I could post about all those things...or I could show you pictures of 7 having fun in the sun!
Sunday, July 10, 2011
So...What's new?
Don't take my lack of posts to indicate nothing's going on here. Quite the opposite in fact, since my last post; 7 competed in his first Regionals (and my first Regionals without Jazz *sadface*), he's also been taking SuperDogs training classes (which are the most fun EVER!), Cooper and 7 are learning tracking from their Aunty Jessica, and Jazz ate about a Kilogram of pork ribs...That last one isn't really post-worthy but I'm writing while looking at him sprawled out on the floor, unable to move and more closely resembling a beach ball than a dog.
I could post about all those things...or I could show you pictures of 7 having fun in the sun!
I could post about all those things...or I could show you pictures of 7 having fun in the sun!
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Saving Lives and Taking Names
I just got back from my trip to Cancun and I have to say, that was one of the most amazing experiences of my life!
Just to be a part of something like that was unbelievable. I feel very changed and I'm thrilled with the new outlook it's given me. Never before have I been surrounded by so many people I've come to profoundly admire and respect for their unfailing dedication to the animals. Ever day on our bus-ride to and from the clinic each and every person would scan the scenery outside their window. The silence would be punctuated by the occasional call of "Dog!" or "Cat!" at which point everyone would swivell simultaneously to look out the caller's window. Everyone was just so anxious to check on the well-being of each and every animal they came in contact with.
I assisted mainly in the dog recovery room which took in the dogs after their surgery, while they were still asleep. We would work fast to get their nails clipped, ears cleaned, incision area scrubbed, picked ticks and applied flea/tick prevention. Simultaneously we'd be monitoring them to make sure their breathing stayed normal, gums stayed pink and that they started to wake up in the average time (which changed daily as the vets had to keep changing their med protocol due to shortages). Occasionally I would help in the surgery room, cleaning instruments (NOT a job for the squeamish, I find out :D) and on the last day I helped bring dogs in from outside and get them on the table. They would come in, having been given some pre-meds so they were usually pretty dopey. I would shave a small patch of hair on their front leg and then hold the dogs for the vet tech to place an IV catheter. The tech would then administer more anesthesia to put them competely out and then they would be intubated. The small dogs and puppies were the worst, squirming and crying. Of course, everyone's favourites were the Pit Bulls! So stoic and loving they never gave us any trouble. I think I enjoyed working in recovery the most. As the dogs woke up you got to spend some time cuddling and getting to know them (if they were friendly, of course! The aggressive ones got muzzled and put in crates as soon as they started waking up)
I went on the Sunday before the clinic started to help set up. While we were there, one dog was brought in that was very near death (unfortunately, he had to be put down the next day due to overwhelming health problems) as well as a very sweet female dog who had a wire wrapped around her paw, right down to the bone. Both these dogs got treated without us even having unpacked all the supplies! They also did a street-dog round up on Sunday which introduced me to these two...
I fell in love with the mom-dog, "Lola," immediately. She was just the sweetest, most playful young dog! She surprised me with her outgoingness and super cuddling skills. Her son, who we named "Stretch" proved himself to be an extremely endearing brat and he soon had me wrapped around his tiny paw as well. Of course, it didn't take me long to attach a tag to their collars that read "EMMA'S". Lola is now being fostered by 7-sitter extraordinaire Erin, and "Stretch", now renamed Luongo, has wormed his way into my brother's heart and that's where he'll stay!
I have many stories to tell about my trip but this post has already gotten too long. I'll just leave you with some pictures, to give a better idea of what it was like...
Just to be a part of something like that was unbelievable. I feel very changed and I'm thrilled with the new outlook it's given me. Never before have I been surrounded by so many people I've come to profoundly admire and respect for their unfailing dedication to the animals. Ever day on our bus-ride to and from the clinic each and every person would scan the scenery outside their window. The silence would be punctuated by the occasional call of "Dog!" or "Cat!" at which point everyone would swivell simultaneously to look out the caller's window. Everyone was just so anxious to check on the well-being of each and every animal they came in contact with.
I assisted mainly in the dog recovery room which took in the dogs after their surgery, while they were still asleep. We would work fast to get their nails clipped, ears cleaned, incision area scrubbed, picked ticks and applied flea/tick prevention. Simultaneously we'd be monitoring them to make sure their breathing stayed normal, gums stayed pink and that they started to wake up in the average time (which changed daily as the vets had to keep changing their med protocol due to shortages). Occasionally I would help in the surgery room, cleaning instruments (NOT a job for the squeamish, I find out :D) and on the last day I helped bring dogs in from outside and get them on the table. They would come in, having been given some pre-meds so they were usually pretty dopey. I would shave a small patch of hair on their front leg and then hold the dogs for the vet tech to place an IV catheter. The tech would then administer more anesthesia to put them competely out and then they would be intubated. The small dogs and puppies were the worst, squirming and crying. Of course, everyone's favourites were the Pit Bulls! So stoic and loving they never gave us any trouble. I think I enjoyed working in recovery the most. As the dogs woke up you got to spend some time cuddling and getting to know them (if they were friendly, of course! The aggressive ones got muzzled and put in crates as soon as they started waking up)
I went on the Sunday before the clinic started to help set up. While we were there, one dog was brought in that was very near death (unfortunately, he had to be put down the next day due to overwhelming health problems) as well as a very sweet female dog who had a wire wrapped around her paw, right down to the bone. Both these dogs got treated without us even having unpacked all the supplies! They also did a street-dog round up on Sunday which introduced me to these two...
I fell in love with the mom-dog, "Lola," immediately. She was just the sweetest, most playful young dog! She surprised me with her outgoingness and super cuddling skills. Her son, who we named "Stretch" proved himself to be an extremely endearing brat and he soon had me wrapped around his tiny paw as well. Of course, it didn't take me long to attach a tag to their collars that read "EMMA'S". Lola is now being fostered by 7-sitter extraordinaire Erin, and "Stretch", now renamed Luongo, has wormed his way into my brother's heart and that's where he'll stay!
I have many stories to tell about my trip but this post has already gotten too long. I'll just leave you with some pictures, to give a better idea of what it was like...
Monday, March 21, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
7's second agility trial
Better late than never, here is some video from 7's second agility trial. He Q'd in 5 out of 7 runs. 2 Advanced Standards, 1 Advanced Gamblers, 1 Starters Jumpers (moving him up to Advanced) and 1 Starters Snooker.
He now needs one more Starters Snooker Q to get his Starters Games Dog of Canada (SGDC) and one more Advanced Standard Q to get his Advanced Agility Dog of Canada (AADC) and move up to Masters!
I couldn't be more proud of my Big Red Dog and am very excited about Regionals. Now that I know he can focus in a trial environment with his buddies around, I feel (mostly) confident about Regionals in May.
Here's the video...
In other news, I'm going to be going to Cancun at the end of April to participate in a free spay/neuter clinic with "Cats and Dogs International" (CANDI)! I am more than a little excited about this trip, although it will be hard to leave my own poochies for a whole week! 7 will be going to stay with his favourite aunty Erin and the Littles will stay behind in the capable hands of my mom.
CANDI pays for everything on these trips; flights, accomodations (we'll be staying at an all-inclusive resort!), meals etc! All I have to bring is some money for tips. It's feeling like a trip of a lifetime and I'm getting very impatient realizing I have to wait a whole month :D
He now needs one more Starters Snooker Q to get his Starters Games Dog of Canada (SGDC) and one more Advanced Standard Q to get his Advanced Agility Dog of Canada (AADC) and move up to Masters!
I couldn't be more proud of my Big Red Dog and am very excited about Regionals. Now that I know he can focus in a trial environment with his buddies around, I feel (mostly) confident about Regionals in May.
Here's the video...
In other news, I'm going to be going to Cancun at the end of April to participate in a free spay/neuter clinic with "Cats and Dogs International" (CANDI)! I am more than a little excited about this trip, although it will be hard to leave my own poochies for a whole week! 7 will be going to stay with his favourite aunty Erin and the Littles will stay behind in the capable hands of my mom.
CANDI pays for everything on these trips; flights, accomodations (we'll be staying at an all-inclusive resort!), meals etc! All I have to bring is some money for tips. It's feeling like a trip of a lifetime and I'm getting very impatient realizing I have to wait a whole month :D
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Training Project
I've decided I'd like to take on an ambitious training project for the spring. I'm going to teach 7 a running contact. For the (agility) uninitiated readers this means that instead of having 7 come to a full stop at the end of contact equipment (dog-walk, A-frame) excluding the teeter for obvious reasons :D I will have him continue running flat out.
There is a painted "zone" (often yellow) at the bottome of these pieces of equipment that the dogs feet must touch. This is a very difficult thing to train simply because it's ambiguous. Dogs HATE ambiguity. Running to the bottom of a long board and stopping when your front feet touch dirt is black and white. It's an easy concept to understand and there are definete criteria that you can teach
seperately before putting it all together. The running contact is basically taught- (through my preferred method) Continue striding accross the board and make sure your feet hit somewhere in the bottom third of the down ramp. Simple, right? Not so much. It combines a LOT of muscle memory as well as some seriously whip-fast timing with the clicker or marker word when the dog makes their last stride and it hits inside the yellow zone and roughly where you'd like to see it. For example, you might not reward the dog for getting a paw in the yellow zone that is too high up and thus dangerously close to not hitting at all. Conversely, you don't want the dog too careful and adjusting his stride awkwardly to make the very bottom of the plank.
I'm planning to just teach the dog-walk first as it's the more difficult piece and if that goes well, we'll see if his skills transfer to the A-frame.
You may be wondering why I would even bother teaching this new concept to 7. I mean, he already has super reliable contacts that have (so far) held up in a trial situation, so why try something else. There are several reasons...foremost; all the coolest agility people are doing it...and I'm nothing if not a sheeple. But, it also intrigues me as a challenge and I don't think that, even if we end up failing miserably, it will mess up our current contacts. If anything, it should make them faster. I will be sure to name it differently and continue cueing "touch!" when I want a stopped contact.
I've decided I'd like to try Silvia Trkman's method as I've been able to find a lot of (free!) information on it and most of it's directly from the source. Here is a video of several dogs trained using this method...
Here is another trainer I love who has trained the Trkman running contact as well as a stopped 2 on 2 off contact (with nose touch)
There is a painted "zone" (often yellow) at the bottome of these pieces of equipment that the dogs feet must touch. This is a very difficult thing to train simply because it's ambiguous. Dogs HATE ambiguity. Running to the bottom of a long board and stopping when your front feet touch dirt is black and white. It's an easy concept to understand and there are definete criteria that you can teach
seperately before putting it all together. The running contact is basically taught- (through my preferred method) Continue striding accross the board and make sure your feet hit somewhere in the bottom third of the down ramp. Simple, right? Not so much. It combines a LOT of muscle memory as well as some seriously whip-fast timing with the clicker or marker word when the dog makes their last stride and it hits inside the yellow zone and roughly where you'd like to see it. For example, you might not reward the dog for getting a paw in the yellow zone that is too high up and thus dangerously close to not hitting at all. Conversely, you don't want the dog too careful and adjusting his stride awkwardly to make the very bottom of the plank.
I'm planning to just teach the dog-walk first as it's the more difficult piece and if that goes well, we'll see if his skills transfer to the A-frame.
You may be wondering why I would even bother teaching this new concept to 7. I mean, he already has super reliable contacts that have (so far) held up in a trial situation, so why try something else. There are several reasons...foremost; all the coolest agility people are doing it...and I'm nothing if not a sheeple. But, it also intrigues me as a challenge and I don't think that, even if we end up failing miserably, it will mess up our current contacts. If anything, it should make them faster. I will be sure to name it differently and continue cueing "touch!" when I want a stopped contact.
I've decided I'd like to try Silvia Trkman's method as I've been able to find a lot of (free!) information on it and most of it's directly from the source. Here is a video of several dogs trained using this method...
Here is another trainer I love who has trained the Trkman running contact as well as a stopped 2 on 2 off contact (with nose touch)
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Quick Tip:
When hiking a bunch of dogs in the mountain, in the rain, you must remember a few things. If you are suddenly overcome with feelings of doggy love and general wellbeing you may feel inclined to break into song. This is normal. BUT, and this is important...first remove your hood. While a hood provides wonderful protection from icky, wet rain and has surprisingly good acoustics, making your rendition of "You light up my life" sound absolutely fantastic! It also unfortunately creates a cone of silence.
You will not, for instance, hear the man walking directly behind you. That is until, he clears his throat LOUDLY. You see, he will have been trying to get past the weird (but vocally gifted) girl walking with her giant herd of dogs for quite some time. However, you are wearing brand new boots which make you feel a bit unbalanced. Smartly, you will be walking with wide, swingy, balancey arms on a narrow trail, making casual passing impossible. When his LOUD, painful sounding throat noises finally get through your soundproof hood, try not to startle too violently. Those new boots will be unable to keep you upright and you will fall sideways into a puddle. Noisy throat man will then take his opportunity to jog past you, because, who in their right mind would help up a girl who is getting her face washed by numerous dogs while laughing hysterically.
...You're welcome.
You will not, for instance, hear the man walking directly behind you. That is until, he clears his throat LOUDLY. You see, he will have been trying to get past the weird (but vocally gifted) girl walking with her giant herd of dogs for quite some time. However, you are wearing brand new boots which make you feel a bit unbalanced. Smartly, you will be walking with wide, swingy, balancey arms on a narrow trail, making casual passing impossible. When his LOUD, painful sounding throat noises finally get through your soundproof hood, try not to startle too violently. Those new boots will be unable to keep you upright and you will fall sideways into a puddle. Noisy throat man will then take his opportunity to jog past you, because, who in their right mind would help up a girl who is getting her face washed by numerous dogs while laughing hysterically.
...You're welcome.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Awesome Dog is Awesome.
I'm a little late with this post as it's about something that happened over 2 weeks ago but, whadayagonnado?
So, 7 went 7 out of 8 in his first agility trial ever...*pauses a suitable length of time to allow mouths a chance to return to normal, closed positions*
Needless to say I'm a little proud of the baby dog! The first day, Saturday, was one of the best days in agility I've ever had. It wasn't so much that we Q'd in all four runs (that's super nerdy agility talk for "we had four perfect, fault-free runs) but that 7 maintained awesome drive and focus throughout the day and still remembered all his extra boring criteria like where to enter weave poles and how to stop at the end of each contact 'till mom says "break!" He is a dog who really likes to grab life by the cojones and a super exciting, loud, stressful trial environment is just the sort of place I could expect him to lose his mind completely until all his brain can manage is "look at that!" "Ohmydog is this dirt!?" "Are those WALLS?" "I can't believe the AIR I'm breathing right now!!!"
I was very happy with his ability to keep it together. Sunday was a little more exciting as that was the day Jesus Christ decided to visit us at the barn. Also known as Ryan...7's personal saviour.
I mean, look at him! How do you expect 7 to keep his focus when THIS angelic creature is in the vicinity? I can barely keep my composure with Ryan around!
We still managed to pull 3 q's out of the 4 runs on Sunday mostly due to the fact that these were starters courses so there was some leeway given when 7 would be running furiously down a line of jumps and then all of a sudden get a wiff or eau de Ryan or hear what could be a "I'm in trouble and only a Vizsla can save me!" bark, and veer off course for a bit to check it out.
Our only faulted run of the trial occured when the trial organizers in their infinite wisdom scheduled Ryan to run right before me in the Snooker run! I mean, come on! Everyone knows 7 needs at least a half a day to recuperate after watching Ryan fly whimsically through a course, while singing operatic criticisms and congratulations at his mom's chosen handling path. I knew we were about to break our streak when I had to hold 7 by the scruff of the neck at the start line while he sat craning his neck around me trying to catch a glimpse of Ryan sailing out the out gate.
I didn't mind not Q'ing Snooker as it's my least favourite class and I don't mind staying at the starters level a little longer just to avoid the more difficult courses facing us at the higher levels. As for the rest of the weekend, we moved up in Standard as well as Gamblers. We also technically would have moved up in jumpers but you have to get 2 Q's under 2 different judges and unfortunately we had the same judge for both jumpers classes.
Here's a pic of 7 with his ADC ribbon which he got under judge (and super awesome auntie!) Julia.
Here's a video of Saturday's runs.
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