Videos of the Week

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Bogey Comes Out of Her Shell

Bogey was just fascinated by Magoo (Great Dane gallumping around here).   She plays every now and again, but she was totally taken by Magoo.   Later she just stared at him in amazement for the rest of the day (and she has seen Great Danes here before LOL)



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Bella, Lucey and Magoo Weekend

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Magoo's Competing Is On Hold-Life Gets In The Way

See that boo boo toe?   It's been keeping us from going out to compete or doing any real training work for about a month.  His owners are treating it, but I have put Magoo's future competitions on hold until his toe looks all better.

This started with a split nail:( He may have struck it on a rock under the snow or something.   Anyway, it's as bad as it looks right now.   Poor guy.

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Leon Loves Magoo

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Wordless Wednesday

Bailey German Short Haired Pointer, Our Leon Doberman, Our Boris Doberman, Roxie Great Dane, Harley Great Dane, Shaman Giant Schnauzer, Brujo Giant Schnauzer, Magoo Great Dane, and Tommy Lab/Pit X

Magoo Great Dane and Bailey Yorkie

Blaze Chesapeake Bay Retriever and Tommy Lab/Pit X

Magoo Great Dane and Our Leon Doberman

Lucey Westie, She is the Queen.

Magoo and Leon again.  They are too cute.

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The Adventures of Leon, Magoo, and Boris

Boris Chasing Magoo

Three Amigos Boris, Magoo, and Leon

Magoo, Boris, Leon and I in Portsmouth (not sure why this didn't keep the rotation)

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Training Can Be Boring or Rewarding, It's Up To You

I have a client that moved away to Vermont.   Her dog has been unfortunate enough to have been born with some serious physical and medical issues that made themselves known very early on.   So it is important for this client to maintain their (as in the team) training and socialization (safely).

The human client gets bored however.   I totally understand this, much of my training uses silence, calmness, repetitions ET to ready the dog for distractions and temptations of the real world.  "Aha, she said, then you admit that training is boring".  Well, I certainly don't think there is a large television audience ready to watch "real dog training".   It is my job and my client's job to learn to appreciate the dog training process.    This is for the ultimate good of the dog, and to keep the training as gentle and easy as possible, while still training for reliability and results.

So now I will present to you a video of paint drying-----sorry just kidding.   It's even more boring, this is training stays that are in the middle of their development.  What is really exciting is the level of freedom and peace that can come to a dog owner (once the command is usable and/or finished), so that they are more refreshed to do the playing, exercising, and just being with their dogs in general!  So instead of screaming at your dog to get out of the way while cleaning, or hearing them cry crated in the next room, here are some commands and training that can bring just that little bit of peace into your life once finished.  Plus it is so much better for the dog, as they do not need to guess at why you are annoyed with them.   Instead, they have a job to do for a few minutes. Now that is something that I CAN get excited about!

NOTE1:   THIS IS NOT THE BEGINNING POINT OF THE STAY EXERCISE.   IT IS MORE THE LOWER MID POINT OF THIS EXERCISE. BEFORE THIS HAPPENS DOGS NEED TO BE ABLE TO STAY WITH YOU NEAR, STAY WITH YOU NEAR AND MOVING, STAY WITH YOU MOVING AWAY FROM THEM, MEANWHILE YOU ARE ADJUSTING THE TIMES AND DISTRACTION LEVELS.   THEN EVEN BEFORE THIS STAY BEHIND WHILE YOU GO AROUND OR BEHIND SOMETHING. DO NOT START HERE.

NOTE2:  ELECTRONIC COLLARS ARE ON IN THIS TRAINING SESSION, HOWEVER ALL THESE DOGS RESPOND TO BEEPS AND VIBRATE, AND THEREFORE DO NOT NEED THE ELECTRIC STIM.  FOR STAY, I DON'T RELY SO MUCH ON THE COLLAR, I DID VIBRATE A COUPLE OF TIMES FOR THE "LET'S GO" AS THE DOGS WERE RELUCTANT TO GO INTO THE "NEW" ROOM. 



These exercises are all part of daily training that we do.   The stays are related to the obedience training.   Tommy (the brown Pitbull/Lab X) is just doing this to maintain his training while his owners are away.   Magoo is learning to stay in a down when I leave a room.   My dog, Leon, is learning a little self control when I am not working with him right by my side.

You will see later that I switch up the distractions, rooms, and whether or not the dogs are with other dogs or alone in the room.   All these things you change up help train your dog in a more complete way.   Even if your dog does not need to deal with many distractions, they will stronger in their undistracted obedience for learning how to keep a command under distractions.

It won't be boring if you learn how to appreciate what is going on, and live in the moment with your partner.

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Snow Fun!!

Looks like an excited Shamon, Boris and Harley!

At least one of them doesn't mind a bit of snow on the fur.

Roxy and Harley play a bit of chase.

Shamon getting all snowy again.

Snow balls can build up in Giant Schnauzer puppy fur!

Roxy says "gonna get you Leon".

Brujo and Gus take a well deserved nap after snowy fun.

Roxy finds herself worn out as well.

Boris in a rare still moment:)

Ollie Models his red Fido Fleece jacket.

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Picture and Video Client Updates

Sorry guys, with Thanksgiving slamming into us, and a bevvy of canine guests to entertain, I have slacked off on blogging.   Many of my clients are no doubt wondering what their canines have been up to while they were here:)   So first some photos of our Thanksgiving day guests.




Bella is the sweetest English Mastiff girl.  She is very timid though, despite her large size.

"That's right, I really do sleep on the bed at home.  Er, yeah, that's my story and I am sticking to it"

Magoo hangs out on bed with friends Leon and Boris.  My poor bed, I don't know how it is able to deal with all this weight on it all of the time.

Where oh where did Tommy go?

Friends Tommy and Leon getting ready for a good nights sleep (on the bed of course).

Jake at the left is a dog who recently trained here.   Jake moved to an assisted living community with his owner.  It was great to see Jake on Thanksgiving, and to know he and his owner are happily comfortable in their new home.  Gus is in the middle.   Tommy is at the far right.

Gus Goo came here because he is a bit anxious around other dogs.   He trained here awhile ago, and it's nice to visit with him on Thanksgiving.

Tommy and Buddy become fast friends.  Buddy is Lola's "brother" in that he lives with her.  They both spent Thanksgiving with us.

Tommy is playing with Lola here, who is the lovely black and white girl.   Lola came here because she did not get along well with dogs.   She is doing much better now as you can see.

Tommy arrived from Switzerland a few months ago.   Switzerland has some BSL legislation, and don't know what a fine dog they are missing.   His owners will be visiting him soon, and are excited to see him for Christmas.



 This is a now old video of Tommy at the end of his third training week here.   He was just learning about being outside without the leash and on the e-collar so he could get MUCH needed exercise.    Tommy really appreciates this, and he has a lot of fun everyday with his canine companions now, especially out in the woods or chasing the ball.




Finally our most recent daycare video.   This isn't the whole day, but some introductions and a woodsy walk that is typically done during the day.

NOTE:   AT LEAST IN THE WOODSY PORTION THE DOGS USUALLY HAVE ON ORANGE VESTS, BUT I FORGOT WHEN I WAS VIDEOING THIS, AS I WAS ORGINALLY JUST GOING TO DO THE INTROS IN THE FRONT YARD.   MY APOLOGIES TO MY DAYCARE CLIENTS, I WILL BE MORE CAREFUL, AND USUALLY AM...SORRY ABOUT THAT.   LUCKILY NO ONE HERE ALLOWS HUNTERS ON THEIR PROPERTY, BUT THAT DOES NOT PROTECT US FROM SOMEONE WHO IS NOT OBEYING THE RULES.  



The below picture is just to show that the dogs do indeed relax during the day once we are done with our walkies.   There is snoring and everything.   Hogan is not in this picture, but on Thursday he was where my dog Leon is on the couch in the middle and fast asleep.

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Dear York Maine Public Library

Three Great Dane Culpits

Dear Caretakers of York Public Library:

I am deeply sorry for the loss of your book, Tragic Magic. An unfortunate incident occurred here, when some long time day care canines got creative in their understanding of what is and what is not a dog toy.

Recently, my husband called to inform you of the loss of the book. I understand that you requested that the remains be returned in the book slot. I am enclosing pictures of why that will not be possible.



You can see what is left of the cover here.



Magoo, Roxy, and Harley really had a field day with this. I can't imagine how it ended up in so many tiny pieces, but the pictures show the evidence. Before letting me know of your request my husband had thrown away the garbage that contained the remains of the book.

My husband also informed me of another book lost that day in the same fashion. Your employee, whose dog also ate her book, was kind enough to share that information with us. I am not sure if it is true or not, but we appreciate the effort to make us feel better about this unfortunate incident.


I would like to believe that the book went peacefully. Again, I am so sorry, and am happy to pay for a replacement book to your library. Er, do you think I could take it out again? I was right in the middle.


Sincerely,

Robin

PS York Maine Public Library gives out so much more than books.

Why For No Blogging Mannerly Mutts?

First of all, apparently I am "over the hill" according to my loving family as I turned "a certain age" this August.

Question:  OMG, how busy have we been?  

Answer (see below also for details):  Got two board and train cases unexpectedly on the same busiest weeks for boarding, as they were both emergency cases.   Historically, August has been a crazy month.   Each week is a months worth of work in August.   Summer is not for the faint of heart here at Mannerly Mutts, and I see now more than ever that I will need an assistant next year, and possibly this fall if I start the group classes (the announcement will be coming for my former students).

I have not been busy training competition dogs, Magoo (client dog training for Open AKC), and Boris (my three legged dog training for Novice UKC).  In fact all the maintaining of training on current dogs goes out the window during the month of August.  So here is what we HAVE BEEN doing:

Computer Crashed and Down During Busy Time:  Granted, I really needed a new computer anyway.  I wanted a laptop with all the ports and attachments to do my work quickly and where ever the dogs are.   My computer was painfully slow even hooked up directly to the DSL line.   Still have not transferred everything that I need to my new Toshiba Satellite (love it).   Perhaps today will be the day to figure out how to plug my camera card and camcorder in.

Jake (a mix of mystery):  Did not take a picture of my new buddY yet:(   Jake came here to train in order to move with his owner to an assisted living situation.   Jake was never properly house trained, and his owner is loosing some memory functions.   Obviously, it's important that the facility remain clean from accidents.   So Jake came here to do house training, a little obedience training, and training to ring the bell to alert the owner.   The owner has remembered (a little too much) to let Jake out, so I may need to visit to reinforce the bell training, so when the memory does not work ---  Jake will.   So far so good as far as the house training has gone for his new home.  

This has been a wonderful case to work on.   His owner and the sons have been so supportive and helpful of being a team in this process.   It's been a very heartwarming case.   Jake is a wonderful dog by the way.   He is very playful and young, but has been a great companion to his less young owner.   So happy that they will be able to stay together.  

Huntington Commons is a retirement community that does allow their residents to keep dogs (and so I am assuming other pets as well) given the residents are able to follow some guidelines.   That is a happy thing especially for my future old age, though I hope to still be training well into my eighties.

Rocko (Maltese and Shih Tzu):  This two year old is a dynamo.   He came here after a second incident with a child.   Interestingly enough, this is more of an inappropriate play thing, it would seem, than an aggression thing.   I did not see the incident, but the parents report it's much like what they see when Rocko is playing with the dogs.   Dogs have fur though, where human beings do not.   Rocko being a small mite of a thing with uber confidence and not that much socialization, has trouble seeing the difference between any human who is playing with him and a dog.   His teeth are still young, white, and sharp, so catching something in the air at the right angle on the way down can cause a mark or bite wound.   Rocko is just needing work on self control around humans who play with him, and also more socialization and real world experiences.   Though a small dog, this is a dog that gets bored easily and needs a lot of activity.  He needs this activity in more of an outlet than just play.

Rocko is the classic case of the cycle that can go on in dog ownership.   First as a puppy, his barking, charging, was cute (well still is truth to be told, but...).   However, as human owners we need to look into the future and realize there are things coming down the pike that we must prepare our dogs for.   Like that children have soft skin without fur, and if we want our dogs to play with children (or be controllable around children) then we need to prepare them.

So then when Rocko was barking (a previous cute behavior that was inadvertently rewarded) in public or in the yard, the owners started to avoid those activities that would make Rocko bark.   Rocko goes out less, but still needs mental and physical activity so the now unwanted behaviors increase instead of being channelled correctly.

Rocko is a really good guy and very fun loving.   His owners have a hard time believing what an incredible obedience or agility guy this munchkin would be.   However, it's true:)  Rocko loves to work, and he loves to go on adventures.  Now it's about pushing his owners out there with him.  It's also about training the owners to control the environment for Rocko to learn how to be self controlled and calm.

Lola (thought to be Pit bull X Female and Housemate of Buddy):  Lola came here after an incident with he owner's niece.   However, she had always been hard to handle on lead in public around dogs.  Lola is a sweetheart with those that she knows.   She can show a bit of resource guarding with her other canine housemate.   She does like dogs, but her lack of socialization seems to have made her very wary, and she likes to go on the defensive first to be sure the other dog doesn't get to her first.   It matters little what the other dog is doing at the time.

Lola also was taken in at a much younger age than is advised.   So she missed out on much of the nurturing and sibling interactions that a dog should have.  

Buddy Cocker Spaniel Male (and Housemate of Lola):  Buddy and Lola adore each other.   Buddy is now taking private coaching lessons with his owners, so that they can learn how to train him as well.  It does make life much easier when all dogs in the household are trained on basic obedience and manners.

Alyssa (Husky):  OMG, such a cute Husky puppy.  Alyssa is here for daycare and training.   The training is limited as her knees are fluctuating improperly.   Surgery may be necessary to correct this for her.   She is coming into just one years old now.

Jake German Shepherd 10 Month Old Male (Sibling to Roxy):  Most breeders will not adopt out two siblings.   This pairing happened in a sort of accident.   One of the human siblings was holding the other puppy for a surprise later for the other family.   However, the holder fell in love with that puppy too.   (as well as the one that they totally planned to purchase for themselves)   Hence, at 10 months, the classic problems that arise out of this are rearing their head.

Jake is the more confident and larger of the two siblings.   He came up and sniffed me right away at his first lesson.   He gets reactive to sudden and movements from a distance.

Both siblings get anxious when they can not get to each other.

Roxy German Shepherd 10 Month Old Female (Sibling to Jake):  Roxy is more fearful and timid than Jake.  She did not elect to sniff or greet me the whole first lesson .  

Both siblings get anxious when they can not get to each other.

Salty (German Short haired Pointer Female):  Salty had an incident related to her invisible fence.   She also has not been trained to be confident and calm around her boundaries, and so we have started the coaching with her owners to get her back to enjoying the freedom of her yard:)

Daycare and walking:  Alyssa (the Husky female puppy mentioned above) is our most recent daycare client.  Ollie (a hound mix of some sort, I assume) has been my walking client since late this winter or early spring, and is now a daycare client here.

Boarding, boarding, and more boarding:  Boarding during August has been historically busy and crazy for the month.  We easily do every other month's work in a week.   We did have a few new guests this year Carlus (beagle and housemate to Bachus), Bachus (Great Pyrenes),  Polly (Chocolate Lab), and Lucey (Golden Lab and housemate to Fenway, Standard Poodle).   We also had regular guests Petey (Giant Schnauzer who recently passed away due to some health difficulties), Magoo CD (Great Dane and Petey's housemate), Roxy (Great Dane and Harley's housemate), Harley (Great Dane and Roxy's housemate), Bogey (cutest Beagle that you will ever meet), and more.   Plus we had all of the above going on as well.

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Video of Bri and Magoo Earning Their Last Legs for Companion Dog

Not perfect runs by far.   Bri had the best run of the two, and a good run for her pinkness.   Magoo was a bit distracted by the horses in the beginning, as you can tell, because he only hits one auto sit (a sure sign that the dog is distracted).   He stayed with me nicely during the heels, though a couple of times on leash there was some tension in the leash mostly in the about turns.

Very proud of them, it's been a hot long summer so far.  Magoo got his three legs in six trials total.   Bri got her two legs in 2008.   I think that took 5 trials then, before she "turned on".   Then this time it took 3 to get her last leg two years later.  I will never ever stop in the middle again.   It took a lot of work to get her back.



What's next?   Well I would like to train and enter my own dog, Boris, into the UKC.   I may take Magoo into Open.   Finally now that I have done a large dogs, I would love to take a toy dog into the ring:)

Next directly is to get my application into the IACP for my CDT:)

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Two Brand Spanking New Companion Dogs

Introducing Magoo CD!!   Magoo earned his third leg at yesterday afternoon at the Penobscott trials in Cumberland Maine.   Magoo is a Great Dane (male one and a half years old) that we borrow from a client to compete with.   Almost no work is done with him at home, but he comes to daycare 5 times a week.   About a half an hour a week day has gone into maintaining his training between trials.   Magoo's first two legs had been earned in May at the Vacationland trials.   Magoo was trained and handled by Robin Rubin of Mannerly Mutts.

Good job big boy!!!

Introducing Bri CD!!   Bri is owned by some friends next door, who allow us to borrow her for competition.   Bri is an American Staffordshire female of six years old.   At home she doubles as sleeping beauty with a lot of couch time, unless there is a pond around.   Bri was almost on the same schedule as Magoo, except she was dropped if time was run out of during the day:(  Even so, we managed to pull it off this weekend.

Robin Rubin of Mannerly Mutts trained and handled Bri at the trials.   Robert Rubin handled Bri during the stay portion of the trial.

Good job teams!!!  Don't see much of either breed in obedience competitions.   It was awesome being out there with these great dogs.

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What Longe Line Days 4-8 Looks Like

First Clip Lola Part 1 of Longe Line from Prev Week:



Clip Part 2 of Longe Line with Lola, which includes the dropping of the leash.   (5 of the 20 minutes of dropped leash captured):



Magoo demonstrating what Day 8 of Longe Line should look like:



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2ND Leg on Day 2 of Vacationland Dog Show

I inadvertently hit a future goal today, when Magoo completed his second leg with a 188.5.   It did seem to work better to NOT tire Magoo out in the morning.  Who knows though, the spirits of dog training were with us this warm afternoon.

Tomorrow it's going to change a little as Bri will be with us, and my friend, Missy, will handle Bri during the long stays.   I was going to perhaps have Missy handle Magoo if he had his two legs, but he is slightly distracted when we line up for the stays, and Bri won't be that distracted.  Plus Bri is smaller by more than 50 pounds.   I have never tried Bri with a different handler.   Of course, this is all assuming we pass the first part of Novice for Bri.

Magoo was definately more acclimated to the environment today, which was a huge help.   A conformation judge ran up to us, and was disappointed that both of Magoo's ears weren't standing.   He is an attractive dog both physically and temperamentally non the less!!

So proud of Magoo today.   But I would be anyway, he is an awesome dog.   I did not have a helper today, and I wanted to concentrate on just getting our leg.   So sadly, I have no video to show you what a ten point difference would look like.   Hopefully, tomorrow, Magoo will be in good form again, and we can show you the best performance that I am capable of right now:)

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First Leg for Magoo

Magoo's first leg video:



I had tired him out a bit more with exercise yesterday.   He was way distracted by the grass and the different dog smells in the beginning.   We completely missed our first auto sit.   Our last leashed autosit almost gave me a heart attack, as you can see him start to down and then catch himself. 

His heeling was better on his first trial where we disqualified.   So I am not going to exercise him as much before we go to our third trial today.   This will be Magoo's only fourth time in the ring.   I don't necessarily have a friend going with me (my friend Cindy was assisting yesterday), so I don't know whether I will get the video or not.   We will see.   Gotta get ready now, I will be leaving for the second day of Vactionland's dog show in 45 minutes.

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Training Others' Dogs for the AKC Ring

I have been spreading my wings as a trainer in more than just size differences and temperament differences in dogs trained for the AKC ring, but I have taken on clients and friends dogs to get my experience in the ring.   Some trainers have a large family of dogs, in case things happen where their dogs can no longer accompany them into the ring.   I like for MY dogs to have all my attention when clients dogs are here, and I feel I have only enough energy to keep 2-3 dogs of my own perfectly happy and content.   Some trainers have even been known to train a foster dog to this task, but the problem comes in when you don't want to hold up a perfect home for the dog (or now you can't part with your foster LOL).  Taking on clients dogs is a unique opportunity.  

From the owners, I need access to the dogs during weekdays.   My client brings his dog to daycare due to this, and my friends are at work...so Bri is available to me during the weekdays.   Other factors can influence me on what is best to train on that day.   Today for instance, we have a moment of cold and windy (but sunny weather) that may bring more hardy Mainers out to some outdoor places.   So today might be a great day to bring a dog into distracting areas to do long downs or sit on the dogs.   Last few days were rainy, so we did a lot of group indoor stays with whoever was here and able to do that with Magoo and Bri.  You can make an indoor environment more distracting by bouncing balls, using an untrained puppy named Boris to run around and play through the participants, opening doors, timing it to when vehicles to pick up daycare are coming ET.   While it might not be worth it to go out and find distractions (as they won't be plentiful or probably on rainy days), you can still practice indoors.

I am really trying to make these practices count, and not try to overwork the dogs plus have them be practice sessions that will turn out to bite me in the butt in the ring (not ever literally of course ).   When out walking at a heel and for auto sits, being really sure that my body and foot movements will represent what I do in the ring is very important right now.   This is more about retraining me, BUT I have to make sure I now train the dogs to interpret the difference in the body movements now.   Why don't I just walk as I did in practice before?   Most likely this will cause points off.   There are very specific rules on what the human party in the transaction can and can not do.   I have had quite a few points taken off for having my hand in the wrong place during a command before.   If I have put the work into the dog, I prefer not to point myself out.  Yikes!!   It's a lot to think about, and it's best I think about it now BEFORE going into the ring.

Other things can effect what I work on during the day.   Who is here is sometimes a consideration.   Magoo gets along with everybody, and so far everybody likes him (human and canine LOL).   But Bri and Roxy are not so fond of each other.   It's not clearly evident unless they invade the other's space, but I prefer not to have them interact too often.  So since Roxy is coming here today to board, it's a good day to work with Bri off the property in distracting and public areas.   Thankfully, the weather is also cooperating with this plan today.

I have realized by getting my legs in the past, even if something goes a little wrong, I can usually save both of us from pointing out by keeping my body language the same, when I am in the ring.   So the dog can go "oh look at this piece of straw in the ring",   "oops wait where did my handler go, I better catch up."   If I instead look back, as if I am going back to the dog, I have clouded my signals up for my partner.  I am no longer in a leader position, as I have instead indicated that I may go back for them.  This can make an oopsy worse than it needed to be.

In training dogs that are not mine, I have found it quite different than training my own.   At home, I only have to worry about the humans who live here being inconsistent.   I can't control that when Bri and Magoo's owners interact with them.   I can give them clues and tips, but I know they both use the term "come" differently than I do in the ring.   It might have been smart of me to develop a different word for the recall in the ring, but we are a bit too far along to mess with things right at this moment.   I often don't have the opportunity to work them around their owners either, which provides a much different type of distraction in the ring.   As you could see in the video, Bri wasn't looking towards her owner, so she has become used to her owner being with me when in the ring from last year.  Many times, training may not be used in the home of the dog at all!!  So the only time they get practice is with you.  Should I ever wish to become a professional handler for others (a long time from now), it will be imperitive that I have these things sorted out and planned for.   First, I need to get better at my handling skills.   Luckily, I enjoy the art of dog training, and the bonds it creates between me and my canine friends.

Do I want to do this ring style body langauge when just going for a casual walk with my dogs normally?   Of course not...   The better you can prepare your dog for a scenario that may not be usual, in general, the better you can prepare your dog for real life situations.   By training my dogs and others for public as well as private performances, I can provide more opportunities of enjoyment and freedom for mine and others' dogs.

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NOT A Good First 2010 Trial Performance(s) for ME

The Casco Obedience Club Trial did end up being the perfect one for Magoo's first showing ever, my first trial of 2010 since (June 2009 legs earned on both Bri and Jack), and Bri's first trial since the same June 2009 trial. It had very large classes, but was a pretty tame show area. Still, I was far more nervous of this first 2010 event that I wanted to be. After working the dogs that morning, my best bet was that Bri may stand a chance at her last leg, and that Magoo would not stand a chance. Boy was I wrong LOL.

First of all, Bri has done very well before; it was totally my mistake in only acclimating her for a week before the trial. After viewing our tape, I am also quite certain that during the auto sits; I am probably not walking the same when practicing with her as when I was in the ring. My body language seemed to be confusing her, so it's going to be very important that I really pay attention to body position and footwork between now and May 20ths trial. You will note she did every auto sit...somewhere in the ring, it just was not beside me sometimes it was behind me (and I remember wondering where the heck is Bri Bri? I didn't want to mess her up further by looking for her at that point). Sometimes it was behind me; sometimes she walked away a little before doing it. She was paying attention to me well during the leashed heel, but was still farther ahead than I would like, so I need to reposition her for heel AND I also want to move her into a bit more of a six inch distance from me. I also underestimated how excited she would be to be back in the ring. During both the leashed and off leashed fast heeling, you can see her excitement charge ahead. She loves being the center of attention, and that has worked for me in the past. This time though, I was too cocky that we would get sleepy calm Bri in the ring. In fact, she did not light up that day until we stepped into the ring. So Bri and me had no chance in getting our leg during this trial, and that was totally my fault. So here we come Vacationland, and we have a month so this should be very much improved.  In the meantime, enjoy how cute Bri was, while I performed horribly.



Magoo despite his puppy antics earlier in the morning was more focused. There is one instant during the off leash heel where he walks over to the fence, but he returns when I am told to halt. So we would not have pointed out for that. However, at the last part of the tape, you will see that I seem confused during the recall. I thought the judge asked me to move my dog. I said "stay, and what move my dog?" She said no leave your dog, and I said "stay" again. At which point she said, you can't say stay again, you must leave your dog. I effectively disqualified us. The judge did allow us to do the recall, which was good as practice for Magoo. His heel was good, but most of his sits were crooked or in front of me. He did a really great figure eight, but missed one of the sits. And during the recall he sat crooked for front, and almost did a front for finish.

My entire fault, totally. Magoo is my first client dog in the ring, though I am doing all the training for free as practice. He is also the youngest dog (1 and a half) that I have brought into the ring. Not happy with my performance, but happy with both of the dogs, Bri and Magoo. As a team we will all show much better in May. Just dusting off the cobwebs now. One thing that was good is both tapes didn't look as bad as the performance actually felt. I am the worst at this, but the worst thing one can do is let their nerves get to them if it does not start out stellar. As much as I know this, I always know that I need to practice in that setting as well as the dogs, in order for me to get accustomed to it again.



Am I going to stop showing because I had a bad performance? Heck no, it's all about improving skills and seeing what your errors are when training. Then you can move that advice on to your clients (as best as possible) in their training. You can never expect your clients to do as well as you do, BUT if you are not more advanced and haven't investigated what is needed in order to succeed at those advanced levels, then you will be passing on even more mediocre training suggestions to your clients. Then they do not know how to improve their partnership with their dog, or even that it can be done.

That performance shows not such a great partnership between those dogs and me. They did have fun, and they enjoyed being out there with us. Now the smart thing one might think for a trainer to do is bury this, and only mention the accomplishments by simply pretending this day never happened. However, I like to show the journey it takes to do this. So many people are intimidated to do obedience, they worry about what others will think, the mistakes they will make, or can my dog do it. Obedience is really not that intimidating, and if things go wrong you fix them for next time. For a trainer, it is important to branch out form just doing your dogs to doing many types and breeds of dogs. This is what I am doing for free right now with dogs that I do have access to. I will take the lumps when I do bad, and move on by experimenting with the ways that I do things. Not many people have three perfect trials in a row from beginning to end. While that would be wonderful, know that about four other people that followed me had things happen like the dog going for the gate (on the other side of the ring) during a recall after a pretty solid performance otherwise. So you try to practice in situations later that give you time to fix the problem. It can also be a one time only problem, one never knows. Finally, the human part of the equation cannot get better without being committed to taking their lumps when mistakes happen for the better good of creating a strong partnership between dog and owner. If I just threw up my hands and said "wow that was so embarrassing, obedience is so stupid and not natural", then I would not be growing the way that I think I should. The reason I like the obedience as it always was is it really creates a strong bond with your dog that allows you to move onto the more exciting aspects of training (retrieve, selection, tracking).

So if a client can do this 60%, then they can at least have an increased partnership with their dog even if they choose not to compete. However, if you don't polish up your skills in these areas, you are not experiencing exactly how this works, and therefore a client cannot experience exactly how this works.

I do not have the kind of grace that other dog owners have out there on the ring. My body position has improved leaps and bounds though (as sad as that is LOL). I was never a good dancer, and I got easily confused during aerobics. So experiencing how body position works so much better with my improvements (that are not stellar) really hits home as to how these details make it clearer to the dog, and therefore they can follow your lead much better. I still have a lot of work to do, and I am putting my nose to the grindstone so that I can hopefully accomplish Magoo's three legs in May, and Bri's last leg that is left towards her Companion Dog title.

If I can be okay with embarrassing myself publically, anyone can be okay with it.   I hope that the May tapes of the progress can inspire people how much fun this is.   And I hope my willingless to show warts as well as accomplishments can show that the world does not end if you have a bad day.  I have always had stage fright, but have managed to muddle my way through corporate presentations and now dog trials.  I have only gotten five legs (three with Jackie CD and two with Bri) in my career as a professional dog trainer.  I also know that in order to advance to Open, I have to start getting scores in the high one nineties in Novice, and I am not there yet.   I can qualify right now, but have not ironed out the kinks in my body work and in the training program to get to the optimum performance that I want.   How will I get there?   Try and try again AND practice practice practice!!

So the go forward training plan is largely this:

· Magoo Plan 1: Find as many distracting packed with dogs’ events (craft shows, charity walks, matches,) to continue to accustom Mr. Magoo to the fact that checking out other dogs is not allowed. This just means making it ho hum for him. We usually use Petco and the beach, but he is pretty acclimated to those areas, so he just needs more strange and distracting areas.

· Magoo Plan 2: Doing attention training to keep his focus if another dog is at the fence line again.

· Magoo Plan 3: Straighten out the auto sits which includes being very focused on my body language while training, and how that is going to manifest itself in the ring. I have a feeling that when I am practicing, I am probably turning my shoulder instead of staying straight. I may also be cueing them (which I can't do in the ring, to sit where I want).

· Magoo Plan 4: Work on front and finish. We worked on this quite a bit, but again I think in the distracting setting is the key. It's hard to find off leash places where one is allowed to do some off leash training (under distractions) like this. First though, I need to make sure the position stands up in the non-distracting setting of my home, and I am not throwing out cues by mistake. I really need to be sure I am moving exactly as I will in the ring, while I am practicing.

· Magoo Plan 5: Devote every other day to practicing whole routine, and videoing it for progress. Want to see this done in different areas.

· Bri Plan 1: Basically work with her consistently between now and May 20th, especially in distracting situations.

· Bri Plan 2: Be more exacting on Bri's heel position.

· Bri Plan 3: Practice more running heels with Bri in situations that would make her very excited.

· Bri Plan 4: Still need to work on her closeness during the figure eight outside circle. She was a bit wide at least once.

· Bri Plan 5: Similar to Magoo, auto sits need to be straightened out, with most of the emphasis on what my body is doing during practice.

· Bri Plan 6: Every other day practice total routine, video it, and change up location.

· Me Plan 1: Pay attention to body position for practice to become body position for ring!!!

· Me Plan 2: Particular attention to be paid to what my body is doing during auto sits.

· Me Plan 3: Get cue cards so assistants can order me around as if I was at a trial.

· Me Plan 4: Come up with alternative distracting areas for the dogs rather than the same old ones.

.Me Plan 5:  Get ahold of an arm band holder, so I don't find myself in the uncomfortable position of needing to fiddle with the rubber band during the trial.   Man!!


Looking forward to sharing the improvements during the May trials. I may find time to download some practices, but I have older technology so downloading, importing, and then transferring take a large amount of time.



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Trialling Two Dogs

On this Sunday, the big day for trialling Magoo and Bri comes around.   Their pictures will tell you these are two different breeds of dog.   There are more differents than that obvious one, and even the difference in their size, which affects a number of things as well.

Bri likes to sleep late into the morning.   Yup, just like me as a lazy tween and teen.   She is not a morning person.   So exercising her before the trial is not such a great idea.   She has also gotten a bit out of shape, so doing too much with her so that she gets tired will backfire big time.   Bri almost always has to go to the bathroom (number 2) about 11am when we have gone to trials before.   So I really need to make sure that she potties before we go into the ring if it's anywhere around that time.  In general, it's a really good idea to make sure you dog has done everything they need to do, as this could make them uncomfortable in the ring...and they may just NEED to go right then.  Bri has always managed to get the higher scores that I have made when we trialed before.   I personally think her pink cuteness blinds the judges to her flaws, but they see so many dogs that I know this must not be true.

Magoo on the other hand, is still a young Great Dane puppy of 165 pounds.   The size factor has meant being sure to get him used to not using his size and strength in public, and hopefully this holds over to the very exciting atmosphere of this trial.   This trial is in a middle school, and there are likely to be baked goods and children running around with baked goods asking to pet your dog.   Not to mentioned in a crowded gym area with three rings set up, and spectators.   It's not the most chaotic scenario that I have had for a trial, but it is close.   Magoo will be exercised before we go.  

Both dogs will be warmed up for about 10 minutes or so before the trial (starting outside and going to inside).   Luckily I have some help coming with me (Bri's owner).   I hope to get some good video of both in their individual exercises.   Bri's owner will be helping handle Bri during the long stays.  

Bri only needs to get one leg to accomplish her companion dog.   This is Magoo's first trial and so he needs all three legs.   In the past, Bri has tended to lie down during the sit stay for one minute.   This has been the reason in the past for some lost opportunities for a leg.   After a year, this has been the only week that I have worked with Bri reminding her of what she knows.   Surprisingly, she is showing the most trouble on the stand.   Occaisionally she also lagged a bit on the off leash heeling, but that has not cost us a leg.

For Magoo, last time he was really taken with the crowd looking at him (at a match).   I have been working a lot with him in Portsmouth and on the beach with interested on lookers (sometimes a bit too interested and insistent on saying hi to the dogs while in the middle of a session).   Magoo has been doing really well there, so hopefully that will transfer to the ring as well.

When trialling two dogs, it is important to realize a couple of things.   One if they like each other, they can be a major distraction to each other.   When I used to bring Bri and Jack together, at the beginning you could hear one crying in the crate, and it was obvious that the other dog heard it too.   So you need to try and prepare for that.   I am not bringing a crate for Magoo, but you do want to prepare a dog if they will be crated at the trial.  Also if both dogs are in the same class, you need a handler for the second dog during the long  stays.

Once you get used to it, trialing is a really fun activity to do with your dogs.   Both Magoo and Bri love the attention that they get:)  

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