2015 was my year of healing. I loved Tori Self's way of looking at new years and adopted my own mantra for this past year. Both dogs were hurting and I needed to discover what I needed to do to help them heal. In the process, I learned so much, more than I ever knew I could know. Thank you 2015! We healed in all sorts of directions.
Now that Sam has learned how to let go of some of her worry, not that she always chooses to, she's started to play. She plays with me, she plays with Rosey, or she plays alone with her favorite toys. She's quirky and will never be my second competing agility dog, but she will always be my weird sensitive dog. She sings her own tune (daily) and will always be wary of things she doesn't know or understand. My favorite new tricks she's learned this year are: picking up and throwing toys at me, shoulder rolls, "back it up", and finally being able to (occasionally) dismiss when the neighbor's dog is hanging over the wall of our yard. As always, we will have to hold each other's hand this year. We will figure out what "hanging out" really means in 2016.
Rosey has healed from her psoas injury, but the scars of my ignorance will be there for the rest of her life. Hard to swallow, but now that I've learned what we can do to keep her sound, she won't have to suffer as a result. Every day we have to remember to keep trying to be stronger - daily training, daily massage, and never forgetting. Wanting to come home and hang out with her on the couch isn't helping our situation and I need to change some habits to be able to work on both of us a little better. We both have the foundation we need, now it's time for 2016 and to Expand.
My goals for 2016 are to expand. Expand what is normal for me, step outside the easy. I want to expand my definition of Rosey, I want to expand what it means to be me. What do I want? What do I want to struggle through to get what I want? There is so much out there, I think I need to start choosing and diving in, grabbing hold of what I want and tugging away.
Over the spring and first part of this summer I took Nosework 101 and 120 from Fenzi Dog Sports Academy and Loved it! I did the first class with Sam and the second with Rosey. They both learn so differently and it was interesting to see how different their drive is for the game! Sam is so timid and so worried about doing the right thing that she will try and mark every box and forget the game is about sniffing. Rosey on the other hand is so driven to find the scent that she forgets to mark a the scent and would rather just destroy what ever is holding the scent to get closer. For entirely different reasons, I think these classes were perfect for them!
The second class started putting different search elements and moving the learned behavior outside. I found that I was having trouble remembering to keep things simple. The goal at this point, and like any new behavior, is to keep reinforcements high and encourage drive. I kept wanting to make the scent harder to find to really see her work and have fun finding it. Keep it simple and fun!
This is something we say all the time in foundation agility courses, Simple and Fun. I don't know how many times I've had to remind students to keep the reinforcements high, especially when adding a new distraction. Interesting that I'm having the same exactly problem when I start something new. Its just so fun! :)
Nose work has been awesome, and going great! More on that in another post, I'll need to download and put together some videos :)
I'm letting this post be about Sam and I and our progress towards our goal of being better bonded. We've been working hard with the nose work and I can see she's more confident while working, but I don't know how much of that is translating outside of nose work. Here's our plan I made 2 weeks ago:
Sam's 2nd JWW Novice P Q - Ears forward, tail waggin - Photo at the end of a trial, no dogs around.
1 -Work on weaves - Entries, completion, and speed We've been working on this and I've seen great improvement, but I'm still struggling with her doing the weaves when she's over stimulated or already starting to avoid doing anything difficult. New plan - don't push the session when she's starting to loose focus. Also - pull out the weave-o-matics, I need to get her with some sort of rhythm! If she's got a rhythm, it'll be easier for her to stay in the poles.
2 - Obstacle focus - speed circles, and up the difficulty with angled jumps and maybe even a set of 6 weave poles.
Started with tunnel and jump, but haven't had time to set up a speed circle. On the list to do. Also, need to do lots of rewards after short sequences and tough sections - tug! I need her to realize that she's rewarded for doing extra hard things. I get so excited I want to keep going, but I should be playing with her and releasing the pressure at this point.
3 - Work on our relationship.
Samantha's 1st Title - Novice P JWW -Ears are back: sign of stress - She's worried about the dogs around her.
I was reading Denise Fenzi's post from today and this really hit home. I need to start looking at me and how I'm contributing to our issues. I know that with my expectation of how well I know she can do, I forget about how nervous she gets and how I've been playing into her nervousness, babying her. I've been told to give her more space to work and to stop worrying about "what if". I need to work on a few things (taken from Denise's post):
Don't worry so much about what the course is in class, work the sections of the course to best reward and engage Samantha.
Really look at the pieces of our relationship to encourage engagement:
Best motivators (mainly select toys, fur, treats?)
Surfaces we are best on (inside on matting) and worst (grass in a park)
Times of day best to train (As soon as I get home from work, after a meal, other?)
Environmental triggers that negatively impact (prey animals, unknown high energy dogs, start lines that are "open" to threat
What exercises are more difficult in public/agility ring (weaves, serps, long stretches of jumps)
How long before she gets tired (1-2 runs with moderate difficulty)
What stress looks like (running to a door, sniffing, going around obstacles, ears back)
Start throwing a toy and playing after harder sequences, letting her know she does a good job with a well placed "good"
Don't just call her name where I think she's going to disconnect, be ahead of her mentally.
Working independence in the field (see #2) and give her room to do her thing (mentally and physically)
Summary of #3, don't push her if she's in a state she can't learn. Be proactive and assertive. Keep it short and fun. Reward and praise in a timely manner. Take a step back to easier training in harder environments.
Last night Samantha and I did our first lesson with nose work 101. I set up in our dining room to reduce the amount of distractions, but maybe the location isn't ideal because Rosey was separated only by a baby gate and made Samantha nervous. In the video you can see Sam looking back towards Rosey to make sure she was ok.
Even with the distraction, I'm super excited with how well Sam did! I think all the clicker training I did with her helped immensely and she quickly would try new things if she got "stuck" (first few seconds of video). She ended with some real commitment to sticking with the scent rather than look at me for a treat (very end of the video). Here's the video, compiled from 3 different sessions:
Just for fun I introduced Rosey to the Birch and she did really awesome! We played the first game and she didn't even bother with any treat hands and went strait for the scent. After a few clicks, I put her up and placed the box in a corner of the room (jumped ahead). When I let her out and told her to find it, she went to work and found it right away. :) Makes me glad I chose Sam to do the class, I would never learn how to really teach/do some of the lessons with Ro!! Maybe I'll try her tonight outside, that will be the real test!
Starting Small
I've been seeing a lot of the online community lately express the need to build a bond with your dog outside of the agility field. I've always had a good bond with my girls, but it's been mainly in low stimulus environments like my living room, backyard or in class. I'm starting to realize that once we get into the big, wide, world, Sam and I just don't trust each other completely. I'm always worried that she may see a dog that makes her anxious and start making a scene, and I"m sure she's always worried about the same thing! I have been brainstorming on easy options for us to explore, while keeping it something that I enjoy and I know she could handle.
In order to find something we can both explore together, I've signed up for a 6 week NoseWork course through Fenzi Dog Sports Academy. Rosey loves nose games and has been finding her toys in the house for years, but I figure I might as well learn how to teach the basics to Sam and see if she'll turn on to the game as well. Maybe if I can teach them to use their nose on cue, I can also teach them when not to use their nose (lost 2 runs with Rosey last weekend because of the nose!).
I'll try and share my experiences, mostly for myself to remember what I've learned, but also if anyone out there is curious about NoseWork. Class starts April 1st, next week! Recap from weekend
This past weekend was the Golden Retriever AKC Agility trial and I was helping out the new Trial Secretary figure out the software and scoring process. Unfortunately its tough to always give 100% to my girls when helping out like that, but I gave it my best and was really happy with our results!
Rosey Qed in MasterP Standard on Friday and Sunday with 40 combined PACH points! Saturday I was happily shocked when Rosey turned on the speed and drive, enough to find an off course! Looking at the video, she was headed for the off course before I could even signal her to turn! She's going to keep challenging me, but this time in a good way - Faster!!! :)
Current progress towards PDCH: 2/20 QQs, 123/750 speed points
[Note: after helping out a friend this week by running her dog in class, I am starting to realize how late my cues are for Rosey and how great she's been in adapting to it! Thinking back on the weekend, I'm going to have to start learning to signal much earlier if I want to encourage Rosey to keep up with the new speed.]
Work plan for Rosey and I: 1 - Cue earlier 2 - Work distance 3 - Work verbal directions
I was pleasantly surprised with my Sam! Although we weren't 100%, I started to feel like she wanted to work with me and play the game. Our weaves were pretty weak, but we got 2 Qs in Novice JWW (got our first lucky Q last spring) and now moves up to Open JWW! I don't know if we're ready! I have my work cut out for me!
Here's my work plan to build our skill in playing the game: 1 - Work on weaves - Entries, completion (biggest issue), and speed (footwork) 2 - Obstacle focus - she has none. We'll start playing with some speed circles, and up the difficulty with angled jumps and maybe even a set of 6 weave poles. 3 - Work on our relationship - Maybe some drive games? Started working crate games into jump work, and she seemed to really turn on to that idea. 4 - Harness the crazy - I want to be able to direct her when she starts her Butt-tuck craziness, at least towards obstacles! Got a tunnel -> Jump -> Walk this week :) I might need to film this!
The pack grew by two this past week. But only for a week, they went home last night and now I have two tired and sulky black dogs at home. Always a sad day when your best friends go home.
I am far from the beginning of my
journey, but where exactly does the beginning start? While I've had my current dogs for a while (5.5 years and
2.5 years), agility has been a part of my life for 5 years, and I've been
dabbling in photography for the past 10 or so years, I still feel quite like a beginner in all these areas.
Me:
My interests include dogs, agility,
photography, my husband, and insects. Yep, insects. Although this blog is
directed towards agility, consider this your warning that insect photographs
may pop up occasionally. My hubby really enjoys taking apart and putting back
together our home, so I anticipate some photos of our ongoing projects also
making an appearance.
Being
a Flat-Coated Retriever, her outlook on life
is something I cherish and aim to remember when ever things get tough. Her goal
in life is to play hard, love lots, and enjoy every moment that comes her way. I like to think that she’s the type
to tell you a joke and you both laugh at the punch line.
Agility hasn't been easy with her. It’s been a long path full of learning about each
other, about communication, and about listening. I was committed to giving her an
outlet for her energy before I knew enough about the sport to teach her how to
get there without frustrations. Luckily we both have learned a lot and are
finally figuring things out.
Samantha – Sammy Sweetheart
Waiting by the bed
Sam
is black German shorthaired pointer rescued from the Arizona Humane Society
and we got her when she was around 2.5 years old. She came with a complicated
past that included multiple homes, the last of which she was forced out of
because of too many dogs. I could probably write a paragraph on her neuroses
that could or could not have resulted from her past, but instead I’ll say we
have overcome most of them and are working on the rest.
Sam is a sweetheart with a wild streak.
She’s the type to stand next to the bed (and head on the bed) for and hour until
you wake up to invite her up for a cuddle. But she also gets
moments of pure abandon that are little more than “zoomies” and make me wonder
if she’s at times possessed by a demon.
Agility has been an adventure with Sam for different reasons, mostly an exploration on gaining trust and learning
self-control. Once we establish the ground-rules, things hopefully will start
to fall into place.
