Tricks!

I had the privilage of hanging out with Laura and Lance-A-Lot over the weekend at our disc dog club's Star Jam!  It was a fun night... until the sky turned blood red and the lightening started showing it's ugly head.

Laura is a gifted dog trainer, and Lance is a DOLL FACE who knows a gazillion tricks. This is where Laura will pipe up and say that it's not a gazillion. But I'm here to tell you that if it's not a gazillion, it's at least like a million. Or somewhere in that range.  He's so smart and he's got huge ears and everything he does is way too adorable.

Anyways, Andrew Han was visiting here in the land of ten thousand (15,000+) lakes and we got a front row seat to view some of Lance's tricks! It got me thinking and asking about how to train some of them.

Today, I recieved a list of awesome dog tricks to play with (thank you, Laura!) and I'm so excited to start working on some of them! Hopefully I won't be a total sandbagger and I'll remember to video some of the stuff. Or at least take photos?  But I'm making no promises.

Frankie

It's already been nearly a month since I brought Frankie to a surgeon to have acl surgery, to then (thank you God!) find out that she didn't need it!  In that time I've completely changed the way my dogs do things. Everybody is on joint suppliments now. Jake already was, Maggie because she's a Corgi and she's that age where backs and limbs might start giving her grief. Frankie and Kirby are also on the stuff now. Both of them are under five years old, so I hadn't put them on it initially. It's for older dogs, I thought. But then the acl scare happened and with the Aussies being sport dogs, regardless of age, they are going to require it to keep them comfortable down the road.

I'm doing a lot more hands on stuff with them too these days. Massage, stretching, lots more 'grooming' time, I call it. Mostly its just me petting and hugging my dogs all the time. Lol!  But the Furminator is right there so why not brush more fur away.

But most importantly, for my piece of mind, I've been walking Frankie differently. Frankie's natural speed is usually a gallop of sorts. She doesn't do anything slowly or calmly. When she's galloping or loping or cantering, I can't gauge her gait very well. Everytime I'm outside with Frankie, I'm watching her movement like a hawk.

I might be the slightest bit paranoid.

I've always walked multiple dogs at a time. It made more sense, there are four of them and I can hold on to two leashes. But this also makes for more work, less focus and shorter leashes to keep from getting all tangled up.
Now, after I work with Frankie on disc dog stuff, we cool down with a walk by ourselves on a flexi. Frankie can go out ahead of me, I can watch her walk and most importantly, I can control her speed. I can watch for any hitches in her step, limping, favoring, weight distribution, anything that could tip me off about her comfort.




And then afterwards, she's just the right amount of tired that I can brush on her some more.
Last night's fur load.

Sam

I have this teeny-tiny-itty-bitty little obsession for double merle Aussies...

It's gigantic, actually. But I need to downplay it here.

Today I spent an hour posting ASRM's newest puppy to the website and I'm completely, one hundred percent, head-over-heels enamoured with him. SAM!  He's deaf and blind.

You can't HANDLE the cute!

2 x 2 Weaves

Kirby loves agility. We take our classes through Paws Abilities Dog Training and it's been a very fun journey!  At this point, Kirby will take just about every obstacle put in front of him, with the exception of a full on teeter (it's still modified on short tables) and weaves.

Wait, let me make a correction. Kirby will do weaves just perfectly fine... on the Paws Abilities class course. Anywhere else, it's as though he's never seen a weave pole before.  It's mildly frustrating for me to watch him do them perfectly in class and then go home to our setup and watch him clown around like he doesn't have a clue.

So, while attending a NADAC agility trial last weekend, I had a chance to sit down with Laura from The Dogs Are Really In Charge and she said "Have you tried the 2x2 method yet?"  Ummmm... no?  I'd heard of it before. I'm a big Susan Garrett fan and I have a number of her books and DVD's. But I'd never tried the 2x2 weaves before. Using her shoes and mine on a bleacher seat, Laura explained the basic concept to me.

And last night, we put it to the test.

I stuck two poles into the ground about 2 ft apart. I had our handy dandy tennis ball in hand. I sat Kirby directly in front of the poles about 7 ft away, got into place with my arm out and told him to 'weave'.

He ran around the poles. "Oops!" is our fail word. It means 'That is not what you were asked, let's try it again' and no reward.

Reset. "Weave". Kirby again flew around the poles and searched the air for his beloved ball. "Oops!"

Reset. This time I set him up about 4ft from the opening and was a little more obvious with my hand/arm. Kirby bolted between the poles!  "YES!" Throw the ball.

I love our new tennis ball reward system by the way. Once that ball is thrown, Kirby must immediately flip back through and figure out what exactly he did to get that result, because he's a quick study after that.

Reset again, about 5ft away. He nailed it again and again. It was only when I changed his start position at a bit of an angle that he got confused and ran around them. But we simply reset and tried again and he did it!  We ended there on that note. If I've learned anything in dog training, it's that short, quick sessions are more likely to bring success than a long, frustrating, drawn out session. So no matter what we're doing, we keep it short.

I will likely need to borrow or buy the 2x2 weaves DVD soon, just so I'm clear. But a couple of people have sent me youtube videos which are also really helpful. Stay tuned to see if 2x2's works for us!

Sport Dog Injuries

On June 18th, I took Frankie out into the backyard to practice for our club's largest comp of the year. We were barely into it when I noticed Frankie's mouth was bleeding, pretty heavily on one side. We stopped and I had her go get a drink of water. It's not uncommon for disc dogs to bleed once and a while, since they often bite their tongues when they snatch a Frisbee out of the sky. The bleeding appeared to have stopped, so we went back to it. After one catch her mouth was bleeding heavily again, so again we stopped and got some water. I took a peek in her mouth to see what was going on and discovered that one of her lower teeth on the right side had broken in half! 

The vet was called and a dental scheduled for that Wednesday so we could get the problem taken care of. I picked her up Wednesday night and unfortunately, since I was concerned about her oral comfort level, we cancelled our place at the competition. But Frankie healed and life was good again.

On June 25th I took Frankie out into the backyard to practice for an upcoming Frisbee demo. We worked on a few specific moves and within 5 minutes or so, we were done. Frankie trotted off to get water and walk around like she usually does after a practice and I took my spot on the patio to watch her walk as I usually do. I've become very tuned into my dog's walking and trotting gaits as I've become more and more paranoid about them being injured.  Frankie walked normally, went potty and we went inside to watch some tv.

About an hour later, it was nearing time to get the dogs fed and ready for bed. I took everybody outside one last time to potty and in watching Frankie, I thought I was catching glimpses of her being kind of wonky on her right rear leg. I was concerned, but when I went to check further she went into wiggling spasms and went over for a belly rub. While she was down, I checked for heat or swelling, but couldn't feel anything.

The next morning I woke up and went to let the dogs outside. Frankie was standing in her crate with her right leg hiked way up. Panic on my part, wiggling on hers. I let everybody outside and watched Frankie. She wouldn't even attempt to put weight on it. It was almost like it was so tight that she couldn't lower it. That's about when I started crying. To try and help me out, Frankie hopped over to the nearest Frisbee and dropped it at my feet and backed up, waiting. Silly dog.

I rushed her to the vet, fearing an ACL tear. My vet seemed to agree and referred us to an ortho surgeon who specalizes in knee injuries.
On July 9th, I drove Frankie to the surgeon's clinic to have her surgery. We filled out the paperwork and went in for a thourough exam and xrays. To make a very long story short, we got lucky. God blessed my little blue dog and it was found that Frankie did not require surgery and more than likely, her acl was fine. *happy dance!*

But the instances this year of my dogs going through one thing or another, especially the Aussies with their sports, really has me thinking hard about what more I could be doing to prevent the injuries in the first place. Here are a few of the things that we are beginning or have already been doing to help prevent injury.

*Managing their weight ~ Overweight dogs are going to come down a lot harder then a fit, lean dog.
*Conditioning ~ Ensuring that your sport dog is active and trains in their sport regularly will keep their muscles strong and more able to support the body.
*Adding joint suppliments ~ Fish oils, glucosomine and MSM are all things that my 10yo Lab takes to keep him limber and feeling good. But all of our dogs will now be on this program.
*Nutrition ~ Make sure that you are feeding your dog a well balanced, nutritionally correct diet for their size, weight, age and activity level. Bread and bacon bits from the table do not count as good nutrition! Plus that promotes begging and that's just annoying.
*Regular dentals ~ I knew that keeping my dog's teeth and gums clean and healthy was just...healthy. But I was not aware until my visit with the surgeon that keeping their teeth healthy will also aide in keeping their joints healthy!  She didn't explain the why, but it's interesting and something I'll remember for sure.
*Know your dog ~ Become hyper aware of your dog's gait and watch for any inconsitancies. Dogs are generally very stoic and won't show their pain or discomfort, which is why you need to know your dog well enough to step in when something looks wrong.
*Massage ~ This is one that we are beginning right away! Learning how to warm up your dog properly and massage major muscle groups will not only keep them limber, it will also alert you to any new growths or knots as soon as they appear. Eventually your hands will know your dog's body so well that you'll be able to feel something as small as a mosquito bite that's not normally there!
*Pet Insurance ~ This is another thing we are starting. Pet insurance, depending on which plan you choose, can be a major life saver when it comes to vet bills. And I mean literally a life saver. Major vetting on a pet costs a lot of money and unless you are really awesome at saving money and have some put away for this kind of emergency, chances are most people can't afford it. So their only other option is to put their pet down or give them away. For Frankie, it will cost me about $35 a month to put her on the best plan the company that I've chosen offers. So now in the future, if Frankie does need a knee surgery or something, we will get about 90% of it back with the insurance. Yes, $35 for one dog every month might seem like a lot. But $35 a month is much much easier to do than a $3K knee surgery!  We were forced to take out a loan from the bank to pay for Frankie's surgery, which required that our vehicles be used as collateral and we had to put full coverage insurance on them while the loan is active!  Like I said, we were blessed that we're able to pay it back right away because surgery wasn't needed. But if the opposite had been true, I'd be paying $250 a month for the loan payment AND the extra $100+ for car insurance. Yes, $35 a month is MUCH easier to look at than $350 a month!

We love dog sports and our dogs love doing what they do. Our world revolves around dog sports. I never want to have to take that away from them. We have been given a second chance to do things the right way, so you can be damn sure we are going to do it right this time around.

What else do you do for your animals who are active in hunting, agility, frisbee, etc??  Post in the comments below!

Jump Solution

Kirby and I have been taking agility classes for appx 2 years now. I think. Anyways, jumping has not been one of Kirby's strong points. Well, he can jump just dandy if it's strait up into the air or to catch a Frisbee. When that is the case, it's like Kirby was born on springs for legs. But 12" agility jumps?  90% of the time, he just blows them off.

I'm not laying all of the blame on Kirby though. I'll take half of it, becausemy handling skills are nowhere near perfect. My positioning probably made him think he didn't need to take that jump.  But once my handling improved, the jumping did not.

Our agility instructor, Rick, put his thinking cap on. He pulled me aside and gave us some homework. I have a few agility jumps at home. I was to start with one. Set up Kirby as usual. Instead of treats though, he told me to keep a tennis ball in hand. After Kirby was released and I was certain that he was committed to taking the jump, I would mark it 'YES!" and throw the ball. 

This worked almost immediately and during the first night we were able to add a second jump. This actually ended up failing about half the time, so we went back to class and discussed with Rick and he tweaked our homework a bit. Now I was to send him off to jump and mark/reward, but each time I started backing up and moving out. This was teaching distance. There was a time when I would have to turn really close into the jump to force Kirby over it and prevent him from coming into my side and blowing it off. We had no distance. But soon we were able to add jumps and I could begin on either side from a good distance away. 

We have absolutely not 'mastered' the agility jump, not by any stretch of the imagination. But we've greatly improved. By the next class, Rick said it was like he was a completely different dog, taking most if not all of the jumps he was asked to!

Switching from treats to a tennis ball had huge effects on the agility course. We have since begun using it elsewhere, and I'm kicking myself for not doing it earlier because I'm sure we would have advanced a lot quicker. 

As long as the black dog is having fun though, it's alright by me. And I really enjoy our agility classes. I've always had really nice classmates and it's educational to watch them work as well and pick their way through their own issues and come up with a solution. Sometimes it helps me, sometimes it doesn't, but may help somebody else. As long as I can afford it, I will likely continue taking classes even after we begin trialing. While I will technically be taking the same class multiple times, they are never the same. Paws Abilities trainers have always been excellent at looking at the individual team and breaking each class down to fit the needs of it's students. Our main focus for our last Intermediate Agility classes was jumps and handling skills. We are beginning Intermediate Agility again and those 6 classes will probably focus on something completely different. That's the beauty of it.

Pawsitive Vybe Seminar

Over Memorial Day weekend, we attended a four day long training seminar with the trainers of Pawsitive Vybe.  This is our third year attending the PVybe camp.

If you are not familiar with PVybe, it's a dog training studio that was founded by two sport dog rockstars. They are positive trainers and they focus on, well, everything. PVybe is HQ'd in New York, however it currently has branches in North Dakota, Wisconsin and Florida as well.

The focus of our camp this weekend was Disc Doggin (K9 Frisbee). It's kind of become our 'survival kit' to make it through the long Minnesota winters. We have something huge to look forward to every spring!

We worked on a ton of things over the course of the weekend. But the one that stood out to me the most was actually a very small thing. In learning this sport and playing with Frankie, I was unintentionally making things very difficult for us. At last year's camp for instance, we didn't have a Scoot. A basic, relatively simple move that has your dog do a 180 in front of you and back up through your legs from front to back. So Apryl worked with us using treats and from there we traded the frisbee until we had a Scoot. Well, in order to keep getting the scoot, I would scoot her, then automatically turn to the right and toss a disc out in front of me. That was her reward, as well as a setup for a throwing sequence. So this year, as we worked on new Scoot moves, it was discovered that now I had conditioned Frankie to always come out to my right, making it difficult to take this setup move and apply it elsewhere. It was very frustrating for me (in a good way).

Another example is the 'Go Around', where I signal Frankie to run around behind me on my right and come flying forward from my left. This was the very first 'trick' in disc that we ever learned!  So for the last four years, when I signal a Go Around, a disc is going to be thrown in front of me. That has just always been the case.  So when Ron wants Frankie to Go Around and then immediately do a Leg Over, it's almost impossible to break her of this habit that I spent four years creating.

To sum it up, that small thing is learning how to break up things that I've engrained over the years. Frankie can be a tough cookie to work with sometimes. She's incredibly smart and insanely driven for the disc. But after enough repetition, she will begin to see the shortcuts and she will not hesitate to take them.

For this upcoming season, I've laid out my goals.
#1 - Perfect my vaults and rebounds
#2 - Create a freaking routine!

For the past three seasons, I've relied completely on my brain. And that hasn't always worked out in my favor. I tend to 'wing it' when we step onto the competition field. While other, more successful disc doggers can go out and I can tell you just about every move they will make and the order in which they will do it. That's called a routine. And the nice thing about routines is that once you have one, you are no longer 'winging it'. I'm tired of winging everything. My anxiety over competing has only increased every season, not subsided as I'd hoped. My confidence is not building as I gain experience.

I learned much. But now I need to figure out how to put it together.
Overall it was a great weekend!  I felt like we had tiny breakthroughs and now we're ready to disc dog for real.