Hanging Around

A week all about getting ready for the specialty so not much to report.  Lots of stuff I've already talked about.  First and foremost, Shasta continues to show that she is dog that likes to be part of the group.  She hangs close.  Loves to lie with me, moves rooms as I move rooms, likes to be around.  And I am appreciating it.

As for training, there has been nothing new, I've only been working on solidifying what she knows.  It's been going well.  She knows her right, left, sit, down and wait all quite well right now.  I guess I have done one thing new.  We have begun to "pounce" on the adult teeter at just about it's lowest height.  It's a bigger board and more noisy but she continues to have no issues jumping on it from any angle.  Her waiting for release from the bottom position is also going really well. 

The 30 second clip below shows her working on the teeter.  You can see she breaks her bottom.  You can also see some of her dandelion eating.  But you can also see the good pounce and the good mini-proofing on the bottom as well.

All-in-all, more good, positive signs.  Now we'll see how she does around all the berners at the specialty!

Still Sort of Dandy

Yesterday I observed the first situation of Shasta acting a little afraid.  Very little, but a little.  What got her to be a little flinchy?  Dusk!  Same as Roxy reacted to as a puppy.  Roxy reacted more severely and for many months.  Shasta was in the back yard last night at dusk and was flinching at the regular bird/neighbor noises outside the yard.  After seeing it with Roxy I am not concerned at this point.  But I found it interesting.

We had another outdoor training session.  And the dandelions?  Well, I'm not yet as exciting as the dandelions but I would upgrade me to being a serious distraction to them.  ;-) 

As for the training itself, we made big strides with her holding her bottom position while I move away, holding out a treat, etc.  I'm surprised by this one because I wasn't even focusing on teaching it yet.  I was just kind of trying it here and there and she picked up on it really quickly.  I did, however, teach wait on the sit, not around obstacles, for a few minutes in a couple of sessions the last few days.  It clearly carried over but, wow, she does not know it very well at all in the original situation to carry it over as well as she did tonight in holding her bottom position.  Cool!

Just "Dandy"

Today we ran into our first frustrating training session.  I went out to the back yard to play around on the puppy dogwalk, the tunnel and a few jump standards.  Simple enough, it's all stuff we've done before.  Oh, but this was the first time doing it with fresh dandelions in the yard!  They overwhelmed Shasta.  As I said, I think it's possible to have too high of a food motivation.  And Shasta considered them food.

I tried doing simple things close to me, I tried waiting it out, I tried verbal "icks", I tried ignoring her, I tried running to a different part of the yard without the dandelions, I tried being us upbeat as I can be.  I could not find a way to be more interesting than those dandelions.  Ugh. 

I'm not panicked over it.  I know that long term it's not going to be an issue.  Still, it was a little disappointing and a little frustrating to deal with it in the short term.  And it's really tough not to personalize it, to feel like she is "choosing them over me".  In a rational moment I know that's silly but it's still the initial, emotional reaction.

We quit the session without a great deal of success.  We did have some success running the puppy dogwalk and getting the bottom position on one side of it without any dandelions around (well, none remaining after she ate them!). 

We called it quits, and I put together our full size but adjustable teeter in the yard, setting it at the lowest setting (nearly lying flat on the ground).  I brought her back out, did about 5-8 "pounces" on the teeter, had success and called it quits again.  

On the plus side, at the show today, it seemed as though the left turn was starting to kick in.  To go along with being a wonderful puppy at the show again and lying at my feet as I type this post.

Return Home

It's been 11 days since I've posted to this blog.  I guess a business trip will do that.  I spent my first nights away from Shasta, five days, while I was at a conference in Vegas.

One of the good parts of a trip like this is returning home to the overwhelming reception from the dogs, right?  Right??  Umm, not so much from Shasta.  I guess that was expecting a bit much from such a young dog.  It was more of a "Hi Dad", ok, back to the routine.  Pretty much the same reception as a work day. 

That notwithstanding, she is still being a super sweet puppy.  I've mentioned it before but I miss a dog that is so willing and happy to cuddle.  Zenna's been that and it's appreciated.  But she is "Kris' dog" and it isn't quite the same as it being with one of "my dogs".  Shasta's filling a void for me.  Ridiculous void to have with five other dogs in the house but it's there.  Sonic is an awesome dog and super sweet, but not a cuddler.  Pearle was a cuddler but not as much now in her senior years.

As for training, not much has happened, being gone and the extra work hours before and after.  But we did do a little training session in the basement tonight. Mostly the basics, sit/down/left/right.  I might be frustrated wondering if she will ever pick up on the left command but I recall Roxy having the same hurdle.  I also started to add in a "wait" command to the sit.  That went quite well.

It's another show this weekend and we will be working all classes we aren't running in so it will be long days.  Hopefully we get home in time for me to get outside with the dogs a little bit.

A Sequence of Events

As I believe I said in the last post, I've been working on "jumps" with Shasta.  I somewhat unintentionally put them into a sequence and that seemed quite natural to both of us (video above).

I understand that some people are actually following this blog. Who knew?  As such, I probably should mention, I intuitively do a lot of rewarding for "come to hand".  Nearly all recalls are with me facing away/running away from the dog, dropping one of my hands and rewarding at the hand.  Formal recalls, calling into the house, calling up the stairs, coming out of a tunnel.  So I think things like front crosses are pretty easy for Shasta to understand.

As for the more "passive" things I've been working on: the sit, down, left, right.  Sit and right, the first two things I taught, are really good.  Downs finally made a pretty good stride the last couple of sessions on it.  But lefts?  Not so good.  Is it because I taught right first?  Or is she naturally left handed?  I don't know, but she is definitely not picking it up as quickly as she did her rights.

Outside of training, the emotional connection continues to get stronger.  She has spent numerous times this last week lying on my feet when I'm on furniture, lying with me when I'm on the floor, generally hanging around me.  LOVE IT!  And miss it since I've lost Roxy.  Thanks Shasta.

Below is a quick little clip of Shasta running our super-mini dogwalk.  I just think it's cute.

Hup There It Is

I'm oddly impressed.  Shasta has now been chewing on a rubber toy for close to 30 minutes straight as I write this.  Really?? 

Busy week at work, the Inn and home.  But the weather has been too nice to ignore some outdoor training time.  I decided to throw in some "grid work" by using the jump uprights, with the bar on the ground, for the first time.  It feels younger than I've done it before but, as usual, I don't really remember.

She really seems tireless when training.  We're outside with leaves, twigs, grass and dirt and there is very little distraction and she is going 15-20 minutes at a time.  And I'm still the one choosing to quit.

As I send Shasta to a "jump", I am using the term "hup".  Kris continues to insist that I haven't used the term hup in many years and she hates it, says it reminds her of our early, corrective obedience days.  I swear I have always used hup when teaching.  I feel sure I never say "jump".  It may seem impossible to not know what I use with Sonic or Roxy but it's because I never really use a jump command once they have learned to jump, I don't think I ever use one on course.

Shasta quit chewing, went for some water.  I think about 35 minutes total.  Her mouth should be tired and sore!  Hopefully ready to sleep.

Emotional Connection

I've liked this puppy all along but in the last week I feel like the emotional connection has blossomed.  Not how she feels about me but how I feel about her.  I am now feeling fully invested, so to speak.

I also previously wrote that I love my routines and I really struggle with how puppies disrupt the routines.  The disruption is greatly diminished now.  It's still a disruption but it's not overwhelming.   Which leads to the question, is my feeling of the emotional connection blossoming from our relationship or is it really just a result of Shasta becoming part of our routines?  I'll never know for sure.

As for training, we've been doing more of the same: sits, rights, introduced lefts, puppy teeter, shaping on the beverage tray.  What's new this week is introducing her to some of the obstacles in the yard.  I put out the puppy dog walk, two planks and the table top sitting on the ground.  We've been running the walk (see photo above, she thinks it's fun!).  I've also shaped her to putting herself in a bottom position on the planks.  I have not yet put it together.  But the bottom position is going great.  I've always lured it in the past, this time it's purely shaped, to this point anyway.  It will be interesting to see if it's more entrenched or not over time.

Shasta is also going through curved tunnels and we introduced the chute.  She quickly learned to blast through the chute without assistance.   That "suction effect" of a chute did not seem to affect her at all.