Yoshi and Trek
Training Diary - July 2012

By Ellen
Clary (Copyright 2004-2012)
(reverse
date order)
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Tue Jul 31
Trek agility class
in progress
Mon Jul 30
Trek noon walk. Mostly just let her sniff and relax.
Yoshi evening walk
I'm on a mission this time. I really want to know if click to
calm will help him more
First I take a clicker and the squeeze peanut butter. In the
driveway I click him a few times so he knows I have it and more
along the way, in particular when doggy Pinto barks at us from
behind a fence. But even with all that when we get to Central
he finds a great smell and doesn't respond to the click. I
click again and again. 5 times. Nothing. He
prefers good smells to peanut butter. Clearly I need to
compare this to cheese.
We finish the first part of the walk we did see two dogs but I was
mostly focused on getting home to switch to cheese. We did
have one golden cross the street right after we crossed the street
to steer around them so I carried him across the street. He
also saw a white Cairn Terrier and was able to eat some peanut
butter for it.
Back at home we switch to string cheese and repeat the walk.
After chatting with Ray a neighbor we get back to the great smells
of the trees on Central. Now this isn't a perfect comparison
as he has just smelled these smells, but still I wansted to see what
would happen. He starts sniffing. I click once then
twice and he turns back to me. We repeat this multiple
times. Cool.
Now we need to find some dogs. We see the English Springer (I
think) on Gibbons and he does great. But I want to find more
so we head over to the school. I spot a white and black Shih
Tzu with her family on the school ground inside the fence. We
walk over and I click him as soon as he sees the dog (or even
before). I kept clicking. Then I look up and the dog
with a young boy is right beside us on the other side of the
fence. Both dogs sniff through the fence and Yoshi is stiff
but then he turns back to me for cheese(!) He spent a little
more time with the dog as the boy wanted to know what I was feeding
him. Then we left and Yoshi got the rest of the cheese on the
way home. Good dog.
Sun Jul 29
I remembered to take the camera out when they went out and they did
a nice brief play session with a perfect pause and shake that I was
able to annotate.
http://youtu.be/assVsqtK6Cc
Walk both dogs. Less comedic as it has been in the past.
Saw the two white dogs that live on Central we stopped and let them
approach and they turned off on a side street. Since they were
walking away from where they live I decided to just follow them
since they would be running into us if we had continued on our usual
walk.
Sat Jul 28
Happy 9th Birthday to Yoshi!
Yoshi walk
One dog sighting on Central. We were in the middle of crossing
the street so I tightened the leash to get him across and then when
we got to the corner (the dog was right across from us) I kept some
tension on the leash and after a hard look he reconnected with me
without incident. Good boy.
I do wish I could figure out a way to manage him that didn't
involved a leash. Patricia McConnell talks about how signals
work much better with most dogs than voice. So I should come
up with a "Watch Me" signal to see how that works.
We watched the rest of Patricia McConnell's DVD Lost in Translation
which is about how dogs communicate. It was excellent and I'm
now inspired.
She says to send her videos and photos. Hee, no problem there.
Trek Walk
Went down Hight Street which wasn't that noisy and she did ok.
Then I let her take me back down Court to home and she wanted to run
home. I didn't have time to train this right now, but I
tightened the leash so she didn't get too much ahead. She
doesn't tend to do any death dragging on the leash (unless she's
really frightened, so some tension helps. I'm learning over
time that leash tension it not always a bad thing and can be a
teaching (or at least coping) tool.
Fri Jul 27
Trek Open ob. class with Lori
Lori has her classes at ODTC and Trek does not like the building
because of the metal roll up door that rattles and a whole bunch of
other noises. I drag her inside and after she shakes some she
actually is able to cope and do some work and over time (she has the
class once a month) she has been getting better. In fact today
was mostly ok until near the end of class when someone next door
started drumming and I decided that it was time to bail because then
I had a panting trembling dog who just wanted to run away.
Sits and Downs - went very well
Lori had us also do a Stand and go over each other dogs - also went
very well
Heeling Worked on fast heeling which was fun and useful
Figure 8: not as disastrous as it usually is but still iffy.
She is working better about keeping up when she is heeling on the
outside
Some basic dumbbell exercise
Then a recall exercise and also a retrieve exercise on the other
side of the room.
Treks' recalls are looking good though she is still a little off to
one side and I wind up taking a step backwards
Her retrieve went very well the first time, the second time she got
distracted and I did have to remind her to "bring it."
The door was behind her in both cases and she was able to focus
though I did move her start position a couple of steps further away.
Then there was a broad jump and a bar jump. We don't have a
broad jump at home and haven't practiced it much so I revved her up
and we charged over if a couple of times and then on the third one I
stopped and asked for a front after she jumped it which she did very
nicely. I tried just sending her over it and she started to
comr right for me and swhen she does the jump she doesn't carry out
enough to make the turn.
Then the drums started so we didn't do the bar jump.
Thu Jul 26
Short walk for Yoshi mostly to let him sniff everything and stop to
talk to Dorothy a neighbor of mine. His foot seems pretty
normal these days but I'm not pushing it.
Took Trek over to semi near Dog Bone Alley. I parked over on
Regent and we walked over. The walk over was fine, but the
purpose of going there was to pick up a 15 pound bag of dog food and
Trek wasn't very happy about walking with me carrying something that
she was sure I was going to drop on her. We got back to the
car without any such incident so I put the bag in the car and we
continued walking the length of Regent and back to give her more of
a real walk.
Wed Jul 25
Trek noon walk
Went fine save for right at the end we walked right into some
jackhammering which she did remarkably well at even if she didn't
like it. If it had been a year or two ago she probably
wouldn't have gotten within a block of it. It was across the
street and she was able to go past it. She wanted to run but
she kept glancing back to eat cheese.
Yoshi charged to the back fence and tried to dig through it to get
at the "intruder" on the other side of the fence which was just a
neighbor doing yard work. So I have a theory on how he hurt
his foot.
He is walking nearly normally now thanks to the NSAID.
Yoshi evening stroll.
He's on the injured list so the vet has asked for short walks so we
just went around the block which was fun because we never do
that. No dogs and when we were almost home he really started
bugging me more to work so we did some.
Tue Jul 24
Yoshi was limping this morning - wouldn't put weight on his right
front foot. There is nothing in his pad but if I hold his leg
above the wrist and press the bottom of his foot into my hand he
does flinch. letting him rest for the morning.
Noon. He's still limping so he's going into the vet.
Vet later tells me he pulls off a miracle healing and walked just
fine but she could see a small hint of it. She says it happens
all the time there as doggy is full of adrenalin. he's back
now with a Rimayl Rx (an NSAID).
Evening he seems a little better but some hobbling.
I'm thinking I should start feeding Trek lamb treats. If it
makes Yoshi reactive it might give Trek some more energy.
Trek Agility Class

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Upper Field Green Course
I ran with her at the beginning, then when she was on the DW
I moved laterally and did a landing side Front Cross.
Raced back and then when she was in tunnel 14 I had time to
get into position for a FC in front of 15.
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Upper Field Blue Course
What a blast this course was. 1-3 I ran with her then
round to 4 and up the AF. "left tunnel" worked though
I did have to repeat it a couple of times though she never
really hesitated. The a charge up the DW and then
around and made the FC after jump 12 was able to do a serp,
but was wide after 13, across to tunnel 16. I was in
time to hold out my right arm for the AF and made the
turn. She was a bit close to the AF, but made it, and
then out to jump 18.
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Mon Jul 23
Yoshi morning walk. Did ok - he stated to offer some nice
Rally work - always after the first block which is all about
sniffing and catching up on local pee gossip.
Saw 2 dogs that he's always done well with - an Aussie and a larger
nearly black dog We crossed the street and walked past them,
and he was watchful but fine.
Trek walk. She got a little confused as she got dragged around
by me while I showed my neighbor something in our backyard.
(The source of a funny smell was another neighbor's manure
fertilizer.), but then she got out and also offered some great
heeling. I want to do more Rally work with her but her next
show is Mensona and is only Novice Obedience and I want to focus on
that meaning I was boring steady heeling and not fancy Rally stuff.
That show is going to be a dilemma - possibly. If she
qualifies on Saturday, should she show on Sunday? Common sense
says yes, but it would be sweet for her to get a title at the
nationals, but something always happens in Novice so i can't take
anything for granted. I really need to work on sits and downs
and stands in the park as that could sink the whole thing. Her
stays used to be great but I neglected working on them since they
were so good.
Sun jul 22
Went on a training hike and ignored the dogs which they were fine
with.
Sat Jul 21
Yoshi bike run at Washington Park. I love Washington Park
because it is easy to move laterally to get away from something like
a dog. We steered around a couple of them without incident,
then a couple of Collies walked by and I just reeled him him and
held his harness while he barked at them. Some other dog
sightings and we were able to go by the dog park a couple of
times. We have a tired dog.
Tonight we're having a viewing party for the Patricia McConnell new
DVD Lost in Translation.which is a recording of a seminar she gave
in Orlando, Florida. Yoshi was on leash when people arrived
and he did well. Trek was out and about. I was even able
to have Diane hold him by the leash while I finished up doing things
in the kitchen.
Later on however he would then bark at people moving around after I
had taken the leash off. In particular he would obsess on
Diane and Bill to some extent. Given that we have just seen
McConnell talking about how dogs' make decisions based on scent we
speculated that he was smelling their dog Spark. Can't be
sure, but it's an interesting theory.
Fri Jul 20
Yoshi evening walk
4 dog sightings. One was a white Spitz dog on the other side
of Santa Clara. Knowing I was likely to get a reaction I did
let Yoshi see the dog and he immediately started barking and
lunging and I got him into a sit and held him in place (not harshly
but definitely had a hold of him) while barked and barked and then
finally settled while I kneeled down with him and waited for him to
calm down. What was really interesting is that for the next 2
sightings he was great. One a German Shorthair Pointer a house
length away that he promptly sat for asking for cheese and a pair of
dogs walking that we've seen before and he's done well glance at the
dogs and then immediately ask for cheese. He did bark at
Harvey across the street when we returned home, but then
settled.
I'm trying to think what is different in each experience. One
is that the first one is always the worse and then he gets better
and better as he gets back into the game (which right now is sitting
and watching the dog go by.) I do find it fascinating that on
Jul 16 he had two dog right behind him and while he reacted some it
was nothing like this. I think he really doesn't like Spitz
dogs, but that's too easy to say. The Spitz dog was staring
back, but not being antagonistic.
My hand on him does help, but not so much with the first dog.
I'm thinking it's time to revisit Emma Parson's Click to Calm
techniques. The second he sees the dog Click. I've had
mixed results with it in the past when he's in a high emotional
stress - he's a fabulous clicker dog when he's not stressed.
I'm wondering if I could just try it in the living room window
though that's his highest stress level, but at least I would be on a
sofa instead of some random street corner.
Trek park training.
Her heeling is looking very nice and her fronts and finishes are
good and enthusiastic Stand was a little iffy, Worst was
the stay which she could do for a minute or two and then the ball
bouncing started to bother her. We tried to move to the other
side of the park, but there was some ball bouncing there to
(argh). Tried it in the yard with Yoshi and that was better
but she's still squirrely.
On the way home, she was really wanting to drag me home (her fear
reaction to noise is to want to run home) so I changed our loose
lead walking game to:
- if she hits the end of the lead I stop
- and wait and wait
- until she finally looks back
- I show her my hand and she comes back to touch it
- once she's done that we can move forward until ...
This took 1/2 a block. Twice.
Later went out into the back yard and worked on down first with both
dogs then with just Trek. With Trek I just brought a book and
read for 4 minutes and she relaxed and put her head down.
Phew.
Thu Jul 19
Yoshi walk - saw a cat across the street right off and he was
barking, barking, barking till I knelt down and put a hand on his
side (didn't say much of anything). He immediately stopped and
we just watched the cat for a bit. He was grumbling, but that
was it.
Lots of passing humans but no dogs.
Wed Jul 18
Yoshi dash down the street and back
Trek agility class
We usually go on Tues but once a month we go on Wed

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Lower Field 1-10
Working on lateral lead outs though I don't do too much
lateral with Trek since I can keep up with her.
Teeter to weavepoles without shaping was the goal (Sharon
drew a line in the dirt from the end of the teeter to the
2nd weave pole.) Trek went to the second pole so I had
to drive in a bit more to get the entrance but didn't have
to shape it.
After jump 6 the most effecient was a right turn to tunnel
7.
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Lower Field 11-20
weave 15 to jump 16 Front cross.
Pulled around to the left after 16 and then RC at the poles
(17) which worked fabulously.
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Upper Field Green course
I started at the base of the DW then while Trek was on the
DW I ran laterally to the landing side of jump3. The
pull to tunnel 8 and the fade to the AF worked. the
jump10 across to tunnel 11 was surprisingly easy and then
back to jump 13 worked too.
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Upper Field Blue course
Run run run - what fun.
Pushed out at tunnel 2 send to tunnel 3 slipped and hit the
dirt at 4 which actually got Trek excited. Sent her
back to tunnel and made the FC at jump 4. Out to jump
5 with a 270 and we made the serpentine (I love
serpentines).
The tunnel-AF-tunnel combo was a total kick. I tried
for two Blind Crosses out of the tunnel. I made the
first one, but couldn't the second as I was out of breath by
then. on a retry I just Front Crossed the second
tunnel and then wrapped to 16.
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Mon Jul 16
Trek noon walk fine.
Yoshi evening walk. We went to the park looking for dogs are
really didn't find any until we'd walked all the way around it and
were coming out and say some at the store across the street.
As I was getting ready to cross he tensed and started barking.
I bent down and put my hand on him saying Stop and it worked.
Only then did I realize the dogs he was barking at were 10' behind
us going into the park. If I had known that I would not have
been able to calm him like I did and I think it was very cool that
he could mellow out with a dog essentially right there.
We're experimenting with taking Yoshi off of GABA and just giving
him the L-theonine.
Sun Jul 15
Trek NADAC at AARF
Today she had jumpers, chances and the two standard classes.
Jumpers went well in the cool of the morning, but right at the end
she got ahead of me and dropped the last bar which was a
bummer. But! I just found out they missed that dropped
bar and gave her a Q. It was a lovely run so I don't feel
remotely guilty about the gift.
In Chances, I sent Trek out to a tunnel. She not only covered the
distance, but she kept going to smell the manure that was past it. I
call her back and then she went in the other end of the tunnel. My
silly dog.

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Jumpers Novice
Swung wide once at 7 and once at 10. Peeling off at
corners is an old habit of hers that she goes back to in
unfamiliar settings
Did a landing side FC @4 and I had to do it fast but it
worked (and was fun). I then wanted to do a serpentine
but was concerned about the RC at 7 so I did a FC after
5. I can't remember what I did at 9. It would
have made sense to do a FC but I'm not sure. Another
LSFC at 12 would have made sense but I just kept her on my
left which is why she got ahead of me. I have to
remember she goes faster when headed out of the ring.
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Chances Novice
We actually had a good shot at getting this one. 1-8
was fine, and she did the send out to tunnel 9. AND
KEPT GOING to sniff something delicious at the side of the
ring. "TREK, oh Trek, tunnel." She did come back
and took the wrong side of the tunnel so I just crossed the
line and helped her and the rest of the course was
fine. Argh, will she ever get past this ring
stress? I must be causing it to some extent.
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Standard Round 1
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Standard Round 2
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Sat Jul 14
Trek NADAC at AARF, Santa Rosa
Doing this to see if she's happier at NADAC. She is but I can
tell that she doesn't really trust that something scary isn't about
to happen and as soon as it gets hot she tries to head for
shade. She does better on tighter courses and there was one in
Open (NADAC courses are often very open)

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Chances - which is like a
Gambler's class but you don't get to make the course
up. Elite line is the short dashes, Novice is the
larger dashes.
We didn't get the send to the A-Frame but otherwise it was
fine in the nice cool morning. When she didn't take
the AF I stepped in and had her do the tunnel again and the
she did the AF when I asked her with a little hesitation.
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1-6 went fine with an AF
run by (which is ok by generous NADAC standards), but once
we got into the open are instead of doing 7 she peeled off
looking for shade which is something she used to do a lot
and not as much any more except when she's hot (I need to
remember to wet her down during the day - it was around
75-80 which is hot by her standards unless it's jumpers.)
and I had to call her a lot and when I got her back I
slacked off and she took a jump backwards which is an
NQ.
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This one went much better
because I was more on top of things and the interesting part
happened right at the beginning. We do well with
twisty courses.
I think this was the one where she took a sliding roll
between 5 and 6, but it may have been the one before.
It was amusing.
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Yoshi afternoon walk. Saw 2 small dogs on our street that he
wanted to charge and I grabbed him put my hand on him and told him
to sit and he kinda sorta held it together.
Later one on the sofa we watched dogs walk by and he ate
cheese. He was pretty stressed about it, but he would break
off to eat cheese.
Thu Jul 12
Yoshi was - again 2 dog sightings. First one was a dog the
size and color of a Shiba Innu (but it had shorter hair) on Central
and the were approaching, so we went down a side street and waited
for them to go by. I had Yoshi sitting and it took a minute
for them to appear. Yoshi held it together for about the count
of 3 and then lost it lunging and barking. I pulled him back
and put him in a sit and put my hand on his side. He held the
sit but kept barking which i don't mind so much if he can stay
put. there was not a street between us but a less than house
length distance (which i had deliberately chosen.)
Then we saw two medium size dogs moving slowish across the street
approaching, but going perpendicular to us. I had Yoshi sit
and this time I knelt down with him and put my hand on hid side
again. This time he was golden just watched them go by.
Now these dogs look like something you'd see at a herding trial
which makes all the difference but still I was quite happy with him
and told him so while bestowing lots of cheese to him.
Yoshi's feet appear to be fine now.
I scheduled Yoshi's cancer screening ultrasound
Wed Jul 11
Yoshi walk - two dogs. A Boston at the beginning that he
started out ok for and then lost it and couldn't help barking at the
dog. Then later I had him sit and watch a Pomeranian go by
across the street and he was perfect. i think we'll go back to
sitting and watching them go by.
Tue Jul 10
Trek morning walk. It's trash pickup day for our neighborhood,
so it was a noisy walk 2 trash trucks, one picking up the
clanging recycles. Then a mower got turned on it's side by a
gardener and rattled around and she hates metallic clanging.
then another trash truck. In between did some very nice
heeling. I don't have to talk to her, but if I need her to
move back to heel, I drop my left hand down for her to touch with
her nose. I still lean too much to the left to do this,
instead I should bend my knees more. Lori has said to me in the
past.
Trek Agility class

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Lower Field
No teeter issues
A little slow but good weave entries and a good table.
If you are standing still the dog shouldn't go far past you
Does your dog understand RC cues? Went over various
shoulder positional cues which can cue a right or a left
turn after the dog has taken the jump. They're
actually kind of subtle.
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Upper Field Orange
We missed the dog walk, but Sharon said Trek was moving
towards the DW, but ran back over to 12 and 13 and then the
DW.
Took the tire at the end but that was ok.
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Upper Field Green
I loved this course maybe because I'm a sucker for
serpentines as I love them, and I love how it made me move.
First she tried to do the DW instead of tunnel 2. I
picked her up and excitedly put her back on the start
line. Then there was no problem going to the tunnel
and i did a blind cross after the tunnel. Then to the
AF and out around and did a serpentine and a front cross
after 10. After 11 I did a pull instead of a FC.
If I had done a FC, I would have gotten a tighter turn to
the tunnel but it did work.
Then a landing FC at 13 then a pull to tunnel 15 and a
spin/FC to 16.
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Mon Jul 9
Yoshi came back from Vacaville with 6 foxtails which fortunately I'm
good at finding. To find things in their fur have them face
you and you put your hands on their but and run your fingers through
their fur backwards wiggling your fingers in a rolling style like
your drumming your fingers on a desktop or just giving them a really
good scritching. All he did was walk around but he rolled a
lot.
His right front pad is a little abraded (has been for a few days)
and it's bothering him.
He went on a walk this morning and he's limping a little because
it's tender.
It was unevetful until we were back at the driveway and a dog and
his person ran by. Yoshi was growling so I put pressure on the
leash saying "leave it" and kept walking up the driveway. I
don't think he was convince that it was ok.
Trek noon walk - fine.
I'm still laughing about Trek running around to the back of the
Runner Ducks and saying Boo (she didn't "say" anything but they
certainly responded that way, even though she didn't chase after
them at all.)
I was contemplating Yoshi's herding future, but didn't come to any
conclusion.
Sun Jul 8
Vacaville ducks again. My plan mostly worked though these
ducks didn't fetch to me but standing closer to the B cone worked
nicely. I did get to Cone C which was today's goal. Now
I should work on Cone C with my dog:
Facebook status
Trek and
the Runner Ducks. Some fine poop to roll in. She had a nice outrun
and things fell apart after that, but the best part is at 1:52
where I asked her to stop and stay in front of the approaching who
really wanted to get past her and they turned around! Trek the
brave doggy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1EfM-sllDo&feature=youtu.be
---
I was very proud of her for being willing to look back at the ducks
and they deciding to turn around. I hope that helps her
confidence.
I was talking on corgiherders:
I just wanted to see how she liked
the Runners. She loves them and their poop, but they're just
too much work esp since they won't be at the Nationals (which is
the next time she'll be in an AKC ring).
She's now had 4 times on those ducks (2 practice and 2
trial.) What I found fascinating is that since she was close
their eye level they moved much more readily for her than for some
tall German Shepherds. (This is my theory.)
The ducks inclination is to turn around and go back to their pen
unless a dog was right behind them and they moved along. All
Trek did was go around to the back and say "Boo," and poof they
were at Cone C and she's busy rolling and not paying attention to
them for a bit.
i think we could have recovered when they were going backwards
through the Z chute, but then at 0:50 she gave my an "I can't hear
you" to my "Stop" and she sent then back through the Z and they
scattered and we don't know how to gather up Runners..
Sat Jul 7
Trek herds the Vacaville Ducks.
Well she did the go out fine and then decided the duck poop in the
duck lift cage was mightly fine and started rolling in it and the
ducks scattered. I tried gathering them up and she went back
to rolling. I was just about to have her go down the fence
with them when the judge called it which totally seemed
premature. I'm of the opinion I should get the whole 10
minutes but apparently that's not how it usually works. I
don't "call" runs as I can get useful training time out of just
about anything.
So it's my understanding that the ducks really will fetch so my plan
is to stand in between the A and the B cone, send Trek out and take
two steps over to be a target for the ducks. If Trek decides
to roll for a few seconds that's ok.
Fri Jul 6
So since he's not going this weekend I took Yoshi herding. He
did 2 sessions of goats and the goal was to have him be calm,
I didn't argue with him much about distance, because when I pushed
him out he would crank up. He really did well. If he got
excited I would stop and let him calm down. It was really cool
to see him doing so well. Linda described to me about sending
him out around the dragon for distance work.
I have to decide how to handle this as training on two different
livestock is expensive.
Worked with Trek on going out around a cone and doing a down.
She did great. She's as ready as she's going to get.
Thu Jul 5
FB status update:
Well after today's practice on
the Runner Ducks that will be at the trial this weekend. Yoshi
responded exactly like he did with the Geese. Got that faraway
look and found dogs to bark at (who were nowhere near the
fence), and looked at everything else but the tall ducks. On the
other hand Trek. Well. Her eye balls nearly fell out of her
head: WOW! Cool! "Trek Stop" "Can't hear you - Wow" "Trek Stop"
"Can't hear y--" "TREK!!" "Oh were you saying something? Wow
look at ..." She finally did ok in that beginner sort of way so
I'll give her a chance to entertain everyone (and worry the
stock handlers) this weekend. Mr. Y. gets to spend it with
Terri.
Quite honestly, I'm a little relieved to not be bringing Mr. High
Maintenance along to this environment though he got his Herding
Pre-Trial title there. This is my first time running this
course and there were some important details I didn't know and got
told about today. Like you do go in on leash and then take the
leash off. The ducks are placed in a pen that lifts up, but
only after you send the dog out on the outrun.
I have to decide how much more to do with the Call Ducks. I'm
asking i there will be Call Ducks at the National (I think there
will be.)
How to screw up herding ducks:

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This is AKC's course
A. The idea is the dog starts at the "B" cone and
handler (that funny looking shape by the A is a person with
their right arm extended) is behind the A cone and doggy
does an "outrun" behind the stock and "fetches them towards
the handler who is now moving towards Cone C. Then the
stock goes around the C Cone and to the Y chute and then
clockwise to the Z chute and through the panel on and then
takes a right and goes through the two panels in the middle
and then on to the pen.
And such is the theory.
What often happens to me and others is that it starts out
well enough. Trek went around to the back of the ducks
very nicely.
|

|
But then kept
going. I should have said Stop well before this point
(like where she was in the previous diagram). Doggy is
now out of position and pushing the ducks to exactly to
where they want to go which is the pen.
|

|
And then I have scattered
ducks all heading for the pen.
We then spent some time going up the fence but Trek would
get too close and they'd turn and run back. Spent a
fair bit of time on Slow which was actually good
training. We have no hope of qualifying Sat and Sun
but it will be good practice. I think a good goal will
be to get to cone C.
|
Wed Jul 4
I decided not to go to herding practice today but will do it
tomorrow. I'm tired and it's very dangerous to drive on July
4th.
Walked each dog Yoshi and noon and Trek in the evening. I took
Trek up to the edges of a couple of block parties but she said that
was far enough. Though the celebrations made walking down
Broadway really easy as in comparison it was quiet.
Yoshi was a stress case last year as there were a lot of fireworks,
this year is more typical of past years. Yoshi is doing
surprisingly well but I had to put my hands on him (steady pressure
on his chest and side for a while which he loves and it helps him to
relax.
Tue Jul 3
Yoshi noon walk. He was being strangly pissy about the mail
carrier who was wearing a pith type hat today. He tried to
charge barking after him up a neighbor's walkway. I debated
whether to give him a leash pop correction but instead just pulled
him back and put a steadying hand on his side and he immediately
calmed down, but it was still odd. Such a hat
fashionista. Other people with hats walk by and he doesn't
look at them at all. It's probably because the mail carriers
movements are unlike anyone else's.
Trek Agility Class.
Tonight she again was tentative and pokey. Sharon is
emphasizing Happy Voice and I'm working on that Trek loves
Sharon. I was suggesting she run her but she declined.

|
Lower field. No
real drive. She would skip the last pole on #4 as I
turned in for 5. I first tried a FC and that made her
stop so Sharon said to just drive to 5 and RC which kinda
worked. No teeter issue.
For the entry to #21 poles you need to stop at #20 to have
the dog come more to you (and you stay wide), we did this
well but biffed the end as I over shot and missed the tunnel
entrance.,
|

|
Upper Field Blue
For 11 to 12 the exercise was to run to the other side of 11
and get a FC in. I was able to do this, but found
myself too far past 12 and was on the wrong side so missed
the beng around the station part.
She also initially did not want to do the A-Frame, but then
allowed herself to be cajoled into it.
|
|
Upper Field Orange
Big ginormous zig zags in this course that were actually
kind of fun. Trek did well be needed
encouragement. FC between 10 and 11 worked
great. If you don't position yourself correctly you
buy the DW. No AF issues this run which was nice.
|
Mon Jul 2
Uneventful walks for both dogs.
Sun Jul 1
Yoshi walk. A bit longer this time to tire him out. Went
through the park and all the way to the water and then back the same
way. Steered around a Beagle without incident by going about
30 feet off the path. Coming back I was distracted by watching
a boy doing some alarming Razr acrobatics and the Beagle came back
and got a little closer and Yoshi barked so I just picked him up
since I was completely out of position.
I had asked Corgi Herders for advice on what I could do to help Trek
and her discomfort about sheep. One response was that if she
didn't like sheep to just let her be a duck dog (which is fine with
me), another response was to try to use the same techniques I used
with Yoshi with respect to marking and treating. This made me
realize I could even do LAT on the sheep from a safe position to.
Archive - Go to:
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