Hungry?

This is my drivers license. I know it is a bad picture, but I think the teeth marks are obvious.

ABBY ATE MY DRIVERS LICENSE.

The sad thing is that I wasn't even mad... part of it had to do with the fact that she ate it on Sunday and I already had an appointment the next day at the DMV to renew my license. Part of it was that it just doesn't surprise/upset me anymore at all. And in the scheme of things, this was one of the cheapest things that she has eaten.

Lets review what Abby has eaten:
books
receipts (that I need for work for reimbursement!)
pillows
part of my mattress
pens
seam ripper
electrical cords
empty plastic containers
plastic bags (countless. . .)
plastic container that still held sewing needles (I found all the needles)
bait bag (this one I completely understand)

And this is a short list of what I can remember off the top of my head. And this is all stuff she had found in a "dog proof" room.

So you can see why eating something as easily replaceable as a CDL isn't that high on my frustrations with Abby scale. . .

Sometimes the only thing you can do is shake your head and sigh. . .

Favorite Pictures

I have been thinking about doing a post of my favorite pictures for a while, but I can usually only get it narrowed down to 10 pictures per dog! But tonight I sucked it up and picked out one of my favorites for each kid.

Pocket: I love this picture because the blown-out background makes her look like an angel. And while those of us who know her best know that she is anything but. . .in reality,though, she really is my easiest dog.


Mole: he was the hardest because I love EVERY picture of this old man! This one tops my list (for today) because it shows a side of him that not everyone gets to see - his smiling face! Mole usually takes the serious route. . .it's hard being in charge of everyone! Since we started agility, I see this face more and more. And it makes me happy to see him so happy. Even the trainer noticed it today when he was doing the dog walk. She said "wow, that really is his favorite obstacle!" I love when other people get to see the side that I see.


Abby: Her face is a little blurry in this picture because I was actually trying to get a picture of her *new* collar, but I think that this picture shows her doggy side. She has come so far in the past year, and she is becoming more and more like a regular dog. In some ways, she already is, but since I require more from my dogs then the average person, she has to come just that much farther. And she is continuing to surpass my expectation every time I set them.

Iggy Love

There is a wonderful couple who run Italian Greyhounds in agility. They are wonderful not because they run IGs, but because they run RESCUE IGs. Having a bit of a basket case myself, I can fully appreciate just how much work they have put into their girls to get them competition ready. Their main star is miss bella blue - I don't have her history, but I imagine that she has one. . .most rescues do. . .I believe that she runs level 4 CPE - quite a feat for any dog, let alone one from poor beginnings. Here is a clip of her running - again, I apologise for my video tape ineptitude.

CPE 8-2-09

Trials days are full of fun . . .and mayhem. I am very lucky that I have friends who have been doing this for a while so they can teach me the ins and outs, and the rules, of the games. Mole's first official trial will be on Sunday, September 6th. I am not entirely sure how we are going to do, but I want video for posterity reasons. And since I am not that great with video equipment, I needed to find someone else to practice on first!

Miss Stompy Pants : level 3 wild card run




Stomper had a great run. She NQ'd because she took an extra jump - rules, rules, rules. . .But that was handler error, not dog error. So in my book, she not only Q'd, but she also got ANOTHER blue ribbon for the day. Yes, stomper won first place in the her standard run. I fumbled with the video camera and didn't get it on tape (obviously I need more practice!) But you can trust me, and the judges, it was perfect!

The Meaning of Sit

As a "trainer" I get very frustrated when people use the words good sit. Humans will never understand that dogs do not get the nuances of our verbal language.

Human: sit
dog: huh?
Human: siiit
dog: flowers!!!!!yahoo!!!I want to sniff those!!!!
human: SIT!
dog: oh yeah, I know that one! but on the ground! got it!
Human: good sit
dog: wait. . .my but is already on the ground. . .what do I do now. . .oh look...butterflies!!!!

When we humans use the word sit we are asking the dog to do a behavior -the word sit is a verb, meaning TO DO. Sit to us means butt on the ground. If you are a good trainer, then sit will also mean butt on the ground to your dog as well. And while your dog may be very smart, he will never really understand the true meaning of an adverb. Therefore, your dog will never understand good sit. Even though you added the adverb, your dog will only understand the action that the verb requires. So, saying good sit, is like repeating a command (which you should never do) after your dog already followed the command in the first place (super confusing)

All that to get to my issue of teaching Abby to sit from a down. Abby *vaguely* understands the verbal command sit. She understands it enough to know that you can't truly sit from a down position; because, for Abby, sit means put your butt on the ground. And, since her but is already on the ground in a down position, it is difficult to put it down again for a sit. But, I really need to teach Abby to sit from a down position. So I tried and tried. No real luck. (I know, and even I don't get it at times!) A friend suggested that I use a different command. And you know what? It worked. I chose up because I wanted her to move her chest up off the ground. It was easy for me to remember. And, it was a completely different command for a completely different behavior, so it was easy for her to understand. And while many trainers have great success at teaching their dogs the nuances of language and can conjugate the verb to sit every which way; I cant. I can hardly keep from tripping over my dogs when walking. There is no way that I can teach them language and behavior at the same time. I am not a good enough trainer - and neither are most of the dodo heads that I see saying good sit.