Yoshi & Trek Training Diary

Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Aug 2012

By Ellen Clary (Copyright 2004-2012)
(reverse date order)
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Fri Aug 31
Dogs herding.
Linda's ducks are young (though essentially full size) so they got to hang out in an expen while the dogs worked around them.

Trek was happy, Yoshi less so. He charged at a dog on the other side of the fence once but I got him back and he didn't do it again. He is definitely behind Trek in his directional understanding. Trek I was working off stock and she rocked at it and did well even around the expen when she started to listen. Yoshi got a little more interested when I got into the expen and moved the ducks around but he was bored by it all.

I put him on goats next and he was very happy and worked them quite well.

I then took Trek on leash into a pen with sheep to see if I could see any interest. Not really though she was happy to walk around with me but was sniffing a lot probably out of stress.

Corgi herders question that I posted:

So Yoshi varies a lot in his commitment to herding ducks, unlike 
bonkers-for-birds Trek, so his duck entry in the Nationals may well just 
turn into a donation.  He does have a JHD on ducks, so he may pull 
through, but I don't have my hopes up.

But he loves goats.  He can work his pygmy goats close and calmly and 
though we're working on getting more distance, things are mostly 
working.  He's nine now and I really can't see putting him back on sheep 
as I don't want him to hurt himself.  I can find goats to work in AHBA 
trials, but I don't think I've ever seen goats at an AKC trial.  Are 
they ever used in AKC?

There will be a trial in Oct at where we train and that will be fun as both dogs can do ducks and Yoshi can do goats.

Thu Aug 30
Terri and I walked both dogs and it was uneventful.

Tue Aug 28
I've decided. Yoshi is not doing another PT. There's no point in it - it won't help his training as he would just have an excuse to be a complete idiot with sheep.

Trek and Ripley agility class

Trek was offering Rally skills while we were on the line waiting. Maybe she doesn't dislike heeling that much though she really prefers if I talk to her. I think she likes how eccentric Rally heeling can be. I'm also more relaxed if I can talk which probably makes it more fun especially if I use a happy voice.

My handling of Ripley is improving. Sharon is on my case to stop using so many words but it seems to help sometimes, but she has a point so I'm working on just the facts handling with him. She also pointed out that my lead out pivots turns are late as I should be doing them as the dog is in the air.

The each got a lower field run and Ripley got two of the upper field runs and Trek one of them. It's kinda fun as I can choose which dog to run depending on how tight and technical the course is (Trek gets the harder ones).

	I ran Ripley here are we did surprisingly well. His excellent contacts save me as I have a second to catch up.
	I forgot to write down were 7 and 8 go in this course.

Mon Aug 27
Yoshi morning walk. Mostly peaceful. On Gibbons I felt him pulling and looked up to see a dog retreating down the street. As soon as he hit the end of the leash he looked back at me so I get him some cheese. He never made a sound.

Trek evening walk. Slow and relaxing. I had no agenda, so we actually went further down Fountain nearly to Encinal before coming back to Central. She met an older Lab and they pretty much ignored each other in favor of saying hi to the humans.

On the way back we saw Mark and Corgi Shelby and Mark's son Jasper and wandered back home stopping to say hi to our neighbors hanging out on the patio. What's interesting is that Yoshi was in the window and did not bark at us at all. Though he carefully scrutinized us.

Sun Aug 26
So today I chose to just drag her around the course and we lost a whole bunch of points but were just barely Qing, but 2 minutes into the long down they had to change a jump and were trying as best they could to be quiet but inevitably there was a clunk and Trek got up and came right to me and spent the last minute with me. I guess it's encouraging that she chooses to come straight to me even though it is me who puts her in these stressful situations.

Her warm up outside was stellar.

This is the second time this stay breaking to jump setup noise has happened. If it wasn't for this issue she would have her CD. I'm thinking this just isn't her sport at least inside. She does better outside even with all the distractions though the last time she broke because of this it was outside and she has also NQ'd rather flamingly in both Rally and Obedience when it was hot outside and she was just diving for shade.

Her likes and dislikes are very particular.

She doesn't like noise or clanging metal.
She likes fetching in obedience, but isn't keen on heeling though she'll do Rally heeling if I'm talking to her. She's fine with stays as long as there's no jumps being reset near her or metal crates being set up.
She likes agility, but isn't keep on noisy contacts and if one frightens her she won't go near them for the rest of the day.
She likes jumpers in agility.
She likes herding ducks but doesn't like sheep. Will come along with goats but has no power to move them if they get recalcitrant.

I think if she does any more obedience, she's going back to Beginner Novice and it should be outside and she can do more Rally Excellent, and I should debate on whether to do the RAE title.

Just heard that to get into the new Rally invitationals you need to have an RAE, had 5 double Qs, and 3 scores of 100. A score of 100 is difficult.

Sat Aug 25
Trek Obedience.
No Q for us and it's my fault as I spoke to her too often.
Heeling was rock. Off-leash better. Tried to us a shorter leash and that didn't work. Hazel says our off leash heeling is better and that I should just go and not wait for her. Figure 8 was less of a disaster but not great. Stand for exam was perfect. Recall rocked. Got through the stays and right at the end of the long down she stood up but I had gotten back so it would have been only a 3 point deduction and not an NQ. I need to stop giving her subtle little signals as the judge took pains to point out I was doing them.

This may not be our sport, but we're going back tomorrow.
I crated her outside until the morning people had cleared out and it was much quieter.

I've been working so hard to get her into Open so she can fetch things, but her heeling has to be vastly better.

It was hard watching her stress on the stays. She got through them but every noise got an ear flick or a worried glance.

Saw Patty from Medocino again, and also Amy with her Toller Zena.

I have to decide if Yoshi is doing another PT. Completely on the fence about it.

Fri Aug 24
Dogs herding. Michaelle was nice enough to bring her ducks by for us to work. It went ok. Both dogs of course still crowd too much and go too fast and don't stop well. They both did work though the ducks weren't entirely sure what was going on but they did ok. Linda is getting new ducks hopefully by next weekend and I decided to buy 4 ducks and give them to Michaelle. I want her to own them but she made it clear we can come over to Pescadero and work ducks. Given how much I miss Pescadero this sounds wonderful.

Trek got a bit short changed time wise but other that chasing them up and down the fence too much she did ok. Yoshi uncharacteristically flattened a duck a couple of time which I whacked him for with the stock stick. He didn't seem terribly detered. It's funny he really likes the Call Ducks and does not like ducks that are taller than him like the Runner Ducks or Geese. His close crowding tends to give the ducks openings to split up which we were getting chastised for. He doesn't do this with Linda who is more stern than I am. She will whack the ground hard to chase him away. I whack the ground and get no reaction. But all in all besides being too close he's really good at herding them. I so want to just let him do his own thing but it's not effective herding being too close unless he is doing cows which I'm not signing up for since cows are kinda scary and they're hard to find to train on, and I prefer herding cows when I'm on a horse.

So today I have to decide. Do I just leave him in ducks or add a PT for sheep. He already has a PT so it would just be for the experience of it. Might be fun, but it is $100 ($50 each day) Nationals only come once a year and are usually on the East Coast so this is likely his last National so I'm leaning towards entering it and then deciding on the spot whether to take him in..

Wed Aug 22
Yoshi morning walk
2 dog sightings.
One behind us and then crossed the street. Watched them go on and at much cheese. The a lab with a low tail that got no reaction at all save to ask for more cheese. then right at the end a Boxer was crossing our path at a distance and we watched them do. No issue with any of these.

Trek noon walk Did some basic heeling and some recalls. Fronts are now looking nice. Heeling is somethings a little wide but I think that's from basic caution. It still looks nice. I need to work a little more on stays before this weekend, and then she's ready.

I worked on saying "We are" to the "Are you ready?" question as "Ready" and "Yes" gets her excited and she leaps up which is not terrible, but it puts us out of position right at the start.

Mensona is at the Sonoma Co. Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa. Our class doesn't start till 11:30am and we're 4th dog in. We're #10.

Tue Aug 21
Quick morning walk for Yoshi. Uneventful.

Trek and I did some obedience work in the driveway. Her front is unreliable in the new setting. She kept trying to go to the finish position. After working on it a bit she got it right.

Agility Class for Ripley and Trek

Lower Field
Had Trek do the first one because it was a little tight. She did fine on it.
Had Ripley do the second one and there was a tight rear cross that we missed but the first part went ok.

Upper Field Orange Course
Ripley: The beginning and the end of this course worked surprisingly well. The middle 11, 12 was a complete train wreck with Ripley inserting a whole bunch of extra obstacles.

Upper Field Blue Course
Trek: She rocked this course, but was moving slowish so I could keep ahead and direct her.

After class Ripley and I spent a few minutes working out pieces of this course and it was time well spent. 1-3 he blasted 2, so I called him back and had him redo it. Twice I was able to get to the end of the tunnel as he did and was able to send him to 4. The first time he went from 4 to the A Frame. I called him back and figured out that I had to call him sooner to get him to 5. I figured out that he knows the word Stop, so I could get him to pause long enough for me to get into a better position and then continue.

His A-Frame contact is good enough I can get out ahead and then release him to 13 and 14, 17 and 18 are the same sort of train wreck as above, but I was again able to get him to stop before 19.
20 and the wrap he kept back jumping, so I need to use my offside hand more. The third time thru worked.

Mon Aug 20
Yoshi walk - went around the Fernside along North and Southwood for a change. Whenever I change his walk it turns into a sniff-fest and goes slowly unless I insist otherwise. I didn't care about going slow and it's nice to see him relaxing in other places.

His sentry duty comes and goes. He's finding out that maintaining his window duty is cutting into his nap time, so he'll only do it for a while and then go to the back to snooze. I probably should have let him do this sooner, but he's having a god time now.

Trek walk - simple but did a fair bit of fronts and heeling and the occasional stand. She's ready for the ring though I need to work on Stay more.
We can do figure 8's in the driveway - why did it take me this long to figure that out?

Later. Worked on a couple of 5 min downs in the backyard while I read a book. She did well. Now we need to go back to Lincoln Park and do it there more.

Fri Aug 17
Lori Obedience Class with Trek
Did the Novice one since we are going to herding afterwards.
We worked on
- heeling into walls (when the judges commands are late). She says you're supposed to not slowdown but go right up to the wall. If you already know the heeling pattern you can do the next element or you can just stop.
- then we heeled up to the wall and added a turn
- Individual heeling with left and right turns
- Individual heeling with fasts and slows

Right around here Lori noticed that I carry Trek's leash a little long. I realized later that this is to avoid tight leash deductions (which it does.) Rally judges don't take off for wide but they do for tight leashes. This is one difference between an Obedience judge and a Rally one as we get hit for being wide or out of position from an Obedience judge judging Rally. I guess at Mensona I'll shorten the leash. She also noticed that I carry it in my right hand and that is because I really do need my left hand free as a target and to dispense treats. It's not perfect but I haven't found a better approach yet.

- Figure 8's around other handlers and dogs - Trek is improving about these - I no longer get the "This is reeeeeaaally weird." response.
- Stand for Exam - solid, yahoo
- Stand for Exam transition to heel free. Working.
- Recall - one time she didn't hear me. Lori suggested adding syllables to her name like "Trekkie" (which is Hazel's favorite). I might just call her Puppy, Though Trek does like being called Trekkie, but I can't say it without descending into giggles.
- Sits and Downs and a Stand - all worked well, no issues.

Yoshi herding with Linda
He did goats twice and did very well with them. He'd only start to bark when I was trying to push him out further. I did set up a couple of panels out in the middle in a line and would send him out around them when we go close. The trick was to keep him from charging back in. I finally started stopping him and giving him a treat which worked well.

We deliberately went slow and afterward he's not quite as thrashed as he usually is after goats. Might get him to calm down actually. Too bad sheep don't like him that close. They go faster, he goes faster and things don't go well then.

I found out that Linda won't have more ducks for over a month. This is bad for us. I can move Yoshi to PT sheep but I-hate-sheep Trek is stuck and will just have to go in cold.

Later found out that Michaelle might have some ducks we can use. Right now I have left Yoshi's duck entry alone, but I need to decide next week. I could just go ahead and enter him in PT but it would be $100 donation and I already scratched them out of Obedience and Agility. (Though I am saving the hotel fees.)

Wed Aug 15
Trek and Ripley agility class.
BC Ripley's mom Lynne had knee replacement surgery and he is just losing his mind. When I mentioned that I am considering semi-retiring Trek from agility she mentioned how desperate he was to do something.

Now my timing is for a medium speed Corgi and not a medium speed Border Collie, so I was off in many places though I was thrilled that I could pay attention enough not to be overwhelmed by the difference. He has a lot of skills which is really cool. He knows lateral lead outs and lefts and rights and has a great stay. There were a couple of times where he would completely obliterated a jump but he was very excited to be there, and not always paying attention.

I would split it between the two which seemed to work well though both dogs could have used more work. Now that Trek is scratched from Corgi Nationals Agility her last scheduled agility will be the Oakland DTC on Sunday of Labor Day weekend.

Upper Field Blue Course

Trek aced this running course. I had Ripley try it after class and the send out to the tunnel at the end didn't go well. I'm not sure the way to get him to pull out to the left. Perhaps Left Tunnel

Mon Aug 13
After $100 vet bill (I wanted a vet to tell me the wound was not infected and pick up some more Rymadyl and Antibiotics. I decided that I was canceling 1/2 of the Corgi Nationals trip. I'm going to keep the herding part since that's unique but am giving up on the easier to obtain Agility and Obedience. It's a shame as Yoshi would have been going for his RN and Trek might have been going for a CD depending on how Mensona goes, but I can wait till ODTC's Trial which is where Yoshi got his first Rally Q.

Sun Aug 12
Things are always just a little unstable after the dogs have been appart for a while and are put back together. Yoshi has been in jail and Trek has been playing with other dogs so their brains are in very different places it seems. They were in the living room and someone knocked on the door. Now the correct response is to crate one or both of the dogs in the living room crates first, but I dumbly open the door the dogs go over to the cramped area in front of the door and get into an argument from all the excitement (which hasn't happened in a long time.) I close the door and dumbly again pick Yoshi up. Trek then takes advantage and chomps on Yoshi and my picking him up makes it into a couple of puncture wounds. I should learn to just grab Trek since Yoshi doesn't bite her, or separate them while on the ground and wait for reinforcements.

Aug 5 - Aug 11
Terri and I go hiking in the Sierras. Yoshi went to Park Centre Animal Hospital which is a safe place for him to be boarded.
Trek went to Mark and Jan's where she got to play with Corgi's Cameo and Cooper all week.

Aug 2 - Aug 4
Various easy walks while they mostly get ignored while we prep for a long hiking trip.

Wed Aug 1
Yoshi morning walk
i didn't bring a clicker this morning just cheese. This morning was all about classical conditioning (and a little rally work), when he sees a dog he gets fed. The point is that while he has learned an awful lot his default reaction to when he sees certain dogs is to Charge! I want to change that to when he sees a dog to look to me for a treat. A clicker can help him focus, but the main thing is that good things happen with the presence of a dog.

I was hoping that BAT would make him not want to charge but we've been doing that a while and I'm not really seeing a difference in his initial reaction. He's fine with coming with me away from a dog, but it's not his own reaction. I want to change his own reaction. i want to see a change in his emotional response to other dogs.

After seeing Patricia McConnell's latest DVD i also want to pay attention to tail set and see if there is any difference.

4 dogs this time.
First was a Lab running towards us that I saw a couple of blocks away fortunately. We crossed the street (Court) and right after he saw the dog I started to feed him. No issue.

Saw another dog walking away from us. no issue. If you want to make a dog less threatening turn them around and show the butt.

A Golden crossed our path but was across the street. I started to feed him. he was tense and wanted to charge, but then started to eat.

Smaller dog on Johnson (across street) high tail set but dog not tense. He was deinitely in Get that Dog mode. I got the cheese in his face. One piece and still in GTD mode. The second one and he relaxed (and the dog was passing though right across from us.)

I am going to do only this for a month and see how it goes. Unfortunately he's going to be boarded started on Saturday for a week so any gains this week will likely be negated.