Happy 9th Birthday, Mick!

Nine years ago Mick launched himself into the world, and my life, with an unparalleled zest for life and adventure.

...He brought along with him a strong mind, unpredictability, and a passionate drive  for discovery.

This is spiced with a wild sense of humour, a laser sharp mind, and unbelieveable problem solving skills. 

Whatever he tackles. it's done with an all or nothing attitude! An unforgettable experience when he lets you in to ride along, and one this (former?) A-type-continues to throroughly enjoy :-).

Mick's also gentle, sensitive, stoic and very perceptive. Without fail, he shows up at my elbow, 15 minutes before I'm planning to  go somewhere, and gives me "The Stare." It seems he pays a bit more attention than I suspected..:-).

He's also remarkably tolerant of young puppies, and has never let me down as the world's best nanny.

Saying he's unique is an understatement!

...Because of that, I suspect that doG paused when she created him, and even gave this fawn boy a customized look ;-)...

I keep expecting that Mick will start to adapt a more tranquil lifestyle, but at 9 years, I've yet to see any signs of it. That wicked twinkle is still very much evident in those soul reaching eyes, so I know there are more eventful journeys in our future :-).

I think George Bernard Shaw must have been thinking of this same spirit when he wrote,
" We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing."...

Happy Birthday, Big Guy :-).

TEMPermament

The drop in temps, along with a dusting of snow, brings out the endless capacity for play that dwells in these three, and takes it to a whole new level. :-)

The interesting thing is that it's not the youngest, but the oldest who usually initiates..As he enters his 9th winter, Mick's Puppy Racing rivals anything that Chase has shown us so far. And the others are more than happy to join him!







Even ever changing "Frankenpup", new to the whole winter thing, was game to jump in with the big boyz in their play this morning :-)












I'm not exactly sure when I lost my child-like, magical love of snow and winter, but I can certainly tell you the day some eight years ago when I got it back :-)... These guys have a way of bringing you into their realm...

Winter days are the most precious in our memories, filled with skijoring, snowshoeing and just running in the snow!

Power of love

Although none of the boyz is certified for therapy, they seem to know what to do in that area, as they had their first unofficial group therapy visit yesterday.

We stopped in to the Pet food store in town, and as usual, one or two of the boyz gets to go in with me. Today was Chase's turn. He calmly trotted into the store and located the treat bin where then sat and looked expectantly :-). Good boy!

When we were walking back to the vehicle, I could see three bikers standing on the corner, leaning on their motorcyles. These guys were hardcore -- full leathers, colours, the whole nine yards...Now I'm not one to judge a book by it's cover, but I have to admit, these guys were intimidating. I did a quick look around and there were lots of folks close by so I just kept heading to the vehicle.

The bikers all turned their heads as I approached the Santa Fe, and then one starting walking with determination towards us. Chase, who hasn't met anyone who wasn't a friend, was doing his best to get closer to the approaching visitor... Then something very special happened...

As he approached, the biker said, "That's a bearded collie!" and knelt right down in the parking lot to let Chase work his magic with a good mugging. Well, for one thing, not many people can identify a beardie puppy, and secondly, his demeanor completely changed as he lost himself in the puppy kisses! This big rough, tough looking guy looked like a little boy playing with Chase.

The gentle, loving expression on this guy's face was heartwarming.... I tried not to notice the tears that dampened his face as I opened the back hatch of the Santa Fe and presented Mick and Bryce in their crates... With one hand on Chase, he leaned forward and let the other boyz kiss and nuzzle him through their crates. We chatted about some of the activities the boyz and I do together and he seemed to not be able to get enough of them.

Beaming, he turned to thank me, and told me that he'd grown up with a beardie, rescued from the Humane Society and never got over losing her at 16 yrs...Life changed for him after that, and he acknowledged that his lifestyle now wouldn't be fair to a dog, but he missed having one in his life..

We said our good byes, and I went away with two thoughts... Everyone has a story, and it's worth the time sometimes to hear it, and secondly, never underestimate the lasting power of love between humans and the doGs that own them.

And then there were three!

I'm WAY behind on updates to the blog, but with good reason. On August 1, the boyz and I welcomed another brown beardie boy to the fold -- Chantilly's Thyme Moves on of XTC (Chase).

What I discovered right away, was the at he boyz and I had settled into being fairly complacent about our training and routine :-). Chase brought us the fresh energy we all needed to jumpstart our lives again.

He's a joy, and has settled in beautifully. We had the "good cop, bad cop" thing going on for a while, with Mick being the ultra tolerant good cop, and Bryce providing the laser sharp corrections when required. Let's just say, Chase doesn't use HIM for a tug toy ;-).

As the baby's grown and changed, so have the dynamics... Mick is now starting to put up with less, and Bryce is encouraging more rough housing and running games. Just this week, Chase has been brave enough to even join the big boyz in their after meal wrestles!


And me? Well, I've had to step it up a bit in terms of organizing my training. In some ways it's easier, and a great opportunity to take everyone back to the start and work foundation... The BEST thing about a new puppy IMHO, is that I get to see my world again as new :-).

New frontiers

While the early Spring weather is teasing us into dreaming about outdoor training sessions and the ability to sport fewer layers, it also brings about another round of birthdays for the boyz, and a reminder that time is precious, and needs to be used wisely in the life cycle of canine training.

We're forging ahead with our quest for sychronistic communication in the agility ring, and also in the sport of Rally. The time has also come to revisit our love of obedience. We've enlisted a masterful guide for this journey who is proficient at reading the boyz. Mick's a "Backyard Champion" and can perform all the required exercises up to utility... He just can't find me in a ring located anywhere else ;-). Bryce is a blank slate, and although he has his RN, has no formal training in obedience at all (so no bad habits either ;-).

Mick's a funny one... He never misses a chance to let me know that I'll never really know him completely :-). Even at almost 8 yrs old, he still leaves me with my jaw hanging some days. Like today. Obedience assignment for this week is to take attention training on the road. No sweat, we're out all day today. Sooo... we get to the building center and I pop open the crate and invite Mick out to join me. The goal is to get even a nanosecond of attention in a new environment. OK, so it took 5 minutes, but we actually even got in a few steps of heeling. Success! But wait... I forgot about the uncanny ability that beardies have of drawing a crowd in a public place... I REALLY didn't expect to push him with asking for attention while ignoring other people and big scary trucks in the same session, but it happened. Then a very strange thing happened... As soon as Very Nice Lady came up to say hello, those wandering fawn eyes became glued to mine and I felt like I had another appendage attached to my left leg! Very Nice Lady was duly impressed with the "well trained boy" and I scratched my head and tried to process what just happened :-).

Bryce also sent me an interesting message vis a vis our new journey... Turns out he's the model of focus and patience when we're AWAY from home, but in the safety and privacy of his domain, he bounces around like a flea with approximately the same attention span for heel position?! What the??? In the parking lot, at the agility training center and at the butcher shop, I not only got attention, but actual heeling... Couldn't shake him. We floated across the parking lot in joyful unison...In the basement at home after dinner, it was as though I was asking for something completely unreasonable when I asked for a sit at heel postion, let alone a step INTO heel position?! I could feel his frustration levels rise so we cut it off and went searching for that nanosecond. After a few minutes, we got it, and once we got past the hissy fit about paying attention to ME for a minute, he glided into our companionable dance.

The communication was more familiar for everyone during our agiliy training session where it was inspiring to see how well we're beginning to read one another. Starting (back?) into something new has it's benefits :-).

I should catch up on our quest to learn a trick a week that we did all winter, and I our new adventures with the scooter! Stay tuned....

Trial and error and titles!

The boyz treated me to a great day of agility yesterday! They were primed and ready for what is our last trial of the year.

Mick decided to end things in style, and went 2 for 2 with a 1st place Q to earn his AAC Agility Dog of Canada (ADC) title, and then a 3rd place Q in his first every Steeplechase run! I should also note that Mick actually had to do the Steeplechase course twice... We got to the 10th obstacle and there was a problem with the timer on the first time through... We were the last dog at that height so we had to go right away again. The judge turned to me and said, "Oh! He was doing SO well!!!! :-("... I said, "No sweat, we'll do it again" :-)... And we did :-)... Even got Mick's 1st Start Line Stay EVER at a trial!!!

Bryce also brought his very best game face and stuck with me through a very twisty Masters Jumpers run :-). We're starting to get more comfortable with each other, and more work is needed on my handing. Bryce's super responsive attitude is forcing me to step up, because instead of driving us on to a smooth path sometimes, I run us into the ditch instead :-).

There were "technical difficulties" with the camera during the first part of the jumpers run, but you can see about half :-).

Trial the way you train...

… or train the way you trial :-)… Either way, it’s got to be the same. This is a mystery I’m trying to unravel with regards to Bryce’s weaves, and trial performance in general.

Location: Red Gate Arena (our regular training facility)
Time: 12:30pm
Temps: 6◦C, indoors, windy outside

Mick is pretty much the same boy in practice/training as he is at a trial – the good and the adventurous ;-). Bryce, however, tends lose a tiny bit of confidence at a trial – almost like stage fright, if I were to anthropomorphize. I’m never quite sure which “Bryce” is coming to the startline with me :-). I think, with time, as well as consistency and awareness on my part, this will resolve itself, so I’m trying not to adjust MY behavior at trials, but I know I do… If he’s “needy” at the startline, I babysit and he I can see from watching video that he gets a bit worse. This became measurably worse when we moved up to Masters… I think my lack of experience at this level, coupled with tighter courses has caused him to slow down and watch me like a hawk during a trial.

So the criteria for our training session at Red Gate Arena yesterday was based on getting him to drive the line and maintain confidence. To recap the video (dark, need to adjust the settings), we started with speed circles in both directions, no crosses initially. I did add crosses later.

We then moved on to weaves which were just what we want (independent, confident) from many directions -- off of contacts, with rear cross etc. As with all training sessions, we added some SLS work and self-control. I finished up with some tunnel-DW discriminations that I didn’t tape but that he had 100% success with…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQyWrh-LUgo

Mick’s driving ahead pretty nicely during trials so we’re adding more front and rear crosses to his speed circles to get used to each other’s preferred timing :-)…

Mick needs constant contact work to remind him that there is a yellow part to consider. At almost 8 yrs old, he’s decided that running contacts are the way to go. He gets them consistently, so now I’m working to build some lateral distance and more independence so that I can move to another position in a trial.

This is the first time in a month that Mick’s seen 12 weaves… Got his entry on the onside, but still struggles a bit with the offside. Got it after the second try so it’s coming :-). You’ve come a LONG way baby ;-).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVN6YKXuiEw&feature=channel_page

It occurred to me yesterday, that there have been some progress milestones, but that I’m not tracking them as well as I am the things we need to work on. I think it’s important so I know what to not to take for granted, and to maintain :-)…So I’m going to start recording “attaboyz” to celebrate the fun ways we’ve moved the yardstick forward :-).

Attaboyz:
· 6 months ago, Mick wouldn’t walk into the building we were training in as he was afraid of the dome. Now he owns the place ;-)!
· 6 months ago, Mick wouldn’t stay with me for more than a second during training or at a trial… Now I can’t shake him (although one is never positive at a trial with Mick as he likes to add his own flavour to an event, I’ve chosen to celebrate the moment) :-).
· 6 months ago, Bryce wouldn’t even attempt the weaves… now he’s looking for them and powering through in practice, and getting the entries at trials.
· 6 months ago, Mick had no contact behavior, now he’s doing smooth, consistent running contacts including the teeter.
· 6 months ago, Bryce didn’t know about discriminations, now he’s got some understanding :-).