Herding!

I just realized I never posted the videos from the BBCR Herding Clinic!!  So, the way the clinic works is in the morning they have a little presentation about the history of herding.  Then they bring all the dogs into the barn and they catch a sheep so the dogs can all go up one and a time and get a sniff.  Then they have 3 sheep in the arena, one dog at a time goes in and we turn them loose to see what they do.  One of the instructors is out there working the sheep and to run interference on the dogs if needed, lol.  Once all the dogs have a turn we break for a potluck lunch, and after than the dogs all get an afternoon session.

First up is Trophy.  Trophy had a PHENOMINAL first session.  He was focused, a bit too chasey, but he was taking direction from Jerry well.  The afternoon was a completely different story.  He had about 45 seconds of work, and then it was like this gigantic pile of sheep poo appeared out of nowhere, totally caught his attention and all of a sudden he was like "OMG!! There are turds EVERYWHERE" and he spent the next 3 minutes (until i dragged him out of the arena) eating crap and trying to roll in it.  *sigh*.  I'm going to take him back again next year to see how he does.




Next we have Demo.  When Demo went up to first smell the sheep, the sheep stomped a foot at him and he freaked out.  I don't think he was expecting a live animal or something.  So the first session was mostly him running away from the sheep. lol.  Second session he finally started to get the hang of it, but was more barkey/chasey/you-don't-scare-me-anymore than actual herding.  I may take him back next year to see how he does again.




Now, for a bonus, Ash and Cady's videos.  First is Ash.  He was, true to his nature, very nervous, but he showed some interest.




Cady, on the other hand, was very (what they call) sticky-eyed; where she would get control of the sheep's heads by staring at them, and then since she had them, not want to disrupt the balance by moving.  She did better in the afternoon.

Day Late... But Happy Birth and Gotcha Day to Baxter!

It's been a long road, there have been some major bumps along the way, we have our bad days, but there is progress, and he's a good dog (for the most part).

Happy Birth and Gotcha Day Crazy Dude!

Lots of Celebration Days Coming Up... First Pan!

April 23 was our official "signed the paperwork, Officially Adopted Pan" Day.  Here's the video I made to celebrate a Year Of Pan!




Not much to talk about from Practice lately.

Trophy has been running ok.  Not spectacular, but not failing miserably either.  In flyball I'm trying to run him without the ball in the box to see if I can't get him to just remember his turn and stop over thinking about catching the ball (he keeps his turn at speed sans ball).  He's weird. Have I mentioned that?

Demo did run backs over 4 jumps to his tug with another dog in the other lane (gates between the lanes, not around his lane of jumps.  He did very well.  I think the other dog running pissed him off, as I've never had him hit the tug so hard or then start to growl so viciously... but other than watching the dog for a few seconds when I was calling him before looking back to me to be released, he didn't make any attempt to go anywhere but at the tug. yay!  And man does that boy have drive in all the right places.  He just explodes from a standstill.

Pan is still her awesome goofy self.  Her 3 footed turn is solid, and she's been settling a lot more in agility too.

We have a new German Guy in agility.  He's an 8 year old gorgeous, gigantic, GSD.  The Engilsh (Setter) ladies in our class have fallen head over heals for him.  He sits on the other side of the room (he's not good with little dogs, and we have a corgi in the class) so he can have personal space and stay calm.  He has been out of agility practice for a year while they did Schutzhund, so he's having a lot of control issues and lack of focus on his handler because he's just out there to have fun.  He is so balls to the wall, it's like watching a train wreck in slow motion.  He's terrifyingly beautiful to watch.  I'm waiting for the A-frame to collapse under him!  But anyway, he sits on the other side of the room where the dog walk is currently.  Pan goes over the dog walk, hits her 2o2o, and then looks back over her shoulder.  "Did he see me do this perfectly?" I just picture her saying.

Trophy, on the other hand, doesn't like him.  I think it's just cause he hasn't gotten to smell this gigantic dog who can be quite intimidating, so I'm going to see if we can have an introduction at the next class.  butt sniff and be on our way.

But, who knows.  Trophy may just like being the only boy in the class now, and he's feeling intimidated because Pan is all twitterpated over the German dude.  Poor Trophy, his Canadian and Australian heritage is just not enough for the ladies.

Agility is fun afterall!

I think I've decided that Trophy is just weird.

Tonight at agility he was perfect.

Well, nearly perfect, we did have a few small bobbles, but for the most part he was back to the fun loving Trophy from a few months ago that I love to train and to have fun with.

We did the A-frame, we even did pinwheels and serpentines without much fuss.

yay. :)

Agility Melt Down

I think there is something wrong with Trophy.

He hasn't moved an inch since we got home over an hour ago.

Before I get started into this story, some background. I have a long history of taking my pets to the vet for various issues and being told by the vet "there is something wrong, but we don't know what".  For example, first there was Zoe's IBD/severe food allergy.  We still don't know exactly what is wrong with her.  She had diarrhea for 8 straight months before I finally switched her to raw and now I finally have her bowels under control.  Then there was Zeus's extreme weight fluctuation where he lost something like 7 pounds in less than 3 weeks.  So I took him to the vet, they did all sorts of tests and blood work and even sedated him looking for oral ulcers: nothing.  And latest issue has been Shiner's pain (or something?) causing him to be a total asshole.  We ruled out thyroid issues, and I know his hips bother him, but we have gone through some very cranky patches with him where I thought there might have been something else wrong.

Ok, so, again.  I think there is something wrong with Trophy.  I hope that everyone will understand why I am hesitant to take him to the vet.  Nothing like spending hundreds on test to have no answers.

Tonight he had no desire to run agility with me. He was disconnected.  He actually walked into a jump without even trying to pop over it - like he purposely bumped the bar with his chest.  Then he started refusing the A-frame. And refusing the A-frame. And refusing the A-frame.  And then my instructor ran him and he refused the A-frame again two more times before she skipped it.  And then on our final run through he refused 3 more times so I skipped it.

My instructor (remember, she's also a massage therapist) said his lower neck is out of alignment and he looks like he is not putting even weight on his front end.

I don't know what to do with him.

He was never this off before we started agility.

He's only 4!

I don't want to retire him before we even start to compete - he's FINALLY getting the weave poles, for god's sake.  I don't want to quit now!

But, I also can't afford to have him adjusted ever week.... and if I'm going to pick a sport, I would rather pick flyball.  Which seems so backwards to me since flyball is harder on the body (you would think) although trophy does have a MUCH higher sense of self preservation than, say, Pan.  He's much more careful on the flyball course.... and when I was running just flyball we didn't have the "off" days we're having now.

He hasn't gone to work with me lately, he's had the past two weeks off.  He went today only because Tasha was sick and not going to class tonight and I didn't have time to go home and pick him up.  But he mostly slept while I cleaned cabins.  He was in the yard for, maybe, two hours.  And he didn't really play with anyone.  He played in the hose and fun policed a bit, and mostly just followed me around.

We have had the pack outside a LOT more recently since the yard is FINALLY dry and the boys can be outside for hours on end.... but, again, Trophy spends most of his time hunting instead of playing with his brothers (but he will play).  Qwill and Shiner still tend to pick on him, but this is nothing new in the grand scheme of his life.

So I ended my 4th completely awful run, had his alignment checked by my instructor, went out into my car and had a break down.

Since when did I care so much about agility?

Weekend Surprise!

This past Saturday was Buckeye Border Collie Rescue's annual herding clinic.  It's basically a day of instinct testing dogs for herding drive and ability.  There's a pot luck, and a whole bunch of BBCR dogs and their new owners can get together and meet up and hang out.

This year I got the surprise of my life as not just one, but FOUR of my previously adopted out foster dogs came to the clinic, including the two dogs who touched my heart the most: Ash, who is still called Ash and who I had as a foster for almost 6 months, and Vivid, who is now called Cady (pronounced like Katie) and who I miss and think about almost every single day of my life since I almost adopted her (until we found out she has hip dysplacia in one hip, it's a long story).  Also present were Frost, now called Dylan, and Guinness.

My beautiful Vivie. She will always be Vivie to me.
[Sorry to her moms if they are reading this (;]

So it's 5 minutes after everyone arrives and I'm BAWLING because Ash, who is a very timid pup, was doing his shy cowering thing until I got Trophy out of the truck.  The second Ash smelled Trophy he went into wiggly puppy mode, his tail came untucked from his body and he gave Trophy about a million kisses.  And I do mean I was bawling...  I don't know when I became such an emotional sissy, but there it is.  I cried like a baby.  And then Vivid's Cady's moms walk over and introduce themselves since I hadn't met them yet either.  I was a wreck.  A little bit of a warning would have been really nice. But it was SO GOOD to see these dogs again.  Fostering is very hard, especially with dogs who become so attached to like I did with Ash and Viv Cady.

Ashes with his favorite Trophy

I'm processing the videos of everyone herding, I'll post them when I'm done uploading. :)

Busy Wrap Up

Shhhh. No, it hasn't been nearly two weeks since my last update. :)  Life got a bit hectic on me!  I decided I was pushing Trophy too much in weave practice, so we took a break.  Hoping to bring the poles out again this week after we both have a chance to recover from this weekend.  I canceled teaching class all week due to work being a busy nightmare. yay!

This weekend was our first flyball tournament since New Years Eve.  4 long months I've been drilling box turns and drilling box turns and drilling box turns.... and it didn't matter.  First two races of the day he was doing 3 footed turns and then he went right back to total disengagement of his butt.  He would once again hit straight on with his front feet let the momentum carry his but to be sideways in front of the jump and then push off the floor.  Not pretty.  Not good for his body.  Last tournament his turn would improve as the day went on, not this time.  Had him massaged Friday and Saturday as he wasn't stretching the left side of his body as nicely as his right and he was much better after each time.   Sometimes I wonder if flyball just isn't his thing and maybe I should give up... and then again I live for fixing his training issues, right? Right? Is this thing on?

We missed Pan dearly this weekend.  Trophy was on both teams for today's racing to back up and give Dodger a break.  He ran a total of 6 races for I don't know how many heats - a lot.  Only one race went 3 and out, most went to 5 heats.

He was bobbling the ball a lot on Friday, his stride was off.  I tried moving him around in the line to find a better release point.  Luckily we didn't have to worry about making tight passes to make time, we ran consistently at 20.5-21.5  some times slightly more, always under 24 seconds, so I could play around a bit.  We had only one bad pass the today.  Very good, clean racing.  Trophy's main team, Tactics, came in 3rd in our division both days and our Variety team, Special Ops, the team I box loaded for Friday (and Trophy backed up and ran on today) got 1st in their division both days.

Now, for some rest and recuperation.  I work at 5am tomorrow morning.