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Non-Dog Blog Table of Contents Tue Nov 30
Noon Trek walk. A short one since I had a Dr. appt, but we walked
by the school at recess. Lots and lots of screaming children,
metal clanging, balls bouncing. She did great! And I hadn't
even brought treats. What a good doggie.
Yoshi evening walk. I had mean to walk him at 4pm but got busy at
work Only saw one dog right at the first. Medium sized
white that I didn't see first but Yoshi saw the dog stiffen lurched
forward I pulled back on the leash (sort of automatically) and he came
right back to me and switched into LAT mode just like that. I was
like all he needed was something to get his head back. I don't
thing a leash correction would do it but simple pulling does seem to
get his attention.
For the rest of the walk I experimented with what sounds get his
attention the fastest. Went through Yoshi Come Here Leave-It Yo
Hey Walkies Stop Sit By-Me and some others. What gets his
attention the fastest is Here and Leave-IT, with Hey as a second
Makes me want to change his name to Ear-It or something. Closest
name I can come up with is Kir'an or Garret.
-----
[a letter I just wrote]
Hi Tues night Power Paws folks,
Trek did a drop in at Sharon Freilich's last night she (Trek) had no
problem at all with the teeter even though Sharon's teeter is just as
loud. Trek used to worry about Sharon's teeter, but managed to work
through it. Unlike at PP where even after weeks and weeks was just
getting worse and Jim and I decided that it would probably be best to
give her a break from class.
Such an odd doggy, but I think I'm starting to understand her. What she
fears is the sound wave that hits her when another dog is doing the
teeter. She physically jumps and trembles - even when we're further
down the driveway. There's something about how PP is laid out that
seems to funnel the sound. Must be a bummer to hear twice as much as
humans.
Sharon's field is more open even through there are walls around it.
Here's a photo:
This time the teeter was all the way in the back so a dog doing it was
fair away from us. But even when the teeter is closer she's less
freaked out by it than at PP.
I think we'll keep doing drop ins at Sharon's and then decide what to
do. It's possible that Trek will rejoin a class there and then
sometimes drop in to Tues to say hello to you all. The bummer is me not
getting to see you all on a regular basis, not getting Jim's insight,
and not getting our toes on that wonderful grass. The good thing is not
having a terrified dog what I have to beg and cajole to come out of her
car crate, and not having a certain someone giving me hell about a
moving front cross. :)
And I was so looking forward to having another PP Corgi Dynasty.
Ellen Clary
and Trek
-----
Mon Nov 29
Yoshi morning walk. He's so happy to be in his own space and
neighborhood. He's now totally used to the morning walks now and
he offered heeling for a fair bit of it to earn some treats. He
wasn't anxiously looking around - though still keeping an eye out, but
nothing like he was in Redding. Only saw one dog from a distance
though he saw lots of people and he didn't react to any of them save
for wanting to go smell them and then turn back to me for treats.
Trek agility drop in at Sharon's.
She did the teeter no problem 2-3 times. And she did some great
weave poles at a 15' distance with me on the other side of a
jump. The teeter was idealy placed as it was all the way at the
end of the big field so other dogs doing it didn't bother her.
I've tried being at the other end of the field at Power Paws but the
sound of the teeter still freaks her out. I'm glad I scrached her
from Santa Rosa though I think I'll bring both dogs up on the Saturday
just to do some training. She is still entered in NADAC on Sat,
but there's no teeter there so I think she'll be fine. It was so
cool to see her having a nice time though I still had to really cajole
her out of her crate. I think I'll have her do more dropins while
I figure out what to do. I was going to have her do a drop in
with Rachelle, but I have to be at WAG very early on Sat so I think
I'll pass this week.
She also did the weaves with me on the other side of a row of jumps. Lateral distance was about 15'.
Facebook:status
Did a drop in at Sharon's. Trek likes her teeter!
And apologies to the non-agility friends to whom this makes no sense at all. Translated - it's very good news.
Cathy L:Why is her teeter so different?
Ellen F: Let me answer that: "I wish the @*$&#% I knew!" :-)
Me: Ellen F
is quoting me. Though I'm pretty sure I know why now. The teeter at
Power Paws is positioned so that the sound wave from it hits you (no
matter where it's placed on the field - the hedge seems to focus the
sound). You can feel it. ...
Sharon's is just as loud or louder, but you don't feel the sound wave -
she used to be afraid of it, but was able to work through it - At PP she
never could even after weeks she was just getting worse. Sharon's
teeter was positioned in the upper field all the way at the end so Trek
wasn't feeling it when the other dogs were running. She also hates the
teeters under covered arenas and indoors. I'll take her to Santa Rosa
(not to compete) to see if the rubberizing of the Bay Team teeter makes
any difference.
Well have to try this in other places too.
Outdoors! I can tell you right now that she would race out of Jumpin'
Java if she heard a teeter in there.
Trek did do teeters at PP when it was raining. No other dogs were doing it and the rain dampens down the sound.
Sun Nov 28
We're home! Back to the usual bark at every noise for
Yoshi. I had them in the backyard and they tore around for a
while and then Trek stopped and Yoshi kept going and going and going. Wow he's been missing his regular walks and more.
Sat Nov 27
Took the dogs to the local dog park but it was essentially underwater,
so we did some walking along one bank and then left, but we did do some
training then and yikes switching locations has a huge effect.
There were only two dogs in the large dog park and we were off in the
empty (save for us) small dog park. When Yoshi would lock on to a
dog visually his hearing would switch off. Not even an ear flick
at first. He would lock on. "Yoshi Come" nothing "YOSHI
COME" and I would pull on the leash. He would turn around "Oh you
mean me?" I'd tell him to sit and he would do it and then spring
right up staring at the dog ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FENCE! If
there's one thing he understands it's fences so I'm a little annoyed at
this. Trek (who is off-leash) isn't helping as she occasionally
charges the fence barking
I gave up on the park and we then went to a nice, large, on-leash park:
Caldwell Park. Then I had both dogs yanking me around but no dogs
at first. Then I see one person just standing there and that
means they have a dog around somewhere. We stop and I watch and
then a cute Beagle appears. I go closer and she leashes her
dog. I explain that one dog is not friendly, but we go closer as
Yoshi is usually fine with Beagles. The Trek starts barking and
charging. Gee thanks Trek. She's not being aggressive, more
wanting to do the typical Corgi charge, but it's stressing Yoshi and I
back them both off. "Which one isn't friendly?" That's just
great Trek. Good dog no longer acting that way. I laugh and
indicate that it's usually Trek but I don't know what's going on with
her. She said she admired walking them together. I said
that I hate walking them together as their behavior is worse. We
chatted for a bit probably at a distance of 20' and we walked on went
down to the river and turned around. Saw her again and then
continued on to the car.
I'n not inclined to walk them together much more. :)
Fri Nov 26
Black Friday Shasta Snowshoe for me - dogs stayed with Terri and Treva and did ok.
Thu Nov 25
Thanksgiving. Some chaos (9 people) in the house and neither dog
was very happy about it. Trek was a stress case and went and hid
in the bedroom (we put a crate in there to help her stay more
comfortable. Yoshi was reactiving to people moving and we crated
him eventually. It was always motion and mostly about any of the
men moving. Same effect. Someone could be putting
him. Leave for a minute, Reenter and he'd bark at them to stop
moving. I started picking him up with helped him some, also
moving him at the same time someone else was moving though I'm not sure
if this helped. We just wound up crating them and worked on stuff
later.
Wed Nov 24
Off to Terri's mom's for Thanksgiving.
Took both dogs for a walk when we got there. They did fine but
they really didn't see any dogs and even one they thought they saw they
made up.
Tue Nov 23
Trek Power Paws class
I am SO bummed. Her teeter phobia is just getting worse and the
teeter was not near the hedge. I don't know what her issue is
besides being a freaky girl about the noise. Maybe it's too close
to her vs Sharon's where it's further away, but sometimes it's close at
Sharon's and it doesn't seem to bother her as much. Jim and I
talked and we decided that we should take her out of class for a while
and maybe do some drop-ins elsewhere. I think next week she can
go a couple of times to Sharon's one in one of Sharon's classes and one
in Rachelle's. Or maybe I'll just take her to Rachelle's and we
can work on her teeter and then the week after that see if she can drop
in on Sharon's class.
What's amazing to me is that there was one course that didn't have any
contacts in it and she was the last dog to run so she hadn't heard any
teeters for about 5 minutes. She aced that course. Then
resumed being a basket case once the teeter started again. Argh.
Mon Nov 22
Trek hadn't pooped in the morning so she got the morning walk. I
had to be at work right at 8 and was a bit late so this was more of a
no-nonsense let's get it done walk.
noon - Yoshi walk. I often don't see many dogs at all at noon so
I was a bit surprised to see him stiffen. If I had called him
right then he wouldn't of even barked but I looked up to see a medium
sized brown dog walking across the street and then I called Yoshi who
desisted pretty quickly with the application of cheese. I did
pause long enough to see if he would bark or choose the cheese and he
went for the cheese which was nice to see. Of course it was
obvious that the dog was passing by but they were still just across
from us and in the past he would have barked more.
Wonder if class is going to be rained out or not tomorrow. I work
7-4 so the noon walk will be for Yoshi again and with any luck Trek
will have agility in the evening and Yoshi is going along to get more
small dog manners lessons. Need to buy more cheese.
Thanksgiving is this week and we all go up to Terri's mom's in
Redding. This means we have to pack for 4 days of dog food and
medicine.
VPI bounced Yoshi claim again so I called them turns out old gastrious
exclusion is still in place so I need to request a medical exclusion
review with 1 year of medical records.
Dog next door was barking from time to time which was making Yoshi
crazy. I kept calling him back and was getting somewhere when I
put treats by the computer. Then when I was in the kitchen I had
both dogs doing remedial sitting and looking at me. This is easy
for Yoshi unless a dog is barking. Then it's really hard, but he
mostly can do it.
Sun Nov 21
Took Yoshi to the dog park to do some intensive work on tolerating
little dogs. Mixed success, but to be expected since I was more
or less insisting he cope.
We first walked around the edge of the park and went out to the part
that extends into Ballena Bay, so I had him going over a doggy parkour
course of sorts by walking over a lot of the boulders.
Two snark moments. One was in the parking lot standing beside the
car. I had fed him a treats and as soon as he ate it he lunged at
the passing big dog. I was a little peeved and pulled him
back and tackled him. The second one was a white dog who passed
by him which he was standing outside the fence. I picked him up
by the scruff and carried him off further away. I sort of knew
there was a chance of him reacting from a distance of only 3' from the
fence, but it was find until this dog ran by.
Earlier I had him in the park and had him standing on a table eating
treats. Except that doesn't stop the other dogs from bounding up
too. This was mostly ok but then the LWFDs started to multiply
and they had to sense at all that Yoshi was not happy about their happy
little faces crowding in. So I finally picked him up and carried
him out of the park, but not until we'd had a chance to say hello to a
lab puppy though his walker/sitter decided that the puppy was being too
pushy and asking for it (he was) and collected him. there was
also a pushy small black dog who Yoshi was actually tolerating but I
picked Yoshi up as that dog wanted Yoshi's cheese and I knew that
wasn't a good thing.
In general a good distance from the fence is a car length - though I
often pushed past it when it seemed ok which was highly dog dependent.
Trek walk
Not much traffic on High St so we were able to cross it in the
crosswalk and for the first time went down Xmas Tree Lane
(Thompson). It's the calm before the storm there right now.
The power company helps hang the high up lights and they were doing
that, so Trek got to walk by a cherry picker in use. She did
ok. We then came back via Lincoln Park and were working on some
obedience exercises but there was a ball being kicked around and she
wasn't very happy about that.
Had them both doing some nose work. Put treats in a tug and treat
and I would hide it and have them find it. Yoshi did better than
Trek as it was close to dinner time and Trek's not one to miss a meal.
Then later we were messing around with the Babble Ball and I was taping
it and she suddenly was skittish of it and I wasn't getting it until I
finally realized that the ball had clanged into the metal stove.
Sat Nov 20
Break in the weather and got both dogs walked before a big storm hit
us. Rain, thunder, lightning, and hail in other places of the Bay
Area.
And Man Created Dog DVD viewing party gathering - Elf brought over her
dogs I had crated Y & T while everyone came in and pretty much left
them there initially
Yoshi being snarky at Boost and Tika while he was in the create.
I would get frustrated and yell at him and whack the crate and it did
no good at all.
Reaching in and touching him made a difference. Also feeding him
Had him out after a bit and would treat boost and then reward Yoshi for letting it happen without drama
AMCD - is a really interesting DVD with some unintentionally hilarious
parts in the recreations such as the evil bearded man trying to steal
goats until the boy herdsman's Great Pyr wakes up and chases him off.
Fri Nov 19
Without thinking I took Yoshi on the morning walk forgetting that he has herding later today.
Watched 2 dogs approach us but just as we retreated they turned the
other way down the street so we hustled to catch up and walked along
with them briefly. The later had to steer around another dog by
using our parked cars method.
Dog weights are great
Yoshi: 22 pounds
Trek: 24 pounds
Yoshi herding with Trek insisting on going along (since she usually is on a walk at noon.)
Had Trek out first and she wasn't happy about all the metal clanging
(it's a ranch honey - you remember ranches clanging right Just like
some agility? Pescadero clangs too). She still wasn't thrilled so
I put her away and got Yoshi out.
Who did great! First run we had the whole length of the narrow
pen, second run we were in the larger pen. In the larger pen we
were supposed to be working just a part of it but then I asked if we
could do more and so we were able to work the whole pen.
Of course it's me who's always out of position and ineffectually waving
the wand around. Linda says I should keep it close to me until I
need it as it's more effective to push with it and then release the
pressure. With me he's often too close (though even with me he's
way calmer), with Linda he was wide and she said he was even making
square flanks (which is a huge goal in herding that seems to have
mythic proportions. I'm just so thrilled that he's calm though he
does start barking every so often and sometimes would splits
them. BUT he would stop when I asked him to and then we could
release the pressure and the sheep would regather. We were trying
to take two sheep to the one but it just sort of happened anyway
Linda noticed that he seemed to want to do driving which is me and him
behind the sheep and more advanced.
I still mistakenly send him after sheep and Linda doesn't like him to
do that yet as he starts to split them and get riled up. The cool
thing is I can now stop him and calm things down. Of course these
are calm sheep and when we get to lighter sheep things won't be so easy.
When the sheep are on the fence it should be fence-sheep-me and then him quite a ways off.
I need to work more on remembering flank (go bye) and away.
Probably the easiest way to remember it is if the wand is in my eight
hand then he's usually on an Away (think (Right Away) and if it's in my
left it's an Away. Of course now that I'm not so frantic I'm not
running around switching hands but I think in general it's a good way
to remember it.
Thu Nov 18
Yoshi morning walk
4 dog sightings. All positive. I brought a clicker this time and
it made a definite difference. It also made a difference that we
were in control of all of the encounters or they were at a distance.
1. Saw next door BC Darwin We saw
them in time and were able to just sit and watch him go by. Then
right behind us were two barky small dogs. They turned up Gibbons
so we did too on the other side of the street. We are behind them
and they are barking a lot. I then see why. There are two
older larger dogs on our side of the street. They are not moving
so we approach closer. I might have been able to just go around
on the lawn but space was a little tight so we instead went into the
street and around a parked car all while the two smaller dogs are
barking. Yoshi was a pro! No problem and it really helped
that the older dogs just sat and watched us. When we got back to
the side walk I stopped and had him sit and told him to Look at the
good dogs. He did a couple of times and earned cheese for
it. Good boy. We kept chasing the smaller dogs at a
distance and then when they got home (I think they live on Court) we
then kept going and say a Cattle Dog coming down Santa Clara at
us while we were at the corner. Not knowing which way they were
going we backed off by one house width but I should have just asked as
they turned down Court and went down the street right across from
us. No problem. Yahoo. Good Yoshi.
Trek noon walk. She was way intrigued with an American Eskimo
[Dog] who was walking down Lincoln. It was harmless so I just let
her start and I mentioned to the owner that she's rarely interested in
dogs. She said I was lucky and that hers was interested in dogs,
cats, squirrel and everything else. i mentioned that I had one
like that at home.
Went down High St. and a running Street Sweeper was on it but she
didn't freak out though we did hide behind a car until it went by.
I didn't bring many treats save for some dry kibble, but it didn't make
any difference. She seemed happy to be out and working. I
did so some name response treating on the way home. She responds
best to her Trek and also "Trek Here." Come works but it seems to
stress her out some as I use it when I'm stressed and need her to come
and when I'm stressed it is precisely the time where obedient dog
doesn't come.
Wed Nov 17
Yoshi morning walk
He's still touchy when even a neutral dog gets too close.
Saw a mostly white small to med size dog and he was nervous about it
but it went ok, then saw a hound dog across the street and watched them
for a while went fine, then a fox terrier who we followed but that dog
was nervous and the owner was keeping a distance. Then we saw
this really interesting Springer or BCx black and white and silver long
hair dog that we've seen before. They went by on Gibbons and we
watched from a small island on Gibbons on Central (the smaller of the
two islands that are there). The dog went by only 12 feet away but
cheese saved the day and it's not a dog he usually reacts to.
However the dog went by again closer (I said it was ok, and he barked)
Trek noon walk uneventful.
Tues Nov 16
Yoshi noon walk he's still touchy at this new time and he even reacted
to and started to charge at Darwin the BC that lives next door. That one I
felt he should have known better and I yanked him back grabbed him by
the scruff with both hands and plunked him down into a sit. His
reaction was "Oh that's right. Sorry." and started to behave.
What's annoying to me is that I really want him able to keep his head
with out my having to tell him what to think.
Trek agility class with Yoshi along too.
A two head-case evening.
The teeter was near the hedge and the moment that Trek say it there she
was fearful. I got her over it once and helped lower it so it
didn't crash down but as other dogs started doing it she was seriously
hating life to the point that she would leave the start line, so I just
put her in the car and got head-case #2 out.
He's used to only being around herding dogs, I
had him on [short] leash around 2 Paps, one Min Pin, and A ChiX. I
thought his head was going to explode: "I'M SURROUNDED BY RODENTS!",
but he just chomped on cheese (and my fingers instead.) I had him in my
lap for a fair bit. It didn't help that Zuma was squeaking and
crying. I think I'm
going to make a habit of this, though it's such an over threshold
situation I may have him further away. A Pap weaving completely
blew him mind. He acts exactly like he's seeing a squirrel which
helps my understanding.
Dragged (literally) Trek back out. She absolutely would NOT do
any contacts so we just did jumps and tunnels and weaves. Jim had
come up with a complicated gamble but part of it involved the weave
poles so we did that part and instead of going on to the dog was we
just turned around and did a layered set of poles with me 15' away on
the other side of some jumps. This was similar to us weaving on
the other side of the A-Frame last week. It was very positive and
I was thrilled.
Fut! I'm pulling that Santa Rosa Entry. NADAC is the weekend
before, and I'll probably do that, and just work a day of Santa
Rosa.
OR I could just pay for jumpers at the end of the day and work most of
the day and just do that class which if she Q'ed would get her into
Master's jumpers.
Mon Nov 15
Yoshi walk
Walking in the morning is a definite win. We have always seen dogs and
he's up and very alert so it's a more challenging situation for him to
work in.
GSDx at a distance fine.
Dobie across the street. Y barked briefly, but with encouragement came back - still concerned though eating.
GSDx (same or similar) on a cross street coming towards us. We paused
to watch them walk by and they crossed the street and then started
heading down the other side of our street. Cool! We parallel walked
with them for 2 blocks. Then a BCx who he is vaguely familiar (though
he's never met the dog) with was in the front porch, so Yosh got fed
while the other dog barked which didn't last long since the dog (who is
friendly) saw the treats.
Rest of the walk was fine - lots of people walking around. Good exposure.
Trek noon walk.
Kept it to the usual short distance because she had a big weekend and will train tomorrow.
Didn't even use many treats which she was fine with and I only used them when coming back home.
I think both dogs are going with me tomorrow. Even though it's a pain
dealing with both of them I want Yoshi to continue to have the exposure.
I need to keep giving him a lot of positive small dog park exposure - a lot of them look like prey.
Thinking about Bay Team Santa Rosa. Since I have entry certificates I
think I'll enter both days (just have to pay for Steeplechase then.) If
she's not happy she can hang out in her car crate all day and she'll be
happy. Jumpers is at the end of the day and there won't be any teeters
then so she can do that if she doesn't want to do anything else. It
might be too noisy but it won't be too hot at least.
Sat Nov 13 - Sun Nov 14
We're back from Turlock. Mixed results, but encouraging.
Looking back I have to remind myself that now she is willing to do a
dogwalk and an A-Frame and that used to be an issue, so this is a huge
improvement.
One fun thing is that we actually got into the final run of the
Performance version of Steeplechase and we got 2nd place (ok there were
only two of us who reached round 2), but there were other dogs in the
1st round. It's
not a qualifying score so there is not Q so it's more of a charity case
placement, but we actually got a check which is nice, and it is
Baby's First Top Ten point.
Here is the round 2 course. If she hadn't have stopped short on
the tunnel and if the cross behind on the poles had worked she might
have won since Tater dropped a bar thus adding 5 seconds to his
score, Click for a larger version. The indecipherable
written comments are: "tried a XB (cross behind) @ poles didn't work"
and "She stopped before tunnel had to run closer to help"
I'm wishing I could find my Round 1 as there were 2-3 near wrong
courses in it and I think everyone laughed with relief when we finally
got through the course clean. It was like the old Disneyland Mr.
Toad's Wild Ride where you come very close to hitting things but never
do.
Elf sent me one. Here it is with her path also:
Once I really started to focus on keeping her attention, we got a
Jumpers Q and 1st place (course diagram is further down).
The day started out with Trek being volunteered by me to run in Rally
with Clark (I hadn't entered her figuring we'll move up in that when we
get the starters std Q. We only needed one and we have
it. I was a little concerned about her exposure to more
contacts but she did great and ran her part cleanly (I specified no
teeter), but alas Clark didn't. Apparently if you run as an
unentered volunteer they will enter you and you do get the Q which is a
nice touch.
In that glass is half-full spirit, we didn't get 2 Snooker
Q's (The first one, she took a different jump in the opening and
I have to instantly rethink the opening which was a great challenge.
but I wasn't able to recover enough to keep her on course for the closing.
Sunday's Snooker was one of those "Oh it's too hot - I want to
leave" and when I chased after her to get her attention she woke up and
turned around and back jumped the red we had just done. I was
somewhat peeved as it was going really well.
And we didn't get the first jumpers Q because I wasn't doing a good
enough job of getting her attention. No course map as I really
don't remember where we went off course.
The 1st Gamblers run had a teeter in it and we wouldn't of likely
gotten it even if we hadn't taken the wrong side of the tunnel.
The second one was way more annoying is that she by passed the dogwalk
and we just missed getting enough points in the opening by a
second. She did get the gamble but the DW refusal not only cost
us the opening but put us out of position for the gamble. It's
possible that I was timing it all just too closely also, but the
refusal did cost 3-4 seconds.
After the jumper's Q I feed her and rubbed her belly and she's seemed
really happy. I also went her down which seemed to help and it
had cooled down also (not that it was ever that hot.)
Now I'm thinking that maybe the USDAA in Santa Rosa might work because
the teeters are rubberized and might be ok in the covered arena.
they might not because they still might boom underneath the covers, but
I think I'd like to try. I have entry certificates anyway so even
if it's a disaster it won't cost me any more money.
I need to tell Debbie this as I said we were leaning towards NADAC in Dec.
Also spoke to Cathy about maybe running Koa the BC some. I'd
really love to try as Cathy is willing to let me try and Koa seems like
a really nice dog.
Fri Nov 12
So I did get up and take Mr. Y. out for a morning walk. It worked
great! Did a lot of work that we wouldn't have been able to accomplish
as well at night.
4 dog sightings. 2 Central, 1 Gibbons, 1 Lincoln.
My theory was that there would be dogs going to or from Lincoln Park
which used to be an unofficial dog park but I think they are more there
from 6-7am as I didn't see any such dog traffic, just more the on a walk
traffic which was fine.
Watched a medium-large sized black dog from 4 house width away. No reaction at all from that distance.
Then while I was debating whether to follow that dog a smaller black dog
appeared on the other side of Central and we watched that dog. That
dog was much more agitated and it took a repeated command "Yoshi" to get
his attention. But once I have it he was great. This is now the issue
- how to change that very powerful initial impulse.
On Gibbons I had some warning of approaching wee dogs, so we were able to do an open cheese bar while two small dogs
went by. One of them even barking at us which usually is a way to
guarantee a reaction from the Y-man.
The last sighting was a very senior slow-moving Golden with a bandaged
foot. they were on our side of the street and I was talking with Terri
who was walking to work so instead of crossing the street I just moved
us out into the street on the other side of a miata. I deliberately let
Yoshi see the Golden approach and he started to charge until he hit the
end of the very short leash and then came instantly back and then
started LAT. That dratted initial herding impulse. Leslie would say
more mat work outside and that's probably a good approach.
Part way through I figured out that I can do a pretty good clicker-like
click-click sound and that seems to get his attention. It's a sound
that horse people use all the time and it something that is very natural
for me even if long unused.
Noon: Trek walk. Went around the school but they were no longer
on recess However there was a lot of activity as parents were waiting
on their kids to get out. So there was some chaos exposure.
She's offering heel a lot lately which is nice. Must be the cheese.
Turlock USDAA is this weekend. We're just doing the games.
I need to double check where we are in terms of legs
Looking at Jul 8th
All in PII
Gamblers: 2
Snooker: 1
Jumpers: 1
Hope the gamble doesn't have a teeter. Hope the trains take the
day off. The cool thing about getting into masters is the masters
ring is further away from the tracks.
And we are in Steeplechase where there's no teeter.
Thu Nov 11
Took the early part of the morning off.
Did the dogs nails (they're both being a pain about this - maybe I
should buy that top for the grooming table I was given - at least they
don't scream, just wiggle.)
Trek got a morning walk No treats this time more because I forgot
but it was good to just have a treatless walk. She gets so much
reward for just being able to sniff or move forward that it's almost
she doesn't miss it though she would disagree.
Yoshi took the evening walk. Still managed to get some heeling
work done.and working a lot on his attention and recall. He's
fantastic unless something grabs his attention. I keep trying to
figure out what makes his head turn the fastest. Is it "Yoshi" or
"Here" or "leave It" (Which is surprisingly effective when I think to
use it.)
Trek and Yoshi were playing and playing today. It's so cool to
see as Cali and Buddy stopped playing around 4 years old and Trek and
Yoshi are 5 and 7 and it's often Yoshi who initiates. Expensive
as it's going to be to have 2 senior dogs at once it really is cool to
see them both still so interested in play.
I finally made a claim for Trek's Dry Eye and they paid it! I was
thinking they wouldn't cover it since it could be considered genetic
and they don't cover that, but they explicitely listed it as Dry Eye
(well it's actual name which I'm not remembering), and Conjunctivitis,
even though all I wrote down was Conjunctivitis. Now I feel silly
for not claiming all her previous ones, but they had turned down the
Entropia surgery saying they don't cover genetic issues so I'd been
assuming that it wasn't covered. D'oh. Well at least this
one has been covered and hopefully future ones will be also.
This weekend we're off to Turlock to compete in all the USDAA games
(i.e. no Standard class and its teeter.) Will have to prep
Friday. Pack treats, food, meds and a sheet to put over the hotel
bed (and bring the hotel confirmation number.) I'll have to get
there early to show them her height card as they didn't keep a copy
from last time apparently. Oh and a camera and a notebook and pen
too. Consider getting a book from Audible too.
Wed Nov 10
Yoshi walk. I hate Standard Time and no light after work.
If I were properly industrious I'd walk a dog in the morning. I
should think seriously about doing that. It would be good training for
Yoshi as a lot of dogs are walked then and it would be daylight.
Since he doesn't see as well we don't get as much training done in the
evening.
His stools look mostly ok and he's not barfing. He got kibble and rice today.
Tue Nov 9
Yoshi threw up his dinner at around 6pm I had fed him sub 1/2 a
cup when I fed Trek at 4pm and Terri gave him his regular dinner around
5:30pm.. It's 9:30pm now and he's looking a little green.
We made him some plain rice and I fed him 1/2 cup of it.
Trek agility class
My dog is so weird. All class she wouldn't do a teeter and then
it started to rain. Then she did a teeter and in between our
class and the next she did 4 more.
We also did some gamble work with the weave poles on one side and us on
the other. The first time she missed the first and last
pole. The second time through she nailed it.
Mon Nov 8
Basic Dog walk for Yoshi - his stool was a little soft
Monday I had to reinstall some smoke detectors so no walk for Trek.
Wed - Sun - we're in Seattle
Yoshi at Park Centre
Trek at Mark and Jan's
Trek had a nice time they tell me. No pouting and searching for
me. This gives lie to her tale of woe that she's now giving me.
Tue Nov 2
Yoshi is going to be boarded starting tonight so he gets the noon
walk. It went fine and we were all the way back home and I
stopped to chat with Judy a neighbor and he started to bark. We
though on it's just a person across the street, but as the person came
closer there was a medium size Italian Greyhound sized dog with
her. I have no idea how he saw or hear the dog. I was out
of treats so I just kneeled down and held him which he wasn't terrible
happy about but relaxed.
Dropped Yoshi off at Park Centre Animal Hospital to be boarded till
Monday. He seemed to settle in ok. I went back with him
because I wanted to see how he was set up. It's a nice kennel and
they put his crate in it and he goes right in. I do hate boarding
my dogs but for him in particular it's a lot safer to have him in a
structured environment and if something goes wrong they can patch him
up.
Trek walk. It's weird with Yoshi not here. Trek was very
interested in doing heeling work (she must have been hungry).
Worked on about turns and circles (did that with Yoshi too). Also
worked on backing up in heel position (both dogs) Trek in
particular goes way off to the side. Hers I will have to fix
because she will be in Rally Excellent eventually. Probably
backing alongside a wall is the way to do it.
At 6:15am I'm dropping Trek off at Mark and Jan's and then we're off to visit my parents in Seattle.
Mon Nov 1
Trek walk
OMG walking Trek after 200 trick or treaters have invaded is such a
pain. What's that smell? And that? Oh and that.
Walk dammit doggie especially since a lot of the stuff is chocolate
Yoshi walk.
LWFDs! One on the other side of the road off leash. I was
concerned but the owner was in front of his house working and said that
the dog doesn't cross the street - he has but it's been awhile but I
could see the dog considering it. The dog would dash up and down
his side of the street and Yoshi barked at him and it seemed completely
appropriate so i didn't tell him not to. I asked a neighbor about
the dog and they pointed out that dog's owner and said that their dog
would bark at him. I didn't see "their" dog and didn't think too
much about it until I realized that their dog was a teeny LWFD being
carried to the car.
The person carrying the dog greeted Yoshi and I (surprisingly calmly)
said "Er, he's not very friendly" [to your dog's kind in
particular]. Yoshi looking up now and interested in that not so
good way. She then carried the dog to the nearby car and I had
Yoshi sit and eat cheese while this was going on. I then hear her
tell her son "Don't put him down." Realizing that this would be a
Really Good Time to Leave we did just that, and the rest of the walk
was fine.
Prepping boarding stuff for the dogs. Yoshi to Park Centre and
Trek to Mark and Jan's. We're off to Seattle on Wed and I hope
Trek is ok. Yoshi will be fine.
Rite of Passage
I took off the Fail-Safe connection from Yoshi's leash to his buckle
collar as Park Centre probably wouldn't know what it was for so it
would be safer with it not there It's been years since he
slipped his collar so it's probably time to go without and I hope I
don't regret that. I adjusted his martingale collar so it won't
slip off. It helps my confidence having it there so I might put
it back on when we're back.
Park Centre advertises that boarded dogs get walked 4 times a
day. I have to ask them what that means. Do they really
walk him? I'm not sure that's the best idea but he's stayed there
a lot so it's probably fine.
