Long Over Due Update!

I just narrowed the weaves for Dhali today, which made me want to tell someone LOL!  So here is a very overdue post!  Dhali loves his weaves and he is doing great!

Here is a video from last week of Dhali and Tibby (yes, Tibby!) weaving.  Tibby actually wanted to play with a toy and do the weaves as a reward - it's been so long since she wanted to do that :)

We have been taking walks and hiking.  Tibby has been doing pretty good with going out in public too.  She even walked past a couple men in the dark and didn't freak out.  We won't talk about the times that she barked at a fluffy dog and an old lady carrying a box.

This leash coupler is amazing!  I couldn't walk them without it!

Dhali and his cat :)

So cute! 

Speaking of cute...............

adorable!

Weaves and Teeter and Tunnels!

This is Dhali in his favorite spot - underneath the plum tree laying in the grass :)  

Weeeee!  A video of agility!  Yes we have been working on something.  

Dhali has been very hesitant about the big teeter.  Of course, when I brought the little teeter outside to just play an easy game of 'bang it' he was all "I'm not scared!".  Crazy little guy.  

He's getting better and better about not biting me and hopefully I am getting better at giving him the right direction.  I'll have to wait and see what the official word is from Loretta, if I'm doing good/bad.

Look at him do the weaves!  He's figuring it out.  At first I had fences on either side, but he doesn't need them any more.  I'm not sure how they figure this stuff out, like running contacts, but they seem to get it.  A little bit every day.  

My goal is to have a fast, smooth running dog.  LOL!  I think that's everyone's goal.  It might take a long time, but I think it will be worth it :) 

Tibby makes a cameo appearance at the beginning of the video.  She really does not like to do agility, but she likes hot dogs, so she will bang that *%&#* teeter until she gets some hot dogs or I take her away.  She is such a funny dog.  Crazy that she is the most willing to do the teeter, when it was THE scariest thing to her in the beginning.  It took a long time just to shape her to look at and take one step toward the teeter.  Now she won't get off it! 

One Year, What A Change

This day last year, I was meeting Dhali for the very first time at a puppy open house.  He was 4 weeks old and adorable :)

I can't believe he was that small!

Fast forward ONE year and Dhali attended his very first seminar.  It was at Loretta's and it was fun :)

We were auditors, so mostly Dhali just hung out in his crate.  But he did a really excellent job of just being.  That is a tough skill!

He didn't make a peep when I left him to walk a course.  He whined a little bit when there were other dogs barking.  He also whined a little bit and barked once (!) at the end of the day.  I know what his problem was though - he needed to go potty!  And he was refusing to go.  Still an issue with the strange location pottying.  

But other than the potty issues he was a rock star.  I don't think he could have handled working in that environment - YET, but I was really itching to try the exercises out :P  

He did a lot of this....

And some of this...

At the very end of the day I brought out his mat and let him play on that.  He did a good job, but his enormously full bladder was distracting him a little bit.  It's frustrating to know that if he just would pee he would feel so much better LOL!!

He was great at looking at and then ignoring the dogs working on course.  He was like "yeah, whatever I have mat, I have cheese and hot dogs - don't care about boring dogs."

I love this picture - wink?

My shoes drying off in front of the fan.  My feet were so wet the entire day.  It rained a lot last night, so we were in the barn for the seminar, but my feet got soaked hauling our stuff from the car to the barn.

I really liked having the seminar in the barn!  It was nice and cool - I was even cold!  The dogs didn't run off too much, because we were in the barn.  The sun didn't blind me and I didn't get a sunburn.  All around I enjoyed this year's seminar much better than last year.  It was so relaxing to have Dhali with me.  Last year was stressful with Tibby.

And I learned a lot too!  I took lots of notes.  I can't wait to play with one jump :)

P.S. I ate a hamburger for the first time in over 15 years.  AND it was grilled by a world agility champion :D LOL!!!!  It was a tasty hamburger.  I couldn't remember what they tasted like, but now I know!

Love The Game

Dhali had some fun this last week - chewing up a hose!  That will teach me to put my things away.  Thank you for the lesson Dhali.

This post is all about Dhali, because tomorrow is all about Tibby.  It's her 6 month check up with the vet. behaviorist.  

Dhali has been doing great with his agility training.  He really loves playing with me.  He is just the dog I dreamed of.  Sure he has his own mind and does some silly things, but they are so cute!  

For example in this video he decides that he knows how to do the agility all by himself!  Very cute.  We are still working on the biting.  Right now my arms look like I get in regular fights with strangers.  When people ask about the cuts, scratches, bruises of all colors and teeth marks I just say it's from too much cage fighting.  LOL!  I'm like the last person in the world that would be cage fighting.  

The lesson with Loretta helped a lot - I have been trying to use the ideas she gave me.  Also adding a bed to our practice helps too.  Dhali LOVES driving and laying down on his bed.  The bed gives me a place to send him to and he always know what he's supposed to do there, so that eliminated a lot of his frustration.  One final thing:  working with food first and toys second.  Toys get him CrAzY and then he bites me.....so work for food and then as a reward we will play!  

So far this is working much better.  We are actually making some progress - Dhali isn't ignoring jumps and trying to mug me for the toy.  Also, I don't get injured as much.  It isn't diminishing his toy play - he still loves to play.  I'm still using toys in his agility training, but I'm also using food now too.  

Dhali is my little shadow outside.  He likes to make sure all the yard work is done with his helping paw.  He just has such an attitude about him!  Such a cute little guy :)

Whole Lotta Stuff

It rained for a long, long, long time....6 days.  I had to make Dhali put on the raincoat.  It actually fit him!  Which is crazy, because it doesn't fit Tibby anymore.  It just goes to show all his height is in his long legs.  Tibby has a longer back and is built differently.  Dhali's bone structure is more delicate.  I can tell this by feeling their heads - Tibby: square and heavy,  Dhali: thin and light (and tiny too).  He has a tiny head.

Anyway.....these pictures were taken on the day he turned ONE!  Then we went shopping.  I forgot to make him wear the raincoat into the store.

Dhali shopping!  Isn't he cute?!?  He loves to go shopping.  I didn't get a very good video of it, but he is rubbing himself on the racks of bones - just like a cat.  He LOVES to rub up on stinky stuff. 

 I took him to a race on Sat.  We watch (and cheered) for my Mom.  After the race we had to stand around FOREVER waiting for the awards.  Dhali did AMAZING.  He sat and stared at me or laid down on the ground and rested.  He was totally relaxed - even though we were surround by tons of people.  My biggest fear was the someone would step on him, because he was being so good and invisible.

Anyway....a man was squatting down in front of us and I wasn't paying attention.  Dhali apparently thought the guy smelled AMAZING and tried to rub the glorious stink on himself.  LOL!  That was his one silly moment.  I don't think the guy realized that he was basically sitting on a dog until Dhali stuck his cold nose into he man's leg LOL!!  I had to laugh at that :)

Oh and P.S.  I didn't have a treat on me and Dhali was still amazing.  

I'm working up to our SUPER AWESOME lesson with Loretta Mueller....so hang in there! 

On Thursday we had a lesson with Loretta at her place.  It was so long ago since our last time up there - 9 months!   A lot happens in 9 months    This was Dhali's First Lesson.

I had forgotten how looooong the trip is.  It takes forever.  The trip wasn't so bad until about 40 mins from Loretta's place I got behind 4 cars that were stuck behind a truck going (at the fastest) 40 mph!!!!  If you can't drive the speed limit - pull over!  I was trying to stay relaxed and calm, so I wouldn't arrive at the lesson all stressed out, but I think I failed :P  

Dhali really liked Loretta's sheep.  I was trying to get him to potty (ha,ha,ha) and Dhali was more interested in the sheep.  "They run away!  Yay!  Let's chase them!"  Um, no.

Dhali was a little nervous for the first 10 mins. inside the barn.  I think that was pretty normal - totally new place with a new person (Loretta) and he did a little sniffing around.  Once he figured out we were there to play - he was great :)  He likes to play!

My favorite parts were when Loretta was handling him - he did so good with her.  He gets it - I'm the one who needs the work!  It was really beautiful to see him running.  Wish I had a video!  

I got a lot of good information to work on and Loretta said I've done a good job with him (Yay!).  After his little nervous bit at the beginning he worked for the entire hour - really hard too.  We were both out of breath most of the time :P  

It was so worth the long drive!

P.S.  Dhali ate like a pound of meat treats at the lesson and then came home and ate his dinner - he also wasn't tired.  I was though!

Working on some of the sends Loretta taught us.  I need to look at the jump and not cute little Dhali!

And this is Dhali's channel work.  This is his 3rd time on the channel and his first time outside with it.  I think he is doing really well.  He's fast.

More Agility

This is a video for our foundation class with Silvia Trkman.  I think Dhali is doing pretty good - little steps and time.  He's fast that's for sure!

Dhali Driving

LOL!  Dhali 'driving' - driving to and away  from the jumps :)



Silvia thought he was doing much better having better obstacle focus and sending away from me.

I think he has gotten even better this last week.  Tomorrow if it isn't raining again we will video .




Dhali running on the carpet.  He is very good at this, but not so great at running on a flat board.  I'm not sure (still) what I want to do with his contacts.  I want running, but it will take a lot of work, because he is fast and I am slow :)

We have been playing around with 2 jumps and tunnel in between them.  I think it made the lightbulb go on in Dhali's brain - he was sending beautifully to the jump the last time we played.

Tibby is doing very good.  She is very relaxed and loves the warmer weather, but not when it's too hot ;)  Sometimes after I have played with Dhali, I bring her out to see what she wants to do.  She likes heeling for hotdogs outside - which is a major improvement for her.  Before she was too afraid/distracted by everything to do anything and would just run back inside.  I have to be careful not to get too close to the agility equipment when we are heeling or she will offer going through the tunnel or wrapping the jumps - she has a strong foundation!  :)

Baby Boy

So this is our 2nd or maybe 3rd week of Silvia's online foundation class.  This is the part that I love/hate (mostly hate) about these classes.  I think my boy is amazing and I hate to find out that he isn't perfect.  :(

Silvia says that he doesn't have any obstacle focus.  Sad, because it's true.  But I have been working on it and again that is what I hate about these classes.  Instead of us just having fun, it becomes work.

 


Silvia said he was just running as fast as my hand was going and wasn't seeking out the jumps himself. 



Cik/Cap or wrap




Just playing around with the tunnels.  We were sick of all the snow and bored.




"Weaving"  I don't know if he understands the weaves yet...

So Silvia said I should play the 2 ball game with Dhali.  Now I don't know what the 2 ball game exactly looks like, because I don't have her video (even though I have taken the foundation class 5 times...4 times $120 plus $220 for the first one...yeah I think I should get the video), but I watched a bunch of my classmates videos and I think I kind of figured it out.  2 balls and a tunnel and you get the dog to run chasing the ball and then recall through the tunnel to chase another ball.  This is supposed to teach obstacle focus.  Dhali thinks this game is ok, but "hey wouldn't it be more fun if you ran WITH me?!? Huh?  Wouldn't it?!?"

I'm not playing this game with him any more.  We both are not having any fun with it.  Dhali wants to tug and play with me and this game is just not for him.  I made a promise with Dhali that I wouldn't do things training-wise that I felt were 'wrong' for him.  I made that mistake with Tibby.  Someone can be an expert, but I know my own dog and I need to trust that.

I think time and experience and training and playing more agility.  PLAYING  more WITH me will give him obstacle focus.

He just needs experience.  I can see already this week that he is getting better about seeking out obstacles.  Even on that first video he was trying to find the jump to wrap - even if it was the far jump upright.  He doesn't know the rules! 

I've started him on the LM jump program thing too this week.  He will be a year old at the end of next month, so I think a little controlled jumping at a low height won't hurt him.

He is still a good, naughty boy.

Pre-Week of Foundations Class

I'm a week behind in posting this, but Silvia Trkman's AF class started last Monday.  We are in the class......again!  It's Dhali's first time in agility foundations, but this is like my 7th class with her or maybe more?  I've lost count LOL!

So this was our pre class video.  Silvia said not to worry, because the class hadn't even started yet.  LOL!  I'm not worried.  Dhali is awesome.  If he can't become some kind of agility dog then I have a problem.  He loves to play the game.  He's fast and he learns quickly.

Finally he is learning!  I took a break from clicker training him and let his brain catch up with his growing body.  Now I think his brain has matured enough that he can focus without getting frustrated.

Although he still gets frustrated and then he bites me!  Silvia said he needs more forward focus and obstacle focus.  Yes, but how do I train that when I've done such a good job training handler focus! :P

Dhali is also over 17 inches tall at this point.  Fingers crossed that he settles down a little bit and ends up shorter, but I'm not holding my breath.  Tibby is just under 16 inches and Dhali is about an inch and 1/2 taller than her.  I don't know if it is related to his neuter?  Or if he would have had this growth spurt anyway?  But he shot up right after he was neutered.  Boo.  Oh well, he's still perfect.

P.S.  Hello to all my AF stalkers!!  *waving*  I didn't even know you were out there LOL!

Dhali Peed!

Just a quick brag:  We went to puppy agility class tonight and Dhali peed outside during our break!  Yay!  It's the first time he has peed some where new.  Whoo hoo!  I was so proud LOL!  I also got lots of nice video of him, but I'll have to post that tomorrow.

Countdown To Spring!

Cute picture, so you know he's still alive.

Haven't been on the blog lately.  Too busy with the Etsy thing.  Making new stuff and selling and packaging up orders and mailing.  Whew!  It's a lot of work!  Tonight I packaged up 7 orders.  So afraid I would mix the different boxes up.  Which would be bad.  Dhali was 'helping' by trying to get into the package with Green Tripe treats.  Amazingly he can find a box full of green tripe treats in a bag full of packages, but when we play nosegames he can't smell birch for anything!  

I haven't felt like training Dhali very much.  We play every day, all the time.  Nothing formal.  I do a silly face and he comes running to wrestle.  It's really cute.  He's a player and not a treater.  Tibby 100% treater.  Dhali would MUCH rather play than do clicker games with treats.  Most training sessions with treats go like this - Dhali offers something kind of close to behavior a couple times, figures out what the behavior is supposed to be, does a wander around the room, comes back offers behavior, wanders around the room again, comes back for a treat, repeat.

Playing with a toy, on the other hand, is 100% focused and full of crazy energy.  Also, the biting me in the butt has gotten better!  

This is why we play and aren't doing very many tricks.  Also, because I'm lazy.  And I like to play too.

Another reason I haven't been on blogger or reading people's blogs - I'm too competitive.  Any dogs close to Dhali's age that I would read about made me think - why isn't he doing that too?  Because he's the Dolla' Boy that's why!  

Dhali has so many nicknames now.  Mostly I call him Dollar and then DB like deebee.  He responds to them too, so I must say it a lot!  Dollar, Dollar Boy, DB, Baby Boy, Dubya.  So I call Tibby - Tibber and Dhali - Dollar.  Hmmm, it works.

Tibby is doing very well.  She has developed a supreme fascination with the bunnies.  I moved the buns into a rabbit condo and she spends a lot of time watching them.  She still likes to do her own thing, but she hasn't had any more weird behavior in a long time.  She's not afraid of really anything.  She still doesn't like to go downstairs, but otherwise she's pretty normal.  Taking medication, but normal-ish.

I CAN NOT wait until spring!!!  Looking forward to running outside with the DollaWalla (look another new name!) and seeing if our lazy winter playing will turn into some 'real' agility.

Now You Owe Me....

Mandatory cute puppy pictures!

Now on to the real story.  Dhali is going through a HUGE GINORMOUS EXTREME chewing phase.  He has chewed up so, so, so many toys.  A mountain of toys.  The toy box is getting emptied.  I would not be able to fit all the destroyed toys into one picture.  Right now he is really into squeaky plastic/rubber toys.  He ate the feet off of a bad cuz.  I did not know that it was possible to kill a cuz with too much squeaking.  He haz killed a cuz.  2 hollee rollers, pear ball, ice cream squeaky, green pepper squeaky, 2 wooly dog tugs, green frog's eyes, big blue and orange ball, orange 8 tug, sheep skin tug (expensive piece of junk, ripped apart when we were tugging), his bear baby blanket and more.

However the most expensive thing he has destroyed!!!

This Chris Christensen wooden pin brush. Thirty-five dollars.  $35.  Yes, for a dog brush.  Yes, for a dog brush made out of WOOD.  It works worked so well and I loved it.  Now I have to buy a new one. 

In other news, I have been doing some thinking since last week's puppy class.  Thanks for all the great encouraging comments!  I really appreciated it!  I'm not going to give up.  I realized that I had been lazy with Dhali's training for a few weeks.  I have a hard time choosing what I want to teach him.  There seem to be SO many things that I want him to learn, that I just end up not doing anything, because I can't decided on what we should start with.  I decided to make a dry erase chart with some things I want him to learn.  There are 1000 other things I would like to add to the list, but we have to start somewhere.  It also keeps me honest with how much we have actually trained.  Some times I think we have done so much training, but really we haven't.  Now I have a check list!  

My goal isn't to work on every single thing every single day.  But now I know what we have worked on and when we have worked on it.  We are still doing lots of playing and running around and other tricks.  But now Dhali is back to working for his dinner and I hope we can work on his ADD-ness.  Just a stage, but seriously little guy!  The puppy that wanted to work for an hour, now can only do 3 seconds, before he is running off to do something else.  He can't even concentrate on a kong stuffed with Primal Raw nuggets for more than 30 seconds, before he's off annoying the cat, wanting to go outside or tearing apart another toy.

He still is a little sweet heart though.  He will slow down long enough for a belly rub and petting.  He likes to follow me into the bathroom in the morning and sleep snuggled up next to the shower, while I get ready for work.

Cute little bugger.

I printed out a chart from Word and ran it through the $16 laminater (word? machine for lamination) that I bought on Amazon.

Volunteering At A Trial

Dhali and I went to an agility trial today.  By the end of the day we had both decided it was fun.  Well, I thought it was fun.  Dhali probably thought it was boring.

I think everyone, that is interested in agility, should volunteer at a trial.  It wasn't easy or fun in the beginning, but it's so much better to separate the difficulties of a first trial into 2 different experiences.  

So for anyone that is interested in the experience here it is:

The trial site is 3 hours from my house.  So I could have hit the road at 4:30am to be there when the doors opened and tried to find a crating spot.  I was tired and I didn't feel like driving in the dark again after driving to and from class Friday night.

I got to the trial at 12:30.  After getting lost on the way and having to go through a detour, because of a (looked like) bad accident.  So I go in and find the person in charge of everything and she says they have enough volunteers, but maybe they will need me later.  Then I try to find a spot to crate Dhali.  It's not really possible.  Lots of crates full of dogs and no one around to ask if I can sneak my crate in next to them.  Happily I ran into Laura (from The Dogs Are Really In Charge) and she showed me where Loretta's husband's crate space was and that there was a little room.  Andy only charged me $25 dollars to crate there LOL!  Just kidding - I bought a WAO shirt from him.

Sadly, Laura was going home.  :(

So then I watched some agility, which is fun, but not what I wanted to be doing.  Dhali was being fussy in his crate and I was just starting to think, "This was such a waste of time.  Do I even want to do agility?  It's so hard and I'm never going to get comfortable with all this."  'This' meaning - all the people, the noise, the dogs, the confusion of people moving around, all the things I didn't understand that were going on (but that I understand now!).

Then I got a job!  Yay!  Ring crew/bar setter.  At first it was kind of confusing.  I was near the end jump with the timer, so I had to change the timer when the jump heights changed.  I really didn't want to mess it up!  Also, I couldn't hear when they said the jumps heights - to change them, so I kept asking, "What height is it?"

But eventually I got it!  And it was fun.  I like having a job to do.

Then I got to be a course builder.  Not my favorite job.  One person had a map and everyone else was confused about what we were doing.  But it was interesting to see how they move the courses around and how carefully they set them up.  

I was ring crew a lot - re-setting bars.  Best place to watch agility.  I got to watch lots and lots of snooker.  And I learned that after the whistle gets blown you can go out to re-set the bars, you don't have to wait for the dog to stop the timer.  Also, snooker looks very tricky to play.

So I did lots of ring crewing (word?) and got into a kind of routine.  A new course meant I had at least 10 mins. to take Dhali outside or play with him, because they had to set up the new course, walk it for 5 mins. and then 5 mins. for first dog to the line.  

At first Dhali was complaining in his crate, but by the end of the day he was completely quiet.  Yes!  One thing we've got going for us!  That is a big deal for me, because it is very difficult to have a dog that can not relax in a crate.  Trust me, I know.

Dhali is still refusing to potty away from home.  He went from 6am to 9:30pm without going potty.  I was hoping today would be the day where he would potty away from home.  Nope.  He held it.  Ok, whatever silly head!

He played with me a little bit, but every time we would really start playing a dog would bark at him from one of the crates near by.  He didn't like that and I didn't want him to start associating play with snarky dog barking.  One time, when almost everyone was walking a course, I went to use the warm up jump with him, but there was someone else with their puppy there.  He was a good boy all day long.  We ran around outside some and he liked that.  He got better, by the end of the day, of walking with me and not trying to smell every crate and person that we walked past.

At the end of the day, when almost everyone had left, I got to be leash runner and scribe sheet runner.  As leash runner, you don't get to see very much of what is going on in the ring, but you get to move around more which is nice.  You also get to see everyone's leashes.  I'm nosey,  I liked that.  As scribe sheet runner, you get to see all the dogs' names.

Most people crated around us had left and I thought the crate next to Dhali was empty.  It was a big soft crate with a cover.  So when Dhali started doing his "I'm a cat" rubbing his face on the floor next to the crate I didn't stop him right away. Turns out there was a big black dog in that crate that wasn't too impressed with Dhali being a cat .  Oops.  Sorry!

At the very, very end when almost everyone was gone I got to measure Dhali with the measury height thing.  I wasn't even sure what the wicket would look like.  He measure 16.3", but he wasn't standing straight AT ALL.  Leaning and trying to get away from it.

It was a fun day.  I would do it again.

Tibby likes the shirt I brought back for her.

"My brother went to a trial and all he brought me was this shirt."

Oh *@#(%

We did not have a very good class tonight.  Dhali ran off twice in class.  Once he jumped the ring gate and the next time he jumped through the gate.  You know those white plastic folding ring gates?  Yeah, he can jump through one of the holes.  Skillz.

So he had a bad night for whatever reason.  Maybe I was acting weird, he didn't like the slip lead, he was thirsty, he's a 7 month old male with bity balls, he didn't feel like doing agility.  Whatever the reason, it should be fine, one bad night, but....that little voice in my head starts saying, "Oh, *%#@#.  Wow, now you've screwed up 2 dogs.  Great job with that."

He wasn't doing zoomies or acting stressed.  No yawning, panting, ect.  He would play with me - hand wrestling stuff.  But he REALLY wanted to go out of the ring and see the other dogs.  No he did not want to do the tunnel.  No he did not want to do the chute.  Yes, ok he would do the teeter a few times and then run off to do it again just for fun.  No he really did not want to run around and go through tunnels.  No thank you.  He ate treats and did tricks, but if we went close to the gate he was checked out.

I had a nice long drive home to think about it.  Stupid little voice - SHUT UP!  

So I was very sad, like why am I screwing this up yet again?  Am I just wasting my time?

Then we stopped at Runnings and Dhali was happy, confident, cocky little bad a**.  He rubbed himself, like a cat, over everything he thought was awesome.  Leather gloves and treats and a random toy on the ground. You know how cats rub up against stuff?  That's what Dhali does.  It's very cute.  We saw a guy on a motorized scooter and Dhali was like - "Wow!  Amazing!  I need to see that up close!"  

He's not scared of anything, so at least I got that right.

It was just one bad night.

Snowgility!

This is really hard!  It's slippery and all the added clothing makes it so hard to give directions.  I was really afraid that I might slip and poke my eye out on a jump pole.  That would hurt!  It was fun though and a really great work out.

2nd Puppy Agility Class -With Video!

Dhali is so awesome!  He's so awesome that I got lost on the way home from puppy class, because I was re-living each moment of class.  We made it home, but it was dark, snowy AND foggy.  Fog and snow - that seems unfair.  Only added another 30 mins. to our trip, so not too bad - 3 1/2 hours total round trip.

This is a video of just a few seconds of class.  We did the same order of obstacles right before the video was taken - except we didn't do the chute.

I feel bad about Dhali getting caught on the little fence by the teeter.  I also feel bad about the dog barking at him when he was going through the tunnel.  It surprised him and he was a little hesitant.  You can see I take him to the table instead of the chute.  That was because of the dog barking at him and also I thought a 90 degree pull into the chute would be awfully hard.

I really wanted to say something to the guy with the aussie that barked when Dhali went through the tunnel.  His dog barked every time another dog ran through the tunnel.  It was a reactive sort of bark.  I felt bad for him though, because he was already being so hard on himself.

This was Dhali's first time on a table.  He jumped right up on it when I asked him to - yay for playing climb on this games!  This week I have been trying to teach him to lie down.  It's really been hard and I've started trying to lure it, because we weren't getting any where.  I really, really want to teach one of the dogs to roll over!  I have had this goal FOREVER and I still haven't been able to do it.  So simple and so difficult.

Anyway.  Dhali did really good at class.  There ended up being 2 classes for puppy agility, because 4 new puppies came that hadn't had any exposure to agility stuff.  It was fun to watch them - lots of people crawling into tunnels.

I crated Dhali for the first break - while the other group was working.  He did really well.  I could watch him in the big mirrors on the wall and he was just sitting there, watching the other dogs.  And there was a tiny baby Toller (same one as before) screaming in the crate above him and another Toller chilling in the crate next to him.

I think I will always crate him, because it is more relaxing for him.  When we had the 2nd break I took him with me into the little waiting room (first I took him outside to run around a little bit) and he whined and was not as happy.

There were 3 puppies in Dhali's class - Dhali and 2 Aussies.  In the new group there were 2 cattle dogs, a BC and a doberman.  The class is fun, but I still don't agree with puppies on pinch collars at an agility class.  I'm glad I have taken a lot of online classes and gone to a lot of seminars.  It makes it a lot easier to pick out what I want from the class and ignore what I don't want.

Last time he wasn't interested in food at all and wanted to play.  This time he was more into food and not that interested in playing with toys.  He still wanted to play with me.  It was a lot busier class and there were more dogs.

This was also Dhali's first time doing a chute with a hard barrel.  He's done the chute in the basement, but that has a soft barrel.  And I think we've only done that maybe....twice?  He didn't have any trouble going through the chute.  Even after the instructor accidentally stepped on him when he came out of it one time.  She feltt so bad and Dhali was like, "What?"  It didn't phase him.

The first thing we did in class was an L shaped tunnel and Dhali was like - I can't do that!  With it straightened a tiny bit he was fine.  So work on L shaped tunnels!  We did table/hoop/red tunnel/yellow tunnel the first time around and Dhali was the only puppy to get the hoop.  :)  Good boy!  Not like I did anything!  I just run with him and if he takes stuff - yay!
I'm glad we didn't have the silly orange cones tonight - I was going to sit that part out if they were doing that again.

I was really proud of Dhali - he makes everything so easy.

Dhali Is 7 Months Old!

Dhali is 7 months old!  He's learned so much in the last month.  I didn't think it was possible, but we are having even more fun playing together :)

He is such a fun little guy!

The first 30 sec. of the video are messed up, so just skip them.

Dhali at 7 months - I LOVE this little puppy!!!!! 

He is so much fun to play with and he LOVES to play.  He makes everything easy.  I finally understand what people are talking about when they talk about playing with your dog.  I can't wait to see him at 17 months - agility is going to be so much fun with him.  Fingers crossed I don't screw it up :) 

He learns SO fast.  It's scary.  He is really easy - he has drive and wants SO BAD to do whatever he can to keep the game going.  I'm very lucky to have him - how did I get so lucky?

Dhali has learned to wait in his crate to be released.  He's getting really good at it.  He learned to wrap around a jump and we started doing figure 8's.  He's also started running through an open channel (beginning weave practice),but I didn't get that on this video. 

I added a 2nd jump, because I found at that puppy class we went to Dhali came in to me after every jump.  Now he's getting better at going through the 2nd jump.  It would help to have a bit more space to run in!  But we work with what we have.  

Tonight he taught himself to set up between my legs and it only took 5 treats.  He's smart.  Not patient, but definitely smart.

I love his little bark at the end when I ask him if he's read.  So cute!  He's done that since he was ity bity.

Drop In Puppy Class

I took Dhali to a drop in Puppy Agility class on Friday night.  It was SO much fun!  I hope we can go again. It's really nice that it is a drop in class, because I work every 3rd Friday, so a traditional 6 week class would not work for us.  We would end up missing the 3rd and last class!  Also, this place is 1 and 1/2 hours drive away and with the unpredictability of winter weather it's nice to not have to worry about missing a class if we can't get there.

There were 2 other puppies besides Dhali - a cavalier, 5 months, old named Lincoln and an aussie named Trip, who is about the same age as Dhali.  Lincoln was such a fun puppy!  Her people hadn't done any agility training before, but Lincoln was having a lot of fun, not scared of anything and did really well.  Trip was kind of sad.  He has been coming to class for a few months and obviously his person has done a lot of obedience training with him.  He wasn't a very fun puppy, but he was very obedient (except when he ran away to see the other dogs).  Sometimes I think Dhali reminds me of an Aussie - jumping, barking, nipping me in the butt - but Trip was not that kind of Aussie!

So how did Dhali do???  Awesome!!!  He was fun, fun, fun to play with!  I don't care what he does, but if he will play with me, that's all I want!  He thought meatballs were - ok and chicken was - ok and peanut butter was - ok and hotdogs were - ok.  But his mitten toy???  SO EXCITING!  Let's play!  He was chasing me and tugging.  Jumping around and we were wrestling.  Just like we do at home.  Once I got the mitten toy out he was very focused and ready to play agility!

Going into the class I didn't have any expectations for him.  Basically I just wanted him to get exposed to some new people, dogs and see a new place.  If he would have sat in his crate for the 45 mins. I would have been happy.  I did put him into the crate while we were waiting for the 2 other puppies to take their turns.  I think it's important for him to be able to take a break.  It also let me pay attention to what was going on.  I learned that from having to manage Tibby through an hour long class.  It can get VERY exhausting.  Especially if you are playing vs. popping a treat.  Playing = tired.  Mental break and rest time in the crate is good.  Dhali was fine with being crated.  I walked away several times and was out of his sight - he was fine.  I think at first he was relieved when I told him to take a break in the crate.  It was a busy place.  There was a Beginning agility class on the other half of the building.  A noisy class!  There were even 2 people with big cameras taking pictures of the other class.  I also didn't want him to practice lunging toward the other puppies.  He was interested in them - butt sniffing if they got close enough, but not crazy obsessive trying to get at them.  He even was off leash a few times.  He did go visit once, but the teacher brought him back and I don't think he wanted that to happen again.  I made sure to keep everything fun and happy.  I was probably annoying to listen to, but Dhali liked it.

Class started out with a few times through the tunnel and then we did some restrained recall type thing through some jump uprights.  Dhali wasn't a fan about being held by a stranger OR running toward a stranger.  When I ran with him he was a lot happier - like, "Duh Mom that's how you do agility."  

Then there was a little teeter that the dogs walked over.  Dhali didn't have any trouble with that at all.  The teacher didn't know what the bang it game was.  Then there were 'weaves'.  5 orange cones set up for the dogs to 'weave' through.  I really didn't care how Dhali did them.  :)  Then we did a little sequence of tunnel, jump, jump, jump, turn a corner jump and then the little teeter.  Whoa!  big steps!  The 3 jump,jump,jump were waaay too close together.  So what did we end up doing?

Well, first I had Dhali wait in the crate.  He did pretty well, but I asked for a tiny bit too much and he came out of the crate, so I put him back in and released him really fast.  He shot out of the crate and I wasn't ready for him!  But fortunately he has a good send to the tunnel (when did that happen???) and I said "GO TUNNEL!!!"  He dove into the tunnel and I raced him to the first jump, he took it and came in to me.  We haven't trained 2 jumps or a send ahead yet - totally understandable that he would come in to get his reward.  Also, I was carrying THE MITTEN and his brain was all about the mitten.  We skipped the next 2 jumps, turned the corner and he actually wrapped around the jump upright when I frantically pointed at it.  He came into me and we did a little wrestling/tugging on the way to the teeter.  I asked him to "waaaaiiiittt and ready?"  He sat down and gave me his little bark.  Sent him to the teeter - boingy, boingy he went onto and over the teeter and our turn was done.  We tuggy wrestled back to the crate and then he got into the crate.  

I was so, so, so happy that he played with me.  The environment was not at all like home - noisy, other puppies standing a few feet away, strangers and noisy dogs banging teeters and barking behind a half wall.  He was really into playing too!  All I have ever wanted was a dog that would play with me and yay!  I have one!

At one point he wanted to see what was behind the fence/wall making the funny sounds, so I picked him up and let him see all the dogs and people.  I think that helped him know what was over there and not be worried about the sounds.  I remember being really worried about Tibby looking at anything besides me when she was a puppy - No only look at me!  Watch me!  

At one point Dhali did his flat dog in the middle of everyone, while the teacher was talking.  He just relaxes and stretches out, puts his head down and chills.  

It was fun.

Dhali is awesome.

Crate we used in class.  There was also a little tiny Toller puppy crated above Dhali.  It was tiny and it screamed for a lot of our class.  Tiny, but big lungs.

Dhali 6 Months Agility

Look at what Dhali can do!  He's six months old and so much fun!

Please ignore my bad handling with the tunnels :)  Poor Dhali!

Blog Action Day - Backyard Training

So Dog Agility Blog Event for 2012 or Action Day?  

is Backyard Training.

With Tibby's issues I have been doing most of her training in the basement.  Although there was a period of time when she didn't like the basement any more either.  So I just trained Dhali!  Outside, inside - he doesn't care.  Now Tibby will go downstairs, but she still isn't interested in doing much training (hope the meds. will work eventually!), but she is surprisingly interested in playing with the teeter.  I think she has always liked contacts because, 1 - I put a ton of time into them and 2 - they are always the same, which Tibby likes. 

So where and why do we train at home?  Where: backyard 50x30 bumpy grass/dirt/weeds.  When I first brought Tibby home my yard looked like this and this and this and this - then Tibby arrived and I did this, but it still looked like this.  Can you imagine me as your neighbor LOL!  

So I had Tibby and we started doing agility and the yard moved on to this .  But I still had my pond that I had hand dug 14 times.  YES 14 TIMES.  It was 5 feet deep too - *sigh*.  I liked my pond a lot.

Now my yard looks like this:

Sooooo boring.  And it's not flat.  I try and try to get it flat and nope, bumpy.  ARGH!  I hate grass.  And it's muddy.  I would love to cover it all with artificial turf, but that would cost like $25,000.   Well, that's not gonna happen!  It's good training for the pups (and me) to run on it though.  Very difficult to run on and you get a good work out.  Especially in the dark - might break an ankle in one of Dhali's freshly dug holes too.

So now why: We train at home, because it is the only option.  1- Because of Tibby's anxiety issues and 2 - Because I live in the middle of an agility black hole (not just agility - ALL dog training).  1 hour drive/65 miles to take a class.  2+ hours/120+ miles to take an actually good class.  Ring rental?  Nope.  I could drive for hours and still not find a ring rental, because I'm not a club member or taking a weekly class.  Stupid rules!  It would actually be cheaper for me to buy all my own equipment - gas isn't cheap!  Plus when I have taken a class: I drive for 2 hours/leave work early/brave snowy, icy roads and my dog gets 2 mins. of attention and working time in the class.  2 hours = 2 mins?  Not worth it.

Plus at home I can stop training if it isn't working and I don't feel like it was wasted time.  We'll try again tomorrow.  In a class, after all the effort I put into getting there, I want magic things to happen!  

Does that stop me from dreaming about the perfect house with the perfect agility yard?  No, I have been known to creepily check out nice houses with big yards.  And fenced in yards?  Whoo hoo!  The trifecta of perfection!

I also drive slowly past all large flat pieces of land and imagine fencing them in.  Is it wrong to have a dream? Remember I'm the person who re-dug a pond 14 times by hand. :P

Now the basement was created just for agility training - just for Tibby and now Dhali too!  I have my big teeter down there and the channel weave poles.  Those 2 things stay downstairs, because the teeter is too nice to take outside LOL! - it was expensive! and the weave poles don't sit on the ground right.  Like I said the ground is bumpy - grrrr bumpy grass >:(

Also there is a long plank for dog walk training.

I also have the 'inside' tunnel that stays in the basement.  It's all nice and clean. 

I have carpet on the floor and extra thick padding underneath the carpet.  

Outside I have 5 jumps,  2 tunnels and some versa weave poles plus a plank for dog walk training.

The jumps and travel teeter go both inside and outside.  I just have to wash them off a lot if they are coming inside, which takes a long time, so usually if something comes inside it might not go back outside for a looong time.  Until I forget about how long it took me to clean all the yard dust off of it!

I don't know if it is possible to train a dog with just a handful of equipment in a backyard/basement, but I'm trying my best!

The other Blog Action Day posts are here 

Dhali wants to be a MAX200 model.

Tibby is tired.  Drugs kicking in?  or just tired from the stressful appointment?