issues or have to work to find that place of joy. Some dogs need time, patience and understanding to learn how to loosen up and have fun. Some dogs express happiness differently than others. Not every happy dog is a screaming speed demon. Some are quietly happy. Sometimes it takes years to help a dog bloom.

I'm also not saying that no dog should ever be forced to do something he doesn't want to do. I force my dogs to have baths and get nail trims. The come command is not optional at my house either. But to me there's a big difference between the things my dogs need to learn in order to be civilized and orderly canine companions, and doing a dog sport for fun.

That "for fun" part should go both ways, not just one. It is a goal we all should have for our dogs. And that in some cases that goal is sorely lacking. I have heard, more times than I can even remember, "I don't care if he likes it. He's going to do it anyway." and "This is his job. I want to do this, so he has to." And let's not even go into some of the marginal to truly brutal training methods used to ensure "perfect" performance in some events.

Dog sports should not be a "job" your dog is forced to do in order to satisfy your want and need to compete. If it really doesn't matter to you whether the dog is having fun, perhaps it's time to reevaluate why you do dog sport. Dog sports are, to me, about teamwork and about a game we play TOGETHER. If I can't make it fun and I know it's not ever going to be fun, then I find something else the dog can do that he enjoys, even if it's just lazing all day on the couch.

To me, a score or a title is nothing compared to having a dog who loves playing that game. We have our dogs for such a short time. Is it really worth it to set your love of a game above theirs?

Ranty Mc Rant-a-thon

2010-02-17T20:25:00.003-06:00

The other day, I happened upon a site where a woman was slamming AKC, AKC breeders and AKC dogs. She went on about Aryan nations, about "real" dogs versus "foo-foo show dogs." She declaimed about how HER dogs were real dogs. And gee, why did we need all these purebreds anyway. Who needs a Dalmatian? she asked.

She got lots of responses from disciples who worship at the altar of Pomposity and Sanctimony. "We need fewer breeds." "These dogs don't work any more, their jobs are gone, so why have them?" "These aren't even real dogs!"

Today several of us posted a gorgeous photo of the Dobe who was in the BIS ring last night. It's a fabulous shot, showing a stunning dog in a perfect self-stack and an obviously delighted owner. "Shows are crap" said one person. "gee, like it's real challenging to stare at liver" said another. "Those aren't REAL working dogs!"

You know what I say? Shut the hell up.

Guess what. YOU do not get to decide what someone else loves to do with their dogs. YOU are not the world's expert on what does or does not define "work" for a dog. What makes you arbiter of whether people should own or have a certain breed or type of dog? Where do you get off saying that these dogs aren't worthy to even be born?

Owning and showing (and working) dogs is a challenge and a privilege and a pleasure. We all choose what we do and do not like to do with our dogs. For most of us, it means dedication, persistence, and hours, months, and years of training. For most of us, it is a passion. I'm not sure when and where some people decided that it was okay to deride and mock other people's choices when they don't fit with their own personal views, but I'm tired of it.

Good for Carissa and CJ. Good for Sadie, who won. Good for all those superbly bred, conditioned, and trained dogs on the green carpet the past couple of days. Good for the people who spend a year getting their mix to not be afraid of the teeter. Good for anybody who has a love for a breed, no matter what it is. Good for those who adhere to tradition by training their dog to do useful things around the house or farm or battlefield.

And for those of you who sneer and judge and point? I'll say it again. Shut the hell up.

Lazy trainer confessions...

2010-02-14T17:40:00.001-06:00

I kind of have a theory about dog training that I'm sure most people
will think is totally insane. I think we often overtrain instead of
undertrain. I'm not the world's best trainer by any means, but I seem
to get pretty good results on a number of different dogs without
totally enslaving myself to the training grinding wheel. I do
obedience/rally type training for maybe 5-10 minutes a couple of times
a week, and I train agility 2-3 times a week, often for about the same
amount of time.

And it's weird, because it's totally counter to any of my early
learning about training dogs, where the mantra was that if you wanted
a trained dog, you needed to train for AT LEAST a half hour per day.
To do anything less was a disservice to the dog and setting yourself
up for failure. And maybe top handlers with top dogs do invest that
kind of time with spectacular results, but all it's resulted in for me
is frustration on my part and a wilting of attitude on my dog's part.
Maybe I've adjusted my goals to suit my training style; I don't care
about getting on World Team, I do care about my dog really, really
loving to do the work.

So for what little it's worth, here are my basic rules about training.

1. The dog has to be ready to work; energized, excited, and wanting to
play the game. The dog who is focused on something else, who wants to
go explore, who is sluggish or tired or just not interested is not
ready to work. I do a lot of work on rewarding focus, until the end
result is that when I want to work, the dog is almost always
*thrilled* to get to work with me.

2. The work has to be a special game between the two of us. No other
dogs or people allowed. So I don't train if I can't focus 100% on my
dog. My other dog(s) get put away.

3. The work is a privilege for the dog. It's a special fun activity
and boy aren't they *lucky* we get to work today!

4. The work is extremely high energy and very fast paced, at the edge
of or even over the edge of control. I prefer to get attitude and
speed FIRST then begin asking the dog to offer control on top of the
attitude and speed. Dogs imprint on what they first learn. If they
first learn a task as slow and deliberate, when they stress they're
going to default to that foundation. If they always learn a task as
fast and with attitude, that becomes their default.

5. The work always stops before the dog is ready. If I have worked my
dog until he is tired or until he starts to tune out and shut down, I
have worked far, far too long. If I always quit before the dog is
ready to quit, it feeds into all of the above tenets. It makes my dog
more willing to focus faster, it keeps the training a special game,
and it keeps it high energy.

I think if most people would play a super-high energy game with their
dog for about 5 minutes a few times a week, and throw into that game
some of the behaviors they want (a down, a sit, a recall, a
directional spin, a hand target, heeling with attitude) they might be
surprised at what they get.

Putting on the Big Girl Pants

2009-11-23T10:08:00.007-06:00

Cala, taken November 22, 2009

This summer I lost my heart dog. My once-in-a-lifetime dog. The dog who took me places I never thought I'd get to go. Viva was not young, but with a lot of relatives who lived to 14 and a dam who made it to 16, I was looking for more time. Hemangiosarcoma had a different idea, and she went from healthy to her last day in a span of two weeks.

Viva was an overwhelming presence in not just my life, but in our household, on the training field and at shows. She effortlessly and calmly dominated every room she entered. She was solid in her convictions and she was never wrong. Really. I'm not kidding. Not only was she always right, she was quite willing to tell you she was right, why you were wrong, and that you better straighten up, dammit. But she was also totally devoted to me. I never had a moment's doubt that Viva would lay her life down for me any time. Fortunately she was never called to do so, and instead I had to help her leave with grace and dignity. She even told me, in her blunt and uncompromising way, when it was time; not by asking but by demanding I let her go.

Then there was Cala, Viva's daughter. How, I often wondered, could this dog have come from Viva? Not only did Cala have no impulse control at all, she really didn't seem to care much about me, and nothing at all about anything I wanted. She never worked to please me, always herself. If doing something she wanted to do happened to coincide with what I wanted that was great, but if not, well so much for my wishes. From the moment of her birth it seems, Cala and I have done nothing but butt heads. I've often said that Cala is the dog whose primary role is to make me humble as a trainer and to teach me how to deal with tough dogs.

When Viva fell sick, I worried a lot about what would happen to Cala. Though sometimes it seemed that Cala and I were always at cross purposes, Cala really depended on her mother. She leaned on her, literally and figuratively. She often slept on top of a (grumbling and complaining but resigned) Viva. Viva was Cala's anchor. I knew Zipper would be okay; he would miss her but not in the same way. Cala I worried about quite a bit.

Cala and Zipper piled onto poor Viva, 2006

After Viva's death we all kind of reeled as a household. Cala was very subdued the first couple of months. We all grieved; I know I am still grieving. But then a very interesting thing happened. At age seven, Cala grew up and put on her big-girl pants. It was as if no longer having a mother meant she couldn't be the puppy any more. Without Viva to lean on, she had to stand her own four feet and learn to deal with life herself. She has stayed more subdued, but has added focus and maturity and a new willingness to work with me.

I've changed too. It was always hard to look beyond Viva, my perfect dog (not that she was perfect of course, but she was perfect for me). Without Viva to show her up so unfavorably, I've become much more patient with Cala, and more willing to work with her on her own terms, though they are different terms than Viva's. It seems maybe I've put on a pair of big girl pants too.

As a result, Cala and I have made huge progress. She's less hectic and more willing to listen. She's much calmer and easier to deal with around the house. I'm having a lot more fun with her too. I've started showing her a bit in agility again and though we haven't Qd and she's still her screaming self on the course, she's really trying to listen. In APDT Rally this past weekend she cleaned up, earning her Level 1 title with a 205, 209, 210 and then her first to L2 legs with two 210s and two first places. Here's a video of her second Level 2 run.

I will always mourn Viva. But I am also enjoying my new relationship with Cala. It seems it's never too late for old dogs (and old trainers) to learn something new.

What Rally can learn from Agility

2009-09-17T08:00:00.003-05:00

Rally was originally proposed as a mix between Obedience and Agility. But, most people will say, it really has almost nothing to do with agility. The only agility-like aspects of Rally are the numbered course and the fact that it's timed. Other than that, Rally is very firmly rooted in Obedience. The signs and their performance are all Obedience tasks.

Further, many Rally people have never done agility. They may be new to dog sport, or they may have done obedience or be taking obedience classes. But there is one fundamental way that Rally does relate to agility that many people simply don't think about.

In Obedience, a dog progresses from task to task, with a break in between. Heel on leash. Break. Figure 8. Break. Stand for exam. Break. Heel off leash. Break. Recall. In Obedience, the "between exercises" break time is when the handler can praise the dog, and the dog gets mental and physical time off, even if just for a few seconds. It can be a way to keep the dog relaxed. But it can also signal a mental disconnect, then the need to reconnect as the team moves on to the next segment.

In agility, there are no breaks. You start at the first jump and end at the last, and the rest of the course is a constant flow of multiple tasks. Even on the table, the dog is expected to hold attention and position. In agility, good handlers know to treat the course as a single piece. While novice agility handlers will occasionally handle each jump and obstacle separately, not thinking about the next thing down the line till they get there, that doesn't last long. You quickly learn in agility that if you are not planning two to three obstacles ahead you are not going to be setting an efficient line. And in agility there is certainly no time to stop and see what number you're on, figure out what you're supposed to do there, then do it. In agility, all of the obstacles are well known and trained ahead of time and the handler walks the course until he or she feels confident of what needs to happen to create an overall fluent, fast, efficient, smooth line.

The problem is, too many people treat Rally courses like Obedience with breaks. They heel to a sign, peer at it to make sure they know what it is, sort out the details in their head (reminding themselves that this is the call front with/without a halt, or the spiral with the dog INside), complete the sign, then heel to the next sign and do it all over again. They do not think ahead from one sign to the next, much less about how their speed and line exiting one sign may affect approach and performance of the next. They certainly don't think of the Rally course as a single unit, to be accomplished as one piece. As a result, we see a lot of slow, jerky, and/or hesitant performances. Doing Rally this way is handling piecemeal, and the score and time will reflect it.

In Rally, there are no breaks for praise. The team is supposed to start at the Start sign and keep going until the Finish sign. When you think of it that way, it becomes clear that Rally competitors need to walk and plan their Rally course as they would an agility course. Handling as a single line will produce a much smoother, faster run that is a lot more fun to do and to watch.

The first and perhaps most important thing is to know the Rally rules and signs before entering. Handlers should understand each sign at a glance and have the performance of each sign ingrained so they don't have to actually think about it, and can let their subconscious take over the task. This also means that the dog knows its job. Dog and handler confidence begets smoothness.

If you really know and understand the signs, then your walk through can be focused on pace and smoothness. Walk the course once to make sure you know where everything is and what follows what. Then walk the course with an eye to how the *next* sign affects your line on the sign you are currently performing. How will your exit from the call-front-finish-right carry you to the offset figure 8? How should you pace and angle your jump in order to have a smooth transition to that 270 right? Think ahead. What we learn in agility is that often, a mistake at a jump actually started three jumps prior with a poor cue or a bad line.

Finally, walk the course as many times you can as a complete flowing line. Concentrate on keeping your shoulders back and head up and striding out in a brisk, smooth pace. You have a destination. That destination is not the next sign, it's the finish line.

Like agility, Rally should be a dance between dog and handler moving as a cohesive whole throught the course. Walk and think of your Rally course as you would an agility course, and see how your performance improves.

When you come off the course, ideally you should be able to close your eyes and draw a mental picture of the whole course. Try to see it as a diagram with a continual line from start to finish.

It's not about the Q

2009-09-03T09:27:00.003-05:00

I've been sitting on this post for awhile, partly because I wanted to think about it a bit, and partly because I've been busy.

I want to talk a bit about my favorite run of my entire weekend a couple of weeks ago when we went to Glen Carbon for a 3-day agility trial. It's probably my very first time at a trial where I felt like Zipper and I were totally in sync. He was running hard, I was getting my cues out on time and he was just faultless. Everything felt graceful and coordinated. It was one of those runs you will remember forever.

Later in the weekend, I had another Jumpers run I didn't like as much. I had cut my walk through short because Zip was first on the line, and I didn't feel I really knew the course as well. Zipper likes to be out of his crate a good amount of time before running, and he started out a bit sniffy the first couple of jumps. I got his head up, but felt like the rest of the run was a constant battle of pulling irons out of the fire. He was wanting to stress zoom and I kept getting him back last second.

The first run was an NQ, because it took three tries to get Zipper into the weaves. When I said, after the second run, that I didn't care for it much, I kind of got chastised for being "too hard on myself." "It was a Q! You did a great job!" And indeed it was a Q. But it was not the same as the first run.

The thing is, it's not about the Q. It's about the teamwork and timing and partnership with your dog. I'm as glad as anybody to take the Q and run, but that run is not the one I'll remember. The first run is.

At this same trial, I encountered a friend who has a very stressy young dog that she's having trouble getting to even go around the course. She is incredibly frustrated and thinking about quitting. I feel that if she sticks with it, it will come through for her in the end, but I don't blame her for questioning whether she should go on with a dog who appears to not like it. But the key there is that she says the dog is fast and accurate at home. I hope she does stick with it, and refinds the joy of being in the ring with her dog.

After the trial, I talked to another friend. She told me she has made a big difference with her dog simply by stopping her obsession over the Q. I had told her (in one of my very infrequent moments of brilliance I guess) that it was NOT about the Q. And she had decided to take it to heart. As a result, her dog was running faster and happier at that last trial than I've ever seen him, and she was too.

Yesterday morning, a World Team member lost her dog. The dog simply dropped dead in practice. No warning, no symptoms. Gone in an instant.

So here's the message. It's a simple one, yet so hard for us humans to get through our thick skulls. It's really not about the Q. Ever. It's about being in the moment with your dog and glorying in what you have, when you have it.

She's now gone

2009-07-03T22:29:00.002-05:00

I realized I had updated pretty much everyone but readers of this blog. Viva is now gone, and for some of you that is news you've already heard. It's been almost two weeks since I let her go, less than two weeks before that she was fine.

The house is quiet without her. Zipper and Cala and I look at each other, nonplussed. So far Cala is doing okay, she's the one I worried about the most. She and Zipper are starting to play again. But there's a gigantic hole, so large I can't span it with thought or deed.

I'll be getting another Min Pin. Soon Prada, Ch Regatta Devil Wears Prada, will come to live with us thanks to Pam, Zipper's breeder. Zipper will be thrilled to welcome his niece. Not so sure about Cala, but my guess is we'll end up okay after some initial adjustment.

I'm making myself train, and that helps. But it's hard even to do that. Viva was entered in a Rally trial in St. Louis the day I took her to Dr. Wendy to let her go. I knew it was the right thing to do, I knew it was time. She was ready. I was not. I'm still not. But it will get better.

Where the MU Vet Hospital Goes Wrong

2009-06-11T11:44:00.004-05:00

I have an old dog. Eleven and a half; okay, 11 and 3/4. She is beloved this dog. The best dog I have ever owned or probably ever will. A part of my life and my soul, I have always felt honored and humble that I have been allowed to share her life. And like many old dogs, she has become such a part of me that she is an extension of my thought. We understand each other, though the slightest gesture or flick of the eye.

If you have ever had a beloved dog, maybe you'll understand why I am so angry at the vet school. Maybe not. Nonetheless, I'm furious, and after years of similar stories, both personally and from friends, I'm like that guy on the old movie from the 1970s called "Network." I'm mad a hell and I'm not going to take it any more.

Last weekend, my normally very fit and capable dog, who looks more like she's six than nearing 12, suddenly got very weak and began to look a bit pot-bellied. This morning found me with a 9:45 appointment at the vet school for an abdominal ultrasound. Extensive testing through the week is drawing us toward a probably inescapable cancer diagnosis. I went to MUVTH armed with multiple xrays and extensive bloodwork results from my GP Vet, the capable Dr. Wendy Forbes of Rock Bridge Animal Hospital. She and I had been working on this through the week. The ultrasound was to show us more clearly what's going on in Viva's abdomen. A mass is almost certain, the question being whether it's splenic or kidney or even something else.

And that's really all I want to know. I'm not planning dramatic intervention. She's a dog who has had a fantastic quality of life and to me, quality is far more important than quantity. So the reason I was referred, the only reason I was there, was to get an ultrasound.

I was escorted in fairly quickly by the student, who gave Viva a somewhat cursory exam, then disappeared to get the attending. And we waited. And waited. Me on the hard bench plank, Viva on the ice cold linoleum floor. For an hour. Finally a Resident appeared, and began to give Viva another exam. "Oh honey," she said to Viva, "you're shivering!" And I replied, "Ya think? She's been laying on this cold floor for an hour." I mean, come on. They left an old, sick dog in a breed with very little coat for an hour on a cold floor, why shouldn't she be shivering?

The resident, in her best "I'm the pro and you're an idiot" voice, started to explain to me some of the tests they would like to do.

[ETA: The resident actually told me what they wanted to do before she even looked at Viva. She examined Viva after she outlined what they wanted, then outlined what they wanted again after the exam.]

"Well, we'd like to do another CBC. And of course, depending on what the ultrasound finds, we'd like to do a fine needle aspirate (and I had to stop her from explaining what that is, I *know* what it is), though with her platelets so low that might be a bit iffy, then we'd like to do a bone marrow tap."

"I really just want the ultrasound."

"Oh. Well, okay, let's see. We'll need to take some xrays too."

"You have x-rays." (her hand was on them for God's sake.)

"Well, we may need to take some more."

"Why? You have xrays."

"Xrays would probably be required if you want an ultrasound."

"Then forget it, I won't do the ultrasound."

(she's looking at me like I've sprouted two heads, because I won't go along with her 'Doctor knows best, let's charge everything we possibly can' scenario.)

"Well let me see, let's see what it would be without xrays." (cogitating ensues, in which the student points out they don't have a price structure for ultrasound without xrays, which is ludicrous, because a) they have her xrays and b) you really DON'T need xrays when you do an ultrasound)

"Okay, it'll be about $300."

They wanted $300 freaking dollars to wave a wand around on my dog's belly for a few minutes. Further, I was informed that no, of course I couldn't stay with my dog and it would take two hours "or so." I told them I couldn't afford $300, so they looked at each other again with that look of 'how dare she not fall into line like a sheep' look and said they would consult. They left the room. I promptly called the other place in town that does ultrasounds, which we hadn't chosen first because they couldn't get me in till this afternoon. Their price was almost half less than MU's. So when they came back in and said, brightly, "oh, we can reduce it to $260!" I said thanks, I'm leaving.

"Oh, um, well, we think from her bloods she might have a rectal bleed so we want to test that and see if we can give you some meds for it." (they do a digital exam and say, somewhat regretfully, they can't find anything).

For all that, for having to wait an hour to be seen, and for the privilege of them doing absolutely nothing for my dog, I paid $92.

And maybe I shouldn't be so furious. But let me tell you the things that infuriate me about MUVTH.

First, I should not have to wait an hour to be seen, especially with a sick dog.

Second, I feel the vet school grossly overcharges and deliberately adds on unneeded tests in an attempt to get fees up. In the past, I have been lectured and yelled at for not going with the most expensive treatment possible.

Third, and this is a big one, is not being able to stay with my dog. They take your dog away and do whatever they want. I've had my dogs used as student guinea pigs before, including a dog who came back so bruised from a liver biopsy that his entire belly turned completely black. I think medicine "behind closed doors" is an extremely poor way of doing business. If, indeed, the departments are set up in such a way that there isn't room for owners, then that should be remedied. This is supposed to be a state of the art facility. Owners do deserve to be in on what's going on.

Which brings me to my last point. I never felt (and have never felt when taking any dog to the teaching hospital) that my views or knowledge were in any way respected or even considered. I have always felt condescended to, ignored, and sometimes as if I was just an extra to be gotten away from the dog as soon as possible, so stupid that anything I said was dismissed on its face. It's completely infuriating and always gets my back up so yep, I tend to get surly.

Yes, some owners are pretty clueless. But it doesn't follow that all are, and even those who are deserve respect and someone really listening to what they are saying. Which I never seem to get at MU, where my knowledge in some areas probably way outstrips that of most of the staff.

Some of us have been trying to address these pervasive problems with the vet school for years. I could tell you almost a dozen horror stories, all dogs I know or have owned personally. But the administration is patently uninterested in listening to us, and certainly not in making any sort of change to the way it does things. I bet it brings in a lot of money from the unsuspecting dog owners who don't know better. It's sad, and it needs to end.

Meanwhile, my old dog and I are home. She'll have her ultrasound this afternoon, and I'll be right in the room with her so that I too can see what's going on and help keep her calm.

[ETA: Viva had her ultrasound yesterday afternoon at The Pet Center, with Dr. Miller. They got me right in. I was able to stay with Viva, which helped a lot to keep her calm. We looked at her for about 15 minutes while Dr. Miller very patiently explained what he was seeing. I was able to see her organs right along with him which was extremely interesting and educational. This is how veterinary medicine should be practiced. Thank you Pet Center!]

ASCA weekend

2009-05-11T08:34:00.002-05:00

Last weekend was ASCA here in town. I really enjoy ASCA, it's my favorite venue besides AKC. On impulse I entered Zipper in everything. Five runs a day over two days. He's in Elite Jumpers and Regular, and I even decided to try Novice Gamblers. Turns out Zipper was one of three 12" dogs entered all weekend, the second being Joan Meyer's Niel, who was in Novice and Open, and Kathy's Kip, who was entered Saturday only and not in all classes. As was typical in small trials, often I had jumps set just for me.

Saturday was two rounds of Gamblers, two of Regular and one Jumpers. And to my astonishment, Zipper actually Qd in his first round of Gamblers. He really doesn't have distance skills, but it was a fairly easy one. You had to flip the dog out over the gamble line to a tunnel, then out of that tunnel to a jump, another tunnel straight ahead, then a bonus jump. He had no trouble at all. The second Gamble was a different story It was a jump out to the aframe, then come back toward the handler and finally flip back away again for a tunnel. And Zip decided he wasn't doing the aframe (a sporadically recurrant problem). Instead, when I told him out he went WAY OUT, past the aframe and to the weaves. Oops.

Next was Regular, and we got one Q there, then in the second round he went around the last jump. In ASCA there are no refusals. But if the dog misses the very last jump and crosses the finish line (which thanks to electronic timing IS the last jump) they are NQ. Rats.

Sunday, we started with Jumpers and Zip was clean both rounds but a second over time. I'd taken the dogs for a run after the show the day before and something had made him itchy so I'd had to give him an allergy pill. Next was Regular again, and in that round he just flat ran out of gas. I pulled him from the rest of the runs and brought him home, and he totally fell out. Poor little kid was tired.

We had a lot of plusses and I'm glad I entered, but I'm not sure I'll enter him that many runs a day again.

Mandatory Spay Neuter. Is it a good idea?

2009-05-03T17:29:00.004-05:00

A mandatory spay/neuter could force sterilization of dogs like my Zipper, Ch Regatta It's About Time, OA, AXJ, RS-O, JS-O, UAg1. Zipper is the #5 agility Min Pin in the country.

Columbia's Board of Health, along with the Central Missouri Humane Society, are contemplating passing an ordinance which would require all pets in Columbia to be spayed or neutered.

It sounds good on the surface. We have, according to CMHS and the , a pet overpopulation problem. We need to take care of that problem. If everyone would just spay/neuter, the problem would go away, right? No new dogs and cats being born would mean much less burden on Animal Control and CMHS. The sun would shine, and the birds would sing. All would be right in Columbia.

Or would it?

The first and most important question to ask when contemplating a new law is, will it work? Addendums to that question include, how would it be paid for, who, if anyone, would be harmed, who would benefit, and how would it affect the local economy?

Unfortunately, a mandatory spay/neuter law would not work, which is why similar moves by other municipalities all over the U.S. have failed. Why wouldn't it work? Oh let us count the ways.

First, its totally unenforceable. There is no way to ensure that every pet in Columbia is altered. Inspectors would have to go from house to house on a search. And if it's tied into licensing, that won't work either. People simply will not license their dogs. If people who don't want to spay/neuter know that if they go to the vet they'll be required to do so, they will not go to the vet. Thus more animals will become sick and not get treatment and even more will remain unaltered.

There's no way to pay for it. The costs for such a program would far outstrip any license fees gained, because, see above, compliance with licensing would falter. Of course draconian fees could be instituted for those who wish their animals to remain intact, but that too discourages participation. Even worse, it punishes responsible breeders and forces those of us who DO take care of our dogs to pay for the idiots who don't.

A moment to discuss responsible breeders. Responsible breeders are dog lovers who have a hobby, usually showing dogs and also occasionally breeding. Most breed very few litters (I've bred a whopping two litters since I got my first Doberman in 1981). No responsible breeder ever breeds for money. Responsible breeders have a deep passionate admiration for their breed or breeds, and when they do decide to whelp a litter it's always with the mandate of improving the gene pool of the breed as a whole. It's never, ever for money. Responsible breeders have long waiting lists for puppies. Responsible breeders do not have dogs that end up in shelters, because responsible breeders are willing to take back any dog they have produced, at any time, for any reason, no question asked. We want to know *exactly* what happens to each and every life we produce and we are dead serious about it.

Responsible breeders do genetic health tests on their dogs prior to breeding. They show their dogs to ensure they have correct temperament and structure. It's a hobby. And just like Golf or Fishing, you throw money at it. You rarely if ever get money back. Most responsible breeders are far from wealthy. Finally and perhaps most importantly, responsible breeders are just as concerned as anyone else about the problem of unwanted dogs, and a huge majority of them are involved in rescue in some way or another.

Okay, back to why this won't work. On top of not being enforceable and being very expensive you just can't legislate morality. The idiots down the road from me breeding their pit bulls every six months are not going to obey some law. They're going to keep breeding.

And let's talk economic impact. Columbia holds a large conformation dog show as well as several agility trials each year. Mandatory Spay/Neuter could force relocation of those events, which have a multi-million dollar impact on the Columbia economy. It would also hurt dog training businesses such as CCSC who train dogs for show as well as pet companions.

And the question is, what is the problem in Columbia? Is it truly that there are too many pets and too few homes? Or is it that irresponsible owners are not properly taking care of and training their pets? Is it that too many owners think of their pets as disposable commodities, to be discarded at the first hint of inconvenience? I don't have any numbers (and would be glad to see any) but I bet that the number of actual puppy litters turned in to CMHS is fairly small. I bet most dogs turned into CMHS are adolescents to old age. Which means they HAD A HOME. But that home dumped them. If that's true, then it's not that there are too few homes. It's that there are too few responsible homes. And mandatory spay/neuter, even if it worked, would not even begin to address that issue.

So what is the solution? I think it's three-fold.

First, the city should work together with the University of Missouri Veterinary Teaching Hospital to offer free spay/neuter clinics. Not low-cost, free. No questions asked. To pay for it, grants could be applied for and licensing fees could go up a moderate amount (perhaps $2 or $3).

Second, the city should use the internet and other dissemination that's free or very low cost to launch a publicity campaign to help inform the community and encourage participation.

Third, the city and CMHS should work proactively with training centers like CCSC to offer discounted training opportunities for people with pets. A dog that is trained is far less likely to be given up than a dog who is untrained. Many owners give up their dogs because they simply do not have the tools they need to deal with behaviors they don't want.

Positive proactive action will get results. Punitive laws with no teeth and no chance of effectiveness will not.

AKC Adding Mixed Breeds

2009-04-17T10:27:00.001-05:00

AKC to accept Mixed Breeds in 2010

The great news of the week is that starting in April 2010, the AKC will allow mixed breeds to participate in Agility, Obedience, and Rally. This is a tremendous opportunity for Mixed Breed owners and their dogs.

While there are a number of other organizations that allow mixes in agility, including UKC, USDAA, ASCA, NADAC, CPE, and DOCNA, not all of them are available locally. And even the ones who are seen locally are not numerous. In Columbia, each year we have one UKC trial, two ASCA trials and (starting this June) USDAA. You can find more opportunities in Kansas City and St. Louis, but still not that many per year, maybe a total of 10-15 trials for all those venues combined. In contrast, There are many AKC trials available. Not just the two in Columbia, but many in Kansas City, Lawrence Kansas, St. Louis, etc.

For owners of mixed breeds wishing to do Obedience or Rally, the change is even more striking. They will go from having perhaps one or two opportunities per year in a 100 miles radius to many.

AKC's new program will be a particular boon to our local 4H kids, many of whom have mixes. I'm super-excited about the new program and can't wait for it to start!

Do a demo for us!

2009-04-04T21:27:00.006-05:00

My van, fully loaded. There are two Dobermans and a Min Pin under there, and you can't even see the other tunnel...

Now that it's out of the van, it looks a bit more organized.

Ginger takes a break in a lull between crowds.

Jura goes after a thrown toy as a reward.

Vegas, Mr. Suave and Persuasive. Do you have a treat for me? I am starving you know.

"Come do a demo for us" they say. "It's for a great cause, and you'll get a lot of exposure."

And they're right of course. It is always for a great cause, and it is super exposure for our training center. And we enjoy doing them. So we usually do at least two or three a year, and yet we also turn down several others each year. Why?

Because holy beejeebus, it's a crapload of work.

Today, we had a demo at the MU Veterinary Teaching Hospital Open House. We were set for three performances of 10-15 minutes each at 10:30, 11:30, and 12:30. For this Open House, we spent several hours copying brochures and locating our other paperwork (enrollment forms, business cards, the form for our new summer camp for kids, etc). Then we went to the training center last night and pulled two sets of 6 weave poles, 8 metal 4' solid-base jumps, two 15' tunnels, 8 tunnel weights, poles and bars, 20 sets of ring gates, feet to go on the ring gates so they'd stand up, the CCSC sign (digging frantically in the closet to find the darn thing), one of our exercise balls, rally signs and stands, cones, and chairs. I also made sure we had sun screen, paperclips and clipboards. For the dogs I had treats and their training bags, but that stays pretty prepped.

Then this morning we had to load it all. Two other people had already loaded the gates, rally stuff, and paperwork. I arrived at our building before 8:00 a.m. and loaded the two tunnels, weights, four of the metal jumps, all of the jump bars and both sets of weave poles. All on top of three dogs. I found I couldn't fit the rest of the metal jumps in, so instead went and pulled four more jumps, our freestanding wing jumps.

Off to breakfast, then we arrived at the site at 9:30. After some confusion about where we actually were supposed to be, we now had to unload everything and set up our rings. We started setting ring gates only to find that one Bachelor's Degree (me) and one PhD (Ginger) can't count for snot. We needed 26 sets of ring gates for the size rings we wanted, not 20. But having learned the hard way that at demos you always gate everything, we made our rings smaller instead of leaving gates out. If you don't gate everything, people try to drag their dogs through tunnels and over jumps willy-nilly, willing or not. Since we don't like to see dogs traumatized for life by well-meaning but naive owners, we gate. Today we also had to deal with high winds, so we ended up using tracking stakes from Steve and Jamie's van to help hold things down.

So after almost another hour of setup, we were finally ready for our first demo. And that's always the fun part. Talking to people, especially kids, about a sport I love to do, one that is accessible to all dogs of all sizes, shapes, and types, is great. The crowds were wonderful, the kids asked funny and perceptive questions. We were a bit shorthanded this demo, with Andrea in Omaha and Kathy in Wichita. Steve and Jamie had a dog, and I worked all three of mine, even 11 1/2 year old Viva. Ginger worked both her adult Springers and the 3 month old puppy had a great time with the crowd. Liz showed up with Standard Schnauzer Vegas and he demonstrated the exercise ball. We talked and explained until my voice was pretty much gone.

Our dogs were, I have to say, amazing. They worked the rings and the crowds, allowed innumerable hands to pet them and lots of chirping children's voices over their heads. Viva, the old Dobe, is a pro at this stuff, but Zipper the Min Pin is still young and I was just so thrilled with his attitude and patience. Ditto the Springers, the Weim Faith who was pretty much always mobbed, and Vegas too.

Finally we were finished with demos, but not at all finished with our day. We had vet student help to break things down, but we still had to repack the cars, then haul it all back to the building, take it all out and put it back. Even though our last show was at 12:30, it was almost 2:30 before I and the dogs finally arrived home. Where they promptly crashed into sound sleeps, exhausted by their day.

We do love to do demos, but now perhaps people may understand why we just don't do that many...

Back in the groove

2009-04-01T10:58:00.004-05:00

This week I feel that I'm really able to get back to training for the first time since tearing my calf muscle. While the calf isn't totally healed, I'm at a point where I can run and even jump with it. I just need to be really careful to warm up properly.

After what has been almost a month of very little work or diminished capacity, I felt that on Monday night Zipper was sluggish and very distracted. He was doing a lot of sniffing and watching dogs outside of the ring rather than actually working. He did get all 12 weave poles when he did them, but overall I was pretty discouraged.

Last night was a different story. It seemed as if he really snapped into place again. I was able to do some really nice handling. I worked on calling him down the dogwalk as I ran and being aggressive in my handling to show him his line; watching all those great teams at the AKC National had some influence! Bonus, he did some nice voluntary heeling too. He only got distracted a couple of times and I was able to get him going again. Tonight will probably be a night off, then tomorrow night is our last class of the session. I'm going to re-enroll him in the same class again next session because I had to miss so much of this one.

This weekend will be my first runs on more uneven ground, at the Vet School Open House Demo.

I'm home!

2009-03-30T08:15:00.002-05:00

Landed in Columbia MO last night at 9:00. Picked up my well-taken-care-of but happy to see me dogs and went home. This morning it was back to the usual routine, though I confess getting up at 5:00 a.m. was not fun.

Some musings about the National in general.

The show:
The AKC people and the volunteers were incredible. So were the competitors. Everyone was having a great time, and as far as I could tell things were run with a smooth efficiency I wish we could all see every show weekend. It was a lot of dogs and a lot of runs, but they were done each day by 5:00.

The facility:
The arena was very nice, though rings 3 and 4 were cramped and basically had little to no spectator room. The large arena made up for it, it was hard to NOT get a great seat in the arena. I didn't see any dogs slip on the dirt, but it did look awfully packed by the end of the weekend. I was sort of surprised they didn't groom it Sat night for Sunday. Food at the arena was good, but very limited.

The area:
Okay, I confess, not in love with the area. I could NOT find a decent place to eat that wasn't Fried, greasy, or both. My hotel was, frankly, a dump. There are inexpensive hotels then there are cheap hotels, and the Econolodge was cheap. The wireless was a joke, the TV remote didn't work, the clock radio didn't work because the wiring was screwy in the wall plug, and my non-smoking room reeked of old, stale smoke. Even after a specific request to clean it, the smell was only muted by heavy perfume. To cap it off, the mattress had seen better decades and the pillows were more like pancakes. If the National ever goes back to NC, please do not stay at the Econolodge.

The agility:
Lots of spectacular runs this weekend and a few really unfortunate ones. I felt horrible for the dobe gal whose dog, running in the main ring so she was the center of all eyes, had to stop and have diarrhea. There were some runs that fell completely apart. On the other hand, there was some amazing stuff. I saw some handling that worked but that I'd never even want to try to emulate, and some that both worked and was gorgeous.

I watched a lot of running contacts over the weekend. In the Challenge round it was very clear that if you did not have a true running contact you were not going to the finals. On the other hand, quite a few of the dogs missed their contacts, both aframe and dogwalk, thus also not going to the finals. It's sort of a catch 22. If you want to be truly competitive now you have to have one, but a lot of them are still prone to failure. So you either win or are eliminated.

I hope next year I get to go to Tulsa and actually watch the finals. I can drive there, so no plane to catch!

Thanks all

2009-03-29T13:07:00.001-05:00

Hope you enjoyed the blog. I have to pack up now and get ready to leave. I've really enjoyed my National and am very sad I don't get to see the finals. But I'm also ready to get home to my own dogs.

Challenger's round

2009-03-29T11:42:00.020-05:00

They're walking 8, 12, and 26 right now and will then run those dogs, then walk and run 16 and 20. I'll try to give some updates as they happen, refresh your screen often if you're following me.

The course starts with a 180 to a difficult offside entry to the weaves, with some expected tough angles.

ETA: Carla Boudrot is judge. The walkthrough is finished...looks like they're doing split times with 3 sets of timers on the course.

Finally starting with 8"...first dog 37 seconds with a flyoff.

Only one clean so far...

Our 8" challenge is Darlene and I can't hear the rest...

Melissa Ganning and Savvy 32.287 win the 12" class.

Now for the 16" dogs

32.015 for Maggie the ACD, and the Rat Terrier just got 30.3. Wow.

Dylan the Rat Terrier does it! He's in the final.

Now it's 26" dogs, after which they'll walk 20s and 24s.

32.75 is the time to beat so far by Jace and Lisa ??. Gerry brown and Raptor just had an unfortunate run.

Gerry Hernandez and Focus 30.610, but Olga Chaiko and Yankee made it in 29.725 to take the class. wow.

A break, they will walk 20" and 24".

Okay, here we go with 20" dogs.

First dog is Golden Skye with 32.1.

30.69 with Toby the BC wins the class. Lauren Mitchell handler.

Now there are 24" dogs, and two handlers haven't checked in. Oops. This is the last height.

Still not a single dog clean!

Anne Brau and Scream finally clean in 30.32.

Denise Thomas and 30.16 with Zippity wins it, only two clean rounds!

We're still on 12" and 16"

2009-03-29T10:31:00.004-05:00

Because of the delay due to the fire alarm, I probably won't be able to see ANY of the finals. But I'll be watching the challenger's round. Don't know if I'll get that course up, but I'll try to blog. I already have my spot picked out!

ETA: 12" and 16" are finished, they're building Challengers and have announced finalists for 8" and 26"

12" dog video

2009-03-29T10:29:00.003-05:00

Not the best quality because I took it with the new camera, and no sound, but watch part of one run and an entire other run. I'm sorry I don't know the handler of either dog.

An interruption in the proceedings....

2009-03-29T08:37:00.002-05:00

We just had a fire alarm and the entire facility had to evacuate. This is the second time in a row this has happened to me at a big show. At least this time we weren't standing outside in zero degree windchills for 20 minutes.

Agility competitors are a very unflappable bunch. Everybody just got up and left, then came back when told.

What IS that???

2009-03-29T07:51:00.002-05:00

That thing. Up in the sky. Why, it's the sun! And the sky is blue, not grey and spitting things at me. I can hardly believe it.

Hybrid course

2009-03-29T07:00:00.003-05:00

Here's the hybrid course. So far, trouble spots seem to be 3 to the 4 tunnel, and pushing out to 5. Most handlers are doing well on the push from the aframe to the triple, beating their dogs over the aframe with the dog on the left then pushing.

Olka Chaiko just ran a 24.80 with Yankee, and is currently leading.

ETA: The aframe is a bit of a tricky issue. If the handler stays close, they risk the dog flipping into the tunnel. If they go past to set the line to the triple and the dog doesn't have a good contact, the dog blows off the aframe to get to the handler.

12s just started. The 16" ring is currently stalled while a chute problem is deal with, looks like the judge thinks dogs are slipping in the tunnel.

The final day begins

2009-03-29T06:26:00.003-05:00

Here we are again. As I sit here, Andy is in the ring thanking the stewards and now Gail is briefing everyone for the day.

The Hybrid course is first. Then Challengers and finally Finals. I will not be able to watch much of the finals, so I will probably shut this blog (and my display) down to watch what I can of Challengers round. I'll be working on getting that course up for you soon.

Isn't there supposed to be a drought?

2009-03-28T16:40:00.002-05:00

There has been nothing but rain, fog, drizzle, rain, downpour and, oh, rain. Since we arrived.

Guess what tonight's forecast is? Severe storms and rain.

Hello? Isn't North Carolina in a terrible drought?

Guess not.

I think it's supposed to clear a bit tomorrow, just in time for me to go home. At least we aren't getting the snow here that they're apparently getting in Missouri.

Our day is done, I'm getting ready to pack up and go get some supper. Back bright and early tomorrow, when the rings start at 7:30 a.m.

the day wears on...

2009-03-28T15:13:00.003-05:00

Poodles in a blur of ecstasy.

8" still running. I'm not sure who is announcing, but holy cow her throat must be sore. She's been doing an almost unending stream for hours, and this is the second day. Wow.

For those of you like me who have never been to a National before, there is one ring that is announced. Each dog submits a small bio, and as they run in the main ring, the announcer not only gives their full name and all titles, but any tidbits the owner has added. It's a nice feature, and the way they have structured the rings, ALL dogs will get announced once during the weekend. It's great for JQP.

Another feature I've discovered today (okay, I'm a bit slow, sue me) is that after one dog finishes, the next dog's number is flashed up on the timer screen and stays there until they break the start beams. A huge help in figuring out where the ring is.

Looks like they're finishing up 8".

ETA: The announcer's name is Anna Johnson (please forgive if not spelled correctly). Pam Manaton told me she announces each year, and is able to announce for the entire weekend, but won't be able to speak Monday. I'm incredibly impressed.

I've been told to mention...

2009-03-28T13:34:00.002-05:00

that it's official. The Border Collies have taken over the 16" class. So out of six jump heights, it's BCs in 16, 20, 24, and 26, Shelties in 12", and 8" is the lone refuge of variety. :)

JWW course

2009-03-28T13:19:00.006-05:00

This one may be hard to read, sorry, I did the best I could. Fast times are about 24-25 on this course. Right now dropped bars seem to be a real issue as dogs try to cut corners and turn in midair.

ETA: What's running right now are 12" and 24". In 12s, I got to see a really fast Min Pin run, unfortunately he paused right in front of a jump to bark at his handler and I think got a refusal. In 24" Marcus and Juice currently have the time to beat at 24.265

A bit of news for the locals

2009-03-28T11:27:00.002-05:00

Our midwest contingent is doing well. Paul Young and Bit just had a nice clean run for 31 seconds. Nancy Lauremann was in 3rd place overall in the 16s last I heard, with 28 and change from her sheltie Pilot.

It makes me muse on the table. Even very moderate-speed dogs are doing these very tough courses in 35-40 seconds with no table. The fastest teams are doing sub-30 times. That's a good 10-15 seconds faster than a usual agility trial. Granted, the National is the best of the best. But not every dog here is a speed demon by any means.

If the table was eliminated from Excellent, think how much time would be saved....

Another little note about the National. There are a huge number of dogs here who are over 10 years old. Listening to the announcer of the 16" dogs, dog after dog is 10+, with a good number being 12 or 13. Goes to show that the experience of years really counts, and that agility does a lot to keep dogs young.

non-sequiter...the sacred and the profane

2009-03-28T11:07:00.002-05:00

Was driving home yesterday, very tired, when I saw a sign.

Easter Trinity. He died. He was buried. He got it up.

Wait. What???

Oh. Drop the word "it"....

Random Photos

2009-03-28T09:05:00.005-05:00

Just for Eddie, Beagle fix! This is Abby, a top ranked Agility Beagle.

Rings 3 and 4 have no seating, so competitors and spectators crowd around to watch runs.

In depth consultation over the run order.

Chic Stall Decor

Sat Standard Course

2009-03-28T07:56:00.002-05:00

As always, green numbers are behind the obstacle and coming toward you, black going away.

So far most of the teams seem to be doing pretty well on this course. Trouble spots are the turn into the tunnel before the dogwalk, and the weave/chute discrimination.

I'm also seeing a fair number of "failed" running contacts this weekend.

Our day begins

2009-03-28T07:08:00.004-05:00

We have Standard in rings one and two, starting with 20" and 26". I'll have pictures soon. It's even busier today than yesterday, and I'm seeing more locals (to me anyway) which is very cool.

Today will be my shopping day, need to pick up a little something for the kind saints keeping my dogs while I'm gone; Zipper, i.e., Buns of Steel, who doesn't like to poop on strange ground (he held it 36 hours again) Cala, couch thief, and Viva, who wailed for hours in despair after I left.

ETA: The early 26" runs have been marked by a scorching run by Olga Chaiko and her dog at 27 seconds and change. Average is more like 30 seconds for even the fastest dogs.

Armchair Quarterback

2009-03-27T19:26:00.001-05:00

State team finals

2009-03-27T16:16:00.011-05:00

Getting ready for State Team finals. They just finished walking. It's Wisconsin, Massachusetts, California, Pennsylvania and the Northwest states. So far Wisconsin is winning the yelling game!

ETA: course coming soon. Barb Davis will be first and last because she has two dogs. Rocket with a Clean Run and 37 seconds. I won't report everyone, but that's the start.

ETA: Terry Elger, in the middle of a great run for Wisc. just knocked over a jump wing himself. Too bad. The next dog, a Terv, has a missed contact.

ETA: So far, only NW states has had 3 clear runs. Just MA and CA to go.

MA missed contact with first dog. Second dog some really nice turns, 33 econds and change.

ETA: NW States is still only clean state. CA is getting ready to start.

ETA: CA still not clean, unfortunately Terry Smorch and Remy were an accident that did happen, with an Off course and and not finishing the course.

ETA, the winners are: Northwest States!

A very few results

2009-03-27T13:34:00.003-05:00

Halfway through, Massachusetts is in the lead in State competition with California second. Nancy Gyes won the 24" ISC Std class with ??Ace?? We're about halfway through the 16s and 20s. Nancy Lauermann from St. Louis had some really gorgeous tight turns with Pilot but he unexpectedly took the broad jump instead of the aframe, the first time I've seen that today (but remember, I can't watch all the time!)

Moving on

2009-03-27T12:59:00.003-05:00

16s in one ring 20s in the other. Paul Young and Bit, a great team from St. Louis, had an unfortunate run and pulled up early. Too bad because when they're on it's amazing. Paul is 74 and has Parkinsons and Bit is one of the fastest labs in the U.S. Hopefully better tomorrow. Still waiting for Nancy Lauermann and Pilot to go. Ashley and Luka the Pyr Shep had a blazing run and 30 seconds and change (wonder how many times I've typed the word blazing today??)

ISC Standard Course

2009-03-27T12:30:00.002-05:00

20" dogs are running now. The biggest problems seem to be from 8 to 9, the pull through at the dogwalk, and the turn to the teeter 14-15.

ISC Standard running

2009-03-27T10:44:00.002-05:00

26" ISC Standard just started. Fastest times seem to be around 31 seconds, with the fastest I've seen so far by Brigit McNight and her BC Kestrel, who just beat out Linda Mecklinburg and Stellar. My friend Yvonne and her great Dobe Flare did a more than respectable 35, Flare letting everybody know how much she loves this stuff.

I'll get the course up as soon as I can.

ISC Jumpers course Friday

2009-03-27T10:01:00.003-05:00

I hope this is legible. This is Friday's ISC course. Green numbers are behind the jump; as an example, 13 to 14 was a threadle, then from 14 to 15 a 180. Click on the image to enlarge.

Biggest issues on this course were the push from 6 to 7 and the threadle. The angles demanded a very efficient turning dog. Dogs who could turn tight to the jump while maintaining speed had a definite advantage.

Mid-Morning

2009-03-27T09:18:00.011-05:00

Part of the Mini Schnauzer Fan Club, about 20 people who cheer like maniacs every time a Mini runs.

But I don't want my picture taken. Leave me alone!

We've finished 24" and 12" dogs in ISC. From my vendor booth I can't keep track to know who has placed where. We're now running 14" and 8". In 14" it was nice to see two "locals," Joan Myer with Neil and Tammi Gigstad with her great little PRT Buzz. I think Buzz might have the time to beat, at 23 sesconds and change to Neil's 24+.

Oh and by the way please forgive the blurriness of some of these photos. Without the flash, my new little camera has to resort to a slower shutter speed and thus movement = blur.

Early morning

2009-03-27T07:41:00.003-05:00

We're off. The ISC jumpers course comes complete with a very tight threadle that a lot of dogs, especially small dogs, are having trouble with. Times are averaging around 25 seconds, but Jean Levally just laid down a smoking run in 12" with Spec at 23.05. Chris Parker and Wow! had a lovely run in 24" but, unfortunately, she started on the wrong side of jump 1!

Friday morning

2009-03-27T06:20:00.002-05:00

Nothing like waking up at 3:00 a.m. (2 a.m. Missouri time) and not being able to get back to sleep. Then IHOP was closed, even though the sign said "open 24 hours Friday and Saturday." Hmmmm. It's Friday everywhere except IHOP I guess.

But it's exciting too. Bustling, and ISC is walking. Rings 1 and 2 will be 12" and 24" so maybe I'll be able to sneak some peeks.

A few more pictures

2009-03-26T16:08:00.004-05:00

My guess is this person has Yorkies. And does agility. What do you think?

I'm ready. You?

The main discussion; which will be the party stalls?

Mad shopping frenzy

Running order not complicated. Not complicated at ALL.

non-sequiter...

2009-03-26T13:19:00.004-05:00

Okay, I realize I'm in the South, I'm FROM the south. But geez-o-pete things are slow here. Lights? I sat at a traffic light last night for one solid minute with all lanes, all sides, showing red. We all just looked at each other. What's with that? My hotel wireless connection is so slow I'm amazed it even functions at all, sometimes it's running at a max of 28k. I didn't know wireless came that slow. Traffic is slow too, with the startling exception of the few Dale Jr. Wannabees who slice in and out of traffic at about 95mph.

My most boggling experience so far? The lady on the moped in the 45 degrees of fog and rain, complete with flapping trench coat and, get this, flip-flops. What's with that?

Where the heck am I???

2009-03-26T10:52:00.004-05:00

Pea soup fog this morning, and I got lost on the way down from the hotel to the arena, almost ended up back in Charlotte. But I did get a tiny glimpse of Lowe's Motor Speedway, basically a wall looming out of the fog.

The display is setup and ready for tomorrow and looks good. The arenas are getting groomed and prepped. No exhibitor checkin until 3:00 this afternoon, then the real deal starts tomorrow. There's already a sense of excitement and electricity.

I'm here

2009-03-26T05:57:00.003-05:00

Tried to post this last night but the wireless here at the hotel was so slow I had to give up. Now now it's 6:30 a.m. on Thursday. Feeling kind of groggy, my room is supposed to be non-smoking but obviously a lot of people have smoked in here, it reeks of stale smoke. They did promise to clean it today so hopefully it will be better.

Viva apparently wailed in anguish for *hours* after I left yesterday, but managed to get over her self-pity well enough to snarf her food at her usual pace. The rest of my guys are doing fine in their temporary digs.

I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with myself today. I need to go set up the display, which will take, oh, 30 minutes max. After that I'll probably drive into Charlotte from Cabarrus just to get the lay of the land and see where I can drop off the display on Sunday, etc. But that's it. We don't actually start until tomorrow. I did buy a new camera (bad me!) and hopefully will have lots of pictures later on.

Off to North Carolina

2009-03-25T08:05:00.003-05:00

I'm off! Well not quite yet, but soon. To North Carolina and the AKC Agility National. I do so wish I had a camera and could take pictures. But I'll at least try to keep the blog updated with reports. I hope to be able to see some Min Pins and some Dobes running. There will actually be quite a few Dobes there, I can't wait!

Back to work

2009-03-19T08:48:00.003-05:00

I'm so excited. I'm going back to class tonight! It's 3 weeks to the day since I tore my calf muscle at the very start of agility class. I had to leave that night. I came back the next week but could not run at all, and Zipper's performance reflected it. Last week I was still very sore and it was cold. I didn't even go. But this week I'm there. I won't be able to run full-out, but I think I'll be able to at least jog IF I'm careful and I warm up properly.

My calf is not yet back 100% and it will probably be at least another 2-3 weeks before I can really begin to push it. My goal is to be able to run Zip at Lake St. Louis the weekend of April 10. Meanwhile this class is pretty much a wash. Tonight is the 4th week and I've only managed part of one week. Next week I'll be gone to NC for the Agility National, leaving only one week left when I return. So I'll retake the entire class next session!

Is it show nerves? Or what?

2009-03-13T09:17:00.002-05:00

I know this is a Min Pin blog, but I'm going to talk Dobes a bit. So sue me if you don't like it.

Last weekend, I entered Cala the Doberman in the Columbia Kennel Club show both days. She has her Rally Excellent title and I decided to try for her RAE, which is the highest level title you can currently get in Rally Obedience. It requires you to qualify in both Advanced and Excellent on the same day (double Q or QQ) 10 different times under at least 3 judges. On the surface, the outcome seems good. She QQd both days, so got her first two legs and only needs 8 more for the title. Sounds great, right?

But here's the rest of the story. She was very stressed, especially in her first run of the day each day (Excellent). Disconnected, not giving me attention. I had to redo a station in Excellent on Saturday and she ended up with a 94 from a very lenient judge (100 is perfect, you lose 3 points when you retry a station, so she only got 3 other single points off but it should have been more). In Advanced on Saturday she was much more relaxed and we had a very nice run for a 98.

Sunday morning's Excellent run was pretty much a disaster. My dog who normally loves this sport actually left the ring. Okay, it was a poorly designed ring, with a jump heading directly toward the gate. But she went out and I had to call her back! We had to repeat two stations, we *missed* a station (which should have been a non-qualifying score but the judge failed to see it and wouldn't change her book). She ended up with an 86, by far her lowest score ever. Advanced was marginally better, but she was still very low for what she is capable of, a 92. All together a rather upsetting day.

See, here's the thing. Some people do dog sports because the person is totally addicted, and if the dog doesn't like it that much, well, as long as they're Qing and the dog isn't completely miserable or being hurt or abused it's not that big a deal. In fact, sometimes dogs start out not real thrilled but end up really enjoying what they are doing. So I actually understand that point of view but I'm not one of those people. For me, if a dog sport is not fun for the dog, why do it? It's not about me, it's about us as a team. And if Cala has decided that showing in Rally is stressful and unfun, I'll quit with her. Not worth the money and time to trial a dog who is not having fun.

But then again, could there have been other factors affecting her performance? She had her yearly shots earlier that week, and she was a bit loose stool-wise. She seemed really flat all weekend, not her usual screaming self. I was limping from my torn calf, unable to maintain my usual speed and flow on the course, and concentrating on keeping my balance. So I couldn't commit totally to her mentally or physically. The show site is hectic and noisy.

Not long ago, Linda Baschnagel came to give a tracking seminar at CCSC, and she said something profound. She said never give up on something based on one bad experience. Before changing your training, try something at least twice. If you get the same bad results on two different days, then you can start reassessing what you're doing and modifying your program. But dogs, just like people, are allowed to have bad days or even bad weekends. So maybe Cala has decided that actually showing in Rally isn't fun. Or maybe one of the reasons I've cited affected her. I'll try her again at a different show. If she shows the same level of stress and upset, I will probably drop her from Rally competition. But I'm not going to do it based on one single weekend.

Oh and as a postscript, I also had Viva, the 11 1/2 year old, there acting as courtesy dog. The courtesy dog facilitates the flow of the Excellent class by doing an honor down for the first entered team to work, then doing the Rally course itself for the last team, while that last team does an honor down. She is on a new series of joint supplements to help with her spondylosis and she did so spectacularly well and had SO much fun that I'm thinking of bringing her out of retirement to try for her Rally Excellent title. In her case I have no reservations except physical ones. She LOVES to work and hates being retired.

Startline stays and leadouts

2009-03-06T09:09:00.003-06:00

Last night I took Zipper to class. I'm still limping and I cannot take any running steps. I can now walk faster than I could even a couple of days ago, but I am nowhere near my usual speed.

Fortunately Barb, the instructor, decided that my disability gave her a good chance to help us work on startline stays and startline sequences. We worked on whether to run or lead out, and if we did lead out, how certain sequences are best handled through a lead out.

Dogs who need motivation rarely benefit from a leadout and usually do better when you run with them. Dogs who are ballistic often need you to be able to lead out, so you can properly position yourself to help the dog get instruction on where he needs to go. But many people lead out incorrectly. If you lead out past a jump, particularly a spread jump, the dog is going to be accelerating and extending over that jump. If you then have a sharp turn, you may jam the dog or even cause the dog to go around your back. At the very least you're likely to get a wide, inefficient turn. A lead out should always help inform the dog of any change in direction and help shape his line.

In all of our sequences, we practiced both doing a lead out and not doing a lead out, and handling the sequence both ways. Or, at least most people did. I only did lead outs because I am really unable to run.

Zipper is just starting to learn the startline stay. For him, I will usually drop and go, but I want the startline stay as an option. With me leaving him on a stay and leading out, he was a bit sluggish off the line. So we practiced sending him to a bait plate. But I learned very quickly that lack of motion on my part means lack of motion on his part. He was wandering and slow and did not want to move out ahead of me on his own. This is bad news in the short term, as I continue to recover from this calf-muscle tear. But it's great news in the long term, because it indicates he's learned to key his speed and momentum to my speed. That means I can use acceleration and deceleration to shape his line and get sharper turns. But it also means that later, if I want to do FAST and Gamblers, I'll need to teach a cue to have him move out ahead of me at speed.

After working on his startline stay in that first sequence, I decided I didn't want to press him on that, so I had Barb hold his collar while I led out. She whispered revving words to him while I led out, and he rocketed off the line. So I've also learned that for now, restrained recalls are great, and I need to start playing the ready-set-go game with him.

It was great to be able to work even if just a little bit.

When Aft goes Agley

2009-03-03T20:45:00.002-06:00

The best-laid schemes o' mice an 'men
Gang aft agley,
An'lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!

--Robert Burns, To a Mouse, on Turning up Her Nest with the Plow

Yes, my Aft did indeed gang agley last Thursday, as I've already moaned about. Now, four days later, I'm walking, but slowly. I missed all three days of my agility trial last weekend.

The question is, how do you train when you can't move adequately? Tonight I did six poles with Zipper and he was beating me to the end, which is just wrong. But bless his heart he did move ahead of me and do them, good boy! I then tried some heeling with Cala. She's entered for the RAE for the first time, which means I'm supposed to be showing her in both Advanced and Excellent Rally on the same day.

Heeling was actually pretty comical. I was moving so slowly, she was anticipating that I was going to halt at any moment, so basically we had the boot-scooting boogie going on. "What? Am I sitting now? Okay, now?" But she was actually amazingly patient with me.

I've decided to borrow a cane again for Saturday. Since I'll be off leash, hopefully I'll be able to do the cane and move out a bit, but I'll need to practice with it so Cala can do her left-about turn and her right finishes without being bothered by it.

Being hurt sux.

Getting hurt

2009-03-01T15:42:00.001-06:00

I'm talking about the human being injured, not the dog.

Around the end of the year we had a fun match at the building. It was cold in there, and about halfway through my first run I felt my right calf pop. I'd pulled a muscle. It wasn't too bad, in fact I went ahead and ran on it. It felt fine a couple of days later when I went to a New Year's day exercise class, until it popped again halfway through. I sort of muddled through the rest of that and, once again, it was perfectly fine within a couple of days; until I popped it AGAIN the next week in Aerobics class.

So I scaled back dramatically on my exercise and seriously began to rehab it. And it worked. I've been back to full-intensity exercise for six weeks.

The other night I was once again at our building, getting ready to start a new class with a new instructor. It was brisk but not terrible in the building. I was the first to try the sequence, and she wanted me to run with Zipper. I put him down, took three running steps, and felt excruciating pain in my right calf. I'd torn the calf muscle. I could not continue on, in fact I could barely hobble off the floor.

I was entered all three days at Lake St. Louis this weekend and, of course, that was impossible. My calf isn't surgical, and I can walk on it, carefully, but I can't do anything else. Nothing like watching over $100 in entry fees go down the drain.

Looking back, it's obvious to me that I am not warming up my calf muscles adequately. I *had* done some warmups, but obviously not the right kind or enough. If my muscle hadn't been cold, I wouldn't have torn it. I'm sharing my tale of woe to remind you all to warm *yourselves* up, to solicit ideas on good warmups that can be done at shows, and to share that I've decided to go with a Personal Trainer for awhile and I will share any ideas he/she comes up with.

It occurs to me that stretching at shows, for humans, can be difficult. Static stretching is bad for you before exercise, dynamic stretching is best. But the recommended dynamic stretching of jogging, etc. requires more room than you may have ringside. And ring delays can make things difficult as well. Getting the timing down can be problematic.

Anyway, it's been sort of a bummer of a weekend. Please be careful out there and warm yourself up as well as your dog!

New article on Total MinPin

2009-02-15T09:48:00.002-06:00

I've added a new article on Total Min Pin on the Working Min Pin. Go check it out!

Today it's cold, again. Zip and Cala just came in from outside and he immediately jumped into his sun chair so he could warm up. The old gal, Viva, is not at all interested in stirring from the couch; I'll have to kick her out later to go potty. Otherwise she'll just try to hold it forever.

Crates and well trained dogs

2009-02-13T09:15:00.002-06:00

Last night, on my way home from taking the dogs for a run, the thing happened that none of us want to happen. While driving down I-70 (the busiest interstate in the U.S.) my right rear tire blew. I managed to get off onto the shoulder then limped, very slowly, toward the next exit ramp.

None of us wants something like this to happen. But if it does, it sure is nice to have well-behaved, trained dogs who are used to crates. I called my friend Kathy, then I called Triple A. Kathy came and helped me offload dogs from my car to hers. If my dogs had not been crated, if they were not well-trained, the chances of them making it even from my car to hers would have been small. Traffic was roaring by at well over 70 mph mere feet away. But everyone was under control, and because they were crated we were able to move one at a time.

The dogs then went to the training building and put into their crates there, and they then waited, quietly, for me to get back to them after the car was fixed.

Good dogs!

Startline Stay (SLS). Is it essential?

2009-02-03T10:39:00.006-06:00

In agility these days, pretty much everyone strives for a startline stay. They can be very difficult to maintain though, because breaking them is SOOO rewarding. And often handlers inadvertently teach the dog to break through body cues.

This weekend I was talking to a gal who runs a lightning-fast Whippet. She said, "I just figured out how I'm cueing the release for my startline!" It turns out that though she thought the release was a word, "OK," the dog had figured out that after she looked away to see where she was going, the moment she looked back, even the merest glance, he could leave.

Oops.

I know of OTCH dogs who have broken startlines. I know one dog who was so keyed to go that even when he got pulled for breaking, he'd still have the reward for that one jump. So his owner had a friend pull the bar down from the jump if he broke, so he couldn't jump it. It worked, sort of. Then there's Cala. I had a startline stay on her as a young dog, but then she started fudging it. So I pulled her at a couple of trials. Her solution? Break faster so she could take off and do more agility before I yanked her off the course. Try fixing THAT one.

But do you really, honestly have to have a startline stay? Will dogs without them be doomed to certain failure? Well, no. You don't. In fact, with some slower dogs a SLS can be demotivating. And a bad leadout is just as likely to result in failure as no leadout at all. My "favorite" is the leadout of two jumps to a sharp turn. Often the handler cues late, crunching the dog as he tries to stand on his head and turn at the same time. If it's a high drive dog you sometimes hear justified verbal protest from the dog at this treatment.

If you can get a startline stay, it can be very beneficial. In some courses, being able to lead out and draw a line can really help with efficiency and eliminate traps. Some judges design courses specifically to punish those with no leadout. It's a tool you should add to your toolbox. And for really drivey dogs, it can help reinforce that you're team captain, you get to say when to go, not your dog.

Now Min Pins aren't that big, and some of them aren't that motivated. For our breed, I think it is beneficial to experiment and see what works best. If your dog is faster doing a running start, then do it. If it likes to be called to you, try that. Zipper seems to like both the "drop and run" and the startline stay. So I think I'll be able to use both.

If you aren't able to get a stay, here are some tips.

If there are two jumps pretty much straight out to a turn, consider setting up well behind the line and doing a cross between one and two. Be sure to angle the dog the direction you are facing, so you are using the rear cross as a V set. As an example, one of my jumpers courses had 2 jumps out to a right hand turn, with a trap on the left. I actually kept Zipper on my right, set him down a good distance from the bar so he could get up speed, then rear crossed him between one and 2, which turned him nicely to get to three. An alternative to this would have been to set him up on my left, but come into the pocket between 1 and 2 and wrap him around me in a V set, sending him over 2 at an angle to the right.

If there is a jump and a sharp turn with a trap jump straight ahead, set up closer to the bar so the dog has a bit more collection and is less likely to wildly run straight forward. But be sure you leave plenty of room to get yourself by the jump without having to dodge a wing.

There are ways to manage without a startline stay, but if you can get a reliable one, it's a formidable tool.

3 days in St. Louis

2009-02-02T08:45:00.002-06:00

This past weekend I showed Zipper 3 days in a row at Lake St. Louis. It's indoors, on dirt. I do like the surface, it's safe and they had it well watered. Unfortunately this facility is dirt outside the rings as well as inside. Which means that we had dust and dirt *everywhere*. Usually at shows I can get at least a couple of days out of a pair of jeans, but not here. Everything had to be shed into the laundry basket each night, it was filthy. Zipper was a bit snorty all weekend and his eyes were teary from the dirt.

No Qs, but he's getting a lot closer! I'm still not happy with his weaves. He's doing them well at the building now, but not so much at trials. I think that in retrospect, I will not ever again teach a dog using anything but channels. He just doesn't really drive through poles, and under stress it's the first thing to break down.

On the other hand, Zipper would have Qd each day in Jumpers if not for the weaves. He took direction beautifully, had some super lines. He did miss one front cross, but he demonstrated he's more than ready to tackle Excellent level courses.

In Standard, he was completely distracted Friday, looking like he did in Massachusetts. My heart sank. But he got better and better. Yesterday's run was very focused. He got his weave entry then skipped out and I kept going, then I pulled him off not one but two jumps. But I got a lead-out in! Yay!

So my plan is to work him on weaves every day until they're so ingrained he's doing them in his sleep. :)

Off to St. Louis

2009-01-29T09:28:00.002-06:00

Off to our first trial since Thanksgiving, at Lake St. Louis this weekend. It's weird to be in Excellent. In fact, when I think about it, it's been years since I've been in Excellent. Cala, love her crazy little heart, showed maybe 3 or 4 times in Ex Standard without even a hint of Qing. She has been stuck in Open Jumpers for years and at this point it's doubtful she'll do much more agility.

So I guess the last time I was in Excellent Jumpers was before Viva retired, 4 years ago now. And Zip has a Jumpers leg. Weird.

Anyway, weather here has been brutal and I've been recovering from a pretty bad calf muscle pull. So training has been spotty to say the least. Weaves are still tricky, but other than that Zipper's really pulling together, at least in practice. I'll give a report on the trial next week!

Pete and Repeat

2009-01-19T09:51:00.002-06:00

Weaves are still an issue with Zipper. I discovered that Saturday when I went to the building to train and he was missing poles. Again. For the eleventy-billionth time.

It reminds me that he's still a green dog and that weaves have always been slow to come. He isn't ready for me to be cavalier about weave training. But I've had excuses. This darn calf-muscle pull h has been slow to mend and the weather has been awful. I am not, will not, refuse to, train a 10# dog with no hair in an unheated building with temperatures ranging from 1 to 10 degrees F. Not going to happen.

Thank goodness the weather is letting up a bit this week. Not enough for me to really want to go tracking, but enough to get into the building a few times.

Goal? Me totally healed and Zipper 100% on weaves by our St. Louis trial the end of this month.

Meanwhile I ponder funds for the UKC trial. Upside? Probably easy titles. UAg2 for Zip, Rally for Cala. Downside? $$$. What to do...what to do.

Brrrr!

2009-01-14T15:18:00.002-06:00

Temp is 18F and falling. Our windchill tomorrow is supposed to be -10 to -25. Holy cow that's cold. So no walks, no training at the building (which is unheated). I have the thermostat here at the house turned down to 60 to try to save my gas bill. All the dogs are in coats.

As for me, I'm looking over April trials and trying to decide what to enter. Zip's already entered in a late Feb trial and there's nothing in March, but April is jammed! And there are two trials at Purina Farms this spring, when there haven't been any outdoor trials there for the past couple of years. My tent broke. Do I dare a trial in April outdoors? With a Min Pin? Hmmmm.

And what have I been doing since August 2007?

2009-01-07T16:17:00.005-06:00

Whoa. Lots. Zipper is now UAg1 Ch Regatta It's About Time, OA, OAJ, RS-O, JS-O. Right now he's really the only dog I'm training. I need to brush Cala-the-dobe up on heeling, etc. to do some Rally this spring, but the big focus is on Zip.

Things I'm working on right now are tracking, still brushing up on weaves.

Clicking the pivot. Or not.

2009-01-07T15:59:00.001-06:00

I've been shaping Zipper to do tracking article indication. I want him to lie down on an article. He thinks it's the most fun EVAH. I get out several items (sock, glove, piece of leather, plastic lid, ink pen, whatever). I crate him, scatter the items over the house then let him out and tell him to find it. For each article he finds and downs on, he gets a click/treat. He goes nuts! He's started a habit of lunging at it, slamming into a down, then whirling around to me to get his treat (often sending article flying), so I've started waiting until he's down, staying down, and touching the item to click. Never knew a dog who could so accurately imitate a tuning fork.

So the other day, I saw a great video on shaping a dog to pivot (for Rally pivots) using a book. You put the book on the floor, then you click for the dog putting one paw on the book, then standing with both front paws on the book. Then you start to turn around the book and the dog will usually rotate the rear to follow while still watching you. I thought, cool! This will be great for Zipper!

Except for one thing. He thought he should lay on the book. It was a fairly thick book, so it was kind of hard for him to get his front end on and lay on it, but he was determined. This must be what Mamma wants! When I failed to him for this stellar display of ingenuity, he started whacking the book with his right front foot. Rapidly and repeatedly. "This one! This article! Hey! You stoopit or something? I'm doing this, and I ain't moving till you click me for it!"

For now we've abandoned the idea of pivot on a book.

I'm back!

2009-01-07T15:58:00.002-06:00

I was posting mostly on a local dog training blog for the past year and more, but now I'm back! I'll move some of those old posts over here, and will be updating on a regular basis.

Musical Bones

2007-08-18T10:23:00.001-05:00

You know, you think you're doing a special good deed for the dogs and it just all goes wonky.

Every once in a blue moon I allow my dogs to have pressed rawhide bones. This is a big deal because I generally think rawhides are a waste of money, and also because I have to buy them at Petco which sells rodents and fish. I really don't like pet stores that sell anything living.

Why pressed rawhide? Because it's the only thing that lasts more than 5 minutes in the Jaws of Death (Cala). She can't rip huge chunks off the pressed rawhide like she can the regular stuff, so it's also safer.

So I come home today with 3 bones. I own 3 dogs. One bone per dog, right? Well that lasted about 15 minutes. Jaws of Death settled down with hers immediately out in the living room. Viva, the old gal, had hers on the couch and Zipper brought his to his crate. Ah, all is blissful in the world.

Until Viva decided to bring her bone into the office. There was a blur of darting motion and suddenly Zipper (the 10# dog) was in his crate with two bones, both bigger than he is, and Viva (the 65# dog) was blinking in bemusement at the empty floor in front of her. She looked at the floor, she looked at Zipper, and calmly walked over to take her bone back.

With absolutely no respect for seniority or size, Zipper told her to get her face out of his business. So she mooed at him. Then she looked at me with a pitiful "but I'm old and it was mine and now he has it, do something" look.

So I take the bone away from Zipper and give it to Viva. Who decides she doesn't want her bone back, she wants HIS bone. So I give her bone back to Zipper and give her Zipper's bone, and then she decides she wants her bone back. Meanwhile, the second I let go, he steals both of them again.

This goes on for about 10 minutes. I finally give up trying to equalize things. And Viva takes Zipper's bone, gives him her bone, and bliss descends.

Then Cala comes in with her bone in her mouth, takes both of theirs (I think the Jaws of Death can unhinge her lower jaw somewhat like a snake), and trots back out to the living room with all three.

I give up.

How to get a flop dog

2007-08-15T08:13:00.001-05:00

Patented recipe for creating a Flop Dog.

Take one small dog.

Drive to breeder's house and drop off dog for the day, to be summarily popped into a yard with two other dogs who are both friendly and playful.

Add one bitch in season.

Add one other dog, in an adjacent yard, who has sired puppies by said bitch, and who thinks your dog should die, now, for being within a mile of said bitch in season.

Leave to percolate for one entire day.

Pick up said dog about 8:00 p.m.

Guaranteed flop dog. All attempts to awaken from his coma-like sleep are useless. Leave until morning, when he will once again morph into a Miniature Pinscher.

Lumps and bumps

2007-08-07T10:02:00.000-05:00

Seems like everything at my house is lumpy and bumpy this week. Cala has had a bump that Zipper has been gleefully working over, so now she has a lovely nickel-sized bald spot right in the middle of her back. Zipper and Viva are both itching like crazy. Viva gets this way every summer, Zipper, we've decided, gets chiggers. He's also pulled a ligament in his left rear leg, so no running around like a crazy dog. Except that has him bouncing off the walls and trust me, a Min Pin really can bounce off the walls (and floor, and couch, and bed, and chairs). Keeping him corralled is slightly less difficult than herding cats.

Even my van is lumpy. I somehow picked up a huge wad of heat-softened tar on my left rear wheel and it's proving devilish to remove. It doesn't seem to be hurting anything but I keep thinking my tire is flat.

Very little training this week, it's hot. Blast-furnace hot. I have to teach a class tomorrow night, but other than that I'm staying far, far away from the training building. A martyr I am not.

Park weekends

2007-07-29T08:45:00.000-05:00

I've gotten into the habit of walking a couple of laps around the 1 1/4 mile long Cosmo Park Trail on weekend mornings. Zipper and I get up and go, often as the sun is just coming up.

We've had good rain this year, so the park is a saturated and glowing green. The path starts out next to the soccer fields bends around to cross the main road then winds into a long hollow, sliding along several small streams. On humid days, mist floats a foot or so above the ground, alternately silver and sunshot gold. Zipper dashes back and forth across the path, scattering dew, leaving tiny min-pin footprints briefly on the pavement, fading quickly away. He huffs in excited pleasure, laughing, with that sheer unbridled enjoyment of each moment only dogs seem to have.

Through the hollow there are beeches, oaks, and a huge gnarled sycamore that has stood sentinel over a fork in the creek for far longer than the park has existed. It's hollow now and squirrels pop in and out of knotholes. The tree doesn't seem to mind, shaking its huge, dinner-plate sized leaves at the merest hint of breeze. Great strips of its thin bark slowly peel from the trunk, leaving a patchwork of white, tan, grey, and pale acid green.

Crossing a road again leads to the lowest part of the path, deep emerald, still, and below the rising sun's rays. To the right is a great tangle of buckbrush, bush honeysuckle, compass plant, sumac, poison ivy, coneflower, black eyed susan, and goldenrod. Deep within the thicket is the trickle of water, but the stream is hidden.

Zipper's favorite part of the track is just ahead, as we wind up and out of the valley. We emerge into an open mowed field dotted with rabbits frozen to immobility by our approach, like brown rocks. But they can never quite stay still long enough; flipping up their white tails as they scatter, driving Zipper into almost spastic motion--which one? which one? This is the only time when he slams against the end of the flexi, trying to drag me forward. When that doesn't work he rears up on his back legs and hops forward in a desperate plea for me to run, please run so he can just have a small taste of bunny.

As the trail turns back on itself, we're now high, with the golf course groundskeeper grooming the greens on our left and tennis courts, then soccer fields on our right. Whispering in the breeze a breath of notes from a flute, its player never seen as his instrument sings the weekend days into existence. The flute weaves through mockingbird, cardinal, and brown thrasher, sometimes clear, sometimes a fading harmony to nature's concert.

Now the park is coming to life. We encounter a marathon runner, older, whipcord lean. He runs this path only once then strikes North, probably to the Bear Creek trail. The past two weekends have seen the Show Me State Games; boys and girls laughing as they run across the groomed fields, their parents and coaches lagging behind looking like draft animals, weighted down with tents, chairs, coolers, balls, extra equipment, team flags.

By the time we've finished our second lap the mist is starting to burn off and Zipper is panting. He pulls, wanting to go a third; maybe he'll get a rabbit this time. But it's time to go home.

Walking the line

2007-07-26T08:11:00.000-05:00

Sounds like a Johnny Cash song doesn't it?

Walk the Line is a tool that agility trainers use to help their dog understand rear crosses on the flat, before asking them to do them over jumps.

Am I speaking greek to you? A rear cross on the flat is when the handler (that would be you, or in this case me), crosses behind the dog (behind = rear) on flat ground (no jumps involved).

Walking The Line is a game that helps the dog understand your hand signals and at the same time, helps you develop a consistent set of signals to use with the dog. To do Walk the Line, you first have a small treat in each hand. With the dog walking on your left side in heel position, use your left hand to pull the dog in front of you, then pivot left 180 degrees, using your right hand to signal the cross. The dog should also turn left, and should end up on your right side as you travel back the way you came. Then use your right hand to push the dog forward, pivot right 180 and use your left hand to turn the dog right.

Sounds clear as mud and I can't find a video to illustrate. But try it, it's fun!

Hah! Caught her!

2007-07-06T08:29:00.000-05:00

Ever since I joined the ARC I've been sort of irked by this one woman. She's got a good 20 years on me, and she comes in at about the same time most days (around 5:30 a.m.). She too walks the track, she with a friend and I alone.

And every time she's on the track, she smokes my butt. I mean I'm out there motating along as fast as my stubby little legs can carry me and there she is, talking away to her friend, out for a leisurely stroll, and she blows by me *every* damn time.

Until today. Today, not only did she not catch me, I caught her. I passed them. Now it could be that they were ill, taking it easy, not going their usual pace. I refuse to think it. I've finally outwalked a granny. Thank the Lord and pass the peas.

Okay, it's a petty pleasure, but it's all mine.

Strength training....blech

2007-06-28T07:46:00.000-05:00

I've been walking every week day now at the ARC for, oh, 5 weeks? Now that I have decent shoes the plantar fasciitis and shin splints have improved and I'm working up to 3 miles in 45 minutes. Not quite there yet, but getting close.

I really like the track. I count off laps and watch the other people as I cruise by. The lifeguard climbing into his seat by the lap pool. The two old ladies who use float boards as they slide gracefully back and forth through the water. The woman wearing the "I hate Cancer" shirt who arrives when I do and is still running on the treadmill when I leave. The guy who goes to the strength area but spends more time staring into space than working; is he meditating? Still asleep?

Then there are my fellow track goers. I'm usually the first one on the track but am joined by the two ladies who still kick my butt walking (though you didn't catch up with me yesterday, ha-ha!), and the guy with the headband who I really, truly wish would wear some underwear. Please. I've already written about the young man who is so light on his feet I can barely hear him coming. He always wears a full sweat suit and hat, ipod strapped to his arm. Some days I'll be huffing and puffing along and be the slowest person there, and some days, now, I'm among the fastest.

I decided, though, that I should also do some strengthening exercises. Since I have no freaking clue how, I waited until the ARC had an orientation and went last night. This morning I worked through the Nautilus machines.

Boy was that boring. I think the strength training stuff is going to be something to do briefly, after my walk not before!

Happy drive

2007-06-20T08:28:00.000-05:00

I've been leaving the dogs out in the mornings when I go to the gym. And mostly it's worked out really well. They haven't gotten into much and since they're crated all day, I like to leave them out during this time.

Being as they'd been doing so well, when I had some errands to run on Saturday I left them all out.

I returned home to disaster. Zipper had gotten into the bathroom cabinet, scattering toilet paper and feminine items everywhere. The toilet paper roll looked like rats had been at it. They'd pulled the mat off of a tea table by the window, and in doing so had broken a vase and yanked down a basket that had felt padding and peanuts in it. Peanuts and broken glass everywhere. I'm amazed nobody had cut pads. All I said was, "Oh no, that's BAD dogs." Ever since then, when I come home from the Gym Zipper is nowhere to be found. A close look finds him well out of reach looking at me tentatively, tail vibrating but clearly waiting for me to make the first move.

In agility, Zipper has been doing very, very well in Jumping. He's a natural jumper with really good form and can easily pop over jumps even from a standstill. Last night we tried something new. Two jumps set very close together at a bit of an angle (like a ">") then a space of about 12 feet, then another set of jumps identical to the first. Zipper took the first two jumps then ran rapidly to the second set, where he jumped the first jump and was going too fast to get the second one. He sent it flying, hitting it pretty hard. After that, he didn't want to jump any more. We went right back to basics, lowered the jumps, and with lots of praise and encouragement had him jumping at a full run again by the end of the class.

Zipper has happy drive. What does that mean? It means that he's got drive--he likes to move fast, he likes to work, he likes to learn things. He loves treats and toys and tugs like a fiend. He has the capability of being a fast and confident agility dog. But that's when things are going well. Zipper hates being wrong, is devastated when he thinks I'm mad at him and he doesn't really want to be surprised. And though he's actually pretty resilient, he certainly doesn't want to be hurt. Zipper is a dog who if pushed too hard, too fast, could turn off to agility all together because it will have become a stressful place for him, and he doesn't like stress, he likes happy.

I'd venture to say that most dogs have happy drive. The dogs who will push through any adversity to get to work, who are both physically and mentally tough, who can take a punishment or accident and get right back up and keep working—those dogs are a minority, a small minority. My two dobermans are that way, so are many border collies. But since that's the sort of thing we all want for our dogs, we tend to try to treat them as if they were all infinitely resilient. They're not.

If your dog has happy drive then enjoy it! You're going to have a tremendous working dog. But don't take it for granted and don't push it too far.

The Three Commandments of Training

2007-06-15T08:35:00.000-05:00

My life pretty much revolves around my dogs, as do the lives of many of my friends. And if you're a dog person, training discussions are endless. Training methods vary wildly, so much so that people have come to blows over training methods. Friendships have been lost, feelings have been hurt. Clicker trainers get called clickeroos and dismissed as "cookie pushers"; traditional trainers are called brutal thugs and dog abusers. And even among trainers who have like-minded methodologies, there are just so many things to train that we sometimes get bogged down. Stays, recalls, front crosses, contacts. Collected jumping, shoulder dropping, voice and hand signals, about turns.

In spite of this swirling tower of Babel, I really think there are three, and only three, things all trainers *must* do to effectively train their dogs. If you have these three elements, you will be able to go as far as you want in training. Do these things right and your dog will want to learn, want to please, and actively seek to help you train him. Do them wrong and you're headed down the road to frustration and maybe even danger.

Commandment 1. Thou Shalt Be A Benevolent Leader
If you want a dog who wants to work with you, then you have to be a leader. You and your dog are a team. Somebody has to be team captain, and that somebody has to be you. There is no choice here. You provide the kibble, you drive the car, you take care of the boo-boos. Dogs evolved to see and depend on us as leaders. If you are not a leader, this throws the dog into confusion and shakes his foundations of understanding of how his world works. If you don't lead him, he'll be forced to try to lead himself and maybe you too—a task he is unsuited for, and one which will cause a range of issues from ignoring you to outright aggression.

But there's another word in that commandment besides "Leader." It's "Benevolent." Some trainers (and television personalities) would have us alpha rolling our dogs, asserting our dominance with tough tactics. Show them who is boss. Make them sorry if they even think about getting out of line. Exercise them till they drop. Let them know that they better do what you want because if they don't well, by golly it's going to be pretty unpleasant.

That's not leadership. That's dictatorship. And certainly it can work. The truth is, dogs can and do put up with an incredible amount of mental and physical abuse from us, and they can even learn how to do things through the abuse. But I do not want to establish leadership through fear and intimidation followed up with physical pain. The thing is, I don't have to, and neither do you. You can be a leader without ever alpha rolling your dog. To be a good leader, a dog owner and trainer must be clear and consistent. He must also respect the dog. Respect is not a one way street. Want your dog to respect you? Respect him back. Don't expect him to be a human in fur clothing. Don't expect him to think and reason like you do. DO take the time to understand him and figure out how he thinks so you can communicate your wishes to him easily. Do not punish him for being a dog. Put as much time and effort into him as you expect him to put into you. Be calm and positive. Show him what you want and invite him to learn. Don't shove it down his throat. A dog who is benevolently lead rather than crushed under the rule of a dictator will be ready and eager to learn anything you want to teach, any time you want to teach it.

Commandment 2: Play With Thy Dog
That's right. Play. And I mean just that, play. I don't mean throwing a ball or fetching the paper, though those are both great trained behaviors. I mean get down on the floor and wrestle and play. Be stupid and silly. Make play growly noises. Let him jump on your head and growl back. Let him bark and spin. Squeal and run away, inviting him to chase. Play for play's sake. Play because it's fun and your dog loves it and you do too.

Play teaches your dog that you're more than a leader, you're FUN. Being with you is exciting! You just might do something silly any time.

Play increases confidence and attention. Play enhances the dog-human bond. Play lets your dog know that he's fun too, that you like playing with HIM. Play lets the dog know that it's okay to get amped up and excited in your presence. And that in turn feeds into a dog who does more than accept training, he attacks it with verve and vigor.

Commandment 3: Let Thy Dog Know He Is Loved
Some trainers caution against giving your dog too much affection. It makes them take you for granted they say. Spoils them. Undermines your leadership. I mean, how dare the dog solicit a pat from you, they should be punished for that. You should be some sort of distant idol, doling out affection only on your own schedule and only after they've done something for you.

What a load of crap.

If you are a benevolent leader, there is no such thing as giving your dog too much attention or affection. Your dog already understands and respects you as his leader, and you already understand and respect your dog. So if he comes up to you wanting some affection, give it to him. To NOT give your dog affection when he solicits it undermines your relationship. If your dog didn't love you and want to please you, if your dog didn't want to interact with you, he would not be soliciting attention. And isn't getting attention and inspiring your dog to want to please you and work with you the very foundation of all training? So do you really want to shut that off? I don't. I never have. I've always given my dogs all the attention and affection they could stand. I even solicit attention from them. Yet my dogs have all done very well in training, obtaining multiple titles and even more importantly, being superb companions that are a joy to live with.

Certainly some dogs can get obnoxious about soliciting attention, and sometimes you will need to say no. But if there's no pressing reason to say no, then say yes. You'll find your training will be better for it.

Follow those three commandments and learned behaviors become not just easy to teach, but fun too. How fun it is to teach a dog who can't wait to get to work, who actively works with you to learn, who revels in being with you. How difficult it is to teach the dog who isn't sure what you'll do that might hurt or scare him, who doesn't know his role, and who approaches all training with trepidation. I know which dog I want.

Christ I'm old

2007-06-13T08:22:00.000-05:00

I finally have the shin splints under control. Two days off last weekend and not pushing too hard this week have put me in much better shape.

But now my feet have flared back up. Dammit. Yesterday morning when I walked they hurt a bit. I had class last night, then went to Bradford with the dogs where I was reduced to a crippled hobble then to just standing and watching them run. This morning I went exactly 2 miles and not a bit farther, and unlike usual the pain didn't warm out.

Poor Viva, she and I are a pair. Years ago now she had to have a tendon removed in her left foot--the major digital flexor of her left inside toe. As a result, that toe doesn't quite work like the others and she's built up a huge callus on the 2nd toe from being rubbed by the affected toenail.

Well the callus has gotten sort of infected, and last night when I was hobbling down the road I noticed we were tandem hobblers and the callus was bloody. So while Cala and Zipper blew through the fescue in wakes of rippling green, the two old ladies hitched and limped slowly back to the car.

I love this dog

2007-06-11T08:06:00.000-05:00

Really, honest, I do. Cala keeps me humble. She teaches me things every day. She keeps me guessing, she pushes all my buttons, and sometimes I truly want to strangle her. She's 60 pounds of beautiful sleek black-coated grace. Sharp as glass, too smart for her own good, impatient and intolerant of my mistakes. And lordy does she love life. Everything about it. She attacks her world head on, no-holds-barred, a black sledge hammer of determination and speed.

This past weekend there was a Rally trial in Moberly. Cala just needed a leg to finish her Advanced title and was pretty close to ready for Excellent. There are a few Excellent signs I was worried about though. I hoped for no broad jump (a low, wide jump) because we haven't practiced one in years. The halt, side-step right, halt was another challenge—it involves the dog sitting at heel, then the human moving one step sideways away from the dog, while the dog (optimally) gets up and moves directly sideways too in a sidepass type motion. Cala tends to bring her front over, but not her rear. I really haven't practiced the honor much, I didn't know if she'd stick it. And finally, the one I really worried about was anything where Cala would have to stand from a sit. She's just been totally blanking on that exercise. She used to know how to do it, but now, I tell her to stand and she just looks at me, confused. We've both been struggling with it for weeks and it's so not like her to not catch on. In Advanced, you can help the dog by physically posing it, so that's not an issue. But in Excellent, you cannot touch the dog at all. Cala seems convinced that if I want her to stand, I'll pose her.

Saturday was a perfect day weather-wise. But I was a bit more nervous than usual, and Cala's performance reflected it. She was often wide, barely looking at me, forging. She sniffed one of the bowls on the figure 8 and was out of position fairly often. I redid one sign because she was so wide she went around the number cone instead of with me inside it. Despite this, not only did she qualify but she got 2nd place with a 96. I felt the judge was far too lenient. Cala did not deserve the score she got; I would have had her in the high 80s or low 90s. One of the big problems with Rally is inconsistency and too much lenience in judging and I felt it here. Nevertheless, I was happy to finish her Advanced title, and we moved up to Excellent for Sunday.

Sunday was rainy, with a constant drumming on the metal roof. Getting my Excellent course map I sighed in dismay. One of the jumps was a broad jump. There was the halt-side step right-halt, and, curses of curses, the dreaded stand from a sit. In this particular sign it was halt-sit, stand, down. Okay. Well, you just do your best. I wasn't nearly as nervous this time, and when we went in I waited for Cala to focus and get eye contact on me before starting. Off into a serpentine, she was right on target and much tighter than Saturday. A lovely 90 degree left pivot, then on to the Broad which she cleared easily (whew!). A left into a nice rapid moving down, then to a halt, call front, finish right. Cala executed an almost straight front and yipped a bit getting back into heel. She was starting to amp up a bit. There was another left turn, a 270 right, then the bar jump.

And then I made a huge mistake. I sent her to the jump the minute she saw it. Instantly she accelerated into a full gallop and sailed over the bar, landing about 6 feet out on the other side. I thought "oh holy shit" as I broke into a dead run to try to catch up. I called "CALA!" hard and she came back to heel but she was starting to yodel. There was a 270 left which she did, still amping up. Just a step or two beyond that left was a schutzhund (left about) turn. I told her "around" and began my spin left. She should go around me to the right as I spin left. Instead, she body slammed me and ran back to do the jump again. I called her back. She was majorly pissed and starting to bark. I tried the schutzhund turn again. Again she tagged me and ran back and jumped the jump. I called her again. By this time she was screaming like a banshee. She ran back to me, body slammed me again, and went back to fly over the jump for the third time. I called her back, she came skidding into a sliding sit, protesting at the top of her lungs. I had to fold my arms, turn my back, and wait. She finally shut up. I sort of got her past that darn schutzhund turn by accident and she (amazingly) pulled herself back together. I got a nice halt, side-step-right halt out of her and on the last sign she actually did it—she stood up from a sit.

As the judge said, "you handled that very well, but, um, that's an NQ."

So how could you not love a dog like this? I mean, what other dog could get SO excited about taking a stupid 16" jump that she has to do it 4 times? There's just no other dog like her. That's my Cala. 110%, all the time, never say die, never do anything once if you can do it 4 times, with volume!

Morning ARC

2007-06-08T07:52:00.001-05:00

Today I finished my third week of walking daily at the ARC. What's the ARC? It's the Columbia Activity Recreation Center (http://www.gocolumbiamo.com/ParksandRec/ARC/).

This city doesn't always do such a great job with public buildings. Witness the public library; probably the ugliest building in Missouri both inside and out. Lovely white limestone adorns the back, with interesting architectural details. But they shoved that on the backside, only for patrons parking in the lot. On the street side it's red granite *and* red brick. Not only do the reds differ enough to clash, but the building is too close to the street and it looms with weird slotted vertical windows, secretive and pinched. Then there's the front glass thing. It's sort of indescribable. Made of glass blocks, it's thick and clunky and looks like somebody whacked the top off. And that's not even mentioning the school-bus-orange-brushed- with-flame-red hunks of metal set so close to the building they look like they're going to crush it. Or the 'brilliantly' conceived orange and red carpet inside interspersed with purple and screaming line green POLKA-DOT carpet. I literally cannot stay in that place for more than about 10 minutes, so I tend to fly in, make my selections, and get back out before I puke.

But the ARC is different. The ARC is public building space done right. It's all light, air, and soaring glass. Graceful and efficient. One wall is a vast curve of windows, sweeping across the corner aspect. The ARC sits well back on its property. It rests on the bones of days gone by. The site used to be the Boone County Fairgrounds, and under its foundations lie the hoofprints and bones of generations of Saddlebreds and those who showed them. From the turn of the century on up into the 1980s, the Boone County Horse Show saw the true greats. The ghosts of Art Simmons and Tom Bass are here, along with the horses they rode. Where the ARC sits, a young girl took a bay gelding into the ring and came out with a red ribbon back in 1979. Today I am much older and remember those days and times as I walk the track that circles the second floor, almost seeming to float over the pool and basketball courts.

The morning crew at the ARC tends to be the same people. We're the openers, the ones who are there waiting at the door each morning at 5:30 a.m. The thin woman who within minutes is running full speed on a treadmill and who is still doing it when I leave at 6:10. The couple--father/daughter? May/December? arriving in a huge boat of a town car. The young man who alternately runs and walks, so light on his feet I can barely hear him as he sprints effortlessly. There are also a surprising number of elderly folks, including one gentleman, probably in his 70s, who is there every single day and attacks the equipment with singleminded intensity.

It's starting to become a place I really like to be in the mornings.

Zipper, agility dog

2007-06-07T07:44:00.000-05:00

He's scaring me. Really. All of a sudden, within a period of 3 or 4 weeks, I seem to have an agility dog on my hands. He went from no practice since last summer to a Foundations class. And from there to doing all the equipment happily and confidently at full height (which he was doing last year but it's been a year!) and sequencing, off leash!

He has a rather startling tendency to stop and sniff the corners of tunnels, though he hasn't actually tried to mark one yet. He *did* mark the agility ladder the other day and almost came out of his skin when I yelled. At least he now knows it's a big no-no.

The thing that's most astonishing is that for the most part he's starting to do nice jump sequences, including letting me rear cross and taking direction. And that's just instinctual--he really doesn't know what he's doing, he's just being very handler compliant.

Goals are to get him more obstacle focused, help him learn to drive forward more, and keep increasing confidence. I think Zipper will be a dog who starts out as a nice medium-speed dog and as he gets more and more sure of what he's doing he'll keep getting faster. That is, IF his owner doesn't screw him up by pushing him too hard too early.

Keeping up

2007-05-30T11:01:00.000-05:00

So far more than a week of walking 2 miles a day. Well actually, I didn't do Sunday but my plan wasn't to necessarily go on weekends anyway. Monday the gym didn't open until 11 (Memorial Day) so I took Zipper to a local park and walked a paved trail. He did so well! I had him on a flexi and it was early morning so we didn't get interference. He wasn't quite sure at first when I just kept plowing ahead and didn't stop to accommodate him wanting to water every bush and stalk, but then he really went to it. Two miles and he was still pulling a bit at the end--didn't faze him at all. But this is the dog who runs off leash with the big dogs at Bradford Farm.

Found out last night that the pond the dogs have been swimming in at Bradford has occasional high levels of toxic blue-green algae. Great. We already sort of knew that and I keep away from it in high summer when the algae blooms are on. But it's frustrating. I used to go to another lovely park, Grindstone, but both the creeks that border it (Hinkson and Grindstone) have been found with high lead and heavy metals as well as medical waste. In summer, it's really nice to have a place where the dogs can cool off on a walk and it's sure getting harder and harder to find a safe place for them to do so.

On exercise and loose dogs

2007-05-24T08:07:00.001-05:00

I've been leaving all three dogs loose in the house this week for the hour I'm gone to the gym. Well actually this morning I crated Cala, left Viva and Zipper loose. I figure it's only an hour and that gives them some extra morning time to wander outside and do whatever.

This morning I come home (more than 2 miles today but I lost count of laps) and Viva is HOWLING. Loudly. From in the living room. Why? It's beyond me. And Zipper is barking. So Viva's howling, Zipper's barking, and I'm rethinking this whole "dogs loose" thing. Thing is, neither of them were outside, they were just not happy inside.

I'll monitor it and see what happens...

Ouch, ouch, ouch

2007-05-23T09:55:00.001-05:00

I finally broke down and joined a gym--in this case our local city recreation center. I've decided to try to walk at least 2 miles every work day, both to help my fitness and perhaps to even lose a bit of weight.

Right now I'm way too intimidated to try any of the machines, so I'm only using the indoor track. My plan is to start with walking then expand to maybe jogging.

First day, about 1 1/2 miles. Second day, 2 miles, today, 2 miles. I'm walking about a 17 minute mile. Not awful, but not the fastest either.

Today my shin muscles were killing me most of the first mile before they finally warmed up. I think I need to drink more water before going into the gym. But at least my hurting shins took my mind off my feet. I have plantar fasciitis. What the heck is that? Basically it means my feet hurt. I've irritated the big tendons that stretch from my heels to my toes, they're mad at me, and telling me about it. Loudly. The weird thing about PF is that it's not so bad when you're actually moving, it's when you stop for a few minutes then try to walk again that it really hurts. So I'm able to walk 2 miles, but my mid-morning run to the restroom is more like a slow painful hobble.

However, I already am feeling the benefits of increasing my exercise. I've always been a walker but realized that over the past year my evening walks have decreased due to weather or time constraints. An indoor track takes weather out of the equation. Time is solved by moving my wakeup time an hour earlier. So I now get up about 5:15 to get to the gym by their open at 5:30.

It's a really nice facility. As I walk along one curve of the raised track I can watch the sun rise over the whole wall of glass. I can also discreetly scope out the other exercisers and the machines. I circle them warily, perhaps someday to ascend.

The dogs aren't really quite sure what to do. I've been experimenting with just leaving them all loose in the house for the hour I'm gone. I think Cala is going back to her crate, not sure what Zip is doing. I'm going to have to ask the neighbor if they run outside and bark. But they watch me leave, Zipper and Cala perched in the front window. So far no house damage at all evident. We'll see how things progress...

Huh? Not me!

2007-05-06T10:56:00.000-05:00

This morning I heard a huge crash in the living room. Went in to see Zipper innocently sitting on his chair and everything that was on the coffee table down on the floor. Hmmmm. How do you suppose that happened?

A half-hour later I passed my bedroom door and saw white stuffing on top of my bedspread. Somebody had chewed a quarter-sized hole in the coverlet and had pulled stuffing out. Now who could that be? Nobody was anywhere near it...

In other news I'm just really, really happy with the way Zipper's training is going. I use a harness for his agility class so I can work with him on drive and resistance training without choking him and when he sees the harness come out he's starting to become all business. Far less acting like a vibrating phone when he sees other dogs!

Big sisters are always mean!

2007-05-02T13:42:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure if I've mentioned that Zipper has a litter sister who is also taking classes at CCSC. Zipper is in Agility Foundations at 6, and Josie is in Pet Manners at 7.

Our first week I saw Josie and didn't realize she was a littermate but noticed she was a very nice bitch. I confirmed with Eddie and Pam that yes, it's Zip's sister. The last time I had seen Josie had been at a show, when she was being an absolute terror to all of her brothers. After all, with two girls and four boys, she needed to put those guys in their places!

Last week I walked up to Josie's owner and introduced myself. She was holding Josie and I picked up Zipper who, immeditately on seeing Josie went into total vibrate-and-hum-with-joy mode. Josie's owner was telling me how much she loved her and how she got along so well with everybody and her own dogs. Meanwhile Josie was going beady eyed on Zipper. There was no doubt she recognized him--one of pesky little brothers. To her owner's horror, Josie started snarling at Zip. I started laughing, and Zipper was just ecstatic with joy. "It really is you!" Josie was saying, "yeah, it really is and I can still whip your butt."

We did not allow them to get together. Poor Zipper would have been like he was when he was a baby, accepting all of her punishment as his due.

Mediacomm sux!

2007-04-27T13:05:00.000-05:00

My phone and internet at home have been down for over 36 hours now. I have called repeatedly. First got told there was an outage in the area, be patient. Now, I'm told oh, the outage is fixed, must be something else wrong with yours, we'll have to send a tech. But not till Monday!

So here I am, with NO PHONE and NO INTERNET for the entire weekend. I'm glad I'm doing a trial and not trying to work, because I can't work. No blog updates either. Grrr.

My Kingdom for a Ball

2007-04-25T08:35:00.000-05:00

Cala is ball focused. Now you must understand what this means. It doesn't mean that Cala will occasionally play with a ball. Oh no. It means that during every waking moment Cala is searching for a ball, carrying a ball, chewing on a ball, dropping a ball in my lap. Cala will also place the ball in strategic positions for me to pick up. As in, if I open a drawer, she drops it in the drawer. She loves to put it in the laundry basket as I'm throwing clothes in, then gets frantic when I don't retrieve it immediately. She also has an obsession with putting it in the dryer if I'm loading clothes, and will even put her front feet up and put it in the washer if I don't watch her. She loves to place her ball, back off, and lay down in sphinx position with her head flat on the floor, waiting for me to throw the ball.

Cala, in case you haven't figured out, is a bit weird.

And thus arises the game of shower ball. I'll be in the shower when suddenly, "PTUI!" a ball comes flying in under the shower curtain, rolling around the tub floor. "Flump." I hear her collapse into a down. A peek out the corner inevitably shows her in her signature down, stubby tail straight in the air, intently watching the curtain. So I pick up the ball, pitch out over the top of the curtain. Much thumping ensues as she explodes into action to catch the ball. Silence, punctuated by "skwok, skwok, skwok" chewing sounds. Then "PTUI!"

This is pretty much a daily ritual. Except today. Because today there was no ball. Why was there no ball you ask? Because she ate it. See, Cala loves balls but she's really, really hard on them. Even the toughest balls succumb to her Jaws Of Doom. Her latest ball, a supposedly indestructible Orbee, lasted a week. She chews them until she gets small chunks off, then chunks them all up, sometimes spitting out remains, sometimes swallowing them. Fortunately she chews small pieces. But I do have to watch Zipper, who thinks these small rubbery bits are just for him.

Today, with no ball, I got out of the shower to see Cala in her down, sulkily facing AWAY from me. Obviously it's completely my fault that there's no ball. It's my job to be a constant ball supply. I must be hiding one somewhere! Unfortunately there's no ball, and not likely to be a ball for awhile, at least not until payday. How ever will she survive?

When is enough enough?

2007-04-20T10:37:00.000-05:00

The pet food recall just keeps going from worse to worse. Too many food companies are still in denial and it's been knocked off the headlines (justifyably) by the massacre in Virginia. But just get a load of this. Go here: http://www.avma.org/aa/menufoodsrecall/products.asp and scroll down that list. Hundreds and hundreds of food types contaminated.

I think we will never know the true number of dogs and cats killed. It now turns out that Chinese manufacturers may have been deliberately adding Melamine to food to boost apparent protein levels. And it's just a matter of time before people start getting sick. Melamine-laced foods were fed to pigs being fattened for the human market.

Even if you aren't sickened by all this on behalf of the dogs and cats who have died (and acute kidney failure is a very ugly way to go), think of the Melamine case as a barometer of our food supply as a whole. In the past year alone we've dealt with tainted spinach, tainted lettuce, tainted peanut butter. And of course there's bovine spongiform (mad cow), which came about when economical farmers decided that churing up their bretheren's brains in food was a great way to increase weight in an herbivore.

It's simply a matter of time before something hits the human population due to poor food controls and kills not a few here and there, but thousands as has happened in pets. The inability of the FDA to adequately monitor our food supply is apparent.

For the dogs, I've switched to Innova Evo, which is grain free and from domestic animals and vegetables raised organically with no extra horomones given. I can't quite afford to go entirely organic myself, but I will certainly spend even more time this year at local Farmers Markets...

Bzzzzz

2007-04-20T08:51:00.000-05:00

That was Zipper last night in Agility Foundations class. There were other dogs there! Dogs he did not know! He wanted to see those dogs! He wanted to see them bad!

And when Zipper wants to do something really bad, he shimmies and emits a hummy buzz. Sort of like a cell phone on a glass table set to vibrate.

But I've instituted a rule. No playing with other dogs in the training building. Ever. Some of the other trainers let their dogs romp in the building, let them play and interact. I can do that with Cala, but Zipper is too dog-centric. I just don't want him thinking that the building is where he plays with other dogs. I want him to think the building is where we do cool stuff together.

It did seem to work last night. At the start of the agility class he was focused on everything but me. By the end of class he was focused on me and having a good time. He's actually done this class before, but he was just a puppy then and didn't have enough attention span to be ready to move on. Besides, that was last summer. So he is taking the class again and already I can see that his 18 month old brain is far more settled than his 8 month old brain was. I really see some potential in this little guy, let's hope it stays that way!

Clicker--Operant and Classical conditioning

2007-04-19T10:44:00.000-05:00

I'm one of those "figure out how it works" geeks. When I first started learning about clicker training, there were a lot of terms thrown around I had no clue about. Operant Conditioning. Classical Conditioning. Positive Punishment. Negative Punishment. Positive Reinforcement. Negative Reinforcement.

At first it didn't seem that hard. I mean, positive something had to be good and negative something had to be bad, right? And clicker dogs were trained using Operant conditioning, right?

Well, no. Not exactly. And I do think it helps to really understand these terms as they apply to dog training Correct terminology and understanding how the methods work is one of the keys to effectively teaching your dog. So here goes.

Classical Conditioning is best described by the studies done by Pavlov. In Classical conditioning, a dog is conditioned to recognize that a certain event will always predict another event. In Pavlov's experiments, the ringing of a bell was always associated with food, so that the dogs began to salivate purely from the sound of the bell. Replace "bell" with "clicker" and you know how the clicker works. We teach the dog that the clicker always means a treat, therefore the dog begins to feel reinforced by the sound of the clicker itself and automatically anticipates food.

Operant Conditioning, first described by B.F. Skinner, is more complex. Basically, Operant Conditioning says "behaviors have consequences." The terms used in Operant Conditioning are Positive, Negative, Reinforcement, and Punishment. But these terms have some different definitions than we normally think of. It helps if you decide that scientists don't live in the real world and don't speak the same language we do even when it sounds the same. In science-speak:

Positive means Add Negative means Subtract or take away
Reinforcement means that a behavior *increases*
Punishment means that a behavior *decreases*
Extinguish means the behavior disappears

Please note that there are no emotional connotations to these terms. Positive is not inherently good. Negative is not bad, and nor is punishment. It's merely a science geek's way of saying add, subtract, increase, decrease. And all methods of dog training, from clicker to Koehler, use Operant techniques. It is incorrect to say that clicker training is operant training and other training is not. Clicker training is operant training, but so is smacking the dog in the head for not sitting promply.

There are four main ways to train a dog Operantly

1. Positive Reinforcement
2. Negative Reinforcement
3. Positive Punishment
4. Negative Punishment

So taking the science-geek definitions, what do these mean?

1. Positive Reinforcement = ADDing something to INCREASE a behavior
2. Negative Reinforcement = SUBTRACTING something to INCREASE a behavior
3. Positive Punishment = ADDing something to DECREASE a behavior
4. Negative Punishment = SUBTRACTING something to DECREASE a behavior

So I don't know if anybody is reading this so I'll ask a few questions and see if I get any comments or answers. Try to guess what each of the following is.

1. A dog gets out of heel position, and the owner pops the collar to bring him back.

2. A dog gets very excited about his ball and accidently bites the owner, the owner takes the ball away.

3. A dog is not fed if he does not track a scent trail.

4. A dog is given a treat for sitting.

Clicker Training 101

2007-04-19T07:38:00.000-05:00

I thought that in my spare time I'd write a bit about clicker training. What it is, why I use it, and some useful tips and tricks to get started. Some of this will get long so I'll try to split it up. Each of these blog posts will be prefaced by "clicker--" so you'll know if it's a clicker training post. Or maybe at some point I'll actually organize them in a folder, but don't count on it.

The simplest explanation of what clicker training is, is that it uses a click--a noise--to mark a desired behavior. That behavior is then rewarded with a treat. For any reader new to the method, that's the one, real, basic tenet. The commandment written in stone.

Click = Treat

If you remember nothing else about this training, remember the above. You click the dog, the dog gets a treat. Every time. And dogs are pretty literal critters. Pretty darn soon, they understand that every time you click that clicker they've done something right and they get a reward.

Rewarded Behavior Is Repeated

Dogs are pretty much like us. If a particular behavior is rewarded, they want to repeat it. If a behavior is ignored while they're working for that reward, they tend not to repeat it. The click marks a behavior that the trainer wants repeated. In this, the clicker is incredibly precise.

Why is the clicker better than voice?
The clicker is better than voice for a couple of important reasons. The click is both faster than the voice and the click is unemotional and therefore unambiguous. Let's go into a bit of detail about that.

The clicker is faster than your voice. Studies have been done which show that the human body can twitch a finger/thumb much faster than it can say a word. In other words, it takes longer for the brain to go find a word, send it to the voice box, and for the mouth to express that word than it does for the nerve impulses to go to the finger for a click. And how many of you are like me? You'll look at your own sister Susan and say, "Jamie, Laura, Jenn, um, YOU!" we forget words all the time. On the agility course I'm likely to call a table a dogwalk and not remember my dog's name at all! Clicker is far easier. Just push a button. And being faster is better. The faster the clicker is, the more likely you are to catch a behavior at just the right moment and mark it. The more accurate you are at marking the behavior you want to keep, the faster the dog will learn and the more complex tasks you can teach.

The clicker is also totally unemotional. This is really, really important. The clicker is a marker. It is not praise and does not take the place of praise. But nor can praise take the place of the clicker. I hear many trainers say, "I just say the word "yes" as my marker." And that can work. Sort of. It will work but it's slower (see above) and it is not as unambiguous. See there's this weird thing. Dogs have developed over the past 15-100,000 years (depending on what scientist you talk to) to be exquisitely sensitive to our emotions. They are especially sensitive to our faces, our body posture, and our voices. They use those cues to "learn human." And they are masters at it. They know when we're mad just by our tone of voice and our face. And no matter how much you try, the "yes" you say to a dog when you are tired and have had an awful training session and are just trying to salvage something without punting Rover into the nearest wall is far, far different than the "yes" you say when the sky is blue, the grass is green, and Rover is doing everything perfectly with sparkle and verve the first time you ask. Your voice is different, your body posture is different.

The clicker overrides that. Dogs are very literal and so is the clicker. It says, "I don't care what my body posture says, you did that RIGHT and you get a TREAT.

Thus lies the awesome power of the click. And that's enough for this post!

The Cathedral of Training

2007-04-17T20:19:00.000-05:00

It's been such a long time coming. Almost two years since my friends lost their lease on their training facility. Two years of searching for a new location, checking out warehouses, finally deciding to build. The land and loans were secured last summer, but endless city red tape delayed, then delayed again the building.

But it's done now. The Cathedral Of Dog. http://www.columbiak9sportscenter.com. Columbia Canine Sports Center. The fabric building is light, airy, open. Over 50 feet high at the apex, 120' x 240' of clearspan space, sunbrightened by day, glowing at night. All on 3/4" recycled rubber flooring over 6 feet of crushed lime. A full sized agility ring, a 100 x 60 agility ring, a rally ring, and 2 Obedience rings with room for more.

In the old building, which had a 60 x 90 agility space and two obedience rings, the first night of classes was always chaos, with at least one near-escape dog fight and lots of tension. But something about all this soaring light decompresses dogs and owners. We had 3 rings full of dogs last night, all running simultaneously, and even the greenest of the green pet dogs were relaxed and happy.

And oh, how great it is to be training again. Cala the dobe, in her first Rally 2 class, did so well considering I haven't trained at all since last fall. She was tired by the end of the hour, but not too tired to run once on the agility course in Masters class. Where she did each of her contacts perfectly, which has been a big problem for us lately.

Zipper's first class is Thursday, but I brought him to start absorbing building noises and to get comfortable. Besides barking at dogs going by his crate (which I put an end to by covering it), he did really well. I took him out a few times and simply clicked him for attention on me, then took him to an empty agility ring and clicked him around the dogwalk. Zipper had an agility class last summer but definitely needs a refresher, so he'll start all over again.

We all came home tired, happy, and satisfied.

I'd forget my head, part duh

2007-04-15T20:52:00.000-05:00

If you look at my other postings, you'll find a blog where I lamented how stupid I am because a couple of weeks ago I apparently put my dog in my car but not in his crate. Coming out from dinner with friends, I found him happily nosing about in the mess of coats, dogbeds, treats and toys in the well of the van. I seriously worried about my sanity and absentmindedness. How could I lift a dog into the van, put water in his crate, and latch it and drive off without the dog actually in the crate?

Well tonight it happened again! I took the dogs for a run then loaded everyone back up and went to dinner. This time I looked at the little shit to make sure I'd remembered to put him in his crate. There he was, curled up sleeping. After a nice dinner I got back out to the car, unlocked it, and there was Zipper, happily playing in the heap of toys he'd pulled out of the training bag and most certainly NOT in his still-latched crate!

WTF? I mean, how on earth is this dog getting out of his crate and relatching it????

Then I figured it out. This little wire crate has a top hatch. And darn if it wasn't unlatched. He's waiting until I'm gone, and popping out the top of the crate like a Jack-in-the-box.

He had taken out only his favoritest toys--both rabbit skins, both racoon tails, the rabbit fur tug. He was so proud.

Back in the crate he went, and I latched the top too. NOW let's see if the little snot can get out.

TotalMinPin updated

2007-04-14T11:34:00.000-05:00

Been working all morning on updating the TotalMinPin.net site. I've added several new articles including what to watch out for in breeders if you want a Min Pin. Because I'll tell ya, the bad Min Pin breeders are epidemic.

The weather is still crap, we're getting snow. On the 14th of April. The dogs are all curled up next to various registers, waiting, like me, for Spring to show back up.

Urgh, go to bed!

2007-04-13T14:49:00.000-05:00

Zipper and I generally go to bed at about 9:30 or so. He crawls under the coverlet, over the sheet, and curls at my feet. And usually it takes a crowbar to pry him out the next morning. But for whatever reason (no exercise lately? New high-energy food?) I awoke this morning to 10 pounds of Min Pin jumping on my head on his way out the door. ZOOOMMM down the hall, I heard his tiny toenails clicking lightly. Did he need to go out? No, ZOOOMMMM here he comes back. Ka-bouncety-ka-bouncety onto the bed, bank, fly back off, and ZOOMMMM off he goes again.

This went on for a good 15-20 minutes. Very cute, but not at 4:00 a.m.! Finally he decided playtime was over and curled back up.

Today we're going to go for a walk, even if it's raining!

Waaahhh, Waahhhh, Winter

2007-04-12T10:02:00.000-05:00

Where'd it go? You know, that thing I wrote about just a week or so ago? Spring? It's gone. Pouf.

Many of my plants are dead, frozen. Even the Missouri natives like columbine. My honeysuckle vine is gone. Irises? greyish brown. That's what more than a week of below-freezing temps will do when plants are already budded out. Last weekend we had 3 straight days of temps in the low 20s. In April for God's sake! This week has been raw and brutal, more like February than April. We're going to get SNOW Saturday. On April 14. Which will be a record. Here in Missouri the peach and wine crop is gone along with all of the other fruiting tree crops and things like strawberries.

The dogs are not happy either. Zipper has gone back to floating from register to register, sometimes standing like a little bronze statue, sometimes curling right on top of the vent in a tiny ball. Viva's arthritis is back, now she's limping on the left front *and* the left rear, which is a trick let me tell you--she looks like a cow standing sideways on a hill. Cala is impatient with the cold, wanting to go run.

Climate change is interesting isn't it? We're moving into a time that man has never dealt with before, and the corresponding wild fluctuations in weather are part of it. Hopefully spring will come back some day!

Using Negative Punishment

2007-04-10T09:21:00.000-05:00

Cala loves agility. Oh boy, I did that one right--she LOVES agility. And she has extreme drive and always struggles to keep it from overwhelming her. So yep, we have real control issues and she only has her OA and her NAJ because she usually loses it about halfway through the course and just barrels around taking everything in her path as fast as she can, screaming like a banshee (nobody who has ever seen Cala run at a trial forgets it, trust me). My goal is to help her cap her drive (i.e., focus it and use it instead of spending it screaming and flinging herself at things).

In Operant Conditioning, Negative Punishment is taking something away to decrease a behavior. I want to *decrease* Cala's vocalizing. I also want to *decrease* her obstacle focus. She's too focused on obstacles and not focused enough on me. So I simultaneously want to *increase* handler focus.

I started out by crating her, putting a jump up to 24", and bringing her out. As we approached the ring, I kept her on a 6 foot leash and said nothing. As is usual, she immediately went to the end of the leash and began to pull to the ring. I backed up. She backed up too and glanced at me. Click/treat. It took 5 minutes to get to the ring on a loose leash with attention. Then she saw the jump. She zeroed in and began to move forward. Each time she looked at the jump, I either backed up or turned around and left the area. I never jerked her, she always came with me. I never said a word, and I kept my body posture and face calm and positive/smiling. She began to yodel in frustration. Each time she yodeled *or* took her eyes off me, I simply left the area of the jump she so desired. Sometimes I turned left, into her, sometimes I turned right, away from her, sometimes I simply backed up. Once or twice I clicked her for returning to heel position but I didn't want the game to become "I look at the jump and bark then return to heel and get a click." I was still completely silent. I was letting her figure out the problem with no input or anger from me.

It took another 5 minutes or so, but Cala learned that looking at the jump or barking at me or the jump got her removed from the jump. Looking at me and being quiet let her approach the jump. Once she was heeling to within a foot of a jump with total attention on me, I began to occasionally click and treat at the jump. And then I began to release her TO the jump. So now I've added positive reinforcement to the negative punishment. When I look at the jump or bark, it goes away. So I don't want to look at the jump or bark. (negative punishment). When I look at Mom and am quiet, I get a click and treat. When I look at Mom and be quiet, I may get to jump. Positive reinforcement--adding something to increase a behavior. In this case, adding the reward of getting to jump to increase the behavior of holding attention on me before the jump.

My plan is to work Cala up to being able to heel completely around an entire course with total attention on me and none on the obstacles. I've started with the jump. I'll add jumps into a jump grid, then begin working in other obstacles one at a time. My goal is not to shut down her drive or totally eliminate her obstacle focus (which wouldn't happen anyway, she's too obstacle driven) but to help her learn that taking cues from me is her route to the big goodies she loves so much. During our session, which lasted a total of about 10-15 minutes she never lost attitude, never lost drive, and was totally into the game even if sometimes a bit frustrated. And she's learning.

The Great Stalk

2007-04-03T12:54:00.000-05:00

Two dogs sniff intently at the grass. One big and sleek and black and tan, the other small and sleek and glowing autumn red.

What's the news today? What has changed since we were here last night? What bugs have passed? Any rabbit scent? Say, there's a piece of paper!

Two bluejays flutter down in a corner of the chainlink at the far end of the yard. Their feathers are brilliant sky, cerulean, lapis. One hops a step forward.

Both dogs flick their heads up and freeze. The black one's docked tail rises. The red one oh, so slowly pulls a front foot into the air.

Haunches tense and lower just a little. A blue jay walks a step. Muscles begin to quiver. The heads are absolutely motionless.

A blue jay takes a hop. Two dogs, one large one very small, leap forward in concert, from zero to full speed in a single stride.

The jays indignantly flutter up to a branch. The dogs slow to a stop, watch, then lower their heads. Hey, what's the news today? What else has gone on in the yard since last night? Look! A leaf!

Oooo. Inbreeding. Sccaarrryy....

2007-04-02T08:30:00.000-05:00

I'm having a discussion with someone on a list which shall not be named (not a Min Pin or Doberman list). A nice person, and I even considered getting a puppy from her at some point. But she sure has a myopic view about breeding.

This person has bought into the religion of "inbreeding is evil." According to these people, inbreeding should be avoided at all costs, all dog breeding should be based on inbreeding coefficients, and only by outcrossing can we avoid breed extinction through inbreeding depression. This theory, popularized in part by the late John Armstrong, blames all of the woes of the purebred dog world on those oh-so-shortsighted breeders who dared to breed close relatives, thus bringing bad recessives to the front and "ruining" breeds.

I've read the information, and in fact have been a member of the canine genetics email list for years, including several years before John Armstrong died, when there was debate between several big-name people, including author Don McCaig (IMO he's a far better author than geneticist). In those days the list was high traffic and the debate hot. After Dr. Armstrong's death the list went pretty much dead and though it still exists, it has very few messages.

In spite of it all, I have never been convinced that inbreeding is bad. Certainly inbreeding has risks. And by inbreeding I mean what most breeders call linebreeding (which geneticists call inbreeding). I think these days very few people do brother/sister sire/daughter dam/son breedings.

The question is, is inbreeding the ruination of a breed? No. How can it be when we have evidence of very inbred breeds who do well, like Portuguese Water Dogs?

Does inbreeding cause inbreeding depression and eventual breed extinction? No...otherwise how do you explain Greyhounds and Salukis, in existance for thousands of years, relatively unchanged, and relatively hardy and healthy? For that matter the Min Pin, a very old breed, is pretty darn healthy and hardy.

Does inbreeding make a breed more susceptible to genetic disease? According to George Padgett (foremost authority on genetic disease in dogs), the breed with the most known genetic diseases is the Cocker Spaniel, with 52 different genetic diseases. But this is drawfed by the mixed breed, with the potential for over 120 different genetic diseases.

Is homozygosity bad? It can be. But it isn't always. Homozygosity can increase the chance for expression of some genetic diseases, but insulates from infiltration of others. If you have a homozygous population that has an extremely low incidence of hip dysplasia, don't you want to keep it that way?

Is outcrossing a solution? IMO no. Outcrossing to what? Dogs are an artificial construct. They've been bred selectively by humans for thousands (some say 100s of thousands) of years. They are a homozygous population. Which is why they are so extremely useful in researching human diseases. It's far easier to find a dog model than a human model because dogs are so darn homozygous. Cross breeding between breeds only provides hybrid vigor protection to the first (F1) generation, and then only for diseases both parent breeds don't share. So breeding a Yorkie to a Min Pin wouldn't do a thing to prevent Legg-Calve-Perthes. And within a certain breed there really, honestly is no such thing as an "outcross" unless you have a pariah or feral population somewhere that has been isolated from the main population for some time.

Such is the case in Basenjis, where the parent club has been able to go to Africa and find some native dogs and thus battle Fanconi Syndrome. Unfortunately there are no feral populations of Min Pins or Dobermans or German Shepherds.

What ruins breeds are bad breeders. Any breeder who breeds for only one thing--such as a perfect head, or hard grip on a sleeve, great herding ability, or even just genetic health or the least amount of inbreeding in the bloodline is not serving the breed well. Good breeders know you have to look at multiple factors and juggle. It's not easy being a good breeder. You have tons of factors to weigh when making breeding decisions. Being too narrow focused on any one issue will end up doing a disservice to the breed.

As for inbreeding--like it or not, we're all doing it, every time we breed. The question is, how do you make it work for you and not against you?

Real Earthdog!

2007-03-31T21:17:00.000-05:00

Today a cold front is swept through Missouri. It pushed a squall line before it. A series of small but very intense storms. At 3:00, when I was supposed to be practicing Earthdog at Jenn's house on her above-ground tunnels it was pouring rain. Training cancelled.

By 5:30, the storms had dissolved to high scudding clouds and the dogs and I headed to Bradford. Being several hundred acres of very gently rolling open ground, Bradford tends to be a wind and weather attractor. I got out of the car into straight-line winds of 35-40 mph. The grass was tipped in silver as it bent to the gusts, rippling stiffly, an almost undiscernable hiss below the full-throated roar in my ears. Our way out, we were pushed by the pressure out of the Southwest, the dogs springing up dashes of water as they ran.

I headed straight north, then East on one of the farm roads. Zipper, in front of me, nosed, stopped dead, and jumped back a foot, then ran forward again. He'd found a mostly-dead vole. He dispatched it then took off with it. He wasn't quite sure what to do with it though. He dropped it in a nearby field then stood over it. I praised him highly and picked him up with it in his mouth. Fortunately he dropped it soon after. We turned and came back. Walking west into the wind meant leaning forward and gasping a bit. I turned the corner South and Zipper was off again, this time at a field edge. He hunted then started digging--a mouse nest!

So though Zipper may never get an AKC Earthdog title, he's proven he can hunt vermin, even in a roaring gale. He can dig out mice nests too. He was very proud of himself!

Summary updates

2007-03-31T10:18:00.000-05:00

Several short notes.

First, I'm still updating TotalMinPin. Check it out! I've added a great new link to a canine genetics predictor and an article on housebreaking. I've also added a big article on Min Pin coat color genetics.

I've decided to try a different food. It's not a decision made lightly. I've fed Eukanuba Premium Performance for years and have had excellent results with it. And no, I don't think the Euk is poisoned. I think it's a really good premium food. But having to check Zipper for kidney function since he did have some of the tainted food was something that really made me want to start looking around. I have decided to try Innova Evo, partly because they use very tight quality control on the ingredients in the food. I'm not sure if I'll stick with it—I'll let you know. The Evo is basically raw diet in kibble form (or I should probably say cooked, because I'm sure it's heated). There are no grains. I don't actually have a problem with grains, and didn't choose it because of its lack of grains but because of the overall very high quality of the ingredient list.

The dogs are fighting over pressed rawhides. Cala is chewing one, Zipper and Viva both have one available just for them but only want the one Cala has, and Cala is not about to let them have it. Dogs.