Today

I'm feeling very disappointed in Tibby's recall today.  I know that:

1- It's my fault for feeling upset 

 2 - My fault for not having her on a long line

3 - My fault for not controlling the situation and

4- giving her too much freedom before she was ready.

But that still doesn't make me I feel better about it.

I went for a hike with my Mom, a friend and my friend's dog, Zoe.  Tibby was doing some pretty good speedy recalls through out the hike.

Then near the end of our hike my Mom, my friend and Zoe got farther ahead and I stopped to scrape some nasty wild animal poo off of my shoe (brand new shoes too!).  Tibby was running between us - recalling to me for a cookie.  Then she stopped coming back to me.

So I'm walking to where they are waiting for me.  My Mom has Tibby by the collar and they are talking to some other hikers who also have their dog by the collar.  The other hikers pass me with their dog and I'm still walking toward my Mom, Tibby, ect.

I'm about a football field away from my Mom, and the hikers are about a football field behind me (also around a curve in the path), when my Mom lets Tibby go.  Tibby runs full speed past me and to the hikers.  There was no possible way that I could have stopped her (unless I had been smart and put a long line on her).  So she goes up to them and sniffs the dog.  I call her, she doesn't come.  I start to go and get her and she finally comes, but only after one of the hikers accidentally (I think) steps on her foot and makes her squeal.  So she runs to me, gets a cookie and put back on leash.

I am......not happy.

Of course, my friend had to point out that Zoe didn't care about the strange dog at all and stayed with them/didn't run off.  Whoo hoo for Zoe. 

Zoe the dog who eats poop and resource guards everything in the world.  Who doesn't know how to sit and is terrified of everything in the world.

*sarcasm* I'm so impressed. 

And sad.

My Mom said she let Tibby go, because she thought Tibby was so attached to me she wouldn't run to the other dog.  Yeah......right.

So I feel like what's the point.

All of our training and Tibby has so little value for me. 

That makes me very sad.

If I can't teach Tibby to recall then....what's the point in training anything else?

I feel betrayed.

I'm sure I'll get over it, but right now......it hurts.

I thought you loved me?

Run and Skip (Jumps)

Tibby and I tried the the extension exercise on some land that my Dad owns. I would love to use it for agility, however I didn't realize 2 things 1 - My Dad took down part of the fence 2 - There are a lot of loose dogs around in this area. Apparently when you bring out a few jumps all the dogs come running. Nothing happened. I managed the environment and Tibby stuck with me.





In other news....I really like the Recallers course. Tibby is learning a ton and I think we are making a lot of progress. At least she thinks I have good treats. She's doing good with the crate on the road too - I took her to my parent's house tonight and she did great in the wire crate. She has the sitting to get the the door open down pat.

There are 2 other Tibetan Terriers in the Recallers course. I always like to see how other Tibetan Terriers train, because....well, TTs aren't like other dogs! It's nice to see your breed in a class learning the same things.


I had a really weird day at work (involving me calling a code for the 2nd time in my life and projectile vomit, not fun), so it was nice to spend time playing games with Tibby. I roped my Mom into playing the Call Once game and the Kids In the Hallway game with us. My Mom thinks it's so much fun. She likes to see Tibby learning things. :)

Recallers Course

I signed up for the Susan Garrett Recallers course.  So far I have been very impressed.  I signed up at the Brilliant level - my budget couldn't handle the Inner Circle ($1000+!!!!).  As it is, the dog walk will have to wait until spring.  BUT last night I had a great reminder of WHY I'm taking this course. 

Last night I was carrying in a big box with a new crate (so we could play crate games).  Tibby jumped over a baby gate, ran between my legs and out the door.  Then she dashed out the open garage door and onto the driveway.  I was very, very lucky that there weren't any dogs or people walking by.  I KNOW that she would have been gone in a second.  She was excited that I was home, so she did come back, but I could tell that she was looking around and thinking about running farther.  This is bad.  My house isn't very far from a street.  Not a busy street, but still dangerous.

I would rather pay to have Tibby learn a recall, than pay to have her fixed up if she gets hit by a car.  Or worse.

This is where we keep track of all our training.  I want to decorate it with some pictures of Tibby.  I'll show you when I get done with it.  I'm also printing out all of the games, so I can re-read them and take them on the road for practice.  It's only when I'm in the middle of a game that I have questions about it. 

The calendar where I'm keeping track of our training.  I know I can keep track of things with the 'big picture' in front of me.  I have a past history of not journaling very well, but I can do a calendar.

The course doesn't start until Monday, but there are pre-games to play. 

One of those games is crate games.

The new crate.  I took the crate pad out.  It was too fluffy for crate games.  I put the crate in the spare bed room, because there aren't as many distractions (and I had the space there).  I can't wait until the basement is done - all that beautiful space for running around.  It's SO CLOSE to being done......but not quite yet.  Although (totallya tangent) I learned how to take out a light fixture and change it out for a new one.  It's not that hard!

The treats I used for our first crate game.

Meatballs, kielbasa, ham, hot dog, cheese (dill jack, ooo fancy).

Susan said to use the highest value.  Here it is!

Tibby did AMAZING.  I can't wait to see how she does tomorrow.  We worked all the way through steps 1-3.  We only played for 30 mins (not 1 hour like the video says), because I felt like Tibby had eaten a lot of treats and she probably needed to get a drink.  I didn't want the treats to start to lose their value. 

I was surprised how well Tibby did with the crate games.  She went in the crate to start the game, stayed in the crate when she was supposed to and exited the crate when she was released.  She turned right around and went back into the crate.

I was especially amazed at how quickly and willingly she figured the game out, because her only other experiences with a wire crate have been very negative.  Wish I had known about crate games when I brought her home!  My vet told me to put Tibby in the crate, leave her there and wait until she stopped barking.  We tried that twice, but after 2 1/2 hours of her barking without stopping the first time and her peeing on herself/acting scared when I opened the crate door the 2nd time I didn't try crate training again.  The last time I put her in a wire crate was at a foundation agility class - she had a 'panic attack' - frantic clawing at the bars/shaking/barking/drooling.

I think the baby steps I've taken with the travel crate have probably helped. 

Later on I found her sitting in the crate (good girl!) and waiting to be released.  What a smart pup!!!