Agility Pro photos

The following photos were taken at the Queen City Agility Trial on Aug 6 & 7th by www.JimPoor.com.  I got the "raw" photos on a disk, so I did some cropping, lightening and other minor editing.

You can click on any photo to enlarge it.

RIP Buster 3-4-97 to 8-13-11

It is with a hole in my heart that I report that Buster took his last breath next to me and my husband on his favorite dog bed in our house. He went quickly and peacefully, on his own terms a short time ago. There was more than one time in the past couple weeks that I thought he was near the end, but then he would bounce right back and be like nothing had happened. He was a strong spirit right to the end. I wrote the following memorial when I knew his end was near. Thank-you Allison for helping us know Buster's wishes. It really helped us put our minds at ease and I think you were 100% right. He was 14 and a half years old.

14 years ago, Buster came into our lives through a twist of fate that said in no uncertain terms he was meant to be ours. It was back when I only had one dog, my Rottweiler, and my husband was not yet my spouse but was spending more time at my house than his own. He was raised on a farm with only outside "farm dogs" and didn't know how wonderful, loving and personable a dog could be until he met Hunter and spent some time with him. He decided he wanted a dog that loved him as much as Hunter clearly loved me. And although we were reading about various breeds, we both knew he needed more education about dogs and training before we started looking for another dog. He did decide, after much research, that he wanted a Cattle Dog, that he wanted it to be a blue male and that he was going to name him Buster. 

Shortly after he declared that, I was on duty as a police officer and got a call for a loose dog on a major road huddled next to the median. I responded and found a scared dog, I think it was a labrador, that was clearly someone's pet but had no tags. I called SPCA to respond, but they had a 3 hour estimated arrival and I already had the dog in the back of my patrol car. So I got permission from my supervisor to go across town to drop the dog off at the shelter where I had never been before.

While I'm in line waiting to turn over the dog, a couple walked in with a (you guessed it) male, blue cattle dog. I didn't think much about it and figured they were probably getting him neutered or something. But I couldn't resist asking. I was told they had a baby on the way and already had 2 small dogs and this one just wasn't working out. I asked what his name was and they said Buster. I knew he was meant to be ours. He was flattening himself to the floor and trying to be invisible, and looked catatonic, but I thought it might just be because he was in the lobby of the SPCA and likely knew his only family was about to give him up. We agreed to meet the next day at a park on the other side of town where it turned out they also lived. I wanted to be sure Hunter would get along with Buster and wanted to see what he was like away from the SPCA environment.  

They arrived the next day and had to coax him out of the car where he promptly flattened himself to the ground. Hunter walked up, gave him a sniff and walked off to sniff elsewhere. Buster didn't move. I thought I knew what we were in for and knew this dog would not be my husband's because it was going to take a boat load of training to get him out of his shell. We gave the people a dollar and had them sign him over to us just to make it official and we took him home. I have no doubt he would have been immediately put to sleep if he had stayed at the shelter. They told us they got him at 8 weeks old at a pet store and that they put him in their fenced back yard on a quiet cul-de-sac street and he never left the yard. He was now 8 months old and his entire known world consisted of that one back yard. He never learned that stuff outside that yard wasn't going to eat him or that sometimes thing change suddenly in the environment and it wasn't a signal for the end of the universe or that people and dogs he didn't know weren't going to kill him. Our saving grace, if you can call it that, for our newby training skills was that he never tried to bite. When he got overwhelmed, he laid down and went catatonic.

For the first 6 months, if we got up off the couch, or walked in the room he was in, he bolted out the back dog door. He was more comfortable outside, but it didn't take as long as I expected to get him indoors for the most part. The dog door helped and so did Hunter who Buster seemed to feel safe with (surprizing because he had only known small lap dogs, but Hunter was a gentle soul and had a way with people and dogs that were fearful dispite his 120 lb size). I think it was a year before Buster crawled up on the couch for attention, but for years he still bolted off if he thought we might stand up. 

I recall early on thinking I would take him for a walk, but as soon as he stepped out onto the front porch, into the new and unknown world, he was back to a catatonic puddle on the floor. So we spent months just sitting on the porch watching the world go by until he was able to take treats and deal with it all. Eventually we were able to leave the porch and take a walk around the block. During that time, I found that he was much more relaxed in the woods, so that's where he got most of his exerise when we weren't playing in the now familiar back yard.

Buster was the reason I found clicker training, because up to the time he entered our lives, I was not using completely kind methods. But it was pretty clear that since an unhappy glance in his direction caused him to turn into a puddle that the training I had used with Hunter wasn't going to work on him. So I attended a seminar in Chicago presented by two guys from the Shedd Aquarium that opened my eyes to a whole new world of training. It was also where I met Beth Duman and her Dog Scout Anja and found out about DSA. But I was still unclear on much of positive training and it wasn't till I attended Dog Scout camp in 2000 with Hunter that I really experienced the power of positive training and started understanding how it could be applied. 

After that, my skills with Buster grew rapidly, I started working at a Dog Daycare and learning loads about canine body language and Buster started making more progress with his socialization (but he wasn't ever able to attend the daycare where I worked). He did get to attend Dog Scout camp twice and on his second visit, he was relaxed enough to be able to play some fetch with a frisbee (his favorite toy) and to paint a lovely painting I still have framed. We went on many long walks in the woods together, Buster always off leash because he was more relaxed that way. If we met anyone on the trail, Buster would trot into the woods, way out around the other person, but always came right back to my side. I found he loved water activities and often took him to a park near our house where he could fetch his frisbee in the shallow reflecting pool, which he would do all day long if I let him. We also went on several kayak trips together and as long as he was able to go for the occasional swim, he enjoyed sunning himself in the kayak and watching the world float by. And once we moved and got a big back yard, countless hours were spent throwing the frisbee for him when we weren't hiking a trail.

When he was 12, he played with a dog he didn't know for the first time at a troop party at our house. I got it on video and nearly cried. During previous parties, he had started by staying in the bedroom and only darting out to pee whenever other people were visiting. But each party he got more and more bold. He started peeking out and watching, then coming out into the living room as long as no one looked at him. Then he started to make short trips outside where everyone was instructed to feed him. He was pretty food motivated, so that helped a great deal. But when he actually engaged in play with a corgi, that was a wonderful memory I'll cherish. 

I only wish other people could have seen what he was like when it was just us at home. He was playful and had a wicked sense of humor. He was also masochistic. He would torment Coyote or Dazzle until they bit him and especially when coyote would grab him by the muzzle and hold him, making indentations into the skin, Buster would stand there and wag his tail with a gleam in his eye. Allison did a reading of him a few years ago and agreed that if he were a person, he'd be wearing leather and chains and begging to be whipped. He was also quite cunning. He learned that when Coyote had a bone he wanted, if Buster barked at the front window, Coyote would run over to help him bark and Buster would saunter back and get the bone! That worked until Coyote figured out what Buster was doing and would carry the bone with him and bark with it in his mouth. Buster didn't try that ploy again after that. But he did do other similar things. He loved to play, wrestle and fetch and often walked around with a toy in his mouth. As he got older, he had a knack for laying in a traffic pattern so Coyote, who is nearly blind, would accidently step on him so Buster could "correct" Coyote. But he was never rough about it, I think it was a game he played, exercising what control he still could. He was truely a character to the end.

He taught me SO much about canine behavior, body language and positive training I could never thank him enough. As it has been said, it's not the easy dogs that make you a good trainer, it's the ones with issues. And Buster brought that in spades. But I wouldn't ever trade him for an easy dog. I know I wouldn't be where I am today without him and I wouldn't have been able to help the countless people and dogs I have helped because of what he taught me or forced me to learn. So thank-you Buster from the bottom of my heart. You will be missed deeply and a piece of my heart went with you. I'll remember you fondly. Rest in peace my dear friend and teacher.

This weekends Agility Trial

I took Dazzle to his first Agility show this weekend (since his NQ debut run last year at Malinois national).  I ordered several really nice photos (including the one above) from the pro photographer, so I'll add those as soon as I get them. The one above is a proof. 

As a preface, I have not been exercising Dazzle for the past week because the previous week he started limping a bit.  I thought he had bruised the pads of one foot, but since trying to keep him from running around is like trying to stop the earth from turning, it took awhile for the limp to go away.  He hadn't been limping much by the time he got his chiropractic exam, but the vet said one of his toes looked swollen (but wasn't sure of the cause).  Said it wasn't broken, so that was good news!  He prescribed some stuff to put on it and it seems to have worked!  I was afraid to exercise Dazzle before the show for fear he would start limping again, so he went into this weekend with about a week of pent up energy :-)  Sorry Sarah!

Saturday morning started at 9:30 for us with a F.A.S.T. run.  This is a "points" game with each obstacle worth a certain number of points.  It also includes a "challenge" that must be completed correctly to Qualify.  Goal is 50 points in a set amount of time.  For each second over time, you lose one of the points you earned with the obstacles. 

Dazzle was CRANKED!!  Sarah really had her hands full trying to contain him and get him around the obstacles.  Thankfully there is no set course. Each handler gets to pick which obstacles they want to use and in what order and if a dog makes a mistake like a dropped bar, it simply doesn't get the points on that obstacle.  But of course Dazzle decided to knock down the single bar jump that was worth NINE points! Couldn't have been a ONE point jump, Noooo.  In his excitement, he also jumped off the A-frame missing the down contact, so those points didn't count either. :-(  Anyway, Sarah managed to get him exactly 50 points, but they were on the other side of the ring when the buzzer sounded.  So there was a 7 second penalty as she tried to get Dazzle back to and over the last jump (which he ran past on the first attempt).  So he didn't get enough points to qualify, but he had a LOT of fun!!  I had to stay put by the entry gate so Dazzle could see me, so the video is not from a good angle.

FAST run video:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQJZFfjfbqg
 
Then, because of the way the classes were arranged, the next Novice class wasn't until after 4:30 pm!  So we did a lot of sitting around and watching and I helped when needed.  Thankfully, we were in the new building that had great A/C, so it was a comfortable wait.  I had brought in Dazzle's big crate, so he was able to stretch out and relax. 

Video of the facility:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjWIJr-oqaI

The second class was "Jumpers with Weaves".  As it sounds, it is only jumps, weaves and tunnels.  A VERY fast course because there are no obstacles where the dog stops or pauses.  Because of the long wait, I spent some time getting Dazzle more "up" thinking he would do better.  He was plenty pumped up and ended up knocking bars on 2 jumps trying to go too fast.  In this class, dropped jump bars mean NQ.

VIDEO: JWW
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PGbSic6bn8
 
His third class was the last one of the day and started after 7pm.  The start was a total disaster!  Dazzle grabbed the leash as Sarah was trying to get it off him and yanked on it.  She tried to hold on and his collar slipped off (since I switch to a buckle, instead of his martingale) and he proceeded to jump the first jump (the tire) carrying his leash proudly! 

He did come back when Sarah called and some how managed to drop the leash.  But Sarah didn't want to take a chance on him going for it again, so she tried to get him immediately started on the course.  This time he ran PAST the tire.  He did finally get on course, but ended up dropping another bar and was even more wild and out of control than on the 1st run of the day!  I didn't bother getting video of this disaster :-)

I helped clean up, and then we headed home.  Got to bed late and about 4am, the thunder started.  Dazzle jumped on my head and I had no choice but to get up, put on his thunder shirt and sit up with him till the storm passed.  After the worst of it was by us, I did manage to get another hour of sleep, but was NOT ready to get up when the alarm sounded!  I ended up packing my cot and my pillow because I knew there was no way I was getting through the 6 hours between classes without sleep!

The show was in the same order as yesterday, starting with FAST.  I changed my "warm up" tactics to doing my best to keep him calm.  I had him do a little bit of leg weaves and spins and did some hands-on stretches, a few warm-up jumps and then calmed him till it was his turn.  I also switched to a very short traffic lead.

I sprayed this with bitter apple just in case Dazzle got it.  But Sarah was able to lay this along his collar and Dazzle couldn't get it.  She lead him in by the collar and had him sit/stay before she took off the leash and quickly got it out of his reach.  I didn't really care if he Q'd, we were only using this to try out the new entry plan (which worked great!) and to work on his contacts and getting him to slow down a bit.  It all went beautifully!! He not only Q'd, he got 2nd place!  What a difference!

VIDEO: FAST 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqK59mnDVJc

 

Not sure if the full day yesterday and lack of sleep overnight had anything to do with it though :-) At least for future shows I'll be able to give him his usual workout on the days prior.

Then we had the 6 hour wait and I got a 3 hour nap on my cot :-) After my nap, Dazzle thought the cot was THE place to be!

The second run of the day was a not so easy Jumpers course.  There were a few places where if he got up too much speed, he would take the wrong obstacle instead of the 90* left turns.  We repeated the calm warm up and entry and Sarah worked on keeping him steady and not letting him get too far ahead.  He nailed the first left turn perfectly, but on the way back, he missed the turn to the next jump he was supposed to take when Sarah tried a rear cross.  No prob, he didn't take the wrong jump, so that's only points off and it actually set him up to do a better entry to the correct jump. It was a really pretty run and he was clearly thinking.  We haven't practiced rear crosses much, so that's what threw him a bit.  But again he qualified and even ended up with 2nd place!

I had another person do the video from a better angle :-)

Video: JWW 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XbuCMUG8Sc  

While we were waiting for Open level Jumpers to finish, a big, loud storm blew through and Dazzle was in his thundershirt till just before his run.  Thankfully for us, the storm was over just as quickly as it started and by the time of Dazzle's run, he was fairly calmed down.  I didn't know how the adrenalin dump would affect his run, but apparently not too badly :-)  He had a perfect run and got first place!!  The course time was 64 seconds and he did it in 36:68 (and that was with Sarah trying to steady his speed!)  Because he got 2 Q's (3 actually) in one day, he got an extra "double Q" ribbon. 

Video: Standard Course

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTWyDVHIoaY

I am SO proud of him!!  And so glad Sarah was willing and able to stick around for the Novice runs that made her day much longer than it otherwise would have been.  I'm really sorry her dog didn't double Q today for her MACH, but I'm certain she will get that at the next trial!! Wish I could be there to see it.

I'm also glad that we figured out what Dazzle needed to run at the show the way he does in practice!  Now I'm looking forward to more shows :-)  After Saturday, I wasn't so sure we would bother! LOL

My friend Beth from MI was in town to do a book signing and to appear on Fox 19 to talk about her new book:

http://www.bethduman.com/CharlieDarwin.html 

It is about her dog (abandoned, then placed in the shelter, adopted out, but returned for several behavioral issues).  She named him Charlie Darwin and in the 18 mo. she has had him, he has made an amazing evolution into a well mannered and well trained dog. 

The book is titled "The Evolution of Charlie Darwin".  It's a fantastic book, very easy to read and packed with excellent information anyone can use to train their dog! 

The book signing was at Jacks Pets in Harrison on Sunday where Charlie impressed the customers with his skateboarding abilities

He also used an ink pad to "pawtograph" books that were sold.

The next day, we got up early and accompanied her to the Fox 19 TV studio where she talked to Rob Williams about the book and showed off Charlie's new skills.

Dazzle was patient about waiting off camera for Charlie to finish. 

Charlie rides his skateboard

And shows how easy it is to teach a dog to go to a mat and settle

After we left the station, we went on a "sightseeing" tour of the area.  I showed her some of the unique architecture of downtown, then we headed west.  We stopped at the oldest church building still on it's original location.  It's a very cool little piece of history!

A better view of the church. The squares under the second floor windows were gun ports to defend the church from Indians and any other attackers. The headstones in the cemetry are so old, they are disintegrated to tiny lumps of stone or have the text completely worn off.

This little gem is open to the public, so we went in to see the wonderful preservation work done by the historical society.  It has a charcol pit in the center for cold weather services that are no longer held, a large balcony and wonderful acoustics from the pulpit on the right side of the photo.

From there we continued west and checked out the locks on the canal.  You can click on these photos to enlarge them and read the signs.

The lock is on the right, with the spillway on the left.  Wouldn't want to be the barge that got THAT confused!

 The down stream side of the lock (spillway on the right)

Then we visited Metamora, an artisan community along the canal.  Because Monday and Tuesday are the merchant's "weekend" days off, the place was like a ghost town, but we did still manage to find one shop open to get some yummy ice cream. :-)

Metemora is the location of perhaps the only remaining "aquaduct".  The sign was on the other side of the canal, so I didn't get a shot of that.  But an Aquaduct is a bridge that carries one waterway over another.  In this case, the bridge carries the canal water over the river. The river flows left to right under the canal in the photo below. 

The dogs check out the view of the river, which due to the lack of rain, was barely there.  Just to the right of Dazzle's head, you can see some of the water that is leaking through the canal bridge and being caught and ejected out the side.  In the winter, this freezes into a giant icicle.

Below is the foot bridge next to the canal way. The canal water is to the left in this photo and the river bed below is visible through the slats of the foot bridge (when walking across).  The dogs had no problem walking over it though. The size of the handhewn logs used to make this bridge is really impressive!

 Another view of the canal bridge with the footbridge next to it.

The canal boat that gives rides (when the town is open :-)

About the canal boat (click on photo to enlarge)

Then we went to Brookville Lake. Here's Beth on the dam where I go for bike rides with Dazzle pulling the bike (when it's cooler). It's a half mile to the other end of the dam.

About the dam:

Dazzle and Charlie enjoying the view of the lake and all the scents being carried to them on the breeze.

Another view of the dam

Beth playing tourist :-)

 Our last stop was Franklin Co. park.  The views from the top are great, but today was really hazy

The drive to the top of the park is a narrow, winding, one-way, single lane road that is quite steep in places.  This photo just doesn't do it justice. Beth got in the photo to show scale

It was a great visit and I hope she and Charlie will return soon and be able to stay a bit longer!

Dazzle's B-day tribute, a bit early

I just created this little video of photos/video clips from the past year and I love it so much I couldn't wait to post it :-)  So even though Dazle's birthday is on the 31st, here is the tribute to a wonderful year gone by (age 2 to age 3).  Here's hoping for MANY more years together!

VIDEO: Tribute 2 years old to 3 years old
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDpDZoj6lGg

Forgot some photos

Here are a few more photos that I took at camp.

On the last day of camp, Dazzle got a massage. He REALLY enjoyed the rub down and went to sleep while she was working on him.

I laughed when I came into the room and saw that he had very carefully used the floor rug to "hide" his food from the other dogs at camp. I think he did a pretty good job!

Here is what he had covered. He came over to check to see if it was still there after I uncovered it

Wet and happy dog

Portrait- taken during the Directional Control practice

Another portrait, taken on the last day