Miniature Squeaky Voiced Demons

Great class today in obedience, the crazy toys all over the floor where very distracting, but it's the strange sounds they made that had Blaster's ears just a spinning. Tucker taught Blaster how to swim today at squirrel creek although it wasn't long before he realized that if he stayed on shore Tucker would bring him the stick.
Yesterday I took Blaster for a walk around the outside of a school yard, we started at a safe distance from those miniature, squeaky voiced demons. O.k. across the street and a half a block away. I worked my way closer doing lots of obedience training, playing tug, doing tricks, I did everything I could think of to keep the situation happy and rewarding for Blaster, we almost got to the fence, of coarse there was a big bush so the kids didn't notice him, we where so close, then, one of those demons saw Blaster and charged to the fence yelling doggy, doggy. Well, Blaster put on his loudest I'm not afraid of you Bark but inside he's squealing holy shit what the heck is that, if I sound real mean maybe it will stay away. So we moved back and played some more tug. It looks like I'll need to repeat this process a couple more (dozen) times. I'm going to need to borrow some kids to play with my dog.
Blaster makes me laugh everyday, today he brought me my shoe all happy, and excited, when I put it on my foot he went and got the other one. Now I could of got mad at him for touching my shoes but instead I laughed and decided to get off my ass and go outside and play. Today my leaping lemur decided that tunnels are for jumping over, not going through. Who ever said Aussies can't fly?

PADOC fun Match

Blaster with his blankie, he kneads it with his toes and sucks on it. I thought he'd out grow this by now.
Today PADOC had their fun match, outside the ring Blaster was very distracted but once we got inside the Rally-O ring I was able to get his focus back on me and he performed wonderfully, some sits were a bit crooked. In the Novice Obedience ring he was very distracted. I need to get Blaster out in more public places to work on my obedience. My puppy that thought his whole world evolved around me and stayed within a 1 foot radius has grown up into a 9 month old teenager who realized there's a whole world out there. There's a fun match in Lindsay on the Thursday before the trial.
I have also found a hole in my early socialization that I now need to take action to remedy, Blaster is afraid of children with their little miniature bodies and funny voices, he thinks he needs to bark first, ask questions later. So tomorrow I'm off to stalk children just outside the school grounds with lots of treats and toys (for the dog, not the kids) Joan Watson from the seminar said I need to approach from a distance and as soon as Blaster sees the little scary kids I should click and treat before he gets a chance to bark, if I let him get to the point of barking the opportunity is lost because his arousal point is beyond reasoning. Hopefully through flooding and tapping into his love for food he will associate children with pleasure.
Blaster's Agility lesson was a great success we actually accomplished 9 obstacle in a row. LOL
What did I learn today?
If I straighten up more on a tight turn he will slow enough to collect himself so he doesn't knock the bar, then in order to get him to move out enough for me to get in a rear cross I need to lean forward, dig in and drive him forward.
With the fake front cross( or what ever they call it) I held it a little to long this slowed him down, I only needed to hold it for a spit second to get his attention and alter his course slightly.
Today by the end of the class Lane said we've fried Blaster's brain and it was time to quit. I have to remember to quit earlier. It's best to leave them wanting more.
On that note I'll leave you now, hopefully wanting more.

K9 Klubhouse Trial

I took Tucker to the K-9 Klubhouse Agility trial today. Our first run was Master Snooker, I turned him too tight on the first red jump and he knocked the Bar( inside "aaaah, o my god, think, think, ding, red jump, where the hell's the red jump) so we had to change plans and get another Red jump, then we got back on track OK, Frame jump, red jump, jump, front cross then oops he took the trap, tunnel instead of frame. and I heard that dreaded whistle. Next was Masters Standard it was going pretty smoothly until the lucky jump # 13, I needed to push tucker out to the Jump so I could get around another jump, he was going for it but I turned my shoulder a little to soon and he wasn't quite committed to the jump yet and he pulled off the jump to follow me ( good dog, bad handler) I need to work on reading tuckers commitment point of no return. I also need to work on his weave poles if I run with an upright body it slows him right down, if I get to far ahead of him he slows down, I need to stay back and lean forward like a speed skater.
Lastly was the Masters Jumpers coarse we had a great run he did all the tricky bits perfectly but when he slowed right down by the 4th tunnel I remembered and I stayed close to the exit so I could race him out of the tunnel and charge him into the next tunnel, that worked he came flying out of the next tunnel but I remembered to late and we had a clean run with 2 seconds over time. Over all I learned a lot today and came away with new things to work on. Diane and I might have looked like a couple of clowns fooling around out there but I had a lot of fun. Diane you might be faster but I still think I was right LOL.

Body Language: yours, Mine, Ours

I went to a seminar last Saturday from Joan Weston about dogs body language. It was very interesting the time just flew by. I brought Blaster as one of the demo dogs for dogs in play. He was very good as usual. There was also a small white dog and a 20 month old bull dog. when crated down stairs the sounds coming out of the bull dog where very strange and frightening to Blaster. When Blaster approached the Bull dog he stood quite tall, which is different for him he usually approaches a new dog from a low non threatening position. When the play began blaster tried to run through the crowd and hide under chairs to no avail so Joan put a six foot line on the bull dog so blaster could realize he could get away, This seemed to work as he kept approaching to test the waters, eventually he felt comfortable enough for a fun wrestle. As the dogs where going through this Joan pointed out the different body language signals the dogs were showing. When ever the white dog tried to hide behind the owner Joan told her to walk away so the dog isn't trapped in the corner with no exit. she said the humans should keep moving and you should keep calling the dogs out of play for a quick reward to keep things from getting out of hand.
With humans Verbal is our #1 means of communications, then appearance, then actions. but with dogs verbal is the least important, body movement is important, then Posture, then appearance and expression then verbal. They did a study where they recorded the sound of 3 different growls, one was a play growl, one was a stay out of my space grown and one was a possession of food growl, then they played the recording inside a covered crate and placed a yummy bone in a bowl in front of it, with the play growl every dog took the bone, with the stay out of my space growl a number of dogs still took the bone but with the possession grown hardly any dogs took the bone. the human could not tell the difference in the different growls. Verbal- watch your tone, play proofing games to find out your tendencies in training and don't move when you give a command. Say it, count to 3, make it happen, mark it, reward it. Appearance Dogs can pick up a number of facial expressions. they did a study to compare human raised wolfs with dogs and the wolfs did not pick up on the expressions but the dogs did. Posture, leaning in promotes freexing and avoidance leaning back promotes engagement and coming up. body movements does your dog watch your hands instead of listening to you voice. and last is context what is your dog's history in that situation or location. Social Pressure DON'T force a shy dog to engage you, keep training sessions short. and play at the end.
Calming signals or stress shutdown. Looking away, licking lips, hunching, freezing, yawning, paw raising, play bow, ground sniffing, rolling over. Eating is a barometer of anxiety( they won't eat).
When dog meets human. The human should go sideways to dog pet under the chin, look at the dog's paws or tail, not their eyes, interrupt petting every 15 seconds or so to allow the dog to leave. Don't pet the dog if they flip over for a tummy rub unless you know the dog well and they look soft and mushy. The Dog owners should, ask the people to wait a moment. if the dog is very social always call the dog and ask for attention or a simple behavior first before allowing greeting.
Put a command on greeting "Ok, go say hi" so that it isn't offered. Keep the interaction brief so the dog doesn't get to high, never allow the dog to pull to greet. If the dog is shy always ask the person to wait, call your dog and ask them if they " want to say he". Approach the person with them. If the dog avoids the person or backs up, then just end the interaction and allow them to leave. Teach a shy dog " go touch" or go say Hi" using targeting lids held next to the strangers leg. Two major indicators of stress of decision making is freezing and closed mouth. watch the position of the dogs ears eyes lips hackles and tail. to see if they are on the defensive or offensive.

Blaster & Tucker's first Blog

I thought I'd start a training blog to keep track of my pups training to help me keep track of what I need to work on