Inexhaustible dogs

Yesterday's comic: Does this look familiar?

Cathy by Cathy Guisewite

Cathy Aug 26, 2003, Universal Press Syndicate

Jake's USDAA/SMART weekend

Jake is such a good little boy most of the time. Now he's the star of the household in behavior, now that Rem's not around. Just had some new dogsitters the other weekend and Jake's the one they wanted to take home with them.

He had decent contacts all weekend. Not really fast, not really stopping for 2-on,2-off, but didn't miss any, either. Not SuperJake in any of his runs, although he moved along OK most of the time. He was VERY slow in the weaves in at least a couple of his runs. I don't know whether that's nerves or arthritis. Sometimes in class and here at home he blazes through them, but sometimes he's slow there, too.

He did a spectacular job on his Gambler's course, getting a gamble that no other Performance-level dog got and that wiped out almost 75% of the Championship-level dogs. People were congratulating us all day on that run. I wish I were better at making time to watch other people's runs--it's just that there always seems to be something to do, either with the trial work or with one of my two dogs.

Here's the gamble itself. The gamble line goes straight out from the side of #1 and straight down even with the right side of #5.

He earned qualifying scores and first places also in both of his Standard runs. And he Q'ed and placed 2nd in his jumpers, about 1 second behind a much larger dog with a much longer stride length.

The jumpers had several serpentines, and the gamble itself was a serpentine. So he's really good at serpentines--but the Pair Relay had a THREADLE, and he SERPENTINED it despite me planting myself and calling and pointing.

I got really annoyed in his Snooker run. We really want super-qualifying scores (top 15% of dogs competing against us) to earn his Performance championship (he finished his Championship championship 2 years ago this coming weekend). The 2 dogs before us crapped out. So I picked the easy course to run--and we crapped out when I stood &planted & called & pointed & he still took the wrong obstacle!

So we have to practice calling/coming (not merely drifting in my general direction) and threadles.

To be even more annoying, in the Steeplechase national qualifier, I called him a little early on a jump to make sure that he turned tightly going over the jump--instead, he skidded to a stop and avoided taking the jump! So I need to figure out why sometimes he doesn't call off and sometimes he's too good at it. I'm sure it's an inconsistent handling thing.

But in general I was pretty happy with 4 Q's (3 1sts and a 2nd aginst 5-7 dogs) out of 7 runs.

Tika Applying For Validation From AKC

There has been much debate from the beginning about whether Tika is pure Australian Shepherd. She's not a "conformation" Aussie--would win no blue ribbons for the ideal breed standard--a little bit too tall, coat a little too short, ears not quite bent enough, stuff like that. But she's sure in the range of the breed description, which you can read at http://www.akc.org/breeds/recbreeds/ausshep.cfm.

The photo there is of a big-coated conformation blue merle Aussie. Here's a photo of Tika, also a blue merle Aussie. For another comparison of Tika and verifiable aussies, see the March 30 archive.

Because she was a rescue, we have no way of proving her ancestry. But I'm going to go ahead and apply for an "ILP" (indefinite listing privilege) with AKC, which allows her to compete in AKC agility trials if I want to spend the money, which would ultimately allow her to be eligible to compete in the World Cup competition--if I want to throw away my entire life and find a way to drastically improve my handling ability and her skillset. The advantage that I have is that one of my instructors has been on the World Cup team for several years (rare! Only half a dozen dogs from the whole US of A each year!) so she knows the ropes AND if Tika can compete head-on with her dogs, then we're set.

I'd say, however, that there are 2 chances of that happening: slim and none. It's not really one of my goals (and there are so many handlers way better than me just in this area, even after my going-on-9-yrs experience!--it would be maybe too much of a stretch goal for me). My goal is to be able to take 1st place occasionally in USDAA Masters classes against competition like this. That'll be challenging enough.

Tika's USDAA/SMART weekend

Tika was a very good girl almost all weekend.

SUMMARY BY TOPIC: 7-run weekend.

Contacts: Very fast, pounding into 2-on/2-off! (Teeter might even be a little faster after a couple of days of the new teeter-accelerator-training.) She had one Aframe where she went down so fast and hard that she sort of bounced off at the end, but stopped right where she was (rear feet about 6" on the grass), with her front paws out and shoulders lowered as if she had stopped with her rear feet ON the contact. It was kind of cute, actually. She turned her head to look at me and started to back up (an interesting behavior, given that I've NEVER made her back up to get on a contact), so I just gave her the OK and went on.

Contact speed: I didn't get any of her runs filmed or timed, so I still don't know how fast she's doing those contacts. But much faster than she does them in class.

Up contacts: Missed up-contact on Dogwalk in both standards. Argh. I know she's missed them before; when do we decide to work on something for that? (She did exactly same entry in gamblers and got the up--at least the judge called 5 pts for the DW.)

Start-line: Very good except iffy in steeplechase & broke in following round. Practiced a lot after that between runs and she was fine again. Oh, wait--one standard I led out 3 obst's, turned, put up my hand, hesitated--and she went without "OK." I let it go then, too, but we practiced more later and she was OK the next round.

Feet: Mouthed my feet after lots of sloppiness in steeplechase run, and a couple of times grabbed *at* feet at end, but came off it quickly each time and NOTHING like those times I couldn't walk because she had hold of my shoes.

Attention: Very focused and working hard.

Successes: 1st in snooker with 51 pts, fastest course time in jumpers of all heights, very high opening pts in gamblers, fastest or almost fastest course times in standards. Very ugly steeplechase but that was mostly me plus inexperience.

Weaves: high-speed practice with her in the yard has paid off--she missed only one entry all weekend, and I'm thinking that I did something odd after the preceding jump.

Competition: There were a couple of mini dogs who had 51 snooker points who took 6 seconds less than Tika. But I suspect that they have running contacts, whereas she stuck her contacts and I took time for a good long "good girl" and moving myself into position and all. Also there's a terv, Apache?, who was really close to her or beat her by a partial second a couple of times? Is that another of Rachel's students? Man, there are some super fast dogs out there--many having course problems, too--knocking bars, really slow or sloppy contacts, missing weave poles--but they'll be scary by the time they get to masters. We can't slack off at all. Dang!

DETAILS BY CLASS:

We picked a snooker course that had three Aframe 7s, and she handled beautifully all through for 51 points, 4 solid Afr's and a good teeter, too. Certainly our best run of the weekend.

In gamblers, she paid good attention--got 2 more Afr's, a dogwalk, and a teeter. The gamble started with a tunnel going away and curving to the right--she came back in to me instead of "out" [I might not have pushed enough because it looked obvious], and we fumbled and did a BEhind to get her back out there, but then she did it all beautifully although over time. Her opening pts were 2nd highest of any dog, I believe, and we were on the down slope of an Afr when the whistle blew, so we were close on those extra 5 pts. :-)

Standards--well, those missed UPs on the DW either saved me from feeling bad or my bad handling kept it from mattering: I forgot the course the first day (pretty hard on a novice course!) and then on the 2nd day she knocked the top bar of a triple on a lead-out-pivot that I might have turned too soon on. But everything else was great. And she had the fastest or 2nd-fastest times both times! Even WITH holding on the contacts.

In steeplechase--wow--definitely our worst. She stood up at the start. I repeated "sit" and she did, but then she walked forward and paused. I let it go (dumb--I really wanted to run her on the course) and on release she ran AROUND the first jump. My handling wasn't up to her green level--we had miscues and wide turns, although she was trying really hard, and then I forgot the course towards the end, and when I was trying to regroup her, she finally had had enough and came in towards my feet. I stopped, made her sit [which she did IMMEDIATELY, which is a big improvement from previous feet-biting incidents], and then jumped her off the course. Oh, well.

In pairs, which was after the steeplechase, I paid for letting her get away with the sloppy start line, because she did NOT stay during my lead-out, so I had to call her back--she went sniffing for a few seconds, but finally came--put her into a sit and continued, and she was beautiful after that. (Our partner--Ken Boyd's new BC Digby--took time out to go visit with the judge, so we were well-partnered for that round.)

In Jumpers, she completely flattened an entire double-jump--standards and everything-- (Gail & Anne said that it looked like I hesitated and did something odd with my shoulders and tika was trying hard to react to it)--which slowed her a bit but she didnt' seem disconcerted and looked at me alertly as if "what next?", so I kept going. She also knocked the following bar, which doesn't surprise me. But we still had the fastest time of any novice.

I'm very happy with the way things are going.

Remington Memories

For a while I worked on writing down everything that I could remember about Remington, and then started scanning in photos to go with it. I seem to have stalled about a month ago, so I'll put up what I have now--all in one long, huge file, sorry. If I add more later, I'll attempt to clearly flag changes.

Read "Remington, In Tidbits" and look at a photospread of a Squirrelhund At Work.

A Fine Weekend

Saturday we mostly hung around; I tried to do some work, showed the house to a couple of possible renters, did chores, went out for dinner, stuff like that. While playing with the dogs in the yard, I tried sending Tika into the weaves from a right angle (a very hard entry) while I was sitting down in the shade (never tried that before--usually I'm moving or at least aiming her in the direction I want her to go)--and she kept getting those weave entries! Blows me away. Just a couple of weeks ago she couldn't get the hard ones worth beans. We've been practicing, but something must have clicked suddenly in her furry little head about actually *working* to get the correct entry instead of simply taking whatever pole is convenient. Whatta gal.

Sunday we drove out to Elk Grove for just one day of a 2-day trial. Getting up at 4 a.m. is not, in fact, my idea of fun, but the traffic was much better then (1 hr 50 minutes) than coming home (2 hr 40 mins), where my foot and ankle were starting to cramp from the stop/go/slow-speed commute. Must admit that's the worst that coming back from Elk Grove has been in quite a while, though.

Jake's Performance: He was not fast this weekend. Maybe my perspective is a little skewed from running Tika, but he just wasn't the zippy dog that he's capable of being. Yeah, it was pretty warm. Yeah, he's going on 12. But I did my best to rev him up with rousing tug-of-wars right beforehand, and hosed him down before and after, that sort of thing. We also just weren't clicking--again--off courses, pulling out of weave poles (twice!), slow/wide turns despite my best deliberate efforts to be crisp and in the right position. Still, he did earn qualifying scores in 3 out of 5 of his runs, which I suppose I shouldn't complain about.

One of our northern CA competitiors, Max and Jessica O., earned their CPE championship last weekend, making them the first CATCH in CA. It would've been nice for Jake to be there--he does Q a lot, usually--but we haven't been entering all of the trials that Max and Jessica have been, by far!, so we still have a ways to go. But we're probably among the top 3 or 4 contenders, still. (Although the others are also attending more CPEs than we are, so it'll be a while for us.)

Tika's Performance: Yow! Whatta girl! (I say again.) Finally things were clicking again. She stayed at the start line all 5 runs. She got all her contacts beautifully [and I'm trying to remember how many we did--a lot--15?]--left early 2x, but not very early, and she hesitated immediately when she realized it, instead of taking off. She got Qualifying scores in all 5 AND took 1st in all 5.

We, unlike me & Jake, seemed to be communicating well. We had what I think was probably a flawless Jumpers run. Completed the whole course in 17-something seconds, which was 4 seconds faster than all other Level 1 and 2 dogs of any height (probably about 50-60 dogs; I didn't count).

[Picture: The sort of jumpers course on which Tika excels--6.66 yards per second!]



Our Gamblers was also pretty fine. The judge created an extremely nontraditional course, in which there were 3 possible gambles on the course, with bonuses possible on 2 of them. Tika did all 3 (although one didn't count because she knocked a bar, but it was a challenging one where the dog had to go straight away from you into the middle of 3 tunnels!--and I was extremely proud of her for doing it correctly), and she got the bonus on one of the 2. She was with me every step of the way, intensely focused, nice tight turns, probably did more obstacles than any other dog.

[Picture: first gamble: over jump and through middle tunnel. 15 points if you stayed behind line behind jump; 10 pts if you were behind side lines]


She ended up with 71 points--the knocked-bar gamble would have added 13, which would have made her the highest-scoring dog of all heights *all* levels, even 4, 5, and championship levels! As it was, only 3 dogs had higher scores--

Including Jake, with 74 because he got all the gambles and bonuses, although he did several fewer obstacles because my brain quit working (last run of a hot day, you know, or some excuse) and I bobbled a couple of things, called him off ones he should've taken, retook obstacles we had already gotten points for, and quit early when we could've gotten more points. But he was a very good boy for that one.

Tika's Full House was flawless--the 2nd time. One doesn't usually get 2 tries at a course. We started out OK, but then she ran past an obstacle and then the whistle blew when I wasn't expecting it and had to do some weird handling, whereupon she grabbed at my feet. Turns out that the whistle blew because there was a problem with the timer, so we got to start over. And it was perfectly executed as I had planned it! She was so beautiful on course, carrying out over even r 2 or 3 obstacles ahead of me, getting her contacts and waiting, and going straight to the table at the end. And no foot grabbing. She was only about the 3rd highest score of all dogs all heights all levels because I went for (a) a flowing course rather than a more twisty, turning-back-on-your-path one to pick up some extra points, and (b) I had her wait a good solid period of time on each of the 4 obstacles she took. I'm very proud of *that* run, too.

Our two Standard courses were less than stellar, but still fast and qualifying, and not nearly as garbled as some have been in the past. In the first one, she took the wrong end of a tunnel but that was all handler error, and she redirected very nicely without having to grab my feet to teach me a lesson. In the second one, in 2 places she ran past obstacles, but they were difficult handling situations and again not her fault--a more-experienced dog might have gotten them--but on the other hand on both courses there were some *very* difficult turning and calling-off challenges that wiped out a lot of dogs, *including* more experienced ones, that she handled perfectly.

One highlight for me (one takes pleasures where one finds them) was a 2-jump lead-out aimed directly at a dogwalk, where the dog had to make a sharp left turn to the 3rd jump. I led out, stood at the far side of the 3rd jump facing that way, leaned back and held out my off-hand (this is all correct handling, really), and gave her the ok. She blasted across the first jump and as I started my move, I could see her smoothly and without a blip or hesitation change her direction to take the 2nd jump so that she could hit the turn and the 3rd jump hardly slowing at all. It was a moment of sheer beauty, especially since we'd been failing lead-out pivots very similar to that in class just last Wed. night.

And the nice thing about the running-past ones--I managed to get her turned, redirected, run around a couple of other obstacles without going off course, and into the correct place--without her once grabbing my feet! Those are exactly the places where she'd be most likely to do it.

So maybe the last 2 weekends where I just picked her up and walked off with her, explaining quietly into her ear why that was a bad idea, finally sank in.

What a pleasure running her this weekend!

Dog Didn't Make Little Green Apples...

Jake just loooooves his fresh fruit. I try, I really do, to pick up all the fruit that the evil serpent has dropped from the trees to tempt Jake, but there's so much of it and there are 3 trees--

He eats them, but I think he carries them around more than the time he spends munching. And there won't be a toothmark on one until he's good and ready to crunch it up and swallow it, stem and seeds and all. (Waste not, want not.)

There's also a pear tree out there that seems to have a lot of fruit this year. Last year, it had only a little, and the dogs and birds got most of it. None of it's ripe yet, but many are dropping onto the ground. Yesterday I tossed Jake's squeaky in that direction during our 2-3-times daily squeaky-fetch experience, and he picked up a pear and brought it back instead of the squeaky. And those of you who know Jake know how he feels about squeakies!
The Duplex by Glenn McCoy

The Duplex Aug 7, 2003, Universal Press Syndicate

So we played fetch with that until I lost interest, then he ate the pear. Then he got another one. I had to clear every piece of fruit from the ground around the whole yard, and then had to beg, before he went back to his squeaky.

Today, I was attempting to do some yard work. The squeaky was out and about. Tika's Toy was out and about. Tika's Toy kept reappearing to have me play tug of war with it. The squeaky kept reappearing to be tossed across the yard. Then, one time, I tossed the squeaky and an apple came back.

Same thing, no teethmarks. Jake dropped it in front of me, wagging his tail, looking expectantly at it and then at me in exactly the same manner that he does when asking for the squeaky to be thrown. So we played apple for a while, until I got bored, then he ate it.

More convenient than having to give up the toy for it to be put away, I suppose.

Just The Little Linen Things

When I change my towels, I drop the old ones on the floor while I put the new ones in place. Tika loves my used washcloths. The reasons are probably disgusting dog reasons, but it's still entertaining--she'll pick up the washcloth gingerly with her very front teeth, shake it a couple of times with just her head (not a full-body shake like she'd use with an excellent toy, but more as if she's shaking off a little dust). Then she'll put it on the floor in just the perfect position, and start rubbing the side of her face into it. Might even roll on it a bit, get really excited, then leap to her feet and start the whole thing from the front-teeth-pickup routine again.

None of my previous 4 dogs have ever shown an interest in my used linens that I can recall.

A Year Ago Today

Remington finished his NADAC Agility Trial Champion title (NATCH). (See diary entry.) Didn't yet know he had cancer. First undiagnosed sick episode was still 2 weeks in the future.

Here are Jake and Rem with the ribbons they won that weekend and the signed jump bar that the host club awarded Rem. Was just going through some photos from back then and found this.




And I must say that I'm still quite unhappy that I still don't have the NATCH plaque, even though asking for it when his cancer was first diagnosed. That'll hurt when and if it ever shows up. Jeez, just realized it's been 5 months now since he died. Still miss him something awful. Still can see him as clearly as if he'd just left the room.

You know, I do NOT miss that, since he's been gone, no food has ever been taken off the kitchen counters or dining table, and the wastebaskets have never been emptied and strewn around the floor. Those were Rem's ways of letting me know that he was tired of me being out of the house. But, boy, I'd be willing to put up with them--

Jakey Wakey the Fruit Dog

Jake had spurts of being pretty fast at the fun match but several nonspurts of being fairly slow. It was hot, but that doesn't usually stop him from, say, chasing squeakies at .95 times the speed of light. His weave poles are on-again, off-again. Sometimes he hits them like a real pro, but more and more often he takes them at a slow and cautious pace. Sometimes both during the same class session, not predictably in any order, or I'd be more inclined to think it was the bone spur on his toe or some other arthritisy thing.

It might be, anyway, of course, but it's not clear.

He is generally such a good boy. I entered him in the fun match to see whether I could get him to do his contacts there the way that he does them in class--nice and fast to a solid 2-on/2-off stance. Flew off the first one, so I made him do it again, and he slowed down a bit for the contact and with some encouragement managed to get there.

Have been discovering at home that he has no CLUE how to do contacts. So apparently I have successfully trained him to do beautiful contacts in class and nowhere else on the known planet. That's mostly what we lose Q scores to any more, popped contacts, so I wish I could fix them.

But (see earlier various posts) he is SUCH a slow learner.

Apples: It's apple season now. Plums are all gone, so now he's munching whatever other fruit he can find in the yard. Body doesn't digest all of those big chunks of barely ripe fruit very well. (Don't ask how I know.) He's constantly got one between his paws while lounging around. Sometimes he eats them. Sometimes he lies there, chin on one paw, emitting whines that get gradually longer, higher pitched, and sharper. That's the "don't anyone dare to steal my apple" whine, although in fact he's on the far side of the room, my back is to him while I work on the computer, and Tika's out lying on the deck, watching for invasive squirrels.

So actually it's more the "I have a really cool apple here, and I wish someone would try to take it from me so that I could whisk it away and eat it in front of her" whine.

Agility Fun Match and Tika's Tummy

We went up to Elk Grove yesterday for a fun match. It was pretty warm.

Tika did good. Actually her agility skills are danged good; it's that foot-grabbing thing that I especially wanted to work on. She cooperated by grabbing at me a couple of times durig the very first runs. I picked her up and carried her across the ring each time she did it, saying in her ear "don't you grab my feet", then put her down, made her sit-stay, and ran her some more. Not sure whether that's as good as carrying her out to her crate, but she seemed less interested in my feet as the day went on.

Of course, as the day went on, it was hotter AND I was probably acting more relaxed, less like a trial, AND I did whip goodies out of my pocket a couple of times, so she might have caught on that this wasn't the real thing. I wouldn't put it past her.

Contacts pretty darned good (after she flew off the 1st one and I made her walk back around and redo the obstacle). Got most of her weave entries, although she really crashes into them and has trouble managing the next couple when she gets a good running start at them.

Didn't stay at the start line the first run, but I brought her back and put her back in a stay and then that was fine the rest of the day, too.

She and Jake, of course, slept the wholllllle way home and then, of course, were rarin' to go when we got here, while I had a horrific headache that just hadn't quit all day. Had to stop twice on the way home to stretch and close my eyes and put my head down (would have tried taking a nap but it was too danged hot).

Because I felt so awful, I slothed on the couch for an hour or so, sort of watching TV while trying to get my head to relax. Then, because I felt so awful, I didn't bother closing off the living room like I usually do when I'm not in there. Hold that thought.

It's been so warm--usually I close the door to my bedroom, but I've been keeping it partway open so the fanned air can circulate, with a wastebasket in the door to (a) keep it from slamming shut and (b) discourage the dogs from wandering out in the middle of the night without me knowing (because, on the rare occasions when they need to leave the room, it's almost always potty or sick--and I'd rather know about it).

Anyway, for whatever reason, Tika wanted to get up at midnight and go outside. Then at 2:30. Then at 4:30. Each time I let her out for a short while, while I cradled my poor excuse for a head on the table. She'd come back in ready to go back to bed. A couple or 3 times she woke me up with sharp whines or groans. None of this is at all normal for her--trying to remember--I think she's been sick in the night maybe once before. At 6, when she leaped out of bed again, I woke up enough to realize that the bedroom door was wide open, meaning that sometime between 4:30 and 6 she had already been out of the room on her own.

I followed her downstairs and let her out. There were 3 distinct areas of vomit, all different colors and consistencies (you want more details?) inside in the general vicinity of the kitchen door (where the beasts usually go in and out during the day). I didn't see what she did first thing when she went out, because I did a quickie cleanup so that I and Jake could walk through without stepping in goo.

But then she just lay out on the lawn with her head down. She doesn't usually lie on the lawn; lies on the porch or inside with us. Didn't leap up to play when I walked out to join her, but her little nubber tail did wag and she snuggled up close for petting.

After I thoroughly cleaned the kitchen area, I went looking--sure enough, 3 separate spots in the living room and 2 more in my office. Poor girl.

But thank goodness for the wonderful hand-held carpet washer that I got from a good friend!

Nothing obvious in the output that would tell me what caused it. She was a little low on energy the rest of the morning, although she did say that she wanted to go for a walk. (I avoided it because of her stomach and my head.) By the time my headache was finally gone after a couple of naps, late afternoon, she seemed completely better. Ate breakfast and dinner with no apparent problems.

I get so nervous now, after going through the cancer thing with Rem, but I did refrain from calling the vet when it was clear that she still had her full appetitie and breakfast was staying down.

Maybe it was a very delayed reaction to running in the heat? Maybe it was a very delayed reaction to the Bully Stick that she consumed in the car on the way home? (But no chunks of bully-stickness appeared.) Hope that whatever it was was here and gone.

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.