Yoshi & Trek Training Diary

Yoshi and Trek Training Diary

By Ellen Clary (Copyright 2004-2011)
(reverse date order)

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Thu Feb 2
Yoshi noon dog walk
A dog on Central was barking at him pretty intensly from behind a fence and he was able to just look and look back for cheese.

Boston Terrier on Gibbons across the street. Owner walking slowly on the phone. Yoshi did great was able to look at the dog several times and look back back at me for cheese. He really is improving. We did some pretty intensive Rally work. on Central.

Trek evening dog walk. Still a bit dark. in the evening but ok.

Wed Feb 1
Yoshi noon walk
It's now time for him to act more like a real dog and is now getting walked on hist regular rolled buckle collar with an ordinary 6' leash.
We were working on some Rally exercises. He's starting to get better about circling to the left but will need to do it more. He's good at front and his right hand finish is improving. As we were working Dog Ruby who lives on Court walked up so we crossed the street and walked 1/2 a house length down to let her walk by. In times past this was too close but this time he was perfect. Doing LAT and eating cheese.

Trek Oakland Training Club class
Facebook status:

In some ways, Trek's sound sensitivity turns her into more of a head case than Yoshi is. At Oakland DTC in class she's terrified of people touching the jumps because they have been dropped occasionally and make noise. Tonight Debra had some jump pieces on the ground just as a guide for Gauge. Trek couldn't take her eyes off of them. The jump pieces never moved or made noise, but she just stared and shook. I finally gave up trying to get her to focus on working, and just went and sat down to see if she could work through it but she never really did. I first held her putting pressure on her, I had tried her Thundershirt earlier, and then just let her sit on the ground and pant and shake. AND I had given her a Xanax before class. Poor dog, I want to help her through this but I'm running out of ideas. Last week we didn't get the jumps out and she was fine (with a Xanax.) I can't decide if class helps her or not. There are some things like sits and down and figure 8s that I can't teach her at home.

Maybe I should just cover her eyes when the jumps are being moved but they weren't being moved for minutes.

When the jumps weren't being touch she did ok. Her dumbbell retrieve was all right, but her front with it needs work. Hazel thinks we should work on finishes separately from the retrieve which works for me.

Her long sit and long down was fine though she didn't want to move into the hall space so I just had her do it over on the bench side. She's less worried about Samantha Hazel's Saint Bernard and during a pause in class I went over to say hello to her and pet her belly and Trek came over with me though keeping behind me.

Tue Jan 31
Yoshi walk. Did a fair bit of rally work. While he's a great heeler he gets easily distracted so if we're actually going to attempt to compete we're going to have to work on it more. I forget that he's not as used to my doing circle to the left while heeling and his concentration breaks though went he gets if back it's solid (unlike Trek's which waivers).

	Lower Field Courses. 9-10 was a leadout pivot, but the most challenging part was the weave pole entries. Each tunnel entrance was also tricky. 14 to 15 required an off hand treadle signal to pull her off of going over 13 again.
	Upper Field Course 1 #3 was a fun kind of a wrap to the outside. Our class got quite the lecture about 5-6-7 as several of us, me included, went way too far into the center instead of staying more to the outside. I bought the wrong end of #7 for my mistake. Her lead outs were ok today which is a nice change. She has a great stay unless a dog is making her nervous behind her which happens a lot in class but didn't tonight.
	Upper field course 2. I may have the #7 on the wrong side as I forgot to write it down. Trek charged off the dog walk and flew over some jump that wasn't #10. I was just happy to see her driving so hard on contact equipment so I didn't mind and we did it properly on a second try. Also ran by #3 first time - not the only dog to do that.

Mon Jan 30
Noon walked both dogs. There was a dog (maybe two) across the street from the house that Yoshi was upset about. I paused and we hid behind my car which happened to be on the street. I didn't have food out and he was already unhappy so I just held his collar and talked to him and calmly touched him. He settled down, but possibly because the dogs moved further away. Rest of the walk was fine.

I'm now pretty confident that I can walk the dogs together without major incident but there's not a lot of training we can get done besides sitting at corners and trying to not have meltdowns around other dogs. Trek was an emotional destabilizer for Yoshi ("I'll defend you."), but now I think she's possibly a calming influence. Trek is less of a head case when he's around. She didn't blink at the crossing guard though no whistles.

Sun Jan 29
Yoshi bike-run at Washington park
It went well. We rode around off and on for an hour of so.
Some of our resident Canadian geese were there so we took time to carefully walk up to them and going "Slow" and then "Stop" or "Sit." He did it all very well, but these Geese are wild and not cranky like the L.A. Geese.that will be at the April Corgi trial. I can't decide whether he would be successful there. I talked to EllenG about it and she was saying that I really should find some to work even if it meant traveling a ways.

Looking around I see that Nola Jones has both geese and ducks. Her herding website is here: http://performancedogsinaction.com/herding.htm
I wrote them and asked about geese herding.

But he was tired and we were able to go to the dog park parking lot and play Look At That and he got to eat cheese every time he was able to look at a dog and not freak out. Earlier on when we biked past the dog park he was more his usually bark at that dog sort of thing, but having him tired makes a difference:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2886127704957&set=a.1120490245124.2018870.1013097814&type=3&theater

Trek hike
Went back to Chabot, but this time we left from the Parkridge Trailhead and just hiked along MacDonald trail for about 1.5 miles and then turned back.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2886010822035.2136634.1013097814&type=3&l=9aaf614c61

Sat Jan 28
The tough went skiing. Dogs had a relaxing day

Fri Jan 27
Trek morning walk. She even got past the crossing guard who blew the whistle three times. She doesn't like it but she's no longer panicking and will eat cheese.

Yoshi noon walk. Lots of Rally work. No dogs. We were there at 11:30 so too early for parents and dogs to start appearing. Some kids said hello to Yoshi through the fence.
Used the noise but non-kid side of the school to work on Rally exercises. He's not quite used to 360 lefts and pivot left is new (though that's not a novice exercise). His right hand finish is ok but will need work.

I am looking all over for duck herding trials for him Not many at all which is annoying. Maybe we should keep working on sheep though I think he will be much happier with ducks. I have corgiherders talking about geese herding now.

Thu Jan 26
Noon, both dogs walked
Saw two dogs across the street and no problem.

Wed Jan 25
Yoshi noon walk
Went back over to the school. Saw three dogs, two twice. One dog was on the fence and not moving and Yoshi didn't even acknowledge the dog even though I had him look at it across the street twice. The other two were one large slow moving lab, and a small white dog. His behavior for both dogs was exactly the same. Across the street no issue. Being only a car width apart was too close and he reacted both times (I corrected him both times but it was clear that it was too much for him.)

Trek ODTC class. Barbara was subbing for Hazel

I gave her a Xanax before we drove over and it helped. She was better able to focus though someone corrected a dog not hard but the dog cried and Trek (who has never had a hard correction in her life) wanted to bolt from the room and I did take her out for a moment. Poor kid she ran into a mirror thinking it was the door.

Her heeling was still slightly rocky, but way, way better than it has been in times past and even had flashes of brilliance. She still worries about the metal door that rattles when it's windy though it was silent tonight. She did ok on the figure 8 exercise.

Recall was it's usual rock the house. She was on my case about my finish signal where I turn my waist. She had me do it with just my arm and not reaching back as much and Trek did it great

Lengthy obedience lectures that you don't mind hearing: "Your dog is better trained than you are giving yourself or your dog credit for."
- Stop overly helping your dog with extra signals once they know the exercise
- Stop stepping into her

Her point is that once you're pretty sure the dog knows the signal or command then if they don't do it after one signal then step in and guide them - don't add another command.
For example I signaled down and she didn't move until I also said down and Barbara would have, while maintaining the down signal, stepped in a put a hand on their collar to help them down.

She did a retrieve of a dumbbell very well. I had signaled and said Get It. Barbara had me do with with just the signal and just the cue. Trek got it correct both times which prompted the lecture. I was just thrilled to see her do the dumbbell exercise, so well as we haven't been working on it.

Tue Jan 24
Yoshi noon walk. When I was driving home from work I noticed that people had their dogs tied to the fence waiting for the kids to get out of school, so I grabbed Yoshi and some cheese and headed over. Right outside the door as I was tying my show he started barking at one of the dogs who had already left the school. I Just held him and talked to him as correcting him hard seems to get him more riled up and I wanted to get some work done with him calmer. He did calm down and we walked over. When we got there there were still two dogs on the fence, one medium-large and one wee dog. We were across the street watching them and eating treats when Annie a dog who lives across the street appeared behind us which Yoshi was not happy about, so we cleared off some and then we crossed the street. We are about 50' away from the other dogs on the same side of the street (Annie and Joann have gone on on the other side of the street and Yoshi didn't even pay any more attention to them.

I then asked him to do some Rally exercises. Heeling and sitting and downing. Basic stuff but with other dogs around it took effort on his part especially when the small dog started moving to a nearby parked car. It was perfect work for him and it's very close to the kind of focus he's going to need if I show him in Rally Novice.

Trek Agility Class
Kinda pokey but she sped up as the evening progressed.
The obstacle layout didn't change at all from last week but this time there were course cones set out.

	Lower Field: While she wasn't sending out well she did great on the weavepoles and I stayed out about the distance to the #1 jump stantion.
	Upper Field Course 1 - Surprisingly no issues on the tunnel/contact discrimination in either case. She miss 15 on the first try (blew by it heading off to the unnumbered jump) and Sharon said that a few dogs have been doing that.
	Upper Field Course 2 - What a fun course. A whole bunch of running. And this time Trek didn't charge off the field after 13, but actually checked in with me and was able to get 14 without an issue.

Mon Jan 23
Yoshi noon walk. Uneventful. Saw one dog moving away, but no reaction at all. Worked on backing up beside that hedge that we found a while back over off of Central at Mound or Grove.

Trek evening walk - there's finally just daylight to allow a dusk walk. I do carry a trekking pole in case we run into a raccoon but haven't seen any. Found a place to practice backing up along the chainlink fence by the school. It's usually too noisy there for her to focus, but it was nice today since it was early evening.

Trek living room training. Worked on Stand almost exclusively. I'm still trying to decide which signal is best but I need to decide very soon to avoid confusion. There's Susan Garrett's pop up and touch the hand one, and there's Lila's right hand one. There are lots of other left handed ones and there's just the word Stand. So far Lila's seems to be working the best though Trek likes to pop up and touch it so it's not really a kick back stand right now. I don't necessarily need a kick back stand it just looks nice. There's also just walk along at heel and say Stop and keep walking which might just work since she usually stays standing there anyway, but I don't know how to enforce that as I walk away so I first have to get it working.

While working on the word Stand (which she doesn't know) it was nice to see that she absolutely knows Sit and Down.

However I mean Stop as a casual stop moving forward and I like it that was so I don't want to change that.

Sun Jan 22
Rain day. Day off for everyone.

Getting some feedback about my Corgi Herders post. The geese are still testy if a dog pushes them, and leader goose even latched onto a friend's very experienced Corgi (who, thoroughly peeved, then chased the goose into the pen) but a dog that keeps their distance can succeed. However, if there's one thing that Yoshi is bad about its keeping his distance. The only possible thing in his favor is that we are in Started and I would be standing right there, but in general it's not looking good for being successful at the Southern California Corgi trial

Got out Cali's old ribbons. Wow, what a pile. I took a photo of them and asked Holly how I could get them to her. Though I am keeping the Nationals and that dern Super Q ribbon.

Sat Jan 21
It was muddy so I decided that we were just work ducks. He did really well with them.
Then because it really wasn't that muddy, we tried to switch to sheep and he was his usual idiot stress-head charging into the middle of them and creating basic mayhem.
Switched over to goats and he did well, but he's forever too close to them and that works well for goats and panics sheep.
Then right at the end Linda has us do a few minutes of ducks again and he was a wonder with them. He would generally listen and he read them very well and wasn't in a panic about controlling them.

Linda spent some time going over AKC herding handling with me and said that it's mostly obedience around stock actually (certainly feels that way.)
She talked about how the dog had to go along the fence behind the ducks but not to get too close or over run or they'll suddenly change direction.
She fashioned a long line that went through a small carabiner and went around his middle. The effect was that when I needed him to stop and if he wasn't stopping I could pull on that and it would tighten around his middle. That was nice as it wasn't yanking his neck which would pull him out of position.

Also instead of using Steady I'm just going to use Slow as that makes more sense to me and to him. It is another "o" sound (e.g. no, go) but still seems to be ok.

One bummer is that he won't get as tired, but I can now take him on the bike which is an excellent way to work him and the ducks are a lot of mental energy for him anyway.

Another bummer is that in a way it is giving up on Southern California Corgi herding trial, but the writing on the wall has been there for a while now. At least the Corgi National in Portland will have Ducks and not Geese.

Sent this question to Corgi Herders list:

So after years of arguing over Yoshi being an idiot over sheep, I've decided that the fates are telling us to switch to ducks (they have been for a while now.)

He is amazingly zen-like with them and now he seems to have warmed up to them and isn't intimidated. He listens way better when he's on them and doesn't seem to be forever stressing about controlling them like he is with sheep.

He's also really good with goats, but what makes a goat move makes a sheep run, so the skills don't translate well for us. And trial opportunities with goats are few in my area these days unfortunately after Pescadero shut down.

We had been training with the Southern California trial in mind, but now I'm not so sure because the fowl at that trial are opinionated geese and not ducks. I've seen these geese up close and personal a couple of years ago and I'm not sure if my dog is up to dealing with them (though in Started I would be standing there). If I could convince him it was a goat and to use the same strength it might work, but he's smaller than the geese and if one went after him, he might refuse to herd fowl at all. He's surprisingly sensitive, a goat gave him the hairy eye ball once and he wouldn't go near goats for months.

So what to do? Do we give up on S. Calif.?

Fri Jan 20
Since I am in town Trek and I sent on an adventure to Sonora in search or snow or rain. We found rain which was great and we had lunch with a friend of mine there named Jan. Jan found a dog friendly cafe in next door Columbia at a wonderful teahouse and we had a lovely time and then wandered around the town in the rain. Columbia is an old historic town that's been very well preserved.

Photos of Columbia, Calif are here:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2822255148183.2135403.1013097814&type=3&l=3fc9ab8bd9

Thu Jan 19
I am not supposed to be here, but my flight was cancelled due to snow and ice in Seattle, so the dogs both got a walk at noon.
We did see a dog at a construction site at a house on Gibbons. The owner of the dog was on the phone and signaled OK. I pointed at Yoshi, shook my head and crossed the street. The dog was a very nice looking Aussie and not the typical Bully breed that you would see at a construction site. The owner seemed very confident in his dog which told me that the dog was not likely to cross the street.

When we got across I let Yoshi see the dog and he wasn't happy about it even though it's not typically a dog he has issues about, but the fact that the dog was off leash seemed to be a contributing factor. I told him to leave it and he did for long enough to eat a treat, but he was back to staring and growling (not barking, not lunging), I again told him to Leave It and after a full second of not getting a response I gave him a firm pop. Had to do it twice. He did sort of grudgingly refocus on me, but only halfway. Now I'm wondering if just pulling him away would have been just as effective or just putting a hand on him. Minor pain doesn't always help him refocus especially if there's something he's really worried about.

Trek USDAA title progress

Trek: Titles Earned

Title	Date Earned
Advanced Performance Jumper	04/30/2011
Starters Performance Snooker	08/30/2009
Starters Performance Gambler	08/29/2009
Starters Performance Jumper	04/10/2009

Other Qs
2- PI Std
2- PII Gam
1- PII Snok
1- Perf Speed Jumping

Wed Jan 18
Trek noon walk. After much discussion on Facebook with obedience friends I've decided to not worry about Trek looking at my face while heeling instead of at my left hand. it's slightly forged but if it's consistent then that's often ok and if she prefers it then that's fine. She did very well on her walk practicing heeling. We spent some time working on back up in heel position and while she could do it while against a hedge, she would rump out with out the barrier. Moving to being in front of her helped. Someone made a nice teaching backup video that I need to go over again.

She is getting Stand with a right hand signal. I'm still kneeling beside her with my hand on her tummy but it's progressing.

I had entered her in agility on Saturday Feb 11 at USDAA Vast in Turlock and in Rally for the next Saturday at Santa Clara KC at the Santa Clara Fairgrounds on Tully which is where we were last weekend. But yesterday decided that I wanted her in Novice Obedience as well on Sunday Feb 19. I was thinking that I wanted to wait will her heeling improved but she's 7 and I want to work on open for most of this year so I have to get her out of Novice (we are 0 for 2 so far). She can be in Rally Advanced forever so there's plenty of heeling practice there.

Tue Jan 17
Yoshi morning walk. Again no dogs. He was doing some very sweet heeling and was enjoying himself.

Noon. Worked a little bit on the dogs doing backyard stays.

Also worked briefly on Trek's roll-over and made a short video of it, but haven't put it on You Tube yet.

Trek agility class. Linda subbing for Sharon. Trek at first didn't want to come out of her crate, but did so and then did well. We were working on gamble distances on the lower field which was fun. We did 3 courses on the upper field and Linda is going to send me the course diagram so I can include it here. there were a couple of contact obstacle and immediate turn into the tunnel.
It was a fun class though she was pokey at time and other times flying (like over the dog walk). Regardless she was a joy to run and it's killing me to think of stopping competing with her in agility as she's so talented at it (I kept telling her this).

We're going to compete through the rainy season and then decide.
I sent off a Saturday entry for Vast USDAA in Turlock (Feb 11) and I sent off a Rally Advanced entry for Santa Clara the next Saturday (Feb 18).

The lower field we worked on distance by sending away to weave poles and a tunnel.
In particular we spent time doing weave poles and then pushing out to the two jumps behind the dotted line and then to the tunnel.
then we reversed it.

As long as I kept my arm up and pushing out she did great.

Courses - Upper Field

	Course 1 This is from scrawled note so I see a couple of possible issues. I don't remember the exact placement of the center jump. Both courses had a lot of contact to tunnel challenges. What worked the best was to tell Trek "Left Tunnel" while she was still on the contact obstacle.
	Course 2 This one was my favorite. After this one we did a short 3rd one that opened with a serpentine then into the tunnel and over the A-Frame and then back around the back over the dogwalk (I think) and the the tunnel and then over the jump and doing a pull through threadle to 2 on the way out.

Mon Jan 16
Yoshi morning walk uneventful, no dogs.

Trek noon walk. She was volunteering some very nice heeling.

Started a nice facebook conversation about why heads-up heeling anyway since it's not in the rules. Some say it's a way to make sure doggy is moving with you, others say it's just a style.

Sat-Sun Jan 14-15
Trek Obedience-Rally Trial

Sat
Q in Novice Rally 75
NQ in Novice Ob sat on Stand for Exam - male obedience judge and she immediately put her ears back and sat down.
Heeling was rocky but passing heeling off leash was great. Sits and Downs did well
Moved her up in Rally to Advanced even with her low score since she did well off leash in Novice Ob.

Sun
Q in Rally Advanced 74
Lots of points off in the heel off leash and I did one station wrong though I though I had done it right. but she moved too quickly and I didn't see it.
NQ in Novice Ob. Qing going into sits and downs but she got up just as I was returning and I hadn't made t back into heel position so it was an NQ. I was bummed but happy to see her able to mostly cope. She was way distracted on the off leash but was able to recover mostly.

Fri Jan 13
Yoshi morning walk. Change course slightly so we would see the Golden and the Chihuahua. This time I had him heel past them and then pause and I remembered to tell him Leave It. It worked he held it together. We then saw then later (our loops cross) and we crossed the street and I had him sit and watch them go by and he was successful at that too. Hooray.

I'm wanting him to get his Rally Novice titles, but he takes so much focus I'd rather just finish Trek's novice titles and then give her a break and work on him. But I might change my mind again because she really is ready for Rally Advanced.

No time for a noon walk, but the days are getting longer so Trek and I were able to squeeze in an evening walk though I carried a trekking pole in case we ran into a raccoon. Saw Mary Ellen who was leaving in her car and we chatted for a bit while puppy Max looked out their window. No raccoons encountered.

Thu Jan 12
Yoshi walk went smoothly. Need to find more dogs

Trek noon walk. We said hello to the crossing guard and I explained that she was afraid of the whistle and he was very sweet about it as he guided us across the street. Went over to the school and a row of children were coming back to class so we waited for them to pass. Trek did very well and then she crossed the street with the crossing guard again and did great when he saw us he said "No whistle."

Worked on sit stay in the back yard with both dogs What makes Yoshi do a swivel head merely gets an ear flick from Trek.

Wed Jan 11
Walked both dogs at lunch. Yoshi growled at the mail carrier. He stopped and I let Yoshi sniff him which usually fixes things but this time he jumped up growling. the carrier didn't see phased but I still apologized for my annoying dog.

Was all set to go to class at Oakland DTC, but decided at the last minute that I was just too tired.

Instead I gave Trek 1/2 a Xanax to see if that would help with her noise sensitivity. I actually had given it to her before I decided not to go. Didn't make any difference she was still running scared at the sound of any metal clang. I gave her the other have and waited an hour fully expecting her to be incapacitated. She didn't want to come out of her crate but I managed to cajole her. Once she realized this was a paying job she woke up.

While she did react to my knocking two butter knives together she would only go a few steps away them come back for a treat. This is the very same behavior as with the scary piano. Go a little ways away and then come back. Without the Xanax she'd go hide and wouldn't come back for a treat. So to some extent this fear reaction is learned. I took away most of the actual anxiety and she still reacted but was able to choose to do otherwise. Interesting. I think for a while now she is going to get a Xanax before going to Oakland DTC. I can't use it for competition, but I can to help her unlearn this fearfulness.

Tue Jan 10
Yoshi noon walk. Uneventful.

Trek agility class. At first she was shaking about the gate clanging, but was able to focus (I did put her T-Shirt on her which helped a little.)

The big news is that she started to have a really nice time. The teeter wasn't out today, but that's usually not too much of an issue at Sharon's.

The lower field went well even though I got behind once but it still worked out. I could do lateral weavepoles and layer a jump (see the diagram.). After her being such a freaky girl on at the Heart Dog Fun Match (See Jan 7 below), (even after having the Winter off), I was having a frank discussion with folks on Facebook on whether I should not have her do agility. On the drive over I decided that I wasn't ready to give up on her yet especially because the raining season (her favorite) hadn't even started yet. And then she goes and has fun at class. I think it's because I just like to show off her rockem sockem weavepoles. I suppose I could have her only do AKC Jumpers with Weaves, but there has to be more to life than that. My favorite course is USDAA Steeplechase, but she has to be in the right mood for it, but when she is she flies (no teeter, no table).

I enjoyed this course. I really had to hustle to get into position for the 5 tunnel and then around the A-Frame to 6 tunnel. No issue pushing out to the 10 tunnel which was a nice surprise. Some lead out issues but that happens a lot with her not wanting to stay. She skipped 2 the first time, but got it the second time.

The big issue here was from the dog walk to 12 I was running to catch up (she likes charging over this dogwalk) and she didn't like me crossing into her path for the cross behind. This usually isn't too much of an issue, but I don't think we've done something like this at speed. To make it work I had to back further off from her line which put me further behind. This is a dog who won't do dogwalks if she gets frightened. Guess it's all about what is familiar. Think I need to put her over a whole lot of equipment.

Mon Jan 9
Yoshi morning walk
Saw the Golden and the Chihuahua across the street and I had Yoshi sit to let them cross in front of us. He was fine until he wasn't fine. They were right in front of us and he lunged. I pulled up on the leash and just hung on until he relaxed which is like an old style Koeller correction. I hadn't had time to set anything else up and was kinda curious to see how he would do without my micromanaging things. I wonder if it would have made any difference if I had said Leave It. I had told him to sit and he knew the routine, but just couldn't quite cope with a small dog bouncing by in front of him. If there's one thing I really want to change it's this.

I'm tempted to take him back to the small dog park and eat treats outside of the fence, but the best place for him to be would be at an obedience match where the dogs are all well behaved and under control.

Trek noon walk
we practiced backing up using the bottom of a neighbor's wide staircase and later a hedge. Got past the crossing guard and after we were past we head his whistle about 3 houses away. she was able to stop and eat treats at that distance though her inclination was to run.

The Rally Left Pivot will take some more work. Wonder if I can use one of the herding wands as a training dowel though she usually thinks something bad is going to happen if a dowel like thing comes near. In the mean time if it comes up in Advanced we'll just have to risk the Incorrectly Performed deduction since the dog is supposed to be backing up some on the left pivot and Trek just shuffles instead.

Sun Jan 8
Yoshi got a bike-run at Washington Park. I need to remember to go earlier as the part was a little busy in the afternoon and we can cover a lot more ground earlier without too many encounters. This time we did see dogs. For the most part I just rode off to the side and sat and held him by his harness and talked quietly to him which seemed to help. I need to get a more comfortable harness or similar as the climbing sling is not that comfortable and I need a softer attachment rope too.

Trek walk. We went down Lincoln and since it was a Sunday we were able to wait for a break in the traffic and cross without having to go down to the signal at Buena Vista. We then went over to Webb and then over to Park St. and walked down Park till Santa Clara where she was all too happy to go down to get away from Park St.
She did very well considering how Park Street's relative noise level would cause her all sorts of stress.

Sat Jan 7

Sigh. Trek went to an agility fun match at Heart Dog today. She was great if she was the only dog making any teeter sounds (she was first dog and that first run was great.) But as soon as other dogs started to run and making teeter sounds she started to sulk and wouldn't run in the next-door jumpers ring. The next couple of runs with the teeter she'd do with a lot of convincing but she was not a happy camper. She wouldn't come out of her crate after a while and this is Jim W. sweet talking her out (she really likes guys over 50). This is after a winter off. Not quite sure what to do yet.

Regardless, I really enjoyed seeing the folks down at Heart Dog as it's all the way down in Ben Lomond, (almost all the way to Santa Cruz) so it is a trek.

The Bay Team party was a lot of fun tonight. It helped my melancholy mood.

Fri Jan 6
Trek morning walk.
A short one because I had to get to work but saw Mark and Corgi Shelby.

Yoshi herding with Trek as Tourist.
He did great. Linda set up three goats on some hay with an expen around them and we did the same thing as what we were working on last week though this time he got it a lot quicker.

Then we let him work the goats for a while, took a break and did it again. The second time I took them through the gate and also worked them in the other enclosure and then successfully penned then in a stall. He did so well I am very happy with him even if I was on his case to stay out more lateral. He would even stop around the goats without arguing nearly as much. It's like it too this exercise to get him to understand that I want him to Stop. He would even sit or down occasionally around the goats.

Him and other dogs. Some dogs that were staying at Elvies were charging the fence (Trish tells me that they did this to every dog). Yoshi started to get riled but I kneeled down and held his collar just talking to him. Basically telling him he's on the other side of a fence and he's fine - since he's usually an expert at recognizing when a dog can't get to him. Trish yelled at the barking dogs and Yoshi settled down though he still was unhappy about an LWFD that was also in that pen, but he coped. Then he was able to walk into the waiting area and walk past two other dogs (BCs) and Jake the Sammy was also able to walk by.

During herding he did charge the fence at a dog and I chased after him big time. I actually do hit him with my wand flag if I get to him before he comes back. He seems to know he's being an idiot, so I don't feel sorry for him at all, and funny how he manages to come back just before I get to him.

Still haven't heard back from Mission Bell. I'll try sending email again.

Trek is going to a Heart Dog agility fun match at Kathleen's Heart Dog Agility in Ben Lomond. She'll get to try out a different teeter.

Thu Jan 5
Noon - walked both dog which fortunately was uneventful.

Set up an expen in the backyard to practice herding commands - similar to what we were doing Dec 30 during our lesson. Yoshi is getting it and he really likes having treats tossed at him. I would send him out in one direction, have him stop and down and I'd toss a treat.

Wed Jan 4
Yoshi morning walk. Fine. It's nice to see him act kinda normal.

Trek noon walk. School is back in session, so the crossing guard is back. I had forgotten about it and was walking towards him then I realized that there was another person in front of us who was going to cross and that we were going to get the whistle. I stopped about 3 houses off and started feeding her cheese. She stiffened at the whistle, but kept on eating mostly. But getting her to go forward did take more cheese. Went through 1/2 a stick of string cheese to get her around the corner but she did it and wasn't sulkly or trying to run away.

Worked some on left and right 180s (instead of 360s) and trying to see what a left pivot would take. Backing up is what I need.

Tue Jan 3
Yoshi morning walk
He didn't react to someone carrying a while shopping bag coming right at him. He has in the past but this one he didn't even look at it. Probably because it was coming right at him and clearly wasn't a dog.

Lots of people out but only one dog, though a good experience.
Small Schnauzer across my street. they were in the process of walking up to chat to the crossing guard. Yoshi make a gutteral growl and instead of giving him a harsh correction (since that made things worse yesterday), I pulled him steadily and calmly said "Stop" (or similar) and told him not to worry about it. He shut up but kept watching some then broke off asking for treats though glancing over occasionally. No further reaction.

He is so all about ORDER. And don't move unless I give you permission. i wish I could convince him completely that he doesn't have to worry so much. Maybe I should pick him up more to get him closer to other dogs in a way that he doesn't feel he needs to control it.

Wonder what would happen if i took him over to Bay Farm and carried him on the bike path there or sat on a bench. I'm always so careful to keep a distance at one of the parks, but I need to find a way to work on that more. simply just training obedience at that park will help.

Trek Agility Class

Lower Field

Her lateral weaves went well though we did some as a warm up and they were far better and quicker than in class. Weaving towards the tunnel was a little rocky as I was pulling off a bit to send her into the left of the tunnel and during our warm up I just had her barrel into the right side of the tunnel.

There was some issue with her not wanting to be lateral of me to do the tunnel at 10 (it was the first obstacle of the sequence). I clearly need to work on more lateral starts.

Upper Field

The first course went fine but the second one was just hilarious. It was in the part that heads back to the start and the dogs just keep charging off the course. At 10 you're supposed to turn left and when I did, Trek just kept charging forward and did the teeter. I was so shocked that I gave her a treat for it. Then the second time we tried she got through 11 and the again started racing off to the off course 4 jump.

Then I got her into the tunnel and had trouble getting her to smoothly turn right. Trek knows left and right but not well in that context.

All in all it was a very silly course but it was fun to see her enjoying herself.

Mon Jan 2
Walked both dogs together. It's pretty cute as they vie for heel position.

Backed off a house length to let a Schnauzer pass by and it worked great. But Yoshi was uncomfortable about two dogs across Central. I kept correcting him for it but it probably wasn't the correct thing to do as it seemed to make him more tense. A steady pull and reward would have probably sufficed as the wasn't that amped up at the beginning. No outbursts in any case.

Sun Jan 1, 2012
Happy New Year.
Terri and I went hiking in Tahoe (it was supposed to be a snowshoe but sadly there is no snow.) Jan and Mark came by to visit and then later feed the puppies.

Sat Dec 31
Took both dogs to Black Diamond Mines

Things started out a little rocky as Yoshi started barking at a passing dog. I picked Yoshi up and moved off the trail a ways and then Trek out of excitment charged barking at the other dog. She came back but repeated it all again while Yoshi was dramatically growling and barking. The dogs passed and I decided it was time to head in another direction so we headed up Stewartville Trail which goes up the ridge. That trail has excellent sight lines and we could see for a very long distance and it wasn't a popular trail.

Then we went up the Ridge Trail which was fine until a group of 3 dogs came charging down the hill. I had time to pick up Yoshi but Trek ran and they charged after her. Knowing the owners had to be nearby I started to yell HELP! a few times. Yoshi was screaming bloody murder and I debated runing down the hill after them and the owners came running charging down the hill and raced right to catch their dogs. During this whole time no dog made any sound. No growling no crying. No yelping in pain. If I had heard of that then Yoshi and I would have gone down and made everything much worse. The owners got a hold of their dogs and Trek looked up and she looked ok. I asked if she was ok and she came up the hill to me. I put Yoshi down and checked her over. She was dirty and had burrs, but no blood and wasn't even wet.

One of the owners hung back and watched me check over Trek. He said that the dogs aren't out to hurt anyone but they run dogs over. Given that they came running and ran right at their dogs so it seems like this has been an issue before. I decided that Trek was ok and we parted ways with the other folks releived.

We continued up the Ridge Trail and say a lovely view overlooking the part and in the distance we could see the Rose Hill Cemetry. The the trail descended down Chaparral which was a fairly steep trail and I'm glad we went the other way first. We came up to the mine entrance and before we got there I saw the same dogs and they were leashed and I heard the word "Corgi" though I don't think they had seen us yet and they left before we got down to where they were standing (I leashed Trek too just to be careful.)

We got back to the car without too much drama.

The experience of Trek getting run over is making me rethink hiking with both dogs. Yoshi requires enough maintenance that it compromises my ability to protect Trek though in this case I'm not sure how much I could have done though I could have grabbed her which would have helped or I could have charged down the hill too (which might not have helped. In either case I would have had a lot more options so I don't know if I'm going to hike with both dogs by myself anymore. Having Terri along makes a big difference.

Photos
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2697794476744.2132825.1013097814&type=1&l=25242437e0

Fri Dec 30
Yoshi Herding
So working on stopping away from me skills. His tendency is to come to me since all his life that's what he's been taught to do.
Put the stock in an expen. Nothing in the expen, then ducks, then goats, then sheep. Then we let him work goats for real.
He was very unsure at first. Better if I didn't use the stick, but Linda wanted him to learn off the stick so worked with that too.
Technique was to get him going around and I follow him at a distance, then I would either change direction or tell him to stop (changing direction involves a stop anyway.) the hard part was that I had to keep him from approaching me which was confusing to him (and tough on me though I did reward him by throwing treats.)

I will work on this more in the backyard.

Trek got to demo her teeth brushing skills to an impressed crowd.

Thu Dec 29
Yoshi morning walk. Saw Molly the little Papillon walk out of her house but they crossed the street. Yoshi at least got to watch her walk away. He made a small growl but didn't react otherwise. What was great was right when we got back to the house a Border Terrier was approaching on the other side. We hung out on the lawn till they got up to us and then I had Yoshi work on some figure 8s on the lawn. He kept looking at the dog but came right back to heeling. Since this is exactly what would happen if I took him in the Rally ring we then followed them down the street with him heeling the whole way. Once he understood what was expected he did fabulously. So what I need to do is get him to practice places like matches where he can practice ignoring what's going on outside the ring. The ODTC matches will be a good start.

Trek Noon walk.

Wed Dec 28
Yoshi morning walk. Saw a golden across Central and he was able to heel past the dog. Looked occasionally but when I told him to leave it he went right back to looking at me while heeling. Nice work.

Trek noon walk. Went over to the school playground since school is not in session. Did some nice heeling on the striped courts (so I could see we were going in a straight line. Did great on figure 8 and weaving around and circular patterns.

Then went out onto the wide side walk and worked on backing up. Tried using a pole (actually my target stick to touch her rear. It was a complete disaster. I finally gave up and we just went over to the fence and that was perfect. It seemed to help with me having an open palm right above her head and if she understands that signal then it will help when we get away from the fence.

Also took Lori's advice on the sit command and flexed my wrist more so that my palm was more visible. What a huge difference. Suddenly i had a dog who would respond to the signal instantly instead of giving me this puzzled look.

Tue Dec 27
Yoshi morning walk
Of which I remember essentially nothing about - no dogs. Did some rally work.

Trek agility class.
This was the course on the lower field. It was divided into 1-9 and 10-20. The first part she didn't send out to the back of the tunnel. I seemed to pull her off of it each time, though the reverse of it in the second part was no problem and in fact 10-20 was a very fun course. Her weaves were really nice even when I crossed behind at 13.

The upper field had some issues with me being out of position and not choosing the most efficient path though nothing horrible.

Mon Dec 26
Day off of work
Terri and I and Trek and Yoshi all went on a hike in the Diablo Foothills. We started at the old Borges Ranch and went in the direction of Castle Rock. We had a nice time though Yoshi lost it a few times about other dogs. One was completely justified as the dog came way out of his way to intrude. I picked Yoshi up but even Trek was out of hand and Terri had to catch her as well.

We all got good exercise and they're really good about stopping and waiting for bikes and horses to pass. Went about 3 miles which is Trek's current distance.

Photos are here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2671054528262.2132125.1013097814&type=1&l=a734da6d3c

Sun Dec 25
We all went to Terri's brother's for Xmas. He and his wife had just moved to an apartment and there wasn't room for 10 people so they moved the party to the church where she is the head priest. It's a semi-large facility and they have a nice gathering area where we had dinner. The best part was that they have this 1/2 basketball court in a carpeted room. The dogs though it was fabulous and it was equally fabulous for dog training and play.

Spent time working on Front and Heeling and then spent some concentrated time on signals. Down she has completely (er) down. It's my left arm raised (elbow 90 degrees like I'm waving hi). I used to reach for the sky but it's not that effective and I remembered that Lori Drouin said that her dogs seems to see things better closer to her face, so I changed it to the bent elbow and things got a lot better. Sit is not as good. She knows it verbally but doesn't quite get the rising hand signal (perhaps it too is too far from my face?   So we worked on alternating sit and down sit me standing right there. Then one step away, then two. Things get iffy at thee steps so unlike the Down the Sit looks different further away. Have to think about how to make that more clear.

Going over the Utility Signal exercise you do a heeling pattern then you stop the dog in a stand, leave them, go to the other end of the ring and signal Down, then Sit, then Recall, then Finish.

For his part Yoshi was a real jerk when in a crate and someone would walk but was just fine out of his crate. I didn't want to deal with him all the time so I just covered the crate up some. We did this great demo of him being barking and growling at Chris and then I let Yoshi out and he bounded right up to Chris saying a friendly hello. I did get tired of Yoshi's behavior and really started correcting him when he was out and leashed to me which at least suppressed the behavior.

Sat Dec 24
Yoshi bike-run at Washington Park
This was a lot of fun. Actually wound up doing some off roading (if you will) so we could smoothly steer around other dogs. For example one was on a bench sitting there calmly and I didn't want to upset the dog and I didn't know what that dog would do if we road by. The bike did fine.

I was/am hoping that he would love running so much that it wouldn't occur to him to want to change dogs but so far that hasn't been the case but the pressure of the line on the harness helped him focus and really didn't allow him to even try charging many dogs that were a distance aways, but closer dogs do get a reaction.

His behavior is essentally the same though I did notice that the reactive distance seemed to be less after we had run 2 up and back lengths of the park and I took him for a walk. 25' away from a calm dog was ok. 20' from a grochy one way not.

Trek Downtown Walk on Park St.
We walked down 2 blocks of Park St to Dog Bone Alley to buy an ice cream (ok a designer dog treat) as a brave doggy reward. They this time we were able to walk the same two blocks back down Park Street (Santa Clara to Alameda St. which involves crossing Central.) There was less traffic today but there was still activity. Just enough to challenge her but not overwhelm her. I was happily surprised. Good doggy.

Fri Dec 23
Yoshi morning walk. We did a lot of Rally practice and then got to practice sit stays as a medium size brown dog walked down the other side of Central He did great! He did worse with humans carrying strange things but it was just a bark. I can't think of anything else in Rally to teach him. He can even back up in a straight line unlike his sister.

Noon Trek walk. Went over to the school since it's out of session and did some heel work because we can walk along the lines of the courts. Went well once i got her there as she didn't want to go near the scary intersection where a whistle bearing crossing guard hangs out. She got a lot of treats for standing on that corner. Heeling is good - backing up not so much but improving (sometimes).

Today is Trek's 7th birthday. She got a much coveted 1/2 a slice of bread.

Thu Dec 22
(Up too late from yesterday's class so no morning walk.)

Noon. Walked both dogs again. Trek seems to think this is all about:"Great, you hold him and I'll chomp on him." We saw Max the puppy at a distance but Mary Ellen noticed I had both dogs so stayed a block away. She said she likes the biking video. Nice. Yoshi gave a warning growl but that was it. Max is a Corgi so if I had just Yoshi I'd let them meet. Someday.

Wed Dec 21
Happy Solstice.
Noon. Walked Yoshi. Again no dogs. We worked on Rally exercises and he is fabulous. He is so not getting through this life without a Rally Novice title or at least trying for one. We've only worked on it a few times and he has a right hand finish. And his heeling is beautiful and unlike Trek he likes doing it. And he mostly already has a Backup which is ironic as he'll never be in Excellent Rally as it's off leash.
270 in either direction works well. 3-2-1 steps at heel is great. Walking up to a Down he can do, and I can walk around him.

I need to find a match for him to go to or just start bringing him. Trek will likely not be ready for the Feb Santa Clara Rally trial so I could just throw him in that, though he would be better with more exposure to the environment. I had him at the Watsonville trial but it was Trek's first trial, so I didn't want to push things so kept him away from the other dogs. Even so he still found a dog to bark at.

Trek Agility.
I really like that class. Wish it didn't conflict with Oakland DTC Wed class and I with that either of the wasn't quite so late as I always stay up too late (I don't get back till 9:30pm and it's 10:45pm right now).

Worked on some pretty aggressive front crosses and being lateral from the weavepoles which Trek is an expert at. Sharon showed me this great way to do a shallow front cross where you are looking back at the dog and you don't do the FC until you see the jump standard out of the corner of your eye. Did it a few times and it works great. Example is that your are approaching a jump from the side and you're looking down your right arm at poochums and you don't complete the FC until you can see it out the right corner of your eye. This needs a diagram though I don't know if that will help

<-    H    D
   ----

   H
   ----
/      D
v

Also did some cool serpentines and some tight turn practice (no back jumping which I had been afraid of.)

Tue Dec 20
No walk this morning since last night we were up at a Corgi friend's (sans dogs) helping him with setting up his bed lower because of a health problem.

Noon: Walked both dogs. Went remarkably smoothly as we didn't see any other dogs.

Mon Dec 19
Our neighbor was having the trees trimmed so the dogs went with us to work. It worked mostly. Yoshi was with Terri since she claims that all Trek does is just pine away for me. Yoshi was a real head case and barked at anyone who looked in her office Window including me. That was strange but I don't know what he could see. The second that someone would walk up to him he was like "Oh hello!" Weird doggy. He even had a walk this morning.

Trek hung out with me and did fine but at every opportunity wanted to go look for Terri. At the end of the day I had her race up and down the halls which she loves to do because it has long hallways with CARPET! Zoom.

Sun Dec 18
Intensive dog day. I am tired.
First took Yoshi and the bike to Washington Park. It went very well and i made some videos (because why not temp fate by making a video while biking with a reactive dog attached?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-RPwF-yUIc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARwCeeMm3Es

Description of the bike and the hookup.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hNR_i1KYvo

Then I took Trek on a hike in Chabot Regional Park. Went nearly 3 miles and she again demonstrated her uncanny sense of direction. i did not have to go out and back she just knew when we were headed in the direction of the car.

Photos are here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2627252433237.2131019.1013097814&type=1&l=ec423b10f9

Sat Dec 17
Trek ODTC Match at Hayward.
ODTC has a monthly match at Hayward. I got to pick the course which was a long Excellent level one (I was being optimistic), and of course we discover the things we have to work on.


(Click for a larger version.)	We can backup but diagonally right now unless we're against a wall.	We still use the Novice Ob. stand were I touch her tummy. That will work through Advanced.	We have a great pivot right, but left is much harder as it requires doggy to backup some. Uh oh I see that this can show up in Advanced so this will be first to work on.

First run was a disaster as she wasn't focused at all and doing avoidance behaviors which include a whole lot of forging and being everywhere but heel position.
Then she seemed to hit a groove and I was able to work with her off leash which I found very encouraging.
Things that worked were sending to the jump, the figure 8 with the bowls, pivot right. Serpentine varied. Heeling is fine when she's paying attention. It got better when I started rewarding her more (big surprise.)


I put some cheese in the bowl closest to her and she didn't even look at it.	Figure 8 sign.	Did well on the jump and return to heel position.

Then we did sits and downs and twice she laid down on the sit (I did it a second time with her). she's very much: "I'll stay here, but just let me get more comfortable." Down, of course, was just fine. Each time when I repositioned her she stayed in position. I don't remember this being a huge issue before but I need to work on it before the Mission Bell show. in January.

Then did some more Rally work and we took down the ring. I separately worked on recalls with her. She still tends to target my hands, but understood after some repetitions that I wanted her to target my face.

Yoshi has the day off today.

Fri Dec 16
Trek Eye appt with Dr. Friedman
Her eye looks great! Schimer test is at 14 which is nearly normal tears (other eye at 21).
Check again in six months.
5 pugs came in all with ongoing eye problems. Yikes, sound ultra expensive.

Yoshi herding
Sheep first then goats. While he's great about keeping the goats together he gets distracted easily with dogs near the fence and I was often calling him back or chasing after him and this didn't happen with the sheep. I was pleased with how well he did with the sheep though he needs more work on his outrun as he'll cut in and lose one. If I get in front of him while he's sitting and then I release him I can push him out wider, but I won't get to do this as much at the started level. We did a lot of stay work on the sheep which is good as we haven't worked it as intensively for a while (We did a fair bit at Pescadero.)

Thu Dec 15
Yoshi walk
He was strange unhappy about a shopping bag until I walked him closer so he could assure him self it wasn't some weird floating dog.

Worked on Rally pivot turns as I don't think he's familiar with them. He caught on. I stand there with him sitting in heel position and I swivel my right foot 90 degrees to the right and then I say "By Me" and bring my left foot to be beside the right foot. Also did a right hand Finish and he is getting it.

We nearly walked into a small dog on Gibbons but I saw them in time and we were able to retreat down Johnson 1/2 a house width and let them pass. What was cool was I didn't have to get that far away and he didn't react.

Trek noon walk. The crossing guard wasn't there at noon so we went over to the school
Had her over at the Elementary School during recess 10 kids shouting various versions of "Puppy!" who all wanted to touch her. She actually did cope ok though I had to hold her in my arms. What was remarkable was all the metal clanging sounds of the playground didn't completely freak her out so progress is being made.

Wed Dec 14
Trek walk. We actually managed to approach the crossing guard eating lots of cheese and rounding the corner before he blew the whistle (we had waited at a corner 1/2 a block away for an opening). Once I got her attention again I fed her a lot for looking back to me. It was hard for her but she coped. I think she might adjust - I may have to pay her in bread. Before that we actually got there we worked on heeling position and 1-2-3 steps which she still forges, but then gets it. Some fronts and left hand finishes ("by me") and about turns in both directions.

Noon Yoshi walk. got the bike out again and we went over to Lincoln Park. The time it was an off leash Shiba Inu who wouldn't come to his owner, but kept (nicely) buzzing around us. Yoshi was worried at first, but seemed to settle down but I still didn't let them meet since he was only on a harness and not a collar and the Shiba was off leash and I couldn't control that dog. The Shiba lost interest and ran back to his Mom and we did 5 lengths of the bike path. It went pretty well and he's getting it. Even got up to 5th gear but he's still not running full out. I don't think he's quite used to running while attached to me, but it tired him out nicely and he was mellow for the rest of the day.

I may need to drive him over to the park as the 10 minute walk there and then back and the work at the park is longer than my lunch time if I take a moment to eat. Twice now we had to exit out the back of the park as a dog was blocking the front which adds more minutes. If I do that I could probably drive him down to nearby Krusi park too.

Tue Dec 13
No more rain.
Trek walk. We actually followed a recycling truck about half a block. We crossed the street and followed it at a couple of house distances but then when it paused we actually passed it. Much cheese was eaten in the process.

Noon. It's bike time! Walked Yoshi and the bike over to Lincoln Park. In the front was a dog off leash that we first tried to steer around but the dog (a small Am Staf) was right at a pinch point and we had to go through there to get to the part of the park. I asked the dog's people to catch him after the usual "He's friendly" and I responding that "He (Yoshi) isn't friendly" with Yoshi adding his barking to make the point. Then we got past that and to the back of the park with the bike path that I was hoping to ride the bike up and down. It worked. It was perfect with him on my left which is what he's used to and not as well on the right. He actually wound back up on my left jumping through some odd spots as the grass is only on one side of the path, but for the most part it worked fine.

I was all set to just put a dog collar around my arm, but then I noticed that a rock climbing sling/webbing loop fit around my waist and I tied a loop into it and could clip the lead I'd made with a clip on each end to it. It worked better than on my arm as it made switching sides easier. the rope I'm using is a little thin but works well.

Trek Agility Class.
Worked on lateral weave poles which she's really good at though if she sees me about to throw a toy she gets distracted and doesn't do the last pole. I'm been working on tightening her turns with front crosses and they seem to be helping and could easily take seconds off her runs. We also worked on some really cool serpentines. I need to get Clean Run Course Designer so I can post the courses here as I remember them right after class.

Also did a really interesting back of the tunnel handling bit. the key was to front cross just before the tunnel so doggy sees me running to the back of the tunnel and then calling her just as she came out. She actually turned the correct way if I saw it right.

And at the end did a lateral dog walk to get into position for a serpentine over the last two jumps. It was totally fun.

Her stays were ok on the lower field, but she kept breaking hers in the upper field as she's not as comfortable with the commotion behind her.

I sent off her obedience entry for Jan 14-15 in San Jose. Doing both Ob. Novice A and Rally Novice A. If she gets her Rally title on Sat I'll move her up to Advanced. Need to start going to Ob class now on Wed, but I'll probably have to give her 1/2 a Xanax to help her not be freaky about the noise in the training hall.

AKC Nationals is coming up in Feb in Reno and I'm feeling so whistful

Mon Dec 12
Raining, so no biking.
Walks went fine.

Fri-Sun
In Seattle where I contented myself with my brother's Berner.

Thu Dec 8
Walked both dogs in the morning in the fog.

Yoshi walk. The only dogs we saw were the Golden and the Chihuahua crossing the street in front of us. If we had been 1/2 a block further they would have run us over but they passed without incident.

Trek walk. Right out the door listened to the Crossing Guard whistle and ate treats then walked in the other direction. When we got back around to Gibbons she didn't want to cross Central to be closer to the whistle but i insisted and we went the 1/2 block to Johnson. There we again listened to the whistlle for a bit and ate cheese and then headed in the other direction eventually retracing our steps home. She did drag me down Johnson and didn't really stop till we were at the Thompson Corgis' house which is about the same distance away from the whistle as our house.

Noon. Trek was harassing me big time for a bit of the bread roll i was eating so i got out a metal article and she immediately put her nose on it, I asked her to "take it" and she didn't want to, but actually did open her mouth enough to let me put it in her mouth immediately take it out and reward her. i also put it on the ground and asked her to pick it up but she really really didn't want to - pawing at it instead. When she at least looked like she was going to try I immediately rewarded her and stopped.

Apparently bread rates higher than cheese right now.

I'm going to be out of town for the weekend, but i should probably tape the article's bit area when i get back - I actually think I have one somewhere.

Yoshi's bike came in! Yahoo. I put it together but probably won't have much of a chance to ride it with him today (maybe for a few minutes.)

That's exactly what I got. I dashed home got him and lowered the seat so my feel were on the ground and we went up and down the drive way and then down the side walk for a little ways. He was puzzled, but went along. He'll be ok with it.

Wed Dec 7
Yoshi walk
One small dog appeared suddenly (to him) across the street. It surprised him and he started to bark. I knelt down and put my hand on his side and my other hand on his collar and he started to settleg down some. Later we saw a lab approaching but as we backed off they went a different direction.

Trek walk
Wanted to go over to the school, but couldn't figure out a way to get around the crossing guard without going way out of our way and the kids would be gone by then so we just went on a walk in the other direction and when we got back to the crossing guard corner there weren't any kids. Some gardening hubub and we worked on heeling and 180s and 360s.

Trek evening.
Worked on stand using my right hand. Trek sitting beside me and I touch her tummy like I usually do but raise my right hand too. She tends to leap up now so i back off and sit back down and slow it down so she learned to just stand up in place.

Got the articles out Put out 3 metal and 2 leather and scented one. She doesn't know the exercise yet so I'm just seeing if I can teach her the idea that the scented one is the important one. If Denise Fenzi can do it with her puppy I figure I can do it also though I'm not using food on the articles (yet). If it's the leather one that is easiest to get then she gets the right one. For a while she was grabbing the wrong one and I let her struggle to see if she'd make progress. She doesn't understand it yet, but she liked the struggle mostly.

Then put out one metal one and gave her treats for just putting her nose on it. Tried to get her to voluntarily open her mouth, but she didn't want to. I opened her mouth just to give her the idea that's what I wanted but while she would let me momentarily put the metal article in her mouth and remove it and reward her, she didn't want to take it into her mouth by herself even though she knew that she would be rewarded. Rewarded her again for putting her nose on it and quit after doing a retrieve with a leather article.

Tue Dec 6
Yoshi noon walk
We were out right at 12:30pm and the school was just letting out so we went over there to get a high dose of managed chaos. While not perfect it went very well.

- 2 small dogs across the street as we were walking there - did great
- 1 yellow lab, 1 small dog. Tied to the fence at school small dog barked at Yoshi. Yoshi barked back (not seriously), but I gave a gentle leash pop and with effort he refocused on me. He was able to heel past them and they were only 10-15 feet away which was pretty remarkable.
- 1 boston terrier coming right at us. put a parked car between us
- 1 small medium size dog amongst a lot of hubub. It was too overwhelming and Yoshi started to bark and I picked him up and he settled down.
- navigated through a lot of children and adults and he, in general, did very well, certainly much better than Trek would have though she needs to do this as well.

Trek Agility Class
Worked on some difficult weave pole entrances which went well. I was over shooting my position (I tend to go past the first stantion of the jump) so I messed her up on one sequence where she was sending out on a 180 and I would front cross to take her to the poles. As a result I got a wider turn and she was out of position.

Poor doggy I was setting up a table right near her and she was in her crate but I didn't have the door zipped closed. Agility tables are very noisy when you're changing the legs out and I didn't think about the effect it was having on Trek as she fears metal clanging sounds. She left the field and went to the car and it took a lot of convincing for me to catch her and bring her back. I held her in my lap and it took minutes for her to calm down and stop shaking.

Upper field. I had her with me on the walk through. She's still pretty shook, but I've decided to just let her work through it, and the walk through seems to help her settle. She was slower but did ok. No real disasters and the one obstacle discrimination that we messed up was that I started to turn too soon. The very last run she drove ahead of me and I was able to use the left/right and go commands to guide her which I love.

Filling out Mission Bell Ob/Rally entry forms (Jan 14-15 in San Jose). Doing both Rally and Novice Ob. ($116 - yikes). While there are actually 3 trials, only the Sunday trial allows move ups so we're going to do the Sat. Morning one and the Sunday one because she only needs one more leg in Rally Novice and on Sunday I hope to move her up to Rally Advanced just to see what a disaster it will be. If by some miracle she Qs in both Nov Ob classes then I have to decide whether to go for the 3rd Nov Q as then we won't be able to do A level in Rally anymore which means goodbye to nice placements. Which is totally silly but still...

Mon Dec 5
Yoshi morning walk. Lots of kids, no dogs.

Trek noon walk. Went down Johnson as a way to get closer to the crossing guard but at a 1/2 block distance. He was in his chair so we just walked past, and then past our house and out and about for a bit.

Evening
Tried the recorded whistle with her on my lap. Little to no reaction now. Only some with it turned all the way up.

Summary:

Recorded sounds are missing something from the experience of the real thing. I now no longer get a reaction from the recorded whistle (really doesn't have the impact of a real whistle). But holding a whistle makes her shake, so that's next. What's interesting is that belly rubs are so reinforcing (more than food) she will just lay in my lap shaking while getting her belly rubbed. It took 5 minutes with me holding the whistle down low and rubbing her belly for her to stop shaking, so we'll be at this level for a bit.

Sun Dec 4
Trek hike in Chabot.
Started at Grass Valley trailhead and when down the Jackson Grade and up Brandon Trail until we hit Deer Park Trail and turned around and went back. 1.65 miles out (3.3 total). She met a horse (liked the rider, did NOT like the horse's head near her) and was fine about bikes going past. I've stopped nagging her about stopping. If she pauses, we just hang out eat and drink something then continue on. When we turn around she's thrilled to race back to the car so, of course, she'll be able to go further when she gets some confidence. For now she's a Barbie hiker and I've stopped worrying about it, though we only do out and back hikes for now. This was not a flat hike but some downs and ups which don't bother her really.

Photos are here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2540545505618.2129621.1013097814&type=1&l=fea93e8482

Email to Performance Corgis and CU_Dogs_SF

Thank you to many folks for the great ideas that you shared with me on how to approach Corgi Trek's noise sensitivity.

I have started to just work on her whistle sensitivity since it is the easiest to recreate in a recording.
Other sounds don't seem to have the same impact when recorded (metal clanging or booming teeters) even when using a sub-woofer.

The ASPCA Behavior article emphasized finding a way to make the sound sub-threshold so doggy doesn't react to it.

I recorded my herding whistle on a digital recorder (one 3 second continuous whistle tone).
I first tried just playing it back on the recorder but the recorder by default makes an electronic beeping sound that at the time I didn't know how to turn off. (I have since figured out how to turn the beep off and could now use it for playback if I wanted to.)

I wound up importing the whistle sounds into iTunes and put it in a playlist all by itself. I can now play it quietly enough that she doesn't panic, but I can tell she still doesn't like it. If I turn it way down (like around 1 or 2) I can play it and let her eat bits of O'Paws dried turkey hearts which she loves.

So this may be a way through this. And with the handheld recorder means I can vary the location when I think she's ready.

Of course this may not work if the whistle actually hurts her ears, but if that's the case there's nothing I can do besides stuffing her ears with cotton.

Thanks again. Now if I can figure out the teeter booming sensitivity issue. Problem is that I can't easily recreate it and if I go to a place where a teeter is in use it's difficult to get far enough away for it to be sub-threshold. The covered horse arenas in use over the winter in California might work as the sound is concentrated underneath the cover so we can be far enough away to work on it though I must admit to not being gung ho about driving over an hour just to stand around in a field while my agility friends are having fun in a trial.

Yoshi had a mellow day with Terri and we all had a good time sitting around watching The Amazing Race.

Sat Dec 3
Very busy day getting ready for Terri's birthday party.
Only time for a quick walk for Yoshi
The cool thing is that he was mellow for the rest of the evening, and Trek wasn't freaky about noise.

Fri Dec 2
Last night I tried putting cotton balls in Trek's ears. The moment she shook her head they went flying -twice.

So this morning out of desperation I wrapped an ace bandage around her head. Then we went on a walk. Maybe helped a little, but she still needed convincing to even walk a couple of houses closer. She got a lot of treats but the best reward was to be allowed to walk away. The went on an average walk and when we got back around to that evil crossing guard corner we stopped at Johnson ate some treats and then went down Johnson instead. Then when we got back to our lawn I made her stay on her lawn and eat treats (we can hear the whistle from there.)

Yoshi Herding with Trek along
The first run with goats was awful. I was putting pressure on him about getting out and he would just hurtle out to the fence barking at dogs. I ran right after him too with little effect. Even whacked him a could of times with the flag. Still, little effect. When he was paying attention he did ok. The good thing is that it tired him out. So the next time he did a run (with sheep) he actually did very well. He would stop mostly and even had decent stays and aways and flanks. Worked on an obstacle I set up with only some success. I'm going to have to do more with obstacles and work more on the fence.

When we were done we let Trek work the ducks briefly and she did great. Her distance is better than Yoshi's and her control is way better. I made sure I didn't yell at her this time and eventually was able to pick up a stock stick to encourage her not to dive in on the ducks. It was fun for herding to not be a constant argument.

Linda is going to show me how to make the herding flag more subtle with some duct tape. (Have to remember to bring it next time.)

Someone on the Performance Corgis list found this great article: http://aspcabehavior.org/articles/9/Fear-of-Noises.aspx

It makes the point that for desensitization to work that doggy can not be afraid of the sound you're making.

Made a couple of recordings of my herding whistle on my digital audio recorder. I can play it back much quieter than I can whistle. I did the recordings outside with the doors shut but when I came back in Trek was cowering under Terri's desk. Poor kid. Because she didn't know it was me making the whistle sound she let me reassure her by holding her and massaging her. She was shaking and then stopped though she's now resting in her crate. Now I can play the whistle sound back much quieter that I could if I were whistling.

Sigh, just can't win. The recorder controls make a beeping sound that she doesn't like.

Thu Dec 1
Trek morning walk
High to Central to Gibbons. Some traffic and a bus. Lots of twigs on the sidewalk from the high winds last night so we stopped a lot and I would toss the twigs to the side (walk-stop-walk-stop). On Gibbons she said hello to a construction worker.

Heard the crossing guard whistle on the way home. Of course she's dragging me to get away. Stopped to feed her. She goes right back to dragging me. I finally carry her home which calmed her down

Yoshi noon walk
The school kids were at recess, so walked around the outside of the school to let me check it all out. Did great. Lots of people, occasional stroller and no dogs.

Later - worked intensively on Trek's sound sensitivity and we're not speaking to each other now which is something I'm not used to from a dog at all. She's really unhappy with me and I'm less that thrilled as well.

No food at all will change her mind. Time to let an evening pass.

2 hours later she appears to have forgiven me, but I don't think I should do more of the whistle exposure without giving her 1/2 a Xanax.