Leah found a new local Schutzhund club that wasn't put off by Dobermans. WIN! To become a member, you have to attend three training sessions to see what they are working on and what kind of people they are. We've gone to one already, and it was really nice - everyone helps each other, and no one cares if your dog isn't able to participate in all three phases of the training. They are pretty knowledgeable too - intent on using motivation to get the spirit of the dog in the sport. It's RAD! We get to head out there again on Sunday and test Rocket and Jayne on the protection portion to see if they can be started.
The club put on a ATTS test a few weeks ago. It was interesting to see how different breeds respond to the same stimuli. The judge was the former director of the ATTS and hilarious to boot. He had a really good understanding of dogs' purpose and how it would relate to their reaction to specific stimuli. He expected that Dobermans, based on their purpose, would remain between their handler and any strangers that approached. Rocket passed the evaluation with average scores on everything - the main goal! He thought, though, that he could stop the aggressive stranger in his tracks by showing him his ass instead of his mouth. So smart.....
My goal of showing Rocket and Kaylee at Doberman Nationals is still in effect. They are both so smart and willing to work. Our main issue is distractions - I have to teach them to ignore what is going on around them - and that's against their nature.
I'm still using a clicker for almost all of their behaviors. When they get a 100% understanding of what a command means, I may move them to prong collars to help reinforce what I'm asking - simply to avoid the "blow off" - which is something Kaylee likes to do. ;)
So far, so good!
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Oh yeah, I have a blog.
HA! Bad blogger!
Life has been crazy lately. I switched my work schedule to 4 10 hour days instead of 5 8 hour days. It works out well for work, but cuts my free time at night short. I do get three days off every week though, and that is a big bonus.
Rocket is still doing well. I've been able to up the distances he's heeling successfully, as well as adding in turns and figure eights. It's hit his little brain that head's up = food and praise, so he is consistently offering full eye contact the majority of the time. I'm starting more dumbbell work as well, in terms of "taking" it willingly.
A weight update - as a last ditch effort to get him to consistently eat and put on weight, I bought a bag of Pro Plan Sensitive Skin and Stomach. His reaction makes me think they put crack in the bag. He dances and bounces and gobbles food now, with an obvious change after just 5 days. Weird *ss dog. I think he heard me talking about setting up a neuter appt when he turned 3 if he didn't mature.
Allie's allergies are much better. Not to the perfect point yet, but we are going to try giving her allergy shots to combat her 27 allergens. The food switch was really helpful, now we just need to deal with the environmental.
K-dog is very, very smart. :) And focused, and serious. But in a good way, the way that made training Ruby fun and rewarding. She is starting to get the point of stay, heeling with eye contact, and signals. She's so smart I can see her brain working....she'll catch herself on something I corrected her for a minute ago. She is very much an eager sponge! We are working on learning that my left side is the default position, not the show dog stand in front. Punching in the ovaries is occurring less often, there are no more "shark teeth", and by golly, we love to spin and twirl! I also randomly taught her to crawl so we can share that as our trick for graduation next week.
I set the very, very lofty goal of showing both dogs at Dobe Nationals next year. EEEP.
Funny recent comment regarding why Dobe Natl's are a week long from a non-Dobe person.
Are you ready?
"Because there are three sizes....that's why it takes a week."
I'll let you think on that one for a bit. :)
Life has been crazy lately. I switched my work schedule to 4 10 hour days instead of 5 8 hour days. It works out well for work, but cuts my free time at night short. I do get three days off every week though, and that is a big bonus.
Rocket is still doing well. I've been able to up the distances he's heeling successfully, as well as adding in turns and figure eights. It's hit his little brain that head's up = food and praise, so he is consistently offering full eye contact the majority of the time. I'm starting more dumbbell work as well, in terms of "taking" it willingly.
A weight update - as a last ditch effort to get him to consistently eat and put on weight, I bought a bag of Pro Plan Sensitive Skin and Stomach. His reaction makes me think they put crack in the bag. He dances and bounces and gobbles food now, with an obvious change after just 5 days. Weird *ss dog. I think he heard me talking about setting up a neuter appt when he turned 3 if he didn't mature.
Allie's allergies are much better. Not to the perfect point yet, but we are going to try giving her allergy shots to combat her 27 allergens. The food switch was really helpful, now we just need to deal with the environmental.
K-dog is very, very smart. :) And focused, and serious. But in a good way, the way that made training Ruby fun and rewarding. She is starting to get the point of stay, heeling with eye contact, and signals. She's so smart I can see her brain working....she'll catch herself on something I corrected her for a minute ago. She is very much an eager sponge! We are working on learning that my left side is the default position, not the show dog stand in front. Punching in the ovaries is occurring less often, there are no more "shark teeth", and by golly, we love to spin and twirl! I also randomly taught her to crawl so we can share that as our trick for graduation next week.
I set the very, very lofty goal of showing both dogs at Dobe Nationals next year. EEEP.
Funny recent comment regarding why Dobe Natl's are a week long from a non-Dobe person.
Are you ready?
"Because there are three sizes....that's why it takes a week."
I'll let you think on that one for a bit. :)
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Vacation and the Injury Report
Jeremy and I went with his father's side of the family on a cruise to the Caribbean to celebrate Grandma and Grandpa's 50th wedding anniversary. We had a fantastic time snorkeling, swimming, exploring, eating, and spending time with family that we don't see often enough. I think our honeymoon will have to be on a cruise - literally everything is taken care of for you, and of course, you get to take an awesome boat everywhere!
I've got the best tan of my life! Jeremy is peeling really bad (ew) but mine is a minimum. Hopefully it sticks around!
The injury report includes a run in with a decorative boulder. Seriously. I was trying to keep to the extreme right side of the road to get back to our cabin and somehow misjudged the distance between my right foot and this rock. Blood everywhere and a numb foot later, I tried to walk it off because I had an audience. I've got a lot of bruising, but the doctor says there isn't a fracture she can find, so I guess I'm good to go.
This afternoon I managed to burn my hand on the mower I borrowed, followed by twisting my left ankle in a divot in my front yard. Win!
And now onto the important part of the blog - training!
I haven't updated in a while, but things are progressing the way they should. I've shortened the amount of time I train Rocket at a time, because he seems to be in a better place the less time I spend asking for repetition on exercises. We are getting distance on go outs, much better attention on heeling, and, out of nowhere, we can now drop from a signal at a distance. WOO!
I'm trying to work on his attention span. He has a tendency to want to trot the ring when he feels he's accomplished something, or, sniff the floor if he thinks that food may appear. I've had to keep his attention by being squirelly - and for those of you that know me IRL, you know that I'm about as squirrelly as an ice berg. Which leads me to....
The K-dog! Someone should have told me that Dobe bitches are so much easier to teach things than dumb boys. I can be squirelly with her (I practice!) and she gives me the look of "Ah yes, watch the lower life form monkey herself for me. Perform, monkey, perform!"
Her attention is stellar, I can re-direct her bitchy tendencies (if I catch her hairy eyeball early enough) and she loves the work. I've never been punched in the ovaries or about lost my fingers so much in my life, but she helps me not be serious - because she's serious enough for the both of us. We'll see how she continues to progress once I start asking the "hard" stuff from her - dumbbell work and working in a ring with other dogs.
For shits & giggles I asked Leah to bring Revy with her to Kaylee's training yesterday. Holy cow - I now know why I would never train a short dog. My neck was starting to hurt, but it went really well overall for a dog that hasn't spent a lot of time at the club training. It did help me remember how to control my body movements - I had to keep reminding myself to stand straight, bend the knees, keep the back straight, etc.
I can't decide if I'm ready to attempt Beginner Novice with Kaylee or Rocket at the State Fair dog show....maybe I'll just keep that plan for our September show. I think I'll make sure I enter Ruby in Rally.
Rocket's next UKC show is next weekend - keeping our fingers crossed that we can pick up some more competition wins!
I've got the best tan of my life! Jeremy is peeling really bad (ew) but mine is a minimum. Hopefully it sticks around!
The injury report includes a run in with a decorative boulder. Seriously. I was trying to keep to the extreme right side of the road to get back to our cabin and somehow misjudged the distance between my right foot and this rock. Blood everywhere and a numb foot later, I tried to walk it off because I had an audience. I've got a lot of bruising, but the doctor says there isn't a fracture she can find, so I guess I'm good to go.
This afternoon I managed to burn my hand on the mower I borrowed, followed by twisting my left ankle in a divot in my front yard. Win!
And now onto the important part of the blog - training!
I haven't updated in a while, but things are progressing the way they should. I've shortened the amount of time I train Rocket at a time, because he seems to be in a better place the less time I spend asking for repetition on exercises. We are getting distance on go outs, much better attention on heeling, and, out of nowhere, we can now drop from a signal at a distance. WOO!
I'm trying to work on his attention span. He has a tendency to want to trot the ring when he feels he's accomplished something, or, sniff the floor if he thinks that food may appear. I've had to keep his attention by being squirelly - and for those of you that know me IRL, you know that I'm about as squirrelly as an ice berg. Which leads me to....
The K-dog! Someone should have told me that Dobe bitches are so much easier to teach things than dumb boys. I can be squirelly with her (I practice!) and she gives me the look of "Ah yes, watch the lower life form monkey herself for me. Perform, monkey, perform!"
Her attention is stellar, I can re-direct her bitchy tendencies (if I catch her hairy eyeball early enough) and she loves the work. I've never been punched in the ovaries or about lost my fingers so much in my life, but she helps me not be serious - because she's serious enough for the both of us. We'll see how she continues to progress once I start asking the "hard" stuff from her - dumbbell work and working in a ring with other dogs.
For shits & giggles I asked Leah to bring Revy with her to Kaylee's training yesterday. Holy cow - I now know why I would never train a short dog. My neck was starting to hurt, but it went really well overall for a dog that hasn't spent a lot of time at the club training. It did help me remember how to control my body movements - I had to keep reminding myself to stand straight, bend the knees, keep the back straight, etc.
I can't decide if I'm ready to attempt Beginner Novice with Kaylee or Rocket at the State Fair dog show....maybe I'll just keep that plan for our September show. I think I'll make sure I enter Ruby in Rally.
Rocket's next UKC show is next weekend - keeping our fingers crossed that we can pick up some more competition wins!
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