Yoshi and Trek
Training Diary - Dec 2012

By Ellen
Clary (Copyright 2004-2013)
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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
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and Trek Training Diary - Jul 2012
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and Trek Training Diary - Jun 2012
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and Trek Training Diary - May 2012
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and Trek Training Diary - Apr 2012
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and Trek Training Diary - Mar 2012
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and Trek Training Diary - Feb 2012
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and Trek Training Diary - Jan 2012
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