Class #2 - WOW

Class tonight was AMAZING! I was considering not going because Hobbs is still recovering, but I am so glad that I did. I decided to just watch Hobbs and give him breaks as needed. The course was set up when we got there, and our instructor told me to "walk it and see which parts you think you can do, because it is pretty tough". Then added "If you think you can run the whole thing, by all means try it!"

I am in class with a bunch of handlers who have dogs in Excellent at trials and people with dogs in novice in some areas too. Our instructor knows I am a novice handler with a novice dog so she tries to let me know that I can take it easy.....thats not me. So I walked it as if I was going to run the whole thing. Here is the Champs (Excellent) UKI Jumpers course she had set for us:

Enlarge it so you can see just how insane it was!

There was only one thing (the two jumps before the weaves) that made me hesitate with Hobbs. Had it only been 6 weave poles I would have tried it on the first run through, but I wanted him to be successful at the poles so I decided to leave out #13. Looking back at it, I was walking it wrong when I decided to leave it lol.

Our first run through was great! Hobbs didn't even think about going up the DW after 2, but I forgot my strategy for getting him into the far end of the tunnel so he took the wrong end. Then I think he missed #15 at the end, but it was again my fault (isn't it always?). Even with the mistakes it felt great and we were working together very well.

Before we went through again we got a lecture about not running full out with our dogs. Most of us were just running close to them being safe when we should have been moving out and getting our dogs to RUN. Our instructor said at one point that "the one one with an excuse for not doing this is Brittany because she is a novice handler" to which I came back with "No, I don't have an excuse, because novice or not I should be handling my dog properly!". We all laughed at that and decided that no one had an excuse for babysitting our dogs on the course.

The second time through we were supposed to stop after the weaves so I decided to handle the jumps before the weaves like it is on the course map. We did GREAT! Hobbs went into the wrong end a couple times and then I did something wrong getting from 12-13 but we finally got it right and Hobbs got his weave entrance the first time!

After that course we worked on proofing our dogs contact behavior on the DW. I hadn't realized I baby Hobbs so much on his contact. We started by running with them, and continuing to run past the end to see if the dogs would stop on their own. The first time, I ran and slowed WAY down as he got to the end, and of course he stopped. My instructor said we should find out now how well he knows his job and told me to just blast right past the end and keep on going. We wanted to see if he would blow the contact. I was positive he would because I never run past. I always have stopped with him. So I took her advice and ran as fast as I could past that contact.

HE STOPPED AND HELD IT!!!

I was astonished, and threw a huge party for him. I need to trust this boy more because he is constantly proving to me that he knows what he is doing.

Then we had some fun with some "lazy handling" stuff and all took turn sitting in a chair on the side of the DW and handling our dogs from there.

The dogs ran from right to left Jump, DW, Jump and the chair is the blue square.

Hobbs took a few seconds to go all the way into 2o2o when I was in position 1, but he did it on the first try (and was the only dog in class that was able to do it). With position #2 he very tentatively came off the contact the first time, I took him back to the start, and he nailed it the second time! My little boy knows (mostly) his job on the DW!!

All in all, it was a wonderful class! I am really liking that this class has some seriously difficult (for me) handling challenges every week. It is going to make our novice AKC trial seem like baby stuff. I can't wait!

First Trip to the Beach

Ugh, I can't believe it took me this long to get this post up!

Robert, Kaylee, and I all went out to the coast Sunday afternoon. It was wonderful! Oregon beaches are beautiful! Cold, yes, but beautiful. This trip made me seriously think about staying here long-term.

We took both dogs (Hobbs and a guide dog puppy we were puppy sitting) and they both had a blast running around. Luckily it hadn't gotten busy there so we let Hobbs off leash to play in the waves for a while. He loved it and got really into chasing them some times. We didn't trust the other puppy enough to let him off leash, so he had to live with the retractable leash.

This beach was really long and wide with the water coming in from the waves for almost 50 yards. That was with the really big waves, but we didn't dare go clear to where the waves were breaking because the big ones came in so often. When we first got there we walked really close to the waves breaking and let Kaylee down to walk around.....then a huge wave (over Kaylee's head) came in really quickly and we had to snatch her up and run for our safety. That spooked her pretty badly and she was nervous about the water after that. It was ok though because things were so fun on the beach for her.

She chased the Crows and Seagulls, stared at seashells (didn't want to touch them), picked up driftwood, laughed hysterically at the dogs playing, and practiced walking (and drawing) on the nice smooth sand.

This was the first picture I took of the beach and it is my favorite. I LOVED the driftwood that lined the upper part of the beach.

You can see in this picture (and the next) how far out the surf was! there was a TON of wet sand because the water would come up so far with the really big waves.

It was so fun to walk our little girl along the sand, helping her discover the wonders of the world.

She held our hands a lot at first because she was unsure of the water and is still learning how to walk in shoes.

But then she took off!

She explored a little bit with Daddy

It was just barely raining, but it was more like just mist falling from the sky. It was great! It got all our hair wet though.

It was a bit windy too

Investigating sea shells

and playing with the sand

Running back and forth to daddy......

....and back to me.

I absolutely love this picture!

she really really didn't like touching the sand. She looked like this the two times she tripped and got sand on her hands

Drawing. Yes, I drew the circle around her.

Her first sand drawing (and adorable footprints)

Drawing with daddy

I was a little nervous when she wanted to walk round holding the stick, but she was pretty carful with it!

Some more shots of the water/beach

I don't know if she was coughing or talking in this one, but it is a funny face either way

More footprints in the sand

I love this little girl SO much!

I wanted to get a nice family picture on this log, but then the camera broke :(

Here are some of the videos we took:

I can't wait to go back sometime and see if she gets more brave about the water. It was such a wonderful day! It made me never want to leave.

In Other News

We have a PIT in our house again! Well, sort of.

Meet Kenwood

He is a very recently CC'd PIT who came to be puppy sat for the weekend. Before he got dropped off at our house I was under the impression he was still in the program, but apparently he got dropped for a lot of the same reasons Hobbs did. He is a wonderful, soft, cuddly boy.

He didn't like me taking pictures of him, so he laid down every time.

Kaylee LOVES him, and wants to keep him for permanent.

She keeps trying to feed him, lay on him, share the dog bed with him, and generally doesn't leave him alone. And he love it.

He is just a good boy.

Hobbs and him met, but Hobbs wasn't feeling super great so they didn't do much. Hopefully by tomorrow Hobbs will feel well enough to play a little with him.

Update

Hobbs started peeing blood this morning at Agility practice, so we got to go to an emergency vet (why is it that vets are mostly closed on Saturdays?). Turns out he has a major UTI but luckily no crystals. He got an anti-inflammatory shot at the vet because he was in a TON of pain (yelped when the vet went to feel his bladder), antibiotics, and anti-inflammatory's for the next two weeks. He gets to go back in two weeks for another check to make sure it is all gone.

I feel like I let him down by not noticing before now how much pain he was in.

UTI or More Stress?

Hobbs is having serious bathroom issues today. He has gone outside to pee no less than 25 times. When he goes out, he pees for a second, jumps up and trots really quick to another spot, pees, jumps up again and either goes to another spot or runs back to me. I don't think he has pee'd for more than 3 seconds at a time all day long. I think he had a little problem yesterday with this, but nothing this bad. Also, he has had 5 accidents in the house, and 3 out on the porch! Just little ones like he didn't even know he was peeing. He is also drinking water every chance he gets. I actually restricted it today, and I haven't had to do that in a long time. I think maybe he has a UTI.

So I don't know what to think.

He is still incredibly stressed, his barking issue is getting worse, and he only relaxes every once in a while. He is getting out to play, walk, and train, but he is always at the door asking to go out. I am hoping the potty issues aren't another manifestation of his stress level. That will be harder to fix than a medical thing.

On a brighter side of things, we are going tomorrow to practice agility, and then out to the coast. It is supposed to be a gorgeous day there so I am really excited! Hopefully Hobbs likes the ocean water!

This is going to be great!

Class tonight was excellent! Hobbs really enjoyed himself, and we got to work on new things.

None of the sequences were over difficult (not really worth posting) and Hobbs did great. This instructor has random toys all over the place which act as distractions and Hobbs was a little too interested in a Frisbee that was on one of the courses. It stopped him several times. Next week hopefully he is a little more attentive and not so interested in looking for new things in the environment.

One thing I was very happy to work on was our contacts. We just worked on hugely rewarding the dogs for quickly getting into position and staying there despite us throwing a party for them. Hobbs broke a couple times right at first when I partied and then corrected himself. He did amazingly well on her teeter even though it is very noisy, isn't weighted down, and lowers quickly.

Things I learned about my handling during this class:

• I was shocked to notice how often I use Hobbs' name in frustration for a mess up on course. I am not upset at him, but for some reason it comes out of me as his name. I noticed once tonight that it shut him down a little.
• I thought I had been really praising him a lot for his contact performance.....NOT! Maybe I do in private, but tonight it was difficult for me to party for him really enthusiastically.
• I NEED to work on my timing for front crosses and rear crosses. I am tired of being slow 98% of the time.
• I take my eyes off my dog a lot. When I go to run ahead of him on course, I assume he is going to follow me and stop watching him. That has to stop, NOW

Any suggestions for a dog who would rather chew on grass than do agility? Not Hobbs, another dog in class. He runs well on other surfaces, but long grass makes him want to graze.

We are going on Saturday to practice by ourselves and hopefully that will be our routine while we are here.

He is stressing.

Hobbs is stressing. He is restless all day long, barks at every noise, jumps up every time I move, and constantly acts like he NEEDS something. I have been taking him on walks, but it has been raining the past few days and I don't have a rain protected stroller so we can't go unless it is barely sprinkling. Plus he hates walking in the rain.

I have been doing training stuff inside and he seems to be himself while training, but it doesn't drain any energy or settle him down at all. I have been trying to just ignore him, and let him figure it out on his own, but I am starting to worry a little. I am really hoping he isn't too stressed to think properly at agility on Tuesday.

Lift off!

I knew it, I knew it!! I was absolutely positive that the hardwood floors in our house were keeping Kaylee from wanting to walk by herself. We moved into this apartment Saturday night, and by Sunday after church she was walking down the hall or across the room by herself!

Here we are, not even a week later and she is able to walk anywhere she wants even with shoes on. She gets a kick out of walking outside on the grass, but falls easily and then can't get back up on her own because there isn't anything to pull up on. Ok, thats a lie. She did manage to stand up by herself once, but face planted it the next time lol.

Here are a couple videos of her walking earlier this week:

And some pictures:

Aiming for the cushion in front of the couch

So serious!

She ran around with her shoe on her hand most of the time

This was cute. She was pretending to put her shoes on, but didn't really want them on

I love this picture

She kept squatting and shutting her eyes and making a Moo sound lol.

Then she walked with her hands on her ears

I don't know what she was doing....slapping at her head?

After tripping

A girl and her dog

I know, germs. She loves her shoes though!

Walking back to the house. She still likes to hold my finger when walking sometimes.