Boomers!

Isn't Secret just a horribly leggy thing? She was just standing there barking at me like usual, so I snapped her picture just now. She gets sassy when she's bored. And look at that body! Is she part Dachshund?



The weather was just crazy last night! The first storm started to roll through around 4:30 or so. I was doing a video for Kaiser outside when the rain started. That's the time of day when Secret generally goes nuts, so I hurried and took her outside to try to get in a quick frisbee session before the rain started coming down too hard. We weren't out very long before she started to melt, however, and we were quickly driven back indoors.

The rain blew in sideways for some time. It was really coming down! When it stopped for a bit, I considered taking the dogs outside to play -- Until the tornado sirens started to go off! Whoa, really? I've never heard them since I moved to Sparta!

Ever curious, I immediately went outside and brought the dogs with me. Luke and Secret were NOT fond of the sirens one bit; Kaiser was oblivious. Secret pretty much went back into the house the moment I let her and then went and hid in the corner. Poor thing, she was really freaked out!

The tornado sightings were a few miles away and we were thankfully out of harm's way. I was able to get Secret to come back outside after the second siren had sounded -- She relaxed at this point and chased Kaiser around the yard.

Shortly after dinner, another round of rain and lightning rolled through and Secret crawled up by me on the couch. I hate to see that storms are scaring her now. There was a break in the action for a while later in the evening, so I elected to go to bed early before it all started up again. Sure enough around 10 p.m. we were treated to an even bigger thunder & lightning show that went on for some time. Secret didn't seem too bothered by it at this point, but even Luke seems to do much better when we're in bed.



This last series of photos is Secret enjoying her prized deer antlers. Oh my, she does love them! And thankfully, she hasn't yet poked out an eye....



I hope to get another video made soon if the weather cooperates. I'd really love to make a frisbee video, but I haven't quite figured out how to do it (successfully). I also want to put together a video of the jump work we've been doing. Hopefully in the next couple of days!

Another away trial!

Secret got to go to another "away" agility trial this weekend -- This time in Burnsville, MN, while the boys played more NADAC agility.

The weekend started out SUPER fun.... As I cleaned up the yard Friday before we left, I noticed that both Secret & Luke had some pretty foul diarrhea going on. I pretty much have to blame the (somewhat old...) chicken drumsticks I gave them Thursday evening. My fault! Kaiser got one out of the new package and he was totally fine.

Luke was pretty much cleared out by Friday night and pooping normally, but Secret was still spurting out liquid (sorry blog readers). That made me REALLY nervous when I found out that our hotel room was on the FOURTH FLOOR. Come on, really. Who puts dogs on the fourth floor?

The good news is that Secret got over it quickly, had no problems overnight AND did incredibly well with her first elevator experience. Of the three, I think Luke is the only one who has been in an elevator before, but none of them really even noticed it.

Our room had two beds, so Secret & Kaiser thought it was much fun to bounce back & forth between the two. The two beds also made sleeping arrangements a bit nicer (for me). Luke got his own bed, while Secret & Kaiser stayed by me.

Secret did very well at the trial, once again in her own crate while the boys were together in the pen. The only issue we encountered was on Sunday. There was a woman crated across from us who brought her young daughter along -- I'd guess 3 or 4 years old -- And she didn't watch her AT ALL. This little girl would go randomly wandering around the crating area and it drove all of the dogs bonkers, Secret included. The whole crating area went berserk during the morning briefing and this mother never went and fetched her child.... It was like that most of the day.

I managed to get in some training time with Secret at the trial! We played only briefly on Saturday because I was armed with nothing but kibble, but Secret hopped over a single jump a few times for me off leash with LOTS of distractions around.

We went back on Sunday armed with CHEESE! It was towards the end of a Jumpers round, so it was more on the quiet side, but there was still plenty going on to pull Secret's attention from me. She did great! We did tons of single-jump drills, figure-eights, recalls, rear crosses, etc. She was a good, good girl! I was happy to get her on the turf for a bit, too, as she slipped around a bit on the wraps and needs to figure out how to handle herself on surfaces other than grass. It would also help greatly if I shaved her bushy feet -- I tried with my little trimmer on Friday and the amount of hair was too much for it! I'll have to get the horse clippers out for this hairy girl.

The dogs were all pooped on the trip home, so they didn't see the gorgeous view out the window!



Before going home, we stopped up at my parent's house for my grandma's birthday dinner (she's 81 today!). Between dinner & cake, I took the dogs outside for a run -- Secret & Luke had a BLAST! I've never seen Secret run so fast! We played a fun game of, "This way -- No, this way! -- No, THIS way!" :o) She thought it was a hoot and must have put on a mile of running, at least.

In the house, my dad surprised us with DEER ANTLERS! I bought a couple of these at the show this weekend ($$$) and when my dad found out that the dogs liked them he went out to the garage and produced four of them for us! Secret went nuts with them (and the various squeaky toys she kept pulling out) for the rest of the night. Even at home she didn't crash until about 9 p.m. because she was chewing on her new antlers. These things are a hit -- and it appears that they will last a good long time!



And while this is Secret's blog -- It's Luke's turn to brag! Luke got his NATCH this weekend!! Here's his video:

Fourth of July = Fireworks

Secret survived her first Fourth of July holiday -- Complete with three days of non-stop fireworks in our neighborhood.

I was gone for several hours on Saturday doing a transfer for an Aussie rescue in Minnesota (time to pay back the rescue gods -- after all, apparently NINE people were involved in bringing Secret & family up from Kentucky!). It was about 8:30 or so when I pulled into the garage and immediately heard the fireworks going off in the yard behind ours. Sigh. I'd forgotten how gung-ho they were about the holiday last year.

Surprisingly, Secret was absolutely fine. Luke is the one I always worry about with such things, as he really hates loud noises like thunder, gun shots and fireworks.



To try to build positive association with the sound, I took Secret out for some frisbee time in the back yard. At that time, the neighbors were mostly setting off whistling fireworks and ones that more or less stayed on or near the ground -- Sparkling fountains were a big hit with them. Secret seemed oblivious to all of it and happily chased after her disc, ecstatic to be free of her kennel after several hours.

I decided to let Luke play frisbee for a bit with all the commotion as well. His brain goes into shut-down mode when he sees a disc (or ball), so he was, no surprise, just fine with this plan. We sat in the grass to cool off and "watch the show" for a bit before going inside and everyone was doing remarkably well.



That is, until the neighbors shot up their first boomer into the sky. That's when Luke high-tailed it under the deck and started to dig a (bigger) hole. I think Secret fed off Luke's fear, more or less, and she followed him and cowered under the deck. We went inside at that point, but the damage was done.

Secret was REALLY off for the rest of the night. She immediately went and hid in the bathroom. There was a moment when I thought she wouldn't even eat her dinner (and THAT would be remarkable) -- And while she did end up eating it, she did so in record time and then retreated to the couch to hide without doing her usual ceremonial 10-minute licking of the bowl.

For the next couple of hours she huddled on the couch, half sitting, half laying down, and breathing fairly hard with a terrified look on her face. I pulled her onto my lap once and she got up and left as soon as the next boom went off (the whole neighborhood was lighting stuff off, it seemed). I tried again to get her to stay on my lap a bit later and this time she obliged and seemed happy to stay. I stroked and massaged her in an effort to get her to settle down. Finally, around 10:45, she fell asleep.



Poor girl! Everyone was exhausted on Sunday. I made sure to come home from my family dinner early enough to try to be home in case any more fireworks started off in the neighborhood.

Oddly enough, Secret was absolutely fine throughout everything that went on Sunday & Monday evening. She seemed completely oblivious and unfazed by everything, a total contrast to Saturday night. I was happy about this, mostly because I worry about her developing a fear for thunderstorms the way Luke has.

We didn't get any real training time in this weekend. I attempted to do some jump work yesterday, but it was so hot & gross out that Secret didn't last long before she wanted to go back in the house. This week looks to be a lot more of the same.

We walked to the vet clinic on Saturday morning to get some more syringes for Luke. I took Secret with me because it was time to get a new weight on her -- 11 months is just around the corner! She weighed in at 41.2 lbs and she now stands 21 1/2" tall.

Video Update!

As you can see, I am quite clearly starving Secret. This is her mealtime routine -- she feels that she must try to lick a hole through the bottom of the dish so as not to miss any scrap of food she's given. I must say, though, that her dish really never needs to be cleaned. :o)

Time for a video training update!! The first section shows how nicely her rear cross is coming along (although we did struggle to get the jump after when going from left to right). This part of the video was all using her Wubba as reward -- she loves her Wubba!

Unfortunately, the corrections I was making while trying to get the far jump ended up shutting her down. Bad trainer -- I should have moved the jump closer and made it easier!

The rest of the video was done with food (cheese), but that is to be expected with her contact work at this point.

Enjoy!

Aaaaaaaaand.... SHE'S OFF!

I have seen big changes in Secret this week! She is starting to really like our little jump drills that we do in the evening with toys. As in, REALLY like!

First great change -- We are ONLY using toys right now! Granted, it's all jump & tunnel work and these aren't connected to treats the way the contacts are, but it's a huge step in the right direction. She adores her purple Kong Wubba. So much so that I fear she will kill the squeaky soon, in which case I will simply have to replace it. She finds it great fun to chase, chew AND tug!!

The other big change is the SPEED! She's taking off like a shot and going confidently ahead of me and *nailing* her rear crosses. Which is a good thing, because if she keeps up with that I'll have no other choice but rear crosses. lol

I know it's technically *naughty*, but I saw a side of her that thrilled me to no end last night. Secret completely blew off my turn cue and kept flying down a line of jumps before checking in with me. Yeah, yeah, not great, but I am so excited to see that kind of enthusiasm from her! We can work on turning later! :o)

Disc work is still going well, but she still has much more enthusiasm for the rollers than the fliers. I just switch back and forth between rollers, short tosses & long tosses to keep her enthusiasm up.

I had all three dogs outside while I played fetch with Luke last night. I had three tennis balls out, just in case Kaiser or Secret felt like playing, but I don't push them to do it if they don't want.

Well imagine my surprise when, after watching Luke for a bit, Secret brought a ball over and dropped it at my feet. I threw it with the Chuck-It and I'll be damned if we didn't repeat the routine several more times! This is my girl who has never really ever cared to bring back tennis balls. She did lay down to chew on it a couple of times, but always decided to bring it over to me for another throw after a bit. She'd already done her work for the night, but this was a nice way to make sure she was extra done for the evening (which didn't necessarily work, she was still a little nutty).

Some nights it takes longer for her to settle than others, but I've found that she really enjoys the activity below. :o)

So I've got a Chair Dog

Secret did really well at the trial this weekend. There is one woman that she just never seems to warm up to, but other than that she did really well with everyone she saw. She even made a new friend with Marcia's dog, Krissy, while on a potty break outside. We won't tell Kaiser, as Krissy has always been HIS girlfriend. ;o) I find it interesting to note that Secret seems to be more comfortable with female dogs.

Secret got to work the gate with me a few times, but overall she spent quite a bit of time in her crate this weekend. Ever the trooper, she didn't seem to mind it a bit. There was just the one time when I got up from spending time with her and asked her to go back into her crate and she decided that she'd rather take my spot in the chair. She settled right in and all I could do was laugh. She knows where the good spots are.

We got some super nice short jump drills in after the trial each day. Secret's speed & confidence improves each day and her rear crosses are really becoming solid. I'm starting to move further away from the obstacles and sometimes her lack of obstacle focus creeps in (she's usually looking for the toy in my hand at those points), but for now I just keep running and we pick up the next obstacle. She's doing better with her long lines and didn't go around any of the jumps, so that's a bonus (especially considering how narrow some of my jumps are!).

Yesterday I included I tunnel in the set-up and was happy to see how fast she's starting to rip-roar through that! I was hoping to maybe have a chance to play with her on the Tunnelers course after the trial yesterday, but I decided to pass. I don't feel like I have any clout there anymore.... It would be nice to work her in new settings, though, so I'll have to come up with ideas as the summer goes on.

Because Secret had to spend most of her day in the kennel at the trial, I decided to bring her along to my parent's house for the family get-together for Father's Day. It was a good setting for her, with fewer people than usual and fewer children running around. She was incredibly tired, which made her a bit more shy than usual, but overall she did well. She wouldn't warm up to my aunt JoLynn for some reason, but she was curiously interested in pretty much everyone else. I think Secret has trust issues with anyone who approaches her with squeaky baby-talk and tries to hover over her.

It was a long weekend for everyone -- today they are all totally crashed! We are home now until July 10 & 11 when we head to Burnsville, MN for another NADAC trial.

OH! And I did hear from the photographer, Barbara, this weekend. She sent me a note to let me know that, indeed, it was one of the Springer Spaniels that was chosen for the photo shoot. No surprise there!

Audition Photos!

Barbara posted the audition photos on her website today for her clients to look over. Here are Secret's shots!




Kaiser obviously didn't get posted, and Luke didn't make the cut -- no surprise there, I'm surprised he didn't rip the shirt! lol

I think Secret is cute as a button, obviously, but if they are looking for the dog best suited to model the shirt, I think that would go to one of the (several) Springer Spaniels that were also listed on the "large" sample page. We'll see what happens.

I was surprised to see how SKINNY Secret looks from the side!! A guy who stopped into the office yesterday actually asked, "Is that dog a Greyhound?" Now I know why. Ha! Skinny girl. I think she may also still be a growing girl, going by the butt-high stance in the second photo.

I didn't intend to do any agility training last night, but Secret was still nuts after a rather long frisbee session, so I went out for another play session with the ball. I figured I may as well use it to direct her over a few jumps, so we played around with that for a bit. She was wild! Several times she took off like a shot and wildly looked around for the ball -- that I hadn't thrown yet because I was TRYING to cue her to do something else. That's a new attitude from her that I'm happy to see, but now we have to harness that energy and enthusiasm! :o)

We had a big storm blow through last night and I didn't get much sleep, but Secret slept like a rock. I'm glad to know that she is not bothered by storms. Luke is doing much better, but he still does not like them at all.

We are at a NADAC trial in La Crosse all weekend -- YAY!!!!!

370 miles and a photo shoot in six hours!

Today I packed up the dogs and made a whirlwind trip to Minneapolis for an audition. Unlike the last photo shoot, which was an open casting call, this was an audition for an actual job. I didn't get the particulars, but it sounds like it is for Target and it involves wearing clothes.

They were very particular about the breeds they were interested in, and Border Collies were on their list. They were also looking for Labradors, so I figured I may as well let Luke have a try. Unfortunately, his solid black color just doesn't photograph very well. Of course, Alaskan Klee Kai were not on the list because nobody has heard of them, but Kaiser came to educate them about his wonderful breed.

We left home around 7:30 a.m. and thankfully the dogs were still in sleep mode. They all traveled quietly until about 15-20 minutes prior to reaching our destination. It seems that when we leave the freeway, they all figure out that something is up!

We arrived to the photo studio around 10:30 and I went inside to check in. The atmosphere was SO much different than at the open casting call. There were only two other dogs there at the time and it was dead silent. I filled out the paperwork, set up the pop-up pen and went out to potty the dogs. Before I had even come inside with them, the photographer was looking for us, as it was our turn!

So much for beautifying anyone. I ran a brush through Secret's hair to fix the windblown look she'd acquired on the trip up, wiped the gook out of her eyes, grabbed the toy bag and went to the photo set.

They wanted all of the auditioning dogs to wear the stock shirts they had brought with them. It didn't matter what the dog's ACTUAL size was, they had to fit into the stock size for their breed. Secret most definitely would have looked better in a size larger, but she did fit into the size they provided for Border Collies. Good thing she's such a skinny girl.

She didn't get to show off her fun tricks this time. She had to stand right & left in the the shirt to get profile shots (we did each side because of her split face) and then she got a few more pictures naked, both standing and sitting. I thought she did remarkably well -- far, far better than the last photo shoot when the atmosphere was so insane. She stood like a ROCK, which impressed me to no end since it's not exactly a behavior we've practiced much, especially with me at a distance.

Secret made a very good impression, I think. They were concerned about her tail and the fact that she wasn't "wagging" it during the shoot. They are looking for a "happy" dog and apparently that means a wagging tail. Barbara (the photographer) explained that she was simply holding her tail naturally, but that if necessary they could photoshop the tail into a higher position. I probably could have gotten her to be more "active" with her tail if I could have put her through her paces, but the whole thing was very sterile and businesslike, so I didn't even bring it up.

We should know by tomorrow if they are interested in using Secret for their campaign. The actual photo shoot takes place on Monday. It would be super cool if she was chosen, but I'm not getting my hopes up too high. Secret certainly doesn't have the "classic" Border Collie look and she pretty much filled up the stock size shirt she had to wear. lol There were two Border Collies there prior to us, but I know for sure they had no interest in the one before us because comments were made about how scared that dog was (in contrast to how comfortable Secret seemed).

Kaiser didn't get to wear a shirt, but he did get his picture taken. Now that these folks have heard of the Alaskan Klee Kai, maybe they'll consider using him for a future project. They were very curious about him and Kaiser was absolutely an angel on set. I really couldn't have asked for more from him and he was a great ambassador for his breed.

Luke BARELY squeezed into the shirt they had available for Labradors, but we made it work. He did a super job at "looking happy" and made a good impression on everyone. Unfortunately he's got that whole "black thing" going against him, but Barbara said she could do a lot to lighten the photos and bring out his face.

All told, we were there only about 30-40 minutes before we packed back into the car to make the trip home. I can't believe that the experience was that tiring, but all three dogs zonked out again until we stopped in Rochester for gas. Then they all mauled me while I ate lunch, then crashed again until we arrived at work. What good travelers I have.

Secret's agility training this week, as limited as it's been, has been FANTASTIC. The rear cross has really started to click with her and she's been getting in more training time with toys than ever (before moving on to food). Yesterday was one of her longest work sessions ever, simply because she stayed so motivated. She's really changing as she gets older, and all for the positive. :o)

The photos in the blog today are courtesy of Barbara O'Brien -- They are from the open casting call we went to in April and were recently posted on the web!

Rear Crosses & Catching Discs -- Oh My!

I dare say, it is starting to feel like we live in Seattle, WA instead of Sparta, WI. RAIN!!! And MORE RAIN!! As you see from the picture above, we had to walk in the rain again today. At least I remembered my rain coat this time, but my feet are soaked. The dogs don't care.

We worked between rain showers and in the midst of them this weekend. Saturday actually didn't have "real" rain until the evening hours, but the air was so heavily saturated that I got gross and nasty every time we went out to play.

Secret had TWO big breakthroughs this weekend -- She caught discs out of the air on long tosses AND she is catching on to the rear cross. Woot! Woot! There is hope for the girl after all. ;o)

I never sat down and formed any goals when it comes to frisbee. It was one of those things that I figured if she got it, great -- if not, it really wouldn't be the end of the world. I only kept working on it because she does seem to really enjoy going after the rollers.

I've thrown a couple of long & low tosses for her and generally, Secret would just lollygag after them and pick them up when they landed. Imagine my surprise on Saturday, then, when she went after the flying disc with about the same level of enthusiasm as the rollers and -- GASP -- snatched it out of the air! I about fell over.

Always one to tempt fate, I tried again -- and she did it again! Three times she did this. I was befuddled and blown away. Good girl! Despite my craptastic method of throwing, Secret has actually learned to follow the trajectory and -- bonus -- cares enough to put in the effort to catch a disc. :o)

Granted, she nor I are pros at this game, so we continue to muddle through with faults. Yesterday I think she only caught one disc and was not so much into the game. As usual, her likes & dislikes change like the weather.

Because she has been driving towards jumps better lately, I decided to go back to working on the rear cross. She has been spinning on the landing side, and with each spin she seems to get more demotivated, so our sessions have been short. This weekend the light bulb seems to have gone on and she successfully completed several rear crosses! She is, by no means, 100% successful at them, but she is getting much better and is also not getting quite so turned off when she chooses wrong and spins. In fact, she's in such a hurry to get it right that she's taken to barking at me to do it again.

I got in a fairly long (by her standards) training session using a TOY yesterday. I grabbed the Kong Wubba off the shelf in the garage and decided to see what she thought of that. I had a jumping exercise set up that was in the June issue of Clean Run. The drills were a bit over her head, but the set-up allowed for several various exercises that worked for Secret. When she started to peeter out on the toy, I switched briefly to food to end the session on a positive note.

So in general, Secret had a really good weekend with two really bright spots. :o) They say the rain will take a break on Wednesday, but otherwise it is in our forecast all week long again. Sigh. Good thing the dogs don't mind working in the rain.

10 Months Old!

Secret turned 10 months old earlier this week! It's been a slow week due to rain (hence the extraordinarily bored expression in the photo above!), so there hasn't been much to post. We couldn't let the 10 month mark go by without acknowledgement, though. :o)

Although our training time has been limited, Secret is not, by any means, happy to sit in the house all night. Therefore, we have been having ample opportunity to do several short play sessions each day. The rain is really good for keeping me to a time limit. Secret doesn't seem to care about running around in the rain.

Secret's frisbee work is going very well. She's gotten so good about bringing them back on her own that I've gone to just using one disc -- But honestly, it's mostly because the lazy turd has decided that she won't chase after one disc if I still have the other one in my hand. Going to just one disc solved that problem.

She's chasing the rollers with more enthusiasm than ever, but the biggest change is in the way she's madly tugging with me upon the return. The little stinker has actually been tugging so hard that she's ripping them straight out of my hands -- granted, probably not quite so difficult when they are sopping wet.

The short toss catches have been going so well that I decided to throw a few long & low floaters for her. She came remarkably close to catching a couple of throws out of the air, but right now she has a bit of a dumbfounded look on her face about the whole thing. We'll continue to mix it all up and I'm sure the light bulb will come on shortly.

Secret's energy level seems to be on the rise these days, so we often find ourselves going out for play session #2 within a half hour of coming in from frisbee. I've been taking out the squeaky ball for her and she's really driving towards it well. For some reason, however, she has decided that she doesn't need to bring that toy back anymore.

I've been using the ball to build her drive over single jumps the last few days and it's going very well. I also play around a bit when we get home from work, while I'm still wearing her treat pouch (she goes surprisingly nuts for kibble still). I'm happy to report that she's now driving so well over the jump that last night I started to do some rear cross work with her again. She's still spinning every time, so I went to Susan Garrett's exercise of having her sit in place while I walk behind her, rewarding her when she turns her head as I cross behind. I have a feeling we need to start doing a lot of that to help her pick up the rear cross cues.

It's looking like rain all weekend, so I have a feeling I'll be outside getting wet a lot.

Great weekend

Secret was a really good girl at the conformation show & weight pull this weekend. She had to spend a LOT of time in her crate, but she didn't seem to mind it and behaved herself exceptionally well.

I think going to this show was a very good experience for her, as ALL of my dogs have become great big giant brats at the last few agility trials. I have not been able to spend much time near the crates at the last few trials, so all three of them had gotten into the awful habit of barking madly at anything that passed them. The environment at the conformation show was very cramped and the dogs had no choice but to get used to people & dogs passing very closely to their kennels. Also, the nature of the show tended to keep me in closer proximity to them, which always helps.

Secret did well mingling amongst everyone, although there tends to be very little dog/dog interaction at conformation shows. She got to meet the Border Collie doing weight pull, but really had no interest in her. As usual, Secret became much more confident when I had her go through her round of parlor tricks. The tail always comes out then!

The highlight of the weekend was that, "Mission: Get Secret to play with toys in a new environment," was a smashing success! On Saturday she chased her squeaky Kong ball for some time in the morning and then happily played tuggy on her Ringzee. On Sunday she was not so into playing fetch thanks to the massive amounts of "dog scent" that had accumulated in that area, but she went bonkers over the large tug stick with a tennis ball on the end. I think it's a huge step forward for her to be playing in such a distracting environment!

Secret did great at accepting that this was "Kaiser's weekend." The little squirt took Best of Breed in all four shows this weekend, earned a Group 1 and Group 2 on Saturday, got two Total Dog awards, earned his United Weight Pull (UWP) title on Saturday and then pulled 489 lbs on Sunday! Whew! What a weekend!!

Growth Spurt

This is a very short entry -- We're in the hotel at Le Center, MN right now. It is a fantastic new hotel with beautiful rooms, but as you see, we'll be a tad bit cramped on the bed this evening. The room, itself, is very large -- but the bed is wee.... Oh well, for $60, you don't complain. The grounds are very dog friendly, too!

We stopped into the vet yesterday to pick up Luke's prednisone refill and I took Secret in for her 10-month weight (next week!). I was quite surprised to see the scale read 40.8 lbs. So much so that I made her get off and do it again with the same result.

Huh. She must have had a growth spurt! Now I'll have to try to get an updated height measurement on her to see if that changed at all.

If this keeps up, I won't owe Greg a fruit basket come August after all. :oP

"Success" With One Jump?

First things first -- Secret is still made of rubber. I don't think she received the memo that 21" dogs are not supposed to fit under an 8" bed.

The other evening, I watched Susan Garrett's training video, "Success With One Jump." It quickly became clear to me that I would be able to do none of what I saw on the video with Secret until her drive & motivation are built up, so last night I set out to work on that.

Hmm. Yeah...

The unfortunate part about pretty much everything that Susan Garrett does is that it is very, very toy-based training. Sigh. We know how that goes.

So in an effort to bring together Secret's food & toy drive, I brought out the "Tug-It" training toy, filled with Natural Balance food roll pieces. I used the Tug-It a few times when I first got it and Secret did, indeed, go nuts tugging on it -- To the point of ripping it, so I admit to pretty much abandoning it after that. I also find it a giant pain in the butt to clean.

My original plan was simply to use it as a treat dispenser, hoping that Secret would chase it when thrown, knowing that food comes out of it. Let me tell you, that game didn't last long at all. She ran after it a couple of times, then just sat and looked at me when I threw it. Sigh.

I offered it to her to tug and once she realized what it was she went practically rabid. Success, right? Well, no, not for the task at hand. When I threw it over the jump she would trot towards it and hesitantly sniff it -- A far cry from the exuberant attack I would hope for. When I would pick up the Tug-It and wave it in front of her face she would latch on and go nuts (ripping the hole a bit bigger, I might add), but this delayed reaction is going to do nothing to build happy association with the jump obstacle, itself.

The premise of the SWOJ video is getting the dog to drive over the jump towards the reward. I cannot, for the life of me, find anything that will make Secret do that. She seems to think that if I'm not going to move, neither shall she. I can't even follow Susan's instructions for Stage 1 because of this. :o(

Secret ended up shutting down on me during these exercises (no surprise) and completely turned me off. I took her back in the house and put her in her crate while I brought the boys out to play. It's worth noting that Secret had a VERY bad "bratty teenager" day, overall, and this may not have been the absolute best day to work on such things.

When I came back in with the boys, I took Secret back outside with her squeaky Kong ball. There was no setting up in front of jumps, but I tried to direct her over them on her way to chase the ball. This worked for approximately two or three jumps before she figured out this was still "training" and not just "playing." Then she shut down again and ignored me. Back inside and into her crate.

I let her sit there for about 20 minutes or so with all of us in the living room. Then I took her back out again with the squeaky chicken toy. I threw it for her once, tugged with it, sent her over a jump after it, tugged some more and then we were done. I just had to end on something positive with her still wanting to play.

We absolutely, positively need to build up more toy drive and jump drive before we can continue with any part of Susan Garrett's training. For now, that means running with her.

Meanwhile, I really have to get serious about continuing to build Secret's toy drive. Admittedly, when I "gave up" and switched to food, I more or less stopped trying with the toys. I absolutely, 100% want to use Susan Garrett's 2 x 2 weave training method with Secret, so I have a couple of months to work on it. Since we are working on grass, I really have no other option. Secret's ability to find food treats in the grass is next to nil.

Coming up this weekend --- We are traveling to a conformation show & weight pull in Le Center, MN. This is an "all-Kaiser" weekend and Secret & Luke are just along for the ride. There is typically quite a bit of down time at these shows, so I will pack the toy bag and see if I can get Secret to play away from home.

Video update!

I thought it was time for a new Secret video!! :o)

Secret was a very good girl at the Zumbro Falls NADAC trial on Sunday! She got to play with Peppy & Neeko, schmooze with Greg (she was a tramp!) and go swimming in the river! She was absolutely exhausted and didn't move on the trip home.

I'm happy with how this video turned out. It's a pretty fair representation of how she's working these days. We aren't doing a lot of drilling, just a couple days a week, more or less. I broke up the sessions in this video by going in the house for a while between each one.

Enjoy!

Maybe I *can* be taught?

If I have one failing as a trainer, it's that I always tend to push just a *little* too far. I am addicted to success and always want a little more. And what always happens? The dog shuts down.

I am guilty of doing this not only with Secret, but also with Kaiser. Luke doesn't seem to have a fail point, other than physical exhaustion (which I must be careful of, lest injuries come into play).

I am trying desperately to get a grasp on this habit of mine, and the first positive step is that I'm aware of the problem. :o)

Last night I made a deliberate choice to stop before Secret quit on me. I had a CPE Jackpot course set up for the boys, which gave me several schooling opportunities to play with Secret. I made sure to not drill any particular obstacle more than a few times and I tried to space everything well out, interspersing things I knew she goes nuts for (ie: contacts).

The surprise of the night was that she immediately took to the chute. I haven't had it out for some time due to all the wind we seem to always have, and we haven't done much training on it at all. Secret decided it was super fun, though, and offered it several times on her own -- including a time when I wasn't prepared and she ended up twisting a bit in the end.... It didn't scare her, though, as she immediately went all the way through again when asked. Silly girl...

We have not done much up & over work on the a-frame at all, but still I was surprised that Secret repeatedly went around it when I asked her to go up. After a couple of times luring her over with chicken, this passed and she ran right up and over -- nailing her two-on/two-off at the bottom, of course. I'm not a fan of the force that position puts on them with the a-frame and am still considering switching Secret to a running contact on the a-frame. I'll worry about it in a couple of months when she starts doing more of them, I suppose.

Her teeter & dog walk work were spot on, as usual. I will likely raise both of them a bit in the coming weeks.

The rear cross continues to be our nemesis. Secret responds beautifully to front cross cues and honestly just isn't running fast enough at the moment to get a proper rear cross. Maybe I need to put off focusing on them until she finds her gears a bit more. Secret's speed is directly related to my own speed, so she's definitely making me work! :o)

Tonight Rascal is coming over for an agility lesson -- we haven't seen him in weeks for various reasons. Tomorrow we plan to lay low and then Sunday it's off to an agility trial in Zumbro Falls, MN!

Secret vs the HOSE!

I can't believe it, but I've finally found something that Secret went nuts for -- The Hose.

It was HOT yesterday. We hit a record high of 94 and it was humid; definitely a day that was not good for doing anything outside. Alas, the dogs needed to do something AND the lawn needed to be watered, so I decided to kill two birds with one stone. Truthfully, I already knew that Luke & Kaiser wouldn't be interested, but I secretly hoped that Secret might find it a fun game.

Did she ever! I have never seen her get so wound up about anything in her life thus far. She thought the water shooting out of the hose was just grand and she would chase it in circles, pounce on it and snap at it coming out of the nozzle.

The game actually went on for quite some time, especially considering how hot it was. Normally she poops out far sooner, but I guess she's willing to work a bit harder when she thinks it is the most fun game on the planet.



I had a pooped out puppy at the end of it all, and a very wet one at that. Luke tolerated being sprayed with the hose because he was hot, but Kaiser wanted none of it. He thought Secret was nuts and watched the whole game from the shade next to the house. Poor Kaiser does not tolerate heat well at all.

The end result? We went back in the house, had dinner, and then Secret crashed for the ENTIRE night. Yay for our new friend, the hose! :o)

We met Blizzard!

Secret had a mini family reunion yesterday! We made it down to the dog center early enough that we got to spend quite a bit of time with Secret's brother, Blizzard, and his owner, Ruth. Lucky for us, they happened to be outside on a potty break when we pulled up, so they were an easy pair to spot. Secret, of course, sticks out like a sore thumb due to all the pictures I've posted of her online. :o)



She started out with her usual uncertain growl and snarking. Blizzard was a champ about it and cautiously gave her the distance she needed, but also kept trying to be friends. It's so very hard to tell if they actually remembered each other straight away, but Secret got over herself fairly quickly and then they were fast friends.



We were able to let them off leash to run and play for a while when there weren't several other dogs around. The two of them had a grand time chasing each other around and boxing at each other. It was a hot morning and it didn't take long for the two of them to tire out and crash. Then they settled into laying next to each other to eat grass. :o)



It was so fun to get to see Blizzard again. He's obviously grown up a lot since I met them all as little puppies! He's turning into a handsome boy, and he has the best personality! We had a lot of fun telling everyone that they are littermates. Their coats are obviously completely different, but I think they share a LOT of similarities when you see them side by side. Their faces & expressions are very similar, as are their size & build. Surprisingly, they also share the exact same bark!

I stuck around to watch Ruth run her two older dogs in Excellent JWW, during which time Secret got to help me run score sheets back and forth. She was perfectly well behaved and acted exceedingly polite around all of the unfamiliar people & dogs in tight quarters.

After a nap at home, I took all of the dogs swimming. We met Holly & Diane at the Dresbach boat landing. I've never been there, but it ended up being a fantastic swimming spot for the dogs and we'll definitely go back there again! Secret found her sea legs and actually went on a couple of random swims for no reason -- well, truly, I think she was searching for a stick or something, but she actually went out fairly far! She retrieved a stick at swimming distance several times, but there is definitely a limit to how far out she will go to retrieve. She's turning into a little water dog!

Secret traveled well to the agility trial in Savage, MN this weekend. We went up on Friday and just did the one day on Saturday. There was a bit of an issue with her refusing to go to the bathroom at the hotel Friday night, so unfortunately she had to spend the night in her crate. I'm still not sure what that was all about!

I decided to keep Secret separated from the boys at the trial to give the boys a bit more space, and because I think Secret behaves better that way. She barked a bit, but was much less vocal than she was at the La Crosse trial! We had every weather event imaginable that day and she was a real trooper dealing with the wind, thunder & rain.

She did quite well with the people she knows and fairly well with those she doesn't. We got to play with Peppy & Neeko for a while and she thought that was great fun. She wasn't so sure of Neeko in the morning, but once she was off leash around him later in the day she was fine. Secret seems to adore Peppy!

It is hot, hot, hot here for the next few days, so I have a feeling we won't be getting much training done at home.

Just a quickie...

Just a quick post since we're going to be gone for a few days -- Tomorrow we're heading out on the road for Secret's first away trial since January! I imagine staying in a hotel should be slightly more relaxing now that she's fully potty trained. This particular hotel also has doors that open straight to the outside, so I don't have to worry about three dogs dragging me down the hallway...

We're going to just one day of the MMBC NADAC trial in Savage, MN on Saturday and leave tomorrow afternoon. I'm going to head over to the park tomorrow afternoon to set up my stuff so that we can sleep in a bit Saturday morning. :o) I figure it will also give the dogs a chance to stretch their legs a bit before we go back to the hotel for the night.

Secret has had a great week. A couple of nights ago I set up a simple circle of jumps and hoops -- eight total, I believe -- and the last two nights we've been working on just getting a bit more speed and distance going around the circle. I throw in a wrap every now and then as well as continuing to work on developing the rear cross. She's still spinning, but she'll figure it out eventually! Distance-wise, she's finding the obstacles on her own quite well now and I've been able to move about 10' to 15' laterally to the inside.

We don't work this for very long (mostly because I get pooped!), so it generally isn't long before she's terrorizing Kaiser in the house. When that happens, we go outside for frisbee time, which Secret continues to view with more & more enthusiasm. She's starting to catch more of the short tosses I throw at her after she's tired from chasing the rolling discs. We'll still wait a while for the long tosses.

On Sunday I hope to meet up with Ruth, the woman who adopted Secret's brother, Blizzard (formerly Mozart). She's coming to the AKC trial in La Crosse and I have to remember to haul my butt out of bed in the morning to get down there before she leaves. I'm so interested to see if Secret remembers her brother! I can't wait to see how much he's changed since I met him as a little squirt.

Great night of agility work!

Sassypants impressed me last night!

Secret and Kaiser were running around a fair bit while I was setting up a course for the boys, so it was obvious she had plenty of energy to burn -- but I always worry about her pooping herself out before we even get around to doing anything. It's a silly concern, really, since she generally only needs five minutes to recharge her batteries before she's up and running again.

I am still in the habit of putting Secret in her crate in the house while I work the boys first. I feel that if I were to tie her up to the deck to wait her turn, I surely wouldn't have a dog left when it came time to work her. She's starting to bark a bit more while we're outside, hopefully because she knows that her turn is next and she's excited about it.

At any rate, Secret had a fantastic session last night. We played around on the various sections of a Chances course I had set up -- There were two jumps that led into a tunnel under the dog walk followed by the option of another tunnel or a jump. We also had a wide open pinwheel of hoops to play with that led into the weaves, but we obviously haven't started on that yet. :o) I did get my 2 x 2 poles delivered on Friday, though, so we are all set when the time comes!!! I'm so excited to try that method.

I started with the first jump and kept building on it, working both on leading out and racing with her. Plain and simple, the faster I run, the faster Secret runs. We actually ended up connecting seven obstacles -- jump, jump, tunnel, tunnel, hoop, hoop, hoop -- which included a blind cross on the tunnel exit. What thrills me the most, aside from her increased speed & enthusiasm, is that she didn't go around a single obstacle! Even when I was running ahead of her, she hit them right on target. Good girl!

We did a bit of work on the dog walk. Secret doesn't feel confident performing the entire dog walk independently, for if I led out or raced too far ahead she would either completely miss the up ramp or she'd go up a couple of strides and jump off. So long as I stayed even with or just ahead of her, she didn't have a problem. Secret didn't seem to have an issue with the tunnel being under the dog walk.

We touched on the tunnel/dog walk discrimination. That one may prove to be a hard one for us in the future, thanks to the high rate of reinforcement that Secret has always gotten for the contacts. I did get the "out tunnel" through to her, but only by body-blocking the dog walk ramp. It's a start, though, seeing as she began by plowing through my body block to get onto the dog walk. lol

I let her play on the teeter a bit since she loves it. It cracks me up how she seems to be unfazed by the taller teeter, although the first time it drops she tends to get a bit of a surprised look on her face. She's holding her bottom on the teeter like a pro, although every now and then she does get a bit crooked on me.

When I bring the boys back outside, I like to put them all in a sit or down/stay and let them race across the yard to me. For as well as Secret holds her stay when it's just the two of us, she absolutely stinks at holding it when the boys are around. I resigned myself to walking backwards to keep an eye on her and ended up only going halfway across the yard. Secret actually beat Kaiser for the first time ever last night. :o)

The picture below is of one of Secret & Kaiser's many morning wrestling sessions on the bed...

Weekend update -- 5K walk!

Saturday morning, I packed up the crew and we went to La Crosse to meet my parents for a 5K walk that my mom was doing with her Weight Watchers group. It wasn't an "official" event and I hoped that dogs would be welcome. As it turns out, I wasn't the only one with the idea to bring a dog or two (or three...), and several others arrived with dogs as well. And children. Lots and lots of children.

It was a good experience for Secret, although it did fry her brain just a bit. Several of the other dogs who came were, shall we say, unstable. Secret doesn't do well with unstable dogs and she was very reactionary towards them as we waited to get started. I used this as an opportunity to get her to focus on me, which worked well the majority of the time, but there were a couple of dogs she really didn't like.

The other issue was the children. Oh my, I didn't expect there to be so many. And of course, what do children want to do? Pet the puppy! And do you think the majority of the children asked if they could pet the puppy? Of course not! I had to be quite vigilant of watching our surroundings to make sure one of them didn't come up and grab her from behind.

Honestly, Secret started out incredibly well and even let a kid pet her. She started having problems when said kid started waving his hand around above her face. That's the point where she became uncomfortable and she did a little air snap at his hand. That was the end of her allowed interaction with children. These were just not dog-savvy kids and by far not a good socializing experience for her.

I had to keep her on a fairly short leash and keep my attention on the kids, because quite frequently one would dart closely past us and Secret would try to chase after it. Really, when you think of it, what are errant children but sheep who break away from the herd and need to be returned? It is no wonder that Border Collies have a reputation of nipping and herding children. They move like crazy little sheep.

Things improved ten-fold once we actually started walking. There was quite a bit of pulling on Secret's behalf, but she was no longer stressing over the other dogs or children among us. We started out at the back of the pack and very quickly moved to the side and ended up at the front. I know from experience that the dogs (and myself) do not do well being kept to a slow pace behind a crowd and they were much happier once we were able to stride out.

The dogs all handled the length of the 5K with ease. It was a gorgeous morning with temperatures around 70 degrees; about as perfect as one could hope for. Secret did better with the pulling as the walk went on and she began to settle. By the halfway point she was more or less walking nicely by my side.

We finished the walk in about 45 minutes and then let the dogs hang out in the shade under a tree with the bucket of water I'd brought along. They were all happily pooped and didn't seem to mind hanging out in the car with the water bucket & a fan while I went shopping at Kohl's afterwards. :o) In fact, the remainder of the day was quite quiet for all!

Yesterday was lawn mowing day -- Secret more or less just hung out on the deck and sunned herself. We didn't do very much else because I was gone a large portion of the day to my cousin's graduation. I attempted to play frisbee with her when I got home, but she was having none of it. She seemed happy to chase after tennis balls, though -- not bringing a single one back.... Secret has done so well with learning to retrieve the frisbees, but it does not seem to be transferring to tennis balls in the least. Oh well, I guess it gives me exercise, too.

Done growing?

I had to stop by the vet's office yesterday to pick up Luke's medication, so I took Secret in to get a weight on her. I looked back and see that the last time I weighed her was April 15 and she was 38 lbs on the nose. Last night she was 37.7 lbs!

She had a little bit of chunk to lose and it looks like all of her recent activity has helped to take that off. Secret is quite lean at the moment with her ribs very easily felt. I don't think I'd want to run her any skinnier than this.

So with "negative growth" experienced over the last month, is it possible we have topped out? I'm hoping so, as I think she's quite a nice size at the moment. Her height is hovering around 21", more or less. It sounds like her brother is very similar in size, at 21" tall and 38.7 lbs.

We had another agility night using the clicker & treats (cheese, mmmmm) last night. The results confirmed my earlier decision to go ahead and stick with this route until her drive and enthusiasm are a bit more set.

I set up a jump sequence that offered a lot of options -- A straight line of four jumps that ended with a box into a pinwheel to the right. I started with single jump wraps (everything is 8") and turned that into figure 8's. After that we worked on driving down the straight line and she is starting to get so much faster! (Not blazing fast yet, mind you, but she's at least putting some effort into it and not trotting and going around jumps.) I was even able to leave her at the start of the line and go all the way down to the last jump (@ 70' away) to do a recall -- the little stinker only went around one jump, but oddly, it was the same jump that Kaiser went around when I did the same exercise with him. Huh. Odd coincidence.

The tire was part of the box, so we worked on that as a single obstacle and connecting it to the jumps around it. We also worked on sending through the pinwheel, but learning to stay on her line through a curve is going to take a bit more time, I think, to build up her confidence and speed. Basically, she's moving out nicely when I run with her, but when I move less, so does she. Understandable!

She really is doing ever so much better since I caved and started using food. She remained so engaged that she actually started to get amped up and barked at me when I revved her up with, "reaaaaaaddddyyyyy?????" She's doing awesome with recalls and turns into me, but now we have to work on more obstacle focus and driving forward. I also started to introduce the switch/rear cross. Yeah, that's going to take some work.... It's easy to forget that my boys were once at this same stage! I have to keep reminding myself that she'll get it in time. :o)

First walk -- seriously...

Okay, I know this is really, really pathetic -- But last night was Secret's very first on-leash walk around our neighborhood.

I have not flaunted the fact that I have three dogs. Actually, I've more or less tried to hide it as much as I can because of my neighbors. I'm sure it is no secret (tee hee) to any of them that I now have three dogs, but I still don't feel the need to parade around with all three of them by my side.

Obviously Secret goes on walks almost seven days a week (five for certain!), but they are largely entirely off-leash and she can go where she pleases. In general, the only time she is on leash is when we go to the vet and to agility trials. I have done pretty much zero leash training with her to date.

Considering these facts, she did EXCEPTIONALLY well on her walk last night! I took her out by herself, having first taken the boys on their own walk. She started out a bit uncertain of her surroundings, but I made a point to frequently reward and praise her as we walked and her confidence increased as we went along.

There were a handful of moments where she zig-zagged around, veered off to the side, stopped to smell something or tried to barge ahead, but largely I was impressed with her decision to remain at my side with a loose leash. Her natural gait seems to match well with my walking pace, which is always a plus.

We encountered a fair amount of traffic and Secret did not seem bothered by that in the least. Even the busy street we crossed did not scare her. We walked all the way down to the intersection by a couple of fast food places and a gas station and only then did the hustle & bustle seem to get to her. It was at that point (our turn-around) where I decided to ask her to sit, and it took a couple of tries for me to get her attention. I asked a few more times as we got further away from the busy area and she was much better.

By far the most "exciting" part of our walk was when we had to pass next to a chain fence with a barking/running dog on the other side. Secret had her hackles up from head to tail and was incredibly unsure of what she should do, but I pumped her with treats as we passed the property and she made it without any negative reactions.

During the last portion of our 45-minute walk she didn't try to pull or wander at all and stayed nicely by my side. It amazes me how good her leash manners are for a dog who's never had any work on such a thing.

So... The clicker it is.

Last night I went out to the yard armed with nothing but the clicker and a treat pouch -- no toys in sight. I wanted to compare the difference between Secret's enthusiasm with the clicker vs. my wayward attempts to get her excited about toys.

I still had the five-jump grid set up in the yard and I decided to go the back chaining route, starting with the final jump. Secret began with about as much energy as she usually does with jumps -- Fairly, "meh" about the whole thing. The difference with this session, however, was that after she got a few clicks for it, she suddenly thought, "hey, this is pretty cool!"

We moved our way down the line of jumps, working from both sides. Each time I added a new jump, we worked that particular jump as a single before adding it to the existing line. By the time we had worked our way to the start of the chute, she was getting pretty fired up about the whole thing and running down the line of 8" jumps. Stupid clicker.... I wish she'd care that much about toys, but I guess you do what motivates your dog.

We did a couple reps of the dog walk, including the hoops/jumps before and after it. I've had some issues with her not being interested in doing the obstacle after the contact, but she was much more enthusiastic with the clicker. She got so excited at one point that she actually broke her stay, something that RARELY happens with her (sometimes I can't get her to leave the start line...). It was nice to see her getting into it for a change.

After the dog walk, we worked bottoms on the a-frame and then I had her go all the way over it in each direction one time. She bailed off the side the first time for some reason and then it took some convincing to get her back on -- She kept going around and hopping up into her end position. She nailed her contact when I did finally get her to go over, and then she went back up in the opposite direction without any hesitation.

I still had some treats left in the pouch, so we did a little bit of teeter work (I haven't moved it up at all yet; I probably should start) and some stay/recall drills. She's getting good at holding her stay while I jog away from her and her recall was better in that she ran all the way to me (vs. jogging the last part). When I did a group stay/recall with the boys, however, she found the temptation too much and broke both times. Naughty girl, no treats for that! :o)

So what did I learn? I learned that for the time being, training will be more successful if I use the clicker and food rewards. Perhaps we can transition to toys once she is more confident and more value has been transferred to the obstacles themselves. I'll obviously keep working with her on toy drive, but I think it would be best to keep that and her agility work separate.

Nine Months Old!

Growing is hard work!

We didn't do much this weekend -- the weather was crummy on Saturday and then I spent the day cleaning & doing family stuff on Sunday.

I set up a 5-jump grid (ala Susan Salo, although I've never actually watched one of her videos!) on Saturday to play on with the boys. I worked Secret on it a couple of times during the day at 8". Just getting her down the entire line proved to be a struggle, although when she did finally get all five jumps we had a huge party and quit.

I still fight with myself over whether or not I should cave and use more treat-based training with her or if I should keep plugging along with the toys. She is doing better with toys, but it only lasts a few minutes before she decides she's not all that interested. I guess I should be happy that her toy drive has increased this much, at least! :o)

Yesterday we had a whole slew of people at the house -- several of my family members have never been to my house, despite the fact that I've been here nearly two years already, so they stopped by for a visit after we had dinner for Mother's Day. There were 11 of us (and three dogs!) total, so it was quite a crowd for my house.

Secret did exceptionally well! Those who have met her were impressed with how much friendlier she is -- she was a bit *too* friendly when she tried to jump up on my grandma... But she took the correction very well and kept her feet on the floor when the remainder of the guests arrived.

I'm happy to see that she's coming out of her shell and becoming more confident as she gets older. Tonight I've been asked to do a home visit for a family who is looking to adopt a Border Collie puppy from rescue (not Secret's rescue) and I was asked to take a dog along with me to evaluate how the family -- the kids in particular -- interact with dogs. I wish I could take Secret, but her almost non-existent history with children has not been that great, so I don't think she's the best candidate for the job. She does need more interaction with kids for sure, but I don't think it would be appropriate to use this family to socialize my dog -- so Luke has the job and will get to play with the kids tonight.

The picture below is after our walk last Friday -- We did go for a walk. In the rain.... Three wet dogs!

It's raining...

It's raining and I don't think we'll make our daily walk today. Secret is giving me sad eyes. :o( We'll go wander for a bit and see how wet we get, I suppose. I should have brought a hat!

It's been a fairly slow week for us. Weather has not allowed for much agility (rain, then wind!), but Secret has been getting in lots of frisbee time. We did some fun stuff last night like sends to the tunnel and recalls over a line of 8" jumps, but Secret only lasted about five minutes before she started to poop out on me. I used the big Kong squeaky and she seemed to respond well to that as her reward. I tried to interest her in tug at the beginning and she wanted nothing of it. When she got tired I switched to food (cheese left over from the trial weekend!) and let her do some contact work on the dog walk. I squeezed in a little wrap work on the jumps before I completely lost her -- but ultimately I pushed for too much again. Sigh. I need to stop that!

We don't have too much in store for this weekend. It's supposed to be fairly cold in comparison to recent weeks, but the rain should stop tonight. Hopefully we can get in several short repetitions outside to build motivation.

What a bitch...

For real, I wouldn't know what else to call it!

But to preface, the pictures in this blog post were actually taken on Friday when we stayed home to SLEEP before the trial. Secret was having a "good ear day" and I had to document it! I wish her ears would always stand up....

Back to the weekend -- Secret was a massive bitch at the trial this weekend. She really wasn't that bad with people, but she was growling, barking & snarking at nearly every dog she saw!

The trial was outdoors here in La Crosse. I hadn't planned on crating outside, but when I arrived it soon became apparent that *everyone* was outside. I didn't have a shelter along, but it was cool outside and we bogarted the shade coming off our neighbor's canopy.

By the end of Luke's second run, I moved them all indoors. Secret (and Kaiser...) was barking at every person or dog that came near the pen. I wish I could say things improved once they were inside, but really the only difference was that fewer people went past them.

She was also a bargy brat when I opened the pen door to get one of the boys out. Secret is SO well mannered about waiting until released in the crate, but apparently this behavior does not automatically lend itself to the zippered door of the play pen. It does not help, of course, that the boys were equally as bad.

I decided to bring her crate on Sunday to keep them separate a majority of the time and also to give me the ability to cover her crate if necessary. As it was, I had about 3/4 of it covered and left the rest open for her. The barking was *better* on Sunday, but it always seemed to occur when I was working in the ring and could do nothing about it.

Secret got to "work the gate" with me for a class on Sunday and she was the picture of perfection for that. She frog-dogged out in the grass next to me and didn't squawk at anyone or anything the entire time. I wish I knew why she was being so bitchy at other times....

I worked on her stays & recalls for a bit yesterday outside of the far side of the ring. It was the first time we've really done this with any sort of distraction and she was amazing. I left her well over 30' away at times and she never budged from her spot until released. What I need to work on is to get her to drive all the way to me on the recall. She would zoom off at the beginning, but then slow to a trot as she got near me. Not bad, but I'd certainly prefer she run all the way.

Everyone remarked at how big she's gotten. She is a week away from 9 months now -- well, according to the birthday I've given her, at least! ;o)