In a couple of weeks there are a few local trials. A CKC obedience trial February 21/22 and a CARO rally-o trial February 28/March 1, both in Saskatoon. As such, it seems that everyone is doing some last minute cramming! There was a huge turn out at the rally-o drop-in time tonight at Paws n' Train. Usually there are 4-5 dogs present, but tonight there were at least a dozen (and I'm probably missing someone in my quick head count). As usual, we had an Advanced course set up for the first half, and then an Excellent course. Since there were so many dogs, it took quite a bit longer than it normally does for everyone to run through each course a couple of times. Fortunately, it is a great group of people that show up for the drop-ins so we all help each other out on the side as we wait out turns, doing stand for exams, discussing how to get that "back up 3 steps" sign down, etc. Since there is also an obedience trial coming soon, we took the opportunity to practice a couple of long sits and downs as well. I love long sits and downs! There is something about having a whole bunch of dogs all sitting together nicely that makes me smile.
For the rally-o portions, the boys did great, as usual! Gio was really "on" tonight, but he is having trouble staying on his feet. Because of all his meds, he is lacking a little in the coordination department, so tends to slide out a lot. I need to remember to be less abrupt when doing chances of direction so that he has time to find his feet. It is difficult as we began training when he had all his faculties about him, so I got in the habit of making very abrupt changes of direction. It looks beautiful when the dog is able to work like that, but with Gio losing his balance all over because of it, it doesn't look so pretty anymore. If I could just remember to change my pace for him, it would make it so much easier for him to stay on his feet. I guess I still see that former Gio in his face when he is working and delude myself into thinking that he can perform the way he used to. In his mind, he can, his feet just can't keep up with him. Despite my poor handling, he did VERY well. Nailed his end of the bargain perfectly, even got the broad jump on the first try. Romeo did well, for the most part. He was very distractable tonight and just couldn't leave the little bits of fluff on the floor alone. He did each rally station perfectly, but the in between parts were sloppy. Normally he doesn't have that issue at all, so I'm just telling myself that "it was one of those nights". We are all allowed one of those now and then, right?
There is another drop-in obedience time tomorrow evening, but I think I am going to have to skip that one. I really should get some more packing done, and I definitely need to get Romeo all trimmed up for his therapy dog visit on Friday. That, and I'm getting pretty broke. This past month has been hard on the bank account, and next month isn't going to be any better! Of course, I just keep reminding myself about the positive aspects ... you know, new house, out on my own, peace and quiet, just me and the dogs. Perfect! With that, I am happy to accept a little stricter budgeting and a little more penny pinching!
This photo was taken in December of 2007. I was participating in an online "trick photo contest" with a group of friends. The trick of the week was a "paw touch". Since it was nearly Christmas, I decided to get Gio to do a paw touch to a Christmas ball hanging on the tree. Here he is (with very scruffy toes!) in the process of reaching for the ball.
Romeo's breeder sent me this picture ...
Romeo's problem is that he has a "leave it" that is so completely solid that he will give whatever it is he is supposed to be leaving a 10 foot berth! So if I slip up and tell him to "leave it" as we are entering the figure 8, he has been known to stop moving and just stand back and watch me weave through the pylons so as not to get too close to the food bowls. I thought that just not using the command "leave it" and rather just having a nice attention heel would work instead, as it does with Gio, but Romeo has now generalized the exercise, so whenever he sees food bowls he automatically assumes he has to leave them alone without me telling him to. As a result, he is VERY laggy through the exercise and will often drop back to walk right behind me so that he doesn't have to be too close to the bowls. I've been practicing setting up food bowls and just having him "survive" in the middle of them, doing little heel patterns, tricks, sits/downs, playing tug and fetch where he has to run out of the circle of bowls and back in again. That seems to have helped a lot as today he didn't even flinch when we approached the bowls and kept a nice attention heel without dropping back into his usual lag position.
