Wordless Wednesday

Saturday

It was suppose to be partly sunny.  Uh, I dont think they were correct (again). Ugh!

I was trying to get a picture of both dogs and the clouds reflecting off the water. But Java's stay isnt very good yet. She is always distracted by things.

And then I call her name to get her to look my way and this happens.

So then you stick the leash under a rock so she cant pull forward. LOL  But then the leash is in the picture.

This would be a good picture if she didnt have ear weight on her ears.

I like the reflection of her in the water.

Java kept retrieving this pine cone out of the water. Miley is thinking, "What so great about that , that you would go into the water for it?"

Miley update

While Java gets to run and play. Miley gets to stay on leash. Poor Miley but it could be worse.  Someone canceled their appt with the rehab vet so I got an appt for Wednesday morning.  Oh but first when I called the vet , I told the receptionist that I needed an appt because my dog was injured . Well as soon as it came out of my mouth I realized that was the wrong way to phrase it.  I tried to rephrase it with the girl but to late. She told me she didnt have any appt with my vet but felt it was important  for the dog to be seen since she was injured and she was really pushing for me to see another  vet. Ugh!   So we left it with the vet calling me back. LOL and when she did someone had canceled their appt so I got it, instead of having to wait until next week.  So I drove up Wednesday morning. No real traffic but lots of cops everywhere.  When I got their the vet watched her walk/trot. Then she examined her. She did a full extension of her left leg forward  with Miley standing and Miley didnt respond. But when lying down, she can extend the front leg much further. That time she got a reaction when fully extended.  No reaction when the leg is pulled back.Its amazing all the different ways the dogs legs can go.  So long story short,  She has tendinitis in her left front shoulder. She didnt think it was bad and wants her to rest for 2 weeks and rimadyl then come back in for a recheck. If she isnt improving then go for an ultrasound to see whats going on. So I figure she is out for at least 6 weeks.  She can go for leash walks just no running or jumping. 
I drove back home. That was 4 hours in the car. Then we drove to my mom's house in Savannah. So another 3 hours.  Ugh. I was over the whole car thing by the time we got there. Thanksgiving was at my  mom's house.  We only stayed less than 24 hours.  Mostly because of all my dogs.  Its just to much to bring 5 dogs to someones house. I worry they are annoying people or might wreck something.  Plus the only was to get outside is to go down 20 steps.  So Miley was going up and down the steps. That was causing me stress because she shouldnt be doing that. Although she didnt one step the stairs at all at my mom's house.  Anyway, it was time to go and we drove home. Lots of people on the road on Thanksgiving. I was kinda surprised. But we made it home and I was so happy to sleep in my own bed with no barking dogs. ( the barking dogs were  mine).

Oh yea, I bought this harness for Java. She hates it. LOL.  The thing I dont like about it is where the leash attaches.

 See the metal ring. The metal leash clip with the metal ring on the harness makes a bunch of clanging noise. So the dogs always turn around to see if someone is coming.  That doesnt happen when there is tension on the leash but if is loose. "clang, clang, clang" ugh, annoying.   So I bought some plasti-dip and dipped the ring.  It wouldnt stick at first so I had to sand the ring down and then dipped it.

Turned out great. No more annoying clanging.  My dogs no long turning around to see who is following us. LOL

"I still dont like it."

Happy Thanksgiving!

All I got for Thanksgiving:

I hope you did better than me.

Sigh

So last Sunday at the beach I noticed Miley limping.  But then it went away.  I didnt see anything Monday or Tuesday.  On Wednesday I did a little agility with her and she seemed ok.  Then I decided to run her over the a-frame a couple of times.  Well the limp was back.  Then again the next couple of days she was fine.  I was signed up for a trial and decided to take her just for the jumpers run.  I got there and she seemed fine. I didnt see anything.  In hind sight I should have gotten there sooner so my dogs had time to adjust. But Ill have to remember that for next time.  We ran the course.  She dropped the first bar.  That threw me.   Weaves were great. Then the wrong tunnel entrance. Then the end they had to wrap tight and not take the tunnel that was a straight shot. I told her tight but she turned and took the next jump that was at  90 degrees.  Very weird even for Miley.  We did lots of tight wraps last weekend and she got of them.  Then went we walked down the steps at this place, she went one step, one step, one step.  Ugh, she is hurt and Im a DA.  So I guess Ill see if I can get an appt with the rehab vet next week but I doubt it since its Thanksgiving.

I took Java with us and she did well there.  She was a little nervous when we got in the building but recovered quickly.  They had Agility and Confirmation going on at the same time. So it was very busy. We walked around the confirmation area because that is where all the vendors were.  She did well, she was scared of two dogs and didnt want to walk pass them But they were big dogs.  One was a mastiff.  He was huge!   But we did pass.  At least no barking. LOL

On Thursday I taught 2 foundation agility classes at the club. I took Java to the class. She was the demo dog and did awesome. We just did things like the wobble board, tunnel, wrapping cones, rear end awareness games, its your choice games, and "go on".  She didnt bark at any dogs. Whoohoo!!  And recalled off of dogs she was going to see. Yea!!!

Oh yea, I keep forgetting to tell you this. Those pictures I took of the yorkies doing obedience and rally. They used the 2 pictures in the calendar. The one of the 8 yorkies in a  sit-stay on grass with ring gating behind them is the cover. To tell you the truth I didnt like that picture very much. Shows what I know. Then the other picture was a yorkie doing a figure 8 thur the cones for rally. That one was cute. Then dogs expression was very nice. I havent seen the calendar but its a "working yorkie" calendar. I get credit for the pictures too.  How exciting.

I keep trying to get a good picture of my three shelites and it just isnt happening. Plus all their leashes are on so I can grab them all if I need too.

Wordless Wednesday

Day 2 of trial

Man I was beat after Saturday.  Sunday I woke up at 3:30am and felt terrible. I hurt all over. Ugh!  I didnt think I was going to make it to the trial feeling so bad. But I took all my medication and by 7am I was feeling better.  So at 8:30 I decided to go to the trial.   First up was Jumpers. I remembered my C.A.D.   LOL

I struggled to figure out what to do in the opening. If I stayed to the dogs right and post turned that would put me behind coming out of the tunnel. I wanted to be ahead of my dog.  A running front cross in front of #2, I felt would pull the dog to the wrong tunnel entrance if you werent just right because of the angle of jump #3. The only thing that would work for me was  a lead out push. So that Im to the left of my dog and then I will be in front with her coming out of the tunnel.  But when I tried that yesterday in snooker, she turned to soon and disaster.  But the C. is for confidence.  She knows how to do this, I need to get it right. So no time like the present.  LOL Well it worked great. We were having an awesome run until I got lost. It was around the turn in 13 -16. I was completely lost. I didnt know what number I was on, where my dog was, which way I needed to go. All I saw was a sea of white jumps that didnt show any direction to me.  Then I heard the "Aww " of the crowd and then I  knew we were off course. I knew the tunnel was in the end so I just ran for that.  I dont know how much my dog knew what was going on. And when I watched the video, I really cant tell Im lost.  Its amazing how fast thoughts go thur your head.  It felt like forever and that I was just standing there trying to find my way. But it doenst look like that on tape at all.  LOL  Man, that was not a good feeling. I ve been lost before but only for  a split second andI got it together. But this time it was like I was in a maze. Yuck!

Next up was Pairs. I usually dont ask for a side to run but when my partner asked me I said if she minded I didnt do the side with the a-frame because of how many times Miley missed it yesterday. She was ok with that.  So I walked my side (the circled numbers) and someone I knew on the side lines said I would never make the front cross before the weaves and I should force a front cross before the teeter.  I thought I would never make it there to force a front because I would be so far behind.  So I walked it fronting before the weaves and the other way the lady suggested.

But I figured I could send her to the back side of that #3 jump and move out to be ahead.  Well it worked. WhooHoo!! I made that front cross. It doesnt look hard on the video but it was. LOL Then it was the other person turn. I cut her out of the video but when she got back to jump #4 (its before the a-frame) , it was set for 22 inches. The girl was head of her dog and tried to reach down and set the bar at 12 inches before her dog got there but that wasnt allowed.  All jumps were suppose to be set at 12" for both dogs. The judge had said in the briefing that we  were responsible for making sure the jumps were set correctly for our dogs.  But I guess he felt sorry for us because changed his mind. And maybe it was because only that one jump in the back was set incorrectly that he let us rerun.  So could I make that front cross again?

Yes I did!!  And I finally got a Q.  LOL  I didnt stay for gamblers.  We still had to clean the condo and I wanted to walk on the beach one more time.

Trial Update

Here's a picture I took last night.  It turned out so cool.  I didnt do anything to it except crop the bottom off a little.  Java is in the picture too, she is to the right hiding.

I went to the trial with a new attitude.  I wrote on my hand C.A.D.  It stands for Confidence. To remind me to walk out to the line with confidence and trust my dog to stay. Dont babysit her.  A is for Acceptance.  Except Miley for who she is. She is sometimes going to stress and start circling. Its just in her and I have to not get stressed about it.  The D is for Drive.  Drive my dog through the course. If she goes off course because I drove her there, thats ok. But its not ok when I just let her go off course.
For those three things I  feel I was successful.  She had great stays all 5 times.  She stressed a couple of times but we got it back together. I felt like I was driving except once when I over rotated a front cross and she flew off course. LOL.
 
First up was PIII Gamblers.

We  did well except the first time over the A-frame she jumped the contact. This will be the theme for the day.  So I changed my plan and did the chute and the jumps and back over the a-frame. That time she go it.  We didnt get the gamble. I did the jump and tunnel and then just stood there when she came out of the tunnel instead of driving forward to get the weaves. So she came right to me. LOL

Next up was standard.  Great run.  She jumped the a-frame contact and then jump on and off the table, circled around and then came and got on the table.  She went into a down, then the rest was perfect.

Then Grand Prix.

Awesome run but again she jumped the a-frame contact. Ugh!!!!!!

At this time I was getting tired. I went at 1:30 to get lunch. Lunch is free here as part of working. Well they had already packed it up because they ran out of food. Ugh!!  I debated going home but I really wanted to try the snooker course. I felt I could do it. LOL

My plan was to do the red jump to the left and then the a-frame. I lead out to the a-frame but I must have not given her enough room and she turned right before the a-frame. I tried to bring her around but she stressed.  She ran huge circles around the ring 5 times. I couldnt get her to come to me.  I was just about to  give up, and I just ran. If she took the wrong thing so be it. But she got on the a-frame and got the contact. Then we did the red jump to the left of the a-frame to the #7 (3 of them) then the last red jump to the number 3. Then started the close. I couldnt believe the buzzer hadnt rung.  So she did 2 then 3, then the a-frame. And she jumped the freaking contact. Ugh!!  Tweet-thanks for playing. LOL

Last up was Speedjumping.

I did a running front cross  in front of #3. Im not sure why I did that. I debated just post turning. Anyway, I over rotated and she took the broad jump right into the tunnel.  I go her back on course and she jumped the a-frame contact. I marked it. If she stress, she stressed.  I just say "hey" and a stern voice but kept running.   The next time over the a-frame she stopped completely and waited. I told her good girl twice and then released her. The ending was great! 

Boy was I beat. Java was good but spent a lot of time crated and I felt bad about that. So when I got back I took her and Miley to the beach to run. It was getting dark but I think they had a good time. Java didnt bark or react to any dogs. But then walking to the beach we passed a couple of dogs and she barked but so did Miley. Hmmm, weird.

Frustration

Yesterday was my day to teach the Co-Op class out at the field.   It starts at 5pm and is 40 minutes from my house. I get off work at 3:30 , go home get the dogs. Jump in the car. Get there at 4:40 and start building the course.  Im done by 5pm. But man that killed me.  I just dont think I can keep building the courses by myself. Lugging out tunnels and sand bags. Pulling the a-frame and teeter around. Ugh! Then class starts. We hardly have any time to work because its getting dark. So you feel so rushed.  We are having lights put out there but they havent gone up yet.  I got to run Miley a couple of times but she was over the top.   Jumped all her contacts repeatedly. The more I marked that it was wrong with a verbal. The worse she got. It was weird.  She would jump the contact, I marked it. Made her run the whole contact again. She got it right. I gave her a reward. Then the next run, she jumped the contact even higher. So defeating.  Then it was dark. I turned the head lights of my car on the field so I could clean up.   One student stayed to help me clean up so that was nice.  It was her birthday and she had made cup cakes.  I let Java out of the car since she didnt get any work time.  I forgot about the cup cakes on the table. So she helped herself to one of them. I got her quickly so she just got some frosting.  I felt bad. I apologized but still....    So driving home Im going thur the contemplation of quitting agility.  Im mean I would still work my dogs but just not go to trials anymore.  Lets face it, Im just not good at it. I mean really , would you continue to trial if you had been in Exc. A jumpers for 2 years with no Q's. Open standard 2 years with one Q because your dog stresses at the table.  I read peoples blogs and they are upset because they have gone to a couple of trials with no Q's and I think, "Ha, thats nothing".   But I keep having hope that Im going to get it and figure it out.  LOL.  And now I dont even want to go to the trial Im signed up for this weekend.
Then while driving home I run into a huge traffic jam. A tractor trailer  is stuck on the ramp that joins the two highways. OMG, I thought I was going over the edge. I finally get home. Feed the dogs and Im fit to be tied.  Then Java does that cute thing with the bones in her mouth, pictured above, and everything feels better again.

Wordless Wednesday

Training

Training with Java is going pretty well.  Here is  a video of  the wobble board and the tunnel from  yesterday.

She is very different from Miley.  Not over the top on the outside but still maybe on the inside. LOL We have still having lots of problems getting any extended time on a down or a wait. Im thinking maybe she just doesnt understand what I want.  She is a sweet and lovable dog.  My only concern is sometimes she reacts by barking like crazy at people or dogs.  This weekend at the seminar there was a dog crated under  the tent area. There were also these big propane heaters, the tall silver ones , under there too.  When we walked but Java just started going crazy barking.  I think it was at the dog but I guess it could have been the heaters.  So I worked on clicking and treating until we could walk by calmly.  Then yesterday I took her to the park and worked on getting her to walk by the dogs in the dog park with out reacting. She did pretty good. Only barking at one dog who came running to the fence. ( we didnt go in the dog park, we stayed on the outside of the fence).  Then we walked in the regular  part of the  park. She did ok. Some people we passed without problems. Some people, mostly with dogs, she barked at.  The worse reaction was to a little boy riding a push scooter. She sounds mean, barking and growling. The little boy stopped and I asked if she could smell his scooter. She calmed down but I dont like the reaction.  Yesterday I worked on her reaction to the scooter. We have one from when Stephanie was little.  She was a little nervous around it  but once I started riding it,she wanted to chase me and come with me.  But when I called the boy over from across the street to ride the scooter, she went crazy barking at him.  I want to post the video but Im to scared to. It would be public and I dont want to get a bunch of crazy comment from people I dont know.  Sometimes people can be over the top with there reaction to things.

Ok, I decided to post a small clip of her reaction to the boy running over to us. (its just the first time he came over) I didnt handle it very well.  The video is longer and we worked over and over on him coming over and her not barking.   Maybe it was him running over that was the trigger. I dont know.  It took until the 3rd or 4th time for her not to react to him coming over. 

The other thing I  just realized is  that the dogs have been fence fighting with the dogs next door. Those dogs have been there so Im not sure why thats happening either. Ugh.  I can call Java off the fence line but I dont want her doing it at all. Ive been working on click and treat for good behavior but the next time the dogs are out there, it starts up again.  So Sunday I was over the whole thing and I happened to be outside raking leaves when they all went crazy. I kept bringing the rake down and hitting it on the ground and saying "no" in the meanest voice I have. ( Im sure the neighbor thought I was a manic)  But it worked and on there dogs too. LOL So when Java backed off, I would praise her, if she came toward the fence she got a stern "no". It seem to work but I cant always be there when it starts.  Im thinking about temporally fencing off that area so Java and Guiness cant get over there otherwise she will always have to be on leash when she goes out there. 

This all sounds so bad and most things are really good. I just have this one problem with her and its just going to take time for me to fix it.

To Passive

Yesterday I went to a Stuart Mah seminar.  I drove down in the morning and figured I would get there at 7am. That would give me an hour to play with the dogs and let Java run around a little. But I forgot its dark until almost 8am.  I dont know why daylight savings times is in Nov now. They need to move it up about 2 weeks.  So we just sat in the car unitl maybe 7:40 when you could see.  It was freezing cold.  They had those tall propane  heaters under these tents , that was nice.  It was also suppose to be really windy, 25 mph winds.  I figured I would be miserable. But the sun came out, the winds werent bad and it turned out to be a really nice day.
If you have ever been to a SM seminar then you  know its starts out with you running a full course so he can see what your handling is like and what your problems are.  The course had 25 obstacles and your were to act like you were at a trial.  It started out the tire, 90 degrees to two jumps that serpentined.  Well Miley took the tire and cut behind me.  We got back on course, made some more mistakes and she self released all her contacts.  After wards he came up to me and said that I really wasnt giving Miley any information at all about running the course.  That Miley is guessing and sometimes she guesses right and sometimes she guesses wrong.  Oh boy was that hard to hear.  It made me feel terrible. So two years have gone by since I went to the LM camp and found out I wasnt cuing jumps and I guess I havent improved at all. Ugh! Then I thought, what am I doing with a new puppy if Im not doing it correctly with Miley? 
Next was working on turning our dogs tight. I need to tell Miley that we are turning tight before it happens. My body motion alone is not enough.  Once I did this she was turning so tight I was shocked. Someone even came up to me and said, "I want my dog to turn like Miley".  So we started with two  jumps going back and forth and then added more and more jumps.  Miley was awesome.  Then we ran a course. And it all fell apart.  Im to passive on course.  I need to run it aggressively. Run it like I mean it.   Miley did  much better when I did this. But as soon as she would go wide, I would back off and then things really fell apart. So when I see her go wide, thats my cue that Im being to passive and start giving her more information. Dont just stand there thinking thats going to force collection. Its doesnt.
To bad it always took me a second run to run it aggressively.  I would run and things would fall apart and S would tell me you are being to passive. So then I would run it again, and she was much better.  I hope I can remember this when I step to the line.
We also did some of the drills that have been in "Clean Run".  There were 8 jumps and tunnel combination.  You had to do the 8 obstacles and then one other obstacle of your choice , then run the sequence again, add another obstacle at the end ( a different one) and then run the sequence again. So you ran the sequence 3 times in a row. Wow that really got your head thinking.  Most people can run an 8 obstacle sequence correctly but add that little twist to it and run it three times back to back. You will really see where your problems are. So that was 27 obstacles run several times in a row. What a lot of running.
Then we did another drill that was in "Clean Run".  You have  jumps and a tunnel.

 I dont know if the distances and stuff are correct but you get the idea.  You had to do 5 jumps. Every time you took a wing jump , you had to take the tunnel entrance furthest away from that jump. Every time you took a wingless jump , you had to take the tunnel entrance closet to the jump.  And you had to do a total of 5 jumps. This was to help you with your snooker skills. Of course Miley and I had trouble. She kept flinging off at taking that side jumps that were in the middle of the tunnel section. You were to use the jumps at either end of the tunnel.  So he had me put Miley at a wing jump, then go stand halfway between the tunnel, turn and face Miley. Then call her to come front.  She did that with no problem. So he had me do it again, once she came front,  turn and put her into the correct tunnel entrance. Well when I turned it  flung her out over the  middle dummy jump.  He said she is using my motion at a cue to fling out and take an obstacle. So I had to work on treating her to come front, turn and keep her with me  while moving and send her into the correct tunnel entrance while giving her treats. We had a very hard time with that. LOL 
So I have lots of things to work on and now I feel bad about going to the trial that is at that same field next weekend. I feel like Im no where near ready. I have to many problems.  But Im going to try and go and just run it like I mean it. Be aggressive.  
Poor Java came with us and spent a lot of time in the crate. There were no breaks during the day and lunch was very short. So you got a lot of bang for your buck. I did take her out at lunch but it was over quickly. I felt bad that I brought her. To much crate time.  I thought about going straight home but since she was crated so much I didnt think that was fair to her. My plan was to spend the night at the beach. So I drove out to the  beach. Now it was very dark and cloudy. Im not sure why. I thought it was suppose to be sunny all weekend.

There were lots of deer out on the island. This one was unusual, so  I took a picture.

I cant believe Miley can still run after all that work. It was a lot of running courses. There were only 6 people in the seminar and two jumps heights. So you had lots of time on course.

Sorry the pictures are do dark. It was just so cloudy.

I cant believe this guy was swimming.  I didnt see anyone with him. Crazy. The water looked rough to me.

If there had been more light my pictures would be awesome. Darn.