Swivl

Well, it’s finally here. This is not an ad post… it’s just something I found. I’ve been looking, forever it seems like, to find a device that will follow me with video while I’m doing agility, or rally, or training, or whatever. Looks like finally someone invented the darn thing! Swivl

I have one of those big Canon Video cameras, though, which this won’t work with. But I also have an Android phone, which it will work with. I wonder if the big clunky cameras are just on their way out, and most everyone will eventually switch to phones or tablets for video. That’s fine with me, though of course it’d be a bummer if I can’t sell my camera eventually. But someday I do want an iPad. I just can’t justify it now. I have my Macbook, and I have my Android phone, and I really can’t afford a tablet. Maybe some day. And I love using iMovie to make my videos on my Mac. And as ya’ll know, I take a zillion dog videos of sports and of training. Usually I put my camera on the tripod. But sometimes I just need the camera to follow me around, especially in a small place like training, or a far place like an agility trial. I quite often don’t have anyone with me to video. Or at agility trials, I get tired of begging people to video. So many people just hate to video! This would solve my problems!

It’s not out until 2012, and it’s $160, but I actually think that’s a pretty good price. I’d use it ALL the darn time! I’d like it to be able to keep me zoomed in, but it doesn’t do that yet. Maybe eventually. And I bet there will be more manufacturers out there making more types like this soon. They are marketing it for bloggers… or vloggers, I guess. But heck, they should market it to the darn dog sports crowd. I bet they’d get a lot of interested parties!

I think he’s doing well, though still I worry that he’ll kick it into gear at a trial. I have to say, though, the only two trials I’ve entered him in were super hard. One was a conformation show with a busy smelly building with lots going on. And he did okay, actually, and would have Q’d but crawled to visit another dog on the down stay. The other show as the same day as an agility trial, and I think it was hard for him to switch from agility to obedience.

I may enter him in a one day obedience only show in September. It’s the day before the 3 day agility trial. Maybe he’ll do better there. Outside, relaxed. I hope so, anyway. I’ll probably give it a try and see how he does.

Anyway, life goes on, I’m trying to work the other dogs, do fun things, get on with life, accept that Lucy is gone. Maybe getting some Off Road Lights for the van would help in the dark when it starts getting closer to winter. I dunno, though, I usually just like it dark.

Well yesterday at work I was thinking why not work all the dogs at the same time? I can do some stay work and mat work and have them really be good pups!

This is a long video, about 10 minutes, I didn’t edit it much since the in-between treating part is kinda fun to watch too. At least for me. feel free to fast forward. LOL. They all did really well. Tatum was the worst, which means we need more stay work with Tatum. Jet was the second worst, which is bad, since he’ll need stays in obedience! Lucy was also pretty bad but she’s old, 12.5 years old now, and she has a hard time moving. When I pushed her down I put hardly any pressure on her at all. I just touch her and she goes down easily. But still, I might not work her anymore. She loves the treats but it’s too hard for her to move.

Chase and Levi were solid as rocks. Good boys! They have had a lot of obedience training those two.

It was fun, I’m thinking I’ll split them up in pairs of 2 for a while since this is a new thing and I want to reinforce their stationary-ness for a while. And treating one or two dogs, while working one, will be a lot easier than treating four or five. LOL

Oh, Muffit doesn’t have a stay at all. So he didn’t get to work. He’s my husband’s hiking dog.

As long as his Stand for Exam holds up, he comes on the recall when I call first, and he holds his stays, I think we’ll do well. Of course it’s just a test. First time in a real obedience ring is only a test of our training anyway. But I’ll still be nervous. It’s AKC obedience.

I just love Jet’s heeling. I love his front feet trotting up he’s so cute. And he looks so happy. And happy is the best part. I wouldn’t even do obedience if I had one of those dogs that trudged around the ring like they are moving through mud and look miserable. I want happy dog!

So hopefully we’ll do well in obedience and agility. It’s still a couple of weeks away. And it’s the trial I pulled Tatum from. If she’s okay I’ll bring her a couple of the days just to make sure she’s fine for the middle of May agility trial I have her entered in. Why is it so hard to pull from trials? I don’t know, but even with if I had a usb barcode scanner to scan my entries with I still would have a hard time pulling from trials. It broke my heart when I had to pull Levi years ago when he was having such weave poll problems. And now Tatum. I just hope and pray and cross my fingers that Jet will be healthy and sound his whole life. Even though he can’t hear in his left hear, that shouldn’t stop us from doing what we love!

The only thing I don’t like about this video is how much weight I’ve gained! Ugh. I’m doing good writing down my calories every day, so hopefully it’ll come off soon!

K9 Nose Work Kit

I cut the foam myself (we had some left over from some dog beds we made) but I didn’t do it very straight. LOL so I might redo that. And I did order some birch, clove and anise from the K9NW site, so I’m going to put those viles in the box too. The box I got from Sportsman’s Warehouse, it’s just a water proof camping box. When I tried to google boxes that were dog smell proof, all I got were results for people who wanted to know where to get a box for their pot that the police dogs couldn’t sniff through. LOL. I think that’s pretty much impossible!

So I’m building my kit. I think I’m going to use more treats for the dogs again so they will keep their hunt drive up. Hopefully I won’t get any adult acne while using the oils, I swear some things cause me to break out and I don’t like that! The Nose Work has been tons of fun and I’m having a great time putting all the equipment together.

The Family at Christmas

I’ve been getting all the dogs out and putting down the boxes for them to find the treat. In class with Levi, we’ve been putting the treats in even harder places, so last night at home I was doing that too. I got out a chair, and put a treat on the chair a little bit hidden so they would find it there. I put a treat on one of the drawer handles on the china cabinet. I put a treat on the xpen that is around the Christmas tree. So that they know that the treat isn’t always in a box, in fact it can be anywhere!

I even do it with Lucy. Right before I feed her, so that the treats will go down, pushed down with food. She loves it. I wish this sport had been around when she was younger, she would have done great. Now, at 12, I’m not sure she’ll be able to have the stamina. Plus her Meagesophagus would get in the way.

So here is a little video I took of Jet doing the searching yesterday evening.

He’s doing really well. Not sure if you can see him catching the scent on the video, but I can tell his body language now. I’m starting to understand what he’ll do when he catches the scent. What he looks like.

I hope to continue the classes with Levi next year. The next class is the introduction to the scent. I went and bought some Anise and Clove. I still need to find Birch. I wish there was a good K9 Nose Work training book out there, but I haven’t found one yet. Let me know if anyone knows of a book.

The dogs LOVE this so much, they get completely excited, their tails are up and they just have a great time! It’s a really fun wintery thing to train.

Jet and Cookies

So the indoor training goals for this winter include the following….
1. Scent Articles for Jet and Chase: They are both doing really well when there is cheese or some sort of food on the bit, but when it’s gone, they aren’t doing so well. So I’m going to clicker train the scented articles with both the boys, so they understand what they are supposed to be doing. I’m getting this from Clicker Training for Obedience by Morgan Spector. I like the book, and I think it’ll work well for them.
2. Send to the Back of the Jump: Doing this just with Jet. He needs to learn the skill of being sent to the back of a jump, then coming around to jump it towards me. It does seem this is getting more common in trials. It’s a skill we need and he’s catching on fast.
3. K9 Nose Work Boxes etc: Working this with all the dogs! They love it. Moving from boxes to other obstacles like chairs and stuff too. I also hope to put the scents in this too soon. Birch, Anise, and Clove.
4. Back Up: Jet still doesn’t know how to go backwards. The rest of my dogs do, so this is on the list to teach him!

And hmm… now I forget what else is on my list that’s stuck on the fridge in the kitchen. But those articles are going to take some time, I think. And they are fun! Maybe I need go get some document scanning going so I can make copies of my training list and put one at work too.

Oh and this picture? This is jet ‘helping’ us make Christmas Sugar Cookies yesterday. He’s such a goof. It was really hard for him not to eat all that dough, even though I told him he’d get super sick!

`Jet and Levi at the Park

So Levi and I went to our first K9 Nose Work class. It was fun! Levi was a dork. He thinks that barking at people gets him the most treats, so that’s what he spend most of his time doing. LOL. So I might modify the technique just a bit for him. Set him up for a bit more success so he understands the value of the boxes. Basically in the first class the teacher scattered a bunch of empty boxes around. And the dogs are supposed to find the value of the boxes themselves… well I like to give the dogs a bit more information at first. So I just used three boxes at home. And all of my dogs picked up that there are treats in a box pretty fast. Levi just needs to learn the value of the boxes, and he’ll do that pretty fast. Once he understands the idea.

I even did it with Lucy at home, our megaesophagus dog. She can eat treats once in a while as long as we feed her afterward and put her in her chair so the treats go down. She was the best at it. LOL but she is a treat maniac and any time she can find food, she will.

Chase was silly. He tried picking up a box in his mouth, like it was a dumbbell. Yup he’s too trained. LOL. So I had to jiggle the boxes more for him. He was finding the treats quickly though, so he’ll understand you just have to find the treats in the box. That’s it for now. He has a problem in Rally-Obedience too. He thinks he should interact with the signs. =P

Jet and Tatum also did good. Tatum wasn’t quite sure the boxes had any value at all. But she caught on. Jet was good from the get go, checking out those silly boxes on the floor.

I’ll work with them all more. Why not. Good thing to do in the winter and who knows who’ll be able to pass the test? Maybe even Lucy can! I should keep track of their progress in my Samsung phone to see how they are doing. But I usually get too lazy, and just have fun with it.