2018 Wrap Up

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!

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All the Things

Wow, life has gotten busy and summer is almost over!  Here are the last month's happenings!

We sold our house, moved out of my parent's basement where we had stayed for just over 3 months, and moved into our new house.  It was kinda a disaster but things are finally coming together now.  Lots and lots of cleaning.  New floors in the basement.  Appliances that work.  Fenced yard and a potty yard.

The Boykin finally got adopted a few weeks ago!  And yes I did manage to teach him a hold, and a stand, in case you were wondering about his progress :)  I even started working on moving from a stand and hold to a sit and hold for fun!  And more importantly, his new family just adores him.

And now my current foster is a cute litter terrier, Speck, who hopes to be a hearing alert dog!  Aside from some minor terrierness fun, he is an incredibly easy dog to live with.  A welcome change from Splash's high level of training and management needed!

Oh and I got a chinchilla for my birthday!  Meet Kix!

Training wise, still not doing much with my own dogs :(  

Zumi has been able to do more TEAM work though this last month and I'm happy to say she earned her TEAM 3 title and I'm waiting to hear back on her TEAM3H title!  Level 3 is really fun!

I've done a few agility trials with her the last few weeks in attempts to finish up the last 3 jumpers Q's she needs to pre-qualify for UKI's championship, the US Open.  Unfortunately, we seem to be cursed with beautiful runs and then a dropped bar, or I miscue a jump and get a backside instead, or don't get the backside, or...  So still 3 jumpers legs needed and just 1 trial left.  Between the masters heat series and the normal championship level runs we will actually have 6 chances over the 3 days for a needed 50% Q rate.  Which is still 100% higher than our current Q rate in jumpers.

On the other hand, Vito earned his UKI championship title for the "select" division last month!  The IWACs!

The Corgi has struggled a bit these last few weeks.  We're pretty sure he either slipped another disc or has swelling, or something going on with his lower back.  On the positive side, he already started improving in a week before he had his vet appointment.  And he's certainly feeling better being on carprofen!  He's on a bit of rest right now and then we will reevaluate things next week!

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The other dogs trialed too

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!

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Busiest Weekend- all the dogs! all the trials!

This past Friday I took the tollers to a USDAA trial. Then I packed up so Saturday I could take all 3 dogs to another location for an obedience/rally trial (CDSP/WCRL).  Packed up again, and then Sunday I took just Zumi back to the agility trial.  And to make things extra complicated I had bonus babysitting Cow that I dragged along to the trials, showed in rally, and returned to his mother on Sunday at the trial where we did team relay together. 

Lance
Lance played 2 rounds of WCRL rally at the trial on Saturday.  Sassy as always.  Trial 2 had much less sass and less forging although both started to come out at the end.  He earned his level 3X2 title (20 legs after the title) and another bonus leg.  Nice job mostly retired corgi! 



Vito
Vito was very happy running his 3 agility runs on Friday!  It was fun to see him run and of course he broke at least 1 startline. Another sassy dog!

And then on Saturday, he had one of my favorite runs of all time in utility!  He was focused and very motivated!  The dork ran to a chalk mark on the very first exercise so we NQed in like 30sec of being in the ring. Thanks buddy.  And then he went to the wrong glove on the #2 send.  I think he's cursed with gloves in the ring.  Of course I could actually try practicing with him....




Zumi
Zumi continues to mature in her agility handling.  Friday she didn't get any  Q's but she was a very good duck!  On Sunday she ran her very first team relay event and she placed first in her 20in height category and her team got 2nd overall!  Almost all of her mistakes the agility runs both days were refusals after a rear cross.  She turns well, but loses that obstacle focus after them.  And of course I don't do many rear crosses in practice so I can't blame her.

On Saturday I did 2 rally runs with her in level 3 and then an open obedience run.  She was a little bit off I thought.  She was focused about 95% of the time in her rally runs but had some occasional visits to signs in her first run and just some glances around in both.  Her down from a sit was also broken. 
Overall I'm happy with her effort in the runs and see that she needs more practice with focus in different environments.

In open I knew that I really shouldn't have entered her.  Thus my minimal restraint to only do one run instead of 2.  I just really, really wanted to do obedience with Zumi and figured it wouldn't hurt anything in the long run.

Her focus was a little spotty again on the heeling.  Based on her 2 rally runs she did earlier that day it was no longer a surprise to me.  Her second half of the heeling was much better.  Broad jump had a bad front.  Drop on recall was a little slow to drop but she did it.

Then the retrieves, our main thing we've been working on.  Honestly it went better than I expected. She pattered her feet on the toss, but the vulturing was WAY less.  And she offered me eye contact before both sends!  Of course she squealed on the release of both retrieves. 

Go out she didn't squeal!!  and she did that weird arc to the left stanchion again instead of the right. Maybe that's her new thing?



So technically a Q and her CDX-C title.  But a long, long way to go in Open still before she's proficent and has more of a brain. Next CDSP trial is April.  Just 2 more months, but at least I feel I'm on the right track.

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Right Sided Heeling with The Corgi

I can't believe it's been over 2 months since I started training right sided heeling with The Corgi.  2 months, and sadly not many sessions and thus results.

Lance still needs work on his pivots and doodles, but his forging is way down.  It's a bit difficult for him to physically do the pivoting now so I try not to do it too much.

So mainly I've started to work on forward motion.  It was no shock that his natural tendency of forging keeps trying to rear its head, but the wideness Lance has been showing was a surprise!  I've been working on doing a pivot before each reward to get Lance in the habit of moving in towards me.  Eventually when wideness is the problem I'll throw in a moving side step each time, but he's not quite ready for that.

The horse flies are just starting to appear at home and The Corgi thinks they are his mortal enemy.  I don't disagree, but I've never taken it to the point where I don't want to come off the porch!  Thus I'm really proud of Lance for doing a training session out in the yard yesterday.  You can see how hard he thinks about it after each cookie!

So not quite there with pretty heeling on the right, but he's having fun getting to learn something new!

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All the Utility!

Agility on Saturday, back to obedience on Sunday.  I love my Toller :)  CDSP obedience of course, no AKC meltdowns here.

Vito was a very good Toller.  A bit worried about the judge at the start but as soon as we started the short heeling pattern CDSP has on signals he did so with great energy and focus.  And did his signals!  We continually work so hard on trying to make downs fun for Vito, they're just not his thing.

A bit more distracted during article setup, but then he lasered his eyes into me during the long delay as I think the judge tried to flip the article the other way.  I admit his intense focus during that wait was my favorite part of the run.

On go outs every dog got sucked into where the article pile was in the corner.  I've done gloves to the corner followed by go outs, but apparently not articles there before!  I was proud to see Vito go straight!  And then got sucked into that corner when I cued the sit.  On the 2nd send he made sure to ignore my sit cue as well to go touch the gate... twice.  Smart Toller.

Gloves were the best he has ever done in a trial.  Actually pivoted well!  And we have been working hard on making gloves fun after some weird avoidance issues since the last trial so I was relieved not to see that show up here.

Finally on the moving stand Vito stood very well for what seemed like an extra thorough exam!  Hesitant coming in again on the call to heel so something to work on I guess.

A Q in Utility!

Corgi
Mr. Corgi also got to play.  We did his usualy WCRL rally run in level 3.  For whatever reason he was actually quiet for the entire first half of the run!  No barks on the pivoting!  And then his corgi sass came out for the 2nd half...

I also entered Lance in Utility for the first time since his retirement.  Not expecting much since well you actually have to practice to qualify.  But Corgi always loved to show.

Lots of great moments, and some sass of course.  

On Signals Lance did his down which made me so happy since that was one point that did stress him out about utility.  And then he said he knew the pattern and went straight to his sit.  I wasn't sure what to do there, so I gave a sit signal anyway and smiled when he lifted his butt so he could sit again :)

Articles showed his old habit of grabbing so fast that it just falls out of his mouth a few steps later.  But good boy.

On go outs Lance got sucked into that pesky article spot like the others.  Ignored my cue to sit and just came to me on the first one.  On the 2nd one he sat, and then started to go while the judge was talking to me about what I wanted to do.  I tried to signal the far jump but I admittedly didn't cue it with my normal eye flick and pause first.  Not surprised he just came to me.

Gloves were also pretty good on the pivot.  I underrotated a bit as I was rusty too and forgot that usually ended up happening to me in trials.  I had to always do a 2 step pivot towards #3 in a trial to get lined up correctly even though I never had issues in practice.  It probably helped him though as the other dogs couldn't find the glove behind the poles.

The moving stand had naughty forging and then not actually staying.  Eh.

I do miss showing The Corgi.

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Training Right Sided Heeling

Since Lance is pretty much done with his formal training for sports I've tried to still keep up with training.  He still wants to work even if his body no longer cooperates as well as it used to.  In my attempt at increasing my motivation I occasionally come up with goals to work on.

Recently I decided I want to train Lance to actually heel on my right side.  Technically Lance "knows this" to the point that if rally required right sided work (and I think the new AKC rally class does!) Lance could easily pass under rally scoring.  But it wouldn't be pretty.  So much forging and crabbing!  Does anyone remember how Lance used to be a good body length ahead of me, looking over his shoulder at me, during his normal left sided heeling?!

So I'm going to clean it up.  And that means going all the way back to heeling foundations.  Since Lance has a history of being really pushy it's going to be a lot slower going than starting fresh with a dog.  Zumi learned both left and right side at the same time and while her right side work is a little rusty, the foundations are solid so it wouldn't be hard to clean up.  Vito is kinda in between.  His foundations on the right were at one point pretty solid, but now well I've created an obsessive and pushy monster over the years in attempts to work on his motivation.

The way I teach heeling to the majority of dogs who are relatively easy to motivate is through pivot work foundations.  Stand on a perch and rotate, rotate, rotate.  Then the same thing without the perch.  Lots of rear end work going towards me.  I almost always start heeling with pivots, side steps, and backing up long before I add a single forward step.  The emphasis is on holding position with small changes in direction.

Lance's occasional sessions are still focusing hard on those small doodles.  The biggest progress so far is that his attempts at forging are WAY less.  Mostly this is due to reward position.  I did a lot of feeding behind my back with each cookie.  Now I usually don't feed quite so far back, but when I remember to I pass the cookie from my left hand to my right hand behind my back instead of passing in front.

This session on Friday I tried one of my first steps of forward moving.  I planned to counteract each forge with a pivot, but I see that Lance isn't quite proficent at doing his pivots out of motion vs starting from a standstill.  Oh and I'm completely ignoring the error of his butt being behind me right now as we work on not crabbing out.  The opposite error is ok for now!

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Back to Utility! And Corgi Barking!

It's been over a year and a half since Vito last entered the obedience ring.  After our experiment, we had just started doing some rally trials last fall with great results in WCRL but still feeling the stress in AKC.  I was optimistic that Vito could handle the low key CDSP atmosphere and wanted to see where we were at.  I almost entered good old Open like I've done so many times with Vito in the past, but decided to be brave and try utility again with him.  Vito technically has his CDSP utility title, but 2 of the 3 counting scores needed double signals given on the signal exercise so I don't really count them as a Q in my mind.

At the trial I took Vito out a few times  in the hours before his run, just to walk around and sniff things.  I didn't go into letting him offer work or play until about 15 minutes before his run.  I was thrilled that as soon as I assumed the work available pose he took me up on it!  I mainly did some play and a few down signals with lots of rewards before putting him back.

Right before his run I took him out again for more of the same, and then miscalculated our waiting time before entering the ring.  I was a bit worried as he didn't want to do any of our "squish" position, but he did our 2nd style crouching "squish" ok.

And then in we went!


Love his ring entrance and go outs :)  I let him go all the way to gate to take the point losses.
Articles he struggled a bit on both the setup and the actual selection.  It's kinda hard to see the setup, but he was a bit distracted by the whole thing and then his article leaving.  I am proud that he was able to think enough to eventually select the correct one!

Signals I was beyond thrilled.  Some moving on the stand and then travelling on the down, but he didn't freeze or do it slowly!  Vito has always hated downs and he offered me a pretty snappy one here!  My favorite part of his run :)

Moving stand had a few glances at our judge and a wussy call to heel, but still good.

Gloves were ridiculous.  I knew he was looking at the steward when I sent him but I couldn't get him to look away.  Maybe I should have waited longer or just said screw it and reset completely.  Had to check out who was standing suspicously on teh side.  And then very odd with going to both the middle glove and then finally selecting the one farthest away.
On the 2nd glove he again wasn't confident on the seleciton so I helped him.
Both pivots were WAY better than they have been in a trial though!!!

So an NQ, but I was thrilled.  The next CDSP trial isn't for awhile but I'm excited to try utility again with Vito :)

The Corgi also came along and got to do his rally.  He just loves getting to strut around in rally!  So much barking again.  Our new theme!  We alo had a few instances where he lost his auto sit in heel, but improvement from the last trial.  I didn't notice any hind leg shakes in his runs so I think he was feeling better.  Forging was a bit worse again than the fall, but more cute prancing :)



Trial 2 was a bit less barky, but also less left turns- definitely correlated :)  He loves the bonus retrieve at the end :)

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Bunny Ears!

I hope everyone is having a great Easter!!!  

Obligatory bunny ears.

And yup, I totally tried to be one of those parents.

And fail.

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Getting Outside

I love going to parks with the dogs.  They have so much fun running, sniffing, and if you're the corgi then also peeing on all the things!  I am also extremely lucky that since moving close to the edge of the cities suburbs there are quite a few unpopulated parks around here and depending on what neighboring little town I'm in there often aren't even leash laws- just dogs under control.  Which is good as I just don't do leashed walks anymore other than the occasional neighborhood walk.  I just love watching the dogs get to run and sniff at will.  And dog parks I find terrifying plus the fact that with Vito's ball obsession it is out of the question anyway.

Now that I'm home with Netta I'm trying to make our walks more than just a weekend
thing.  Trying to master the art of babywearing.

With the weather warming up now I would love to get to daily romps with the the tollers and a few times a week with the Corgi also coming along.  He loves going to the parks to run but his legs shake once we're home and he sometimes limps.  More limited visits work for him.

There are 2 skills that are a necessity for my trail walks.  One is a recall and the second is a stay.  I realize that when I do come across people on the trails they're not usually expecting to see 3 off leash dogs.  So the instant I see a person I call the dogs and put everyone in a sit on the side of the trail.  Just as I don't want to be bothered by others, I don't think it's fair for my dogs to go up to people or other dogs even for just a quick sniff.  People who let their dogs wander up to other people and other dogs are my biggest pet peeves, no matter how polite the dog seems to be.  You're not in a dog park.  Your dogs do not have the right to "say hi" and invade others space.  I admit I've failed this on one of our park walks this week.  My dogs were gathered near me and knew not to approach the person at a distance but I wanted to get a little closer before having to stop and wait with everyone.  When the nice person shouted out in greeting to me the dog's immediately rushed to "say hi."  I learned that their impulse control on greetings isn't as strong without that stay!

Visiting dogs get the long line until they prove themselves.  I love my biothane long line! I try to give a warning or a recall before the dog hits the end of it in order for them not to become reliant on the leash tension being the cue to check in.

The other part I need to figure out is how to babywear and still use my fun camera.  I don't quite have the solution yet!

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2016 Year in Review

A little late but I thought I would keep up with my tradition and review the last year.  Obviously last year was a big one for me with finding out I was pregnant and then having a 2016 baby instead of a 2017 one.  But the dogs are the important one on this blog!

Lance
The Corgi of course is retired, or semi-retired really.  Lance will still compete in WCRL rally since the jump bars can be moved to the ground for him.  Lance did several trials this last year in level 3 and earned his level 3 excellent title with glee.  I have no interest in getting any of the combined level 1/2/3 titles with him so we will keep playing in level 3 for fun.  He was incredibly sassy this last year and let me know he can do what he wants now.  Mainly barking on not just the "backwards" type stuff of backing up in heel and the left pivots, but also just whenever he feels like it.  And of course some forging is coming back as well.  So happy!

We also played with a bit of nosework earlier in the year.  I wanted to give Lance something to do now that he's retired.  Lance had fun training it but he's certainly not a natural!  Unfortunately I dropped off my training by summer.  I'm going to try to re-motivate myself to pick it back up again as I know he will still have fun training for it.  I just have never liked scent work training personally.

Vito
Vito's year was mainly one big break. 2015 was the start to our obedience experiment and that continued through spring last year.  I've since worked on more jackpot training with him again but a ton more emphasis on true choosing to work without seeing any rewards up front or any real effort on my part to encourage him to start.  Vito knows when work is an option and doesn't need me to plead with him.  For the most part it's going extremely well.  Vito still takes quite a while to choose to work sometimes but when he does start his energy is very high.  I've started working more on precision again with Vito but it's hard as to truly work on that I would want to up my rate of rewards and do fun "drills" and I don't want to do that with Vito yet.  Maybe not ever again with him, who knows.  Vito needs the most work on motivation when he knows rewards aren't forthcoming, well and all the ring confidence work with people pressure too.

I did enter Vito in exactly 3 trials this year in rally.  Vito isn't really a rally dog but I knew it would be easier for him with teh extra support I can give and with way less people pressure.  The first 2 trials were WCRL and he was a very pushy boy!  Some distraction issues with the food bowls but he recovered and was even sassier afterwards.  The last trial was AKC rally at our club.  Sadly this did not go as well.  Vito and I finished the course and other than me choosing not to redo a sign he couldn't do with the judge behind us, he scored well.  But he was worried by that judge and with the higher pressure environment in general.  It seems as though our AKC goals will remain a once a year evaluation of where his mental game is at.

Sadly an injury plagued us most of the year and Vito didn't get many agility trials in.  Not much changed with Vito in agility.  Some really good runs where Vito ran full speed.  He even got 2 difficult gambles!  And then some mediocre runs where Vito just didn't feel like running fast.  Like the past years, he still seems happy in these runs and not worried, just not speedy.
I am currently debating about what height to jump him this upcoming year.  Vito is not old, just 8yrs, and isn't having issues jumping 22in.  But well he's Vito.  Vito only needs 1 more jumpers Q and 1 more Super Q in snooker to get his ATCH and I admit I want to try to go for it.  I know that Vito might not ever get that last Super Q and I"m ok with that, but I don't want to rule it out before it's time.  I'm also hoping that Vito will get remeasured to be under 19in with the new USDAA jump heights.  I've easily gotten him under 19 when I've measured him in practice and this would allow him to jump 20in instead of 22in.

Vito also did some nosework last spring and loved it like I knew he would.  We didn't get far but Vito is definitely a natural at the sport.  Too bad competitions with him are out as there is no way he could handle the strict trial environment of dogs waiting at the cars and not being able to walk around.

Finally Vito did a tiny amount of gun dog work in the spring.  Unlike Zumi, Vito was over the top excited by the prospect of real birds. We worked on taming the savage.  Mainly teaching Vito to take another reward in exchange for a calm hold on a bird instead of thinking he could rip into the bird as a reward...

Zumi
2016 was Zumi's trial debut in agility!  A few issues with greeting ring crew and general WaHoo! running past obstacles and not turning.  But overall I am thrilled with how she did.  She earned her starters title and moved up to advanced.  Unfortunately due to being in heat at the beginning of the season and then myself being on restriction ruining the end of the year trials, Zumi didn't get to trial as much as I planned.  At least there is plenty of time!

 In obedience/rally I first started Zumi in WCRL rally and earned her level 1, 2, and 3 titles.  Then in the summer I tried her in CDSP obedience and earned her novice title.  I was thrilled with her level of focus and precision she offered me.  Just a few issues that I know we're still working on in practice.  I entered her in AKC rally novice for 3 runs at our club this October to earn her first AKC title.  I was happy with her performances but she also showed me that the AKC environment was a bit too much for her right now.  While her focus and attitude remained high, Zumi was unable to do some simple tasks even outside of the ring that I know she knows well.  I was planning on entering her in AKC obedience this spring, but will now hold off a little bit until I know she's more comfortable.

Gun dog stuff was almost all done in the spring.  I introduced Zumi to her first real bird which was interesting.  Zumi is very hesitant to pick up any bird that she hasn't been properly introduced to first.  Then she is super excited!  If it wasn't for the "new bird" issue I would say Zumi is ready to pass her WC test.  Somebody kick the handler to get more practice in!

Disc dog was even less practiced. I did get to go to 2 seminar this year to work with Zumi.  A lot of fun!

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BOTH boys in Rally

Aww, I forgot to un-draft my brag on the boys last weekend!  I was very proud of Vito so here is my late brag!

The boys were also at the trial last Saturday but were in WCRL rally instead of obedience.

Vito
It's been 12 months since Vito has last been in a trial for obedience/rally with his last experience ending in a total panic attack after I excused us from the ring.  Granted that AKC obedience which is a harder environment for him to be in than CDSP/WCRL trials.  I debated about entering Vito quite a while before sending in the entry as I don't know that we have really made much progress in Vito's willingness to start work lining up with my timeline.  I was pretty sure general trial stress wouldn't be an issue in this environment as he had started to do really well in CDSP trials before his awful AKC meltdown.  But I decided to enter Vito in WCRL rally so that the work would be way easier for him. After entering the rally trial I looked and Vito hasn't done WCRL rally since 2013 when he got his level 3 title.

I don't really think of Vito as a "rally" dog like Lance and Zumi can be.  I think of rally dogs as "doodle" dogs getting more excited with all the rear end awareness tight pivoting, and ok with all the starting and stopping.  Whereas some dogs are more "flow" type dogs.  I wouldn't say Vito hates all the pivots and stopping but he doesn't seem to get as excited by it as the other two.  It's mainly the easier work and not having to deal with transitions that made me choose rally over obedience for him.
I was very much doubting my decision to enter Vito at the trial but decided that he would let me know if he wanted to try it or not.  If I couldn't get him to do a happy and engaged ring entrance than we would just be done.

It actually turned out that Vito was very excited to work and eat cookies before his turn.  He even barked at me a few times and we did several mini "Squish" practice with releasing to play then his cookies for his turn.  Our ring entrance was very excited!  And then he did look around a little bit so I waited to start.  But on our first step he forged!
And then of course he glanced away and found the food bowl distractions set out at a later sign.  Such a hungry toller!  I got him back, after he shoved his head completely in one of the bowls and quickly had him do 2 hand touches in play with him before continuing.  Vito was half with me at that time as his brain was still really on the food bowls.  Our 90 degree pivot Vito pivoted far enough so that he could stare directly at the bowls.  Starving Toller!  I chose to re-do it and then give him a cookie for his effort.  And then Vito realized that Mommy having cookies was way cooler than cookies he didn't know how to get from under a trap in a bowl...
By the time we got back to the bowls Vito was mostly back in good dog mode and did fine.
Despite Vito's little adventure I was extremely happy with Vito's run.  He seemed very relaxed and happy in the ring, not at all stressed about the judge or people outside.  Vito kept working after making a mistake and didn't lose any motivation.

There's another WCRL trial next Friday that I might do with Vito.  And then I had sent in a single rally entry a few weeks ago for my club's AKC trial.  With both I'll just have the same plan of evaluating how he is outside the ring and letting Vito tell me if he wants to continue or not.

Lance
The Corgi came along for 2 rally runs.  He loves coming to trials and hamming it up with everyone.
Trial #1 was extremely nice.  Great focus and really working some precision.  Just did a fun bonus jump towards the end when we were doing a "fast forward from sit" and Lance thought that would be a good time to run extra fast and out over the nearby jump.

Run #2 Corig was sassier.  Much more forging.  Several barks.  Very proud corgi.

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Catching Up

It's apparently been awhile.  We've been busy, kinda.  And also very lazy.

The things.
Dock Diving
Zumi and Vito went to a dock diving competition 4 weeks ago.  Much better experience than our first time.  This one was hosted by a club and everyone was very nice and willing to answer questions.  Plus having an actual briefing before the event started was helpful.

Vito only had 2 jumps at 11.5ft and 11ft.  Both jumps were larger than the other competition and more consistent.  He kinda did a stay for me on the dock the second turn but wouldn't at all on his first turn.

Zumi wouldn't jump.  I had hopes of her jumping since she finally made it to the dock when we were at Purina Farms.  But no such luck.  I took her 2 official turns and went straight to the ramp.  Even on the ramp she was a bit hesistant to actually enter the water, but of course super excited both before and after.

Then today I drove a ways to actually practice.  Their 3rd offical practice session, first time at this location.  No idea how far Vito jumped but he looked a lot better.  And actually stayed for me during his second set of turns on the dock.  Due to crowdedness each dog only got to have 2 sets on the dock.

Zumi and I just went to the ramp and never tried the dock.  The good news is that she didn't do any of the hesitancy she showed at the actual competition and it was the same setup of above ground pool.  The bad news is she made zero progress from jump 1 to the last jump.  Still eagerly running the short distance to the ramp and then going down the ramp until her feet touch water.  THEN jumping.  She's so happy.  And I don't know how to get her to progress from there.

Disc
Zumi went to a disc dog seminar a few weeks ago.  Had a blast!  We worked primarily on flatwork and teaching me how to time my throw with her striding.  Also taught me a better way to throw flip throws, and a few other little moves for Zumi.  If you're interested in disc, the presenter Sara is now at Fenzi Academy teaching her first class this session!  I'm hoping it will motivate me to actually practice disc.

Agility
Vito is back to going to agility practice, alternating weeks with Zumi in class.  His brain hasn't come back yet since his break.  Seriously, he's an idiot.  Stays are hard for him.  Actually following my handling is hard for him.  All the things are hard.  But wow is he excited.  Certainly not my nice consistent dog who almost never goes off course.
At home Vito is doing better with the listening department but he's still an idiot with jumping.  I don't think it's due to his shoulder still as whenever Vito is over the top excited he has always knocked bars.  Vito has a very hard time with arousal levels.

Zumi is doing pretty well.  We aren't practicing too much at home so haven't made much progress with her aframe turns since last posted. Actually I don't think I've touched the aframe.  We have done a few little sequences at home though, trying to kinda keep up with the online class I have been taking this summer.

Obedience
Zumi and Lance went to a WCRL rally trial and CDSP obedience trial last weekend!  I had plans to show Vito but when I looked at where it was held I knew that Vito wouldn't be entered. It's just too crowded of a site and usually very difficult to actually get into the ring.  Lots of pressure usually from people watching and the crating area.  It turned out that this trial was light on entries and with a surprisingly large amount crating from their car I think Vito could have handled it.  But better safe than sorry.

Lance was entered in 2 runs of level 3 rally on Saturday, and just 1 on Sunday based on his last trial in April of being tired on day 2. That held true this trial as well.  Very sassy and barky corgi in rally!  A bit naughty, but always such great focus and attitude.  Sunday he was still sassy but visibly tired so I was greatful he only had the one run.  I would have loved to entered him in utility obedience at this trial but realized that without regular practice it wouldn't really be fair to him.  He's such an experience dog that he could easily handle novice and open without practice, but utility really takes a ton of confidence in the exercises.  Articles, signals, go outs I feel are a little unfair without practice.  So the corgi won.  He has always loved rally more than obedience anyways.

Little Duck got to play in level 3 for the first time!  She had 2 runs in level 3 each day and qualified in all.  I was very proud of her focus in all runs.  She earned her title easily :)  And beat her way too sassy corgi brother


And then I decided to be brave and enter her very first obedience trial.  We did one run of starters novice on Sunday when I realized there was no stand for exam.  She had a few tiny moments of attention lapses but overall I was very proud of her run.  Her stand for exam was the biggest point loser in that it took an extra cue to get her to stand (CDSP judges this portion, AKC would not have).  

I've also been trying to practice Zumi's stand for exam when I take her to the club before I teach on Wednesdays.  She is really doing well.  Now if only I can start finding new people to generalize it to.

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Nosework- Food Distractions and Interiors

Still plugging away at the boy's nosework practice.  We started splitting out the odors from our cocktail and now both are doing birch only or anise only.  Just haven't gotten out the 3rd tin to work on only clove but I don't expect any issues.

Finally ordered some sealable boxes to officially work towards the ORT test.  Not sure if I'll ever compete in nosework but I at least need concrete goals to work towards.  There was some minor confusion the first session with a partially sealed box and the tin not being visible, but that went away quickly and now both dogs have their boxes sealed.  

And we just started proofing with food in a box!  This is their very first session with food out and I used ventilated containers for both scent and food.  Lance fell for it :)

Vito was pretty solid until I started rattling it:

They continue to get better with find the tin game being on vertical surfaces.  I suspect their search times would get much faster if I actually aged their hides, but I'm not really motivated to do that yet.  So they deal.  This was their first time searching in the bedroom.  Vito finds it pretty darn fast.

Lance picked up on the area but then got lost sniffing in his crate a few feet away for awhile.  He took about 90sec to find the same location.

For being essentially a hands off sport I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would.  Still very last on my list but I'm happy that I'm at least somewhat motivated to stay practicing with it.  I know the Corgi is having fun getting to do something and the Toller is kinda in the same boat right now.  

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Nosework Week 4

The boys are continuing to practice their new nosework skills and learning about different hiding places for their tin.  Still making it fairly obvious to them where the hiding places might be but adding in some different heights.  And every once in a while attaching the tin directly to one of the cabinets.

Lance is still very prone to grabbing his tin when he finds it instead of doing his nice nose touch.  And I'm not sure how much he's really sniffing the room yet to narrow down his search parameters instead of just searching the obvious locations until he directly stumbles upon the scent.  Overall he's doing a pretty good job of continuing to search without asking for help and is fairly calm.  Lance might false alert or just stare at me if he gets stuck.



Vito is much more frantic in his searching.  Most sessions I can see him doing a more obvious job of sniffing the air for the general location but there's also many more times when he gets way too high and not thinking.  Usually the first search is like that and then if it takes too long to find the scent on later ones.  Typically his nose alerts are pretty good but for some reason in this session he was wanting to retrieve.  Vito rarely false alerts.

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Shiny New Titles

The Corgi and the Duck got to play WCRL rally this weekend.  Didn't enter Vito since he's still on the Experiment.

Lance
The Corgi was sassy.  He did two level 3 runs on Saturday and two on Sunday.
The first run he reminded me that being retired means you can do whatever you want.  Didn't want to sit for his fronts until I wised up and started telling him before he fully got there.
Run #2 he had fun show boating on the last finish when the audience clapped :)

And there was some barking on pivots and of course backing up.

Good Corgi.  4 for 4 Q's and it finished up his level 3 excellent title (10Q's).  Apparently I haven't entered him in much rally over the years as Lance always qualifies and it still took 5 years.

Showboat at the end.

Zumi
Duckie's growing up!   Zumi also had two runs Saturday and two runs on Sunday.
She finished up her last level 1 Q and then moved up to level 2.  First time off leash!!

Cute little offered moving stand randomly in the middle of heeling!

Day #2!

The last run of the day was slightly too much for the baby.  She was still a good girl with some pretty darn mature focus.  But there were a few brief look aways and I just could feel her energy a little lower.  But another Q and thus earned her level 2 title this weekend.  Maybe level 3 the next trial in July!

Biggest issue for her this trial was really the slow time.  She wanted to sit in 2 of the 3 runs that had that sign.  Since speed transitions is something I'm still training in practice this didn't surprise me.

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Three Boxes

Nosework adventuring continues with "hiding" one box around and getting the dogs comfortable with holding their nose target even after running to the box.   This has been difficult with both Lance and Vito due to wanting to retrieve the box to me or wanting to paw with the added excitement.  I think they finally got it!

Both dogs also progressed to doing a tiny discrimination test with 2 boxes and then 3 boxes.
I need to develop a better plan for dealing with errors as I'm not very consistent. I certainly don't want silence to mean try again so I will vow to do better.

It's interesting to watch the differences between Lance and Vito.  I think Lance is doing just fine but he's not as confident and not obviously using his nose as much on the hidden box game.  Vito has always loved sniffing and is much more clearly using his nose.

This is Lance's 2nd time doing the 3 box discrimination task and it looks as though this is really going to help teach him it's a scenting exercise.  It helps that the setup is already very familiar to Lance from his scent articles training.


Vito on the 3 boxes.

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Happy Birthday Corgi

Lance turned 9 years old today.  Still one more year of single digits.  

Doing fantastic with everything since his IVDD last year.  Enjoying running around and going to parks still even though.  I'm not limiting his activity other than not taking him out two days in a row.  Lance is a frequent limper now after days he does running.  Thankfully it's just starts a few hours after he naps and then only lasts a day at the most.

 Love this special boy.

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Another New Sport

Apparently 2016 is the year of adventures in dog sports.  With Lance being completely done with agility and obedience (minus maybe a few WCRL or CDSP trials where he can jump no height) he is looking for something to do.  Very sassy corgi at home!  I've still been doing a tiny bit of obedience training on nights he comes to the club with me and I've occasionally done some conditioning work at home.  But I do best with structure.  And the Corgi certainly needs to do something.

Enter nosework.  Ordered my first kit from a nice local company!

I'll be honest, I'm not expecting to fall in love with the sport.  The diabetic alert (scent trained) dogs at work are my least favorite to train of the 5 types I work with.  Maybe because it's less concrete, less control?  But maybe this will be different for me.  At least there's a lot more "hunt drive" to the training vs waiting around for the scent to just happen.  I'm sure the dogs will love it regardless of my feelings!

Lance's very first session yesterday.  Since he already has an amazing trained sticky target to my hand and to a target, this first lesson was just about doing the target to the little tin.  And then I added in a 2nd non scented tin to maybe get the tiniest idea across that some sniffing is involved in this.

Vito is going to play along too.  Vito has always been a sniffer on walks instead of a runner and he is amazing at finding the tiniest scraps ever of tennis ball remnants.  Vito used to have the honor of finding all the lost ball toys in the large yard at work even when under feet of snow!

Vito's first session yesterday was pretty darn similar to Lance.  He also has a fabulous sticky target.  (Reverse luring is amazing for teaching one!)  So today's session focused on both Lance and Vito doing the sticky target to a plastic container.  Lance did a pretty good job with only a few paws.  Vito thought the game completely changed and was all about whacking it with his paw.  Since his session was much more amusing than Lance's, here is Vito from today:

At this time Zumi is not going to be playing along.  Too many other sports to get foundations solid on!
But if you're interested in learning more about nosework, there's a great class at the Fenzi Academy!

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Spring for a Day!

For one day it was spring!  I still have a surprisingly amount of snow in my yard compared to everyone else I know, but it was almost 60 degrees on Saturday!

Took the dogs to the park!  Way less snow there.  And of course I made them pose on things.

Gives me hope that even though it's going to be in the high 20's tomorrow that it won't be too long before I can start putting back out my agility equipment and actually train the tollers outside.

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