Tika's a Quick Study

On Wednesday, I discussed with Tika's instructor our various strategies for eventually preventing Tika from grabbing my feet after finishing a course successfully. Plan had been to get her to run out to look for her leash. One problem with that is that either USDAA or NADAC (or maybe both) consider that to be a toy in the ring, although so many people have dogs fetch their own leashes (it makes a lot of practical sense) that it seems silly for that to be the rule. However, it is-- and our progress towards getting the leash has been slow.

Another riend, who has gone through some pretty intensive clicker training and has written a book about it, raised the issue that she thought she remembered hearing that dogs who are rewarded with mouth activities (tug of war, goodies) are more likely to use their mouths in ways similar to Tika. She suggested that a nose touch to some kind of target might be an alternative.

So our intructor came up with the idea of teaching Tika to touch a fence post (like the ones that surround many agility rings).

On Thursday, I took Tika and Jake out to the yard with a fence post, a goodie, and a clicker, and started trying to get them to touch it with their noses. Jake was no closer at the end than he had been at the beginning--no surprise--this has always been my story with trying to teach him something new. However, at the end of a couple of 3-to-5 minute sessions, tika was already going out to touch the fence post and I was putting a command to the behavior. It's exhilarating to get such a rapid learning response.

Because I've been out of town since then, I haven't had a chance to try it again or work on it more (e.g., adding a jump between her and the post).

But it does show that she's a quick learner. Which leads me back to the ongoing frustrating puzzle of how, over a year and a half, I have managed to successfully teach her to pull on the leash using every method that I or anyone else has come up with that's supposed to PREVENT her from pulling on the leash. Garrrrrghhhh--

NADAC Vallejo trial

Thank goodness I have friends to email to--then I just copy my end of the conversations here and, voila, it's like actual writing.

This past weekend wasn't too bad, but not one of my most stellar performances. Between the 2 dogs, we had 20 runs over the weekend.

I managed to forget the course in 2 of the runs. OK, my databse says I've done that 16 other times out of the (jeez, this is scary--)1250 competition runs I've done. But never twice in one weekend.

Then, I fell during 2 other runs (OK, I have in fact fallen probably half a dozen times in the entire 8 years I've been doing agility--but never 2x in the same weekend, let alone the same day). First run of Sunday was a doozy. Not only did my feet somehow lose track of the ground, but as I flew headfirst through the air, I had plenty of time to ponder two facts: first, that my head was about to smack full force into the metal upright of a jump and, second, that there was nothing I could do but watch it come.

Ow.

I tried blaming it on the wrong shoes. So, for my 2nd run, I switched into my Magic Agility Sure-Grip Shoes, and promptly fell again. Both dogs thought I was a poor excuse for a partner but they did their civil best to be nice to me anyway. At least one so-called friend started calling me Crash. I suppose there could be worse nicknames--Doofus, for example, or Klutz--but, still--

THEN I walked one course wrong. Someone tried to explain to me afterwards that obstacle number 7 does not usually immediately follow number 5, and I suppose I can see their point, but it flowed much more nicely the way I ran it. I can remember doing that only once before in competition.

Those were just the highlights.

Jake just didn't want to turn tightly on anything, and I was really trying. He'd fly out of a tunnel, and I'd have been calling him since he first went in, and I'd try to be up at the exit to do a sharp point & call and I'd be facing away and he'd still go 20 feet before turning. And turning over jumps--just wiiiiiiiiide even when I thought I was trying to signal in advance.

Tika didn't do too badly. Her contacts were very solid. Twice she got off a little early (before I released her) and I put her back on, but she wasn't flying off or dashing away. Left the start line twice and I put her back both times and she stayed the 2nd time. Last 2 runs of the weekend I finally gave up when she grabbed my feet and just picked her up and carried her off. So that's 6 Es out of 10 runs.

We managed one stellar 1st and qualifying standard run; another standard run she ran straight out of the ring among the canopies and stood and looked around; the wind was blowing our way across Travis' pen and I think she might have smelled him (she lived with Travis the Australian Shepherd before coming to live here). Anyway, she did come back into the ring full speed and we finished with one knocked bar--in 2nd place because of all her wasted time, but even so, 8 seconds under course time! (Ah, the bonus of having a really fast dog--)

Usually our weekends are much better than that-- really--

Jake did manage a couple of really nice runs despite his handler. In one, we scored higher than all other dogs except for one larger dog who's among the top dogs competiting in the country, who beat us by only one point. THAT was pretty exciting.

Altogether, though, only 4.5 qualifying runs out of 20. Not a great percentage.

I kept working on possible excuses. I'm tired? (I've been much more tired; actually felt pretty alert.) I'm ill? (Sciatica was a little bit annoying in the hips but mostly I felt in great health.) I'm stressed and distracted? (Was having a good time just being there and not worrying about work or anything.) I'm clumsy and not too bright? (Hmm-- I'll have to work on that one--)

Dumb Dog and Gone Remington

Dumb Tika dog. She's definitely doing the same thing she has for every other walkies method--what's the most she can pull without it horribly inconveniencing her. I think yesterday she was pulling just as much as ever, if not more, on the prong collar. Dang dang dang dang.

Missing Remington the last couple of days. Never know why this pops up. I still feel angry as much as anything. The challenge in managing it is that there's nothing and no one to be angry at, except The Fates, The Universe, The Powers That Be, The Gods.

At the time that Remington was ill and I knew that it was fatal, I developed the theory that it was easier for me for him to survive a while because I'd have a chance to develop an internal mental and emotional model of a world without Remington, and to start working through my grief ahead of time. Well, in retrospect, I think that there is no way that I could ever build a complete model of Remington dying early and me accepting it.

That's because the model that I already had--of him growing older, his muzzle getting whiter, possibly arthritis slowing him down--built slowly over 9 years and everything inside my brain and my heart wanted that model to prevail. For years, when he'd stand up after lying for a particularly long time or when especially tired, he'd push himself to a sit and then haul his backside up, almost as if his spine was pulling his legs up rather than the opposite. It was so reminiscent of what Amber looked like, trying to stand up as her arthritis became so horrible, that I already knew what he'd look like as he grew older.

Slamming an active, healthy, happy dog with a cancerous stake to the heart can't ever be reconciled with what, with all my soul, I wanted--even though, at the same time, of course, I DIDN'T want him to grow old. Still, now I think that, with Amber, even though it was excruciating losing her, at the same time I could look at the way she so badly wanted to play ball and couldn't; wanted to stand and greet me and couldn't; started losing control of bodily functions when she'd panic because she occasionally couldn't stand up; and see that her passing was in a way a relief of her inevitable increasing infirmity and pain.

With Remington, it never seemed inevitable. It seemed unjust, foul, undeserved, cursed, horrific, appalling.

The common litany among so many dog people seems to be "He's waiting for you across the rainbow bridge." Sorry. Bullshit.

I miss him so. It's been 4 months. I haven't cried this hard in at least a couple of those months. The other dogs are curled up at my feet, concern curling their bodies, ears, and tails. I wish it was Rem.

Walkies and not walkabouts

I still think that probably the prong collar is having a little bit of an effect maybe. I know that sometimes it pinches her because when she really yanks (like 7 or 8 times in a row when walking by a fence with a dog behind it) she throws in a little extra yelp. It feels more like she's trying to figure out how hard she can pull before it crosses the line from uncomfortable to painful.

I almost think I'm having more luck with the walking-into-her method (how many methods have I tried?). That's where, when she starts to get ahead of me, I just step firmly in her direction, expecting her to back off to get out of my way, and if she's not out of my way, I run into her. If she's *really* not paying attention because she's too distracted by something, she sometimes gets her feet under mine while I'm stepped and gets her toes stepped on. I am not attempting to do this. I am just attempting to maintain control of my space and of where the Walk Entourage is heading.

She did a lot of tugging this evening and also a lot of very nice walking not too far in front on a loose leash.

Not gone walkabout
Sometime last week (before the yard guys came), I drove home, pulled into the driveway, and was greeted by Jake before I had completely parked. No, he's not supposed to be loose in the front yard.

A couple of times before, I've found the far (less-used) side gate open, and so I checked it again. Wide open. I don't understand it. I believe the preceding weekend my dad and I had unloaded some bricks through that gate, but since he's the one that got called the last time my dogs got out and had to come over to round them up, we were both pretty careful about the gate. Plus I've been trying to double-check it every time the yard guys are here.

I don't know how or why the gate comes open. I'd hate to have to put a lock on it to keep traffic over on the other side, but if it's somehow coming open in the wind (seems unlikely--new gate, new latch), this is going to keep happening.

Seeing Jake, I leaped out of the car in a rush of panic about Tika--who, you might recall, likes to escape at the slightest gap in your defense of the gate or door if she sees something exciting (cat/squirrel/imagined cat/squirrel) and charge out across the roads. I started calling her name immediately, before I even got to the gate. I stuck my head through the open gate, calling her frantically.

Like a sweet little girl, she came charging around from the back yard, where she was supposed to be, to greet me cheerfully. I was so relieved; thought that maybe she hadn't discovered the open gate.

Yesterday, coming back from our walk, I passed a couple of our neighbors (who don't see my dogs much at all). They sort of pointed and nodded, and one said, "THAT's the dog who was hanging around here the other day!" I mentioned the open gate episode, and they said yes, maybe that was it, because she really just hung around right in that area, mostly near that side of my house, and was a very nice well-behaved dog.

Hm.

So she DID get out, but (unlike our late lamented Sheba) did not have any real desire to go exploring. I guess that's a relief.

Tika/leash/class, Jake The Master

After 3 walks with the pinch collar, it is my considered opinion that Tika might possibly be pulling less often and less hard, maybe. Kind of like Rem, mostly disdainful of my attempts to discourage pulling. Dang "hard" dogs.

Rachel said that Tika was almost wonderful in class today because she came back to me fairly quickly each time she ran off. Of course a couple of times Rachel tossed large jump bars into the grass near her to startle her first. I, naturally, see that she runs off *every* run, every dag nabbed one, rather than sticking with me. Didn't used to do it nearly so often. All after that family of squirrels tortured her (personally, of course) for a couple of weeks a couple of months back. We haven't seen them since; don't know what she'll do if they ever return!

One of Tika's classmates was injured, so his handler borrowed Jake today. He was such a good boy. Folks commented how good he looks and how well he's running. Got the appropriate satisfying oohs and ahs when I said he's going on 12. BTW, if I didn't already mention it, there's a movie of us doing a moderately fast jumpers course at http://agilityinmotion.com/. Click on Dog Agility Movies, then scroll down to April.

Remington: It was time to go

I've been looking through photos of Rem for a bio-through-word-snapshots page (coming eventually to a web site near you). Came across photos I took a few days before he died. At the time, I thought they were beautiful, but now I see that he looked thin, pale, and very, very tired. Hard to tell with a dog, maybe, especially the pale part, but definitely he looked tired. Poor guy. I was tired, too.

Hemangiosarcoma Claims Another Friend

Two weeks ago, agility friends emailed me that their 11-year-old Flat Coat had suddenly become ill that morning. Upon taking him to the vet, they discovered that he had a gigantic tumor in his heart that had ruptured. Vet said there wasn't really any treatment that would gain them more than a week or two, and he could have been ill the whole time. Diagnosis by symptom and appearance: Hemangiosarcoma.

At breakfast, they had a normal dog. By dinner, no more dog.

It's heartbreaking and still seems so unfair. I rail against the universe!

Like Rem, who 3 weeks before his first (undiagnosed) exhibition of cancer symptoms earned his NATCh and took a ton of ribbons, Tyler not even 2 weeks before had earned 2nd high in trial at an agility competition.

That's 3 hemangiosarcoma dogs lost in 3 months in our small (150 people) agility club.

And so hard to write about. In addition to Tyler's loss being devestating itself--he's been a regular at agility trials ever since I started agility, and I often compare our success rate to his (and he's such a *likeable* dog, too)--it brought back all of Remington's experiences.

Working on "Things"

It's all them Things that make training so difficult. If only I had couch-potato dogs!

Leash toy: Tika's just not really interested in leashes as toys. Rachel suggested fastening leash to a toy for a while to get her to think of it as a toy. I've fastened one to her Tika Toy (big rubber ball) that's the only thing she plays with fanatically all the time, but I have to work hard to get her to grab the leash part instead of jumping and grabbing at me and the ball part. Then she'll tug-o-war a bit but her heart just isn't in it, I can tell. Then, when I give her back the part with the ball, she seems less enthused about *that*, too.

Maybe if I got a leather leash, she'd like that more? They're kind of expensive for a decent one--on the other hand, it's also kind of expensive entering a weekend trial and wasting all the entry fees because she's grabbing at my feet. ESPECIALLY after a beautiful complete run when she does it at the end, which is where I need to get her to think about going away from me to get the leash.

Leash walking: We didn't do walks for about 5 days, between the trial & seminar and all. Then ever since, I've hardly been able to get down the street without her yank-yank-yanking on the leash. Jeez. What is it going to take? I think we're there, and then we're almost back at the beginning. I get soooo frustrated. It's been almost a year and a half! If anything I was doing was going to make a difference, I think it would have made the difference by now.

Yesterday I went in search of Rem's old prong collar, which pinches when the dog tugs. None of the trainers that I like and respect are recommending this any more, preferring positive training methods rather than pain-based. But, you know, I don't know what else to do. So I'll see whether that makes any difference today.

Remington Memories: As always, it's the unexpected things. After I couldn't find the prong collar, I decided that Now Was The Time To Finish The Garage. You know--that last little bit of stuff that I never figured out where to put or reorganized after moving in (almost 2 years ago). So I spent yesterday afternoon organizing the garage. Found a stack of stuff from my last compost workshop that hadn't been put away. Sorted through it--and there was a bag of liver treats. Remington had been so ill at that last one (just recovering from a bleeding bout) that I had taken him with me and he had lain on the stage next to me for the whole thing, and I took the liver treats to feed him (liver because it's supposed to be good at helping to replace Precious Bodily Fluids & such lost during bleeding).

It was a little punch to the gut, seeing that bag. Not a huge one, but noticeable.

Last night I dreamed that there was a small circus at the shopping center, and they had a big yellow dog doing tricks. I mean BIG, and heavy-set, and a little ragged-looking. Someone told me they were pretty sure it was Remington. The circus guy said he had found him just wandering around the area, looking lost. I was doubtful--the coloring was all perfect, and the general shape, but looked much more like a giant Labrador than like Rem. I tried calling "Remington!" a couple of times and he turned slowly and looked at me in sort of a disinterested way. Then someone suggested seeing whether he'd do Remington's bag of tricks. Sure enough, he did every trick I asked--except there was something lack-a-daisical and not quite right about the motions--I couldn't imagine another dog knowing everything that Remington knew, even down to the exact commands I used--but it just *wasn't the right dog*.

Jakey wakey (Jakey-Meister, Jakey-mon, Jakey-noodle-oo): You know, I hardly ever mention him here. He's mostly a good boy. But he sure is a copycat, and much more of a follower than he'd ever admit to in an interview. At bedtime, when I used to take the dogs out for one last pee, Jake would wait until Rem marked a shrub, then he'd dash over and remark it. After Rem died, he didn't know what to do. He'd sniff around the yard in a discouraged manner and never produce anything. Then he realized that sometimes Tika pees before going in, so now he rushes over and remarks her spot. Still usually won't pee if Tika doesn't, though.

Also has become a shrieking, out-of-control maniac when people come to the door, just like Tika is. I don't actually know what to do about it. I've taken to trying to keep them behind a baby gate when people arrive, but they shriek and shout there, so even though they're not all over the place underfoot, you can't hear yourself talk. Argh.

HOWEVER--at the last CPE trial, Jake got qualifying runs 7 out of 8 times, which is pretty good. (Two weeks ago, that would've been good for high-in-trial at his level; this time, there were 3 dogs with 8 out of 8 at his level! Holy Toledo!) He's fairly fast even at the worst of times, but he definitely gets much faster if I can get him playing some tug of war ahead of time, which he won't always do readily. I have to tease and coax him into it, which is quite tiring on my old bod. He's more likely to win when I get him revved; also more likely to pop contacts.

Tika's jumping problem areas: We can do serpentines good if they're a long way apart. Can't do them worth beans closer together. Need to work hard on those. Couldn't do a decent 270-degree turn at Greg's workshop 90% of the time. I had to step way out into the turn and work her around it, but often when doing those, you want to be able to move across the 2nd jump to get ahead of the dog. So I've been working on those in the yard this week, along with more weave-pole entries.

Jake: More CPE titles

Jake finished up 2 more of his CPE titles this weekend; now he's working entirely on points towards his championship.

He now has all four Level 4 titles:

CL4-R, CL4-F, CL4-H, CL4-S (last 2 new this weekend)

Greg Derrett 2-day Seminar (June 23-24)

Seminar work was almost all jumps, tunnels, weaves. We got better & better at crosses as the 2 days went on. We still need work on serpentines (we do good when they're further apart but not really close ones) and on 270-degree turns. Maybe she was just getting tired, but I like to believe that she was really pulling herself in and that my timing was getting better.

The great news is that I discovered that she really sticks her weaves once she's in there! I could veer off in all kinds of directions, laterally or ahead, and she'd finish them. Entrances are getting a little better (I've been practicing in the yard) but not perfect.

Last run was a full std course. VERY slow contacts. And then halfway through she discovered the Llama, who had come by to watch us. Lost her repeatedly (trying to follow Greg's directions on dealing with her, since it was his seminar). Argh. Same issue as with squirrels. This was just one big honking squirrel.

She *did* bite at my feet during the seminar, but not nearly as much, and I think it was getting better over the 2 days. For the finish line, Greg also said "Teach her to go out to a leash." (Same as Rachel.) I'm working on it, but slowly. She just doesn't treat a leash as a toy.

Anyway--mostly good for the last 4 days, really.

Two-Day CPE Trial (June 21-22)

Tika had some great runs. Got all her contacts but one, and that was more of a 4-footed bounce because she stopped immediately and looked back. Stayed at start line all except once, and that was just a couple of steps forward and she sat again when I told her to. Did some nice moves.

But we got eliminated 7 out of 8 for feet biting, even after the finish line. After 3 of them, I warned the judges and started doing Dramatic Overacting, crying in pain & rolling on the ground. She looked very disconcerted. I *think* it was helping because in the last couple of runs we actually had some bobbles or odd things & she didn't go for my feet immediately.

But her contacts are getting slower...

Tika Has Improved-- Some--

A friend commented this weekend (after Tika rampaged around wildly & happily, pushy & jumping up & yelping and barking and all): "She certainly has calmed down since you first got her." Yoiks!

I went out to the garage last night to get something, and Tika followed me out to explore. I headed back into the house; she trotted quickly from the corner where she was sniffing right back into the house behind me. Those first couple of months, she just didn't want to come in, there were so many interesting things to smell out there. Even closing the door and leaving her there for a while didn't discourage her. I remember trying to chase her down (because she'd ignore my polite requests for her to "Come" or "Get your furry buns in here!") and having not much luck.

The Yard Guy was here last week, and as usual she put her vocal cords to work responding to that outspoken leafblower. Well, the Yard Guy has wised up, too: He knows to turn it off when I come out to get the dogs so they're not doubly distracted. Used to be that there was nothing I could do to get her into the house after the Yard Guy came--just too many potential excitements. It doesn't seem that long ago at all that I had to chase her down most of the time. Now, she waits a couple of moments, alert and on tiptoe, to see whether that loudmouth blower will speak up again, but then she skeedaddles right into the house at my direction.

Now, if we could deal with walking on a leash--and jumping up on people--and not grabbing my feet in competition--

We did go on a longer walk yesterday. I was *determined* to get my walking in. There was still a lot of course correction occurring, but much less than there has been at other times. When there were dogs barking in back yards, it became difficult to make progress. And she saw a squirrel or a cat or some other furry reprobate once and became almost unmanageable for a block or so. THAT was a lonnnnng block.

Crepuscular genetics strike again

It's 8:00 on an almost-summer evening. Sun has just recently set. Air is cooling down. I took a nap earlier, played with the dogs for half an hour in the yard before dinner, and now am refreshed and ready to spend a couple of hours doing good solid work at the computer.

The dogs, however, are active, impatient, bored, persisent, pushy. Argh! Make them go away! And tell them to stop eating all those plums!

What? Oh, go look it up if you must.

Jake Keeps Adding Those Letters

Backfill: June 30Tika just earned her CL2-R, so her CPE title list is now
CL2-R, CL1-H, CL1-F.

And Jake earned his CL4-F, AND now he's earning Elite Veterans titles!-- hence his non-NADAC, non-USDAA titles are

[CGC RS-EGS-EJS-E CL4-R CL4-F]

and he just recently added

EGC-V EJC-V to his NADAC titles.

CPE Trial Results

Included here: Photos of Tika at Power Paws Camp.

CPE Trial: Well, some good & some bad.

Saturday started out with 2 phenomenal standard runs in the covered arena--stayed at start line, got all contacts perfectly and waited; neither of us screwed anything up on the courses (but they were pretty straight-forward flowing novice courses). She took 1st & Q in both and was faster than any other dog any height, even with the long "good girl" waits on the contacts.

But the rest of the weekend was up and down.

In order of runs:
1 Sat: (see above).*
2 Sat: (see above).*

3 Sat: Gamblers: first run out in the grassy field. At start, stood up to sniff and wandered across start line. Put her back into a sit, led out (she stayed), and on the 2nd obstacle--Aframe--she jumped off early and wandered off to sniff. I put her in a down, called for her leash, and took her off.

4 Sat: Wildcard (standard course but you have to choose among some harder/easier obst's): Grassy field. She didn't stay at start and zoomed across the field. I waited for her to come back, put her back into a sit, led out (she stayed). Got thru 3 obstacles but took the wrong 4th one (bad handling), but although I tried to keep her moving in a circle to another obstacle, she came in and grabbed my feet. Put her in a down, called for leash, and took her off.

1 Sun: Standard in the covered arena. Perfect stay. Skipped 1st weave pole but got her circled to redo them. Had a perfect teeter. On a long, curving sequence of 5 (?) jumps, she didn't carry out ahead of me, came back in and grabbed my feet. Put her in a down, called for leash, & took her off. (Never got to Afr or DW.)

2 Sun: Standard. Perfect stay & gorgeous contacts. Skipped 1st weave pole but got her circled to redo them. Man, she's fast at them out there!*

3 Sun: Full house (kinda like Gamblers), out in the open field. Flew off Afr, which was 2nd obst, and zoomed into next obst (tunnel). Waited for her to come back, put her in a down, then redid the Afr, which was perfect. Stayed with me and did a moderately complex course fast & beautifully.*

4 Sun: Snooker (open field). Picked a course with two 7's, which was the only contact out there, so it wasn't the most flowing (not sure whether that's the right thing for her now--). She did some beautiful maneuvering around obstacles, with a great lead-out stay for me to get halfway across the field, got the contact perfectly, and through 5 obst's in the opening but ended up taking 2 reds in a row. Again, although I tried to keep her moving, my reactions just must be enough that she's knows we're off course, and she came in at my feet again. So although I considered it a big success, I still had the feet problem in the ring and didn't quite know how to handle it. I did get her into a down and then we walked off and then I played a lot of games with her, but I'm concerned that I might be confusing her.


*Coming in at my feet at finish line. Still a problem. I've been putting her in a down (once she wouldn't go down even after several commands, but she did stop grabbing). I'm worried now that she can't tell the difference between a successful end-of-run and being put in a down/taken off for being a bad girl.

Over all, I was pretty happy with the weekend. I sure have a list of things to work on:

• Grabbing feet during the course (what's the reason/what's a reasonable alternative)


• Grabbing feet at the finish line (same questions)


• Carrying out over lines of jumps where I can't keep up with her


• Getting weave entrance while hauling butt


• Trusting me to "come" (e.g., for snooker or for more complex courses) rather than looking for an obstacle to take


• Really reliable stay at start line; was a bit worse this weekend than the previous one.


• Really reliable contacts; a bit worse this weekend than the previous.


• FAST contacts--she's doing them and waiting, but she's really starting to slow down on the descent.


• Squirrels. :-) Fortunately there weren't any there this weekend.


• Yanking on the leash. She broke a leash last week. I'm inches away from moving to a prong collar, which worked for Rem without any trauma at all.

I try to remember everything that I need to do--but sometimes it seems so hopeless and there's so MUCH to remember and to do! Jake (for about the 4th trial) missed a high-in-trial by one popped dogwalk (he did it in 2 runs, so either one would have gotten us the award)--so even with my experienced beast, I've "got issues."

Pulling on the Leash Does It In

On Friday, while we were out for a walk, Tika yanked on the leash (wow! what a surprise!) and the handle loop separated from the leash. I've never had a leash come apart before. For all my previous 4 dogs, leashes lasted pretty much forever, until they'd get so faded and frayed around the edges that I'd replace them. Maybe once for each dog; maybe not. I had just bought Rem a new one last year because the one we bought him 9 years ago was so faded, but still sturdy and functional.

So I bought a new leash that is doubly stitched at the handle.

'Course not of my dogs have yanked as long and as hard at the leash as Tika has. Rem was quite a puller, but our instructor at the time had him on a prong collar within about 3 months after he came to live with us, which reduced his pulling quite a bit more than anything I've managed with Tika. (Mind you, it didn't eliminate the pulling. He always viewed that collar as an inconvenience, but eventually after probably a couple of years he got to where he mostly didn't pull--except when he was excited--and even then, a gentle pop or two on the leash was enough to remind him to slack off.) Nowadays no one wants to recommend prong collars.

But--jeez-- My back started hurting a lot on Sunday (who knows why), and every yank from Tika came like a karate chop on the muscles. To get from our set-up out to the exercise yard required about a 200-foot walk. Tika excited. Step/yank/stop/wait for her to come back next to me. Step/yank/stop/wait for her to come back next to me. Not only painful, but pretty frustrating, too.

I tried John Rogerson's couple of suggested methods, which involve grabbing the leash right near the collar and pulling the dog *forward* (since most dogs resist being pulled forward), but after 2 days of that, my back was really killing me, so those just don't work for someone who shouldn't be bending & twisting like that, at least not for a dog who's had over a year's experience in the Joy of Pulling.

I don't know what happened. After Rem died, I decided that absolutely I was going to fix the pulling on the leash problem and I was going to be absolutely totally consistent with handling her when we attempted to go for a walk. You might remember that within a week or 2 we were actually walking a block with hardly any tugging. And then she got worse again, and I don't think I got less consistent! Wed & Thurs last week, I couldn't even get out of my street again--couldn't complete more than a few steps without her yanking on the leash.

Tune in next week, same tug-time, same tug-channel, for our next failed strategy.

Agility Thoughts

You know, one thing missing since Rem left is my enthusiasm for agility. It's just not back all the way. I'm not as interested in spending time with either Jake or Tika, working on things that I know need work or on new handling maneuvers or on longer exercises. Or even going to trials.

It's not like Rem was a superstar agility dog. In fact I was frustrated so often by the things that we never managed to fix. Jake Qed far more often and has earned far more titles, is more reliably fast. Tika might be the agility dog I've thought I've wanted for a long time, so fast and focused when she's turned on. So it's not that.

Rem *was* my first agility dog. Maybe it's that? I don't know. Just something else I've noticed about me since he's been gone.

Tika's Progress--Or Not--

NADAC Trial Summary: Two weekends ago we did a NADAC trial. Six runs each day for each dog. Good exercise for me. It wasn't one of our most stellar weekends, however. Jake and I weren't clicking most of the time, although he was running quite fast. Latter is good because at times I've thought he's been slowing down a lot.

Contacts: Tika got all of her contacts beautifully except for one run on the second day. In that one, she launched off the teeter, which was the first contact obstacle. I think she doesn't know it's a teeter when she does that. I'm talking straight up into the air, hang time like Wile E. Coyote going over a cliff. But after that, she also flew off the Aframe, so I put her into a Down and took her off the field. She went back to getting all her contacts beautifully.

Start Line Stay: She stayed at the start line beautifully except for one run on the second day. It was a tunnelers run, too, more's the pity, because we seem to do whiz-bang on those courses. I put her into a Down, took a step forward, and she shot past me. I stopped, and I think she realized that, because she veered away from the obstacles and headed out diagonally across the course, slowing as she went. I stood quietly back where Ihad put her into the down and waited. She circled, came back to me, and I put her back into the Down. Led out a couple of tunnels. Gave her the signal. We then ran a beautiful course, but of course we'd have been way over time even without the Elimination for (I believe) training in the ring. But she didn't leave her start-stays early again that day.

Some Success: We did have it together enough to get one Open (intermediate) standard leg (qualifying score), and I think a Tunnelers leg and a Touch'N'Go?

But Those Big Nasty Feet: Grabbing my feet was the big issue for the weekend. She grabbed them every danged run, if nowhere else then at least at the end as I'd be trying to cross the finish line. Got several Es for her biting my feet. Some judges gave an immediate E as soon as she jumped in. Others gave her one chance and then Eed us the second time. As usual, she does it on course only when we've managed to miss an obstacle. I try to keep her moving, but often if we miss the correct obstacle, there's no easy path to any other obstacle and she knows it and in she comes, like a shark to blood.

I tried bitter apple on my shoes before the runs, but that didn't seem to faze her. What did seem to work is me simply freezing and ignoring her, refusing to play her game. Every other attempt to get her to stop or to lie down or to do turns or high fives or push her away all just get her more excited. Freezing apparently is boring enough that she stops very quickly and looks up at me, as in, "Huh? How come you stopped this fun behavior?" But I can't just start moving--I have to get her moving again first, or she comes right back in at me.

And at the end of the course I'm trying an immediate "Come/down"--I hate to shut her down, I'd rather celebrate, but she won't play or jump up with me, just grabs my feet. And I havent worked on teaching her to go out and look for her leash, which was one of Rachel's suggestions.

The John Rogerson seminar was interesting--in the middle of the class, he tossed out the line (while talking about over-excited dogs): "Teach a novice dog to run down a line of jumps by throwing a toy and I guarantee you'll have a dog that starts coming in to bite you in competition." If my ears could have stood up on end, they would have, as my ears are excellent at recognizing my image in a mirror. His later explanation was that the dog has to learn *control* completely and thoroughly before learning long, fast sequences. As in: "Over/down!" "Tunnel/sit!" "Over/come/behind!" or whatever. So since then, in the yard, I've been practicing more of short, turning sequences with control.

Gets Worse in Class: And in class this week, she spent every available moment running away and looking for squirrels, even though there were none to be seen and Rachel said there hadn't been any sign of the family for a week and a half. She learned it all too well the last couple of times we were there, apparently. So in class Rachel had us working on control--one or two obstacles, sometimes with a leash on, and "Come!" and reward. So the training is converging. Tika started the class by flying off the dogwalk and going In Search Of Squirrel; the next time she had a leash on and it got caught on something while she was going up (that's scary--we switched to a string for the rest of class), but apparently she took it to heart and did beautiful contacts for the rest of class. However, took every jump *away* from me to mean "keep going away from me to see whether there might be tree-climbing rodents around." Her "Come" was pretty nonexistent in those cases.

So much to do. Sigh.

Squirtez-vous and other surprises: I bought a squirt gun to get her to keep her nose away from the table. I've never seen her take anything off the table, but I've been pushing her nose away and saying "no" for over a year now (Jeez--hard to believe it's been that long!) and clearly it has had no effect whatsoever. Water squirted in her face seems to be having an effect, though. We'll see. Has been squirted more than half a dozen times, and has come back the next meal to sniff again, so I don't know whether it's so ingrained... but when she's squirted, she skeedaddles out the patio and watches me through the glass door.

I don't do or say anything in addition to the squirt--just keep reading the paper, sitting there quietly, subtly moving my hand to the squirt gun and squirting a little in her direction.

John had a suggestion about little poppers that you can put under something to teach dog not to take things off tables or counters, which you combine with a tremendous acting job of your own along the lines of "Omigod what was that, holy cow, is it safe in here?" He gave a web site to order the poppers from. I'm going to do that, because she *has* taken things off the coffee table or the garden tables out in the yard.

Goal of all of these things is to have the behavior discouraged without having the owner (me) yelling or hitting or anything else negative, and also to associate the negative experience with the behavior and not with my own actions or presence. We'll see---

Rem again: Actually, since Rem's been gone, I've had no problems with food being taken off the counters or with wastebaskets being emptied. I didn't think I would, either. He wasn't the perfect dogman, and I know it.

Remington Lingers On

It comes and goes. It's been 3 months. Life seems pretty normal. Tika is over being terrified of my every move or noise. Jake is over looking for Remington. I don't cringe every time I turn around and see something, because things aren't reminding me of him much. And then--the last couple of days--don't know what it is.

Yesterday, went to fasten Jake's seatbelt after agility class and he was in the wrong seat. When Rem was around, they were *always* in the wrong seats, and I'd say "switch seats," and they'd switch. It hit me hard and I sat in the car sobbing before coming home. Today I filled up the gas tank and washed the windows. I do this every week, sometimes more often. Realized that there were no windows inside that needed cleaning, whereas Rem always left a dog-nose Picasso covering his window. Hit me hard again. Why this week?

There is so much to say and I don't know how to say it or who to say it to. It just wells up and -- it's so immense sometimes that it overwhelms mere words. I knew my dogs were important to me, but I just never think they can get in this deep.

Trainer Training

Just attended a 4-day seminar by John Rogerson, a British dog trainer who's one of the top trainers around. Seminar was geared towards people who provide dog-training classes. John's a fascinating, entertaining speaker. I took 54 pages of notes--argh--and I learned a lot. Now to apply it all to *my* dogs!

Actually--now to get a good night's sleep.

ILPing Tika

I've been almost convinced by my various friends that I should ILP Tika with the AKC. (Indefinite Listing Privilege: A registration that says "she's probably a purebred but we have no way to prove it.") Makes her eligible to compete in performance events. Don't know whether I want to. But I'm also discovering that *every* agility organization has plenty of things for me to allow myself to be annoyed about if I feel like being annoyed. So I try to focus on Being There, participating, having a good time with my dogs, praying that the squirrels are on vacation--

See http://www.akc.org/registration/ilpex.cfm.

So do you think she looks like an Aussie? Certainly lots of people do.

Another Week of Dog Training / Tika Possessed by Squirrels

Sunday and Monday I'll be doing dog agility in Elk Grove. This is NADAC agility, which doesn't penalize you unduly for training in the ring. (That is, you earn an elimination in the run but can continue. In other venues, they toss you out of the ring on your butt with possibly invective from the judge for being so rude.) We probably need this opportunity for Tika.

Then Tue-Fri I'll be commuting daily to Novato for a dog-training class from John Rogerson, a guru of dog behavior & training from England. That'll be long commute--over an hour each way. Luckily someone else in this neighborhood (a club member) is also attending, so we'll carpool. Can't take our dogs; we'll be practicing his techniques on shelter dogs at the humane society where the seminar takes place. Looking forward to it. Not looking forward to coming home after a long day and having wild dogs say "Let's PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY AUUUUUUGHHHHHH!!!!"

There were squirrels everywhere at Tika's training this week. This week, certainly, it seemed like such strong atavistic prey drive that she didn't even care when I left the ring and hid. Sometimes that works. Maybe she's figured out that I'll come back eventually. More likely I think she just didn't care at the moment. We spent the next half hour walking around the perimeter on leash (her on one end, me on the other), attempting to get her to focus on me. She mostly did what I asked, but with a desperate frenzy; have a couple of blood-blisters on my fingers (from treats) to show for it. And her attention was *never* fully on me; one ear or both remained cocked towards where the squirrels were. And if we happened to be near a tree where they decided to dance, she was almost uncontrollable.

Went for a walk Tuesday evening, and a dog came out of the driveway about 30 feet away, just a shy, friendly dog, and she also went nuts. I tried to get her to sit as soon as I saw what was going on, but she really was almost uncontrollable. Even with the gentle leader. I had one hand in her collar, one in her gentle leader, one under her collar with fingers under muzzle for control as we learned in class, one hand trying to hold her mouth shut because the screeching, slathering, snarling frenzy of noise coming from her mouth was painful to my ears, instigating to Jake, frightening (fortunately) to the other dog, and I didn't know what to the people who were standing there with their dog.

OK, I don't think I really have that many hands. I was more than a little disconcerted. She's nuts when there's another dog around the neighborhood, but this is the worst I've seen in a while. This was like the first few weeks or months all over again. After I walked the dogs home, I went back to the house to apologize and to explain that I don't really have a dog-aggressive, vicious (maybe viscous) dog. Fortunately they have 2 dogs of varied training themselves, and we had a nice long chat, and they claimed that they didn't even think twice about the whole thing. Very circumspect of them.

It was a bad couple of days.

Plus I've got a 40-hour work week (plus some commuting) going, first in a while, and I'm exhausted, dogs are neglected, house is neglected, having some bad allergic reactions to something (lips swelling up?!--started with middle upper lip wed morning, moved to upper right by wed evening; thursday morning had moved around to lower right, by end of day lower middle; this morning very slightly lower left, but mostly I think it's gone; an odd progression with no logic that I can figure), don't have rental income and it's the end of the month; but at least I do now have a contract for a couple of months, which I had also been stressing about. OK, time to go for a walk with... the dogs... ba-dum, ba-dum.....ba-dum, ba-dum.... (think sharks)

Bee Agility

Here is why we use herding dogs instead of pollen-gathering insects for agility. I have this big ugly greenhouse outside my office, covering the outside back wall of my house. I have been slowly dismantling it. Where the door used to be, there is now nothing but a narrow steel frame and a huge door-sized open space. Where the lower wall next to the door used to be, there is now nothing but a narrow metal frame surrounding a huge wall-sized open space about 3' high and 5' wide. Above that, and next to the door, is the only solid surface remaining: the window, which I didn't get around to completely unscrewing.

For the last 10 minutes, a bumblebee has been trying to get out through the lower corner of the window, about 2" to the left of the gaping door-shaped space and about 2" above the gaping wall-sized space. We won't mention the whole bloomin' rest of the interior of the greenhouse in which he could buzz around to his little overstressed heart's content if he'd bother to back up about 1/4".

uh-oh... Tika is starting to watch him, now--thinking-- Nope, coming from a culture in which eating an enemy's brains imbues you with their intelligence, she apparently decided it would be a risky number to partake of Mr. Bee. So she's lying down inside the greenhouse, lazily observing and taking notes.

Tika Is a Good Girl/Jake Propels Himself/Cancer Lives On/The Next Thurber

Tika was a very good girl in class yesterday. Got all of her contacts. Ran off only once, and I knew I didn't have her attention when I put her at the start line, and I was dumb and should have gotten her long leash for that attempt. But she did come back fairly quickly instead of running off to the far side. Didn't grab my feet at all, but I'm also trying to make sure she gets some kind of reward when I screw up (which, unfortunately, *I* was doing a lot) instead of making her frustrated.

But she still doesn't walk nicely on a leash! Jeez, it's always back to square 1. Maybe I should just tie her in a cart and pull the cart...nah, pulling stuff is bad for my back.

Jake's back seems to have been doing fine all week. I've been tossing squeakies for him on the ground, not too far, but he still propels himself to them at rocket speed and lands on them full force. So I've been trying to toss them directly in front of him so he can just grab them in the air without jumping or scooping.

We don't have agility this weekend, so that's good for resting up.

I keep getting email from people who find Remington's cancer site on the web and write to say thanks for having the information and the story. So many dogs-- so sad. Worst are the ones who've had more than one dog with hemangiosarcoma. Sucks sucks sucks. I don't know what I'd do.

Just read a wonderful compilation of Thurber dog stories, articles, and notes. Wish I could write like that. I've been thinking for years about how to write the story of *my* dogs in a way that would entertain. I can do it, I know I can. --I think I can. --I might be able to. --Next week. --Or later.

Agility Camp 2003

4 solid days of agility learning. Again. Yow. Physically exhausting--walked over 8 miles each day, between going back & forth between camp & rings, and walking & running the courses. Did pretty good, although Tika's stays at the start line went from pretty good to nonexistent. One of Friday's instructors classified it as start-line stress, when she advanced from merely not staying to running out of the ring.

Feet-grabbing problem went from almost nonexistent to pretty bad to a little better--Susan Garret suggested making sure that I reward her, a lot, during course runs so she knows she's doing things right. I think she was also the one that suggested trying to get her moving again and, if I can, to then continue running to a spot where I can reward her. She cautioned against substituting any behavior (such as high five or sitting, which other people had suggested), which I was a bit worried about, actually. Also cautioned against rewarding dog for going wrong--at least one instructor said that the instant we go wrong on course, toss the toy for her to get. But I think I kind of like that, although I can see that it could contribute to her wanting to grab something when things go awry. Susan also said to put her up in her crate a bit if I can't get her off my feet. Every instructor who saw the behavior suggested something different for dealing with it. Was a little frustrating.

BUT other than those known problems, we did pretty good. She did slide off a couple of contacts and/or leave early after stopping, but no blatant fly-offs. But then, we probably didn't do more than a dozen contacts all weekend, if that.

Jake's back: Jake's back is quite sore again. I was scheduled to do a fun match this weekend in Elk Grove. Drove straight there from Camp, set up, went to bed. Jake was iffy in late afternoon and early evening, and seemed to be much worse in the middle of the night even though I gave him rimadyl at dinnertime. AND it was frigging cold and I couldn't get warm, and neither could he, so I packed everything up at 4 in the morning and came home so I could see the vet. Had to stop in Livermore and take a 45 minute nap because I was getting so drowsy.

'Course he seemed much better by the time we got here, although still yelping occasionally. Vet said his neck and lower back are sore but nothing drastic. Suggested doing xrays again, since it's been 2 years since the last ones (and since his last episode of back pain). All of this might have been precipitated by Tika landing straight on his back during frisbee Wednesday morning.

Where Do These Things Come From?

Had a pretty good weekend at the Bay Team trial. Life seems to be picking up. I have started to feel a little bit at home in my "new" yard for the first time (since buying the place in Sept '01). Woke up middle of the night briefly, but then Jake decided he needed to go out, and then I was wide awake. So I was up for a bit, had hot chocolate, read for a while, went back to bed. Was just dozing off, jake's snooker runs running vaguely through my head, when all of a sudden I was THERE (where?), walking Remington on leash, and he was turning back towards me--and I woke up in a panic--I forgot Rem at the trial! I didn't do his runs! I didn't bring him home! He wasn't in the room! And of course, instantly realizing--he hadn't been there at all, he isn't here, he never will be here. All washing over me in an instant, from nowhere. Waking me completely in tears.

I did think about & talk about Rem this weekend, all in a matter-of-fact way (e.g., "My dog loves this rainy weather"; "Yeah, this always got Rem pretty excited, too."). Only once, when I was talking with someone about new dogs, and I was trying to say that it would be a while before I got another one again, for this reason & that reason & because I'd still think of it as filling in the spot left gaping empty by Remington--and I couldn't finish the sentence because it lodged in my throat and nothing at all dared come out.

So I don't really know where that rude awakening came from this morning, 2 months after Rem died. I'm still rattled and overwhelmed, a couple of hours later. More sleep not possible.

Wanted to say some about all of Jake's qualifying runs this weekend (everything except 1 standard, including 2 gamblers!), but I've got too much else to do before leaving this morning for Power Paws Camp for a week.

A Week In The Life--A Musical--You'll Laugh, You'll Cry, You'll Throw the Squeakie One More Time

Let's Go Strollin': Yesterday morning we managed to walk all the way over to my sister's house (about 1/3 mile) with hardly any pulling, just the occasional (every 10-20 steps) pop-turn or stop-wait or walk-into-oh-my-how'd-that-happen? reminder. Walking back was a little tougher because I didn't avoid walking past the fence of a yard with dogs in the back, and we had large quantities of lunging and severe corrections, but we finally walked past without pulling much at all.

This morning we did a more familiar walk, and Tika wasn't quite as bad as square one, but we never got more than half a block in either direction, because the yanking & lunging would get worse the further we went. Hrm.

Tiny bubbles, in my yard... Tried blowing bubbles to see whether Tika might like chasing them as much as Rem did. But no. Taste stupid. Stupid mom. Jake never did chase them. What am I going to do with all this bubble stuff?

Ain't Misbehavin'? Tika was a brat in class Wednesday, too--not staying at start, flying off dogwalk, running away after the geese in the field, sniffing another dog's butt, going to the obstacle in front of her instead of responding to "Teek, come!", and so on.

So when she'd do the wrong thing, I hooked her leash to the fence, got Jake out of the car, snuggled with him & played with him and then did one of the exercises with him--and Lo and Behold!--the next exercise Tika would do perfectly. But then we'd put Jake away, and she's start out OK, and then do some butt-headed thing again.

So it's not a not-understanding-what-to-do issue, it's understanding that she can't decide what activity she'll participate in now (e.g., doing agility vs. chasing squirrels, or doing agility with her mom vs. doing whatever she feels like doing on the course).

SOOO--We'd been discussing this for a couple of weeks, but our instructor now says for sure Tika's too immature to be out doing competitions, especially ones in which I can't correct the problems as they appear. So I've pulled her from everything except Jumpers at next weekend's Bay Team trial; signed her up for 2 days of fun match that I had been planning on skipping, and then the next trial or 2 are both NADAC, where I *can* do some training in the ring, so we'll leave those in place. Will decide later in May about the June CPE trials we're already signed up for.

Can't Get No Squirrelifaction, Though I Tried, and I Tried: Poor little half-grown squirrel got the bejeezus scared out of him on Saturday. Dogs apparently didn't actually catch him, but when I went out to see why they were continuing to bark frantically for hours on end, I found this little guy welded to a branch about my eye level, panting frantically, his eyes about twice the size of his head.

I chased the dogs inside and left him alone for about 10 minutes. Went back out--still glued to exactly the same spot, although he wasn't panting any more. I poked at him with a long stick to get him to move--which he did, around to the side of the branch away from me so I couldn't see him. (Or so he thought--except for his little desperate toes clinging to the bark.) We repeated that a few times, and then he started looking a little more annoyed than scared and went up and down a foot or 2 a couple of times.

So I went back inside for another few minutes, and this time he had removed himself to safer places when I came back out.

Poor baby. He definitely wasn't a full-grown guy. I hate it when the dogs actually catch a squirrel. Nothin' I can do after they've managed to grab and shake a couple of times. At least this guy probably learned a valuable lesson.

Glory and Disaster

Tika's USDAA weekend

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Not sure whether this was the worst weekend we've had, but it has to be close. Back in Feb, when we were doing pretty good, in a fit of ambition I entered her in the DAM tournament AND novice. In order of the runs:

Saturday:

• Novice gamblers: Didn't stay at the start line. Removed her. Didn't have problems with staying the rest of the weekend.
• Team jumpers: A pretty complex course, and we did it without E-ing! Missed weave entry & had to go back for it, and crashed a double-jump big time. Grabbed my feet as we crossed the finish line. (I'm trying to put her into a down after each occurrence but that doesn't really work, either.)
• Novice Standard: Flew off A-frame. I stopped and said "Tika!" She came back & started to put herself back on the contact, so I quickly went on. She flew off the dogwalk. I stopped again. She came back and quickly DID put herself back on the contact. I had to take her off, of course. Never got to the teeter.
• Novice jumpers: I crossed behind a little early and pulled her off a jump, which she then back-jumped. Otherwise she was fast & with me. Grabbed my feet as we crossed the finish line.
• Team gamblers: In opening, knocked a bar. Missed one of 2 weave entrances. Flew off 1st teeter but I think she didn't realize it was a teeter because she looked as stunned as I felt. Brought her back & she did 2nd teeter perfectly. Tried to race around to get the gamble when the whistle blew; she started grabbing my feet when I did a front cross to get her into position. Managed to get her to take the first couple of obstacles but then she was off course. When she came back to me as I headed out of the ring, she grabbed my feet. I tried to push her away and said "Cut that out!" Judge said "Don't correct your dog. Leave the ring please." So I had to walk all the rest of the way out of the ring with her hanging on my feet. Argh.
• Tunnel madness: Lots of fun. Our specialty. ;-) She was 2nd fastest dog out of 100 entries. Worked away from me very nicely and kept moving. Until we crossed the finish line, when she grabbed my feet. 181 yards in 32.31 seconds, with a couple of interesting sharp turns after straight dog-rocketing tunnels.
• Team standard: 3rd obstacle was dogwalk. She ran past it. I called her back and put her on it. She FLEW off the far end, raced to the far side of the ring, ran around the fence they had erected between there & the novice ring, charged into the novice ring (they were course building at the time, thank heavens), ran all the way around the novice ring full speed a couple of times, went to a couple of people who called her but then dodged away. Got her back when she realized she couldn't see me any more & came looking for me--THEN she came when I called her.

Sunday:

• Novice pairs: No aframe. Stuck the teeter beautifully. The dogwalk's end was pointed directly at her crate--don't know whether that's why she decided to get that contact, but she did, although it was sloppy--she stopped halfway down & looked back at me. Then slowly did 2-on/2-off. When I came up next to her to say "good girl," she lunged off the side towards me (leaving her back feet on the DW) and grabbed my feet. I managed to get her moving and we finished the course. We were the first dog; she grabbed my feet in the exchange box and I had to work most of my partner's run to get her to stay down and let go of my feet. She also knocked a bar and missed up contact on DW.
• Novice standard: Missed up contact on dogwalk, then flew off (4th obst.) and I took her off.
• Team snooker: I picked a fairly simple course--over a red at a fairly sharp angle & into a tunnel. But she ran *past/around* the red and hit the tunnel before I could stop her. 0 points.
• Novice snooker: A very easy course--over a red straight across and into a tunnel. She knocked the red bar & hit the tunnel before I could stop her. Another 0 points. I felt badly about those 2 runs because she didn't really do anything wrong for a baby dog but we couldn't keep going.
• Team relay: A weird bobble getting into weaves at an angle where she ended up going around a tunnel instead and coming back to me OVER it. Grabbed my feet and I had to gesture with my whole body a couple of times to get her to let go and get into the weaves. FLEW off the aframe big time but stayed right with me to come back to the tunnel under the Aframe & finish. Grabbed my feet after I handed over the baton.

Sooooo-- except for jumpers & tunnelers--we didn't have an excellent time. And it's 90% contacts and feet grabbing, with some up contacts on DW and some bar knocking. Oh, yeah, and a little bit of handling, too. Just a short list.

Jake's USDAA weekend

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Good thing Jake was running well this weekend. (Except for gamblers. Argh! Two VERY doable gambles, and we didn't get either!). In order of the runs:

Saturday:

• P3 Gamblers: A good, fast, high-scoring opening. In gamble--"Turn? What's a turn?" Still good for a 1st place.
• P3 Standard: A good boy. 1st place and Qualifying. Pretty light on his contacts.
• Oscar's Relay: Light on contacts but paying attention and fast enough. Partner was a very novice dog with an off-course, but we were still 2nd out of 13 pairs.
• P3 Snooker: Wahoo! Just like old times! A stellar performance, 4 reds with a 5-6-7-7 opening & got all the way through with almost 10 seconds to spare! Good for a 1st place and super-Q in P3; would've been 7th in Masters with 6 SQs, but I'd have probably tried for another 7 in that case & just might have gotten it.
• Tunnel madness: Pretty fast but not Superjake. In this one, he was competing against all the standard 22" dogs, most of whom are younger than his 11.5 yrs. (Not that that's a good excuse--look at the snooker!) Also I forgot where I was going at one point and we probably lost 3 seconds while I turned him around and got him back on track. He was 7 seconds slower than Tika.

Sunday:

• P3 gamblers: Dag nabbit--carried out *too* far and didn't come in when I said "come come come come COME!" A conservative opening was good for only 2nd place.
• P3 Standard: Another very nice run, also light on the contacts, also 1st place and Q.
• P3 Jumpers: Wahoo! An excellent dog. 1st place and Q. And now it's online in a 1.8 MB movie for your viewing pleasure!

Comfort and Ashes

Wednesday morning was one of the nicest I can remember in a very long time. I woke up sort of slowly. Dogs always seem to know when I'm waking up, even if I don't think I've moved or changed my breathing. Jake hasn't always been snuggy in the morning lately--well, he was never really snuggy, but he used to come over & check my ears for damage that might have occurred during the night, and to get scritched. Tika likes to snuggle but I have to get her to come up and lie next to me. She often lies down next to my legs and presents her tummy for rubs, which I can't reach because my arms are up with me where I'm lying down.

That morning, she came up right next to me on my right side, and jake came right up next to me on my left side. I turned on my side towards Jake, and he lay over on his side, back pressed against me, head on my lower arm, while I rubbed him gently and stroked Tika with my other hand. I was so relaxed. I gradually stopped rubbing, and we all just lay there, me with my eyes closed, warm dog bodies relaxed against me. I haven't felt that content or relaxed in a great while. I think I like having only 2 dogs, especially 2 who aren't touchy about how close the other dog is.

Last night I called the emergency clinic to find out why Remington's ashes had never appeared. Turns out they've been there, in a cupboard, waiting for me to pick them up, for quite a while. No one had called. Person on duty had no idea why not. I went right over and picked them up, feeling guilty and dumb at the same time. Guilty because Rem hated staying at the hospital, and especially when I couldn't be there with him. And dumb because there's nothing left of him but ashes and memories and I really seriously doubt that the ashes care one way or another where they are. It's only me who cares.

I still don't know what to do with what's left of him. Ashes are sealed in a nice cedar box, currently with his collar and tags wrapped around it, sitting on my table next to his photos and a nice plant that the Mixed Breed Dog Club sent in his memory. Never asked for my other dogs' ashes. Didn't know what I'd do with them. Still don't. Have thought I might try to distribute them out there in nature somewhere where he would have liked to run and play, but I think he would have liked to be with me even more.

Dang, for first time in a while, I'm crying again.

He was such a good boy.

Another Weekend, Another Agility Trial

Agility in the rain is SO much--um--fun. Saturday it never stopped dropping moisture from the sky, sometimes only a drizzle, sometimes closer to a downpour. Not bad enough at any time to cancel the trial, although dogs stopped running briefly a couple of times. Fields remained good all the way through, which wouldn't have been true at many sites. Dixon May Fairgrounds isn't a bad place for agility. And it's only about an hour and forty-five minutes from here. I had planned on camping out overnight so I wouldn't have that drive again early Sunday a.m., but I didn't want to try setting up camp in the rain, so I indeed came home Saturday night & got up again at 5 Sunday morning. Nice thing was that it was a small trial, so I was done running by noon both days.

Jake had an OK weekend. Again I felt as if we weren't clicking on most things. He had a decent gamble opening--not awesome--got his contacts--and missed the gamble just barely; did better than most dogs. I think only one dog of any height got that gamble. A few got it over time, but not many of those, either. He Qed in one standard and won/Qed jumpers; other standard run we were just completely out of synch--he also stopped at the 10th weave pole to sniff at a disturbed spot on the grass, then popped out, and every time I'd try to put him back in there, he'd sniff at the same spot and pop out again. Also big wide turns and missed obstacles and wrong obstacles and jeez what a mess. Snooker was ok except he slipped behind me to take a wrong obstacle. Oh, well.

Tika is such a brat about her contacts. We practiced them all week at home. Did them fine in class. Practiced on the ground and on the trailer ramp at the trial. Came home Saturday night and drilled them. At the trial--flies right off, not even attempting to do them properly. Has been doing her teeters well, but not dogwalk or Aframe. I just put her in a down, asked for her leash, and walked her off the field each time. So that was 3 out of the 5 runs-- In Snooker we didn't get too far; she got sucked in by a tunnel that I was trying to pull her away from, with me standing 15 feet away yelling "Come come come come!" to no avail. But we haven't really practiced running *among* obstacles without taking them, which is a whole additional skill.

Jumpers was a lot of fun--basically a big X across the field joined at the top, with tunnels at the 2 top corners. Holy rocket ship. She did the whole thing in less than 17 seconds; most dogs were in the 20+ range. In fact, she knocked one bar and even with the 5-point penalty added to her time, was fast enough to win her class. One other dog had a faster time--16.08, while hers I think was 16.8--one of those fast german shepherds whose stride is so long that, on a course like this, running full out, I don't think Tika could match him--although maybe, because one leg of the X did curve so that at one point the dog was looking at the wrong jump, which Tika did, although she called off it, she did slow down and change her path a bit to recover. Might have been 1 second's worth.

But to make me feel better, the Shepherd knocked 3 or 4 bars. :-)

She's gone back to pretty much pulling on the leash full time on our walks. Jeez. Now what?