Fri Sep 3
I'm starting to collect some of the wonderful comments people have said about Yoshi when he got his PT.
I'm a little late with my congratulations, but they're no less
heartfelt. I watched your video over the weekend and was
tremendously impressed with you and Yoshi. ESPECIALLY that
sit....and your (apparent) utter confidence in Yoshi as you turned your
back on him and walked toward the sheep.
I know how far you two have travelled. I first saw you and Yoshi
work at the 2006 Nationals in Vacaville. At that time, Yoshi was
horribly reactive and stressed by other dogs. He's changed
so much....when you were at the SoCal corgi trial last spring it was
like seeing a different dog.
You should be very proud of yourself....and him!
First, to Ellen. You have done a remarkable job with Yoshi. I saw him
at the beginning - he and you have come a long way. I wish you the best
no matter what you decide to do with him. I think he has taught you so
much and maybe that was his mission!
Wanted to tell Ellen C how happy I was for her surviving PT on her own
and putting the PT on her own dog. I knew you could do it, you knew
you could do it and I am sure Yoshi is all the happier for it.
Not only proud of him for getting his PT, but also we're proud yourself for working so
hard and sticking by his side.
Some of our dogs that are the most challenged, the ones that may not go far in the public
ring, are be the ones that teach us the most and make us so much better trainers than an
easy dog that trains in a snap.
Incredible Journey : Read every word of Yoshi's journey, and have
to agree, it's the tough to train that teach us the most.
Ellen, keep on keeping on with your boy. I think many of us are just as proud of You as we are Him. :)
Congratulations, Ellen and Yoshi--our inspirations.
You hung in there and showed us all that there truly is HOPE!
Get those dogs a tiring job!
You have done a fantastic job with both Trek and Yoshi. I admire
you for your patience and your fortitude. I have learned a lot
both about being a better person and being a better handler through
watching you
Ellen i'm so glad you got the job done. I do understand where
your coming from. [My dog] was that way and I had one horrible
time with him. He did also come around at the age of 6 and I did
get some titles on him then. Do we call that lifes experiences or
one hell of a ride????
Congratulations, Ellen. It's quite an accomplishment given all the things you've had to work through.
What a great story! And congratulations big time!
Congratulations Ellen and Yoshi. All the hard work you have done is paying off.
Many congratulations to you and Yoshi. It was, as you say, a long
journey from HT to PT, but it was a remarkable one in which you’ve
accomplished a great deal with a dog that many would have thrown the
towel in on long ago.
[Facebook comment] like like like like like!
Awesome !!! Yoshi is so not about to let those sheep get away! Nice calm handling by the way.
Here's the video of the run:
Thu Sep 2
Trek noon walk. Huge success for Trek. I took her down by
the school and the kids were out playing at recess. When Trek
first came to live with us she could get within a quarter block of the
school when the kids were out playing (even if it was just a
few). In the past few months I've been able to walk her down
beside the school on the other side of the street. Today she was
able to walk on the same side of the school with kids playing and the
metal of the swings clanging. I am so proud of her. The
breadsticks I brought along probably helped too but if she's really
stressed she will eat but will chomp on me. Today she wasn't
chomping.
Yoshi evening walk. Success for him as well. 2 dog
sightings one a Lab and one a Shiba Inu. In both cases I started
feeding him before he saw the dog but I didn't feed him
continuously. I let him look at the dog and he chose to look back
at me! It's like giving him food at first provides the shortcut I
need into his brain and it over rides his reaction even when he has the
oppertunity however brief to react. Given that he reliably reacts
to Shibas I was more waving the food at him then (instead of the Lab
who he's not that reactive to) but I did let him look at the dog.
He thought about reacting but then a treat would whiz by and he
refocused on me.
Wed Sep 1
Dog walks fine
Trek Ob class. She now rocks the dumbell - hooray! She gets
to go on the side of the class who knows the retrieve now. I
showed another Corgi owner about the tennis ball dumbell and that dog
who up until now had been really careful suddenly lit up with so much
excitement that I insisted they keep it (since I have so many of them.)
The noise in the building does bother her. A dog tripped over a jump and the thudding sound startled her.
Her recall looked great. No standing in front of my hands. I
did speak to her as she was approaching to get her the idea to look at my face.
She still thinks figure 8s with dogs are weird. Especially
because she got a St. Bernard tail in the face. I told her that
she didn't have to do that in the trial class.
I'll have to go to the park or the school and practice figure 8's more.
Tue Aug 30
Trek agility class
She did well on the jumpers portion though did blow out of the poles
once when I wasn't paying proper attention. The lateral leadouts
do confuse her but if I make it easier by being less lateral, she gets
it.
This time I put her soft crate by the car for the contacts part of the
class. This way I don't have to try to bribe her back out of the
car crate. The crate had the car inbetween it and the class so
the noise was reduced. I got her out and wandered around a little
and she did ok for a little while. I think next time I'll park a
little closer perhaps behind the shed. She still started
stressing big time and we had to retreat. After class I took him
out to talk to 3 class mates who had stuck around to chat. They
were still on the field so I sat and massaged her and rubbed her belly
and she relaxed (no teeter noises then).
Mon Aug 30
People are saying the nicest things about how different Yoshi seems since 2006.
Trek walk - fine.
Yoshi walk
Figured out a routine when a LWFD appears that he wants to react
to. Kneel down. Hold his scruff. That usually short
cuts into his brain and he starts asking for treats. Feed him a
little, then stand up and see if he'll play LAT or something
similar. Felt like a miracle today. The LWFDs' owner what
interested and just held her dogs still and watched.
Cathy was over tonight and Yoshi would go into these barking phases but
for the most part he was really mellow tonight. Save Trek would
start him up some.
so I'm trying to think about how much he'd enjoy training for the
Started level. Originally in January it was my intention to skip
PT. Ha ha ha. Seeing the complexities of running an AKC
herding trial course A make it clear that it's not easy.
Two important skills are the "outrun" where the dog doesn't run
directly at the sheep, but in an arc and where the dog comes up behind
the sheep and starts to bring them as a group to the handler (a "lift"
and then a "fetch"), so the dog has to unlearn wanting to charge
straight at the sheep.
But once the sheep are on their way to the handler it's very, very easy
for the dog to put too much pressure on the sheep and they run past the
handler. The way to fix this is to stop the dog a ways back to
release the pressure on the sheep and they naturally stop.
Stopping while a sheep is running away from them is very difficult for
a dog like Yoshi. But! If he figures out it's ok for the
sheep to run ahead of him then it's that much less pressure on him to
control them.
The rest is the directionals go bye and away to me (or whatever you
want to call them), but that's almost icing on the cake compared to the
other skills.
We've been trying to teach Yoshi that it's ok to relax around the sheep
and it make take more stall sessions for that to have an effect, but
even if we can get him to relax around sheep in a pen it's entirely
different when we're all in motion so I'm wondering if it's better to
work on getting the sheep to move and either downing him or calling him
off and show him that it's ok to let them go sometimes. This may
drive him freakin' nuts. Going to be a lot of long line work it
appears. I'll have to talk to Linda about possible approaches.
Sun Aug 29
And today we picked up an extra PT leg. Less smooth, but we got
through the course though he wasn't listening as well. Perhaps I
didn't exercise him enough.
I swore I wasn't going back to Vacaville until we were really good at
herding and while we're no pros we are light years better than 2006.
We did it! I've been stressing about going back there all this
time and it worked! It hasn't sunk in yet that we did it.
On reflection on the way home I thought of this:
So today we added an insurance PT leg.
Getting Yoshi his PT has been a 4 year adventure - I am so proud of him.
Normally in AKC herding a dog will get their Herding Tested title (HT - the
first level title) and then train some additional stay and penning
skills for a few weeks or months and can then move on to the AKC
Pre-Trial level which is the higher of the two "Test" levels.
Getting the PT is usually not the big deal that it was for
us. But we had some side trips.
The biggest one is that he has some huge behavioral issues having to do
with other dogs in the vicinity. So the most major side trip was
not really a side trip at all. We learned a ton about Control
Unleashed exercises (Leslie McDevitt is a training genius, so is Kienan
Brown) and just about every useful behavioral theory we could decipher,
and I have made him rather [in]famous with his training videos.
Ironically the most popular video is the "before" Control Unleashed
though the "after" one does well also.
Just to get him to the point where he could be in a trial or training
environment without having a meltdown has been a years long
process. His activities are still limited to where he's either on
leash or in a fence, but I haven't given up on that though I won't try
it unless I know he'll be ok.
We have had a ton of obedience and rally training also he's a regular at
a higher end obedience training class even though he may never get into
the ob. ring (he might do Rally Novice). He is a clicker
fiend. I consulted with a hit parade of training professionals in
various states and at various conventions and seminars. He has
inspired me to learn a huge amount about observing and understanding
dog behavior and language which will serve me for the rest of my
life. (If you have a dog who is unsure around people and you see
me and I'm not racing off somewhere just ask me to spend some time with
your dog - I love doing it and people tell me they love watching their
dog be ok around a person.)
I also had to learn how to be a herding handler (I used a handler for
his HT, but he has made it clear that I have to be the handler
now). Herding handling is something that I'm still learning and
it's probably one of those things you never master. And similar
to: it's easier to learn to ride a horse if you start with a mellow,
mature, solid, trail horse, than if you start with a young, high
strung, Thoroughbred, learning herding with a highly driven, speed
demon who is fearful, really is starting in over your head.
Herding is by far the hardest dog sport I've ever done and I've competed at
the National level in dog agility. You find that it's really nice
that the agility obstacles don't usually move on their own.
Because I was learning, we also worked at the AHBA JHD level and earned
that title as well. (If you've never competed in AHBA, try it -
it's loads of fun.)
Somewhere in there was a weeks long process of getting him to STOP!!!
and STAY. That stay in the video where I walk out of the frame
and he's sitting there (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13Rcqww1qoI) makes me cry.
So now what? Well the natural would be to start training him for
the Herding Started trial level (and the equivalent level in AHBA,) but
it's a huge leap up to the trial level rather than the test
level. "Test" sheep are hand picked to be less flighty.
These are professional sheep with hard jobs of teaching dogs
herding. They have to be tolerant of barky, excited newbie dog
who might bite them (despite efforts to keep this from
happening). They are usually smarter as they have to know not to
crash into a fence when a dog is chasing after them. Trial sheep
are a whole 'nuther flock of sheep entirely. Your average sheep
is nervous and worries about not being in a large flock (instead of a
small group of 3-5), and how "light" or "heavy" the sheep are is
the subject of tons and tons of herding conversations, and Yoshi
however talented he is is nervous around sheep and the more nervous the
sheep are the worse he is. so the answer to that question is I
don't know yet, though we will be trying to make spending time around
sheep no big deal.
I'm writing this as I want to thank all of you for the wonderful amount
of support that you've given me over this period of time.
Ellen Clary
and Yoshi PT JHD
and Trek HCT (and a bunch of agility titles.)
The Yoshi Training Diary: http://frap.org/Yoshi/yoshi_training_diary.html
Our You Tube site (most of the herding videos are unlisted, but the training ones are visible)
http://youtube.com/ellenclary#g/u
[later]
Reviewing the video again I notice that "steady" actually works for a few seconds. Bet I can build on that.
I need to find out for sure how long I can keep entering PT. I
thought t was 60 days, but I've also hear that you can stay in it till
you get a started Q.
Oh dear I see that we had the same sheep as Breezy. It's
certainly possible that Yoshi put the sheep in a really bad mood and
they then took advantage of Breezy leaving holes. This is where
Yoshi's made circling came in handy. That same sheep would think
about trying to run and there would suddenly be this mad Corgi in
his/her face. I think this is something of what they mean by
"Yoshi covers his sheep well."
I'm pretty sure the judge was able to hear me tell Yoshi "I kEll you now." Hope it provided some amusement.
Sat Aug 28
OMG we did it! Yoshi got his PT
Mr. "man, look at those legs go" Yoshi finished his PT today.
I think that's the scribe you can here say that on the video which you
can find here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13Rcqww1qoI
He would like to thank his trainers and all the people who've given him
attention, skritches, and of course treats.
I would like to thank all the kind ears I've bent and shoulders I've
cried on.
Ellen Clary
and Yoshi PT JHD
and Trek HCT
Fri Aug 27
While i was gone Terri noticed that Yoshi had soft stool and some
blood. Fecal was negative for parasites and giardia. His
unrelated heartworm test was negative.
I took him for a walk at noon and he still has some blood in his
stool. We took it into PCAH and the vet added another medicine to
go with his Peptid AC. Both are supposed to line his gut to help
with any mild internal bleeding.
I checked his gums (first thing to check) and they are pink and
fine. If a dog's gums are grey or white it is a medical
emergency. (I ran into this with Cali.)
Did his nails. I hope he'll be feeling well enough to herd this weekend at the trial.
His herding trial is this weekend. I'm trying not to be nervous
but I have to keep telling myself that he's more than ready and we
really can do this.
[In Houston this week for work - Got
to do a little training with a friend's Cardi which was much fun - I
usually just work when I'm in Houston so it was a nice break.]
Sun Aug 22
Yoshi Herding
This time I didn't take him off the line at all. But having the
line made a difference. With the lighter sheep he was always
wanting to charge them but there were some mellower sheep in the round
pen and we had a really nice session with then and he only lost his
head a few times (still on the line.)
Fri Aug 20
My dog day got absurd today - did it just to see if it would work
Obedience in Oakland (Lori's class - Trek went)
Sheep in Woodside (Yoshi)
Agility (Rachelle's class) in Martinez at Sharon's.
I am tired. It was a little much. I think in the future we'll keep it to two dog activities.
Trek Novice Ob class.
Well I thought she was ready and she mostly is but her figure 8's are
wonky and Mozart's mom put a crate with a toy right behind where I was
standing for a recall and when I called Trek she ran right past
me into the crate. She was very proud of her self. One
issue is that she targets my hands and I had my hands by my
sides. I'm going to have to work on some recalls with me on my
knees. Lori thinks I should spit food to help her target my face
but Trek is something of a skull crasher so I worry about that and I
don't like food spiting anyway. I'm wondering if I can do it with
a clicker.
Her figure 8's aren't good either because we don't get a chance to
practice them. I suppose we could do it around trees and
basketball poles but she's afraid of the metal clanging inherit in a
playground so I'm thinking I should abandon the idea of competing under
Hazel and instead taking her to Hazel's class at ODTC and training
under her precludes us from competing under her. It's a catch
22. The only way to get all of Trek's raw talent ready for the
ring is to have her in a class situation. Training her myself can
only get her so far, since I mostly do our training when out on walks.
Just send this email to the relevant folks:
Greetings,
So I've concluded that the only way to really prepare for competing
under Hazel is to train under Hazel which precludes competing under
Hazel.
After Lori's class today I realize that if I were to put Trek into
Novice with only training from me and the few of Lori's classes that
she's been to that what I would end up with is very likely a very
clever and novel NQ. She's very bright and talented, but doesn't
have enough mileage to know that however creative and tempting it
might seem, doing a recall into Mozart's empty crate is not considered
part of the plan - even if it has a cool toy in it :)
So expect to start seeing Trek in Wed Drop in from time to time.
Ellen and Trek (But it was just sitting there!)
Yoshi Sheep Communing - the grand experiment
So this is a version of bring you, your dog on leash and a chair and a
book into the sheep pen as a way of letting Fido spend time around
sheep without working them. The idea is to add mileage for those
dogs who get revved around sheep and run amuck. (Yoshi says "Who me?")
So Linda had Yoshi and I go into a small urine soaked stall (good thing
I am a horse person and have some familiariy with such things) with 8
then 6 sheep (we kicked two stress cases out). I sat in a chair
(though was too interested in what was happening to need a book).
I though his eyes were going to pop out. There were 8 rather
uneasy pairs of eye staring at him (and feet stamping), and he is doing
his level best to ignore them by starting out the front which is a wire
fence. I let him up in my lap and he's totally stress panting but
he relaxes some in my lap. The once in a while we got up and
moved the sheep to the other side. Yoshi was very much "Oh you go
right ahead." but I was able to use treats to get him to walk up in a
flanking position. Linda also showed me how to shoo the sheep
away if they were crowding him (basically just by waving your hands at
them in the universal "shoo" gesture.) Then we went back to the
chair and we both sat. Eventually he would even lay down (while
still looking outside).
After about 20 minutes of them I brought him out, and Linda and I
chatted about it. She was saying that you can working it into
controlled on-leash flanking commands. So I brought him back
in. As soon as I started to say things like out, flank and away
he totally changed. He suddenly went into herding charge mode,
and I'm there trying to explain that he's in a 12x12 box and no one is
going anywhere and that it's poor form to let the sheep climb the
walls. Then he starts barking and barking and we finally get him
to quiet down. We moved the sheep around the stall some more and
then i decided to end it for the session.
What's fascinating is that I got to see a compressed version of every
way I've seen him around stock. The Quaking Flower and the
Possessed Sheep Maniac and they both originate from the same
emotion. Fear. He is afraid of the sheep and this really
handicaps him. However since he very much has the desire it is
well worth trying to help him work through it.
He is going to to Santa Rosa to practice on Sunday and I hope I don't
undo this progress. It's tricky because he's in a trial the next
weekend, but I'm sure we can get through it. Albeit not that
calmly I'm sure.
Trek Agility Class at Freilance
While we didn't do a lot of contacts she is quite willing to do them
which is always nice to see. 2 teeters, 2 A-Frames, 2 dogwalks.
Thu Aug 19
Trek walk - fine. 1 dog no issue and this dog has reacted to
Yoshi. The owner who I don't know was doing a perfect tight tense
leash - oops.
Yoshi walk.
2 dogs one twice. I just fed him when the appeared and it went great. It's remarkably effective.
I put Jack the stuffed JRT in the yard and then let the dogs out.
They went racing right up to him (not barking) and knocked him over but
were very much interested in him as a dog. A very non-reactive one but
still a dog, not prey, not a toy. Though Trek did start to chew
on his ears, but she does that to Yoshi, so it's not clear what she
thinks. If you present Jack to Yoshi he always reacts to him as a
boring dog. I did video tape it some and will have to review it.
I need to find a LWFD toy to see if there's a prey reaction.
Sun Aug 15
Yoshi sheep herding.
Still too enthusiastic with the sheep but I was able to manage it pretty
well with a long line.
He was losing his mind barking at the sheep so we did the CU thing and
increased the distance. After three times and most of the way across
the arena he settled down and we were able to then gradually decrease
the distance, and then do some work.
His away outruns are nice if I'm with the sheep though he does like to
go all the way around and I'm not going to fight him on that for now.
for started he will have to do an outrun and then start fetching them to
the cone.
Herding along the fence is still awkward at best, but we'll get through
the PT.
My experiment in walking in front of the sheep along the fence really
doesn't work unfortunately as I get run over.
Walking more to the rear of the sheep sort of worked as I could keep him
from getting in between the sheep and the fence (with me holding a
flag.) But me hanging out in the back does make the sheep stop and
wonder what was happening though it sort of worked. They really want a
leader.
An older female dog tried to tell he him off and he snarked right back
but we ended it immediately.
He did rip a pad so I'm leery of practicing again next Sunday. Though
we can vet wrap it.
The instructor says he's a great worker but needs to work every day and
needs his own sheep ranch. Oh great.
post to corgi herders
Difference between PT and Started
Others can answer this far better, but there is a world of difference between PT and Started.
I almost wish there was a "Graduate" level of PT.
Pre Trial scoring is pass/fail the judge is allowed to help you and offer advice the sheep are carefully screened to be the kind that stay with the handler ("test sheep") you can walk in on leash Once you release your dog for the outrun and have gathered the sheep the herding is all along the fence (usually easier - it's just hell for us, but that's just us) the stock has to go in between a panel and the fence in both far corners.
Started scoring is point based the judge does not help you the stock can be much more flighty and may run away if the dog isn't holding them to the handler ("trial sheep") you walk in with the dog off leash once you release your dog for the outrun and have gathered the sheep (much more difficult with light sheep) the stock has to go up the center of the arena to a cone then they go towards the fence and go through 3 obstacles - a Y chute - a Z chute - an set of panels (the turns into a pen at the higher levels) Then (you're not done yet) they turn and go through two other panels (similar to AHBA JHD course), then continue on to a marked place on the fence and then turn for the pen.
Trek walk. Walked by some hammering which made her worried but she liked the treats so she coped.
Though later on I offered to let her lick the treats out of a small
metal container. That was ok for a short while but her tag kept
hitting it so she stopped eating (yes, a corgi). This is after
feeding her from a metal bowl for two years.
Sat Aug 14
Trek got to work with me in helping my niece Katie train her dog
Denali. Trek is a pro at being a non reactive dog and puttlng
less comfortable dogs at ease. Denali is uneasy around other dogs
and can be really reactive but fundamentally she's a really nice
dog. So we worked on adding structure to dog greetings.
Trek and i were across the street when Denali was brought out.
Fortunately there is a perfectly sized smalling parking lot and I had
Katie take Denali to the other end and Trek and i were at the opposite
end. I had given them some really yummy treats and I had her feed
Denali while we approached indirectly. We would walk at an angle
to them and stop and check in. If Denali seemed ok then we would
approach again at an angle going the other direction. While
Denali would whine with anticipation she never reacted, and in the
process i explained LAT though Denali was offering it anyway. If
Denali started to tense up we retreated some. Then when she
relaxed we would get a little closer. All the while getting more
treats.
Eventually we were with in ten feet and we decided to walk over
together to a small park. I let Trek off leash and after it
appeared to be ok Denali was also let off. There was one 3 second
interval were Denali snorted and her hackles went up, but Trek gave the
perfect disengaging calming signal (turned away and sniffed the ground)
and Denali calmed down. Thank you Trek.
:We then walked back to the house and I crated my dogs away from Denali
while we went to lunch. Later on we let Trek and Denali spend
time in the back area once it looked like that was going to be
ok. (We started out on leash again at a distance and worked upt
to them both being off leash.) Things went so well we didn't try
in the house and just left it on a good note. I gave Katie a copy
of Control Unleashed and I hope it helps. Denali is a good dog,
just uncomfortable at times.
Fri Aug 13
Tonight is the second CU DVD Viewing party. Should be fun.
Just pondering more:
I really want to help Yoshi be more at ease in the world.
He's better than he was, but he's always scanning and stressed by other
dogs.
I want him to learn that other dogs are not a concern.
If he was a rescue we'd assume that he was attacked by a dog but he wasn't.
And in his puppy innocence he wasn't reactive. More when he hit 6
months and started lunging and barking at dogs.
His breeder fixed it by using well timed corrections (clicker training
wasn't working), and he became manageable. When I got him at 8 months
he was fine for a while and then really started getting serious about
being dog reactive (those teenage "years"). After a lot of struggle we
then heard about CU and started herding training quit agility and his
life gradually changed.
But he's still hyper-aware of his surroundings. Part of that is just
him but I really want to change his initial response when he seems a dog
that makes him uncomfortable. I want him to come to me, not charge the dog.
I find it really interesting how he's more at ease when attached to me
or touching me. That's when I figured out you can send calming signals
back down the leash so tension on the leash isn't a bad thing if it's a
good link.
i might talk to Denise about this as she has more experience than I do
in dealing with this. (I'd also like her thoughts about Trek's
noise issues.)
Yoshi dog park and walk
I had a few hours before the CU gathering, so I decided to take Yoshi
back to the dog park. This time we did the walk first though
stopped briefly to watch the little dogs and headed out alongside the
park before going out and doing a loop around part of the park where we
politely shooed some geese out of the way. Getting back to the
park we sat outside and ate treats and watched the dogs, then we worked
our way closer to the entrance. When things looked like the were
going ok we stepped inside the first of the double gates but then a
LWFD (little white fluffy dog) left through a different nearby gate and
he lost if so I carried him out. We then sat outside and ate
treats and then did another loop around the outside of the park.
Then we got back and sat and ate more treats and this time I did bring
him in (carrying him), because I had been carrying him some while we
were outside and he felt ok as I held him. He was pretty dazed at
all the dogs but did ok since he was above them. We went down to
the nearly vacant end and I put him down and the other two dogs down
there approached slowly and he did ok. If another dog came up I
covered his eyes and he didn't react, though there were no LWFDs around
either. He ate so much he didn't get much of any dinner.
The CU DVD gathering went well and people saw various things that I missed so I was so happy they were there.
Now we have to figure out what our next step is. It's appearing
that parallel games is an important one and Kitty and Ann are
suggesting this nice not crowded park that's located in between us
called Jose Higuera Adobe in Milpitas, off 680.
Participants would be require to have completed CU Continued, but those
interested but haven't could do something less demanding.
We would do Parallel Games (mostly), with Car Crash and Out n Mats and variations on There's a Dog in Your Face.
We'll have to see how much training stuff (baby gates, xpens, temp fencing) we can come up with plus some agility equipment.
Thu Aug 12
Trek walk. Clicking and treating her appears to work great. I was able to click and treat her near a noisy chipper.
Yoshi training.
Today I made good on a promise to take him back to Washington Park and the dog park.
When we got there we sat outside the small dog park and he ate the
majority of the treats that I had brought in the first 5 minutes.
There was what looked like a BC puppy and another largish small dog
running and playing near the fence which was excellent. Then we
went on a long walk out to the Ballena Bay jetty and looked at two
small dogs from a distance and then we walked past a tied up GSD who
was barking at us some and Yoshi was a pro and just looked at me the
whole time. We also watched a RottieX jumping into the water
after a stick. The dog looked like he wanted to come say hi and
the owner called his dog back. He had said he was friendly even
when I wasn't even looking at him, but I said that my dog was
iffy. We then said our good byes and moved on (it went
fine).
Then we crossed back through the park (it's huge and a great walk -
though he was dragging me some which was annoying but I was very low on
treats and didn't argue about it too much as he's been doing so well)
and then went and stood by the small dog park. I actually wound
up picking him up and he seemed more relaxed that way. I find
this really interesting as i've noticed it multiple times. If
he's stressed or scared he wants to be picked up like a wee dog
does. If something really bothers him he will struggle to be put
down again (I usually hang on then), but he's often much more
confident. As a default behavior that would be just fine (well
maybe not in herding). If I could get him to charge to me instead
of at a dog that would be heaven.
I can also say "Have a goodie/cookie" and he'll look at me in
anticipation. Which is another awesome default behavior.
Must bring more treats on these adventures and I really need to do this
on a regular basis.
i'm just so thrilled that i can comfortably walk him in the park.
Compared to walking on the streets the park is really easy. Lots
of lateral space.
Wed Aug 11
Dog walks. Yoshi. He looks at me ever time a dog barks at
him and he has this amazing knowledge of when a dog is behind a fence
or window and can't get to him and he pretty much no longer reacts, but
looks to me for a treat. Loose dogs are an entirely different
matter. If I can get him to leave sheep when I ask him to them
that might make a difference. Saw a small dog and just fed him
while it walked by across the street. This really does work the
best for now.
I'm wondering if continuous feeding would help him watch dogs calmly
when he's looking through the living room window. Really easy
thing to try I know clicking and treating works mostly there.
Trek walk. Went down 3 blocks of High St and did well. Got
to demo her utility skills to some folks across the street's kid - that
was fun.
I may have come up with a real solution to her pulling. I think
it's a better way to teach Loose Lead Walking. Usually when a dog
pulls you go backwards some. I think stopping and doing nothing
works better. When Trek turns around I say yes and give her a
treat. Over the space of one walk I not only have LLW but her
hitting the end of the leash became a cue to look back at me - how cool
is that?
Yoshi some fetch with a rabbit fur toy and mat work outside with a
towel on the dirt. We basically started Karen Overall's
Relaxation Protocol over again. I would first throw treats on the
mat and he immediately laid down on it, but popped up instantly.
I worked it up to where I could take one step to each side (this is
funny because he does have a good down stay). Then a dog next
door barked. He took off to bark and I stayed there by the mat
and waited. After some seconds he came back on his own and stood
on the mat sniffing the air. Then he was looking at me
expectantly for a while (I didn't move but just looked neutrally
back). Then he laid down! Jackpot! and we quit. I
need to figure out a mat that goes anywhere - I've asked the CU list
about it.
Moments after I ask the CU list for mat ideas I walk into the living
room and see the original teeny tiny Thermarest that I evicted from the
attic and have been wondering what to do with. It's a bit long
for a Corgi (about 4' long), but it's perfect for being outside and I
can just put a towel over it. Since the dogs are light weight it
actually works slightly better with the air valve open (or I could
leave it slightly deflated.) I intro'd it to them in the living
room, and tonight I took it out and put a towel on it. Yoshi
thought it was a little odd in the living room but outside with the
same towel we werejust working with he plopped right down on it. This is perfect.
I think it really is back to basics with Yoshi
- feeding continuously around trigger dogs
- more click to calm
- more mat work esp outside
Trek will play tug when she's trying to get a toy into her crate and I have a hold of it. Now that's an odd crate game
Tue Aug 10
Big dog day.
[noon] worked with Yoshi at the local Lincoln Park on a long line.
We worked on moving stop, walk and down a bunch.
Had one pair of dogs go by that I fed him through
There was a group of people over on the next lawn a ways over.
What I hadn't realized was that they had a dog the size of a Yorkie who
had wandered over coming right at us but beyond the long line.
One of the people was coming to get the dog. Yoshi charged and I
yelled stop but it was a bit pointless. He hit the end of the
line (attached to both collars for redundancy in case something like
this happened and went flying. I rather redundantly said "He's
not friendly" and the woman said "Sorry" and collected the dog.
i really do want this to change. I want him not to charge other
dogs period. Especially little ones. He likely would have
grabbed that dog and hung on till I got there. Because it's
tramatic for me I haven't taught him a release like they do for the
Schutzhund dogs. I just want him to not do it period. It
really screws everything up and puts a damper on what was a great
training session. When he sees a small dog he needs to come to me
for a treat exactly like he does when there's a dog barking at him from
behind a fence. I taught him this - he can learn. I need to
give up on requiring a behavior. Small dog = open bar.
Trek Power Paws class (both dogs went)
the jumpers portion.
Trek did a course where I was standing laterally. More than I
thought she could do (Jim made me stand that far laterally). I
was so impressed with her.
Though we can't serpentine jumps that are angled more that 180
degrees. She runs past the second one. It's rare to see
that though in a sepentine. What I would do instead is to stop at
the second jump and call her over it and then do a front cross.
Again if I anticipate the next obstacle she pops the 10th pole. I
must telegraph it. If I only focus on the poles and don't thing
about the next obstacle she does fine.
When the class moved to the contacts part of the field we stayed on the
jumpers part because I wanted to see if there was any difference in her
behavior from 3 weeks or so ago. We played a lot of fetch with
her Airdog toy and a couple of jumps (we were sharing with Nancy who
was doing a private consult). The first run where a teeter and
A-Frame were used she was ok but the second she was stressed and
panting and the third she started to leave and wasn't cominng to Trek
come (she had this panicked, whale-eyed "I must get to the car"
look). Something in my brain remembered "Down you dog" from a
Patricia McConnel book (someone had told her to do this when her dog
was being charged by a guardian dog), and I said/signaled "Trek down"
and she downed! I hear Nancy (who had been watching) quietly say
"Good dog" (I had told her that Trek was afraid of teeters and probably
wouldn't last long with the teeter in use) and I said it too once I had
leashed Trek. Phew. Trek then dragged me to the car and i
let her.
So it's Yoshi's turn. We did a lot of LAT and click to calm
outside the fence and at the gate. I had Natural Balance Duck and
Beef with me and also Zuke's Jerky Naturals Salmon which I had bought
by mistake but what a good mistake. He didn't seem to notice the
wee dogs at all, or any dog except as a way to get a treat. I
think he likes Power Paws too as he's always been better behaved there
than at Sharon's.
I asked Jim if it was ok to sprinkle some of Cali's ashes there and he
said that that was fine any place I liked. I'm thinking the
field, but Cali would likely prefer the potty area. Maybe I'll
just do both.
Mon Aug 9
Basic walk for one of the dogs at noon (i think Yoshi)
Cathy came by and we made dinner and watched Dr Who and the dogs very nicely kept us company.
Oh I remember. When he's in the living room window and barking at
a dog it appears to make a difference if you keep talking to him and
touch him. He still growls, but he doesn't go over the top.
It's like you're helping him hold it together. I find this
fascinating and want to do more with it but I need a dog who isn't
going to go away.
Sun Aug 8
Big day for the doggies. Some married friends are bringing all three of their children over to visit.
[after]
It went better than I expected. One of the kids (there were two 8
year olds and a 3 year old) Katie is really good with the dogs and the
other two were good also (even the 3 year old). Trek got most of
the attention and Yoshi just kept us safe from squirrels but he got
some attention too.
The only annoying thing was that he was doing his barking bit when one
of them would walk into a room he was in. Even after spending
hours with them. It's like when someone leaves the room and
reenters they are new again. Also he would bark at them when they
tried to move around. Except for Katie who he didn't bark at. ;)
Trek and all the humans went over to a playground at Lincoln
Park. Trek coped surprisingly well being around kids playing at a
playground.
[evening]
Trek and I went over to Mark and Jan's to watch And Man Created Dog
which had Vicki and her Corgi Hella working cows on the 900 acre ranch
that Vicki used to own. It was very impressive.
Sat Aug 7
I want to see how Yoshi is beside a bike. I think we'll try it
briefly on the street and then maybe go over to the bike path on Harbor
Bay in the Business section as there is grass beside the path and it's
not very busy.
Wow that was cool!
Facebook update:
---- Took Yoshi running
with me on a bike at Harbor Bay (in Alameda near the airport). (The
place is empty on the weekend.) Yoshi has a look of pure joy on his
face to be able to run full out on the grass beside the bike path.
----
I have several things to work out.
- the leash has to attach better to me in case I fall off and drop the leash (a big concern).
I want the leash attached to me and not the bike as bad
things can happen to bikes and I'd rather he not be attached to
it. If I go flying I'd rather he fly with me.
Maybe a rope or chest harness or other around me and
attached to the leash - it's nice having it in my hand as I can
give him more feedback. Maybe a second attachment from my body to
the loop of the leash.
- the lateral room there is limited so it's hard to move far out
of the way. That said the sightlines are fantastic so you have a
long time to go elsewhere.
- it is a little odd on a bike but I don't think a scooter is
better as my goal is to keep up with him and not have him tow me like
they do in dog scootering.
- right now it's attached to his collar but a harness might be
better. Or not, if he lunges I have little control if he's in a
harness.
When we got back I put him in the truck and put the bike away.
Then I opened the truck back up and he wanted to do more (now that the
bike is in the rack), so we ran a little more he wasn't really up to
running full out anyway, but still wanted to walk/trot more. He's
tired now. Finally.
Fri Aug 6
[noon] Trek walk. I've been stopping when she pulls on the way home. She's reluctantly getting it.
[eve] Tonight is the first CU DVD viewing party. Smaller than I
thought (had three no shows) but we all got a lot out of it. I
love having observant dog people to talk it over with. That many
pairs of eyes really helps.
Even though it's scheduled for next week we did see some of the
Parallel Games section with Blaze, Blaze would come out behind
barriers then retreat. The parked cars must be having a similar
effect. May be I can use them more than just watching the dog
approach, then hiding behind them and then watching the dog pass by. Have to think about that.
Thu Aug 5
Trek walk generally fine less pulling and she's really good at the moving stop.
Yoshi walk. Right out the door there was a lab across the
street. I had my clicker and was immediately clicking him and he
did ok. Then Sky next door appeared (at the end of her walk), but
on our side of the street (we're still standing in the driveway near
the house). Yoshi held it together for a little bit, but Sky was
tense and staring and Yoshi lost it. Barking lunging. I
picked him up and he was really struggling. I should of backed
up, but it looked like he was going to be able to cope, but his
territory and a tense dog just are not a good combination.
He spent the rest of the walk jacked up. We nearly walked into a
dog at Gibbons and Central but we were able to retreat and hid behind a
parked car.
Wed Aug 4
Trek walk - the usual. Didn't drag me as much. On each walk
I practice the Utility moving Stop (and stay). We're walking
along and I say Stop and she stands there while I walk along and then
stop. Then I signal Down, and then Sit (I say the cues too right
now.) She's great at it and I'm really proud of her.
Yoshi walk. 2 dog sightings. One two large Samoyeds (I
think - larger white dogs). For them Yoshi had almost no reaction
though we did back off 1/2 a house length but only that which is a
little remarkable. The other he was much tenser about. It
was a long haired Daschund and he was very tense and wanted to charge
even though we backed off a house width (perhaps too close). What
IS his thing about small dogs? He's getting pretty good about
dogs that are the size of a Border Collie but with many small dogs he's
just a rotten dog. I think it's prey drive. He needs to
spend more leashed time at the small dog park. His own personal
hell. I do love torturing him with it. Consider it payback.
We also practice the moving Stop. He's not as good at it but he's
getting it. It's harder as I can't drop the leash like I can with
Trek.
Tue Aug 3
PP agility both dogs going. Yoshi as a tourist.
[later]
Well very interesting. Trek did better today. The teeter
was quieter today (it was further from the hedge so less echo) so I
dragged her out of the car where I had put her after the jumpers
section and then got Yoshi out (who did ok, except for one minor
outburst). She then was in the parking area eating treats and
then at a brak, I took her in and went to the far end of the field on
the jumpers side. She wasn't happy about it but was able to eat
and wasn't even chomping on me. This is a huge improvement, to
the point that I'm not going to pull her out of class after next week
and I'll let her go another cycle to see if we can get any further
progress on her noise sensitivity.
She did great on the jumpers portion. She did pop the 10th pole
when I was trying to get ahead of her, and I have to remember to work
each serpentine obstacle or she'll run past them (because in some way
I'm telling her to skip it - this could be very useful for Snooker.)
Mon Aug 2
I have the dogs for nearly two weeks, so it means I get to do all the
doggy things instead of our usual tag team doggy car which works so well. Terri usually
does the feeding and the eyedrops and I do the walking, training and
classes/lessons. In my eyes I get the fun stuff and I always
invite her along and she'll come once in a while, but I think I have to
work on my pitch. "Do you want to come stand around in a dirt sheep
pasture?" just isn't cutting it for some reason.
Dog walks - fine
Sun Aug 1
Yoshi got his nails done this morning.
Yoshi sheep herding. I took him to a different place that was
having some sessions for more beginner dogs. The trainer there is
more a Border Collie person but she was happy to work with him.
She first took him into a small pen to see how he'd be. What was
interesting was that even though these sheep are more light then were
not flighty and the pen had 10-12 sheep looking right at him so he was
on best behavior. We had him move the sheep around the pen and
with help he did fine.
Then for the next session we put him in a larger pen (too large she
said but there wasn't a smaller one) and while he held his stays and he
would stop momentarily pretty soon he was running around me to try to
control the sheep and I had to run catch him. Given that we
switched him to the pasture on a long line with my holding it and we
just drove the sheep around the pasture. He seemed happy doing
this. Often I'd have to check him from going too fast and the
idea is that we're supposed to both be even to really drive properly,
but he had a good time and seemed a lot less stressed.
At first I was convinced that he should just practice more this way and
that may be true but he really is more than ready for his PT so I have
entered him in the Aug 29-20 trial. It's in the mailbox and will
go out Monday to Campbell so it should get there Tues or Wed and then I
should find out after that if it's full.
Trek went along as a tourist (she insisted I wasn't going to be taking
her) and she actually had a nice time wandering around and having her
belly scratched. Yoshi's behavior to the other dogs was very
good. It helped that he was surrounded by Border Collies and
Kelpies including Drover who he's seen before. We let him
politely beat up on Drover and Drover was very nice about it and even
when we gave him a break he came right back to Yoshi. He lives
with Terriers so he's probably something of a glutton for punishment.
So since Yoshi apparently has the Aug 28-29 weekend (unless it's full)
then I need to find an agility trial for Trek. I suppose I could
put her in the Superregional, but I don't think she's like it much and
it's not a good trial to start back on after a break. I'm signed
up to work on one of the days already so maybe not that trial.
So Yoshi has been crashed out ever since he got back at 3:45pm, it's
now 9:15pm and he's starting to bark at the other neighbor dogs but the
break was nice. He probably needs to stick with sheep, instead of
ducks. Ducks seem to puzzle him and the don't really hold his
interest. So I have one of each now, a duck dog and a sheep dog -
could be worse.
Fri Jul 30
noon - no walk for Yoshi as I needed to do Trek's nails.
Trek is going to Rachelle's agility class at Sharon's so she's going to work with me this afternoon.
[later]
(Trek had fun at work, even got to practice her down stay at times, and
she got to demo her jumping skills by jumping over a seated person's
outstretched legs which provided much amusement.)
[after class.]
WELL this is a fine dilemma. She did perfect. Before class
I took her up to the upper field to see if she would do the contact
equipment. She hopped right up on the dogwalk with no hesitation,
did a tunnel and a jump and aimmed her at the teeter but didn't tell
her to do it. She went right up and did it. Then she later
did the A-Frame and the teeter again. Then the class started and
I watched this with interest as it's usually not her teeter but the
other teeter sounds, and then she won't do a teeter. Not this
time. other dogs did the teeter and she was able to do one.
I had her off leash when I was setting a jump and she went and did
another one by herself (we were walking past it and I wasn't even
looking at it - in fact I was ahead of it. She's happy. No
stress panting. No trembling.
So what does this mean? Sharon's teeter is noisy, but she was
able to do it and has been for a while now. However sometimes she won't
do it when it's on the lower field. This implies that in narrower
confines the sound is intensified. Power Paws field is open on
one side but there's a hedge on the other side which may make the sound
echo. It also could do with unfamiliar surroundings, but I
haven't seen her react this strongly since her meltdown in the covered
arena in Santa Rosa. Though then again she does the teeter when
it's in the yard but it's not as noisy and it's familiar territory.
Should we continue with PP? The class cycle started 6/27 though
one class was canceled. I think I'll give her to the end of the
cycle and then decide. It's starting to look like she could just
be a drop in there and rejoin the other class though it's getting near
full. Then again she might get used to it, but it would take a
long time. She trembles there and won't usually come out of her
crate when she's there without cajoling.
It might be a better approach to sacrifice more money to the agility
gods and do a lot of trials in places with very open fields like Dixon
and Prunedale. I think this means she can enter the SMART trial,
and maybe even enter Grand Prix where I can stick her back on the
teeter.
Thu Jul 29
evening dog walks. Took Yoshi down High Steet and back via
Gibbons - didn't see many dogs. Lots of streets to cross in the
Fernside so it was interesting but more work.
With Trek I took her down two blocks of Broadway which she doesn't like
but copes, she acually dealt with that better than going by the school
that had some kids playing and some metal clanging. She did try
to drag me home after that so I spent a long time calling her back to
me and rewarding that.
My back and left shoulder has been really sore starting a couple of
days after running with Yoshi. It was already sore from a gym
cycling class, now it really hurts. Going to have to come up with
another way to run with him.
So I have a dilemma. Aug 28-29 is a herding trial and the SMART
agility trial. Don't know what to do. I want Yoshi to get
his PT so I probably should enter both days of the herding trial, but
if he gets his PT on Sat it would be way more fun to take Trek to
agility even with the long drive. But Trek really isn't in
competing form except for jumpers courses. I'm taking her to
Rachelle on Friday to see if I can get her back on contact equipment.
Wed Jul 28
[noon] Yoshi walk - did fine.
Right at the end there was a young cocker being walked by 2
girls. They stopped for a while and talked to my neighbor so
Yoshi and I hung out in our driveway eating treats and playing
LAT. When they started to walk by us I just feed him continuously
and that worked.
It's Yoshi and his siblings 7th birthday. For his birthday he got
a bone and I cancelled the eCollar order after a long email discussion
with someone who is experienced with them and was telling me that I
should get some training in it first. I'm also realizing that
there are other methods that I can use instead. The beeping
collar works well as an interrupter (he really doesn't like it, to the
point that he got off the sofa when he saw it. (I had it out so
he could hang out on the living room sofa looking out the window - a
place where he routinely loses it and is only there when supervised.) There is more CU work that we can do as well
Trek was supposed to go to class at ODTC, but I was too wiped out to go.
So it finally occured to me that instead of going to the regional, I
can just go to the SMART trial at the same location the weekend before.
(Duh!) I'll just enter her in the regular classes and tempting as
it is to put her in Grand Prix I think I'll pass. The advantage
of GP is that there is no four paw rule and I can put her back on a
teeter, but if she hops off a teeter then it takes forever to get her
to do it again and that won't go over well at a trial. Early on I
did successfully put her back on a teeter during a GP run but she's
gotten worse about them. I could just not put her in standard at
all but I really want to get that last PI Q and escape the 4 paw
rule. Closing date isn't until mid Aug so I have some time to
think about it and watch her.
Need to put the teeter back up - and mow what lawn is there.
I also have to decide how long to keep her in Power Paws if she's
happier at Rachelle's. I'm going to take her there for a drop in
or two and see if she's better there. I could just have her be a
perma drop-in on both classes, though she does so well during the
jumpers portion of the PP class.
She keeps eyeing the bread I'm eating - maybe that should be a teeter reward.
Tue Jul 27
[noon] Yoshi walk went fine.
Trek PP class.
Nancy was out working a dog in the other part of the arena so Trek was
stressing about the contact noise for a bit but then got into the
jumpers part of the class and started having a nice time. Then
the contacts part started and we went back to the car which I had
parked a ways off. She could eat treats while that was going on
so I took her out to the potty area and that was too close and she
wanted to drag me back to the car. she was a little better if I
was holding her but she wasn't happy and I put her back in her
crate. Eventually she would come out for treats and seemed
relaxed so I moved the car closer and she still would eat treats until
the metal gate clanged and then she was back in the back of the
crate. I shut the car up and went and checked on class.
They were working on a gamble and I finally realized it didn't involve
any contact equipment so she could likely do it. I went back and
she actually came out of the crate without having to drag her.
She was worried about being out there but was sort of able to focus
though was acting erraticly at first but then settled. Right
after she dragged me back to the car. Wouldn't pee.
Wouldn't drink water.
I am frustrated but it's nice that we didn't have to leave the
grounds completely. I'm wondering how long to continue this.
I'm thinking this weekend Yoshi should work sheep. Not sure which day yet. He's not really switching on to ducks.
Mon Jul 26
I finally did it. I bought an electric collar for Yoshi. Figured I
should do this before I kill him.
It would also be nice to not always have to have him attached to me, but
find a way he can run around. This does mean letting him run around dog
parks where the behavior is not great. What I don't know what to do is
how to start. With the remote collar we can work on his Barking in the
Window behavior. That will be a good way to see if the collar will
work. But at the dog park is tricky. I want him to run around but not
bite another dog.
I know a friend reluctantly uses one so that her dog can run free but
can be kept from going into completely over-the-top prey drive mode.
I asked the CU_Dogs list for exercise ideas and one person said she uses
a bike, but is very intrigued with Dog Scootering
I am thinking that if I attached him to the bike with the regular dog
attachment (a walky dog) I could go slow and he would get exercise and
if he lunged at a dog he would be tethered to the bike and while he
wouldn't be dragged we can encourage him to keep going.
But the more I read this I think i really should run with him more and
just make sure the leash is sttached to me in case I fall. Maybe one of
the rock climbing slinges would work for that
It is funny to think how Yoshi would be with something chasing
him. He would probably be doing his over the shoulder "Monster!"
look.
[noon] Trek walk - did fine, no surprises. On the walk I can tell
her to stop (standing), I walk on and then I stop and then have her do
a utilityish down and then sit and then recall - it's utilityish
because I say the words along with the signals. She was
volunteering heeling today which was fun and we worked on that a little.
[evening]
I did take Yoshi out running at Bay Farm.
Facebook update:
My
Corgi is tired now, but it took running/trotting him 2 miles. I dread
him getting into better shape. He was still pulling on me after a mile
and a half.
Becaise the path along the water can be narrow and there are dogs out
walking I put he beeping collar on, which came in very handy.
Twice we ran into dogs in close quarters and I had to use the beep
repeatedly until he was able to focus on me. Once the dog was so
close I hung on to his collar to keep him close. The beep
startles and interrupts him for a moment until he can start to react
again and I beep it again. For the most part except in the narrow
part right by Harbor Bay there was always something we could hide
behind.
I have to remember that use being able to hide doesn't really help his
training much unless he can see the dog approaching until we're at his
threshold and then we go hide. If he can't see the dog then
there's pretty much no dog which makes things easy but does nothing to
help his stress level. Even near the end he wanted to react to a
dog that was only 10' away (fair enough) however when he saw one across
the street after his fun he didn't react at all. He is mellower
tonight. He'll start to react/bark or play then instantly run out
of steam. there's a dog barking and he really must be tired as
he'd bark and grouse for a short while then stop very quickly.
Hope I didn't over do it, but he'll be ok. He usually gets a
mile+ walk with a little bit of running. This was mostly running
and trotting.
I'm not sure if dog scootering woutl be right for him as he's a
sprinter and does need occasional rest breaks, even if he was pulling
on me after 1.5 miles. (From the Bay Farm paring area to the
concrete play area (the one before "Ship 66") where we turned around is
just over a mile.
Trek dumbbell. She can now retrieve on the flat or over a
jump. She holds it for the most part, but still drops it from
time to time, but I'm not going to worry about that yet. I think
her original dumbbel is the best size for her. Then we just
played fetch with a toy for a while.
Yoshi's eye continues to improve.
Sun Jul 25
I'm working at the Bay Team's CPE trial today as a full timer. I
was going to be taking Yoshi just for the exposure but given his
current situation he'll be comfortable at home barking at the
neighborhood dogs instead of being stuck in a crate with a silly
donut. I
then thought I'd bring Trek but the point is to give Trek a break from
teeter noises so that would be counter productive.
[Later] They both would have hated the site (which is really nice) for various reasons. Yoshi
wouldn't have liked the dogs in such close proximity and Trek would not of
liked the echoing noises.
Dog Walks.
The Art and Wine Festival is winding up so both dogs got walked down to
Park Street for a block of exposure. Yoshi would have been
perfect but he lunged at a Silky Terrier even though we were hiding
behind a truck and he only saw the dog retreating. I was pretty
peeved at him and he got carried rather roughly for some feet.
The rest of the chaos he was fine with.
Trek did well enough at Broadway that I decided to also walk her down
to Park St. One family stopped us to chat and say hello and talk
about corgis and the kids got some coaching on how to be nice to dogs
and what they like (no treats - I don't do treats and kids) This
was ok but then I decided to walk her down a block of Park St. and that
was a little noisy and she got stopped again. By this time she's
shaking and I carry her for 1/2 a block away from Park St. and then
walk her. We even then went down Broadway again for 2 blocks and
then headed back. She wasn't shaking anymore, but she really
wanted to go back home and kept trying to drag me. Every time she
hit the end of the leash I'd stop and call her back.
So both dogs are now relatively fine with Broadway. Yoshi would
probably be ok with Park St, but I think it's time for Yoshi to spend a
fair amount of time at the small dog park on leash after going on a
walk. Trek will get the noon walk down some of Broadway or High
St. Yoshi will sometimes get shuttled down to the dog park to be
walked around it and then consigned to the small dog park to walk
around and eat treats. Small moving dogs have to mean something
good to him before I kill him.
Today Yoshi's eye is doing much better and he didn't have to wear the
donut. Hooray. I think the medicine is really helping it heal -
the redness is mostly gone.
Sat Jul 24
Yoshi is still fussing with his eye like he was doing yesterday.
It's very red and even though it looks better, I decided to take him to
Dr. Friedman. She checked him thoroughly but there's nothing
seriously wrong besides conjuntivitis. She didn't find any
foriegn matter so whatever it was has fallen out or healed and what's
left is the soreness and redness. We're now to give him
NeoPolyDex drops on a titrating basis that we've written out. (3
drops a day for 3 days, 2 drops a day for another 3 days, 1 drop a day
for another 3 days, then every other day for another week.) If he
keeps rubbing his eye he'll have to wear a cone. Right now he's
wearing the donut of shame which is much more comfortable than a cone,
but if he keeps rubbing at it (he sometimes throws himself into the
bed) then he'll have to don coneware, but right now it's ok.
On Sheep.
I've decided that I'm not giving up. I wouldn't feel right if we
gave up, though it might be better for him to learn directionals on
ducks where he can hear and think better. I just always go back
to how incredible he did with Judy V. and how she was trying to talk me
into putting him in the Trial instead of the Test. We need to
figure this out. I think while Linda is out of the country we can
work on sheep some and just being calm around them. (Which we
have done before.)
Fri Jul 23
Dog Training Day Yahoo.
Trek Novice Obedience class with Lori
I wanted to do the Open class since that's the level that I'm training
her at but Yoshi has a herding lesson he needs to get to later in the
day. Besides having her work on Novice skills is not a bad thing
as even though it's something she really likes, and is really good at
it,, her obedience training has been haphazard at best so she has some
holes. Her heeling is not always the greatest yet on a heeling
exercise she was brilliant. She's not that thrilled to heel past
a seated dog but that never happens during a trial. Her stand for
exam still needs some proofing as she's a little wiggly but all in all
as Lori says it's probably good enough. Her recall is fabulous
and her stays for Novice are nearly perfect unless some metal crashes
somewhere. I'll have to work more on her off leash heeling, and
maybe spend some time where the treats are no directly on me.
If I want to put her in rally I'll need to teach her a right hand finish as hers is just to the left right now.
I'm very pleased with how she did as she has found the setting at ODTC
stressful before but I think she's mostly used to it and she likes the
rewards.
Yoshi Duck Herding Lesson
I sum it up in a corgiherders post:
So we're in the process of trying to Yoshi interested in herding ducks
and it's an interesting process.
Ironically the dog (Trek) who we though didn't like herding at all
actually is doing better. It turns out her issue is more with things
that tower over her.
Getting Yoshi interested in ducks is sort of like starting with a dog at
the instinct test level.
I spent a fair bit of time just walking around with the Call Ducks to
see if we could get him interested, then when he got interested we had
to get him understand that ducks are much more delicate than sheep and
you have to be nice to them and you can't pin them down, and then you
have to get him through the pouting "Well fine I don't want to play
anyway." AND then he decides well this might be a fun thing to do and
then starts the process of how go get these creatures to move in a way
that works.
I sort of expected to go through this in one session, but it's been 3
(plus one aborted one with Runner Ducks). This is going to be a longer
process than I expected. What I'm hoping is that he is able to really
learn some good stock skills and sense in the process since you can't
herd ducks at Mach 9. It's nice to see him having to really think as
opposed to just reacting. Though he's still pouting some at being
forced to use his brain more.
I keep wondering if he misses sheep. I wish I knew. He's
getting a three week break from these ducks so I certainly could work
him on sheep, but I'm hoping he'll learn better skills from the
ducks. It's been so nice to not have to argue with him about
sheep but now I'm having to encourage him a lot. It was nice that
just walking around with the ducks did get his attention. Maybe
that's a way to get him to work goats again through I watched someone
set her dog up right near the goats as they were stopping and the goats
walked right up to the dog which is exactly how Trek got flattened that
one time.
Back to ducks. I need to ask more about this but the idea is to
have the dog move down the fence with the but you want the ducks off
the fence because they like to hide there. What I need to ask
about that is that AKC herding does a lot of herding along the fence
and even AHBA does some also, so how does keeping them in the center
work with that?
Anyway right at the end of the 2nd session, he was able to stay on the
fence and I was able to move into the center and the ducks came into
the center and he was able to come around them and change their
direction (and I then changed the wand to the other hand) and then we
headed back the other direction. He had been coming in the center
himself which is less than ideal.
It was cool to have it finally work. Felt good.
Yoshi's eye is a little swollen (was that was before herding) and I'm thinking I should beg Animal Eye Care for a same day appt.
Thu Jul 22
I still can't decide what to enter Trek in for the Super Regional or
should I just work the trial. The closing date isn't until Aug
13th, but I really should decide.
I'm pretty sure I want to go though I just did $300 of damage to my car
by driving into a concrete step at Power Paws. Susan Garrett very
graciously refunded my class money when I asked since the class is $197
and that will help a lot.
I probably should try the idea of no teeters at all and see if that helps.
Here's what I cam up with before
Sat PSJ Rd 1
Sun
PI Pairs Relay
PII PSJ Rd 2
PII Gamblers
PII Snooker
Mon (if we were to do it - not likely)
PII Jumpers
I think we'll just do Sat and Sun and work most of Sat. The trick
is that if we camp them we're stuck as we can't move the car once it's
in a "campsite." This means I have to plan food or we could just
hotel it (more $ though), or I could bring my bike and ride down the
hill for food. Wait! Never mind they're serving dinner on
Saturday. Cool. And lunch is provided for workers so I just
need to worry about snacks for me and dog food.
This Sunday is the CPE trial that I pulled Trek out of but I've offered to go down and work on Sunday.
Noon Trek walk.
So I'm changing our walks, to include Broadway.
Encounter with street
sweeper. We retreated down a side street and only had to go 1
house distance away and she wasn't freaked out. We went down
Broadway for one block which she found stressful but she's coping some
panting but no hard pulling or slinking to try to get away.
Yoshi evening walk
Also went down Broadway from Buena Vista down to Central. He's so
good in noisier environments at least with traffic. He doesn't
like booming things right near him, but traffic doesn't bother him at
all. Saw a LWFD across Central who barked at us and he barked
back but more in an excited hello way and he was easily distracted and
was able to work. Saw a teeny tiny dog and he was able to watch
that too. Unfortunately his owner crossed the street before we
got close so we just watched them across the street.
New mileages (using: http://www.trails.com/googlemap.aspx which is actually much better that the regular Google Ped.)
It's funny how just walking down Santa Clara or Central is much better distance wise than trying to go across them.
Just going in a circle from house to Broadway down Santa Clara down to Court St. is a mile.
Down to High St is 1.2 miles.
I'd like us to work up to walks into town,
House to Park St vi Gibbons to Santa Clara 0.5 mile one way.
via Central 0.6 one way
Wed Jul 21
Noon Yoshi walk. Did fine. As we walked out he started to
bristle and I pulled him back and then looked up to see a GSD on His
lawn but who was retreating. This is certainly a much more milder
response than you would have gotten before.
Trek walk evening.
Went down Broadway for a block and she did ok and wasn't freaked out at
all though was very aware of all of the noises.
She's come so far from being unable to be within a house distance of
that street. Broadway is busier than High St so this is raising the
bar. She did well on it on Sunday but this was with some weekday
evening traffic (not a lot it was 7pm but still.)
Bone amusement
Gave the dogs bones to chew on (2nd round for these smokehouse bones).
Yoshi was so funny, he carried his outside as if he's going to be a real
dog and bury his bone but he got out there and laid down and kept
chewing - just couldn't part with it. He seemed to be worried about
Trek so after she peed I put her back in the house and then I went back
to him. When I told him to Go Pee he varied it around. I took hold of
it and we play some tug of war (not severe, not guarding) and I walked
us over to where Trek had peed and told him to Give (he did) and I
promised he could have it back. He peed and I gave it back to him and
he carried it back inside and back up on the bed where he was originally
chewing on it.
He kept it up for another 15-20 minutes and I then traded with him by
giving him a treat which worked well. He obviously needs to be allowed
more bones so he can learn to pace himself.
Tue Jul 20
I signed up for Susan Garrett's e-course on Brilliant Recalls.
The idea is to break things down to 5 minute sessions (which I already do usually).
I like to thing that I'm just as good of a dog trainer but she works
way harder at it since it's her full time job and she's studied with
Bob Bailey, and I always learn from other trainers (well many of them.)
Trek has agility class though we're just going to do the jumper's part of it.
So Dog Distractions 1-10 in order of severity.
Yoshi
Trek
0
radio, wind chimes
wind
1
radio
2
3
4
food on the ground
5
wind chimes
6
person calling him
person calling her
7
a good place to pee
food on the ground
8
people with food
people with food
9
squirrel at 10' running
metal clanging
10
dog at 20' running/walking
multiple crashing teeters
10+
a dog standing on his lawn
crashing teeters under covered arenas
Mon Jul 19
Walk for Yoshi and finally did his nails.
Sun Jul 18
Just walks - looong walks.
Yoshi went down Central all the way from High St. to Broadway and then
when we were getting close to home turned off to follow some dogs which
he did really well with even with one (largish Tibetan Terrier) that
was starting at him stiffly. We actually caught back up with them
after chasing some other dogs and he still did great. Things
didn't start off so well as a Golden appeared out of nowhere right at
the beginning and all I could do was just hold him with the
leash. What's interesting is that he settled down anyway after
the initial bark and lunge. These days I haven't had to be nearly
as elaborate in my set ups as a dog approaches though I do have to be
aware of them to have complete success.
Trek's walk had a wild puppy right in front of the house. I kept
saying "take your dog to class" over and over again. which was
probably hopeless but I tried anyway. Just to make a point I put
Trek in a down dropped the leash and walked up to the puppy and said
hello for a second. Then Trek and I went in the other
direction. She also went down Broadway for a while and she did
great which I'm pleased about. I think she's getting used to it
and it was Sunday afternoon which is a nice slow time. I should
keep that in mind as a good time for adventuring further forth - maybe
even into town.
Trek needs to learn more Tricks though I want her dumbbell better
first. I'd love for her to be able to roll over, back up, and
play soccer.
Worked her and the dumbbell in the backyard with her. She's able
to hold the dumbbell and wait for me to take it. Mostly - she
still fiddles with it in her mouth but less so and I can put my hand on
her mouth to get her to stop messing with it. When she picks it
up she doesn't get it in the right place behind her canines but I think
she'll get it.
She's also able to sit by my side and stay while I throw the dumbbell and she'll fetch it. (I don't make her sit then)
AND today I set the jump up and put her in a stay with the dumbbell in
her mouth which she promptly spit out but she picked it up again and
then jumped over the jump with it.
Then i had her stay with me and I threw it over the jump and she went
and got it! Did it one more time and stopped. This is way
further than I was hoping.
I'm using my original dumbbell as it fits her better and she doesn't seem to need the increased diameter.
I'm having a command name collision as I need on for go to the back of
the herd and another for Back Up. I think "Back" is going to go
for herding though I've already been using it in obedience but it's not
solid. Maybe that one will be Reverse or Beep. though it's
tempting to make the herding one "back of the bus" but under pressure
that's not going to happen. Back is nice and sharp and works well
for herding. Having a dog take steps backwards doesn't require
quick thinking.
Sat Jul 17
Yoshi and Trek Duck Herding
Today was just supposed to be Yoshi's day but Trek asked to go along too, and she wound up doing one of the sessions.
Yoshi isn't so sure about the Runner Ducks and is very leery of
them. This does concern me but he has a lesson scheduled with
Linda's Call Ducks on the 23rd and I'm hoping that builds his
confidence.
Trek was better and could actually herd them. She doesn't know as
much about flanking but she's able to move them around decently.
She's doing herding just to build her confidence but she's also proving
to be a good Corgi ambassador because she's so easy to control.
I'm wondering if Yoshi should work more with heavy sheep or not.
The skills he needs for fowl are pretty different than for sheep - his
willingness to move slower around the ducks is a good thing. I
think it's more an exposure thing, so we'll just do more ducks of
whatever type. I think we need to work more on actually moving
the Call Ducks in a specific direction.
Next year's Corgi Trial has been scheduled for 4/30-5/1 2011.
Yahoo. I have to decide whether to have Yoshi finish his PT there
or not. I think so as the idea of going to a different trial
stresses me out. Though hopefully he'll get to compete on fowl.
Thu-Fri
At Yosemite getting chewed on by mosquitoes and doing a climbing
class. Trek moped for a little while and then recovered, but when
I got back wouldn't let me out of her sight.
Wed Jul 14
Prepping for a short Yosemite Trip so no noon dog walk.
My classmates are being so understanding and I'm getting a lot of "been
there here's my experience" emails that describe their working through
all sorts of dog fears.
Thank you all for the support about Trek.
Your understanding just really underscores for me that issue-free dogs
are rare.
I had one (Cali) and in a way it's a bit of a curse as you always then
subsequently feel like a failure.
I think for a little while we'll just do the jumpers portion and then
say our polite goodbyes, so Trek can have some good time in class..
It's a bummer for me because then I don't get to chat with you all as
long, but in the future I'll see if I can find a quieter place in the
back parking area though even that may not be enough quiet at first.
Tue Jul 13
Noon Yoshi walk uneventful
Trek Power Paws Agility class. I'm so torn up about what I'm putting Trek through taking her there.
I just wrote a letter to my classmates about it: Greeting Tues Power Paws folks,
I so don't know what to do about Trek and Power Paws. As long as
the teeter isn't in use, she's fine happily running and learning great
stuff. As soon as it is then she's a trembling mess and just
wants to hide in her crate in the car. It's not her doing a
teeter so much as all the other teeter sounds. Seeing my sweet,
smart, talented dog reduced to such a state is just killing me and I'm
really at a loss.
Ironically because you all are so accomplished, Trek could just do the
non-contact portion of the class and still get more runs in than at a
non-PP class, so it's actually worth the trip even for half a
class. While it's getting harder and harder for me to see her
this way (and I have to coax her out of her crate whenever she's at
PP), we're going to continue for a little while though I think as soon
as you all move to contacts I'm going to put her in the car with her
Thundershirt on. Even what we tried today with us staying all the
way at the other end of the field when you started the contacts wasn't
far enough away.
She is home now and has recovered though a bit subdued.
I should just let her be the obedience dog that she wants to be, but
can't quite face having another dog wash out of agility just yet.
If I would just switch her over to NADAC we'd be fine, but I mostly do
agility to spend time with my friends and most of you aren't at
NADAC. I'm such a USDAA person anyway.
It's so awful seeing how she is when she's trembling with such
anxiety. I keep thinking I shouldn't be torturing a dog who is so
attached to me. It's like she can't trust me to keep her safe and
that's not very easy to deal with.
Mon Jul 12
A.M. Trek still doesn't want to go outside this morning because of the baking tray that used to be there.
Noon she was still hesitant until she noticed the bread in my
hand. Then suddenly she was very brave. This is after I had
let Yoshi out and she was standing back 20' from the back door. I
think she finally figured out that the tray was gone. I invited
her to look around a little bit and that may have helped I don't know.
She's so funny sometimes. She really has to decide for herself
that something is ok. You really can't talk her into it (though I
still try.)
Trek walk - uneventful.
She's been hiding in her crate at noon and won't come out when I call
her (maybe I should use bread but she's 1/2 pound overweight so i don't
want to give her too much.) What i do is go in her crate and clip
the leash on and then stand back up and call her and that seems to work
for now. It's not like going on a walk at noon is new for her at
all.
Sat/Sun
Not a doggy weekend. Mostly playing fetch and dog walks.
The parked car maneuver continues to work smoothly.
i made a mistake with training Trek and it was the dumbest thing.
I had been working with her with a baking tray and then had left it by the door and it got kicked accidentally 2-3 times.
Now she doesn't want to go outside - stupid oversight: whack head.
I've moved the tray and we'll see how long before she stops worrying about it.
Fri Jul 9
The Bay Team Super Regional premium is out now, and I have to decide
what to put Trek through and what just to work and what I might have
Yoshi at.
If we do an overnight then it's really hard to have Yoshi along and get
any sleep (to be honest I haven't tried it so maybe I'm just being a
chicken, but I do want the time to be mine and Trek's since Trek isn't
yet that happy with the environment.
I'm wondering how long do I put her through going to trials. She
may get used to them, but she's not liking them now. There's
already a list of places I don't take her.
- Santa Rosa's covered arena
- (The one at WAG is ok because NADAC doesn't have a teeter)
- Turlock and its trains right beside the ring
So far Dixon, Woodland are fine as long as it's not too hot
and Prunedale is the obvious winner even though it is further away for
me and makes driving back and forth difficult though she's ok with
staying overnight since that's quiet and she gets a lot of attention
that way.
I think camping one day will work.
USDAA Q Check
2 PII Gamblers
1 PII Snooker
1 PII Jumper (ironic as this is her best class - but it's often too hot by the time it comes around)
and the perennial
2 PI Standard
1 PI Pairs Relay (I wasn't going to worry about more Relay till she's
at PII - but that's silly if we're stopping Standard for a while, she's
running well enough and we can beg off of any teeters.)
I'm rereading the description of Performance Speed Jumping (PSJ) which is another version of Steeplechase.
It's a jumpers style course with A frame and weavepoles one of which is
to be taken twice.. There is also a Long Jump which she doesn't
see often but since they've redesigned it, it looks like a jump and not
a mini dog walk. No teeter. Sounds like a winner to
me. There is no qualifying leg required for the Performance
version (there is for regular Steeplechase).
So the schedule looks like
Sat PSJ Rd 1
Sun
PI Pairs Relay
PII PSJ Rd 2
PII Gamblers
PII Snooker
Mon (if we were to do it - not likely)
PII Jumpers
Thu Jul 8
More dog walk city. Mark's mom came over and played with Cooper
and Cameo so they are already tired which is nice, though Cameo was
sore and so we just went out to sniff.
Wed Jul 7
Yoshi walk - the parked car maneuver makes his walk so much
easier. No more hurried street crossing. What was funny is
we did that with an approaching GSD with no problem, even let the dogs
directly approach for a little while, but when he saw a small dog
across the street and I didn't go hide, he barked. Though he
chilled out quickly.
Tue Jul 6
Dog walk city. I'm walking Cooper and Cameo today as well.
Both of them did well. Cameo still gets sore so her walk was
about half the distance of Cooper's. I even used the parked car
evasion technique when Cooper and I nearly walked into another dog and
person. Mark had mentioned that they were barky at other dogs but
separately I don't see that though Cameo does bark some (not serious
though).
Trek's class is canceled today.
Mon Jul 5
I have finally figured out Trek's noise issues. Took me long enough,
though there were some red herrings that threw me off the track.
This doesn't mean I have solved them, in fact I may never do so, but at
least I understand them.
Trek doesn't like
- barking dogs in enclosed spaces
- humans yelling loudly, or calling out in a stressed way
- whacking, percussive thudding sounds - she hates bouncing balls
- metal on metal sounds, even wind chimes used to make her nervous
and she doesn't like schools with loud kids and a ton of balls
bouncing and metal clanging (this is improving)
One or two of these sounds will startle her, but she'll recover, but
things build and in the space of hearing 3 or more closely spaced
teeters (or other) she'll start to shake, stress pant, run under cover,
and if attached to me will try to drag me to the car so she can be in
her crate, and she sometimes (often) will not come out of that crate
while the sounds are continuing. Last time at Power Paws she wouldn't
come out until the teeter sounds had stopped for 10 minutes.
Mysteriously Trek doesn't care about
- fireworks
- recorded music (even deliberately really loud thudding music with
the subwoofer turned way up and the walls shaking - Zzzzzz)
Trek grew up with 25-30 well cared for Corgis. Many of them live in a
large room full of crates attached to the house (actually it's an
integral part of the house - I've seen it.). If you put 25 Corgis in a
room it's a good bet that at least half of them will start barking many
times a day.
And what do we humans do to shut them up (me included for the first two)
- yell or shout
- yell or shout louder
- whack the wall or table top
- bang metal (a bigger version of pennies in a coke can)
- for great effect take a pot and whack it on the countertop
The perpetrators settle down with silly, gleeful expressions on their
faces. What you're not seeing is the quiet dog who is cowering at the
back of his/her crate.
One thing that threw me off was that her breeder said that they have a
duck hunting season and the dogs usually don't like being outside when
the shotguns are going off. I now think that the only difference that
experience made was to make her indifferent to fireworks.
So I'm left with: Now what? It really helps to understand the problem
so I'm not wasting my time on things that don't matter. But she went
through TWO years of this and she's already better but she's 5 now.
She's never going to like it - even with all the continuing counter
conditioning. She's happy making noise like doing teeters, but other
times she isn't controlling the noise must feel like a reprimand.
She's actually fine with me yelling at Yoshi to stop barking. Maybe I
should look more carefully to see what it is about that that's ok. I
can also do a lot of counter conditioning with bouncing balls since they
are a source of fun too. But how to make a teeter sound fun besides
just feeding her around them? I think that we'll just have to get some
real distance between us and the teeter and just feed her there and work
our way up. I'll have to get to class early to work on the teeter
separately before anyone else is on it. I think us taking a lot of
breaks from the sounds would be good too (like the Control Unleashed
game Give Me a Break.)
Poor kid. This could be so fun for her, and I'm hoping it eventually
can be.
Sun Jul 4
Just remembered that the raffle person was bringing something I'd won
awhile back to this trial so I'm going to drag myself over and take
both dogs and work on their issues separately.
The prize was a massage certificate (yay) and a dog snuggy which doesn't really fit them very well, but ok.
I switched off working each dog throughout the morning.
Trek is not happy about all the commotion (gamblers was running and the
numbers calling and the horns were a lot and there was a teeter and
dogs barking too.
When I showed her to a friend later she didn't see the stress that Trek
was going through because it was too subtle and less intense since the
only thing going on was the teeter then, and all she was doing was
stress panting. My big clue is her trying to drag me to the car
and her crate. But she was willing to bug people for treats.
Yoshi was happy to get out there and work and did great mostly unless a
dog came too close moving (3x) however I had a hold of him everytime,
and what was fantastic is that he is now able to heel past many dogs
standing or moving (walking). The trick is getting his attention
again after I've given him a treat. It's almost better to have
something he can just lick. Cheese works great in this case, but
cream cheese or peanut butter would work also or even just holding a
soft treat and letting him have only a little of it.
It's weird that he's actually now happier in the environment than Trek
is. Sound like we should just go, but not enter or just enter
games classes with Trek.
BUT! later when the fireworks start. It's Trek who's ok and Yoshi
is unhappy, but more in the Intruder! sort of way. I made a video
of it.
What is so different about a teeter and a firework? Something
must be about the proximity, but some of the fireworks were quite close
this year.
But super close proximity seems to make a difference. She would
likely react to fireworks much closer to her, but even when I'm 150'
from a teeter she responds. One thing is that there are no
metallic sounds in fireworks and anything that clangs is like
fingernails on a chalkboard to her.
In between agility and fireworks, both dogs went for walks.
Trek's was fine. Yoshi's was great. Twice we used a parked
car to go around a dog on the same side walk and it worked
fantastic. One we were passing a dog and person who had stopped
and the other was a dog approaching. For the approaching dog,
again I waited by the back of a parked car until the dog was closer and
then just kept the other dog on the opposite side of the car.
This is actually much easier that having to cross the street. I
do let Yoshi see the dog some but when the dog disappears on the other
side of the car he seems not to care.
Sat Jul 3
No agility today. Phew.
So I'm spending the day going through old photos. Found some of
Flint's cake and retirement celebration and put them on Facebook and
sent them to Gail.
Yoshi walk.
A dog on Fairview started barking at him on the other side of a
wire gate. He started to return fire but I go his attention and he
sat beside me and was able to heel past the dog (who had calmed down -
the dog's people got to watch too which I don't know made any
difference at all but things went really well so hopefully someone
noticed.
We got to repeat this again for a Labrador he often sees and the two
white dogs next door.. Then the real test was a dog approaching
on our side of the street. We stopped right at a parked car while
I waited to see if the dog was going to come this way. They did
so we slipped around the street side of the parked car which went
perfectly. Phew.
I need to announce the CU Games DVD viewing party in August.
Fri Jul 2
I managed to come back from Shasta with a Cold and I've been sick for the last 3 days. Only now sort of functioning.
I did work with Trek's noise sensitivity using a baking tray - either
moving or taping it. It's funny that moving (tilting) it gets the
stronger reaction. And when she goes on overload then she's
done. I can even work with the surprisingly resilient Yoshi and
she doesn't care.
She's eaten something that's making her throw up. I think it's a small
piece of fruit that the squirrels steal from next door and eat in the
trees and drop most of it on the ground. Can't really tell.
She's pretty quiet right now (so am I).
Her last class at Frielance is tonight. I think I'll just take
her and not worry about Yoshi, as I'm not up to keeping track of two
dogs.
Tomorrow she is entered in the Bay Team's USDAA agility trial at Prunedale. Hope I recover enough to be able to function.
Had an attack of good sense and scratched her from the trial. I
called the vet and they gave me some basic advice but mostly to keep an
eye on her.
They didn't think i should feed her but I did because it seemed to settle her tummy down.
I haven't been well enough to train her today so she hasn't eaten
anything since breakfast and whatever she was scavenging. She
seems ok so I'm going to take her to her last class at Freilance
Trek Freilance Agility class.
Same deal. She would do a teeter once when nothing else was going
on but no more once other dogs did it as well. In everything else
she did really well and she's getting to the point where I have to jog
to keep up with her in the weavepoles. Deliberately did a few
optional rear crosses and she drove ahead nicely. I even was able
to drive her over a jump and have her carry out enough where I could
say "left tunnel" and she took it fine without hesitation.
She's always been a little leery of the tire but today couldn't stay
away from it and I just left her take it off course twice, because it
was so nice to see her running so well. She was getting stressed
by some of the commotion but I put her shirt on her and that seemed to
help. Every so often she'd poop out and I paused and fed her
talked to her happily and goosed her or thunked her side. Such
things usually don't work, but they did this time.
Tried the teeter again and lured her up it but she wasn't very happy about it.
Tue Jun 30
Trek Agility Class.
Such mixed feelings. She is brilliant until they start working on the contacts.
Then she can do one but the exposure to the sound of other dogs doing
the equipment makes her just cower and shake even with a thundershirt
on which helps some. I put her in her car crate and then she
won't come out again until the class is over, and then 5 minutes past
that. Then we spent time over with Carol and she got to eat lots
of yummy treats there, and then since the next class was still on the
other end of the field I put her over it once which she did
cautiously. Then I tried it again and she was not interested at
all but go part was up and I lowered it just to get her over it.
I'm dropping all sorts of treats on it.
She also didn't want to do the A-Frame, but was ok with the dog walk
probably because she could see it from the side and knew it wasn't a
teeter. I think next time before I leave I'm going to give her a
calming supplement to see if that helps.
I'm feeling guilty about torturing her but I'm going to give it the fully 6 weeks to see if she improves at all.
So I'm home with a cold and am feeling well enough to do a little
experiment and record it. I took a metal baking tray and am
sitting on the agility table with it. Just moving it makes her
stress. Taping it makes her flinch but less so than the
motion. I recorded that, and have now given her two Pet Eases and
will wait about 30 minutes and then try again. Then I'll do the
same thing with a Thundershirt on her.
So we did this I'm not sure how much the Pet Ease helps
her. The Thundershirt and the regular shirt help but the best
thing is for her to take breaks and work it out herself.
Encouraging her more with food only works so far and she shutsdown
pretty quickly.
Wed-Sun
[Break for Mt. Shasta]
Tue Jun 22
It occurs to me that "bye" is already taken to as "By me" means sit
beside me. I like the one person who tells there dogs "go around"
and "the other way."
Of course "Round" is also taken (turn around)
The multidisiplined dogs - I'm running out of terms that make any sense to me.
Wait a minute. "Flank" would work "flank" and "away" and hopefully they don't sound too similar - maybe "flank bye"
Trek PP agility class
Trek hates me right now. I had to drag her out of her
crate. The she recovered and did well for the first part of the
class that wasn't on contact equipment, but when we moved to the
contact area she started to melt down. I did get her through the
course twice and then stopped. The second time I had to beg her
to do anything on wood and even had to do the teeter on leash.
Jim had a good suggestion of having her do a trick like spin and then
run and do the A-Frame which actually worked.
The first part of the class she did great on and was fine with the rear
cross drills and her weave poles are fantastic. Even during the
scary contact part she did perfect weave poles. I'm hoping she
gets used to this. I'll have to coax her out of the crate with
treats.
So I have two dogs both of whom would rather herd ducks than
anything. While this is not at all what I planned it's nice to
see them succeed and be happy doing it.
I'm leaving for Shasta tomorrow and Terri has the dogs for the next few days. I need to tell them to be nice to her.
Mon Jun 21
Yoshi Walk. Lots of dog sightings - all positive. Often I
just stopped to feed him when we saw a dog - I didn't always insist on
playing LAT. One particular situation had a Cairn Terrier across
the street which we walked nicely past and then a lab appears on the
same side as the Cairn and the Cairn started to bark and Yoshi didn't,
he just played LAT.
Also saw a dog at Gibbons and Lincoln across the street which was fine
and as we walked home the dog followed us and crossed over to our side
of the street. When we got to our house we hid behind my Scion
and I let him watch the dog for a short while them as they got closer
covered his eyes and then let him see the dog retreating on the other
side.
Sun Jun 20
Terri and I walked both dogs.
Yoshi is more reactive and tense around Trek but he did ok. I
showed Terri how to hide behind a car and feed him if you get stuck,
but the higher valor is to turn tail and go back to the previous side
street and go down that 3 house widths and let the other dog go by,
rather than risk a confrontation you get the amusement of him looking
over his shoulder going "Monster." (As in: there's one chasing me.)
Trek was fine, but totally under foot (mine). I encouraged Terri that walking them separately is a really good idea.
Sat Jun 19
Set up a little circular pen holding nothing, and introduced them to go
bye and away. The go confuses them so I may get rid of it.
Go means go in a straight line to them (Trek was looking at the mini
fence asking if I really wanted her to jump it..
It helps if I say "Out" in front of the cue (since go and come are pretty much already taken) and a push out hand
signal. Maybe it should be "out bye" and "out away" or just "away." Whip smart Trek is already getting it just to be
annoying. Yoshi is less sure but he's getting it. I'm told
that I have to have stock in the pen for it to be effective but I really don't need to own stock, so I'm hoping they at least get used to the verbal cues.
Fri Jun 18
What a great doggie day. Did both herding and agility.
Both dogs had fantastic duck herding lessons with Linda. She uses
very biddable Call Ducks and it was more a matter of me avoiding
stepping on them - which I managed to avoid doing so with effort.
And each dog was mostly very respectful of them and didn't treat them
like the moving dog toys that they must resemble. This was Trek's
3rd time on the Calls and she did great. This was Yoshi first
time with ducks at all and he did very well and I was very happy with
him. This means that if I choose, both dogs have a herding
future. I much prefer this dilemma than neither dog liking it. I
think because of money and time and the fact that I'm just learning,
we'll just keep training Yoshi. Trek is happy doing whatever and
I had her doing a little herding to help her confidence, but she
doesn't need confidence help with Calls. Maybe with the larger
Indian Runners and Geese, but not Calls.
I'm just happy that Yoshi seems to like the ducks and is interested in herding them.
With fowl you have to start out at the trial level so this is going to take some practice.
Agility.
Today was Trek's last agility class with Rachelle which I'm sad about
but Yoshi can continue if he wishes. Today I noticed he seemed
much more at ease at the ranch than at agility. Unfortunately the
class times are being rearranged so i won't be able to continue on a
regular basis but on the once a month Friday that I take off so that
one of the dogs can work with Lori Yoshi could go especially because it
will likely be Trek that goes to Lori's lessons for a while now. I
think Trek is going to be going to be at the Open level. I want
to get her trained through Open before I put her in the ring.
Both dogs enjoyed running the courses and Trek did a great 3 jump lead
out that included a tire. Yoshi is often a little weird about
tires but with cajoling he did this one. I'm going to give Yoshi
a little while back at agility class before deciding if he really hates
it. He is markedly more relaxed in the herding environment.
The last agility class at 7:30 is in two weeks. Trek's Power Paws
class starts next week, but I may put it off a week since I'm doing
Shasta prep.
Thu Jun 17
Trek walk got to met someone in an electric wheel chair and she did
great. Went around the corner and there was a couple of people
playing catch and the sound of the ball hitting the mitt was way more
stressful that any wheelchair, though she was able to eat around the
ball play but still stressed.
Yoshi walk. Had a barking fit at a couple of labs crossing the
street near us and coming towards us. Started out great and then
they got too close and I didn't have food out to hold his
attention. However after that he did great and we even walked to
the vet to get more pill pockets for Trek. He was very watchful
but did well and even stopped at a local bar to say hello to folks.
On the way back I had two dogs coming right at us an instead of
crossing the street we just went into the street and placed a parked
car in between us and the dogs. Riskier since you're in the street
and if your dog reacts you have cars near you, but it worked great this
time.
Did some more obedience work in the school playground.
Both dogs herding ducks tomorrow - looking forward to it.
Wed Jun 16
Trek - fine.
Yoshi many (around 6 or more) dog sightings all good.
Did some obedience work with Yoshi on the painted school playground.
Tue Jun 15
[will fill in - it's written down on a piece of paper somewhere.]
Mon Jun 14
Dog walks. Obsessing on Stop for both dogs and they are both
getting more solid at it. Trek I can tell to stop walk away and
do a utility routine (spoken cues with the signals so not the whole
thing.) Yoshi is now pretty good at Stop and Down not as good at
Sit but I'm not sure I care. He usually sits on a Stop
anyway. Trek knows the difference and will remain standing for
the most part. With Yoshi I worked more on this in the backyard and off sheep he's really getting it.
A friend said her herding trainer said that Corgi's are apprehensive
about laying down probably because they are afraid of losing the
sheep. That might be some of Yoshi's issues but I haven't been
able to get a reliable stop so he more gets downed If I
could get him to Stop I would do it.
I've arranged for a lesson for them from the duck's owner on
Friday. Trek will have a good time but I'm really interested to
see if we can get Yoshi intrigued. Yoshi may have to switch over
to fowl and while he's been on geese once he hasn't been on
ducks. I'm hoping he can learn better skills with the fowl and
then maybe go back to sheep though that's a huge leap. I think
regardless he will try for the rest of his PT in Sept as he's
ready. There are two trials pretty close together and I'm
wondering whether to enter one or both of them. Probably just
one, as that would be two tries for one leg. I'll have to ask
around which one to enter.
It's official! Trek is now in the Tues Power Paws agility class.
I have something scheduled tomorrow so she will start next Tues on my
birthday. I've sent Rachelle email saying that she's switching
and could maybe Yoshi have her spot since things appear to be working
with him in the class and he seems to be having a nice time.
Sun Jun 13
She did it! Trek got her HCT with me driving. Fortunately
in HCT they can coach from the sidelines so I got a lot of help.
She did grip a duck and I did hit her with the stock stick
(lightly). She immediately released the duck (now that I look at it she released on my voice first) and startled
completely disengaged and ran off a short way, but I was able to get her back with out a lot of
begging. What's really cool is that she has a stop and she was
able to look back and retrieve one duck that was behind. There
was an amusing exchange between me and the ducks' owner who was also my
sideline coach (and is also a judge). She said that you're not
allowed to hit the dog because the public doesn't like to see dogs
hit. We both agreed that it was ironic because the public doesn't
like to see a dog biting a duck either.
They tell me that Trek could do well at this with with training. I don't
know as test levels usually don't have ducks so we'd have to start at
the much harder trial level. Though interestingly enough both
dogs can train at this level. This would not be cheap
unfortunately.
I did make a video and after some consideration I've decided to include it here:
Keep in mind that this is essentially her 2nd time on ducks.
Sat Jun 12
Trek AHBA Trial
Well Trek made it clear she doesn't care at all about sheep. I
could get the sheep to follow me (they'll come along with me - all I
have to say is let's go sheep in a happy voice) but she wouldn't even
come along unless I kneeled down and called her.
The judge asked it we wanted to try ducks instead and I immediately
said yes. I've had her on the ranches indian runner ducks but
these ducks are the smaller (cuter!) Call Ducks and she really liked
those and with the judge's expert handling (get close, but not too close)
she Q'd. The judge is allowed to help at the Test levels.
I've asked if maybe we can squeeze Yoshi in to try HCT ducks, but I
haven't heard back Unfortunately no because they only have two sets of
ducks. and Yoshi can't go back to HCT since he already had his
JHD. HCT is not a stock specific title. JHD is though so in
theory if offered he could do a JHD on ducks. I could probably
talk them into doing it if i wanted to.
Trek won a really strange curly coated stuffed toy pig that Yoshi has cheerfully stolen.
Fri Jun 11
Agility class for both dogs.
Trek did well and Yoshi seemed to enjoy himself too. Trek has hit
her stride again. Let's see if trials don't mess it up
again. Her next one is Bayteam July 4th weekend (just Saturday).
Yoshi's first two runs went well though he's of course tentative.
The third run he was more distracted and even popped his weavepoles to
go see the donkeys though I was able to call him back to weave in the
other direction. I still don't have him jump near where the other
dogs are even though they're in crates/xpens.
Oh no! Bad news. Super-Corgi Porsche has a partially torn acl and
Debbie's consulting with surgeons to see what the best thing to do is.
Thu Jun 10
Today out in the yard I blew the herding whistle
I thought both dogs came until I realized that Trek was running past me to go hide in her crate. Sigh.
Trek dog walk fine - I lured her out of her crate with cheese.
Evening Yoshi dog walk. He did really well. 3 dog
encounters all across the street (one I crossed the street for.)
I was feeding him cheese so he seemed particularly attentive but if a
dog had really bothered him I could have been holding anything and he'd
still bark. But in all cases he looked at the dog and then looked
back. For the first dog since it was smaller terrier like dog I
started feeding him immediately without asking for a behavior. He
liked that a lot. Leslie does this in her DVD so I no longer
hesitate doing it. Scary dog? Let's eat.
Dumbbell work with Trek. She'll hold it but is a little tired of
the game so i need to switch it up more. I sometimes have her
retreive it which breaks things up.
Wed Jun 10
Trek still wouldn't come out for noon so Yoshi went instead.
She went later.
Dumbbell work inside on a Yoga mat and it went fine. Yoshi will even hold it for a little while.
Tue Jun 9
I'm realizing that Yoshi likes his cue's more sharp or louder and to
get away from yelling at him I should consider switching over to a
whistle, so i get it back out and start back on getting a reliable
sound out of it. when I first got it I spent enough time to
figure out how to make it sound and then put it away as a fun toy, but
not something I'd use. Now especially with sheep or even just an
ordinary recall it could be useful.
Yoshi really likes the whistle. Sound sensistive Trek on the
other hand hates it, and went and pouted in her crate and wouldn't come
out for a walk at noon though she did later.
Dog walks: fine.
Dumbbell work for both dogs. I think the wooden one is too big,
but it was nice to see it in comparison - I'll see if I can sell it to
someone at ODTC.
Trek is starting to learn Hold. I'll hand it to her and touch the
bottom and top of her mouth to encourge her to just hold it. It's
working gradually though she still wants to spit it out.
Mon Jun 8
Still bummed about how Yoshi still is not calm and doesn't listen when
he's around lighter sheep. I can get him to calm down if
we're all not moving, but as soon as they move he floors it. He's
so good at keeping sheep together, but if I can't control him it
doesn't matter. If he was around sheep every day then he'd likely be able to work through it, but not twice a month.
[later]
I'm remembering how good he was with Judy Vanderford (name used with
permission), and how good he's been with other people. I clearly
need to take myself out of the sheep picture here. I'll do the
fowl and goats but he's just a nut case around me and lighter sheep, but he may not need to do sheep.
I think it's his fear kicking in He would be fine out side the
pen but inside he would just bark, though interestingly enough he was
ok in the larger pen with the slower sheep.
What I can't figure out is whether he still likes sheep or not.
He's really uncomfortable with light sheep but the slower ones seem
ok. Maybe we should go in the larger pen and completely ignore
the sheep and see how he is, or am I just making him miserable. I
don't think, so as if he's not happy he won't engage. He actually
gives the goats calming signals, so it's pretty clear when he's not
happy.
It's interesting the way he is with fearful sheep is the way he is with
fearful dogs. Really really pushy and somewhat aggressive.
He stops listening and he charges in instead of gathering. So
competition-wise he has a couple of PT runs (4 if I choose since the
shows are close together in August) and then that's it save for Judy
Vaderford's mellow trial sheep, unless he changes which doesn't seem
terribly likely. If he never did sheep again would he miss
it? I don't know, he seems really interested, but it could be
anxiety I can now tell the small round pen isn't going to work
anymore, save for going in and doing nothing. Maybe i should have
an animal communicator talk to him. I did this several years ago
and what I really like was that my belief wasn't required for it to
provide useful information (it's very freeing to not have to agonize
about an imponderable) and it's not that expensive. Though I do
wonder how much they pull from your own head instead of the dogs.
I'm really hoping I can get him intested in goats again. And it's
going to be fun to see if he will herd ducks. Fortunately there
won't be any fear issues with ducks and I'll be very careful about
which geese he sees. In the meantime we're in to rush for sheep
as the GSD trials aren't till August and I know he can Q now even with
me driving.
Dog walks both fine.
At some point in time I should start bringing Trek to Wed night ob
class, but there is a lot of training I can do here so no rush there.
Sun Jun 7
Both dogs went herding today. Trek really wanted to go so I decided to take her along.
Yoshi spent his first session screaming at sheep in the round
pen. I didn't even let him off but instead just sat with
him. Then gave him a break. The sheep were puzzled but
happy he wasn't after them right then.
I then put Trek in briefly and she sort of walked around with me and
the sheep - not really herding but may be enough to pass - don't
know. I took her into the larger arena but the sheep never
settled down and we left which is funny because she's so soft but she's
a bit darker in color. But the trainer's dogs are dark and the
sheep don't seem overly disturbed by them.
Took Yoshi back into the round pen and he was just riling up the sheep
and one crashed the fence (which is what got him kicked out at the
other place with sheep) so we switched over to the larger arena.
He actually did better in there as he was able to round up the sheep
and we could do some moving of them. He still has trouble
stopping but when the sheep are calmer so is he. Worked some on
the walking down the fenceline problem of him peeling the sheep off the
fence. If I keep him on the side of the sheep instead of letting
him go all the way behind then things work better.
In response to the trainer's usual lecture about Yoshi needing to have a down on
recall, I got to cheerfully demonstrate his fantastic off-sheep down on
recall at 50'. (He looses his mind around sheep and doesn't listen but with no sheep or dogs around he's great.)
Convinced, she changed the plan to more long line work around sheep.
He's such an enigma.
So I'm still back to what should his performance future be?
If I
can get him to just chill out around sheep then he would be
great. But it's been years and he's still not really calm around
them and to go to the trial level the sheep are usually lighter and
less sane. He's crashed sheep into fences before and he's not
really getting how not ok that is. It's probably time to start
him working ducks.
Ducks take a lot more control, but he has it if he's willing to work
them. I'm hoping he decides that goats are ok as he does so well
with them. He has the skills to get that last PT leg and that
might be a good time to end his sheep career. I suppose we could
wait until the Corgi herding trial though they won't have one for a
long time. But after all that typed I'm thinking it would likely
be really good for him to learn how to relax around sheep, but it's not
that urgent. And it would be good for Trek's confidence to do a
little herding too - we'll have to see how she does next weekend at the
trial which starts at 8:30am sharp.
Just heard that it's ok for Yoshi to continue to attend agility
class that is another thing that should help his
confidence. I just won't run him when we're on the lower field
which is over threshold for him when the other dogs are around.
I think we'll let Yoshi do the agility class and learn to herd
ducks. Trek will get the agility class and get more serious about
Open obedience. Yoshi has earned a break from obedience.
Sat Jun 6
Couldn't resist doing a Facebook update:
Doing mat work with Yoshi while I work on the computer. It's a
fantastic off switch when he's decided to bark at everything outside.
Except when he can't stand it anymore and leaps up barking because it's
an EMERGENCY! I call him back to the mat and he does this pathetic
(but really funny) crying, which means he's going to do what I ask but
it's really, really hard.
Dog walks. Took Yoshi through the park and looked at a couple of
dogs from a distance which was totally fine. Walked right past
the Tibetian Terrier at the corner of Central and Fernside. Yoshi
started to lunge at the dog who was behind the fence, but I quickly
stopped him and then he seemed happy to eat. The Tibby was really
intrigued by the food, but i found that he mostly just wanted to be
petted which I did through the fence. This was a great and safe
way for Yoshi to deal with a type of dog he usually doesn't like.
It was really sad that the Tibby was so starved for attention.
Maybe I'll go say hello more often. The park itself was way busy
with screaming children and skateboarders. Yoshi did great, but
it would be Trek's personal hell so i didn't take her there, though she
did come with me down high street to check if the theatre box office
was open for Terri.
So I'm rethinking future plans for both dogs. If Yoshi decides he
likes agility class it might be really good for him. Some limited
dog interaction and he can work on his agility skills. Given that
Trek is moving to Power Paws at the end of summer then he could have
Trek's spot since the class isn't full. I'll have to check if
this is ok with Rachelle but it sounds like it is and she knows that
Trek will likely be leaving. This might be more fun for him than
continuing obedience classes. Trek will be happy in the obedience
classes and she's already working on open skills like dumbbells.
Yoshi and I will continue to work on herding sheep calmly (and will
continue this tomorrow - mostly let's walk down the fence line without
pushing them off the fence), and of course stopping when there's sheep
around. I don't think I'm going to take Trek as I want the sheep
next week to be a surprise. Though she does well in Joyce's round
pen so I'm not sure, Trek like's being with me through whatever though
she has her definite limits. Of course, now I want to take her.
Fri Jun 5
The weather at Shasta was rainy and icky so I actually drove home today
and was able to take both dogs to agility class. We put the dogs
away when Yoshi ran and I fed him a lot during his runs. He
actually did ok. Knows the obstacles but of course is a little
tentative. Almost agoraphobic in a way. He did start to
leap at one dog and I immediately collared him. After seeing
Leslie McDevitt's DVD I'm way more free with feeding him.
Fortunately he's lost that 1/2 pound he'd gained. Unfortunately
he appears to have given it to Trek so now she's going to get 1/3 c
too. Trek ran well too though was a little tentative at first
because my attention was split. I set up one crate and covered it
when Yoshi was in it. He still sometimes barked when a dog was
near but it became less so during the class. I may have Yoshi in
class a couple of times a month as it would help him to focus, but I
have to keep in mind that this is Trek's time but I'm having her herd
so it seems fair.
Wed Thu
Off to Shasta
Tue Jun 1
While I am disappointed that Yoshi is afraid of the goats I have to
keep in mind that the goal is to have him calm down enough around sheep
since he knows he can move them. I also want him to work ducks
though that may not work.
Tempting to try the thundershirt but it would just get sheep poop all over it.
I'm going to Shasta this week and when I'm back it will be Trek's HCT test, then after that we can maybe work on it.
He will be in agility class on that Friday before.
It's tricky. He's calm enough with HTrainer2's school sheep, and it a bit too energetic with HTrainer3's.
He mostly needs to learn to walk a fence without peeling the sheep off
so I think that means lots of fence walking with HTrainer2's sheep.
Yoshi walk noon. Mostly just worked on Stop and Sit etc.
Trek walk evening. Went down High St which is mildly busy without a thundershirt and she's so much better these days.
Thundershirt has released more before and after videos and while it
pains me to watch the before one as the dog is so over threshold, it is
impressive to see the dog calmer with it on. I put it on Yoshi
for a little while tonight I had to give him a stuffed kong to keep him
from trying to take it off, but he definitely was calmer with it on.
Mon May 31
Yoshi walk
Not many dogs. We caught up to one Golden who could hardly
walk up his stairs to his house. Not exactly a big threat.
Yoshi was very amped when walking so we did a lot of Stops and Sits and Downs which calmed him down some.
Trek walk
Took her down to Broadway (busy street) to watch the traffic and there
was a U-Haul with an empty trailer rattling so we stopped and I let her
eat string cheese as it went by and I gave her some when we reached
Broadway as well.
Had am amusing conversation. Someone on her porch had noticed me
feeding Trek cheese and was asking about it. She's not a dog
person and was wondering if it was ok - I told it was in
moderation. She was very complementary about how "clean" Trek
was. I said thank you at the same time envisioning how coated
with sheep poop she was after the goat had flattened her (both sides of
her neck were completely coated and I hosed her off at the ranch and
again at home), I decided that was too hard to explain to a non-dog
person.
The owner of the medium sized short hair dog on the corner walked by as
I was chatting with my neighbor. I mentioned that Trek was
friendly and she said their's wasn't always. I then told her
about Control Unleashed and how much it had helped my other dog.
I'm thinking more mat work would be a good thing for both Trek and Yoshi. Though he's on it right now as I type.
Domino the zen kitty helped both dogs play LAT on a feline. This
cat is amazing as Yoshi had stopped and was barking right at her and
she just kept sitting there looking back. I got Yoshi's attention
and then we did LAT for a while. Then Domino was still there when
Trek and I went by and so Trek and I also did the same thing. Thanks
Domino!
Sun May 30
Dull day for doggies, but they had fun being out in the yard part of the time barking at things and digging where they shouldn't
Trek got to show off her new dumbbel skills for Patricia and
Susan. Yoshi also got to show where he's at in the process and
they both got to do a teeter.
Watched more of the CU Games DVD. Leslie is just amazing working
with the dogs and she's so good at reading them and explaining what
she's observing.
Barbara who saw Trek get pinned down by the goat was very encouraging
and noted that she didn't freak or scream or run away so she might not
be completely ruined on goats. She might be right since Trek is
willing to go near them cautiously.
Sat May 29
Drat Drat Drat.
I had Trek on goats and she was doing ok and I had just stopped her and
a goat pinned her down and now she doesn't want anything to do with
them.
I kept taking her in and just letting her be there but she'll only get
so close. We put her on light sheep in a small pen and were able
to lure her in but she's a bit shook. I've decided to try her on
sheep instead for the HCT but I'm not sure if that will work
either.
I'm bummed because the goats are a blast when they are not being
recalcitrant, but now I have two dogs that don't like them. And
the bummer is that it I had stopped her further away from the goats
this wouldn't have happened.
I guess this means stick to sheep, though she doesn't like how big they are but she has noticed that they move when she asks.
Yoshi seems to be feeling better but I briefly took him in the goat pen
and he wouldn't even look at them. Trek at least will look at them
Fri May 28
Agility for both dogs.
Well agility for one dog. Yoshi appears to have pulled an
abdominal or quad muscle and doesn't want to hop up on things so we
just did ground work mostly having to do with Stop and Down at a
distance (the herding related commands.) I'm not sure how much
he'll enjoy being in a class, but we'll have to see in a couple of
weeks.
Trek on the other hand was awesome and I'm so happy with her. She
can now go over a jump and send to weave poles and do all 12 poles with
me at least 12' away. She now sends to tunnels quite well.
Doesn't have issues with any of the contact equipment including the
teeter. With the teeter I was careful to stay slightly behind her
and not get ahead of her which seems to encourage her to leap off.
One thing she had trouble with is doing a tunnel after doing the poles,
but I'm not going to push her as she's already doing great. I do
have to remember not to chatter.
"Over tunnel go" works for a jump and send to the tunnel sequence.
Thu May 27
Trek walk at noon - not as wet this time.
Yoshi evening walk. If I'm paying attention he's great but if he
sees the dog first he still fusses. First sighting was 2 vislas
off leash going to their car and he was great. The one he say
first was an Aussie who clearly wanted to play though was acting still
and hard to read. Once I got him into a sit he was able to hold
it but he was barking at first. Still looking for dogs and trying
to reencounter the Aussie (which didn't happen) we went into Lincoln
Park and actually worked a little one heeling. Right as we were
leaving I nearly walked us into a Boxer. I took a fast left and
went a distance away (still in the park) and had him sit. The
owners must have thought we were going to come play as they stayed
there for a bit but I just smiled and kept feeding Yoshi who was doing
great. They eventually realized that we were just waiting for
them to move and they continued on and we went home without further
encounters.
Did more dumbbell sessions. If I keep this up I could easily have
a retrieve on the flat in a couple of weeks or so with Trek.
Again we would split up holding the dumbbell with toy fetch which she's
really loving interspered with the oocasional dumbbell retrieve and
when her attention started to flag I would do the Control Unleashed
Give Me a Break where I let her go sniff and only resume the game when
she asks. This is such an obvious concept that I can't believe
none of us formalized it before like Leslie has done.
Then on a whim I stood up and offered the dumbbel to Trek she took it
and since I was standing she sat and looked at he holding the dumbbell
in her mouth. I nearly fell over as I've been trying to figure
out how to get the concept of sitting and holding a dumbbell to go
together. Every time she has the dumbbell and I say sit she drops
the dumbbel and sits. So I stand up lean over offer it to her
saying Take and I stand back up and let her hold it a few seconds and
then bend over and say yes and she releases it sometimes dropping it,
but not too bad.
Worked a little with Yoshi and the dumbbell. He's so cute as he
still after all these years still hold his foot up when
retrieving. At first when we got out there he just wanted to bark
at Sky who he can hear on the other side of the fence but eventually
was able to focus and do some retrieving.
Both dogs will take the dumbbell and let me hold their nose to help
them hold it sometimes. Trek is fine with this, but Yoshi doesn't
really like it.
Herding
Trek is going to be doing goats this Saturday and I'm really excited
about it. I have to remember that what intrigues her is their
motion so I should get the goats moving first and then with any luck
she'll come right along behind. If there's time we can have Yoshi
try ducks though he really doesn't get fowl yet, and it's possible they
don't move fast enough to hold his attention. If I can get the
goats to move with me he might be willing to come along especially if I
stop nagging him. Maybe if I completely ignore him. If Trek
gets good at it I could have them in together but that's a much more
advanced thing. I am really diappointed that Yoshi suddenly is
afraid of the goats as I had high hopes for him as he was doing so well
with them.
Watching some of Leslie's great CU games video trying to figure out
what parts to go over in a viewing party so that we all can practice
it. Most of the main folks have had enough CU training that we
can just go straight to disc 2 Each disc is about 1:20 so doing
all of 2 and some of 3 would do well. In particular, I want us to
see the parallel games and the dog in your face game and may be the car
crash one though the fist two are actually more advanced and would be
the hardest for Yoshi.
Wed May 26
Rain walk for Trek fine
Basic walk for Yoshi
Got the dumbbel out. Trek is willing to hold it for up to 5
seconds. I'm finding that she almost whinces when I say hold
(might sound too much like how I say no which is pretty neutral and
low), so I think I'll stop doing that and just say take or
nothing. I break thinks up with fetch using the dumbbell squeaky
toy. Sometimes I'll have her fetch the dumbbell but I don't
insist on her holding is. She still mouths it so maybe a wooden
one will help - not sure. This is a plastic one.
Yoshi can fetch too to a lesser extent. I should probably work
with him more indoors since their are fewer distractions but the
dumbbell is kinda tough for them to pick up from the floor instead of
the grass.
Spent some time deciphering J & J Dog's dumbbell sizing. It
took forever as the key to figure it out wasn't on the page I was
looking at:
The numbers signify 1/4" increments. An 8 means 2", a 9 means 2 1/4".
The one I have is 2" on the ends so I want 2 1/4" (a 9).
Unfortunately the bit size on the one I have is 1 3/4" and they don't
make that size except as a custom so I decided to try one that's 1/4
larger - a 9x8 (end size x bit size).
Asked Facebook for opions and one experienced competitor says that it's
better to use plastic while they learn so they don't chew up the
wood. Since I already have the plastic one I figured I'd try the
wood since it's not horribly expensive (less than $20 with shipping),
though I can always get another plastic one too if this size works
better.
Tue May 25
Had to work late. One of them got a boring noon walk though I don't remember who.
Mon May 24
So I wrote this to a frend;
I stewarded the Rally Ring all day and the progression/degradation of
the dog's temperaments and comfort level was fascinating.
The experienced rally dogs all seemed to be having a good time, the
advanced dogs were a little unsure, but ok.
But the novice dogs seemed at best just ok and a significant number of
them were sulking, and not having a good time at all.
Obviously this is because of the training of the handlers mostly, and
maybe because they are must less experienced (both dog and handler).
The bummer about this is that while I can mostly get Yoshi to behave
around experienced dogs, I pretty much know what kind of hell he would
think I had condemed him to by making him spend waiting time around 5
unhappy, snarky Cairn Terriers. He's really happy working, but I don't
see him competing even on leash. I could make him and he would probably
be ok but he'd be miserable. So for the second I think I'm going to set
the Rally Novice title dreams aside.
I'm also wondering if a vibrating collar would help keep his attention
when he's on sheep or training in agility. I'd want one where if
there was a shock option that it would be hard to accidentally
press. All the ones I've looked at are much too easy to confuse
the buttons. i could use his empty citronella collar but that
makes him RUN to me so I don't know how helpful it would be into
calming him down. I probably should go back to the chair and a
book idea that one wise soul suggested. Right now I can get him
to stop but he'll just sit there and bark and bark and bark. Of
course this is at sheep. If he would only do that with goats he'd
be fine but instead he's just a big chicken. I should teach him
to bark on cue. I did this for Cali and now Trek, but he pretty
much only barks exactly when i don't want him to. Strange men
working on the house and squirrels. Maybe if i could find a squirrel robot.
Sun May 23
Stewarding at Oakland DTC Obedience Trial in the Rally Ring. It
was very fun and I enjoyed it a lot. The bummer is that I can
totally tell that Yoshi would hate it because of the commotion. I
had originally thought he could be permanently in Novice Rally (because
it's all on leash), but it's a funny thing as the day wore on the less
happy and more stressed the dogs seemed likely because of they are less
experienced and their people are more stressed. There was more
than one Cairn Terrier who seemed particularly unhappy though other
ones were ok. I can assure you that Yoshi would have totally
hated it. It is a disappointment because he's trained through
Rally Excellent (though on leash, he would likely be ok around the
excellent dogs, but I won't take him off leash as I don't want to
endanger his herding career.
Now that I think about it he might actually be happier being a tourist
in the agility environment (or maybe even doing the FEO at CPE on
leash) though I have walked him around an obedience match before, but
that wasn't waiting to go in a Novice ring with a slightly crowded
together bunch of nervous dogs. It's hard to know as he actually
has more emotional control when he's moving less, but given how he is
with dogs moving around him that may not matter. Any he usually
pauses an instant when he's about to make a bad decision though I don't
always have time to intervene then.
Sat May 22 Herding
This was supposed to be Yoshi's day and it mostly was but Trek wanted
to go along so I brought her. She still completely ignores sheep
but she's way intrigued by goats. Actually wanted to herd
them. I could see the light bulb above her head. So I'm
going to work her next Sat on goats and maybe enter her in HCT goats
June 12-13.
Yoshi on the other hand is continuing his I-hate-goats strike. He
won't even look at them and only will go near them if I'm dragging him
on a leash (twice). We got some brief time on the school sheep
and while he did okish we're still having the same arguments.
However I can get him to stop more readily if not entirely
reliably. HTrainer3 doesn't like that he goes straight for a
sheep that's strayed instead of flanking. Others I find worry
less about this when the dog is still training but honestly he should
know better by now.
I think it's time for him to swtich over to fowl and see how he does.
He's been on them once and while they still puzzle him he could do well
at it. I have scratched him from the June 12-13 trail and I'm
likely going to put Trek in HCT on goats in it if there's still
room. Next week I've asked that they both go Trek on goats and
Yoshi on ducks.
[later] There is room! So she's now in HCT on goats which
is the very first class at 8:30am in Pescadero. (Zzzzzz).
Fri May 21
My dog training day.
Trek first went to the eye dr to get a tears test to see how her new medication is working.
Her tears are in NORMAL RANGE!! First time ever. I am so
thrilled though it means her taking doxycycline (an antibiotic) the
rest of her life.
Left eye is at 18, and it's usually at 6 with one time at 9.
Right eye is at 22.
She still needs eyedrops but it's much more manageable.
Yoshi class with Lori
Went to the Open class.
It was good but he did snark at a passing dog. It's the sudden
movement near him. It's like a weird "you're too close go
away" Once time I carried him out (very unceremoniously) to let
him chill out and then we went back in. There were a lot of good
moments, but there are some dogs there who are a bit snarky too so it
wasn't perfect though he is able to mostly cope. I have to decide
whether to maybe take him back to the utility class where there are
fewer dogs and they are quite solid, he has been to the Open class
twice and each time he has been ok but uncomfortable. Given that
he's never going to compete in obedience seriously it can be whatever
class fits his needs best.
Trek agility
She had a nice time
She is really starting to enjoy running and we're starting to work together much better. She had some very nice runs.
Also spoke about maybe Yoshi doing an occasional drop in. That is
ok. I can run him on leash (or not) and the other dogs would be put
away when he runs. I think I want to do this some with him to see
how he is. Rachelle also described to me that in CPE I could do a
For Exhibition Only entry for him and keep him on leash. This is
intriguing. He might actually kinda like that, but he'd have to
be in class for a while to get a feel for it.
No class next Friday, but we can bring our dogs to practice. Then
next week I'm at Shasta so Yoshi won't get to try class till June 11.
Wed May 19
Noon Trek walk fine. Got to meet a neighbor and did ok.
Evening Yoshi walk. Because it was later in the evening we
weren't seeing any dogs so we did a lot of training instead. Stop.
Stay. Sit. Down. Walk. Come. Wound up working on Stop and Come
the most. When he's distracted he pretends not to hear me and I
have to pull on the leash to get his attention. then he goes back
to being perfect until his attention drifts and we do it all over again.
Then near the end I see a GSD walking towards us on the other side of
Gibbons. I have his sit and he watches the GSD walk slowly by who
even looked at him. What a good doggie. He was calm and
didn't even really tense too much. Even offered LAT when he made
eye contact with the Shepherd. Phew!
Tue May 18
Yoshi does clean up well
Yoshi walk noon - Trek didn't want to go so he went. Worked a lot
on Stop with me moving or not. Stop gets a pause. Stop Stay
works better. Stop Sit or Stop Down or Stop Come also work.
Yoshi Stop also is effective. Saw a pair of dogs that we caught
up to and walked parallel with briefly. One dog was staring but
not menacing just curious. Yoshi was fine. He was prancing
as we caught up but seemed to relax when we got up to them (across the
street.)
Trek evening walk. She wanted to go then. Checked if she
understood Stop and she does. Practiced a lot of heeling which
she offered so it went well.
Mon May 17
I was concerned that Yoshi might still have a tick on him so I bought
some Zodiac flea and tick shampoo and gave him a thorough bath and he's
looking very fetching right now. No more ticks after the 9 that I
pulled off of him. I did let the stuff soak in for over a minute
just to be sure.
Both dogs were great when Cathy came over for our DVD night.
Yoshi sat beside me while Terri let her in and then we were able to
calmly walk up and say hello. He of course later exploded at the
window at a passing dog and I held him while he spazzed out and then
calmed down.
CU Games DVD is here - now to figure out when to see it. I'm
going to be having viewing parties for it as well. Tempted to
wait till August when Terri is out of town but I don't want to wait
that long.
Sun May 16
Took Y herding to his other training place and he did great on slow
sheep. There were some lighter sheep there but the wouldn't stop
running so we just gave up. But the heavier sheep were
perfect. He can mostly stop though HTrainer2 wants him to be able
to stop while I'm moving which may be asking a bit much, but she wants
me to keep working on it because she sees that he wants to do the right
thing and is trying, and she likes his stock sense and how he manages
them even if he does split them up from time to time.
My big challenge is that we don't appear to be able to walk a straight
line along a fence with stock. Yosh gets behind them and the
sheep move away from the fence. I must be doing it too as the
sheep will follow me when I cut back to the fence (these sheep trust me
which is nice). I think when I turn to Yoshi to get him to change
direction I just be getting behind the sheep too much so they turn
because I'm not at their heads/shoulders. I can do a very nice
front cross in agility but can I walk a straight line? This
remains to be seen. However if this was a PT run it would have
not been terribly elegant, but would have been an easy Pass. I
think a few (say 2-3 or 4) more times practicing how to walk a fence
line and we can go get that last PT leg at a trial up here. He
still barks a lot but with test sheep that will work. Light sheep
make him nuts so I don't know about that save for a lot of exposure and
working on distance and Stop.
Just to make things challenging a neighbors Aussie was across the
fence. Yoshi stopped and barked at her but it was obvious she was
totally friendly and flopped on the ground so I was actually able to
call him back to work (twice). If the Aussie has wanted to fence
fight I'm not sure if I could have gotten him back but it was nice that
I can now get him to refocus sometimes.
So I don't know how he'll now be around goats, he might be fine. HTrainer3 has some ideas that we can try next week.
I was carrying a crook similar to what Judy V. in S. Calif was using
and it worked better. I can't find it on the internet so I'm
hoping it's just the black color so I've instead ordered a black
graphite wand from Border Collies in Action (http://bordercollies.com). This will be way lighter than a crook anyway which I like because the crook is a bit awkward and heavy for me.
Sat May 15
Went herding and he didn't want anything to do with the goats! He
was afraid of them and they were carefully sizing him up. When
they didn't move right off he decided he didn't want anything to do
with them. We even then went to a smaller pen and gave him the
smallest most mobile ones who readily came along with me, and he still
wouldn't engage mostly though one time I put him in a stay and went
across the pen to the goats and then he came running up but wouldn't go
any closer. I'm hoping it's just a bad day for him though we'll
have him herd sheep tomorrow to get him going again.
It was strange to see him fearful and he was doing a lot of snarking at
dogs on the other side of the fence (offset aggression), though what
surprised me was that I was able to sometimes call him off of doing
that which is a nice change. HTrainer3 noticed that he was crying
when I called him off and I explained that it means that he's going to
do what I ask, but he doesn't want to.
I hope all of his behavioral improvement doesn't mean curtains for herding.
He is entered in a trial to get his JHD in goats. Hope I'm not wasing the money.
-------
Stopped off at Half Moon Bay to go to the beach. I wanted to
check out what this huge building on the bluff was and it turned out to
be the Ritz Carlton and the sign said there was free parking for
Coastal Access. What a great way to check the place out and it
was a lovely walk and we found a way down to the beach. The only
bummer was that he brought back 9 ticks.
Fri May 14
Agility for Trek socializing for Yoshi.
Both did great. Trek ran well and didn't freak out about what
anyone else was doing and even went toward some barking dogs to get
attention from another person. Brave girl. After Trek was
done I brought Yoshi out (and had him out earlier too) and he did great
just being around the activity. He was even able to sit and watch
2 terriers go by at a distance of around 30 feet. That never
would have happened before.
When the other dogs had left the field I took a few minutes and ran him
off leash. He's out of practice and tentative but he did fine.
Thu May 13
Trek walk. Deliberately low stress.
Yoshi training. Deliberately high stress.
I decided that I was getting tired of looking around and hoping we'd
see a dog (though we usually do), and I really wanted to work with him
around small dogs. So I took him to the small dog park in
Alameda. I usually just have him inside but he seemed mostly ok
so I took him in on leash. He was stressed and sometimes coped
sometimes didn't. Amazingly two or three dogs approached us
because I was feeding him goodies. He was a little freaked but
decided that having treats mainlined was ok and he started to ignore
the occasional dog who would come up. I carefully let him
interact with some and some he was surprisingly good about though I was
concerned about a Chi that he snapped at (I have my hand in his
collar). I was pretty surprised that the Chi came back - brave
doggy. There was also a fox terrier who came right up and I was
totally worried that things were going to go really bad but they got
along fine though the owner noticed my trying to keep Yoshi from
interacting too much and I said that he wasn't that great with other
dogs and the owner called the dog. Though later they said hello
and it was going well enough I told the owner that it was ok and he
actually had a good encounter.
We then walked the perimeter of the dog park on the outside and
practiced doing on leash walk up and sit with the Canadian Geese (we
were not very close to them). He's much more interested in the
dogs than the geese which he most just doesn't even see the point
of. Then I tried to wipe some goose poop that he'd rolled in off
of him and then some big dogs walked right by and he was a barking
fiend. (sigh). I then had him spend a little time on the outside
of the small dog park but I'd pretty much had enough by then.
So it was mixed I like the fact that if we're in the park I can
control his interaction and I can make it very clear on what I like and
don't like. But I can't control the other dogs and these are not
obedience dogs - they are unknown. After we had gone in the park
and once he had settle down, he was actually pretty good, but I do
worry when I can't control all the factors. If I wanted to be
completely safe, I'd just have him outside the fence but that's not the
whole experience and the fence adds frustration all the while keeping
everyone safe.
I think I should keep him outside for a few minutes first and then
consider bringing him in once I've had a look at the other dogs there.
Trek has agility tomorrow and he's going and I'll try to go early again.
Wed May 12
Trek noon walk.
Again the kids were at recess so we headed down to the school. She did
great. Screaming happy children, bouncing balls, metal clanging. We
were across the street eating treats. She was definitely chomping but
not horribly so. Then the bell when off and all the kids stopped (how
odd) and then the aides were telling them to walk back to class (seemed
pretty authoritarian but oh well). As a result though, Trek and I were
able to cross the street to the same side of the school and eat more
treats and then we walked along the school where the kids where lining
up. Figuring she's had enough we walked on with her trying to drag me
home when she knew where we were though we did stop and say hello to the
crossing guard who fed her treats. What a good dog. I think we'll go
on a calm walk tomorrow just to give her a break.
Yoshi walk. Uneventful, the only dog we saw was a Lab at about
2-3 house width distance. He's usually not very reactive to Labs
in general, but even so he's up on his toes and checking the dog
out. I wonder if I'll ever be able to get him to relax around
dogs. I can mostly manage him fine but it would be really nice if
I could get him to not be so stressed. Even the sight of a new
person excites him. Guess that just being a dog.
Tue May 11
Trek walk. The school was in recess so we headed over. In
the past I couldn't get easily to across the street this time she did
much better. Was able to stand across the street with screaming
kids, balls bouncing, and metal clanging. She wasn't thrilled but
she coped much better. We were on our way back and a shadow
started moving and so did Trek. I looked down to see the Shih Tzu
that always barks at us was out and racing around Trek. After a
moment I could see that this dog was friendly and soon had rolled on
his back. I saw that he had a tag on an it was indeed the same
place and we were right in front of it so I opened the gate for him and
let the people know later and I refrained from not lecturing them about
giving their dog more attention. I said that he was friendly and
the guy seemed a little surprised and implied that it varied. I'm
just glad I didn't have Yoshi with me. I could have coped but it
wouldn't have been easy.
Also encountered a recycling truck a
couple of times and we waited for them to move one once they were done.
Yoshi walk. Saw one dog come out of a house and surprised both of
us. He barked and we retreated and since the other dog was moving
slow we were able to calmly cross the street and play seated LAT.
Then since it was early in the afternoon we went all through Lincoln
Park looking for dogs and didn't see any. Just as I was lamented
that fact a front yard started yelling at us and Y. started to charge
and yell back. I finally got a look at what was barking (felt
like I was watching Lost for a moment there) and saw that it was either
another Shih Tzu or a Tibetan Terrier. Getting Yoshi's attention
here was really hard. Collar corrections really weren't doing
anything (they often are of limited use when he's upset), but grabbing
him and pulling his fur did work. Now that I think about
it. Grabbing hold is what dogs do (In fact I just did it now as I
type this when a dog outside barked and it settled him down).
They don't do collar corrections people just started doing that because
it was easy. Once I had Yoshi seated the other dog settled down
and I apologized to the other dog that I didn't know if I could feed
him. The second we'd move he would start barking again. I
stopped and settled everyone down twice and then gave up and we walked
off. Yoshi was fine and the other dog was barking which is
probably a long established habit.
Mon May 10
Trek walk uneventful though it had been raining and she didn't pout.
Yoshi walk weather's still iffy so we only saw one pair of dogs but it
was perfect and I'm really pleased. We had to go towards two dogs
approaching before we could turn off walk a house width down and sit
and watch them go on by.
Sun May 9
CU Focus First Advanced workshop today. It's for Yoshi but I
brought Trek too since she makes a great non-reactive stooge dog.
Yoshi did very, very well. We got there early and from near the
back of the room watched each dog come in. He did this without
reacting though he kept a careful eye on everyone. But him not
reacting to dogs entering the space is a huge milestone for him.
We also repeated this at lunch too. The only times he reacted
(and yes he did react every so often) was not standing with space
around him, but when a dog was near him and his crate and then moved or
walked by. If I had him out on leash he did not react at all and
we milled around with the other dogs quite a bit, also at the end of
class I had him out in the ring area playing fetch and he was able to
focus on that instead of the dogs around (who were all tired by this
point).
He still needs more mat work though I'm really glad we were doing some
these past two weeks. I'm leaving the mat out by my chair as it's
easy to work on it that way.
It makes for such a nice off switch. I hadn't done a ton of it
because he was always more comfortable in a crate but it's a nice skill
to have.
Now I need to figure out his next step. I think it's transitions
where he's not good. I will bring him to agility situations a lot
more now. It's also tempting to take him downtown more often but
the stakes are higher there in a way as there's not a lot of room to
escape like there is in agility contexts. I also have to decide
whether to take him to obedience more. I originally was thinking
yes but he does better in a larger space so I'm not sure.
I'm very happy with him and Trek got lots of attention as well.
One thing I now realize that I forget to work on is Reorienting
whenever his crosses a threshold. Every time he crosses a
threshold he is supposed to stop and sit and look at me. This
might help some with his focus and impulse control, and the sample of
the CU Games DVDs show this. I mentioned this to Terri but I
should show her what it looks like. One easy way to do it is to
have him on a leash when going out and then taking him off on the
landing.
Tried it a little tonight. Crossed the threshold and he just
stands there and is so intent on listening that he doesn't even respond
to his name which means that we really should work on it a lot.
Sometimes making a kissing sound would help other times not even that
would do it. Just waiting worked the best eventually. I
don't use treats here just release him from the leash. He'll get it.
Sat May 8
Just learned that the Alameda Park Street Art and Wine festival is
going on so I'm going to drag Trek down for a short while. She
usually hates it but copes. I carry here when it's too noisy.
We just got back. She did much better than I
thought. I think the visit to Dog Bone Alley (http://www.dogbonealley.com/) and Books Inc (http://www.booksinc.net/) made all
the difference. Then we went into the vacuum store and I have the
perfect vacuum test right there with me. I just put some of her fur on
the test carpet and they were able to demo the vac with a real like
example. :)
Going there she started to shake when we got within a block of Park St
and I carried her to Park St and down part of it. Then we stopped
and I got some Calamari and we sat on a bus bench and suddenly she got
distracted with all the goodies on the ground. Annoying as that
we to police it really helped her stress level and then we were able to
walk down to Dog Bone Alley. We were actually able to walk all
the way back down Park St to Lincoln. She did want to drag me
some and I mostly let her but on the whole she did fantastic.
Maybe distraction is a good tool for her and all the lovies that she
got from DBA and the book store (one of their employees used to have a
Corgi named Cooper.) I can totally see making a habit of going
down there. I bet I could pick up food to go at Bowser's pizza or
Tomotina and they'd probably let me pay for it at the door. Or
maybe I could have someone at DBA hold her (we spend a fair bit of
money there).
Now I have to think of something for Yoshi. There were too many
dogs appearing out of no where in close confines for him to be at all
comfortable. Too bad as he'd do fine with the street chaos.
As I write this he's being really barky and didn't want to come back to
his mat though he finally did (this happened multiple times).
Since there are enough dogs around we could probably go within a block
or so of the festival.
Just took him on a normal uneventful walk and that was fine.
Though I'm now doing more of what Cali and I did by going down by the
condos. No sign of the off leash lab but there are other dogs
there too though they must have all been at the street festival.
So I'm still thinking about him in agility:
Greetings CU_Dogs_SF
So Yoshi keeps torturing with the fact that he still remembers how to
do all of the agility stuff I've taught him - to the point that I use
him to train Trek.
While it doesn't seem like he'll ever be trustable enough for the
chaotic world of agility trials. It occurs to me that maybe he
could keep training in it. However he has bitten other dogs (bite
and hold) and I obviously worry about that. I thought about
an eCollar, but these his chomping incidents sometimes happen so fast I
doubt I'd be quick enough for it (though now that I think about it I
did have some time). Has any one tried doing agility training
with a basket muzzle? It didn't work for us at the dog park as he
could still pin a dog down but in the context of agility class that
wouldn't be the concern. I was thinking it wouldn't allow him to
pant but that's silly as greyhounds and terriers run muzzled doing
their respective sports. I do have a basket muzzle that fits him
and I could modify it so he could have treats.
My other question about the use of muzzles is does it make a dogs
behavior better or worse? Eventually the goal would be so that he
doesn't need it, so if it increased his frustration then that wouldn't
work.
Fri May 7
Noon Yoshi walk.
He gets the noon walk today since Trek has agility class tonight.
I expected the walk to be completely sleepy but we actually did see a
dog most of way through. Turned out to be perfect as it was a
tallish corgi/pug type dog who stopped and stared at us with one leg
raised as Yoshi sat. Yoshi held steady. Good boy.
Trek class. Both dogs are going Yoshi as a socializer. I
try to get there early so Yoshi can be out on the lower field (on leash
for a little bit before Trek's class. Didn't get there that
early, but he still had 5 minutes to hang out with the previous class
briefly. No surprise appearances of dog fortunately and Ally held
little Eva up (though she was already there so no surprises but he
groussed at her last week so it was probably wise though I did let
Yoshi sniff her a little) and a Lab (he rarely has issues with Labs
just standing there.) After Trek did her last run I put her away
and got him back out again. I then have him watch the last of the
class from a distance and then sometimes so some more obstacles but he
was groussing about Ruby a Cattle Dog X (I think) who was doing some
work so I let them be and we followed the other dogs out. We
sometimes hang out and socialize after class and I did with Yoshi and
he was fine until he started insisting there was a monster in the dark
down the driveway by repeatedly barking (not loud but persistent) so I
put him away in the car and he settled down.
Trek did great in agility! She may actually be starting to enjoy
it. This class could easily have been one where she would quit
because there were two additional dogs one who liked to bark a lot, and
one of the dogs from the previous class was there in a crate and
sometimes barking. So while I had Trek's crate set up near I also
had her out with me away from the noise and she seemed much happier
that way. No real obstacle issues and we did all of them, and her
speed is improving.
Thu May 6
Agility Videos from last weekend are here:
PI Standard run in which the teeter is jumped off of as usual.
PII Jumpers run - qualifying
PII Snooker run - qualitying even though we only got through 6 and did 7, 7, 2 for the opening
I need to make up a chart for Snooker scoring. There are several
ways to approach it but I tend to look at it in terms of how many
points do I need if I get up to X in the closing.
It's funny how rumors get started. I mentioned having viewing
parties for the CU DVDs I just ordered and now people are talking about
them. I think we have to wait for the DVDs to get here first.
Trek walk
I've decided that I need to up the ante with Trek so we went on a very simple but challenging for her type of walk.
All we did was walk down the street, stop at Broadway a semi busy
street (but busier than High Street the other busy street) eat some
cookies and leave.
Oh and walk past a school (twice) where a class of children are out with a ball that occasionally bounces (this is a huge issue)
Oh and a reactive dog behind a fence (not as much an issue)..
She did great, though she was really bummed that I wouldn't let her eat the human cookies by the sidewalk.
I'm really impressed with her being able to walk past the school.
She wasn't thrilled about it but was able to cope ok which is way way
different than weeks/months back where she could only go up to a corner
across the street from it.
I didn't make her walk down the busy street as I've done in the past as
it's really too much right now and I wanted her to succeed.
Yoshi Walk.
It's so based on the other dog. First dog he was up and barking
at because the mini Schnauzer was barking at him. He was sitting
ok, but right after I relaxed and said hello to the owner and was about
to move on he broke and lunged hard, but fortunately I remembered from
yesterday to hold his collar so was able to reset him pretty easily.
Then we headed for the school so we could work more. Let a Cattle
Dog cross our path and we followed them briefly - we got pretty close
to them. Everybody was so calm which is amazing since it was not
long after his outburst. Then we went down Santa Clara towards
the park and crossed by the front fenced yard of a Golden Doodle.
This dog barks but is friendly but we usually don't go right beside
him. Tried it this time and the dog started to bark and Yoshi
started to join and I had the good sense to not have us leave the scene
in a hurry but instead I placed him in a sit and both dogs instantly
got quiet. Then we were able to calmly move on. I'm very
happy about that. Then we had 2 dogs go by on the other side of
the street and I was feeding Yoshi pretty often because on of the dogs
was a Boxer right on the edge of barking at us but instead was just
starting at us. Yoshi did great and kept his stay. Then
after one more block, a nonthreatening black Lab walk past on the other
side of the street No problem and we ended the walk by walking
parallel with a GSDx.
He's not as responsive to "sit" so I've started emphasizing the "t"
more. It sounds more like "sit-tah" but it's working much better.
Wed May 5
Happy Cinco de Mayo
Kong has a new treat dispenser and I'm just imagining the hell Cali
would have made of my life if she had had one. She would follow me
around with an empty Kong and pointedly bounce it on the wood floor over
and over again trying to get me to put something in it.
3 DVDs! I may not leave the house. I can already see some things with the sample video that i could teach Yoshi.
She has her BC Easy exit the crate and stop and sit and look at her for
a C/T. I use the opportunity to charge out the door after I've
said ok as a reward but I have less control that way.
Trek noon walk.
She was able to walk by two different people hammering right there on
the side walk. I need to find a way to up the noise/activity
ante. I think we can go back to walking with in a block of
Broadway and see how she does. She has walked down a block of
Broadway but she was dragging me to get away.
Yoshi evening walk.
I decided to walk him down Broadway and he was fine with respect to the
noise. However we did discovery a limitation with him and other
dogs. If the dog is mellow and not confrontational he's
fine. But across the street a tallish JRT-like dog was barking at
him and calling him all sorts of names. Yoshi was totally "Get
that Dog" and I was having to force him into a sit which he fought
until the dog was even with us and then he relented since it was clear
the dog was going to go on by and had settled some. Later on
there was a smaller dog perhaps a CKCS or a Shiz Zhu who was barking at
him and this time I had him by the collar and he was better able to
keep it together. I don't know if it's my hand on his neck that
made the difference or the dog or both. We had just steered
around a Sheltie and a GSD without incident, and just for practice we
followed them for a few blocks before turning off.
Tue May 4
Trek noon walk. Watched a Trash truck pick up. We kept a
distance of a street width and about 1/2 a house width. She did
great. Also walked by some construction where they were
using a "Wacker" which is a large but hand guided machine
designed to pack down the earth. It wasn't on to day but it was
yesterday and she was able to walk past it ok. She must be
getting braver though still goes through the "I don't want to" mood
swings. Today she didn't want to come to me to be leashed for her
walk but when I went and got her she was all for going.
Yoshi walk. Still building on success.
Across the street viewings of 2 moving JRTs and then 2 also moving
Vislas, but the real win was that we crossed Central and went down to
an area where there is often an offleash older Lab. I saw him and
his owner out talking with another Lab and his person. As we got
quite close, instead of crossing the street we just went around them by
going in to the very quiet street and going around the parked car that
was right beside them. We also stopped and sat before and after
we were past, just so he could get a good look at them. AND then we
turned around and went back the same way (the Lab folks didn't seem to
mind fortunately.) Yoshi didn't seem stressed at all by the slow
moving Labs. He was stress panting at the JRTs, but held his stay
fine. I made sure to tell him what a good boy he was.
Mon May 3
Trek walk
She walked past a mower (he had reduce the rpms but it was still on,
and a nearby line trimmer. She did great and we weren't too close to
risk getting hit by anything.
Yoshi walk.
He keeps surprising me at his progress. As long as we avoid
surprises he does great. He sat and watch a Lab walking down
Lincoln on the other side of the street, and then later we went over to
the school and were following an Aussie and a Poodle and another dog
appeared across the street so we sat and watched them go by, then we
caught up to the Aussie and Poodle but another Golden came up on a side
street so we followed them instead. The best part was that the
Golden stopped to talk to an LWFD (little white fluffy dog) who was off
leash in front of his house (with his owner). We paused for a
short while and then we walked around them by walking around a parked
car. We didn't have to cross the street. We pause and sat
after we went around to take another look (they are only 15' away),
then I fed him a treat after he looked at them and we went home.
I am thrilled. I've been trying to come up with distances that
are closer than a street width since he can handle that with calmer
dogs. I don't like being in the street but working around parked
cars is one way to do this. I think on the less busy streets this
will work. None of the dogs we saw today were
reactive which made we could go closer. Now that he's not in a
frenzy we can work a lot closer to the dogs without worrying him or the
other dogs or owners. What a huge step.
Cathy came over for our DVD night and this time I put Trek in a crate
and had Yoshi on leash and had him sit as she came in and had her walk
up to me and shake my hand and only then did I release him from his
sit-stay. I only had to tell him to sit twice and once he
understood the game he was great.
Excellent news! Yoshi can practice on the goats before his JHD on goats. Cool.
Trek is still reminding me that she wants her teeth brushed. And
she's still happy to pickup Yoshi's toys that he drops in the yard when
I ask her to as long as she's paid for it.
Sun May 2
Yoshi Walk. I was debating whether to do something more elaborate
but I'm happy that I wound up just walking him as there were some good
experiences.
Saw one on Lincoln just as I was talking about Corgis to a neighbor who
had one lost him at 15 and wanted another one. The dog on the
street was a lab across the street and he did great but I noticed
another dog coming who had in obvious self defense was walking down the
street itself since both sidewalks were occupied. When I saw that
dog I realized that it would be too much so we moved on while we were
ahead. Then we crossed the street (Court) and let the dog that
was in the street but who was now back on the sidewalk catch up.
Yoshi did great but was a little unsure. I looked at the other
dog and noticed him starting at us. Well no wonder Y's a little
uncomfortable. That dog moves on down Johnson and we continue
down Court.
Later we saw a dog that was colored like a Border Collie moving slowly
and we let them pass on the other side of the street. After they
had passed we were about to move on when Yoshi saw the dog again (they
had turned around). I had him sit again and let them pass.
He did great both times.
Then we saw a Corgi. We crossed and let them pass. Then we
chased them down as I didn't know the dog. His name was
Buddy. He's 3 and she says he's not great with other dogs.
But the other dog actually looked ok. Curious and unsure but not
hostile at all. So I had them do a half circle around each other
and meet briefly. Yoshi wasn't being terrible pushy but the other
dog was ducking a little (he would move forward and shy back slightly
when Yoshi swung his head closer, so we separated them by my walking a
foot or two away with Yoshi and then I had Yoshi sit in front of me so
that Buddy could sniff his but and he did. Dogs are so much more
comfortable with the rear end, probably because there's no teeth.
That done we said good bye and we walked home. A very
surprisingly productive and positive walk.
Later on Yoshi was losing his mind about a dog barking outside so I had
him do a leashed stay on a mat beside me and the computer and that
seemed to settle him down nicely. A couple of days ago I just put
one of their mats beside me at the computer and it's working well as a
chill out zone though often Mr. Y gets leashed for it.
During the walk I was wondering if I had taken the full-on adversive
shock collar route with him and his aggression how would he have turned
out. Don't know as while he's pretty resilient, his neuroses
would probably have come out in force and if he had transferred he
frustration at the corrections to other dogs then he wouldn't be safe
off lead so it's not like he would have had a brilliant agility career
anyway.
Sat May 1
Trek Bayteam Agility Trial at Prunedale
The most amazing thing today was she didn't quit (the weather was
perfect). She tried to go back to the car a few times when
walking on leash, but I was able to distract her by doing a session at
the training jump each time.
Last night I had a flash that we were going to get 3 out of 4 Qs.
We came close. 1 Jumpers, 1 Snooker and she got the Gamble, but
didn't get enough points in the opening (25 seconds which is way
short). She did bail off the teeter in Standard but never once
left the ring which I'm thrilled about. I was deliberately
running her slowly so she could focus. As a result she didn't run
by any obstacles though just didn't have the speed for the teeter and
the A Frame I did have her do a better run at so she could get up it.
Given that I'm not sure I want a 3rd PII/Advanced Gambliers Q just yet,
conveniently arranging to not get enough points in the opening sounds
like a fine idea (though there's not a way we could have gotten enough
this time though we would have been close had she not knocked a
bar.) That way we get to do the gamble correctly without being
forced into Master's Gamblers. Elf tells me that not many dogs
got that gamble which means that it was not just a gimme. I was a
little surprised that she didn't seem to have any problem with it.
I'm just so happy that she might actually like this game. It
really makes a difference that I was being so low key, and even though
she was running slow her speed appeared to pick up and I can always go
faster too when things gel better.
These are her first PII Jumpers and PII Snooker Qs. The previous
runs she was all over the place and over time or trying to quit or in
one case I screwed up the snooker run.
Her Gamblers Q's are nice and consistent. One from VAST Turlock in Feb
and one from Haute Dawgs in Oct of last year. It's funny I don't
think of VAST as that sucessful but she did get a PI Standard Q there
as well so I shouldn't whine too much. Eventually we'll get out
of PI, I can now tell.
Fri Apr 30
Trek agility class
She actually seemed to have a nice time. Again I let her have
space away from the others and she seemed to do well and didn't quit.
Thu Apr 29
Trek play session. I had to go to Pet Food Express so there
wasn't time for a walk for her, but I did get her a new Air Dog which
Yoshi promptly stole to dig a hole for. when I retrieved it (ha)
I rinsed it off put Yoshi in the house and had a great fetch session
with her. I would give her a treat about every 3rd time. The toy
is slightly oblong in that oh so suggestive cucumber/stick shape
(here's a photo: http://www.dogtoys.com/kongairdog1.html). the longer shape makes it easier for her to pick up. Yoshi thinks it's a bone.
Yoshi walk. Exploring his limitations. He can sit and stay
while a dog is across the street. He can almost sit and stay when
the neighbor dogs are out (though this is really, really hard).
However once he's amped up because I've been insisting he stay and
correcting him when he doesn't (when I think he should be able handle
it), he can stay but he won't do something active like "touch" (poke
his nose into my hand). He can down. He can sit. But
that seems to be about it. Nothing active that takes his
attention away from what he's watching except to briefly eat.
This is good to know as with many dogs distracting them with something
they know well helps.
We spent some time just sitting and watching people walk by and it's
interesting that staying helped relax him some. Corrections do
agitate him if it's something he's worried about. If there had
been a dog we would have retreated as he's very protective of HIS
house/yard.
Herding Trial! There's going to be a herding trial at Pescadero
June 12-13, and they are offering JHD on goats. I checked with
the person putting it on and it turns out that AHBA separates out even
the JHD by stock so Yoshi can get a JHD on goats which is just
perfect. I'm excited. I've checked with HTrainer3 to see if
Yoshi could come back to just work goats and she's going to check on
Sat. Even if he can't practice ahead of time, with goats we could
probably walk in cold on a JHD couse. So I sent in his entry
today.
A friend has graciously offered her goats to Yoshi and I to herd even before this came up so that's another possibility.
Started packing for agility this Sat at Prunedale. PI standard is
first thing in the morning so we actually have a chance of Qing and
getting out of Started.
Wed Apr 28
I have been looking all over for replacements for the rounded collars
they have. No sign. Lots of leather braided collars, but
hardly any fabric.
Trek walk. Fine.
Yoshi walk. So so. Good moments and not great ones.
It's windy and he was amped. Saw a smallish bouncy dog coming at
us and we walked toward them for a bit and then ducked down a
sidestreet. I deliberately didn't go as far away - less than a
house length less than 100' and that was too close and he barked and
tried to lunge. I wrestled him into a sit but it didn't seem to
make any impression. Then the nearly same situation occurred but
our position was very different. We had just started down Gibbons
and saw a dog crossing Gibbons. The sightlines were great and he
was able to sit and watch them cross the street and pass on by.
The distance was about the same, the difference was that he wasn't
surprised. So what I need to do is arrange it so he can see the
dog as soon as possible. I used to worry about this because it
lengthens the time that he sees a dog approach, but that doesn't seem
to be as strong a factor is to help reduce the amount he's is surprised.
We also stopped and let a kid named Celeste spend time with him petting
him, and a dog appeared in the distance and he started to bark. I
pulled him away from Celeste (she wasn't upset and nor were her parents
because I had a hold of him, but he still wouldn't relax until the
other dog went away which is a bummer.
Tue Apr 27
Midday. It's raining lightly so I think Trek is going to get dragged
out for a walk. Since Trek's PP class hasn't started yet I think I'll
take Yoshi to a Rally drop in class at ODTC tonight.
Trek Walk
She stopped for the Trash Truck and we were able to stand and wait until it drove by. No panicking. Cool.
However: Yikes. Just
had
the welds break on the 2nd of 3 fifteen year old dog collars. Right as
i was thinking about it I suddenly found that the leash was
loose. Since i was expecting it I called her even before I looked
down and of coruse she was right there. i was able to cobble
together the collar together with the snap leash and we finished the
walk. Fortunately Yoshi is walked on a martingale so even though
he has the last one, it will likely be ok since it doesn't get the same
amount of wear and tear. Right now Trek is wearing the leather rolled collar.
I
think a good rule of thumb is new dog = new collar. Too bad I can't
find more of these collars though they're really nice. Cautionary photos to
follow.
Yoshi Rally Class
He did pretty well. 6 dogs one he hasn't liked in the past as
she's a bit reactive, unconfortable around other dogs, and
stares. During the runs (we had 4), he did great and was able to
concentrate. The other times I mostly just put him in the wire
crate in the side room. There was one time where i had him doing
what they call an "honor stay" where he's on a sit while another dog is
doing the course. The CU dog was nearby and barked at the St.
Bernard. Yoshi the joiner, immediately started to lunge at the CU
dog and I dragged him away before he go to her. i am annnoyed
that he has this much of an impulse control issue still even though he
is able to behave under most other circumstances, but except for this
rather huge thing, he did great. I think I can start putting him
in Rally fun matches to see if he's ready to compete and begin his
perma-novice Rally career.
Mon Apr 26
Trek walk uneventful
Yoshi walk. I deliberately walked around the school perimeter which is
usually a guaranteed of dogs but it was past 6pm and they all seemed to
have gone. Went on the long version of the rest of our walk and still
no dogs ... until of course we nearly walk right into a small golden as
we were just about to turn on our street.
Mr Y. hates surprises and even though I immediately turned around he was
barking furiously. To the point where I just stopped and retreated only
a very short distance and decided to make him sit while the Golden
walked by. This became a tough wrestling match and he really only sat
when the Golden had past. Great now we have to go look for more dogs to
work on this.
So we walked past the house and headed back towards the school.
Fortunately there now was another larger slower Golden walking with his
Dad and 2 kids. They are going slow as one is having a tempertantrum.
He encouraged us to pass, but this was a perfect moment as we had
approached from behind and were fairly close and Yoshi even after his
previous outburst seemed fine. I deferred but asked him to tell us if
they were going to turn around. In a bit he said that they were and we
actually walked past them within 10' of the dog.
As it is with kids they decided that they actually wanted to continue so
they crossed the street to walk along the school. We went back to
following for a very short while and then two more dogs (together)
showed up and Yoshi was able to side while they walked past on the other
side of the street and then crossed over to our side right after they
had passed us. Yoshi did great and I'm very pleased so we then finally
got to head home.
It is our DVD night with Cathy and when she knocked they were barking
but then were ok about going to their crates - though Yoshi always wants
to hop on the sofa first.
Sun Apr 25
Took Trek along to visit Mark and Jan just so she could have the
experience of going over there without being abandoned. She kept
close track of us the whole time.
Fri Apr 23
Trek Eye Appt
Her left eye is still at 6 mm/min on the Schirmer eye test as compared
to 21 mm/min on the right which is normal. Dr Friedman has
decided to try her on Doxycycine tablets (100mg) which is an
antibiotic and antiinflamatory. It can help with the scratchy
feel of a dry eye and may help with tear production, the only down side
is that it might make her nauseated so I have to figure out a good time
to try it - maybe tomorrow.
Just to mess with my head, Yoshi threw up his entire breakfast, so Trek
isn't starting her medication today. He still seems fine so I'm
going to give him his breakfast again as treats. I think it might
have been the Innova Senior food that I was giving him as treats
yesterday.
Yoshi Class with Lori.
So I decided to try him in the Open class. He did very well and I
was happily surprised. It really helped that the dogs there were
pretty good in general. Unfortunately there was one PWD who was
grousing at a Golden there and Lori was telling the owner that he
really needed to stay on top of this. I kept Yoshi way far away
from him and when that dog started to grumble I took Yoshi aside to
give him a break. The heeling exercises he did very nicely on,
including the figure 8's with some nice steady dogs. The stand
around and practice something specific made him a little uncomfortable,
but he was still able to focus, but when the dogs started moving around
more to work on retrieves he was a little edgy so I pulled him aside
and worked on the side and he did very well. His attention is
only about 45 minutes in stressful situations so I took him outside to
wander around some. Then we watched from outside and also from
the hallway. Then when the class ended we went in and did the
heeling part of the Utility class. The only time he reacted was
when one dog walked in (a Duck Toller who he's seen before) and
surprised him and he reacted pretty strongly and it's clear to me that
he would have charged the other dog if I didn't have a solid hold on
him. What's interesting is that other dogs did walk in but they
didn't surprise him.
Maybe at the CU workshop I'll practice with him on a stay watching dogs
come in the building. Unfortunately I don't know how to counter
condition that surprise reaction or even if I could. I have to
remember to say his name pretty loudly to get his attention. I
had him firmly by the scruff to the point he was hurting himself and he
was still struggling (even while crying which is really sad) though
relented pretty quickly.
Trek has agility class tonight. Can't decide whether it will just
be her or whether Yosh will join us. I'd love to have him watch
the class before but there's a dog in it that's just as nasty as he has
ever been and that sounds like a bad combination. The last thing
I want to do is confirm for him that he should be paranoid.
That's the nice thing about training him around good obedience
dogs. They are often very well behaved.
[later]
Both dogs did fairly well. Trek did not go on strike and seemed
to enjoy herself and Yoshi wasn't perfect (he tried to charge one of
the small dogs - Eva a LWFD - which he was decidedly firmly corrected
for as this clearly falls into the being a jerk category rather than
something he's afraid of.) but someone else (actually Eva's mom)
observed he's way, way better.
With Trek, for the part of the class that was on the lower field, I
didn't insist she stay down there but when it wasn't our turn I let her
be up on the upper field which gave her some distance and that seemed
to make a difference. We also asked Charlie's Dad not to play
while Trek was running as she finds the way they play
intimidating. That plus all the training in the yard we've been
doing seemed to make the difference. No hesitation at all on the
jumps or the contacts or any of the other obstacles. I also
wasn't pushing her for speed and just kept my voice pretty steady (a
controlled, not stressed, excitement is sort of the tone).
Phew. Now we'll see if this carries over to Bayteam on May 1st in
8 days.
When Trek was done with her runs and others were finishing up I put
Trek away and got Yoshi out. I had also had him out on-leash in
the lower field while the earlier class was still running. He was
of course perfect on the serpentine pattern that was set out in either
direction. when Trek's class finished I had him do all the
contacts and he was fine on those also. I didn't have him weave
or do tunnels since he was on leash. I'm glad he was on leash as
he tried to charge Eva while we were on the field and they were just
leaving. I grabbed him hard on the sides and lifted him up which
he cried in surprised pain. Then as we were walking out he
started to growl at her and I gave him a collar correction and told him
to leave it. He did get it, but I don't know if it sank in or not
as Eva got put away right then. I so strongly never, ever want
him to be a bully to a little dog anymore. Eventually I think
I'll take him to the little dog park again, but the dogs there are not
always so well behaved so Trek's class (and the obedience classes) are
actually a better way to go for right now.
So there's hope for each dog. It's so nice to be able to have
Yoshi around other dogs without him yelling/screaming at them. He
actually walked past Fletcher (a dog that he's bitten before when
Fletcher surprised us and Yoshi slipped his collar) with no
problem. I don't know if I took pictures of it or not but I made
a little failsafe attachment that is a second attachment to his regular
collar instead of the martingale so he can't get away like that again
Tonight he was barking in the bedroom on the bed, and we were able to
verify that the most effective way of getting his attention is his
name. We tried "come" and "here" and just about anything else and
nothing was getting through to him, except by calling his name loudly
every 3 seconds. It's surprisingly effective as he starts to cry
and come back when you call him by name. It's pathetic sounding
but it means that he's desisting and just protesting it but
complying. When he does this cry it means that he's telling us
that it's really hard to do what we're asking but he's going to do it.
Thu Apr 22
Trek Walk at noon. I didn't have to drag her out this time.
In fact she was happy to go. No martingale this time. I think I'm
going to give her Yoshi's quick release collar for agility. She
seems to dislike things being dragged over her head so this would work
around that.
Yoshi early evening walk. Went over to walk around the school
perimeter as we usually see dogs that way. Sure enough there was
one that he's seen before (and barked at). They were ahead of us
walking very slowly, we crossed the street so we could catch up to
them. We walked past them without a peep from Yoshi, then he sat
and we let them catch up and he did great. Kept a careful eye on
them but not even a grumble. We then walked past them again and
crossed back to their side of the street when we were in front of
them. His owner must have though we were hazing them though she
hear me parsing him so I'm sure she figured it out.
He's doing so much better now, I have to figure out what a good gradual
next step would be. Tomorrow he's going to Lori's Utility class
so that will be a good way to get a measure of things. He did
well last month so I'm hoping he'll do well again. I was hoping I
could get him to the open class but I don't think I'll be back from
Trek's eye appt in Fremont in time. Her appt is at 8:15 and that
would put us back around 9:45. That might work as the class order
is Novice 10am, Open 11:30 (sits and downs around 11:15), and utility
at 1pm, and the club takes about 25 min to get to. It more
depends on how hard I want to work and if I have time to cut up a whole
bunch of treats.
Wed Apr 21
Yoshi walk. I was thinking that we weren't going to see any dogs
when suddenly one showed up right in front of us 3 houses down.
We did a U-turn and went back to the corner and crossed the street
hoping we could walk past them on the other side, but there was another
dog on that side of the street. So we retreated 2 houses down the
side street and waited. First dog turned the corner and walked
away from us. Next dog crossed the street and conveniently walked
down the street we were on so we actually did get to do some
work. this dog was moving slower so we paralleled with them for a
little bit and just sat and watched them while they stopped to chat
with someone. After a bit we then moved on. No real reaction from him at all.
Right near the end saw another dog across the street. This time
at first I just let Yoshi keep walking but he started to get more stiff
as he watched the dog. So I told him to sit and interestingly
enough he seemed to relax. Odd how having him in motion makes him
more tense. Not what I would have guessed though he's ok with
U-turns now.
-----
We were at a gathering of friends and one of them told me that she
dreamed that I gave her Yoshi. Intrigued, I said "Wait, you would
want him?" (She's housesat for
us, so she knows him some.) Several people there observed that
getting an already trained dog sounded like a good deal to them.
I assured them that while he's a lot better than he used to be that
he's no where near perfect. She observed that I've recent wrote
that he's now surprisingly resilient as long as there's no dogs, and
she was wondering how he would be in SF. I told her that there's
just enough chaos in the city that it would be pretty hard for him
since he likes to try to keep track of everything. It was a
pretty touching conversation. (Though he's in no danger of being given
away since I wouldn't wish him on anyone. Though all this time I
haven't let others walk him, but now they probably could though I'm a
bit paranoid of him unlearning all his good habits. And I appear
to be over using "though.")
Tue Apr 20
Noon walk. I was going to take Trek, but she looked at the
martingale and walked away. Guess she doesn't like it.
Maybe I'll just bring it along and use it only if she's puling.
As a result, Yoshi came right up so he got to go instead. Trek
looked a little put out, but not enough. :)
We'll see what happens this evening. Nothing of note happened on
the walk, save for saying hello to the school crossing guard.
Trek is definitely fine on all the equipment I have out in the yard so we'll see if that translates over to Sharon's.
Trek evening walk. She is so funny sometimes. I had to
carry her out of the house even without the martingale.
But! Then she was suddenly fine - more than fine. My across
the street neighbors were playing basketball and she was able to walk
past that without running or dragging me. She could even stop and
eat treats both leaving and returning later. I guess this makes
her the Other Head Case but she's able to work through fears much
quicker sometimes. Now it's to get her to actually love agility
so much that she'll do it even when the conditions aren't perfect.
Mon Apr 19
Yoshi Walk. Those milestones we've been hitting are not just a
fluke. Today we had two different dogs walk by directly across
the street while he sat and watched them and then looked at me and ate
treats. The first one I kept tightening the leash and saying
Stay. But the second one I didn't do it as much. The second
dog (older Golden) was diagonal across from us and then after a bit
crossed the street and Yoshi was fine! Telling him that he has to
do something incompatible with lunging is really making a
difference. Stay is much clearer than Leave It though I use that
a lot as well. But when I need him to keep his head giving him
something unambiguous is really making a difference.
Also passed by kids bouncing two balls and was really glad that Trek wasn't with me.
Trek Walk.
Walked right by some kids who she was a little worried about but the
weren't bouncing a ball. She did note people putting out trash
cans and opening and closing the lids, but that's something that
happens once in a while and not continuously. Said hi to a
neighbor who patted her on the head which she always finds a little
weird but likes the attention so puts up with it.
Both dogs in the backyard for toy play. Yoshi was really wanting
the rabbit fur toy so we played a little with it but I could tell that
he wanted to go dig a hole for it so I gave him a tennis ball and Trek
and I played fetch with the rabbit fur toy. I need to order more
of them as this one is going to fall apart eventually. Both dogs
seem really happy right now which is nice to see. Both would hop
right up on the table without hesitation. Trek is great on the
teeter and will send over the jump now.
Sun Apr 18
Yoshi walk. Saw some wee dogs behind us I stopped and
let him see them from a 2 house distance and that was ok. Them we
walked around the corner and stopped about 1 1/2 house width and waited
for them to reappear behind us. They crossed the street behind us
and Yoshi boofed a little, but in general was ok.
Trek backyard agility. Got a series of toys out and it's the
rabbit fur toy that worked. She'll run with me and jump over
jumps now if I have the toy and throw it sometimes. Geez, I
thought Yoshi was a head case.
Just for the heck of it did some work on the equipment with Yoshi and
he was great. Sigh. We had a little conversation on the
table about how he could have been an agility champion. I'm not
sure if he completely understood me. ;)
Feeling pretty wistful. I have two dogs either of whom could be
quite good at this but they are both handicapped by their issues.
I fantasize that Yoshi will one day be ok with everything but that's
not looking very likely. I have made him mostly manageable but he
does poorly when he is surprised or uncomfortable. Trek's issues
I don't have a good handle on but she seems to work through them pretty
quickly but then another one will appear. Fortunately I've seem
other people work through these sort of things with their dogs so I
know it's workable, but it's such a pain sometimes and it all makes me
miss Cali so much. I guess this speaks well of my puppy raising
ability, but I think that both dogs would still have their issues if I'd
raised them but maybe just less so esp. Trek.
Though on further thinking about Yoshi, there were some things that
likely couldn't help but get worse when he came here. The breeder
did a great job of exposing him to all sorts of places and situations
(though he was weird about unknown dogs even then to a certain degree),
but he was happily in the middle of a pack. When he came here he
suddenly found himself one of two dogs so he very quickly
over-committed himself to over-protecting us as he feels that's his
job. I keep trying to convince him that that's not really
necessary and I'm only occasionally successful.
Trek on the other hand was the breeder's pick and she spent the first
two years hardly ever going off the property. She has a fantastic
temperament and gets along with all dogs but she really doesn't like
new situations at all.
Sat Apr 17
Worked in the backyard. Trek is hesitant about running along with me going over jumps. This is weird.
She's fine about the table now.
Fri Apr 16
Barking fools today at the contractor, but the doors are done so things are calming down.
Trek Agility tonight.
She started out fine I worked with her by herself on all of the
contacts and weaves and she was great. She was ok in class until
another person started playing with their dog during her run and she
stopped completely. We had the other person stop which helped
some but she still seemed hesitant. Going up to the upper field
she really wasn't interested in working much and I had to go very
slowly through the course, though once I got her going she seemed
better.
Later we discovered that she didn't want to hop on the table at all
unless I was kneeling down on the other side of it and begging her to
hop up. We worked on it for a while but she was still
hesitant. About a month ago she missed a 20" table and got
T-boned and hasn't liked them since which is a real shame as the table
is her favorite obstacle. When that happened I should have gotten
the table out right then.
When we got home I got the table out and she still didn't want to go on
it. So I got Yoshi and he of course immediately happily hopped up
and did a great down (just to rub it in). Trek is up on the
Teeter watching. Y and I did this about 3 times, and she came
off and hopped up with him. Then I started sending both of
them to the table. Trek was hesitant at first, but then was
hopping up right away with Yoshi.
Thu Apr 15
I have a contractor working on our garage carriage doors and he came in
the kitchen and Yoshi sounded like he was going to rip the guy's ankles
off (I had a firm hold of Yoshi's collar. Later I put Yoshi on a
leash and let him meet him outside and of course everything was fine
because we weren't in HIS house or HIS yard.
Took both dogs to work to keep them out of the way and so I didn't
worry about them. They mostly stayed in the car (since the
sunshade on the roof keeps the car remarkably cool), but I got tired of
having to always go check on them so I brought them in my office.
Yoshi in a crate and Trek just loose.
Dog walks. At work I took both dogs on a brief walk. I
never walk them together since Yoshi takes so much of my attention and
he's overly protective of her. We were on our way back and there
was a dog behind us who then crossed to the other side of the
street. I decided to let them catch up to see how Yoshi was about
this with Trek around. No change really. He was completely
in "Get that Dog" mode and I had to sit on him to make him sit.
Trek is completely like: what-ever.
So in the evening I took him on a walk by himself. Very
different. We saw 3 dogs and he was able to sit for all of
them. The first one was a GSD - no problem. The 2nd was a
medium sized white dog who decided to walk right towards us and we
escaped across Central and Yosh was then able to sit and let them
pass. He complained a little when they were crossing to outside
of the street but generally was fine. The 3rd was a chunkier
medium size labX and he was ok with them too.
Trek walk. Came across some kids bouncing a ball and she wanted
to run past. I often called her back to feed her which she would
do but she was getting into chomp mode because of her stress, but she
wasn't nearly dragging me as much as she's done before.
Wed Apr 14
What a strange feeling. My dogs are good at things that I'm not good at and vice versa. Frustrating.
I just got back from 4 days of herding in Southern Calif. I am not
good at herding, but am learning though my interest may be flagging
since herding is pretty hard. However it's so remarkable watching
Yoshi work that I feel I owe it to him. I think the project now is to
show him that he can move stock while going slower. Which means that
we're going to be spending a lot of time in the round pen.
My passion is agility and I really want Trek to enjoy it. She does but
only under specific circumstances which narrows down her odds of doing
well. The biggest obstacle (sorry) is that she is leery of contact
equipment and will often run past it. (She flew off a teeter once and
really hasn't been the same since). When she's not stressed she has no
trouble with any of the contacts, but any stress makes her run by them
Tomorrow my agility peers are leaving for 4 days of agility at Haute
Tracs in Dixon and I'm feeling sad (even though I usually only do 2
days of it anyway). I really want Trek to enjoy playing this game.
Tue Apr 13
Trek Power Paws class
Didn't want to do the contacts at all even when wearing a
thundershirt. Finally got her to go over the dogwalk a couple of
times. I'm really going to have to work on getting there early and
working with her on them. She's so funny as she'll usually do them all
at least once but then decide she doesn't want to do them any more. I
really need to keep working on changing her attitude about them. She
gets fed a lot around them, I think I'm going to work more toy play in
around them too.
I also need to get versions of some of her favorite toys on a rope to
tug though that makes fetch difficult for her. I've been mostly using
the AirDog toy, but the rabbit fur toys have short handles on them and she can still carry them so maybe using that is best.
Mon Apr 12
So it's now time to focus back on Trek and agility.
I need to see if she can go to Power Paws class tomorrow since the rain
is leaving soon and it should be clear tomorrow (Just found out - she can - hooray). If we get to go
then I'm going to have her wear the Thundershirt to see if it helps her
around the noise of the contact equipment.
Trek evening walk
A person occasionally bouncing a basketball was walking by on the other
side of Central so I had Trek eat treats while they walked by. She did
it! And she didn't totally chomp on me because of her stress. She
didn't seem as jumpy as she usually is when those kind of hard-edged
percussive sounds happen.
Yoshi's Weezie lip piercing continues to improve. The hole is closing. And the swelling is down to a small gumball.
Sun Apr 11
Back from the Southern Calif Corgi Herding trial.
Yoshi now has the first leg of his PT. Him quitting on Sat (see below) meant that he was doomed to to have
me as handler today. While not a train wreck, it wasn't
pretty, but we did get through it.
I really like how Judy is with Yoshi. She has a very calm
style
which really seems to help a lot. He worries about her some (she
carries a crook instead of a wand), but he's not afraid of her.
She's also really good at teaching people where they needs to be and
how to use your body to direct the dog which is something I'm not good
at. One thing I notice on the tapes is I lean over too much and
she stands upright. It just occurred to me that when I make him
stop I'm standing up.
I'm going to be spending a lot of time comparing the tape of me and
Judy. I don't think the tape is worth putting on you tube as it's
not really helpful to watch it since you can only see part of the run
because of the solid fence. if we do this next year I might lobby
for a ladder or something. Judy also said that moving less helps
- meaning less arm waving (you still need to walk), and she has people
do a fair bit of backing up. I can back up (heck in agility I can
run backwards), but when there's a lot going on and a lot to pay
attention to I prefer to turn around and walk forward so I don't have
to think about not tripping.
If Judy were only closer to me. 6 hours is a long ways (5.5 plus one stop for gas and potties)
.
To Corgiherders:
We're back in the Bay Area (only had to swim for part of the trip).
Thanks to all of the S. Calif Corgi people for putting on such a nice trial.
Yes it was chilly, but given that the practice days were in the 80s I'll take it.
Yoshi was running so well for Judy on Friday that I had her handle him on Sat for his first PT run, but halfway through he quit and went looking for me.
Which doomed him to be stuck with me for Sunday, which we did get through in a very rocky fashion (I just saw the video). He's brilliant with handlers who know what they're doing, and with me, while not a train wreck any more, it's not pretty.
What amazed me was even with all the flailing around in the middle of the run (we lost the sheep once and it took a while to get them back) the entire run was only 5 minutes.
I really, really liked getting a chance to meet everyone and put faces to emails.
Now to figure out when to try for that second leg.
Thanks again it was fun,
Ellen and Yoshi (1/2 PT) JHD
For those who were wondering what Jerry and Doug were teasing me about after Yoshi's PT run on Sun.
After we cleared the last gate the sheep and Yoshi took off for the gate. When I caught up to them at the gate I asked the judge what point I needed to go back to and she said I could just pen them. I was so surprised I said "You're kidding."
Ellen G. tells me that it was because Yoshi was with the sheep that we didn't have to go back.
The judge's last comment was: Well, he's a little fast. Tee hee.
Basically Jerry and Doug were saying (jokingly): never ask the judge if they're kidding.
By the time we got to the gate, I knew we were going to pass regardless
if we had to go back to another point, so I wasn't very worried.
They're pretty casual about the Test levels, once you've done the
requirements.
All in all it was a really fun experience and I'm really going to nag
the N. Cal. people to go even if they don't feel "ready." I had
decided that I wasn't going to continue in sheep with Yoshi since
typical (read lighter) trial sheep make him crazy, but he could do
Judy's sheep. so Started might be a fun thing to do for next year.
But for now, I'm just going to work on calming him down around sheep
and how to just move slower. If I get anywhere then I'll consider
taking him to Vacaville to get that second PT leg, but I don't want to
take him back there until I absolutely know he's ready.
Behaviorally Yoshi did very well at the trial. Occasionally he
would grouse at a dog approaching (esp. the occasional non-Corgi or
non-BC) but I was careful about dog's passing by and sometimes just
covered his eyes which still makes a big difference. I think he
thinks that Cardi's are small BCs unless they are acting "funny" or out
of control in his mind. His strongest reaction was to an Aussie and
what looked like a Clumber Spaniel puppy. I did have him wear the Thundershirt,
but
didn't notice a huge difference (maybe some) like I do with Trek.
Turned out that it was good for keeping the nasty burrs off some.
Sat Apr 10
So I did have
Judy handle him on Sat since she did so well with him on Fri, but half
way through he quit and went looking for me. But I was still
really glad I had her handle him as I got to see how she handles him
(though he was a lot more hesitant this time perhaps because he could
tell I was nervous.) I did get this one on tape and when
reviewing it, and after watching the sheep for most of the day I could
tell that we could do it, and suddenly I wasn't all the nervous anymore.
I wasn't allowed to say anything which killed me as all I probably
needed to do was tell him it was ok and to go on. The solid walls
of the arena made that harder too as he couldn't easily see me.
Fri Apr 9
The reason I sometimes have someone else handle Yoshi is it's such a joy
to watch him work with someone who knows what they're doing. I get to
be the proud parent in the audience which is pretty cool. Everything is
much calmer. Even now that I can get him to stop (phew), he still works
too close and buzzes around if there isn't someone there insisting that
he stay out further.
I had Judy work with him (she said it was ok to use her name) and it was
so wonderful to watch and I really wish I had it on tape. He was
looking for me and even though he could see me, he did eventually quit
and went over to the gate to get me. Judy was able to get him back once
but he quit again. She said it was up to me if I wanted to do the
handling tomorrow or not. Given how much further she's gotten than I've
been able to yesterday and today (I've only been able to do the course
with Judy or Ellen being there keeping him out of the in between the
sheep and the fence) I think I'd like to take the chance and have her do it.
Thu Apr 8
Herding Practice. With a lot of help Yoshi does fine.
Without help I'm pretty lost so I don't know. The sheep are
great, but if we're not on top of things they will simply turn around
and go back to the gate to their pen (the "draw"). The first set
was worse about this than the second, but I had more help with the
second set. Well tomorrow is another day. I had two
different great people helping me and that was fantastic.
Near the end of the day I was looking at Yoshi and noticed that he
appeared to have a small golf ball in his lip. Looking more
carefully I found an infected puncture wound on the inside of his lip,
but nothing on the outside. Fortunately one of the people there
was a vet and took a look and concluded what I already pretty much had
decided. That he got to go visit a vet today. Fortunately
AJ was able to get us into her vet so we didn't have to pay the
emergency room rates which I was quite happy about. The vet (Dr.
Leigh which is actually her first name since her husband is also in the
practice - cute), said that we had fortunately caught it early so
antibiotics (Clavanox) and the oral rinse that they gave him would
probably be enough. (True.)
Wed Apr 7
Travel day to Southern Calif. Yoshi's such a good traveler he did fine.
The only problem was that we spent a lot of time carefully introducing
Yoshi and AJ's dog Weezie, (slow indirect on-leash approaches), even
backing off when she raised a lip at him, but then when I thought it
was going to be ok, he did his rude push up into her face and she
responded by clamping down on his nose, which so totally surprised him
that he didn't respond until we pulled them apart. Then he
exploded with some very fine cursing as I carried him off. We
looked at both dogs and didn't see any blood or scrapes and concluded
that she had only gripped him, though it certainly felt pretty strong
when we pulled them apart.
It's tough when both dogs are gripping or are likely to be gripping as
you can't just pull one dog's jaws off the other or risk being
bitten. You're supposed to raise them up by their legs, but I
have yet to do that as I worry about being bitten by a flailing dog and
it's hard to hang on to jerking thrashing dog legs. I much prefer
the back to the neck grab as it's very easy to control a dog that way,
but you risk pull apart injuries.
Tue Apr 6
Trek noon walk. Walked past a leaf blower and some noisy kids.
Yoshi evening walk. I've been trying to find ways to sometimes
get his dog distance a little closer than a street width. Though
I'm pretty happy with a street width. Saw two dogs walking slowly
ahead of us and we caught up to them and then stopped while they were
stopped to pick up poop. One of the dogs barked at us, but we
weren't that close, so we sat for a little bit. Then we crossed
the street and walked by them. I do have to remind him to leave
it when passing them (same dog was barking a little, but he did
great. We got to the corner about a house and a half width ahead
of them and after some internal debate, we crossed the street which
involved crossing their path(!) He was fine. A little
concerned but ok. We were both so focused on them that he wound
up walking right past a small dog on the lawn who fortunately wasn't
paying any attention.
Then across Central there was a RottieX and we sat and let them walk
by. The owner said that Yoshi was a cutie (he probably was just
sitting there looking cute and eating goodies.) I said thank you
and silently hoped he wasn't going to suddenly ruin the illusion.
He didn't. Phew. I think he's really getting
somewhere. Now I have to focus on pushing this a little but not
pushing him past his limit.
So tomorrow Yoshi and I head down to LA for the Corgi Herding
Trial. I am really stressed about it though we're going to be
practicing for two days which should be plenty of time to see if an
attempt at his PT is at all in the cards.
Mon Apr 5
Yoshi noon walk. Uneventful except for we saw the Corgi and
Golden who often walk at this time. He's seen them before so we
only went about 1/2 a house width distance away while they crossed the
street right at us. I made him sit - it was hard for him but he
did it.
Trek walk fine.
Sun Apr 4
It's raining lightly today. I took both dogs on walks and
surprisingly they we're complaining or moping about it. Though
Trek is being a little strangely passive aggressive. A dog is
barking outside so I put Yoshi in a down near me. Trek came by
and I asked her to down also and I got this "you've GOT to be kidding
me" look (she's still a little wet and it would be on a wood floor but
that really shouldn't be a big issue. After asking her a couple
of times she actually stalked off and hid under Terri's feet. I
went and got a treat for Yoshi and sure enough Trek followed me over to
the treats. After giving Yoshi his treat, I asked Trek for
another down and got the same look. After getting the same
response again I then fed her half to Yoshi. Now she's pouting
and hiding under Terri's feet (both are).
One of the owners of Yoshi's reactive littermates is trying a different
GABA containing supplement and says that he seems actually happy (a
change). It's called Anxiety Control for Pets and is from the
Pain and Stress Center.
Ingredients
Magnesium Oxide, B6, GABA, Glycine, L-Glutamine,
Passion Flower, Primula Officinalis, and Gelatin Capsule
(no mention of amounts)
and they say to give it to them pretty often:
As a dietary supplement, use 1 capsule for your pet every 4 to 6 hours
I hope the bottle has amounts though if it's patented they might not say.
Intrigued I ordered some (~$18)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000LZA838/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&seller=
I only give GABA to Yoshi once a day, but I've been considering cutting it in half and giving it twice a day.
Sat Apr 3
What a fun day. Yoshi's breeder Elizabeth is in the state so we
all went down to Fresno to say hello and talk with her and let Yoshi
spend time with his grandma. Her mom (whose house we were at) now
has another dog, a small to medium sized white dog (a little larger
than your basic LWFD), but is just the type of dog that Yoshi is
usually completely snotty to. While it would have been great
training to work with this dog, it really wasn't the point of the visit
and that dog was really wanting to push forward right at his face to
say hello which was not going to help Yoshi to feel comfortable so we
put Yoshi in a crate and let Trek socialize with him.
We let Trek and Neruh in the yard and went inside for lunch. I
occasionally would look out the window at them and initially they were
wandering around the yard together but then I noticed that Trek seemed
to be hanging around the door more. I finally went out to check
on her and found her completely stress panting in that "Where have you
been?!" sort of way so I went and got the other soft crate that we had
brought and then let them in so that Neruh could go inside and Trek
could go in a crate. Best laid plans as this meant that Neruh was
approaching Yoshi who is in the other crate and he exploded in barking
and I turned the crate and blocked his view. Not quite getting
it, Neruh is still wanting to approach so I get him to go in the house
and then let Trek hop in the crate I had for her.
I was commenting to Terri that it's great for your ego to have a dog
like Trek who is so bonded to, but it's a royal pain sometimes when you
want to leave her with someone else. Fortunately as long as she
is in her house or a quiet crate she doesn't get separation anxiety.
It was fun to catch up with E and what she's up to and to get her
thoughts on Yoshi (though she hasn't seen him in 5 years). Most
primary in my mind is whether to continue with herding since it may be
increasing his stress level, but that's only when the sheep are
stressed. I explained that the demands of herding were helping
his behavior since it requires a stop and sometimes a stay that I never
thought he could do. She mentioned that the hard thing about
herding is that it's so much better if he could do it every day instead
of twice a month. This lead to an amusing conversation about
ducks and the fact that in Alameda you can have up to 6 ducks as
pets. She thought that would be a great way for him to practice,
but I'm not about to sign up to take care of 6 ducks, just so my dogs
can herd them.
Yoshi got to spend time with Larry, her dog loving sweetie, which is
always good for Yoshi as he needs more men in his life. And Trek
and Yoshi demonstrated their silly play behavior.
We talked about his OCD tendencies. She reminded me that he used
to watch planes, in particular the light glinting off them. I
mentioned that now he lives next to an airport he pays no attention at
all to planes. However if a butterfly is in the yard he will
chase its shadow until we notice and distract him from doing it.
I forgot to mention the depth of his laser pointer obsession and that
before I decided it wasn't good for him I actually used it to get him
over the teeter for the first time. The thing that made we
realize just how obsessed he was was after letting him chase a laser
pointer he continued to look for it for 20-30 minutes after it was gone.
She thinks he might still be able to do obedience. I mentioned
that I didn't like to have him off lead when not inside a fence because
of his reactiveness even though he is getting better.
She observed that her getting tough on him for his outbursts really
made a difference for her and that she could take him to horse shows
then (as a puppy). I mentioned that in my experience whether a
correction would have the desired effect depended on how worried/afraid
of the other dog he was. If he's just being a jerk, then telling
him to knock it off worked, if it's a dog he's truly worried about it
just makes things worse. I also mentioned that I can get him to
sit and watch a dog walk who is across the street which is way better
than he used to be. For fun I had the dogs do a sit stay while I
was jumping up and down about 25 feet away.
I guess the test of that is to start doing more obedience matches and maybe even have him do Rally Novice (over and over again).
Fri Apr 2
Rainy today - started out on a walk with Yoshi and turned around
Trek class tonight though.
[later]
Ok that was a fortuitous set of factors. I left work at 5pm and
at that time class was on, but Rachelle had gotten there and it was
pouring so she ran home and canceled class (there's a message board we
all use) I had already committed to going to class so I didn't
check just before I left (I have to hustle to make it as it is), so
when I got there I was the only one there. The rain had gone and
it was lovely.
I climbed up on the hill to find a cell signal and left a message for
Rachelle and she called me back (which involved climbing back up to
that spot) and she told me about what had happened and that I was
welcome to practice. Cool. By herself she did great on all
the equipment including all the contact equipment. We also worked
on some harder weave pole entrances but she's not quite ready for that
but if I line her up she does great at them. Her driving forward
for jumps is not that great, but then I got an Air Dog toy out and she
went bounding after that even over jumps. I'm thinking I should
change "go tunnel" to just "tunnel" as too much verbiage confuses
her. She loves that new Air Dog toy so much I think I should make
a habit of using it.
Thu Apr 1
Flat footed moment on a Yoshi Walk. We were at a corner and there
was a small white dog coming towards us on a side street, but across
the street. We stayed there while I wondered if they were going
to keep coming at us or turn down Central. They did and we had to
move quickly with Yoshi objecting some. If we had crossed the
street before that it would have been fine, but he was able to sit when
we got across the street.
Trek walk. Fine.
Wed Mar 31
Ok I've done it. I've committed Yoshi to going down to S. Calif
for herding practice Thu and Fri and I'll decide then whether I let him
near the ring during the trial or whether we're just tourists.
Yoshi Walk
I really think we're getting somewhere. Saw a small dog 1/2 a
block away across the street - this dog was the size of a Dachshund but
short lab like yellow fur and a slightly curly tail. I put Yoshi
in a sit and we watched that dog come towards us and walk by us (still
across the street). Yoshi sat pretty much the whole time save for
standing up once when they were right across from us. i made him
sit again and he booffed once but immediately sat and asked for another
treat (he's had quite a few). These are not the soft easy to gulp
down treats, but more harder crunchy treats where he has to take a
moment to chew which slows things down nicely. I'm very happy
with him, and he is starting to really get what is expected of him.
Tue Mar 30
Yoshi walk - uneventful save for him bristling at someone carrying a white grocery bag (oh please.)
I still can't decide whether to go to the S. Calif. Corgi Herding
Trial. Yoshi has one more chance to practice and it could easily
get rained out. If it were one of his trainers handling him he'd
be fine but with me it could be a struggle depending on the
sheep. It occurred to me while on our walk that just squeaking by
isn't really how I want this to go. I want us to go in confident
knowing that we can do this. For his JHD we had practiced and
practiced and I mostly knew we'd likely be ok. I don't have that
feeling now since our training has been so mucked with by the weather
and circumstances. So for this second now I'm leaning towards
no. Which is a bummer as it would be fun to watch a bunch of
Corgi's herd again.
I just heard about a Corgi in the nationals that stopped to sniff (a
stress reaction) during a final run when the crowd started to yell and
cheer. I'm trying to imagine sound sensitive Trek in those
circumstances and I doubt she's even get to the starting line - even
with all the work we're doing on sound desensitization.
If she has PP class tonight (it might rain) she's going to be wearing
her thundershirt and we'll see if that helps her with the teeter sounds.
They are going to risk having it but I'm not feeling well enough to make the drive down.
-----
I have this great video of Yoshi and Trek playing that I need to edit
and upload. It's cool because it shows all the signals they use
to play all the while Yoshi making these horrible sounding growling
noises but isn't biting down at all and in fact Trek is happily kicking
his rear and chewing on him (which is loves). i just have to
figure out whether to use text or voice over. I've never done
voice over so that might be fun. Or I could make text jpgs and
import them into iMovie since the text of the version I have isn't that
great for large portions of text.
The main points I want to illustrate in the video is the array of
subtle signals. In particular the pauses, the head turns, the
shaking, and the other choreography. We humans have a hard time
getting past the awful sounding growling which it turns out is just
show.
Mon Mar 29
I had to have a lengthy medicat procedure done today so no walks for doggies.
It's now the evening and there's a dog barking and Yoshi keeps barking
back. During a lull I spied the Survivor buff that falls off of
Trek, so I put it on Yoshi. It fits him better since he has more
fur and the cool thing is that there isn't any velcro for him to try to
take off. It just put pressure around his chest. He
immediately jumped into a snuggler and isn't fussing right now.
He'll pop up and bark, but seems to settle down faster.
Sun Mar 28
Just ordinary boring walks for each dog
Sat Mar 27
Yoshi Thundershirt walk
I think it helps him when he's trying to do the right thing. When he's surprised I'm not sure it matters.
3 dog encounters
1 was Ruby a sometimes reactive dog wanting to charge after him when
she was coming out of her house. Fortunately her owner had her on
leash and promptly took her back inside. Yoshi did not react at
all while we we sitting at the corner (her house is facing that
spot). For completeness I had Yoshi do a quarter turn so he
wasn't facing them and could continue to earn treats until they had
left.
Then we walked on and decided to walk over to the park to see if we
could see any dogs since it was the middle of the day. Flat
footed moment for me was, a dog and his person across the street lept
out of nowhere charging down the street and Yoshi started to charge
after them. I got him back with out much difficulty and they
immediately disappeared as soon as they appeared.
We went into the part to see if there were dogs and one small to medium
size one was walking with her family at us on the path. We went
into the center of the front grass and sat and watched them walk
by. Not a peep from him. Would he have done this without
the thundershirt? Probably, but he seemed to be having an easier
time of it. We were around 25 of my paced away which is just over
60'.
A good test of this would be to take him to agility class and have him
watch a little. Or take him to an ODTC match, but I'm going to be
likely out of town for that because of the S. Calif Corgi herding trial
which I'm leaning towards going now.
Trek hike.
We went to Redwood Park. I had resolved to do just an out and
back hike but we took a turn and you could see where we'd started so
she seemed happy to do that. What was funny is that it was very
similar to a hike we had done before where I had to beg her to continue
but it was in the other direction. We went from the District
Office Parking lot Down Golden Spike, then Montrieo, then Dunn and
back. But now I realize that can't be right and there must be
another connecting trail now as Montrieo is very steep and we went on
anything like that. I'm thinking we took a cut off from Golden
Spike over to Dunn. About 2 miles which makes sense as the one
she was trying to quit on was 3 miles.
Fri Mar 26
Yoshi noon walk. uneventful save for us chasing another dog for a bit.
Trek has class tonight. She's going early to see if that class stresses her less.
Didn't get there early enough but still wandered around them
some. And Trek's thundershirt had come in and we were trying it
out.
Post to CU_Dogs_SF
I received the dog's Thundershirt (http://thundershirt.com) in the mail
today. I was a little surprised at how flat it folds (comes in an
envelope not a box), but when I took it out I could tell it is very
well made. It's a stretch material that wraps around them and you
can fit it on them snugly (it also has straps that go over the
chest.) Also the color is much darker and prettier than it is in
the photos
First impressions
Trek loves it, Yoshi keeps trying to take it off.
Trek has been having a hard time in agility class because of her sound
sensitivity and I was pretty sure I was going to have to take her out
of class. I wound up having her wear the shirt for entire class
because it doesn't get in her way. She seemed to do a lot better
tonight while wearing it, and she actually seemed to have a nice time.
When we got back Terri told me that Yoshi had been reacting a lot to
sounds and barking dogs. I put the shirt on him and while it
seems to help him relax when there's not a trigger, when there is he
reacts the same and then starts trying to chew the chest straps on the
shirt. I even held him while a dog was barking and his heart was just
hammering in his chest - poor guy - it's been a tough night for him - I
should of just taken him to class and let him sleep in the car. I wound
up taking the shirt off of him and have just given him some of his
supplement that has Valerian in it. Tomorrow I'll try him on one
of our training walks which will be a better test of it.
To see this kind of improvement in Trek I would have paid nearly $100
for, but it's only $36. So even if it's a wash for Yoshi (calming
him down is a much, much taller order) I'm still a happy camper.
I've given Yoshi 2 dropperfuls of Valerian (Richard's organics) and he
is attached to me and his is still trying to bark though he's mellowing
out because he's drugged now. Poor guy.
Thu Mar 25
3 dog pair encounters. All good. A lot of people walk their dog
to Lincoln Park down Santa Clara and Central. This is around
6:30pm
Came across the two American Eskimo dogs and we parallel walked with
them for a little bit them turned around and continued on our
walk. The when we were on Central we found ourselve walking right
at two small dogs. I debated crossing the street but there were
two more dogs walking toward un on that side. So we turned around
and went back to a side street and walked a house length and a house
width down and waited. and waited (small dogs not very
fast). They finally appeared and Yoshi watched them and
immediately afterward the two larger dogs walk by with out a
peep. Wow. We walk back to Central and start following them
and catch up to and parrallel with the larger dogs (Aussie and a hound
type dog). When we caught up to them Yoshi seemed more up and
excited, but not out of his mind at all.
Wed Mar 24
Relatively sedate dog training day (which is kind of nice.) I was
all ambitious about taking Yoshi to Wed night ob class, but that would
be 4 days/nights of dog training and that feels like a little much.
Trek noon dog walk. Fine. Negotiated around a leaf blower but those don't bother her much.
Yoshi walk at dusk. Also fine. Only saw one dog a mostly
black and white Aussie who wasn't paying any attention to us and even
though was just across the street immediately started walking away from
us. Yoshi sat and watched the dog but a dog like that is one of
the least likely ones that he would react to anyway. (Dogs that
look like Border Collies get a pass in his mind.) While there are
plenty of dogs out in early evening when it gets dusk they all seem to
go away and I was at a gym class in the early evening.
Tue Mar 23
Trek has class tonight so Yoshi gets the noon walk today. With
the longer days there were almost no dogs out except for a Golden
Retriever walking along with his person rolling in their garbage
carts. We stopped to watch them for a bit and the dog and Yoshi
spent a couple of moments looking right at each other without
incident. The distance was the street width plus part of the way
down his driveway.
The flyer for another CU type seminar put on by Kienan is out, so I
filled one out for Yoshi for the more advanced class and sent it
in. This one is on Sunday May 9th. I let other CU people
know that we were going and they're thinking of going too. I've
always been the secretary for the first ones so this is the first one
I've actually paid for so it seemed important to support it though I
have a feeling there won't be any problem finding 15 dogs. I can
think of at least 5.
Trek Power Paws class. The days are longer and the time has
changed and now there is plenty of daylight for the class to work on
the contact equipment (it's in a part of the field that isn't
lighted). And sound sensitive Trek just wanted to leave. I
coaxed her over a couple of teeters but it's when every one else does a
teeter and they were doing a lot of teeters this time. She
physically flinches. I've ordered a Thundershirt and it will be
interesting to try her in that situation while wearing it to see if it
helps.
At the moment it doesn't look like Trek is ever going to get used to
teeter sounds. She can be convinced to do them herself, but if
she's not in control of the booming she's miserable. Some minutes
after we moved down to the other part of the field that was just jumps
weaves and tunnels she started doing a lot better. The difference
was very dramatic and Debbie and I discussed that maybe I should just
have her do NADAC for a while. I'd been debating that for a while
and I've been resistant to it because I prefer USDAA but if she'd be
happier there then I should consider it.
I still have to decide whether to enter Bay Team. It's my club so
I should do it regardless of what we actually do, but I could actually
work the trial instead which would probably be more appreciated
actually. I suppose I could just blow the whole weekend by
entering her for one day and working the other.
But right now I'm just wallowing in disappointment. I have big dreams for Trek, but she's not interested right now. :(
To have both Yoshi and Trek wash out of agility, which is my sport, is
pretty crushing. Fortunately they are both good at other
disciplines but it still sucks.
And after looking at the Bayteam premium, I can't resist entering her
in her usual 4 classes. The first class is the Standard class, in
the morning she's usually pretty wired and fine with contacts even
though she often blows by them, and it would be really nice to get that
last leg and get out of Starters with the silly 4 paw rule, next is
either Snooker or Gamblers and Jumpers as the last class. I
usually have to scratch her out of the last class, but I can often
nurse her through a Jumpers class so there is a chance. This
would be for Saturday May 1st. I can decide whether I want to
work all day on Sunday. I actually have a certificate for one
day. The problem we're going to run into is that I can help her
through some of the classes, but she's so not ready for Masters and I
could wind us up there if I'm not careful.
WAG has two NADAC shows listed for May and June. We should try one.
Mon Mar 22
The time has changed and the days are longer so Trek is now walked at noon and Yoshi in the evening.
Trek's walk was uneventful. I haven't been stressing her much by
deliberately walking by noise as she had been not wanting to go on
walks so I'm letting her learn to like them again.
Yoshi walk. A huge milestone. that he's been working up to this week.
3 dog encounters. All successful. The first time was a
close one as Yoshi had stopped to poop and 2 dogs (Aussies) were
approaching rapidly. I was debating calling out to the owner to
stop but Yoshi finished in time an I scooped up the poop and we went
across the street, and had positioned ourselves beside a parked car
where he could see up the street. I put him in a sit and told him
to stay. The dogs appeared and I told him to stay and he boffed
and looked up for a treat. He popped up to eat his treat and the
dogs are still there so I immediately place him in a sit again and
repeated stay (he often reacts right at this point but placing him and
telling him to stay seems to make the difference.) sometimes I
have to pull up on the collar a little as a sit cue. This
repeated a few times and the dogs moved on. Those very same dogs
had stopped to talk to a neighbor so we stopped for a bit 2 houses away
to watch and then finally crossed the street and wound up walking
parallel with them (us slightly behind).
Then we saw another tri colored Aussie on Central while we were sitting
at a corner and I kept him in the sit while they walked past.
then later on Gibbons I had him sit and watch a yellow Lab pass by
after seeing them at a distance (all of these are just across the
street). A street width is just above his threshold so he has to
work hard to behave at this point but he can do it with guidance.
This is so not letting the dog make his own choices which is usually
how we prefer the dog to learn. Instead, I physically place him
in a sit and insist on him staying there, but he is rewarded for making
the right choice (looking at me after optionally looking at the
dog). It's cool to watch him think about it. He is
struggling, but herding has taught me that he is capable of this. What a good boy.
Sun Mar 21
The one problem with finding the perfect spot is that other people are
drawn to it too once they see you using it. I had less than a
minute up on the platform before other dog/handlers came up and we had
to leave (no drama). The trick with keeping a low profile is that
people don't realize what the stakes are because he looks just like any
other well behaved dog there and that if they walk at you then Yoshi
might explode (which he didn't). So we did a lot of shell game
maneuvering. We stayed on the edges and it mostly work.
Since Yoshi's trigger is dog's approaching or moving around, we were
actually able to return to the platform where two other dogs and
handlers were. He wasn't sure about the small Schnauzer, but the
dog wasn't moving so he was ok. We actually got to watch some of
Hazel's run with her dog until another dog approached us and we
retreated. As long as everything appeared under control he was ok
but it was more when someone would break away and play with their dog
that he was uncomfortable.
That was the first session I then gave him a break and worked with Trek
(detailed later), then I had him out for another session and a woman
started to play fetch with her poodle and he was not happy about
that. I was going to retreat further when I realized that if I
wanted him to be around under control dogs then I needed to go closer
not further. This is a pretty big realization. We often
think in terms of distance threshold and Leslie talks about it, but for
Yoshi there's an activity threshold. Dog's standing still do no
need the same amount of attention as dogs moving. (I think Leslie
refers to this but I don't remember exactly how.)
So emboldened we just started walking around the edges of the rings and
he did great (I think he was overwhelmed, but these are obedience dogs
so no dog was being rude to him or even engaging him, but instead
paying attention to their owners. There was one silent scary
moment when a little white dog appeared before him and I tackled him
right as he stiffened. Tasha and another ring steward got to see
me grab him and hold him down which must have been funny as his face
was jammed into the ground. This is not the first time that he
and I have gotten into a silent strange wrestling match with him about
a small dog and the owner is never aware of what drama is being averted
on their dog's behalf.
Then we walked on and after some debate I decided to walk him down a
crowed aisle where we have to maneuver around dogs and handlers.
This was quite a test for him and he did great. If a dog was
approaching (moving) then I stopped him over to the side and covered
his eyes while the dog passed. CU dog owner Ann B was there and
said hello to Yoshi and gave him some treats which he was thrilled
about. He was panting, but not jumpy at all. He seemed to
know that while not thrilled, he was ok. We were then able to
exit that area without any drama and then make our way back to the car
(cutting through the Amphitheater area works well. Parking way
over on the edge of lot K (as close to lot J as I could get and then
approaching via the Art and Education building worked very well.
So Yoshi is ready to go back to class. I just have to be willing
to spend the time. It's a bummer as he'll never show in obedience
and can only do Rally Novice but I can take him to matches and just not
let him off lead, and the recalls can be one on a line.
Trek session.
This was all about: Do you like this? Is this something you would
enjoy? She certainly liked how much calmer it was. She
didn't like rattling xpens, but that's everywhere. she's unsure
about all the dogs but sees that they're not going to eat her so that
helps a lot. I think we have a winner if I'm willing to do
it. Sits and Downs were beside a fountain which she was very,
very interested in I let her see them, but didn't let her
jump in.
[Later]
Yoshi walk. On Central saw a Shar Pei on the other side of the
street. I made him sit and hovered over him which he grumbled a
little looks more and then looked back at me - YES! This entire
time the other dog is starting at him but he's not paying too much
attention now, He did look back a couple of times but never
locked on. Once the dog was behind a parked car we moved
on. I'm back to using his name before most commands as that gets
his attention. Yoshi Sit works better than Sit. Now if he's
stopped and listening to me then I can just say the word.
Trek walk. Uneventful.
Sat Mar 20
Trek was out of eye medication so Yoshi and I went down to pick it
up. I went into the office without Yoshi to see if he could come
in to say hi and Diana said he could. In the waiting room, I saw
what was clearly a reactive JRT. Oh this should be
interesting. I waited to see if the JRT would go into an exam
room but he hadn't so we went in and when JRT exploded I swiftly
dragged Yoshi over to behind the counter and Diana popped a treat in
his mouth. Yoshi never got a chance to react which was perfect
esp since the JRT didn't stop barking for a long time.
Later I went over to help mark rings for the ODTC obedience match
tomorrow. Yoshi hung out in the car, Until we were done and then
he got to hang out with Patricia and I. He did great with one big
exception that he lept out of my arms to charge a member's Bull Dog who
had just reappeared. I still had the leash and yanked him back
hard and made him sit and watch the dog. Of course he did fine
after that. Liz Ann came over to chat and say hi to him and let
me know that she wanted to take her GSD out of her van. I backed
Yoshi off some so we could watch and he did great. It was in a
parking lot with angled mostly empty parking lot and we were one row
over in distance. Later on I took Yoshi over to where Liz Ann and
her dog were working and let them directly approach a sitted Yoshi and
he did great. They turned around when they got about 20' away.
Since I was just mentioning this and I'm mentioned it here
before. Yoshi has more self control than he wants to admit
to. There have been times when he's screaming at a dog and I'm
holding him back. He has had every opportunity to bite me out of
frustration or redirected aggression and he never has. This tells
me that some neurons besides Get That Dog are firing.
I joked with Lori that he may start his obedience career when he's 10
and she says it wouldn't be the first time. I could take hime to
matches and tie him down for sits and downs or stay with him.
I spent a lot of time scoping out the grounds for places that
Yoshi could watch without getting pinned in. I think we're going
to approach from the Arts and Education building which is parking lot J
instead of the more usual lot K. That will place us a bit higher
up so we can see better. I think I'll take Trek too since I bould
shade cloth so I can car crate them. Things start off at 8:30
tomorrow at CSU Hayward.
Fri Mar 19
Class with Lori. Took Trek for the Novice class then went home and got Yoshi and took him to the Utility class.
I'm quite happy with both of them and very proud of how well Yoshi did after not going for a while.
It's hard to tell if Trek is enjoying herself. She likes the work
and definitely the treats, but it's a slightly noisy environment and
there was one brief doggy disagreement that she didn't care for at all
even though she was across the room, and if was just two dogs growling
at each other
Things we worked on were heeling head position. Step treat, step
treat, then next time two steps treat, two more steps treat. Her
heeling is a little better than that so she she didn't know what to
think, so she was pretty rumped out trying to get the food. I
don't know if the exercise helped her or not. I think if I go
faster it might help. Lori says there is no requirement that the
dog look at you while heeling. I think having the dog looking at
you is artificial but if she isn't looking at me she'll start sniffing
the ground so it's probably better to go with attention.
She still thinks firgure 8 heeling around other dogs is weird and she
didn't want to go past the PWD though she was fine with little Spencer
the CKCS. Her fronts are good. Lori suggested I use a cone
for her to go around for finish as I have to encourage her to really
swing deeply back to get lined up correctly.
We would take breaks playing rabbit fur toy fetch which she liked.
My working on Trek's Stand has paid off and she can now reliably do
it. My signal is now a fist in front of her nose and i also help
her with my left hand on her tummy. I also place her to make sure
she's set and she understands that means don't move. She will
sometimes pick up her right foot if I come too close to her and Lori
said that's only 1/2 a point off and I actually don't have to be that
close to her laterally when returning and that it's more important to
have my left leg in line with her right ear.
Lori went over that you lose your leash part of the way through the
exercises and that that can be a way that dogs lose focus so we
practiced taking off the leash with the left hand while they watch your
right hand that you are holding up.
Yoshi. There were only 3 other dogs in class and he was
awesome. The other dogs where a standard poodle and a britany and
a GSD who was mostly just observing. With only 3 dogs working he
was able to concentrate. His heeling was great and he knows his
down signal very well and doing ok on the sit signal. His Stand
is also good. And he is retrieving the rabbit fur toy.
He'll even sit briefly with it in his mouth.
Lori suggested that I teach him to rest his head in my hand and then
work to having him hold a toy in his mouth while resting his chin on my
hand. this would be cute but I'm not sure how to transition it to
my standing up and not holding his chin but it does teach him to hold a
position which has merit.
Reaction wise there were only two. He barked when Lori's Phoenix
barked and he reacted pretty strongly when the GSD came back into the
room after leaving for a little while. Which is pretty
predictable and i should have been watching for it. He was fine
with working around all the dogs even when they approached by accident
though we did suggest they not get too close.
I'm considering starting to bring them both to the Wed night class. Each dog on alternating weeks.
Trek Agility class
I'm so slow. I'm finally realizing that the reason she's been
less than motivated at class is that she hates that class - mostly
likely due to the way that another student talks very excitedly to his
dog (she's such a sensitive flower). Last week we were up in the
field by ourselves and she was fine until he showed up and then she
shut down. He's not even interacting with her, but it must be his
tone of voice. Of course his dog just happily tunes him
out. I can try to keep her away from him, but I fear that I'm
going to have to pull her out of that class and move her to privates
and keep the Power Paws class as her group class (so she's still
exposed to some hubbub) which she likes when they're not doing
contacts. The advantage of moving her to privates is that then
Yoshi gets to come too.
Thu Mar 18
Average sort of day. Both dog walks went well.
Wed Mar 17
Much of the same this week.
Having more luck with insisting he sit for dogs.
Today we didn't have any dogs pass us but we caught up to a couple who
turned off just as we caught up. They did stop a short distance
away and Yoshi was able to calmly watch them across Central and the
depth of a front lawn.
I ordered him a herding flag and it came in today. Looks like i could help park a 747 now too.
So the time has changed and my days are longer. But I like to go
to a gym class at 5:30. Then I have the option of taking one of
them to ob class (haven't done it for a while now), or entertain Trek
in some other way.
So this time I was tired from class and we wanted to work on the dryer
later, so I decided to take her to the dog park to see if i could get
her interested in fetch. Or just in the environment at all.
It worked much better than expected though i didn't get the chance to
stand around much. There were some dogs that she played with a
little and I could get her to fetch some until another dog wanted it so
i had to be careful about that, but what worked the best was to just
run around with her and practice my higher happy voice which is tough
for me as Yoshi needs a lower voice and my natural voice is
lower. Fortunately i don't have to use a high squeaky voice just
a softer excited voice and we would then run around the small dog
park. So no real rest for me but it gave us some great running
around practice and i got to experiment with what tones work
best. And went we were further away from the other dogs we could
play fetch for a little while. Given that she's looking put upon
when i take her there or just eating everything, it went quite well.
Sun Mar 14
Yoshi (and Trek) Herding
So Yoshi go to go (ok return) to another place to do herding and he did
great. Well he was in a round pen and wasn't stopping well for me,
but then the instructor got in there and suddenly he started
stopping. She popped him once on the nose with a flag and the
every time she raised it then he would immediately stop. She says
I just wind up nagging him with my repeating stops and sits and it
appears she's right and he was great for her. Though he seems to
have filed her under the crazy person which is the same completely unfair category he did
with his previous instructor. It's a fine line between getting
him to keep his head around stock, or just quitting in a huff, or being
too pushy like he is with me. He does seem to respect the flag so
I'm ordering him one from bordercollies.com
He also go to be put on geese seriously for the first time and he did
great. He totally was puzzled by them and kept his distance but
after a few sessions he should be just fine. Several of us are
wondering if we should have made him a goose dog much earlier. I
don't know as you have to have a high degree of control to work geese
well (directions -go by and away - are critical if you want to get them
into a pen - watch an AHBA trial someday).
I also had Trek in the round pen and she briefly engaged with the
sheep. Possibly enough to get the first AHBA herding tested title
HCT (Herding Capability Tested) which is 4 times back and forth with
the sheep in a small pen. Have to see if she's actually
interested or just humoring me. Actually even if she was just
humoring me she could get an HCT.
Thu Mar 11
So these past few weeks, i've been working with Yoshi on his down on
recall and I can mostly get it in the yard, but around sheep it's
difficult. Around the slower goats it works (with goats it's a
stop). Trouble is that all of his other training has to do with a
good recall and being close to me. It's pretty inherit in him to
come back to me and to have him not do that is a tough one but if I
want him to continue herding it's pretty imperative.
Did some work in the yard with him on remote down. He can't help
but take three steps to me and then down, but he does usually
down. It's funny he doesn't seem to hear on the first time or his
response is slow (always has been some). Trek of course does it
right away though there was one exception. I had them both in a
down and told them to sit and it was Yoshi who sat. Then I was
able to tell him to down again.
Yoshi walk. One dog but an important one. A dog so teeny
that I wasn't sure it was a dog for a bit. They were coming right
towards us on Central so we just crossed the street. Central is a
relatively wide street for Alameda so we didn't retreat further.
I had him sit and stay with me hoovering right over him with a short
leash. the dog is so small he's engaging with me at first so we
play sit and treat a few times. Then while he's on a sit he sees
the dog. I repeat stay and I'm right over him. He rumbles a
growl but doesn't move and then looks up at me. Good dog have a
goody. I have him sit again as the dog is still just across the
street and Yoshi does with some hesitation (I helped put him
there.) This time he just reengaged with out even worrying about
the dog. Cool. Phew.
He also walked right past a squirrel stationary on the ground. If
they're not in the trees or running he doesn't seem to care.
Yoshi has a herding lesson from another instructor who doesn't want to
be mentioned. This is on sheep and I am concerned but determined
to take it very slow. She has a round pen and I anticipate
spending most of our time there.
Tue Mar 9
I am reeling. It's amazing to me that one person can completely screw
one's plans up.
One of the managers at Willowside Ranch has decided that Yoshi and 4
Cattledogs are too rough on the stock and doesn't want them to come
back. One of the Cattledogs bit a sheep and so they all got banned
which seems unfair to them.
During a session, we had a lighter, recalcitrant sheep that we
removed after she hit the fence at low speed Removing that sheep
helped. I don't think the manager likes how revved up Yoshi gets
and how I have to argue with him (Yoshi) to make him stop. And of
course it is the manager's job to protect the stock, but this is a
training facility and all is not going to go smoothly.
It totally smacks of breed prejudice which I don't normally see, but hear
about, and I'm really not sure what to do. Whether to keep training or
just stop and teach him how to track. I'm so bummed as I really wanted
to make him a goat dog and ironically the regular school sheep will be
back next week. It makes me wonder if I hadn't done anything until the
regular school sheep were back if we'd have been better off.
If the money wasn't such an issue I'd take him down to S. Calif for the
trial anyway and just practice there. But I don't think I want the
stress and the $100/night hotel costs. And he probably doesn't want the
stress of unfamiliar sheep either.
I just don't know what to do. I could beg HTrainer2 to let him come back to
her place or do a long trip out to Nola Jones in Pleasant Grove or there's Bob Euwing in Hollister, or just
go back to Obedience and Rally training which is so much easier. When
they become available I can put him in a Nosework class and see how he
does with that and then if I want to spend as much time as herding takes
I can sign him up to learn tracking if Debbie Best is still teaching it
- I'm sure the rains have really messed with their schedule. They can
only do it until the foxtails come out and then they have to move to a park.
I'm just trying to figure out what makes him happy. Having and
maintaining order in his life seems to be paramont but herding is pretty
stressful for him even though it's what he is wired to do.
I think we'll wait a little while and them ask again if he can work with
the goats. He's never hurt a goat.
Trek Agility Class
Hard as it was to concentrate, I took Trek to Power Paws for a
class. It was good to have something else to focus on besides
Yoshi's situation.
It's light enough now for the first part of class that we did courses
with contacts. It was cold and the wind was blowing so Trek was
revved and didn't have any contact issues for the first run and then
started doing her avoidance behavior on the second run and didn't even
leave the line on the 3rd, so grass is not the magic answer though it
helps.
The rest of the class was on front and rear cross drills mostly with
jumps and tunnels with occasional weavepoles tossed in. Her
enthusiasm would vary but given that she was most enthusiastic at the
start line I clearly need to play or treat her more on course.
Post to frapfest and coltsrunkids
I am reeling. One of the managers at the place Yoshi trains decided
that Yoshi (and all 4 of the Cattledogs) were too rough on the stock
and that he can't train there anymore - he was being too rough on one
sheep but seemed ok when we took that sheep out. My trainer tried to
negotiate with the manager (what if she did the handling? what if we
only worked on goats?) but he wasn't having any part of it. Apparently
this guy is a sheep guy and not really a dog person though he has
dogs. The people who are really shafted are the Cattledog people.
Apparently one of them bit a sheep, so they all got banned. I haven't
run into such intense breed prejudice before.
I am bummed as I was hoping to turn him into a goat dog since he seems
to do so well with them, and no one else around here has goats. I'm
going to wait a little while and then ask again.
I think I'm going to pass on the Southern Calif Corgi trial which I am sad about, but not going saves me a whole bunch of money.
The other bummer is that the heavier sheep he is used to have weaned
their babies and will be back instead of the recalcitrant sheep we have
now. I do wonder what would have happened if we'd just waited for the
steadier sheep to come back.
Mon Mar 8
Did a lot of relaxation protocol exercises with them in crates (lots of
knocking on and unlocking of doors) before Cathy came over. When
she came they hardly reacted at all but were happy to see her.
Sun Mar 7
Yoshi walk. It's the afternoon and lots of dogs are out
walking.at least 5 dog sightings one of them repeated. Every
sinble time he was asked to do a sit-stay and over time his compliance
improved. Not surprisingly the first time (and second) was him
sitting for a second and then leaping up to try to charge the dog and
me repositioning him (polite term). But over time he started to
sort of get what was expected and at least to some extent go over the
"oh you can't possibly mean that now - especially when there's a DOG
across the street." But he actually did kinda sort of start to
get it. Type of dog was all over the place, and he actually
started to get it when a LWFD was across the street which is usually
when he's at his worst.
Trek walk. Went fine except that turn for home on Gibbons where she
starts to try to drag me. I think I'm going to have to vary the
route for her. Yoshi likes the routine but I'm tiried of the last
of my walk with Trek being a don't drag me conversation. Not to
mention I do want it to be good exercise for her without my arm coming
off.
I was actually annoyed at Trek as I went to walk her first but she went
and hid in her crate and wouldn't come out so I took Yoshi instead
which turned out to be great. I could have bribed her out but
decided that my point was better made taking Yoshi first. Terri
though that she thought it was close to dinner time, but funny that she
was willing to come with me after Yoshi got back and still before
dinner.
Trying to decide how much I regret deciding not to take Yoshi to S.
Calif. It's a bummer but I don't think it makes him happy.
He's passionate about herding, but he's fearful about it and he really
don't know how to handle himself just yet, and skittish sheep really
stress him. If I were guaranteed mellow sheep then maybe but
there never are guarantees in herding. Besides it means I save a
few hundred dollars in travel costs.
Sat Mar 6
Yoshi herding
Our usual sheep have been on Mom duty and haven't been available so we
now have medium sheep and things didn't go well. He actually
crashed one into a fence (relatively low speed but still not
good.) And he's just not working very well and not listening and
seems stressed out. My plan was to have HTrainer3 work with him but
he didn't want to so I had to be out there also. His anxiety
level seems to match the sheep's. So for his second run we put
him on goats and he was fine. Kinda pooped out at the end but
before that wore behind them (running back and forth at the back to
move them along), he stopped when asked. We worked on his outrun
and when I tried to push him out he would stop, but I must have been pushing
on his head too much.
His anxiety seems to match the stock's. So I'm thinking that we
should bail on the Corgi trial and just do goats for a while (could
even compete in AHBA on goats) and then maybe intro him to geese or
ducks. He's been afraid of geese in the past so I may push for
the ducks that we had Trek on as I think they would be perfect even if
they don't herd as well as the ranch geese apparently.
Those on corgiherders say that if he's on goats too much he'll learn
some bad habits about crowding but he does that already. I'm
thinking I'd like him to learn some confidence first. Cindy T. says
that sometimes they use goats for tests in Az as their sheep are too
light. Given that he's kind of a stress puppy I'm not sure if
he'll ever be able to work lighter sheep and that is starting to sound
fine to me - I just want him to be happy and maybe just being a goat
dog is fine. Till one takes a good whack at him. Then he
may not like it so much. One gave him a glancing blow but he
appears to have recovered about that. They are at least more his
size.
HTrainer3 doesn't want him to roll in the pasture anymore. She wants
him to think that he's only here to work. I think he does that
only from stress but ok.
Fri Mar 5
The weather gods appear to be granting us a reprieve. Trek's class and Yoshi's lesson might not be rained out this time.
I am concerned that Yoshi is not getting enough sheep time before his
PT. Good thing we've already done the JHD so I know we can do it
when I don't forget what I'm doing. i have to remember to only go
part of the way to te sheep, then I can help him with staying further
out which keeps them from splitting up.
Yoshi Walk. Working entirely on sit and stay when there's a dog
passing. Saw one dog but it went much better than I
expected. On Court approaching Santa Clara and we were withint
1/2 of a house length of the corner when I saw the dog about to cross
in front of us but across the street. i told Yoshi to sit and
stay and then he say the dog crossing in front of him (small to med
sized thin black dog moving at average speed.) He grumbled but
that was it and didn't move. Good boy. Have a goodie.
We did sit and stay semi randomly during the rest of the walk so it
doesn't become a predictor of a dog. Also sit and stayed for a
woman to pass with a large package and that was fine.
I'm hoping Trek has class tonight. Holding steady so far.
Trek class.
The weather held. I got Trek out on the upper field and did a
couple of dog walks and an A-Frame and some weaves and a few
tunnels. Then back on the lower field she did a teeter. For
all of them I made it plainly obvious that if she did them she'd get
the treat I was holding. She seemed happy to do them all.
Then in class she hesitated at the teeter and I stood there holding the
treat. She thought about it and then did it and earned her treat.
It's funny, by herself she's fine, but when others show up and the
comotion increases, she starts to stress. When the very animated
Steve and Charlie show up she starts to shake (this is on the lower
field). I picked her up and let her hide in my lap behind
Rachelle over on the side, and she started to relax. When we move
up to the upper field she does ok but tries to poop out on the last run
and wants to look for treats. I pinch her but and that actually
wakes her up and she finishes the course. It's possible that she
gets more distracted at Sharon's because there are more things on the
ground than at Power Paw's grass field. Don't know.
Thu Mar 4
Yoshi Walk. Beautiful break in the weather and no dogs! Hmphf. Hardly any people
either.
Various places put him on a stay while I walked around him. He's
volunteering down even though I mostly ask for sit.
Finally say someone carry a package and another with an umbrella and he
sat and stayed while they went by (across the street.)
Took both dogs in the yard and had them both do down stays while I
walked and jogged back and forth. Trek broke when i waved my arms and
also gets restless over 30 seconds, but otherwise they did well but the
squirrels weren't around either. sigh.
So without triggers they both have pretty good stays. I guess that's a
start. I'm encouraged that Yoshi's stays are actually better than
Trek's but her response time is better to a cue. He has so very much
the A.D.D. "Oh you were talking to me?" thing going. When he focuses
he's great, but anything that moves captures his attention. He's
actually more OCD really as he will chase shadows if I let him.
As an alternative to a Thundershirt Debbie suggested a pack. It's
kinda hilarious to think of Yoshi with a pack but they do make his size
so it's possible and it might give him the feeling that he is working.
i also have Cali's screaming pink life vest that I could put on him to
see how he does with the sensation, but there's no way I'm walking
around the neighborhood with him wearing it unless it's at night.
I worry about what people would think of a Corgi carrying a pack
especially since my dogs are really small. Maybe I should make
him carry his poop.
Trek walk.
Ok that was not the right approach. I took her down to Santa
Clara and Broadway which is a relatively busy intersection for Alameda
while still being two lane roads. My thought was not even to go
down Broadway like we did before (and she thought we'd be going down it
as she started down it), but instead to go there and eat yummy
treats. She was happy to eat the treats(and chomp on my fingers),
but it did nothing to reduce her anxiety and she dragged me all the way
back home to the point that I deliberately overshot and went home a
different way. Near the end she wash[t draging me quite so much
but it took forever as I was constantly calling her back. On the
block going back to the house she was able to work on some heeling but
you could tell she was still stressed.
When we got back home i put their T-shirt on her and took her out just
for a bit. It may help a little but I really can't be sure.
Measured both dogs chest for a Thundershirt and they're both 19".
Both a small and a medium are listed as in their range so I wrote them
asking what they thought best for a Corgi. I'm thinking medium.
Wed Mar 3
I was asking CU_Dogs_SF about the Thundershirt that you can get from Karen Pryor's site which helps dogs feel more comfortable
And another poster asked if I'd tried a snug shirt and I realized I
haven't used on for a while except to keep Trek warm at agility.
So for Yoshi's walk I put the shirt on him and off we went. We
saw one dog and his behavior was about the same. Engaged with me
until the dogs motion triggered a response from him to want to charge
the dog. I wound up correcting him for it (leash pops), but I'm
not sure if it does any good.
I think I need to work pretty exclusively on Stay. I have tried
watch and leave it with mixed results but i need him to stay when I
tell him to and he knows it but just not under stress except for
sheep. With sheep he's gotten to the point where I can put him in
a stay and walk around to the sheep and he'll stay there. But
when the sheep are moving is where things don't work so well.
Wonder if I'll get a stay with dogs or sheep first.
Tue Mar 2
Yoshi walk
Frustrating day.
Early in the walk we were surprised by a sudden sighting of a GSD
(whose owner turned around and went the other way when Y started
objecting.
Then we didn't have quite enough time to set up for a dog running at
us. When I saw that they were running right at us, we were able
to turn around and walk away from them and got around a corner but i
only went a house length and that's not really enough space for a
running dog, so we argue about that too.
Then after all that frustration, we saw two large dogs crossing his
path at a distance is fine. The distance was about a street width
and over two house widths.
Trek walk. Took her down 1 block of Broadway and she was very
unhappy about that. Think her level is High St. Both
streets should be about the same but Broadway is more frenetic for some
reason.
Mon Mar 1
Yoshi walk
Went over to the school but only saw one dog. Let him see the dog
from 1/2 a block no problem. That dog stops and we approach and
hid behind a parked car. while the dog is still stopped I try
passing the dog but then that dog starts moving (not at us) and Yoshi
starts barking, not horribly but enough to where I've giving him leash
pops and saying leave it to keep moving.
This was frustrating. So we go on a normal walk and practice
downing at the corners instead of sitting. I'm not sure if it's
too much to ask for a down to something he wants to charge but it's
worth practicing.
Also worked on down at a distance in the yard and he really wants to
come closer first. Probably should do sits at a distance also as
i don't think he gets that either. Trek does and when she's out
there too she's always the first one to do it - just to annoy me I'm
sure.
Trek walk. Took her over to High St. with not that much dragging
though she certainly wanted to turn off sooner rather than go on the
slightly busy street. I should probably start walking her down
Broadway too, and routinely take her over to Park St. Maybe even
over to Dog Bone Alley to get treats and attention. She's been to
Park St Faires before and thought they were a little much but coped
(she got carried for a lot of it.)
Cathy came over for our DVD gathering
I had Yoshi on a leash and I insisted he sit while she came in.
He was a bit incredulous, but he knows Cathy so I knew he could
cope. I had to reposition him 2-3 times (yes, really you have to sit),
but he was able to hold it while she came closer and I then released
him to go say hi to her. I really liked that as it's a relatively
non-stressful way he can practice self control.
Going there she started to shake when we got within a block of Park St and I carried her to Park St and down part of it. Then we stopped and I got some Calamari and we sat on a bus bench and suddenly she got distracted with all the goodies on the ground. Annoying as that we to police it really helped her stress level and then we were able to walk down to Dog Bone Alley. We were actually able to walk all the way back down Park St to Lincoln. She did want to drag me some and I mostly let her but on the whole she did fantastic. Maybe distraction is a good tool for her and all the lovies that she got from DBA and the book store (one of their employees used to have a Corgi named Cooper.) I can totally see making a habit of going down there. I bet I could pick up food to go at Bowser's pizza or Tomotina and they'd probably let me pay for it at the door. Or maybe I could have someone at DBA hold her (we spend a fair bit of money there).
Now I have to think of something for Yoshi. There were too many dogs appearing out of no where in close confines for him to be at all comfortable. Too bad as he'd do fine with the street chaos. As I write this he's being really barky and didn't want to come back to his mat though he finally did (this happened multiple times). Since there are enough dogs around we could probably go within a block or so of the festival.
Just took him on a normal uneventful walk and that was fine. Though I'm now doing more of what Cali and I did by going down by the condos. No sign of the off leash lab but there are other dogs there too though they must have all been at the street festival.
So I'm still thinking about him in agility:
So Yoshi keeps torturing with the fact that he still remembers how to do all of the agility stuff I've taught him - to the point that I use him to train Trek.
While it doesn't seem like he'll ever be trustable enough for the chaotic world of agility trials. It occurs to me that maybe he could keep training in it. However he has bitten other dogs (bite and hold) and I obviously worry about that. I thought about an eCollar, but these his chomping incidents sometimes happen so fast I doubt I'd be quick enough for it (though now that I think about it I did have some time). Has any one tried doing agility training with a basket muzzle? It didn't work for us at the dog park as he could still pin a dog down but in the context of agility class that wouldn't be the concern. I was thinking it wouldn't allow him to pant but that's silly as greyhounds and terriers run muzzled doing their respective sports. I do have a basket muzzle that fits him and I could modify it so he could have treats.
My other question about the use of muzzles is does it make a dogs behavior better or worse? Eventually the goal would be so that he doesn't need it, so if it increased his frustration then that wouldn't work.