Smoochie smoochie!

Dax has this annoying habit of standing on my center console while I drive, the one in between the driver's and passenger's seat. It is irritating not only because he randomly sticks his big wet nose in my ear as I drive, but because he's tall enough that I can't see over him, so we could potentially die in a 60mph fireball of death.

Normally I keep him crated in my car for this very reason. He knows that "off" means to get off of what he's standing on, but being a young, bullheaded cattle dog, he may or may not actually oblige depending on his mood. He's a fairly anxious dog in the car anyway, and repeatedly telling him "off" every thirty seconds in an increasingly exasperated voice doesn't really induce a calming sensation.

He's learned that he can avoid the center console completely, and get into the passenger seat, by shimmying himself between the seat and the car door. Today he did just that, and then proceeded to stand on the center console again, except his back feet were in the front seat (say that five times fast). I opened my mouth to chew him out, when he looked at me, and gave me a big, fat, wet slurp all the way up the side of my head. I was so stunned, I remained silent. He then jumped down into the passenger seat, sat down, and stared at me.

Well played, Dax. Well played. I'm pretty sure a cattle dog just gave me the doggie raspberries.

New Breed Specific Address Labels

We are proud to announce the addition of dog breed address labels to our Zazzle store! A fantastic selection is available, from silhouettes, to kawaii cartoons, to photography! Agility, flyball, Christmas, and just plain adorable doggie return address labels. Below is a small sampling of the enormous amount currently available - and we're adding new ones every day.

Beagle Silhouette by MenagerieMayhem
Awesome monochrome Beagle address labels for the modern dog lover. A gray breed silhouette stands stacked in front of a silver paw print, with a squiggly background.

Kawaii Pink Gingham Boston Terrier by MenagerieMayhem
These adorable Boston Terrier address labels have a pink checkered background. A cartoon Boston Terrier is on the right, and you can instantly personalize the name and address found on the right. Very cute pet lover products at Menagerie Mayhem.

Winter Cartoon Fawn Bullmastiff by MenagerieMayhem
These original Bullmastiff address labels are perfect for not only the Christmas season - but all winter long! The background is blue with big, puffy snowflakes falling everywhere, and to the left is a fawn cartoon Bullmastiff. Awesome breed-specific holiday address labels for dog lovers, but can be used any time it's cold outside (or you wish it were!).

Kawaii White Bull Terrier (Eye Spot) by MenagerieMayhem
Cute White Bull Terrier return address labels for dog lovers! Sparkly blue design has a cartoon of the white dog breed with an eye patch on the left, and you can instantly add all your own information, printed on the right. Other coat colors are available.

Brittany Spaniel Reindeer Christmas by MenagerieMayhem
Fun Brittany Spaniel Christmas address labels have a dog breed silhouette, with reindeer antlers and a bright red glowing nose. The background is a cheery holiday plaid with reds and greens. Personalize the Name and Address easily with our customizing tools.

Santa Old English Sheepdog by MenagerieMayhem
Adorable photo of an Old English Sheepdog wearing a Santa cap in front of colorful Christmas lights. Excellent Old English Sheepdog address labels for the holidays! Instantly personalize the information to your own.

Dax Goes to an Agility Trial, Merlin Conquers All

Sunday was a Flashpoint CPE trial - an outdoor event, which is a fun time for everyone in dog agility! Happily, the ring is completely fenced in, or I might have some doubts about running my dogs there. :)

In addition to my agility dogs Popper and Merlin, I brought along my Roofus and Dax. Roofus has an APDT rally trial coming up, so he needs to get used to the atmosphere, and Dax just needs to get used to being around people, dogs, and, well, trials. :)

This was Popper's first time in Level 3 Jumpers and Colors, and he was absolutely amazing - even though I forgot the course halfway through Jumpers, I managed to save it and Popper got not only Q's for those runs but first places as well! His last run was Level 2 Wildcard, which was NOT very inspiring, particularly when he stopped on the dog walk and began admiring the judge. His tail was going a mile a minute - not sure of the attraction of this particular judge, Popper has trialed under him before with no problems. He managed to Q, but his "fan club time" cost him first, and he netted third.

Merlin was entered in only two runs, and he managed to Q in both of them. He ran with a spring in his step and a smile on his face, so really, he could have not Q'd and I wouldn't have cared in the slightest. :) He was the only dog in his level and height class so he obviously got two first places. Merlin, unlike Popper, did NOT like the judge, and he too stopped on the dog walk - to shoot the judge a look full of hatred. Good job, corgi.

I was unable to get anything at all out of Roofus, except for a couple of distance downs. He just refused to work, he was too full of excitement. I'd excuse it if it weren't for the fact that I always bring him along to outdoor trials, and always work on rally stuff in-between dog runs. This is the first time he has refused to work at all. It doesn't bode well for our October rally trial. :(

Dax had all kinds of positive experiences! He met lots of people, who had lots of mom-supplied steak for him, and he met a lot of dogs. I made sure he met one of my agility pal's big black dog Oscar, who is as mellow as mellow can be, to help him get over his fear of big black dogs. Dax was terrified of him, but at the same time, wanted to play with him. Throughout the day, Dax had happy tail, and to me that was better than all the Q's and first places we could have gotten.

Curiously, people keep mixing up Popper and Dax. Popper has drop ears, Dax has prick ears. Popper is a deep red with white speckles, Dax is white with light red speckles. Popper really wants to see you and give you kisses, Dax would rather sit nearby and be ignored. Granted, sometimes I'll confuse them if I glance quickly, or can only see their legs or snouts, but seriously? Not sure how everyone keeps confusing the two. :)

Dax Meets a Borzoi

Today one of my agility pals brought her enormous Borzoi to the play yard to meet Dax, and show him that big dogs can be perfectly nice companions. When I saw enormous, I mean he made Roofus look like a normal sized dog. He must have been 36" at the shoulders. I'm not familiar with the size range of Borzoi, but this boy was easily the size of a regular pony.

However, Dralion has a nice gentle spirit, with very good doggie manners and calming signals, and while his size intimidated Dax at first, Dax was soon quite comfortable running around him and sniffing at his leisure. Once, he ran up to Dralion in a move to initiate play, which Dralion would have been more than happy to comply with, but as soon as he stiffened up to pounce, Dax took off like a chicken. LOL Can't say as I blame him, that is a lot of dog to play with! :) Dralion was very good at giving Dax space so he didn't feel pressured or stressed.

I had Merlin in there too, and he's iffy about giant dogs, so it was a great experience for him as well. Hopefully we do it again soon!!

Playgroup, Fearful Fido, Training

Friday I took Dax to a playgroup with Merlin da Corgi, as a comfort dog. Things started out a little rough, with Dax having a definite case of the "OMG!!"s and zooming everywhere. Then came the butt biting.

It didn't matter if the dog were running or standing still, Dax decided all butts looked tasty and sunk his chompers in. It wasn't an aggressive action, so much as a "play with me I'm an outta control puppy and you've gotta play with me and I'll keep biting you until you do!!!" Needless to say, he got ejected from the small dog playgroup, and we decided to give him a shot in the big dog playgroup, as none of the small dogs would correct his behavior. (Merlin would rather let Dax crash and burn)

Big dog playgroup was a bigger disaster - entering a play yard where there are already a dozen or so dogs, all of which are bigger, and all who wanted to sniff Dax at the same time, was just a bad scene for him. Tail tucked, running in circles, and as his last resort, showing the teeth. So, that ended Dax's night of playgroup. I walked him outside along the fence and gave him a ton of treats to try to end on a positive note.

The next day we had Fearful Fido class, just for dogs with fear/anxiety issues. I'm happy to say that Dax was one of the least fearful in the class - but he was very much like the most fearful one just a few weeks ago! He has more issues with men than women, usually allowing women to at least feed a treat without shutting down, sometimes even a neck scratch. I don't know if he's scared of big dogs, black dogs, or big black dogs, but so far all the big dogs he's met besides my own have been black also. He really, REALLY wants to see these dogs, but after a sniff or two, darts away, then squiggles back in for another sniff, darts away, etc etc. Maybe he likes to scare himself, or maybe he's just playing it safe. One of my doggie pals is bringing her large Borzoi on Wednesday for Dax to interact with (very, very calm dog), and as he's mostly white, we'll see if it's big dogs or big black dogs. At any rate, it should be a positive experience.

Today I was working with Roofus and Popper on their Dog Scouts stuff - stays, leave its, heeling, and some distance downs with Roo. I decided it would be a great time to start some more intense training with Dax, rather than the casual "down" I tell him every once in a while. :) I read that crazy dogs should be kept moving, so I started by teaching him to weave through my legs, which amazingly, I thought he'd be hesitant doing, but he has no qualms about it at all. Then we moved on to heeling.... which is a bit trickier. He gets really nuts and starts jumping up and biting/mouthing, and no amount of "crying" is going to deter him from it. I only treat for all four feet on the ground, and when he starts biting, I simply turn away. Sometimes I get dizzy, because he can go on for a while. We also worked on stays, which are sooo hard for puppies, and hard for cattle dogs too! He's up to about 5 feet, in just one session. :) I also introduced the tire jump, set at about 6", which for him means he can just step through it. He didn't seem overly thrilled about it. Probably because stepping over things isn't too exciting. I'll raise it up a bit, but he is still a puppy so I don't want to go too high. Just a  short session doing this outside (about 10 minutes total), and he's taking a nap. :)

I'm strongly considering switching Dax to clicker training, especially with his jumping up and biting issue. I've tried every method known to man - even scruffing him, which was slightly more effective than the obnoxious crying thing you're supposed to do. He thought that was a fun game - bite Mommy, she cries! What a great toy. Look, I can make her cry again! And again! And again! He is not very treat motivated, but I think he'll "get" the clicker much more quickly.

New Places for Dax

I try to take Dax to one new place every day. Eventually, I'm going to run out of new places. :) But today Dax got to go to TWO places - the Grove City Farmer's Market, and the local PetSmart.

The farmer's market I used primarily as a place to get Dax used to a lot of people milling around. It wasn't as awful as it sounds - I had Dax with Popper, and we just stood on the corner, about 30' from the very last booth. Dax was treated heavily the entire time with hot dog and ham. A very nice woman and her granddaughter were kind enough to pet on Popper and completely ignore Dax for me, and the result was that Dax was free to sniff all over them without having to give them anything in return or feel threatened in any way. When he was done sniffing, he came to me for his treat. A very positive interaction!

The next stop was PetSmart, because I wanted to buy Dax a DAP collar. PetSmart was a much more positive place for Dax; he had "happy tail" the entire time, and went up to all kinds of people. He even allowed several of them to pet on him. In fact, he did so well, I think I may take him there every single day so he can have a positive experience like that. It was decently crowded in there too, and he acted like a fairly normal dog, who just was picky about who could touch him. :) After every interaction he came back to me wanting an ear rub or a treat. He understands the game perfectly. He also really likes the dog toy aisle. :)

I put the DAP collar on after we checked out, while my husband made a new dog tag for his corgi, and after only a few seconds it had already made a difference. Dax likes to randomly bark, and with the collar on, he stopped barking for a good three minutes, and after that, he rarely barked at all.

Wherein Popper becomes a Security Blanket and Dax becomes a Real Dog

I nearly sat down on the grass and cried today.

Not the "oh no, life is awful," sort of cry, but the "oh my God, I am so relieved, comforted, and happy" sort.

Today I took Dax to the human park for the first time. I picked a time where it wouldn't be too busy, but that there would be some people around to provide opportunities for rewarding. I also brought along Popper, who is a veritable social butterfly around humans. My heart swelled with glee when Dax bounded out of the car, tail wagging, and proceeded to dash around furiously, splash through creeks (the water phobic dog!), chase squirrels and bark merrily at cats. You would have thought he was a normal dog. Surely this was not the anxiety-filled, scrawny mess of a dog who jumped twelve feet at the smallest sound just a few weeks ago. Dax was playing and frolicking like the puppy he is. He boldly bounded into thickets, bounced his way across fields, and in general, behaved much like any other ten month old. He had happy tail the entire hour and a half we spent at the park. I feel like we sailed around the world.

I don't mean to say he's "fixed." He's not. While new places aren't so scary (particularly those outside), he's still pretty wary of people. And I say wary - because we've stepped up from terrified. Yes, we had a few woofs, and he did start chasing a little kid who was running by (quite motion responsive), but we approached or walked much closer to people than we have been. Indeed, Dax turned it into a game, where he would run up to a person, sniff their shoes, and then dash back to the relative safety of Mom. Did I reward the heck out of him? You bet. He particularly loved this two year old who was walking with his mother. He kept going up to the child again and again. I asked the Mom if we could follow behind them for a while since Dax was so taken with the little boy, and we spent an enjoyable time where Dax was STRAINING to see someone. That has never happened before. Dax has begun to have more and more "mild" reactions where he "freezes" momentarily when he sees someone - and then we continue on. The barking is becoming less, the dashing madly away at any reaction on the stranger's part is becoming more of a trot.

I'm pretty sure we can get Dax over "stranger danger," to a degree - he is a cattle dog, after all, not a breed known for being overly affectionate to those they are not familiar with. He is intensely curious in people, and as long as they ignore him, he feels much more comfortable to go check them out. But poor socialization, being yelled at often, and God knows what else have made this little dog a wreck about new folks. If I'm not careful with his interactions, he'll get diarrhea from being so worked up about it.

Popper was actually one of my last choices to walk with Dax. He barks at anything and everything, and he's a NIGHTMARE on the leash if I walk another dog with him. In fact, all of his own personal issues are amplified if I don't walk him solo. However, two things Popper does have, unfailingly, and in huge scores, is fearlessness and a natural joy for life. I walked the two together last night just to try it, and the effect it had on Dax was instantaneous and remarkable. I could see that dog swell with confidence as surely as if he were playing in his own backyard. We were a bit lucky we did not run into other dogs though; while Popper is dog-friendly, he is not quite as reliably so when he's on leash and will bark incessantly when he sees one.

I have since decided that Popper and Dax will be regular walking buddies, and Popper will accompany Dax on all future visits to parks, pet stores, and everywhere else we go. Sure, it's a crutch. But you bet I'm going to exploit the heck out of it. If one day Dax decides humans are as awesome as my other dogs do, I may wean him off of Popper so he can be confident on his own. But that's a long time away. For right now, I'm going to do whatever it takes to help Dax feel like the "real dog" I saw at the park today. Because he deserves it.

Dax Progress Update

   Dax has been progressing along like a fireball with his anxiety issues.

   Last night, I took him along with me to BRAG while Popper had class, his second time at the building. He was relaxed in his crate the entire time, and amazingly, was taking hot dog treats. He went through the door much more easily, and was quite happy to receive some hot dogs as a reward. He approached several people and dogs, took hot dogs from a few people, and did his Mom proud. I even had a friend hold his leash and walk him out to my car.

   Today, we took our daily walk along the same route, except I brought Merlin along as well. Merlin's been "vengeful" pottying, no doubt due to Dax, so I figured he could use the quality time with Dax as well as some extra exercise. As an alterior motive, I think having Popper along last night was a huge confidence boost to Dax, and I was craving some more success. :)

   And success is exactly what I got. Dax finally, for the first time ever, went potty on a walk. He's never gone anywhere except in the backyard. That probably doesn't sound like a huge thing to most people, but trust me, it really is. After his potty, he walked down into the marshy area that runs along the sidewalk (I walk dogs on long flexis usually) and explored quite happily. When we rounded the marsh with the forest on one side, he was noticeably less freaked out about the trees, and even started flushing out birds! :D I was so happy with his progress that I decided to push it up a notch, and we did one extra block of unfamiliar territory.

   Piece of CAKE! He wasn't throwing out any calming signals at all. He was trotting around like he'd been walking the neighborhood all his life. He didn't even trip me ONCE on the whole walk; normally he'll dart back and forth right in front of my feet, so I have to stop, stutter step, or fall on my face. He even LOOKED happy. The one single problem we had on the whole walk was in the first two minutes, along the familiar route, when we were waiting to cross the street. There was a bit more traffic than usual, and Dax dropped to his belly while a couple of obnoxiously loud cars passed by. That was literally the only noticeable calming signal I saw from this dog.

HUGE improvements in such a small amount of time! I'll continue to take Dax with me wherever I go (when appropriate and feasible), and hopefully he will do a complete 180 from when I first met him!

Dax's Great Escape

Wednesday night, two days after Dax was fixed, I ended up taking him to OSU Veterinary Emergency Services... All his stitches were gone. Just plain gone. They put four staples in him, yelled at me for a while, put a cone on his head, and we were good to go.

And I was very good at keeping him coned and crated for five very long days.

Last night, however, Dax had apparently had enough.

I came home from Merlin's agility class, opened my bedroom door, and Dax pranced daintily past me. Ummmm.... I walked into my bedroom, and the front panel of the dog crate was torn off. Literally, torn off. He broke two welds in his escape. It was a very large, heavy-duty dog crate, too, I had actually borrowed Roofus's wire crate, which is humongous, since the poor dog had to spend most of his time confined, as well as with the cone.

After I got over the shock, and called my Dad (who can weld anything), I had a good laugh about the little cattle dog who just refuses to be contained. All day long he was whining and whimpering about being stuck in his crate (normally he is completely silent), and I suppose he just couldn't take it any more.

Today I'm not crating him unless I have to leave, because his incision looks pretty well healed (guessing antibiotics helped there) and the staples still look just fine. We'll just hold off on the strenuous exercise until the weekend. :)

Agility Weekend and Dax Gets Fixed

Saturday we went up to Flashpoint Agility's CPE trial. Popper and Merlin had three runs each, in Standard, Fullhouse, and Wildcard.

Fullhouse started out well enough. Popper was a bit all over the place, typical in the first run and typical for an outdoor trial. I had plotted a run that allowed something like 38 points though, so we were okay. Took first place by a mile, had the table perfectly planned so the buzzer rang about 1 second before he jumped on it. Merlin was distracted, nervous, and aware of everything. Even things that don't normally bother him. He missed a Q by 2 points, because he simply refused to do most things.

Standard was nerve wracking because it was my first time running in Level 3, and it was with Merlin, who was demonstrating that today was not going to be a fun day for him. And the streak continued... but got worse. He just stopped doing tunnels entirely. Most jumps I had to zip around behind and call him from, so he HAD to jump over it. I will say, he did the teeter perfectly. Sometimes when he's spooked, he'll jump off the teeter midway. He also entered and performed all six weaves absolutely perfectly on the very first try. He refused to do the last jump. Not that it mattered at that point.

Popper did great - well, I did not LOL. I started running Popper on Merlin's Level 3 course - luckily, after the first off course, a light bulb clicked in my brain, I laughed, apologized to Popper, and we went off - correctly this time. He did miss his weave entry, which is TOTALLY unlike Popper!! However, he did manage a Q.

The third run, Popper did awesome. Easy Q. I decided to run Merlin FEO. We did two jumps on leash, which he did happily, and then we jogged out, where Daddy was waiting with a ton of treats. The crowd cheered and clapped, and Merlin looked as happy as if he'd just successfully run a full course. I'm glad I did not try to run Merlin off leash. The very instant the leash comes off lately, he becomes Mr Scared of Everything. Unfortunately, you can't run agility on leash....

I took Merlin to Roofus's rally obedience class today, and she had the rally course set up around the agility equipment. Merlin was extremely confident and clearly enjoying himself. But of course, he was also on leash. :(

Today I took Dax to the vet for his shots and to be neutered. He had a super freak out in the waiting room when some yorkie-schnauzer thing started yipping at him non-stop. Luckily the owner saw how spazzed his dog was making Dax, and took the thing outside, but the damage was done. Dax spent the rest of his time hiding under my chair.

When I went back later to get him, he didn't even acknowledge me. Wouldn't look me in the eye. :( Then he proceeded to vomit twice all over my car, and once home, to vomit two more times. I deserved it, I guess. He's been snoozing off and on, as much as a nervous cattle dog can.

Plus One!

There's a new Menagerie Mayhem dog - introducing Dax! Dax is a ten month old red Australian Cattle Dog that we rescued today. He is simply irresistible, and his only "bad" habit seems to be that he is extremely shy of new people and situations. With all the doggie classes and competitions we go to, we're sure this shyness will go away very quickly!

Isn't he cute? He thinks so too!

Popper Update

Popper had his vet recheck, as well as an agility workshop on Friday.

The vet said he couldn't look better, everything was completely healed. We still have to watch his other sideways tooth though, and she said eventually it will need removed as well. But for now, it's fine.

Popper's teeth definitely were hurting him, because when we ran agility on Friday night, he was zooming like a demon. Ironically, that's his middle name. He hasn't run that fast for me in probably a year. He never slowed down, either. THAT is more what I would expect from a cattle dog mix! Thank goodness we got those teeth pulled!

Popper's Tooth Extraction

Popper had his canine tooth extraction on Monday.

He was pretty angry that I didn't feed him breakfast, so he was being snarky and rebellious (although he is always a bit of each!). I reminded the vet that a muzzle might be in order.

I came back to pick him up, only to discover that TWO molars had been removed. The vet wasn't available to chat with, so I took the poor dog outside. They'd given him IV fluids, and he really, really had to go. I have to commend him on his superb bladder control! I had assumed he was doing his beagle squeak inside the vet because he has separation anxiety - it seems more likely they just hadn't let him out to potty. :(

Popper was pretty out of it, he didn't protest at all when I put him in his crate, but curled up and went to sleep right away.

The next day the vet called, and I found out that the extra tooth she removed was actually right next to his cracked one. See, Popper is rather "special," and has the same molar on each side that has grown in sideways. It's pretty interesting. She discovered that the root was bad in one of them, so she had to extract that tooth as well. Unfortunately, the root had grown into the soft pallete, and she wasn't qualified enough to remove it, so she ground it down as much as she could. She hopes that the root will naturally be expelled by his body, or reabsorbed. If neither occurs, and it is irritating him, we'll have to see a specialist and have a pallete resectioning done. I hope he just rejects it naturally. His dental surgery was over $500. Quite a hit in the wallet.

He's into day 3 post surgery now, and he's doing great. Just yesterday he was almost 100% again. He was showing some bloody spittle on his tennis ball, so I gave him a smaller ball and I haven't seen any since. I'm very glad I had the tooth extracted when I did, she was pretty sure, after she removed it, that it probably was bothering him a bit. I'm REALLY hoping that it makes a difference when we do agility class, because he's been slightly "off" lately. He's been having allergy issues too, which he has never had before, and she said that the tooth could actually have irritated the sinuses, because of the one it was.

However, after this experience, I've decided I will never have my dog's teeth cleaned unless they're getting something else done at the same time. This was extremely nerve wracking!

Popper's First Teacup Trial

After trying out teacup agility this previous winter, I entered Popper today at a local Teacup Dog trial. We entered Near & Far, and two rounds of Standard.

Near & Far is kind of like jackpot, except that there are TWO gamble lines, one near, and one far. Jackpot is super hard for Popper, the biggest reason being that he has some nasty separation anxiety. However, he performed flawlessly, earning a Q and a 1st place. The building had one of its bay doors open in the course area, which was distracting (to put it shortly) to a beagle mix. However, I found that yelling "TREATS!!" is quite effective. :)

Standard was a bit of a surprise. Popper was distracted running off the teeny a-frame, and ended up doing a back jump. I later discovered that in Teacup, you aren't allowed ANY faults at all in Standard, which is different than I'm used to with CPE. :) So no Q in the first one, but he did Q the second round. Of course, there was a different table behavior the second time (first one was stand) but nobody told me! So after I had him stand, the judge told me it was supposed to be sit. Okay, no problem. He sat for about three seconds before he turned it into a beg. The judge started laughing. The crowd was laughing. I was laughing. He was trying his darndest to get a treat, LOL. Eventually we got it worked out so he sat for five seconds (four paws on the table!!), then we continued on. :)

And that ended our day. 2 Qs, 3 1sts, and a very, very happy dog. The judge actually pulled me aside after our second run to tell me what a neat little dog Popper is. The whole time she was talking to me, Pop was happily slurping my face, LOL. I think next time I may do an entire weekend - which I've never done in any venue before, but Popper may last the course in teacup. I think Popper enjoys teacup more than CPE, and I imagine it has something to do with the cute little equipment, him getting to be a "big dog," and the fact that the course size is so much smaller, so he's doing stuff more often. We're trying to earn a TBAD title before the next BRAG dinner in January (or is it Feb....).

Tomorrow is Popper's tooth extraction, and I'm pretty freaked out about it. I had a weird nightmare last night that had nothing to do with anesthesia or teeth, but the dogs were in it and were in danger all the time, and it was only my constant vigilance that kept them safe. I tell ya what, I will NEVER have my dogs' teeth cleaned. It seems silly to go through all this for such a thing. If it weren't for Popper needing his tooth removed (his molar is cracked), I wouldn't have them cleaned at all. I've been hugging the little guy all night. And of course he's eating it up! We'll see how he does tomorrow morning when he finds out he isn't getting breakfast...

Outdoor Agility Trial!

Sunday, I entered both my agility dogs in an outdoor trial held at Flashpoint Agility in Marengo, Ohio. I'm always a bit wary of entering Popper in any outdoor event, because he is half beagle, and where the nose goes, the body follows! Luckily, this venue is fenced in, or I might have some more serious reservations. I actually don't know why more outdoor trials don't use fencing... you can buy super cheap reusable plastic fencing quite readily, and more handlers would 1) enter the trial and 2) be more comfortable at the trial.

I entered both dogs in the same levels and classes, the only difference being that Merlin the corgi is 8" and Popper and Beagle/Cattle Dog is 12". It really makes it fun, what with being in neighboring height classes, because sometimes I only have a couple dogs in-between runs, so it's a mad dash to the crates, and a mad dash back to the starting gate! We ran in Level 2 Jumpers, and two rounds of Colors.

I've been concerned for Merlin because he hasn't been trialing normally, ever since he was in a dog fight at his last agility training facility. He has JUST recently started running normally in class, which is basically an all-out crazy dog run that may or may not be where you want him to go. :) He was still sluggish this weekend, but whether it was because he's still not "over" it, or because it was insanely hot and humid (92 - eeep!), I do not know. I suspect he still harbors ill will, myself.

However, long story short - both dogs did beautifully. Both dogs back jumped one run each, and both dogs got distracted by little dumb things. Both dogs always came back to me, and both dogs managed to Q in all of their runs. I've never had so many Q's in one day before! 6!

So Popper has finished CPE Level 2 Jumpers and Colors, as well as his Fun Games title, and Merlin finished Level 2 Colors (he's not a huge fan of jumpers so he's more behind). We're slowly but steadily making our way towards a C-ATCH, but I honestly don't think we'll ever get there, because we just don't trial enough. Money is always an issue, as well as time, and the fact that Popper in particular just can't handle an entire weekend of agility, or even five runs in a day. I usually only do three with him, and four is really pushing it. So we'll continue our little bunny hops towards our goal, keeping in mind that the dogs really don't care if they get any titles or not - they do it simply for the joy of doing it. And that yummy cheeseburger on the way home.

Agility Practice

Last night it was waaaaay to hot to go to Popper's agility class. We have a trial this weekend, so I really hated to do it, but it was still 91 degrees a half hour before his class, and it's in an unconditioned building. So I made up for it this morning in my backyard while it was still cool!

I searched all over for simple dog agility exercises, but everything I found was either extremely basic, or required a lot more equipment than I have. So I'm posting the "mini course" that I ran with Popper. There are many, many more fun combinations you can do, and we made up probably a dozen different "courses" with just these five obstacles. However, that course map would look quite confusing. So I've drawn it up with only two different paths, the purple is easier with front crosses, the green is harder and there are some rears in there too. :) Popper and I had a blast playing with this configuration. You can do the weave poles first to practice weave exits too. Our goal was to work on tight handling and weave pole entries.

I think my favorite part is the green, 3-4-5-6, because if you're not careful you'll get insanely dizzy. :)

Rally Class Today

Roofus has been going to Rally Obedience class, with a trial last month... which didn't go too well LOL. I only entered him in two runs, and the entire atmosphere was so different for him that I had almost zero attention from him in the ring. We NQ'd both runs because I pulled out the treats to get him back.

However, I've been trying to get away from using treats ALL the time. Today I finally managed to do an entire course in class, off-leash, and only treating according to APDT rules. I almost lost Roofus a couple of times, but I think only feeding him half his breakfast this morning made him a little more willing to pay attention to me. :D

Hopefully, at the next trial in October, we'll get one Q at the very least. :)

Blossom tries rally

Okay, it's been awhile... but I was planning a wedding, and then I got married, so there was the honeymoon, and then all the post-wedding wrap-up that goes on. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. :D

Last night, I tried my 14 year-old, deaf, dalmatian-border collie mix in a Rally-o workshop. The thing about Blossom is that she's not particularly eager to please. If her goals and your goals happen to overlap, then all is well. The problem with that, is it doesn't happen very often. Add into that some fairly severe leash aggression, and you've got yourself an interesting night.

The hardest part with Blossom was getting and keeping her attention. She has never done a formal class with me, although she knows all the obedience commands. I can't verbally connect with her because she is deaf, which limits trying to get her attention to shoving food right in front of her face (and she's not a foody dog - look how skinny she is!) or leash tugs. I don't like shoving food in her face because it startles her, you can see her recoil whenever something suddenly appears in front of her.

After a few rounds of Blossom trying to wander off wherever she wanted, it dawned on me that we brought the Gentle Leader. Blossom spent a lot of her time on the Gentle Leader the first few years I had her, and that seemed like a great way to get her attention, (and keep her from barking at the other dogs) so I slipped it on. Ohhhh, we did so much better! She couldn't lunge as far in front of me, so it was a LOT easier to get her attention. She did pretty well on the last exercise, which was a little "mini" course, putting together the signs we had practiced. She still refused to "down," but I was pretty happy with her last performance.

I mean heck, not bad for an ADD, 14 year-old deaf dog that's not interested in pleasing you in the slightest!

Roo's Bad Dream

Last night, I was trying to snooze when I heard a little "yip" from Roofus, having a bad dream. Normally I wake my dogs up when they're having bad dreams, but I was pooped so I just went back to trying to sleep. He let out a couple of big yelps, and I saw Popper get up, go over to Roofus, and poke him with his nose a couple of times until Roo finally woke up.

Knowing Popper as I do, I am pretty sure he just didn't want his sleep disturbed by a yipping dog... but I'd like to think he was lovingly helping out his big brother so he wouldn't have to be chased by giant squirrels or whatever it is they have bad dreams about. :)

Playing Ball with Roofus

I went out to run the dogs a bit in my backyard. The best way, since it's a small yard, is to throw a ball. Popper and Merlin have great "drop its," but for some reason known only to Roofus, he has never been interested in dropping the ball, but instead mashes it into your stomach repeatedly and looks bewildered that you're not throwing it.

Needless to say, I try to keep Roofus from ever getting the ball. He chases it like everybody else, and doesn't get tired of it. But I get tired, especially if it's a bit muddy out, of not only the incessant bruising and drool in my midsection, but of the mud all over my clothes. If he can't drop it, he can't play.

My solution to this is to just give him his own ball. Before I start throwing the ball, I give Roofus a tennis ball. He then proceeds to chew on it while he chases Popper and Merlin around the yard, and because the other two have very quick drops, he never gets a chance to smash into my stomach. He still gets his exercise, he got to have a ball the whole time, and I'm mud, drool, and irritation free.

The only bad part is when we're done, and he finally drops the ball. It's so disgusting; it's covered in foamy drool, and it DRIPS! Just look at that picture!!