Thursday, May 15, 2008

Weaves #4

At least I think it was class #4?

Iris was actually better than I expected her to be. She started class being really good hanging out with me. She was fine up until one of the other dogs in class started playing tug. At least at home, Iris likes to be the "supervisor." Neither of the other dogs gets to play without her permission and that only happens if she's also playing with them (even if I tell her to knock it off and stop acting like such a b*tch, Zeus will still slink off. At least Henry will ignore her). The play growling that goes with tugging probably sets her off a bit too. We went outside, walked around a bit, and alternated between attention games and watching the other dogs from outside.

During Iris' first turn to practice, she did well. I think I was more fun than I was last week? Maybe? After she got some zoomies out of her system, she was more focused on the weave poles than she has been. She likes doing jumps and tunnels, but I think she's starting to get that weaves are important too. Iris tired herself out running laps around the barn, so she was much more willing to relax in her crate. When it was her second turn to practice, her brain was a little fried, but at least she stayed out there playing! Even though the other dogs were all in cars by then, all of the people were in the barn, including a few guys. Sometimes guys are scary, so I was happy that she didn't seem concerned by them.

When we left, Iris got to meet Julie's new Cardigan Welsh Corgi, Bug. Iris did really good (and so did Bug)! Bug is close enough to Beagle-size that I bet she'd play with him (or maybe it's that Corigis and Beagles are duck sized?) Actually, Iris is almost always good about meeting dogs (who'd have guessed that! She gets lots of practice meeting the "oh he's friendly" loose dogs at the state park). The only time she gets snarky is when the other dog is really in her face. It's when other dogs are doing things, like running or playing or barking, that she needs to supervise it. She's a loud supervisor.

Now with only 2 classes left, we need to do some practicing this week! Hopefully my real life stuff will start to work out a bit (maybe? hopefully? please?) because Iris says she's neglected and is going to call animal control if I don't start giving her more attention. So says the dog who's behind me sleeping on the couch. Yeah, she has a rough life.

8 comments:

Katrin said...

You both did a very good job last night! And yes I think you were more fun! :-)

This is tough stuff to be learning so soon out of beginner class, but you're both doing great!

Jules said...

It was awesome The Iris didn’t care that Carmen was in the barn during the second run and getting yummy duck. And she did notice her.

Ike used to be a terrible fun-police-dog. He has gotten much better. Cat doctored this photo as a joke for me:

http://slowasmolasses.blogspot.com/2007/10/fun-police.html

Bug thinks iris is very pretty. He says we herding dogs have got to stick together.

Blue said...

ROTFL! That's an awesome picture of Ike. What did you do to convince Ike that he doesn't always have to police everyone else's fun?

Jules said...

Not 100% sure, but it was definately a combination of factors. With Ike I think part of it was a confidence thing. I wish there were an easier answer!

Blue said...

I should know better than to expect "easy." At least there's not something that I'm completely missing (yet!)

Cat, Tessie, & Strata said...

Iris is the tall, loud "fun police" officer! It's official!

I ran across that picture in my photobucket account the other day and had a good laugh. Alanna calls Striker (Strata's sire) the "fun police" all the time.

We need some t-shirts, I think...

Jules said...

Beauty of the Beasts actually makes fun police shirts!!

http://www.beautyofthebeasts.com/products.php?id=350

Blue said...

Those are great! I think we do need t-shirts. Iris is definitely the "loud" officer.