Rhyme needs a reason :)

Rhyme is now 8 months old and filling out nicely. He is the most gorgeous dog in the world and works hard with his responsibilities relating to this i.e. he has to go and see everybody and dog to give them an opportunity to see him.

Recalls at home at excellent and fully understood by us both but I clearly don't understand that coming back on a walk is not good. Treats and toys in no way measure up to FREEDOM and RUNNING. Devo too had a problem with this I've been told it's a Devongem thing :). Luckily I live near the polo fields at Tidworth. A massive area of flat grass and mostly enclosed with a good view of anything else around so I am gradually helping Rhyme understand that FREEDOM & RUNNING are allowed and coming back is just part of it all.

Today was a good experience. Firstly Rhyme is not allowed off with the others until they've let off steam and he's chosen to eat the treats offered for loose lead walking.This can take a while but he is not allowed off until we get that. He is then allowed off to run and be a dog with the others. Throughout the walk everyone is asked to lie down and given rewards - Rhyme likes this game and finds it easy especially as once everyone has had treats they are all released and race - RUNNING :) :)

When we get near the trees I call him back regularly to give him a stick. I never throw sticks for my dogs but both Devo and Rhyme love to carry them. Once he has his stick I say ok and then he can RUN with the stick. Today we also jumped onto a tree trunk and stopped to pose for a photo. It's his choice to be with us and he happily stayed for the picture above.

So far so good - then in the distance coming towards us I saw somebody with a dog. No problem loads of room so I walked across the field. Rhyme looked then chose us and came back for a reward. Rhyme looked again and once again chose us and the reward. Rhyme looked again and the lady threw something for her dog. Rhyme chose the dog. We chose to run in the opposite direction. As he reached the dog the lady whistled her dog and I called Rhyme - he came running and stayed with us :) :).

A stumbling block is approaching the van as he knows that FREEDOM will be over. I decided to forewarn him of the fact we were "going to the van" to see what would happen. He just ran off in the opposite direction as soon as I had spoken - no hesitation. Perfect understanding of speech -he is so clever. I did what everyone advises not to, laughed. I couldn't help it. He went back to the water trough and led down. I just continued walking towards the dreaded van. When I glanced over my shoulder he sat up and looked at me. I called the other dogs and asked them to lie down. Called him once and he ran and led down very dramatically too, took his reward and happily let me put his lead on and walked beside me back to the van.

So Rhyme needs a reason to come back - not a toy but something to do with no fuss. I've cracked the recall nut - just need to try it with distractions LOL

The King is Dead. Long live the King.

Well May is nearly over and tomorrow is 1st June and summer will be here.

May disappeared into the World Agility Open - the final preparations, the event and then the packing away and clearing up. Back to normality or maybe not. I always puzzled at the expression The King is dead. Long live the King until it was explained that with the death of one King there becomes a new King. Well World Agility Open is over but heyho long live The World Agility Open. Mark, Greg and Monica are flat out planning ready for next years event.

We've had our friend Naomi and her dog Pan staying for a while - it's very quiet now :)

Our dogs are fine and t's great to be at competitions with them. Torro had his first Champ and I amused all the Champ handlers by being so totally excited. There was no cool in my enjoyment. It was brilliant. We got eliminated in both the jumping and agility but were not out of place and did some lovely, lovely bits including a great weave entry that caught many a more experienced and cool handler out.

Rhyme is such a lovely dog and his play and recall are improving.

Christie is still escaping out of the garden at shows determined to show she is not ready for that trip to the vets. It was very sad to hear of Harvey. He has had many medical concerns so Michelle and Stephen were brilliant to be able to keep him enjoying life as long as he did.

Sorry I guess blog writing or keeping up with blog writing is an art.

So much has happened, first the awful shocking and worrying episode of Kodi who is perfectly well and raring to go now, then the successes at shows:)

Mark has his goals with Devo and as usual is on track, winning into Grade 6.

I had my goals with Torro but due to last years ankle breakage they had gone off track and to be honest I was a bit bored of putting down the same as last year. The key to goal setting is to monitor and adapt to ensure they are the right for you at that time (apparently) so not being able to fulfil my goals for Torro last year should not have been a surprise. Luckily we got our last win at Grade 6 to go Grade 7 last weekend so are now back on to reset our sights on other things for this year :)

Mark got a new camera and has taken some stunning photos already so hopefully there will be plenty of good pictures to decorate the blog :)

I love this one of Flint recalling from me to Mark with the camera. Flint looks so happy and fit. He is such a special dog.

All I want is a Photograph

The lovely generous people from UpAndOver Agility Dogs clubbed together to get us a very lovely Christmas present (as usual). Now I know it may seem like a while since Christmas but we have only just managed to arrange to collect it. Last year's present - the flight in a Helicopter didn't happen until August.

This year we have a voucher for a photo from Pet-o-graphy. He specialises in taking photo's on a white background and, although each dog is taken individually, can then group them.

It makes for a stunning photo so you can imagine how gorgeous our lot will look.

The individual photo's were taken this weekend at AJAX.

For one who once spent an hour getting the dogs to stand in a group to get a decent photo by a lake this sounded, in principle an easy task. All I had to do was take the dogs one at a time to his stand then get them to sit and look for head shots and then lie down sideways for the group set up.

First up Devo who has brilliant start line waits but absolutely no understanding of doing a sit wait on the photographers sheet. Result - harassed handler and photographer ( Chris) thinking how am I going to get through this.

Next the gorgeous Flint who is very photogenic and behaved beautifully. Result - absolutely brilliant photos and faith restored that I could actually control my dogs.

Next Chris thought it would be easier to bring 2 dogs over at once - entrance Kodi and Torro.

Kodi thought this was a very serious business and looked suitably intelligent and serious. Chris questioned if that was what he's really like as although the photo's were good something didn't seem right. Spot on Chris - Kodi is a real show off so serious intelligent look does not suit. We got him doing some tricks. Result - you'll have to wait and see but it is sooo worth it :)

Torro was a star and luckily decided the hair and ears slicked back Edwardian look (his normal photo expression) was not required today. Result - Torro at his handsomest showing off his beautiful eyes.

Next up was Rhyme. 2 things to remember about Rhyme - he doesn't come back when called and he loves the world more than coming back when called. Armed with this information it would seem fairly obvious to anyone NOT to take his lead off so why.............

Result - Rhyme in ring with lovely little terrier. Not just any ring, he has got style, it was the Tug E Nuff agility qualifier. Thank goodness the Masters had finished. Exit a very red faced Karen Laker. I was so embarrassed I rushed off without fully apologising - sorry sorry sorry.

So Rhyme and Christie who wasn't there that day will be getting their photo's done at Shuttleworth :)

The Culture Clash - or is it?

I may have mentioned that Sharon (Happy ? Birthday) lent me The Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson. As the title suggests it points out the total difference in culture of ours and our dogs and how understanding it will help us provide a better relationship with them.

You know me - it's all about relationship :)

One theme that is regularly brought up is that dogs live in the here and now. Here's an opportunity to eat (steal food), run (ignore recall), chew (damage furniture) etc etc. Humans on the other hand need to understand what, where, who and why? This preoccupation has us soul searching and looking into childhood events for reasons (excuses) for day to day happenings.

How sweet and amusing it would be to live for the here and now. Not to have to worry if :

spending time with the dogs meant the dinner was late ..... oh I possibly do that one,

chatting to people at shows made you miss your run .......like on Sunday,

you felt like a bottle of wine the night before a show........like Friday,

OOPS well maybe Jean has more concious than me as I've not been soul searching on any of those LOL.

Kodi and Crufts :)

Absolutely brilliant is all I can say about Mark & Kodi at Crufts this year.

On grass during last year with Mark not being fully fit Kodi was not matching the times of the top 10 dogs and we did wonder if his age was going to mean a reduction of the brilliant performances we'd seen when he was younger.

Since his in clandestine meeting with a certain Wren he seems to have got something off his chest (or other area) and has regained much of his speed and power.

Much credit must go to Mark's psychology learning - he's a good student and can definitely practice what he preaches. Knowing how many very good fast dogs were there and being 5 faults down in the first round (a dampener for many people) he pulled off an amazing agility run in the 2nd round and therefore gaining a place in the final.

Still with such an impressive line up it is credit to him and Kodi to step up to the line and so very nearly do the double. Dawn and Breezer did an brilliant run with running contacts so to be so close is awesome.

Well done Kodi and Mark - I'm very proud of you both :) :)

Trouble, Sadness and Foundation Training

The last couple of weeks have been a haze of van and car trouble, ICAT massage course and birthday celebrations.

Amongst all this we also had the sad news of Ruth having to have Kimba PTS due to a brain tumour. Kimba was one of my massage models and was a brilliant one. She was so gentle and happy to be massaged. She will always have a place in my heart and I'm sure will leave a large gap in Ruth's life.

On Wednesday we had our Foundation training with Greg. It is very interesting seeing how dog's learn and what they teach themselves if we are not clear of our criteria.

(It was also so very cool to have such great friends that made a special evening as it was my birthday too)

I am reading The Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson at the moment and really like her way of pointing out that dogs are animals and any time we credit them with human emotions we can open the door to choose aversions to correct behaviour. That is not to say that dog's are not amazing and work so hard to share our lives but attitudes that promote punishment or removing a reward in case the dog is "getting one over on you" is not helpful in any relationship building. Dogs are not capable of thought processes that go in that direction. Dogs will do what is rewarding and easiest in their lives and live in the here and now.

How does this all affect Rhyme's training? Well for Agility Foundation it is important to have a dog that is focussed on you and finds the rewards you give them well worth any effort in order to attain them. Ways to achieve this vary considerably to the extreme of no other interaction except with you including any food and play. This builds a total bond with you and a strong working ethos. It can also be very hard to achieve within day to day life. It is not something I have a history of achieving LOL.

Anybody that sees me with my adult dogs can not help but notice the strength of bond between me and them. They are focussed and ready and able to try to do anything I ask.

Look back at them as puppies and you see none of this. More of "Hello World I'm your man - bring it on" and "Who IS this woman hanging around cramping my style?" At this time I am always left wondering what it is I do or don't do to allow this to happen. Then suddenly they grow up and I'm their world so maybe I should just relax and be prepared for that moment they are ready :) As we don't do any equipment until they are fully grown then this is fine really - isn't it?

So why do any Foundation training? Although things have worked out ok, I do want to improve - it would be a boring day in agility (and a lie) if I really thought I could not get any better. Not everyone can be a World Champion but ANYBODY can dream :)