Chase

The biggest change I think has been Chase. He’s the oldest now (8.5 years), and he has space issues with dogs he doesn’t know. He will attack without warning when we go out and he’s too close to other dogs. He will still do this. He always hated having foster dogs in our house. So he’s the happiest one of them all that we no longer foster. He’s very relaxed at home now and, strangely enough, he’s becoming our mediator dog. Chase and Levi never got along. Levi would grump at Chase on a regular basis.

But now Chase loves to play with Jet (he did before, but he’s more relaxed about it now). Chase plays with Tatum too, and kinda tolerates Muffit. Muffit barks at Chase when he (Muffit) wants to play, which annoys Chase to no end. But after years, Chase is showing lip and teeth when he gets annoyed. We think that Chase’s warning system was punished out of him before we got him. So he’d just explode without warning. At home he gives warning now (he was giving warning before Levi died too). Chase hasn’t started a fight at home in probably over a year. It’s quite nice.

Jet has been having issues with being unable to stop when he starts fighting. I believe he learned it from Levi. Jet didn’t learn a good way to tell another dog that he’s been hurt or he wants something or needs another dog to stop something. I blame Levi, and myself, of course. Hopefully we’ll work this out. But anyway, a couple weeks ago Jet was going off on Chase, and Chase just stood there in the back yard with Jet latched onto his cheek. This is HUGE for Chase. Before, Chase would have fought back and not have stopped. But now, Chase is like our medium dog that has taken on the role of smoothing everything over. It’s really cool.

Anyone in a multi-dog household understands that dogs fight. It’s what they do. Our dogs have good bite inhibition and don’t break skin. But they sure sound mean. And they don’t fight without reason. People yell at each other, dogs growl and snarl and fight. And our house is kinda small, so the dogs are close together a lot. Maybe we need some wood pergolas to lighten things up, but we can’t afford anything now!

My husband and I aren’t sure who is highest ranking dog anymore. It’s probably Tatum, our only girl. But it could be Muffit, he doesn’t put up with anyone’s crap. It’s not Chase, he’s just the middle ground dog. And I don’t think it’s Jet either, even though he’s intact. Though we think Jet wants to be. It’s one of those flowing easy going packs that just get along. It’s quiet and nice. It’ll be interesting to see how a puppy throws them all for a loop again. Chase will probably have the hardest adjustment, he always does, but hopefully he’ll adjust quickly.

Jet and Dare

Denise is one of the very few purely positive, motivational competition obedience trainers in the entire country. As a few of us sat around at dinner, we came up with a couple of other names but now I don’t even remember who they are. And I’m talking about Competition Obedience… not just dog trainers or clicker trainers etc. Most competition obedience people still use correction methods thrown in here and there. I have too, but I really want to do what Denise does instead. She is amazing at how well she can come up with ideas to solve problems in training.

One of the biggest things that is sticking with me from the seminar is how so many people are not ring ready for obedience. They train with toys and treats then one day decide to compete and they haven’t done any training without toys or treats or corrections and they expect the dogs to perform well in the ring. Well, that’s not my experience. LOL. She said she even has had a class that is for being Ring Ready. Six weeks of setting up a ring, and all you do is enter the ring, play play play, then leave. So the dogs know that going into the ring is a good happy thing. What to do when you walk into the ring. Have an idea and a plan. Make it happy. I got some good ideas of what to do with Jet.

Basically Jet gets stressed in the ring, so I want to change that. So my plan will be to walk him into the ring, then whip out his new toy and play. Then leave. Do that a couple of times. Then go into the ring, maybe do a dumbbell retrieve, play play, then leave. Then add another exercise that he likes, play play, then leave. So every time we go into the ring it’s a really good experience. Add some “ready… ready… ready…” during and after heeling, to get his excitement up. Do push backs and run. Lots of play and having a good time.

I can even do portions of these things in competition. Like at the end of a heeling pattern, after the judge says Exercise Finished, I can say “ready… ready…” then burst into a run and run to the next exercise. Or do a push back and a touch high. Things to keep him up and happy. It’ll be fun to try. I am probably going to try a couple of these things this coming weekend, as for some weird reason I entered him in Beginner Novice, even though I don’t think we are quite ready. But it’ll be a challenge to me to see what I can do to keep his mood up and keep him happy.

I hope I took good notes, I haven’t looked at all of them yet. Maybe I need a clevis pin to keep them clipped together. I did get some video but I won’t share it. Denise asked us not to, and so that’s okay with me. I’m just glad I have it for my own benefit as I train in the future.

I also entered Chase in Grad Open and that should be fun. Chase is naturally higher in drive so hopefully he’ll be okay through all the exercises. I don’t know if he’ll Q, but it’ll be fun to be in Grad Open and see how he does.

I’m still thinking of a collie puppy, too, and running through my mind the things I can do for foundation work on a new puppy.

On a sad note, tomorrow, March 23rd, will be one month since Levi died. Ugh. time flies. I’m still not used to him being gone at home. I still miss him very much.

Chris Zink was very interesting to listen to. She was funny and energetic and had a lot of good information. I do like dog information a lot better than computer information anymore.

Just a brief overview of what she went over… She said that the dogs’ sex hormones are very important. She prefers to leave all dogs intact, or with alternative sterilization methods. She has done studies, and was showing other information, that intact dogs tend to be prone to less injuries. And the old belief that dogs’ personalities became more mellow or less aggressive when spayed or neutered is actually incorrect. The information she showed told that dogs spayed and neutered actually tend to show more aggression and more behavioral problems. And the younger they are spayed and neutered, the worse the problems can be. Interesting. Jet is intact, and I’ll be leaving him that way. If I did anything I’d get him a vasectomy. Chris Zink said there are ways to remove a female dog’s uterus only, and leave the ovaries, so that they still get their sex hormones that are really good things. From all my PMS problems over my life, I believe that the sex hormones are important.

Chris Zink also said that a dog’s front dew claws are very valuable when it comes to performance sports, and just life in general. They actually use them a lot more than we realize. I prefer to have dew claws left on all my dogs. Unless they become torn or are floppy rear ones that may be dangerous. But then I prefer the dogs to all be natural and have what they are born with.

She also went over a lot of structure, so I think I can see a dog’s angulation better now. Especially the rear. The front I still can’t see so much. She talked about over angulation and how that can also be bad, like German Shepherd Dogs who are over angulated in the rear and it makes them less stable. So angulation is a good thing only to a certain extent.

The second day we did many jumping exercises and that was a lot of fun to watch. From the new dogs that have never done sports, to the advanced agility dogs. It’s all in her Jumping Books, which I own, and really should read more of.

All in all I really enjoyed the seminar and I think I learned a lot and I would go again if I could. Though I’d prefer more and different information. And the drive wasn’t too bad, only about 5 hours from Salt Lake City, UT, to Grand Junction Colorado. With a stop to pick up a friend of mine. It’s always more fun to travel with her.

This is just a brief overview. I’m still pretty miserable about losing Levi. I’ve been trying not to think about him much. I have a house in my mind I go to whenever I start thinking too much or getting down. I think it helps. I haven’t been eating much either, though I have been eating sugar. I always eat bad when I feel rotten. If there weren’t so many diet pill side effects I might consider those. But really I just need to eat more vegetables, and stay away from the bread and ice cream. But the bread and ice cream are so much more comforting than vegetables.

I don’t know how long it will take me to get over Levi… but I just miss his face. His sweet loving happy face. I miss everything about him. My heart aches for my Levi.

Bleeding Hearts

I miss Levi with all my heart. I never wanted to post about Levi dying. How can Levi be gone? He was my heart dog… I do think Jet is becoming a heart dog too, but right now I just miss Levi. I miss his woofing at the top of the fridge for bones. I miss the weight of him pushed up against me at night in bed. I miss lifting him into the car. I just miss everything about him. He was such a good baby boy.

I am still thinking about a puppy. I did want a girl collie puppy, but now I’m thinking boy. I just love the boy energy and the boy goofiness in the collies. I know I will never replace Levi. He will always be one of a kind. I just would like some boy collie energy again. Tatum is doing well at holding up the girl part of the pack. She sure has attitude. I think she misses Levi too, more than the other dogs. She’s been more shy and upset lately. Jet seems oblivious. And the border collies… they don’t seem to mind one way or the other. But Tatum seems upset.

It’s too weird only having four dogs. The house seems very empty.

I did agility last weekend, which was good therapy, and Jet got his MXJ and Qualified in every run. He is such a good boy and we had a lot of fun. I made a ton of people cry over Levi, but they all understand. They understand the bond we have with our dogs. I’m very sad, and hopefully I’ll be able to go a whole day, sometime soon, without crying. But it may be a while.

Only Tatum and Jet went. I’m still not taking Levi. I don’t know, his park days may be over… we’ll see. But every day he seems a little bit worse. His poor old body just can’t repair itself anymore. Makes me very, very sad.

Tatum

Tatum and Jet

Blue Skies

Tatum and Jet

Playing

Why not take Muffit or Chase? Well, Chase isn’t dog friendly at all. He’s actually pretty dog aggressive. And Muffit goes hiking with my husband so much, that I don’t take him out myself. He’s my husband’s hiking companion.

Levi and Tatum

He’s going to K9 Nosework Class again at our local training center, Calling All Dogs. He just loves it. I was worried about his first class, wondering if he’d hurt the next day. And if he did, I would have taken Jet or Tatum instead. But no sign of Levi hurting the next day, so I’ll take him back again. He does love it, and I really want to spend time with my old 12 year old boy.

He practically needs a medication cart for all the supplements he’s on. But I think they are helping. And the acupuncture helps too. So he’s rather expensive for us now, but he’s worth every penny. The last three or four days he’s been grumpier at the other dogs. And I think it’s because he’s feeling better. I guess it could be because he’s feeling worse, but usually he’s grumpy when he feels good, so who knows.

He’s my boy, and I’m glad he’s doing okay.

Jet and Tatum

I’ve been taking it easy the last weeks, which is nice, no dog sports. Well, I did do some Cyber Rally-O with Jet that was pretty fun. I’ll have to post about that next time. Otherwise, I’ve been spending time with family and friends and taking the dogs to the park, going on some walks, and taking it easy. Been really nice. I wish I could have more time like this to just live. Oh I’ve been working, too, but that goes without saying. And in only another week, I’ll be able to say “I can retire next year…” oh that’ll be nice. I can retire in 2013, so I’m looking forward to that!

I haven’t been taking Levi to the park, though, just Jet and Tatum. I miss taking Levi. He still isn’t back to normal quite yet. I’ve been taking him on walks around the block, a mile or so, to work him back up to the park. But I think maybe next weekend he’ll be coming with again. His back still hurts. Maybe he needs a discectomy to help his back, but maybe not. He’s been getting a little better every day. And he’s being rather obnoxious at home which is a sign the’s feeling good. So that’s a good thing. I am realizing approaching EOL, which we say with software… (End Of Life), but as long as he’s happy and doing well, I’m happy with him too. He’s not going to keel over dead tomorrow or anything.

January will bring another agility trial. Maybe Jet and I can pick up another Double Q. We haven’t done agility in a couple months, now, but that’s okay. I think we will both remember how.