Toys, toys, toys

Secret has had two really good days in a row of training exclusively with toys. I don't even wear my treat bag out into the yard, as I figure she's learned that there is food in there and might, then, be less inclined to play with the toys.

On Monday I set up a simple drill of two tunnels running parallel to each other, connected by a pinwheel on one end and a single hoop on the other end. I started with the Ringzee and really got her going nicely. The only issue we have with this toy is that she starts to shut down after a few running recalls -- I am almost positive that it is because I fear the safety of my hands with the smaller ring, and she feels my hesitancy. So when she started to lose interest in the Ringzee, we switched to the longer tug stick with the squeaky ball on the end and the fun was restored. She really did awesome with this drill and was driving nicely forward. After our "training" session, I threw the big squeaky Kong ball for her and she had a blast. Yay for increasing love of toys!

Last night I set up a chances course to play on with the boys. The layout offered us a lead out to a tunnel, a pinwheel sequence and a straight line of jumps to play with, all set at 6". We started with the Ringzee, moved to the big tug stick (no squeaky) and settled on the squeaky chicken. I'm excited that Secret is starting to target into jumps and go over them with enthusiasm!

I also started to introduce the rear cross at the tunnel, since she is getting so much better at driving to it. The first couple of times she was like, "What? Where are you going?" She figured it out very quickly and we had several successful rear crosses at the tunnel.

I did try to move on to introducing the rear cross at a jump, but she was quite done by that point. I made the mistake of pushing her too long. She was already a bit tired when we started our session, so I should have kept it very short & simple. Instead, I pushed too long and she ended up shutting down on me at the end. Bad handler!

I haven't decided if I'll push for another training session tonight or if I'll finally mow the backyard.....

Contacts, Flyball, Beach & Petco!

We got a lot done this weekend and Secret got in lots of socializing time. There was a flyball tournament at the dog center this weekend, so I met up with Holly to take the dogs and watch for a bit on Sunday.



I was surprised at how well Secret did with all of the noise. And there was a LOT of noise compared to agility trials! She got better as we sat there and even watched a little bit of the action, but she certainly didn't get high from it. A few people commented on how calm & relaxed she was in an envious tone, but really, part of me wishes she was a barking, lunging lunatic like their dogs were. lol Just a LITTLE drive would be nice at this point...



I started to get this look after about an hour -- Her, "Plllllleeeeeaassssee, can we go home now?" look. She & Ailie were both getting fairly bored at that point, so we decided to give our ears a break and head out.

We went to the beach again with all of the dogs. Neville was along this time and Secret hasn't really met him yet, but they did very well together (Kaiser didn't, but he's kept on leash so that didn't really matter). Secret was most interested in all of the sticks along the shore, so we used those to get her in the water since the tennis balls didn't seem to interest her much. We played with distance and threw one out to a point where she would have to swim -- if she didn't get it, we'd just be down another stick! :o) Well surprise, surprise -- she got it! She had to swim a fair distance out and back, too! Good girl!! She's a good little swimmer!

As if all this activity wasn't enough, we had to swing into Petco on the way home to pick up more dog food. Since I was just picking up a smaller bag to get us through until we see "our supplier" at the next trial, I figured she could come in with me. She was a good, good girl! I've never seen her so happy & relaxed in a store. She trotted beside me on a loose leash the whole time and didn't even take note of all the kitties there for an adoption day.

When we got to the checkout counter, she stood up on it with her front legs and looked at the associate, wondering where her treat was -- she knows the drill! She sat nicely when asked, inhaled her treat and then went looking for more. lol

After her busy day, she totally crashed on the trip home.



I did make a video of her contact work on Saturday, but we did it late in the day after several play sessions, as I was waiting for the insane wind to die down (didn't want her blown off the dog walk!). As a result, she was not quite as into it as usual, but she still did a great job and it was worth documenting for her blog. :o)

Big Improvements!

The above photo was taken after a busy night -- First Secret went in to visit the folks at the vet clinic (the boys had an appointment tonight) to show off her tricks and get a weight. The first bit of good news is that she was only 38 lbs! A month ago she was 37.6 lbs, so we are finally tapering off on the growth. :o)

The other good news is that she was super happy to see everyone and went right up to them for petting, loving and, of course, treats. Everyone remarked at the change in her. I'm so happy that she's becoming more confident and friendly. She showed off several of her tricks including -- SHOCKER -- Bang! That trick has never been very successful in public because she doesn't like it much. lol

After all that activity, I wasn't sure how much dog I would have left to train when we got home. I had to give it a try, though, because my a-frame was finally brought out of hibernation Wednesday night and I wanted to see what Secret thought. The teeter also got brought up from the basement, so we had that to play on as well.

We started with bottoms on the dog walk as a warm-up, then moved on to running the length of the dog walk and connecting it with a jump or hoop on each end. Secret LOVES the dog walk and is starting to actually run across it. She nearly lost her footing on one pass, but recovered nicely. Granted, the dog walk is still set as low as it goes, so it's not far to the ground in case she were to have a wobble. She nailed each and every one of her 2-on/2-off positions, but did break a little early once or twice. I'm starting to test her more on her releases, so that is to be expected.

When we moved to the a-frame, I had her do her bottoms from all angles and she nailed it. I have the frame set as low as the chain goes -- about 4' -- so the angle is relatively easy at this stage.

She absolutely shocked me when it came time to go up and over the full frame. I fully expected her to go over and keep running, but she nailed her bottom the very first time and held it. GOOD GIRL!!! She was absolutely 100% with hitting her position and held it while I did a front cross to send her through a hoop. She really floored me with how well she did. I am so excited about the idea of having a dog who nails contacts. :o) Other people are working hard on running contacts because it is undoubtedly a faster performance, but at this stage of my life I'm just thrilled to have a dog that won't get faulted. lol Some time down the road we'll likely work on a quick release or transition to running, but she obviously enjoys doing the 2-on/2-off, so we'll continue with this for now.

The teeter is set as low as it can comfortably go -- the end is probably only 8" - 10" off the ground, so it's more or less a glorified wobble board. Secret was like, "Really, is this it?" I will probably move it up fairly quickly for her, but I have Rascal coming for a lesson tonight and he will need it low for his first introduction.

It's been very windy the last few days, so not a good environment to bring the chute out again. It is supposed to be gorgeous this weekend, so I look forward to getting in some good training time. We are also planning to meet Holly & Ailie at the beach on Sunday!

And whoops, before I forget! Secret is slowly turning into a frisbee dog! She has gotten FABULOUS about chasing after the rolling discs and better yet, she's coming back to me with them! The general routine is that I roll the disc for her and then I run to the other end of the yard for her to chase me. When she brings it back, I tug with her for a bit and then show her the other disc in my hand to get her to release and then run after the new disc. This routine seems to make her happy and she's starting to get excited about the frisbee. We haven't been doing any short toss work until her bite gets better on the rolling discs. We've transitioned entirely to flexible hard discs (I bought a couple recommended by Zak George at www.discovertheworld.com ) and she loves them. The fabric frisbees are easier for her to catch, but she was becoming far too fixated on ripping up the grass through them rather than playing with me!

My goal for the weekend is to video Secret's contact work!

First Beach Trip!

I had to run to the dog center to get my crates out of there before the weekend (no class this week, long story...), so I decided to make it a fun day for the dogs. We met Holly & Ailie and took the dogs to the beach!



Secret wasn't sure right away if the water was something she was interested in investigating. She kind of hung around on the shore for a while, but eventually she decided to check it out when she saw that all of the other dogs were having fun.



Secret is still in love with Ailie, but Ailie only had eyes for the bumper. Secret didn't seem to notice, as she enjoyed chasing after Ailie on the retrieves.



When Ailie was occupied in the water, Secret turned her attention to beating up on Kaiser.



Secret showed an unexpected interest in the bumper Holly had along!



Which led to.... SHOCKER!!! Secret retrieved!! From the water!!



We were in awe and couldn't believe how many times she did it. She was funny to watch because she would run to a certain point in the water, stop, then walk out to the bumper before *slowly* walking back each time. Holly played with the distance and at one point Secret went out so far for the bumper that the water was over her back. Good girl!!



It was such a fun time for everyone! We took the dogs for a walk down the road afterwards to dry off a bit. Secret ended up on leash after she turned her ears off, but it was safer that way because there ended up being more traffic than we expected. They got to go for another short walk when we drove down to the spillway before going home, so I had some nice, tired puppies when we got home!



My copy of Ruff Love did, indeed, arrive on Friday and I read it that very night. It was an eye-opening read and full of great information, but ultimately I don't feel I am in the position to be able to implement everything in the program. I am using parts of it, such as removing free access to toys (hey, the house looks cleaner already!), feeding her dinner by hand (breakfast has too much stuff mixed with it) and using her crate more (she gets a timeout when she doesn't come in when called and I also crate her while I work the boys, before she gets her session outside).

I'm trying to make a point to have several tug sessions with her each day to build up her drive and to make myself more fun. I ordered a Ringzee from Clean Run with the books and it seems to be a big hit with Secret. It's just a wool ring, but she enjoys tugging on it and has been getting really into it with me. I used the Ringzee during our play/training session on Saturday and was thrilled with how into everything she was. I was about ready to die from all the running around I was doing to hype her up, but she did some nice fast tunnels and even connected some 6" jumps to them.

Hopefully this is the start of more good things to come! Holly loaned me her "Shaping Success" book (also by Susan Garrett) and I wish I would have ordered that one instead of Ruff Love. I'm halfway through it and have already gotten so much from it. It has many great suggestions for drive-building games and training exercises!

8 Months Old!

Happy 8-Month Birthday to Secret today! She's turning into such a big girl, as you can see by the above photo. She looks like such a goon when she does "sit pretty." lol

My copy of Ruff Love did not come last night, but I somewhat implemented some of the stuff I know about it. When she blew me off when it was time to come in the house, into the crate she went for about five minutes or so. She's always very well behaved when it's time to come out, and it does seem to help to get her to come inside the next time we go out.

I also fed her dinner by hand, making her work for it via crate games and tricks. Boy did that fire her up! I didn't hand feed breakfast because I always add stuff to that meal (yogurt, oil, etc.), but if I do the program I'll have to hand feed that meal as well.

Secret has had a bit of an epiphany with tugging, it seems. She's putting more effort into it and seemingly having more fun with it. That's good, I'll take it!

The book SHOULD be here tonight, and I'm really looking forward to digging into it over the weekend.

Backing up...

Wow -- No new picture today. :o( I didn't plan for it, and now she's just zonked out and not looking very photogenic. lol I must be starting to slack on the picture taking front!

I took a step back after that last post and have been doing a lot of thinking. I may have to change the way I do a few things in order to develop the type of relationship I'm seeking to have with Secret. I did order the "Ruff Love" book by Susan Garrett, along with a Patricia McConnell book about playing with your dog. I expect them to arrive today or tomorrow, and look forward to really digging into the subject matter.

Several people have told me that "Ruff Love" will be exactly the answer I'm looking for, but I do have my doubts that I will be able to commit to the program. It seems very intense and completely different from our normal lifestyle -- But then again, our "normal lifestyle" is not giving me the connection I had hoped for. I struggle with the concept of "fair treatment" of the dogs, as I don't plan to put the boys on the Ruff Love program, but I have been assured that dogs have no concept of fair (are you sure?).

I realized the other night that it had been a very long time since I had done any trick training with Secret. I more or less abandoned it when the nice weather hit us. Tuesday evening we were stuck indoors from the rain, so I grabbed the clicker and took Secret into the bedroom (our way to get away from the boys!).

She was so happy. She loves her trick training time with the clicker. It made me realize that I definitely do need to put it back into our schedule. It also gives us some good one-on-one time, so there are multiple benefits.

Last night at the dog center I decided to not even worry about trying to get her to play. I just grabbed the clicker from the start and gave her a click/treat for going between the jump standards. She was having fun, so we just continued to play like this. We also did her bottoms and she freaked me out by going up and over the teeter! Surprisingly, this didn't seem to scare her, so we did it a couple more times. I guess the tippy board work has paid off! She also started up the dog walk on her own while I was talking to Holly, so rather than risk her turning around and falling that high up, I let her go across the big dog walk for the first time (just walking!!). She didn't seem to notice at all and popped into her bottom at the end. Silly girl.

It will be interesting to see what the coming weeks have in store for us and whether or not I'll be able to implement the Ruff Love program.

Frustrations

I continue to be frustrated with my lack of ability to really tap into any sort of drive or enthusiasm with Secret. Early on, I appeased myself by saying that neither of my boys developed much interest in playing games like fetch until they were six months old or so. Six months came and went with Secret; she is now days away from eight months and still I struggle.

Last night I had two tunnels set in a straight line. Easy stuff, more or less just to play with. I had the Wubba, since this has typically proven to be a "fun" toy for Secret (and is only available during play time with me). I believe she chased after it with a measurable degree of enthusiasm twice. She may have chased after it in a "ho-hum" manner a couple more times, then was completely disinterested.

She displayed quite a bit of what would typically be called stress sniffing behavior from the beginning. What frustrated me the most, however, was that the sniffing behavior continued even when I switched to rewarding her with treats. She just had zero interest in interacting with me last night. Even when I ran around and tried to get her to chase me, she generally chose to sniff around in the grass instead.

I got pretty much no interest from her whatsoever until we got near the dog walk and she offered her 2-on/2-off behavior. Then it was a light came on in her eyes and she beamed. I grabbed the clicker and we worked on the dog walk, including going up & over with a stop on the end. She did fantastic. She was happy. We went back to do a tunnel and she was bored. I put a hoop in front of the dog walk and she was happy. ARGH.

I tied her up to the deck while I worked the boys and again got the, "OMG, I'm so deathly bored" expression out of her. When they were done, I thought I'd give her another shot at the tunnels to see if she had gained any sort of excitement whatsoever from watching the boys. She did the straight line of hoop, tunnel, hoop, tunnel, hoop, but she just loped through it without any real enthusiasm. But still, I ended there because she did it.

You'd think, "Oh, maybe she's just tired?" But no, she goes completely bonkers running around with Kaiser when they are done working. Her entire world of play seems to revolve around Kaiser and I often wonder if that is the issue. With me she is so SERIOUS and Kaiser is her playmate.

I have always "poo-poo'd" the Ruff Love program, but I am giving it serious thought now. I just find it very frustrating that Secret has almost no interest in playing with me and I am unsure of how to bring it out in her.

I want agility to be a game and fun play time for her, but I'm wondering if I would have more success turning into a clicker session with her. She gets so serious and unplayful when the clicker comes out, though -- She's all about work, work, work when it is around -- Maybe she'd be happier if agility were a job, not a game? It just seems wrong.

If this post sounds cranky, I would say it's likely due to the fact that I have gotten very little sleep the last couple of nights. I am trying to get Secret to settle and stay in bed with the bedroom door open, as it's been getting stuffy in there with three dogs as the weather gets warmer. This seems to be far too much of a distraction for her and she's been very active throughout the nights. Last night I gave up and closed the door after she jumped off the first time. She jumped off again an hour later, so I gave up and put the dogs outside. While they were outside, I moved her crate into the bedroom. Of course, she then zonked out like a light the rest of the night (even with the door open).

The crate WILL be used if we have any further restless nights. Constantly changing position, pushing me out of the bed by pressing against me every time I move away (it's hot!), and tail thumping will not be allowed in bed.

Such restraint!

I found it much easier to teach Secret not to touch Kaiser's food dish than to get Kaiser to eat on any sort of schedule.



Oops, I caught her! lol



So sad, she fell asleep by his dish! :o)

We had a very, very lazy day yesterday. The dogs were all absolutely exhausted from the busy week they have had in our gorgeous spring weather. Secret didn't do any training after class on Wednesday, but she did get to play with Ailie and it tuckered her out. So because yesterday was such a quiet day, today they are all rested and ready to go...

Unfortunately, I'm not sure how much we'll be able to do today. Luke has a chiropractic appointment in Viroqua, which means Secret will be spending a good portion of her afternoon in the car. :o(

It is Easter weekend and we don't have any big plans, so hopefully we will get several opportunities to play outside!

Jealousy IS a motivator?

While it doesn't seem that Secret cares a wit about me working the boys on agility equipment in front of her, perhaps she DOES get jealous when she sees me working *other* dogs?

Bethany brought Rascal over for their very first agility lesson yesterday. I ended up having to put the boys in the house because they proved to be too much of a distraction, but I let Secret remain tethered to the deck.

For the first part of Rascal's lesson, Secret rolled over on her back -- It must be her "come hither" attempts to get him to play with her. Towards the end of Rascal's lesson, however, Secret started to whine a bit. Hmm. Interesting!

I let her off her leash when Rascal was done working and the two of them ran and played more than they ever have on prior "dates!" I attempted to work Secret a bit while Rascal was running around and she got REALLY upset with him and chased him off whenever he tried to come near us (or probably more likely -- the treats).

I worked the boys very briefly after Rascal left, and then it was Secret's turn. I started with just a straight tunnel and was throwing the Wubba. The shocker is that Secret continued to show interest in the Wubba even after she knew I had food on me. We seemed to figure out a good compromise, wherein she would chase the Wubba and then come to me for a treat. I'll take that!

I added a hoop on each end of the tunnel and Secret took to this with no trouble. She continues to have an excellent wait/release, even as I use my voice to get her all hyped up.

We did some brief work on the dog walk, including trotting up and over it with her 2-on/2-off on the ends.

My stick-in-the-ground weave poles were out for Rascal, so I decided to start shaping Secret on entries with two poles. She caught on to this scary fast, so I think using the 2x2 method with her will be a big hit. Now is the time to practice patience!

I'm teaching at the dog center tonight, but I'm setting up a jumpers course outside, so I'm not sure what there will be for Secret to do. If nothing else, she should get in some play time with Ailie!

Growing, growing, growing

Secret is about a week shy of 8 months now. I took these pictures to share her development with another Border Collie friend who has a puppy. He likes to compare where Secret is, I guess, as she's the "older woman." She currently stands around 19 3/4" and is likely 38 lbs (assuming a slight rise from her last vet visit).



As the pictures show, she is definitely not what I would call "fat," but nor do I think it would kill her to drop a pound (or two). I believe it will come off on its own as she runs around this summer. She is getting less kibble through training treats these days, although I do still continue to wear the treat pouch nearly all the time. I am loathe to reduce her food at all, as she only gets 1/2 cup twice a day as it is.



This picture shows how nicely her butt muscles are developing as she grows -- as well as the amount of "skirt" she is growing in the rear. I am quite happy at her coat type that is coming out as she ages. I know I couldn't handle a full rough coat, and I wasn't sure if I wanted a totally smooth coat (like her brother) -- So this is pretty much perfect for me.



I set up the first agility course of the year in the back yard for the boys last night. It didn't have a tunnel, unfortunately, so Secret didn't do all that much. I wanted to see what would happen if I encouraged a running contact on the dog walk (by tossing a toy after she jumped on the plank), but she was just not into it. Once she found out I had food on me, she was all about the 2-on/2-off behavior and I couldn't interest her in the Wubba at all. So we worked on the 2-on/2-off to make her happy.

Since this obviously doesn't do anything to tire her out, I took her out a bit later to work with the frisbee. We start by tugging and doing short catches with the soft frisbee. She loves this, but she also loves to run off with the disc and rip up grass through the soft center. When I tire of chasing after her, I switch to the Jawz disc and work on rolling retrieves. She seems to love it, but still doesn't have enough drive to put effort into chasing & catching it out of the air.

I sometimes wonder if I do too much with her. I've always said "A tired puppy is a good puppy," but perhaps if she were more pent up, she would show a bit more enthusiasm? She looked positively bored while I worked the boys yesterday. I would prefer it if she would get a bit more excited about working.

I've heard fantastic things about the "Ruff Love" program, but honestly, I just can't see that working well with our lifestyle.

Play date fun -- and the dog walk is out!

Secret was a crazy loon yesterday afternoon at work, so I asked Bethany if she wanted to bring Rascal over for another play date. Thankfully, she was available! The above shot was only achievable after over an hour and a half of play time -- otherwise, you could never get them to sit still! Mostly due to Kaiser...



Isn't Rascal just ever so handsome? I maintain that Bethany is very lucky I already had Secret when she adopted Rascal -- otherwise I would have had to steal him for myself!

Another fun play date was had by all. Secret & Rascal were able to play a bit more this time, although Kaiser is still hogging him the majority of the time. Towards the end of the play date, Rascal FINALLY figured out the best way to play in this household -- RUN. Previously, he would take off running for a short burst and then put on the brakes when Kaiser followed. Then Kaiser would tend to wrestle him to the ground and then the fun was over for all. When Rascal got a case of the zoomies, however, Secret thought this was *awesome* and gave chase behind Kaiser. Rascal is fast & agile, so the game went on for several laps of the yard. The dogs were well worn out when Rascal left and were sleeping by 7 p.m.! Mission achieved. :o)



I brought out the dog walk last night prior to our play date. I knew it was adjustable in height, but I have never attempted it -- So I thought I'd see how low it goes, for safety sake around rambunctious puppies... It's in the 2 1/2' range, which is much better than 4'.

I set Luke up in front of the dog walk to get a size reference for the picture, and as I snapped the photo, I suddenly noticed that there was a second dog in the frame! Secret took it upon herself to trot up and across the dog walk like she has done it every day of her life. She's definitely not scared of it!

She followed the boys across the dog walk several times with a stride so nice that I am briefly tempted to teach her to do a running contact instead. I put the boys in the house and grabbed the clicker to work on Secret's 2-on/2-off performance. Once we proofed that a few times, I decided to go ahead and ask her to to all the way over with a stop on the end -- This will take a while to "click" in her head, I think. She never jumped off before the yellow, but strided off the end of the dog walk and had to be repositioned.

We aren't going to obsess over this much at the moment, but I'll let her play around on the low dog walk when we're outside to let her get good and comfortable around it. Right now she seems to enjoy jumping onto it from any odd angle. Silly girl.

Sassypants

That's the look I get every day around 2:30 p.m. when Secret decides it's time to go home. It is generally accompanied by barking, whining, loud yawns and other expressions of boredom. Sometimes, like today, Kaiser decides to save us all and play with Secret. :o) I shouldn't complain, though, as she really is incredibly quiet the majority of the day. Aren't we all bored and wanting to go home by 2:30 p.m.?

The return to agility basics 101 has gone very well for Secret! On Tuesday evening, I set up one straight 12' tunnel in the yard and brought out the rarely-seen Kong Wubba that Secret seems to love.

I got her all hyped up over the toy and sent her to the tunnel, which she promptly went around -- repeatedly. Wow, I was surprised. Tunnels are something that she has loved from the start, but I think the several wipe outs that she has experience in them lately (on tight turns) has all but destroyed her confidence.

When I finally directed her attention to the tunnel and she went in it, I ran to the other end and chucked her Wubba as she came out. Then it was like the light came on and she really lit up and wanted to play this new game. I wish we could do restrained recalls (no helper!), but in lieu of that we worked on hyped-up stays. I was really impressed with how well she held her stay until released, especially considering I have been woefully negligent in practicing them. Secret got all twitchy and excited as I drew out my, "Reeeeaaddddy?" and then would explode off when I said okay and shot through the tunnel. Yay! I'm so happy to have excitement back in her. The proof is that we stayed with the Wubba then entire (short) time and she remained engaged and happy. I believe the reason I've had to play musical toys/treats with her is due to the stress that she was feeling. Remove the stress and I have a happy puppy again. Light bulb moment!

I repeated the same exercises at the dog center last night -- Just a straight tunnel and hyped-up stays. I forgot the Wubba at home, but she was happy to play with her squeaky-ball tug. :o)

After a bit of this, I grabbed her clicker and started to work her 2-on/2-off behavior on all of the contacts. We also went up and over the teeter with me holding it on the drop. Unfortunately, we suffered a set-back here when she stepped off her end position and got bumped in the butt. She would happily get back on the teeter plank, but she would not hold her 2o/2o position for ANYTHING. I finally decided it was best to move on and asked for it at the dog walk instead, which she happily gave me.

We also visited the table work again. Secret is still more than happy to hop onto the table, but it hasn't yet clicked that I want a down without having to ask for it. Granted, this is only her second session and I was distracted last night, talking to a friend. Now that she knows what the table is, I should have a shaping session with it so that she figures out the down on her own. Everything seems to work faster that way.

The weather continues to be gorgeous here in Wisconsin, so we are getting in a lot of play time outside! The end result is a puppy who is sleepy a good portion of the day, so that is fantastic. :o) When she is awake, however, she definitely lives up to the Sassypants nickname I have given her. Never afraid to voice her opinion on anything!

New Crate!

Secret FINALLY got a new crate Friday night. I felt bad for even putting her in the old one while I went out Friday night, but now I feel better knowing that she'll be more comfortable when I leave in the future. The pictures below show how cramped she was getting in the old crate!



Secret had a big day yesterday. We had to get up at 5 a.m. to drive to Shakopee for Kaiser's weight pull. Nobody wanted to get out of bed that early (including me!), but this was nice because it meant that everyone slept very nicely for the entire drive (not me, unfortunately...).

Fellow Border Collie nut, Greg (the person who talked me into getting Secret!), came to the weight pull to meet Secret for the first time. He hung out with Secret for a while, getting to know her (she did pretty well!) and then he brought in his 3 year old really friendly female, Peppy. Secret was interested in her, but also snarked a bit at her a couple of times -- Thankfully, Peppy is a *really* nice BC and took it all in stride.

When Kaiser was done pulling (he pulled 369 lbs!), we took the dogs outside for some play time. Greg also brought out his male, Neeko. The dogs all got along well, but Secret wasn't the most outgoing of the bunch and was not involved in much "playing." She was more interested in finding stuff to eat, although she did follow both Peppy & Neeko around quite a bit. We tried to get her to tug with Peppy, but she wasn't interested. They ran around a bit and everyone played nicely together, so I suppose what matters is that she got in some great socializing time.

All that play time also made for a nice drive home! All three dogs slept the entire trip home! It was a lot of driving time for one day and they all did very well.

The dogs got some play time when we got home, and later on I put the boys in the house and brought out the Chuck-It and a few tennis balls for Secret. She surprised me in that she was excited to chase the balls and I was even *more* surprised when she brought several of them back to me! Wow, is she learning to fetch? We'll have to do this more often!

I got some great advice from Greg regarding Secret's "agility training" -- I really do need to back off the anal handling skills I've been working on and go back to focusing on fun & fast. We're going to go back to setting up straight tunnels for now until she gets a bit more steady and confident on her feet.

Play date with Rascal!

Check it out! I was at the vet's office yesterday with Luke and noticed a pamphlet as we were waiting for his blood test results (Luke has Addison's disease and needs regular electrolyte check-ups). At any rate, the pamphlet had Secret's mirror image puppy twin!! I snapped a quick picture so that I could create the side-by-side above. :o)

After Luke's appointment, I took Secret in to get a weight on her. She is up to a whopping 37.6 lbs!!! Oh wow. I just measured her height and she is 19 3/4". Wow again. Stop growing already! So more than likely she'll probably end up a 20"+ dog and in the 40lb range. Time will tell.

I called my cousin, Bethany, after we left the vet clinic and she brought her Border Collie, Rascal, over for a play date. She got Rascal shortly after I got Secret in December, and he is also a rescue (in a round-about kind of way). He is an amazing little dog. I've always said that if I didn't have Secret already, I would have stole him from her. :o) We are going to teach Rascal to do agility this summer!

Kaiser stepped up to control the play date from the very beginning, so Secret & Rascal didn't get much time to form their own play style. In addition to that, I believe Secret is just exhausted from her very busy week, so she wasn't in the mood to do a lot of running last night.

Everyone got along great (with the exception of some of Kaiser's "I will dominate you!" moments), so I am looking forward to many more of these play dates. Video below!

Four days in a row -- Really?

I don't know that I've ever posted four days a in row..... But we've just been doing so much great new stuff lately that I have to post about it! :o)

Secret had a fantastic night at the dog center last night. She was overly vocal while I was teaching for some reason -- I'm not sure if she's getting to the point where she wants to be out playing or if she just had to go to the bathroom....

After class we went outside and she got to play with her Border Collie friend, Ailie for a bit. She really loves Ailie! The dogs found a toy in the grass and Secret started to learn a bit more about the game of fetch from Ailie and Luke, although she absolutely will not compete for the toy under any circumstances. We faked out the older dogs a few times and threw a short toss for Secret and she fetched it quite well.

The shot on top is Secret showing off her brilliant 2-on/2-off behavior on the a-frame. We have yet to go up and over (and won't until I bring out the equipment at home and set it to "baby height") -- But she is rock solid on holding her position. Because of this, I am really leaning towards starting her with the 2o/2o behavior on all contacts. I figure we can transition to a quick release later if need be, but it would be nice to have a dog that I don't have to worry about hitting the yellow.



Secret was introduced to the table last night! I don't have a table at home (yet), so this is something we'll have to work on at the dog center for now. Secret took to the table immediately and hopped up onto it before I even asked. We're using the clicker for the table introduction and she quickly figured out what I wanted from her. My goal is to work towards an automatic down behavior, since I would like to try USDAA some day with her.



Secret also got to play on the teeter last night. Here she is showing off her brilliant 2o/2o again. :o) She was overly eager to jump onto the pivot point of the teeter, so I decided to let her ride it down very slowly to introduce her to the movement. Thanks to all of her wobble board work, she didn't seem bothered by it at all. Several times I had her ride it down and then assume her contact position, and she did great. She did spook a bit at the noise the teeter made when it bounced back into place, so we sat there and click/treated the bang noise and she seemed to get over it.



Our final introduction of the night was the tire jump! I do have one of these at home, but we just haven't done anything with it yet. I had the tire out for my class, so I decided to go ahead and show it to Secret. There isn't any jumping involved with the tire set at its lowest point, but she very quickly got the idea of going through it. She only tried passing through the space between the tire & the supports once, and quickly learned that didn't work so well (for her size at this height, at least!).

I let the dogs run around while I packed up and was surprised that, after all the activity of the evening, Secret & Kaiser still had energy to run around like loons. There was one time when Secret was chasing Kaiser and she completely biffed it -- She ended up sliding quite a ways on her head/shoulder/back after losing her footing. Poor girl seemed a bit shocked, but none the worse for wear, as she took off after Kaiser again. Those two.... I just hope nobody gets hurt. Sigh.

It sounds like Secret may have a play date with Rascal this evening, so there is a chance that I'll be posting FIVE days in a row! :o)

So much better!

Last night I set up another quick drill for Secret to play on in the back yard. This time I used three hoops in a pinwheel pattern that ran into a 15' tunnel. I put the boys in the house so that they wouldn't be there as a distraction.

SO MUCH BETTER!

Secret was connected, fast & drivey for me. She didn't miss a single hoop and was eager to play -- even after they'd been running around the yard for some time after work.

I kept it very short and fun -- Probably only 5 minutes or so. We worked on doing the pinwheel into the tunnel (and then chasing the toy on the way out) and then going from the tunnel to the pinwheel. She did fantastic, so I quit while we were both happy.

I took advantage of the "no-boys time" and got the frisbee out for a bit. I'm in the "rolling it on the ground" stage to encourage her to chase it -- but we still struggle with the retrieve. Well, we struggle with the retrieve of the soft frisbee that I was using last night. She's getting better when I use the hard disk, but she does the same thing as Luke when we play with the soft frisbee. What is so darn rewarding about ripping up grass through the fabric part of the frisbee? At any rate, I'm using the soft disc to be easier on her mouth for the second part of our work -- catching. She's doing great with the short catch and then we tug -- She LOVES to play tug with the soft frisbee. That's a start, I guess.

Tonight we are back at the dog center. I won't drill her too much, but we will probably work on our contact position since I don't have those out at home yet.

With the arrival of the gorgeous spring weather, I fear that Secret's trick training will start to fall to the back burner. I will have to come up with some new things to work on to make sure this doesn't happen!

First "at home" agility session!

As promised, I dug the tunnels & sand bags up from the basement last night and set up a quick easy drill for Secret to play with. I did the above video to document the start of her at-home training.

She was so surprisingly distracted right from the start. Luke has this obnoxious whine that he does when I'm working with another dog (at least it wasn't barking, I guess) and this seemed to really get to Secret. She did much better when Luke was quiet. In the future, I believe I'll try leaving Luke and/or Kaiser in the house to see if it makes a difference.

Secret started out interested in toys, although not to the level she has been showing at the dog center lately. I ended up having to switch to treats when she totally lost interest in the toys.

I started the chute at the same length she was doing it in the basement and was surprised that she acted like she had never seen it before -- So we went back to square one with that until she figured it out. I didn't push to lengthen the chute at all in this session, since she wasn't terribly into it last night and I didn't want to push my luck. We ended on a good note, and that's great!

We went back outside after dinner and I took the camera outside with me to catch some of the awesome play that the dogs have. They are loving this glorious weather, as am I!

Spring has sprung in Wisconsin!

This weekend was absolutely gorgeous! We had high temperatures in the 60's all weekend. This means that everything has dried up nicely and we are no longer living in the land of mud. The dogs finally got to rip-roar around the yard and enjoy themselves!

With the disappearance of the snow comes the inevitable appearance of a yard full of previously hidden "land mines." I tried very hard to keep on top of the poo issue this winter with three dogs, but there was always a batch that would get covered with each snow storm, never again to be seen until the spring thaw. My mission this weekend was to rid the yard of this nastiness while the dogs enjoyed the fine weather. It took three sessions and three very full bags, but we now have a beautiful clean yard again -- A yard perfect for agility work. :o)

Secret is showing herself to be a digger. Yay.... I have had to fill in a couple of holes already and now have to keep an eye on her when we are outside. She also seems to like to eat dirt at times, which seems to be what prompts the digging. Because of this, the dogs are not getting much unsupervised time outside until I've put an end to this new habit.

We are supposed to have another day in the 60's today, so I am planning on dragging the tunnels & sand bags up from the basement. Secret will get to have her very first agility lesson at home! I'm hoping that running on grass really brings out her speed & drive, as all of the dogs seem to be a bit more careful on the agility mats at the dog center.

It's very tempting to bring out all of my contact equipment, but the weather forecast is predicting a rain/snow mixture coming later this week. Yay. The joys of living in Wisconsin.

Secret had a busy day yesterday -- I met some friends for breakfast and decided to bring the dogs along so that Secret & I could make another trip to PetSmart. She was a good girl, but didn't care to meet any of the dogs we came across. She has figured out that the people at the check-out stands give her good things, so she made a bee-line to the associate when we went to the register.

After our trip to PetSmart, the dogs and I went on a nice hour-long walk on the trail. I think I finally managed to wear Secret out, but alas, it never lasts very long! She is a little Energizer bunny. Hopefully I can put that to good use now that the weather is nice!

I will soon need to start the search for a herding trainer, as I would really like to try Secret on sheep this summer. :o)

Great night of agility!

Secret was a good little stinker at the dog center last night!

I had hoped to get all three of my dogs worked before class since it runs so late otherwise, but Secret got the short end of the stick. Just as I brought her out, my students started to arrive, so she had to go back into the pen and wait until after class.

One of my students came late and ended up staying after class to work on discrimination skills with her dog, so Secret had her first experience of learning to work with another dog in the ring. I have to say that I am very, very impressed with her ability to focus around distractions! The other dog in the ring was a very energetic Labrador and while Secret trotted over to check him out once, she pretty much ignored him the rest of the time.

I had four tunnels set up for class, so there were several places for Secret to play last night. We worked on pinwheels leading into the tunnels, straight lines into the tunnels and including the obstacle after the tunnel and she did GREAT! I also started to introduce turns/front crosses at the tunnel exit and she did well with this, too (crossed behind me once on a wide turn, but she figured it out quickly).

I was really excited about the speed and enthusiasm Secret had for her tunnel work. On the straight line sends into the tunnel she ran faster than I've seen to date and came barreling out of the tunnel for her toy. We had another good "toy-focused" night and used Luke's tug stick with the ball on the end for the majority of her reward. As she started to tire out, I moved to her squeaky ball on a rope to get her going again. I'm so happy she's developing more toy drive!

When she'd had enough running (and it took a while because the dogs have been so cooped up!), I grabbed the clicker to work on her 2-on/2-off behavior on the contacts. What a good, smart girlie! We are just hopping on the contacts from the side still, but she was hitting her position and holding it really well until I released her.

There was even one time when I was distracted and talking to my student, and when I looked over to Secret, she had assumed her position on the a-frame and was waiting for me to reward her. :o) I have been undecided about what contact performance I will ask for on the a-frame, but Secret does seem comfortable assuming the 2o2o position. Perhaps we'll start with that and work on a quick release in the future. I'd better decide soon, as spring is coming and soon I'll be able to bring out the equipment at home!

And really, spring can't come soon enough. Today it is raining and cold, so we will again be stuck inside all day. *sigh*

7 Months Old!

Secret is 7 months old today! My goodness, how time flies. She is getting so big!

Secret got a bath Friday night before the trial because she & Kaiser had been getting so filthy on our daily walks. Then she got another bath last night because she & Kaiser were wrestling in the dirt pile while I was picking poo from the yard. *sigh*



Prior to this, I don't believe she's had a bath since December. The first thing I noticed when I put her in the tub was how much bigger she is than the last time we tried this. lol On Friday the little turd managed to squirt out and take off while she was full of soap!! Thankfully I stopped her in the bedroom and she didn't make it on any furniture. She was perfect during her "emergency bath" last night, but holy hell was there a lot of mud in the tub. She was gross!!

Hopefully we don't have to do too many more of these, but with a week of rain in the forecast, my hopes are not very high. :o(

Secret was a good girl at the trial this weekend! There were several people that she seemed to remember and willingly approached them for attention (including men!). She made more new doggy friends and got to play outside with them for a bit between runs. There were still a few people that she was unsure of, but overall I think she's doing quite well.

I continue to do "musical crates" and keep Secret with whoever is not running. This seems to keep everyone happy -- Secret has never made a peep while I'm running one of the dogs and I think the boys stay quieter now that she is in there with them.

They went and dismantled the course immediately following the trial, so I did not get a chance to play with Secret at the end of the day on Sunday. :o( That is okay, we have class tomorrow night and will get to play then. I will be sure to put out several tunnels for her to run through.

The snow is quickly disappearing here and I am getting excited about bringing out my agility equipment!! I have finally been able to bring in almost all of my jumps & weaves that were buried in the snow back in December (to allow the grass to grow properly). Now I'm just itching to put them back out!

Back to agility, yay!

Whoops, looks like I've been bad about updating and have gone nearly a week without a post!

Secret was a very good girl at the TDAA trial this past weekend and got in lots of good socializing time. In addition to that, we went up to my parent's house for my grandma's 81st birthday on Sunday and she was SO MUCH better than the last time. Several people commented on how much friendlier she was than the last time we got together, which I believe was at Christmas?

My agility class started up again last night, so we were finally able to get some play time in the arena at the end of the night. I started Secret with the wobble board, as we haven't seen it for quite a while. She didn't need a "warm up" period with it at all -- She was comfortable with it from the start and readily offered to go back & forth and turn around on it. We removed the peg that makes it steadily plop from side to side, making the board more "wobbly" and unsteady under her feet. I thought this might be an issue, but Secret didn't seem to really even notice the change.

While I had the treats & clicker out, I decided to go do a little bit of work on Secret's 2 on/2 off behavior on the a-frame (the only contact set up last night). She's really getting the end behavior down well. I will have to decide fairly soon this spring if I'm going to go for 2o/2o on the a-frame or if I want to train her to run it from the start....

My course last night only had one tunnel, so we were fairly limited in what we could do for handling skills. We worked on sending to the tunnel, rear crossing the tunnel (which didn't go so well last night....) and going through a pinwheel with bars on the ground. I also started to work her start line stay and was able to lead all the way out past the second jump without a problem. Yay!

Another piece of great news from last night was Secret's toy drive. My friend, Holly, made us a tuggy with a squeaker ball attached and Secret thinks this thing is AWESOME. We alternated between tugging as the reward and throwing it for her, but she was really into the tugging last night! The squeaker eventually died on the tuggy for whatever reason, so I did end up switching to her squeaky chicken at the end of the night to get her going again -- But this is nothing like how I previously had to change out toys every two minutes to keep her attention.

Secret was happy to see Ailie last night, so it was good to see that she remembers the "friend" she made a few weeks ago. She also readily approached another student's dog and rolled straight over on her belly for him, so that was good to see as well. She's been so snarky with new dogs that I'm happy to see her approach anyone willingly.

My cousin brought her young male BC, Rascal, by the office again yesterday and Secret seems to really like him, too. I see many play dates for them in the future, as we hope to be able to start Rascal on agility equipment this summer. They can learn together! :o)

We have a NADAC trial here in La Crosse this weekend, so Secret will get lots of socializing again -- and hopefully a chance to play on the Tunnelers course after the trial is done on Sunday!