Zug Zug

Someone said last night that Dover is having a mock trial in April, so we might aim for a mock open trial then and see how we're coming along.

I am so proud of my little dog this morning. Not only did we pass at last night's trial (to finish off our Novice title), we scored 193/200 and won first place! :D ;) This was me driving home afterwards ;) It was a hot, horrible evening for the first few hours, and a lot of dogs were losing points in their heelwork. We lost 6 points (for lagging during the early bits). Then lost one more point in the recall (not sure what for) and everything else was clear. Especially delighted with her stays. 2 reasons. First, we had someone come up right behind us with their dog 2 seconds before we entered the ring and their dog lunged at Zamba several times and she was very freaked out by that. I wasn't sure if she would concentrate at all, and it took me 3 tries to get her to calm down and sit at the peg - which never happens she was just coping with a big adrenalin surge. And also the dog next to her got up during the down stay and sat up, then stood up, then walked around a bit. But she stayed like a champion, no problems at all. We failed a lot of CCD trials for bad stays, so I was stoked with her performance last night. Soooooo happy

Bummer - too old. Zamba would have loved this a few years back. I reckon she could still do it easily, but we're way over the age limit.

Quick update - tried again with the front then throwing the food between my legs to reward, then turning around and repeating it. She did it, and she loved it! Thanks Ptolomy and Ness - great to have a new game to play and this has the added bonus of bring her in closer and also bringing her in STRAIGHT! Next step - we try it with the dumbbell, and work on our stays.

I think the last person has a point - big change for the dogs and their routine so a big decision on your part. I'm assuming, however, that you have a good reason to change or you wouldn't be thinking about it again. On that basis... My 2 are outside during the day, with no access to inside. They have a very large shaded pergola area, multiple outside lounges to lie on, and a range of choices re shade and shelter. We have very good fences and lock the gate with a key so no-one comes through and lets them out during the day. Yes I do have excpetions to this arrangements - basically very hot or very cold weather. In both cases I will let the dogs stay inside in their crate. As I only work a few blocks away, I come for lunch most days. In hot weather I leave them outside for the morning (usually) but bring them inside for the hottest part of the day (the afternoon). Then the teenagers let them back on when they get home from school around 4pm when it's starting to get cooler. In cold weather it's something I play by ear. They have coats on when they are needed, and I'll bring them inside in their crates for half the day when the weather is too horrible.

One more quick vid - this one showing where the retrieve on flat is up to. She happily does the finish, but I haven't included that on this attempt. But we don't have a problem with that bit. When I've tried to get her to come in closer to me she has come in nice and close at times, but then almost choked and hopped backwards to the spot you see her in here. When she doesn't have the dumbbell in her mouth (i.e. the normal recall) she comes in a fair bit closer, but not as close as other dogs I see. Ptolomy I tried your suggestion of food thrown backwards between my legs this morning, but she went around me rather than through. There is room for her to go through though, so we'll try again out on the oval tomorrow and see if we can build it up.

Yep it was too big. Have now compressed it to a fraction of the size - and added a quick shot of Mozart at the end. I've edited the link above to send people to the smaller version. Here it is again also: Yes they are both around 12 years old. Mozart still looks like a puppy, but is starting to act his age (slower moving sage dog). Zamba (the one I'm training) came from the pound about 10 years ago so we can only give an approximate age. She was estimated as 18 months to 2 years old by the vet back then so she is at least 11, probably 12. She is active now. She was utterly bonkers back then. Thanks for the suggestions. Will keep going and let you know how we're going.

OK - link to us on youtube here: Shows a bit of heeling, some distance control (she did it right this time - not always the way), the 2 food game with drops and then a straight drop in front showing how she likes to run a bit before dropping. So a reasonable sample of where we're up to. Aint she beautiful??!! :D Sound advice that we need to work more on the stays. I agree. Don't have time now but will read your post in detail when I get back this arvo and work more on that. If you can get beagles to do obedience then I reckon you must know your stuff! (My sister had a beagle when we were teenagers. Great dog, amazing nose, no recall whatsoever when she was on a scent. Memories of chasing her in the street with a raw sausage in my hand...) (Edited to link to compressed file so you don't need to download the huge version - and also to add some video footage of Mozart as well)

I'll try that food trick and see how we go. Luckily she's fairly small! I've just filmed a bit of stuff and am about to try and work out how to load it onto youtube. Back soon.

That is a lovely idea.

OK I promised to keep you all up to date, so here it is (the inconsistent truth): Heel free - good at the moment. No sniffing or scratching. Effort paying off. Famous last words. SFE - also good. Pretty stable. Drop on recall - 2 food game a particular favourite and getting instant drops at short and long distances. Have tried a few real DORs - she doesn't do an instant drop yet but she always drops. Keeps running a bit before she drops so this still needs work. But it's a start. Retrieve dumbbell on flat - awesome and lots of enthusiasm. White dumbbell made HUGE difference. She used to lose sight of the orange one. Now she runs straight to it. Retrieve dumbbell over jump - ditto and quite reliable now. Sometimes stops too far away from my feet but not much. Distance control - pretty good at 3m or so. Still creeping forward in a drop if I am too far away when I give the signal to sit. Trying to be careful and build very slowly so this does not become a habit. 3 min. sit stay out of sight - not too bad at home but not 100%. Not always stable yet when we're out. Needs more work. 5 min down stay out of sight - I keep losing my nerve and going back to her too soon. But she's not breaking from position so I don't know why I do that. I am the weakest link here. Still dying to know how much of a travel on the DOR is too far, and how much is ok. Zamba runs really fast on the recall (her personal favourite exercise), so this may always be an issue for us. Once I've got novice out of the way I'll work on this one in earnest. Until then, just fiddling around and putting the building blocks in place. Attempting 3rd leg of novice next weekend, so no more open exercises until then (so we don't get confused). Fingers crossed!

Oh and try and talk to your other neighbours to see how they are finding things. If they are also stressed about the barking, then that confirms you have a problem. But if not (in our case, the other neighbours are fine - no concerns), it might help put your mind at ease and it also gives you a chance to tell them what you're doing about the problem before it starts to irritate them.

Not an easy thing to deal with. I too have a cranky neighbour who is home all day and doesn't like it when my dog barks. And I know she does bark when we're out, because when I was home for a month after a hospital stay last year it annoyed me too. We manage it as much as we can, but it is very difficult when you're out. We certainly don't let them bark when we are here and can do something about it. I'm also reluctant to crate my dogs all day. But if it got really desperate, I would try that. But I don't think it's a good solution for a 4mo puppy. I've also never tried a barking collar, but again if things got desperate we would try that. But my dogs are older. Firstly, work out how often they actually bark. I agree stay home and try to be as inconspicuous as possible and keep your own diary. I would be surprised if all the barking were associated with the same game - it is likely there are a number of things that make your dog/s bark. Understanding what they are might help work out what to do. If they are barking at people walking past the house, restricting them to a part of the yard that is away from the gate (where they can't see the street) might help. If it really is just fun barking during a puppy game, they may well grow out of that as they mature. I also agree that the Council will not take your dogs away as long as they can see that you are cooperating and trying to resolve the problem. So polish your halo and stay calm - I know it's stressful but you need to be presenting yourself as reasonable and responsible when dealing with Council staff. So your real issue is with trying to restore peace with your neighbour. Some neighbours (like mine) will always complain about something. The tree is hanging over the fence, the fence is ugly, the kids are too loud, the house needs to be painted, the tradesman made too much noise, the dog barks.... so the list goes on. I figure so long as I am being reasonable and calm, there is very little she can do to us except complain, and that won't kill me. Having said that, I am strongly in favour of LOTS of training and mental stimulation - especially for smart JRT pups. When our neighbour started getting uppity, I signed up to obedience classes and put titles on my dogs. I figure if the Council ever does come knocking, that's gotta work in our favour.

You're right my mistake - the lagotto standard doesn't say 'no sculpting'. It does say something about rustic [hardy] appearance and shouldn't be clipped short, and should show the curls. All of which allows for lots of interpretation, so no wonder I'm confused! I guess it's up to the judge what they consider to be rustic etc. I'm glad I don't have to make that kind of decision - it wouldn't be easy. In my mind at least the words in the standard seem to differentiate the presentation of this breed from the poodle or the bichon, for example. I do take your point - the Lagotto coat is still 'presented' it's just presented to look more rustic and to show the curl. It's not actually natural, as such. As I said, the dog I saw was an absolutely stunning animal and I am a big fan of both the poodle and lagotto breeds.

My email arrived okay. Really looking forward to it!

Yep - a poodle crossed with something and can jump tall buildings... (she came from the pound a long time ago). I am only just learning to clip her, and haven't got my clippers yet. I think about every 3-4 weeks probably, with touch-ups in between.

There are some practical advantages to having a poodle clipped around the face, feet and tail. Face - keeps hair out of eyes and food and stays cleaner. Feet - helps keep the dirt and grass seeds out. Tail - well I guess it's obvious why a forest of hair down there might not be a good idea. So I think that contributes to why a lot of pet poodles also have kept with the short face, feet and tail trim. It's not essential and I haven't always had it done (I love a beard on mine). But it is easier and cleaner when it's smooth. Also just less hair to be brushing all the time. Curly hair takes a lot of care if it gets long. I figure a show poodle in a lion trim needs half the brushing that a dog with that length of coat would need if it were covering the whole body. It does look extreme though. I look at the poodles in the ring with the sky-high topknots and think - wow, well I could never show a poodle. And I love poodles so a bit of me thinks that is a shame. Why not a shorter more user-friendly trim? I am also interested in the Lagotto thing - the last one I saw in the ring was very carefully coiffed. I noted it did not get pulled out for group, and I suspect this was part of the reason (magnificent dog, by the way). The standard says something about no sculpting. This one had definitely had sculpting. Perhaps over time it might be a bit like the Bichon thing - in Europe they show them in a more natural curly look, but here and in the US they are fluff dried and coiffed. Same dog, different presentation. Both fantastic breeds IMO. Personally I like the curly look. Still keep them neat and tidy (still need your scissors to do that) but not in a perfect outline. Relaxed looking.

Ah Ptolomy you've got me there - I do have a weakness for being inconsistent. I did say I was the weakest link in this partnership, didn't I? Now spontaneity - that I'm pretty good at. But yes you are right I do need to be consistent with her about this sniffing thing. She will exploit every weakness if I let her (smart dog). So I promise to make it a rule and try VERY HARD to stick with it. I will be patient and consistent. I will be patient and consistent... Brigidstar - good question about these 2 signals. My recall signal is a bit wild. It involves both of my arms flying madly above my head and back behind me a bit. My left arm moves less distance and less height because of a neck injury so I'm less flexible on that side. So it looks a bit weird and lopsided, but Zamba seems to be used to it. My sit signal is my right arm only, moving in a (comparatively) orderly way straight up - i.e. not swinging forward and up, but curling up close to my body and then heading straight up above my head, then straight back down to my side. There is some similarity (the height on my right hand side mainly), but overall they're fairly different. And she isn't actually coming to me when I give the sit signal. She's looking confused, wiggle wiggle squirm forward and stop there in a drop. You've gotta laugh - where did THAT idea come from??? But she's definitely trying hard I think the idea of making sure the signals are obviously different is a really good point. I might slightly vary my recall signal to be wider, more out at say a 45 degree angle on both sides and less high, and concentrate on my sit signal being straight up and straight down. That would also be a neater motion for the recall - less wonky. I will try that. Will also take very little baby steps increasing distance for distance control and give her time to get used to it. She does seem to like doing it. She kind of bounces up into a beg and then lands back down onto her front paws. Dova - don't count any chickens. We've signed up for the SAODC trial as well. Remember our sniffy itchy scratchy heeling at the last Gawler trial? The judge asked me 'is there something wrong with your dog?' and I thought 'well, how long have you got...???' but she came good in the end. I don't want to get my hopes up about this next one (but yes it would be so nice to pass). Another question: if we pass our 3rd leg of Novice, can we still go along and compete at another Novice trial 2 weeks later? Or do we have to wait after that until we're ready for Open? I think it might be quite a while before we're ready to compete in Open class, and I don't want to be out of circulation too long. I'm hoping we get to that level later this year. Or can we do veterans or vintage in the meantime? She's nearly 12. I bet she's way faster than any other 12yo dog! And better looking

Okay so next question from me... What blades to get? I think they all come with no. 10 blade already fitted, which will do my poodle's face, feet, tail. I'm then thinking about no. 30 (to use with combs) and no. 4 (to do over the short bits of the body). Do I really need the no. 30? That's the one I'm least sure about. Does the no. 10 work well enough with the combs? I have a bichon as well and I might want to do a quick job of his body from time to time, rather than do the scissoring each time, so combs are something I might want to use sometimes.

Okay, another update: Heel free - improving SFE - still good - she seems quite confident with it these days. Which is great because was not always that way :D Drop on recall - we're still doing the 2 food game, still loving it. Keeping it separate from the recall until we get through our last novice trial. Retrieve dumbbell on flat - pretty good. Not much sniffing at the moment. But she comes in crooked and sits a good metre in front of me a lot of the time. Hmm. Retrieve over jump - same as above, only FASTER! Distance Control - weird new problem. Does it really well from 1m, 1.5m. But as soon as I am further away she gets confused. She does the drop really well, but then when I give her the signal to sit (my hand vertical above my head) she wriggles forward and drops again. Really odd - she never does it when I'm closer, only when I'm further away. Any ideas about this? Sit stay out of sight - pretty good - we're up to 2 mins mostly. She's getting there. Drop stay out of sight - same - we're up to 3.5 mins quite comfortably. Did it with other dogs today no major probs but a few little whines but she stayed which is the main thing. I'd be really interested in some feedback on the distance control thing. Is this a common problem? She really does seem to think it is a different signal altogether when I'm a bit further away. Should I just increase the distance very, very slowly perhaps? Oh and BTW I tried a time out for misbehaviour (sniffing) the other day. She got the message very quickly. I think I'll keep having to do it though. But noticed a definite improvement. I've also reduce the amount of food she was getting (too many treats - she was getting a little bit pudgy so I've cut out the denta bones for a while) and that has increased her motivation also. Verging on desperation at the moment - she is very keen to earn her food rewards. Suits me :D

I'm not a groomer but... I pluck my bichon's ears, and he really needs it. When he was young I didn't do it enough and he had several ear infections in his first few years. I've now kept his ears clear for many years, no more infections. In his case it's a clear case - must be done. It also helps to stay on top of any grass seeds etc before they go anywhere bad. I also lightly pluck my poodle x's ears, having learnt the hard way with my bichon. But to be honest there is a LOT less hair in her ears and she has never had any problems. I do hers as a precaution. I would say look at your dogs ears often and if they are getting hairy and blocked then pull it out. Ear infections are no fun for the dog.

I'm also about to buy some clippers - and equally puzzled about which ones to buy. Recommendations gratefully received. (I might give nicestman a PM also).

Had a read last night. I really like the idea of a second option in Open class. I would be interested to do that even though we are doing the jumping in the normal Open class, just to teach her some new things and test ourselves out. Utility is a big leap forward. But seek back would be fun to do. I don't know about some of the changes to CCD. I think (from reading some of the rationales in the document) that in some states believe people are finding it too easy to pass their CCD. I thought the whole idea of CCD was that it would encourage new people into the sport, by not being too hard. Zamba and I actually found it quite hard and failed 7 times before we passed in a trial. For complete newbies like us, making it harder would have really discouraged us. Actually there were times when I felt totally discouraged as it was. Conversely, the idea of simplifying the recall seems sensible, although from my perspective the return was never a difficult thing to do.

Yes I've seen some Belgian Shepherds working really nicely too. I think they were the Groenendael - are they the black ones? Another great breed. Coat relatively low maintenance.

My rulebook (2006 edition) says this about dumbbells: The dumbbell shall be made of wood and/or solid plastic and must be shaped like a dumbbell. It may be painted but shall not be covered with any foreign material. The weight and size of the dumbbell should be in proportion to the size of the dog. So nothing about colour, but having said that I have an orange dumbbell and i agree with the earlier post - my dog often loses sight of it. I will be buying a new dumbbell soon so we can compete in Open, and will definitely be getting a white one for this reason.