Training Challenge Week 4

Happy 4th of July everyone! Today is also my grandma's birthday so Happy Birthday Grandma! We'll be going to visit her later and Cousin Wilson will be there!

We didn't do agility for our training challenge this week so no glitzy video (LOL!). On Wednesday we went to the park and practiced my emergency whistle recall - we have been really neglecting that lately! I did well though. And mom says it's hard to practice with me because I check in with her all the time when I am off-leash so she finds it impossible to surprise me with a whistle! Sounds like a good problem to have!

Then this morning we did a real challenge - we went walking in the neighborhood that is across a busy street from our neighborhood. You know I have a thing for cars. Well in our own neighborhood, mom has been working very hard with me that if I see a car coming, I am supposed to sit quietly and wait for it to pass and then look up at her. If I am quiet (that's the most important part of the criteria), I get a treat. Mom is crossing her fingers right now and knocking on wood, but she thinks I am starting to get it. We've been having more successes than failures, so she thought it was time to try me out in a new neighborhood. (We had tried walking there over a year ago and it was a disaster - I pulled and acted like a crazy dog the entire time). This morning I did much better! I was very good when we crossed the street, I walked right next to mom the whole time we were over there, I sat and was quiet when cars passed by - until we were on our way back to my neighborhood and I knew we were closer to home and two cars passed by at the same time - and well, I lost it for a second! BUT after we crossed the street, I recovered my composure and we walked the rest of the way home. So mom thinks it was a huge success (and believe me, it took a lot for her to get up the courage to give the whole thing a try this morning!).

I am beginning to wonder who these weekly training challenges are for - me or mom? LOL!

Next week we don't have our class so we hope to get out to at least two other places to practice agility. It's going to be very hot here again so training might depend on the weather. This week we had a wonderful break from the heat and humidity. Too bad it didn't last!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

tRicky T-Day!

We made a super short video a couple months ago of me hugging a toy (it was shortly after Lian posted about Sing and Sizzle learning the same trick). The motion to hug with my feet was easy for me since I already knew how to put my paws around the cane in one of my cane tricks. I am still working on this trick - trying to hold the toy for a longer time and also trying to sit up pretty (beg) and hold it. But we thought we'd share this one good shot of me hugging any way. Blink and you'll miss it!

I also have another video to share with you - remember my power of extreme focus on the cheese video from last week's tRicky t-day? You know - where nothing mom did would make me look away from the cheese? The truth is I actually do know the "watch me" game and that same night, we made a video of me looking away from the pile of carrots on the floor and up into mom's eyes - mom cut her head off in the video so you'll just have to trust me that I am looking right at her! LOL! And for those of you who think carrots are much easier to ignore than cheese - well you don't know how much I LOVE carrots!

Worked on my emergency recall again today - we went to a park that we don't frequent much. There are some big grassy areas and lots of places where I can see cars going by on the roads. Mom put my 30 ft. long line on and held one end but pretty much let me wander where ever I wanted. When I got 30 ft. away, she blew the whistle and I came flying back to her and found out she had brought turkey!! Then we walked around and mom waited for me to see the cars - I got all excited and fixated on them and started to run towards the road (it was still quite a distance away - a football field length away probably and I was on the long ling - don't worry - mom was taking NO chances) and she blew the whistle and I whipped my head around and ran to her and got tons of turkey!! Mom did the same thing to me about 3 more times (in different places as we were walking around) and I chose her over the car each time! Hurray for me! But I was definitely far enough away to be under threshhold. And mom did not wait for me to fixate and fixate on the cars before she blew the whistle. Still we feel it was a positive recall day!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Handling Class Week 2

I didn't feel like going to class this morning. Mom told me what we were doing and got my harness (I got a Walkeez harness - I forgot to tell you - and I don't think it's all that great) and I ran in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, mom was having none of my antics. She says I should be darn lucky to get to go some where let alone an agility class!

By the time we got there I had kind of forgotten that I didn't want to go. Jenn is out of town this week so we had a substitute instructor. Today's class was all about sends - forward sends, parallel sends, and lateral sends. It was interesting and good for us to try all these sends - mom tends not to do them in trials or training since she is always trying to motivate me to go faster. But in this class we have to attempt stuff that is not our usual handling method. Mom says she is learning a lot. In the first sequence mom did a lead out and then sent me into a tunnel after a couple jumps. Not bad - I can do the send but mom has to go pretty close to the obstacle and support with her shoulders pointed straight. The parallel send was ok. We did the best with the lateral sends - like when you have a 180 and mom sends me over the first jump and then moves laterally in front of the landing side of the second jump and then she can front cross from there.

We got to do a few dogwalks today and I am getting faster (although I jumped the contact once today). Over all it was a good class - I don't think we messed up on any of the handling or the sequences - we just weren't as fast as we would've been with say forward motion front crosses and unconventional handling. I also want to mention that the people and dogs in my class are super nice - it is a very good environment! So far we are really loving it! And yes, I will admit I am glad mom made me go this morning!

In other news, I was out eating that dog delicacy - frozen bunny poop - and mom surprised me with a whistle recall! I immediately stopped what I was doing and flew into the house. It was a great move on my part because I got an even better surprise by running right in - chicken!! We are not really working on recalls outside of the house yet, but I guess mom couldn't help herself!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Where did the week go?

We made this ridiculous snowman on New Year's Eve day - mom says she hadn't made a snowman since she was a kid. I had a great time scratching at it and barking at it. The snow that morning was super wet and perfect for packing. But by the next morning, Mister Snowman had already fallen over and since then he's just been an ugly lump of snow in the yard!

Don't know where the whole week went. We try to get outside for walks and a little playtime in the frigid, snowy weather. We're working on my emergency whistle recall in the house. Mom tried to use food as a distraction and that didn't work too well - I couldn't react to the whistle - I could only think about the food on the floor. So it's obviously too early for distractions (mom's always in a hurry). We are still trying to figure out a way to put Flip videos into WMM software and /or looking for another solution. And we tried to make a tRicky T-day video of some new tricks we're working on but it didn't go very well. It would've been all bloopers and no tricks! So I guess it was a "trying" week! BOL!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Handling Class

I really wanted to sleep on Monday and bask in the glory of my ribbon wall (sadly it's easy to tell the standard ribbon side from the jumpers :) )!

But resting wasn't an option because we went to my new handling class with Jenn. I had one class session with her last summer (and then her mom taught the rest of the classes - which was cool - we love Susan) but this is my first time signed up to take a seven week class with Jenn. She is a really good teacher - it goes without saying that she knows her stuff (she and Blaster got MACH 9 at the trial over the weekend!) but she also knows how to say things and what to say to each handler. She presents her thoughts in a very orderly fashion and has the 7 weeks planned out ahead of time so that it all makes sense. This class is handling so it's mostly jumping and not much contacts or weaves. And it's not a lot of running and exercise for me - it's a lot of exercise for mom's brain! Yesterday Jenn told us we are going to work on the basic turns (push, pull, rear cross, front cross), sends, and recalls. Each week we alternate - first week was turns - specifically rear cross on the flat and at a jump and forward motion front crosses - then next week will be sends, and turns will be the 4th week and then they will be more advanced. This gives you time to practice each skill before it comes up again in class. (Unfortunately with this winter weather it's kind of tough to practice much).

Class started out with a lecture about the turns and the two we would be working on. Then we got to try some sequences using just jumps and tunnels. First we tried a sequence with a rear cross on the flat before a tunnel. Rear crosses are difficult for us because mom is usually ahead of me. (We seem to do one at every trial somehow though). We did the cross on the flat but it was forced, unnatural and not at all flowing. Then we tried the rear cross before the jump in to the tunnel. That went better but still not our strong point. Finally then we got to work on front crosses - mom does those for me all the time - but we didn't realize we were doing forward motion front crosses. Say you have two jumps in a 180. Most people can send their dog over the first jump and move laterally to the landing side of the second jump and do the front cross there. But since I am usually behind, mom runs to the landing side of the first jump and does the front cross between the two jumps. Mom does this all the time - you can see one between jump 2 and 3 in our standard run from Sunday. But she didn't think about rotating her dog-side shoulder into me and then getting her outside arm ready (like a precue) in order to tell me more specifically where to go. The handler's motion is forward so it would be telling the dog to go forward and the dog needs the extra turning cues in order to know that a front cross is coming. This is especially true for fast dogs - you have to rotate your shoulder and get your outside arm ready before the dog even commits to the jump. This is a learned response for the dog (not a natural cue based on body motion). See - I told you it's a workout for mom's brain! Any way we did much better on the front cross exercises. Mom also needs to remember to pick me up coming out of tunnels so that I know where she is and where to go next. Lots of info for just one class! It was great!

Yesterday I also started my emergency recall lessons. Grandpa gave mom a whistle that he used when he was an air policeman in the air force when mom was a baby. She decided to use a whistle for the ER since she doesn't trust herself to be able to yell a word without panic in her voice. You are supposed to start in one room of the house and practice there for a whole week. The first time she blew the whistle I was standing right there - it's a small room and I knew she had turkey meatball in her pocket so I wasn't going any where - and I thought, "What the heck?" But as soon as I figured out I should look at her and then go running to her when I heard the sound, I loved the game!!! What could be an easier way to get meatball? So mom couldn't manage to stick to one room for even one session because she was sure after a few tries that I would come flying to her any where in the house when I heard the whistle. And I did! But we will not be moving outside or trying any distractions until after a week of practicing every day. In order for this to work, I have to automatically respond to the whistle - no thinking involved or necessary! So then if we ever need the ER, hopefully I will immediately stop what I am doing and just react to the sound!

Busy Monday, huh?

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Mom was scared to death!

I had the most excellent adventure today! And mom had one of the worst days of her life. Dad and mom wanted to go somewhere not too muddy for a walk, so they picked the roads through the campground where we camped the summer before last. Most of the campground is closed for the winter, so the area is basically deserted and there is very little chance of traffic (except for the park rangers). I have been such a good boy about following trails and dragging my leash that mom had confidence in me even at this new location. She now regrets that decision - guess my good off-leash skills are not so good. We took off on our walk and it soon lead to an overpass of a pretty busy road and then (this is the part that mom and dad didn't remember about this area) the road parallels the campground road for quite awhile - it's a steep and brushy bank up to the road which only has a guard rail - no fence. Well as we were approaching the road, I could hear the cars and I got excited and ran ahead a little but mom called me and I came back to her. Then we went under the overpass and on the other side I got a really good view of the cars up there whizzing by and instinct overrode any sense at all and I took off!!!! I ran up the campground road and whipped around and ran back and I was running 50 miles per hour because I was going as fast as the cars I saw going by! WooHoo - it was so much fun and so exhilarating! I thought I might have heard mom and dad both yelling, "RICKY!! COME!!!" but I just couldn't stop. Mom is so thankful that I didn't think to run up the steep bank and that the park ranger didn't pick that moment to drive down the campground road. For mom this went on for what seemed like an eternity. She ran to try to catch up with me. Finally I could hear her and I stopped and sheepishly went up to her. She knew she shouldn't get mad at me for finally coming to her, but her last nerve was completely shot and she was very stern with me and grabbed me by my ruff and looked me straight in the eyes and said "no". Mom rarely just says "no" to me. I knew I was in big trouble, but I was so far over my excitement threshold that even though we tried to continue our walk in a new direction, I couldn't stop whining and pulling on the leash and choking myself. Mom ended up carrying me most of the way back to the car.

Mom is so mad at herself for letting me drag the leash in a new location and mad that after nearly three years of so much training and playing and working together, I would still blow her off so completely and almost get killed in the process ( well, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but she is prone to that sort of thing). And she is mad to have been so stupid (so please - nobody lecture her about how stupid she was). She so wants me to be the kind of dog that will follow their mom any where, any time. We have that at certain places (our favorite park, for instance) but we just don't have that ability every where yet. I have a feeling that I am in for a major recall boot camp! As a matter of fact, a much more reliable recall is mom's number one priority now. From reading on the internet, she has some training ideas, but if anyone has some suggestions, let us know. But from today mom also realizes that my herding instincts may always override any training we do. We all learned a huge lesson today (and fortunately no one got hurt - mom still gets shaky when she thinks about it) - mom learned I can't be trusted as much as she thought I could be, and I learned that I can run as fast as a car!!!!

Gotta zoom (50 mph, at least!),

Ricky

Recall practice

A week ago Saturday Mom and I went to visit grandpa and grandma and we had fun doing some fast and long recalls out in their backyard. Mom went at least 200 yards away from me and I ran like the wind when she called me! We put this video on my YouTube channel but we can't figure out how to get the actual YouTube video onto this blog entry! So we hope you enjoy it here or check it out on my channel!

We also apologize for the less than professional camera work. Mom is new to the world of video-ing (and video editing)!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky

Grandpa and Grandma's

Mom and I went to visit Grandpa and Grandma this morning! Yipee!! We finally remembered to bring our camera so we could take some photos. We tried out my 30' long line - it worked great and allowed me the freedom to go all over their big backyard. I helped Grandpa plant potatoes. He has already planted asparagus, rhubarb, green onions, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, beets, carrots, and peas. You can see the peas coming up right behind me in the photo and you can see the rhubarb in the background. I am looking forward to trying some of the fresh garden vegetables when they are ready! The redbud tree that they transplanted from my mom's old apartment about 6 or 7 years ago has grown a lot and looks so beautiful with it's purple blossoms.
Mom and grandma practiced recalls with me - I was amazing! Mom would call me from at least 200 feet away and I ran like the wind to her every time! Wish we had some video to show you! We did quite a few of those recalls and believe me, tonight I am one tired pup! It's hard to take a photo of how green and expansive their yard is, but here's one of me standing in the middle of it.
Have to say it was one great day!

Gotta zoom!

Ricky