Puppy classes and BAT training

This past month Vixey has grown and developed quickly. At 16 weeks she weighed 16 lbs and is now almost the same height as Vanilla. She has continued to be the brave, open and loving puppy with a couple boogieman phases added to the mix. I haven’t taught as many new tricks this past month but instead we’ve focused on life skills. After getting all our vaccinations in order we went to our very first agility foundation lesson and got a lot of homework with the cone. I’ll be teaching “out”-command with the clicker and the cone and also use the cone to help her read front and rear crosses. We also started a puppy socialization class which focuses on introducing all kinds of dogs, people and environments to the puppy. In the same class we also make them familiar with different surfaces and little obstacles like a ladder on the floor that they need to walk through or standing on a stool or go over an air mattress. This is great also when I think about the skills she will need for agility or even our sailing trips in the future. 

Of course you can’t learn everything on a class so I’ve tried to make sure that every week we do something new with her. This week’s agenda is to take her to the stables to see horses. Last week it was a nearby dog park to go on a puppy play date. I’m a little weary of dog parks though, so I’m not sure how much we will be going unless it’s to meet someone we know there. I’ve also tried to take her for walks in different places with different people and dogs including next to kids playgrounds, heavy traffic zones etc. She has always done great. But more than any of that I’ve tried to take her to places she can be off-leash. We’ve gone to Mt. Lemmon every weekend for a walk or a hike. She absolutely loves the forest! Our everyday walk around the neighborhood is on nice dirt roads which is great for having her off-leash and teach recall. Also there are cotton tails and quails and other critters that run across the road or nearby all the time so it’s been a great environment to learn to not chase anything.

 

Vixey in Sedona, AZ

Grand Canyon.

 

Our only issues have been the boogieman phases which usually involve some barking. For example, just on a normal day home she might all of a sudden realize that there are all kinds of sounds that she can hear from the outside. There have always been noises and most days she doesn’t notice them yet some days she thinks that every time the neighbor’s dog barks she needs to bark back. My first plan was to just ignore that. It didn’t help however, so I now have a squirt bottle next to my desk and it does make a difference. She hates the thing! Once in a while she also barks at dogs she sees on our daily walks. I think its half excitement and half insecurity. When she gets closer and can meet the dog she is great and meets dogs in a very nice manner and quickly gets into play mode with them. So far there has only been one dog that she has been timid about. It was another puppy, a lot bigger and more muscular than Vixey and very high energy and dominant in her play. Vixey did finally warm up to her enough to play a little but you could tell that she wasn’t totally comfortable with her. 

 

On the occasion that she barks or gets ready to bark to another dog on our walk, I’ve been using a method that is nowadays often referred to as BAT (Behavior Adjustment Training). The basic idea is to walk with the dog ideally using a long lead (I’ve often had Vixey off-leash though) and when you see signs of a possible reaction, ie. barking, you gently turn around before the behavior happens, maybe call your dog and treat. The idea is to replace the initial reaction to a situation with a new behavior like sitting, sniffing, looking away, whatever seems to work best for you and your dog. I’d used similar methods before and even started on with Vixey but never knew the name of the official training method until I had some conversations with the owners of Vixeys siblings. It’s been great for us and has made our recall even stronger. It also makes you have to pay attention to your dog’s body language in order to prevent the situation where reactive behavior could occur. And of course involves a lot of good treats when everything is going great. 

All in all though, I have to say that Vixey has been a really good, easy puppy. She travels great, sleeps through the nights, loves her crate, is basically house-trained with very few accidents, learns amazingly quickly, absolutely loves people, has a wonderful off-switch for a Border Collie and is really the most snuggly, loving little creature I can think of. And the bonus on top of it all is that she is not only best buddies with Vanilla but she has been able to melt Gins heart as well. How great is that! 

PS. I can’t wait for the agility season to start again in Tucson! Vanilla and I have learned a ton of new stuff since our last trial in April!

 

 

 

Start of an agility career - or not?

NADAC trial in March 2014.

Within the last few months I have finally gotten into agility trialing with Vanilla. My nervousness levels are getting lower, well, with one exception being yesterday evenings NADAC mini-trial on an open field in a public park with plenty of other dogs and heavy traffic roads nearby! But we both survived and even ended up doing great! Lesson of the day? Don’t panic for two hours before your run because you’ll be exhausted even before you get on the course and you’ll make your dog nervous as well! Not good :).

To most of my Finnish friends words like NADAC probably don’t say much. And maybe agility in general is sort of a gray area. Hence I decided to explain the basics so it’s easier for you to follow our journey through the ever complicated maze of agility in the United States! 

AKC trial in March 2014.

First of all, the biggest difference compared to how agility is structured in Finland, is the fact that agility trials in the US are organized and held by several different organizations. In Finland it’s simple. All agility trials are held under the Finnish Agility Association and there are only two different course options (classes), standard and jumpers. The United States however, has many different ones with different sets of rules and regulation, their own titling systems etc. The three main ones that Vanilla and I compete in are:

1) USDAA trials (United States Dog Agility Association), which is the largest independent authority for the sport of dog agility and also the one that originally introduced the sport to North America in 1986. They have many classes including Standard, Jumpers, Gamblers, Relay and Snooker.  

2) AKC trials (American Kennel Club), which is almost as big nowadays as USDAA. They offer Standard, Jumpers with Weaves and FAST classes. 

3) NADAC (North American Dog Agility Council), which was founded 1993 and offers many classes and games including Regular (similar to Standard), Jumpers, Tunnelers, Weavers, Touch N Go, Chances and Hoopers. 

There are many more but I have more or less decided to concentrate my efforts on these three. Some people only do one but Tucson doesn’t really offer enough trials to concentrate on just one. It’s good practice too and also all different organizers concentrate on different kinds of courses. AKC has very tight courses which require good fast turns whereas NADAC courses concentrate on your ability to send your dog further away and work more independently. In order to compete in any of these events you need to register your dog with the organization in question. Luckily this is not very expensive and fairly easy to do. There are options for mix breed dogs as well so even if you don’t have a pure bred dog you can still title. 

Got our first AKC title in March 2014!

So as you can see the potential of gaining different Champion titles is a lot more varied here than in Finland, where you can only be a Standard or Jumpers Agility Champion. Here you can be a Champion under any or all the different organizers. Also you get titles along the way, after completing the Novice or Open levels before ending up in the Excellent/Masters/Elite level. In Finland the corresponding levels are called 1, 2 and 3. 

The third most important difference, aside from the structure and offered classes, is the scoring. In Finland you are aiming for a 0, which means a clean run with no mistakes, while here you aim for a qualified run, a Q. Qualified runs are scored in various different ways, for example in some cases starting with a score of a 100 and then subtracting your faults. But the main goal is the same, whether you’re going for a 0 or a Q. As long as you don’t make any mistakes you’re good to go!

Now that you’re a little more familiar with the system, it’s easier for me to brag about our results of course! ;). Not that there are many, but I have to say, I’m very proud of our start in the world of agility. From the one USDAA trial (one day), two AKC trials (both two days), one NADAC trial (one day) and one NADAC mini trial evening that we’ve done in the last couple months, we’ve been able to get several Q’s in several classes and are already able to move up to compete in Open level in AKC standard class and NADAC weavers class! This requires 3 Q’s from each class so, for example, out of our 4 AKC standard runs we Q’d on 3 runs and the same happened with NADAC weavers. So it is a marvelous start! I’m lucky that Vanilla, at the age of 7,5 years, is still as fast as ever and enthusiastic about working with me!

To be honest, I don’t think we have many crazy goals with Vanilla. Maybe there was a time when Vanilla was young and we were still doing Search and Rescue and Obedience in Finland that I pictured a wall full of her merits (well I still like photos of merits ;)) but since we moved to the US, changed our sports altogether and life happened in between, I realized that it really isn’t about the merits. Or what other people think. It’s just, and only, about having fun with your dog! Working towards a better relationship between you and your companion! There are many people that are more competitive and have additional goals, but for us, this is all we need right now. Fun, positive experiences together!

AKC trial in November 2013.

Goodbye Freilance

Last Thursday and Friday I had my last lessons at Freilance dog sports. What sad days! I have been taking lessons from Sharon regularly for a little over a year now, and it made all the difference in my life! It was THE thing I waited for every week! Having this community and these special people to train with really helped me adapt to my new life that is so very different from what I'm used to. I think, in part, the dog training made the connection between past and present life. For a long time, you see, I felt like I had life A in Finland being person A, and then I moved to life B being a person B. It's actually hard to explain why I felt so disconnected with my past at first. Now on the other hand, my life feels like my life and I feel like me. Like I said, partly thanks to agility training! That is the one thing I've done both in Finland and here, with the same dog, using the same language. And it's been wonderful! Sharon filled all my expectations! She is accurate, technical, knowledgeable and just all in all an amazing trainer!

During the past week Vanilla has really made good progress. It really makes a difference when you train twice a week plus weekend competition! Also, we had no problems with the teeter.. Sharon said it's most likely just difference in the equipment. I'm sure that also if  I'm less nervous and remember to tell her to slow down in time we'll get over our little teeter problem. Next thing we need to practice with her is staying on the contact even when I run way past. I've been doing the running past a little bit, but obviously not far enough. When I go further than 15 feet she gets off! (Note to self: when running by and she stays, throw the toy past her/close to her and then release, throwing itself is not the release!) I need to start practicing those contacts somehow. It's going to be a little tricky while cruising, but Sharon and I talked about using the ramps that go down on the docks in different marinas or basicly anything that would resemble a sloping down contact. I've tried it in Benicia, but since we also walk the same ramps constantly for other reasons it's hard to get Vanilla to do it only occasionally. But while cruising I guess we are going to change locations frequently so maybe I can just practice that in every marina, every time I take her in/out. I also need to practice more lateral distance with all obstacles. Obstacle discrimination seems to have gotten better and better and my handling at difficult courses with lots of turns; I can actually keep up with the dog! Rear crosses are getting better, but I need more practice on an individual obstacle while turning left. That's definitely Vanilla's 'bad side'.

Having to leave this place and these people makes me sad. But I feel very fortunate and happy to have had the opportunity to get to know everyone and be a part of this "dog-community". I will keep my lessons in mind when training Vanilla and I will definitely continue agility after our cruise (or even during if at all possible). So this is not the last you've seen about our agility career! I'm actually really excited to try to figure out how to do dog training while sailing or at achor or on some desolate beach somewhere south... Hmm.

First AKC Agility Trials!

Well I wouldn't say it was quite a success but it wasn't a waste of money either! We (at least Vanilla) had fun, got a lot of experience, and some good runs whether or not we qualified. First day I was a nervous wreck and could hardly communicate, thankfully my husband was taking care of all the necessities and I could just focus on focusing :). I survived though, and Vanilla ofcourse was perfectly herself, maybe a little bit more yappy. First run was a standard course, pretty nice otherwise but had a rear cross in the end that I dreaded. I thought our problems would be weaves and/or the rear cross or me forgetting the course, or Vanilla jumping the A-frame. Well. Not quite. Instead of any of these mistakes (these all went nicely), Vanilla ran through the teeter (for the first time in ages), then I forgot to wait for the go on the table (what an idiot!), and then I didn't get Vanilla in the tunnel on the first attempt: I turned towards the next obstacle too early, Vanilla caught it and pulled away from the tunnel. So there we go.

I was hoping for a little more success on the jumpers course, but I was babysitting Vanilla's weaves (2.nd obstacle) by stepping in and Vanilla pushed away and entered incorrectly. Well, another try and everything went well, only thing was that while redoing the weaves I blacked out on the course and ofcourse didn't find the right obstacle. After recovering we did the rest of the course beautifully and a lot of people commented how fast Vanilla was.

I was convinced that the second day would go better. Now I knew that Vanilla could do it, that I could do it, I wasn't quite as nervous, even though I still had shaky hands. We went on the standard course me having decided that this time the teeter will go well and I will wait on the table for the judge. The waiting part did go well ofcourse, but this time Vanilla did the thing I expected the first day -> ran so fast that she couldn't stop on the table. After that we also had problems entering the weaves again and she ran full speed through the teeter!! I just couldn't believe it. And I even told her more firmly this time to slow down. Ah, I guess it was my speed that made her run faster, I should have slowed down more myself, both for the table and the teeter.

Good parts were the nice contacts on dog walk and A-frame again today! We've definitely made progress on that part during the last year! She looked really good!

The last course of the weekend was the second Jumpers with weaves- course (JWW) and that went awesome! I even did two rear crosses, both to the easier and the harder side, Vanilla was watching me so well! I remembered the course and was running full speed towards the goal and then.... Vanilla dropped the second to last bar.. argh :) But she did SO well, I should've ran a little slower I guess. Maybe next time I can handle myself a little better, I'm sure most (if not all) our mistakes are due to my own errors in handling! Looking forward to our next time in the agility ring!

"Stop? What do you mean stop?" -Vanilla

Both today and yesterday I had agility lessons with Vanilla. This week our training has concentrated on lateral distance, weavepole entries and the basic 'how to cue your dog right when running the course'. Vanilla is getting really good about me going further away at the start (and she hasn't run the start line once in several weeks). We have been even practicing some obstacle discrimination with a dog walk as a 3rd obstacle on the course with a tunnel right next to it and me standing a little further back. Slowly we have been able to get more distance and still get the right obstacle.

I'm getting more lateral distance on jumps, tunnels etc. but I we still have problems with the contact obstacles. When I run past, she mostly takes the contacts really nicely, especially on the dog walk, but for some reason if I run lateral and not past her, she won't get on the contact straight or lies down before her two front paws are on the dirt (our goal is 2 on- 2 off). She does TAKE the contact though, which is really good, but I've quickly adopted the meticulous standards of my trainer Sharon and can't stand those little technical inaccuracies. Right now I feel the best thing to do would be to just go and practice those individual things by themselves before adding more difficulty to the courses we're running. Of course today we were running courses with a little more advanced dogs and that may have made me feel more this way. On the other hand I should be proud of Vanilla, she did really well and blended in nicely with the rest of the group. Oh how nice it would be if she worked this well every time.

We had trouble getting Vanilla to finish weavepoles yesterday towards a dark corner of the course and decided to reinforce already at pole 8-9 on the opposite side of the poles from where I was at. Did that a couple of times yesterday and today we had really nice weavepoles on that same spot. I should later on also keep in mind that the "placement of reward changes the behavior" as Sharon repeats over and over. So where ever I decide to reward Vanilla is what I'm reinforcing. And in our case on the weavepoles we should practice me running ahead and throwing the reward back into the weavepoles (using a release word there would also be a good idea).

Yesterday I also surprisingly had trouble on the A-frame contact. Vanilla was just running through. We practiced it a couple times yesterday after the lesson and seemed to have corrected the mistake, but today same happened again. Weird thing is that the contact has been really good, and still was really good on both dog walk and the teeter. So more A-frame practice I assume. She seems to be coming down with such a speed that even when she tries to stop she can't quite make herself stop in time. Good thing is that she tries and she hasn't jumped the contact.

Today we had a couple really hard courses with a lot of turns so handling became really important and that you are going towards the right jumps at the right time, and doing your front crosses at the right time. And not just going toward the right obstacle but the right stanchion of the right obstacle without being on the dogs path. We seemed to be doing really good on this considering our level so I'm really happy with where we are with this.

One more thing that needs some practice is our table. In Finland this obstacle was often just ignored, it was used in trials very seldom, so I have never really done the good basic training on that -> resulting in a pretty nice "fly over the table" by Vanilla. Not that she doesn't want to stop.. she's just going way too fast. If I slow her down before the table she might lie down before the table... well. My game plan now is to get some target practice under our belt and train her to stay even when I run past. I'm sure this is not one of our biggest problems.

Anyway, today I'm feeling really good about our cooperation with Vanilla and I'm looking forward to try out our skills at the trial tomorrow and Sunday. I'll keep you posted!

Agility, agility... I mean.. cruising, cruising :)

More than once this year I have thought about agility. The training has been wonderful and ever more addictive. Our plans for cruising have formed and I have only about a month left of "normal life" with my dogs. This has made me almost panic about losing my weekly lessons and practices. Not to mention all the people who have made my agility training such a fantastic experience. Don't get me wrong though, I'm SO excited about our plans to see the world, and what makes it even better, our black n' whites are coming with us. It's going to be a family cruise, a dog family cruise :).

I hope to achieve in agility what I made my goal so long ago. To enter my first competition in the United States before heading into new adventures. Speaking of which, my firts entry is going to be at the Sir Francis Drake Kennel Club trial in Vallejo this coming weekend. So exciting!! I really hope everything goes well. Vanilla and I have been doing some pretty good runs at practice but as everyone knows, trial situation can be totally different. I am feeling really good about the issues we previously had with weavepoles and contacts. She has been improving with her contacts tremendously and hardly ever misses the stop. It sure was a good thing we started from scratch and really taught the whole thing all over again. Also weavepole entries have been improving and she is now more independent. We still have tons of work to do on that part though. I'm slowly trying to get more ahead or be more behind and get lateral distance and front and rear crosses.It is a slow road but I can already see how practice is paying off. I'm so proud of little Vanilla. She is as fast as ever, as focused as ever and probably loves agility more than ever :).

This said I'm probably going to have more to say on agility front these following couple of days since I'll be practicing every day before trialing both next Saturday and Sunday. After this I'm going to go for a few more practice sessions before we leave. Then the following months I'm going to concentrate on different kinds of dog things, namely, how to cruise with dogs. I have a plan of water rescue training sessions for both Vanilla and Gin and a set of tricks I will teach while on the boat/sailing when other activities are more limited. We are also going to concentrate on exploring and hiking/camping and maybe visiting local dog training clubs for a random class here and there along the way. I'm sure the dogs are going to be the opposite of bored. Of course they also need to perform they active duties as guard dogs. Vanilla being noisy, and Gin looking scary is a pretty good combo :) Except in this photo:

Cruising and how it affects my black and white's

January 21st 2012

I've had a blog silence for a long time, adapting slowly but surely to our new lifestyle and enjoying little things in life while traveling and seeing the country more than I thought would be possible in one year. My puppies being one key part of that everyday journey. They have been doing great, we started regular agility lessons in a new place with Vanilla last fall, and she has made astonishing progress! Our problems with weaving poles and contact obstacles are almost just a forgotten memory! Thanks to Sharon who has been a fantastic teacher! Gin and Vanilla have also had time to take a little break from California boat life and go for a ranch-vacation in Wallowa, Oregon during Christmas. I'm sure they were a pain in the butt for my in-laws barking, jumping and doing whatever they pleased but I really appreciate the effort! And thankfully they know EXACTLY what to do with these two having two black&white's of their own. I'm sure Gin and Vanilla were not ready to come home yet. What could beat running in the fields chasing and digging out all the little creatures...

I have to say for myself though that all the traveling we've been doing lately has made me miss the boat more than ever. Last Winter I wasn't sure if I'd ever miss the boat! It was more like the feeling of "when can I go and visit Finland" that occupied my mind more than once. Or just any house anywhere... Now we've made so many improvements that it feels like a different boat alltogether. We installed a diesel heater that keeps the boat warm and cozy even during the coldest and rainiest nights! You can hear the wind howling and banging the halyards against the mast and rain pouring down the decks and a little leak here and there inside but being warm makes all the difference in the world! We also installed solar panels to create our own electricity while out and about. Or whenever we feel like being off the grid. I guess our goal is to not really rely on the grid anymore. We get enough energy to live a normal life from the solar. Which really is a dream come true when you think about it. I've always wanted to live sustainably and now I'm closer to that than I thought I could ever be. Creating our own energy, having water for several months, food and propaine for cooking for at least a half a year. Fuel for the engine for a radius of almost 2000 miles, which in our case is even more since the main way to move is with the wind and sails! All in all we're pretty set up for a full cruising life!

Our plans definitely include a bigger cruise at some point of our lives and maybe a few shorter ones in the near future. This is a dream that probably every human being has at some point of their lives. Who wouldn't want to think about sailing to the sunset and anchoring in front of a tropical island somewhere in the Caribbean or South Pacific? I definitely had those dreams already as a kid but never really though about them before I met my husband. Now they are more than reality and with that realization has come a set of concerns as well. The biggest ones being about jobs and support, taking the time, having the money... but also a set of smaller more practical set of problems. The biggest concern to me personally (and my husband would most likely disagree big time) being the dogs. The dogs. So as anyone who knows me at all, knows the dogs are pretty much the priority of my life. I think about dogs constantly. Whether it's if they need some attention, feeding, brushing petting or just a small walk to bigger things like training, competing and breeding Border Collies. I miss them dearly when I'm away and like I read from somewhere "Life without dogs is like a long journey without a place to stay for the night".

So the thing that I've been pondering ever since we first thought about cruising, was if I could take my dogs with me. How would it affect them? How hard would it be to take them to different countries, if even possible? How would they survive on a longer ocean passage? Would it be selfish of me to take them just because I love them so much that I can't leave them behind? And then on the other hand. How would it affect me? How would I feel being separated from my dogs for a long time? Would I be able to import the dogs to the location we end up afterwards? Would I enjoy the passages more or less with dogs with me? Or maybe in my case, would it be unbearable to be without them? How hard would it be to explore other countries if the dogs were with us? And, if I had to leave them, where could I leave them at?

It's a daunting amount of hard questions. And considering that I've been asking these questions for a year and a half now.. One thing I've done since has been to try and read and get as much information as possible. This past Christmas I also got my hands onto a book that was about cruising with dogs. Right now things are looking a little brighter because of that I guess. I've learned that people do it, it's possible and even the amount of paperwork is not that impossible. Vanilla pretty much has all the necessary paperwork anyway, including a microchip, registration papers, all possible vaccinations and documents that you can think of. Good thing I had to go through importing her to the U.S. Ofcourse everything is going to need updating. Gin on the other hand doesn't even have a chip. So with her we would have to go through a bunch of stuff to get her ready to go.

I guess the whole dog thing also depends on where we want to cruise to. If we are planning on staying fairly close to the shore and not go to say Hawaii, we could stop and anchor every night if we had to and that way the dogs would definitely be able to get enough of exercise and new places to explore. Like me. I don't particularly look forward to staying on the boat day in day out for several days or weeks, I need exercise and stimulation myself. And I'm sure if you'd ask Vanilla she wouldn't mind sailing for a few days before getting to an excluded beach somewhere to run at. The Mexico trip we did this past Christmas showed me that there is SO many places to go and acnhor and everytime I though how much my dogs would love it. Like this one time we anchored at a bay that had an 11 mile beach and only two tiny mexican huts on the other end of it. It would've been perfect.

Most countries seem to be, at least according to the books that I've been reading, pretty good at accepting pets. Even some islands at the Caribbean and South Pacific let you bring your pet even though I have to admit that especially at south pacific there are several islands that don't allow any type of pets at all, and then we wouldn have to plan our trip very carefully. But if we cruise to say to Florida through Central America the dogs might be able to accompany us fairly easily. Now we just need to decide where we are going first, do we want to bring them, and if we are gonna take a dog are we taking them both? For myself the decision would be pretty clear. I want my dogs with me. I'm not sure if I'm able to leave another one behind after leaving Dani to Finland. Even though Dani is still doing really well, I loved spending time with him last summer and loved seeing how happy he was to return to his new home. I just got some new photos of him and he is probably the most adorable thing ever!!

I think the main challenge for me now is to start figuring out how exactly am I going to do it. Good advise is more than welcome :)

Goodnight and Happy New Year 2012 to everyone!