October 2009Monthly Archives

Do Dogs Think We’re Nuts?

Did ASCA agility today with Chase. Dragged my body out of my sick bed. Ugh. We had fun though. I still want a higher Q rate. Out of six runs he only got one Q. Fortunately that was in Standard Novice and he needed that for his title. So I’m glad he got it.

Here’s one of his jumpers runs. Very pretty runs. He knocked a bar early on so I didn’t really work the end peice and he back jumped where he shouldn’t. That sequence confused me anyway since I knew I wouldn’t be up there between those jumps. Oh well, we did good anyway and I was happy with the runs. We don’t do much ASCA that’s why he’s still in the lower levels. In AKC he’s in excellent A.

We go again tomorrow, maybe we’ll be better. I am still pretty sick though and I can’t hear out of my left ear. Everything is off and my head is stuffed. We’ll have fun though. I did a lot of sitting around today, even out in the van surfed the web a bit on my phone looking for home insurance to see if we can get a better rate. Tomorrow I’ll do the same. It’s hard for me to just sit at dog events. I get nervous and am always on my feet.

Oh and as for the title of this post… Chase loves agility, he doesn’t know when he does bad or when he knocks a bar. He’s just a nut and loves the rush. I think he likes the structure too, and the learning we do. But he doesn’t know if we Q or not. He’s just happy to do this weird thing that his human Mom likes.

Cynthia

October 31, 2009

Agility, Chase

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Agility, Chase

Flyball and the Vampire

Jet the Vampire

Went to flyball last weekend and had a great time. It’s the annual Jumps and Jackpots put on by Touch N Go Flyball Team from Las Vegas, Nevada. They have it in Utah because there’s a really nice location here which is easier to us because we don’t have to drive so far.

I put this little costume on Jet. It’s nothing special, just a Vampire costume I got from Petco. And it’s hard to hold him on a leash while taking pictures.

I bought some dog supplies while I was there, some stuff for dogs’ feet in the snow so the ice balls don’t get bad in their pads. Chase needs that the ice balls get terrible in his feet in the winter when we go on walks. Hopefully this will help.

We have agility this weekend but I’m down with a cold. I really want to go, though. It’s ASCA and I was sick for the last ASCA trial in the spring, dangit! So I only went one day and even then I did terrible because I was feeling awful. So maybe I’ll go tomorrow and if I can’t handle Chase then we’ll just come home. Bleh. I was really looking forward to this trial.

Agility, Chase, Chatter, Jet

My Dogs Don’t Act Guilty

Chase Little Bed

I am one of those odd people who think that dogs don’t feel guilt. I think guilt is a human emotion. I am more of the mind that the dogs know Safe and Dangerous. And when you come home and your dog has gotten into the garbage and scattered it around, and he cowers… it’s not guilt. He just knows that you coming home with garbage scattered around is dangerous because you might explode for no reason that he can understand.

(oh and this is Chase trying to fit in the teeny dog bed I got for Jet. LOL)

Jet is in his chewing age now… he’s six months old and that’s to be expected. We do not, ever, get mad or punish him for chewing. Ever. We don’t do that with any of our dogs. We just direct him to something more productive. I do want him to know that some things are off limits, like cardboard displays or chairs or furniture, but I just push him away, tell him Leave It, and give him a bone that is a good thing for him to chew.

Lucy has Mega-esophagus and often regurgitates quite a bit. She is also pretty incontinent and will pee accidentally while she is laying down if we don’t take her out frequently. But Lucy never, ever acts guilty for either of these acts. I believe it’s because we have never punished the dogs for there being pee on the floor, or poop, or throw up… or the act of any of these. So none of the dogs think these things are dangerous in any way and don’t show the ‘guilt’ signs that people interpret as guilt… but I interpret that the dog is afraid of something dangerous might happen.

I’m very proud of this. I don’t want my dogs to think there are things dangerous in the world… mainly me or my husband. I want them to feel safe at home. We train in other ways. We encourage success. We DO set boundaries and limits and the dogs have good manners. But a growing puppy needs to chew, an incontinent dog is going to have accidents. These are not reasons to punish… actually, there are not really any good reasons to punish. Redirect, encourage, and set up for success. I love positive training!

Cynthia

October 22, 2009

Daily Posts, Jet, Lucy

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Jet, Lucy, Megaesophagus, Training

Going to School…

My husband is currently going to school. He, like me, went right out of high school and then dropped out. College is so much different than High School. It took us a while to mature enough to go back and get our degrees. Now I sometimes wish I could go back and study Animal Behavior, but I don’t know if I can find the money. And I’d prefer to attend an online university instead of having to go into a school on a regular basis.

So even though I don’t wan an online business degree, I was looking at online schools. I’d want an accredited school… so many of the online schools are not accredited with reputable accreditation places so that makes it hard.

The Western Governors University is something I am considering. They are Non-Profit and their tuition is half as much as other online universities. They also have six month segments… you pay for six months at a time, instead of by credit ours. And it’s a set amount, and it’s affordable! And they are accredited by the Northwest Commission of Colleges and Universities, which accredits a number of highly reputable Universities and Colleges. Hrm…

Well, I have a while yet to decide. I have about four more years before I can retire and do something else… maybe I’ll just play with my dogs! LOL

Best In Show Puppy!

I am so very proud of my little baby boy… when we went to the American Rare Breed Association Dog Show last weekend, he won Best in Show Puppy! There were two shows held on Saturday, and he didn’t win show 2, but he did win show 1. He deserves some pensacola vacation packages! And maybe I can go with. It was so much fun traveling with Jet. He is such an amazingly good boy. He wouldn’t pee or… Continue reading »

Fun in the Yard

So we have some guests this week. They are sweethearts. We have watched Chip the Sheltie before, but we haven’t met his new sister Tinkerbell, who is one week older than Jet. And though I’ve met Vito, the sweet Papillion boy, this is the first time he gets to spend with us. I’ll post a picture of him later.

Tatum and Jet love having visitors. Levi and Chase hate it. LOL. But they are just grumpy boys and get to spend time with their Dad in his computer room. Chase and Levi really aren’t too bad and are doing well with the guests. It’s not like having fosters. It’s so nice having well treated happy dogs that are relaxed, confident, and mellow as guests. Instead of stressed sick fosters. We are not fostering anymore, finally, and it is really nice.

So for a week we have these three guests. It’s fun to have them around!

Going to Conformation!

Jet and Tatum

Yeap, I’m gonna do it again. I know that when I showed Levi in the AKC conformation ring I complained up one side and down the other. And I still think conformation is more political than anything… and all the dogs look gorgeous to me. But I would like to have Jet get some conformation titles because he is a pure bred and he is.. well, so very handsome.

So a week from tomorrow, on October 8th, he and I are going to fly to Chicago and participate in the Danish Swedish Farmdog Club of America’s National Specialty show. It’s going to be outside, hopefully they will have some nice outdoor lights and it won’t be too cold in Chicago. I’ll need to get Jet a coat. Poor boy was cold this morning even, in our house. And it’s only going to get colder.

I am very proud of Levi’s AKC Championship. The DSF are not an AKC breed, so this show will be hosted by ARBA, the American Rare Breed Association. It’s going to be really fun to meet the other Farmdog people from across the country. And my relatives that still live in Chicago. So I’m looking forward to it. Plus, flying Jet in the cabin of the plane with me is just fun!

JWW and Chase

Well we did agility last weekend… AKC, and if I do say so myself Chase and I did a great job! Of course Chase is still better than me. Here’s our jumpers run from Sunday. And actually, I have mislabeled it. He did take an off course jump but my text is mismarked on the video. The first jump is right, it’s the second on that is waaaaay out there that was wrong. And I really am not sure if I sent him to that one or not!

I need to watch it some more and see what I think. I am having fun with Chase, and I’ve been talking to other handlers with fast border collies and, well, we are not much worse off than they are. LOL. It’s hard to run a long strided fast dog in AKC agility! But we are getting better. It’s a challenge that I really want to beat!

Even while we skid on the floor tiles when they are wet, and play in the house, we won’t skid on the grass. And by gum, I really want to Q more with Chase! He is such an amazing agility dog. I’m going to go to a seminar in October, hopefully that will help me out!