Yesterday was perfect, except if you are making hay!

It was warm enough for shorts, but cool enough for plenty of outdoor activities. I mowed my yard, I moved agility equipment and weedwacked around stuff, I weedwacked the fence line - until I used up my string! I did some gardening, wondering WHAT to do about the moles??? ACK.

My afternoon walk, however, brought soaking rain! YIKES!! I heard them baling the straw. Didn't think I should check the radar before heading out, but once I got out there the sky darkened and as I was on my way home we all got SOAKED!! Including the freshly baled straw. :(

The recent rains have made everything SO green and our road to the farm is LOVELY!! It is no longer used as a farm road since old lady Gladys died and her nieces sold her land to a land rapist, but we use it, the horses use it and it is LOVELY!!

This is heading out......
We keep it mowed. This is heading back. Our neighbors call it "The Road To Rich's". :P

This is the view as we round the corner into the back pasture. I wondered why the horses didn't want to stay out there yesterday. I guess the mowing machine made them nervous?

Colby was "on the clock" all day yesterday. I would love to say she keeps the moles in check, but nope, that's not so. They are all through my garden and I am bumming out!!!!

I got a better teeter photo with Spur doing his "end behavior". Not sure if the end hits the ground before he leaves, but close enough. What I like about this is he looks confident and happy!! Happy enough, anyway! Tail up, ears forward, MUCH nicer look than his look on the teeter last year. Another feather in my cap! Got The Spur Man over his teeter concerns! YAY!!!! How long did it take? Over a year? Yep, but who cares, look at him now!!!!

Can YOU read dog body language?

This one's easy! Who is the happier dog? Spur - 09 model. Or Spur - 10 model?


Taken June 09 shortly after his "teeter crash" -
Taken last week. June 10 -
I had a friend comment on his teeter performance at the trial yesterday. She didn't notice any worries. She was right, while he did the teeter he had no apparent worries, but the next obstacle was the table and I did notice his ears go droopy for just a second as he heard the teeter settle back to the ground. That "reset" worried him a little. Not enough to be an issue though and it was SO nice to have someone watch his performance and comment that they didn't see any teeter concerns. That felt GREAT!

Fog, rain, wet, damp, moist, soggy, moldy, I am going to cry

Spur in the fog.............

If I were prone to seasonal affected disorder, I would cry. This weather is so dreary!!! We headed to Alton NH today to play at the BARK camp agility yard, hoping to get Spur more comfortable so he will be able to handle doing agility there at camp. He did great, and we did a "teeter party", then we headed into the woods to explore the trails there. At camp I never have enough time to explore much, just a few trails close to the fields. Today we did the far loop WAY into the woods. It was, damp, wet, moist, soggy, moldy and wet, .........oh.....did I already say wet??? The mosquitos were ready to take us away, but with all that complaining I have to say we had a great time! The dogs were thrilled to go exploring some place new. They raced and raced through the woods with their orange vests on so we could easily see them in the dim, shaded, WET woods. I wore my rubber boots, thankfully because some areas we had to go through ankle deep mud. I am SICK of the wet!!!

How many teeter parties can we do??

This was the final "product"!! Wahoooooooo!

But, this was how it started - BIG PARTY at the end.........

I posted a request for teeter parties with Spur on our training list. I now have parties scheduled for tomorrow, Monday and Tuesday! We also have class Tuesday and Wednesday, which will also include teeter parties! He was much more brave at class tonight. Last week he could barely think about doing a teeter. He did have some melt down during a few other obstacles, but on the whole he did a great job tonight and it definitely did not look like Rabies Day at The Racoon Farm this week!!

Rabies day at the Raccoon Farm

Might be more fun than running Spur in agility class? OK, again I stole that from the funny chick in CA. (see post below) Is it still plagiarism if I give her credit? How about, cleaning the chicken coop on a 95 degree day because Mom said we had to do that before we could go swim at the cove. Might be more fun than running Spur in agility class? Cleaning the foot ball sized abscess from the 110lbs Newfoundland. Might be more fun than running Spur in agility class? I didn't steal those, I claim those as all mine!

Honestly, though, he seems to be getting more and more in a funk and it isn't fun to watch or be a part of. He is so great at home, has a really nice foundation, but just gets way stressed in class. It all stems from his tail getting slammed under the teeter and now the teeter, me - cuz I was there, and any other associated obstacles have generalized to being a bummer for him. Agility people have a saying........"If it ain't fun, we don't run",............and seriously I don't think it is much fun for little Spur right now. At least, away from home it isn't and I just don't know what to do about it. With Roscoe I could break him out of any funk with food. Spur just doesn't get as excited about food.

Next week I will set things up a little differently. Crate him or tie him to the fence and have him watch me run Roscoe. That might make him jealous? So he wants to do it too? Right now the other dogs are crated in the truck when he is working. I just don't know what to do. Take privates only so we can really spend the time needed? Will that be any better? I don't know.

Godzilla chows down on Buxton

I stole that from a blog in CA http://www.teamsmalldog.com/blog/index.html I love how she writes!!! Very funny.

Spur now thinks Godzilla Chows Down On Buxton. Last week at our Buxton agility class we did the teeter for the first time. Just when I think he is doing OK on the teeter, he has a melt down. We are going to be doing lots of teeter parties and last night I worked on my plan before we started class. Lots of clicking and treating for touching and bouncing the teeter at the end. Then lots of chicken for watching it recoil and bang. We decided not to do it during the course, though, because he started out not even wanting to take the first jump. Worry, worry, worry, he was stressed. My mind goes round and round, what should I DO, what's the BEST thing here, how to I snap him out of this? No one ever really has a good answer, but I know he just needs to SNAP OUT OF IT!! Finally got him over the jump and onto the dog walk. Lots of chicken. Then a fun tunnel, lots of chicken. Then a jump and A-frame, lots of chicken. Another jump, chicken, the weaves.........slowwwwwwww..........but still lots of chicken.......a jump........toss the frisbee and play, play, play. Put him away and waited for our next try. Much better effort the next time, but still slow and worried. NO teeter, but lots of chicken and frisbee.

It's frustrating, I know he has it in him, he just needs to work through this stuff. It's so mental with him. But, he is trying, he is doing the best he can for right now so I have to take what I can get. It sure is taking baby steps and sometimes like pulling teeth, but I DO know he can do this.

Teeter parties have begun!

Training wee Spur for agility has been challenging. His first five months in a kennel (shelter) shows, and he worries about things. Was this nature or nurture? I am convinced it is both. Had he been raised in a perfect home, exposed to all sorts of sounds and things like a good breeder would do, I think he still would have some worries because it is just his nature. So, I have to work a little extra hard to get him over these worries. Doing teeter games and making the scary teeter a fun thing is essential. It doesn't help that during some of his baby games he managed to get his tail under it and crunched pretty hard to scare him badly about the teeter. And that I was involved has not helped us any. He associates ME with that tail crunch.

So..........I have a plan and now that the weather is good I can implement that plan. Spur LOVES his friends!!! He has never met a stranger and adores everyone he meets. He is so darn cute that everyone adores him right back. That is something I can use to my advantage. I am going to have "Teeter Parties" at our friend's yards. I have recruited them to help me, so that they, too are involved with the scary teeter. That takes some pressure off our relationship, helps make the teeter a fun event...........lots of yummy cookies given by awesome friends can help change his emotions about the teeter. Today was our first party. Off to Steve and Laura's where they helped us have an awesome Teeter Party!!! Spur was pretty excited!!! They could see his worry, but he tried like heck and I do think he had a fun time!!

Special Teeter Parties are going to be on our schedule now at least once/week!! I want to change his emotions about the teeter and hopefully this will really help. I want to see that look he has in this photo when he thinks about the teeter!!!! Poised and ready to go with a big smile on his face!!! We can do it!