Dog Paddling

This was a quiet and hot weekend, so we took the opportunity to wheel the kayak down the road to the pond and paddle around for a couple hours.

All the dogs like kayak rides, so we were sure to choose one with plenty of room for a canine passenger. Jade enjoys them perhaps too much. He is too water-crazed, and constantly wants to jump out to swim. His one trip in the kayak I spent clinging to him as he repeatedly tried to dive in, while Lowell paddled the boat by himself. Tristan and Maebe ride nicely enough, but are constantly wondering what is supposed to happen next, moving from one side of the boat to another repeatedly, and occasionally trying to climb up front to see what I'm doing in the bow. Cade, well Cade hasn't been granted the opportunity yet, because I suspect he is likely to follow Jade's example. It will be a training opportunity for this summer, and one likely to provide much entertainment and to possibly require swimsuits.

As for Django, he sits peacefully in the middle of the boat, watching the birds, the shoreline, and the other passing boaters. I look over my shoulder and see his relaxed eyes and doggy grin, lightly panting in the sun. Occasionally he rests his chin on my shoulder for a moment, and his tail will wag softly. He may bob for a passing lily pad or just curl up on the bottom of the boat for a siesta.

One of these dogs gets to go on a lot more boat rides than the others.

Multisport Weekend

At some point in the last month, it has become fairly common for us to get up at 4:30AM. Saturday this weekend was no different, as Lowell was entered in the Flirt with Dirt 5K race at Novi's Lakeshore Park. I was coming along as a spectator. I find 5K's brutal. Give me a couple-hour long triathlon any day over a 5K, which I find to be an all-out pain fest. I do them from time to time, but I was happy to be the support staff this weekend.


I decided to bring Cadence along to help round out the cheering section. Primarily, I just like hanging out with my dogs, but I also wanted to work on attention and focus in an environment that was higher than our neighborhood park but lower than an agility class on the Stimulation and Distraction scale. I figured 600+ running people and several spectating dogs would provide distraction, but create less arousal than running, barking agility dogs.

Cade did great with the race environment. He was calm and attentive the entire time. He got to socialize with several people, and made fast friends with a quiet teenage boy and sat with him thoughout most of Lowell's race. Which was interesting - Cade is friendly with people, but he rarely seeks out extra attention from people besides Lowell and me (and his Aunt Cari at agility). I also had my clicker with me, so we played a variation on Karen Pryor's game, which I termed "50 things to do with a stump." I received a few compliments on how well behaved and well trained he was. I assured them all that he definitely has his moments, but he was conducting himself like a perfect gentleman Saturday and I was very pleased.



Oh, and Lowell kicked ass at the race. Came in first in his age group and 20th overall! Cade and I were very proud.

Because we are Border Collie-type personalities anyway, we headed home, then straight to an annual vet visit for the cats and Cade (everyone remains in great health - yay!), then out to my Mom's house for a bike ride and dinner. Came home in time to pack for the next day's agility trial, and crash into bed.

Sunday we "slept in" until 5:30, then headed to Bloomer Park for our second AKC trial with Django and Maebe. Maebe had two nice runs, but Lowell missed that she popped out of the weaves early in the Jumpers class, and she missed her teeter contact in Standard, which happens sometimes when she is put on a new teeter for the first time. Her other contacts were great, and she was jumping nicely and keeping all her bars up.

Django had a perfect Jumpers run and got first place. Now he only needs one more leg for his first AKC title! Our Standard run also went great. He really was the most focused he has been in the last few trials, he followed my handling well, and we felt like a really good team. Unfortunately, he stepped on the broad jump three obstacles from the end, which is what happens sometimes when your mom has not brought out a broad jump since April to work you on. So, we NQ'ed, but it was still one of my all-time favorite runs with Django. He was running fast and confidently and very connected with me. We both were having a lot of fun together.

Cadence did well at the trial also. He was able to watch both rings (from a fairly big distance) and still keep his cool. We also worked on his crate barking, this time bringing along a Manners Minder to help reinforce calm in the crate even when he can see motion outside of it. Though not perfect, we did make progress. Any barking episodes were generally short protests of indignation, rather than ongoing temper tantrums about the injustices of being confined when there are running dogs to herd. Hopefully we are getting there.

The weird thing about AKC trials is you have two runs and can call it a day, so we were packing up by about noon. Which in some way was a bummer because we entered the Bloomer trial so that we could also watch the track bikes on the Velodrome there, but we were finished before the cyclists even arrived. Oh well. We were exhuasted so were happy to head for home rather than wait.

Overall, this was the type of perfect weekend we were hoping for this summer - being able to balance our human sports with our dog sports, while also just having time to all hang out together. Taking the next weekend off from competition to rest and to unbury our flower beds from the scary amount of weeds that have taken up residency. Guess it can't be all fun and games all the time!

Catching Up

Haven't blogged in a few weeks - originally because I was so busy, and now because I'm not even sure what to write about to catch up. We've been having a lovely spring with lots of fun adventures lately. Since mid-May, we've:

-Taken a long road/camping trip to Kissimmee, Florida and back, with stops in Mammoth Cave National Park and Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Maebe and Django came to compete at CPE Agility Nationals in Kissimmee, while Cade came along for the ride. They all made great driving, hiking, and campfire buddies, although Maebe was looking into nearby hotels hoping for more posh accomodations. Apparently my pillow was the only suitable sleeping area in the camper, so she had to settle for that.

-Competed in CPE Nationals, and watched Maebe and her dad kick some serious agility ass there. So proud of both of them. Maebe came home with four first place ribbons, two seconds, one fourth, and a plaque for Reserve High in Standard. Django had a mixed weekend - some brilliance, some "what on earth made him decide to turn around and go back up the dogwalk in the other direction?" moments - but as always we had a lot of fun running together, he made me proud, and he even came home with a plaque for fourth place veteran in the games (non-standard) classes.

-I competed in my first triathlon for the season, and was pleased with my finish, especially given how early in the season it was. They are truly just a lot of fun, and I can't wait for the next one at the end of the month. In the end, I came in seventh in my age group, but would have placed in every other women's age group. The field was just pretty good at my age - lucky me!

-Have done a couple more local agility trials, and even Tristan got to come out and run a few courses. He was very happy. I can't believe just a year ago he was running so great at Nationals. I think his vision is definitely affecting his jumping now, so we moved him to the "Specialist" category so he only has to jump 12-inches, and we don't ask him to do contact obstacles anymore. He has held up fine with these runs, so hopefully we can continue to bring him out to play a little during this summer's trials.

-Continued to train Cade to be a good little Noodle. He is doing great on the agility obstacles at home. He is now doing 2-on/2-off stops on the contacts, I have him jumping 16" jumps on the jump grids, and think he is now old enough that I will start him on 2x2 weaves very soon. His focus and drive keep getting better. At home. Class has been an increasing challenge in recent weeks with the temper tantrums when other dogs are running. He'd been doing pretty good, but then met the one dog that I have ever seen him actively dislike - an adolescent, exuberant male Beardie in the class. This poor dog sends Noodle up the wall. The beardie is young and excited like Cade, and Cade thinks it his Border Collie duty to take him down a few notches to maintain order in the world. So, the impulse control and attention work continues. . . which means a lot of standing at the back of class doing heelwork and eye contact. He is going to be well worth it though. While he has his squirrely moments, he's just a teenager really, and he is just a delight overall. I do adore the little goofball.

-Oh, and we signed up our first road trip for 2011 already! The British trainer Kay Laurence, who we saw at ClickerExpo this year, is holding a three-day "Learning about Border Collies" seminar at a dairy farm in Missouri in April. Kay is one of the most fascinating dog trainers we've ever seen speak, and the site was described as "Border Collie heaven." We immediately sent in our registration, so plan on taking Cadence and Tristan next spring. We can hardly wait.

In between all that, there have been lots of peaceful drinks on the patio, lovely walks along the pond at sunrise, and just generally enjoying the start of summer, which seemed to arrive while we were off on our camping trip. Feeling very grateful for the many great things that have happened in the last several weeks, and excited for everything still to come in the next couple months.

Some pics from recent adventures:

They Call Me Mr. Noodle

Kind of a quiet week, so I thought I would explain all the "Noodle" talk on this blog.

Noodle is Cadence's nickname. Noodle, Noodle-Doodle, Mr. Noodle, The Noodle - he responds to any of them. Also to "Nood", which I've realized does not sound that good when said in public. I'm the first to admit it is a goofy name, but it fits. I actually gave it to him less than 24 hours after I picked him up. When I brought him home, I also picked up his brother, Spy, so that his new owner could pick him up at my house, which was halfway between her and the breeder. Spy at the time was fairly bigger and broader than Cadence. Sitting side by side, Cade looked kind of lanky and narrow at that age. He has filled out nicely since puppy-hood, but at the time he was kind of long and thin, and had this really long neck which was accented by all his white along his ruff. I looked at the two next to each other in the ex-pen, and told Cade he was a noodle. That was the first day I had him, and it has stuck.

The funny thing is how much it suits him still. The dog can bend and contort his body and squeeze into, between, around, and through anything he sets his mind too. (A trait that, combined with his recent mastery over wire crate door latches, makes me very glad that he does generally have some respect for enclosures. He could be quite an escape artist if he chose to be.) He loves to lie totally stretched out in "frog dog" position, with his legs flung straight out in front and in back of him. He also still tends toward a lean, lighter-boned physique, and somehow the silliness of the name also fits his happy-go-lucky, playful, silly personality. You can never get impatient or frustrated with a Noodle. As Lowell described him this morning, "He doesn't have a bad bone in his body. He sincerely tries and wants to be good and do the right thing all the time." Just sometimes - OK, not infrequently - the Noodle-brain leads him to temporary mischief.

I had picked out the name "Cadence" years ago as the name for my next puppy. I love the name. For me the term comes not from music, as most people assume, but from cycling, which is my other great love. I also liked that it conveyed balance and rhythm - a good description for my ideal of an even-tempered, reliable yet driven dog. I was so pleased to have found the perfect name for my perfect new puppy. So it was ironic when it occurred to me the other week that a sub-portion of people who know him actually do think his name is Noodle. Which, really, is kind of a dorky name, so please, it's Mr. Noodle, if you don't mind.



Spy (left) and Cadence when I brought them home

Progress

Big breakthroughs for the little Noodle last week in his foundation agility class! As Cadence is now 13-months old, I have been gradually increasing the amount of agility training we are doing. We are taking it slow though, and I am trying to do things right from the start rather than rushing and having things to go back and fix later on down the road.

After all the orthopedic problems that Tristan had, I have been very conservative with what I have asked Cadence to do physically up to this point. We spent his first year basically doing obedience, flatwork, impulse control and relationship-building games, Salo puppy jumping exercises, and shaping his end contact behavior (two on/two off) on a flat plank. Things like that. I wasn't worrying about having him jump bars or run over full contact obstacles. He still hasn't even seen weave poles, and won't for probably another couple months.

Fortunately, the above list has given us plenty to work on. By the end of the winter though, I was pretty happy with his flatwork/shadow handling skills and the way he has begun using his body over the jump bumps. So in recent weeks, we have started regular backyard training sessions with increasing obstacle work. He is now running down the down ramp on our mini-dogwalk and assuming his 2-on/2-off position until released, he is running to the end of a low teeter without hesitation, doing a nice auto-down on the table, blasting through chutes and tunnels, and we have begun putting a bar on the jump during his Salo exercises, which he clears nicely.

All along, he has been enrolled in intro agility classes, but I have been using them primarily as a means for proofing with distractions. Cadence is extremely motion-oriented, even by BC standards. He is not reactive or aggressive in the least, but when he watches other dogs run he does have a great urge to scream with excitement. Off leash, he has a great desire to run big Border Collie loops around everyone, so he had not been allowed that opportunity for quite some time. We spent our last session of classes occasionally participating in an exercise, but mostly working on showing impulse control and giving me attention. Thankfully, we had an understanding instructor who let us do our own thing for the most part. At home, we continued to build value for the obstacles, but class was mostly about control and focus.

After a couple-week break between class sessions, we started up again last week. I'd been working him a lot over those off weeks and he immediately was more attentive and calm when we arrived to class this time. After warming up on some single-obstacle exercises, we were ready to run a few little sequences that had been set up. I figured I would keep him on leash as usual, do a couple obstacles, reward him, and call it good. But as it neared our turn, Cade had yet to have a screaming fit and was still nicely focused on me. I had Lowell prepared to run interference just in case Noodle decided he wanted to run the ring gating dividing the two class areas (a fast, vocal BC was running in the course adjacent to us at the time), and decided I would see if our recent work was paying off. I took a deep, calming breath, and slipped off his leash.

Well, my Noodle made me very proud! We ran this, and the following sequences, without a hitch. He lined up and stayed nicely at the start line, stuck with me, followed my handling correctly, kept his criteria on the obstacles, and most importantly, seemed to be having fun. I would reward after every few obstacles, but it was fun to watch him start to figure out that this was the game - that you could do these obstacles one after another, and that you could run! I swear I could see a light bulb go off after he would do the first two obstacles, like he was thinking, "Wait, I can keep going and do another obstacle, and I can do it fast!" With each obstacle he took, I could see him dig in with more confidence and start to accelerate more and more. He had me hustling and even a bit winded at the end of just a short, easy course.

The best part was as we would connect as we were running. I'd see him coming out of the tunnel, our eyes would meet, and I could suddenly see us running his first course, entering his first competition, and becoming a true team. I could see that he was not just my baby Noodle-dog, but also my next agility partner.

We still are in no rush. Even though he made no mistakes this week, he is still nowhere near 100% reliable off-leash, so we will continue our recall and attention work. But we are making progress definitely, and I can see the day somewhere off in the future where we walk into the ring together. For now, I am glad that patience is paying off, and am glad that I am staying committed to the training methods and plan that I have chosen. I hope one day he can be a good example of the benefits of shaping and positive training.

OK, as we left class, I admit he did have to voice his excitement over the whole evening with one vocal outburst, but he quickly pulled it back together and acted like a dignified little Noodle again.

Newbies Again

This weekend, Django and Maebe entered their first AKC agility trial. Until now, both have only participated in CPE trials, so it was an interesting and fun experience to try something new.

The various agility-sanctioning organizations tend to have differing stereotypes among the dog community. While these are not necessarily my opinions, the general stereotype I have heard is that CPE is strictly about fun, and is for less serious, non-competitive-minded trainers, or for new dogs starting out who want less pressure and easier courses. I've heard that the rigor of training tends to not be as high, but that it is more relaxed and laid-back. AKC, on the other hand, has had the stereotype (at least as I've perceived it) as being more competitive, more difficult, and while the trainers are more serious, they are also less friendly and more "clique-y."

I enjoy CPE, as the "fun" part of the stereotype has always held true for us, but we were interested to try other venues. We were delighted when the AKC finally decided to allow mixed breeds in competition this Spring, so we got Maebe (a mixed breed) and Django registered, and signed up for a local trial hosted by a friend's breed club.

I admit, we were excited for a new challenge and opportunity to compete and were keeping an open mind, but also in the back of our minds were prepared that the AKC environment might prove to be stuffy, unfriendly, and uninviting. We figured we'd try it out, and see how it went.

Not knowing that unlike CPE, measuring can take place throughout the day, we showed up bright and early at 7 AM on Sunday to get our dogs measured. Even though we had not done AKC before, we still found lots of friendly faces there as lots of people do both venues or had been in classes with us. They helped us get oriented, and we were able to get two measurements taken on the dogs. Both came in exactly as I'd expected. Django was not terribly sure of the whole measuring process but held it together OK. Maebe just didn't like holding still when she knew all the fun equipment was out there and she really wanted to go play NOW.

Fortunately, we live 15 minutes from the trial site, so we headed back home and spent a beautiful morning taking Jade, Tristan, and Cadence for nice long walks around the pond and neighborhood. Even got some agility training time in with Cade before heading back to the show with Django and Maebe.

Since AKC requires you to start back in Novice, the courses were easier than we are used to in Level 5 CPE. There are some differences though that we knew could present new challenges - CPE does not use a pause table, we rarely see a broad jump, and CPE does not count refusals. Despite being back in Novice, I was oddly nervous.

Django's Standard run went well for the first two-thirds - he did the broad jump and table beautifully - but my handling pulled him off the A-Frame, and he got a refusal. Afterwards I was a bit flustered, and he subsequently took the wrong end of the following tunnel, so we NQ'd, but I was overall pleased with his performance and blame my ring nerves for the handling errors. We redeemed ourselves with a lovely clean Jumpers run which took first place in 16-inch Preferred.

Maebe and Lowell had two great runs. Both runs had a refusal called, due to some timing issues on front crosses, but still earned them a qualifying score and first place. It is always fun to listen as people see Maebe for the first time. Our video tape picked up the following conversation: "Oh, that's a cute little dog going in now . . . Wow, she's fast . . . oh-my-gosh she is REALLY fast!. . . etc. It always makes us smile. I was very proud watching the two of them work. She has rock solid contacts now after they had plaqued her performance for over a year. The Salo jump grid exercises we are doing also seem to be having an effect, as she jumped nicely and didn't knock any bars all day. She continues to get more and more consistent, and Lowell's handling improves as he learns not to race her. I love watching them run.

The most noticeable observation we made this weekend though was how faulty the stereotypes about the organizations truly were. First, after watching the Excellent level Standard runs, the course difficulty and the level of handling did not seem noticeably different from CPE - I think CPE really gets a bad rap there. But secondly, the AKC venue was a lot more fun and friendly than I guess I had anticipated. Certainly we had a lot of friends there, but there were a lot of people we did not know, and several of them welcomed us, asked about our dogs, and gave us nice compliments. As we left, a woman we had just met approached us and said "Welcome to AKC. It was really nice meeting you and your dogs and we hope we'll see you back again." It was a very nice welcome, and we were very glad we didn't let the stereotypes we had heard prevent us from trying this new experience.

It was also fun starting something new again with Django. I am pleased with what we've accomplished together, and as he is now probably somewhere around eight years old, I am focusing on just enjoying every run we have together. I had debated not getting him an AKC number as it seemed late in life to start a new venture, but then I realized that physically he still looks great - he is healthy and fit, and as my long-time running buddy he is still as excited and tireless as ever. Plus his confidence and enthusiasm for the sport only continues to increase, even still. So, I decided we'd give it a try, and it has been really fun being a beginner again with Django. As we had to brush up on a few things (table, broad jump, etc.) it gave me motivation in recent weeks to do increased agility training with him, which we both really enjoyed. And the excitement of something different also made me appreciate the long partnership we've had and the fact that we can still grow and learn some more.

So, this morning I printed out a list of AKC trials in Michigan and Ohio over the next several months that will allow mixed breeds. Looks like we've found even another option of something to do on the weekends!

Django ONYX

This past weekend, Django received his plaque for earning his ONYX award in flyball last October. The ONYX is awarded after the dogs reaches 20,000 points in his racing career. Django started flyball relatively later in life since he was adopted as an adult, and I was proud to reach that milestone with him.

Flyball was good for Django. When I got him, he was shy, not terribly interested in toys or retreiving, and dog-reactive. During my first few weeks with him, I wasn't sure that he would ever have the desire or courage to participate in a sport that involved lots of loud dogs running off leash right alongside him, and that required him to drive away from me, and to retrieve a ball. Our early retrieve sessions involved him half-heartedly walking to the ball and picking it up, then strolling back to me as I danced around and cheered like a crazy person waving a bag of chopped up hot dogs. Lowell laughed at me the first time he witnessed this, and teased me that my up-and-coming flyball dog looked real promising.

Within a year though, Django figured it out. His mild interest in the ball turned into complete obsession. Learning the rules of the game built his confidence and he could focus despite the running, barking dogs. He came out of his shell more and more outside of the ring, and his dog-reactivity was pretty much a thing of the past. He still hates Huskies and certain Tervs, and would prefer to not have strange dogs in his face when he is on leash, but he has learned in such situations to count to ten and let mom take care of it. I can walk him through crowded trials without worry now, and he does socialize nicely with other dogs regularly.

Django became a solid flyball dog, running in the low-4's. He loved to run in anchor position, and loved to race the dog in the next lane to the finish line. He wouldn't take a tug toy when he got back to me, but would instead whip around to watch the rest of the racing. Which, if he was running in the middle of the pack, occasionally made him into a bit of a road block in the lane, but I became skilled at catching his harness and pulling him to the side while he chewed on his tennis ball and stared at the racing. The ball became his true desire in life, and he never, ever dropped it or came back without it.

For Lowell and I though, things gradually began to change. In our last year and a half of racing, Django was crossed on and crashed by other dogs four times. Each time sent him tumbling and made me completely sick to my stomach, and I began to question whether I had the nerve to play this sport much longer.

We all take risks, with ourselves and with our dogs. I don't believe that we should try to exist in safe little bubbles, but rather we should live our life and enjoy it. But at some point, risks begin to outweigh rewards. There is risk in other dog sports, certainly, but in agility for instance, it felt more under my control. If I don't feel the obstacles are safe at a venue, I can choose to avoid them. If weather conditions make the course too slippery, I can scratch my dog from a run. I train my dogs to do obstacles safely, don't push them to do things before they are ready, and decide when I think conditions are suitable for running. In flyball, I realized, my dog's safety was also in the hands of seven other handlers and dogs in the ring at the time. There was nothing I could do if someone in the next lane decided to "try out" their green dog to see what it would do, and that dog decided to tear off after my trained dog. I've seen ugly crashes, and seen dogs seriously injured in just this situation. This past weekend before receiving our plaque, we sat and watched a total of six races, and watched scary interference situations occur in 50% of them, without exaggeration.

Our eight years of flyball have brought us a lot of fun with our dogs, introduced us to great friends, and taken us on fun road trips. But even beyond our safety concerns, in recent years something just wasn't there for us anymore. Agility had become our true dog-sport passion, and we wanted to spend more time training and trialing in it. We were growing more interested in other areas of dog training in general, and were longing to spend more time with some of our other pursuits, both dog and non-dog related. I was concerned that some of the physical aspects of flyball - such as jumping low and flat, and turning repeatedly in one direction - were having an affect on agility performance and the physical health of the dogs. Jade was retired after a breaking a toe on a box and then our realizing he had a mouth full of incisors loosened by the years of impact, making him no longer want to carry the ball. As much as I had loved the sport for years, as much as I valued the social aspect of the activity, and as much as I know my dogs enjoyed the racing, it felt like it was time for us to take a break this past October.

A couple months later, we realized that the break was probably going to be more than that, and sadly told the team that we were stepping back for now. I felt a little sad about retiring Django, who does love the sport. Sunday before heading up to get the plaque though, we went for a run with the dogs. Django knows when I get running clothes and shoes out what we are about to do, and starts dancing at the door with excitement. As we go out into the yard, he tears joyfully around for a few laps, then dances at the gate waiting to be leashed up. I watched him brimming with pre-run delight, and realized that what matters to them is the time we spend together, whether it is playing flyball, competing in agility, taking a run in the park, hiking through the woods, biking around the neighborhood, paddling along in a kayak, or shaping a new cute trick on a quiet evening at home. All of those are things I have been lucky enough to share with Django for years, and we will continue to do for hopefully some time to come. I don't suspect that he is sitting around longing for his flyball days. That is the wonderful thing about dogs - how much they live in and enjoy the moment.

While I miss seeing our flyball friends regularly and have fond memories of the good days of racing, we are enjoying the time we have now to devote to other things - things that we have not been able to do as much as we would have liked in recent years. We've had more long weekend-morning hikes, more runs through the park, more hanging out watching them play in the backyard, more training time, and the opportunity to try out new agility venues. Lowell and I have also re-doubled our triathlon training in preparation for several races this summer - an activity that we missed out on altogether last season with our busy schedule, and we can hardly wait for the first event.

Django's plaque represents a milestone reached, but also in some way represents the closing of a part of our life. At the same time, new adventures, opportunities, and challenges are presenting themselves, and I am feeling good about where we are going now. Maybe one day we will venture back onto the lanes, but for now we are happy with this new journey, and wish happy, safe racing to our flyball friends.