UKI Toy Runs for Happy Toller

To take my mind off the Corgi not being at the obedience nationals, I decided to enter Vito in the local UKI agility trial.

Goal #1 to try and get some happy toy runs in a trial environment before the USDAA trial next weekend.  Since Vito had many Sad Toller runs at his last agility trial I want to make sure he's feeling good about trials again!  Plus I'm actually being brave and doing Team next Friday!

Goal #2 to get that last pesky jumpers leg that has been holding Vito back from moving up to the Championship level in all his other classes.

Saturday I entered Vito in Agility (standard) and Jumpers.  Agility was first and I did my toy routine.  Warmed him up like normal, showed him where his toy was hanging out, and then entered the ring with a secret ball in my pocket.  Vito was actually pretty happy before even getting his ball, and I threw it after the weaves and then after the teeter.  Did one of his fastest teeters ever in a trial!

Run #2 was jumpers and no toy reward so I could try and qualify.  Vito was super, super happy!  One of his fastest jumpers run of all time and was even clean!  So Vito earned his ISD title and will now be in championship for all runs (except Speedstakes which is oddly separated from everything else).

Sunday Vito was in 3 rounds- 2 of Speedstakes and 1 of Jumpers in case we didn't make it the day before.
I chose to do toy round on the first run of speedstakes to get Happy Toller.  Not sure if it was even needed since he ran awesome from the get go!  Rewarded twice and would have been "clean."  Even happily did a tricky threadle without hesitating.

Round 2 of Steeplechase was unfortunately a bit harder than the first round but I decided to do it non-toy.  Vito actually ran really well and only knocked a bar on backside #2!  He even made up for some poor handling and sought out the obstacles I was only halfly able to direct him too!

Our first time in Championship Jumpers I decided to make it a toy run.  The course was challenging for us and I wanted to break it down and guarantee ending on a Happy Toller.  Vito ended up doing very well with all the collection and I rewarded him after #11 and right before #15.  No issues with the course, but he did knock the #8 bar so I was extra glad it was a toy run.

Hopefully Vito will take his happiness to the USDAA trial next weekend!

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Run Corgi!

No NOC trip and competition for the Corgi today.  But I did lift many restrictions on Lance!  Welcome back to being allowed off leash outdoors!  

I'm still not putting him out with the group if I'm tossing toys for the tollers, but Lance is at least now allowed to accompany us.  Just in time for the big snow melt and early arrival of spring to Minnesota!

Such happiness!!!!  And lots, and lots of rolling.

Also some running!

Sadly, Lance does seem to be holding back quite a bit.  Lance loves to run and often would do zoomies around the yard or just randomly on a walk.  The last few days he runs a tiny bit, but mainly sniffs and walks around.  So I don't know if he's limiting himself due to just being out of shape, or if he still feels off and uncomfortable.  Doesn't seem to be in any pain and certainly isn't showing any other negative signs from his increased activity at least.  Will be monitoring him closely over the next few days.  Continues to do awesome in the exercises I have been having him do.  And was so excited to start heel work last week that he was back to forging a body length ahead!

Facial paralysis is still there.  Big improvement from what it was in the beginning, but no improvement in the last few weeks.

We get lots of derpy pictures now :(  No longer my always photogenic boy!

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Zumi 5 months

Little Duck turned 5 months old!  Finally weighs 24lbs, the same as the Corgi!

Did discover the joy of poopsicles this past week :(  Doggy door privileges have been revoked.  But with a 40 degree warm up practically overnight there's not much snow in the yard right now and I'm hoping her new found joy disappears with the season change!

Doing super well with social things!  Still not super gung ho about food in public but isn't refusing it. More run through supervising.  Soon to be promoted to lead timer.

New thing started this last week in training is a formal stand.
Using feet on a perch method as so far it's been my favorite way to get a nice kickback stand and precise.  So far she's just offering the stand behavior as that's her default on a perch, but I've started to name it after luring a sit or down.  At some point I'll teach her a jumping stand too, with a different cue, as I still find that super fun!

Other tricks that are in various stages of progress right now
- cross paws, with help of target
- backward circles with tiny lure counter clockwise and lots of help clock wise
- Hug a pole- still lost of sliding with paws and less duration of "hug"
- Shaped retrieve to hand, mostly aiming for hand in different locations now
- Bow- trying to get rid of lure and get offered.  So far only get offered downs, but lures nicely.
- Back in a down- broken  Somewhat fixed this week, but she much prefers offering swiping her nose now.
- Nose swip- not being practiced due to favoritism!  Will need to get duration at some point.

So that is my list of things to work on right now.  Most I go a few days without practicing, resume for a few sessions, and repeat the cycle.  At some point soon I also plan to add hind leg lifts to my list.

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Vito's Walk of Shame

Another trial held at our home club location.

Saturday- Rally
Our second time in Rally Excellent.  Vito was fairly excited outside the ring and a bit sassy too.  But as soon as we entered the ring he fixated on our nice judge and could not take his eyes off her.  I even delayed our start for a second to give him some time and he would not look at me.  So on my first step I told him to come, which he did willingly but still staring a tiny bit the judge.  By the end of the first sign and as path took us away from the judge Vito started to heel very nicely  and with a decent level of energy that I like.  But then any time the judge was nearby Vito had to look and stole quite a few glances by the time we were done.

But on the positive side, in between staring at the judge, Vito gave me some lovely work with quite a bit more drive and enthusiasm than our last trial a few weeks ago.  And while I did need to give him verbal sits at certain signs, and reminded cues to heel, Vito had snappy responses.  Leg #2 with a score of 99.

I chose not to take him into the ring for awards based on both his worry the last time during it and his obsession with the judge.

Sunday- Obedience
My original plan was to do Open B at this show and upcoming ones, but based on Vito's lackluster performances lately I went back to Pre-Open, no stays, no pressure.

And then Vito had the worse run of his life.  Same judge as Saturday's rally run and Vito was even more fixated on her.  Super obsessive and just could not look away.  Heeling had some moments of good but also more staring and needed additional cues to stay with me.  So much staring.  At the start of the figure 8 was more of the same and Vito left me the first chance he got.  By the second go around I gave timely praise to prevent him from leaving and then he still left me again on the halt.

I thought about exiting the ring after the heeling/8 but thought for sure that Vito would be able to handle the rest of the exercises just fine.  I thought wrong as Vito wouldn't even set up for mem left me again and I as tried to prevent him from leaving my overly sensitive doggy yelped.  Ultimately the judge excused us.  Walk of shame.

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Vito's 1 Month Chip- take 2

For the second time in the past several years, Vito earned a one month chip of zero car anxiety.  Sadly it wasn't a two month chip as after his wonderful 30 days reached in December, Vito reverted to old ways a week shy of the would be celebration.  For about two weeks in mid January Vito started having some small panic attacks in the car and then he suddenly stopped again.

To celebrate his new 1 month chip and overall 3 months of goodness (since November 17th!) I even stopped on the way home from work, left Vito in the car, and sprinted in and out of Little Caesars to grab pizza.  Considering that Vito used to freak out if I even filled the car with gas, this was a huge accomplishment!  Something I hadn't dared to try in many years.  I held my breath as I ordered and prayed there was a cheese pizza all ready to go.  I'm pretty sure I was in and out of the building in less than 2 minutes!  And then I returned to a very calm and relaxed Toller.

Due to his (unexplained) decrease in anxiety these last few months I also have been slowly decreasing his 3rd drug, Clorazepate.  My goal is to get rid of his most expensive drug as was the original plan when we weaned him off Prozac and put him on Zoloft back in June this past year.  Vito's been on Clorazepate since December 2013 when we decided to get rid of Diazepam (Valium).  At one point he was on 11.25mg /x2day and now he is on 3.75mg x2/day.

However with the decreased dosing has come some side effects.  Overall Vito has handled the gradual lowering quite well with no changes noticed until this past week when he went from 1 pill in the morning to half a pill in the morning (and was already lowered to half a pill in the evening 4 weeks earlier).  Vito was lowered on Sunday and at work this week he has been extra reactive to people walking by the cubicle or talking at a distance.  I made a chart today to keep better track of his reactivity and allow me to see if he improves as his body gets used to the adjustment in drugs or not.  I would really like to not spend the $50+  a month on Clorazepate any more!

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Comparison of Agility Organizations

I have been trying to encourage several newbies to the agility world to start trialing.  There are SO many options in the U.S. and it can be daunting to know where to start.  A google search of agility organization venus brings up a few links, but most were very outdated.  So I decided to create my own spreadsheet!

I included USDAA, NADAC, CPE, and UKI which I have personally competed in.  I also included what I have heard about AKC and ASCA.  If any of my information is wrong, please post a comment and I'll update it!  If you know about other organizations and want to share their details I'll include them!

http://1drv.ms/1AZXqMG

While I have my personal favorites we are lucky to have so many flavors that a team can find the one that best suits their style.

In case the link doesn't work for you, here are screenshots of the excel spreadsheet.

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Zumi 4.5 Month Video

Made a new video of Zumi at 18-20wks of age!  A full week still until she turns that mythical 5 months and turns into a bratty teenager.

Environmental worries continue to get better too with much faster ability to potty outside on the arrival to a new place and as she started taking food in public again she stares a lot less at things.  Zumi did resume a tiny bit of reactive barking this past week at work towards people approaching the gate.  Very low percentage of the time the situation is set up though.

Overall, jumping up and flailing at people is still her biggest issue.  Zumi is capable of offering a down if she's restrained so that physically whacking people is not an option.  But very, very hard for the Duck.

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Vito USDAA

USDAA trial for the Toller!  Summary- not his happiest trial weekend.

Saturday
Gamblers- NQ
Saddish Toller.  Needed lots of cheer leading to run despite the fact that I even did 2 dog walks for him in the opening!  Gamble was pretty straight forward, but Vito couldn't go far enough out to get the aframe in the a/tunnel discrimination and took the easier tunnel.

Standard- NQ http://youtu.be/UzxRigUZHDQ
MUCH happier Toller!  Nice speed and we nailed the part I was worried about by doing a fun blind cross after the dogwalk to turn and avoid the tunnel trap!  And then I thought I picked up Vito but he snuck behind me to take a bonus dogwalk.  On the positive side he had two lovely running dogwalks!

Grand Prix- NQ
Another happy Toller run!  He was moving faster and I wasn't able to get in a second front cross so was forced to rear cross the jump before the dogwalk.  Sadly Vito turned right immediately I said switch and got a refusal as he didn't do the jump first.  Not a new problem with him, especially in trials where he doesn't like rear crosses.  But he still nailed the turn off the dogwalk to a tunnel vs taking what was in front of him.  And then oddly came back out of the tunnel entrance he went in...

Sunday
Tired all day.

Fancy Jumpers
I entered Fancy Jumpers for the first time!  Really only because of "biathlon" I can no longer enter Fancy Standard without also doing it's jumping friend.  The course was tough but Vito actually did a phenomenal job!  Slower speed but overall a very good attitude for Jumpers, especially with the 2 backsides in a row.  We actually made it clean through the second to last obstacle and then while he actually did a serp on a single jump (a hard move for Vito!) he cut behind me to take an off course.  I was planning on getting a front cross in after 16 but wasn't far enough ahead(!) and wanted to avoid the tighter wrap in favor of being able to jump long on 17.

Jumpers
Oh my. Saddest Toller of all time.  Knocked like 3 bars and then skipped a jump at the end and then were over time.  This is what I'm talking about when I mean Sad:

Fancy Standard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnyWCeXdyV4
Improvement.  Started slow, but then picked up speed, espcially after his dogwalk. Unfortunately due to a standoff in front of a jump in the beginning (and actuall not a refusal as he never turned away) we were over time by .21 seconds.

Standard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8rvzykdTt8
Best run of the day.  Actually ran a bit.  But knocked the first bar to complete our 0/7 weekend.

Zumi
Zumi came along and was a champ!  Back to eating her food in public!  Also lost yet another tooth.

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