Our holidays

Merry Christmas from Dazzle!

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Dazzle and I have been visiting family since the 22nd, and I haven't really been keeping up on his blog.  So here's a few photos I've taken lately.

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On the Monday before our trip, we went to Columbus to visit with friends at their beautiful, brand new, all positive dog training center called "Posidog."

There are nice big mirrors behind the multi-colored drapes and the flooring is wonderful rubber squares that are easy on the joints.

During classes, they use dividers between the dogs to help the dogs concentrate until they are ready to work with more distractions. You can see some in the background.

One of the first tasks when we arrived at Dazzle's grandparent's house was baking cookies. It's hard to see in the photo, but his nose is covered with flour from getting too close to the counter when it "poofed" out from under the dough :-)

Supervising the baking of several batches of cookies was hard work, so he needed a nap in his favorite chair.  Just the right size and shape to curl up in.

He got a brand new Jolly Ball and several inches of snow for Christmas :-)  He was thrilled with both!

He spends a lot of time out in the snow!

Snow Face!  I'll need to update the blog title with this photo when I get a chance. :-) He likes to try to shove the ball through the snow at top speed and ends up with a face full of snow!

On dog watch... (& snow plow watch... & bird watch... &...) All are facinating to him. All we have outside the windows at home is boring corn fields. But here there are people and cars and dogs being walked and snow plows and all sorts of things going by to watch.

Today my niece and nephews came over to sled on the hill in back of my parent's house.  It's steeper than it looks!  Dazzle liked watching them and listening to them squeal and laugh.

But mostly he just wanted his ball thrown!

My brother loves to play rough with Dazzle and try to get the ball from him.  Dazzle likes to play "tease the human" and demo his jaw strength by holding on even when my brother lifts him off the ground!  He's mostly just hanging here.

So that brings this up to date.  Now I'm going to go spend more time with family.

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Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

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Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from "Da Boys"...

Dazzle had a sleep-over

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Since Dazzle and Coyote had another little tiff during the night, Dazzle is back to sleeping in his crate.  Night before last, I put Dazzle in his extra large crate in our bedroom next to our bed, as usual, just before I got into bed.  Nothing seemed amiss and nothing unusual till morning.  I heard scratching at the door of his covered crate before I was ready to get up.  Dazzle has only done this when he REALLY needed to go outside.  So I got up to let him out and to my surprise when I got to the door of his crate... There were TWO dog heads in there! 
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Apparently Bear (small beagle) had been sleeping in the back of the crate the night before when I put Dazzle in.  But there was no sign of any problem either when I put Dazzle in or during the night.  At least Bear and Dazzle are best buddies, so I'm sure that's why there were no problems.  And Dazzles usually sleep curled into a ball, so I'm sure both had plenty of room. But I thought it was cute that Dazzle had a guest for the night. Usually Bear sleeps in his own crate (with the door open) so I'm not sure why he decided to try into the larger accomodations :-)
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Several Things

Dazzle "grovelling" trying to get Sunstar to play

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It's been awhile since I posted, so there are a few things to share.  On the 16-17th we had a retired guide dog as our house guest.  She fit right in and was a pleasure to watch while her owner was out of town.  Dazzle tried hard to get her to play, and she did a little bit, but mostly she schnubbed him (to use a word coined by Mooch of the Mutts comics).

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When I took her back to her own house (when her owner got home), Dazzle had a blast playing with his new girlfriend, Portia, a 3 yr old black lab who has almost as much energy as Dazzle. :-)  I got photos and video this time of their play so Portia's owner can share them with the people who raised and trained her new guide dog.  As you can see, her retired dog also wants in on the fun for some of the time. :-)

VIDEO: Dazzle playing with Portia (with sound effects)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yO5q41Yt7dw
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As a result of the slow motion video I took last month of Dazzle trotting across the dam, I noticed that he trots out of alignment.  I took him for a chiropractic adjustment (which he's been getting every few months since he was a pup) but it didn't seem to correct the problem.  So I looked into getting some stretching and strengthing videos.  But after his routine yearly check-up and titers on Tuesday the vet gave us a referral to a local canine rehab physical therapist.
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We went to see her on Friday and she said she doesn't understand why he's a bit out of alignment in his trot (she saw the videos I took and watched him move and agrees he's a bit out of alingment and that the chiro adjustments have likely been keeping it from being worse). She said his muscle mass is identical on both sides, and his strength and flexibility/range of motion are excellent.  She did give us several exercises and stretching things to do that will hopefully help prevent injury in my little athelete and I will be very concious of doing everything on both sides with him. 
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Dazzle also got to try out an inflatable exericise ball for the first time and LOVED it! I wish I had gotten photos! He did great, doing things that most dogs take some time to master (like doing a "sit up" while balancing on the ball.) I found a really good deal on a 60cm egg shaped ball on-line and got it for him. Between that and his wheel and the exercises, he should be as strong and flexible as possible!
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SNOW!
Today we had the first snow of the season that has accumulated.  It's still snowing and Dazzle is still choosing to play outside, but I took some photos and video of his fun this morning.  I LOVE the way the music I added seems to match his movements so closely in several places.  It's like he can hear it!  Which, of course is impossible since it only played in my computer after I shot the video.
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VIDEO: Dazzle playing in the snow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2tU5V6CPpA
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"Are you SURE you don't want to come out mom? I'll let you play with my basktball..."

Insert cartoon "screetching tires" sound. He didn't really slide, he was on his side rolling around when I took the photo but it looks like he might be doing a wipeout slide!

Tunneling is a favorite activity.  How he keeps from packing snow in his nose I don't know!

He does occasionally rest, but is reluctant to stop playing!  He slept with this ball in his mouth for about 30 minutes!

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Thank-you Dazzle!

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I can't help but wake up with a smile on my face each morning thanks to Dazzle.  His joy in the start of a new day is contagious. Each morning is the start of a new and fun adventure for him and he can't wait for me to get out of bed to join him. 
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He HAS learned that trying to wake me up before I'm ready, however, is a bad idea.  So he waits patiently to hear me stir and if Mike gets up first, he will often skip breakfast to wait in the bedroom for me to get up.  This morning was that situation. 
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I was laying on my side and before I moved, I opened my eyes.  What I saw was a smiling Dazzle face about 3" from my nose and as soon as my eyes opened his whole body started to wiggle because his tail was wagging so fast.  He held that position for about 2 seconds, big grin on his face, then stuck his nose into my eye (which thankfully I had closed) and held it there for another 2 seconds, like he was marking the behavior he liked :-) "YES mom!  That's what I wanted to see!"
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Then he jumped up and gave me a full body hug by laying lengthwise on top of me and nuzzling his nose into my neck, tail going a mile a minute.  His joy that I was awake and the day would be starting was clear, as it is every morning.  Even on days when I wake up hurting I can't help but smile at his joy and devotion. He stays in the bedroom with me till I am ready to face the day and we walk out together.
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So thank-you Dazzle for helping to make me want to get out of bed, and doing so with a smile on my face. Even on cold, windy, snowy mornings when prior to his arrival I would likely have just wanted to stay in bed and only reluctantly and grudgingly gotten out of bed to have a bad day.
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Show Results- Sunday

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Today's performances were MUCH better!  I left him in the van till just a few minutes before I knew we were due in the ring and that greatly helped his focus and willingness to work. I covered his crate in the van with a quilt to keep him a bit warmer, but I think by afternoon it might have been a bit warmer than I intended. Thankfully not hot enough that he was panting.  But once he was out for our second time in the ring, I didn't put him back since we were done showing.
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Our first go in the ring was looking really good.  Till we got to the group sit stays.  As we were setting the dog's up, the person in the next ring tossed the dumbell and I could see Dazzle was really interested.  In hindsight, I should have said we weren't ready and taken a bit more time to "set-up" so that the person's second throw would have been complete before I had to leave him.  But hindsight is 20/20.  I did actually consider doing that at the time, but didn't know if it was allowed given that he was actually sitting and looked ready when the judge asked if anyone wasn't ready.  And I didn't want to hold up the other people.  I won't make that mistake again.  :-)
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After I walked across the ring, the person in the next ring tossed the dumbell the second time.  Dazzle started to move, then stopped and remained sitting, looking between me and the other ring.  I thought there might be a chance he would see it as a proofing exercise and actually stay put, but the dog went for his dumbell with great joy and animation and even veered around the jump to get close to the fence to "show off" his prize to the dogs in the next ring and that was just TOO much for Dazzle's brain.  I'm sure it didn't help that there was only one dog between him and the fencing between the rings, putting him close to that fun/temptation.  He charged off after the dog/dumbell wanting to join in the fun.  Thank God he didn't jump the ring gate!  I was able to grab him and held him with me till the judge had everyone back with their dogs on the other side of the ring.  After Dazzle left the line, the dog that was next to him broke position to go greeting another dog in line which got that dog up.  Bad chain reaction and I felt so bad.  Thankfully the other compeditors were understanding and not mad at us.
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We would have had a 190.5! (if he hadn't broken the stay)  I was really dissapointed in myself for not taking the extra 30 seconds, especially after I found out I could have!  Oh well, live and learn.  Dazzle went back in the van till it was time for his second run.
Update: apparently this didn't NQ us!  I got Dazzle's UCD certificate in the mail. I looked at the score sheet again and it doesn't say NQ, I just assumed we NQ'd.
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This run also was going well and other than some minor issues during heeling and having to touch his butt to get him to actually sit for the sit stay, he did it all without an NQ!  So we got our second leg (of 3 needed) and even got 1st place with a 186 (which surprized me because I thought the other dog that qualified did really well.)
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So if I had taken that extra time, we likely would have gotten his title, but now we have to wait for one more round.  It will give us extra time to practice anyway.  There's another UKC show the end of Feb in Columbus we may attend to try for that elusive last leg :-)
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Here are some photos...
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Playing with his blanket because I wouldn't give him the ball :-)

A few photos from the heeling pattern:

Figure 8 pattern around 2 people acting as "posts":

"Honor dog" (dog on a down stay) can be seen in the background:

Set-up for "stand for exam".  I'm just leaving and the judge is moving in to touch Dazzle's head, shoulders and rump. Dazzle's giving a stress yawn, but his tail is still fairly high.

Ready to repeat the heeling pattern off-leash:

Getting set-up for the recall to "front" over the jump.  The ring stewards remain standing next to the jump as I go around them to the opposite side and call Dazzle.

He was rather distracted getting set-up for the sit stay exercise and I had to touch his butt to get him to sit. 

But he HELD it and Qualified! and even took 1st place!

Show Results for Saturday

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Well our very first UKC Obedience show (actually 2 shows today) included a placement ribbon and an NQ.  The first round wasn't pretty, but out of 200 points and a required 170, we squeaked by with a 173.  Only one other dog qualified in Novice A, so we ended up with a 2nd place ribbon :-) This was the first Q out of 3 that we need to get the title. Most of the points off were for extra cues I gave him along with some poor heeling (lagging, forging, wide as he looked around the ring and watched the dog in the other ring).
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The second run was downright ugly (my fault of course)!  I had gotten Dazzle out way to early to warm up because I didn't know that this time they would put the Novice B and C dogs through first.  So I tried putting him back in the crate while I sat and waited for our turn.  When it was our turn, the judge took some time recording the previous dog's scores, so again we had to wait.  Dazzle does best with very little warm-up, so the waiting really drives him nuts. By the time we got in the ring, Dazzle was completely frustrated.
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During the first part- heel on leash, he grabbed the leash and started playing tug (stress/frustration relief).  I managed to get the leash back and get him under control to finish the pattern, but because I had to stop to do that it was considered not following the judges commands and NQ'd us.  He did let us continue (he could have excused us for that), and the figure 8 & off-leash heeling was much better. However, just as I cued the recall over the jump, a person in the next ring gave a loud, excited command to her dog that got Dazzle's attention.  I had to cue the recall again, which he did beautifully, but that would also be an NQ for failure to respond the first time.  His stand for exam was good, we've been working on that.
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When we came back in the ring for the honor (down stay while another dog works), after yet another delay while the judge wrote up our critique, Dazzle barked in frustration at me several times and I had to cue the down twice because he was eyeing the leash again, but he did a really nice stay and even relaxed and rested his head on the floor.  When we went in for the group sits, I didn't hold out much hope that he would maintain the sit.  I had to cue it several times after I removed the leash right away.  About 30 seconds into the 1 minute sit, he slid into the down, which also would have been an NQ. 
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Lesson learned- Run him after the ball for awhile to get out some of his pent up energy (which I did try, just not for long enough because I was very cold) and DON'T get him out of the crate till right before our run!
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We have 2 more shots at it tomorrow.  I'm going to try leaving him in the van with a blanket over his crate (he likes the cold, but hopefully he won't get TOO cold) and I'll take the chuck-it and hat and gloves so we can do more exercising and I'll wait to get him out for our time in the ring.  Hopefully that will do the trick and we can get 2 more Q's tomorrow for the title :-)  That's the plan anyway :-)
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I'm still very happy with how he did.  I have to keep reminding myself that he's only a puppy (16 months) and obedience is HARD and very different from Rally, freestyle and other venues we have done. I'm sure that with maturity and more training, he will be getting high scores.
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Latest updates

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I haven't been taking many photos since I last posted, but I did during the past few days.  The one above that I just took today may get used at the Malinois booth at the Eukaneuba Dog Show along with a few other photos of Dazzle. The booth organizer wants to show how versatile Malinois can be by showing them in many different roles, jobs and activities. So Dazzle will be representing Malinois that have their Dog Scout title and some badges. 

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Buster and Dazzle have been playing more often, taking turns throwing each other to the ground and biting each others back legs and necks.  We just have to be sure the "fun police" (Coyote) doesn't try to break up the play.  Dazzle and Coyote are doing MUCH better together now and the only time they get separated is if there's rough play between Dazzle and the other dogs or if Dazzle is in the house when I get home so they don't all crowd by the door getting over-excited. There has only been one fight (knock on wood) since Dazzle got neutered and we were able to stop it quickly.  So the neuter definitely worked!

And Dazzle thinks that the completely dog hair covered blanket in the office is a great toy to play with and wrap himself inside, then toss off to do it again. :-) I just have to stop whatever I'm doing to watch him when he does this because it's clear he is having a LOT of fun and that makes me smile and laugh.  So I got some photos of that. I wanted to get some video, but when I went to get the video cam, he stopped playing to follow me :-)

Yesterday evening we attended the "Jingle Star Fling", a holiday party for freestylers in the area.  Some of the people, myself included, did a routine to holiday music.  Our routine was completely ad lib and since I wasn't sure what we were doing, Dazzle was less focused on me.  But it was still fine and we had a lot of fun (even though I can barely walk today).  There were several great routines and the cookies were delicious!  We even snuck in a bit of practice for the UKC Obedience show this weekend (sit/down stays and the stand for exam).  The photos below were taken at the party, but my flash is pretty weak so they had to really be lightened up, which makes them grainey. But you get the idea. :-) Thank-you Pam for taking them!

He even laid down and took a short nap as I was watching the other routines!

I'll post about the UKC obedience show results after this weekend. Send us thoughts and prayers for Q's! (qualifying runs) :-)
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