Old Videos

So my internet is finally working a bit more regularly then it has been... and i was finally able to upload the old fun match videos of abby doing her standard run. Remember, this was a fun match in mid November, and I was allowed to treat and touch my dog.

This first run I spent most of my time running Abby over contacts. She really doesn't like "new" obstacles. I spent the first few seconds of my run trying to convince her to take the new dog walk. But once she see the A-frame, there was no discussing. . .she was happy to take it. I wanted to make sure that we wouldn't have a problem with another "new" a-frame, so we went over this one a few times.



The second run was a bit more fun. Once Abby knew what we were doing, she totally blew me off and took the a-frame all on her own...silly girl! But she got back on track and was doing well until she saw the teeter and mistook it for a dog walk. I think I scared her a bit with it, but that was probably a good thing. She can't do a baby teeter on a good day, and a standard teeter would have terrified her enough to put her off contact obstacles for a while.

Frustrations of a Multi-Dog Household

Sure they look innocent enough. . . but try to do something with one alone and they turn into screaming banshees!


Abby loves to train. Mole loves treats. Pocket actually doesn't care either way...


Agility is done for the year. Due to weather, holidays and trials, we have a 3 week hiatus from formal training. That doesn't mean that I can stop training, however. There are certain things that I am supposed to be working on with Abby... but I have almost no motivation to do it because it brings chaos into my otherwise calm household.

All of my dogs are clicker trained - even the ones that don't really like the click itself...Not that I am trying to be mean and use a scary clicker for a dog that doesn't like the sound, but in my trying to find a click that my dog's don't hate, they have learned that clicking means TREATS!!!!!! And while I have stopped using clickers with mole all together, he still thinks that he should get a treat when he hears the click for another dog. And when he doesn't get a treat, he screams his head off.

I am positive that I am not the only person in the world without a yard I can train in, and with multiple dogs who are clicker trained. But how do these people train one dog without the other dogs going to pieces??? Or maybe people live with the barking for 15 minutes at a time??? But considering the fact that I will probably always be a multi-dog household, and the fact that I will probably always be training at least one dog, I need to figure out a way to train in peace!

Maybe frozen kongs and knuckle bones. . .

Sunday NADAC event

This past sunday was our first actual agility trial. This means that I couldn't use any food in the ring, and I couldn't touch my dog. It also means that we were being timed. Abby did quite well for her first trial. She took all the obstacles without ever being treated and her tail was wagging non-stop - a few times she even did a mini-yahoo! My only *complaint* is that my dog us too social in the ring. She keeps trying to go over to people to say hi. She never goes up to anyone ever! Yet she all of a sudden wants to meet the pole setters and the judge!!! Who is this dog????

The video was expertly brought to you by 4 legged flix. They go to a lot of the shows and other dog events and take wonderful video. I totally <3 them.

This was the first run of the day: a jumpers course. Abby ran it in 59.41 sec (1.63 y/s - kinda slow). It felt like an eternity out there - especially when she visited the pole setter.



The second run was a standard course. She ran this one in 67.99 sec (2 y/s - faster!!!). This dog walk was was different then the last one that she ran on here, so it took her a few seconds before she decided if she wanted to take it or not.But once she got going, it was all fun and games - especially on that A-frame!



We did a third run, it was a tunnelers course. Abby did great at the beginning, but I think she got a little bored because she decided that she was done 3/4 of the way through...We didn't buy that video...

So Amazing

I saw this video on a training blog that I read regularly, and I thought that it would be good to share it.



What I find interesting is that this person had gotten this dog for a specific purpose, but the dog wasn't the right fit for the job she wanted him to do. But she still worked with the dog and found the perfect fit for him. I think that a lot of us with dogs can relate to this in one way or another. None of my dogs turned out like I had originally imagined - after allowing them to be who they really are, they turned out even better then I hoped/imagined/believed possible.

Almost Finished!

Almost done with ONE person's christmas gift...