Here is where Zumi has been at with her obedience training. Since the January AKC obedience trial where she moved on her stands or didn't stand on the fist cue, I've been trying to replicate that issue in practice. My guess is it is a pressure issue with the judge.
In practice, I was occasionally successful early on with having someone exciting standing behind her, but overall she nailed it.
So I then moved to upping the excitement level and playing with rewards in front of her. This did successfully replicate the problem of not standing on the first cue!
In addition to working on the stand, I continue to work on her db arousal issues.
Here's a compilation of a recent session with the stand and db:
This last weekend we had a CDSP trial and I'm happy to report that she didn't move at all on any of the 6 retrieves over 3 trials. Good girl!! Still some squealing on each ROH, but not always on the flat. She did do some mouthing of her db on the front, worse the first run of each day vs the 2nd run on Saturday.
Zumi did NQ in her run on Sunday due to moving on the DOR recall. This was the first time she's done that to me in a sit, not a stand:
And here is Saturday's run where we did qualify!:
This weekend we have another AKC trial, the first since the January trial and it's at the same location. This time I have 2 runs on Saturday. Wish us luck!
Well last weekend Zumi has 2 more attempts in AKC Open!! Spoiler alert, no Q's. But quite a different dog than December's attempt with the lovely child steward! No scared Zumi, instead a very very high Zumi!!!
The fact that our yard is an ice skating rink these last several weeks did not help. In the little practice she has had, she has been back to squealing on her retrieves unless it's super close. Quite the regression from where we had been at a few months ago. So I was not optimistic that she would be calm and quiet in a trial setting.
This was also our first attempt at Open B. I was hoping to see whether separating out the 2 retrieves from each other would help, as well as curious on how her heeling would be if it wasn't first. She is a sensitive girl and doing the heeling with the judge and figure 8 pressure first isn't her favorite even if she can still do it well.
But Saturday's order had the retrieve over the high first. Apparently that did not help her!! Whee! I was impressed that Zumi was able to come back from almost running past me on her front to actually be decently straight!
Drop on recall was good.
Cue Discrimination had a few steps after I left her on the stand, but better than October's trial. No problem with stand-sit-down.
Heeling I was happier with. Still some minor looking at the figure 8 stewards, but overall with me and happy.
Retrieve on the flat was super high. Squealing and then even dropped her dumbbell in front although she immediately grabbed it and fronted well.
Broad jump she couldn't hold it together. Just had to walk after I left her. Flashback to our agility stays which are supposedly fixed!
And the stand get your leash also had walking.
I'm not entirely sure if her walking is primarily an over arousal issue or primarily judge pressure. I'm assuming both, especially since she did this walking at our first attempt at open in October when she wasn't quite so high.
Overall I was really happy with this run. Lots of stuff to fix but so many good things. And good to see that her finishes were fixed too!
Sunday
Sunday was back to order 1 in the B class, so not really any feedback on what will be best for her.
She was a little bit more in control of herself which was good to see. But also slightly flatter. The biggest thing that I didn't like was she had a hard time setting up for exercises. Zumi's always had an issue of sitting too far back and this was a bit worse than usual.
Retrieves not much better. Lots of pattering and she even left before I cued the retrieve over the high as I was trying to really pause before sending her.
The worse was the holds. Lots of rolling the dumbbell and I tried to wait her out before taking it because she had already NQed on the cue discrimination.
So cue discrimination she wouldn't do her down on the first cue. Usually this is her strength!
Did do her stay before the broad jump at least.
But the stay on the stand-leash was worse.
Well we're skipping the next local trial. But we do have a CDSP obedience trial coming up in 2 weeks and then I'm looking at trying the March AKC trial
Little Grace just turned 10 weeks old! Things have been going very well other than the one crappy issue. Pun intended. As Grace is one of Those puppies who doesn't mind peeing or pooping in a small crate.
Her crate training has gone very well. Her crate is right next to me in the bedroom or right near the action and she doesn't make a peep. Even when she clearly has to go.
And it didn't help that after the first week she started to have some diarrhea issues! Ugh.
I got so sick of cleaning up a poopy crate and giving constant baths that I decided I'm done with the crate. On the positive side, Grace loves her baths!
Until the issue is resolved we are only using an xpen to confine her most of the time. At least that way she can have a bed on one and then wander over and poop at a different end. Hopefully preventing her from lying down in it and painting everything.
Despite the horrors of this issue, her potty training isn't going too bad. She's one of the few dogs I'm choosing to use cookies with to reward her for potty outside, and we just go out a lot. I always take puppies out a lot, and Grace is definitely going out more than just "a lot" most days. There's no safe spot for her if she doesn't actually do anything outside and that's the most frustrating piece. But she does seem to be getting it. A few nights without an accident at least!
Netta's been very helpful in training her house manners too! She likes to say "Grace!!" and then "chew bone" and runs to grab a toy when she sees Grace chewing something she shouldn't be!
She's been on some hamburger and rice the last week so not much training has been happening. We have a bit of W/D I've been giving her occasionally as well, but things are looking better so hopefully we can resume training.
Mainly we are working on 2 skills
1. Put your feet on things. 2 feet on a perch, 4 feet on a platform, 4 feet in a box...
2. Learning to wait for her food dish cue. My goal is to get her food bowl to the floor when I'm training and have Grace ignore it as I grab handfuls to train from. Right now I'm starting this with the food bowl high and working on picking it up and setting it down in different locations. When Grace turns to me I reward her lots but I'm not yet having any eye contact criteria.
As it gets lower, if she goes to it I try to quickly use my food hand to stop her and reward her for stopping, then move the bowl higher if that location still seems to hard.
I'm just starting to do some occasional reps of teaching her "get it" means run for the cookie tosses, keep ignoring the dish.
2018 was a busy year! The baby became a toddler. Adam started a new job in the spring. And we moved, not once but twice!
The yearly video!
Zumi
Zumi had a big year. We traveled in agility for our first overnight trip to the midwest UKI cup in Wisconsin, and then our bigger trip just last month to Florida. She didn't do that great on paper, but I thought she handled the exciting environments really well! We still have a long way to go in agility for my handling to keep up with her and for continually fixing her startine!
In obedience, we continued to work hard on fixing her arousal issues with her dumbbell retrieve. And mostly we were successful in practice. Unfortunately, after over a year of work she *can* still squeal even in practice. So while I didn't give up on my mission to work on it in practice, I decided that I was going to be OK with knowing she would squeal in a trial and take the points for it.
So we started trialing in AKC Open this October and Zumi has done 3 days of trials now. I discovered that she actually doesn't always squeal in a trial on each retrieve! And discovered some exercises that weren't as solid as I thought. Zumi's down from a sit was broken. And her stand stay was a bit broken when left near a judge. While I thought she's done really well at her shows, we have just 1 Q to show for it.
Vito Vito finally hit the big 10!! Double digits for the Toller!
Vito still is running in agility, just at 16in in UKI and 14in in USDAA. He's running well and earned his UKI championship in the select class this year. Mostly he's down to 2 runs a day and often just one day of a trial. He could do more physically still, just a combination of money and well Vito has always been a happy couch dog vs agility dog.
He also did some CDSP obedience again this year at handful of local shows. Overall doing very well and happy on most exercises. The gloves remains an issue, primarily if sent to the side that the steward is standing on. But I'm thrilled with how happy he's being and how he's mostly nailing his signals!
Lance
First half of the year was pretty similar to the last few years. Some fun coming out for a small handful of WCRL rally trials and barking lots. Very sassy.
The move from our old house to my parent's basement in April was hard on him. Lots of stairs and while I tried to carry him often it was difficult to do consistency. I already was carrying the child up and then another trip for any dishes/laundry and the corgi was just doing the stairs more often than I'd like. He really seemed to feel the impact.
And then in August, shortly after our final move, he suffered what is likely another disc issue in his back, just not as severe as the original one that forced his early retirement several years ago. While this one wasn't as bad, his recovery from it hasn't been as great either. He's still sassy and still hides any physical issues really well when out and about at work or if I bring him to visit others at a trial. But at home he's having a harder time with finding the motivation to get up out of a dog bed to go outside. Unfortunately, he also likes being in the basement at our new house. At least it's only a half set of stairs down and then he waits at the bottom to be carried back up.
I'm not sure if he's going to be doing any WCRL trials in 2019 or if he's officially retired.
Fosters
We started out the year with Pippa, the goldador. We had Pippa for 6 weeks, 6 weeks longer than I wanted to! Her goldeny personality did not mesh well with me! She's a good dog though and will hopefully make a great service dog someday!
And this was the first year we've had a puppy in the house in awhile! In April we picked up Splash the Boykin spaniel puppy! Unfortunately, due to medical reasons (growth plate issues) he was career changed from the service dog program and we found him a home shortly after we moved into our new home this August. Splash taught me a lot about management to prevent a puppy from ingesting things! And it was interesting working with a spaniel's focus outside!
Then we had Speckles the tiny terrier for a few months while he waited for a client to be their hearing dog.
And now we have a puppy again! This time little Grace is not a service dog in training, just an opportunity for me to start a puppy and see how she grows out for her breeder!
Last trial of the year!!! And Zumi's first trial back since the UKI open.
Saturday was apparently the best trial she's ever had. 4 runs, 4 qualifying scores, and all beautiful. She ran fast and clean. I've never felt so excited as I did on Saturday!!! We actually qualified in a jumping round!!
Here's jumpers and "agility":
But our startline sucked. Walking on the first run up a few feet before stopping and sitting when I looked back. The rest she didn't walk but major vulchering to the point of lying down and squealing.
The sad thing is I know exactly why we have this issue and I know how to fix it. It keeps cropping up, I keep fixing it, but then I let it slide again and surprise surprise. I need to make it a priority. I don't let her actually break before my cue in practice, but I don't emphasize pausing before my release and I'm sure she's gone on my inhalation and movement many times. The good news is that it always starts rearing it's head in practice vs it being a "trial only" issue of over arousal.
Sunday was not so well. More startline issues, worse than Saturday of course! And while errors were all my fault, there were lots of errors. We managed to run clean in the last of 5 runs, others all off courses, usually multiple!
Here's our standard/agility run!
Vito came along on Sunday for the Masters Heat challenge runs. Such a good boy. He always makes me feel better about my handling :)
I decided to seize today's nice weather and Daddy napping with the toddler to actually train my dog! Win for me!
I decided to look at the TEAM 4 test behaviors to train some new things and yet still have a ton of carryover for our AKC Open prep work.
We haven't officially put anything together yet for this test but I was confident that she had the foundations necessary for it. Indeed looking over the test items today it was more so the putting together of the various chains that were new for us, not the skills themselves.
So I decided to take a baseline. Run through the test and see where she was at:
1. Send to target with distractions, position changes, recall.
Send to target between distractions went well! I know Zumi can struggle with this and we've done quite a bit of work on it in the past. 3 position changes on a single cue, check. We've been working those cue discriminations for open and it paid off here. I just have to remember to pause longer!
Recall on a hand signal only- oops. Zumi "knows" this but apparently not well enough to do it out of context. Recall signal after a go out and with her toys out just wasn't there.
2. Big figure 8 around distractions.
This one surprised me! Zumi left the distractions alone fairly nicely. Well I guess she did almost try to steal one after the exercise finished from the previous exercise! But the big problem here was stopping as we heeled!
In her defense, we have been practicing our moving sits, moving stands, and moving downs recently!
3. Retrieve and pivoting away.
This one is just so hard for Zumi! She squealed, but did ultimately turn with me both times.
And then spat out the dumbbell, likely due to all the snow in her mouth!
4. Moving stand, drop, return to heel.
Good girl on the actual exercise. But a lot of auto marking ahead before we started! We'll have to work on doing heeling starting out towars the go out area!
Here we took quite a big break. I'm not sure what grabbed Zumi's attention but she clearly wasn't ready to work. I thought it might have been the 2nd retrieve item the way she was searching but I'm just not sure! Either way, I tried to be patient as I told her to take a break, and then yet another break when she wasn't really ready again.
5. Backup-position change- broad jump
This was the exercise I was the least certain about. I'm sure I've backed her up in front of a jump but not enough to have her think! I was actually surprised that she did catch my cue eventually and back up vs just jumping!
Didn't sit on the first cue though!
6. Articles.
Good girl! I've actually practiced articles a small handful of times the last few months which is much more than usual for me! She had no problem in the snow.
I was pretty pleased! Big takeaways to work on are:
- recall signal with distractions out and after a send away.
- pivoting away from a thrown item with more confidence, less conflict.
- actually heeling, not stopping!
- backup cue when in front of a jump.
- heeling starting from the go out spot.
Well we went to the AKC obedience trial today! Zumi was entered in Open A for her 2nd trial.
I was both happy and worried when I saw that the steward for Open was a child. A lovely young girl who did a great job stewarding all day!
It's just that Zumi wasn't well socialized to kids and she's very nervous by them. A recurring them in some past problems we have had with Zumi working in both agility and obedience trials. A problem that is purely my problem, not a fault of the club and certainly not a problem that she was there stewarding.
I was optimistic that since the girl was older we would be fine. I could keep Zumi in "drive" and hopefully have her not even notice her.
That didn't' happen. Zumi saw her right away as we were getting ready to enter the ring and started worrying. She recovered really well as we got to run to the heeling setup spot and heeled relatively well. Some lagging. A few glances to the steward table, and a brief moment where she cut behind me to heel on the wrong side. But trying hard and playing with me before the figure 8 setup.
Then a little worse. Zumi needed to sniff the girl and did some ducking away.
At the start of the cue discrimination, she was still a little worried and not able to focus on my first cue to stand. NQ.
But then I was really proud of how she pulled it together!
No squealing on the first retrieve! Just a tiny squeal on the retrieve over the high.
She did her down from a sit for the stay, complete with a "sad" chin rest!
Lesson learned for me. If there is a child steward, even an older one, I should just pull. Zumi tries hard, but she can't quite handle it. And it's certainly not worth pairing that stress with a trial!
I happen to have entered Zumi in an AKC obedience trial this coming weekend. Apparently, I didn't really plan well with training time. Looking at the calendar, the only practice we've had outside of my small living room since the October trial was one. The week after.
I get the building once a week before teaching classes. But my night is Wednesdays and then it was Halloween, leaving to travel to Florida without me a few days early, staying another 4 days with friends driving her back, then the Thanksgiving holidays. That leaves this Wednesday as our 2nd practice in over a month.
Unfortunately, it's shown with her arousal in retrieves again. I just doodle on little things before dinner, mainly fronts and finishes. The occasional retrieve has had more whining and even worse, back to some jolting forward on the throw.
Zumi really needs her ball reward for dumbbell retrieves, not food! The higher value ball reward actually helps to calm her excitement for the dumbbell as well as more satisfying victory laps to relieve some energy.
At least I feel like I'm tackling her other issues that showed up in the trial.
Down from a sit for the stay exercise was almost non existant in the trial. She needed a 2nd cue on all 3 trials, even with a stupid hand point. So I practiced added a little more excitement to the down, getting her used to hand point as I almost never do it, and adding in her "sad" chin rest to the ground to make it more of a trick. Plus "sad" is more down than down and it never hurts to teach "more"!
And then her finishes. This isn't just a trial issue as it certainly shows up in practice. On the left finish she usually is great, but sometimes can be a little wide. So I'm doing left finish + side step.
And on the right finish, we do consistently have the problem even in practice where she doesn't come far enough, tucks her butt behind me. It's why I rarely do it in a trial. For this I started doing lots of cookie tosses forward before she fully completes the finish. Also mixed in some right pivots so she has to go further than expected to come up to heel.
Here was Saturday's session on the down and finishes:
Well we did it! Zumi and I entered our first AKC trial in a year, our first time in Open, and my first time with the new rules last weekend. 2 attempts on Saturday, 1 on Sunday.
My goals for her this last weekend were
1. Confidence. Zumi is my sensitive girl and while she's even half of what Vito is in terms of anxiety, she is sensitive. The AKC atmosphere isn't easy for her. So I was hoping for heeling that was energetic and the ability to not worry about the judge.
2. Duration :) aka not anticipating anything. The retrieves were my biggest worry of course.
I had officially given up on not getting squeals on her sends in a trial environment. Practice is actually going very well, but it's also still very easy for me to replicate a squeal if I wanted to! 1.5yrs of working on the squeal and we haven't yet made it. So I said it is what it is, we will keep practicing on not squealing, and we will start showing too. I was hoping for eye contact before I sent her, and no actual anticipation.
And I'm happy to say that both goals were met!!! Zumi had perfect ring entrances with energy and focus on me during the leash removal, transitions, and I didn't catch any worries at all with the judge!
Heeling/8- Her heeling wasn't super drivey, but she was right with me on all 3 heel patterns. We had a minor issue on the figure 8 in the first trial with a small lag the first quarter, and a bigger issue on the 3rd trial with it.
I was also an idiot during that trial and went left with her on the figure 8 when I should have gone right. I always go right. Right for drivey dogs, because why not!, and right with more laggy dogs because I want them to practice getting up and going. I might get a lag right away, but I tend to get better recovery. Going left I think stressed her a little and then we just didn't get our get up and go on so she crossed to my right after the first loop.
Cue discrimination- All very solid in terms of position changes!!! I even did one trial with signals only! We did discover a minor issue of walking on the stand stay after I left. Well minor on trial 1, major on trial 2- basically no stay at all, and back to minor on trial 3.
Drop on recall- All beautiful. Well on the 2 she stayed. Because clearly related to the other exercise, Zumi didn't want to stay while I walked away.
Retrieve on flat- All eye contact before the send! Some without dancey feet! And 1 of them had no squeal (trial 2)!!!!
Retrieve over high- All with eye contact! Trial 3 had no squeal! We had some punching on the fronts though :)
Broad: No problem cutting the board and I generally stood in the middle.
Sit stay: No issues. Down stay: did not want to lie down on the first cue. all 3 trials needed a 2nd cue. I even gave an exaggerated down signal on the 3rd trial and nothing. No problem with me leaving and getting my leash though.
So 2 NQ's and 1 should have been NQ but ended up a Q. The last trial I screwed up and blurted out "down" as I gave a hand signal to lie down. Well actually it was my hand that blurted up as I planned on the verbal. I immediately recognized my mistake. When I talked to the judge after the show I thought I was discussing that error and she told me it was considered a substantial deduction, but not an NQ. But I realized when I got home that I think we were discussing different things. I'm pretty sure she thought I was asking about the repeated cue to lie down on the stay-get your leash exercise, not the accidental double cue on the drop on recall! Oh well.
Zumi earned her TEAM 3H title! It's been difficult to make time to practice any element, let alone the whole thing so Netta accompanied us.
Level 3 is so much fun! It's really where all of the foundation behaviors start to come together and you actually look like you're doing real obedience!
In the "H" level, Zumi is limited with rewards (just the distraction reward by the retrieve and then the very end) and it's supposed to be at a place you haven't submitted before. Well outside our house is both new in that we just moved(!) and new in that I haven't had to do an outside one yet. As we go into the 4-6honors level we will have to visit new parks or training centers to film!
TEAM 4 will actually be great prep for AKC open! It will have work on focusing and being calm after a dumbbell throw (as you have to pivot away from it, throw a 2nd one, then pivot back!). And has quite a bit of position change work that should help the new cue discrimination exercise in open, as well as figure 8 work aroudn distractions, and a broad jump.
The biggest thing we will be focusing on this next month, besides TEAM4, will be Zumi's drop on recall. Apparently we are goign through a bit of anticipation issues right now with Zumi dropping or just stopping on the recall, before I cue the drop. A very normal phase! Just one I wasn't expecting as I thought I worked through that last year! Apparently when you don't really practice it much at all and the dog isn't 100% solid on it then problems come back ;)
I have decided that I'm going to enter Zumi (well if we can fix the DOR!) in our club's AKC trial the end of October. Her arousal with the retrieve is pretty darn good in practice now. Not 100% but close to it with not vocalizing or pattering her feet. And I'm honestly not sure I will ever be able to fix it for a trial environment. We will keep working on it and keep shooting for reaching a 95%+ in practice. And then I'm ok with the "it is what it is" mindset for trials. At least that's where I'm at right now.
I've been working with Splash the foster Boykin spaniel for several weeks now in reinforcing standing. He was dealt a very bad structure (early closing growth plates) and standing is not something he naturally wants to do. Splash very much wants to sit.
So I've been reinforcing just waiting in a stand a lot. A lot. I hate auto sits in how it makes pivoting so difficult! And we've come a long way in Splash at least learning that waiting in a stand pays.
I thought a higher reinforcement history for standing would make it easier to actually teach the action of a kickback stand. But we still struggled with my usual methods. He has an awkward body and I just wasn't communicating what I wanted well.
Back to the drawing board. I decided to introduce the idea of a rear foot target to get a kickback stand. I know many people have taught a stand simply by capturing the beginning of a dog backing up. It hasn't personally been my method as I really like the picture that front feet completely still offers but I thought I would try to blend the 2.
It was a fascinating progression over several sessions! But now Splash will offer a stand with a front foot target, no rear foot target needed.
While Splash will also now offer a kickback stand without any target, I'm finding I still want a front foot target as he has some tiny backing up in there without it. I'm not sure if that's because of the initial rear foot target work or because of his structure.
Right now we are working on actually getting the verbal cue attached before going back to getting rid of the target.
On a side note, Splash is available for adoption for anyone local to Minnesota! He has been career changed from the service dog program due to his legs.
And on another side note, registration for my Stand with Me class at FDSA opens tomorrow!!! We can talk anything about stands from teaching a stand in heel or at a distance to getting a dog comfortable with an exam!
Wow it's been a busy month! Lots of exciting changes completed and coming up. We are still living in my parent's basement but our old house officially was signed away and keys turned over yesterday. And *knock on wood* we are set to sign for and move into a new house the last weekend of July. Plenty of room for child and her things. And the good news is that my new yard will definitely still work for agility. Large, flat and very few trees!
In training news, Splash has surprised me with throwing me something completely different in our retrieve training than I have seen before. Of the hundreds of different dogs I've personally put retrieves on over the years I have yet to have a dog offer this interesting behavior:
He cracks me up! This is actually an improvement. I've been selecting for open mouth along with the lip catch on the bar and you can see he actually is opening his mouth now a little bit.
Today's session Splash did actually give me 2 very tiny open mouth OVER the db bar so I'm optimistic that we are on the right track.
I just don't think I could have taught this lip catch thing if I tried!
I took the tollers to the first annual (hopefully!) Minnesota Agility Cup this past weekend. It's not affiliated with any organization so no potential for legs and titles. Just really fun "international" style courses, a laid back atmosphere, and of course the draw of winning big bucks! Or at least the opportunity to win back your entry fees.
I was really surprised at how few competitors were there. This is what agility is all about to me!
The courses were super fun. And super long. SO much spacing between obstacles that we're just not used to here. And I think they ranged from 200-240 yards each. I learned I am way out of shape. Not that it was really new to me, but it sure made me think about the upcoming US Open this November! Of course I'll only have 1 dog and more time between runs so that will help. But still. Considering doing some sprint training....
My dogs weaknesses weren't new, but they were certainly highlighted this weekend. No hiding from them on the international style courses!
Really Zumi was very over aroused and didn't get better. I think the wide open spacing really kicked her into gear. She still handled very well and I was proud of how she did this weekend but we do have our work cut out.
So my to do list includes:
- Actually training a strong "here" type cue so I don't have to do really lame handling to try and push away from the tunnels calling out to my dogs. I've always just given up hope and call my dogs name as I see them sucking in and of course they always just go in...
- Startline stays with Zumi. (Well and Vito technically too, but it's Vito and he knows I don't care with him. He definitely broke every startline this weekend.) Zumi I thought was fixed. She was back to sitting up nicely and not scooting. But major breaking, not just but scooting this weekend. On the positive side she did respond to her back up cue to help reset her!
- And the teeter stay? She broke on the last course too!
- Trained threadle cue. I was actually really proud of Zumi as she did a double threadle with me pretty far behind, but it could be a lot better. And I know it's not consistent.
- Dogwalks. Our lack of training with Zumi shows. Some great ones, some leaps. And all were straight exits...
Zumi technically won the 20in class with her billions of off courses, and Vito won the 16in select class.
Zumi round 6 agility. 240 yards...
Vito actually ran very well. This trial was my potential last trial with Vito as I wasn't sure if he would put up with me trailing him anymore based on the last UKI/USDAA weekend. But he was running great even though it was an insane amount of yards and way more than the 2 runs per day I had been doing with him. So I guess he rewarded my greediness and I'll just keep an eye on him until he tells me he's really done. He's certainly doing well physically.
Vito's final round. 230 yards. His 7th run of the weekend!:
Last week I escaped home life to go to the FDSA camp! I didn't think I was going to be able to go this year but thanks Mom for babysitting Vito and Netta!!!
Of course camp was amazing. Fun to meet people I've only seen online and wow there were a huge variety of breeds!
I brought Zumi to camp to be my emotional support dog for all the socializing required, and because I wanted the opportunity to work with her in that type of environment. We played in the empty rings about twice a day working on ring entrances, heeling and then a mix of exercises from gloves to go outs.
Mostly I worked on Zumi dropping the ball at my feet when I put my hands behind my back in order to work.
I usually train with her tug toy (still primarily fetch) and Zumi's great at offering that drop and knowing it starts work vs how I cue another toss. But I haven't been applying this type of consent cue to her agility training when I use a ball. With some brilliant reminders from lectures at camp I decided that I really needed to have this clear opt-in signal from Zumi in her agility training too. I know the ball is harder for her drop since she loves to just squish it! So instead of just trying to start right away applying that to agility I thought I would bring her ball to obedience work where she at least already knows the routine. Baby steps!
The first few sessions were difficult. She chose to lie down and squish her ball more than work. And that was ok!!! We can't ask our dogs if they are ready to work and then ignore their answer! But it definitely improved over the few days at camp. I know she's not ready yet to do that in the context of agility but we will get there.
I managed to break out the tripod to film her last little session of work with the tiniest bit of heeling, retrieves, a break, and then more retrieves. And of course her dropping the ball work.
I'm also pleased to report that Zumi really settled in well with her hotel stays. April was her first and only hotel stay before this trip and she was a little stressed when it was just us in the room whenever our roommates were out. She also went off her food. This trip I was prepared with a bag full of different brands of kibble! Zumi actually ate pretty well with her mixture of different foods, not even picking out her normal kibbles out of the mix like she did last trip. She was also much more settled about being in the rooms even with different roommates and hotels!
And I slept the best I've slept in 18 months. Amazing.
We had one more agility weekend this past week with the tollers! Split the weekend from an indoor UKI trial and an outdoor USDAA. I was torn between my greater lover for UKI trials and actually getting to play outside! Zumi
Saturday was UKI. Thanks to her big points she earned from her master standard run at the midwest cup she only needed a single game Q to get out of senior and into the championship level. Zumi really ended up sailing through senior, especially considering how long we spent in novice!
She managed to earn that in a gambers run on saturday. Sadly no other Q's. Nice runs, listening SO well without any over arousal issues at all. Just a stupid refusal on a backside serp, or doing a bonus backside, or sucking in out of a straight tunnel.... All my fault.
This was one of my favorite runs on Saturday. I missed that she didn't make her DW until seeing the video. Then at the end I don't think I really cued the bonus backside but I sure didn't cue the front of the jump either!
Sunday was a gorgeous day to be outside!
Gamblers was made for Zumi but somehow we still didn't get it. Sigh, zero masters gamblers Q for Zumi so far...
Standard was clean though! And she listened to her pleading "come, come come" cues for the DW turn! I knew I was going to do a late blind before the aframe but it worked and we managed to be clean!
A super Q in snooker too!
And a jumpers run that she oddly went around the outside of a jump and then sucked in later off another jump. Maybe just tired at the end of the day?
Vito
I thought Vito was running pretty slow in all his runs this weekend. It wasn't until I got home and actually looked at videos that I saw it didn't look as bad as it felt. He wasn't fast, but he was still trying.
This was Vito's first run of the day on Saturday and it felt like a death march. But doesn't look too bad! Video always makes it look better :)
He did seem to get faster over his 3 runs on Saturday. It doesn't help that jumpers always been his hardest.
But Sunday was definitely slower. Snooker should have been a super Q run with points but he really was plodding and ran out of time at the 10th weave pole of the last #7 obstacle in the closing. Oh well. He made someone else very happy to earn their ADCH with that last super Q!
Standard we did a random backside but at least was faster than that snooker run.
Maybe he's liking indoor trials more now in his old age?! Or he's just Vito and I never know how he's going to feel like moving!
Boykin came along and did pretty well with offering focus to the best of his 4 month old ability!
However when I did let him say hi to people he was way more mouthy and jumpy then he's been recently!!
Now that the weather is finally nice and we can train outside I've been doing more TEAM 3 stuff with Zumi again. All the exercises are very familiar to her and have been for a while.
The challenge we are working on now is putting stuff in sequence. I'm always amazed at how behavior can break a little when you start jumping right in from one exercise to the next!
We have great flow and connection between exercises, it's just the confidence of getting it correct on the first time without any little warm up!
It's not always the same thing that "breaks" but of course there's always 1 little thing!
So no actual testing yet. I'll practice going from exercise to exercise, but not always in the same order and no hesitation to break something out and work on the little pieces again before trying the full exercise.
The exercise that has surprised me the most that she's struggled with on the first rep is the retrieve with distraction! I ALWAYS have Zumi offer to spit out her toy and than work on the dumbbell with the toy on the ground still. So I was shocked with Zumi several times went for the toy during our test practices.
I think the added difficulties were:
- I was the one to put the toy on the ground, not Zumi offering to drop it
- I practiced ending the heeling portion then going to get the toy where it is located off to the side.
This must look to Zumi like I'm getting the toy to reward her great heeling when really I'm just going to get it for the distraction piece and plan on playing with her AFTER the retrieve. I bet if rewarded her with the toy first then set it on the ground it would look more similar to our usual training setup and be easier for her.
Other little issues that have cropped up are
- anticipating the 2nd position change! A little bit of a suprise as she's done so well with position changes and waiting, but not a huge shock.
- Angled front after the mini go out/directed cones. Zumi typically has pretty great fronts from cookie tosses and cone sends but this is making me aware that it's not consistent yet on that "first" rep. The one that really counts!
I've been doing a lot more cookie toss fronts in the house and I've been able to replicate some issues. If there's not much space behind me after the front she's more likely to be slightly off in anticipation of turning for the thrown reward vs being sent through my legs. And if I put the reward behind her she has a hard time fully turning her back to the reward even if she's not trying to look at it. Zumi wants to be slightly angled to the pressure.
It's been quite the busy month! We packed up and moved most of our belongings into my parent's basement or into the shed. Finding time to go back to our house to actually finish cleaning it and empty the garage has been difficult!
But before I dive into some of the updates I wanted to brag on Zumi! We went to our first "big" competition this last weekend, the UKI Midwest Cup. It involved our first trial with an overnight stay.
Zumi wasn't thrilled with the hotel whenever we were by ourselves. She paced and stood at the door, and wouldn't eat any of her food. But when our roommates were in the room she was happy, relaxed, and seemed to feel more certain that it was where we were supposed to be. Zumi also decided she could eat kibble as long as it wasn't hers.
I wasn't sure how she would handle the trial environment but she kept her wits about! Her startline issues seemed even better than they have been at the local shows! Day 1 had a little pitter patter and at least 1 run with a quick scoot, but by day 2 she was pretty solid!
Our jumping type runs were our weakest point but that's true in our local shows too. She tries, just a few wheeee moments where she can't quite turn. Some my mistakes, some hers. Her 2 standard runs were my favorite.
My fault for the knocked bar for being in her way, but she listened the whole run! And even turned off her running dogwalk to get the weaves and not suck in the tunnel!
Gamblers was a phenomenally smooth run for 3rd place. Sadly I earned her a refusal in the snooker closing which knixed our chances at a medal.
Day 2 really came together for us. She was much more handler focused overall. That meant she didn't make up for my handling on that snooker run, but not as wide of turns.
Standard on day 2, biathlon agility, I wasn't thrilled with my conservative handling of a turn after the wall jump but hey at least I avoided the 2 tunnel trap possibilities with it! And I sadly got rewarded for my wussy approach by coming in first place of the 20in class. So many border collie E's...
But apparently, Zumi got 3rd for biathlon of all the 20 in dogs! I left the trial for our long drive home before knowing we would be on the podium.
And her final placement for all 8 classes of the cup was 4th in the 20in class! We made a lot of mistakes, but the courses were eating dogs left and right. Super, super fun courses but challenging!
I'm glad we went and now I'm even more excited for November's UKI US Open!
Alright so Vito did CDSP obedience on Saturday for his 2 very happy runs. Zumi also did 2 runs in obedience and then on Sunday was back with the Corgi for 2 rally runs each.
Corgi
Lance always loves to show :) His first run was actually quiet. Only 1 left pivot type sign though :)
The 2nd run had the backup sign 2nd so that got him nice and warmed up for all the barking!
I noticed that a lot of his halts in the 2 runs were quite rocked back and sloppy. Lack of training? Or a subtle sign of his age creeping up on me?!
Here's his sassy round 2:
Duck
Saturday had Zumi's 2 runs in Open. Her 3rd trial in the open class and definite improvement but yet still a long, long way to go with her vocalizing. Open run 1:
I need to speak up with my "yes" response to the judge for the go out! She looked up at me during the wait, but I'm thrilled with her eye contact on me instead of vulturing or whining! No squeal on the go out send either! I chose not to step over her on the return.
On the retrieves, you will notice my "beg" cues at the start of each one, something I've just started in this last week as it has really helped her not vulture in the agility ring.
The first ROH my stupid too short throw did not help her calmness! Only a little pitter patter feet! Of course the rethrow was too much and she scooted forward. More vocalizing on the release and a nice punch to my legs on the front.
Scooting and whining on the ROF and of course another bark on the release. Too much for the Duck.
A very thoughtful recall though! She actually came at a more controlled pace waiting for that down cue!
Heeling was focused nicely!
Broad jump... I apparently am incapable of giving the cue early enough to get a nice jump. I always feel like I give it too early the few times I convince myself to practice it and then I end up with Zumi jumping straight over it but being so far ahead that she goes all wide and cuts me off.... Better than ticking the jump I suppose.
Run 2:
Order #1 this time. We didn't quite enter connected. I think I accidentally said "ok" after the leash removal and while that should not cue a toy, I'm suspicious she was looking for one...
On the heeling she did the weird thing with wanting to cross behind me as we approach the ring gates to turn left on the far wall. Recovered pretty well after that though.
Broad jump I'm not sure. She's pretty much never walked on the boards before!
No scootching on the ROF, but a small whine while she looked back at me. Barked on the send.
A little more whining and vulturing during the ROH throw and barking on the send.
On the mark for te go out I'm pretty sure she was looking for the db in the judge's hand or at least looking for a retrievable item. And then I accidentally said "ok" again in response to the judge but thankfully she didn't fully leave! The scream on the send here didn't surprise me.
Rally on Sunday she did runs in level 3. Good girl. A litlte disconnected at the start again of the 2nd run, but still listened and was fully back by the 4th sign. I was super happy that she collected for the recall over 2 jumps :)
I'm happy with Zumi's runs but at the same time I'm also not quite sure what to do for the future. Progress has been made, especially in practice, but she's still showing the same vocalizing and feet movement on the db sends too much. And I find it fascinating that if I throw her toy out there she usually is perfect- no vocalizing at all. She might still patter her feet depending on what toy it is though...
I'm just not sure how to keep progressing and at some point even take it into a trial without the vocalizing!
Tollers had a CDSP trial this Saturday! I was so proud of Vito that he deserves his own post!
I entered Vito in 2 runs for the first time in years. Open and utility! Apparently, it was even his first time doing open in over 3 years! I wasn't sure how he would do with the 2nd run as motivation can be hard, but since he's been doing so well with energy in training and choosing to work that I gave it a go.
Open was the first trial. So happy!! I'm pretty sure this was by far the most comfortable he has ever been in a trial too. He said Kristen has a very unassuming presence :)
Such cute forging on the start of his heeling. I will never tire of seeing him do that in an actual trial!
Good old Vito still has issues with ticking the broad jump with the running version even at a sad 24in! I was clearly never able to fix that, at least consistently. Not that we've really done the broad jump in ages.
Skipped front surprised me with how comfortable he was acting in the ring. Usually that shows up more when he's worried about the judge.
And I forgot to call the early sit for his go out to let me go behind. I've been wanting Zumi to go all the way and just forgot with Toller.
Then utility in trial 2. More happiness!!
I don't know what was up with his sit signal. Signals are usually turning out to be one of his best exercises, a nice change from the corgi!
Articles happy.
Gloves I held the mark signal as he was looking at the jump for the first send and was looking at the middle glove for the 2nd send. Definitely our weakest exercise still. I have actually been practicing them though!
February and March have about 1/3 of the total trials I do throughout the year. Busy weekends!
Zumi has done 2 more UKI trials and 1 more day of USDAA so far with various results. For the most part she's getting higher. Capable of doing pretty heelwork and great duration hand touches as we walk in, remove the leash and setup. But as soon as I start moving away from her she starts ramping up. At the UKI trial last weekend she wasn't even just doing her vulturing but actually started scooting her butt as soon as I left. I really don't think she's even aware of what she's doing.
Then she's been vocalizing her way through most of the course.
Thankfully she's still listening fairly well for me about 90% through the course. Of course my handling is perfect and that results in some off courses, but sometimes she's just been blasting off and completely ignoring my turning cues. Thinking is hard!
This was her masters heat agility run in UKI 2 weekends ago. Missed weave entrance and off course at the end, but otherwise listening pretty well. Awful startline!
This last weekend we did one day of USDAA at the location we train at and the location where she's done so well at the 2 other trials she has this year. And magically Zumi was back to being thoughtful, holding her startline with wya less vulturing, and just being a good Duck.
I didn't think location really affected her much last year, but maybe it is?
This was her steeplechase run on Saturday's USDAA trial where she won the 20in class! Many, many dogs went off course after the first aframe instead of turning to the weaves.
It looks like she still did a tiny butt scoot on this run but no squealing. And her stays looked better on her other runs of the day. Zumi even earned her first Super Q in snooker!
Next weekend we're back for more UKI at the location she's been struggling with. It'll be interesting to see how she changes from one week to another!
This blog is about life with my 3 dogs. It's mainly to keep track of my training with the dogs and my exploration into the world of competitive obedience, agility, disc dog, and trick training. We reside outside of Minneapolis, MN.
Train With Me!
I offer online private lessons, online group classes, and in person lessons! Find out more by visiting my official training page, Tandem Dog Sports
Fenzi Dog Sport Academy
Lance the Corgi
Lance is my first dog, born April 2007. We faced early retirement due to an injury but Lance enjoyed playing in obedience, rally, and agility. He got me hooked on dog sports.
(photo by Sarah Beth Photography)
Vito the Toller
Vito was born on Halloween 2008. We currently compete in agility and are slowly making our way back to the obedience ring. Vito is making me into a better trainer every step of the way.
(Photo by Great Dane Photography)
Zumi the Duck
Born October 2014, Zumi is adventuring into the agility world and competitive obedience. We are working on some over arousal issues!
Luke the Kitty
Luke is a 10yr old kitty who finds his greatest joy in tormenting Lance. He also loves to wrestle with the fosters, cuddle with his tollers, and steal as much food as possible through trash can raiding and chewing holes in pockets.
