Crates, Ex-Pens (X-Pens), and Harnesses

SUMMARY: The topic goes on and on

From comments on my posts from the previous 2 days--

RATZ -- I'm sure that I have some relevant photos, but they're old enough that they'd be on film, so I'll have to look thru albums and boxes and scan them in. Which I'm not going to do tonight, sooooo no photos mostly for now.

I responded to a comment on my post "About Crates vs X-Pens For Dogs, My History Thereof"  about a friend's dog and crates and all that, and that her Katie was annoyed that she didn't get to sit loose in the front seat--

Mean humans! 

I didn't start using crates in the car until I adopted Tika. 

Four or five years previously I had finally become smart about restraining dogs in the car, given how many miles I traveled with them and at odd hours and in all weather and a long way from home. Remington and Jake started riding in very sturdy, well-tested seatbelt harnesses and by the time Tika came home, they had become used to that restraint. They were getting up in age and so I didn't want to start trying to get them used to traveling in crates, although by then they were plenty accustomed to staying in crates at trials. (And Remington loved standing up the entire time we were driving, particularly looking for cows-- couldn't take him away from that.) 

In fact, getting Tika and deciding that all future dogs would travel in crates was the impetus to get a minivan instead of a fun-to-drive car like my prior ones. Sigh. Soooo practical--because a crate wouldn't fit into my four-door sedan along with 2 other dogs on seatbelts and all that agility gear. 

About whether to leave a dog in the car while, say, walking courses, or working in a different ring or whatnot: Getting a dog accustomed to being crated for longer times I think requires that the dog receive plenty of practice while they are aware of where you are and then gradually increasing times when they can't see you. At least, that's how it has worked for my previous dogs. Zorro and my late Chip haven't had nearly enough of that kind of practice. They'll sleep in crates in my bedroom at night, but if I get up and go downstairs, say in the middle of the night, without them, I don't trust them to not claw holes in the mesh of the soft crates. 

Which Remington did the first time I left him alone (with Jake) in my tent to walk to the nearest water faucet in the campground. 

Dogs.

But, yep, like Katie, they'd all rather be in the seats, preferably the front, if they had a choice.

Still, for a long time, if I were simply tooling around the area on errands, the  dogs could usually be trusted to be loose in the car so they could look out the windows. Although--lesson learned--one errand I thought would take me 15 minutes and instead became more like 3 hours, and Tika, alone in the car, explained that she didn't care for that so much.

I lived with this reminder for the next 11 years.

Then I noted:  Hmmm, this feels like I just wrote another related blog post right here! ... and so here it is--rewritten and expanded a bit! 

About Crates vs X-Pens For Dogs, My History Thereof

SUMMARY: In which I spew more about becoming a crate utilizer and the eventual rehabilitation of x-pens.

Backfill: started this as part of my Feb 9 '21 post and split it out.

See yesterday's post for a parallel backstory--

My family's dog, Sam, never had a crate.  It was an odd contraption that I had seen at a dog show, maybe, and how could anyone DO that to their dog? Neither Amber nor Sheba had crates--they lived and slept either in the house or confined in the yard in some way. If we went somewhere, they were loose in the car. 

[Throws back of hand against forehead: So young and naive!]

Remington got me moving: Dog sports! But still no crates. Just not something in my world view. Never even thought about them really. In obedience classes, we simply held onto our dogs' leashes.  For tracking classes, that remained true at our beginning level. 

My first agility class was in early to mid-1995 (I'm so sad that I have been unable to find the exact date).  The instructors taught on their own [very large!] property, so we had amenities such as plastic patio chairs lining the front of the field for us to sit on. Many of us used them to park our dogs on when we needed to walk through a course. A very distinct location to the dogs, like having invisible walls.

After some months of this, the instructors brought in an expert from out of town for a weekend seminar, which I of course signed up for. At about that time, they became (understandably) annoyed at the frequency with which their chairs sported muddy footprints, and said all dogs on the ground if they'll stay, or in a crate.  I said that I didn't have a crate. Might have said that I didn't plan on getting one. Instructor looked at me, a bit mystified, and said, where are you going to put him during the seminar?  I might have said that I'd bring a chair for him to sit on, and she said, basically, no.  

I hadn't the vaguest, foggiest, dimmest idea of what to get or what to look for or where. Might have asked her for info, might have asked classmates. Someone said that if  I didn't want a crate, I could use an x-pen.  (I hadn't the foggiest there, either--but learned.)

So, I started real agility life (that is, beyond basic training) with only an x-pen (exercise pen), late in 1995. For Remington, so it had to be the highest height--he stood 24" at the shoulder. Therefore: tall, heavy, awkward. Because, who would want to leave their dog in a crate all day at agility or seminar things? But, oooooh so miserable to haul it around. 

Used it only at competitions--six our first year--or seminars. He'd stand in one corner or along one side of the pen and look stressed. Poor thing, I thought; he must be heartbroken at being confined.

But I discovered, possibly incidentally, possibly at someone's suggestion, that he would lie down and relax, even doze, only if I condensed the pen to a smaller size and covered the top and two or three sides with fabric. And that was OK, because No Exercise was happening in the uncovered, large no-x-pen! 

An epiphany: That's why not everyone eschews crates!  But I already had the x-pen, so I continued to use it as if it were a crate. Doh. 

When Jake arrived in mid-1997, I used the x-pen at its full size. Plenty of room for 2 dogs. Even though they hated each other, they tended to ignore each other if at all possible.  So I figured it would be fine.  It worked for a while -- three event weekends, to be specific.  

I remember clearly the evening before a trial in Placerville, in April 1998, after I had set up my gear and gone off to get in line for early check-in.  As I stood there, schmoozing with others, I was astonished to see someone walking down the nearby sidewalk with a dog that looked so much like Jake (!) on a leash.  Back then, I was such a newbie: Didn't know many people, didn't know many dogs, and back then there was such a variety of breeds and mixes! It was plausible that another dog would look similar to Jake...  and it took me several long seconds to realize it was Jake!

I trotted over, and the woman said, "There you are! He and Remington [so clearly she knew who Rem and I were--I don't recall that I knew who she was] were fighting viciously in the pen, and a couple of us separated them. Didn't want to put them back together--so came looking for you."  Yep, those boys, did this thing far too often at home, so what's a girl to do for the rest of the weekend that hadn't even started yet, 3 or 4 hours from home ?! 

I believe that Doggone Good Elizabeth had crates for sale on site and that I bought my first Cabana Crate that evening or the very next day: Gorgeous teal and purple, exactly my colors! And the largest size, for Rem to stand up in. Jake got the x-pen to himself.  

Eventually, I became all crates, all the time for agility events. But, whenever possible, I'd let Rem revert to his clever historic adored imitation restraint system (aka C.H.A.I.R.S). He seldom left it; standing on the arm merely gave him a better view of All The Things. (His and Jake's crates are all purply there--we are surrounded by zillions of x-pens.)

At the USDAA national championships, 2001.
Very professional.
I love his triangular eyes. Not always this visible.

But I still never used them at home until Boost arrived as a puppy [after Rem, Jake, and Tika] who definitely needed a secure place to rest and stay OUT OF All The Things.  I borrowed a smaller-sized VariKennel for her until she outgrew it, at which point she had earned the right also to be safe, left alone in a Cabana Crate.

I still have the old x-pen. In fact, I eventually bought another, smaller one. Turns out they come in very handy as fencing inside the house when I need to keep dogs in or out of certain areas. Or confine them outside in various ways with a bit more room to move around

In my back yard, watching the rehearsal for my sister's wedding.
OMG isn't that puppy CUUUUUUUTE!

At trials, such as on very hot weekends,
to give them more room and more options for airflow or lying on cool lawns!
But can still seek refuge in their own home crates.

Older puppy (mostly housebroken) confined to one end of the office
to play or rest and
to keep her away from things she shouldn't get into while I'm busy AND 
to protect her from Jake, who hated that she had entered his world.

To keep the new dog off the bed and accustomed to being off the bed
because (a) Tika and Boost were already on the bed, and that was plenty,
and (b) because I was *finally* going to have all new dogs never sleep on my bed,
and (c) I put him in the soft crate but he kept digging at it.
That lasted about 10 minute: He went from there onto my bed with a single leap. 
Color me astounded.

See also:  

• Yesterday's post, also about history of me and crates.
• About Crate Training, in which some of this topic was also touched upon (ack! Passive voice! Hate it!)
• Crates and Remington the Half-Way Dog, in which I mention that I've thought about crates but never bought one. That's about it.

Tshirt Tuesday Tales: Doggone Good and Cabana Crates and All Those Things

T-shirt tales? Because every t-shirt tells a story, don't it.
And I have so very many of them. Shirts. And stories. ---- Whaaaaat??

All T-Shirt Tales

SUMMARY: Early crate innovator and supplier of so many things Dog.

Way back when I started agility. 1996? 1997? One competitor, Elizabeth Hyenga, another local like me, invented a lightweight, very sturdy, foldable crate so that we didn't all need to haul around heavy xpens or heavy foldable wire crates or bulky not-foldable VariKennel crates. She called them Cabana Crates. At first, she sold them under her business name of Doggone Good! straight to locals at trials. With every batch she made (she worked with a manufacturer who actually made them), she improved the design, which I admired. 

I started agility life with only an x-pen (exercise pen), late 1995. For Remington: Tall, heavy, awkward. Because who wants to leave their dog in a tiny ol' crate all day long at events?! But Remington taught me a lesson about that (see tomorrow's post...after it's posted), which brought me to understanding about crates. Still, her crates were pricey and I already had the x-pen. At some point, I became aware of Cabana Crates and I believe that I already knew Elizabeth and her Corgi, and I figured that, if I were to ever buy a crate, that would be my choice. Luxury AND pretty colors.

After Jake joined me, at events I put Remington and him into the same x-pen. Which worked for exactly 3 competition weekends, and then a big fight at the onset of the fourth such weekend propelled me to buy my first-ever crate (also see tomorrow's post), a Cabana Crate of course. on the spot: Gorgeous teal and purple, exactly my colors! Sized for Remington!

A splurge. On a thing for a dog. That we'd use only on agility weekends, pft, surely there wouldn't be that many (hahahahaha little did I know...). I think it was about $160, which in 2021 would be $255. Huge expenditure. (Compare to now, when I can buy a large wire crate for under $50. And folding soft crates for a lot  lot lot less than that. A huge splurge.)

But I liked it so much that I eventually bought a smaller one for Jake, ditching that huge heavy awkward nasty x-pen-- and then another when Boost came along.  

Tika sitting and looking out the front, Boost in the middle sitting and looking out the back,
and Jake lying down and looking out the front.

Back to DoggoneGood. 

Elizabeth started the business largely because she needed something that she could do from home while raising a young child instead of working for someone else, somewhere else.  When her crates and her bait bags sold well, she branched out into other cool things for dogs, and eventually moved her business into a warehouse and online, and a couple times a year held an open house at the warehouse where you didn't have to order through the web. Very popular events. And she ensured quality materials and quality products, so she did a lot of business. (I swear that I once took photos at the event, but I haven't found them yet--might be just film still--)

Her warehouse was just up the road from where I live now. Of course I attended them all and came away with handfuls of things each time. 

Like more Riot Tugs (because will all that tugging, they'd wear out!). Purple of course! To match the crates! Boost loved them and Tika liked them. That was our go-to warm-up tug toy while waiting for my run, not too close to the ring. (Not sure that they were around when I was competing with Jake, but maybe.)

Or bait bags (purple, of course). Lots of books  and videos on dog training. Lots of other fun toys. Lots and lots and lots. Like the bikini chicken. Who wouldn't want one of these sweethearts?!  (Apparently they are no longer made? Such a loss of a cultural icon.)

Or gear bags of various sizes (I think they came only in black). She carried other brands, like Outward Hound, but made some, too--just don't have a photo at the moment.  

Dog-related craft supplies. Dog treats. Dog training gear. Smaller agility-related items. And on and on.

Ad from 2004

One time, at a huge Bark In The Park event near downtown San Jose, still pretty early in my agility career, I wore one of her bait bags on my belt, and realized after I'd wandered around a lot among the hundreds of people and dogs and activities and booths allllll over the park that I no longer had the bag, because the bag had slipped off  its clip (still on my belt). Figured it was lost.  I walked by her booth on the way out--and she called to me--not only had someone returned it to her booth, but she knew whose it was (because I had bought it from her, of course, at some point in the past, and she knew I was here and there weren't likely to be a lot of agility people there), AND she had added a new clip, and furthermore glued it in so securely that it has never come out again. No charge.

One time, I dropped by her warehouse in desperate need of something, and we chatted, and then she handed me this t-shirt. For being a good customer.

Sadly for me, sometime in the last few years, she sold the business and they no longer have the huge variety, just the some bags and clickers.  And sadly for me, I think that all 3 of my Cabana Crates have been damaged by dogs and it's almost as pricey to have them fixed as to buy one of the many copy-cats or evolved designs offered by others now, so many varieties. In fact, I bought 2. Which Chip and Zorro have damaged already--they have no experience in waiting in crates. :-(  

So now I have 5 soft crates that aren't particularly usable at events. Because I can't bear giving up those early ones.

But I remember her and those days fondly.  

I wore that shirt at a trial in Sonora on the day that Jake finished his NADAC championship, the first championship I had ever earned with a dog.

Just a few obstacles away from a NATCH.
And I have *no* idea what that hand signal meant. Typical.

NOW go see tomorrow's related post. 

Dog notes of shame?

SUMMARY: Or not. Chip. Really.

"I ripped a hole in the door and tore the zipper of the brand new softcrate that mom put me in this weekend [ELF notes: see background] and then ripped holes in her ground mat [lower right] after she locked me up in a borrowed wire crate. And I'd do it again, dammit!"

At the Trial Sunday

SUMMARY: Not much to say.

Wasn't in quite as much pain today as yesterday.

A good night's sleep helped--thanks to some tough love on Human Mom's part.

When the dogs ask to go out in the night, I usually know that they mean it, and I let them out, they do whatever they need to do, and then they come back in. (For Tika, that's almost never unless something's amiss; for Boost it's more likely when she's on prednisone.) The last 2 or 3 times of the dozen times that Boost said that she HAD to go out on Friday night, I finally went out onto the porch to see what she was doing, because that was excessive even for pred.

Sure enough, she made a beeline from the porch to the back hedge and buried the whole front of her body underneath and stood there, rustling around a little but essentially in one place. What the...?

I called her out, a big miffed, but she did not COME out! My good little obedient dog! I went over and pulled her out, with her resisting mightily. Didn't look like she was eating anything. Dark out there and I couldn't easily see what was so fascinating.  I chased her away from it repeatedly and gave her her Hurry Up and pee command, which she finally did, then dove under the hedge 30 feet away and made her way back to the same spot by going along behind the hedge.

So, last night, after I'd been asleep less than an hour and Boost said that she HAD to go out, I took her out on a leash. Sure enough, she wanted to go to the hedge. I didn't let her; instead, I walked her in circles telling her (in a bit of an annoyed voice) to Hurry Up. She looked at me like I was nuts and kept trying to head back to the shrub. I just kept saying No!  Finally she peed a little tiny bit, I said she was good, and took her back inside.

Then apparently she realized that Human Mom was not going to let her do that any more, and we slept through the night. I have not yet gone out to try to see what was under the hedge.

-------------
Chip is, I think, getting the nose-touch-to-target thing even though I'm doing it casually. Yay.

He didn't make nearly as much fuss when I took Boost out and left him in his crate has he did 2 weeks ago, in fact today almost none at all.

He was pretty good as I walked him around, letting him sniff and roll on the grass, and giving him hot dogs when he looked at me or turned back to me. Even played tug with me on his tug-leash when I made an effort to be very exciting and run back and forth, so he was less distracted today than he has been. He still walks by dozens of dogs just looking or whimpering, then suddenly ferocious barking at the end of the leash. Always a challenge of some sort.

Today he rejected a chunk of fried potato (like hash brown/country fried) as not being actual food, but decided that bacon counted as food without having to think about it at all. You can be assured that he did not get much bacon, because it was MY bacon, nom nom nom!

------------
Tika's idea of staying in her crate.

(Sometimes she can unzip it partway or all the way. I came back from one of Boost's runs and noticed that Tika's crate was empty. She had wandered off in search of the food she'd been getting at the score table.)


-----------
What Boost won this weekend. She's such a good raffle girl.

She also made the weave entry correctly ONCE today. The other times, like yesterday, went in at the 2nd pole or ran past them.

Today i just concentrated on keeping her running, didn't care whether we want past jumps or anything. Her contacts are still good, her sends to tunnels of course are lovely. In Snooker, a bar down and refusal on the weaves in the closing, so not even a regular Q, let alone SuperQ.

Other 4 classes ranged from mostly lovely and fun to "please take an obstacle, ANY obstacle, I don't care!"

Ah, well, we're all here together and having a good time.

Can I get a do-over starting last night?

SUMMARY: Not the best 24 hours.

My back has been acting up this week. Loading the van last night, I'm sure, didn't help--lifted in the big x-pen because I wasn't sure whether I'd be able to crate out of the car. And just picking up my folding chair, a gallon of water for the dogs, etc., each one hurt. Feels like something's being pinched again.

Did get to bed fairly eary, 9ish--because I hurt too much to want to do anything else. Boost, on that prednisone, wanted to go out all night on average about every 50 minutes. I did not get much sleep. Alarm was set for 5:00. To top off a splendid night, Chip threw up on the carpet at about 4:40, so I had to clean that up (time consuming).

My leg cramped up Thursday night during the night, and today my calf muscle is stiff, tight, and painful. Between my back and that, walking around was uncomfortable all day today. And I'm going to go do it again tomorrow.

Did spend a little time with Chip and handfuls of hotdog scraps, rewarding every time he looked at me while walking around on leash, doing more target nose touches. He was perfectly good most of the time but about 3 times he went into intense barking/alert mode at the end of the leash at other dogs. Maybe they looked him straght in the eye? He jumped a little when we were at the score table each time the automated timeer said Go! or buzzed, but stayed where he was and didn't panic about it. Lots more people met him and said that he's cute and that he reminds them of Remington.

Did spend some time with Tika just walking around, doing some tricks for treats, hanging out at the score table. I really need to spend more time trying to strengthen her back side again.

Boost didn't get a single weave entry all day and took more than 2 attempts to get it right most times. Not videoed, but I'm sure that I gave her plenty of space. Still, her contacts were all excellent for a change.

Jumpers was very nice, but a bar when I called hard as she was over the jump, and I think that discombobulated her and she missed a jump and it took me a bit to get her to think about doing obstacles again instead of bouncing around in front of me.

Gamblers was good, early thing in the morning, she was very fast, only flaw was that she just ran past th weaves entirely (I didn't go back to fix them, to preserve my carefully timed plan). That was our only Q of 6 runs.

Standard was pretty darned good until the next to the last obstacle--the weaves. Bah.

Pairs, she ran past jump on a lateral lead-out, so wasted time getting back to where we needed to be, and then the danged weave entry. We didn't Q but our partner was good (well, a missed contact). Considering that we combined for I think 15 faults, we were only about a second over time, so they were fast.

Snooker, the wheels fell off (that's right after I found out about Lisa, but I don't think that was really the issue).

Steeplechase the wheels, the chassis, the doors, and the engine fell off. She was behaving oddly beforehand, not focusing on me, grabbing the tug but immediately releasing it, like that. I wonder whether she's sore or needs an adjustment? Wish she could talk.

Trying to remember the positives. The outpouring of offers when I asked my agility club whether someone had a wire crate I could borrow--and I picked one of them up today at the trial.

Weather cooperated--sunny but a chilly breeze to keep us from overheating.

Boost does love doing tunnels full-speed-ahead.

Good friends, good dogs.

Tired, sore, hoping I'll get some sleep tonight. G'night.

USDAA This Weekend

SUMMARY: Still doing it with Boost

This weekend is a four-day mega-trial in Dixon. I signed us up for only Saturday and Sunday, and only a few classes each day (how different from signing up 2 dogs for every class for 4 days!). I'm hoping that that means that we can leave reasonably early on Sunday rather than coming home in the dark.

I've got Boost entered in Performance (lower heights & speeds) in Gamblers and Grand Prix, where she'll be jumping only 16 inches instead of 22. Still in Championship 22" for Jumpers and Snooker.

Ya know, if I could run faster, she'd do better. I just watched videos from our last competition, and she is NOwhere extending and running full out; she looks hesitant with every stride, checking in with me constantly. She still feels fast to me, but I can so clearly see why she's sometimes not making time even when she's clean these days. Crap.

Well, we'll go and, I hope, have fun, and enjoy what should be nice weather Saturday (although predicted into the 80s on Sunday!) and shmooze and take photos and then come home again.

Borrowed a wire crate for Chip to travel in.

I'd like to try doing an informal measurement on him; I'm starting to think that he might be tall enough to have to jump 26" in Championship, which I really wouldn't want him to do.

I should also have him checked up at the vet and by someone who can evaluate the soundness of his structure. Why I didn't think of that before, I dunno. I was overwhelmed by his cuteness.

Good luck all in whatever you're doing.

Chip Trial Day 5 - morning

SUMMARY: Things are going well

Letter to Owner who's asking about him (I love it when my emails can turn into blog posts: Double duty!)

Everything's going very well. He's really a very good dog. He and Boost have played/wrestled together at least once every day, and Tika tolerates him. In my experience, it actually takes a few weeks before all the dogs in the household have settled into their normal personalities and routines, and things look like they're going very nicely in the right direction.

He's paying more and more attention to me, accepting that I'm here and in charge :-). He's not done any marking in the house (that I've seen, anyway, but I think the other dogs would point it out); he's eating happily; I've seen no recurrence of that one time when you were here and he put his paws up on the stove to check it out.

You've done a very nice job with him, really. He's sweet and is doing his best to be friends with all the other dogs. Personality and attitude are the most important things, followed by basic good behavior; training details are so easy to add when the other things are in place.

I've arranged for a crate for him to travel in with me this weekend. We'll probably be sleeping in a hotel unless it gets a lot warmer, in which case we might sleep in my van at the trial site (agility competition); this is how I've always done it with all my dogs, and I see that he's often taking his cues from my dogs, which is very helpful, so I expect that he'll settle down well at night and hopefully get a chance to run around with some other dogs this weekend.

I thank you for letting me have the chance to have him here, and I'd be glad to keep him. Let me know what you're thinking long-term. If he does stay here, you know of course that you and your son are welcome to come see him or take him out for a run or a weekend visit any time; he would love that.

-ellen

Back to training notes. What we worked on this morning:

Fetch

Well, not yet making a concerted effort on bringing toys back. Taking it easy and trying the coaxing thing. Sometimes it works, but not from most of the way across the yard. He'll come to me but leave the toy behind.

Toy Play

We continue to play tug, practice "Give," give it back to him, play tug, etc. He likes tug but is still a little timid with me, I think. He has no problem with me pressing my thumb into his mouth to get him to let go when he doesn't do it immediately.

"Down"

 I'm starting over with this command. First is to get him to go directly to down from a standing position. I'm doing this as Rachel Sanders taught. Hold some really good treats in my fist, fingers down, on the ground between his front feet. Eventually the dog drops to same position as a play bow, and then because that's not completely comfortable, the butt goes down.

I've modified that a bit, after almost 5 minutes where he continually licked my fist (hot dogs, yum!) but didn't go down. Added my short braided leather training leash to his collar and stepped on it so that his head was held partway down to put a little pressure on him. That got him to lower his front end even though it still took a couple of minutes--at least he didn't give up trying to get the hot dogs, so I think those are a winner; I gave a big jackpot and praise and let him up. Repeated, and he was a bit faster going down in the front. But his butt stayed in the air, so the 3rd time I just pressed lightly on his lower back after a minute or so, and down he went.  The next time, pretty fast front end down but after a bit I touched his butt lightly again. The next time, he went down fairly quickly on his own, first front, then back. Final jackpot and crazy praise and that was enough of that for this morning!

I suppose if I'd had more patience that eventually he'd have gone down completely on his own, but I think that he's still essentially making the decision himself, which is what I want: "Oh, this is a good thing for me to do, how clever of me to have figured out how to get hot dogs!"

We'll do that until he's doing it reliably and much faster (I hope--I'd like him to just drop like Boost does rather than settle into it like Tika does), then I'll add the command as he's doing it. [It's important to have a plan in any training, yeh? I don't always do that. I'm happier when I know where I'm going, makes it easier to get there]

Dog door/crate

The dog door is the key to *my* freedom. He obviously has a lot of experience being in his crate for long hours, but i'd rather not do that if I don't have to. Yesterday I was gone for a bit under 4 hours. Tossed some treats into his crate before I left, and he hadn't eaten them when I got him; I'm not sure exactly what that means, but would be better if I could leave him loose like the other dogs.

Owner had said that Chip had gotten out of their yard a couple of times when he was left alone and loose when he was younger, so he didn't give Chip the chance again. Ideally I'd leave for 15 minutes, then half an hour, etc., to see how things go. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that he's liking being part of the dog family here and that that will keep him here. He is also microchipped (I hope to Owner's current phone number), plus I bought a tag for his collar that has my home and cell numbers.

So I started working on training how to use the dog door, rather than waiting for him to figure it out. He has seemed completely disinclined to put his nose on or near the actual flap and seems intimidated by the flap flapping back as the dogs go through.  I started by going to the other side of the door, the other dogs came thru the dog door, and I held the flap wide open. It took a lot of coaxing for him to even come near, and if my hand moved at all, he jumped back. We did that about 6 times over the morning before he wouldn't jump back, but still very cautious approaching the door and going through it. Then I was able to lower it gently onto his backside as he went through so that he'd get used to that feeling.

In total, we've done about 14 trips through the dog door and he's still not showing an inclination to approach it on his own. So it'll be the crate again today; inconvenient because I want to go north to do an evening hike with Sierra Club after work, but I should come back south to let him out again for a bit. 

Hmm.

I wonder whether I can work a deal with my contractor friend (Boost's breeder, actually) who's here painting the kitchen and stuff.
Hmmm hmmmm.

Chip Trial Day 2

SUMMARY: Morning activities and lessons

After months and months of not adding anything here to Taj MuttHall Dog Diary, I find that there is so very much to say with another dog in the house. I'm trying to collect all my thoughts, since this is supposed to be a trial run and I want to be sure that I don't forget anything important.

I've been griping about the Merle Girls having somehow decided that 7:30 is the time to be awake in recent weeks, but Mr. Chip thought that 7:00 was better. Since he's used to getting up earlier, I gave him this, this time.

Let him outside with the other dogs and they did their morning patrol and all did their business.

He stood with me on leash while I sent Boost down the driveway to get the newspaper and didn't try to chase her, although he watched carefully. Still on a short leash attached to me inside. I sat at the table to eat breakfast and read the paper, but frankly didn't get much reading done, as there was so much activity from the dogs (not frenzied, just moving, changing places, all the tension and uncertainty).

But--Tika did not snarl at him this morning. Guess a night in her usual spot on my bed with the young upstart in his place made her feel more secure. That's a relief. (Well, until he gets REALLY close to her face.)

I'm glad that he's socialized enough to back off and doesn't want to fight about it. And I'm happy that I have dogs who aren't dog aggressive.

Then, oh my what fun and excitement:

I let him off leash in my bedroom while I did my morning ablutions and dressed, and he and Boost started the preliminary cautious play bows and little pushes at each other, and then full pandemonium ensued. They played chase over, under, and around the bed, they wrestled, they chased some more, wrestled some more, chased and ran. Boy, those are fast and agile dogs!

Tika stood and barked at them in her "You're having fun! I think that's exciting!" way, and then she grabbed her bed and played with it with me, which she hasn't often wanted to do in the last couple or three months. Halleluia!

I cried a bit as she also seemed to want Boost to pay attention to her--until maybe a year or so ago, *they* used to wrestle gently with each other on my bed in the morning. But still, things I think were OK all around and there was happy energy from everyone.

We walked to the schoolyard where we play frisbee. It's 2/3 of a mile one way, and Tika did great! She's dragged so quickly lately even on shorter walks. I'm not sure whether the new dog is energizing her or prodding her, but I was delighted about her activity level; we walked briskly all the way there and all the way back and she even chased the frisbee a couple of times.

At the park, I attached Chip to a 12-foot lead and let him loose, having seen how much he wants to follow Boost around the house and yard when he gets a chance and deciding to rely on that attraction. He chased Boost for a while as I threw the frisbee--wow, he can move!--but then he'd lose interest and wander off in some other direction.  I tried calling him a couple of times but didn't get much response, so I stopped that, as I don't want him to get into the habit of ignoring me when I call. Instead, I'd just walk calmly but briskly to where he was, step on the end of the lead so he couldn't go anywhere,  and bring him back to me for praise and treats.

It's only noon, and I have lots of things to think about:

• He has an OK "Sit" but thinks about it, and no duration on it once he's down.
• He has a pretty iffy "Down", and also no duration once he's down.
• Need to work on recall just using his name; I prefer to do that with my dogs, get an instant head turn and response when I say their name, and reserve the extra "come" for emergencies, which I also need to work on.
• For meals, my dogs sit, I put the bowls down, and then they wait until I release them. He didn't want to sit as I stood there with his bowl, but did finally about the 4th time I told him to. (Yeah, I'm repeating the command, which I don't like, but I'm going to work with what he's got initially.) Then as soon as I started to move the bowl, he stood up. It took about 8 tries before he didn't immediately stand up as I moved the bowl, so he was getting it, and I was then able to put my hand in his collar to hold him there while I set the bowl down, praised, and then released him.
• Zukes are NOT a high value treat to him. Drat. He'll take them slowly here in the house, but as if he's afraid that eating the pomegranate seed means that he'll have to stay here forever.  Didn't care about them at all when outside. Seems to like cheese a little better. Will go buy some hot dogs later and see how those work.
• Part of the challenge with determining high-value treats for him is that he is so circumspect about taking things from me, and so gentle when he does. I need to better understand his "very excited" from "yeah, OK, give it here if you insist." 
• He digs in when I try to pull him towards me when he's facing me on leash rather than coming.
• His toenails need clipping (and they've never been clipped). So do my dogs'. Sighhhhh the never-ending toenail thing. We'll see how he does with a basic clipper and with the dremel.
• He wasn't thrilled about me picking up his feet to wipe them off with a rag after coming in from the yard. He actually put his mouth on my hand (very gently). I just stopped in position, told him gently that I understood but that he needed to let me do this. And then he did let me.
• After the walk and the exercise and breakfast, I put him in his crate to take a nap. I've been sitting here for probably almost an hour, and my dogs have mostly been napping the whole time, but I've seen him put his head down only once.  He's watching, watching, watching. Pawed at the crate door a couple of times but then did, at least, lie down.  Hmmm. Well, this is an unfamiliar situation for him.
• Introduced him to the clicker. Not bothered by the noise at all. I think I made progress within about 3 minutes of getting him to move his nose towards a target in my hand, but he was only mildly focused. Treats not high enough value, that's just the problem right now. 
• A quarter of his meal this morning was one of my dogs' kibbles. He ate that first! So he should be fine on a varied kibble diet. And Tika liked the quarter of her breakfast that was his food. Good trade, for an old dog who's not always that interested in her food any more.
• Pity that my pocket camera is having problems at the moment; I'd like to be taking more photos but the SLRs are so bulky and heavy.
• Played some crate games with him, just rewarding quickly with treats as he went in, treats as he stayed in when I opened the door, and practicing using "Break" as a release word to come back out. His current word for getting in the crate is "Crate." Long-term, I'd need to change either that or Break, as they sound too much alike.
  
• Man, that crate is HUGE for him. 
• He's actually good about going into the crate when told, and is comfortable there. But when I got home last night after being gone for a few hours, and after he was out for a bit, and I needed to put him back in for a bit, no, he did not want to go back in. Hence the crate games this morning. 
• There is so much to do to get from here to Agility-Doing Dog! But he's so sweet, and has a good foundation and a good personality, and I think we'll both like the process. We'll just see how easily he picks up some tricks when I figure out higher-value nom-noms.
• I need to start saying "Good dog!" again instead of "Good girl" or "good boy". Dogs don't care, but for some odd reason I do.
• He's actually pretty good on leash going for that long walk. Time will tell whether he's really good or just on best behavior in an unfamiliar situation.
• He is cautious about some new things (like the triceratops yesterday) but bold enough to check them out. This is good.
• Emailed a brief status last night to Owner; response this morning that he thought about him all night and it's odd not to have Chip there. I sure understand that.

Anyway, all is peaceful at the moment and I'm caught up on my thoughts and observations and things are going well, I believe.

Independence Weekend USDAA - Sunday

SUMMARY: Got some Qs.

Tika:

• Q and first place in Jumpers, no problem.
  She's so good to run, just figures out what she needs to do. She's supposed to lie down at the start line, but she just wouldn't do it this time so I let her sit. I thought that meant that she was tired, but she blasted out of there quickly enough that I was behind her all the way and she adjusted for my puny mortal failings.
  
  
• Q and first place in Standard, no problem.
  Watch for the spin at the green tunnel entrance and where she's looking as she descends the Aframe (didn't catch that I rear crossed)--issues having to do with her hearing.
  
  

We were able to park close and crate out of MUTT MVR this weekend,
which was a dogsend, since my back was absolutely not up to lifting or moving ANYthing.
Mr. Alien hung out with us occasionally.

Mr. Alien ... hung... out with us...

Boost:

• Same Jumpers as Tika, problems.
• Same Standard--whoa, really nice run with nothing to complain about! Q and 5th of 38 dogs.
  
  
• Snooker, yeah, well, knocked one of the reds, which took us out of the running for a Super-Q right away, and then too much dinking around and miscommunication to even be able to finish #7. It's a Q, but your basic useless Q of which we now have 24. It was an entertaining Snooker course, though, with three tunnels in a circle forming the #7 obstacle. A real crowd-pleaser, lots of yelling and cheering and groaning for all the competitors.
  
  
  
  
• Grand Prix, well, oh well. Who needs any stinkin' Grand Prix Qs anyway. They're probably sour.

 Boost flying down the dogwalk, and me... uh, not sure exactly WHAT I'm doing there--

Boost now has 141 lifetime Qs, just short of the 150 needed for the Bronze Lifetime Achievement Award. Except--it requires at least 15 Qs in each of the classes, and we have only 6 Jumpers, and the thought that we could ever earn another 9 Jumpers Qs is slowly fading away to nothing. I mean, she's 8 and a half. Sigh. Let alone getting those two elusive Super-Qs to complete her ADCH.

When I'm at a trial, like this last weekend, I feel actually motivated to go work on some of our issues and try to fix them. And then I get home and realize how much time it really takes, and I go back to just hoping the issues will just magically solve themselves. Huh.

That's about all I have to say about that.

Running our leg of the relay and doing really well.

Lookit that nice two-on, two off. She was good on her contacts all weekend.

Kelpie puppy Batman subdues my scary hat!

Long-time agility friend Debbie and her Porsche do a little warm-up massage. Debbie used to sometimes run Remington back when my foot was broken.

Embarrassing, Mr. Alien, to be abducted by giant inflatable aliens!
At least they're wearing  a seatbelt.
(Inflatable aliens appeared in random places all over the trial site on Sunday. No particular explanation from anyone, but it was entertaining and engendered lots of conversation.)

Awww, Millie practices her school visit skills among a flood of children.

If nothing else, at least Boost continues her awesome skill at winning things in the raffle. A certificate for a day's entry on Saturday, and a bag of Cod Skin Treats on Sunday.

Hmm, something fishy about these cod skin treats.

*Photos of us running by Laurie Cowhig and Lisa Pomerance, thanks, agility friends!

A Good Time Was Had By One Too Many People

SUMMARY: CPE weekend out of town.

I really don't like getting up at 4 a.m. and driving two hours before I can compete in agility. I debated driving up to Santa Rosa Friday evening and staying in the same motel I was planning on staying in on Saturday night, but that meant leaving around 8:30 to avoid traffic and getting there pretty late in the evening, plus my budget is always a little tight and I didn't want to spend the extra $60-ish. Instead, I came up with the great idea of imposing on my gracious cousin and her spouse, who live only a few minutes off of my route and about halfway to Santa Rosa.

Got into the car Friday evening around 8:30, and the key wouldn't turn in the ignition. A few minutes of experimentation and growing panic before it occurred to me to find my spare key and try that. It worked. But I should probably take the car & the key in for a check-up and at least a replacement. That won't be cheap, probably.

I drove uneventfully up to Richmond, hauled my suitcase and computer and camera bag and purse and dogs all into the cousin's house, visited a bit, went to bed, and didn't get up until 5:15, which seems almost reasonable. Hauled everything back out to MUTT MVR, where I was puzzled to notice that the cover on my cooler was ajar. When I walked around to the driver's side, my heart sank as I saw that my door was partly open. Sure enough, someone had been in my car and had gone through the glove compartment and the "junk box" between the seats. That's where I keep my first aid kit, work gloves, cough drops, things like that--oh, yeah, and my old Olympus point and shoot that didn't work the last time I tried it, and my nearly new $500 Canon S95 subcompact, neither of which were there any longer. &%#@*%*!

Also apparently they had used the flashlight from my glove compartment, because it was lying on the floor, turned on, with the batteries almost completely discharged. Why on earth would the sight of a cooler make someone want to break into the car? I don't know what they were hoping for, but I take pleasure in knowing that all I had were cans of diet soda and bottles of water, and apparently those didn't interest them (although they sure dug around in the ice to be sure). And they didn't think to open the ashtray, where I had several dollars worth of change. So, hah!

I *think* that's all they got. I don't really remember what all was in my junk box or glove compartment. And apparently they didn't bother trying to dig around in the fully loaded pile of dog gear in the back.

But now I'm back to no point-and-shoot again. :-(

Still, I was surprisingly calm and undevastated by the whole thing. Maybe because it seems so minor compared to the major theft and insurance disaster of 2 and a half years ago. They didn't even break a window. Really, they slim-jimmed a car to get into the cooler for a beer?! Jerks.

Drove uneventfully up to Santa Rosa (hah, they also didn't steal my FastTrak toll gizmo, I noted as I went across the bridge), unloaded everyone and set up the Cabana Crates and all. About an hour into the trial, someone came to tell me that Boost had ripped open the side of her crate and was lunging out at dogs as they came by.

Sigh.
I don't know whether I can repair this. Might be a duct tape job. We'll have to experiment.

Boost made up a little bit of it by winning two bags of Zukes in the raffle--that'll save me $8 or 10, woohoo.

Saturday ran VERY long, mostly due to a new judge being supervised with long discussions and no nested courses, requiring significant course buils and more discussions each time. Still, I had a good time. I love agility people--and CPE trials. We had a costume contest in the evening with some really great costumes (I'll post photos later), then pizza dinner for about a dozen of us, just sitting and talking there at the show site.

The Motel 6 was comfy and I slept fairly well.

Sunday was a little more efficient. At the end of the day, we announced the winners of the Kevin Gast Memorial Award, which goes to the highest-scoring novice dog (defined as level 1, 2, or 3, who is not in a higher level in any other organization, either). Kevin was a fun guy who died suddenly and too young in 2008. Here's my photo of a blown-up photo they displayed of him and his shelties.

There's now a plaque for the winner and a perpetual plaque with each winner's name on it.

After we packed up, we ran the dogs ragged in the field by the agility ring, then a few of us went out to dinner (Denny's, and actually most of us had breakfast), then I headed home. Had to pull over about halfway home & sleep for an hour in a shopping-center parking lot. Home around midnight.

Anyway--RESULTS:

Tika picked up 8 of 10 Qs (knocked a bar in jumpers, drat, and another oddball gamble where I think she was heading for the correct obstacle and then pulled off--something she never used to do but seems to do more often now. Particularly odd since Boost, the sticky dog, did get it.) Boost picked up 7 out of 10, including that final pesky Colors Q to finish her CL4 title! Whew!

Boost missed BOTH Snookers, and one Standard where I misjudged a handling situation so she jumped a jump in the wrong direction, but she also finished her level 5 fun title, and Tika got her first EX title, EXSt (Standard--that's 30 Level C Qs--in the range of a USDAA Gold title).

Saturday

• Snooker: Well, Boost took herself out of the Perfect Weekend running first thing in the morning--a mess, really, and I think I bobble it so badly that I also confused the judge. Anyway, I just didn't really pick a good course for her, although Tika ran the same sequence successfully but messily as I was late or in the wrong place on my cues. Only a 2nd place for Tika.
• Standard: Boost and Tika both had nice runs, although Boost left the teeter early & I made her down, so wasted some time. Still, both 1st places & Qs.
• Standard #2: Just Boost. I underestimated how far she'd carry out in a certain sequence and so she backjumped a jump instead of coming inside it, but otherwise really nice. And she still came in 2nd of 4 dogs.
• Jumpers: Just Tika.  Nice fast run, fastest of all 50-ish level 4/5/C dogs.
• Gamblers (Jackpot): Tika had highest opening points of all dogs at the trial, but then pulled away from the gamble that I thought was right in front of her, for an NQ. Odd, because Boost--although we had some issues in the opening keeping us from quite as many points--actually got the gamble. So a win for Boost, and still a 2nd out of 4 for Tika despite the NQ.
• Wildcard: Both dogs ran nicely, and fast, too--only 3 dogs of all 70-ish 3/4/5/C dogs broke 20 seconds, and they were the fastest two of those three: 19.32 for Tika and 19.07 for Boost--ALMOST breaking 19!
•  

Sunday:

• Snooker,  again a mess with Boost, interrupted by the judge blowing the whistle when she shouldn't have, confusing me no end; she let us rerun but we were worse the 2nd time. Tika got through it nicely, doing 3 7s in the opening for a total of 51 and taking 1st in her class of 6.  Lots and lots of dogs got the 51 points, which made it even more embarrassing for not being able to get through it with Boost.
• Gamblers: This was nontraditional, and Tika did everything I asked her to except that in doing the 2nd (easier!) gamble, I lost my balance and stepped over the line before she exited the tunnel (another one of those dark tunnels where she seemed to be in there forever, the thing that made me wonder about her vision), so instead of having 70 points which would've been 5 more than anyone else in the whole trial, we ended with 55, and there were 8 dogs with more points than us. Boost also did both gambles, but we had some bobbles here and there, so ended up with only 56 as well. Still--first place in each of their classes, and Qs.
• Colors: Woohoo, Boost finally finished her last Level 4 Q! With a really nice run, 15.07 seconds. Not quite the fastest of all dogs in 3/4/5/C--that was an aussie at 14.78, wow. Tika's run seemed smooth to me, but she came in a lot slower at 16.87--but still, these were the only 3 dogs out of everyone in 3/4/5/C to break 17 seconds.
• Standard: Both dogs I thought had very nice runs. Tika felt only marginally slower by this time, and in fact she came in only 2nd in her group of 6. Boost I did a stupid handling maneuver and had to actually stop in the middle and line her up again. Even so--she was only 1.5 seconds slower than Tika and got a 1st.
• Jumpers: Both dogs had a bar down in the same general area of the course, but not sure if it was exactly the same bar. Nothing wrong with either dog's speed; Tika was 2 seconds slower than Boost although I think Tika had tighter turns. Boost had the 2nd fastest time of all 60 3/4/5/C dogs (.1 slower than on other dog in her exact same class, figures)--one of only 3 dogs to get below 23 seconds, at 5.85 yards per second--and Tika's 2 seconds extra made her only the 10th fastest. Yeh, think she's slowing down a bit.

SKILLS SURVEY:
Tika: Knocked one bar in one Jumpers course. Only one dogwalk and did that fine, one iffy Aframe departure, one turn-away in the gamble. Nothing really identifiable to work on.

Boost: Quite a few weaves this weekend, mostly 6-pole, but did them all great, even the 12-pole that headed into the fence while I moved away in the opposite direction.  Contacts: Leaving most of them early w/out a release; must must must fix this again. Bars: Knocked one in Saturday's snooker, one in our 2nd attempt at Sunday's snooker, knocked one in Sunday jumpers. 3 bars for the weekend isn't bad for her.  Runouts and refusals--just one run-by of a jump in gamblers, one turn-back on a series of obstacles where I got behind--I think mostly it was pretty smooth and she mostly kept moving and taking obstacles. I was pretty happy with her this weekend.

Start-line stays: Both dogs just lovely.

TITLE CHASING:

So, for Boost to get her C-ATCH (Agility Trial Championship)

• 6 standard
• 5 colors
• 2 wildcard
• 3 snooker (can't believe we didn't Q on EITHER one this weekend. Doh! Our Snooker "curse" continues even into CPE!)
• (She already has all she needs of Full House, Jackpot, and Jumpers, go figure--but really that's because you can Q at level 5 in Jumpers with a bar down, which she did this weekend)

For Tika to get her C-ATE (Agility Team Extraordinaire):
She has 4035 points, so needs 965  more. I estimate an average of 21 pts per run based on the distribution of points per class, so realistically, 46 Qs. At an average Q rate of about 80%, that's about 60 runs that we have to sign up for. Am signed up for 15 at WAG thanksgiving. Bay Team March I think will have 9 runs, not sure yet about Bay Team July, either 8 or 10 I'd guess. So that still leaves another 27 runs to sign up for--so another 3 or 4 trials beyond those three.

Sigh. That's still a lot of extra agility weekends.

Gratuitous photo, too cute for words:

Meanwhile, I noticed an odd pattern--so to speak--in people's clothing on sunday.