Laurie's Dog Blog - and a few other ramblings!

December musings

2010-12-12T15:34:00.000-08:00

I am clearly no good as a blogger. I go weeks...err, months...without posting. But I vow to do better in the upcoming year. :-)

As 2010 comes to a close, here are some notable highlights:

-Gemma's "Vital Pulp Therapy" surgery
-Addition of Annie, Golden Retriever, to our family
-Dad's illness, and subsequent death, in June
-Lots and lots of dog training, and having so much fun!
-Spending time with Ed at the wine company, or sitting on our patio, drinking wine
-A trip to Pennsylvania to research my UPHOUSE ancestors
-Gemma FINALLY learning to swim!
-Scooter's diagnosis of mast cell tumor and amputation of his left rear leg - he's now doing GREAT!

As you can see, Gemma truly has been an important part of my year. She is so absolutely incredible - so sweet, so quick to learn. (Yes, Scooter is too - sitting here atop my lap as I type!)

Here is our most recent video:

And, of course, our annual holiday photo:

Training is FUN!

2010-10-03T15:40:00.000-07:00

Gemma and I have had a blast with training. We're now doing the dog walk, and have begun training the weave poles. Here are a few of our recent training videos, starting with Day 1 of Dog Walk training:

Now some weave pole training (using 2x2s):

Where's the year gone?

2010-09-06T12:36:00.000-07:00

It's been nearly 9 months since I last posted, and during that time we had a few rough months. My father was living with us, and died June 23rd. During the first half of the year we didn't have regular agility lessons, and nor was I emotionally able to really focus on training while dad was sick.

Anyway, we're now back on track and having an absolute BLAST! How I love, love, love my Gemmie Boo! Here are a couple of recent videos. The first is of her swimming - yahoo! I am so darn proud of this accomplishment - it just took perseverance!

The next video shows our work on double box work and some contact training. Gemma is so very much fun to train, so silly and affectionate. I simply could not be more pleased with her or love her more....one incredible Boo!

Gemma at Fillmore, January 30th

2010-02-14T17:47:00.001-08:00

GemmieFillmore013010, originally uploaded by Dogs4me10.

Gemma and I made the trek to Fillmore to watch Stacy and Keen compete. It was a L O N G drive but so worth it! Here's a pic of Gemmie Boo taken at Contact Point Agility where the trial was held.

Annie and her daddy

2010-02-14T17:45:00.001-08:00

Annie and her daddy, originally uploaded by Dogs4me10.

Annie came home to us Saturday, January 30th. After 25 years of marriage, nothing could have prepared me for Ed purchasing a pup at an auction, but he did. My anger has been replaced with pure joy at this newest addition to Golden Acres. I love her!

Photoshop.com Album: Laurie's Dogs

2009-12-11T17:26:00.001-08:00

2009-09-13T21:27:00.000-07:00

"CHAIR" - Gemma's latest cue for today's shaping exercise. This was VERY hard - took about 60 seconds! She is sooooooooooooo smart!

Yesterday she joined me at an agility trial in Ontario, where she got to wrestle with littermate Groove a bit, and watch the dogs run agility. She is really excellent in the crate at events - very quiet.

Today we focused our training on her retrieve, which had started to really suck. It finally dawned on me why our absolutely brilliant retrieve had deteriorated into virtually no retrieve with other dogs as a distraction - her reward had been downgraded to simple kibble, which I kept in a container on the patio. Today I nixed that and went first with sardines, and then with Roll Up. Voila! Problem fixed! She had 100% on her recalls today - yahoo! I also feel like we've made progress in our relationship. She chose to play tug with me today, even though Daisy was spinning around her, and easy temptation to chase sister instead. In the house, she's stayed near me when out of her crate, even laying down on my feet. What a good girl!!!

Gemma - 15 weeks!

2009-09-07T20:45:00.001-07:00

Hooray! Gemma is finished with her vaccines, and is now out and about! Last weekend she went to San Diego with sister Daisy, Ed and I and did GREAT! I was sooooooooo proud of her! Then Sunday she went to Stacy's shaping seminar in Murrieta, where we learned how to shape a retrieve. We continued working on the exercises that afternoon, and by evening had a reliable retrieve! Woo Hooooooooooo! Video below was taken yesterday and today. She will now go retrieve objects on the floor with a "get" command. My girl is brilliant!

Meanwhile, I'm making progress re-establishing my relationship with Daisy, who has felt put out with the new pup. Daisy joined us last weekend, and then went with us to the agility trial in City of Industry yesterday. It's resulted in her getting back to her normal, happy self, initiating play with me. I think we'll be ready to start working on our boxwork and handling skills again soon. (Haven't even been down to the agility yard in weeks as she's just not been even willing to play, much less jump....)

My name is Gemma - gimme a cookie!

2009-08-24T19:53:00.000-07:00

Here's Gemma - enjoying the bed! No, she's not sleeping with us. She has her crate at bedside, and is doing well with that. We've started to allow her a bit more freedom out of the crate and x-pen, as she's been so good with her recalls. Since she's amidst the pack of dogs more often, when I call Gemma and give her a cookie to reward, I must also give the other dogs one as well. Now I call Gemma and the entire pack comes racing to me, lol!

We're making progress in nearly every area. Yesterday she started to retrieve. We've got a good down/stay, sit/stay, and we're learning to stand. Stacy said we're ready to start on contact training, but I'd rather give it a few more days to perfect some of these other skills first. I'm sooooo enjoying these days, and Gemma is fitting into the household beautifully. What an absolute Gem she is!

Video from Sunday, 8/16

2009-08-24T19:45:00.000-07:00

Here's video from Gemma's training a week ago yesterday....8/16/09, 12 weeks old.

11 1/2 weeks! :-)

2009-08-09T19:55:00.000-07:00

At 11 1/2 weeks, my girl is doing GREAT! Stacy has been over the last three Saturday's with Groove, so she's had time with her sister, running and playing, and working on recalls with distractions. Here's a video of some of the other pieces we've been training, including the table, which we just started today.

Two weeks and one day later....

2009-08-01T21:07:00.000-07:00

Gemma's been home two weeks and one day, and we've learned SO MUCH! She is like a little sponge, picking up things so quickly. I swear that sometimes she can read my mind! So far she's learned sit, out (release the toy), tuggy (will tug on nearly anything with this cue!), get da cookie, nose taps, and is making great progress with her shadow handling, crate games, hot object game and pivoting on her perch. This evening we started side/close. Needless to say, I'm proud of my little girl! Her potential will only be limited by my novice training/handling skills. However, Daisy has certainly taught me plenty, and has given me a head start in the training arena! I'm still working with my big Poodle, and my ongoing challenges with Miss Daisy are only helping me to improve my own skills. I'm also learning patience - things don't happen overnight - and optimism - when I'm feeling discouraged, a new approach to a training problem occurs to me and we manage to progress along our agility journey. Here are pics of Gemma from today and last weekend when sister Groove came to visit and swim. The video below is from last Saturday, 7/25/09.

Introducing.....GEMMA!

2009-07-20T12:57:00.001-07:00

She's here! We drove up to Oregon last week, and got home with our new Border Collie pup, Gemma, on Friday. I'd had originally hoped for a rough coated female, but Gemma (smooth coat) was the one that stole my heart. She affectionate and snuggly, confident, bold, happy, and quite a little pistol! And we're having a blast with our training. She's a wonderful little tugger, loves to play chase, and is completely unnerved by things that freak out my Poodles - like the rocker board trainer that is sitting on my patio for practicing with Daisy. (Walking on it was Gemma's idea, not mine, lol.) I've spent months and months desensitizing Daisy to things moving under her feet, and she's still not wild about it. Gemma, OTOH, couldn't care less what's beneath her!

Below is a video of our Crate Games training, only our third session. Initially she wouldn't come OUT of the crate after getting her yummy cookies inside, so I'd given her low value kibble upon exiting the kennel. She's now figured out the OUT part, and we've phased out the kibble and are only rewarding the drive back inside the kennel.

Just a bit DOG

2009-06-28T11:46:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm a bit OCD. I don't do anything half-way. I throw myself head over heels into whatever my interest is. I buy books and videos, read online, and do my best to learn as much as I can about the topic. My passion throughout my life has been animals, and for most of my adult life, the focus has specifically been on dogs.

In May 2007 I was invited to an agility trial, and that was all it took for me to know I seriously wanted to get involved in the sport. At the time, I didn't have a dog that was appropriate to play agility with me. When Dexter, our Golden suddenly died of hemangiosarcoma, we decided to add a second Miniature Poodle to the family as an agility prospect. Fortunately for Chloe, I followed my heart - she has a home that loves her. However, if I'd followed my head, I would have admitted to myself she was a shy, noise-sensitive, timid dog that was not a good agility candidate. After 12 months of training, I finally acknowledged I was never going to turn Chloe into a dog that was going to enjoy agility. She is very happy that I figured that out, and just enjoys cuddling, antagonizing the other dogs, playing tug with me, and just being a happy house pet.

In January 2008 Daisy, a rescued Standard Poodle, joined our family. She had just turned a year old, and had lived in her previous family's garage, confined to a kennel for most of her life. While again not the best agility candidate, Daisy had stolen my heart and I decided she might be a better agility prospect than Chloe. Our wonderful trainer, Stacy Winkler, describes Daisy as a "project dog," and that she has been. Much of our training has focused on simply building drive and motivation, and it's been quite a process as I'm a very green beginner with a dog that was neither toy nor food motivated at the start. It's a SLOW process with her, but I can finally say the pieces are starting to come together for us. Daisy has been an excellent teacher, and I have learned how to truly play with my dogs. The bond we share is incredible, as anyone who has trained a dog to work at a sport can attest.

While Daisy and I have made such progress, we have a LONG WAY to go. We are gonna keep plugging along and thankfully I've finally figured out to make training fun for her. I believe we'll get there eventually, but.....after much thought and consideration, and after many months of internal debate, I've decided it's time for a true agility dog. Next month our new Border Collie pup will be joining us. Ed & I will drive up to Oregon to see the litter. I'm thankful we will have help from the experts who will be temperament testing the pups as well as evaluating structure. It will be quite a summer - lots of foundation training fun and lots of play!

I have no idea which pup we will be bringing home, but here are pictures of them taken at 4 1/2 weeks of age (exactly one week ago). Two and half weeks to go! Yippee!