The Trials and Tribulations of Training

I understand that my dogs are not robots.  I try very hard to balance letting them just be dogs and and being model citizens of society.  Lately, its been more of letting them be dogs and that is becoming problematic.  Well, not for Zoe - she has a built in desire to be a perfect angel.  Breeze, on the other hand - if you give her an inch, she will take that and run a marathon.  

So my main focus at the moment is teaching Breeze to behave on a leash.  I know, this should have been done ages ago, but we had other goals to work on at the time.  Anyways, while on a walk, Breeze has a intense desire to chase anything that moves - people, bikers, cars, etc.  I have found success with bringing treats and having her watch me while something goes by, but I don't always have treats on me, and it is very difficult to train if I am walking two dogs.  So I need a back up for when I am not set up for successful training.

I have tried just about everything.  She is immune to the pinch collar - the poor girl would choke herself to death if I let her.  I have tried just about every type of harness - she still pulls and with her intensity, the harness usually rubs her skin raw.  The gentle leader was great until she pawed her nose until it bled.  But, I need to make something work, so out of all my options, I am giving the gentle leader another try.  

My first plan of attack is to use booties on her paws so that she can no longer harm herself.  Kind of like how our parents put oven mits on our hands to keep us from scratching chicken pox.  Okay, maybe that was just me.  Anyways, second, for the next week, I will be using one of her meals to train while having the gentle leader on.  In the past, I didn't take enough time to acclimate her to the feel of it on, so now I am trying to go much slower.  After a week, maybe we will try training in the yard or going in the driveway.  But the key here will be to go slow.  

I am not saying that I want to give up what was working before with the watch and using treats.  I just believe in having a wide tool box, and I need another option when I can't give my full attention to Breeze.    

So here she is in her pretty head collar.  So far, she is doing pretty well, but I am guessing it will take a lot of time until I can actually use it on a walk.  

C-ATCH Zoe!

This past weekend, Zoe earned her first agility champion title at the CPE South Paws trial on a fun jumpers course!  It was a bit nerve wracking considering that we only had one shot at it, but I definitely preferred a jumpers course over snooker or jackpot!  

Earning our C-ATCH at this trial was special because not only do we train at the host club, this was the same trial we started at two years ago.  Plus, it was a large trial, so most of our friends were there to celebrate with us.  It turned out to be a pretty cool weekend because there were 9 other champion titles.  The club ran out of both C-ATCH bars and Q ribbons by the end of the weekend!  

Though two years may seem like a short time to earn a champion title, it was definitely not without challenges. Just a few months into the start of her career, Zoe was set back by a small injury.  We took a few months off of training, but it took a while to get back on track.  Her confidence on contact obstacles was almost completely shot and it took a lot for her to become comfortable again.  It took maybe 4-5 months until she was completely comfortable in the ring again.  Now, contacts are her favorite obstacles and will default to them over tunnels.  Our next biggest challenge was speed and focus.  Weave restarts were becoming our nemesis, which can eat up a ton of time.  Plus, Zoe started stressing when the judge was near our path.  She wasn't aggressive or overly scared - she would just notice the judge and lose focus from the run, slowing her down or making her pop out of weaves.

The past six months of our career have been amazing.  The problem areas started to get ironed out and Zoe was becoming a super consistent competitor.  She really seems to enjoy competing and is much more confident.  She isn't the fastest dog out there, but her desire to work with me as a team is incredible and has led to many clean runs.  Speed and focus will continue to be our main goals and perhaps we will try a new agility venue to trial in as well.  As for CPE, I plan to start working towards a CATE title, which is approximately 200 clean runs.  It will take 2-3 years, but we would be one of the few in this state to achieve this title.

Herding Fun Day

I have always thought it was special to see an animal do something that came so naturally.  Having two dogs from herding breed backgrounds, I have always been curious what would happen if they came face to face with sheep.  Being a dog park goer, I hear people say all the time that "that dog is very herdy" or "my dog herds my kids/other dogs/whatever".  But does that really mean that they would excel at the sport at herding?

Today I had the privilege of testing Breeze on some sheep.  The Border Collie Rescue of MN puts on a yearly herding fun day and this year, it worked out in our schedule to attend.  I have to admit that I was pretty nervous that Breeze would just stand there and harass the sheep to death.  Remember the watermelon episode??  Breeze doesn't always react the greatest to foreign things.  But, to my relief, she did just fine!

The small ring was set up with three sheep.  The instructor puts a long line on the dogs and lets them investigate at a safe distance.  When Breeze entered the ring, the first thing she identified was dad (thanks, Chad!).  So she promptly ran under the bars out of the ring to greet him.  Seeing that she might need some redirection, I went in the ring with her and she then saw the sheep.  She then proceeded to chase the sheep.  Thankfully, she didn't nip or bark much, but she was definitely interested in making them move.  In typical Breeze fashion, she went all out at the beginning, exhausting herself before she even got the hang of it.  But soon she figured out that, "Hey, the sheep move when I move...even a little."  And so she got to run around and see what she could do.  After a little while, she started to tire out and she actually started to listen to the instructor, who was trying to guide her movements.  All of a sudden, she started to stay back and be patient.  It was really great to see her listening when I thought her head would just about explode.

So below you can see the short version of the video highlighting her progress in just the 7 short minutes she was out there.  Would I do it again?  Absolutely!  Too bad we don't have a permanent sheep job for her, but I have other ways of keeping her busy.  Maybe we will go out for a real lesson sometime - I think we both would learn a lot.  As for Zoe, she had to sit this one out.  For one thing, the session was full, but someday I may test her on sheep.  I am not sure she has the guts for it, but I am curious how she would react.  I think she would probably surprise me.

Videos are here!!

Wow, two months was a SUPER long time to wait, but I finally have my videos from the CPE Nationals back in June!  Here are some highlights...

Wildcard - This was our very first run of the weekend.  The course was tight and opened with a really odd tunnel entrance.  Many dogs cut through the weaves because the entrance was so close to them.  But Zoe did a nice job and did two sets of weaves.  Not a bad start to Nationals!

Standard Day Three - We had standard first this day, so the ground was pretty dewy.  Both of us took falls, but eventually recovered.  Thankfully, CPE has generous times, so we still qualified :)

Standard Day Two - This was probably our best standard run.  Zoe did great with the DW/Tunnel discrimination and I probably over handled it.  She missed her weave entrance, so I made an unplanned cross.  But thankfully she completed them beautifully once she got in!

Lastly, this was the gem of the weekend, and I will remember this run forever.  Zoe has great distance, but her confidence gets in the way sometimes.  So when we started the gamble and she needed to take two jumps, she just took one and came back.  We had a quick chat about it and finally the light bulb went off.  The ending was nothing but cheers and Zoe ate every last one up.  She LOVES applause and it makes her go nuts.  That was the best moment.  And the icing on the cake was that we just barely made time to make it a qualifying run :)

There is still no word on where the 2012 CPE Nationals will be, but I am very tempted to go.  My first Nationals experience was so great - friendly people, nice judges, and great courses.  I feel lucky to have been at a place in my agility journey where Zoe could participate - totally worth it!

These videos are courtesy of Agile-Images, LLC.