Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Dec 2012

By Ellen Clary (Copyright 2004-2013)
(reverse date order)
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Sun Dec 30
[(I went on a bike ride myself)
Yoshi walk - do drama though he's barking at people carrying grocery bags which he's done before.

Terri tells me that she's had Yoshi on 10mg of Prozac for two weeks instead of 5mg just to see if I'd notice a difference.  I haven't seen a dramatic difference (better moments, and not such good ones - the usual), but it's not like he's worse either.  I think maybe we should leave him on it and see.

Sat Dec 29
Trek walk.  Wow she really wants to work in Rally or learn something else.

Fri Dec 28
Yoshi herding (he's been betting most of the attention this week.)  I've decided that he needs more herding work than Trek does for the time being.  Trek could walk into a trial tomorrow and be kind of ok.

Anyway after some discussion with Linda we decided on sheep and some goats with him on a long line as what he really needs to work on is stopping.  So with them and Yoshi on a long line we worked on stay and me walk to the sheep and come back.  I also would let him practice driving in front of me and if I needed him to stop I would step on the line.  Sometimes I could get to the line with him flanking around too but that was harder.  But the important thing is that he is learning that he can control them at a slower speed.  Once in a while he would ramp up and break the group apart and Linda came in once to show me how she could get to the line by staying close in.  The next time we did it with only three sheep and he did great.  I am so happy with him.  I think all the time on goats has paid off and now we can transition to sheep, but he'll keep the long line for a little while though I might run it through a harness instead.

Thu Dec 27
Yoshi walk.  2 dogs on Court.  1 a Sammy and 1 something a little larger than a Corgi.  BarkBarkBark.  When he's already barking I don't get the food out (maybe I should - it feels too late but maybe not.)  So I kneel down and put a had on him and he started to ramp up so I put my hands on each side of his head and make him face me and he gets ahold of himself.

We walk on and I decide next time I'm going to try food for comparison.  Wish granted.  A Dachshund is approaching us on Central.  We U turn and go back to the next side street and walk 1/2 a house length down and wait.  I have cheese out.  As soon as the dog appears I start to feed him.  He's watching the dog but more interested in eating and the dog goes by with hardly a peep out of Mr. Y.  He's calmer too.  Food is a calming thing as well as a reward.  The action of eating is stabilizing.

Wed Dec 26
Yoshi walk.  Saw a dog right off he wanted to charge barking but I had the leash in hand fairly short so I kept pressure on the leash and put a hand on him and talked to him and he quieted down, so semi successful.

Tue Dec 25
Dogs dragged off the Xmas gathering at Lake Wildwood.  Lots of social time, not much exercise (it was raining)

Sun Dec 23
It's raining and raining so no real exercise.  We found two engourged ticks on Trek which is a bummer.  They are Dog Ticks not Deer Ticks fortunately, so not a Lyme disease risk but still appalling.  I took one out with my fingers and the other with a remover.  She'll go into see the vet tech tomorrow to check the site sites.  Can't figure out if it's from Herding or Tracking.  Tracking is the likely suspect, but it was a week ago.

I hear that there is a Corgi herding trial planned at Gig Harbor, WA on June 15-16.  Might be a fun trip.  It makes more sense to fly, but I am so attached to working out of the car that I'm sure I would find it very frustrating.  Could drive up a couple of days early to spend it with Mom.  There is also a larger trial at the same location over Memorial Day.

Sat Dec 22
More rain but the storm cleared off by 4pm so I was able to squeeze in walks for both dogs.

Jerry reminds me that the Leona Valley trials on Feb 2-3 have geese .  I should check into them.

Fri Dec 21
Raining so only Trek went herding.  The goats don't like the rain so it's not a good learning environment for Yoshi.
Trek had a couple of great sessions.  The first one she was a little chargy, but the second one I was better about telling her to stay out and she did.  We worked on Stop and Slow and Out.  She's getting out much better now.  We tried a little driving where her and I are on the same side pushing the ducks somewhere, but that's difficult with Linda's fetchy, ducks but had some success.

After today I can tell she'll be ready for the LA trial in April if I want to go (probably - might as well see how far she can get with duck/goose herding next yet - it's a complete folly but she likes it and I like doing it with her.)  unfortunately competition opportunities are few reduced even further by the fact that some of the competition ducks are just awful to herd.  It's enough to travel to Az but that seems a little nuts.  Let's drive for two days (and two back) to spend 5 minutes with some ducks.  At least LA is only 6 hours.  Or course I could fly us to St Lousi for the Corgi Nationals.  No.

LA Trial
Sheep and Geese Trial
April 13 Judge Larry Favreau
April 14 Judge Peggy Richter

Thu Dec 20
Less success with the hand method on the first dog  He was very upset by the dog and wanted to charge.  The second dog was a Weimeramer and we did better on that one (it was at the end of the walk.

Trek's entry to Mission Bell on Jan 19th has been received.

Wed Dec 19
Some success with Yoshi just with me kneeling down and talking to him when a dog passes - I put a hand on him and gave him a treat after the dog had passed.

Trek walk - some Rally works.  She can now pivot in a circle going backwards.

Trek intro to nose work.  She's afraid of the sound of the box opening.  Argh. So we just worked on that

Tue Dec 18
Yoshi noon walk.  Right on our street one of the small white dogs was running up and down the sidewalk on the other side of the street (the owner lets the dog do this ever so often.  Seems risky to me but it's been ok so far.)  Yoshi tensed and I kneeled down and put a hand on him telling him "It's ok"  He was excited, but after a bit he looked to me for a treat and I gave him one.  We watched the dog for a while and ate some more.  He's still pretty excited but is able to get through it with me sitting there with him.  Rest of the walk was fine.

I'm thinking just touching him and calmly telling him he's ok (but not excitedly petting, just a hand on him) seems to make a difference.

Trek evening walk.  It was really cold and windy so it was mostly a charge along our regular route.
Her left rear adductor seems to be ok.

Mon Dec 17
Trek Noon walk.  Started working a little on Go which I should change to GoOn.  This is something that she kinda knows but not in the context of a walk.

Introduced Yoshi to Nose work by putting treats in one bag of 3.  He kinda gets it.  I need to get 5 identical boxes with removable lids.

Sun Dec 16
Poor Trek has a swollen Left Rear Adductor.  She cries when I touch it though she can walk carefully.  I've given her some Rimadyl and we'll see how she does.

Now she's bouncing around which is a little worrisome, but we'll try to keep her contained.

Yoshi walk.  He's up and excited to be out.  Mostly can focus but is still a swivel head.
We watched a Labrador across the street and we stayed there until they crossed coming towards us and we moved out of the way.  I kept tension on the leash as we moved which kept him in line though growling.  He was able to refocus on me after they passed.

Sat Dec 15
Tracking  It was fine in the morning then it started to rain and got pretty miserable.  Fortunately Trek's part was done then.  She did get a lot of exercise as we followed a dog around after that.

Facebook status:
Trek is going to be so bummed. I don't have time to give up most of a Saturday to keep her in her tracking class (which she absolutely loves), so I'm going to have to come up with some other way to exercise her nose be it training her at home, doing more of our absurdist hikes where she has to find the car when we're done (she's a genius at it.), or switching her to nose work

Fri Dec 14
I was going to go skiing tomorrow but my favorite lift at Sugarbowl isn't open so it's not worth it to me.
So Yoshi and I will be going herding instead.
He had a couple of good goat sessions - actually I think the herd was mixed to the point I said during the second one let's get rid of the goats and just do sheep.

Thu Dec 13
Trek is so raring to do something.  For fun I started to teach her to heel backward in a circle with me.

I am going to enter her in Mission Bell but in Rally only since also entering Beginner Novice would make it really expensive for two trials.

Yoshi walk.  I saw a person approaching on the other side.  Didn't see a dog and reached down to pick up his poop and then Yoshi saw a dog that was with her and tried to charge into the street.  I pulled him back to the side walk kneeled down and got me hands on him and started to talk to him.  With effort he settled down and reengaged.  I really want to change his default action and I'm not sure I'll ever succeed but I have to keep trying.

Wed Dec 12
Straightforward dog walks

Tue Dec 11
Yoshi noon walk
Saw a red Husky approaching on Central.  I kneeled down on the sidewalk with him (I had put pressure on the leash to get his attention.  He looked at the dog a about 2-3 times (rewarded each time) then just looked only to me nearly climbing into my lap.  It was perfect,  Hooray.

Evening Trek got another peanut butter session with the metal article.  After a few times I asked her to pick it up and she did.  She picked it up and gave it to me at least 4 times.  She wasn't thrilled about it, but really wanted more peanut butter.

Mon Dec 10
Trek walk - just down the street and back to get some sniffs in.
I need to start working on obedience articles with her again because she really wants to learn something.

Yoshi noon walk.  So yesterday i resolved to just sit down with him and help him watch dogs.
On central there was a dog behind us about 1/2 a block back so we turned down a side street went less than a house length down and I kneeled down with him on the side walk and I had the cheese out.  I also had my had on the leash just a few inches away from the collar.  At first I had my hand in his collar but that didn't feel right.

The moment the dog appeared I fed him and then he would alternate between looking and eating.  He was excited but not stressed and he didn't have any outbursts.  Fabulous.

If I have time to prepare he usually does great.  Though he was up and excited for the rest of the walk.  Dog was a short hair medium sized dog sort of like a Whippet.

Sun Dec 9
Yoshi walk just before dusk.
Lots of good dog watching opportunities.
Wee dog on Lincoln.  Long approach and moving slowly.  He did great for the longest time then for a while he would only look at me.  Then right as they just just across the street he turned and barked.  I gave him a leash pop and told him to stop it and wound up blowing in his face to get his attention.  Then he snapped back into focus, but he was still revved.

Then I carried him past Corgi Shelby with him looking a doing a small growl.

Then a lab at the corner.  We were close and I grabbed him and spun him around.  I might have been a little rough as he cried and was tense and barking.  I kept him turned to me.  He was not a happy camper.  I need to think about this but I don't think pain helps him to make choices.  Simple leash pops that don't hurt can help though but just ordinary collar pressure seems to be just as effective.  I wonder if just sitting down with him and watching dogs walk by might help.  I know I've tried something similar before with mixed success.  I keep thinking if I can get him to understand what I want that he'll be better and I think he knows to some extent and he seems to be trying but he still is anxious about it.

That all said the next dog he did great with the next dog which was another small dog on the other side of the street.

Sat Dec 8
Trek tracking
3 tracks into the wind
15x3: 15 steps, treats every 3 steps
25x5
40x8
plus an extra one that was similar.

So far she's been having trouble when there was more than 3 steps, but Debi says that having the food spaced out further is what teaches her to follow the track for food.  After her having little problem running these tracks I think she's getting it.  I did have to put pressure on the line to not let her stray too far from the track, but she was able to reorient pretty well.

Fri Dec 7
Herding today.  Since Trek is going Tracking tomorrow it will just be Yoshi.

Thu Dec 6
Straightforward walks for both dogs.  Trek is really wanting to learn something else.  I can give her just signals and she heels right along and downs, sits, and stands.

Wed Dec 5
Raining so no walk for Trek.
Quick uneventful walk for Yoshi at noon.  He is engaging more with me and more responsive which I'm loving.

Tues Dec 4
Yoshi morning walk
We waited a little so there was more activity at the school.  Too bad we couldn't wait another 15 minutes are it was perfect bedlam by then.
But we still say a passel of 3 small dogs, 1 of the German Shepherds, and we wound up following an Aussie.
I had brought a longer leash and would let him get ahead and then said "yes" and he would come back for a treat.  once he had come back i keep the frequency of rewards for ever time he looked so he never got further away.  Only a could of times was there an "I can't hear you."  For the most part he did well though this is pretty much operating t his limit.

Trek noon walk.  Fine.  She got some leftover pork sausage the lucky dog.

I think for herding this month I'll just focus on Yoshi and let Trek coast (she's tracking anyway.)

What stock he works depends on it it's raining or not.

Mon Dec 3
Short morning walk for Trek.

Standard walk for Yoshi.  used the 6' leash as we need to work on his recall when he's further away.  I want him to turn around and come to me when he sees a dog.  Didn't see any dogs today.

Sun Dec 2
Trek Duck run
She actually got a higher score though this run had a lot more of her buzzing the ducks, but the penning went flawlessly.
Ann tells me she now has a HTD-I titlle.  Which is funny because it's not like she'll be leaving that level any time soon.  So in the future she'll be entered non-competively.

Poor Yoshi.  The goats would not leave the concrete slab without a lot of convincing. We did get them to move and actually got through the chute ok though had a whole lot of trouble at the drive through the panels.  Then I put them back in the wrong stall and then had to do a lot more work to get just two goats out and back into the other stall.

I was worried that I've undid weeks of work of him working calmly, but Linda doesn't think, so as he didn't lose his temper.

Sat Dec 1
AHBA Herding Trial at Woodside
It's raining but not pouring
Trek Duck run
She Q'd.  Not by much but we did it.  Had some trouble penning the ducks as they're not used to going in an expen I got two right off a then had trouble  Accidentally let them all out and then had to get them all in.  Probably should have just taken the two.  I had them all in but didn't want to slam the door on them.  Probably could have done it gently - maybe.

Yoshi Goat run
Could get the driving bit working like we did last week so I had to walk through and lost 10 points and did so on the other driving bit so had more than 30 points off total so we didn't Q but it was still good experience and he and Dotty the snotty [goat] did not get into an argument which would have been way embarrassing.




Archive - Go to:

2012
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Nov 2012
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Oct 2012
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Sep 2012
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Aug 2012
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Jul 2012
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Jun 2012
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - May 2012
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Apr 2012
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Mar 2012
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Feb 2012
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Jan 2012

2011
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Dec 2011
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Nov 2011
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Oct 2011
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Sep 2011
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Aug 2011
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Jul 2011
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Jun 2011
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - May 2011
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Apr 2011
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Mar 2011
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Feb 2011
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Jan 2011


2010

Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Dec 2010
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Nov 2010
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Oct 2010
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Sep 2010
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Aug 2010
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Jul 2010
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Jun 2010
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - May 2010
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Apr 2010
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Mar 2010
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Feb 2010
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Jan 2010


2009
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Dec 2009
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Nov 2009
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Oct 2009
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Sep 2009
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Aug 2009
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Jul 2009
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Jun 2009
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - May 2009
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Apr 2009
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Mar 2009
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Feb 2009
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Jan 2009

2008
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Dec 2008
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Nov 2008
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Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - May 2008
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Apr 2008
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2007
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Dec 2007
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Nov 2007
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Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - May 2007
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Apr 2007
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Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Feb 2007
Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - Jan 2007

2006
Yoshi Training Diary - Dec 2006
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2005
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2004
Yoshi Training Diary - Dec 2004
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Yoshi Training Diary - July 2004
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Yoshi Training Diary - Apr 2004

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