Busy Week

We've been keeping ourselves quite busy lately even if we didn't have agility class last week. It's staying light so much later, we've gotten a lot of training in. We've gotten quite a bit of weave pole training - Iris is now doing the first three poles without cages. Finally we're making some good progress! Iris had a very hard time getting past no cages on the side that I wasn't on. It seems like once we got over that hurdle, we've made much faster progress.

The big progress this week was really when I brought Iris to watch some of the NADAC trial on Saturday. I fully expected her to have regressed a little because we haven't been anywhere with that many dogs and people since last fall. Nope! Iris was awesome. I was able to bring her much closer to the ring (and therefore, closer in general to dogs and people moving around) than I've ever been able to in the past. The only thing that still seemed to get her worked up a little was other dogs barking. She was able to just hang out with me while I chatted with a couple people fron our agility class. She even lay down in the grass for a bit. I was very proud of my girl! She was wearing a gentle leader, which I admit I do feel is a little like cheating because Iris is definitely better behaved with it on. On the other hand, if she's behaving better to begin with than I have more oppertunities to reward her for good behavior. There's another NADAC trial next weekend that I'm really hoping to get her over to since we seem to have some good momentum. It might be a little tough since I have a couple other things going on, but we might be able to squeeze it in on Sunday morning.

Tonight, we were back to our regular agility class. It's a full class of six dogs. The course was short with a dogwalk/tunnel discrimination. Also, there was a line we weren't supposed to cross, but I'm pretty sure I was bad about remembering the line. The problem with the discrimination is that Iris loves the dogwalk. If it was up to her, she'd choose the dog walk everytime. I'm pretty sure if Iris was designing her own agility course, it would be mostly contact obstacles and flying off the end of the teeter would actually be required instead of against the rules. Unfortunately for Iris, tonight she was supposed to be in the tunnel and not on the dogwalk. Once Katrin reminded me just how much I need to push Iris to get her in the tunnel, I think we did pretty good. Last time we saw this dogwalk/tunnel set up, I seem to remember a certain red dog sqeeezing in between the tunnel and the wall in order to climb over the tunnel and onto the dogwalk. Iris did a much better job tonight. She went over the dogwalk a few times, but I did get her through the tunnel a few times too. Because I had to be so close to the end of the dogwalk to get her into the tunnel, I ended up doing a rear cross before the last two jumps. I'm sort of thinking about putting her in the 5 Directions class next session instead of the Tuesday class. I think we're both a little weak on the directional commands. I don't think Iris has a great grasp of some of the commands and even if she did, I never remember to use them anyway. I'm not always the most vocal person and sometimes I feel like I forget to give Iris enough feedback. Something to think on.

Tomorrow night, we're starting a reactive dogs class for agility dogs. It should be interesting. We met with the instructor, Carolyn, last week. I think it's going to be a really good class for Iris and it's right down the street too.

Agility and Stress

Iris was really not herself during class on Tues. I should try to write about class sooner so that I remember it better, especially on nights she's acting odd. A few things I noticed:

• Iris fidgeted during most of the drive to class. Normally she sleeps for most of the ride.
• There were a few different cars coming and going to take care of the horses during our class, and Iris was very aware of them. It's not unusual for her to be extremely aware of cars, but there haven't been any cars coming/going during class all winter.
• Iris pooped before class and in the arena during class. She always poops before class starts and never does a second time. Ok, it's not the first time she's gone in the arena, but it's only when she doesn't go before class starts. Poop looked normal but maybe she wasn't feeling well?
• Iris' jumping was terrible. A few times she plowed through a jump bar face first. For her to be crashing through the jump bar with her face, she wasn't getting much height at all. I'm not sure if this was because she wasn't feeling well (something was sore? Out of alignment?). Her gait looked normal to me. Or maybe she was just wasn't paying attention a all to what she she was doing? She seemed more weirded out by the other dogs than she usually is. I don't think this was a vision issue. Other than during that one class, her vision seems like it's still ok.
  
• Iris was having more trouble focusing on me at the start line than usual. Katrin had me start with Iris instead of leading out which did help.

The only time I really felt like Iris' brain was on agility and not something else was around the dogwalk. She loves the contact obstacles, so she didn't have any trouble with the dogwalk/tunnel discrimination. The tire was out again, and Iris still struggled with it. I really need to build a tire! I want to build one that is displaceable, but I don't have good plans for it. Hmmm. I'll have to think on that one.

No agility class next week, but we might be starting a reactive dogs class. I think Iris would really benefit from another reactive dogs class. I can't manage the drive to Franklin twice a week right now, so I'm going to try a class closer by (even though I really like Emma).

On a completely unrelated note, a couple different people have commented on how good Iris' coat is right now. She is very soft and shiney right now even though she hasn't had a recent bath. I guess her new diet is agreeing with her.

Jay Sisler

The Working Aussie Source posted an old (1950s) home movie of Jay Sisler working his preforming dogs! If you know anything about Aussies then you've heard of Jay. Jay's rodeo show put the Aussie into the national spotlight, and most Aussies now have at least one of his dogs in their pedigree. So even if you haven't heard of Jay, you've probably met an Aussie descended from his dogs (including Iris!) His dogs even appeared in a couple of Disney films including Stub: The Best Cowdog in the West. I didn't realize that one was available on DVD, but now I might have to pick it up.

The best part of the movie might be just how much the dogs seem to enjoy working for him.

Part 1


Part 2


Of course I love the Aussies, but that Greyhound is pretty amazing too!

Beach Portraits

Over the course of our beach trips, I decided that I wanted to get some nice portraits of Iris. Iris was really not interested in portrait time. Beach time is for running, not for sitting.

I was amazed by the number of photos I ended up with that she has her eyes closed in.


Then when I finally did get her to look at me, all she wanted to do was make funny faces. I really think she's actually a gremlin.


Iris, how'd you end up with sand all over your nose?

What? I wasn't doing anything.

I had a very specific shot in mind, and this is as close as I could get -


You can really see just how much she tends to walk on a tightrope. It's not a bad shot, but I had a much nicer shot in my head. The problem I had was as soon as I knelt down to be at Iris' eye level, she would turn and come toward me. Most of the moving shots are her moving straight toward me. I snuck in a couple shots when she wasn't looking at me but try as I might, I just couldn't get the one I had in my head. It reminded me just how nice it is to have a second person acting as handler. One of these days I'll have to bring another human to the beach with us.

Ok, I did actually manage to get a couple of shots that I'm happy with.

This next one is actually my favorite shot. She's busy supervising the dogs at the other end of the beach. Crazy dog.


Her profile looks so much "sharper" than she does from the front. Her profile photos have such a different feeling to them than her straight on shots.

I did eventually let her go back to doing what she really loves.

Jump Boxes

Last night class was jump boxes. Oh no..... Actually, I think it's pretty safe to say that it was the best jump box class I've had with Iris. This may have been because the focus was on front crosses and not rear crosses, but I still thought it was a very good class for us. In the past, Iris has stressed out about jump boxes a little (possibly because I get nervous doing them? I've never been confident about that sort of exercise). I had the day off from work yesterday, so I think we were both pretty relaxed going into class.

Here are the course diagrams and a good definition of "layering" from Julie. It's the first time (I think) that I've tried to do layering with Iris.

The first time we did the first course, I didn't give myself enough space after the fourth jump in order to be outside the boxes. The trick was to ask Iris to go a little wide between jumps 4 and 5 so I could get on the outside. Once I figured out where to put my feet, Iris had no problem with the added distance. Good girl! I still have some trouble figuring out where exactly to put my feet for front crosses, but the second time we did the course we made it through the whole course! Making it over 7 jumps doesn't really sound like much, but last time we did jump boxes in class, we really struggled through it. Granted, this class was a very different concept than the February class, but I still feel like it's a little victory.

The second course had two front crosses and the dog had to make a tight turn after the second to last jump. We haven't really worked on tight in a while and I kept forgetting to give poor Iris enough space to come between me and the jump. It's not that I was crowding her space - there physically wasn't enough space for her to walk between me and jump. Bad handler! After a couple tries, I did remember and then Iris had a easy time with it. Katrin also pointed out that I kept dropping my arm and confusing my dog. If I'm thinking a lot about the course, I forget to keep my arm up and I don't give poor Iris enough information. Definitely something I need to remember!

At the end of the night, I tried to run her one time too many. Iris had a great night up until the last run, and I think by then she was completely brain-fried. She'd been pretty stressed about the other dogs all night and by that point, I'd completely lost her focus. Other dogs making noise is a HUGE trigger for Iris, and I think it's something I need to made a big effort to work on with her. You would think after living with a Beagle that she'd be completely desensitized to barking!

I admit it, I cringed a little when I got to class and saw the jump boxes but I actually had a really good time and learned a lot.

Beach Fun!

So this is where we've been hanging out for the last few weekends.


Gorgeous? Yes. Probably too much driving? Also yes. Worth it? Absolutely.

Hey! What's all that stuff?

Pfftttt!!!! Definitely NOT water! Yuck!

Is the water hiding in the shells? Pffttt! That's not water either!
Hey! I thought you said there was water at the beach?

I quickly discovered that it's a bit of challenge to photograph a dog that wants to be right here:


I shouldn't complain! Part of me really wanted her to go out a little ways so I could actually get some shots of her, but I was actually pretty pleased that she was so willing to stick around.

Instead, we practiced stays...

...and recalls!

Notice that NONE of her paws are actually touching the ground. She thought it was just the greatest game ever if I asked her stay, walked way down the beach, called her, and then started running. Retrievers chase balls, herders chase.... people? Silly girl. Not necessarily a safe game to play while holding camera. I almost got run over numerous times.


It seems a certain Aussie doesn't always understand how to slow down!

We saw these guys almost every time we went. Iris was very interested, but also very good (she was on a leash at that point).


We even waved to this guy when he flew over us. Very cool!

And then time for some more running...

SPRING!!!

I suppose the big question is, does she ever stop running? Maybe, by the very end she starts to get a little tired. Tired, but VERY happy.

When the sky starts looking like this, I take that as a cue that it's time for us to head home.


I'm going to see if any of the more northern beaches allow dogs still now that we've lost Horseneck to the birds.

Goodbye Horseneck until the fall!

Tues Agility

My brain was very fuzzy on Tues. I'm glad Julie posted the course map because otherwise, I might not remember the class well enough to blog about it. In hindsight, I maybe should have stayed home. I was practically falling asleep driving home after work (leaving work early enough to get to class also means sitting in horrible traffic. It's a 30 min drive with no traffic, a 40 min drive if I leave at 6, and a 50-60 min drive if I leave at 5. I really need to see if I can figure out another way to get home).

It was a very good good class, and I'm glad I went. The course had two 180s, and I think I have a MUCH better idea of what the difference is between a 180 and serpentine and also how to handle both. For serpentine, the dog should be splicing the jumps and running in a straighter line. For 108s, the dog needs to be reversing direction more dramatically. So, for the course on Tues, I tried to do a cross (front cross-ish thing) between jumps 8 and 9. I wasn't very neat about it, but we did pull it off. I did a front cross after the first set of weaves which was much neater although it felt a little like cheating because the weaves had all the cages on so I knew Iris wasn't going anywhere!

The first time we ran the course, we had trouble with the last tunnel and jump. Iris came out of tunnel thinking she was going for the second tunnel, not the jump. The next time, I led out from the teeter and did a front cross before the tunnel. It worked better especially since I've been practicing stays with her anyway.

Behavior wise, she was a little snarky but not over the top like she has been. In general, the dogs were pretty quiet on Tues, which is always easier for my bossy dog.

EDIT - I keep forgetting to mention, Iris is somewhat officially switched to raw diet. She's thrilled! Every time I put her bowl down, she checks with me to make sure it's really ok for her to eat. Very funny!