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MOC Agility Trial Coming Up!

fortdoberdale.com Posted on January 29, 2010 by HelenJanuary 29, 2010

Friday is winding down.  Shortly, I’ll be leaving for home and an evening of getting ready for the Miami Obedience Club’s Agility Trial, which has been going on as of yesterday and today.  I entered Leissl for the weekend, and Baby will go for the Veteran’s Parade tomorrow.  I am thinking of taking Dudley, too, for a chance to take in the environment, but also for the stupid pet tricks competition tomorrow also.

There is a lot going on at the trial besides the trial in the next two days.  A lot of competitions for free entries next year.  I don’t quite understand them all.  I’m entering the composition competition, which I do understand.  Yes, they even have that.  And a crossword puzzle competition, trailer trash dinner, insane raffle, top chef competition, and more!  It should be fun.  The hardest part of all this is packing, getting ready, doing it all.  Since I’ve twice before forgotten my chair, it now lives in the truck.  After the packing and getting there part, there’s the finding a site, unloading and setting up.   After that, I can breathe and do what I went there for.  Agility.  It will be a long day tomorrow, but I’m looking forward to some fun!

Posted in Agility, AKC

Toy Commander

fortdoberdale.com Posted on January 27, 2010 by HelenJanuary 27, 2010

Last night was the first run-through we had in a long long time. Months even. It was lightly populated with handlers, but most of the handlers had two or three dogs, so what I expected to be a quick evening turned out to be a substantial time out.

I brought only Leissl. She and I are trialing this weekend, and I wanted to focus on her. Raven is still on sabbatical, anyway. She’s got some things to learn and focus on before I invite her back into a trial ring to pair up with me for another agility dance. I think she’s feeling being slighted. I took her out in the back the other night to work on the front cross training from Susan Garrett’s Success With One Jump DVD. She wanted to play most of the night. She’d been shoving toys at me, and I ignored it, so when I got her outside, she was ready to cooperate.

I set her up and did the drill, and offered her the tug toy I’d made as a reward. She took it and tugged a little. Then we did the drill a few more times when she spotted the toy she really likes. She ran over to pick it up and bring it to me. I took it and put it up. It wasn’t a tugging type toy, and I was not going to let Raven dictate the toy we’d use because that’s what she’s doing on the agility field. She dictates the obstacles she takes. On the other hand, it hurt me to deny her playing with her favorite toy. I really wanted to take that toy and throw it for her because she loves running. But that wasn’t going to improve our communication in agility, and it wouldn’t work for the drill we were doing. I also stopped myself from playing the fetch game after we finished the drill. I wanted Raven to go inside and think about what we did and to get the idea that I’m the boss of toys and everything else. Really. Raven’s a little commando, and I’ve got to put my thumb on everything because she is a master at taking a yard when I give an inch.

Posted in Training

Map of Florida Counties

fortdoberdale.com Posted on January 25, 2010 by HelenJanuary 25, 2010

Map Courtesy of Digital Map Store

Posted in Blue Bucket

Adventures on a Rented Agility Field

fortdoberdale.com Posted on January 23, 2010 by HelenFebruary 24, 2019

Today I rented an agility field to practice and train.  First time ever. I had scheduled 2 hours, but I could only do 1-1/2 hours.  I was tired!

And then there’s Raven.  And Dudley.  They were together in the ex-pen while I was working with Leissl and then they weren’t.  That’s because Dudley squeezed out.  I don’t usually have to use but one center clip on the thing to keep my Dobies in there, but Dudley?  He’s a different creature. 

And Raven?  She is a bird.

So once she saw Dudley flying off, she took the same exit, but it wasn’t suited to her size.  She got stuck.  There was a water bucket hitched to the inside and one hitched to the outside, so there she was, being ridden by an ex-pen and its paraphernalia as she galloped through the field.  No, she wasn’t injured.

I was glad I had their leashes on, as I finally caught up with Raven.  I mean, how hard is it to catch a Dobie carrying an ex-pen?  Dudley?  He’s a prankster, so I stepped on his leash.  His little harness went BOINK, and he came to a full and complete stop.  Yes, that was but one adventure.

Later on, Dudley pooped in the expen.  And on his leash.  The loose kind.  Too much coconut oil in his food last night.  Well, this pooping incident went on while Raven was with him.  They make mischievous music together.   Thereafter, Raven got tangled in the shoot.  That was fun.  Not.  But it didn’t phase her one bit.  Nope.  She went right back in again.  She’s quite a she-devil, Raven is.

Leissl was the angel.  She always is.  (Except when she’s not.)  Today she accomplished all I asked her to.  We worked on taking two jumps at the start line, and I desperately tried to do a front cross while working her, but I set the jumps up and myself for failure on that.  However, I’m still practicing that fancy footwork, and sooner or later, I will get it.  I need to do more prep work to accomplish my goals next time I rent a field.

Dudley did a full a-frame all by himself today for the 1st time.  Woohoo.  He never laid a paw on an a-frame before, and I had no way of lowering it by myself, so I said  let’s see if he does it and he did it over and over again.  He was so cute at the top struggling to get over the apex…little ears tight back and working so hard, but that’s his personality.  He takes on everything he can, especially when there’s a treat waiting at the other end.  Dudley also took the adult-sized teeter, and the dog walk and a straight tunnel.  I couldn’t get a bite on the shoot, though.  I really need a second person for help on that, or set something up at home with a small shoot.  Dudley’s an amazing little guy.

It was an entirely fun time, and I was zonked when I came home and that is why I was not happy to find poop to clean off the floor.  Rather it got dispersed around three of the throw mats on the floor.   I was only gone 3-3/4 hours!  Hello?  That put me in a really grouchy mood because I was so tired.  Argh!  Argh!  Argh!  But I’m over it now, especially because I finally can rest a little.  Until tomorrow anyway.

It was a very fine day.  Next weekend is our next agility trial, Leissl’s and mine.  Raven is still on sabbatical and Dudley hasn’t arrived yet.  Neither have I, actually, but even so, someone has to steer and I do have a learner’s permit.

Posted in Agility, Handler Mom, Training

Scientists Find a Shared Gene in Dogs With Compulsive Behavior

fortdoberdale.com Posted on January 21, 2010 by HelenJanuary 21, 2010

Excerpt from the NY Times article:

“Although antidepressants, particularly selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and clomipramine, a tricyclic antidepressant, and behavior modification have proved effective at controlling compulsive behavior in dogs and people, they do not appear to correct underlying pathologies or causes, Dr. Ginns said. Those causes are likely to be as varied as the compulsive behaviors and as complex as the interplay of multiple genes and the environment.

“Stress and anxiety, as well as physical trauma and illness, can trigger repetitive behavior that then takes on a life of its own,” Dr. Ginns said.

But he believes that in many cases there is an underlying genetic predisposition that responds to environmental stimuli in such a way that once-normal behavior turns into something pathological. Those genetic dispositions may differ markedly between different behaviors.”

Click to read the entire article.

Posted in Blue Bucket

Never call This a Blooper

fortdoberdale.com Posted on January 20, 2010 by HelenJanuary 20, 2010

PART 1

PART 2

Posted in Agility

TailWaggers Trial

fortdoberdale.com Posted on January 17, 2010 by HelenJanuary 17, 2010

Here are Leissl’s and my runs from the TailWaggers New Year’s Trail.

Posted in Agility, AKC

Making Dog Tug Toys

fortdoberdale.com Posted on January 16, 2010 by HelenJanuary 17, 2010

I won the middle tug toy at Tracy Hanna’s Christmas party.  She made it.  So I did some investigating and unwinding, and made my own.  Then I found the directions on-line on how to make this braid.  It’s called a Crown Sinnet – click to see how it’s done.

And click to see how to make a rope dog toy using a Monkey Fist knot or a braided toy.

Posted in Dog Toys

AKC Mixed Breed Program

fortdoberdale.com Posted on January 16, 2010 by HelenJanuary 16, 2010

Here’s some good news!

“While each club’s participation in the AKC Canine Partners program will remain voluntary, clubs may now choose to allow mixed breed participation at any AKC Agility, Obedience or Rally event.  Mixed breeds will compete in the same classes and earn the same titles as their purebred counterparts.”

Click for the entire letter.

Posted in AKC

Personalized Janet McLaughlin Song

fortdoberdale.com Posted on January 15, 2010 by HelenJanuary 15, 2010

This is so cool.

Order your personalized All American Boy or Girl song by
Janet McLaughlin!  The Agility Song.

Click here to get it for your own dog.

Posted in Blue Bucket

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