I know, I'm probably jumping a little ahead of myself going out and getting an article bag for Dare, when we haven't even started competing in Obedience yet. I just couldn't help myself though. I found the coolest custom article bags while I was online one day. The website is here.
I just sent Mandy some pictures of Dare and some ideas of colors I liked...and she did all the rest. I was just amazed at how she was able to recreate Dare on this bag. It is awesome!
I think Dare likes her new bag too. Here she is checking it out...
Friday and Saturday were really fun. We went to a seminar on how to help prevent injuries in dogs through stretching. Friday evening was a classroom type setting, without your dog. There was a slide show and the person presenting the information took questions and demonstrated anything we had questions about on his dog. His demo dog was the most flexible 10 year old Rottie/Shepherd mix that I've ever seen! Then we were to go home and try it out on our dogs and come back the next day for a "hands on" portion of the seminar.
I know, it might have made more sense to take an older dog like Zoe to something like this. Since when have I followed the logical path? I took Dare. I was really happy with my decision in the end.
The "hands on" portion was a little hard for her to settle down for. There was a room filled with at least 10 dog/handler teams attempting to stretch their dogs. For the amount of distraction in the room, I thought Dare was a gem. She did a pretty good job of staying on her mat, and even spent a good portion of the time relaxing (somewhat) laying down on her side. I did end up having to do more massaging than actual stretching, but I think it was a good start. She did let me get in some stretches eventually and I think it's a process that you can't rush through, you just both have to get used to what you're doing and work together.
He did explain the difference between passive stretching exercises, and active assisted type stretching. Obviously, the passive stretching are when the dog is relaxed and usually lying down and you are stretching the muscles for them. The active assisted stretching usually are with the dog standing and they do part of the work of the stretching with you. For Dare right now, the active assisted type stretches are more successful for us. They allow her to be standing and also were of shorter duration.
I thought it was interesting that one of the active type stretches that he mentioned that we could find useful for agility is having the dogs weave in figure eights between our legs. Something that Diana had mentioned in her blog after she and Miley went to a Debbie Gross Saunders Seminar. You can read her post here. I was doing it wrong though. Funny how you can picture weaving through your legs in a couple different ways. LOL The way he demonstrated was just standing with your legs spread apart and you not moving. Luring the dog through in a tight figure eight. I had tried in the past having Dare weave through my legs, but as I was walking forward, not standing still.
Anyway, one of the things that I really enjoyed was something that I didn't even expect to be discussed. It was some of the various ways you can use to condition and strengthen your dog. He mentioned that any of us that were interested in trying out the treadmill with our dogs were welcome to try. So, we did! Dare did great. She wasn't worried at all about it. The funniest thing was watching her think about walking. I hadn't considered how much thought she was going to have to give to walking. It was so funny to watch her lose her train of thought when I'd tell her she was doing good or offer her a treat. She definitely was having trouble doing two things at once. So, I think it gave her as much of a mental workout as it did physically.
We also got to do some work on the balance balls. Dare LOVED this part! I only have the balance disc so this gave us a chance to try out some of the other sizes and varieties of balance balls out there. I think our favorite was the peanut shaped ball. It seemed to me to be the most versatile. He did everything from just having her do some basic balance work, to having her balance while on 3 legs and then on just two! We even tried a little with two balls at once, but we didn't have enough time to really get her used to that idea. Here's just a little video of what we played around with. Fair Warning...you'll just have to ignore all of us babbling in the background. There is also a part where a dog was trying out the treadmill and wasn't really thinking it was the greatest thing. Dare didn't seem to notice anything going on around her, other than the location of the treats. LOL One of these days I'll take the time to figure out how to put on the cool music that everyone else seems to know how to do. In the meantime, you are welcome to just hit your mute button when you get sick of listening to us.
Here's Dare's Training Levels 2 tests. Dare's doing great, as usual...I'm the problem part of this team. I looked at the video for the Stand Stay and it is only supposed to be a 10 sec. stay. Well, counting to 10 is apparently too difficult for me, because I left her in a Stay for over 15 sec. if not closer to 20. What a dork! Anyway, I don't know if we got everything done exactly as they described it, or not, but I'm satisfied with it enough to move along to the next level.
I'd type up the descriptions to all the skills in the Training Levels 3, but I'm too lazy after fighting with Windows Movie Maker last night and this morning, so I'll just insert the link, if you're interested in reading what we'll be working on next. Training Levels 3
Heeling is such an ongoing process of training. It definitely has to be one of the most difficult skills to train. I for one, really enjoy teaching the dogs to heel. I know I'm kind of crazy, but what's new? LOL I just LOVE the feeling when you and your dog are walking in sync, it's just beautiful. Watching the really experienced Obedience teams heel together is so cool! I can't say Dare and I are quite to that point yet, but we're making progress and so I thought I'd share a video from the other day. We are training at our friend's building and she had several of her own dogs out there, as well as the two puppies she's keeping. So we had some distractions from other dogs. We also left out some obstacles in our path to heel around. Dare did such a nice job! :-)
We had a friend visiting last week, and it was all the added incentive I needed to get the dogs out to a few places we hadn't been for a while and take the camera along for some photos.
So, I finally bought the dogs a collapsed tunnel for training. I've always wanted one, but it just happened that NTI Global had a spring sale at the same time that my husband and I decided to split the tax return and buy something fun. Perfect timing! Anyway, I got a package that included a practice collapsed tunnel. It's not a full length chute and the "barrel" is actually regular tunnel material, rather than a hard plastic barrel, but it's perfect for what I wanted and Dare seems to approve. She had no problem at all figuring out that she needed to push her way out of this tunnel.
I decided to try to get some photos, and I found out how good your timing has to be for that to work. Let's just let the pictures tell the story, shall we?
Hmmm....just a little too soon!
And...a little too late!
"Mom! Come on already! I've done this a million times now! Haven't you got the picture yet?"
I decided to call on my husband to help us out. And finally we got some success!
Dare and I convinced my husband to come out with us this afternoon to video some of her skills for passing the training levels 2.
We started with the recall. TL2 Come is described as: "The dog comes from 40’ away with no more than two cues (voice, body language, or hand signal). The dog may be left on a Stay or held by someone else. The dog must come close enough to catch without moving. A “Front” is not necessary."
You'll notice that nowhere does it say that there should be distractions, but rarely can we make it out to the field to train without some kind of distraction. Today, both the cats, Gertie and KC, both decided to join in the training session. They have obviously decided that if they hang around when the dogs train, they might get some treats.
Anyway, I would say that Dare passed her come exercise with flying colors. We got most of the other skills for level two videoed today too. Just a few more to go! As soon as I get them all done, we'll post video of the whole level. :-)
This blog is all about my Sheltie, Himark's Double Dare. She is a dream come true and this blog is a record of our training together for agility, obedience and just for enjoying life.
