Weird dream...

Last night I had a really strange dream...

I was playing paintball with some friends, but instead of a regular paintball field, we were playing above a huge indoor swimming pool. I don't think they make pools as large as this one was, LOL. There were metal railings everywhere to walk on, so footing was treacherous. As I progressed along, tagging more people, I would find my dogs, swimming in the big pool. First there was Roofus, who was pretty happily treading water, and then I found Popper.

The next dog was Merlin - but he was underwater and not moving. I started screaming, jumped in the water, and began to pull him out. Even as I did so, I realized, it wasn't Merlin, but some other corgi, a female, that had a tail. After she was free of the water, she started sputtering and moving around again. I found her mom, who was nearby, crying, and so happy I'd saved her dog.

And that was my dream.

And I've been hugging Merlin and watching him very carefully, as if he'll somehow wander into some water. In November. Inside my house.

Corgis are NOT strong swimmers (legs are too short!) so be sure to carefully supervise your pooch any time they are in or around water.

And no, I have no idea what my dream means.

It sure is cold... hey, wait a minute!

The past few nights, I've been waking up in the middle of the night, shivering. I curl into the fetal position, grab my fleece blanket I have on standby just in case, and go back to sleep. When I wake up for the day, I only have a vague recollection of being cold at some point.

Two nights ago, I figured out what's happening.

Popper is the only dog that sleeps on my bed all night long. He has super short fur, and it's kind of thin, so he usually wears a sweater in the winter. Apparently, he's been dragging my comforter off of me and nesting it into a cozy bed. Last night, I got the hint, and turned on my heating blanket before laying down for the night.

This morning, my comforter was where it was supposed to be, and I was toasty. Apparently Popper was too.

Now I just need to remember that when Popper begins stealing my blankets, it's the time of year to turn the electric blanket on!

Rally and Agility

Roofus had a daytime rally class this morning. It went even better than the last one! He seems to be picking things up very quickly (unusual for him), which is no doubt because he is extremely eager to please. The only problem is that I have to have a treat in my hand the whole time, because he is very easily distracted at this stage. He saw we were being followed by a "judge," and proceeded to go visit her and root through her pockets looking for treats, LOL. He also doesn't like the door opening and closing at the building... He has a very strong flock guardian instinct, and he constantly has to know where everyone is. When people come or go, he feels like he needs to bark at them. I figure he's a bit annoyed that they didn't announce their plans to him beforehand.

One of the teachers told me Roofus is an awesome working dog and that he's going to do really well in Rally. I think he is too. :D In January, I'm going to sign up for Rally classes with Kym at Anything Goes for Dogs in addition to the informal classes at BRAG. She has such a positive, upbeat training style and Roofus responds really well to it!

Last night was week three of Popper and Merlin's agility classes, and they swapped good nights again. I'd love to have a good night with both of them, but apparently that's not to be. Last night was Merlin's great night. He had a crappy contact on the a-frame, but he did really, really well overall. Several instructors told me I need to trust Merlin more and give him some space. I'm really working on it, and I know I CAN trust Merlin, but I don't have quite the same relationship with Merlin that I do with Popper, so it will take some time on my part. I've also got to remember that while Popper may like me super close while he runs, Merlin would prefer I just let him do it without breathing down his neck. It's kind of hard to have dogs with such differences!

Popper's night was almost miserable. The highlight of his class was his beautiful rear crosses into tunnels. He used to be absolutely terrified of them, but I took a private lesson with Kym at Anything Goes for Dogs and we drilled them with tons of treats. I practiced big time at home, and they're just gorgeous now. He has no hesitation at all. However, that's pretty much the only time we can do a rear cross. I'd say 75% of the time, he's very scared if I try such a manuever with him. He'll stop running, put his ears down, tuck his tail, and look for all the world like I just beat my dog. Everyone tells me that with time he'll gain confidence and those reactions will fade. I sure hope so.

Popper also completely died on the weave poles. We've been having this problem, with 12 poles specifically, where he will speed up towards the end, and end up skipping poles. I've been working with him, but I can't seem to fix it. We got to class last night, and he did the poles once and absolutely refused to do them again. One of the instructors told me to reteach the weave poles, that it happens to everybody at some point. Sigh... I wish I had twelve poles of a matching set. Right now I have 2 sets of six - one is a very nice channel weave set, the other is a cheapo PVC set that doesn't channel, but bends. So I can't run 12 channeled poles at once, they have to be straight. And I think that's what I really need to do. I also wonder if having some word I can say while he is weaving would keep his spirit up and keep driving him. He has to CONSTANTLY be reassured and complimented while we run, or he loses interest and starts sniffing. Disengages. I think 12 poles may be too long for his beagley mind to go without something from me.

So, to sum up - Merlin's doing great, Popper's having some setbacks, and Roofus loves Rally. :)

Rally Class

BRAG recently started offering an informal Rally class (that's rally obedience, if you prefer), and yesterday, Roofus went to his first one. It was a bit disorganized at first - the first half hour we pretty much just stood around and watched the instructors' dogs do the signs. After that, though, they gained momentum as they fell into a stride, and we practiced several signs. The last hour was spent doing a run-through, which was a new experience for me.

Roofus did a Rally Workshop at Anything Goes for Dogs, and we loved it, but the facility was a little far away. She's now moved quite a bit closer, so we are looking into classes there for the new year. It's been a while since I've done a dog class with Roo (shame on me!), and I'd forgotten what it was like to work with a giant breed dog. While Popper may be able to spin on a dime in agility, Roofus needs quite a bit more room to turn around. Popper is at my side leaping into the air as we run, Roofus pokes my shoulder with his chin!

So it was good to get out there again and get Roofus involved. He had a really fun time (but honestly, he has an awesome time doing ANYTHING - he's an Old English Sheepdog, after all!), and I even began to hope that maybe we could compete early next year, just to see how he does. One problem we have to really work on is moving downs. He just doesn't get it. Another OES issue. Once he figures out what I want, though, he'll never forget it. Another OES thing, and thank goodness, a positive trait! :D

OSU Demo and Classes

So yesterday, we had the OSU agility demo at the vet school. I elected to take Merlin and not Popper, because last time I took Popper, they had grills going, and it just overwhelmed his poor beagley senses. Merlin has only done one other demo, so I figured it would be good practice.

The ground was really soggy, and I guess there were all sorts of good smells coming out of it, because Merlin went nuts sniffing and pawing at the ground, and ignoring me. He never does that in agility. I was getting frustrated when Joanne, who owns Irish Wolfhounds, asked if I wanted to try some Captain Crunch. At that point, I'd try anything. It was instant success with Merlin - I gave him one, and he became fixated completely on the bag - which Joanne still had. So she gave it to me, and BOOM - instant and flawless attention. If he started to drift on a run, I just touched my pocket so the bag would crinkle, and he would switch himself back to me right away. Even later that night, when I showed it to my fiance, Merlin's eyes were large and attentive on that bag. I afterwards referred to it as the "Magic Bag of Noms."

It truly was magic - I took it to class with us, and Merlin managed to fix all the issues he's been having problems with.. He took the weave poles perfectly after other obstacles; he corrected himself when he was about to jump through the space between the tire and the frame, to go through the tire itself... I was SO PROUD of the little guy! He was awesome. I was even more proud when they told us he was cleared to go on to the next level of agility classes. Way to go, Merlin!

I kept the Magic Bag of Noms out for Popper's class too - and I was not disappointed. We were doing threadles, which were previously our downfall, and Popper ran them like a champ. I was astonished, pleased, thrilled - all those and more. Popper wasn't as obsessed with the Captain Crunch as Merlin (Popper is a hound - he just likes food, period), but I swear that bag was magic. He ran everything well, and ran the whole time, which is unusual for him because he doesn't do well in the heat/humidity normally. We had a bit of trouble with the weaves, but that was my fault because I have not been diligent in my practice at home. Popper was also promoted to the next level, which caused no end of joy for me, because we had already done that class once together, and I became so frustrated and upset with it that I had vowed to give up agility. We worked really hard, and took a recreational class to get the joy back into the sport, and that worked like charm; it was exactly what we needed to keep going strong. :)

We celebrated the awesomeness of the little boys with ice cream cones!

And yes, I have Peanut Butter Captain Crunch on my shopping list - never again will I underestimate the power of the Magic Bag of Noms!

Saved by Leashes - Twice!

I packed up Roofus, Popper, Blossom, and Merlin, and headed over to my parents' house for a few hours of fetch and frisbee. When I was a few houses away from theirs, there was a "Road Closed" sign. Not to be deterred, I turned around and went the back way.

The back way was blocked as well, and there were all sorts of people milling about. I rolled my window down to ask a man, who happened to have a large dog, why the road was closed. "Gas leak," he said. I thanked him, and in that instant, Popper bolted from the passenger side seat, through the driver's side window. I managed to snag his leash as it trailed out the window. The next second, Merlin got it into his head to go tumbling after him, but I was prepared now, and I got him before he had two paws on my seat, and stuck him on the passenger side floor. I got Popper back into the car, and away we went.

That has never happened to me before. I am very upset at Popper for having so little self control that he felt the need to fly out my window to go visit a dog. Merlin is reactive so I am not surprised at him, although he has never tried to jump out the window before.

When we got home, I put my dogs in stays, and opened my door. I grabbed Popper's leash, when Blossom decided it was her turn to bolt out of the car, and goes running down the sidewalk. Blossom is deaf, so the only way to get Blossom back is to capture her, praying the entire time she doesn't see you, otherwise she'll RUN. I shut the door, took off with Popper after her, and stepped on her leash. Thankfully she always wears a harness, so the jolt of a sudden stop wasn't too bad.

At this point I was pretty happy to get back into my house and stuff all the dogs inside it.

Twice in one day! I don't ever have a problem with dogs in my car. I think it may be time to reintroduce Popper to the doggie seat belt, and I believe I need to get Blossom one as well, since she is deaf now and a PITA to catch if she can slip out the door. This was quite an eye opener - just because your dogs don't normally do something, or have been trained not to do something, does not mean they will not do it at some point! I always fear the off-leash dogs that are "perfectly trained," because it only takes a second for something bad to happen. We all were lucky this time.

Roofus, I will note, was an exceptionally good boy the entire time and the only one I am not annoyed with at the moment.

And my dogs are still full of energy and have not gotten their exercise yet!! :( We're going to try back later.

Agility Run-Thrus

I was super eager for BRAG's agility run-throughs tonight.... I wanted to see if Popper's attention disorder really was an outdoor-specific thing, or if he was just totally ruined at trials.

It's an outdoor thing.

It's a huge obstacle to conquer. I don't know if we can do it. We're sure going to try - at least one of the games every time Merlin does an outdoor trial. So I will focus on the indoor ones and hopefully we can finish our level 1 title before the year is out.

Merlin, on the other hand - freaking amazing. I think Popper started out amazing, too, but I can really see Merlin going all the way.