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!
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Why I Oppose Proposition B.
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.
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.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
System fail
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.
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Yet another "Goals" post
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?
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Ranty Mc Rant-a-thon
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.
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.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Lazy trainer confessions...
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.
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.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Putting on the Big Girl Pants
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, 2006After 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.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
What Rally can learn from Agility
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.
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.
Thursday, September 03, 2009
It's not about the Q
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.
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.
Friday, July 03, 2009
She's now gone
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.
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.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Where the MU Vet Hospital Goes Wrong
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!]
Monday, May 11, 2009
ASCA weekend
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.
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.
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Mandatory Spay Neuter. Is it a good idea?
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.
Friday, April 17, 2009
AKC Adding Mixed Breeds
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!
Saturday, April 04, 2009
Do a demo for us!
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...
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Back in the groove
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.
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.
Monday, March 30, 2009
I'm home!
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!
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!
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Thanks all
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
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!
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"
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"
ETA: 12" and 16" are finished, they're building Challengers and have announced finalists for 8" and 26"
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