The 2-Minute dog trainer, retrieves

Bud and I spent 4 hours yesterday morning in the parking lot of a local Tractor Supply store, talking to people about dog training and handing out our brochures.

Things started out slowly. Then, in an effort to get Hazard into the warm sun, I set her sherpa bag on the table and let Hazard curl up with her face to the crowd.

From that moment on we were mobbed by people and kids. Note to self — if you want to draw attention put a dog in a box where people can see her. <g>

We took 3 dogs and all of them had a great time.  Hazard got all sorts of petting and attention. She came out of her sherpa bag for kids and, as soon as they were done with her, whirled around and darted back into her safe zone.

Dash, my 9-year-old aussie, slept for the first hour on the back seat of the Tahoe. Then, when he heard a pack of kids, he hopped out and made the rounds. His next few hours were filled with schmoozing and butt scratches, occasionally returning to the comfy interior of the truck. Dash had some bad experiences with kids in the past, so I’m pleased to see that he’s finally feeling more confident around them. Perhaps it was the knowledge that he could always retreat to the truck that enabled him to be so brave and outgoing.

Kory, Bud’s BC youngster, spent much of his time lying quietly in a crate in the back of the truck. Bud got him out often for some walks and retrieval work, and Kory got his share of attention from the kids.

When we’re working with a young dog I always keep a mental post-it-note of “what is most important for him to learn today.” This is part of the 2-minute dog trainer philosophy, by the way, that each interaction with a dog is a learning experience for that dog as well as for us.

Kory’s most important lesson yesterday, and his biggest success, was to stay in the crate with us nearby and to refrain from tearing up his bedding.

He also got to work on retrieving with Bud though I must say, proudly, that Dash is the retrieving king in our house.

When my first competition dog, Banner (now nearly 14 years old) was beginning her obedience career I was learning about positive reinforcement training methods. She learned to heel using Dawn Jecs “choose to heel” methods, eating treats and working without a choke or prong collar.

My training path separated from the AKC obedience club with which I was training and Banner earned her CD without much assistance or support from our instructors. I was determined to find another way than the one I’d seen at our weekly training sessions.

I taught my old girl, Banner, to retrieve 13 years ago using Sue Sternberg’s Inducive Retrieve method. A friend gave me a little brochure containing Sue’s typed instructions and her hand-drawn illustrations. Sue has since created a new brochure which is much fancier than the original photocopied version, with pictures instead of drawings, available at http://www.greatdogproductions.com/ppp/images/InduciveRetrieve.jpg

During the time I was training Banner to retrieve my club’s training followed one of two paths — the ear pinch or the collar twist. In our open class our instructor began dumbell work with “hold, hold, hold,” fingers clamped over the dog’s mouth.

Having taken ownership of my dog’s training in novice class I felt comfortable taking a separate path in open as well. I read Sue’s brochure and began training in little 5-minute increments at home.

In class, while everyone else was learning how to force the dumbell into their dog’s mouth, Banner and I went into a corner where we worked on the inducive retrieve.

At the end of 8 weeks my classmates were able to have their dog sitting in heel position holding the dumbell, mostly. Banner, on the other hand, could fetch the dumbell and return to front, holding the dumbell, giving it to me.

It was shocking to my instructors. Their response was the same tired response we hear today when we train with rewards instead of punishment, “what do you do if she refuses to pick up the dumbell?”

My response was, “she’s never refused to pick it up!   Why would she?  She is constantly rewarded for returning the dumbell to me, so the toughest part of the exercise is staying by me while the dumbell is tossed.”

At a monthly meeting the club asked for a demonstration of the method and I decided to make it a real test of inducive over forced retrieve. If their real question had to do with my response to a refusal, I needed to demonstrate that a refusal wasn’t likely, and that a refusal was a result of confusion, not willful disobedience, and should be met with encouragement, not force.

At the outdoor picnic meeting I turned a very excited Banner (I was, afterall, holding her dumbell!) away from the group and had a friend hide her dumbell near a member’s feet, under a table. I turned Banner back toward the crowd and told her “take it!”

Banner ran away from me and searched for the dumbell. She didn’t stop for petting, attention, or food. She searched and searched, occasionally looking back to make sure I was still waiting for her. I kept smiling and encouraging her.

After about 90 seconds of searching she dived onto her dumbell and ran as fast as she could back to me. It was the first time I got that thrill of having a demo dog do exactly what was expected. <g>  My first “I told you so” moment.

Jaws dropped. I hadn’t repeated the command, hadn’t restarted my dog, had just given her encouragement and continued smiling at her. Her drive to find the dumbell was created by the rewards I’d been giving her for bringing it back to me.

Bud and Kory have been working on a play retrieve so yesterday, in the tractor supply parking lot, I encouraged Bud to go to the inducive foundation work.

Within 30 minutes Kory was not only chasing the dumbell, but picking it up and returning to Bud with it. I doubt if Bud will ever want an obedience retrieve, he just wants a fetch for agility training, so there was no real need for the front-and-give dumbell work.

But I’m thinking that, with the foundation training being put in place, an obedience retrieve isn’t far off for this youngster, if either of us are so inclined.

Sport Foundation homework, 2-min dog trainer

We begin our sport foundation class tonight and I’ve chosen three topics for training and homework:  Heeling (my version of Dawn Jecs “choose to heel” program), stand/stay, and start-line stay.

There will be 2-minute dog training homework handouts for each of these skills by 5pm today.

I’m planning to work Hazard in this sport foundation class, let her be my demo dog and get used to being brave around strange dogs. Everyone should be on-lead, so there’s little danger to Hazard in this 6-7pm class.

Following sport foundation class is our Tuesday league play. I’m encouraging EVERYONE from the sport foundation class to join in league play.

There will be some folks who just stay and watch, I’m sure, as we’ll have a couple of beginner agility dogs in our foundation class.

I put the Tuesday night schedule in place with Hickory and Bud, as well as Hazard and Marsha in mind. It’s SO easy to develop instructor syndrome (the instructor’s dog never gets worked) or private lesson syndrome (the instructor’s dog always works in an empty building with no other dogs to provide stimulation and distraction).

The two syndromes result in a dog who attends their first trial with two strikes against them:  1) they’re under-trained and lack the hundreds of hours of foundation training that leads to a good first experience in the show ring,  and  2) they’re over-stimulated and unused to the carnival atmosphere of the trial site.

Tonight’s class will be an investment in our young dogs’ agility and obedience careers and I hope our students get as much out of it as we will.

League play will be our first C-Wags agility session for 2009. I’ve handed out some dog registration forms but will need a dozen-or-so more forms for new students tonight.

When dogs are registered with C-Wags the organization will begin tracking Qs and titles, and providing certificates for achievement.

We’re charging a whopping $5 per run starting tonight. Part of that fee will be passed on to C-Wags. Students will pay for their scribe sheet, add their dogs’ names and C-Wags numers (or “pending” if applicable), and hand the scribe sheet to the scribe before their run.

This is a new experience for us but I believe these weekly matches will be good practice for me, in preparation for our first actual C-Wags trials in 2010 (dates to be determined).

We’ve been a C-Wags club for a year or so now but haven’t put together a trial committee, established set dates, applied for trial weekends, etc.

Now that C-Wags offers obedience, rally, AND agility, it becomes a weekend certainly worthy of our attention.

Hopefully our students will agree …

In other news, DogSport magazine is featuring lots of coverage of the TDAA Nationals, our 2009 Petit Prix in Racine, WI, in the upcoming issue.

Additionally they’re creating an on-line forum for trainers and instructors (students as well, I’m sure) who are interested in discussing dog training.  The link is: 

http://www.dogsportmagazine.com/?p=658  

I’ll be posting about our sport foundation class, as well as bits of information from our new Thursday night masters classes. An interesting new way of distributing information!

New camp plan for 2010, new weeknight classes

Bud and I talked on the way to and from Wisconsin about revising our camp program to answer the needs (both time-wise and money-wise) of agility enthusiasts.

Since 1999 we’ve done camps as “package deals.” Like seminars or workshops, the camper paid a flat fee and everyone got the same product. Four days of agility, 6 hours a day, plus a meal, accommodations extra whether campers stayed in a motel or stayed in our cottages.

I’m convinced that today’s agility exhibitor wants more flexibility. Our 2010 camps are going to be sold as components, with every camper getting to customize their training experience.

Instead of having 6-7 people check in on Sunday night for a Monday-through-Thursday camp, some people will arrive Sunday, some perhaps Monday, some may leave on Tuesday, some stay until Friday, etc.

Instead of having accommodations be a block fee it will be based on the number of nights you need a bed.

Instead of assuming everyone wants to attend a group dinner in the evening we’ll offer that as an option and let people opt in or out of group meals.

The biggest problem is probably going to be explaining this system to folks.

For example, in order to give Bud some sort of regular schedule during camps we’ll keep the morning (9am to noon) group session. If folks want to participate in that group training the cost is $35 per dog.

Beginning at 1pm we’ll have 1-hour blocks set aside for private lessons. Cost will be $65/hour. Friends training and traveling together may bundle their private lessons and turn them into a group event.

A camper may choose to arrive Monday, have a private lesson Monday evening, attend the group session Tuesday morning, have a private lesson Tuesday afternoon, attend a group dinner Tuesday evening, work 2 dogs in the group session Wednesday morning, have another private lesson Wednesday afternoon and depart for home.  This example would cost $290 ($40/night for bed x2, $35/group class x2, $65/private lesson x2, $10/meal x1).

Another camper might want to do the full package — 4-5 nights in a bed, all 4 morning sessions, 4 private lessons, 4 group meals, depart on Friday morning.  This example would cost $640 ($40/night for bed x 5, $35/group class x 4, $65/private lesson x 4, $10/meal x 4).

Additionally, we’re rethinking the entire deposit process. We’ve gone from a $100 deposit in 1999 to a $200 deposit in 2009. We’re going to roll back the deposit to $100, and give a $25 bonus to early-bird registrants (before 12/15/09). We’ve offered this discount before, but the discount was always off the balance due rather than the deposit. Now, if you register early, your deposit is only $75.

Deposits will still be non-refundable, but transferrable (portable) once in the calendar year. So, if you put a deposit in early for a week in May and have to move it to June you’re not penalized.

This lower deposit will reflect the decrease in camp fees paid by folks wanting 2-3 days of vacation. Instead of making all our camps weekday camps we’ll also be doing some long weekend camps — Friday through Monday.

I’d really like to see a camp season where every day sees campers arriving and campers departing, and every one of them getting a customized vacation.

This will complicate my “chambermaid” duties a little, but there might be a time when your clean sheets are folded neatly on top of your mattress, rather than having every bed pre-made and sitting ready for you.

Most camps will become a bit “free-form.” No real roster, people coming and going, groups growing and shrinking.

However, we’re going to put our THEMED camps again, with topics including distance, foundation training, teacup, masters, and novice.

We’ll also be encouraging breed-specific camp registration … how fun to train with 4-5 others who share your love of your special breed!

While we’re rethinking the whole camp process we’re also instituting weeknight classes. When we moved here we swore off weeknight classes but they’ve gradually crept back into our schedule.

On Tuesday evenings we’re expecting a flexible and ever-changing group of people and dogs. We’ll start the evening with a 6-7pm foundation training class with homework from my 2-Minute Dog Trainer protocols. At 7pm we’ll break off to be briefed for the week’s game, walk and run the game. At 7:30pm Bud or I will teach a sequencing class, probably based on the league course and the challenges it presented. Cost per event, per class, per dog, is $5 — pay-as-you-play.

On Thursday evenings we’ve sold class slots in a 6-7 masters handling class, followed by a 7pm league play (same course as Tuesdays), followed by a 7:30 intermediates-to-advanced handling class. Cost is $35/month regardless on whether there are 4-or-5 Thursdays, with no make-ups for bad weather, and no prorating (that means, if you join for the last 2 weeks of the month the cost is still $35 to claim that slot).

We’re looking for students on Thursday nights who are serious about doing homework and seeing improvement.

We’re hoping that the Thursday night classes will take some of the pressure off the Sunday afternoon workshops. When Bud’s here we’re able to do split group work but his travel schedule has him gone for 1-2 workshops per quarter. By myself I’m hard-pressed to wear out 12 handlers and their dogs.

We going to adding THEMES as a training option for the Sunday workshops as well including, teacup, distance, masters, etc.

We’re eager to see how all these changes will play out with customers, campers, and students.

2009 TDAA Petit Prix, semi-finals and finals

We were surprised and delighted to know our whole group from Houston’s Country Dream had made it into the semi-finals. Our goal was to maintain composure, do our best, and advance to the final round.

Our semi-final games were Quidditch and Steeplechase. We’d just played Quidditch a few days before, and have been playing the “all-dog” version since Becky Dean helped invent it 3-4 years ago.

I walked both courses with speed-building in mind.

For Quidditch I was confident that Hazard could manage the little sequences but she needed to run fast enough to get all the beaters and the golden snitch, and finish before the horn sounded, to move up in her class.

She’s also had issues with distance work when people and other dogs are present, so my strategy for the tire (aka “beater”) was to create lateral distance from her on the approach to the tire, and use that lateral distance to make Hazard believe the tire was just another obstacle on the course — without making it a big ole distance send.

As I was waiting my turn I noticed that some handlers were having trouble with the send to the tire from one sequence (the “jump-weave-teeter” sequence). They were handling it the same as I’d walked it. I also notice that handlers who switched sides in the way to the teeter were having much faster approaches to the tire and a straighter path to the next sequence (the “jump-jump-jump-tunnel” sequence).

I did what I tell students never to do — I changed my strategy as I stood and watched. I closed my eyes and visualized the new path I’d take, reminded myself to run my dog, not my plan. Over and over I mentally re-walked that course.

When Hazard’s turn arrived there was a delay with the scribe, so she and I ran back and forth along the ring gating to keep her engaged and happy. When folks were ready Hazard and I took off.

My new strategy worked like a charm, though I notice on our video that Hazard eyed the “bludger” pretty hard before being called to do the tire (the “beater”) and go to the next sequence. It wasn’t brilliant but my handling was sufficient for the task and Hazard seemed happy to run with me. On my video is Bud’s voice saying, “Good Girl!” as Hazard hit the last beater and made it to the finish line with time to spare, earning her golden snitch.

I had to walk both courses early and ran both courses just a few minutes apart. Fortunately both courses experienced slight delays in the early stages, so we all had plenty of time to watch the dogs ahead of us, note any problem areas on the course, and remind ourselves of handling options to deal with those problems.

In Steeplechase I walked looking for any place to build speed. The primary challenge on the course, other than the long straight line in the opening and the long curve around the end of the course, was the hard 180-degree turn back after the a-frame and jump.

Several handlers had off-course faults when their dogs back-jumped on their return to the a-frame. The back-jumping was a handler error we often see, where handlers neglect to put a tracking step to bring their dog around the jump standard.

I walked the course with a plan to pre-cue the 180-degree turn on Hazard’s approach to the jump, and video shows that Hazard completely understood, came around the standard, and accelerated to the second a-frame performance.

After the second a-frame I planned a blind cross to draw her off the a-frame and to the left, where she was headed to the closing path of the steeplechase. The video shows that Hazard floated forward off the a-frame, but understood my draw to handler focus and came to the side to finish smartly.

Now came the waiting game. Had my handling achieved the goal of coaxing speed out of my dog? Had she moved up in her class enough to be one of the dozen-or-so 8″ dogs advancing to the final round?

Frankly, I was pessimistic. I felt sure that the other, faster, dogs would take those top spots. I resolved to support our students’ in their run for the finals, and not to worry about Hazard and I.

In fact, while calculations were under way, Judge Paul Jensen did a general briefing for the game. I didn’t attend choosing, instead, to spend some time stepping off the course. Perhaps exhaustion was setting in. We’d been in Wisconsin, doing agility, for 5 days, and it was late afternoon Ohio time.

When Hazard’s name was called as earning a finals slot, Bud says my eyes went wide and he’d never seen me that thrilled. I think the surprise, anxiety, and exhaustion heightened my emotion in the situation.

I walked the course several more times to make an accurate guess about our rate of speed. There were several difficulties with the final round, Who Dares Wins.

First, the dividing ring gates were removed so that the course used the entire ring area, effectively doubling the size of the course and stretching out the course measurements. Second, it was now after 8pm our time after long days of agility, and I had no idea whether my dog would be interested in running with me. Third, the course had long lines followed by sharp turns and discriminations, and handlers were constantly taking the dog from obstacle focus to handler focus. Fourth, the course had 2 sets of weaves and 3 contacts.

My calculation of Hazard’s speed was based on all these elements. We ran the course four full seconds faster than my calculation. First, Hazard seemed to enjoy the wide-open feel of the expanded course. Second, who knew Hazard would build speed and motivation all day and into the evening? Third, Hazard was keen to my signals switching from handler-to-obstacle focus and back. Fourth, Hazard nailed all her contacts and weaves with speed and joy.

We finished sixth in a class of 85+ dogs and I’ve never been prouder of a dog than I was of Hazard. She not only held it together over 5 days, but actually improved her attitude over the three days.

Plus — I GOT A FINALIST SHIRT !!!

Days 2 and 3 of the TDAA Petit Prix

On the second day of the TDAA event in Racine, actually the first day of the Petit Prix, we looked forward to 4 opportunities to get good scores. With the background scoring in place, I wanted Hazard to be as fast as possible, but consistently Q-ing.

To quote Bud, “Run clean and you’ll beat a lot of dogs.” I didn’t play it over-safe, on the other hand, as this was the time for boldness. Our first runs were Standard and Dare to Double, running concurrently in two rings. Due to a logistical anomaly, with one ring starting with tall dogs and the other ring starting with small dogs, Hazard was always scheduled to run both rings at the same time. She was positioned right in the middle of both lists, but I guess that was better than having one run early and then waiting several hours for my next run.

Bud and I decided on this, the first day of qualifying for the Petit Prix, to take turns running Hazard. It’s impossible to tell ahead of time which handler she’ll enjoy most. Usually she works consistently but slowly for me. Her most brilliant runs are with Bud.

By taking turns we were enabling her to choose her handler for the remainder of the events. She had a nice Standard run with me, and a terrific Dare to Double with Bud.

Next we prepared for Jumpers and Nested Gamblers. Since Bud did all Hazard’s distance training we decided he should surely run that class. I took responsibility for Jumpers, and walked the course with SPEED in mind. I walked the course twice to check out the lines and traps.

During my third walk through I envisioned a slow, timid Hazard running with me. I tried to find long, straight lines of acceleration and put in as many blind crosses as possible.

In the meantime, Bud walked and ran nested gamblers with her. Her start line release was pitifully slow and timid. She sped up as she got out into the ring, safely away from all those serial killers acting as scribes and timekeepers. Our video showed us a little dog very concerned about her surroundings.

My heart sank as I watched, and I knew Bud felt bad about the fact that Hazard feels less safe running with him than with me. We preach to our students about placing all that responsibility on a little dog’s shoulders, but it’s easy for us to fall into the same trap. We wanted her to do well for for half a dozen reasons, none of which really had anything to do with her.

Hazard’s Jumpers run started a little slow but she loved my blind crosses and straight lines. At one point I did a tandem turn and sent her zipping out to a tire, she barked with excitement and ended the run with some of the old fire we remember from years ago.

The decision was made for us at this point, really. I’d be running Hazard on Sunday. I was exhausted, discouraged, and fairly certain we’d not make it into the semi-finals, let alone the final round of the Petit Prix.

I experienced a shift in perspective. Instead of thinking about doing well, I began thinking of what was going to be the best experience for Hazard. I decided we’d just do our best, support our friends, and make the weekend fun for Hazard.

Exhausted, we returned to our room. Bud prepared to walk to the TDAA Board of Directors dinner/meeting and I begged off, choosing to stay in the room and take a good nap. Bud returned from the meeting with my dinner, and we all got a good night’s rest.

On Sunday morning we had two runs before scoring would determine the dogs moving forward to the semi-finals. This was our last chance to do well and make some progress. We had a Standard run and Weakest Link.

Again our gate sheets had Hazard smack dab in the center, so both of her runs were close together. Her standard run had a weave entry straight off the a-frame and that missed entry was Hazard’s only performance fault for the 3 days.

We did okay in Weakest Link though the judge’s briefing introduced some rules we were unfamiliar with. Everyone coped with the change, though, and Hazard’s performance included lots of excited barking.

I was pleasantly surprised to hear that Hazard, as well as all three of our students’ dogs (Elmer and Quigley the Beagles, and Baxter the Min Pin), would play on in the Semi Finals !!

Semi Finals and Final round later ….

2009 TDAA Petit Prix results, new Country Dream classes

We’ve been home for nearly a week and have been catching up on indoor chores. Weather has been cold and rainy. It doesn’t seem right that we left for Wisconsin in late summer and returned home in mid-fall. Because of the cold and rain the leaf color is falling to the ground prematurely.

Autumn chores of winterizing haven’t gotten done and this morning there was frost on the dog ramp into their yard. We’re hoping that next week provides us with some dry days and higher temps, allowing us to get caught up with outdoor chores including:

Last mowing of the season … both cottages, the front yard, the dog yards, Bud’s garden area, the agility field, the training building surround, the pond and lower gate.

Cottage prep … getting propane furnaces lit, windows and doors shut tight, firewood for lower cottage woodburner, campfire logs stacked, deadwood picked up, cleaned and freshened.

Lawn hoses … last watering done (though it has rained for 2 weeks, so probably don’t need to do that), disconnect and drain hoses, allow drying time, store away for winter.

House tasks … fall cleaning of high surfaces, placing pest strips to capture the onslaught of asian beetles we know will be with us soon, laundering curtains, adding black-out fabric to backs of curtains (a project Mom and I planned about 6 months ago), and putting together our “extended bad weather emergency food-and-water kit.”

Regarding the 2009 TDAA Petit Prix — I don’t think I could have been more pleased with the results unless we’d actually won. I had personal victories on many fronts though walking and running courses with Bud’s sheltie, Hazard, was bittersweet. I was often reminded of my original plans to run Blue in the 12″ division, and I spent some time wondering how she was doing in the Cell Dog program.

On that front, I’ve had many supportive letters from people involved in the cell dog program telling of changed lives and the benefits to inmates — I know Blue’s being well cared for and that she’ll find a fabulous home. I miss her and wish things had worked out better for us as Blue’s family, but my continued sadness over the loss of Red keeps me from dwelling overlong on Blue’s departure.

So — the Petit Prix — what a fabulous time that was.

Day one of the warm-up workshops we had a fine crowd of participants and there was room for me to run Hazard. We had 2 participants use their state winner gift certificates from 2008 as part of their workshop fee, and about half of the folks there had trained with Bud in the past, so it was a bit of a meeting of old friends.

Day two of the warm-up workshops we had about 7 more people added to the mix so we spent the morning hours in split-group work. I did obstacle conditioning for table, teeter, tire and weaves, focusing more on table and teeter in the more novice group, table and weaves on the more advanced group. I doesn’t surprise me that folks don’t remember to continue obstacle conditioning with their “superior” dogs — I forget to do it myself — but conditioning can enhance  your performance in sequencing.

Day one of the Petit Prix weekend was a regular trial with 2 classes — one standard (all three levels) and a game (Chutes and Ladders. Hazard had a slow start on the weekend, running at half speed in standard and at quarter speed in Chutes and Ladders. She’s one of the few dogs I know that dislikes tunnels, and a corgi took a poop break in one of the tunnels first thing, so it was no surprise that her Chutes and Ladders run was less than stellar.

Highlight of day one was the opportunity to do Strategic Teams. Jackie (with Baxter, the Min Pin), Vicki (with Elmer, the Beagle) and I (with Hazard, the sheltie) had been practicing strategic teamwork for a few weeks.

Hazard would shut down if Vicki or Jackie yelled to get their dog’s attention, so she needed to run the outside or end of the course. Elmer tends to blow contacts and miss turns when excited, so he needed weavepoles and straight lines. Baxter misses contacts when Jackie gets excited, but he was assigned the a-frame and dogwalk.

We did a lot of chopping and would have had a marvelous run if we’d held it together. An interesting note for TDAA judges … try to remember the course and watch the obstacles in order, so you actually are watching the dog that is working. At one point we sent Vicki’s Elmer over the dogwalk as a transitional obstacle — it allowed her to fix her 2O2O performance and got her from point A to point B for her next sequence. The judge was confused by our strategy and ended up watching Elmer on his not-part-of-the-course-dogwalk instead of watching Baxter as he did the next 6 obstacles, but she quickly regained her sense of the course and we finished in a muddled mess at jump 30.

My proud moment that day came when Vicki — having come to Bud’s training 2-1/2 years ago with no agility other than AKC under her belt — designed a strategy for her OTHER team (with Quigley, her puppy) that beat all other teams by 40+ seconds. Her teammates were fast, accurate dogs and that helped alot, but they had NO bobbles and ran beautifully.

Our Petit Prix banquet was fun, motivational, and uplifting — exactly what a national event’s banquet is supposed to accomplish! Paul Jensen, TDAA President, gave us some terrific statistics — in 2007-8 there were TDAA trials scheduled every other weekend, somewhere in the country. In 2008-9 there were TWO TDAA trials scheduled for every weekend, somewhere in the country. What an achievement.

Bud and I kept reminiscing about the start of TDAA — our first trial had about a dozen dogs and 10 handlers. We were at a little park near Columbus. We had pizza for lunch every day and had a banquet at a nearby restaurant on Saturday night. To see the organization as vital and vigorous as it is today is very uplifting.

I truly remember when Bud began discussing TDAA … I was running aussies and was less than interested in a venue that excluded me and my dogs. But the first time I ran a teacup course with one of the shelties I was HOOKED on it. TDAA is more of a dance than a speed sprint. It’s that dance that I love.

Days 2 and 3 of the Petit Prix to follow.

One week to Petit Prix, new class schedule

I wrote this draft 2-3 weeks ago and neglected to finish and publish.  Though the dates are a bit misleading (“one week to Petit Prix” – which actually happened 7 days ago) I want to preserve the information on our preparation.

BLOG 10/2/09. After 2 weeks without a new blog entry I’m back!  It’s been a bit busy around here.

During the 2 weeks whent the YMCA pool was closed for cleaning and repairs I intended to visit another pool to keep my exercise regimen.

Instead I found myself digging into the list of projects I have, getting tons of miscellaneous tasks finished. Bud was on the road quite a bit so I was on my own most of the time. I also had the opportunity to judge 4H dog projects (obed, agility, rally) at a couple of local fairs.

Last week the pool opened again so I ramped up my swimming schedule. This week I’ve done about 8 miles in 5 days. I’m hoping the Racine Radisson’s pool will be open so I can do a little swimming next week.

Hazard and I have been working together this week at teacup camp. On day one she got very stressed with barking dogs — mostly Bud’s Kory.

We believe she doesn’t object to his barking. Instead, she objects to the shouting from us that follows the barking.

By the second day she was feeling better. On the third day I felt we were partnering better, and that she was getting my cues better.

Today Bud set up a course that required lots of front crosses and, for once, my handling didn’t slow Hazard down.

His second exercise focused on establishing our paces-per-second. It combined two of my favorite activities — stepping off the dog’s path and high school math. NOT

But I’ve had such good luck calculating Hazard’s paces-per-second and designing courses to fill the time allotted that I’m starting to enjoy the exercise a bit.

At Central Ohio Dog Sports’ trial a few weeks ago Hazard won her class by arriving at the pause table with all her points and exactly on time — she had 55 seconds and hit the table at 55:35 — and I always find that a  bit miraculous.

Today we struggled a bit on the first course. I didn’t feel overly connected. By the second course I guessed we’d collect 59 points in 55 seconds. Hazard hit the table with all 59 points at 55:12 seconds. Sheesh …. that’s cool.

In other news we’re contemplating adding weeknight classes. Here’s the plan I devised this morning while getting in my hour of swimming.

Tuesday evenings will be our flexible roster, to compete with the in-flexible local competition.

From 6-7pm we’ll offer a class on sport foundation training, following the protocols in my 2-minute dog training brochures for sport foundation. We’ll work on agility, obedience, and rally. There will be no guaranteed curriculum and we’ll be open to requests from the students.

This early evening class will also become my Women And Dogs club meeting place. WAD was an idea I had for a women’s social club. Folks were interested 2 years ago but I didn’t do anything with it, sadly.

[ ... this is where my draft ended, so I'm going to publish this and then continue where I left off ... ]

Dash, and last night’s fun run

When Bud leaves me in charge of setting a course for our fun run night I generally have little training sets that are my favorites, and I incorporate them into sequences.

Last night I set a 20-obstacle course which included Bud’s opening line (see his blog from Tuesday) which was a bit of a dog-legged straight line.

From that opening line I had them go into the front cross minuet exercise. From the minuet we skipped and layered a jump on our way to the pause table. The layering was so obvious, and NOT layering so difficult, that everyone chose to layer the jump — successfully or not.

These skill sets were all nested in the course and were followed by a back-cross to the dogwalk exercise, a pre-cue-to-a-flip exercise, an a-frame contact with a tunnel between dog and handler exercise, and a run for the finish.

Students struggled a little bit with the front cross minuet, mostly because of poor handler movement or the use of advanced handling on less-than-advanced puppies.

There were two youngsters who disallowed the layering of the jump choosing, instead, to do all the work before them just in case it was right.

All in all I was pleased with everyone’s ability to walk and assess the challenges of the course.  Our new student, having trained elsewhere (and mostly on her own in her backyard), is missing some of the strategy we introduce in our intermediate class.

I decided to run my Dash on the course. Dash is my 9-1/2-year-old aussie, and the dog for whom the 2-Minute Training protocols were developed. He’s a non-confident, food-driven, low-motivation dog.

More importantly, Dash is OCD. He will repeat a skill in the manner to which he was first introduced to it — forever. Once he learns something he does it the same way every time. If I suddenly alter the way something is cued or presented he freezes, licking his lips, filled with self-doubt and anxiety — or jumps around barking.

By working through the 2-Minute Dog Training protocols with him I was forced to vary the presentation of obstacles, adding to his skill set. Do not, however, think for a moment that he is thinking outside the box and developing solutions on his own.

He’s simply digging into his reference library and asking himself, “what is Mom asking me to do this time? Oh yeah, that’s an optional presentation of a jump.”

He’s a fascinating, bright boy. I probably spent more time on foundation training with Dash than I have with any other dog I’ve trained.

His fear of new things is partly his nature but he lived with an idiot and her 2 young daughters from 8 weeks to 5 months, so Dash’s natural fear of new things was magnified 100 times by the time I rescued him.

Last night, when everyone was finished walking the course, I said, “I’m going to run Dash on this course. I haven’t practiced this course with him, and haven’t worked him much in the last couple of years. If we nail it I’ll expect all of you to nail it too.”   HAHAHA

Running a course with a trained, willing partner is poetry. It is the spiritual connection with a dog that brings us back to this sport again and again. When I thought I’d not be able to do agility again it was the loss of this magic that depressed me the most.

I ran Dash mostly silently. When I signaled, he followed. I didn’t have to tell him anything, just showed him the way and turned him loose. True, honest movement received his response of true, honest work. It was so sweet. He nailed all his contacts, never missed a beat in the minuet, was attentive and respectful on the pause table, and was the ultimate canine agility partner.

Trialing with Dash has been depressing in the past few years because the pace I’m able to set is overtime in AKC’s Excellent-level courses. Overtime by fractions of a second. Really depressing, over the course of a weekend, to have beautiful run after beautiful run busted by the time-keeper.

Watching Dash last evening sealed the deal for me — he’s moving to Preferred, jumping 16″, and continuing to enjoy the game wherever we can play it. He’s just too marvelous a partner to be left at home.

In other news — today I’m going to fire out a bunch of e-mails and see if I can’t build some interest in our fall 2009 agility camps.

September 29-October 2, 2009 — four-day teacup agility camp, followed by 2 days of agility trial, followed by our departure for the Petit Prix in Wisconsin.  We’ve got 4 spots filled in this camp (one by my Hazard) and, if I can’t add more dogs, we’re going to be exhausted at the end of 4 days. I’ve got a guestroom in the house and a whole cottage available to accommodate someone wanting a great little vacation for themselves and their teacup dog.

November 15-18, 2009 — four-day standard agility camp, these dates were moved forward a bit to accommodate Bud’s acceptance of a last-minute judging assignment. Campers will arrive on Saturday, November 14, and camp will run Sunday through Wednesday. Group meals will be provided all 4 days, and you have 6 hours a day of instruction. Campers may work on equipment before camp starts, during our mid-day break, and after dinner. I have 2 guestrooms in the house and a whole cottage available for someone wanting a cool-weather training experience. This is our last camp of the year and we’re always blessed with beautiful weather in mid-November.

2 Minute Training sets

In a brief training session yesterday afternoon I walked a course Bud had set up for Vicki and Jackie, our regular Tuesday and Thursday night students, and my partners in the Strategic Teams game in Wisconsin in a couple of weeks.

The lesson for Tuesday night had to do with straight lines created by judges who run with dogs uninterested in moving ahead of the handler. These straight lines are killers to those of us who have encouraged our dogs to run ahead and faster than us.

I walked the course, noticed several options, and ran Hazard on all three of my options. She was keen to work, speedy, barking, and having a great time. And she nailed the course all three times, with all different options.

At the end of Jackie and Vicki’s lesson we broke one of the awkward sequences into a strategic-team lesson. With other dogs on the course, running around her, and handlers shouting at their dogs, Hazard completely shut down.

Handling her over 3 jumps in a little sequence became nearly impossible as she tried to get away by taking jumps without being cued or released to do so.

We switched strategies, putting Hazard’s bit of the course out of the way of our teammates, and she was able to function much better. We’ll need to remember this when it comes time to chop up the strategic-team course in Wisconsin — “Hazard needs to work along edges and in corners of the course.”

In other news … One of my blog readers sent me a link to video of Jon Gosselin (why on earth does he talk to papparazzi as if they are friends?) as the German Shepherd pups got loaded into crates and returned to the breeder. It would have been an indication that someone in this group was thinking clearly if the BREEDER had come to get the dogs.

Instead, Jon got to use the return of the dogs to the breeder as an opportunity to jab and poke at Kate, who was using the dogs as a tool to irritate Jon. Dogs caught in the middle of divorce are often used to create pain for the other spouse.

Fortunately dogs aren’t probably as cognizant of being used this way as children are. My heart goes out to the adults these Gosselin children will become. They will probably all require therapy and I can only hope that one or both parents are tending to that.

In the meantime, Jon and Kate are an embarrassment. I’m ashamed to say I used to enjoy their show.

Having been divorced I absolutely understand the desire to hurt the “ex” and the desire to gather supporters by stating one’s side over and over. But I did this in private, one-on-one, with my friends.

Jon has developed a relationship with the photographers who exist outside his fence. Kate has developed relationships with interviewers who will pay for her opinion. It’s gross. They both look foolish.

In other news …. Bud heads out to Springfield, IL, tomorrow for a day of teacup seminar, followed by 2 days of showing Hazard, followed by 3 days of standard agility training. This event was set up with us by Deb (Richey) Auel. Deb has been a friend and supporter for as long as I can remember. She was our teacup judge at the trial where Bogie earned his TACh.

I’m going to be interested to hear how Hazard does, running for Bud, in a strange place with a new judge. I’d love to see this Sheltie-Ranch girl come out of her weird phase.

News from the 2-Minute dog trainer

This is Hazard’s time to shine. My hope is that, after training and trialing with me for a few weeks, she’ll turn back on to agility and be more confident. And my hope is that Hazard will run for Bud at the Petit Prix, at least some of the time.

This week I’m beginning little teacup sessions with Hazard. Our training will include narrower jumps (instead of 4-foot jump bars we’ll work on 2-foot wide jump bars), weavepole motivation and speed, but not a lot of contacts. Hazard’s 2o2o contacts have transitioned naturally to lovely running contacts and I’m not messing with that. We’ll also be doing some distance training.

In other news, I found a fiberglass double utility tub at a yard sale for $10 and Missy Holmes (formerly Richards) plumbed it for me last week in exchange for private agility lessons for her cattledogs, Gracie and Gunner.

I’ve had a terrific time in the last few days, washing 1-3 dogs a day, getting their shedding hair out and removing months’ worth of grime and grease. Aussie and Shelties don’t require much bathing as a general rule, and I know at least one sheltie person who claimed to have never bathed her dog — just brushing and trimming — because shelties really don’t get a lot of oil or smell in their coats.

A major transformation happened on Saturday when I spent 2 hours with Ringer, our 11+ year old rescue with the MAJOR black tri coat. I thinned, I de-matted, I clipped, I trimmed, I hacked away at this horrible over-the-top aussie coat. Then, when all the excess hair was gone, I bathed this boy for (probably) the third time in his whole life.

Ringer lived the first 3-5 years of his life in the bottom of a stack of crates at a puppy miller’s torture chamber. He was one of 150 or so dogs to come out of a puppy mill raided in Spencer, OH, many years ago. We fostered him and then adopted him.

Ringer was a mess when we got him though rescuers had already bathed him a couple of times. The smell of urine and feces didn’t go away for many weeks. In order to save herself work the puppy miller had removed the steel trays from the crates that sat on top of Ringer’s, so all the upstairs neighbors pooped and peed on him. To this day the slightest sprinkle of rain sends him running indoors. <g>

Ringer is undoubtably the most “grateful” dog we’ve ever had. He has several behaviors to express this gratitude including coming to give me a little kiss on the hand after every meal, visiting each of us once each evening for his hug (he’s the only dog I know who actually craves hugs — the tighter you hold him the more he delights in the contact). Puppy mills are an abomination and should be outlawed.

Today I got Banner’s toenails trimmed (a major achievement since she’s deaf and mostly blind and tends to panic attacks when her arthritic feet are touched) and I’m off to comb and bath Bogie and Birdie, Bud’s 13-year-old shelties.

I’m hoping all this grooming will relieve my house of some of the dirt and hair plaguing us this summer.

Bud’s been on a cleaning frenzy, starting with the installation of the washtub that required movement of some stuff in the basement. This led to a clean-up of the whole basement, hauling tools and tables to the green shed where they will reside from here on out, and organizing the green shed.

In between cleaning episodes, Bud’s digging down through 40 years’ worth of stacked building materials at the lower cottage. My Dad loved to save old bricks, cinder block, stones, fencing, lumber and wire. Unfortunately it was mostly stacked under some trees in the woods adjacent to the cottage.

After 40 years it takes a minor excavation to reveal exactly what sort of pile you’ll find. So far Bud’s found rotten wood piles (great, soft soil which he added to his garden to break up the red clay), brick, chain-link fencing, and field stone.

All have been dug up, hauled up to the house, and stored for future use. Hopefully we won’t need to excavate it again in 20 years. <g>

My Mom, Sister, and I drove yesterday to central WV to visit some really beautiful state parks. We started by checking out Hawk’s Nest, overlooking the New River, then drove on to Babcock State Park and the gristmill there. On our way home we stopped at Hawk’s Nest for lunch, and Glen Ferris for pictures of the lovely falls.

The lousy economy means lots of folks are doing “staycations,” but the state park system still shows signs of financial woes. But Bud and I own about 20 acres of woods and I know the battle between tame and wild that occurs whenever you try to carve civilization out of wild woods. So I guess the state of WV is doing an okay job. I wish the owner or manager of the dining room at Hawk’s Nest was a little more of a perfectionist.