Focus your training!

When you're training your dog, you want him to be focused and ready to work! So it's up to us, the trainer to be focused ourselves. That means: have a plan, stick to it, and keep sessions short! Go into your training session with an intention - work on heeling, get a straight sit, work on wicked weave pole entries, whatever! And work on that for 5 to 8 minutes. No more than that, or you'll both get bored and frustrated. (After all, in class you don't work for a solid hour, do you? No! There are breaks while you're listening to the instructor or when other teams are taking a turn.) During this session, Tango and I worked on heeling. He looks ready to go, doesn't he? - Fran

After a hard day's work

Close to the end of a long day, Tango's resting. We packed orders today, answered the phone, waited on customers here in the shop, and on top of that, we practiced some tricky agility moves! - Fran

Training really can be fun

Last weekend Tango and I were at an agility trial and Tango qualifed in his first Standard run of the weekend! Woohoo! I was so happy. Not just that we qualified, but because he ran fairly well all weekend. It's been a hard road since March, the last time that he qualified in anything. Constant training, fun matches and more training. I've found that Tango responds best to clicker training. Our favorite clicker is Karen Pryor's iClick - http://www.gollygear.com/iclick.htm - it fits well in the hand, is easy to click, and it's not too loud. Patience is so hard, but it's crucial in training Tango. I can't be angry, or get frustrated. He's very operant, so I have to wait, and wait, and when I see a behavior I like, I click and give him a cookie. Hopefully he'll come back to that behavior and offer more! And more, and more ... And while one qualifying run out of four is not a superlative showing, it's better than none! More training and fun matches are needed! - Fran

Are you an Olympics nut?

Opening Ceremonies for the London Games are tonight - I'm excited! Here's a fun idea: let's hold our version of Doggie Olympics! How high can your dog jump? How long can he jump? Can he spin in a circle both ways? Can he crawl on his tummy? How fast can he go through the weave poles? Sounds like a great weekend party to me! - Fran

Ready?

Two paws on, two off the yellow! Getting ready for an agility trial tomorrow. Tango finds it impossible to stay still. While his paws are still, some part of him has to be moving. In this picture, it's his head. Oh well, you get the idea! - Fran

Resting up

Tango's here at the shop with me. He's resting up for the weekend's agility trial. I'm working. - Fran

Ramblings

It's Saturday and feels like Friday because I'm here at the shop. Hope and I traded days off this week because she's at an Agility trial this weekend. Go Teddy! In fact, she just texted me that Teddy earned his OAJ title (Open Agility Jumpers) today! Yeah!! I'm sure Hope will post pictures in a couple of days. We're still waiting to hear how Hope and Teddy did on the Open Standard course. Hopefully we'll hear soon.

We're expecting a sweltering day here in Chicagoland tomorrow - well into the 90s and probably breaking records. So I'm planning to stay in air conditioning! We'll be grilling on Monday. Happy Memorial Day. Thinking about the brave men and women who serve and have served in the Armed Forces.

Tango's tired. I don't know why - we didn't even have class Thursday evening! Perhaps because since it's been so quiet here today we've been working on stuff more than usual? Hmmm. Poor fella. - Fran

Will he be awake...

Tango and I have an Agility trial tomorrow, but it looks like it might take some doing to rev him up to run! Yes, Tango is lying in his crate with the door wide open. - Fran

Back from Louisville, with ribbons!

 Last weekend Hope and I went to Louisville for 4 action-filled days of dog shows! We both competed in Agility (Hope with Teddy, and me with Tango), and Hope competed in Rally Obedience with Dax. In just three days, Dax received her Rally Novice title! Tango and I had fun but only had one qualifying run in Open Standard. Teddy and Hope did a little better with two qualifying runs - one in Open Jumpers and one in Open Standard. - Fran

Dax weaving in Rally O

Teddy jumping

Tango going over a triple jump

Tango's tired

We're going to have to work on stamina. Tango is at work 3 days a week. You'd think he could show a little enthusiasm? To be fair, though, we did have agility class last night and taxed his little brain. We were working on weave pole challenges. Our instructor asked us to come up with the craziest ideas to distract our dogs in the weave poles. The thinking is that if we throw insane distractions at our dogs during training, they'll do fine with just normal show stuff at a trial. Some of the things just blew poor Tango's mind. We have some work to do...  -Fran

Our heads hurt...

Last night was Agility class, as most Thursday evenings are. Our instructor, Dee, usually posts the sets (series of obstacles to be performed in sequence) online a couple of hours before class so that we can get a feel for them and plan how to handle our dogs through the obstacles. I don't have a whole lot of experience, but I can generally see a pattern if I look at the sets long enough. Yesterday I had no idea. Do 2 jumps, run across the room and do the weaves, do a jump and a tunnel, run to the far side of the weave poles and weave them back. Then in the next set, more of the same plus back-side jumping. Hunh?? We each took a turn and fumbled through once. Then Dee reminded us of some fundamentals, and it became clearer. Until then, though, Tango's and my heads hurt! - Fran

Tango's better!

I'm thanking the powers that be that Tango's feeling better. We've never had such a pathetic sick dog before. All Tango wanted to do was cling to me. And when there was snot running down his beard he was not really attractive, and I didn't really want him on me. But that's what we caring dog owners do. You suck it up, put a towel on your lap and let your sick dog take a nap on you. Sunday night in the Land Cookie we watched DVDs, and Tango was miserable on my lap. Fortunately he was feeling better on Monday, and on Wednesday we even had our lesson! Tango's here at the shop with me today. And he's been training very well. (I tried to take a short video of our weaves, but ran out of battery juice before I figured out how to work the camera.)
- Fran

Graduation?

It's spring, and that sometimes means weddings and graduations. Well, I did get up early a couple of weeks ago for the Royal Wedding (I got up early for Charles' and Diana's wedding years ago, so I sort of felt compelled to see their son's wedding!). And we have a graduation of sorts in the family. Tango has graduated from the Beginning Agility class! Next session he'll start in Intermediate! Look out! I'll do my best to keep his interest away from the other dogs in class, and at the same time try to learn all I can about being the best handler I can be. Yikes!

Too Tired...

Tango's too tired to even chew on his bone. We had Agility class last night, with lots of jumping and climbing and weaving, and leaving the other dogs alone! And I was inspired by the Intermediate class, just after our Beginner class, to attempt some of the weaving challenges here at the shop today. (Our instructor Dee calls it the "Wacky Weaving Challenge," where handlers do strange things while their dogs are weaving through the poles correctly.) Usually people are running beside their dogs while the dogs are weaving, so a difficult task is for the dog to weave with the owner out of their line of vision. So I sat in a chair well behind and to the side of the poles, and Tango ran through them! Just six so far, but we'll get all 12 before too long! Thanks for the idea, Debra!
-Fran

Non-stop Tango

Poor guy. No rest for Tango. Work on Monday, lesson on Wednesday, class on Thursday and work again on Friday with the addition of a trip to the groomer! He's pictured at the shop, in his crate with the door wide open. The snazzy pawprint thing is a disc we heat up in the microwave when it's chilly. Yes! the calendar says April 22 and it's about 45 degrees F. We still need to heat up the disc for the pups. Anyway, Tango's had a big day. After I brought him back from the groomer (where he was a very good boy!) we practiced weaves and other fun stuff. So now he's pooped. Tango's saying, "Close the door. Leave me alone. I'm sleeping."

Tired Tango Day

This week, Tango has been out and about and exercising his little brain! Monday was a busy work day. Tuesday Tango and Roc got their physical exam, shots and heartworm tests. (They were very good boys - kisses for the vet!) Last night was Agility class, and today Tango is not only here with me at work, but we're going to an Agility run-through at a new place (for us)! Lots of excitement for Tango!

-Fran

Spring Break!

This week was our Spring Break! Many schools in the area were off this week for the holiday, and it happened that our training schedules took a break as well! No training classes! This would have been the perfect opportunity to work on some aspect of training that was particularly hard to get, or to jump ahead and work on something new. But, no. After the tumult and excitement of last week, I did nothing! Oh, sure - Tango and I practiced our weaves, and we played tug, but by about 8:30 last night, when we would have been at class, I was sleeping in my chair. Oh well. Everyone needs a break, right? -Fran

Lull in the action

Many of our agility friends are in Louisville this weekend for one of the biggest shows in the Midwest. Hope is going to a big trial next week with a friend who's coming in from Ohio for it (go Team Frenchies!!! - hi, Michelle!), so we're breathing a little bit now. While I might want to race into action, we have to wait for it. It's a little tough for me - I'm one of those people who likes to get stuff done in the morning so that I can relax later. Of course, "later" hardly ever comes and I'm doing other stuff all day! On that note, we created a rubber skin for the pause table we built last week (hopefully we'll be able to adhere it to the table later today or tomorrow). And there's always dusting...
-Fran

Let Sleeping Dogs ...

Last night was Agility Class, and there was much running and jumping (dogs, mostly - people just ran!). Although it was late, we just kind of vegged out and watched TV for a bit to wind down when we got home. I guess there was more running and jumping than usual, because the dogs were totally sacked out! Teddy was even snoring! Tango doesn't usually nod off until after lunch, but he's already napping this morning! We've got to work on that stamina.
-Fran

Cabin Fever

Another dull January day. (But I'm glad we don't live on the East Coast, with all the snow out that way.) One ray of sunshine is the azalea blooming at home. It makes me happy every time I look at the plant. A friend gave us this plant many years ago. She passed away longer ago than I like, but the azalea keeps going.

Last night was a difficult one at Agility Class. It seemed that many dogs had a bad case of cabin fever and were reactive and over-stimulated by the other dogs and the different environment. Fortunately I was mostly able to keep Tango focused on the small behaviors we were doing between the more active ones. We're still in Beginners class, so the behaviors are simple. But Tango jumped over all 3 jumps on the recall. And he kept me at top speed for the curved tunnel - straight tunnel sequence! (Hope said that Dee, our instructor, commented to her, "Look at your sister go!" Yup, I was truckin'!)
-Fran