laws of a dog in motion for rally (1 of 2 posts today)

DogSport magazine’s May 1 issue will include an article I wrote about using the natural laws of a dog in motion (patterned after Bud’s laws of a dog in motion for agility) to achieve a rally performance.

This article will feature the cutest pictures of little Nora working Dash and Blue. These pictures were taken by Nora’s mother Lori. The point of using 2 dogs in the pictures was to demonstrate that a mature, trained, titled dog (“Dash”) had an immediate response to handler movement even when he was not conditioned to work for that handler — and that an immature, partially-trained, untitled dog (“Blue”) had the identical immediate response to handler movement.

What I found, in looking at the pictures, was that Blue (with less hair and a nice long tail) provided a better example of the dog’s response. Lori was able to get pictures of that split second when Blue reacted to Nora’s movement.

I’m proud of the article, but the pictures are fascinating to me — really stunning.  And, in addition to seeing Nora and Dash and Blue, you’ll all get to see pictures of the front of our house, complete with the antique washing mashine we use as a refreshment holder during camps.

Speaking of camps, our first camp starts in about 2 weeks!  We have a very busy 5-6 weeks beginning late April, with 3 public camps and 2 private camps, in addition to our twice-monthly Sunday workshops.

We’ve also added the lunch-break workshops so I’m going to be revising my daily schedule to accommodate swimming and water aerobics in the morning (my knee is healing so quickly, and I’m getting stronger every week), lunch-break workshops, and improving on the evening meal plan for camps.

Two weeks ago I rearranged the camper dining area to put dining tables closer together. Now both tables are in the front of the room and it will be very easy to push tables together when necessary. My desk looks out the north window now so, instead of staring at the driveway, I get to watch the little spring birds flirting with each other on the deck railing. They have nests in the evergreens and pairs of them will hop across the railing together.

I’ve also brought one of our comfy sofas into my office area. Now campers who arrive early for dinner (or local folks with nothing to do between camp and dinner) can come sit on the sofa, have a beer, watch the news or chat with me while I cook, and just enjoy the country view.

We’ve been clearing the deck of all the detritus of winter. Bud made platforms for the bird nests and today a bird has begun the construction process on one of the new platforms. Luckily for these birds we have hairy aussies and shelties — this new nest is about 20% dog hair, complete with mats.

This has been a scrambling-and-waiting day — Bud’s Suburban was paid off 2-3 months ago so (you guessed it) today it’s getting new rear brakes, new front brakes, a new bearing in the front, and two new tires. By the time the repairmen are finished it may need all new cup holders as well but I’ll put my foot down on that — Bud only uses 1-2 of them at a time.

Tick season seems to have arrived in Ohio. I’ve picked two ticks off dogs. Yesterday was heartworm preventative and frontline day. When I give these meds to 9 dogs I always think of the potential adopters at the shelter asking, “how much are these dogs?”  The price of the dog is just the beginning.  Luckily I use coupons but it’s incredibly expensive to go to the vet’s office for a years’ worth of heartworm preventative and frontline for 9 dogs.

And our dogs have access to deer poop and rabbit poop here as well, so I have to be prepared for regular worm medicine on occasion as well. Tape worms seem to be the most common … some of my readers may have advice for me ….

Tags: agility camp, basic dog obedience, Bud Houston, dog agility, dog performance sports, dogs in motion, Marsha Houston, rally obedience, sport obedience