Two Corner Track

 I laid a track for Zoe this past Sunday. I decided ahead of time to have 2 right angle left turns and that each of the 3 legs would be 100 paces long and we would age it 15 minutes.
Zoe is really liking this game she eagerly approaches the start scent pad, lays down and sniffs all around.

 When she's done her sniffing she points in the direction she wants to go. I've been working with her to wait for me to say those two magic words "Find It"

 And then she's off like a shot. On this track there was a bit of a wind from our left to right. You can just see in this photo a small hill in the upper right corner. The scent was being sucked into this hill so Zoe tracked to the right of the actual track.

 But she knew exactly when to come back to the track and pick up those bits of food. It was nice to see. This is the indicator for me that there is a corner coming in about 10 paces. Zoe circled once when she came to the end of the scent then moved in the correct direction.

 She's seen here approaching the second corner flag. On this leg of the track she stayed almost right on the line. The wind was in her face.

On this corner Zoe had a little bit of a hard time finding that scent again. Lots of encouragement and a few circles around me and then she found it!

And there it was, the article at the end. Lots of drive to get to it, we need to work on our indication though. We're having a great time with this new past time for Zoe.

Good Girl, Exercise done!

On The Road Again

Took Sassy Girl on the Road yesterday to work on some distance and distraction issues we've been having. It seems we have almost overcome these. I picked a place in the park where there was little foot traffic but the occasional vehicle driving by. Here she is on a Sit/Stay with those cute little ears all perked up and watching me the whole time.

 No problem coming with enthusiasm!  She almost ran right into me, if I hadn't parted my feet to let her through to tug on her favorite toy

 Next we did a little bit of work with her dumbell. Nice little trot out and

back with a pert sit and hold in front.  Great job, Exercise done!





Sassy and I have been working on our scent discrimination with articles since she was a wee pup. This is one game she absolutely loves. It's only been in the last year that we've been able to take this game on the road. Now we can do distance and light distractions. What a pro she is!

 She trots out to the pile knowing exactly what her job is. "Must find HER article" Often she indicates the correct article with a quick little nose touch, then checks over the remaining pile until she is absolutely sure she has chosen the correct item.






Sometimes she will check the pile 2-3 times before she comes trotting back with the right article. When we're all done she loves to head back to the pile with me and our little article bag to help me pick up the rest and put them away. Don't know how she's going to react at a trial if she doesn't get to "pick up her toys!" So I have to say yesterday was a success and you can expect to see us in various places around town playing our games and having fun. 

Good Girl, Exercise Done!

Back to School

 This week we headed back to school. Both girls to their different classes and boy did I notice a difference. Zoe got restarted with the agility classes, boy is she fast! I will be hard pressed to keep up with her. Apparently it's all about timing and that's something I need to work on. Zoe can do the obstacles but only if I tell when does she do them well.  So I need to be able to tell her while she's in the air, or still in the tunnel what the next obstacle is so she knows where she's going next.  Harder to do than you would think! Practice makes perfect I've heard.

 Sassy started back to school in a proofing class through our club. She needs to study a little bit more but I did see a huge step forward this last class. We were doing the drop on recall when another class member came zooming right by Sassy just as she dropped! Well of course she popped right up but stayed connected with me enough to go back down when I asked. But it gets better! Not only does the zoomer get her on the first pass but on the way back to her handler, Sassy once again pops right up, stays connected and goes back down on command. Good girl, exercise done.Whew says Sassy, that was hard!

 Zoe has also been researching tracking. She did an awesome urban track last Sunday as you all saw. We went to a friends place for a field track. Was a bit more than Zoe was ready for. We found out the biggest difference between Urban and Field tracking is where the dogs nose is. In Urban there seems to be a lot of air scenting happening. This does not transfer well to the Field where the scent stays closer to the ground. We had a 4 corner track with lots of incentives (good thing too). As we want to get into a Field trial coming this spring we have a lot of work ahead of us. But I know that Zoe with throw herself 100% into the game and come out a winner in the end.

Sassy also started a new class under a new trainer. We're working on a little more connection when doing our heel free exercise. Sassy came away from her first class today with a whole new appreciation for watch me! And I learned some new ways of maintaining that connection.


So on to another fun filled week, Zoe to tracking with her nose and not her eyes. And Sassy learning to watch with her eyes!
Phew lots for me to remember and to keep straight between the two. Cause you know what works for one doesn't always work for the other!

First Urban Track this year.

Zoe and I haven't been out tracking since last fall. On Sunday we went up to the college and had a blast. The only problem we really had was with the track layer. Silly girl couldn't even read her own map! She started on the wrong piece of grass adding 60m to the track. Bad track layer, considered replacing her but can hardly fire myself! On the map you will see the red line is the extra bit I added, the hamburger and shake icons are food drops, and the knife and fork are articles. Zoe really only lost the track once, right at the beginning but we worked our way back to where she picked it up. She started backtracking but when she hit the first food drop and there was no food she realized her mistake, turned around and headed in the right direction. Good Girl!  I'm very proud of her. Towards the end of the track the last leg is a mix of grass, sidewalk, grass, sidewalk and runs between a hedgerow and the buildings. There was enough frost on the ground to keep her in a fairly straight line. Sometimes she was right of the track sometimes left but she didn't deviate far either way.

View North Island College in a larger map

 Off to a great start

 Hmmm where did that scent go?

 Backed up to the last food drop, did some more backtracking then got turned around and headed in the right direction.

Wait a minute is that food over there?

 Yup, really loving this game!

 I think right about here, Zoe really got into the track.

 She zoomed ahead, crossed the road, found some more food and another article!

Moved along to the next corner, found more food

 and totally aced the rest of the track.

 Moving so fast, I could hardly hold the camera steady!

 And ended with the final article under the bench. We had a huge party, played with that chunk of leather. She was so focused on tracking she paid absolutely no attention to the people hanging around at the end of the track until we finished our game of tug and looked around, woofed at them then settled right into heel to walk back to the van. A very successful track, even with the extra bit added on at the start.

Six Puppies, Four Wranglers and a Bottle of Bubbles

As some of you may know my other passion, (besides my dogs), is photography. In December I was hired by a fellow dog club member to photograph her litter of Nova Scotia Duck Toller Retriever's.  What a blast we had. There were 4 people to "Wrangle" the puppies, which basically means keep them on the table!  We started out by putting the puppies in the wicker hamper.  Did you know a basket of puppies can be like a can of worms?  No sooner were all the puppies in the basket, I gave the word to release the wranglers, and those puppies were out of the basket, often giving me only 1 shot where they were all looking in my general direction.  Was a ton of fun.

After playing with the basket and group photos we moved on to individuals. Much easier and we only needed two wranglers.  As is true with any litter of purebred dogs the puppies all tend to look alike. There are some distinguishing markings but they can be hard to pick out in a photo. My solution to that was to use a different prop for each puppy.

This fellow was so comfortable in the basket we just left him there.










This one took a moment to smell the flowers.













                                             Can you say "Pretty Girl"



                          

                                






Yes I can look at the camera!












You don't smell like a Toller?



                    

                              


And finally the ring leader of the litter.
This little girl was one active puppy.

Santa Who?








Ahhhhh Puppy's who doesn't like them?
Check out all the photos at my web site.

A Year in Review

Well it seems I've been off the blog for quite some time. I was gone looking for inspirational stuff to blog and I think I got sidetracked cause I'm still looking!

So I will start this year off with a review of what me and my dogs have been up to. Let's start with my club's trial in March.  Zoe completed the last leg of her Companion Dog title to earn her CD from the AIOC.  Sassy Girl also competed in the same trial and earned 2 legs towards her CD. 





We had been waiting for our CKC registration numbers to come through and finally received them in April. Just in time to enter Zoe in Nanaimo's Rally Obedience Trials. We entered in the Novice A class and Zoe did me proud getting her very first CKC title with three very lovely scores of 97, 98, and a perfect 100!
What a good girl she is.




Next on our agenda was a Freestyle dance competition put on by our club in Victoria. We had a great time. Both girls competed but only Sassy Girl earned a title, Canine Dressage Novice - Level 1. This was Sassy's debut in dressage and she did a great job.  For the first level the dog and handler only have to show team work, the dog must stay in the heel position and the handler must not use a tight leash or any corrections.  Sassy did me proud, she stayed connected with me the whole time and even threw in some side passes that had me scrambling to keep up! We finished 2nd in our group. 




Next up was our trip to Victoria for a weekend of Rally Obedience in August. This was our first "Away" event and I have to say we had a blast, hanging with our friends and competing in the same venue as our Freestyle competition. Zoe earned 2 legs towards her Advanced A title and had a great time doing it.  Sassy was not quite ready to compete in either Rally or Obedience so she stayed home keeping Bo company.

Our next big adventure wasn't until November when we traveled to the mainland and partook of a Gala event put on by the Paws 2 Dance group we belong to. This group was celebrating their 10 year anniversary and had been working on a play involving their dogs and indoor kite flying.  What an event it was too. Was great to watch. The next day we entered the dressage competition. Zoe was entered in Dressage Novice 3 but found that she could not possibly back up on that stage so we didn't qualify. Sassy Girl on the other hand had no problem and passed her Dressage Novice level 2 and has now caught up to Zoe. We will have to work very hard this year to enter our groups competition in June. I think the 3rd time will be the charm for Zoe and I have a whole new routine to work out with Sassy Girl.


Also in November we entered our club's CKC Rally Obedience trial. Zoe completed her Advanced A title and earned 2 legs towards her Excellent title.  One more leg and then it's back into the obedience ring for her to earn her CKC CD title.  This is a photo of us competing.  Look at that team work and footwork. Looking good!




Sassy Girl finally got to enter a trial, she told me she was ready and don't you know it she was!  Sassy earned her Novice A title with 2 perfect scores and a 99. Have to say I am very proud of this little dog. She has battled shyness and fear to come out on top.  Way to go Sassy Girl.



So we have had a rather busy and fun year in 2010, and we're looking forward to just as much if not more fun in 2011.

This coming year I hope to enter Zoe and Sassy in Rally Obedience in March, Zoe in a tracking test and Sassy in some regular obedience trials.  We are also working very hard towards entering another Freestyle/Dressage competition coming up in June.

I hope to keep you posted on a more regular basis as to where we are and what we're doing.


Cheers Everyone

 

Here's to a Happy and Event Filled New Year to All

Arlene, Zoe and Sassy Girl