Fri Jul 30
noon - no walk for Yoshi as I needed to do Trek's nails.
Trek is going to Rachelle's agility class at Sharon's so she's going to work with me this afternoon.
[later]
(Trek had fun at work, even got to practice her down stay at times, and
she got to demo her jumping skills by jumping over a seated person's
outstretched legs which provided much amusement.)
[after class.]
WELL this is a fine dilemma. She did perfect. Before class
I took her up to the upper field to see if she would do the contact
equipment. She hopped right up on the dogwalk with no hesitation,
did a tunnel and a jump and aimmed her at the teeter but didn't tell
her to do it. She went right up and did it. Then she later
did the A-Frame and the teeter again. Then the class started and
I watched this with interest as it's usually not her teeter but the
other teeter sounds, and then she won't do a teeter. Not this
time. other dogs did the teeter and she was able to do one.
I had her off leash when I was setting a jump and she went and did
another one by herself (we were walking past it and I wasn't even
looking at it - in fact I was ahead of it. She's happy. No
stress panting. No trembling.
So what does this mean? Sharon's teeter is noisy, but she was
able to do it and has been for a while now. However sometimes she won't
do it when it's on the lower field. This implies that in narrower
confines the sound is intensified. Power Paws field is open on
one side but there's a hedge on the other side which may make the sound
echo. It also could do with unfamiliar surroundings, but I
haven't seen her react this strongly since her meltdown in the covered
arena in Santa Rosa. Though then again she does the teeter when
it's in the yard but it's not as noisy and it's familiar territory.
Should we continue with PP? The class cycle started 6/27 though
one class was canceled. I think I'll give her to the end of the
cycle and then decide. It's starting to look like she could just
be a drop in there and rejoin the other class though it's getting near
full. Then again she might get used to it, but it would take a
long time. She trembles there and won't usually come out of her
crate when she's there without cajoling.
It might be a better approach to sacrifice more money to the agility
gods and do a lot of trials in places with very open fields like Dixon
and Prunedale. I think this means she can enter the SMART trial,
and maybe even enter Grand Prix where I can stick her back on the
teeter.
Thu Jul 29
evening dog walks. Took Yoshi down High Steet and back via
Gibbons - didn't see many dogs. Lots of streets to cross in the
Fernside so it was interesting but more work.
With Trek I took her down two blocks of Broadway which she doesn't like
but copes, she acually dealt with that better than going by the school
that had some kids playing and some metal clanging. She did try
to drag me home after that so I spent a long time calling her back to
me and rewarding that.
My back and left shoulder has been really sore starting a couple of
days after running with Yoshi. It was already sore from a gym
cycling class, now it really hurts. Going to have to come up with
another way to run with him.
So I have a dilemma. Aug 28-29 is a herding trial and the SMART
agility trial. Don't know what to do. I want Yoshi to get
his PT so I probably should enter both days of the herding trial, but
if he gets his PT on Sat it would be way more fun to take Trek to
agility even with the long drive. But Trek really isn't in
competing form except for jumpers courses. I'm taking her to
Rachelle on Friday to see if I can get her back on contact equipment.
Wed Jul 28
[noon] Yoshi walk - did fine.
Right at the end there was a young cocker being walked by 2
girls. They stopped for a while and talked to my neighbor so
Yoshi and I hung out in our driveway eating treats and playing
LAT. When they started to walk by us I just feed him continuously
and that worked.
It's Yoshi and his siblings 7th birthday. For his birthday he got
a bone and I cancelled the eCollar order after a long email discussion
with someone who is experienced with them and was telling me that I
should get some training in it first. I'm also realizing that
there are other methods that I can use instead. The beeping
collar works well as an interrupter (he really doesn't like it, to the
point that he got off the sofa when he saw it. (I had it out so
he could hang out on the living room sofa looking out the window - a
place where he routinely loses it and is only there when supervised.) There is more CU work that we can do as well
Trek was supposed to go to class at ODTC, but I was too wiped out to go.
So it finally occured to me that instead of going to the regional, I
can just go to the SMART trial at the same location the weekend before.
(Duh!) I'll just enter her in the regular classes and tempting as
it is to put her in Grand Prix I think I'll pass. The advantage
of GP is that there is no four paw rule and I can put her back on a
teeter, but if she hops off a teeter then it takes forever to get her
to do it again and that won't go over well at a trial. Early on I
did successfully put her back on a teeter during a GP run but she's
gotten worse about them. I could just not put her in standard at
all but I really want to get that last PI Q and escape the 4 paw
rule. Closing date isn't until mid Aug so I have some time to
think about it and watch her.
Need to put the teeter back up - and mow what lawn is there.
I also have to decide how long to keep her in Power Paws if she's
happier at Rachelle's. I'm going to take her there for a drop in
or two and see if she's better there. I could just have her be a
perma drop-in on both classes, though she does so well during the
jumpers portion of the PP class.
She keeps eyeing the bread I'm eating - maybe that should be a teeter reward.
Tue Jul 27
[noon] Yoshi walk went fine.
Trek PP class.
Nancy was out working a dog in the other part of the arena so Trek was
stressing about the contact noise for a bit but then got into the
jumpers part of the class and started having a nice time. Then
the contacts part started and we went back to the car which I had
parked a ways off. She could eat treats while that was going on
so I took her out to the potty area and that was too close and she
wanted to drag me back to the car. she was a little better if I
was holding her but she wasn't happy and I put her back in her
crate. Eventually she would come out for treats and seemed
relaxed so I moved the car closer and she still would eat treats until
the metal gate clanged and then she was back in the back of the
crate. I shut the car up and went and checked on class.
They were working on a gamble and I finally realized it didn't involve
any contact equipment so she could likely do it. I went back and
she actually came out of the crate without having to drag her.
She was worried about being out there but was sort of able to focus
though was acting erraticly at first but then settled. Right
after she dragged me back to the car. Wouldn't pee.
Wouldn't drink water.
I am frustrated but it's nice that we didn't have to leave the
grounds completely. I'm wondering how long to continue this.
I'm thinking this weekend Yoshi should work sheep. Not sure which day yet. He's not really switching on to ducks.
Mon Jul 26
I finally did it. I bought an electric collar for Yoshi. Figured I
should do this before I kill him.
It would also be nice to not always have to have him attached to me, but
find a way he can run around. This does mean letting him run around dog
parks where the behavior is not great. What I don't know what to do is
how to start. With the remote collar we can work on his Barking in the
Window behavior. That will be a good way to see if the collar will
work. But at the dog park is tricky. I want him to run around but not
bite another dog.
I know a friend reluctantly uses one so that her dog can run free but
can be kept from going into completely over-the-top prey drive mode.
I asked the CU_Dogs list for exercise ideas and one person said she uses
a bike, but is very intrigued with Dog Scootering
I am thinking that if I attached him to the bike with the regular dog
attachment (a walky dog) I could go slow and he would get exercise and
if he lunged at a dog he would be tethered to the bike and while he
wouldn't be dragged we can encourage him to keep going.
But the more I read this I think i really should run with him more and
just make sure the leash is sttached to me in case I fall. Maybe one of
the rock climbing slinges would work for that
It is funny to think how Yoshi would be with something chasing
him. He would probably be doing his over the shoulder "Monster!"
look.
[noon] Trek walk - did fine, no surprises. On the walk I can tell
her to stop (standing), I walk on and then I stop and then have her do
a utilityish down and then sit and then recall - it's utilityish
because I say the words along with the signals. She was
volunteering heeling today which was fun and we worked on that a little.
[evening]
I did take Yoshi out running at Bay Farm.
Facebook update:
My
Corgi is tired now, but it took running/trotting him 2 miles. I dread
him getting into better shape. He was still pulling on me after a mile
and a half.
Becaise the path along the water can be narrow and there are dogs out
walking I put he beeping collar on, which came in very handy.
Twice we ran into dogs in close quarters and I had to use the beep
repeatedly until he was able to focus on me. Once the dog was so
close I hung on to his collar to keep him close. The beep
startles and interrupts him for a moment until he can start to react
again and I beep it again. For the most part except in the narrow
part right by Harbor Bay there was always something we could hide
behind.
I have to remember that use being able to hide doesn't really help his
training much unless he can see the dog approaching until we're at his
threshold and then we go hide. If he can't see the dog then
there's pretty much no dog which makes things easy but does nothing to
help his stress level. Even near the end he wanted to react to a
dog that was only 10' away (fair enough) however when he saw one across
the street after his fun he didn't react at all. He is mellower
tonight. He'll start to react/bark or play then instantly run out
of steam. there's a dog barking and he really must be tired as
he'd bark and grouse for a short while then stop very quickly.
Hope I didn't over do it, but he'll be ok. He usually gets a
mile+ walk with a little bit of running. This was mostly running
and trotting.
I'm not sure if dog scootering woutl be right for him as he's a
sprinter and does need occasional rest breaks, even if he was pulling
on me after 1.5 miles. (From the Bay Farm paring area to the
concrete play area (the one before "Ship 66") where we turned around is
just over a mile.
Trek dumbbell. She can now retrieve on the flat or over a
jump. She holds it for the most part, but still drops it from
time to time, but I'm not going to worry about that yet. I think
her original dumbbel is the best size for her. Then we just
played fetch with a toy for a while.
Yoshi's eye continues to improve.
Sun Jul 25
I'm working at the Bay Team's CPE trial today as a full timer. I
was going to be taking Yoshi just for the exposure but given his
current situation he'll be comfortable at home barking at the
neighborhood dogs instead of being stuck in a crate with a silly
donut. I
then thought I'd bring Trek but the point is to give Trek a break from
teeter noises so that would be counter productive.
[Later] They both would have hated the site (which is really nice) for various reasons. Yoshi
wouldn't have liked the dogs in such close proximity and Trek would not of
liked the echoing noises.
Dog Walks.
The Art and Wine Festival is winding up so both dogs got walked down to
Park Street for a block of exposure. Yoshi would have been
perfect but he lunged at a Silky Terrier even though we were hiding
behind a truck and he only saw the dog retreating. I was pretty
peeved at him and he got carried rather roughly for some feet.
The rest of the chaos he was fine with.
Trek did well enough at Broadway that I decided to also walk her down
to Park St. One family stopped us to chat and say hello and talk
about corgis and the kids got some coaching on how to be nice to dogs
and what they like (no treats - I don't do treats and kids) This
was ok but then I decided to walk her down a block of Park St. and that
was a little noisy and she got stopped again. By this time she's
shaking and I carry her for 1/2 a block away from Park St. and then
walk her. We even then went down Broadway again for 2 blocks and
then headed back. She wasn't shaking anymore, but she really
wanted to go back home and kept trying to drag me. Every time she
hit the end of the leash I'd stop and call her back.
So both dogs are now relatively fine with Broadway. Yoshi would
probably be ok with Park St, but I think it's time for Yoshi to spend a
fair amount of time at the small dog park on leash after going on a
walk. Trek will get the noon walk down some of Broadway or High
St. Yoshi will sometimes get shuttled down to the dog park to be
walked around it and then consigned to the small dog park to walk
around and eat treats. Small moving dogs have to mean something
good to him before I kill him.
Today Yoshi's eye is doing much better and he didn't have to wear the
donut. Hooray. I think the medicine is really helping it heal -
the redness is mostly gone.
Sat Jul 24
Yoshi is still fussing with his eye like he was doing yesterday.
It's very red and even though it looks better, I decided to take him to
Dr. Friedman. She checked him thoroughly but there's nothing
seriously wrong besides conjuntivitis. She didn't find any
foriegn matter so whatever it was has fallen out or healed and what's
left is the soreness and redness. We're now to give him
NeoPolyDex drops on a titrating basis that we've written out. (3
drops a day for 3 days, 2 drops a day for another 3 days, 1 drop a day
for another 3 days, then every other day for another week.) If he
keeps rubbing his eye he'll have to wear a cone. Right now he's
wearing the donut of shame which is much more comfortable than a cone,
but if he keeps rubbing at it (he sometimes throws himself into the
bed) then he'll have to don coneware, but right now it's ok.
On Sheep.
I've decided that I'm not giving up. I wouldn't feel right if we
gave up, though it might be better for him to learn directionals on
ducks where he can hear and think better. I just always go back
to how incredible he did with Judy V. and how she was trying to talk me
into putting him in the Trial instead of the Test. We need to
figure this out. I think while Linda is out of the country we can
work on sheep some and just being calm around them. (Which we
have done before.)
Fri Jul 23
Dog Training Day Yahoo.
Trek Novice Obedience class with Lori
I wanted to do the Open class since that's the level that I'm training
her at but Yoshi has a herding lesson he needs to get to later in the
day. Besides having her work on Novice skills is not a bad thing
as even though it's something she really likes, and is really good at
it,, her obedience training has been haphazard at best so she has some
holes. Her heeling is not always the greatest yet on a heeling
exercise she was brilliant. She's not that thrilled to heel past
a seated dog but that never happens during a trial. Her stand for
exam still needs some proofing as she's a little wiggly but all in all
as Lori says it's probably good enough. Her recall is fabulous
and her stays for Novice are nearly perfect unless some metal crashes
somewhere. I'll have to work more on her off leash heeling, and
maybe spend some time where the treats are no directly on me.
If I want to put her in rally I'll need to teach her a right hand finish as hers is just to the left right now.
I'm very pleased with how she did as she has found the setting at ODTC
stressful before but I think she's mostly used to it and she likes the
rewards.
Yoshi Duck Herding Lesson
I sum it up in a corgiherders post:
So we're in the process of trying to Yoshi interested in herding ducks
and it's an interesting process.
Ironically the dog (Trek) who we though didn't like herding at all
actually is doing better. It turns out her issue is more with things
that tower over her.
Getting Yoshi interested in ducks is sort of like starting with a dog at
the instinct test level.
I spent a fair bit of time just walking around with the Call Ducks to
see if we could get him interested, then when he got interested we had
to get him understand that ducks are much more delicate than sheep and
you have to be nice to them and you can't pin them down, and then you
have to get him through the pouting "Well fine I don't want to play
anyway." AND then he decides well this might be a fun thing to do and
then starts the process of how go get these creatures to move in a way
that works.
I sort of expected to go through this in one session, but it's been 3
(plus one aborted one with Runner Ducks). This is going to be a longer
process than I expected. What I'm hoping is that he is able to really
learn some good stock skills and sense in the process since you can't
herd ducks at Mach 9. It's nice to see him having to really think as
opposed to just reacting. Though he's still pouting some at being
forced to use his brain more.
I keep wondering if he misses sheep. I wish I knew. He's
getting a three week break from these ducks so I certainly could work
him on sheep, but I'm hoping he'll learn better skills from the
ducks. It's been so nice to not have to argue with him about
sheep but now I'm having to encourage him a lot. It was nice that
just walking around with the ducks did get his attention. Maybe
that's a way to get him to work goats again through I watched someone
set her dog up right near the goats as they were stopping and the goats
walked right up to the dog which is exactly how Trek got flattened that
one time.
Back to ducks. I need to ask more about this but the idea is to
have the dog move down the fence with the but you want the ducks off
the fence because they like to hide there. What I need to ask
about that is that AKC herding does a lot of herding along the fence
and even AHBA does some also, so how does keeping them in the center
work with that?
Anyway right at the end of the 2nd session, he was able to stay on the
fence and I was able to move into the center and the ducks came into
the center and he was able to come around them and change their
direction (and I then changed the wand to the other hand) and then we
headed back the other direction. He had been coming in the center
himself which is less than ideal.
It was cool to have it finally work. Felt good.
Yoshi's eye is a little swollen (was that was before herding) and I'm thinking I should beg Animal Eye Care for a same day appt.
Thu Jul 22
I still can't decide what to enter Trek in for the Super Regional or
should I just work the trial. The closing date isn't until Aug
13th, but I really should decide.
I'm pretty sure I want to go though I just did $300 of damage to my car
by driving into a concrete step at Power Paws. Susan Garrett very
graciously refunded my class money when I asked since the class is $197
and that will help a lot.
I probably should try the idea of no teeters at all and see if that helps.
Here's what I cam up with before
Sat PSJ Rd 1
Sun
PI Pairs Relay
PII PSJ Rd 2
PII Gamblers
PII Snooker
Mon (if we were to do it - not likely)
PII Jumpers
I think we'll just do Sat and Sun and work most of Sat. The trick
is that if we camp them we're stuck as we can't move the car once it's
in a "campsite." This means I have to plan food or we could just
hotel it (more $ though), or I could bring my bike and ride down the
hill for food. Wait! Never mind they're serving dinner on
Saturday. Cool. And lunch is provided for workers so I just
need to worry about snacks for me and dog food.
This Sunday is the CPE trial that I pulled Trek out of but I've offered to go down and work on Sunday.
Noon Trek walk.
So I'm changing our walks, to include Broadway.
Encounter with street
sweeper. We retreated down a side street and only had to go 1
house distance away and she wasn't freaked out. We went down
Broadway for one block which she found stressful but she's coping some
panting but no hard pulling or slinking to try to get away.
Yoshi evening walk
Also went down Broadway from Buena Vista down to Central. He's so
good in noisier environments at least with traffic. He doesn't
like booming things right near him, but traffic doesn't bother him at
all. Saw a LWFD across Central who barked at us and he barked
back but more in an excited hello way and he was easily distracted and
was able to work. Saw a teeny tiny dog and he was able to watch
that too. Unfortunately his owner crossed the street before we
got close so we just watched them across the street.
New mileages (using: http://www.trails.com/googlemap.aspx which is actually much better that the regular Google Ped.)
It's funny how just walking down Santa Clara or Central is much better distance wise than trying to go across them.
Just going in a circle from house to Broadway down Santa Clara down to Court St. is a mile.
Down to High St is 1.2 miles.
I'd like us to work up to walks into town,
House to Park St vi Gibbons to Santa Clara 0.5 mile one way.
via Central 0.6 one way
Wed Jul 21
Noon Yoshi walk. Did fine. As we walked out he started to
bristle and I pulled him back and then looked up to see a GSD on His
lawn but who was retreating. This is certainly a much more milder
response than you would have gotten before.
Trek walk evening.
Went down Broadway for a block and she did ok and wasn't freaked out at
all though was very aware of all of the noises.
She's come so far from being unable to be within a house distance of
that street. Broadway is busier than High St so this is raising the
bar. She did well on it on Sunday but this was with some weekday
evening traffic (not a lot it was 7pm but still.)
Bone amusement
Gave the dogs bones to chew on (2nd round for these smokehouse bones).
Yoshi was so funny, he carried his outside as if he's going to be a real
dog and bury his bone but he got out there and laid down and kept
chewing - just couldn't part with it. He seemed to be worried about
Trek so after she peed I put her back in the house and then I went back
to him. When I told him to Go Pee he varied it around. I took hold of
it and we play some tug of war (not severe, not guarding) and I walked
us over to where Trek had peed and told him to Give (he did) and I
promised he could have it back. He peed and I gave it back to him and
he carried it back inside and back up on the bed where he was originally
chewing on it.
He kept it up for another 15-20 minutes and I then traded with him by
giving him a treat which worked well. He obviously needs to be allowed
more bones so he can learn to pace himself.
Tue Jul 20
I signed up for Susan Garrett's e-course on Brilliant Recalls.
The idea is to break things down to 5 minute sessions (which I already do usually).
I like to thing that I'm just as good of a dog trainer but she works
way harder at it since it's her full time job and she's studied with
Bob Bailey, and I always learn from other trainers (well many of them.)
Trek has agility class though we're just going to do the jumper's part of it.
So Dog Distractions 1-10 in order of severity.
Yoshi
Trek
0
radio, wind chimes
wind
1
radio
2
3
4
food on the ground
5
wind chimes
6
person calling him
person calling her
7
a good place to pee
food on the ground
8
people with food
people with food
9
squirrel at 10' running
metal clanging
10
dog at 20' running/walking
multiple crashing teeters
10+
a dog standing on his lawn
crashing teeters under covered arenas
Mon Jul 19
Walk for Yoshi and finally did his nails.
Sun Jul 18
Just walks - looong walks.
Yoshi went down Central all the way from High St. to Broadway and then
when we were getting close to home turned off to follow some dogs which
he did really well with even with one (largish Tibetan Terrier) that
was starting at him stiffly. We actually caught back up with them
after chasing some other dogs and he still did great. Things
didn't start off so well as a Golden appeared out of nowhere right at
the beginning and all I could do was just hold him with the
leash. What's interesting is that he settled down anyway after
the initial bark and lunge. These days I haven't had to be nearly
as elaborate in my set ups as a dog approaches though I do have to be
aware of them to have complete success.
Trek's walk had a wild puppy right in front of the house. I kept
saying "take your dog to class" over and over again. which was
probably hopeless but I tried anyway. Just to make a point I put
Trek in a down dropped the leash and walked up to the puppy and said
hello for a second. Then Trek and I went in the other
direction. She also went down Broadway for a while and she did
great which I'm pleased about. I think she's getting used to it
and it was Sunday afternoon which is a nice slow time. I should
keep that in mind as a good time for adventuring further forth - maybe
even into town.
Trek needs to learn more Tricks though I want her dumbbell better
first. I'd love for her to be able to roll over, back up, and
play soccer.
Worked her and the dumbbell in the backyard with her. She's able
to hold the dumbbell and wait for me to take it. Mostly - she
still fiddles with it in her mouth but less so and I can put my hand on
her mouth to get her to stop messing with it. When she picks it
up she doesn't get it in the right place behind her canines but I think
she'll get it.
She's also able to sit by my side and stay while I throw the dumbbell and she'll fetch it. (I don't make her sit then)
AND today I set the jump up and put her in a stay with the dumbbell in
her mouth which she promptly spit out but she picked it up again and
then jumped over the jump with it.
Then i had her stay with me and I threw it over the jump and she went
and got it! Did it one more time and stopped. This is way
further than I was hoping.
I'm using my original dumbbell as it fits her better and she doesn't seem to need the increased diameter.
I'm having a command name collision as I need on for go to the back of
the herd and another for Back Up. I think "Back" is going to go
for herding though I've already been using it in obedience but it's not
solid. Maybe that one will be Reverse or Beep. though it's
tempting to make the herding one "back of the bus" but under pressure
that's not going to happen. Back is nice and sharp and works well
for herding. Having a dog take steps backwards doesn't require
quick thinking.
Sat Jul 17
Yoshi and Trek Duck Herding
Today was just supposed to be Yoshi's day but Trek asked to go along too, and she wound up doing one of the sessions.
Yoshi isn't so sure about the Runner Ducks and is very leery of
them. This does concern me but he has a lesson scheduled with
Linda's Call Ducks on the 23rd and I'm hoping that builds his
confidence.
Trek was better and could actually herd them. She doesn't know as
much about flanking but she's able to move them around decently.
She's doing herding just to build her confidence but she's also proving
to be a good Corgi ambassador because she's so easy to control.
I'm wondering if Yoshi should work more with heavy sheep or not.
The skills he needs for fowl are pretty different than for sheep - his
willingness to move slower around the ducks is a good thing. I
think it's more an exposure thing, so we'll just do more ducks of
whatever type. I think we need to work more on actually moving
the Call Ducks in a specific direction.
Next year's Corgi Trial has been scheduled for 4/30-5/1 2011.
Yahoo. I have to decide whether to have Yoshi finish his PT there
or not. I think so as the idea of going to a different trial
stresses me out. Though hopefully he'll get to compete on fowl.
Thu-Fri
At Yosemite getting chewed on by mosquitoes and doing a climbing
class. Trek moped for a little while and then recovered, but when
I got back wouldn't let me out of her sight.
Wed Jul 14
Prepping for a short Yosemite Trip so no noon dog walk.
My classmates are being so understanding and I'm getting a lot of "been
there here's my experience" emails that describe their working through
all sorts of dog fears.
Thank you all for the support about Trek.
Your understanding just really underscores for me that issue-free dogs
are rare.
I had one (Cali) and in a way it's a bit of a curse as you always then
subsequently feel like a failure.
I think for a little while we'll just do the jumpers portion and then
say our polite goodbyes, so Trek can have some good time in class..
It's a bummer for me because then I don't get to chat with you all as
long, but in the future I'll see if I can find a quieter place in the
back parking area though even that may not be enough quiet at first.
Tue Jul 13
Noon Yoshi walk uneventful
Trek Power Paws Agility class. I'm so torn up about what I'm putting Trek through taking her there.
I just wrote a letter to my classmates about it: Greeting Tues Power Paws folks,
I so don't know what to do about Trek and Power Paws. As long as
the teeter isn't in use, she's fine happily running and learning great
stuff. As soon as it is then she's a trembling mess and just
wants to hide in her crate in the car. It's not her doing a
teeter so much as all the other teeter sounds. Seeing my sweet,
smart, talented dog reduced to such a state is just killing me and I'm
really at a loss.
Ironically because you all are so accomplished, Trek could just do the
non-contact portion of the class and still get more runs in than at a
non-PP class, so it's actually worth the trip even for half a
class. While it's getting harder and harder for me to see her
this way (and I have to coax her out of her crate whenever she's at
PP), we're going to continue for a little while though I think as soon
as you all move to contacts I'm going to put her in the car with her
Thundershirt on. Even what we tried today with us staying all the
way at the other end of the field when you started the contacts wasn't
far enough away.
She is home now and has recovered though a bit subdued.
I should just let her be the obedience dog that she wants to be, but
can't quite face having another dog wash out of agility just yet.
If I would just switch her over to NADAC we'd be fine, but I mostly do
agility to spend time with my friends and most of you aren't at
NADAC. I'm such a USDAA person anyway.
It's so awful seeing how she is when she's trembling with such
anxiety. I keep thinking I shouldn't be torturing a dog who is so
attached to me. It's like she can't trust me to keep her safe and
that's not very easy to deal with.
Mon Jul 12
A.M. Trek still doesn't want to go outside this morning because of the baking tray that used to be there.
Noon she was still hesitant until she noticed the bread in my
hand. Then suddenly she was very brave. This is after I had
let Yoshi out and she was standing back 20' from the back door. I
think she finally figured out that the tray was gone. I invited
her to look around a little bit and that may have helped I don't know.
She's so funny sometimes. She really has to decide for herself
that something is ok. You really can't talk her into it (though I
still try.)
Trek walk - uneventful.
She's been hiding in her crate at noon and won't come out when I call
her (maybe I should use bread but she's 1/2 pound overweight so i don't
want to give her too much.) What i do is go in her crate and clip
the leash on and then stand back up and call her and that seems to work
for now. It's not like going on a walk at noon is new for her at
all.
Sat/Sun
Not a doggy weekend. Mostly playing fetch and dog walks.
The parked car maneuver continues to work smoothly.
i made a mistake with training Trek and it was the dumbest thing.
I had been working with her with a baking tray and then had left it by the door and it got kicked accidentally 2-3 times.
Now she doesn't want to go outside - stupid oversight: whack head.
I've moved the tray and we'll see how long before she stops worrying about it.
Fri Jul 9
The Bay Team Super Regional premium is out now, and I have to decide
what to put Trek through and what just to work and what I might have
Yoshi at.
If we do an overnight then it's really hard to have Yoshi along and get
any sleep (to be honest I haven't tried it so maybe I'm just being a
chicken, but I do want the time to be mine and Trek's since Trek isn't
yet that happy with the environment.
I'm wondering how long do I put her through going to trials. She
may get used to them, but she's not liking them now. There's
already a list of places I don't take her.
- Santa Rosa's covered arena
- (The one at WAG is ok because NADAC doesn't have a teeter)
- Turlock and its trains right beside the ring
So far Dixon, Woodland are fine as long as it's not too hot
and Prunedale is the obvious winner even though it is further away for
me and makes driving back and forth difficult though she's ok with
staying overnight since that's quiet and she gets a lot of attention
that way.
I think camping one day will work.
USDAA Q Check
2 PII Gamblers
1 PII Snooker
1 PII Jumper (ironic as this is her best class - but it's often too hot by the time it comes around)
and the perennial
2 PI Standard
1 PI Pairs Relay (I wasn't going to worry about more Relay till she's
at PII - but that's silly if we're stopping Standard for a while, she's
running well enough and we can beg off of any teeters.)
I'm rereading the description of Performance Speed Jumping (PSJ) which is another version of Steeplechase.
It's a jumpers style course with A frame and weavepoles one of which is
to be taken twice.. There is also a Long Jump which she doesn't
see often but since they've redesigned it, it looks like a jump and not
a mini dog walk. No teeter. Sounds like a winner to
me. There is no qualifying leg required for the Performance
version (there is for regular Steeplechase).
So the schedule looks like
Sat PSJ Rd 1
Sun
PI Pairs Relay
PII PSJ Rd 2
PII Gamblers
PII Snooker
Mon (if we were to do it - not likely)
PII Jumpers
Thu Jul 8
More dog walk city. Mark's mom came over and played with Cooper
and Cameo so they are already tired which is nice, though Cameo was
sore and so we just went out to sniff.
Wed Jul 7
Yoshi walk - the parked car maneuver makes his walk so much
easier. No more hurried street crossing. What was funny is
we did that with an approaching GSD with no problem, even let the dogs
directly approach for a little while, but when he saw a small dog
across the street and I didn't go hide, he barked. Though he
chilled out quickly.
Tue Jul 6
Dog walk city. I'm walking Cooper and Cameo today as well.
Both of them did well. Cameo still gets sore so her walk was
about half the distance of Cooper's. I even used the parked car
evasion technique when Cooper and I nearly walked into another dog and
person. Mark had mentioned that they were barky at other dogs but
separately I don't see that though Cameo does bark some (not serious
though).
Trek's class is canceled today.
Mon Jul 5
I have finally figured out Trek's noise issues. Took me long enough,
though there were some red herrings that threw me off the track.
This doesn't mean I have solved them, in fact I may never do so, but at
least I understand them.
Trek doesn't like
- barking dogs in enclosed spaces
- humans yelling loudly, or calling out in a stressed way
- whacking, percussive thudding sounds - she hates bouncing balls
- metal on metal sounds, even wind chimes used to make her nervous
and she doesn't like schools with loud kids and a ton of balls
bouncing and metal clanging (this is improving)
One or two of these sounds will startle her, but she'll recover, but
things build and in the space of hearing 3 or more closely spaced
teeters (or other) she'll start to shake, stress pant, run under cover,
and if attached to me will try to drag me to the car so she can be in
her crate, and she sometimes (often) will not come out of that crate
while the sounds are continuing. Last time at Power Paws she wouldn't
come out until the teeter sounds had stopped for 10 minutes.
Mysteriously Trek doesn't care about
- fireworks
- recorded music (even deliberately really loud thudding music with
the subwoofer turned way up and the walls shaking - Zzzzzz)
Trek grew up with 25-30 well cared for Corgis. Many of them live in a
large room full of crates attached to the house (actually it's an
integral part of the house - I've seen it.). If you put 25 Corgis in a
room it's a good bet that at least half of them will start barking many
times a day.
And what do we humans do to shut them up (me included for the first two)
- yell or shout
- yell or shout louder
- whack the wall or table top
- bang metal (a bigger version of pennies in a coke can)
- for great effect take a pot and whack it on the countertop
The perpetrators settle down with silly, gleeful expressions on their
faces. What you're not seeing is the quiet dog who is cowering at the
back of his/her crate.
One thing that threw me off was that her breeder said that they have a
duck hunting season and the dogs usually don't like being outside when
the shotguns are going off. I now think that the only difference that
experience made was to make her indifferent to fireworks.
So I'm left with: Now what? It really helps to understand the problem
so I'm not wasting my time on things that don't matter. But she went
through TWO years of this and she's already better but she's 5 now.
She's never going to like it - even with all the continuing counter
conditioning. She's happy making noise like doing teeters, but other
times she isn't controlling the noise must feel like a reprimand.
She's actually fine with me yelling at Yoshi to stop barking. Maybe I
should look more carefully to see what it is about that that's ok. I
can also do a lot of counter conditioning with bouncing balls since they
are a source of fun too. But how to make a teeter sound fun besides
just feeding her around them? I think that we'll just have to get some
real distance between us and the teeter and just feed her there and work
our way up. I'll have to get to class early to work on the teeter
separately before anyone else is on it. I think us taking a lot of
breaks from the sounds would be good too (like the Control Unleashed
game Give Me a Break.)
Poor kid. This could be so fun for her, and I'm hoping it eventually
can be.
Sun Jul 4
Just remembered that the raffle person was bringing something I'd won
awhile back to this trial so I'm going to drag myself over and take
both dogs and work on their issues separately.
The prize was a massage certificate (yay) and a dog snuggy which doesn't really fit them very well, but ok.
I switched off working each dog throughout the morning.
Trek is not happy about all the commotion (gamblers was running and the
numbers calling and the horns were a lot and there was a teeter and
dogs barking too.
When I showed her to a friend later she didn't see the stress that Trek
was going through because it was too subtle and less intense since the
only thing going on was the teeter then, and all she was doing was
stress panting. My big clue is her trying to drag me to the car
and her crate. But she was willing to bug people for treats.
Yoshi was happy to get out there and work and did great mostly unless a
dog came too close moving (3x) however I had a hold of him everytime,
and what was fantastic is that he is now able to heel past many dogs
standing or moving (walking). The trick is getting his attention
again after I've given him a treat. It's almost better to have
something he can just lick. Cheese works great in this case, but
cream cheese or peanut butter would work also or even just holding a
soft treat and letting him have only a little of it.
It's weird that he's actually now happier in the environment than Trek
is. Sound like we should just go, but not enter or just enter
games classes with Trek.
BUT! later when the fireworks start. It's Trek who's ok and Yoshi
is unhappy, but more in the Intruder! sort of way. I made a video
of it.
What is so different about a teeter and a firework? Something
must be about the proximity, but some of the fireworks were quite close
this year.
But super close proximity seems to make a difference. She would
likely react to fireworks much closer to her, but even when I'm 150'
from a teeter she responds. One thing is that there are no
metallic sounds in fireworks and anything that clangs is like
fingernails on a chalkboard to her.
In between agility and fireworks, both dogs went for walks.
Trek's was fine. Yoshi's was great. Twice we used a parked
car to go around a dog on the same side walk and it worked
fantastic. One we were passing a dog and person who had stopped
and the other was a dog approaching. For the approaching dog,
again I waited by the back of a parked car until the dog was closer and
then just kept the other dog on the opposite side of the car.
This is actually much easier that having to cross the street. I
do let Yoshi see the dog some but when the dog disappears on the other
side of the car he seems not to care.
Sat Jul 3
No agility today. Phew.
So I'm spending the day going through old photos. Found some of
Flint's cake and retirement celebration and put them on Facebook and
sent them to Gail.
Yoshi walk.
A dog on Fairview started barking at him on the other side of a
wire gate. He started to return fire but I go his attention and he
sat beside me and was able to heel past the dog (who had calmed down -
the dog's people got to watch too which I don't know made any
difference at all but things went really well so hopefully someone
noticed.
We got to repeat this again for a Labrador he often sees and the two
white dogs next door.. Then the real test was a dog approaching
on our side of the street. We stopped right at a parked car while
I waited to see if the dog was going to come this way. They did
so we slipped around the street side of the parked car which went
perfectly. Phew.
I need to announce the CU Games DVD viewing party in August.
Fri Jul 2
I managed to come back from Shasta with a Cold and I've been sick for the last 3 days. Only now sort of functioning.
I did work with Trek's noise sensitivity using a baking tray - either
moving or taping it. It's funny that moving (tilting) it gets the
stronger reaction. And when she goes on overload then she's
done. I can even work with the surprisingly resilient Yoshi and
she doesn't care.
She's eaten something that's making her throw up. I think it's a small
piece of fruit that the squirrels steal from next door and eat in the
trees and drop most of it on the ground. Can't really tell.
She's pretty quiet right now (so am I).
Her last class at Frielance is tonight. I think I'll just take
her and not worry about Yoshi, as I'm not up to keeping track of two
dogs.
Tomorrow she is entered in the Bay Team's USDAA agility trial at Prunedale. Hope I recover enough to be able to function.
Had an attack of good sense and scratched her from the trial. I
called the vet and they gave me some basic advice but mostly to keep an
eye on her.
They didn't think i should feed her but I did because it seemed to settle her tummy down.
I haven't been well enough to train her today so she hasn't eaten
anything since breakfast and whatever she was scavenging. She
seems ok so I'm going to take her to her last class at Freilance
Trek Freilance Agility class.
Same deal. She would do a teeter once when nothing else was going
on but no more once other dogs did it as well. In everything else
she did really well and she's getting to the point where I have to jog
to keep up with her in the weavepoles. Deliberately did a few
optional rear crosses and she drove ahead nicely. I even was able
to drive her over a jump and have her carry out enough where I could
say "left tunnel" and she took it fine without hesitation.
She's always been a little leery of the tire but today couldn't stay
away from it and I just left her take it off course twice, because it
was so nice to see her running so well. She was getting stressed
by some of the commotion but I put her shirt on her and that seemed to
help. Every so often she'd poop out and I paused and fed her
talked to her happily and goosed her or thunked her side. Such
things usually don't work, but they did this time.
Tried the teeter again and lured her up it but she wasn't very happy about it.
