The Peas

These two are always cuddled up together. Instead of calling them my "kids" I've resorted to calling them my "peas"

They often sleep in the strangest of positions

But they are always together, always touching.

I think it's just the sweetest thing in the whole world. It makes even my frost-bitten heart melt.

Now what did I do with the other one? I swear there were three here at one point. . .

Photos In Response to Forum

My anger has subsided some from this morning's posts, so in all fun, here is photographic proof that Malinois are difficult to live with.

First, here is what a "normal" dog does on a day off:

And this is what a crazy mal with a screw loose does on his day off:

While one dog is happy to sleep away the day, the other is just waiting for his command to attack a man.

As far as those pit bulls go, here is one after he has eaten his owner and taken over her bed.

Abby Update

It's been crazy over here with FOUR dogs and work, and it's been quite awhile since I've given an Abby update:

Abby seems to be slowing down a bit and hasn't seemed to really enjoy classes or run thrus or trials as much as she once did. She isn't demanding that I train her or walk her or give her food right this second. I think that some of this can be attributed to age and the general slowing of her body, but some of it has to do with what we are learning and how we are training

Abby is only 7 years old, but she is an old seven. She has arthritis in her elbows and hips, and she has degeneration in her spine. I see her having a harder time sitting or getting up after a nap. She naps more and more. Abby is still trying to recover after her surgery over two weeks ago. She led a hard life before she came to me and I know that our time together is going to be shorter than I will like because her body isn't going to last as long I hope.

Abby doesn't seem to enjoy training as much because what we are learning is SO BORING! Actually, it's not boring to me, but it is boring to Abby because she already knows it. Abby already knows sit and down and stay and come and get in. What we spend most of our time learning is doing it better and faster and with more precision. Abby doesn't do well with drilling and she really doesn't do well with being *wrong*, so this type of training isn't only stressful, but is also not FUN for her. Also, some of what we are working on is down right uncomfortable for her as a huge part of our training involves distance work and stays - AND putting something in her mouth!

I've been contemplating taking Abby out of classes for awhile, but then Sniper came into our lives and since he needs to work, it made sense to keep Abby in classes awhile longer. She seems to enjoy our one-on-one time and she LOVES the cookies, so why not keep at it for a bit and see if things turn around with some more time and more cookies.

In the mean time, Abby attended an agility fun match and did a jumpers run! Abby loves to jump and had a blast when she was out there. She did longer sequences than I planned because she was having such a great time and was actually DRIVING to the jumps! After about 15 or so jumps, Abby decided that she was done, and that was ok with me. I was so happy to see that after over a year and a half of not training in agility, she took to it like she had never had the time off. I can't help but think that if I had only gotten her a few years earlier, she would have done really well in this sport - or at least would've had a ton of fun! Unfortunately I did not get any videos of her as all my friends were running their large dogs on a different course; but Dave Mills got some amazing photos of her!

He Weaves!

Agility with a giant dog is very different than agility a small dog. Besides the size difference, training sniper in agility is very different than training Abby. Sniper is bouncy and energetic and always ready to play and is not afraid of anything. Training Abby was very slow going and we took everything piece by piece. It took me forever to teach Abby to go through a tunnel and she had to learn that she was supposed to jump over every jump she saw. But she picked up on weaving pretty quickly. I think that part of it was that it was the way Abby (probably) viewed the obstacle/poles - she (probably) saw each pole individually and figured out the rhythm and her body easily followed. Sniper on the other hand wants to blow past (or through) all of them and get his reward. He is also much bigger than Abby and his body has to bend in ways that Abby's didn't which also makes poles more challenging.

I tried teaching him a few different ways to weave, but our instructor recently recommended teaching him "backwards" - or teaching him to drive out from the last pole, then slowly adding more poles to the front. This way seems to be the magic tool for him and I think that it has to do with his drive. Sniper REALLY, REALLY wants his toy, and when he drives out from the last pole, he GETS his toy and gets to tug. By slowly adding poles to the front, he has to learn to weave through them in order to get to the last pole so that he can finally have his toy.

We are up to six poles now. And while we still have six more poles to add; AND a completely different side to teach him on, I think that we can easily do both with this way. I've also learned a valuable tool in training him and any future dog I train in agility. Not that this way will work for every dog with high drive, but it is another tool to use/try when training.

(Sorry for the sideways video, but blogger won't support the editing video I use that can fix it)

It's Always Something Over Here

After my last post we had a full day of Abby refusing to eat.

Yep, you read that right, Abby refused to eat. She wouldn't eat her breakfast, and she didn't even try to steal pocket's. I tried every treat imaginable including hot dogs and cheese. She turned her nose up at all of it. I finally went to the store and bought some chicken and ground beef and made her favorite snacks. She ate that no problem. I fed that to her exclusively for three meals just to get her back on track and now her appetite is back to normal.

We were supposed to have class today, but I took sniper and left her home. She may have her appetite back, but her energy is still pretty low. After a solid two minutes of barking for dinner, she has completely conked back out. She isn't ready for a one hour class yet. I'm not complaining because I'm just glad that she made it through surgery safely, but I'll be much happier when i have my girl back with her funny personality quirks.

Doin' Alright

Yesterday was a bit stressful as both Abby and Mole went under anesthesia for different procedures. Mole needed a dental with a few extractions and Abby needed that tumor out of her mouth. I was a nervous wreck all day and I think that my soft side was showing because the girls at the shelter I normally visit were laughing at me because every dog I met was "so adorable". When I explained what was going on with my dogs they understood but still laughed!

Everyone seems to be doing ok today. Abby is getting a small sore on her lip from where, I assume, the sutures are rubbing- although I can't see any sutures anywhere. There is a big chunk of gum missing and I'm hoping that we don't loose that tooth after all is said and done. She only has a few left at this point and I'm trying to take care of the ones she has as best as I can.

Mole is a bit fussy today now that all the drugs have worn off. He is still on pain meds but his mouth seems to be irritating him a bit so I gave him some of his muscle relaxants that he uses for his back pain to help settle him some. He is coughing a bit but that is probably from the irritation caused by the endotracheal tube. He isn't in so much discomfort that he has stopped eating, so I'm sure he will be fine in a bit.

I'm glad that everything is done and that both kids are settled at home and are doing well. I, however, wasn't glad to see the bill. The receptionist handed me the bill, I took one look at it, and handed it back saying " I want a discount". After all, I brought the business of 3 rescues into the office AND I am a former employee who still sometimes works there when they need more help!

The Abby Drama Continues

The other day I was cuddling with Abby and I noticed that her breath smelled "different". Yeah, it's a little weird to notice that, but breath can you a lot about what is going on with your pet's health. And while I don't regularly stick my nose in my kid's mouths, do spend plenty of time getting kisses and cuddles to notice a change.

The first thing I did was look for more rotting teeth. Abby only has about 8 total teeth, and I figure that by the time she is 10, we will probably be down to 4; rotting teeth is a very common problem with this breed. But to my shock and horror, it wasn't her teeth - it was a tumor on her gums. Yep, this little dog has another growth; and unlike the rest, this one isn't going to be easy to remove.

I seriously thought about leaving it in for a while. I hate sedating her because of her seizures and her kidneys. But after thinking it over for a few days, I knew that I would have to remove it eventually - and it's going to be just as risky in 6 months as it is tomorrow. The only problem with waiting is that it might get bigger and eventually abscess. Not so fun.

We have an appointment with the vet on Wednesday to have it removed, so keep your paws crossed that she makes it through surgery and that the tumor can be removed with out much trauma to her gums.

Abby is such a weird dog

A while ago I wrote a post about how proud I was that Abby has become a dog. But the truth is that Abby has become a weird dog. It's true that she has many great dog-like qualities like sitting in my lap, giving kisses, doing the happy dance when I get home. But she also has some very strange qualities that I can't quite seem to figure out. A big one is her fascination with apples. This dog will dig through bags or my purse or anything that has an apple in it. And she will proceed to eat the entire un-cut apple. This dog only has a few teeth! It's absolutely bizarre that she can even eat the apple, but it's even weirder what she will do to get the apple. And I've honestly never seen a dog eat an apple the way people do. The other very odd thing that she does is going to sit in snipers crate! This is the dog that I can't crate because she screams and throws fits! But she has decided that she wants to sleep in snipers crate! Luckily he has decided that he wants to sleep on the chair, so I guess there is still plenty of room for everyone. . .

Abby is so weird and the longer I have her, the weirder she gets!

I Need A Beer!

These dogs are a lot of work!

I thought that training Abby was exhausting because I had to maintain a very high level of energy to keep her wanting to work. I had to give 150% in order to keep her attention and focus. I had to stay on top of our surroundings to keep a look out for anything that might cause Abby to stress out or anything that might cause her to want to bolt. I had to stay happy and squeaky and had to "be the cookie". No matter what, I couldn't let her know that I was stress out or nervous or frustrated, because all that travels down the leash and Abby senses it immediately and shuts down.

Training sniper is equally exhausting, but in a totally different way. I have to maintain a calm energy so that he doesn't get overly excited. But at the same time, I have to be exciting enough to keep his focus on me and not on everything else around. I have to know when to treat with cookies and when to rile him up and let him tug. But while tugging, I still have to maintain control and make sure he doesn't go over the top. He knows how to work, and he knows how to have fun while working, but my job/goal is to make sure that he works with some self-control - a job in and of itself.

Training both kids back to back is enough to drive any trainer crazy. Both have been known to test my patience but training both back to back, I'm bound to loose it eventually! Don't get me wrong, I love training both Abby and Sniper. And I love learning and growing as a trainer. Both are teaching me things that I would never have learned otherwise. Abby has opened so many doors for me in the training world, and Sniper is helping me refine my techniques and is allowing me to have a bit more fun too. But after training both back to back, I just want to have a beer and go to bed!

Abby RL1

Abby has a title. And by the look on my face you can see that I couldn't be happier. Who would've thought 3 years ago that this little feral dog would have a title?

While a part of me could care less if Abby ever got a title or not, another part of me wanted her to get one, just to prove that she was a "real" dog and could do anything that all those other dogs could do. I'm sure I'll have many more dogs in the future that will get many more and more extraordinary titles, but this one is extra special. This is not only the first title I have ever gotten on a dog, this is probably the most worked for title that I will ever have. I'm proud of Abby, but I'm also proud of myself for sticking with this crazy little dog and working through all the joys and all the set backs that come with training a special needs dogs.

Way to go Abby!

working vs WORKING

vs





I've never owned/lived with/worked with a true working dog. I've asked both mole and Abby to work for/with me, but they have only done so because they love me (ie: I have super awesome food!) And while both of them have truly enjoyed working with me, they really only do it because I have asked them to and because they like to make me happy.

Abby has really benefited from working with me. She excelled at agility (well, excelled for a puppy mill Iggy) and she still does great at our Rally classes - and not just for a rescue but for any dog! Abby has come a long way from that shivering mess that she was almost 3 years ago, and I truly believe that she wouldn't be as well adjusted as she is if it weren't for the confidence that she learned from working.

After living with a true working dog for almost two weeks, I am starting to see the difference between a dog working because they love me and working because they have to. Sniper is extremely well trained, but he needs constant reinforcement from me. If I am not reinforcing his good behavior, he will find something that is rewarding to him - and that can be something as benign as finding toys and entertaining himself, or something worse, like trying to play with the cats. If I am giving him negative reinforcement for something he is doing that I don't like, it doesn't mean he will stop doing it - it just means that he will try again later when I'm not looking. And while I can tell my kids to "go lay down" and they will understand that as "go away and settle by yourself"; if I tell that to sniper, he reads that as an actual command and he will down in an alert position waiting for my next command.

Its an interesting experience living with a dog that needs so much. And while living with Abby has been a ton of work in the past, she has been relatively easy to live with for quite awhile now. Sniper is generally easy to live with, but he still needs a lot of work, and he needs it in a very different way. Where Abby needs calm, stability, Sniper needs active, entertaining, go-go-go. In my years of training dogs of all shapes and sizes, I've never had to train a dog to settle. And while I am training sniper in agility and rally, I'm also working on the seemingly basic "settle". It is also a challenge to me to work with him in a more positive fashion. Working small, easy dogs using strictly positive methods is easy. But working both a physically and mentally strong and large dog using positive methods is harder. It's much easier to put a pinch collar on him and make him behave. And while I have used more corrective methods with him, I am also working on adjusting what I can and am moving towards a more reward based system.

This experience is a huge eye opening one for me. I'm truly enjoying the learning experience as well as sniper himself. He is easy to love, fun to train, and as sweet as can be. But I have a new respect for the breed and for people who work with and live with working dogs all the time.

Staying Power

Abby's sit-stays are falling apart. She either pops up right away or goes directly into a down. . . I'm not entirely sure why this has happened in the past week, but I do have my suspicions.

The first thought is that we aren't training sit stays much.

The second thought is that Abby is uncomfortable doing sit-stays.

The third thought is that Abby is just being lazy.

Staying has always been difficult for Abby partly because of her phobias. She is either afraid of something that she hears or sees, or she is afraid I'm going too far away. Because of her natural issue with being away from me, I never really worked on having her stay too far or for too long. It seems to stress her out unnecessarily so I never really worked that hard on it. Plus, IGs, like many sight hounds, have funny sits and siting for long periods becomes uncomfortable. When we did actually work on stays, I would always put her into a down stay. Another problem is that our training areas are either concrete or are hard wood, so I trained Abby to stay on a mat. Now, whenever we work at home, she actually does stay on the mat. . . but that doesn't transfer to other places. . .

Class this past week was very frustrating because she simply wouldn't sit still. Most of the time she went into a down, and I'm wondering if it is her back and elbows that are bothering her. Once we get through the first half of the class, Abby's auto-sit also disappears too. . .But, I'm not an "enforcer" either when it comes to Abby and training so, when she doesn't do what I ask or when she does something else instead, I simply ask her again and wait until I get it. She doesn't have to do anything. She usually does what I ask because she wants my food. . . but being a little dog and filling up quickly, means that the food has less value the more we train. And while Abby does "work" Abby is anything but a working dog. Her drive isn't there so I have to keep working just as hard as she is in order to keep things moving.

So, for this week, we are going back to the basics. Duration, distance, distraction. We are going to work in that order too. If she can't even hold the sit with me sitting next to her, I'm going to put her on some NSAIDs for a few days and see if that helps. If she can do it, then I know that we just need to train it more.

Musical Beds

Typical day at the office. If only that worked for people too. . .

Poor Abby

Something happened to Abby's ear. She came up to me at work today asking for some attention. I mindlessly petted her head and tugged on her ears. Her ears are a bit dry and scabby due to old/healed fly strikes, but today, I felt a giant scab. When I looked, I found this



I was horrified and appalled that something like this would be on my dog and I wouldn't notice it. I immediately started picking at the scab and trying to figure out what happened to her. After scrubbing and examining it I came to the conclusion that something (or some one) bit her. There is a very tiny hole on the underside of the ear that looks like it might be from a tooth. . .a TINY tooth. . . there is only one creature in the house that has teeth that tiny.



I'm lucky that Abby is so easy going and oblivious because if she wasn't I would have some major small dog fights on my hands. Pocket HATES Abby. Everything that Abby does annoys Pocket. And if I'm not watching, Pocket will growl, snarl, snap, and apparently bite Abby. In some ways I don't blame Pocket, Abby is almost 3 times her size, and Abby is goofy and bouncy and doesn't understand boundaries. It would be like us living in a house with a 15 foot tall toddler - not fun! But Pocket is still not allowed to behave like that! Biting your sister is just not allowed in this house! I guess I'm going to have to be more vigilant about watching their interactions. . .

Poor Abby. . .

Foto Friday: Abby Stole My Warmie!

Two Down. . . One To Go. . .

Abby got her second leg today towards her RL1 with a score of 204 and 5th place! That is one point more than we got last time, with the same placement. We had to do another run off this time too! But this run-off was much better then her last one as she actually completed this one!

Abby was pretty stressed out again at this trial. Her tail was tucked and she wasn't her wiggly self like she normally is in class or in the Run-thrus. She was a bit wary when walking towards the crowd and flinched a bit when people laughed or cheered. But, un-like last time, I am not beating myself up over it. I realize that Abby is always going to have issues with certain things and we are just going to keep on going and hope that over time, things get better and less stressful. I've worked really hard with her, but I can't fix everything that was broken before I got her.

I was much more comfortable at this trial. I wasn't as stressed out, and I know that Abby sensed that, and I think that it helped some. For starters, Abby wasn't walking 10 feet away from me this time. My voice was in normal range instead of how it was at the last trial when it was so squeaky I'm sure I could only be understood by bats! I was calm enough to remember to treat my dog when appropriate. I was also able to remember the course which helped me stay more connected with Abby instead of trying to figure out where we were going next.

I think that this was a much better trial for us. I was much more comfortable and, while Abby was still stressed, she recovered really well. The people that were at the trial were great. Everyone is super supportive and encouraging. And I think that they are just as proud of Abby as I am!

Good job Abby! I'm super proud of you!!!!!

Abby is A Dog

Abby has had so many amazing accomplishments since she has come to live with us; but I think that the one I'm most proud of is her becoming a dog. I know it sounds silly, but Abby has turned into a dog in the past two and a half years, granted she has turned into a very spoiled dog, but she is a dog none-the-less.

In the past few months Abby has had a few more dog-like qualities. She has started giving kisses and she also sits in my lap when I'm knitting or reading. Most people take these things for granted, and I admit that I do with my other kids, but when Abby started doing it, I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. These are things that real dogs do, and up until recently, Abby wasn't a real dog. Sure, she could do some super cool things, but the everyday-ness that makes a dog a dog wasn't there with her.

I think that all the extra work we've been doing with training has really paid off. Not only has she learned to work and to think, but she has also learned how to settle. She has learned to read my body language and has learned the more subtle commands of everyday life that we never actually teach our dogs, but we still expect them to obey anyway. She solicits attention without being overly frantic or needy about it. She can settle in a chair and sleep comfortably near me without always having to be on me. She started fussing back at me when I try brushing her or grooming her for too long. I think that she realizes that she is home and that she will always be loved and cared for here. At least, that is what I hope she feels.

In a world of throw-away pets, this one could have easily been discarded. When I got her, she wasn't social, she was terrified of everything, she was extremely destructive, she had no self-control; and if I had decided to give her away or have her euthanized, no one would have blamed me. But I didn't do that. Instead, I found a way to work with her and to manage as many problems as I could. And after all that work, two and a half years later, I finally have a dog.

Training Room

We have a Rally trial coming up in 2 weeks and Abby and I need to polish up a few basic skills. We also need to seriously start training for some of our level 3 stuff. We really don't have a good place to train regularly. We have no yard, and out house is tiny and oddly shaped. I had to improvise, and I hope that LB doesn't mind too much.

New training space:



what used to live in that super awesome space:



Now that we have that super cool space, whose ready to work?


No surprise there. This guy will do anything for food!


great. . .we get to work with alien dog again. . .

The training space makes it so much easier to do distance work - a huge component of level 3. It also helps us work on stays - something that we haven't been working on very much lately. Abby does OK on down stays, but her sit stays S.U.C.K! She almost always goes into a down. I think part of it is structural (Never Say Never Greyhounds say that sit-stays are harder for these breeds) but I think that some of it is training. I allow her to go down because I know that it is easier/more comfortable for her and, honestly, I don't care what position she is in as long as she stays put. She still stays on her short sit stays for rally class, so I never really bothered to train a longer sit stay. . .but I guess it is something that we should work on. . .and it really isn't that hard. . .it's just so boring, and I feel like I'm nit-picking her. . .and neither of us like that. . .

Run Thru

Abby and I had a run thru this past Friday. We almost didn't go because the weather man was calling for S.N.O.W. Really? At sea level in CA?? Yep, they were calling for snow. That wasn't what almost kept us from going, it was the possibility of ice. This CA girl doesn't drive in ice. But the weather wasn't supposed to get bad until midnight and I was hoping to be back home and snug in my bed by then. I'm really glad we went because we had a great time and really learned a lot.

This run thru was run level 3, 2, 1. We ran level 2 and level 1. I was interested to see if she would do better in level two then she did in level 1 since the last time (which I didn't blog about, but was run Level 1,2,3), we did better in level 2. Here were the courses:

Level 2 map


Level 1 map



Both courses seemed surprisingly easy. And we did a pretty good job on both courses. However, Abby did NQ on the level 2 course. She broke a stay! I think that her broken stay was due to her excitement. She anticipated the recall on sign 5 and came running at me full speed and slid to a sitting halt. It was hysterical! Everyone in the place laughed and laughed! I laughed until the food bowl exercise where she got distracted and we had to take a moment and regroup. Other than that, she had a blast and we did pretty well.

Level 1 was amazing for us. This was the first time that she wasn't walking wide. And we only got 2 tight leashes!!!! I was SOOOO proud of us! We did get dinged because I had to give a double command on the first sit! It was crazy because I had spent the entire warm-up doing jack-pots for sits! (well, not a full jack-pot, but a super cool, Abby jack-pot!) We did super awesome on sign 8, and I was very happy as that is something we have been working on a LOT.

Even though we technically NQ'd on level 2, I think that this whole run thru was the best experience we've had so far. We were really working as a team. Plus, her energy put me in a great mood from the beginning and we were both able to have a great time. My nerves were non-existent and I think that she knew that.

I am learning a lot about my dog in these run thrus - and it's not just about competition. I'm learning a lot about team work and that is the kind of relationship that I want with my dog. I want to be part of a team. And after almost 3 years, I think that we are getting there!

Family Photo - Lets Try This One More Time

My photo goal this year was to get a family photo with all the kids behaving themselves and looking at the camera. . .but sometimes I feel like I'm playing referee trying to keep the peace between the girls.



Pocket! Keep your tongue in your mouth!



Abby! Don't instigate! You girls better behave or I am going to separate you!



ABBY!!!! Leave. Your. Sister. Alone!



Thank you!

And poor Mole, such a good boy, gets so frazzled between my yelling at the girls and so desperately wanting the treat in my hand.



Sometimes I wonder if we are ever going to get a good photo. . .



Well, at least everyone is looking. . . even if no one is smiling. . .