So today I am curious to see the views on the blog entries and it seems that the entries with the most hits are the one with negative titles and experiences. Is that messed up or what?

I don't know if one likes to see someone suffer, feel one's pain, or make themselves feel better because someone else got it worse than they. What gives?

So I guess, I'll title blogs with negative words. hehe 

For the past several months we've been doing beginner jumping exercises in Linda's book once or twice a week and the dogs are getting it. So now it is time to move up to the intermediate level.

These exercises have helped Chloe understand to adjust her stride and we will keep jumping against the wall and couch until she nails it down. Her jumps have gotten rounder and tighter on most circumstances.

Scout's jumps are rounder and tight and you can see the structural differences between the dogs. Both dogs read my motion correctly and know when to do true collection.

Training on 07/06/08

http://www.vimeo.com/1316455

Wags n' Wiggles Run thru July 9, 2008 thru. 2nd run as first run wasn't recorded

http://www.vimeo.com/1318351

Wags n' Wiggle Run Thru July 9, 2008 #2. 3rd and 4th runs back to back.

http://www.vimeo.com/1318946

We went to this yesterday and it went very, very well! It was held in a lady's fenced-in huge yard. We have 3 of the runs on video and I will have to uploaded them to Vimeo in the next day or so. Our first run was on the novice course and the last three were done on the excellent course and we ran the outer perimeter for contact work.

Now there were no light-coated big dogs though but we found out the Laurie is indeed a distraction for her. haha. Chloe's weakness.

Scout was a bit over the top but he had a good time. He met more dog and he and I played fetch while 2 border collies played frisbee. Surprised that he stayed focus on me some 80' away.

I'll post the url soon

So last Saturday we went to Lanie's house to give her a birthday cake and to visit Kayden, the newborn. We or really it was I that wanted to bring the dogs over so that Chloe can get over her light-coat big dog fear, Scout could meet Riley and Joey. This was going to be interesting because certain big dogs triggers something in Scout to lunge towards them. The trip would be short, really, round trip its like 4 miles. Short trips in the FJ isn't going to look to good on the MPG log.

Nevertheless, Scout was an anxious little bugger and I found out why once we got there after making several stops along the way. He had to go in a big way when I took them out of the crates and walked them around for a bit. Now Riley and Joey were tied out and they were overly excited hopping around like big kanagroos. Mind you, these dogs aren't trained in no way so we're about to see how bad this can get. Picture this; we have two JRTs (high energy), siberian huskey (high energy well not so much he is doped up on phenobarb and he is way overweight! 72 lbs!), and a border collie mix Joey.

By observation and experience I already know what's going before we even get into the yard. My first thing to so is get my dogs under control as they were being fed by the two dogs being restrained by the tie-outs! So thats when I walked them away so they do potty if need be which they did. When I turned back, the dogs were being fed again by the jumping, barking, and lunging dogs so I put them in a sit stay and talking about whine and whimpering. I waited until they calmed down, gave me the eye contact and did the command. I waited a bit and then took a step. If they got out of control again, I'd stop and repeat. They got the hint but once we neared the property the aroma swept over them so primal instincts kicked in. At this point, Thor - Lanie's other half - brought the dogs in and I hoped he figured out the Riley and Joey were making things worse by restrained by the tie-out. Our JRTs were starting to get out of control so I stopped at the foot of the steps until they calmed down and then we proceed. Then Joey peeks her head out and they go out of control again. And you know its really difficult to train your dogs when things out of your control when the other end doesn't know what to do. Now after finally restraining Joey, I went through the door. The JRTs were pumped up again and started to pull, I let it go and what do you know, no conflicts whatsoever.

My major concern was Joey since she hasn't been socialized much and if there has been socializing it may have been with only Riley. She is a very timid, low confidence, and fearful dog as she always is either under something or behind someone. They don't do enough to help her out but then again if you look at Riley's situation (siezures, overweight) you can see why. This is a perfect example of how dogs are just convenience more than anything else.

Chloe was handling the meet very well. Her tail stayed up and she greeted Riley happily. Riley was looking forward to me as he didn't pay attention to anyone else. He knows who the real leader is. Haha. Actually I think its because I am the only one that gives him mental and physical stimulation. IOW, he gets his attention and his physical exercise. He really is a sweet and loving guy that hasn't been given a chance to experience life because he has mainly been indoors. Sad really.

Scout was being the *** toddler that would browse and sniff around. He is wagging his tail and then he finds the toy bin! He digs and prods and takes out toys which were mainly ball type toys so he could ask someone to play fetch with.

There was on instance where Joey got a listen on boundaries and limits on how to play. Thor was tossing a big soccer ball and Scout go out and get it. Joey would then prance and hop around in excitement. Riley would continue where Joey left off with howling. Chloe would be under the table chewing a rope toy. Oops. Anyhow, Scout came back and Joey hopped over his back; now she wasn't touching him but he didn't like it and he turned around. He started barking and nipping at her mouth.

Scout and Chloe would get to experience Kayden close up as he was bouncing and jumping in his chair in the doorway. All the dogs would have to get an encounter with him because he was in the way to the kitchen. Chloe had a hard time getting through at times because his jumping. Scout and Chloe would sniff him up close. Riley being so wide would actually spin the poor guy. That was funny.

All in all, it was a good visit and experience.

I have been enjoying the weather or just lounging around, hey, its summer! And I just don't want to remember the whole experience at our first trial.

So here's a recap...

Trial: We learned several things. Chloe isn't over the dog attack because everytime we walked near light-coated big dogs, she would stress (tail would drop) and she wanted to bolt. If there were wild and barky dogs, she would cower. I guess the noise from the attack brought a flashback as well. For me, one judge rubbed me the wrong way and I held it in the entire weekend. It all started when he had to measure. I was trying to assist by keeping Chloe in a stand position by using a treat and he would snap at me - like I could read his mind! Then to make matters worse, he was start to get frustrated because Chloe wanted to get away from. Hmm, I wonder why? His deep voice and his heavy sighing or breathing (think beer gut from hell) was stressing her out. So she was cowering and going lower and lower. He gave up and he didn't seem to think he was the cause of her behavior. I trained her for to be measured but if the other person is pretty much intolerant what can you really do? Mind you, there was no one else waiting to get measured when we were there! I guess he was yearning for some beer! More on this awesome judge later.

Saturday...

First run FAST. I got Chloe all jacked up and we started to walk to the gate. She was all perky and smiling. Uh oh, light-coated big dogs were there. I saw her energy level go to the crapper and tried a game of chase but her focus was elsewhere. I tried a game of chase, heel work, eye contact, and touch games; nothing worked. Our turn. She held her sit-stay and then I called her, boom! Like a cannon ball shot from a cannon! It was nice to see her showing of her speed. Uh oh, she blasts by the first two jumps! Oh no! Zoomies! And then she was running for the truck as it was in her view. It seemed she was looking for Laurie. The female judge gave me something positive to go by and maybe she got it all out of her system. I hope!

Second run, Jumpers. This happened a couple of hours later. So I decided to give Chloe a break and walk Scout around. He was pretty much jacked up for a bit. He would bark if we were not moving and I would not move until he calmed down and he was in the heel position. So we're walking around and he is enjoying it. There was one or two dogs that he didn't like so he lunged at him. Oh man. But I got him under control and corrected. There we go making our rounds through the tents, around the rings and fairgrounds. He was did rather well. The key here was keeping him under his threshold.

It was getting for time jumpers so I decided to play with Chloe some. It worked. she is all worked up. So we're going to the ring and as we neared the gate, more light-coated big dogs and she was stressing bad. That golden retriever attack really traumatized her. So I brought my soft disc to play some tug with her and the success rate wasn't high at all. So I decided to walk away from the ring. Mind you, the beer belly judge just kept his eye on me. And I was far from the "parameter" line marked around the ring! I see other people running and playing with the dogs but stopped as they near this line! So there I am trying to get Chloe excited and it isn't working. It was now time to go to the gate and she was stressed and she wanted to get out of there! There were two Springers being whiney as if they were getting left behind in their crates and that amplified Chloe's stress level. Time to go. She held her sit-stay and did two jumps and boom! She went bee-lined to the other side of the course looking for Laurie and, and came back to me. She did a couple more jumps and then... ran to the opposite side of the ring and then she bolted out of it! No one was going to get her or slow her down. Luckily, Laurie popped out and stopped her. Now this royally ticked me off because of the AKC rules stated that no one could stop the dog because the team would be labeled with a "misconduct". I care for the safety of the dog and that's a BS ruling if I ever heard of one! Several people voiced their opinions to my favorite judge in which that the rules should be relaxed for the novice class!

I am starting to see a trend here with Chloe. All of this was unexpected because she was fine at the run thrus and in class. I thought we nip this in bud and the last time she had zoomies in class was last year! She isn't over the attack and its obvious. so I started thinking maybe I should delay my entry to the gate? I'll try that for the standard run.

Third run, Standard. This was going to happen some 4-5 hours later. So I decided to walk Chloe around the grounds and that is how I found her stressors. When we walked near dark coat dogs she was absolutely fine. Any big dog with a light coat she wanted to run away. So I tried some CC work but she was too worried. So I tried walking through the situation(s) which I should not have since I should have just turned around. So we went back to the canopy and I put her in her crate. I gave them their bones. I heard a squeaky toy and I thought one of the dogs managed to a toy and I looked but they had nothing. The noise was emitanting from another tent which there were some sheltie pups in there. Just to let you know, we are parked and our canopy is set up some 5' away from the line and this tent is right next to it.

Time to get going and walk the course and then get Chloe focused. I got her excited all over again. We reach near the gate and there is just one light coated dog, a Labrador, and it catches her eye and there she goes. So I try to redirect her focus to me and play with her. Not working. This is starting to take it toll on me and I am pretty much sure she can feel it now. I am not angry just got off guard as this entirely unexpected and I flashback of all the work I did to get her over it and more confidence. This was so unexpected and only, and only if that lady would've tied her freaking dog properly the attack would have never have happened. Oh well, "Woulda, coulda, shoulda", life goes on.

This time around, I wasn't going to lead out as far because she was stressed out and I tried keeping eye contact with her. One jump out and I call her, she does 2-3 jumps and runs right for the truck. So now its a recall game and to bluntly put it, I am getting tired and just want this day to be over with. She comes, does another obstacle and then bolts. She is looking for Laurie and she was in the truck and not sitting under the canopy. I call her she does her weaves, two attempts but she did them. Denise said I should've stopped there on a positive note but I didn't. She jumped and refused the dog walk and bolted. So I recalled and I really had enough and so she did she. I grabbed her by her scruff and walked out.

I was frustrated because of something so unexpected got me.

Sunday...

Would this day be different from yesterday? Would she stay in the ring longer or even stay focused at me? 

First run, Jumpers: Michele was running the gate and gave me some encouragement. Chloe was a tad more relaxed for awhile longer but then nemisis light colored big dogs started to show up. Here we go and time for me to break her focus on the dog. Laurie's tactic was to hide and people in the tents noticed what she was doing. There was a family talking about how their dog got attacked at a trial back in January and they gave the description on how the dog behaved in the ring which they were about to have a deja vu moment. Chloe was up and the last dog. She looked more focused at me. She did 2 jumps and broke off running to the otherside of the ring and I called her back. We continued to jumps, 3, 4, 5, 6, weaves, 7, 8, rear cross and boom! Another bolt! I wasn't going to continue anymore so I picked her up. The family told Laurie thats exactly what their dog was doing. Anyhoo...

Intermission. Our next run would not happen for some 4-5 hours. So I walked the dogs together on the grounds and then came back and gave them a bone while we watched the Ex STD class run. Scout would get excited everytime he saw the dogs running the AF or any obstacle that was closest to him while in his crate as yesterday it was the DW. This day he was fiesty and so was the weather. I would take Chloe out of her crate and play with her or she would just lie on the grass. My favorite judge eyeing at us as we played, the puppies next door playing with their toys. A couple besides us playing with the dogs and it just goes on during the Ex STD class.

As the Open class was ending, it started to rain. We got out the ponchos and we were the next standard class to run. The jumpers ring kept on going.

Second run, Standard. The rain had stopped and the ring was wet and I was ready to fall on my ass. I was prepping Chloe to run and then my favorite person came running out of the ring to stop playing with my dog. Hmm, excuse me? Did you not see other people playing with their dog too? Give me a freaking break! I was hot for being singled out. His eye-sight could be really bad, wait, this is judge that made that controversial call at the Nationals, now I remember him. On the list, his call created so much havoc and then people started spouting off how much they didn't like him as a judge. I laughed about it several months ago but now I understand where they are coming from.

So I decided to run with Chloe were all the RVs were parked and we inched slowly to the gate. She didn't hold her sit-stay and I didn't lead out far (why? Stressed out dog will stress out more that farther I am away). She did 2 jumps and tried doing the chute 2 times. She really wanted to do the obstacle I could see it on her face and it confused her on why it was so hard to open it and why was it wet. After the rain only 1-2 dogs managed to do a wet chute! Lesson here, when it rains, pretty much when you run standard, its going to be a training session. So she got stressed by not doing the obstacle (isn't that really messed up? her confidence was building but she was given a task that she has never seen before) and decided to run to the end of the ring and I, again, would call her back. She did a jump, refused the AF, two attempts at the tire and two attempts at the tunnel. First attempt, she almost went in the wrong way and then started go in the correct entrance but her attention was towards ring helper. She finally got in and it was time for the table. She got in the table and I put her in a sit while it was supposed to be a down. She just froze and wouldn't listen to me. You want to know why? Because my favorite judge moved behind up me (and like I would touch my dog you idiot!) and she locked onto him. He was staring her down. I had enough of that guy so I did pick her up and leave.

You know, I have read agility lists on how some judges can be difficult and I thought people were blowing smoke. I read that some judges make the course alot harder than they should be but that weekend's courses were just fine IMHO. One judge represented the AKC well and one, well not so well IMHO. Not everyone will like everyone and he just rubs me the wrong way.

It was a miserable experience because we had a major setback and I had a grudge with the judge. But we know what to work on and that's working around light coated big dogs and continue to do run thrus.

Over the weekend, Denise wanted to talk to me before the runs but I was too busy trying to work out a routine ritual for me at a trial. So I never got a chance to get advice. I figured she was too busy doing her trial duties and running her dogs.

We tried to get footage but with Chloe stressing, it wasn't worth the hassle. Laurie did get some pictures though.

For our first trial. I need to finish loading the truck before I go to bed early and do Chloe's nails.

Getting excited!

I have been doing jumping exercises in the AP book and I started to realize that Chloe and Scout seem to be jumping tight either on their right or left. So it got me thinking that Chloe jumps really tight on as she jumps to the left thus making her left-handed and Scout is the opposite; he is right handed.

Alright back to have them jumping against the wall....

Since yesterday's agility showed Chloe and I were pretty much out of sync (I'll give the explanation in a bit), I thought it was time to go back to the foundation ala "flat-work and other stuff".

The reason why for the lack of synchronization? Well, its all my fault! I have been concentration for independent contacts and more drive in the weaves for the past several weeks. So you concentrate in other areas, another will falter. Chloe reads my body language just fine but we're just out of sync - mainly me - on getting the timing. Our send work was awful in class while great at home. But Denise pointed out that my body language was saying otherwise in which I wasn't fully committed - basically I was lazy and flat in class. The only time I was fully committed was the last attempt on a sequence in class in which we really cooked it good. We smoked it.

We did work on proofing for a trial environment and Chloe was distracted and then started to get stressed and.. and.. I was getting frustrated. But Denise found her telltale sign and told me to keep watch of that and be sure after all the work we have done to prevent this does not go down the drain.

After moving all the contact obstacles to the otherside of the yerd, we worked on heel work, crosses, jumps and yes, continually working on drive through the poles. This was a good twenty minute sessions. I did some exercises in Linda's book and a tight sequence we ran in class. While it is still an ongoing process, Chloe's jumps are getting tighter but they are still wide at times so I am going to modify my cadence as per Denise's advice.

Scout session was mainly working on heel work and weaves. I have added 2 more poles thus having eight. He is getting more consistent and now he isn't popping out as much. Now when he pops out, he barks and I guess that him telling me, "sh*t I missed up again! I know, I know." LOL

Here's a training layout I did to concentrate on contacts, tunnels, wrap, and tunnel stays. This was for the second training session that happened after dinner. The first session concentrated on one jump exercises from Linda's book and weave pole drive work. I have lowered the number of poles back down to six since Scout is getting over loaded since he is popping out at poles 10 and 11.

I did do something that I wasn't planning to do for Scout and that was sequences but I don't think it hurt anything. All I did with him was either the dog walk to the tunnel or tunnel to the AF. No jumps, no teeter yet. He did do the table though.

A photographer - one of our neighbors- that use to work in AZ came over to take some photos during Chloe's session. He has always been amazed of her speed because he big lab had such a time trying to catching her. It was a good training session of because of the distraction since the trial is next week.

Anyhow, you can see show this layout can be run and the obvious is that the teeter can only be run one way. You can through some crosses in it.

Now, I need to rest, my feet are warm and sore but the good news that my knees are perfectly fine!

Looking for a rescue to take Riley (Siberian Husky) has begun. First attempt, failure, email bounced. Second attempt, no response. Now on waiting on third response.

Mixed feelings on doing this but it has to be done because she can't do everything by taking of the dogs and her new baby.

Our trial confirmation papers came yesterday and this the very first trial I saw in PA last year at the end of June. Kind of a freaky...

We have to head up early to get Chloe measured and Scout will be coming along as well. I was hoping that being in the Novice class we'd be going in the afternoon but I forgot there is more than one ring. So after doing FAST early in the morning on Saturday, I'll be going in Standard right afterwards. Jumpers will be run later on in the day. So much for a nap!

Scout will probably debut around this time next year as I am training him differently.

We finally got the ILP number and we're ready to go. I just put the premium in the mailbox and now we wait for the last weekend in June.

I am not going to set a high expectation since this is our first trial and Denise just wanted us to get our feet 'wet' in it but we signed up for FAST, standard and jumpers for two days. But she basically said that we're ready for novice and open levels. I think Michelle and Molly will be entering their first trial on the last weekend next month which will be held in our little town. And going from experience last year, that is going to be one hot trial!

Alright, we have had a dog attack which caused a severely cracked nail. We started ILP paper work to get her entered for a trial at the end of the month and getting a profile was a bit of a chore.

Now yesterday, she vomitted three times and went in the house. Then I noticed how swollen and flush she looked which bfrought back memories with my other dog, Snowy. I raised her head and I hear her wheezing. I turn my back and all I hear is a thump. She just fell over! Now she is laying on her side and breaking out in hives. This really does not look good. So I call the vet - our new one mind you. I am getting tired of being "blown off" by vets - and from the emergency visit it seemed had a severe reaction to something. What caught me off guard was her wheezing when I raised her head and then to her you dog just keel over, you get to the phone like .. now.

Earlier in the day she has been eating some weed and I always try to stop due to my experiences with Scout's explosive diaherra. (He has been ending the tops of dandelions of a late). So I wonder if that was the culprit of Chloe spewing all her food (raw food and marrow bone) and treats (we had agility class in the morning).

At the Vet's we saw that she lost another half pound from the last visit (12.6 vs 12.08). She orignally weight 14.6 lbs back in January and we switched to raw back in Februrary. She has lost over 2.5 lbs! I am trying to keep her weight between 13-14 lbs. At 14.6 lbs she looked pretty chunky. So I have been feeding her based on 13 pounds since she gets training treats. She is currently getting 2.4% serving and I am probably going to go up to 2.5% serving.

The thought of carbs has crossed my mind because she is basically on an all protein diet. Anyhow, the Vet wants to see back next Tuesday which happens to be another day for a run thru for urine, stool and bloodwork. Something is going on there.

Since Chloe and I getting close to showing, it was time to fill out the registration papers to the organizations we plan to compete at and one of the requirements is to have the dog's height. It was a tedious process and we decided to measure both dogs. I used one of my standard jumps that doesn't have the fixed cups and measured from the bottom of the jump bar to the level surface which was a dining room table.

Scout didn't have a problem being measured and he came in at 16.25"; Chloe, on the other hand was sort of squimish about it. If the bar touched her she crouched lower and lower. After several attempts, we ended up at 12" but I still feel that she sort of crouched. It was stressing her out.

Next on the agenda is getting the side and front shots of the dogs. We attempted to do them yesterday and it was such a mess so hopefully today it will be better. Chloe basically refused to hold her stand. We didn't even attempt to do Scout. We were getting stressed out doing this task. I have thousands of pictures of the dogs but the requirement is to have those types of shots. Can't they just use the judge at the show to verify the dog???? Anyhow, we'll try again today.

Yesterday, I wanted to switch from the nail clippers to the Dremel tool for nail duties and ...

WHY DID I TAKE SO LONG TO DO THIS????

I started in the morning with my old grinder of nearly 10 years and let it run in the morning and the dog came over to investigate and I threw chicken on the floor. I varied the RPM and I started to get close to them with it running. Low as I go, I kept throwing treats on the ground. No one stressed about it. Session over.

Come the evening and it was time for another intro to the grinder which went well but we were going to take it another step. It was time for Chloe's nails to be done. The dogs know when it is time for their nails to be done when I say that word or I grabbed the clippers from the drawer. They both start acting squimish and when the time comes, they hide. Chloe ran and finally came to me and then I handed her to Laurie to hold. I gave her a treat and started grinding on the first nail. A couple of seconds later, I gave her another treat. I tried stretching the time interval between the treat giving. Her typical behavior is usually fiesty or she'll whine. She does not like her front paws down and we have tried turning her head away to distract so far no luck. She is usually a handful with Laurie during the procedure. But this time, it was a lot better as she was alot more managable. No more fidgiting or whining. We were on to the last paw and this was the paw that had the damage nail. Boy did that quick grow even longer. Slowly I started to grind and then we were done in no time. She was sort of stressed because of the damage nail but her disposition is alot better then the nail clipper route!

This weekend is Scout's turn. This is going to be interesting...