Liz herding, second lesson with Robin

WOOOO HOOOO!!!! Lizzie went for her second lesson with the new herding instructor today. WOW, a big difference from the first lesson. Lizzie had been instinct tested several times, and had some lessons with an instructor when she was younger and she always seemed happy and confident doing herding. Then I started with an instructor and had a series of lessons with him and all of a sudden she did not want to stay with the sheep, she looked confused and not very happy. I knew that was not what I was taking Lizzie herding for....so I went to an instructor I had heard some great things about, a lot more expensive and a lot longer drive and she is always booked up and I can not seem to figure out when the schedule comes out so I can snag some of the good spots....but even with all that this lady is really turning out to be well worth the extra effort-and hopefully I will get it all figured out soon.

The new instructors name is Robin and she has explained many times that how she wants to teach is to not use any coercion or force, but to let the dog work out what they can do and to let the dog think. She also explained that is why she is not worried that it is a little longer between lessons because when a dog figures out something for themselves they are not going to forget it. That whole philosophy is what I have seen with clicker training and shaping, so it is an approach that Liz likes and is used to. I can see the stress around the sheep herding lifting as Robin lets her figure out what she needs to do, and she is really enjoying things again, so that makes me really happy. Robin just seems so good about reading Liz, good about making sure there are easy sheep that help build Liz confidence, and getting her to work a little past the point where Liz would like to quit trying to think-which is tiring for her-but not so long that she is fried and just quits.

So the things I notice that are much better this lesson where
#1. Liz is able to work longer and is not wanting to give up and go sit in the corner, and when she did leave a few times and think about sitting down most of the time she came right back, I think there were only two times when she really felt she needed to lay down and think about things-then she ran in and chased the sheep-but she was not quitting.

#2. Robin was actually able to change her direction and Liz was understanding when Robin would say "there, there" she would stop trying to circle and figured out that meant to just start heading forward, she was actually using some balance behind the sheep and staying behind them moving them forward nicely a few times. No one up to now have been able to get Liz to comfortably change her direction and go left and right, she was always going to the left I think, but it was really hard in the past to get her to go to the right.

#3. Liz has been afraid to look at the sheep, it was pretty funny last lesson because she was always staring at them out of the corner of her eye and trying not to let them see her look at them, she was working HARD to not look like she was looking at them. Robin explained that she did not know her own power or how to use it so she was afraid if she looked at them they would take off so she felt she had to not look or she would lose them. She was using total avoidance the first lesson. Today she was experimenting with looking at them and I could really see her trying different levels of pressure and power to try to move the sheep, that was neat to watch.

MOST OF ALL today I saw her really thinking and Liz is happiest when she is really using her brain, I could tell it was really wearing her out but she was happy, so that made me happy.

One of the cutest things today was a litter of Cardigan Corgi pups that were there in the lesson before mine, oooh my gosh those are the cutest puppies and seeing those tiny little pups with the sheep....very cute.

After the herding we stopped and saw Karen from Contact Points- Puppies. Is there anything cuter then a puppy and this was the Nel/Zing litter, so dad is a half brother of my Breeze, and the mom is the coolest dog ever Nel....so I was really wishing that I had went ahead and got one of those pups when my favorites were still available, all the pups that were there now have been promised except one of the cutest little boys.....he is a bit shier but I would love to see how he would be after a few days away from the litter. Cherry was there and that was the first time the kids have seen her since she left, so my youngest was really happy to see her. She wanted to bring Cherry AND a pup home, LOL.

After the pup adventure we stopped at a really terrific restaurant for some Mexican food, and then hit the beach. Breeze loves the beach more and more every time we go. Now as soon as we get there I let her go and she runs into the waves, LOL, she gets way out in the water and then turns and waits for me to throw something. Breeze is so much fun because I can let her go off leash and never worry about her heading for the road or leaving. Liz did GREAT, she has to be on a long time but I never had to grab it and it never went tight, she was having so much fun with the waves, and maybe she was tired enough after herding that she was the perfect girl.

Being a mom of tweeners

I was at Target yesterday with my girls, we were just walking around shopping. I saw a mom with two little girls in one of those huge carts made for the kids and she was trying to keep the younger one happy and occupied, the older little girl was helping her mom/sister and talking to the younger one too. A few minutes later my girls were both walking several steps ahead of me and quietly putting their heads together and whispering, they are very cute together. It hit me how many times now days my girls have their own little conversations and their own little world and not that we are not close, but ......things have sure changed from the days they would fight to be the one that was closest to me and could hold my hand and they were always vying to get my attention and to talk to me. I was the center of their lives. Now I have done a good job and my kids are just starting to really create their own lives and that is very happy and makes me very proud but also once in awhile I miss the whole intense closeness a mom has with babies and little tiny children. Another passage in life is in the making ;-).

On the other hand there are times when I can run out to the store and leave the kids home alone for a few minutes, or when my daughter makes dinner or when I got to go and watch Karen's pups being born and was able to go off for a few days and leave the girls with their dad, that is when I really do on the whole enjoy this new stage of motherhood too.

My doggies still look at me like I am a God, LOL, maybe that has something to do with why I enjoy my dogs so much, they do fill a place in my life, ;-).

Nancy Walkers Editorial - The Finger of Blame

I absolutely LOVED the editorial in Clean Run Magazine this month-September 2009. The editorial was written by Nancy Walker who is now a new hero of mine. I have not felt the way I felt when I read that article since Lizzie was a baby and I picked up a copy of Shaping for Success by Susan Garrett. WARNING: of course we all know this is going to lead to my favorite rant in dog training.....LOL,.....so proceed at your own risk!

Lizzie is a dog that is a very high drive border collie. I also firmly believe she just processes information a little wacky at times. She has terrific self control and I have worked on that and her recalls non stop since day 1. I have raised dogs that turn out to be wonderful dogs, so I can do it,....REALLY I CAN! I have been way more consistent with Liz, taken a lot more time and thought with my training plans with Liz, and got the help of a lot more people, and I have stuck to it way longer then I have with any other dog, and yet....she is still a dog that is not able to trial in an unfenced field because she might get the zoomies and take off. Now do not get me wrong, she is also the best trained dog I have ever had, and given how high energy she is I have taught her amazing things and the self control she can show is amazing, and really I truly believe I had accomplished a lot and I am proud of myself for sticking with it and I do think I have reaped the rewards of that, although I do not think people looking in always see the progress I see ;-).

So what does that have to do with Susan G's book or the article? Well, Susan G became my new hero when I opened her book and read how she had to take her high drive red bc puppy (hummm, another over the top red/white bc, wonder if that is a coincidence?) and work with him for several class sessions before she could get him in the building because he was screaming and crying. She had me hooked with the book because here was someone else who understood what it feels like to feel people judge you as a bad trainer because your dog is acting like an idiot even though I was doing all the right things and using way more skills and working way harder then I worked with my "good" dogs, LOL. One of my worst days came when I took a private with an agility instructor that watched my dog go on a zoomie run the first time she was in her yard, and she pronounced that the dog had no bond with me and there was nothing that could be done for this dog and I had better go home and try to find a way to connect with this dog. I LOVED THIS DOG, and had already been working so hard with her. From the article "It is very difficult to go in the ring over and over again hoping that this time it will be different, and it will be the one time everything does work out. But then to have someone tell you you are to blame-that if you were a better trainer your dog could do better as well-can be crushing" It adds nothing to this conversation but I recently saw this instructor at a seminar with a new dog that zoomed around the field and she could not get ahold of her, I felt a kinship with her at that moment but I also hoped she now understood that not all dogs respond in the same way to the same training.

So the article says "I realized that while agility is a wonderful sport, it can also be a culture of blame. People are so quick to say a dog does what he does because the handler does or does not take a specific action. If there is a problem the handler is to blame." Not to discount being consistent, or good training or anything like that but from the outside not many of us know the trials or tribulations this particular handler/dog team have dealt with or where they started out.

So at the end of the article Nancy goes on to say "Dogs are very complex and if you are fortunate to have a dog that progresses happily through the agility levels, you are very lucky indeed. But try not to put too much blame on those of us who have dogs with various degrees of trouble. These dogs may not yet have reached their athletic potential but they are no less loved and well-trained." Wow, well said i think.


Another quote from the article sums it up "I understand the frustration and utter dedication needed to make the situation work. We love our dogs and train every bit as hard if not harder to overcome out dog's problems. Believe it or not, these dogs make up better trainers in the end." YEA!!! (of course there were days in our harder times when Liz was younger and people would say this will make me a better trainer that people were playing with their lives by uttering those words to me!)


It is funny because I think this little editorial must have brought out the frustrations of a lot of people because any agility venues I have went to in the last week or two I have heard people talking about this editorial. I think there are a lot of us hiding out there with all sorts of issues we might be doing a bang up job of working through but sometimes no matter how hard we work, how smart we work and how good a trainers we are....it does take time to really change some things, so I for one am going to try to be way less judgemental when I see other dog handler teams, and hope you all feel the same way when you see Liz and I out there having a party because we get over 4 jumps in a trial, LOL!!!!!

Happy Birthday Baby, it is Breeze's 3rd birthday!

Today is Breeze's birthday...
We spent the first year with all the puppy things and I was a bit overwhelmed with having two border collie puppies, and poor Breeze got pushed to the back burner a lot because she was ....easy.

The next year we spent with physical issues, one right after another. The great thing was that during that rehab process I learned a ton and Breeze and I really jelled and learned how to work with each other better. I loved her before but going through everything we bonded so much more because I would feel so bad for her and we were both working together.

Now things are settling down and Breeze is just so much fun, she is good at everything I want to do, she is good at herding, she is a great agility dog, she is a great cuddler, she is just terrific and finally her and I are just at the stage that we can just have fun together. I am so glad she is my dog.



Humm....which toy to choose, make sure I look way in the back just in case....


yep, let's try this one!


Give it the old play test and see if it is as good as it looks.



YEP, this is it, lets get it to the checkstand so they can give me some treats!

Our Practice Sept 20,09 with Breeze

I uploaded a video of our practice today....nothing exciting but I have not posted any of our practices recently....maybe because we have not done as much? LOL. But, see we really still do agility once in awhile, hahahahaha. I was having trouble with the timing of the moving front cross, I was wanting to do it a bit late, which.....is not good for a dog that jumps long and fast, but we were getting it. I also am not that confident with the shallow rear crosses, and that shows....that is why I do all the arm action, so I need to settle down and trust my smart little Breeze, she is doing it really well, surprising me for sure. Breezes start line stay and her weaves are looking....simply marvelous if I do say so myself. One of my things I have been working on is my timing of throwing the reward and the first few times it sucked...but toward the end I was doing much better, sometimes especially after the weaves I am afraid of making her pop out because it has happened in the past, but once again....I need to trust my puppy!

WORST PART OF PRACTICING AGILITY IN THE DESERT:
DEFINATELY: I always put my toy in by pant waist band in the back and Breeze gets her ball all wet with slobber then it rolls in the dirt then I have to stick it into my waist band again...., oooh my gosh I am crusted with dirt down my pants after every practice, and as I sit here writing this I am reminded by the scratchy dirt that seems to be everywhere.....agility is much nicer in the grass, LOL

New Contact Method/ tail on-four feet off

I read Diana's comment to my contact training and I could not quit laughing. I am officially renaming my contacts to be To/4O-tail on and four feet off. Ya have to admit we are getting closer....an inch closer at a time to a real contact, LOL.

What I need to do is to perfect my To/40 contact and then make a video, it could be the next new trend!

Contact progress, always a work in progress

So I was a bit bummed and have been the last few days, just feeling a bit depressed but I made myself get up off the computer and go outside and work with my dog,...Just what the doctor ordered!!! I always feel better after that.

I thought I would just post a video of how the contact retraining is going for Breeze. Originally both of the dogs, Lizzie and Breeze were trained to do the 4 on the floor contacts, or modified running contacts. I used Ann Crofts methods but I did it BEFORE she published her revisions, so I had some of the problems with those contacts that people predicted I would. Liz could do the Aframe in two strides, she hit once at the top of the yellow on the upside, she leaped over the apex and hit above the yellow on the downside and then jumped/fell into a gorgeous 4 on the floor position, LOL, leave it to Liz. So obviously this was not going to work for her and she was going to kill herself, so it took forever to retrain her to a 2020 on both contact obstacles, but she is doing killer contacts now.

Breeze was doing well with the 4 on the floor,she has more self control and is not as much of a dare devil, which is nice....She did partially tear her ACL on the dog walk and she was hurting herself repeatedly, so I had to do lots of rear end awareness things, lots of games on the dog walk, lots of exercises and I FINALLY feel safe having her on the dog walk. She is doing well, but I decided to do a 2020 because I felt that would slow her down a bit on the end, have her focus a little more on the end and the little slow down and thinking could possibly keep her safer. She LOVES the 2020 but when she gets excited, I do not know if she is just not thinking about stopping early enough, because she is getting closer and closer to the end....or if it is hard with her hips to stop herself or she just needs more experience to learn how to control that body and speed. I think she is just not prepairing herself in time and is not predicting the stop early enough, which just means more practice. Anyway, it is not doing too bad and if I really can not get a nice 2020 I think she will at least do the 4 on the floor and I do have a plan B, so I feel good about the whole thing.

As for the Aframe, Breeze was going up and over the Aframe and doing a 4 on the floor but it was weird looking with her laying sideways parallel to the end of the aframe. I figured, hey, it isn't pretty but it is working so I left it like that. She was stopping and striding nicely down the Aframe and people might laugh, but what the heck? The last few weeks that deteriorated and she is barely striding through the yellow, and I think with the criteria where she is sideways it is just too easy for her to barrel down the Aframe and make her contact without having to stride through the yellow. I really worry about her hurting herself, so I have went back to the new training steps Ann Croft outlined in Clean run and using some stride regulators. Up until now she has had trouble controlling her speed on the way down so she could get a straight down at the bottom, but she is doing it now!!!! I am pretty happy about that. One thing that is working really well for us is placing a toy several feet in front of her, that is working so much better then when I was just using a jump to release her too, so now that is working so well, I will think about releasing her to a jump and then a toy, but right now it is keeping her attention forward and off me.

So it is not a finished product...but, I think she is really getting the idea. Doing these retraining when a dog has already really learned one behavior and I try to change it is HARD!!!

MY NEXT DOG, I am going to think about all this stuff and train it exactly like I would like to start with, that is so much easier,....but I have learned a lot, so...can not complain about that.

Of course as I pulled out the bumpers the words of Breezes dads person rang in my ears...LOL,....when I was first training the 4 on the floor Tracy predicted I was going to be hauling out all sorts of equipment and props, LOL, so yep, guess she was right, glad she does not read my blog to know I am admitting that, LOL, but actually I would tell her that and I probably will because she will probably get a good laugh out of that.

The big freezer, who knew what was in there???

How do these things happen? I used to be so organized and somehow over the years my brains have gone to mush, or maybe I just lost my organizational abilities. I now am going to have to drive to get the meat for the doggies meals, and I map quested the distance last night and it is going to take me about two hours to get to the "source" of the meat at great prices, which was not a happy thing to find out, and the trip will take me through Burbank and LA, so not a trip I am excited about taking.

ANYWAY, so I deceided that I had to go through my big chest freezer and use everything I can to make sure I have lots of room before I make the big trek, number one because it is good to get the older stuff used and then I can plan on really picking up a load that will last awhile and make the trip worth it.

I really thought I was pretty much out of food and I can not believe the bounty of great foods I found, so the dogs are really going to get some variety this week!!! Tonight they are looking forward to Cornish Game Hens....Breeze is sitting and licking her lips as I speak. Breeze is a girl that likes her food. The point is how did I have this much food that I was not finding???? I have got to get back to organizing this all better. There is an amazing variety of food just hiding in between the icicles.

More cancelled agility lessons, this week poor Alicia is sick, so I have really only had one full lesson in the last month or two between torn pads, muscle pulls, fires, illnesses, LOL, yikes, good thing I have equipment in my back yard. I am going to have to look really hard to find some show n go's or something get where I feel ready to put Breeze in a trial, she was almost ready to start in standard runs when all training seemed to grind to a hault, but I really need to do a little more training with the contacts before it would be smart to try them out in competition. Signs ups are about to start in a few days for the classes here in town and there are always some nice courses laid out so I am looking forward to that.