Trial Report:: Back to the Field House

First let me say that I love the Fredircksburg field house as a trial location. Indoors, nice turf, places to buy food (and beer), free wi-fi, and air conditioning as well as real bathrooms. What more could you ask for. So before I go into these runs I have to start by specifying that this was a weird trial for me because I had to work the overnight shifts (11pm-8am) for both Thursday and Friday. Which means I had already been up about 18-20 hours during each of these runs. I was a little loopy by the time we ran. Hopefully this explains some of my handling errors

So Friday we had one run Ex. A JWW. Gauis had a great peppy attitude during this run. Which is really the only important thing in the end. He missed the second jump but that was so completely my fault I pushed him right past it. We'll call that a lack of sleep thing. Pretty run after that. He tunnel sucked near the end though. Completely ignored my front cross. But hey, he's a dachshund... who can blame him for liking tunnels. They'd be like them putting sheep on the course for all the border collies. Smooth toward the end until my thertle which obviously confused him causing him to blind me but still get the obstacle. In all honesty I should have just done a front there. I think its hard, because all the people that teach me agility run fast big dogs. I mean, I know the handling system is the same, but sometimes these tricks that get you places faster, just aren't the best options for a little slower dog. I think the more we run the better I'll get on making handling decisions that fit us as a team.

Sat we started with Open. Speedy start but a slow dog walk. I think that's because he's confused about whats expected of him. In class I make him touch but at trials I don't. He was a little distracted by the girl scouts who were working the ring but managed to work past it. Run went really smoothly till the end. I treadled him right out the ring (hmmm guess we need to work treadles to tunnels). I managed to call him back (thank heavens that you are allowed one mistake in open) and got him to finish the run. Then the little bugger tried to dart out for his cookie. Would have served him right if that girl scout had touched him (as he hates being touched by strangers). But he came back and we got our second Open Std Q! He just needs to learn getting his leash on is just as important as the last obstacle.

Sat Ex. A JWW was nerve wracking because they had the walk through while I was running open. There for I had to run it without walking. At that point I was near delisional from sleepiness so I didn't care. Also I don't have high expectations for excellent anyhow. Well we ran it beautifully if slow and ran clean! We were 3 seconds over time but you have 5 seconds of leeway with Ex. A so we Qed! First excellent Q ever I was thrilled.

Sunday we started with JWW Ex. A. No film as alas Sean had to go to work and couldn't be our designated camera man. But the Exc. run was gorgeous. another clean run. And guess what?!?! We weren't over time (granted by the skin of our teeth), but we would have Qed in Ex. B! Which is so reassuring. I really didn't think we had much of a shoot of getting anything above AX and AXJ. Granted we wouldn't have gotten any MACH points but who cares. Now the issue was I was pretty out of breath by the end of the run so that doesn't bode so well. Maybe I need more cardio.

Open was another lovely run. We really ended the weekend well. Unfortunately he dropped the triple (our only fault) but we came in ten seconds under time. Even with him stopping to stare at the dropped bar. Poor guy, he hates dropping bars so much. His ears go back and he always stops to look and then I have to be really positive to build up steam again. It's almost as though he knows that disqualifies us, though the movement and sound probably just scare him. But hey, he's a dachshund. Drop bars are just a fact of life. He's doing something he simply isn't built for, it's not his fault. No hurt feelings on this end. As far as I'm concerned it was as good as a Q in my book. A great run.


Well that's the update. Now for some foster news! Oliver has been adopted! By a lovely older couple in Western Virgina. He has a senior sister so he'll never be alone. The home was perfect for him. And we have a new girl around these parts named Charlotte! More about her in my next post.

Doctors Orders

Couldn't even convince him to get on the steps for the picture

We have a new interior design piece at out house. Last week I bought three sets of little steps to help Gauis on and off furniture with out the gigantic leaps (and sometimes wipe outs) he generally has to do.

This was one thing Dr. Regina Schwabe wanted us to try. She's a DVM, acupuncturist and chiropractor who does a lot of work with agility dogs. She also does a lot of work with dachshunds recovering from back issues. We decided to pay her a visit after a Tracy Sklenar seminar where Tracy said Gauis seemed a little sore by the end of the day and should have his back and knees checked. (I have a lot of footage from that seminar I need to compile for a post. It's on the to do list)

So I trucked him off to P.A.W.S. as soon as I could get an appointment. She's a very busy lady Dr. Schwabe. It was a really nice visit. She has a very cool office that doesn't feel like the vets at all. But Gauis is a sharp cookie and he can smell a DVM from a mile away so there was a lot of barking. But he was defiantly more relaxed than at a regular vet clinic. He still ate the whole time and even played with some of the toys she presented to him. At one point she and I were convinced the barking didn't have to do with him being frightened anymore and had more to do with his attempts to shape us into presenting him with new and better interactive toys and treats. He knows how to make the best of any situation.

So she checked him out. She said there was a little bit of twingyness in his back right where his ribs stop. This is a common place for agility dogs to be sore but it's also a common place for dachshunds to slip disks. After she adjusted him she said she couldn't detect any sourness, which is a good sign. She still wants me to get his back X-rayed (something I've wanted to do for a while). But she recommends every dachshund have its back X-rayed at two years old to look for any calcification that could lead to slipped disks, since the causation is mostly genetic. In good news she said his knees look awesome and she doesn't see any luxating patellae in his future.

She gave us some warm up tips (I'll make a whole post on warm ups later) and a few other things to do. She sent him off with a clean bill of health and ants to see him for maintenance every six months. She would like to see him drop about half a pound, he's 10.2 pounds right now, 9.5 ish would be better for an agility dog. His weight is fine for a pet dog but with all his extra activity he needs to be super slim. Actually his regular vet says he's the slimist dachshund she sees (so many pet dachshunds are so fat :( ). But he's a performance dogs so the rules are a bit different.

She also wanted us to get these steps so he doesn't jump up and down and up onto furniture all day every day. She asked me, "How many jumps does your do do in a week?" I said hmmmm.... "Gauis goes to two agility classes a week, we get 4 or 5 turns a class, with about 10 jumps each...... so between 80 - 100" then she told me to add the number of times he jumps on and off of furniture in a week. Lets just say that's a significant increase in the number. So we're trying to reduce the number.


Gauis is not really into cooperating with this plan. He was really excited about the stairs when I got them out of the box, but once he was told they were not giant stuffed animals we bought him to grab, shake, drag around, and play with he lost interest. He'll go up them when lured but he's certainly not offering the behavior. In fact even when lured he looks resigned. We're working on it. He certanly thinks jumping on furniture is a great deal more reinforcing.

Oliver on the other hand is quite enjoying his new found ability to get onto furniture. So maybe even if I can't convince Gauis that stairs are where it's at, future fosters will appreciate them. Speaking of Oliver it's about time I gave you all an update.


Oliver is a giant sweetheart. Not a mean bone in his body. I took him to stoney point and he loved meeting all the new people and kids. He even gave one little girl kisses. We've been taking him on dog scout hikes to get him a little more exposure. He gets along great with the larger dogs and any weakness he had in his back end has virtually disappeared.

He's still very hesitant about stairs but I think that's more of a lack of experience with them then any physical problem. He's still good with the cat though he does try to mess with her more than my other fosters. I get the impression that he was a cat chaser at a young age and has since decided that it isn't worth it. Doesn't mean he's not VERY interested when she walks into a room.


The marking hasn't really improved BLECH. We need to buy stock in diapers. Sean and I used to have this inside joke when we lived with roommates. We'd walk down the aisle of a grocery store with the baby products and I'd always ask "Do we need to buy diapers for the baby?" We'd then laugh and make some disparaging comment about our roommates maturity level or cleanliness (All in love and jest). Well the habit stuck and I still say it even though we don't have roommates. Last the words slipped out I realized we actually were almost out of diapers. It was one of those sort of sad silly, and hilarious moments all in one.

In other news his soiling of his crate is much reduced, which is progress. Not 100% eliminated though.

Also remember when I called him very active for an old bugger. I have come to believe all the constant motion is more anxiety than anything else. So we've been doing a lot of rewarding for all four feet being still (To get a treat, get fed, or be let out of his crate). He is not a big fan of the training and is easily frustrated. Poor thing was never taught to think. He barks at me and circles like a herding dog. It's really odd. But I have see a marked decrease in the 'ants in his pants' fidgeting that he came to us with. Now that could be because of the training, or it could be because he's just been here longer and is more comfortable. But whatever the reason it's better.

Watching him interact with Gauis is interesting. Though he has no fear or discomfort around other dogs, you can tell he wasn't socialized much as his doggie social skills aren't the best. He doesn't read doggie body language signals well, and he doesn't know the all important doggie rule that possession t is 9 10ths of the law. or that walking on top of others and lying on them without warning is not really polite. Gauis is very tolerant so Oliver has been lucky. Something I think a new owner should be aware of though.

All in all he's a good boy and we are happy to have him, diapers and all.

Three Day Trial

This is my serious intense jumping face

Shesh it was like three weeks ago now or something.
Since our trial in Fredericksburg.
So some good things happened, some not so good things happened. I did things right, I made mistakes, but this is still a learning process and we're figuring it all out. So let's see:

Saturday:
DQ (Double Q)

Both runs were super fast and fun (Less detail this week on the runs because frankly I don't remember the details). Jumpers run was perfect from what I remember, Standard I took him over the wrong side of the triple (bad mommy) and we almost had a fluke there at the end, but it was still our first Q in open standard. So we left Saturday feeling good with a new title (which I was super happy about. If your in the Virgina area you HAVE to go to the capital cocker club trials. They have the best ribbons.)

All the other dogs don't have to down on the table, why should I?

So that meant our fist leg in Open Standard and or Open Jumpers title! I only have video of one run from this weekend. (Luckily it was one of the good ones) So here we go.



Moving on, Sunday:

Total disaster. I got to the trial like four hours before my first run (bad idea) and realized I might have a conflict (I've never had a conflict before. And I got to freak out because I've never run in excellent before! So I was a big giant stress pot. First day of a trial I've ever not had fun in agility. So I should have just gone home I guess. My runs ended up having to be about 5 minutes apart (GAH!). So I had to walk and remember two courses at the same time (never even done that in class before).

Look at me sit stay like a good boy.

We started with open standard. Gauis had a mistake right in the beginning of the run and I fell apart. Totally unable to recover. I'm sure my handling was atrocious from there on out and I was pumping stress hormones from every pore in my body. About three obstacles from the end Gauis said 'F*** this' and stopped running to sniff. I gave him a few chances by calling him but he ignored me completely. Now I don't care how bad I'm stressing out or how poor my handling is, that's just not acceptable. My stress is just another distraction, he's allowed to be slow but he has to keep trying. So I took him by his collar and walked him off the course.

As I was leaving the judge says 'Be careful!' in a warning voice. -Sigh- little dogs are treated with such kit gloves. All I could picture was my friend's dog Preacher (a 65 pound golden) getting dragged off the course practically off his hind legs for blowing a contact in front of the same judge earlier in the afternoon. He didn't say anything to her and I wasn't being anywhere near as rough with Gauis. Half wasy out the ring crew asked me why I didn't pick him up. I said 'Being picked up is a reward'. Besides Tracy Sklenar and Laura Derrett always say 'If you can't do it while training a saint Bernard, don't do it while training your small dog'


Anyhow, after that we had to race over to the Exc JWW run to try it again with only 5 minutes in between. We ran clean but it took us 52 SECONDS! OMG like pulling teeth. So obviously NQ. That seems to be the fallout of dragging him off course. His next few runs are REALLY slow. I think he's just making sure not to make any mistakes. But if he keeps trying that's fine, it's worth it.

Look at this weird ugly jumping form

The next day we started with Exc JWW. We made it around the course nicely we only dropped the triple (got a good picture of him knocking that bar too. Look at the picture below and you can see his back legs were hitting it). He was defiantly slow but much faster than Saturday. We were only two seconds over time. So since we're in Exc A (where you can have a time fault), that would have been a Q if he had kept the triple up.

I am so taking this jump down mom

The Standard Open run started off slow and steady, thought we were going to Q. Weave poles were like the 6th obstacle. Gauis started his usual slow and steady weave poles. Then about halfway through he picked up speed and I got all excited. I started saying "Yay! good boy! Great!" I thought hey we've got something here! He got to the end and suddenly squated and took a gaint dump. EMBARRASSING. Well that's an automatic NQ. He was picked up and carried out of the ring (Gah kill me now)

This picture was taken four weave poles before his 'grand finale'

Pretty humiliating but everyone was really nice about it. Apparently ever ones dog has done it once or twice. Hey, who says we don't end agility weekends with a bang :)

More Pictures

Here are some more pictures from last weekend I thought I'd throw up here for you all to see.

If he thinks happy thoughts maybe he can fly with those ears.

Is it just me? Or dose he look like he's about to slip in this photo.

He's flying here. It's nice to see a jumping picture where he's not a whisker away from taking down the bar.

Another strange ear picture. That's sort of the comb-over look.

The slowest weave poles in the West. A leisurely walk one might say.

Not a very flattering tunnel picture. He could caught bugs like that.

Well, we've got a three day trial this weekend and then Tracy is coming and then a trick demo. Busy busy busy. And I have an interview today at an emergency vet clinic to work as a vet assistant. Wish me luck.

Weekend Update

We had a two day trial at the GKC this weekend. I think it went really well actually. A lot of enthusiastic fast runs. Some were disastrous, some were quite pretty. Only one huge catastrophic run which was like 50% my fault.

The theme of this trial was trying to find a good pre-run routine for Gauis and I before stepping into the ring. Something that will make him excited and ready to run but at the same time keep him focused and concentrating on me. So he'll want to run hard but not be so over the top that he ignores me and goes nuts once we get out there. We used to do tricks before going into the ring followed by lots of treats. But I felt this made him concentrate on the food too much. He knew exactly when I didn't have anymore and it didn't get him excited enough to make him fast. So this trial we tugged using a tug it.

I really need to do a whole post on tug drive as it's been something we're working really hard on right now. But I'll save that till later. Basically the tug it has food on the inside. When Gauis really latched on and we got a good game of tug going I'd ask him to drop the toy and open it, then let him shove his head inside and get some food. I'm trying to transfer the value he has for food on to tug (more on transferring value, and how I'm puzzled by it, later). We tugged before every run this weekend and I do think it made him faster. With one disastrous exception.

So let's do our weekly run break down. But first here's the video tape!



JWW Sat: Beautiful run. By far the prettiest run all weekend, with the exception of that front cross right at the start. In Gauis' defense it was a pretty ambiguously poorly timed cross. In my defence that still didn't give him the right to blind cross me. But except for that little mishap gorgeous run. Look at how fast those weaves are. Much more like the ones we have in class. And I was the only one to see that serpentine when we walked the course. And he read it beautifully.

STD Sat: Was a mess. He ran off to star at the ring crew after the first jump but didn't bark and eventually came back. Then everything we relatively well until the weaves. There was a little kid stationed right by the entrance that he was obviously concerned about. It took us three tries to get it right be he eventually managed to do them and with no barking. Improvement defiantly. Then we ran into the wrong end of the tunnel (again my bad I wasn't 100% clear. I think he needed an arm there). All and all an enthusiastic and fast run.

I wet Gauis down with water a lot during the trial to keep him cool. It was very hot. I think this is our last outdoor trial until fall. Even if he can take the humidity down here in VA I certainly can't.

Sun STD: Was a disaster but I know exactly what went wrong. We were the first in the ring. I had just got Gauis tugging and we got called to go in. I wasn't ready and wrenched the toy out of his mouth and threw it a few feet away without him getting a treat. Now we do this at home all the time. Tug tug tug mom takes the toy and throws it. And it always means the same thing. Now it's time to race for the toy. When he gets to the toy we trow a big party play more tug and there are cookies. But now I was dragging him away from his tug toy into the ring. So basically he spent this whole run doing a few obstacles and then desperately trying to run out of the ring and find his toy. I can't be too angry at him. I've trained this behavior. (Though he should still run with me). Lesson learned. hand the toy to someone don't throw it onto the ground before heading into he ring. We're still figuring this whole trialing thing out. Anyway I left the course with him. No cookies for that run. Too naughty.

Sun JWW: Was a lovely run. Slower than his Sat runs but really pretty. Slower weaves then I would have liked but he came off the start line fast out of his stay which was really good when I look back at the footage from other trials. Read my body language, well seemed actually trained. He nicked the triple and I was sure he'd brought down the bar but some unforeseen force kept it up which was great. :P And it was a 1st place and our second leg in jumpers too so you can't complain about that :) One more leg and we enter the scary world that is excellent. I don't think we're ready for that.

Obligatory Ribbon Picture:

I may get more pics of this weekend. I'll post them if they come in. Three day trial this weekend.

All pictures from Club Creek Runs

We Take the Bad With The Good

Gallery: OP Std 08 inch-B0511

Well we had an agility trail this weekend. We just did Sunday so that means two runs. This was our first trail after our three day extravaganza where we taught Gauis not to bark at judges... or ring crew... or helpless bystanders. And the verdict is, the lesson stuck! We had no barking this weekend. He did run off from me in Standard and sniffed the leash runner but then came right back and completed the course. So huge progress!

Now on the subject of our actual runs.... well they were sort of a disaster. But a fast happy enthusiastic disaster. Which is really sort of the best kind of disaster I guess. Here they are in all of their embarrassing glory.


Sorry it's really hard to see. Sean was far away for parts of it.


Sometimes I wonder if I should put my bad runs up here. But then I think, what would I learn if I only kept the good runs. The pretty runs. This blog is suppose to be all about record keeping. If I want to make progress I need an accurate account of where I am so I can know where I'm going. Besides Sean is a journalist and would never let me give you all biased reporting. So you get it all, the good the bad and the ugly.

Speaking of ugly look at this very unflattering picture of Gaius charging off the end of the teeter.


Gallery: OP Std 08 inch-B0511

So here's the breakdown.

Standard: Started off VERY enthusiastically. Gaius loves the teeter so having it early on is good for him. I was a little unclear about which jump to go to next which caused him to dart off (and sniff the leash runner as mentioned before). But no barking and he came right back. I think table after the A-Frame is hard for him because he's just going so fast and he slid right off of it but then hopped right back on. Next was the tunnel, which he refused to go through. But it had standing water in it so he was just being a prissy purse dog who didn't want to get his little footsie wootsie's wet, which I can tease him for but can't really get upset about. After that lovely weaves!

Gallery: OP Std 08 inch-B0511

Actually we had lovely weaves in both runs. Can you tell we've been working on that? Sometimes I feel like agility is a bucket with a bunch of holes in it. Once you plug one hole another shows up. But maybe that's what makes it fun. There is always something to work on. Well after pretty weaves he missed his dogwalk contact. Something he has NEVER done before, not even in class. I've known for a while that he needs work on his dogwalk contact so I'm not super surprised. I know how to fix that. His teeter was pretty too looking back at it, look how close to the end he got and let it drop out from under him. He dose love that teeter.

Gallery: OP Std 08 inch-B0511


All an all it was a disaster of a run, but a really fun disaster. I'd rather run him when he's having a blast and running his heart out, than get a Q with a run that had mediocre enuthsiasum where I have to cheer-lead the whole thing, and it's like I"m pulling teeth. He really liked that run.

Jumpers: Jumpers was less enthusiastic. It was a bit hotter, and it did start with weaves not his favorite. Then he refused a jump which confused me. Then my handling got wonky so I don't really blame him for that. I think he spent most of the run thinking "Mom, what the heck are you doing?" I count that one was my bad, being that every time I was being clear he sped up and looked like he was having a good time. My brain just wasn't in it. So we had I think one more refusal and were a bit over time. I sort of lost my place too somewhere in there. That's a bad mommy, no cookie for her!

His ears really do have a mind of their own during agility don't they?

Gallery: OP JWW 08 inch-B0511

Gallery: OP Std 08 inch-B0511

No Qs this weekend but a good time had by all. We have a two day trail next weekend in the same location and then the weekend after that it's a three day trail indoors. Then after that a Tracy Skelnar seminar. An agility filled month. I'll keep you all informed.

Footage

Thought I'd post the footage of Gauis' Saturday runs at Winchester. My parents only came Saturday so that was the only time I could get video. The standard run is clean but about 30 seconds over time. Jumpers had one refusal but still way over time (OMG those weaves are slow I could have knit a sweater) . He was showing more pep in his step darning Jumpers though. So I like to think that is a good sign. You can see he's still nervous about the judges (check the dirty look he gives the judge on the A-frame). But I'm so pleased he managed to control himself. And his tail is up so he's not miserable.

It's Not all About the Ribbons

So a three day agility trail and Qualification wise we are 1 in 6 . The last run on the last day we managed to pull out a Q (skin of our teeth). I'm sure you would surprised to hear me say that I think this has been our most successful trail yet. I mean in the past we've gone 3 in 4 at a trail (I think we have, may have been two in four). Well that's because there are things more important than the ribbons.

My goal was to get Gauis to stop running off form me at trails to bark at the judge (And ring crew, and trial secretaries, and the audience). It's something we've been working on since we started trailing. Well actually it's something I've been working on with Gauis since he was about 5 months old. Which I think is one reason it's such a frustrating issue. It's like he can learn so much but I just can't get him completely over this one little issue. Here's some really yucky runs, with a very distracted dog that had a tendency to run off and yell at people.

So I've talked to about a million people trying to get advice on how to fix the problem. I was told more run throughs. Which as far as I'm concerned is never a bad idea, but he doesn't bark at folks in practice, or in class. I only see this behavior at trails. The fact that this is a tricky issue to deal with was brought home to me when Laura Derrett said this when I asked her about the issue. "Hmmm, that's a tough one. I don't know." So I decided to go with another Laura's advice and she said 'naughty mean dogs that bark at folks don't get to play the game, and get put in their crates with no cookies.' or something like that.

And that was the goal of this weekend, not Qs. So the question of the day is how did it work?

Well as predicted, first run on Friday Gauis runs off from me to bark at the Judge (It was a poor provisional judge at her first trial. Gauis was the second dog she had ever judged and of course he ran at her and barked. Not a very warm welcome committee my little dog). So I gave him a negative reward marker (AHOH) and then walked over to grab his collar (Not hard, just to take hold of it, something I do in his normal life all the time and that he doesn't find intimating.) . He saw me coming and took off which resulted in a bit of a benny hill moment (He was not scared of me he just doesn't like being penalty walked anywhere and he knew that's what was coming) But after I finally got a hold of him he was walked by his collar out of the ring straight to his crate which he was unceremoniously chucked into.

He was furious at me. When I came back in fifteen minutes to take him out to use the bathroom he had shoved the blanket I kept in there with him and his water bowl up against the wire door so that they covered it almost completely. Through the tiny crack that was left I could see him sitting (not laying down comfortably as he normally is) with his back to the door staring at the solid plastic wall of his crate. He didn't move from this position until after I had put his leash on, and he wouldn't make eye contact with me the entire time I took him out to pee. No calming signals, no ears back, just simply pretending the other end of the leash didn't exist.

After that he seemed to get over it, especially when I didn't take him back to his crate and let him sleep in my lap till his next run. For being so ring 'stressed' he sure isn't stressed by the trail environment, even with all of the new dogs and people. He spent most of the trail out like a light some of the time on his back, spread eagle.

So next was jumpers which started around 7 pm (Oh my gosh it was a long trail, we got there at 11 am). And you know what, he stayed with me. Not a peep. I defiantly saw his ears go back a few times when he caught sight of the judge out of the corner his eyes. but he managed to resist the urge to be naughty. He worked through it. Granted we were slow as molasses but hey I'll take it. He gets more comfortable rehearsing the good behavior we'll get the speed back. We ran clean, just ten seconds over time on Friday.

And that was sort of the theme for the rest of the weekend. No barking except for that first run. He was slow and tentative but manage to restrain himself. In fact he got a little faster throughout the weekend. And his last run on Sunday was only two seconds over time which was a small enough time fault that we still managed to Q! (Hence the ribbon picture and out first leg in open!). Other than being over time we had some refusals, some knocked bars, and some off courses. But none of those are a big deal, I'll take a million of them over the barking. The standard courses especially were pretty rough (some I thought were harder than the excellent courses. One had three different discrimination between tunnels and contact obstacles in it).

I was really proud of him. I hope I never have to walk him off a course like that again. Hopefully he'll remember that lesson and we won't have to worry about it anymore. But it just feels good to have a way of dealing with the problem that works.

All Quiet Here

Having a sleepy quiet winter

Hey guys!

I wish I had more to say, I would defiantly post more. Winter is the agility off season so I have no trials to speak about. Trick wise, I have a few new ones, most are difficult to self record, but mostly we have been working on cleaning up the ones we already know. Making them sharper and gaining distance and consistency of performance, at home and in new places. Cindy keeps telling me that distance isn't gained by training it directly. It's gained by building value for doing the work close in! I need that on my refrigerator or something to keep reminding me. I want to move to fast in training.

All this detail work is mainly because of the Pet Expo in February where Gauis will be doing a tricks demo in front of a crowd. He will also be participating in the agility demo. Come on down and see us if you are in the area :) I'll have someone record us this year and put it up here for you all to watch.

Here's a video of Gauis in the pet Expo last year. (Both in the obedience and agility demo)



This is the first time I have embedded through facebook. I changed the privacy settings to everyone so it should work. If it doesn't let me know and I'll try and get it on you tube.

We had just started learning weaves, so he really wasn't ready to do them, but bless his heart he tried. The obedience stuff made him nervous when he had to have his back to some kids and a bunch of strangers which is why he broke the stay, but other than that I remeber being really proud of him. It will be exciting to see how much progress he's made in a year!

No news on the foster front yet. We are still currently a single dog household. I will let you know when that changes. I think we are still getting Buckwheat but I'm not as sure. Rescue seems to change plans by the hour. We just try and roll with the punches.

In other news I am now an instructor at my local agility school teaching level 1 and level 2 agility. Just the basic stuff. How to go through a tunnel and chute, start line stays, the beginning of front and rear crosses. It is so strange that only a year and a bit ago I was just starting to learn this stuff and now people are confident enough to let me teach! Almost all of my students have really big dogs too which I don't have much experience with (Though I guess anything is big compared with ten pounds). But the principles of training are the same I guess.

Gauis was a lovely demo dog and worked really well despite all the new dogs and people. He wasn't such a fan of hanging out in the crate while I taught though and whined a bit and once got to come see me which he NEVER does (I usually leave his crate door open because he knows not to come out unless released. g-d bless crate games). I think he'll get used to it though.

We have an agility trial coming up in February and one in March. I'll keep you all up to date on the status of our agility career. Especially that last Jumpers with Weaves Q we need to finish up Novice. I hope he gets it in February before he turns three. That would be a nice birthday present.

Earth dog trials won't be until the spring, but will be his first time in Senior (Sean hasn't practiced recalls with him at all though so I'm not holding out much hope for qualifying) but he'll love it either way.

I guess I need to get on the stick about his obedience. I'm still nervous about his stand for examinations. I just need to flood him with new folks until he's totally comfortable. Our weekly trips to Stony Point and class on Monday's might not be enough. I should find some obediance trails to crash in my area and just get everyone there to put their hands on him. It's such a boomer to know that we're really ready to compete in open if I could just get him to tolerate strangers for a few seconds.

Lost Video

So in the interest of full disclosure. And to not be accused of only putting my good runs up here. I have this video. Turns out I found the missing standard run from my second day at Belroi.

You know, the one where he was so pumped up he screamed at the starting line then almost broke his stay, then took the wrong end of the tunnel. When he finally seemed to pull himself together, I forgot the course and everything pretty much falls apart from there.

So this is what it looks like when everything goes wrong. But he ran fast, he had fun, and all of his barking was excited not upset. So what more can you ask for.



In other news! I have a new theory on our weave pole mishaps. I think I'm babysitting him to much at trails. If I take a deep breath and just trust him, he'll do them like he does in class. Georgie said that her and Popeye (Remember Popeye, the brown dachshund from the earthdog post?) had the same issue for a while. Only instead of running off to scream at gate stewards Popeye just missed his entries (Because he is better behaved in every way than Gaius). So that's my goal for wood bridge. Trust my dog. Yikes what a tall order.

As an extra, here's a video of our friend (And head trainer at the dog school I go to) Cindy Briggs' dog Jody and some of her tricks. Video by yours truly.

Introducing Gauis Baltar NA!

These darn things are bigger than me.

Exciting news!

So we've been to two trials since you last heard from me. The first of which was Belroi and

the second of which was in Fredricksburg.

Geeze Belroi seems so long ago let's see what I can remember. Our first day at Belroi (Saturaday) we started with Jumpers with weaves... What can I say about this run. It was perfect (two tries at the weaves but what can you do?). He was fast and followed all of my positional cues. A perfect run. Next was standard, which he did very well in. Our only hairy moment was a strangely placed front cross on my end because I ran out too far with him to make sure he made the broad jump. Instead of waiting for me to exsicute said front cross he decied to simple blind cross me (a big Greg Derrett's handling system no no) and take the A-frame. Luckily the A-frame was the obstacle we were suppose to be headed for. Gaius suddenly behind me frazzled me enough to say "Hey! you blind crossed me" to him while he was at the top of the A-frame. The judge heard me and laughed. She then shouted "He knows where he's going as we headed to the table. The only other mishap in standard was Gaius deciding to run and visit his daddy instead of doing weave poles.

I've noticed Gaius always seems to do something funny at the weave poles. Like that's where he decides to bark, or go visit Sean or wonder off. I think it's because he finds them stressful. They are still tricky from him, which means he'll probably get them wrong and have to do them again. Which means they are less fun than other obstacles. So he gets there and goes "Aww man, not weave poles. Why don't I find something more reinforcing to do" and that's where I get my barking fits. There is another time I get barking fits, but that is another story I'll talk about in a minute.

Video of Day 1 at Belroi (A double Q!)

Belroi Agility Day 1 from Sean Van Damme on Vimeo.

Second Day at Belroi didn't go so well. In Standard he was a nut! Crazy fast but he didn't take any of the right obstacles. He was just crazy. Way to excited. I don't have video for this one for some reason. I'll go through the flip and try to find it again.... so expect an edit here with Gaius' manic crazy, there are bees in my brain run. The start of the jumpers run was much better. He was actually in control and taking the right things. Then we say the photographer and Gauis lost it. I don't think he's ever seen a camera that big. Well then we sort of had a barking meltdown. My main goal after that was just to get him back on track and finish the run happy and fast. Which he did, but by that point we'd missed an obstacle and made too many mistakes to Q.

Here's the first 25 seconds of his jumpers run monstrosity. The camera died mysteriously right when the run started to go south:




That leads us into Fredricksburg . Day one was Standard first out of the gate. It was a disaster Gaius' barking was so bad I had to pull him from the ring. Not because I was trying to teach him a lesson, just because we were going to get whistled off for taking to long. This totally bummed me out. And a spent my time until Jumpers wondering if Gauis and trialling was really something I wanted to keep doing if he was just going to bark. The Jumpers run still had barking but was much improved. It lifted my spirits enough to come back the next day and I'm sure lucky I did.

We have no footage of this day due to some wonky flip camera stuff. My poor dad. Though I'm kind of digging the mysterious lack of footage on all of our bad runs. All coincidence I assure you. No conspiracy here.

Saturday was awesome. There was still barking.... lord was there barking, but we managed to Q in both jumpers and standard. Which means Gauis got is Novice Agility Title! And he only has one more leg for his jumpers with weaves title!

Here is the Standard Run:



Again a weave pole meltdown. But I'm beginning to think that's more about weave poles and less about people. Other than that a lovely run. I did let him blow his dog walk contact. But there was a big GIANT guy with a hat on as a steward RIGHT next to the dog walk. And I figured if I kept him running he wouldn't notice. And it worked. So I was rewarded for bad behavior.

His Jumpers run saw another weave meltdown. See a pattern here? There was another meltdown after a jump. I have a theory there too. I think the other time he stresses then goes over threshold is when I make a handling error. I gave him a wonkey rear cross in the wrong place right before then and I think it threw him off. He also doesn't seem to be barking at anyone there.... he's just..... barking. But with only one refusal we still got our Q! See for yourself:



When I got off the course I wasn't sure if I had Qed. I asked the AKC representative and he said he had. Then he said "And he gets extra points for cursing at you."

I said "He's not cursing at me, he's cursing at the whole world"

The judge shock his head and replied firmly, "No, he's cursing at you."

And maybe he is. Maybe what he's saying is 'mom, we haven't practiced weaves enough and you make mistakes sometimes. When I get to weaves or you mess up, screw agility. I'm going to find another way to entertain myself. Like barking at that woman in the freaky sun hat.'

So new homework, weave poles and no more making mistakes (shesh!)
I don't really get the whole ribbon thing... but if you like them mom... whatever.

Mystery Solved

Gauis looks much larger in this picture than he usually does :P

No the mystery is not how Gauis became a boxer. That is Lisa and Lacey. The mystery we solved was whether Gaius hates agility outside, or if he hates running on mulch. Turns out it's the mulch! YAY. That's really great because a large portion of agility trails are outside on grass. So now I can sign up for those without fear. We learned this at the Agility Show and Go out in Belroi Virgina.

Now Linda (One of my agility instructors) say that Gauis doesn't hate mulch, he just is more enthusastic in a 'trail situation'. Which I'm sure is partially right. But in practice he's only pookey outside, not when we're inside. Even when its really hot (there is no air conditioning in the indoor facility). So it has to be more than just trail excitement I think. I think he doesn't like mulch....

This is Sassy, she is Gauis' girlfriend.
He loves her. She is cranky, neurotic, shy and snaps at him sometimes. So you know, a normal girlfriend. :)

I learned some other things at the practice trail. One of which is that Gauis really has a proublem barking at judges. Ugh, I don't think I'm ever going to escape this issue. He particularly seems to hate it when the judge raises his hand to call a refusal. Which gives the appearance of him arguing with a referee about a bad call when he flips. It makes everyone in the audience laugh. When he did it in his first run, I just grabbed him and jerked him off the course. Crate time! If you can't play nice you can't play at all. That didn't really work. Linda says that only really works when dogs REALLY love agility. I mean Gauis likes agility fine, but he doesn't care enough that being taken off the course is that much of a punishment.

The next run I just called him off the judge. That took a moment, but he finally got back to work and finshed his run spunky and happy. So I guess that's what matters. Linda says this is a better strategy for trails. And a lot more socialization with strange men. Which I hate. I mean you try walking up to people and saying "Hey, my potentially aggressive neurotic dog hates you. Do you mind feeding him a treat?" People aren't really chomping at the bit to help you. I'm lucky he's small and cute.

On our last dog scout hike we were moving along and these two female hikers came in the other direction. Gauis decided to go bark at them and I went to call him off. Of course, they thought he was adorable. I don't think its adorable. But anyway apperently they have a dachshund at home they wanted to tell me all about. Then the strangest thing happened. The shorter woman goes "He's so well behaved. How did you teach him not to bark at people. I mean we can't get ours to stop." I gave her the strangest look. I mean my dog was barking at them. Like that moment, while she asked the question. Screaming his head off. I gave her the only answer I could think of. "I have absolutely no idea." People are weird.

This is Juneau and his mommy Jennifer. She is the lady talking while holding the camera in the video.

Compared to that big issue all the other mistakes he made were cake. He screwed up his weave poles again. I don't understand how he can be so stellar at those in practice but not at trials. I think he's not used to doing them so fast. He's not collecting or something. Something to work on. He refused the A-frame again, but he hasn't been on one in a while so that doesn't really bother me. He slide off the table which got a big laugh from the crowd. That was just because he was trucking. How mad can you get when the mistake is speed? Even if he screw up his entire run he's a crowd pleaser.

So here's the video:

This is Digby. He is our trial buddy.

Oh I also made one of Gauis friend Digby's run. Digby is a norwich terrier and very feisty. So you can watch this video too if you like



P.S. Things I did not know i would learn while writing this blog. How to use basic video editing software. I have moved on from i-movie to edius.

My First Agility Trial

What is this stupid thing around my neck and why are you so happy about it?

Well Gaius and I are back from our first agility trial ever! And a really couldn't be happier with him. So lets get down to business and talk about the check list:

Goal 2: I want Gaius to stay with me the whole time (No darting off to bark at judges or sniff, or do whatever else comes into his little dachshund brain)

With the exception of the last run he stayed with me the entire time :)

Goal 3: I want him to move at faster than a walking pace for the majority of his time on the field. None of this slow poke bull he does outside.

Even when he had his little meltdown he ran fast! Which I couldn't be happier about. He had his slow poky moments but all in all he ran his heart out. Who could ask for more?

Goal 1: I do not want Gaius to bark at the judges when we are running. (He can bark at them when they measure him, that's understandable)

Ok, we fell apart a bit our last run but Gaius made it through three whole runs without paying either male judge any attention. So all and all a success.

I now take you to the video tape!



Let's break it down by run:

Saturday JWW: Wonderful gorgeous run. Nothing bad to say about it. He read my front cross gorgeously. The only thing that kept us from the Q was him knocking the bar. After reviewing the tape I'm pretty sure that wasn't my fault (As in he didn't miss it due to a handling error. He just needs some foundation jumping stuff.) And obviously we need to work on weave pole entires being that he's missed every entry this trail but that's not SUPER important in novice as he gets as many chances as he needs. I'd say this was his 2nd best run.

Saturday STD: This is the one that didn't make the video tape. But I'll break it down, at least what a remember. He was a little pokier on the run. It was the end of a long day for him I think. It also was probably the worst weave poles. I had to send him through three times which ate seconds. He also refused the A-frame which I had a sneaking suspicion he would do. He ran right past it and it took me a moment to pull him back around to try again. I have to give him a lot of lead up on the A-frame to get him over it because he has such small legs. But he took it the second time which was good. But all of this added seconds and we ended up going over time. I was convinced we hadn't Qed.

But this totally sweet woman with a beagle told me to stick around for the ribbons just in case, because she had a sneaking suspicion that you could have a time fault in Novice. So I did hang out for basically another hour (my parents were a bit miffed) and it turns out we did Q! And with the stiff competition of Gaius being the only Novice A 8" dog we got a blue ribbon in the bargain! I'd say this was his 3rd best run of the weekend.

Sunday STD: Near perfect run. No complaints. Again he missed the weave entry and the only thing that kept him from Qing was stepping on the broad jump but it was a rough entry for a long backed dog. And did you see him read that rear cross at the end?!? I had to do a rear cross! He's never going fast enough in class for me to do a rear cross! Awesome! I walked out of the ring feeling on top of the world. Awesome! I couldn't wait to do it again. This was by far his best run of the weekend :) 1st place in my eyes.

Sunday JWW: We were the second to last dog running at the trail and we were both out of it. This run went down hill quickly. I made two handling mistakes very quickly and you can see Gaius get frustrated with me. I think the judge having to raise his arms so much (calling our faults) made Gaius take notice and he decided to take action to remove him from the field. He left me three times to bark at the judge but at least I was able to get his focus back each time.

General Trial Conclusions: I think something that really contributed to Gaius' little last run meltdown was the fact that I volunteered in other rings for most of the day meaning that I was away from him for long periods of time. Also all the leash running and bar setting tried me out and by the time I got to running my course I was sloppy and forgetful causing me to make many handling errors. So lesson learned. Less volunteering, more worrying about my pup.

Gaius was beautifully beautifully behaved during the trail. He only barked at one man who was legitimating doing something weird near his crate but other than that not a peep. He slept in his crate and waited patiently for his turn.

Things I've Learned:
1) Don't volunteer for a million things and wear yourself out.
2) I need to work with Gaius on his weave pole entries
3) The scoring of Novice runs is way more complicated than I thought it was. I need to read the rules again.
4) Gaius was ready to do this inside... lets try outside. I just signed up for an outdoor trial in two months. We'll see what happens.

Agility trials mean a lot of crate time. Gaius does not like crate time.
P.S. First time adding music in imovie. I'm getting better at this :)

Little Thief

The Evidence

Gaius is a diabolical mastermind when it comes to food. Ever since we've had him he scouts for opportunities to steal food. Generally he is able to contain himself while we are present. He knows such behavior is strictly prohibited. But when we leave, all bets are off. He is notorious for range of places he has managed to gain access to in respect to food. And the amount of food this ten pound dog is able to consume is shocking. Here's one example:

Sean and I live in one of those old college style apartments in the city. You know the kind, where all the door frames are just slightly off, and the windows are always stuck and impossible to open. The appliances are always thirty years old and cheap which means our refrigerator door only shuts tight if you really slam it. Now when Gaius was about five months old (I'm going to approximate him weighing 6-ish pounds at this point) he got a very lucky break when sean or I didn't shut the refrigerator door with sufficient vigor before leaving to go to work. Since we live so close to campus I generally get home first. When I arrive I was not greeted in the usual squiriming licking wiggiling puppy way. This is always my first sign that Gaius has gotten into something he shouldn't have. When I entered the kitchen I found the refrigerator door hanging open. Curled up in a ball sleeping on the second shelf was my five month old puppy. Or what looked like the fur of my five month old puppy stretched very tightly over a football. On inspection of the fridge we found that he had consumed the following:

One entire (licked the container clean) order of Thai Drunken Noodles
Two whole sticks of butter
Three oatmeal cookies

Now for a large dog that doesn't sound horrendous but remember this was a SIX POUND DOG. Now luckily, Gaius has a digestive system like a steel trap and was no worse for wear.

More recently (A few months ago) I had a lovely and costly 3 am visit to the emergency vet in order to remove a dark chocolate bar from his little stomach. This chocolate bar he got by, opening a drawer, pulling out a paper bag, ripping open the paper bag, pulling out a plastic bag, ripping open the plastic bag, pulling out a chocolate bar, ripping the wrapper off the chocolate bar, and consuming the chocolate bar in the FIFTEEN minutes he was left unsupervised. He's like a ninja.

Yesterday I came home and was not greeted at the door. I walked into my bed room and found the bloated anaconda sprawled out on the bed. He had managed to pull his food bag down from the shelf and helped himself to the equivalent of ten helpings of dinner. At least it was dog food. The issue with this behavior proublem is that he does not do it while I am here. How am I suppose to fix something I'm not around for?

Now we've gotten much better at managing the situation. But he's a crafty sucker and every now and again he gets the better of us. I think part of the problem is that our couch is flush with our kitchen table allowing easy access to a surface that it's easy to forget food on. Now our house has a strict NO PUPPIES ON THE TABLE policy. And Gaius knows that. He only really slips up when the cat doesn't finish her breakfast and we're busy getting ready. But let me tell you, I can't count the number of times I've walked out the door, remebered I had forgotten something, and opened the door to see two big brown eyes staring at me from the kitchen table. He at least has the common curiosity to immediately hop off onto the couch and wag his tail at me. As if to say "Me? On the table? You better get your eyes checked. Dogs aren't allowed on the table."

Now I would hate to crate him during the day, though I know it would solve the issue. He is very well behaved in so many other ways. Not destructive and he only eats food, not other undesirable objects like some dogs. So I guess the only cure is vigilance. Though these occasional impromptu to bulimic binges make it diffcult to keep him a good agility weight. I feel like he's always on a diet.

TRAINING UPDATE:

The racing games are going well and the toys are still away though I do not think it has increased his drive to use toys as a reward in agility :( If anything his drive for balloon has faded slightly. But Linda said sometimes it takes a couple of weeks for the dog to figure out that 'you're serious', so I just need to be patient.

I'll tell you what it has done. Make him have some resource guarding issues at the dog park. Today he growled at a pit mix that tried to take some nasty Frisbee he'd found which is 100% out of character for him. He usually drops anything another dog has any interest in immediately. He is very aware that he is ten pounds and can't win fights with bigger dogs. And toys didn't used to be worth it I guess. Really this is my fault. He shouldn't have even had the toy without having to work for it. I got sloppy. It happens.

I'll tell you what did make him faster on Wednesday in threttles and serpentines. Giving him a cookie after every two jumps. Maybe I have been going at this whole thing the wrong way. Maybe the outdoors is just SUPER distracting and he needs a higher rate of reinforcement. Or maybe he just shaped me to get seven cookies every time he does a sequence. I'm so confused. But isn't this dog training thing fun anyway :)

This is what he looked like when I came home. No guilt. Huge belly.

Exciting!

Names were removed to protect the innocent

Well, its official. I have entered Gaius in his first agility trial in Maryland for July the 24 and 25. On the up side its an indoor air conditioned trial so I should get more spunk out of my little indoor pup. On the downside, male judges, so getting measured should be interesting.

Shesh, I hate filling out forms. I think that's my least favorite part of agility so far. And these trials sure are expensive!

The envelope is as big as I am...

Now I don't want to get my hopes up, because I'm entering the trial very late and there is a huge chance that there won't be a space left for my little man. In fact I heard two folks in obedience talking about how hard it is to get into trials in the summer time if you don't enter early. And this entry is FAR from early. But I feel that its a step in the right direction. I actually had the courage to fill out the form and write the check. :)

Now Susan Garrett says its important to define personal success. Now I don't expect to be getting any Q's in my first trial but I do hope to accomplish a few goals:

Goal 1: I do not want Gaius to bark at the judges when we are running. (He can bark at them when they measure him, that's understandable)

Goal 2: I want Gaius to stay with me the whole time (No darting off to bark at judges or sniff, or do whatever else comes into his little dachshund brain)

Goal 3: I want him to move at faster than a walking pace for the majority of his time on the feild. None of this slow poke bull he does outside.

If he does those three things I will consider the trial a success. (Well I'd be extra happy is he managed to hit his contacts and made his weave pole entry but one thing at a time right?).

I should look at this like the first time I took him to an Earth dog trial. My goal was: Show interest in the rat. And he did, by sniffing at the hole but not going in. On the second day of the trial my goal was: Go in the hole. And he did! If only for a few seconds before coming out. On his second trial my goal was: Go into the hole and reach the rat. And he did that too! Just not in the time frame needed for a Junior earth dog leg. Maybe next Earth dog trial he'll actually Q.

My point is that these things are gradual and they take time. He doesn't need to be perfect his first time out, and this will allow me to see what I need to work on (At the moment contacts. It's as though giving him a running A-frame has made him forget all about them). Cross your fingers that we get a slot!

Off it goes, no turning back now.