Work Vs. Puppy

SUMMARY: My puppies vs my career

August 18: A friend, who retired 2 years ago and just got a new puppy, posted on Facebook, "How did we ever get out of the house when we worked and had puppies?"

My first puppy, Amber, I spent the Winter holidays (yes that includes Christmas Day) paper-training her. When I returned to work, I left her confined in the kitchen with a bunch of newspaper in one end of the room. I worked in a secure location managing and running computers and clients (imagine the combinations in that phrase) and I couldn't leave long enough to check on her during my shift.

Amber at 6-8 weeks outside my apartment.

She was mostly good about using the newspapers for the intended purpose. Whew! But I was mistaken to think that a 7-week old puppy couldn't reach anything in the room. Tsk, Amber. And I didn't know nuthin' 'bout cratin' no puppies. 

And even worse at 10 weeks. 😉 After receiving notice at my apartment that pets were not allowed (I did know that, but...), we stayed with my parents and sisters for another couple of months or so while I looked for a place to live, and they'd let her out as needed.

Amber, maybe 4 months, at my parents'. 
Note the newspapers on the floor by the sliding door.
She was pretty good about using them if no one let her out.
But I didn't know enough to put plastic underneath,
and it ruined the color of their sheet flooring.

When I got Boost at three months, I had worked at home almost exclusively for the previous dozen years. Perfect for starting a new puppy, right? A week after I got her, of course I was assigned a contract in Foster City, a commute of somewhere between half an hour and an hour, where the client required that I work on site. Of course. Because that's how the universe works.  

Working full time, and even assuming I ate lunch at my desk instead of taking an official break, that still meant I'd be away from home for nine or ten hours straight.

It was one of those times when good contracts were hard to find, and it really was a good assignment. Other than that.

[TO DO: Do I have photos of her in that small crate?!]

I explained carefully to the client's manager that I had just gotten a new puppy and why I would need access to her. And said I'd be grateful if would it be OK if I brought in her crate and put it under my desk, and that she would stay there except when I took her out for walks. He said he would check with HR, because HR had always said no to that sort of thing, and later, yep, HR said no way. 

So I took her to Foster City in MUTT MVR in her crate, and every morning upon arrival I'd drive around the busy high-rise office park and streets in an area without much extra parking or shade until I found a legal shady spot, leave the car there, and walk into the office as much as 15 minutes away. Then every two or three hours I'd go out to check the shade and usually to walk her around and play with her a bunch. That means: I was essentially taking a half hour to 45 minute break every two or three hours. 

Within three weeks, they gave me permission to work from home.

Working at home, I kept her sometimes in her crate but most often penned up in my office in her x-pen.  Plastic underneath newspapers (I'm capable of learning), although the newspapers didn't stay put with her ministrations. Mostly I was able to get her outside frequently enough for pottying.
Don't ask whether she ever decided to pull the plastic all into a heap inside the x-pen.

Geez she was gorgeous.

I tried leaving her in the kitchen (from where, by the way, she could see me perfectly well) because: No carpets. But she wasn't thrilled about that.

And those are the only puppies I've really had.  Except ... Remington... oh, well, he was about 6 months, so I guess that counts. That's another story.

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.

Chip trial day 1

SUMMARY: Getting accustomed to each other; figuring out bed time.

Backfill: Added March 30

Chip (Chipper) is here. Arrived about 4:00 and I needed to leave shortly for my company's annual holiday party. (Yes, really.)

Owner and Chip came into the house on leash. I had put Boost behind the gate in the living room so that he wouldn't be overwhelmed coming in. Tika was out of sight, but showed up as Owner and I were chatting. That meeting went OK, so I unhooked his leash to see what would happen, and mostly he looked like he was sticking around; he seemed slightly concerned but not cowed by any means. So I stepped around the corner to let Boost loose; had to convince her to come out (I think she thought she was supposed to stay there), and when I stepped back into the kitchen, there was a big yellow puddle on the floor.

Owner didn't see it happen, either, because I think he was paying attention to me. I assume that it was a stressing Chip, since neither of my dogs have ever done that when other dogs have come into the house. Quick cleanup with paper towels and Nature's Miracle.

At one point, Chip popped up to his hind legs, paws on the edge of the stove to sniff; I was able to grab him quickly and say, "I don't think so!" Probably not an issue really, but something to keep an eye on until I'm positive.

Then we went out to the back yard. He checked out everything briskly, and marked everything briskly, too. Had a brief entertaining interlude with Mr. Triceratops while Chip tried to decide whether he was a real critter or not. Sorry, didn't have my camera out for that amusement, didn't want the distraction.

Owner left Chip's crate--a huuuuuge Varikennel from when he used to have a Catahoula. Some toys, bowls, bag of food, leash. After we both watched Chip for a bit and I asked what I could think of to ask, then Owner left fairly quickly, or, he said, "I'll start to cry." Chip has had a good home but we'll see whether I can maybe give him a bit more.

He went into his crate easily on command, I gave all the dogs Guard The House Goodies, and went out for the evening.

Came back about 3 and a half hours later, let him out into the yard where he did his business. Then I kept him on a short leash attached to me while I did a few things around the house, checked my email, and so on. He whined quietly a lot when I wasn't actually doing anything. He got petted when he lay calmly next to me and other times, too. He is SO soft.


Boost seems to mostly accept that he's here. She's looking for more attention from me and I'm trying to give her at least equal attention. She seems somewhat interested in his existence but is trying not to show it. He's definitely interested in her existence and follows her around when I let him off leash in the yard.

Tika is not happy; she actually exposes her teeth with a snarl when he comes close to her face, especially if she's right next to me. Never have seen her do that to another dog, but obviously everyone's a bit tense at the moment. He's good and backs off but I'm mostly trying to keep him away from her (he wants to make friends) and giving Tika plenty of loving, too.

He ate his dinner when I gave it to him, so he can't be too stressed. Eats slowly, though. Wow, when have I ever had a dog who eats slowly?

But he uses the same gentleness when taking treats from my hand, how nice compared to Tika! Even gentler than Boost, and she's pretty gentle.

Bed time: Set up the 24"-high x-pen with his bed and my dog throw about 2 feet from my bed, up against the dresser. He didn't want to be even that separated from the rest of us. He whined, tried cautiously to climb out, which I discouraged, pushed at the (unlatched) end of the pen, which I discouraged. And then, SPROING! He was on the bed! Jeepers creepers! I grabbed him and convinced him to go back into the xpen. Yes, I do have a taller one, but I just want him to get the idea of confinement with minimal trappings, as it's so much easier. He didn't want to settle again, whined, and once again, SPROING! He was on the bed! It's as if he levitated from within this little space, standing right next to the x-pen, across the space between, and up onto my high bed. I can't even tell you how he did it, and I was watching!

Yes, I think that this dog could do agility.

He stayed in the pen this time after I put him back, but kept whining and didn't want to lie down.

Then a funny thing happened. Boost jumped off the far side of the bed, came around, looked at him curiously for a bit, and then lay down on the floor between me and the x-pen, so that her nose was just a little way away from him. Then he settled down with his nose against the x-pen closest to her. I have no idea what her motivation was, but I'm very grateful to her. (She has never slept in that location before, ever, that I can recall.)

He might end up on the bed with the other dogs eventually (sigh), but for now I want my dogs to understand that this is still their place, and him to understand that I make the rules.

Eventually Boost ended up back on the bed, he stayed in his pen, and everyone slept, more or less.

Part 4 of Packing for an Agility Weekend, Then and Now

SUMMARY: Fourth in a series comparing my 1996 gear to my 2010 gear, and transitions between.

[Previous parts: Part 1, transportation and others.; Part 2, shade, crate covers, mat.; Part 3, clothing]

Seating:

• Then--
  
  • 1996: Short-legged beach chair because it was small & so I'd be sitting at the ground level with my dog.
  • 1998: Double-wide folding chair because at a trial, another friend had one, and Remington sat on the chair with her and snuggled.  However, he never did that with me on MY chair.
  • 2001: Folding chair with built-in foot rest. Because of my back injury at the time, I couldn't sit in the normal position.
  • 2004: Foot rest kept getting in the way. Couldn't find a purple chair, so bought a blue folding chair.
• Now--In 2005, a single friend with 2 matching purple chairs generously traded one of her purple ones for my blue one.

Sleeping over:

• Then--Tent. Ground cloth. Sleeping bag. Air mattress.
• Now--Thick chaise lounge pad and down comforter in the back of MUTT MVR.

Dog beds and mats:

• Then--Old beach towel.
• Now--I have all of these, and use different ones depending on the circumstances:
  
  • Hand-made roll-up bed with ties, bought my first year for Remington from some ladies at a trial who made them as a fund-raiser.
  • Thick white furry mat with blue trim that I bought for Jake.
  • Purple faux fur (plush) mats that always stay in the wire crates in MUTT MVR.
  • Another purple plush mat usually used when sleeping in van.
  • Two ivory-colored plush mats, usually used in soft crates on cold or wet days.

Dog water and containers:

• Then--Water carrier: Gallon tupperware cannister, because that's what I had; kept in the pantry between trials. Bowls: Water bowl from house went into car for weekends, then back into the house.
• Now--Water carrier: Two one-gallon jugs with sturdy screw-on lids that pop open for pouring. Kept in MUTT MVR at all times. Bowls: Metal pails that clip into soft crates. Anti-spill one-piece bowls for wire crates in MUTT MVR. Two-part anti-spill bowl that also lives in MUTT MVR at all times for class or when dogs are loose in car. Folding bowls in suitcase for hotel use.

Dogfood and bowls:

• Then--The first year, came home every night no matter what, so didn't have to take food. Next step: Food bowls from house went into car. Food was premeasured into individual labeled quart zip-lock bags for each dog and meal so I didn't have to take my measuring cups with me.
• Now--Dedicated gear bag for food stuff, including metal bowls that always stay in that bag, measuring cups that always stay in that bag, and filled-up gallon  zip-lock bags.

Part 3 of Packing for an Agility Weekend, Then and Now

SUMMARY: Third in a series comparing my 1996 gear to my 2010 gear, and transitions between.

[Previous parts: Part 1, transportation and others.; Part 2, shade, crate covers, mat.]

(I see at least one more part after this, maybe 2. But today, the most important part, because remember, it's all about the clothing!

Shoes:

• Then--I had perfectly lovely cross-trainers...you know, "tennis shoes." Can't remember for sure, now, but I think I'd already started competing (1996) before I realized how slippery grass could be. I "borrowed" my then-spouse's old soccer cleats, because he wasn't using them anyway, and they sort of fit.
  
  The first time I attended Power Paws Camp--early 2000s--Clean Run had a booth to which they hauled all kinds of goodies, including large stocks of shoes for agility people. I tried a bunch on, found a pair of gray Dita cleats that fit nicely (although, like I did at everything else's price, I gasped at the price for *dog* event shoes), bought them, and wore them happily for a couple or three years. But the leather had started cracking, pieces were coming loose, the cleats were wearing down.
  
  So at USDAA Nationals, maybe 2004 or 2005, Clean Run was again there with a huge store. There was a new manufacturer of shoes specifically for agility, I think Agile Gear? (No, maybe not, Agile or Agility something.) The shoes fit me like a charm, better than the Ditas! I delightedly shelled out the huge money for them. They lasted me exactly 3 months before they started literally falling to pieces. Great concept, huh!
  
• Now--The next year, I bought a pair of the same Ditas I'd had before, and I'm still wearing them. A bit worn around the edges, that's for sure. (And oh, BTW, I still have the OLD pair of Ditas in the garage "just in case"--guess I should check and see which pair is really more worn out now!)
  
  Oh--huh--I see that Dita now has an entire category of dog agility shoes! How cool is that?

Waterproof footwear:

• Then--Ew! Ew! Walking around on the dewy grass early in the morning, shoes and socks and feet got sopping wet! Ew! My then-spouse gifted me with my own pair of rubber Wellies (generic). I could slip my feet in and out pretty easily. Great idea. Used them for two or three years, then carried them around in the car just in case for a couple more years, then they mouldered in the back yard until last winter, when I really needed them for some urgent repair work in the yard in the rain, but they were kaput.
• Now--Pfui, what's a little moisture on one's toes?

Shirts:

• Then--
• Phase 1: Whatever T-shirts I had. Nuthin' with dogs on them.
• Phase 2: Bay Team t-shirts.
• Phase 3: My first USDAA Nationals, in San Diego, 2000--OMG, in the vendor area I was like a kid in FAO Schwartz! I had never seen so much dog-related gear--and clothing! Had to buy a couple of dog-agility-related t-shirts so that I'd have some! 
• Phase 4: Got my first USDAA polo shirts at the 2000 and 2001 Nationals. I think that's what we got just for showing up, rather than t-shirts.
• Phase 5: USDAA put in its Nationals premium (I think 2004) that it preferred exhibitors to wear polo shirts--tucked in. I bought a tie-dye polo shirt to show my contempt for upper-crust dress codes. And our team shirts were polo shirts. So were our team shirts for the next 4 years.

• Now--Mostly polo shirts (I think my neck likes to breathe). Tucked in to absorb the sweat better. (Well, you asked.) Usually dog-related. Or one of my other dozens of dog-related shirts.
  
  Almost never wear non-dog-related shirts to agility events any more.

Bras (yah, gotta mention it, this is crucial agility clothing for some of us competitors!):

• Then--Whatever sorts of lightweight yet feminine support garments I owned.
• Now--Sports bras, definitely. The kind you could pull your shirt off over your head and wave it to your fans and you'd still be be more modestly (yet still colorfully) dressed than in a typical bathing suit. I have black, white, gray, purple, teal, blue, light blue, navy, and blue/purple tie dye.

Hats:

• Then--I don't really like wearing hats. Never have. (Although they intrigue me, and I have a hat collection.)  But with the sun beating down on you and getting in your eyes, gotta do SOMEthin'.  Around the time I started agility, a vendor at an art & wine festival had these cool visored scarves, basically. So you tied the scarf on your head with the visor over your eyes. I likeed that because it wasn't so hat-like and I could adjust the tightness very easily. Bonus: I could use it as a dog tug toy in an emergency.  Liked my first one so much that I later bought a 2nd one. Then--probably because basically I don't like hats-- I gradually stopped using them. (They're still in my dog gear bag, though.)
  
  Mostly avoided hats for a few years. Had a couple of baseball caps that I used sometimes. But my head likes to be free, even though it knows that it's not a good idea from a skin cancer perspective.
• Now--Maybe 3 years ago, I bought this great "Wag more, bark less" baseball cap at Doggone Good, which I really liked, and it motivated me to start wearing it all the time.
  
  THEN a year or two later, my sister the Disneyland superfan (to my mere fan-ness) gave me an awesome Pluto Unleashed baseball cap, which has now become my full-time baseball agility cap. I love the expression on Pluto's face, sly and ready to go. (Sometimes Wag More Bark Less makes a token appearance. It's good to have 2 hats I like.)

Pants:

• Then--Levi's jeans.
• Now--Levi's jeans. (Nice to know that SOME things stay the same!)

Part 2 of Packing for an Agility Weekend, Then and Now

SUMMARY: Second in a series comparing my 1996 gear to my 2010 gear, and transitions between.

[Previous parts: Part 1, transportation and others.]

Shade:

• Then--Phase 1, X-pen progression:
  
  
  • A: A couple of old beach towels (one yellow, one blue) draped over the x-pen. 
  • B: In a moment of inspiration, I bought a couple of small sun umbrellas (deep green, not really teal) designed for clipping to a chair, which I clipped to the x-pen and moved around as the sun moved during the day. The clips were flimsy and broke pretty quickly, and it was challenging to find a way to clip the very thin, round, smooth metal handle to the x-pen.
  • C: I bought yard and yards of blue/purple flowery fabric with which I was going to sew an x-pen cover and matching storage bags. I cut one piece that was long enough to go across the top of the xpen and down 2 sides (but it's only 32" wide, so it doesn't come close to covering everything).
• Then--Phase 2, Crate progression:
  
  
  • A: When the first dog moved into a crate (too expensive to buy 2 at once, plus I already had an x-pen for the 2nd dog), I finally broke down and bought a small piece of that silvery metallic-looking sun fabric, maybe 3'x5', just big enough for one crate.
  • B: When both dogs moved into crates, I bought a large beach umbrella (purple & blue) at Costco. Despite the pointed screw end, it would NOT go into the typical ground at agility trials, and it was really hard to fasten it to the crates to keep it upright. AND it also needed constant moving to chase shade from the sun, despite clipping the beach towels and/or shade fabric to it. It still rotated annoyingly at all the wrong times. 
  • C: Eventually I broke down and bought a sturdy metal umbrella/cup holder (purple) that pushes into the ground so I could tie the umbrella to the stand. It mostly worked. When I discovered loop bungies, those worked much better at keeping the umbrella in place. But there never was really enough shade for me AND the dogs, even though...
  • D: I bought (on sale) two lovely purple beach towels that are specifically for agility shade or for covering my chair on muddy days. 
  • E: But still--And my friends had canopies!
• Now--Canopy progression:
  
  
  • A: When I got MUTT MVR (late 2001), I finally bought myself a huge, sturdy, 10x10 canopy at Costco (white--custom purple would've been WAYYY expensive). It is frigging heavy, but it has outlasted many windstorms and heavy rain. The canopy's seams are deteriorating now, though, and whenever I'm going somewhere where I think I can crate out of the car or in existing shade, I really try not to take that huge, heavy thang with me. But it'll be with me this weekend! (And it has proved to be useful for many nondog outside activities as well.) 
  • B: Shortly therafter, I bought a full 5'(?)x10' silvery shade fabic. (Had always seemed too expensive when a cheap old sheet or towels would work. But it's really the right tool for the job.
  • C: At the CPE nationals in 2005 (?), each dog got one (I think 4x6) silvery shade fabric as a check-in gift. I now use all of those shade fabrics regularly.
  • D: Oh-- I still carry around the piece of blue/purple flowery fabric (the rest of the bolt is still sitting in my garage--anyone want it?), AND the purple beach towels, which have come in handy for SO many things.      Oh, yeah, and those old green chair umbrellas, with or without clips, are also still in my garage because they'll be useful SOMEday.

Crate covers:

• Then--As above, for shade or to give dog privacy from neighboring dogs.
• Now--If Boost can see those fun, fast dogs running and playing, she hits the sides of the crate repeatedly, knocking over her water and moving the crate halfway across the field (and/or tipping it over). So I bought a purpley/tealy/bluey flowered sheet at a garage sale for maybe $1 that's good for all kinds of things, although mostly for tossing over Boost's crate to shield her view.

Mat for ground:

• Then--
  
  
  • I used to laugh at dog people with their plastic carpets with designs like oriental carpets (except often with doggy patterns): You've got to be kidding! What's wrong with grass? ...er, burr clover?... ...er... dust? OK, OK, I'll toss down a beach towel on the...er, sopping wet grass? ...er...mud? ...er, rain? Oh, OK, I get it.
  • So I grudgingly paid out the bucks for a 6x8 mat (10x10 too expensive) woven in blue and red (so at a distance it looks purple, best I could find at that time) with these cutesy dog images on it. I sneered at people with their falling-apart mats--edging dangling off, broken at the folds, just totally scuzzy-looking, because *I* would take tender care of My Precious and it would last forever. 
  • A couple of years later, I found a teal and purple striped mat! (6x8, no 10x10 in sight) and bought it because I liked the colors. Meanwhile, my original mat was getting a little ratty--every fold and unfold made it worse and worse. They're just cheap plastic mats, really. But I kept using it because it was functional and hadn't died completely.
  • A couple of years after that, I found a purple and white one with a paw print pattern (again I think 6x8).
  • For a long time, I used TWO or ALL THREE mats, trying to cover the entire ground under my 10x10 canopy.
• Now--The original mat--edging dangling off, broken at the folds, just totally scuzzy-looking--was still in MUTT MVR until about a year ago, when I pulled it out and just left it in the garage. It's not bad enough to toss, but it's not my favorite, and I wasn't using it any more. My newest purple/white one deteriorated faster than either of my first two mats, plus  it's really thick and luxurious (read: pain to pack), so it stays in the garage, unused. Now it's just my one little teal/purple striped mat. (Whose edging is starting to come off and folds starting to break.)  If I could ever find a 10x10 one of those, I'd buy it. (Once found a vendor who had one but had promised it to someone else and she didn't get another one, sigh.)

Part 1 of Packing for an Agility Weekend, Then and Now

SUMMARY: First in a series comparing my 1996 gear to my 2010 gear, and transitions between.

I got to thinking about all the Dog Stuff that I now own, carry around with me without thinking about it, and/or load into the car routinely, that back in 1995 I'd never thought about that, in 1996 when I attended my first competitions, looked entirely different from what it looks like now.

My list of topics is so long, I think I'll break it into several posts over the next few days. This is Part 1. This could be a continuing series as I think of things I've got now but didn't then, had then but don't know, or tried in between and abandoned.

Dogs:

• Then--Just one, Remington, my pet dog who made a decent agility dog some of the time.
• Now--Two dogs (Tika and Boost), both obtained specifically with agility in mind.

Vehicle:

• Then--My grown-up luxury sedan, my four-door Acura Legend. I got an amazing amount of stuff into it, but when I decided I wanted a 3rd dog and a canopy, it was right out.
• Now--Minivan, MUTT MVR. I bought it for only one reason: Hauling dogs and their gear around.

Dogs in vehicle:

• Then--Rem sat in the front seat and watched the world go by. After a year or so of that, I bought seatbelt harnesses at the SPCA. They proved to be pretty flimsy, in retrospect. When I read friend Holly's post on good harnesses, I bought two sturdy ones (for Rem and Jake at that time).
• Now--When I got my 3rd dog (Tika) and my minivan, she began riding in a crate right away. Jake and Rem continued using their harnesses until they passed away. Boost and Tika now both have their own crates strapped into MUTT MVR.

Hauling stuff to and from the vehicle:

• Then--We had a red metal dolly that could convert from a furniture-moving upright to a 4-wheel thingie. Tiny wheels, tiny dolly, very heavy and very difficult to move across, say, gravel or grass. I scoped out what was available over several years.I love the huge metal carts in brilliant powder-coated colors with huge wheels and folding handle, but they are huge and I don't have a lot of room, plus they are expensive. The basic wire or tubular crate-sized carts that people pull don't work well with my problem back & shoulders and the wheels aren't the best over rough terrain.
• Now--I saw the light when a friend showed up with a light-weight folding dolly with an extra-deep shelf. That was what I wanted! But also expensive. I was delighted when, at a flea market one weekend, I found a guy selling his, nearly new, for practically nothing. (Looks something like this.) Have used this for several years now.
  

Where to put the dog at the trial:

• Then--I didn't own a crate and didn't think I wanted to. At my first seminar, I planned on just putting Rem in a chair like I did in class. But when I arrived--everyone else had a crate or an x-pen! Doh! I think the instructor loaned me an x-pen and noted that my leash/chair plan wouldn't work at a trial. So I went out and bought a huge x-pen "so he could move around." It was really heavy and space-consuming in my Legend.
• Now--Each dog has her own zippered soft crate (purple, black, and teal). Each cost considerably more than the x-pen, but combined they are so much lighter and so much easier to store and move around, and the dogs are generally happier than they are in the x-pen. (Read how my dog converted me to crate use.)

Clips and bungies:

• Then--Oh, yeah, we had the usual pile of random long bungies in a box in the garage. After a couple of trials, I started taking the box with me for the trial, futzing with long bungies, then putting the box away afterwards.  I saw that people had metal clips that they used for various things, and we had a couple of old metal clips in the garage that I'd likewise borrow for the weekend.
• Now--I have a bag full of metal and plastic clips of various sizes (some even blue and purple) that I've bought through the years and stay exclusively with my dog stuff. Same thing when I discovered loop bungies: have a whole bunch of different lengths on a clip, and some straight bungies (purple) that I bought specifically to go with my dog stuff.

The Weekend

Note about photos: All scanned in, and I apparently did a crappy job of it. Will have to redo eventually. Not tonight. Sorry. They're blurry & not all that great-looking.

One: It was danged hot.

Tika ran very fast despite the heat, but it slowed her a bit eventually. She never did stop panting.

Probably in the high 90s each day, and progressively more humid each of the three days. Ah, agility in the Central Valley in July! I suspect the humidity might have had a lot to do with the neighbors flood-irrigating their huge, huge fields. The owner of the agility site says that that also has a lot to do with the clouds of mosquitos that we encountered at certain times of the day or night.

So we're busily emptying our flowerpot drip pans, and meanwhile there are gigantic fields of stagnant water all over the central valley--

But I digress from the heat. Even I, who usually perspires not a drop, had thouroughly soaked through my jeans and polo shirt by midday Monday.

Two: Toenails Too Long

Tika allows me to do her nails, but she always looks away or hides her head. I don't know why--noise? Smell? Can't bear to see whether Mom'll hit the quick?

Everyone got his or her toenails dremeled this weekend. Jake's toenails are mostly black, so I can't tell where the quick is, really. Boost's are white/clear and I've been trimming them fairly often and she's still fairly young so they haven't become overly long. Yet. Tika's are also clear and I can see the quick and it's much further down the toenails than one would ideally like. If only I had the get-up-and-go to just touch them with the Dremel every couple of days, I might chase the nails back to a reasonable length.

Three: The old guy

Jake, who's cool no matter the circumstances.

Jake ran in only 5 classes this weekend—three Jumpers, one Snooker, and one Jackpot (Gamblers). He was very smooth in all of them, but did not get the Gamble. Qed in four of five, what a good guy. Placed from first to third out of about 4 dogs, all considerably younger than himself. And he seemed pretty happy, although I've seen him run faster...for example, last night in class! Maybe it was the heat.

Four: The baby dog

Boost at five months.

Everyone tells me how cute Boost is. Of course I think so, and maybe they're just under the spell of puppydom, but it's nice to hear. She got to play with one of her sisters for a while, although Beck (your basic black & white BC) wanted to lie in the shade more than she wanted to run around like a crazy dog. It barely got Booster panting, although she did do quite a bit of running. I tried to remember to put her into a crate rather than the x-pen whenever I took one of the dogs out for an event or took both for a walk, but I forgot a couple of times, and one of those times she apparently climbed out of the pen, was caught by a neighbor, and plunked back into the pen. She didn't try again in the few opportunities she received.

Five: Tika's Championship Chase

Tika weaving, with both eyes open in the photo for once.

Tika Qed only 8 out of 15 this weekend, but there were some that were plenty my fault and not at all hers--

• I ran the wrong course in Snooker
• I forgot where I was going in one Jumpers and one Standard
• She had *two* chances at two different gambles in one Jackpot and missed both--thereby proving that I'm not training & practicing gamble-type operations nearly enough with her, as they were both fairly straight-forward (although only 3 dogs out of about 50 got either gamble--and those got BOTH gambles. So either you can gamble or you can't.)

However, she was running really nicely. Stayed at the start line, lying down only once. Left a couple of contacts early at the first opportunity on Saturday and I made her lie down after each (earning an elimination for training in the ring--there went another Q), and then she was good for the rest of the weekend. Hardly grabbed at my feet at all at the end of the run, although once she leaped in the air and grabbed my shirt, which could be a bad thing. Did her dangedest to do everything I asked her to, and very quickly. What a lovely girl!

Still, back to knocking bars again. Knocked a bar in probably half of the 15 runs. Better than sometimes, but not as good as the previous CPE weekend, with NONE down. So--back to practicing jumping drills regularly. Sighhhh--

We DID get another Jackpot that only a few dogs got. AND we got two Jumpers and two Colors legs (out of 3 and 2, respectively), towards our C-ATCH. So we could still finish at the Bay Team trial on the 23/24 if we get both Jumpers and both Colors. A long shot, but it could happen...

About Crate Training

I just wrote all of this elsewhere in response to a comment from someone that he didn't like to lock his dogs up and that was probably why he didn't pursue crate training enough to be successful at it.

One challenge in getting people to crate train successfully is in getting over the idea that one is "locking up" one's dog. There are many reasons as to why it's a good idea to have a dog who is comfortable and relaxed in a crate. The thing to keep in mind is that almost all dogs are most relaxed in an enclosed place. My dogs prefer sleeping under a desk or a table--and if there's a long tablecloth over the table, all the better. The small dog in the house loves to crawl under the bookcase headboard of the bed rather than sleeping on the open floor. One dog liked sleeping in the closet. The psychological key for the human is to realize that one is simply training the dog to use a controlled crate rather than one of their own choosing, just as one trains them to sit, lie down, or stay under control rather than wandering around uncontrolled at all times with behavior of their own choosing. The crate should never be used as a harsh punishment. It should be a safe place for comfortable relaxing, and in that context can occasionally be used for a "time out" in training.

Let one converted dog owner tell her story. (That's me.) When I planned to go to my first dog agility event (not just training at the training facility), I discovered that it was not practical to have my dog on a leash on my wrist at all times. It was a long day, there were other dogs everywhere (and not all of them perfectly behaved), I had things that I needed to do without my dog and there were places where my dog was not allowed (e.g., walking the course ahead of time; cafeteria; restrooms...). Tying the dog up somewhere wasn't practical--other than there being nowhere to tie the dog, even a portable stick-in-the-ground post left the dog exposed to other dogs, other people, object flying in their direction (thrown toys, things blown by the wind, etc.). It just wasn't even an option, especially in crowded conditions with only a few feet of space for each person to set up in.

Plus, in trying to keep the dog with me, he never lay down, never relaxed, was always alert and on guard.

So with great reluctance, not wanting to "lock my dog up" in a crate, I purchased the largest metal exercise pen that I could find--I think about 4 feet by 4 feet. Here's what he did:

Stood up and leaned against the side closest to the door. All day. Sometimes he sat. Mostly he stood up, watching everything that was going on. Eventually I figured out that, if I draped a sheet over the top & sides of the pen, leaving only the front open, he would lie down--against one side of the pen--and sleep off and on.

Huh, so I was lugging around this heavy exercise pen and occupying 16 square feet for a dog who was occupying no more space than all of the other dogs comfortably resting in their crates. So after a year and a half I broke down and bought a crate and taught him what a fun place it was. So, when put into his crate (after his first run of the day, before which he NEVER relaxed), he'd immediately relax, lie down, get comfy, snooze, stretch his legs out.

I was converted.

Since then, I've found that crates are useful almost anywhere I go with my dogs; we've been invited to participate in a wide variety of events. Sometimes we're backstage, where there are 20 or 30 dogs in a space about 50 feet long. You have to have the dogs in crates in that situation. My assorted dogs have had to stay at the vet's for a variety of ailments over the years, and the vets always like them because they don't fight about going into the crates, they don't paw or bite endlessly at the doors, they wait for a release before barging out of the crate, and they relax once they're in there.

In the car, a strapped-in crate is probably the safest way to transport dogs. (Some of my dogs use harnesses instead, but I believe they'd be safer in an accident in a crate.)

At home, I acquired a dog who really does not like small children. After a few thousand good games of fetch, he goes right into his crate, where I can close him in and he can relax because he doesn't have to be on guard against the small children--and I can relax because he's not on guard against the small children.

I have an extremely energetic younger dog. When she can't manage enough self-control to be around guests, she can go into her crate. When she was much younger and I didn't know what she might pick up and chew up, I could put her into her crate while I worked at my desk and neither of us were stressed about life, the universe, and everything.

Most dogs sleep most of the day anyway--if you're home a lot and not active, just watch: I believe that 18 hours or more of a dog's day is spent snoozing. That's even for energetic, athletic dogs. They could just as easily be snoozing in a crate as under your feet at your desk.