Drive

Before I talk about drive, Ill talk about the beach.  We drove down to the beach on Sunday.  We had to clean up a water leak at the condo.  The hot water heater has a pipe going to it that brings the water into the heater. That was leaking. My husband just happened to be there last weekend for a Marathon that was at Kiawah. He was a volunteer and some of his friends were running in the race. So they used the condo. He walked into the closet and didnt have shoes on and felt the wet carpet. So he pulled the wall out that hides the water heater. Had a maintenance person come over to fix the  pipe. Then ran a fan to dry the carpet. Then we had to go back to put the wall back up to hide the water heater. Not a good design but I didnt fell like changing it at this point.  We got there at 9:30am and took the dogs for a walk on the beach.

This picture would have been cool but it was into the sun. I wish I could figure out  how to take pictures into the sun. Anyone know any tricks?  Most of the time the dogs seem to be into the sun when I wanted to get a shot.

Here is a little canal of water that forms when the tide goes out.

Here is Miley trying to figure out how to cross that little canal of water without getting wet.  Its only about up to her wrists deep. LOL

These people were riding horses on the beach. Lucky we could see them coming and leashed the dogs up.

I wanted to get some cool pictures of the horses running through the water but it  didnt happen. I wasnt in the right place for the shots and I didnt  think they would want me taking pictures of them. So this was the best I did.

They must have gotten some new alligators for the ponds. Now there are three out there.

This is taken from our deck.

It was a nice day. Beautiful sunshine but a little chilly. But nothing that some extra clothes didnt take care of. It only felt chilly on the beach because of  the wind.

Now onto drive.  I took Java to the club last night. A friend asked me to meet her there to work on young dog things.  I got there first.  Java did well when I first got there.  She isnt really fast about doing things. She may just be thinking, Im not sure.  I can put her in a tunnel and beat her across the room. But the room isnt that big so maybe she doesnt feel she needs to run full out.  Going around the cone, shes got that but never does it fast.  I taught it  with shaping and maybe thats why she doesnt do it fast. Im not sure. Ive been working on the chute. Because I was by myself, I did it different then I usually do. I lifted the end of the chute and threw the cookie into the chute (backwards). Then called her and let the chute fall as she came out.   This technique seemed to work better then  holding the chute open and calling her threw. (which I tried when my friend got there). So here she is going through the chute for the first time, all  by herself without help.



So how do I increase her drive for agility?  I dont know. Im trying to make it fun. But she doesnt look like she is having fun does she?   She seemed nervous when the other ladies dogs were out. She worked, each of us took a corner. But then when I decided to stop and we sat down, when  a yorkie would come over to see her, she would hide under my legs.  Weird. She hasnt acted like this at all in the classes.  She got better during the night but never seemed comfortable around the yorkies.  One even kept trying to get her to play. Java thought about it but never did.
Im signed up for a puppy camp in January called, "Drive,Drive and more Drive".  Its taught by Ann Braue.   Im hoping that will help me.   She likes to run and chase stuff like Miley and squirrels. I just need that to transfer to me and agility.

Whats up???

I have no holiday spirit. Ive only bought one gift and that was for my grandfather. He likes that movie "The Christmas Story" and I saw this and thought he would get a good laugh.

Java is getting big. She no longer looks like a puppy.  I kept hoping she is going to stay under 16 inches but I dont know.  Last week she was 14 3/4.

Its been a busy week and Ive been to tired to blog. Then Friday and Saturday morning I woke up with a migraine. Not a nice way to start the day.
Wednesday I taught the agility Co-Op class for the club. Its been warm out but as soon as the sun goes down it feels freezing.  I was so cold while out there teaching.  Brrrr. I hate to tell you it was only 50 degrees out. LOL, Im a wimp.   I took Java with me.  She did well. No barking or going after other dogs. But no big dogs were in class.  At the end of class we were cleaning up the equipment and the little dogs were all loose. They all got a long. They just hung out and no one really cared about the others. While there I worked on Java's tunnels and teeters.  She doing much better with the teeter.  She seemed kinda afraid of it a couple times when Ive taken her to the field. But this time, no problem. The teeter is set between two tables. I even lowered one of the tables and she was ok with it.
Thursday I taught 2 foundation agility classes.  She does really well in those class.  I had her in Miley's crate while working the other dogs in the class thur the chute. Java busted out the zipper on the crate, ran thur the chute and came to me.  It was so cute. I think she was thinking, "I can do it, I can do it".  So I guess I cant use Miley's crate anymore. I have a bigger soft crate that I used for Guiness. I guess Ill try that one. Its heavier  and thats why I dont like it but the zipper is more substantial.  Java's recall is getting better. In class two bigger dogs started barking at each other, Java started running over there. I called her  and she turned right around and came to me. WhooHoo!!  Now if I could just get her to do that with squirrels.  At the end of the class, two different people came up to me and  told me how much they are enjoying class and that they are learning a lot.  That was  so nice. I really worry about  people not  being bored in class. Foundation stuff can sometimes seem boring especially if you dont understand why you are learning something. But you will need that foundation later on.
Miley is doing ok. I think I might have seen her limp in the house twice. But it was just once so Im not sure. I havent seen anything on walks , and thats where Im really watching her. So Im not sure if I really saw it or not. Of course when Im watching her, I never see anything.

I forgot to add this.  So I had to edit the post.  There is a web site called "I shot it".  You can enter your pictures for a small fee. If you win, you get the pot.  They are having a contest for dog pictures. Right now the pot is worth about 400.00, but there is still 6 weeks to go. So Im sure as more people add pictures it will grow.   I added some pictures and will probably add a few more. It sure would be nice to  get that money. Here is the website   http://i-shot-it.com/

They lady who does Scruffy dog photography ( who is on my blog reading list side bar) is judging the contest.  I love her photos. She takes awesome dog pictures!

Great Idea

Yesterday I had this great idea.  I had bought some tall rubber boots. I would walk through the river and take the dogs out on the rocks. Then using my tripod, I would great a group of of me and the dogs. LOL this is what I got.

Yea, not a great idea. LOL   The rubber boots worked well until the end. The  last time I crossed the river  I must have walked a little bit deeper and the water went over the top and into my boots.  But I was done and I had dry shoes on the shore.  I carried all the dogs back and forth across the river so they wouldnt get wet. But Java decieded she was going in anyways, after I carried her across.

Java thinks she is a border collie.  Its a lot of work to get her to put her head up.

They must have recently let the dam out. All that green stuff is caught on everything. Its pretty the first couple of days. Then it just dies and is ugly.

Java likes to hide in the stuff.

There's that border collie again.

This is on the island thats in the river. Mostly I take pictures out on the rocks. I dont like the  inside of the island.  It reminds me of snakes.  Then on the path, in the middle of the island, there was a dead snake and bird. Together. I recognized the snake because of the spine but the bird skull took me a while to figure out.  Then Jave picked up the snake in her mouth. Ugh, I thought I would throw up. I hate snakes, dead or alive.

Im sure I looked like a homeless person walking out of the park.  Boots over my shoulder, pants wet from the knees  down, and my jacket dirty from holding the dogs while crossing the river. But for a short time, out on the rocks, the sun was out. And life was perfect.

Miley update

Miley had her 2 week follow-up appt. yesterday.  It went well.  She was no longer tender when the vet touched the tendon. When she was lying down and she fully extended her leg froward, she kept her head on the floor relaxed. Last time she kept picking her head up when the vet extended her leg all the way forward. But the vet said she could feel her muscle tense  when she extended it.  So she is much better but still has a ways to  go.  Two more weeks of rest and then she will get checked again.

I put this picture in the blog because it had Miley in it but also that chest.  I found that chest at Goodwill over 20 years ago. It was painted the ugliest orange color I had ever seen. I thought I would take it home, strip it and then repaint it.  But when I started stripping it, it was beautiful underneath. It took several stripping to get all the paint off and then I just left it natural. I think I might have used some oil on it since stripping it dries out the wood. I really like this chest. It been with us moving to 6 houses. Never any problems.  Over Thanksgiving Stephanie came home and said she needed a tacky Christmas sweater to wear for a  Christmas party she was going to at school. So can she look through my sweaters.  LOL, yea way to build me up there and make me feel good about myself. So she goes through my chest. And yes she found one that works.  LOL, I like that sweater too. I guess that shows my taste.  She went through the whole chest and found some other outdated stuff she thought was cool and wanted.  Also in that chest is my electric blanket.  Stephanie put everything she didnt want back in the chest and closed it.  The other day I wanted to put my electric  blanket on the bed and went to open the chest. Its locked.  WTF?  Locked?? I dont have  a key. Its never been locked. Thats how things sometimes go with Stephanie. She touches it and it breaks. Im not sure how it happens but it happens alot.  I know she didnt mean to lock the chest but its locked.  Weve tried several times to get it open and no luck. Ugh!!!!!

Ive been thinking a lot about not being able to Q with Miley on course.  And since getting Java, Im noticing  Miley's quriks a lot more.   One of them is her space issuses.  She doenst like to come in close to you unless its her own decision.  So if you call her while she is going thur the den. Oops, her signals tell her, "go wide, go wide".  She will start making wide circles thru the den, kitchen area.  Or she turns around and goes the other way. She dodges your hand as it comes out to pet her. If she lays down next to you and you pet her, she gets up and leaves. LOL    So since she is on rest and cant or isnt suppose to run around, I thought I would work on her coming close to me.  I had to wait her out a pretty long time, but Im finally making some progress. I used the clicker. I called her  just saying "come".  And then waited until she did something that meant forward motion. Not backward, circling or going wide. No luring.  If she leaned foreward or to one step or even attempted to step forward. I clicked and said yes. And then I would throw the treat to her but so that she would have step forward again.  Its going pretty well and she she will always step toward me when I call her and lots of times come all they way in  and let me pet her.  My thought is that we cant work as a team on course because her space bubble is to wide.  Lots of times your dog needs to come in close , well if your dog doesnt like close, your in trouble. I ve also been working heeling exercises  with her. Just little short ones and not that often.So heeling passed  obstcales.   I dont know if any of this will make a difference  but it cant hurt either. (once again I cant get spell checker to work so read at your own risk.)

 

Wordless Wednesday

Java 25 weeks

Java turned 25 weeks today. I think she weighs 16 lbs and is 14 .5 inches tall.

I have the back yard gated off so I guess she decieded the flower pots were the next best thing.

Long week

I havent taken any pictures all week.  Shocking, I know. LOL  I think it was raining Monday.  Tuesday I didnt feel like it because it was already getting dark at the park. Of course there was a beautiful picture of a blue herring standing right in the  water cove. Would have been a beautiful shot. But I didnt bring my camera because I figured there wouldnt be anything to take a picture of. LOL And then I taught classes for the club on Wed and Thurs and I didnt get home unitl after 9pm.  Today?  Well, I was just wiped out.
Tuesday when we went to the park. Java chased a squirrel into the woods. I recalled her and she came.  She shook her head and blood flew all over Miley's face.  I looked at Java and she had blood all over one side of her face. I didnt have my first aid  kit with me because its in my camera bag and I didnt bring that. My husband had a paper towel in his pocket so I cleaned Java up but couldnt find the where the blood came from.  So we started to walk again and now more blood , thick gobs of it were on Java's face again.  Now I could see it was coming from her ear but there wasnt really a cut or hole. The was a slight abrasion on the inside of her ear that was causing all this. So I held her while we walked  back to the car with pressure on her ear. It stopped bleeding. I put her down and walked the rest of the way to the car.  I wonder what people thought that passed us.  Im sure it looked like my dogs had hunted down  something and killed it. Killer dogs.
Wednesday I taught the agility co-op class.  I put up several of the Stuart Mah course we did at the seminar.  They ran them without a problem. Which of course starts making me think I suck again because I struggled with the courses. And then I start debating all the way home why Im trying to run Miley. LOL.   I dont know if you listened to Daisy Peels podcast, its on her website and its free. But its about consistency.  Yea Im consistently going off course and consistently "NQ"ing.  So I am consistent. But it sounds like its hard to change what you have always done. So unless I change what Im doing , Im not going to be able to run my dog. ( thats not what she said in the podcast, thats my take on myself after listening to it) But how do you change. Its easy to change little things, but how do you change the whole thing?  I dont know.
I set the course up and had Java with me.  I was numbering the course when someone in the class came. He asked if he could let his 10 month old puppy ,a great Pyrenees, run around the field. He wanted to know if it would bother Java. I told him I didnt think Java would care but I put her on leash.  He brought the dog in and they sniffed each other and seem ok.  He went to one side of the field and I went to the other to finish number the course. I dropped the leash because it was to hard to number, hold the course map and do the leash. Well then his dog came running over and started chasing Java. Poor Java ran and looked scared.  Which I would think is normal because that dog is huge!!!!  I called Java, she came running to me. As soon as she got to me, she turned around and with the meanest growling bark went after the great Pyrenees. The Pyrenees took off running. Of course I got Java, but it worried me because I dont want her to be a mean dog.  Then during class I was at the edge of the field  with Java on leash next to me and another big flat coated retriever was running. He left the course and came running at us. Again Java's mean growling bark came and she tried to go after him. He went back to his owner.  Oh good, now Ive given her two bad experiences.  This made me feel terrible. I put my dog in a place were she felt like she had to protect herself. Ugh. ( just so you know, this guys dogs are really nice dogs and they just wanted to play. They werent being aggressive, Java, I think, took it as a threat.)
So the next night I teach 2 foundation classes at the club and took Java with me.  There she was fine. She didnt bark or growl at anyone or the dogs. She even went up to a few big dogs.  I think it has to do with me.  If she feels the dog is threatening me, thats when the growling barking stuff comes in.  I dont know if I should be worried about this behavior or not.