February 2008 - Posts

• Nails, raw food, training

  Well today was the first attempt in cutting Mr. Scout's nails and it did not go too bad. Yes, he was a tad squirmy but he got focused once Laurie put the liver in front of his nose. I managed to cut his nails on my own. Now with Chloe, I tried to relive the past but this time I was holding her and kept her eyes from looking at what I was doing. She managed to get away after the first clip so cutting her nails right now by myself isn't going to work just yet.  - I remember she use to lie there and I didn't have to hold her at all, what a great memory! - So off we went to the table and Laurie was going to hold her. Now she definitely isn't like Scout. She was a tad stressed and wouldn't take the liver at times. But we managed to get all of them done. I hope the trust builds up again when clipping her nails. Yesterday, I decided to try some of the HPP freeze dried samples Michele gave me and could not believe the reaction I was getting from both dogs. Their noses told them that something good was coming and they got all excited. I know it sounds like I am trying to sell a product but I assure that I am not because I have never used this stuff although I did see at the big dog show we went to over the winter. The dogs would really work hard for the treat. So much excitement for it. I mean they really showed that they wanted it. Now in comparison to my homemade liver treats, Scout is just a tad more jacked up with the HPP stuff. But for sure, they could smell the turkey heart or beef. During the first day of the switch which was 2 days ago, Scout had a slightly loose stool and the following day it was firm. And he hasn't gone since yesterday afternoon. Chole, OTOH, went twice and once today. On the first day, her stool was still firm yet soft. Her stomach seems to be tolerating it better than Scout's. I can't believe I am talking about this.  Both dogs have taken the raw food rather well so far. We're on the 1 tsp service now and I have started backing off on the kibble. We'll see how this goes. For training, I introduced Scout to the 2o2o behavior and he did OK. He was better on my right than the left. We started off in the heel position and he was just bouncing all over the place. I had to get his focus/attention towards me. When we would go to the board and I stopped, he was bouncing all over the place again. Once I got what I wanted I clicked but then he started bouncing all over the place again. It was getting frustrating so I took some deep breaths. So after 2-3 attempts, I decided just to wait for him to stay in the 2o2o position and for him to look at my eyes then ... click. Success! He started to settle down after he starting getting the gist of it. We'll see how this goes next week.  Time for the tippy/buja board! So there goes the calmness and time to bring the noise! For the past sessions, all I wanted him to was make the big bang noise and he got treated. Now I wanted him to walk across the board and make the big noise. He was so jacked up playing this game and then started ringing the bell since I put the buja board in the little foyer we have. The last part of the session was introducing him to the front cross by using the touch command. That went rather well but he started to understand my rhythm so I started to break the amount of steps. He was staying in the heel position really well.  Time for Chloe and time to let her out the crate and do my routine before we get started. I sent Scout the crate with the deer antler as a treat for him to chew on and use a comforter to prevent more eye stimulation. I started Chloe off with some 2o2os drills and every time I was getting Chloe amped up, Scout would whine. Several passes later and quiet commands later, this wasn't working. So I decided to lift the comforter off and see what happens. Chloe and I continue with the 2o2o drills and Scout's whimper was still there but not as much and the quiet commands were more effective. And I threw in a treat every time he did the behavior I wanted. Now it was time for Chloe to get on the buja board and makes some noise. Of course, she likes to continue doing 2o2os on it and I won't fuse over that at all. If she makes the noise and offers, she'll get rewarded for it. I know there are some trainers that frown on doing that. So I pretty much figure they are going to freak out when they hear about the Premack Principle. All in all, both sessions were OK. Total time was still 30 minutes for both dogs. I do need to start working on CU training with the dogs. And since Scout has been here, Chloe has gotten more vocal. OK, she always hated this one particular mailman but when sees the neighbor's dogs (I think the tags rattling the major cause of it), and strangers she speaks her mind. However, on a walk, she is quiet as can be. So its a territorial thing with her. But it is getting out of hand. And with Scout a lot more anxious this could be a big problem in the future.   Posted Feb 28 2008, 04:24 PM by jdata with 2 comment(s)

• What 30 minutes can do

  I just trained both dogs for a total of 30 minutes; around 15 minutes per dog. I started off with Scout since Chloe was so mellow. Both dogs were hungry since I only fed 25% of what they normally get in the morning since I am slowly migrating them to be fed once a day as per the recommendation on the raw diet. Treats to be used was just chicken breast and homemade liver treats. I continued to work on heel-work with Scout and he was doing them OK. He certainly wants to learn. He always smiles when it is training time because of the treats I gather. He gets brain-fade once we make an outside turn - he is turning on my outside - when he ends on up the wrong side which is my inside leg. So I had to go back to baby steps to remind him what to do. Success rate 80%. Once that was done, I worked on his stays. He started off rocky since he was so anxious he wanted to follow me and see where I was going. That was a quick correction given, "Uh oh! Excuse me!" I started to jump, run, walk, and throw my arms to give him temptation to break the command. And he held the stay nearly 80% of the time. He is certainly getting better. Then I wanted to work on his come to heel in which he seems to do very well! He was around 92% success rate given the amount of attempts we did. I was using my hand to give him an indication on which side I wanted him to go.   The last part of the session was to continue on teaching him rollover and you know what? He started getting it and doing it on his own with some slight guidance from my hand hovering over his head. Last night, he did Beethoven just fine without treat although it looks at ugly at first. Once he understands the mechanics, the roll is tight and not floppy and clumsy looking. It seems that every time I am teaching him a roll command, Chloe starts pawing at the crate and wanting to get out and show him how it is done. Now it was time for Chloe. I had to get Scout in his crate and cover it. Then put the agility trial sound CD and it get starting playing while we trained. The first order of business was working the wraps and the 270. And she also started off rocky and I don't know if it was Scout's whimpering being the cause but anyhow, she got better as she started going. After that we started to work on crosses and the success rate was around 85% or so. Rear crosses are such a royal PITA. If I had a bigger dog, it would go by my shoulders but I need to use my feet for a smaller dog and moving the shoulders is a lot easier than the feet in my case! But she managed to read my feet in majority of the attempts with the exception of two of them. Then I'd try to throw in a pivot turn and she would catch it. Then we moved to some heel-work without the jump in which I'd continue to do front and rear crosses. I started off with a long trek back and forth in the room and the distance got smaller. It looked as though I was going the tango with her. At one point, I was just barely moving. She was reading me very well. So I wonder why is it we catch a mistake when the jump is involved? Anyhow, then I added a jump into the mix and just did front crosses with her while she made sure she wrapped around the bar. Basically they're 180s. We're moving along well. Then twice she would jump back over the bar which I think is attributed to my hand flying around. Finally her session ended with me sending her over the jump. It was a good sessions for both dogs. Tomorrow is the tippy board and 2o2o work. I am going to start introducing the 2o2o behavior to Scout too.   Posted Feb 27 2008, 03:18 PM by jdata with 1 comment(s)

• Preparing the raw stuff for the next 4 days

  The mORIGINS sample was thawed enough that I could start creating the portions for each dog. Each portion would be a ½ TSP and would also be mixed with Innova when it is time to eat. With Scout being anxious because I left the room, he saw me take the mORIGINS container out and open it. He started to sniffing hard and then started to stand on his back legs to get a better look. No sooner than that, Chloe showed up from her power nap and sat down. As I was working the ½ TSP portions, Scout starts to get excited and starts pacing. Chloe gave a big sigh. Once two days were done, I started on the next days which was 1 TSP. This is where it got interesting. Typically when I am cutting veggies the dogs just sit there quietly and patiently and for some reason they are start acting up, Scout in particular. He continuing pacing, standing on his hind legs, sniffing, and then he started to whine. All Chloe was doing was sitting down and was sniffing really hard because you could see her nose moving side to side. FWIW, I can't smell anything as it is still too frozen for me.  I finished with eight meatball and stowed them in the fridge and put the rest of the mORIGINS in the freezer. Tomorrow is the day that they get introduced to this stuff.   Posted Feb 25 2008, 08:34 PM by jdata with 1 comment(s)

• Agility class: Chloe did very well.

  Since Scout has been here, Chloe is a different dog in class and actually shocking. Like today, her speed was like she was in the backyard. Today we worked on handling skills with obstacles (building columns), difficult entries and tighter turns. Chloe needs more work on the latter. Her speed caught me off guard. Prior to class, I was very sleepy so I decided to get some caffeine to jack me up before bringing Chloe in the building. Once I was juiced up I worked on some heel work and then started to throw the soft disc followed by some tugging with her favorite tug toy. I started class off with giving her kibble and some homemade liver treats and you know it gets old. She only got if she stayed in the heel position and it is getting more and more difficult as this new dog comes out of her shell. So I decided to start tugging with her using her soft disc which jacked her up a bit - she wasn't close to be over the threshold. It was our turn, she was a tad quick. Everyone got two attempts and then Denise changed the sequence to offer different skills. We first worked on accuracy then on speed. On our third challenge, Denise noticed I was using the soft disc as a motivator so she told others if you have a toy use it. So Lisa, Carson's human, grabbed a furry rabbit toy that squeaked. It was my turn to go and Chloe was on the line, then Lisa squeaked the rabbit. Then Chloe broke her stay and ran towards her to get it. Denise told me to try to get her excited with the disc and after two attempts, Chloe ran right back to Lisa. So Lisa gave me the rabbit and I did my two runs. She was still fixated with the rabbit so I decided to get reinforcements and I had two choices: an squeaky egg that it used to be stuffed in a platypus or her football which sounded as though you were passing gas if you squeezed it! I didn't want to spend the time looking for the egg so I grabbed the football. When Chloe heard it, she was focused on me well mostly because when she heard the rabbit, I had to reply with either liver or the sound of the football. Today's class wasn't too bad, I for sure had some problems (e.g. I was too far and nearly hit the column which pulled Chloe of her jump) but what matters now is that Chloe is having fun and is relaxed now this puts pressure of me to finally start moving/handling correctly. I wonder what Chloe will show me next class? Posted Feb 25 2008, 05:29 PM by jdata with no comments

• Raw food samples are here!

  Michele stopped by early at Countryside (she teaches in the afternoon) to drop off some mORIGINS and HPPI samples to try out which should each last a week or so. Our classes dragged on a little late as she waited - Thank you for waiting! - and she continued to explain what I needed to know. She was nice enough to provide "food switching" instructions if I get brain fade. And boy are we low on the kibble. What timing! Anyhow, I brought out the frozen food for the dogs to sniff and Chloe's eyes brightened up and she wanted it bad. Scout on the other hand, did the same behavior but also wagged his tail and whined for it! Mind you this stuff is still frozen! I have them in the fridge thawing out and I hope to get started with them tomorrow. I'll probably start with mORIGINS first and see how it goes. The new digital scale is here and is ready for use. We can't wait!   Posted Feb 25 2008, 05:21 PM by jdata with 1 comment(s)

• Ding! Ding! And a 1 and a 2

  OMG! Just rang the bell today on his own! So I immediately took him out and guess what he did... He did number 1 and a number 2.   Good boy!   This looks so promising. What a fast learner!   Posted Feb 25 2008, 05:18 PM by jdata with 3 comment(s)

• Scout's First Bath

  Ya know every person likes their bath/shower differently from one another and why didn't I apply this to dogs? For nearly 3 years, Chloe likes warm water however, it seems that Scout does not as he yelped to tell me his displeasure. So I opened up the cold water valve and he was a happy camper or was he? NOPE! He tried his best to get out of the tub every chance he got. I got soaked and had a workout to keep him in the tub. Laurie told me it sounded worse downstairs and that Chloe got up and was under where the noises were coming from and looked up. She growled and paced back and forth to the based of the stairs and to the spot where the noises were coming from. He certainly goes by the definition of a JRT getting a bath, IOW, he doesn't like it! In comparison, Chloe just sits there which is probably due her long bathing routines when she had sarcoptic mange, you know, "scabies?" As his bath was done, he ran downstairs and started the natural drying process in which most dogs just run back and forth and then back upstairs. Once he was dry, I wanted to put the slicker brush onto him but he doesn't like it very much. In fact, he doesn't like to be held down, held closely, or restrained and that can makes things difficult since our next goal is to clip his nails. He sure was a feisty little devil!    Posted Feb 25 2008, 05:05 PM by jdata with 2 comment(s)

• Training was great; Scout can clear a room!

  Yesterday, I trained the dogs on the 6 weave poles and in order for that to happen I had to move some furniture. And I also work on their stays and recalls. I first started with Chloe with the poles set at 1.5" apart and started incrementally closing them after we did a pass on my left and right. Main goal here was working her drive and for not to pop out. Scout, while in the crate, actually wasn't protesting as much or should I say loud. He didn't bark at all just whimpered. Mind you, while all of this is happening the agility CD is playing on the home theater system at a low volume. I am trying to get the dogs acclimated with the sounds at a trial. Then I started working on Chloe's stays because in class she was just blowing and she typically holds a good stay for a long time. She was all fired up in last class. Come to think of it both Chloe and Molly were. I don't think what she did in class could be considered a zooomie but for sure, Denise wanted to her to run it out because she wasn't stressed at all she was happy at class. When it was time for Scout's session. I took the comforter off the crate and our ritual is sit and stay while I open the door. He gets treated for the behavior. Once he looks at me, I give him the OK to go out of the crate. Sure enough like all mornings, once he gets out of his crate, he gets ambushed by Chloe. She gets on his shoulder and nibbles on the back of his neck. And then he falls to the ground rolling on his side. During all off this I was installing the guide wires and had to go upstairs to get another set. The starting gap distance for the pole was going to be 3", he is learning them fast albeit slightly out of control but I don't care about that right now all I want his is motivation to do them and go through them. So I put Chloe in the crate and called Scout to a heel on my left. "Go Weave!" And there he goes going around the weaves. "Excuse me! Here! And he comes back with his wagging tail with an expression, "Golly gee, what did I do? That wasn't it? He so happy and anxious. So we start again, "Go Weave!" and now and he goes out to the left completely missing the entry. So I decide to put him right next to the pole with it on his left shoulder. "Go Weave!" and runs through them just fine. I throw the treat on the second to last pole. Now to go on my right, Same thing, He blows the entry just goes around the whole thing. So we repeat the process on what we did earlier. Mind you, his brain is going at 100 mph but he is constantly seeking and wandering. So I need to calm him down so I put him in a heel and working on some eye contact drills where he just looks at me and the treat machine starts to take effect. I want this as a default behavior and he is very green dog. Did I tell you he is always happy during training? Anyhow, I run him through the poles on the left and right one more time on each time and slightly bringing him farther away the entry pole. And he is trotting through them with confidence. So I start to close the gap. And a couple more passes. Then I start to lower the guide wires about an inch. So far in this session hasn't cheated and gone under or over the wires. The end of the session had his poles about an inch apart and he was doing really well. He was so excited. And at times he was offering them on his own but he didn't get rewarded of course. You can see him learning as his body was starting to "S" through the poles. He has a big smile through the session. The last part of our session just involved ring it. He still isn't at least 90% reliable on touching the bell at the door. He usually watches Chloe do it first and then he follows. With the training session done, it was time for some work on the treadmill. Scout usually knows this is coming when I take down the gate and he runs upstairs waiting on the treadmill as Chloe and I catch up to him. He gets rewarded for being on it and now we start. The goal for this session was to reach 1.375 miles and vary the speed every 10-30s because I want to work on explosive or burst acceleration which meant it would vary from 4.0-5.2 MPH. Either in 0.2 steps or big deviations in speed. BTW, he is no longer on the lead when doing this. With an ending time of 18:55, he managed to do a little more than his goal distance which was around 1.4XX. His cool down speed went as low as 3.0 mph. Then it was time for Ms. Chloe and had I use the lead for her. She knew it was her turn and so she started to become more timid and hesitant to come to me. Then she ran down the stairs to look for safety near her mother. So I had to go down there and get her. Once I got her and was at the treadmill we started off at the last speed, 1.6 mph. I am cheering her on as I straddle the sides of the treadmill, constantly rewarding her. I ramp up the the speed during the session and her peak was 2.8 mph but she did a quarter of a mile at nearly  6 minutes. Our next goal is to try to make to 3.0 and me at her side. I think she started to cower because I was over her. Scout didn't help matters with his energy level. In fact, silly boy jumped in front of her and over the treadmill. And we all know how sensitive Chloe is. But I did not plan on stopping because of that. I am proud of her for staying on as long as she did. After resting for a bit, the dogs ate chow and we went into the family room to relax a bit. Scout jumped in Laurie's lap and Chloe when into her cozy cave bed. Laurie mentioned something smelled awful and I didn't smell anything. She turned her head towards Scout's rear and it was him. I started to laugh and then she told him to get off. Then he jumped on my lap and several minutes later, something stunk pretty bad. He pretty much left a silent but deadly bomb. I had to get off the chair to compose myself from laughing. I went into the kitchen and I could hear Laurie laughing and yelling about the smell. Someone had an upset stomach or something so I decided to take him out. And sure enough he had to go in the most fierce way. Another Mount Scout was formed and another poop bag was pretty full by JRT standards. Although I did wait a bit for it to firm up a bit in the snow. Ugh. All they ate today was Innova, raw egg, and I did give him his first joint supplement today. While we were eating our dinner, the dogs were exhausted because they were sleeping at 6:30 in the evening. We decided to give the dogs a treat and watch a dog movie, "Snow Buddies". With the lights off and the HT crank 15 decibels from reference the dogs were watching for a bit and then was knocked out. He still isn't use to the surround sound because he usually barks at the noises in the back surrounds. What a day!   Posted Feb 23 2008, 09:03 AM by jdata with 3 comment(s)

• So I contacted Scout's Breeder...

  Jennifer gave me the contact information for Scout's Breeder that happens to be a member of the JRTCA rescue. Cson, the breeder, gave me the history of Scout's lineage in which his mother, Priscilla, was an English import and his father, Harry, is the smartest Jack she has ever known. Thus, explaining most of Scout's inquisitive behavior and personality as I explained more about him to her. She has been reading the blog and was wanting to get in touch with me. I had asked for his paperwork so that I can could register him in which we enter him in trials when he gets to that point. I really wish we had Chloe's paperwork but as you know kids nowadays aren't as thorough. So she is currently searching for them as we speak and I plan to post some pictures of Scout's family and relatives in the next coming days.   I am proud to say that Scout is now at 1.250 miles (Mile and a quarter) treadmill and Chloe's confidence is getting better on it as she is now at 0.125 miles (eighth mile).   Posted Feb 21 2008, 05:05 PM by jdata with 1 comment(s)

• Weeeeeeee!

  So this morning I was sitting at the computer desk and put the dogs' beds next to me. I see Scout come with a Kong and Chloe getting situated in one of the beds. When Scout wants to play he tries one tactic and one tactic only and thats harassment. And thats when he either forces the toy in your lap, drops at  your feet, or barks at you when its a human. But when its a dog, he basically forces the toy in the face or paws the face. Its basically like his saying, "Play with me, Come on, Come on! I am not going to stop until you do so." So there he is shoving the Kong in Chloe's face and she just situated in the bed to do a morning nap - yes, JRTs do nap! And Chloe gave in and grabbed the Kong. I am sitting there watching them and they're growling at each other and tugging at the Kong. Then the JRT Express commences with Chloe firmly planted in the bed, Scout begins to drag her around the dining room floor all morning! It was funny to watch because I think they didn't want to stop as they kept moving everything out of the way. Every time I moved the beds back where they are, they would start again. They look like they were having a blast playing this game. That is when someone grabbed too much Kong a yelped was heard. They stopped for a bit and I moved everything back. Then they were back at it again. So no morning nap for either dog but they did manage to get one at noon and now at 7pm. Posted Feb 20 2008, 08:17 PM by jdata with 1 comment(s)

• Chloe continues and Scout learns fast...

  I popped that agility audio CD for some ambient noise during training so that the dogs gets use to the noise and focus on me. I increased the volume enough so that it could be heard as a soft talk.   So today I figured that I would attempt to get both dogs at the same time to heel on my left and right and it seemed to working for a bit but Chloe left and gave a look to me like, "there's no room, he is hopping around like a rabbit, call me back later." And there show goes off into my computer desk chair. Meanwhile, Scout is figuring it all out, he is fine on my left but call for a switch to my right once we turn to the left, he goes to my left. OK, I'll use the food to bring him to the correct place. Done, that works. We're fine going straight and here comes that turn to the left again, "Alright!" he got it. Go straight again and then turn, "Oh no, he dropped to the left". I kept on the right so that we can end on a positive note because he will get it sooner or later. I'll tell you this, when he hears the clicker he goes bonkers as his tail is wagging faster, his jaw opens and he smiles because he knows something good is coming. He reminded me of Chloe during the early months of her training when she was 3-4 months old. Then I start wanted to work on his sits, downs, stays, and here/breaks. The first break I called for he came fast but out of nowhere, you hear these trotting footsteps coming in fast, it was Chloe! Good girl! I decided to put Scout in the crate with the comforter covering the crate and continue on with Chloe. We worked on our crosses with the help of a standard jump at 2' width and our 90s and 270s. She was getting tighter and now faster around the jumps. However, I know this is going to change once she gets more room to maneuver. Then back to basics with the stays and breaks. All this time, Scout is getting whiny in the crate. So Chloe has to work through both the CD and Scout's rants. I start over with some heel work again with her and then ended the session and swapped dogs. This time Chloe can see what we are doing. Since she has issues with me walking away or being attentive with another dog. Jealousy, possessiveness... Scout is all excited wondering on what we are going to do and I decided to break the norm and bring out the standard jump. He is a JRT for God's sake and they love to jump! I start him in a heel on my left and walk him over to the jump that is set at 12". Once he goes over, I put him back in heel on my right and repeat. I do this several times and then increase the height by two inches. This is a touchy area because the last experience once I went over 12", he started to go under it. But this time around, he was jumping over the 14" height with some big confidence and he was raising up his hind legs. Before he was just hit the bar with his rears. I think he is starting to get an idea that he has back legs! That ladder helps a great deal of course. Now it was time for the big test, 16" height, will he do it or will he go under? "Scout, here, heel, jump!" Click. "Good boy!" Three times on each side and we were done. Mr. Spunky did an awesome job! Now it was time for something new and since he left me a present on the floor yesterday, it was time to learn the bell! I took the bell off the knob and went into the room and mind you, I put him in a sit-stay and he kept it! "Atta boy!" I just grabbed the bell by the string and let it hang in the air. He was in a sit looking at me. I said, "touch." and he is seeking what to touch. He touches my left hand because there is some chicken in there and he notices no click. He goes for my knees and nothing. His nose hits the bell by accident when he turned away from my knee. His ears perked up as the click is heard and he is looking for his chicken. And like the touch game, he starts increasing ringing the bell with his nose and the treat machine is alive and well. I start to label the action and he starts ringing the bell on cue. He learned that quickly in a span of 5 minutes! Now it was time to increase the difficulty level and put the bell back it where it belongs, on the door knob. "Ring it", no action towards the bell and he is looking for it. Let's back up, "touch", success! And was soon followed by "Ring it!" Now continually work on this so we can get moving on when to tell me you want to go out. I was thinking about adding a new command to his vocabulary and what was rollover. I know this was going to be difficult because dogs are funny this way since he just learned Beethoven. So I started to shape the behavior in trying to get the correct direction of roll but he kept offering the roll that I didn't want. This is going to take some time from what I could tell. As I kept trying, Chloe had enough watching the failure so she began to paw at the crate door. I let her out and hoping monkey see, monkey do works in this case. She goes to a down and rolls over. Scout is all excited and does the opposite roll. I tried manually pushing him in the direction I wanted and it didn't phase him. So I guess I have to work on this very slowly. So I just stopped and asked for a sit and a down and ended the session.     Posted Feb 19 2008, 05:00 PM by jdata with 1 comment(s)

• This week started rocky but is going good

  So its Sunday and I was going to take a shower in which I debated whether or not to removed the gate at the foot of the stairs since we are still working on Scout's structure. I get out of the shower, I hear Laurie saying, "OMG, what is that on the bed?" I replied to her from the bathroom, "Is there crap on the bed?" Then I go into the bedroom and there is all this brown debris looking like wood on the down comforter. Low and behold, Scout went on the end table and got one of the scented candles and chewed it up on the bed but was no where to be found. Then we heard steps and it was the boy himself showing no remorse. Lesson to be learned here, he still doesn't know what his limits are upstairs. He knows them downstairs however. Cue Monday. Today was going to be a busy day because Chloe and I had agility class (That rocked BTW as she was starting to show some speed, energy, and enthusiasm however, she was becoming a brat in class by being difficult. I think all of her worries are being carried by Scout) and I had to get take her to the Vet afterwards because of her urine result on Saturday. The lab results were negative but we got two weeks of Clavamox. We were gone for about 5 hours and I was getting worried on how Scout was doing in the crate. I was assuming was he howling and screaming to find where his pack was. The weather didn't help matters as it was snowing when we left for the Vets after class and I arrived at the 5 minutes late. We stayed at the Vet's for about 1.5 hours and I heard a Malamute got hit by a car and was coming in 30 minutes. I don't like seeing or even hearing an animal screaming in pain but sure enough we were there long enough to see the dog. He wasn't bloody or anything from what I could see but there was around six people carrying him and then...   dropped him! And he screamed like there was no tomorrow. How can all those people drop that dog? I know sh*t happens but they need to be more careful in that situation!   I get home and see Laurie's car so she pretty much took him out. I am so exhausted traveling about (we did something like 96 miles). I get in and unwind on the computer to catch up on things. Scout keeps coming to me and I give him a little affection. Several minutes later, he is walking up to me and leaving and repeating this behavior. Now I see him in the kitchen sitting on a piece of carpet. He walks towards me and now he goes back to that carpet again. He does this another time and I decided to go to the bathroom and he left me a surprise in front of the TV. He was telling me that he needed to go out but I was so tired to even noticed and that was the result, a baby ruth (remember the movie "meatballs"?) on the floor. I took him out anyhow and praised him for doing a 1 or a 2. This week he is going to be introduced to the bell.     Posted Feb 19 2008, 10:08 AM by jdata with 2 comment(s)

• Bloody Urine?

  Yesterday afternoon, Chloe urine had some blood in it. I think she might have passed a stone or a crystal because later on the night and today, her urine was fine in color. I'll be making an appointment with the Vet tomorrow. The question is whether there will be an opening before or after agility class or if there is an opening.   Posted Feb 17 2008, 12:06 PM by jdata with no comments

• We might be switching to raw soon

  Having read the home cooked and the raw methodologies in the "Whole Dog Journal" I was interested to make the move away from kibble because of the advantages of going those routes. I was planning to do switch at the end of the summer but I figure since we are nearing the end of the Innova bag, why not switch now?  I was looking at the raw food manufacturers and decided on "mORIGINS" since one of instructors happens to be a distributor instead of me getting a grinder and piecing out my own meals. I plan to call the manufacturer probably tomorrow to ask more questions. Going raw should not be a shock to the dogs since they do get a raw recreational bone every other day.   Oh man, Scout just passed some gas! OMG! It must be the yogurt.   Posted Feb 14 2008, 05:21 PM by jdata with no comments

• Go Weave!

  With Denise's tips logged in from memory two classes ago. I decided to get Chloe's weave pole training part of the routine. Doing weaves in the house is very space limited so I only managed to put 4 poles up in one room which has carpet because I have yet to buy some exercise mats for the other room that has the hardwood floor so I can set up 6 poles. The main criteria was get her driving through the poles while indoors. I stress indoors because she isn't up to speed as she is outside because she blows through her blows through them with confidence. I plan to take the poles and some jumps to the park this spring and see show she does in a different environment. After about 7 minutes, I switched her off to some 2o2o work (sending, calling, and lateral work). Then it was Scout's turn and since the poles were up, I decided to introduce him to the poles so I had to go back upstairs to get the wire guides. Once I got those and installed them, I opened up the channel set and did or attempted several passes on my left and right with him. As he was starting to get some confidence, I started to close the channel about a half inch and repeat. We managed to get down to around 1.5" gap. I kept throwing the chicken in the channel and at the end to keep him going through it. He was getting it and I decided to stop there and work on more heel work on the right; followed by some "here/break" work. The last part of training was actually for fitness and we went upstairs for the treadmill. He already knows the routine and he beats me up there and he waiting on the treadmill. Chloe tags along and to scavenge any treat that he misses. I would start the speed the exercise at 3.6mph and increasing the speed by 0.2mph every 30s with a final speed of 5.2mph. Once we passed the 5/8 mile mark, I then started to slow every 30s by a factor of 0.2mph until the original speed was set. Total time on the treadmill was only 12 minutes. He is an eager dog wanting to learn a lot. He tries so hard. He whines in excitement because this is new to him and it is fun for him. He is challenged mentally as well. Both sessions were a success. Chloe is have some hiccups on her stays. I think it is good that she hears Scout whines during training so that she can endure through it. Posted Feb 14 2008, 05:03 PM by jdata with 1 comment(s)