ONLINE CLASSES NOW AVAILABLE FOR DOG SPORTS – A new opportunity for learning and training

I would never trade where I live for having an agility field in my backyard or an instructor a short distance away. Don’t get me wrong – it would be perfect but there are tradeoffs for living in an area with few homes and surrounded by beautiful forest service land where you can hike for hours and never see another person. The dogs can run free and swim in the creek. Some of my most peaceful and happy times are my walks with my dogs… watching them get to be dogs, sniffing, rolling, running and exploring with each other.. HAPPY DOGS…That is their reward for partnering with me to partake in what I enjoy – agility, herding and obedience.

However, training and learning performance sports is a challenge when you live in remote areas. Fortunately we have a beautiful training field 20 minutes away with 2 agility rings, 2 obedience rings and some wonderful people to practice with. But where do we go to learn when the nearest place for lessons is 2-3 hours away?

The past year has seen some wonderful new training opportunities with online classes by Silvia Trkman (http://www.lolabuland.com/), Alistar MacCrae (http://www.sheepdogtrainingcourses.com/), and Susan Garrett. YES, I have signed up for an online class from each of them who are considered to be the best in their sport.

Each of these online learning experiences is very different. I tend to be very critical of teaching and learning opportunities with my background in education.  And, I currently work for and teach at a very successful online university where I virtually live most of the week. 

I am especially impressed with Silvia Trkman’s virtual classes. Silvia posts her lessons every 2-3 weeks; students practice and make a video and she provides feedback on your work. Silvia is very quick to respond to both email and video postings. The feedback given to all of the students is an excellent learning opportunity for everyone since we can watch their video and then Silvia’s excellent critique. Her critiques are not only positive but very helpful especially when one is working remotely. Silvia seems genuinely interested in wanting her students to learn.

 

Silvia believes in positive training, shaping, and teaching dogs tricks as a way to form a great bond and also to see how your dog thinks and learns. We are currently taking Silvia’s agility foundation class. Her third lesson introduced sequencing, straight lines and the teeter.   We are not only learning a great deal from this class but are having fun with the lessons such as this one called  “Bang the See-Saw Game”. 

The purpose was to let the dog be OK about the noise and movement in a fun training game. You will see from this short video how happy and fearless Myst is with this game. This was only Myst’s second time ever on a teeter. The foundation work we did over the past year with warble boards, balance balls and our hikes have given her good awareness of her body with no fear of what has been asked of her to try.

I guess that living in a rural area has not been that bad when one can travel virtually to take lessons from some of the best. 

A Professional Student

I had another birthday yesterday.  I think my favorite birthday was my 30th--I was in my last year of residency and I felt that 30 marked the year where I really became a contributing, independent person in the universe rather than a professional student.  Now, quite a few years later, I feel that I have become a professional student yet again.  This time it's a bit different because I'm working fulltime, my career has bizarre hours and I'm back in school -- Internet Agility School.  It all began with Silvia Trkman's classes (which I love, love, love) and now I've upped the ante and submerged in Susan Garrett's (SG) Recallers class.  Today was the first day of class and I'm already freakin' out.  I didn't finish all the pre-recs (bad student) and I'm struggling to keep up with all the reading, chart creating and daily record keeping.  I feel like I'm in my med school biochemistry class except that agility is way more interesting.  I'm going to give SG credit in her creation of the daily record keeping.  Even if I don't train, I need to fill it out by writing, "I did not train today.  I didn't care enough about Gemini's training to even do 5 min."  Having to write that little statement will be the worst, and I guarantee that I'll find some 5 min of something to do just to avoid writing it.


As I'm embarking on my degree in training and handling from Agility U, a few unsuspecting participants are going to be drug into it.  First my husband, Chris, who is getting his MBA and has his working student woes, will have to be my right hand man and help me with the 2 person exercises.  He'll also have to go thru the changes of altering behaviors (of the dogs and us) ect...   Gemini was the root cause of school, so she's all in.  Twig can benefit from all of this and Gem needs a study budy, so she's all in as well.  Last, but not least is Voltaire.  He'll get drug in as a Grad Student.  Yep he's winding his agility career down, but he's not ready to quit training AND I'm actually considering tracking and obedience....


Here's a photo of my pupils.... and no this wasn't recess!

Gotta run and get some homework done.  I so don't want to be writing "I didn't care enough to train!"  over and over again on the blackboard of the web.

Lessons Learned Along the Way – Challenges and a Time to Reflect on New Directions

My dogs are my friends, companions and partners in our adventures. I have always enjoyed taking my dogs for hikes and exploring the beautiful Sedona landscape. Looking at animal tracks and wondering who came before. In the summer we enjoy swimming in Oak Creek or a run on a California beach. To me these experiences are some of the best and happiest times I share with my dogs. 

I have always wanted to experience each of the dog sports that are most interesting to me: agility, herding and obedience. Each brings new challenges and new learning experiences. My dogs usually let me know which one of these they can excel in and perhaps stay healthy and sound for many years.

This spring I had the opportunity to take Susan Garrett’s “Recallers” course. It has been one of the best training and learning experiences that I have had since I started training my dogs. The course was so much more than recalls…. And for me it changed the course of my dog training and the decisions that I would make or reflect upon each step of the way.  We learned about the value in creating games as a way to overcome challenges and to teach new behaviors. Always looking for the positive and joyful way to teach and train.

This philosophy that I have come to believe in added a new challenge for me this past week. 


I have been looking forward to starting Myst herding. I put her on sheep at 5 months of age and she seemed to not only have a lot of instinct but also to really enjoy this natural genetic talent to work with sheep.  Realizing how important foundation work is for each of these performance sports, I wanted to work with someone who is currently very successful in open field herding. I chose a woman who is one of the top open field handlers in the country and traveled to northern California with both dogs this past week.


I was very excited to have Myst work with a top handler and begin with a good foundation. What I was not prepared for is that some of the top handlers have little patience for dogs that have issues that may take time and patience to work through. Myst's challenge was her intensity for the sheep and not wanting to give distance asked for by the handler. This woman told me that it would be a long road of training to train this pup and by the way "look at how wonderful these other one year old Border Collies that she is training are doing."


I was disappointed to say the least and was prepared to give up herding with Myst and focus only on our obedience and agility. I told myself that I was not prepared to venture into the world of negative corrections for this wonderful puppy that I had such a good relationship with and that was working so well with me in all of our training. In fact, my blog post over the weekend clearly stated I was giving up herding.


Time is a healer and driving provides a great opportunity to reflect and consider choices, new directions and what is really important. I continued to be very disappointed that I would never herd with Myst and today talked to my trainer in Arizona about Myst. She had seen Myst work and told me that yes she would take time but she believed that patience and time would help Myst learn to work correctly. She reminded me and had several stories about Border Collies that she had been told would never do open field work. Yes, it took time but if we love our dogs and are willing to put in the time and patience different doors can open.


So today a new direction and perhaps new goals... but I can say that my evaluation of Myst's herding will continue to be her joy in what she is doing. Myst clearly LOVES sheep and I enjoy herding and the learning journey.

What's the value in that?

In Susan's Blue Print for Change video a key point was made at examining what things our dogs really value and what activities are really rewarding for them.  It was heavily suggested that we take the time to do this inventory and make a list.  Here's my lists:

Gemini High Value Rewards:
    Chasing a rabbit that runs from her
    Chasing a real fur lure
    Tugging a flat furry toy
    Chasing or playing with squeaky toys
    Chasing her squeaky ball
    Food -- generally prefers soft real meat treats overall
    Also likes liverwurst or certain dog foods from squeeze toys
    Natural Balance Roll/Chips

Gemini High Value Activities:
    Lure coursing
    Practicing
    Down on the table game
    2 on/ 2 off games

Twig High Value Rewards:
    Beef rib bone/baked
    Liverwurst in squeeze tube
    Real meat, steak more than chicken
    Fresh Pet
    Greenies pill pockets
    Treat pouch
    *****The only thing she will reliably tug is a beef bone

Twig High Value Activities:
    Going for a ride/going to practice
    Spin right
    Speak
    Playing shaping games -- likes the sound of the clicker

Its interesting that the girls have 2 very different lists.

I did an experiment yesterday and linked working a curved tunnel to the table/down game.   Doing downs on the table have always been one of Gemini's quirky traits.  She just loves to race to the table and fly into a down.   It was amazing to see how Gemini's speed and drive for the curved tunnel increased by including one of her favorite games.  I could even get funky tunnel entrances and exits if she knew that table/down game was involved.   Who would have thought the table would help Gemini's tunnel performance???

Rising to New Challenges aka Coping with Adolescence

Unbelievably Gemini is now 7 months old.  Just before her 7 month birthday some fiendish dog decided to possess Gem.  Almost overnight my little ready to play puppy decided that she had other things on her list of Fun Things To Do and working with me was not one of them.  Admittedly I went into my own personal tail spin and lamented what I'd possibly done that had created this behavior.  After seeing a trainer/friend and biting my nails over his diagnosis of the situation he delivered the news:  an acute case of puppy adolescence.  The treatment basis would be to use a bit more creativity to maintain connection with Gemini and realize that its normal for things to fluctuate and change.  Oh ya, don't lose too much sleep over it especially as I'll need to be on top of my game.

As fate would have it, I got an email about Susan Garrett starting a new Recallers Class (now that's good timing) and I came across some excellent materials about goal setting--how to set appropriate goals, how to measure them, and really how important the entire process is for moving forward especially when you are at a challenge point.  Clearly Gemini's adolescence is a challenge for me.

A couple days ago I went to the training field with my list of goals for that training session.  Gem's big sister Twig had her own set of goals which looked something like this:  tighten up serpentines and German turns (can use same set up), full teeter work looking for drive to end and include difficult entrances.  Gemini's list looked something like this:  Increased drive to tunnel/curved tunnel, single jump cik/cap (which I call Zig/Zag) with drive to jump, into and out of turn, and figure 8 between 2 jumps using zig/zag.  Gemini apparently failed to read her training goals for this session.  Tunnel sends went well.  I was surprised that she didn't want to work for her fuzzy toys but instead wanted Twig's squeeze tube of liverwurst.  Well ok I can throw a squeeze tube.  When it came time to work her zig/zag she looked at the jump at 4" and stared.  Then she tried to stand on top of the bar, walk around the jump, lie down, give me a paw, bite at my shoe laces, an in general do anything but her zig turn -- a skill that she has done well for a month!  None of her toys worked and no treats helped her to see the light so I put her up and worked Twig some more.  Gem was going nuts wanting to get back in the action so I decided to redo my goals and see if she would just chase me and a toy thrown over the jump.  Ahh success.  In 30 secs her world was magically different and she could do full speed single jump wraps with tight turns!  I abandoned the rest of her goals and ended the session by playing with the girls.  Who knows what was up with her?

Recallers 3.0 hasn't started  yet.  In fact registration doesn't start until tomorrow.  Her mini lessons leading up to the start have class have been very thought provoking for me.  Much of it involves problem solving by using games.  Aren't adolescents experts at playing games????  She has outlined a 10 step process to help us employ games in our training and she has made it clear how important record keeping is in getting it all to work.  So I am going to step up my game and use this blog as my training journal summary site.  I can only hope that class begins soon!

Traveling to Slovenia to Learn More About Shaping and Tricks

When I got my new puppy at 8 weeks old I had already decided to let Myst be a puppy and not introduce her to agility equipment or agility until she had had a chance to be a puppy. However, as always, it is a challenge with dogs that have a high work ethic to find something to do with their minds.  Myst loved learning, playing tug and  was always looking for an opportunity to play and interact with me. So I explored ways to teach her new things, develop skills and body awareness that she would use in any performance sport especially agility. Earlier blog posts show many of the fun things we did.

I learned a great deal about positive training from taking Susan Garrett’s “Recallers” course. I learned that the criteria for training was JOY and FUN. And, I learned that I must become Myst’s favorite cookie being the most fun to interact with and learn from. The recallers course continued to show us how there was always a positive solution to all of our training challenges.

When Myst was about 6 months I learned about Silvia Trkman ( http://www.lolabuland.com/ ) and her fun, positive training for agility and tricks. Silvia started agility in 1992 and is famous worldwide for her methods of training. She runs Border Collies and PyrSheps.  Her impressive wins in agility include:

•         12 times world team member
•         10 times National Agility Champion (with 3 different dogs)
•           2 times world champion

I ordered all three of her DVDs and was fascinated by CIK&CAP, heeling is just another trick and tricks for a great bond. This summer when she opened online registration for her puppy class I signed up. We traveled virtually to Solvenia to learn from Silvia.

Some of  Silvia’s assignments I had started previously from her DVDs but most of the lessons  were a challenge for me. One lesson was teaching “sit pretty” and then hug a toy or object. When I tried this with Myst she could not sit up and I had to think of creative ways to help her be successful. It took us 8-9 training sessions teaching her to balance and feel comfortable sitting up --- always there were high value reinforcements for the correct behavior. In the video you will see a few weeks ago her “sit pretty”; the picture above shows how much her balance has improved and now she finds this easy to do. My Puli, who has ZERO work ethic, was able to sit up for treats in one session.

What I continue to learn is that some dogs have an easier time with learning certain behaviors or tricks than others do; part of training and shaping is to find where you can begin and have success.

This is our graduation video from Silvia’s puppy class. We will continue to learn new tricks that we had not been able to learn during the class. 

After posting this video on Silvia's graduation page for the puppy class she responded with this post:

FROM SILVIA: "So cool to finally meet Myst! Great job with the tricks, that were sure great cik&caps and I really loved the heeling too! Let me know which video you want to get for graduation!"

Handstands into Fall

Yikes, I can't believe it's been over a month since I posted.  So much has happened during those 4 weeks.  Here's a brief rewind ala Quinten Tarintino.  Gemini graduated from her puppy class!  Admittedly I deferred making my graduation video because I didn't feel that we were as advanced as some teams.  But when I finally decided to shoot the video (which took me 4 hours to edit) I was able to see how much we have accomplished.  Remember all those problems with backing up?  Well now she backs up everywhere and can even back up a wall and go into a handstand position.  My goal is to get her to do a free handstand by the New Year.  That and maybe a down stay?  How about a recall?  I can tell that I'll be spending some time with Cynde and Myst to work on our recall.

Here's her Graduation Video:  Gemini Graduates!

Gemini turned 6 months old on Oct 9th!  Yay!  We happened to be in Boulder City, NV for an agility trial at that time.  Much to our delite and surprise an All Breed Sprint Lure Club was having a practice and test.  I entered her in 3 practice runs.  She'd be running solo, no fancy gear or muzzle, and a simple 100 yard straight sprint.  Unfortunately the dogs before us were not so keen on coursing.  Well, I told the guy operating the lure that she is going to come out hot.  I guess he just didn't think a little white puppy was capable of really running or he didn't hear me.  Anyway, first time out of the gate she caught the lure within 20' then she played with it, ran with it, and totally celebrated with it.  She owned that lure.  Her next 2 runs were great.  We started her back from the line and gave the lure a head start.  Success!  She chased it the entire 100 yards and never looked back!  It was thrilling to watch her and the other dogs just RUN.:

Here's her clip with some of her captured lure antics Gemini vs the Lure

Recalls and Becoming the "BIG COOKIE"

Myst was 5 months old when I received information on Susan Garrett’s “Recallers” course. My first thought was that I do recalls with Myst and she seems to be doing fine. However I soon learned that there was clearly more to recalls and this course than just calling the dog and having them come… it was about the BRILLIANT RECALL based on building drive, play, interaction, focus and having me become the “BIG COOKIE” or the most important source of FUN for my puppy.

Before we began the course we made two lists that were very important for our recall work: the first list was of our dog’s distractions where we rated these distractions on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the most distracting to the dog. The second list was of our dog’s reinforcers. The reinforcers were ranked from those that the dog would take any time to those that they would not take any time or place. These lists were very helpful when training or shaping new behaviors and also when doing recalls in highly distracting environments.

Initially we did many recalls. At first they were restrained but very quickly I moved my recalls to using the crate. Crate games is another excellent tool for so many important foundation behaviors … in this case the SIT STAY. Using the work we had done in crate games Myst would stay quietly while I walked away for my recall game - I no longer needed a person to help restrain her.

Out of the 34 recall games one of my favorite is the 1 > 2 > 3 Game. This game builds excitement for “GAMES ON” and also builds onto the foundation for SIT STAY. There are many ways to play this game, creating anticipation and excitement for the dog. Each morning when we have our fun game of tug and other games we always incorporate the 1>2 >3 game.

Another fun recall is the out of sight recall. Again, we play this game frequently since it is important to me to be able to take Myst hiking off leash and know that I do not have to worry about her chasing animals or not coming when called. We have been playing this game for 6 months and she always comes when her name is called … that is around our house and nearby trails. The test was still to come.

3 recalls: restrained; sit stay in crate; out of sight

This past weekend I was in Flagstaff visiting a friend and Myst was able to run loose in her yard with her dogs. When it was time to leave I called Myst and she did not come and did not even look at me…. What had happened to my recall? Here was a test, a highly distracting environment where clearly I was no longer her “big cookie.” A wonderful training opportunity had just presented itself.

The following day I challenged her to big distractions for recalls: coming to me to train when my other dogs were barking and taking her on the trail to test her recall. I found that using a long line to bring her in to me did not work in emphasizing that when she is called she comes. But I did find that going and picking her up and bringing her back to where I was when she was called did work. It only took 2 times of doing this along with using HIGH VALUE reinforcers that she GOT IT. I think that most dogs do not like being carried off of their fun.

The next day was truly going to be the big test. My fall hiking with dogs group was ready to resume our early morning hikes. All our dogs were off leash. Snake season is almost over so ... no more excuses… Time for the big test of off leash hiking on the trails and RECALLS… We did some on leash hiking this summer using a herding whistle to call the dogs back. Myst quickly learned what the whistle meant – come back to me for a JACKPOT TREAT.  

On this hike I was sure to carry very special “never had before meat” for Myst for our trail recalls. The dogs were all out running and playing on the trail and it was time.. the recall whistle.. AND Myst along with all of the dogs came running back FAST.. We did these recalls a number of times with the same wonderful response. Then Myst, feeling very independent with her new freedom, wandered down a trail by herself in the wrong direction. She was some distance away and I called her name.. and YESSSS she came running back. We have had to work on the recall as being not just coming toward me but right to my side… and she made me very proud.

What have we accomplished and learned doing recaller games for 6 months?  Well, the hiking off leash is perhaps currently most important. However we have learned so much about making the criteria for our interaction be all about having FUN and the criteria for our work is to always be JOY. We have learned that our training time needs to be short – no more than 5 minutes to keep the fun, energy and drive in our work. We end our training with the little girl always wanting more and wondering why we had to end.

Remaining Myst’s “biggest cookie” is not only fun for me but also for helping with those #10 distractions. She has a good beginning for solid start line SIT STAYS with no foot or leg movement. And she has learned so much about the importance of coming to and staying in the reinforcement zone. Building on this are her excellent retrieves of her dumb bell, metal objects and whatever I throw and ask her to return to me.

When I make my weekly training notes I always put on the top of the page reminders that I have learned from our recallers course:

• Criteria = JOY                                                  
•  Do not reward crap
• Sometimes is always to a dog
• Continue to push the limits so there are errors…. This provides excellent new training opportunities
• Continue to put deposits into my RECALL account
• AND.. Keep finding new ways to become the “BIGGEST COOKIE in Myst’s life” …distractions loose their significance when a dog LOVES what they are doing.

Backing Up and Bluegrass

I am taking a long distance learning (on-line) puppy class with Gemini.  It's taught by Silvia Trkman and I'm really loving it.  The class involves doing homework and posting your progress in the "classroom" and Silvia then provides feedback.  It soon became apparent that the class was composed of very advanced dogs and handlers.  Gemini was the youngest puppy and it was obvious I was the least experienced handler.  It's what I assumed because post after post demonstrated how quickly the other teams had mastered the homework.  Their dogs skillfully backed up stairs, pivoted brilliantly on a bowl, and demonstrated stunning 2on 2 off positions, holding their stay despite a rain of cats and squirrels.  I was struggling teaching Gem to back up.  When this was apparent, I chose to ignore it and train other stuff where I was making progress, then I watched the videos of others, marveled at their skills, tried again and failed.  I quit trying which meant I couldn't do the other lessons that involved a "backing up skill."  As it turns out, I wasn't alone in my assumptions...many of the advanced teams were posting great stuff and others, like me, were too shy to post our struggles.  After some prodding by Silvia, more and more of us began posting our problems.  As painful as it was, I posted a video that demonstrated where we were with backing up--warts and all.  Silvia got back to me with some alternative ways to train it.  Low and behold in 3 short sessions Gemini was backing up!  Then we began working on backing up stairs and even a ramp against the wall.  Lesson learned!  Below are the videos that contain our struggling with backing up and our progress.

Training struggles with a creative solution
Gemini conquers the back up

My last post touched on the bold wild child Gemini is -- especially when she's on lead.  Heeling and sitting calmly at my side are not currently a part of her repertoire.  Last Saturday nite, enroute to Dairy Queen, we discovered a happening bluegrass concert in the town park.  Abandoning thoughts of a Reeses Blizzard, we parked at the elementary school and began the walk down to the park Gemini in tow.  No, I didn't have her nice martingale lead, I didn't even have a clicker, but I did have a few treats in my pocket from earlier in the day.  Getting to the park wasn't pretty.  We negotiated the neighborhood that was teaming with plants that begged to be sampled, dogs running behind little garden fences, and kitties who dared Gem to give chase.  Once at the park, we staked out our area with a blanket.  I decided that the blanket would mark the borders of Gemini's territory and I only gave her enough lead to reach the end of the blanket.  Gem immediately came unglued and tried to visit all the kids who whizzed by with glow sticks and hot dogs.  Then there were all the OTHER dogs who were allowed to romp on long leads.  I could hear her protesting as if to say "All the other dogs are running around!"  We got through the concert by having Gemini down and do some of her behaviors in the down position (paw touches, crossing paws, frog stretches).  I don't think I've ever made so few treats last so long.  Eventually she'd clearly had enough and we made our way back through the neighborhood and back to the car.  So all in all I felt good about the progress.

Big Bro Voltaire Checking out the sand and surf

Myst's Puppy Jump Foundation

Most dogs can jump so why do we need to teach jumping? Agility handlers spend much time training contact performance and weave pole entries yet is the same attention paid to jumping skills?

The agility dog today is asked to do more and more complex jumping involving extension, collection, tight turns, running forward with confidence and then collecting to a wrap around a jump, or running behind a jump. Slow motion video shows the impact that such jumping puts on the dogs when they are asked to run fast and then collect to a tight turn. Many dogs do this, but how many can jump correctly using good mechanical skills, maintaining jumping confidence and perhaps most importantly not getting injured. Far too many agility dogs today are injured jumping due to poor preparation of the tasks we ask them to do.

Having come from the sport of three-day eventing with horses, I value the work of Susan Salo. Susan has created a jumping program for puppies and dogs based on methods used for many years by top horseman and woman more specifically Gene Lewis who had horses on Olympic teams from five different countries. Lewis taught horses the mechanics of jumping without being encumbered by a rider. 

Susan teaches the dog to jump without handler interference building the dog’s confidence  and understanding of how to jump correctly. Her puppy jump foundation teaches these young puppies to drive to a target and begin to understand how to read distances that are constantly changing.

A very important part of all puppy work and advocated by Susan is that the work be short and FUN. Most puppy work is done with jump bumps  or very low bars for a set point exercise until the dog is at least one year of age.

As part of Myst’s body awareness I introduced trotting through a ladder. The ladder is excellent for helping the puppy use their body effectively and become conscious of where they are placing each paw. Puppies should trot through the ladder with head down. Having a target with a treat is an excellent way to help them focus forward with their head down.

We moved from the ladder to low cavalettis. Then onto Susan Salo’s puppy jump foundation work as shown in this video beginning with ladder work at 5 months old and then progressing through Susan’s program for puppies. 

Myst is now 11 months old and we do puppy jump grids once or twice a week with jumps at 8 inches max. Occasionally we do a set point exercise from 8 – 12 inches.

We are also doing jump foundation work using a jump with no bars for wrapping (Silvia’s Trkman’s CIK&CAP), Susan Garrett’s one jump work and looking for the next jump. 

Future agility bad ass or future brat?

Gemini and Shannon in Malibu!

Gemini is now 4.5 months old and her teeth seem to be falling out of her head.  Already her permanent central incisors are coming in and she is a chewing machine.  Luckily the butcher at Safeway cut up some marrow bones  into IG size rings so she enjoys frozen bones and I enjoy preserving my fingers and my sunglasses.  Last weekend Gemini went with Twig and I to our first out of town agility  fun match.  As she isn't soft crate proof, I set her up in her little ruggedized varikennel.  She was a great girl inside the crate.  She hung out and slept like a seasoned trial veteran.  However, once outside the crate, she found all of the people, dogs and whirl of activity to be an amusement park made just for her.  She jumped and raced around eager to be part of it all.  It would seem that walking calmly on lead would be an impossibility in that environment.  So I settled for simple sits and downs a midst the chaos.

I'm finding that right now although I'm happy with our progress in training, I'm also a bit scared/worried now and then.  I feel that there's lots of holes.  Lots of stuff we should be doing.  Lots of stuff we haven't done.  Lots of stuff "everybody else" seems to have done by 4 months of age.  Shouldn't a 4 month old puppy be able to walk around an agility trial and behave?  Maybe, maybe not.  I certainly haven't taught her "how to behave."  In fact, I've purposely allowed her to be exuberant and curious.  I've encouraged her to be bold and even a bit brash.  My thinking is that in 2 years, when she is racing around the agility ring, nothing will frighten her and she'll be able to do teeters in a thunderstorm! Or maybe she'll just be unruly.

I've always admired Silvia Trkman and her dogs.  It's so obvious she and her dogs run with heart.  From time to time I turned to her website to look at videos and read her training advice all the while wishing I could shrink the world and take lessons with her... as it turns out, the internet has shrunk the world and long distance classes are a possibility.  Twig and I audited the running contacts class and I really loved it, so when the opportunity came up to enroll Gemini into her puppy class I jumped on it.  Class has been great.  So far we've done 3 lessons and are working on the 4th.  Its given me a bit of an unconventional road map for puppy training and it includes things I never would have thought of  -- for example teaching Gemini to slam a cupboard door shut so she learns that she can initiate movement just like slamming a teeter down!  And it's fun too:-)  Most of these things I've never trained at all let alone doing it with shaping.  We certainly have our struggles but it's been fun to work through them.  Lesson 4 has all sorts of challenges for us, and it has some super duper fun things.  One of the exercises involves naming those moments our puppies have where they run about with insane speed and joy.  Just imagine how great that would be to have that speed and intensity on tap whenever I used the magic word.  Now to think of what I'd like to call it...

Below are some videos of Gemini's class homework.
Lesson 1 part 1                                                                   
Lesson 1 part 2
Lesson 2
Working 4 in and play time
Lesson 3 part 1

Puppy Goals

When Myst came home I had three goals: (1) allow her to be a puppy for as long as possible; (2) to provide many opportunities for building JOY and FUN into our relationship with play, toys, and having many fun new adventures together; and(3) lots of socialization and introducing her to as many new experiences as possible.

Myst arrived in December which was a perfect month for socialization. We seemed to have many people coming to the house that month with visits, work on the house and the holidays. It is always challenging to find ways to socialize before the puppies have received all their shots. Myst loved to meet and play with everyone – men, children, and even the UPS man.

Since it was quite cool in December and we do not have a large enclosed yard much of her early play was indoors. It seemed that every evening she became this “wild child” filled with boundless energy. We did a lot of play in the utility and bedroom. Soon Myst became known as the “soccer girl”. She loved her soccer ball and created a fun game of push the ball under the bed and the scramble under to try to get it out. 

  

Quite early I found that it was time to teach some crate manners. I have found that Susan Garret’s CRATE GAMES are brilliant. I have used them for two of my other dogs and even my Puli has an amazing sit in front of sheep waiting to be released. Crate games teaches a multitude of skills in addition to enjoying going into the crate and waiting quietly to be released. Dogs learn self control; the sit before release is excellent foundation for a perfect start line and sit stays. Once the dog learns to sit and wait to be released, the crate provides a wonderful opportunity to practice recalls. Susan has blended many games for building awesome recalls,  control and passion into training. It is hard for me to not go on and on to tell all of the positives my dogs have learned from crate games since this is one of the easiest and most fun way to train young dogs.

 

SOME OF OUR EARLIEST TRAINING was building BALANCE AND BODY AWARENESS having FUN.

Myst - The Journey Begins

On Tuesday November 30, 2010 I started my journey to pick up my new Border Collie puppy in Canada from Carolyn and Bob Lewis owners of Cedar Border Collies. Carolyn choose my puppy for me from a litter of 5. When the time came to let me know which puppy she had selected she wrote, “She is a live wire! I love her attitude and I love her personality. She is such a toy driven girl, and is very coordinated and fast on her feet for her age!  She started tugging on my pant leg when she was only 3 weeks old. She is SO happy and outgoing.”

Carolyn does such a wonderful job working with her puppies  before we get them and matching her puppies with their new owners…AND Carolyn was so right…she has the most amazing personality and attitude. AND Myst has never stopped tugging.  She came enjoying people and children and seemed to understand that a three year old needed her to be quieter and softer than adults.  I LOVED this darling little girl from the day I met her at her home in Ontario. 

Our journey was quite an experience. I arrived in Buffalo, New York at 2:00 a.m. and awoke to a raging snow storm. After hiring a cab, I arrived one hour later at Carolyn's. We had a wonderful visit with the other puppy owners and got to meet all of the Cedar Border Collies. It was so wonderful to see Myst's parents, Cipher and Reckon running in their lovely huge field. After a wonderful 2 day visit, we started our 12 hour journey home. 

Myst fit right into our family. Our Puli Ziggy became her giant tug toy. Ziggy was so patient with the new puppy and soon they became best friends.

My Border Collie, Kaffee would not look at Myst and he seemed to project that he hoped that when he returned home from our hikes that this new puppy would have left. Today, now that Myst is older, they too are best friends. 

My dog training journey has now come to a very new junction… perhaps it was  my second Border Collie, Kaffee that helped me to get here initially with seeing how play and joy could be built into very successful training and that the old style of negative reinforcement was not necessary for success. Getting my new puppy from Carolyn has also helped convince me that I now am committed to my paradigm shift of positive training. AND perhaps most importantly, I signed up for Susan Garrett’s recallers course this spring when my puppy, Myst was 5 months old.

The recallers course was one of the best training and learning experiences I have had while training my dogs. This course was not just about doing recalls and having your dog come when called. It was so much more. It was about building GREAT reinforcement for behaviors that we want; becoming our dogs most favorite “cookie”; learning how to train effectively through creativity and positive training. And, building a wonderful and happy relationship with our dogs to have not only as  an awesome pet to live with but a wonderful team partner for dog sports.

I now understand that it is often easier to fall back on negative training methods than to take the time to think creatively of how to solve the new problems and challenges that our dogs constantly present us with. I have learned and am committed to Susan’s philosophy that the criteria for our training is JOY.

I am looking forward to sharing my continuing journey with my young puppy, MYST.

Meet MYST…

She is now 10 months old.. but we will share highlights with our journey over the last 7 months. 

Gemini -- the Beginning

I first laid eyes on Gemini on June 17th, 2011.  I remember coming around a kitchen corner to see an X-pen  restraining 5 bouncing Italian Greyhound puppies.  My heart sang, and I think every muscle in my body was involved in my smile.  As the owner of 2 IGs who came to me as adult rescues, I'd never actually seen 10 week old iggy puppies so I wasn't prepared for that level of cuteness and energy.  Boing, boing, boing they leapt at the pen...

Gemini and her crew!

I have to give Debbie, Gemini's breeder, tons of credit.  She was able to assimilate all the info I gave her in countless emails and multiple phone calls and choose a puppy that would fit my needs.  She knows her lines, and she knows her puppies.  From the moment I began playing with her, I knew she was the right dog for me.  Gemini is bold, independent (more about that later), and confident.  She overflows with play drive.  She's a "Go Big or Go Home" kind of girl.  I met her about 1pm and by 6pm we were headed to the airport.  Surprisingly, the 2.5 hour flight was uneventful and she slept the entire time.  It was only during the drive home, when she found herself all alone in a great big crate, that she began to protest her situation.  It was a looong  90 minute drive home.

As I pulled up into my driveway--18 hours after I'd left it in the early am--I knew the fun was about to begin.  For the first night I'd arranged for the other IGs to stay with a friend so that Gemini could meet Voltaire without added distractions.  All I can say is that Voltaire saw her and instantly adored her, and in that moment Gemini  found the ultimate big brother -- a 135 pound mantle Great Dane.  Thirty minutes later he was laying on the floor as she was zipping around, doing laps around his body and generally using him like a jungle gym.  One of my friends who saw a video of this encounter said it looks like the scene with King Kong and the helicopters!

Gemini sleeps tucked under Voltaire's leg.

My friend dropped Ariel (aka The Queen) and Twig off at my house by noon.  Much to my surprise, Ariel who is on the cusp of turning 17, didn't really give Gemini much of a hard time.  As a matter of fact, she was more accepting of Gemini than she was of Twig who was added to the pack not quite 3 years ago.  Twig and Gemini became fast friends and the Italian Greyhound version of Wrestlemania meets NASCAR began.