Good News

The results from the lab today are pretty clear that Bethena's NOT Addisonian. While it's frustrating to know that it's fairly likely that she's got some sort of food intolerance (those can be very hard to pin down), it's good to know that I don't need to worry about things like obedience trials and heat stressing her out any more than they might any other dog. (The really interesting part of this is that we stim-tested another dog the same day. This other dog had fewer changes than Bethena (who had relatively mild changes) but came back as Addisonian. She did much better yesterday after getting some steroids and will start regular treatment next week.)

Bethena must have known that I was less stressed this afternoon; she was less stressed, too. We played lots of frisbee (in bursts -- while it was less hot, it was still wicked hot for this part of New Hampshire) and she really enjoyed herself. Iggy helped by pointing out to her that what he perceives as the boredom of continuously retrieving the same object can be alleviated by playing tug-of-war with said object. As far as self-actualization goes, you can't get much better than a Labrador playing so hard that collapse on a shady spot of lawn is more important than eating delicacies such as fermented-lawn-mower-grass-leavings and mushrooms.

Now they are both sacked out napping, Iggy on the couch and Bethena on the floor at my feet. They attended to my wounds when I came in from berry picking with layers of mosquito bites. While I suppose that some of their ministrations were due to sweat and salt, I'd like to think that some were due to them knowing how inflamed my skin was and how much I needed a good Labrador lick.

I'll see how the day goes tomorrow, but if they seem happy I might try some very informal fun rally-type stuff in the front yard. When Bethena's in that groove (as she was in Boston in June) and when Iggy's in a spot where he's not distracted, they have lots of fun with that -- and that's the whole point, having fun.

Mini-Break, Kind Of

It's finally summer-like here, it has been hot and humid and nasty lately. We've done a little bit of work in the front yard and at class, but I haven't wanted to stress the dogs much. Neither one of them does well in the sun when it's that hot, their black coats absorb so much heat.

I did try to work a little bit with Iggy on the Haverhill common this morning. We tried heeling. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Most of what we did was Iggy paying attention to me only when he had a hope of a food reward soon (i.e. if he could see me holding a treat). He did, however, pay lots of attention to all the little whitish mushrooms that had popped up all over the place. He kept lunging after them while I tried to get his attention away from them. Obviously, not only was he supposed to be paying attention to me but I didn't want him eating the mushrooms, which he clearly thought were a wonderful delicacy. North Conway in September might be an unrealistic goal for the two of us.

Bethena's still had some focus issues, so taking a break will hopefully be good for her. She's had on and off diarrhea (which started about the same time as the stress of the Hopkinton shows) and her potassium is a little high and her sodium:potassium ratio is a little low, so she is having an ACTH stim test today to make sure she doesn't have Addison's disease. While it's pretty unlikely that she actually has that, we need to rule it out. So, Iggy and I are at home and Shana will call when she is done with the test (only takes an hour, but Bethena HATES restraint). Bethena is scared of needles so it takes people she trusts and who are strong to hold her; she might even need sedation. When I got the blood on Tuesday to do the basic bloodwork, she was OK for the first stick but when I went to try to do an ACTH stim myself (Shana was on vacation), she bucked like a bronco and was scared and nervous and (surprise) I was pretty stressed, which didn't help. She's better for Shana but I think she'll still be stressed enough that she might need a little sedation.

So, I'm thinking about making jam and Iggy is taking a nap and we are waiting for Bethena to be done. When it cools down a bit, we'll go back to doing a little more practicing.

Making Your Own Fun

Sometimes, if things aren't very interesting on their own, you have to make your own fun. Bethena (and her sister Ella) were all about that the past two days.

Wednesday morning was a nasty, nasty day weather-wise. It was oppressively humid and very hot (for New Hampshire standards; my flat-lander parents thought the heat wasn't as bad as we did). At least it wasn't sunny most of the time; the clouds were fairly thick and only rarely let a little sun shine through. I had my cooler full of ice water for the dogs, turned their crate fans on, and parked in our usual shady spot under the pine trees where Heide also parked with Ella and Cola. (Several other obedience competitors also parked up there, a little ways away from the action, but definitely the shadiest place to park on the fairgrounds.)

The judge Wednesday morning for rally went a little slowly. There was a delay in the Excellent class when one of the first competitors ate all of the treats from one of the off-set figure 8 bowls. The delay happened because the judge didn't have any more treats to put into the bowl so had to ask the people under the tent (i.e. the exhibitors) whether any of them had any treats she could use for the remainder of the trial. WHY the judge and the handler let the dog eat the treats is beyond me. As one of the other exhibitors commented, it's going to take MONTHS to break the dog of the habit of going to the food bowls now that she has learned that when you do the offset figure 8 you get treats.

Anyway, it was a little bit of a wait until time for the Advanced class, but that is not unusual. During the wait, Bethena and Ella barked back and forth to each other from their respective crates in their respective cars, both frustrated that they were isolated instead of playing. Both Heide and I got them out a couple of times to walk around, but we couldn't take them long or far because it was so hot and humid.

When showtime finally came around, Ella was immediately before Bethena because the dog who was supposed to be in between us was absent. Ella wasn't in the mood to pay a whole lot of attention to the course; there were much more interesting things in the offset figure 8 treat bowl and outside the ring. After she ran out of the ring (or tried to) twice, she was done for the day. Bethena didn't do any differently, she was panting and hot and knew Ella had just been there and pretty much made a cursory attempt at staying with me but really didn't want to be there. She also tried to make off with food from the treat bowl and we got excused. That was probably a good thing, as finishing would have been even more stressful for both of us.

I think the humidity (and the heat) really got to Bethena much more than I realized at the time, and if I had understood how bad she felt, I would have pulled her from the trial. She definitely felt sick after the trial for several hours, was drooling (and nauseous) and had some diarrhea. When we finally got home, she crashed and slept hard for most of the rest of the day and night. I felt awful that she didn't feel well, but Shana checked her out and didn't find anything too serious (no dehydration or anything).

Yesterday morning, Bethena definitely felt better. Everything was normal, the weather was much cooler and drier, and we hit the road. This time, I took them swimming first to help get some ya-yas out and to get her wet so she would stay a little cooler (hopefully). I stopped to see if Heide wanted to bring Ella and Cola too; we couldn't decide if they would be better off seeing each other and playing ahead of time (so they wouldn't be pining for each other) or whether they should not see each other at all (as opposed to the day before, when they saw each other a little bit). In the end, Heide wasn't ready to go anyway, so they ended up not seeing each other at all before going into the ring.

That might have been a mistake. OTOH, it might not have made any difference. Bottom line is that there wasn't any big difference in performances from either one of them between Wednesday and Thursday. In warm-up, Bethena was definitely paying more attention to me Thursday and was much brighter. Once we got under the tent, however, I lost her. I had thought about bringing her down much earlier and keeping her with me in the shade so she could get used to the situation and the other dogs, but that would have put her where Ella would see her ahead of time and I knew that Heide wanted to try to go in the ring without that happening. The situation under the tent, though, should not have been a big surprise to her -- she has been in that situation plenty of times before. The biggest differences were that she hadn't been out as much as usual and hadn't been hanging around the ring beforehand as much as usual.

I didn't see Ella's performance, but I hear that she immediately ran to where the food had been the day before and ran around the ring and basically had a grand old time without acknowledging Heide's presence at all. After they left the ring, there was one dog between her and Bethena. When Bethena got in the ring, she immediately ran off as well. We got through a very small portion of the course before I asked to be excused because I didn't want Bethena to get the idea that doing whatever she wants to in the ring was OK. Later, I asked the on-lookers if Bethena had gone where Ella had been and found out that she had basically tracked Ella's path. She is SO good at tracking, maybe we should switch to trying to get a tracking title for her!

Heide and I think that Bethena and Ella illustrated the past two days a combination of an "I'm too smart to care about stupid old rally when there's real life outside the ring" and "I've already shown you I can do that so why should I do it again?" attitude, perhaps combined with a little "What, me worry?" attitude on Ella's part. What made those days different from the days in Boston where Bethena just shone in the ring, I might not ever know.

We had fun though, and going to a show is always a good day. A lot of people from class were very successful not only fun-wise but also qualifying-wise. Cola got her first two RA legs and placed both days; Olivia got two RE legs; and Flash got a few legs toward her RAE. Congratulations!

In retrospect, I have decided that their love-of-life attitude is a genetically predetermined trait for Bethena and Ella so their behavior is not their fault or their handler/trainers' faults. Three years ago, when they were still not a year old, we had a reunion of sorts in Canada with Ella and Heide, Bethena and me, their littermate Woody and breeder Bev, and their mother Florence and breeder Jean-Louis.




Bethena is the black one, Woody has his eyes closed in the first picture, Ella is sitting directly in front of Heide, and Florence is the one acting up in both pictures. There are two other pictures from the same day that are similar. While the rest of us were able to look at the camera at least once, Jean-Louis had his hands full trying to get Florence to settle down.... Like mother, like daughters.

Heide is thinking that she won't continue to do rally with Ella, just with Cola (who is awesome and was HIT (high in trial) at the Potomac specialty a few years ago out of Novice B). I wish that they could be together, but I think it would take some work to figure out what the right conditions would be. In class, they can do it even when the other is there, but I think that is because they are able to see each other and visit more than they were able to at the show. We'll have to see how things go and I need to think about whether and who to enter at North Conway.

P.S. Iggy was there both days and was (mostly) a very good boy. He was very excited and wanted to play, but that was only to be expected.

Countdown to Showtime

The first trial at Hopkinton is tomorrow. Bethena and I have been able to do some practicing, but not a lot. Last week at class she did really well. We did two run-thrus; I could tell she was tired for the second one, but I was still able to keep her focus (most of the time). We were able to do our run-thrus right after Heide and Ella then Heide and Cola, which was nice because we are right after Heide and Cola both days at Hopkinton. Bethena is going to have to pay attention to me instead of to Auntie Heide, who she thinks is one of the best people in the world.

Part of the issue is that Bethena loves company and loves a new audience. She demonstrated that last night when my parents got her. I don't think she stopped moving for two and a half hours. The whole time they brought things in from the car, got settled, had dinner, and sat on the couch after dinner before bed, she was in constant motion -- toy in mouth, wiggling her butt, panting (with the toy still in her mouth) with excitement. Of course, she likes to share the joy, so much of the time she was trying to put the toy in your face (which usually meant running into your leg because she couldn't reach your face). When she gets focused on her audience, sometimes the show is more important than the script.

I did get my new scent articles. Bethena is great at tracking and can play the "where is it?" game with hidden biscuits really well. Trying to get her to understand that I want her to sniff an article and choose an article based on the way it smells is a whole different issue. I suspect there will be a break-through moment where all of a sudden she gets it and then we will be all set. Until then, it will be a matter of patience.

Iggy has been able to take it easy, too. We have done a little heeling in the front yard, but not a lot. It has been rainy and I have been on call,so we haven't had a lot of time. Once Hopkinton is done, I will have to start working and proofing him more.

Made It to Hanover

While I never get as much done on my "free" weekends as I expect to (or hope to), we did make it to Hanover yesterday and today to practice heeling on the green. Iggy did very well, all things considered, and was a little less tempted today to sniff and sight-see than he was yesterday. This morning there was another lab there and Iggy managed to keep his attention on me -- most of the time. Too bad it was in large part due to treats!! The attention with distractions and without treats will come, but it will be a slow process.

Bethena did some great free-form rally-o heeling. It has to be on-leash because it's a busy and unfenced place, but it's still good practice. Today, she even did a figure-8 around two treats that I used as posts without trying to eat the treat-posts! Yeah! (She did get to eat the treats as a reward for doing such a good job.) We have used our new jumps a little bit; it's so nice to have them in the front yard where I can incorporate them into her heeling/rally practices. I haven't used them yet to try to work on any open exercises, although it is on my to-do list.

I was very extravagant and did order official utility scent articles from J&J yesterday. Martha really likes Deborah Jones's book Click n Sniff for formal AKC utility scent training and she also has Roy Hunter's Fun Nosework for Dogs. Hunter's book isn't geared toward the utility exercises, but it has lots of cool things to do with your dog. Anyone interested in lots of information about all sorts of sites related to obedience should check out Dr. P's Dog Obedience web page.

We did manage to get in a swim at the pond this morning before doing a little training. They ran and ran and ran and Bethena swam a lot (tho she is reduced to retrieving the rope from the kong toy, as the toy itself sank after they played tug with it too much and several attempted rope/kong repairs left the float inside the kong inoperable). Iggy makes lots of noise running around, but his cowbell lets me know where he is. He is enough of a boy that he doesn't always think ahead to things like "what will happen if I get out of sight and can't find my way back?" After having one episode almost a year ago where we were in the woods and he decided he didn't need to come when called (for half an hour, during which I was crazy-insane screaming his name and Bethena was fretfully searching with me), it was a long time before I let him off-leash again. Only recently have I had him off-leash when I was by myself and didn't have a friend walking with me. His recall was rock-solid when he was a puppy, but as he got past 8 or 9 months old, it started falling apart. The day he pulled his disappearing act he was about 13 months old and he got neutered the next day. He has been better since then, but I have also been a lot less trusting since then.

Hopefully the weather will get a little better (it was about 60 degrees all day today and mostly cloudy) for training over the next two weeks before the next shows in Hopkinton (Wednesday and Thursday). Bethena is entered there in rally advanced b.

Another slow (for the dogs) week

Not much training, but then I was at work a good chunk of the weekend and Tuesday night only got 2 hours sleep staying up with a dog in ICU. Sooooooo, this morning Bethena was wound pretty tight and rarin' to go. Iggy is more adaptable and would have slept in with me. Bethena was pretty sure that 6:30 was an appropriate wake-up call. She didn't manage to go back to sleep until I was in the shower after having grudgingly got up -- then, I got out to find her sacked out on the floor next to the tub, sound asleep. Go figure.

I took them swimming this morning to try to get some of the ya-yas out. There were herds of deer flies, but the dogs had a good time (the deer flies probably did, too). I don't think, however, that the group of somewhat elderly looking birders who were at the pond had such a good time. They didn't seem to appreciate Bethena's splashing or the cowbell on Iggy's collar. One of them was quite put out; she asked me if dogs were allowed there. Another gentleman was very kind and wanted to see the dogs swim. Bethena (as always) put on quite a show, doing her best flying leap into the pond.

This afternoon is class, I'm not sure if I'll work with Bethena or Iggy; I'll probably try to alternate and have Iggy do the heeling and Bethena the other stuff. I still haven't managed to take Iggy down to Hanover to work on the green there. I should have done it this morning, but I didn't even think of it. The rest of this morning I'm going to mow the yard then set up my new practice jumps that I finally bought. I kept thinking I was going to go to Home Depot and buy the PVC pipe and vinyl siding and make them, but realistically, that was never going to happen. Instead, I bought them from J&J. I think the next purchase will be scent articles to start working with Bethena in a more controlled fashion than I've been able to do so far. What the hey, it's only money.

Little Victories

We haven't done much this week, easing up a bit after the shows last week. This afternoon, I worked with both Iggy and Bethena in the front yard, as there wasn't any class.

Bethena has the idea of the drop on recall down pretty well now, she is doing it better and better and more consistently each time we practice. As for the retrieve on flat (dumbbell retrieve), however, she still does little things every time that add up to not really getting the whole picture. She usually chomps on the dumbbell (they are supposed to hold it still in their mouth), sits crooked, doesn't sit close enough, doesn't sit still, and isn't clearly waiting for me to say "give it" -- tho sometimes she accidently starts to drop it at the same time I say "give it!!" She has lots of fun, tho.

Iggy does such a wonderful heel off-lead in the front yard, but he is easily distracted. Today, we were doing an "about turn" when Evinrude (aka Little Missy Bad Cat) came into the yard from the jungle/woods. He started to run to her, but when I called him back to heel he came running! Yeah!!!! That's a big improvement over last week at the show and JUST what we needed. If I had been thinking, taking him down to Hanover to practice on the green (where there are lots of distractions from the Dartmouth College activities and people) would have been a good idea. Oh well, it will have to wait until next week.

Big Days for Bethena; Iggy Wonders Why?

I'd cut to the chase, but what the "chase" is depends on your point of view. Iggy and Bethena both had fun at the 2 days of LRCGB obedience/rally-o. They love the added attention of having days devoted to THEM; they love seeing other dogs and people; and they loved spending time at their favorite swimming hole each morning before the long car ride. Perhaps having fun is the chase.



I learned a lot about what drives Iggy -- he (like many dogs) did great outside of the ring, heeling beautifully, looking at me with fearsome concentration, doing perfect recalls and finishes in warm-up. Inside the ring, Iggy seemed to be pondering a huge question: why were we inside all by ourselves when all the other dogs were outside where they could get treats and praise and attention? All the fun was on the outside. Of course, that meant that Iggy had to make his own fun. He found many things to sniff while on-lead "heeling" (and I use that term loosely); his off-lead work never really included "heeling" at all. He did beautiful recalls both days and the long sits and downs were no problem for him, even when a kid walked RIGHT behind him this afternoon carrying a hot dog. Iggy smelled the hot dog, looked the kid right in the eye, and watched him walk around the perimeter of the ring as long as he could but never even thought about getting up or changing position. He is truly awesome.

Perhaps learning something about what motivates us and what the difference is between "fun" heeling and NOT heeling is the chase.



Bethena did her (on-lead) rally novice b trial yesterday. She did well, tho it was a little bit of a slow start as she hadn't really gotten into the groove yet. Once she got by the first station, she did very well and got a fourth place with a 90. That was enough to qualify and get the third leg of her RN, so she is now Chablais Ragtime Waltz CD, RN. For some silly reason, I elected to do a "move-up" for today, putting her in the Rally Advanced class instead of having her do an extra Rally Novice leg. After I got home, Heide reminded me that part of Rally Advanced is the potential for the "off-set figure 8" -- in that exercise, the dog has to do a figure 8 around orange cones while IGNORING the treats placed in the food bowls adjacent to the figure 8 cones. The actual exercises included in any particular course are up to the judge's discretion.



As it turned out, there was no off-set figure 8 today. Bethena worked so well -- she truly shone. She was more excited (in a focused kind of way) than I've ever seen her before, even last July when she got the third leg of her CD -- her eyes were glittering she was having such a good time. I was a little nervous that she was going to go flying over the ring fence, because Advanced is all off-lead. Instead, she watched me the entire time, flew through the course, and her only "mistakes" (tho they were mistakes only when viewed through the rule-book, in my book she made no mistakes) were some crooked sits and moving her feet a bit on the stand. Because of the moving feet, we repeated the stand a couple of times, but she got it right the third time and ended up with an 88!!! If she hadn't moved on the stand (and if I hadn't forgotten to pause on the stand after all that work getting her to hold still), she would have had a 94 or 95. Truly impressive and she is such a good girl, she enjoyed herself so thoroughly. She ended up by qualifying for her first leg in Rally Advanced.

Is "the chase" synonymous with ribbons? I don't think so, but I know that Bethena had a good time.




As far as shows go, I think the future will hold rally advanced trials for Bethena in Hopkinton in July (Lakes Region Kennel Club) and novice obedience for Iggy in North Conway in September (Carroll County Kennel Club). At some point, we need to commit to doing open obedience work with Bethena, too, but that might not happen til next year.

In the meantime, I am just glad that they had a good time.




(Picture ids: first is Bethena in her pool in the backyard at home; second is Iggy at work with friend Mia in the background; third and fourth are Iggy on the left and Bethena on the right in the backyard; and the fifth is Bethena on the left and Iggy on the right in the backyard.)

Bad photo lab

Well, apparently the photos I hoped to get back yesterday didn't go out until yesterday, which the woman at the service desk explained is what happens when you drop the film off after 8:30 on Friday, which doesn't really make any sense because I dropped the film off on Thursday, but whatever.

Instead, I'll use a couple of photos that Scott, who works at RVVH, took. The first is Iggy (behind) and Bethena:

This one is Iggy:

and this is one that Bryan took of Bethena:

They look so innocent, don't they? They are awesome buddies and they have so much fun going to shows and seeing all the other dogs, even if they can't play with them (much). They know that dog show day is all about THEM and they love it.

Time now for a little frisbee (tho we are working with the second-rate frisbee, as I threw the best one up on the garage roof yesterday and can't get it down. Oops. My bad. I am definitely in the dog-house for that one, Bethena was QUITE put out and I suspect it's not coming down until we get a REALLY big windstorm or maybe the first inch of snow/slush will push it down when it melts and gets slippery.....) then a little practice heeling in the front yard and then a whole lot of cleaning in the house. Even though it's a beautiful day, I am so far behind on cleaning and inside-things from having spent so much time at work recently that it's not even funny...... Maybe the END of my vacation will be a time when I can get outside with the dogs and not worry about all the things that need to get done.

Big Week Ahead

hmmmmm, looks like I never quite got around to updating after class last time... or the time after that....

At the moment, we are working on two things: getting Iggy ready for his first Novice obedience trials Thursday and Friday at the Labrador Retriever Club of Greater Boston's specialty shows and Bethena ready for Novice B rally obedience at the same trials.

Iggy can be so on, it's crazy, but he's also a very distractable boy. If there's a butterfly or bird or stick or twig or spot where another dog urinated three weeks ago, it's pretty easy to lose his attention. If they allowed food in the ring and I could tape a piece of string cheese to my forehead (I am a cheesehead, remember?), we'd be all set. As it is, his attention is kinda hit-or-miss. There are a lot of things in this world that are more interesting than me.

The second issue we'll have at the trials will be the heat and humidity. Even though it's not supposed to be wicked hot, Iggy melts pretty easily and he gets very laggy and slow when it's hot. The trials are outside, tho last year the set-up had the obedience going on underneath a permanent shelter. That was the best of all possible worlds -- lots of breeze and shade (no sides to the shelter) but lots of room for everyone and not as noisy as the indoor shows. Still, 80 degrees is 80 degrees (I know, I know, in Joplin it'll probably be 100 and we're cry babies, but so be it).

For Bethena, she got the first two legs on her Rally Novice title as the Labrador Retriever Club of the Pioneer Valley specialty last month so if she qualifies on Thursday, she'll get her RN and we can do a "move-up" on Friday to try for her first leg on her Rally Advanced title. That's a lot of ifs. Still, if it works and she qualified, Friday should be pretty entertaining and RA work is all off-leash.

This morning we did a little practicing, but Iggy was hot (not a good sign, it was only about 75 degrees) and Bethena was jealous that Iggy got so much attention (actually, that probably IS a good sign for her). I'm on my way now to run some errands including getting string cheese for my forehead and picking up some film (so maybe I'll add photos as well as links to the shows to his post later on this evening or tomorrow). More later.....

Progress Report

I was setting goals that were too big for Iggy's practice sessions. I kept trying to do run-thrus when what I really needed to do was to sork on small bits of attention and heeling. That is working much better and keeping things short always helps with him. His rewards are playing and yummy well-bits treats.

Bethena gets so jealous when he is working and she is not, it seems to keep her on her toes. She really is getting the idea of the retrieve (dumbbell) and the drop-on-down, tho she still has a lot to teach me about that.

Tomorrow is class, I'm sure there will be more to report.

LRCPV part 2

Yesterday's trial didn't produce nearly as much in the way of stories to tell. We thought that we'd be done by 10:00 a.m., as the entry was very small; we got up at 5:00 a.m. to be there and ready to go at 9:15. It turned out, though, that there was a Sheltie club having a specialty trial at the same time and we were sharing judges so instead, we didn't get done til after noon.

Anyway, the long wait made me antsy and Bethena bored. She spent a LONG time sniffing at the same spot in the ring that she did yesterday (different course, tho, this time it was by station 3). She managed to get an 80 and her second leg with a pretty white rosette for fourth place and, again most importantly in her eyes, a new toy.

The highlight of the day, tho, was playing with the hose at the pool. The club had two pools set up for the dogs and Bethena entertained the people who were sitting by them with her enthusiastic chase of the water from the hose. When I stopped playing with the hose, I put it down and turned around for some reason. Bad move.

Bethena picked the hose up, put her mouth over the squeeze control for the hose, and promptly started spraying me! That REALLY got a laugh. Luckily, the nozzle was set on "shower" instead of "soaker."

On to Boston June 14 and 15..... rally for Bethena, novice obedience for Iggy..... don't think Bethena is ready for graduate novice, or we would do that too.

Bethena's Lucky Day; Iggy Gets His Backside Wet

SO, today was the first day of the LRCPV (Labrador Retriever Club of the Pioneer Valley) specialty in Westfield, MA. Bethena was entered in her first rally obedience trial and there was a CGC (Canine Good Citizen) test that Iggy could take.

Bethena went first, so let's start with her:

We had a miserable class yesterday, she was totally distracted and I realized at the very END of class that she didn't feel well, as she had a LOT of wicked soft stool right after we left class. All of her time spent trying to drag me to the door for the last 10 minutes of class was because she was trying to be a good girl and go outside (although I had taken her outside about 5 minutes before that, so didn't think that was the issue). Anyway, it was fairly frustrating because I ended up feeling horrible that she was sort-of sick when I thought she was just being a brat.

The drive down to Westfield was also miserable, it poured almost the entire way. The radio stations all kept saying "a chance of showers." Apparently their meteorologists don't have windows.

Once we got there and parked, I took both dogs for a little walk, then put Ig back in the car and went to practice a little with Bethena. She did great, much better and more focused than yesterday; I kept popping her treats. I think she does know what a show is and knew that we were there to do a routine in a ring.

Given that she knew what was going on, you KNOW she's going to have to find a way to get attention, right?

As we're practicing, we start with some heeling then some 360 turns, and she is smokin'. The we do the (really easy) halt, sit, and walk around your dog. WELL, Bethena now thinks that doing a left-had pivot is so much fun (she does it with a little dance and wiggle that's impossible to describe) that whenever I start to go in front of her, she's pivots to the left. She's really enjoying herself. She does it again and again and again. I'm telling her that we're not practicing the pivot, but it is clear from the expression on her face that we are practicing the pivot, I'm just using the wrong command to get her to do it.

I finally manage to get her to sit and stay like she's supposed to while I walk around her and after that, everything's ok. It's still pouring off and on, but she loves the rain and has always done the best when it's been raining. We let a couple of people go ahead of us because they have conflicts in the breed ring.

The pattern wasn't tough, the judge very nicely made a point of not putting in exercises where different judges interpret the requirements differently. We started with a long heel to the other side of the ring, then a left turn at station one to station two, which was a sit then down then forward from a down. The biggest problem was that Bethena never sat.

Instead, she spent quite awhile about 3 feet away from me tracking something and then standing in one spot with her nose as close to the dirt as she could get it, inhaling deeply. I called her to heel, she ignored me. I called her again, still nothing. I raised my voice a little (knowing I was going to get points off for harshness). Nothing. I called a little louder: "Earth to Bethena...." Nothing.

Finally, I took her collar and got her to my side where she sat and we did the rest of the exercises without trouble. Of course there wasn't a problem -- I was pretty sure we had NQ'ed (not qualified) because of the loud voice and collar and her not doing what she was supposed to. Why wouldn't she be close to perfect once she had everyone's attention?

As I'm about to leave the ring with her, the judge comes up and says that "there was a stop-watch malfunction" and that I could choose to take the score I had or to repeat the entire exercise. (The stopwatch is important because if there is a numerical tie between two dogs, the dog with the shortest time gets placed before the other dog.)

Once I picked my jaw back up from where it was hanging loosely, I said "but didn't I just NQ?"

The judge said she couldn't tell me that before I made my decision, so I said "well, yeah, let's do it over."

The judge says "Good call!"

She hadn't NQ'ed me (tho she said lots of judges would have) but had given us a "substantial deduction" for handler error (i.e. harshness and correcting in the ring).

So, Bethena got to do the entire course again. She was awesome and got a 95 (out of 100), tied for second place. (Here's where the stopwatch comes in.) She did the course a full twenty seconds faster than the other dog with a 95 so she got the second place red rosette and her first leg in Rally Novice. More importantly, she got a stuffed toy that she carried all the way back to the car and only grudgingly gave up when I put her back in her crate. Not to mention that she had a great time.

Now it's Iggy's turn.

We go for a walk and I try to warm him up with a simple sit.

No.

He won't do it.

The ground is wet. His bottom does not sit on wet grass/dirt/sand/gravel. Nuh-uh, no way, not in this lifetime. I try food lures -- he backs up or jumps up for the lure. I try an arm behind his knees to get his legs to bend. I am begging, pleading, coaching. Nothing. Won't sit.

Finally, Iggy sits but will only do it for a fraction of a second before he pops back up. I'm thinking there is no way he's going to get a CGC today, I shouldn't waste the $10.00. Instead, we go into the barn where the raffle is and look at all the stuff. There's a woman in there looking at the stuff too, and she has treats. Iggy latches right on to her. He plops his butt down and gazes up at her. Sheesh.

We go back outside after a bit and Iggy slowly gets more comfortable with sitting. I think he was also getting more comfortable with the whole show environment (he had only been to a couple before) and he was getting tired. At this point, he would even lie down and was doing a great job of heeling. We go to the barn where the CGC test is.

We enter the barn and are standing, waiting, and Iggy sees another male (intact, Iggy is neutered). Ig starts toward him with an odd barky noise that could have meant almost anything but was just harsh enough for me to have to correct him (in front of the CGC judge) by telling him no and having him lie down (which he did without any problem). He never had raised hackles or anything like that, but whether the bark was frustration and not being able to play with/meet the other dogs or was "I don't like you," it wasn't a normal "Hi, I'm Iggy" sort of bark. I assume that he's going to be excused, but the judge said she'd see how it went.

Iggy did great with all the basics -- "sit" and "down" and meeting a stranger and meeting a strange dog (he licked her muzzle). Then we did the crowd-mingling -- I deliberately took him pretty close to some other dogs and he was fine. On the way back into the barn, he stopped to sniff the corner of the doorway. He was pretty interested in it. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that a rule from obedience also applies to the CGC: a dog is not allowed to urinate during the test.

When I turn around, everyone in the barn is holding their breath and I get Iggy in and they all go "whooooo, that was close!"

By the time we got to the official "sit" and "down" in the CGC test, Ig was in true heeling mode and was sitting automatically (go figure). Of course, the tester wanted to see him respond to a command so she finally had me put him in a stand, which he did well. However, then when I tried to get him to sit, he wouldn't until I said "release" (from the stand) and THEN repeated "sit"!!!!! Good boy!!!! After that, we did a recall and some heeling and Iggy did very, very well and earned his CGC.

On the way back to the car, Ig stopped to check out a big rock that was stuck in the dirt. He tried to get it out so he could play with it but figured out pretty quickly just by nosing and mouthing it that it wasn't going to move. Unfortunately, it had recently been marked with flourescent orange coloring so people wouldn't trip over it. He got lots of laughs walking back to the car with his orange nose.

Iggy and I did a novice run-thru at the end of class yesterday and he did pretty well with that. Given that he ended up doing well this morning, I think we'll try to practice a bunch outside and then maybe enter LRCGB (Labrador Retriever Club of Greater Boston) June 14 and 15. Closing date for entries isn't until May 30, so we have time to think. Bethena can enter rally obedience there as well.

Tomorrow is day 2 at LRCPV.... I believe that Bethena is napping right now, saving up her energy.

No Wonder It Seems Like It's Been Awhile

...it's because it HAS been awhile....

Sometimes doing things takes precedence over getting on the internet and writing about them.

Sometimes there's just too much other work to do.

Either way, Bethena and Iggy and I have been practicing a little bit, but things did get hectic and slow down a bit. I was gone for a few days at a continuing education conference and couldn't take them with me....

Last week, tho, Bethena did a couple of practice rally "run-thrus" and had a really good time. She likes the faster pace without boring breaks between exercises and no stupid long-sits and long-downs. She is in her first rally trials this coming weekend. If we don't qualify, it will be totally my fault, not hers. We haven't really had time to work on much open stuff, work has been crazy.

Iggy has gotten in a little practice, but last week in class was all Bethena. This Thursday, I'll try to run through some basics with him and maybe he can get his CGC this weekend. That will be a start.

Heide is trying to convince me to work for a WC for Bethena (Working Certificate, a very basic hunting/retrieving title) this summer. She's great at retrieving and loves to swim, so that won't be a problem. The problem would be the enormous opportunity for entertainment and showing off when asked to go retrieve a dead duck in a pond in front of an audience. I can only imagine the possibilities!!!!!

"Are You Talking to Me? What's 'Sit'?"

Well, well, well.

Today's attempt at a practice with Iggy mostly involved me saying "sit" and him doing nothing but trying to figure out how to get a treat without sitting. No, that's not true. That implies that he processed the command "sit" and tried something different. Today, he just appeared to not have the word register at all and stood beside me looking up at me like I was insane and/or he is too cute to have to be obedient. Both of those things might be true, but it wasn't really what I was trying to get across to him.

Perhaps I have been setting my goals too high. Perhaps I have turned a "mother's" blind eye to the progress of her "child." Perhaps I should realize that Iggy is still a puppy (at 19 months or so old) and doesn't yet have the concentration to "sit" outside. Especially when there's mud. He wouldn't want to get his backside damp. Lord knows he does and eats plenty of truly, maddeningly disgusting things, BUT he would greatly prefer, thank you very much, not to sit in the damp grass.

Bethena, in contrast, excels in the rain. She loves her p-o-o-l and the h-o-s-e and to go for a s-w-i-m. Iggy thinks curling up on the couch is pretty cool (that is, if no one will play "tug" or "chase me").

I tried to do a basic heeling pattern with Iggy in the side yard at work today (to get some work in before the next snow storm, which is supposed to be tomorrow). He didn't really see the point in it. I'm thinking that maybe Pioneer Valley next month will be Bethena's first rally leg and not make an attempt at a CD leg with Iggy. There is a match in Meredith, NH, the same weekend and perhaps a practice match would be more his speed.

What is rally? It is a new AKC-sanctioned obedience type. Instead of strict rules about NOT talking to your dog in the ring (as in traditional AKC obedience), rally encourages you to talk to and motivate your dog in the ring. The exercises are a little more "fun" and involve a series of "stations" that you do without the judge telling you what to do when. Instead, you perform each exercise according to the sign at the individual station. The first level -- rally novice -- is all on-lead. Bethena should be able to get her "RN" fairly easily, but you never know. In lots of ways rally novice is easier than her CD, which she got last summer, but she is an amazingly inventive dog. Always thinking, that one is.

Bethena's behaviors can happen almost anywhere. When she thinks it is worth her while, she can be obedient in a ring, on a hike, in the kennel at work, in the living room, the front yard, etc. She's pretty reliable on a recall while out for a walk (or she wouldn't be let off-leash). I once called her and Kris's dogs Maya and Iris off a deer they started to chase.... I don't take them for walks without a pocket full of treats so that coming to me is a GOOD thing. OTOH, if she decides that life is more interesting outside the ring, she has been known (on three separate occasions, in between her second and third/last legs of her CD) to fly out of the ring to go in search of 1) a hose to cool off with, 2) another dog to play with, and 3) an early treat/reward for being such a good dog. After the last episode (where she was headed either toward the hose or toward a van with an open side door, I'm not sure which), she nailed the trial the next day, getting her CD with a 189.5 and a blue ribbon. Go figure. I think it might have been because everyone who saw her the day before lined up along the sides of the ring to see if she would be so entertaining again.... She loves having an audience.

In answer to inquiring minds, a GSD is a German shepherd dog. Many of them are pretty finicking and particular about food, but the two dogs who were most distracted by the treat-distractions at the last class were a GSD and a Belgian tervureen (sp?). With predictions for 8 or so inches of snow/sleet/rain tomorrow, tho, I bet we won't end up having class. :-(

Hard to Practice Outside with Snow on the Ground

Hmmmmm. Last week was a teaser -- sun and mostly melted snow by the end of the weekend. Last night we had at least 8 inches, maybe more like 12, but it has collapsed into about 3 inches of slop at this point. So much for starting to get Iggy used to distractions like blowing leaves and sticks on the ground and cars going by and such like.

I took Iggy to class this afternoon and he did very well, he was one of two LABRADORS to do the recall through an obstacle course of distractions such as yummy treats and frisbees without picking any of them up. I had to tell him "leave it" once, but he did (leave it, that is) and kept coming to me. Whoo-hoo!! He is a good boy.

I had intended to work with Bethena before class, but got there too late to do much good. She was wound anyway, despite having tried to play frisbee ("flat flying disc" as she knows both the word 'frisbee' and the spelling 'f-r-i-s-b-e-e') with her this afternoon. Instead of playing, she was more interested in eating snow and playing tug with Iggy. Of course, tug was only interesting to her if I was standing there watching, which I was not inclined to do.

Anyway, we did a little bit before class -- she did a very nice short drop on recall -- but she ran off to see a GSD instead of staying with me (b-a-d dog) and then while I was taking her out to switch her with Iggy for class, she was tugging and squirming and turning around and wrapped the leash around me and tripped me up so that I sat on top of a bunch of water cooler bottles -- not my (or her) finest moment. It was the second time this week I fell while having the dogs on a leash, the first being at work yesterday morning (seems like months ago) when my biggest concerns were a) saving my coffee because I needed it and b) hoping I hadn't landed flat on my butt/back in dog poo.

Heide is trying to get me to go to rally class with Bethena on Saturday if I'm not working. Seeing as how this week has already been CRAZY with work (home after 12:30 on Monday/Tuesday, after 9:30 on Tuesday proper with a 2:30 am emergency call, and after 8:30 last night), I kind of doubt that I'll be done by the time of class Saturday afternoon. Still, it would be good for her and I think we will try to go.

Slow week

We practiced a little this week, it's a whole different ballgame outside. Iggy thinks the blowing leaves and bountiful sticks are much more interesting than stupid old heeling. He's probably right.

He did find an old glove to carry around while we were on a walk yesterday, he carried it for quite awhile. Maybe he's already thinking ahead to utility. When he dropped it, Bethena went over and sniffed but had no interest in picking it up. Sigh.

Bethena does continue to have fun retrieving things and trying to figure out the drop-on-recall business. She's so exuberant, it's hard not to laugh at her even when she's being a goof instead of "working."

Maybe we'll do more this week. Somehow, I doubt it.

Distractions

Once again, I spent a few minutes with Bethena and then with Iggy in the office lobby before working yesterday morning (writing up charts often happens on the weekend).

Bethena does great dropping instantly from a distance if she's not moving, and got better as we practiced. When she's already moving, she thinks she needs to keep coming forward for a few steps, so we're working on not doing that.

She's also started to "wait" before going after the dumbbell, which is fantastic.

Iggy needs more warming-up, because it's so new to him. He needs to be reminded of what we're doing! Practicing in the lobby actually worked very well, as the clock began chiming the hour and he stopped, looked around, and watched the clock to see what was happening. I was able to get him re-focused, but not until the end of the chime.

We did not practice for a whole hour to see what he would do the second time.

He is getting better and better at finishing and going down, to the point where he will do what Bethena does: if he doesn't quite know what I want, he'll go down because he knows he gets lots of praise for doing that.

We'll see how the rest of the week goes.

New Tricks

Bethena and Iggy learned some new things today even before we went to class. We spent part of the morning playing outside with the frisbee in the melting snow. We had fun and both Bethena and Iggy wore themselves out.

After lunch, they were in the backyard when the UPS driver pulled up the driveway. (How he made it down the muddy road, I don't know.) They both know the UPS driver at work; he makes deliveries every day and they get a biscuit every time they are out in the play pen when he arrives. I was talking on the phone and looked out the window to all of a sudden see both dogs leaping off the mound of avalanched snow in between the house and garage (the mound is higher than the 5 foot tall gate) into the front yard to greet the driver....

Luckily, the driver was unfazed by two Labradors who were pretty certain that he must have a biscuit for them somewhere.

Iggy and I worked out a little bit before class, I tried to get him to focus on me even when there were distractions (Martha was there, too, working with Gemmy). Even though he is still very much a pup and therefore easily distracted, he did fine. At the end of class, I brought him back in for a run-through and he was awesome. He wasn't into the groove of heeling, but he paid attention (mostly) and showed he understood what was going on (mostly).

Bethena did well, too, and is starting to understand the drop-on-recall well enough that she's anticipating the drop now. I practiced a little targeting with her at the beginning of class using a target stick. She thought that the point of the exercise was to touch something sticking out from another thing, so tried to shortcut going the whole 6 feet to the target stick by touching a piece of PVC pipe that was 3 feet closer and was sticking out from another piece of equipment. Bethena never fails to amaze me.

A New Place

I decided this afternoon that I should treat myself to five minutes with my kids during the day. In between surgeries and a euthanasia, I went down to the kennel and spent about 2 minutes each with Bethena and Iggy. The idea was to get them to do some work in the corridor along the runs to provide both distractions and a new place to be obedient in. I am thinking if I practice, Ig might be able to have fun at the Pioneer Valley specialty in May and the Greater Boston specialty in June.

Each one did just a little bit of work/play. The biggest problem was that I had the really good treats out so they were paying more attention to the treats than to me. Of course, they deserved the treats, they always do, they have me well trained that way.

Apparently I'm pretty tired, tho, and that didn't help the attempt at "training." When I read Tom's blog last night, I thought a comment by "your baby sister" was from MY baby sister instead of HIS baby sister and it confused me greatly. Until Kris told me that she hadn't, in fact, posted to Tom's blog last night, I didn't figure it out. Even then, it took awhile.

Class tomorrow, Iggy and I will go early to see what happens; then it will be time for the Bethena Variety Hour -- always entertaining.

As for now, I will have a glass of wine, heat up a calzone, hang out a bit on-line to see if Tom is feeling up to posting tonight.... then go read some more of "The Omnivore's Dilemma." So far, it's very good, but then, I liked "The Botany of Desire" a lot, too.

Digressing again, a sure sign that I need to rest up before class tomorrow.

Clicker madness

Having been at work most of the weekend and doing exciting things like laundry and dishes at home instead of playing with Bethena and Iggy, I tried to appease my conscience by doing a little practicing today before they had to go into the kennel run at work....

Bethena and I started; we did a little targeting first, no great shakes there. Then a little retrieving and she managed to retrieve, sit, and hold tho she is clearly showing signs of being impatient that anyone could do that and it is so boring and why should she have to a) actually go all the way to the dumbbell before bringing it back, b) sit, and c) hold the dumbbell for any length of time at all after she returns to me when d) EVERYONE should be able to see that she knows how to do it, so why does she have to keep proving it????

Adding the clicker to the finished exercise helped, tho I didn't think of that til pretty late in the process. It REALLY helped with drop-on-down tho, and she started to get the idea of a fast drop fairly quickly (she used to seem to understand that, but then she lost it).

It probably sounds like she and I spent hours doing things but it was really only about 5 minutes.

Iggy then had a turn, also fairly short session, and he did AWESOME. We tried off-lead heeling for the first time and after one or two mis-steps, he got it perfectly. He is so smart! He's also SO different than Bethena. Instead of always trying to find something new to do, it makes him happy to get rewards and praise for the things he can do, whereas Bethena lives for the reaction she evokes in her audience.

Iggy is starting to understand "finish" so maybe we'll end up doing some Novice B work this summer after all. Bethena isn't ready for open, but she can tag along just like Iggy did when she was doing her novice trials.

Class today

We went early and Iggy and I played first. He did great! This morning, he had started to understand "down" and to be able to do it without me having to point to the floor and he kept getting better at it. He did pretty well at heeling and (in general) paying attention to me. We haven't tried to fine tune things, but I think once he gets the overall concepts, helping him to understand that he needs to be a little closer (for example) won't be too hard. His reward is play as much as it is food and breaking things up with some puppy play is something he loves.

Bethena was a clown in class, as always. I need to go back to basics with her on the drop on recall, she gets it for awhile, then gets careless about it as she focuses more on guessing what's going to come next or what's most likely to get her a treat. She started to learn the moving stand, tho, and did well for a first attempt. As much as it's probably not (ok, I'm sure it's not) good practice to let her see how much she entertains me and how much I enjoy the entertainment, I have come to think that if her reward is seeing me laugh and smile, that's not a bad thing -- even if it means we never get any more competition qualifications. Green ribbons aren't the point, fun is. Lord knows, she is (and has) fun!

She and I did some targeting in the living room. It's lots harder when Iggy is there too! We did a little practice with the broad jump in class, throwing a treat to her as she jumps really helped to keep her from trying to cut corners. This spring, it's going to have to be a priority to try to make our own jumps to practice with in the yard. She loves to jump and I bet Iggy will too, once he knows what they are.

A Retrieving Breakthrough!

Bethena and I had a BIG celebration this afternoon when she retrieved the dumbell in the living room, brang in back to me, sat in front holding it, and then gave it to me on command! She even did it several times in a row. Yippee!

Of course, she probably won't do it again for several months now. She's been there, done that, and will be bored by it already.

We also worked on targeting, and she started to get that a bit better after trying Martha's "toss the treat" technique. When we stopped working on that, the target stick had dog spit and drool all over it. Anyone who has seen the drool spots she leaves on the training mats as she anticipates rewards or has seen the gazillion pictures of her where there are drool drops on her chest fur as she focuses on the treat that I am holding to get her attention will understand the spit issue.

Later on, I will have to try working on a little heeling and "down" with Iggy... He knows "stay" so well (tho he looks tortured because he has absolutely no idea WHY he is supposed to be staying) and "come" but down seems to be more difficult, as it was for Bethena.

Why This Is Here

I really just set this up so I could post to my sister's blog.

That being the case, there is certainly the very real possibility that I will have something to say about my dogs.

I know that it will shock you to think that I might take up time trying to tell others about them or even show pictures of them, but I suppose anything is possible.

Who are Bethena and Iggy?

They are really:

Chablais Ragtime Waltz CD CGC

and

Chocorua's Norwegian Wood ("Yggdrasil")