There was screaming!

Not here. Here he was navigating the yard.
Not here. Here he was peaceful.
Not here. Here he was sleeping. Last night at agility class. There was SCREAMING! I hear Sharon say to here dog....."It's OK Sophie, he isn't dying"........to which I think Sophie wanted to reply......."Yeah, but I can help him do that if it will shut him up!". He was SO high!!! We tried to figure it out and it dawned on me "Rodent Syndrome". That's what Dodman says he has. Likes to be closed in like in a box, a tiny rodent box. He does like his crates, covered and cozy. Class is now in a very small room. It's tight. It's do-able, but tight. Roscoe LOVES it there!! He was CRAZY!!!! I forgot the hoop for his up a-frame and he SLAMMED into it the first time. Damn. He's TWELVE, he shouldn't be slamming a-frames. We put the hoop there, he crashed the hoop and dragged himself to the top. Brought out a bigger, easier to see hoop. OH MY!!!

He was happy, happy, happy and I loved it. I love it when he's happy and works like a champ. He does start forgetting about collection when he gets really high, though, and I had to alter my path some. Did that, he scooted between my legs as he tried to stay wide. Um.......dude.........no.......you have got to avoid ME and take the jump - nice and tight. Finally, we figured it out.

Crazy High Rodent!!! No, Crazy High Screaming Rodent!! That was Roscoe last night at agility class. Sophie didn't get her wish. He lived to see another day and next week, just to let you know Miss Sophie......he really doesn't have to die. He's just crazy!!

I LOVE slow motion video!!

Must, must, MUST figure that out for my own videos!!

This is SO cool! Kind of scary obstacles, though. OH MY, that TIRE!!! YIKES!!! This is somewhere in Europe. Those Europeans just GO for it!!! -

Top dog now, what the heck???

Since Colby's agility retirement Roscoe is now my top agility dog. He has been ROCKING MY WORLD, with his desire and drive lately. He is such an enigma! Our little housetraining issue last fall seems totally gone. He seems happier and more relaxed at home. Less reactive, more willing to offer play behavior to Spur. A different dog. Different from four months ago, different from last year, different.........WAY different from when I first got him.

This little dog has taught me more than I will ever know. Seriously, his little break throughs, his small changes, all make me go.........hmmmmm. I have learned about fairness, consistency, motivation, clarity, drive and the ability to adjust. All because of a 9lb biting dog!

He LOVES being top dog! Who doesn't? So, my challenge is to keep him feeling that way. And to keep ALL my dogs feeling that way. To be mindful of my treatment, to be fair and consistent. To let them all know how important they are. My instructor friends have always said that to me, but I just forget sometimes. The more important Roscoe feels, the more intense his desire to work for me. He always has desire, don't get me wrong. Show him a cookie and he would try for the moon, but he will get bummed out and not offer up trained behaviors at times when stressed or feeling used. Like when I used him to get Spur jealous and pumped to do things Spur was afraid of. That wasn't fair to Roscoe and it hurt our work. Like last summer asking him to run agility in rain and puddles. That hurt our work. That isn't fun for him, AT ALL, he doesn't want to do it and asking him to "suck it up, dude", will not help. He will not run in rain ever again. Heck, it isn't fun for me, but I did it last year because we had SO much rain I hated to lose all those entries. But, entries will be lost this year if it rains on a trial. I won't be asking him to run in rain or puddles. What for? He doesn't run well, so even if we do Q it would be just for the Q, not for the fun and that's not how I want to do agility or anything. I want to do it because it's fun for me and him. Q or not, we do it for the fun. Yes, Q's are a bonus for sure and great to have, but if it isn't fun why should we run?

Last night he showed me his drive, his desire. He was FREAKIN' pumped!!! He hit the A-Frame with all the force he could muster, slamming his face and shoulder into it as he leaped up from the ground to about half way up!!! SMASH went his face and shoulder, stopping him dead in his tracks, only to scramble and grab his way to the top. OI!!!!! He just wasn't thinking.

Up side has always been a bit of a hard hit for him, he just never learned properly how to climb it. He isn't a natural athlete like Colby. He has terrible jumping form, he doesn't think about his body much, he just goes and does it. Last night he just FLUNG himself on the frame. I am thinking I should start using hoops to MAKE sure he enters the frame lower and with a better angle, instead of slamming his body on it like he did last night. Crazy little man, seemed fine, I kept going to keep him moving out of it and keep his muscles loose. I gave him some arnica and walked him out, no limping, but damn that had to hurt!! He seems fine this morning, but I know he has to be sore. No limping, all his teeth seem solid and intact. That face plant could have easily cracked his teeth. We ran our second run and he did fine, I made sure he climbed the frame well. Hoops on entry may be in his future so he practices good entry now. Good GRIEF, the little guy is 11 years old, these kinds of crashes are scary.

I am thankful I warm him up with a lot of heeling before we do anything, so at least his muscles were warm and lose.

More weekend trial report

I got a headache from this trial. I know yesterday's post made it sound so fun, but really it was a very tiresome and difficult weekend. Packed up five dogs and the three of us in Lisa's Rav-4. Lisa, me, her mom, the two shihtzu's, the two Pin Heads and Spur. It was PACKED!! Lisa has a whole duffle bag just for her make up. I bring a tiny over-night bag, but always my travel comforter. She brings her's, too. We both have dogs who sleep in bed with us, so we simply remove the hotel's bedding, sans sheets, and use our own. That way, no complaints from the hotels about dog hair on the bedding. I feel better that way, plus some of these hotels are icky and my own bedding feels better to me and I sleep better.

The trial was very full for a one-ring trial. It was the old Boston agility that was always SO much fun at the Boston Expo. They quit that venue when the Expo was going to be taken down and condos built. Bummer man, that was SUCH a great trial!! I did so much Christmas shopping there and always had a great time!! Not so much this weekend. It was in Manchester at All Dog's Gym. A place we do USDAA trials regularly, but this was the very first AKC trial at this site. Oh dear, AKC has so many rules and is so picky about things that part way into the first day we had a one hour delay to find a different chute. :O

OH. MY. GOD. I was about to explode!! It was quickly obvious that the AKC competitors were complaining about every little thing at this site. I mean, it was NUTS. Complain, complain, bitch, bitch, my dog doesn't like the Snoopy on the dog-house chute, my dog doesn't like the four foot jumps, I don't like the tire, the table is a box and looks like a panel jump to my dog.........it went on and on and ON!!! Come on, people!!!! This is supposed to be fun, an enjoyable time with our friends and our dogs. Not a tea party given by Gramma the day after a royal wedding, with tiny sugar cubes that must be lifted and plopped into your tea with ONLY the tiny sugar cube tongs, and the napkins folded just right that you would NEVER use except to gently dab the corners of your mouth as you smile politely at Gramma's best friend, who is watching your every move to make sure you rest the napkins back just right on the tiny napkin rests.

It is DOG AGILITY!!!!!

I could feel my blood pressure rise. We didn't run our Jumpers course until 7:30 and that still meant Open and Novice had to run. We packed up our dogs as fast as we could and made it to our hotel and collapsed with our wine and take out Olive Garden dinner. The poor dogs had been in their crates in the crate room all day. They were fried, we were fried.

It snowed that night to make matters a little more fun. Roscoe was NOT pleased. The poop buckets were full to over flowing at the trial site, the yellow snow was turning ORANGE, the trial wasn't going any faster, the complaints flowed even quicker, just maybe under everyone's breath with teeth gritted. I tried like heck not to join the complains, but my mouth got away from me. I started to get really catty and bitchy and actually listening for things to complain about. I bitched about the Weeble (top competitor I really, really dislike), who NQ'd in her first run because she thought the tire was too high and came back to the crate room and SLAMMED her wire crates shut as she packed up and left in a huff. The poor resting dogs in the room had to listen to THAT. How RUDE!!!!! I bitched about the competitor who was at the out gate and walked up to her "friend" and said........."Well, that went better than I thought it would!!" :O Is THAT a compliment??? I shot a glance to my friend sitting next to me and whispered..........."Did I just hear that?"..........she slowly nodded and bugged her eyes like mine in amazement. Whoa! This is DOG AGILITY people, not Gramma's tea party!

Remember the weeble? My friend next to me told me she heard the Weeble the day before coming out of the ring after a wicked nice clean run, not once praising her awesome dog, saying.........."I guess I can't get mad at him for that, can I?"......HUH???? She runs border collies. She choses only those border collies willing to work for her with NO PRAISE/SLAMMING WIRE CRATES/GRUMPY GROSS FACE/BOBBING WEEBLE/you get the picture, right? She choses those types of dogs and they put up with those types of things. YIKES!!!! Spur would surely melt into a shivering mass of beautiful papillon fur and be swept out her door with one sweep of her witche's broom and quick clap of her hands! As would many other dogs, man other border collies, too. Her dogs - they put up with it. I haven't a clue why, except that she choses only dogs who don't care that she weebles or slams crates or yells - you should hear her YELL. She's gross. I'm bitching - and being catty.

I am starting to wonder what happened to me? What happened to the person who trialed happily and with no worries or bitches? Who didn't notice the Weeble, or didn't hear those strange words said by dumb ass competitors to their "friends" as they left the ring. What happened to me? Am I looking for these things? Are my ears searching to hear this kind of stuff?

I don't know, but it made me weary. It made me sad that agility is like this and not the fun, happy go lucky, totally awesome have a great time no matter what and no obsessing about courses and worrying about equipment and full poop buckets and who is in charge and why is it running so slow and just because I spent hundreds of dollars training and entering and staying at hotels and buying the gear, does it all really matter???? I hope I can say no. I hope I can get back that person I once was. I hope I can shut out the Weeble and the "friends" at the outgate.

I learned so much at this trial. The courses were fun and challenging and presented things I hadn't dealt with before. It had some GREAT moments! Colby ran well, Roscoe ran well one day, Spur did AWESOME and made more fans! My friend Lisa and her Douce had a great time and placed fourth in their very first Ex. B class. It was FUN!!! Right???

World Team members Roscoe and Spur run clean!!!

Yes, well, they did the second time around the course. First time each had one fault. Darnit. Sorry the course map image stinks, but I can't figure out how to save it any better. Our instructor set it up for us last night. To see it better just click on the map and it will bring it up clearly and larger.

Roscoe faulted at 7 & 8 because I didn't go into the pocket to get the back side of 8 well enough. I was afraid he would enter the poles, which he is known to do. Spur faulted at 15 by taking the back side of it. I didn't call him to me enough out of the tunnel. Our second time through we ran clean, both dogs. Good little Monkeys!!!

We then practiced some crazy moves seen by the World Team members. Nutty, strange blind crosses that used to be taboo, are now all the rave! Hard to do well because you really have to take your eyes off your dog. We do them well at tunnels when the dogs don't see us anyway. At jumps, I find them hard. Roscoe handles them well, Spur gets a little worried and starts to wring his little paws. But, he recovers so well these days!!! Crazy Monkey was all nutty last night. After class chatting with fellow students, he adulterated his tug toy!! That has always been hard for him, tugging in class. Most of the dogs were already put away, but still he felt happy enough to tug and growl and be all pumped up!!! He has really changed a corner lately! MY little World Champion!

Rube Goldberg was here!!

OK, maybe it isn't worthy of a Rube Goldberg title, but I rigged up my own home made "hit-it" board. They sell for lots of money if you buy the electronic ones. I borrowed one once. It is fancy and kind of a pain. It makes a crazy electronic beep and you have to set it up each time. Carefully putting it away with it's holders so it doesn't lose it's potency? PITA!!! What I made is from a simple thin board I painted yellow like the contact zone. I hinged it to the first slat. Put two squeakers from some toys between it and the dog walk and there you have it, my very own "hit-it" board!! I can even bungee it to the other end. I made two. So the bungee one I can take with me to class!! How's that for handy???? I just bungee it at the top part, put the squeakers under it and it's good to go. Spur caught on quickly. Now I can REALLY push him to race the dog walk and risk leaping the contact. Then if he does, I say........"Nice try, buddy".......and have him then do a couple Amanda Shyne "show me it" work where he jumps on from the side and I give a couple cheerios. Then I will have him do the whole thing and if he hits it he gets STEAK!!!!!! I have done a couple reps already and it seems SO clear!

I'll get a video of it when I can grab a videographer. It's so clear and easy for me to know when he hits the contact zone. Before I might guess at times if he was going really fast and I was running, too. This way I KNOW! It squeaks regardless of where he hits it. Pretty cool, really!!!

For you non-agility friends, this is important work. Contact zones can make or break a run. They must have at least one toe in the yellow or NQ (No Qualifying, flunk, zip, zero, nada, failure!!!). It's a safety issue. They don't want the dogs leaping off and hurting themselves. Must hit the contact, damnit!!!

BARK, one day with Roscoe

Roscoe was starting to bum out, being used as a "jealousy" factor with Spur. He would run, then quickly get tied up or put in the x-pen while I ran Spur right away. The "J" man, used and abused, just to make Spur jealous and want to run better. The party after had to wait and he wasn't liking that. It's all about the party, with Roscoe. I think he likes agility, but he likes the party more. Party on Garth!!!! At first, I didn't notice him getting bummed, but then his performance was weakening. Just not so much drive to go. My crazy little man was not himself, looking pokey and worried. The instructors noticed it and I felt like a bad mom, using little Roscoe to benefit Spur. What was I thinking? So, he got a special day of just Roscoe at BARK yesterday! He loved it! We worked with the Master's group and worked on really hard discrimination's. Dark green tunnel up against a bright yellow contact. Hmmmm, which would YOU chose???

Can you see tiny Roscoe set up on the other side of the yellow wing jump in a sit in this photo? The idea was that he would have been taking that jump from the other side, landing there where he is now in a sit and I would run on the left side of the A-frame, but tell him "Tunnel" and he should take the tunnel and not the A-frame. Nope, not happening, no go, up the A-frame he went! Love that big yellow A-frame! Much more inviting than a dark, dreary tunnel! So, we set him up in a sit, I stood still and said "OK, go tunnel". I ended up having to move closer to the tunnel to get success. But after a few tries he "GO IT, MOM!!!"I moved in front of the A-frame, and again said "Go tunnel" and leaned towards it some. See his cute little brown butt entering the tunnel? I know, black dog, dark tunnel, hard to see, but his brown little butt is there, honest!!Yeah, TUNNEL!!!! Look at the happy expression, "Yah, Mom, GOT IT!!!" You say tunnel, I go tunnel! Even dark green, dreary tunnel, I got it!! Watch me go!!!

"Yeah, I am THE BOMB, mom loves me and just me, only me, the other two are stuck in the car, hahahahahahah, it's all about me, me, me, me, no one else, just me!!! She loves me and only me, I am the man, the top dog, I even ran off to bark at the photographer standing on the hill, yep, I told her, I did. She didn't belong, it was all about me, me, me, me, no photos, man, not without my signed approval and a fee, then mom said it was OK, we needed the photos for our resume'. What the heck is a resume'? I'll bite that resume'."

This last shot I had to put in to show his "LOVELY" jumping style!! He has heart, but he sure doesn't have good form! ACK!! And don't ya just love my hair when it's damn and humid??? Oh, yes, just LOVELY!!!! >:/

Back from BARK!!

Having withdrawals, already. I want to go BACK!! It is SO much fun! Spur did remarkably well, especially with his teeter performance. Rachel Sanders said it is time to get back to working on his end behavior before he has a fly-off. Wow, how cool is that?? She really thinks it is time. He did SO well. However, his jump work looked poor and showed my lack of training there. I have been so focused on the teeter lately. He had some times of showing great drive, other times of being in his funk. I felt like a broken record because each day had a different instructor........."See, there is this thing about Spur, he had this teeter issue and shuts down sometimes.............."But, he performed about what I expected from him. Although, his obvious lack of jump work training showed a glaring gap in our training program. Man, this pup is a project!

Roscoe only had to come out for his jealousy work a couple of times.

Roomie was fantastic!! Kirby's little Sophia is FREAKIN' adorable and Spur thought she was THE BOMB! It was very cute!! They live in NYC and Sophie goes everywhere with her in an LLBean carry bag made for dogs. She came into the restaurant with us and no one ever knew! Who would have known a tiny Bichon would be such a cool agility dog!! That dog has jets! She was flying around the course!!

Weather could not have been better. We finished each day with play around the pond. Colby and Spur swimming with all the other dogs and Roscoe hanging around waiting for his treats. Roscoe doesn't swim! I should have taken more photos. Roscoe and I will be heading back for one day Thursday. He deserves a day all himself.

Leg humping high, mud accessories, and more barf

Yesterday morning Spur got sick again. It's SO much fun to clean barf off of faux fur and from the cracks in my wood floors!! Hey! There is another good thing about this damp weather. My floor boards are pretty tight and the cracks are not allowing much barf to seep into them. How cool is THAT??? We are now thinking it is the doxycycline we are giving for anaplasmosis. He had been doing so well we decided to start it again. Thinking the last barfing episode was something he ate on our walk or the canned salmon I gave him. Again, about 5 days after starting it he starts barfing. This time I knew to stop all food and water intake. Took him to my vet for sub-q fluids, but thankfully that was all he needed. No food or water for the day and this morning small meals, which he is holding down well. Phew! Not sure what we will do for treating the anaplasmosis, though. Get him through this and figure it out later.

Because of all that, yesterday morning we didn't get our farm walk. Basically, I wanted everyone to stay quiet. Well, by the end of the day Roscoe could tell I was getting ready for agility class. With all that pent up energy (they didn't even get to play in the yard because I didn't want Spur eating grass or dead worms or the dried up green hard shell bugs Colby likes to kill), Roscoe started to get excited and hyper. As I am getting collars on he starts humping my leg. :O He gets high like that on occasion and I knew class was going to be fun!!! We head out to Yarmouth, to make our way gingerly through the wet grass and puddles, on occasion trying to jump over the mud puddles, that aren't really mud, but little pools of green slimy water, algae is the only thing growing there and we expect to see shark fins soon because fish could multiply in these "puddles". I watched Laura trying to rub the muddy paw prints off her sweatshirt. I told her it looked better. Hmmm, the sweatshirt was black, the paw prints a nice shade of beige, yeah......it looked better. Her efforts were worth it because being clean and looking sharp is important in dog agility, right? Really? You believe me? Thank you!!! I am obviously sharply aware of fashion. I leave those paw prints right were they are on MY black pants. After all, they match the paw prints on my shoe laces.

This video shows Hyper, Humpin' Roscoe all pumped and ready to ROCK N ROLL!! Tough course set up, but he nailed it. OK, so releasing from the table on "GO" was kind of bad, but his contacts were good, his crazy weave entry was bitchin', he was PUMPED!!! Yes, I do have a black shirt on, too, but my dogs paws can't reach that high. Laura has a malinois.

Aphid Day at The Lady Bug Park

Doesn't that sound a lot nicer than Rabies Day At The Raccoon Park? Because lady bugs love to eat aphids. Or so they say. Who is "they"? Am I ever a "they". Do you suppose people think about little black dogs who get frightened and worried about teeter totters in agility and over-coming that is as simple as a few teeter parties because "they" said so and would I be "they"? "They" said all we needed to do was a few teeter parties and things will be all right and the voices will stop and the language will be clear and we will all sing A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood or We Are The Champions or Doe Rei Me. I am sure that happens now. Habca und Miriam from Germany posted here that it was a good idea, the teeter parties. See, in Europe I am "they". Habca und Miriam have 2100 hits on their profile. I hope Habca und Miriam are going to teeter parties now.

No teeter in this video of class last night, but I do think Spur looks like a Lady Bug during Aphid Day!! Happy, Happy, Happy to run agility. Remember, his tail crunch from the teeter meant that ALL agility sucked and that I was part of that deal. It generalized to jumps - good grief if a bar knocked he lost his ears and tail and slunk away. I admit to using a jealousy box now. I stick Spur in an x-pen ring side, then run Roscoe on the course. Spur barks his FOOL HEAD OFF the whole time, until he is nearly hoarse, then I shove a pile of treats into Roscoe's mouth, right in front of Spur, BARKING HIS FOOL HEAD OFF. Actually, I never have to shove any food item into Roscoe, he snatches them as if he is a starved, rabid raccoon. Then I swap dogs and run the crazed-with-jealously-FOOL-HEADED-Spur on the course!! Works like a charm! The nervous little buggar suddenly forgets his worries. World Team material, not yet, but I see a spark. My plan is working. Off to Raymond today for another teeter party! Yeah, that means no house cleaning, no honey mustard chicken salad with black eyed peas for dinner. Hannaford ready made quesadillas will have to do, teeter parties are a priority.

This first video is Roscoe, but you can hear Spur in his Jealousy Box!

And this one is Spur, enjoying Aphid Day At The Lady Bug Park last night at class -

And just for a comparison, here is Rabies Day At The Raccoon Farm earlier this spring. Notice all the sniffing on the dog walk, going to that special place in his mind, hearing those voices that often speak to Roscoe in a language all their own. Because, after all, they do ride the tiny little school bus with their brightly colored name tags, they are...... SPECIAL -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NtcYYRmbyE&feature=channel