Seminar and stuff

I didnt get to post everything I wanted on Tuesday because my laptop keyboard was broken for a few day. On Tuesday it was Java's birthday. We've been having lots of rain so we finally got out that evening and took a few pictures after walking at the river. I didnt get to load them because that's when the keyboard didnt work. So here are some of them.

Java at 1 years old.

I went to a semiar on Wednesday and Thursday. It was an Ann Braue seminar at a friend of mine's house. Its been pouring down rain  a lot and I was worried we would get rained out. I was actually ok.  Wednesday it was pretty hot but there was shade, water misters and baby pools set up. So not to bad. There was a garage with A/C to crate dogs, which was nice too.  

It was a  handling seminar but Miley was having startline problems so I told her I would rather take my turn working on that. And I was ok if it took my whole turn to work on it too. Ann was very accommodating, which was nice.  We worked a lot on startlines and me not being very clear to my dog what is allowed on the start line. So if she steps forward, from a sit, Im to go back and gently take her by the colar and take her off the start line. Then play some games with her.( Miley stresses so I need to build my relationship with her. We dont want her stressed that I took her off the start line)  Like sit-cookie, down-cookie etc... Then set her up at the startline and try again. If she starts to paddle her front feet, stop moving. Go back and reward frequently for sitting still.  It was awesome, I hope I can keep the criteria up. If she starts to seem stressed I may need to start over teaching it. Like only taking one step toward the jump and then going back to reward. We did manage to do some handling on course.  I did have a problem of miley swinging wide and missing jumps. I shouldnt have to use an off arm cue to bring her in, so thats a training issue I need to work on.

The peoples house I stayed out have this awesome creek that goes through their back yard.  I really wanted to spend a lot of time there taking pictures but I really only had my lunch time to do it. Its hard to get pictures when the sun comes in at some spots and not others.

Lots of rocks with waterfalls.  I couldnt get far enough away from my dogs to get any good shots. They just keep coming with me. LOL I tried throwing a ball but then Java dropped it and it rolled down the creek and we never got it back.

I wanted to get a picture of my dogs on the bridge with the rock water in the background but Java still wont stay. ( yea, Im still working on it).

I love this picture of Java!!

The next morning we woke up to Thunder storms and pouring down rain. So we spent the first hour in the garage talking about contacts and training them.  It had stopped raining but we were letting the field dry out.  Then we went out to the field. It was handling but with contacts.  It was really wet so I told Ann I wasnt doing any of the turning jumps because miley had that shoulder injury the first half of the year and I didnt want her slipping and getting hurt.. I just did the straight line stuff and the contacts. As soon as Miley got up speed, she would jump the contact or if I was ahead of her.  So we worked the contacts.  My next turn thats all we did. She gave me a training set up to work the a-frame contact at speed without having to run the whole a-frame.  She said every time I train, I need to be working contacts too. After lunch I did run the course because it was dry and mostly sunny. Miley did great.

I took Java with me too. I played with her in between Miley's turn. I got her playing and tugging near the field. I few times I had to pull her back some because she would start barking at the dog that was  running. I also got to work her contacts in a new place.

Back from Florida!!

On Friday my husband and I drove to Florida for the Ann Braue puppy seminar.  Thank goodness my husband came with me because I dont think I could have done all that driving by myself. The only negative thing was there really werent any parks that let you walk your dogs in them. Well, I found one but there was no parking so that didnt help.  Many of the parks were acres and acres but you had to stay in the "dog park" fenced area with you dog. Thats not really something I do with my dogs. Very disappointing.
We did find this tiny park on the water which allowed dogs but I think it was more for fishing. It was less than a 1/4 of a mile walk, not really what I was looking for. But I did get some nice pictures. And we saw two manatees swimming but I wasnt ready, so my picture is horrible.

There were some cool birds too

I havent been able to get an unique dog pictures in 3 weeks but this next one is cool.

I did stop at this park with a small beach but they didnt allow dogs. It was early in the morning and no one was there so I put the dogs on the beach and took a couple of shots.

Then off to the seminar.
The weather was beautiful.  Sunny and 74. I learned a lot.  Somethings I was already doing with Java like crate games and its your choice. But we played this clicker game. You were paired up with another person. One person was the dog and one was the trainer. Then the trainer picked a "trick" from a hat that you had to clicker train.  I was the trainer first. I had to teach the person to put the back of their hand on the top of their head.  I couldnt get her to do it. LOL  She got her hand on her head part but I couldnt get her to flip her hand over.  It was funny to listen to what the "dog" thought the trick was  and what it actually was.  Sometimes they knew it was "put hand on elbow" but it was suppose to be "put right hand on left elbow".  It made you really think if your dog  understands the behavior your are teaching. Then we switched roles. The lady I work with was very good and I got it. "take left hand and pinch right ear lobe".  Placement of the reward after the click was very helpful and something I havent been doing.
One thing I did learn was I have a lot more playing to do with Java.  It was such hard work to get her to play when she really didnt want to. She would rather work for food. Ive never worked so hard or long trying to play with my dog before. Every muscle in my body is sore from just playing with my dog. LOL What an eye opener. But she can do it and I have to be more persistent. I felt like she had pretty good play drive before going to the seminar but I now know I have a lot more work to do.  We did lots of restrained recalls with our dog. I have more work to do on that too. Ive been having her drive to me for food but I need her to do it for a toy. One time after driving to me she really didnt want to play. I was trying hard to get her to play and running with a toy. My ankle twisted and I fell hard.  I wasnt hurt but it sure was embarrassing. The next day my left arm, that I fell on,  was so sore. And still is. LOL
It was funny , there were no border collies and I was the only sheltie.  There were poodles, labs, goldens, Doberman, schnauzers, and pappion.
At the end of the first day I was tired and tired of playing with my dog. I never thought I would say that. Im  sure she was tired of playing with me too. LOL

The next day we went back to the two parks.  Didnt see any manatees. The went to the "no dogs" park. There were cops parked there so I didnt take the dogs out.

I thought this was a manatee. But then I realized , at least I think, its was an alligator. Ugh!

Then there were some dolphins.

Sorry, none of the pictures are great.

I could have stayed for hours taking pictures but time for Day 2 of the seminar. When leaving the park, I was backing up. I have back up cameras and the sensors that were beeping , telling me  there was something behind me. I saw the big tree but I didnt see a big rock on the ground. I thought it was beeping because of the tree and of course hit the rock. Ugh. So I messed up my bumper.  That was a bummer.
The second day we  did a bunch of stations. Some of the things were repeats from the day before and some new things. The stations were different things like fit disc, plank work, cone work, tables ect.  Work with food for 3 minutes, then break and play with your dog. Again, lots of work to get my dog to play  after working with food.  Also there were now lots of treats on the ground as you worked your way around the stations and you had to really work hard to get your dog to forget about all those dropped treats.  Another thing for me to work on.
We drove home after the seminar. What a long day. Im very thankful that my very nice husband came with me. What a guy!!