Playtime in the Sun

Sunday was a beautiful sunny day.  I was pet sitting for our friend Hal the Aussie again.  We hung out at the parent's house and all the dogs (minus Fancy and Roscoe who didn't want to play) had a fun play date.

Just starting off the play time.  Pie looks sly.

Dottie and Hal are BFF.

Hal says- Play with me now!

This looks like fun.

Dottie and Kerby are also BFF.

Wheeeeee!!!!!!!

Pie was more about rolling than playing.

Kerby only pretended to be tired.

2 Girls against 1 Boy.  He looks happy.

More Wheeeeee!!!!

Muffin spectates.

Chompies.

I like Dottie's sneer.

Does this picture make Molly look fat?

Dottie plays hard to get.

Molly endorses 1-800-Get Thin.

Chomp!

Boxer House Guest

Jupiter is the first dog I've watched who I did not know his owner beforehand.  Let me say he is one of the best behaved dogs I have watched so far!

He is loose in the house when I'm home and he hasn't urinated on anything.  He doesn't bug my dogs constantly and he settles nicely.

The owner said he is fine loose in the house all day but I didn't want to leave him loose with my dogs just to be 100% safe. I left him in the kitchen with his huge orthopedic dog bed and when I came home from work he had NOT eaten the cabinets, shredded the mat or had an accident.  What a good boy! 

He plays with Dottie a little bit, but his is older for a boxer.  I hope any future dogs I watch are just as well behaved as him.

Dottie is in there and he is waiting for her to come out.

Dottie and Pie biting each other.  What fun!

Dog Photo Torture...

I'm doing it right!  (That is a common meme on the internet; something such as- "Driving, Your (it is usually misspelled) Doing It Wrong!" and then there will be a picture of a car on 2 wheels.I like the Facebook page- Decoying- You're doing it wrong!  Mostly it is people who only put on the bite jacket and end up getting bit by working police dogs in the leg or rear end.  I don't generally find dog bites funny, but some common sense should be used. 

Anyway, this could also be titled, The Retrieve- You're Doing it Wrong!

If looks could kill...

Looks photoshoped, it it is real.

Pie's head is nice and flat. I got Pie's ears up, but they knocked it off.

Home Ownership Pitfalls...

Luckily I am still renting, or else this would be my problem.  Soon after I moved in, water started coming up through a seam in the patio.  I say seam, but I suppose it is actually an old repair.  My guess is this has happened before.  I told the owner and they sent out someone from the home warrenty company (they just bought the property).  That person had to call a leak detection company to figure out where the leak is.  As it turns out, it is directly under the leakage area, which is bad news for the owner.  The warrenty only covers things inside or under the house.  Patio not included.  In the mean time, the puddle was getting quite large on the patio and next to it.  That was a pain because the dogs had to go through it to get into the house.  The gardener dug this trench and installed the drain extension.  So no more puddle, but now we can see just how much water is being wasted by watching the rate of flow.  Tuesday is the next day someone is coming out.  This time they should jackhammer up the patio (or I suppose they could dig under it maybe) and finally fix the leak.  Besides not owning the house, the other good news for me is the owner pays the water bill.  I am afraid it is going to be quite large!

Pie and Dottie in a typical yard play session.

Really Long Grass

There is a location on the Navy base with really long grass.  I've been using it on the advise of K to lay tracks were I can really see each footstep to make sure Dottie is being very precise.  I took these pictures after we had run the track.  I think the grass was up to Dottie's back when she is standing!  From the picture of just the grass you can see we are working on acute angles.  This is not only to help her on regular corners, but we'll also need it for the FH2.

Dottie VST Training

Now that we passed the TDX, VST is next on our list.  Today I laid a track about 3 and a half hours old at a business center next to the freeway.  We started off on grass.  The track went along the top of a berm and between trees, also on mulch.  She had a little trouble.  This part wasn't on film because it was just too long.  I think the trouble came with the wind from the freeway and the top of the berm.  It wan't terrible, she just did a lot of checking.

She crossed the roads nicely and picked up the track again well on the grass.  The rest is on video and pretty much speaks for himself.  The track ended between 3 buildings and I had to cross back over my track to get out.  That caused her a little trouble, but it is good training.



There is a VST in March the week before AKC Nationals up north, outside of Sacramento.  I am sending in my entry.  I hope I get in!  Training will continue.  K has reminded me to only work on 1 thing at a time.  Today I worked on turns on the hard surface.  Next time I will go to a park and work on highly contaminated short grass.  That always gives Dottie trouble.

Proofing...

Last week I was laying tracks at lunch in preparation for our TDX.  Since laying the track (luckily) doesn't take all lunch, I had left over time.  I used the time to work on some obedience.  Here we are proofing the signals in an outdoor kitchen.

Dottie TDX!!!!!!!!!!!

Below follows the very lengthy story of our TDX test:

I left my house around 4:30 on Saturday because the USDAA trial was going long.  Since Dottie was trying to blow by articles last week in training, at the trial I laid a 3 article "track."  5 paces between each article, 1 turn.  She did great and indicated each article. I ended up leaving before Dottie's Masters Jumpers run.  I still had to unload the car, then re-load it.  Once we got on the road, the drive was fine.  When I first got on the 5, through Castaic and by Pyramid Lake, there was enough traffic that I couldn't use my cruise control.  But as it got later it thinned out. For a while we had fog and rain, but that cleared up pretty quick. The rest of the drive was fine.  I made it in pretty much 6 hrs exactly.  No stops except right before our motel for gas, since I didn't want to have to gas up before the test the next morning.

I went to bed but slept horribly.  

Where is my spot?

 Nervous and also being in a motel, I'm sure.  I got to sleep in until 7 because you don't have to be there until 9:45 to let the tracks age.  Better than a TD!  I went to church in the
morning, where the priest warned us of the dangers of the flu in church (ie-no shaking hands and stay home if you are sick.  I was amused.)  On the way back I passed a small park, and laid another article track.  10 paces between each article and again she was good.  It boosted my confidence a bit.

Off to the test site.  We drew track 2 (out of 4, it was actually a 5 dog test but 2 dogs passed the week before and there was one alternate.) 

The GSD went first and it didn't take up the scent at the start. It stood there a while staring off into the distance, and just when I thought the judges would whistle her off for not working, the dog trotted off.  Apparently in the correct direction because she jogged after the dog and the judges followed.  She made the first turn then we couldn't see her anymore because we weren't even allowed to go past the first car in line and she went down a small hill.  Not too long after we heard the whistle than meant she had failed.  I think the dog missed a turn and just kept going (as Pie did in her certification.)

So now it was our turn.  We drove back to my track and I pottied Dottie and got everything ready.  Judges pointed out my flag and off we went, Dottie on her fur saver, attempting to pull me over.  She downed at the start and I put the line on her harness.  I let her go.  I couldn't see the start direction at all.  She sniffed and off we went. About 5 paces from the start, as she always does, she checked, then continued going. 

Here is a drawing based on what I remember and based on the maps the judges gave me.  The stars are the articles, and the yellow is where we came close to failing. The black arrows are the cross tracks, not counting the woman walking her dogs, who I saw, but didn't know if she was on our track or not.  Later they told me she was.

Our first item of note was a deepish ravine, with running water in the bottom.  A very thin stream, easy for both Dottie and I to step over.  Based on the way we were traveling, I guessed the track went in.  Dottie followed it down, then hit the water and checked left and right.  Nothing.  She came back out (I hadn't gone down yet) and she checked left and right along the top.  Nothing.  She went back down, stopped at the water, sniffed it once, stretched her neck across, must have picked up scent, because then she crossed.  I went down, she went up the other side no hesitation, and I followed.  Our first obstacle!  And our first time crossing running water. I crossed a puddle in a dirt road last week, but it wasn't also in a ditch, so that was a first.  Nowhere out here in the dryness to practice that! Soon after that was our first article.  It was a little bootie, tan, blending into the grass.  She stopped no problem, and pawed at it, like she usually does.  I said show me and she laid down.  I walked up and she was all excited.  I don't know if she was just happy to have an article, or if she really liked the bootie.  It was pretty cute.  Praise, and off we went again.  Corner then cross track (I didn't know it).  We were headed towards the road. The GSD tracklayer told me that track crossed the road twice.  I thought it was our turn.  But then Dottie made a perfect 90 degree turn towards the left.  Eeek!  Did she just fall for a cross track?  I put tension on the line and she pulled through it so I went with her.  I had no choice.  They will fail you for blocking your dog, unless they are casting. She obviously wasn't casting!  So I followed behind, convinced we were going to get the whistle any second.  But nothing. Then we made another turn and I knew we must be right because they would have already stopped me.  So we were still on track.

The above photos are the area where our track was laid .

We had another cross track that I didn't know about then the track went past the bushes and the tracklayer walked over what they called slash.  It was like a dead, fallen over bush, or pile of sticks.  Dottie
tracked right up to it, then shoved her head under it.  Well, she wasn't coming close to fitting under it (maybe a rabbit could go in, but it would have to come out the same way.)  Based on that indication (head shoving) I thought she was following the scent under there, and that the track layer probably stepped on top and over.  But she then abandoned the scent and started searching.  Since the bushes are considered an obstacle, I thought we probably didn't have a turn in the bushes, due to the rule about how far away from obstacles turns have to be.  But I wasn't 100% sure since I know tracks can "meander" through woods or bushes. She then turned left and I could see a fence towards our left.  I thought the track probably didn't go that way since that is the direction of our start, and with the fence I thought that would be putting us close to another leg.  So I stayed put and let her check it out and after around 25 to 30 feet (good thing I have a long line, thanks K!) her head came up and she started searching back. In AKC you do not have to be at the end of your line.  I like that because I can hold my ground and give her more line and not commit.   Because I thought it didn't go that way, I put tension on the line hoping to question her without getting whistled off and it worked. Tension, but she was still pulling the line through my hands.  Her head came up, she turned around and she put her nose back down and she started searching back.  Then she went to the right.  Same thing. Tension on the line, she eventually came back.  So I backed up, hoping she would catch the scent.  She crossed over our original track several times without ever picking it up.  More circling. The ground was green here, but it wasn't really grass, more like moss or something.  I couldn't see any kind of footprints.

Eventually she went back to the left and I let the line play out and then I had to go with her.  I still didn't think it was correct based on the fence and her body language.  Not steady tracking, head checking back and forth, looking frantic.  Sure enough, again she indicated she didn't have it.  So I backed up again and this time she committed right and I went with her. Again, she showed me she lost it so I backed up to the original spot.  At this point I had left the track twice, only to go back to it after she decided to not commit. I re-scented her but it didn't help.  She searched again and again with in 10-20 feet and didn't indicate anything.  Doing the circling again and again and again.  Then I watered her and re-scented.  I thought maybe we passed a turn before the bushes so I backed up further. Now I was almost hanging out with the judges. This time she made a right turn before the bushes and I felt like this could have been a good direction since it was wide open.  I went with her but again after maybe me being 5 paces off the track and her 25 feet she started telling me it was not that way.  Backed up again to the track.  She continued searching and at this point I had forgotten about the original thought that it went straight through the bushes and I was wondering if I should tell the judges we were done, since I know the rules say you keep going until the dog stops working,
and she will search until she is exhausted.  She has quit on practice tracks when I know where it goes, and as you know, I recently worked to get her to not quit again.  I don't want to enforce quitting, so I thought maybe I should pull her off.  I was very, very close to turning around and saying, "We are done."  I bet the judges have never had a handler quit before the dog before! I was wondering how much longer I should let her work and what exactly I should say to the judges when finally, she did pick up our original track (that we had both walked all over at this point) and she followed it up to the slash and again stopped.  Since she had
checked everywhere else several times, I now knew it must go over this.  Her blockage was the scent was under the bush and she couldn't follow it.  We've worked going over logs and up and over walls and I've even tracked her on fallen sticks like this, but something about the fact that she could get her head in but no further was causing her the block.

Where we almost failed.

 So after tracking back up to the bush thing, she kind of hesitated, then went around to the right, and I could see her getting some residual scent. Right after it, maybe 3 paces, she went back to the left and was back on the track.  That was all it took, just going around in a forward direction only 3 paces.  We almost failed over 3 paces!!

Only a few paces, well, maybe 20 but after that it felt so short, was a pair of balled up black socks, very nicely blending into the cover.  I suppose if I had been looking, and I had really good eyes, I could have seen it.  I wonder if the judges thought I saw it, or if they could tell how unsure of everything I was.   Since that was only our second found article, I figured we had a while to go.  But after a left turn, towards the fence, but she clearly indicated it was the correct way, we found our last article!  So the distance between the second and third articles was very small.

Dottie posing with her articles and my nice fanny pack with water.

 

Dottie with just one of her rewards!

So know you all know exactly how it went.  :)  My track layer said she has laid a lot of tracks and I was only her second pass.  Happy to help her out!

The next 2 dogs failed.  I didn't watch them because I was still celebrating with Dottie, then for the last dog I couldn't find my way to the track.  One dog made it almost to the end then went off in a random direction and the other dog was somehow confused by a berm and went off the track.

We started at 10:33 and finished at 11:06.  It felt very quick except for our time in the bushes which felt like an hour.  I did give her a drink on her first article, but because it was moist, I think the FH was physically
harder for her. She looked more tired at the end of her FH.  But the TDX was harder for me since I couldn't see the track the whole time and because of the near miss in the bushes.  It says it was aged only 3 hrs and was only 810 yards long.  Since our TD was over 600 yards with less turns and only 1 article, as I thought the TDX felt much busier and the TD was a really long way to go with only one article. Our longest leg here was 295 yards and the shortest was 50 yards (the last leg was the shortest.)

The other dogs was the GSD, a border collie and a portie. 

I don't remember what time I left the test site.  We stayed for lunch then the awards.  Dottie got a TDX ribbon!  The drive home was very easy. About 1 drop of rain, no traffic.  Stopped at the rest stop in Coalinga that I slept at on the way home last time- used the rest room and took pictures. Then stopped in Fillmore for gas and we were home!


I am so proud of Dottie- she did such a great job!!  Thank you Dottie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sun setting at the rest stop.

Fancy being subjected to photo torture at the rest stop.

This looks uncomfortable!

Pretty sunset on the 5.

Clouds over the Grapevine.

Driving through the night with the moon watching.

2 Dottie Pictures

Dottie poses on a giant baseball after one of our practice tracks.

BTW- the track was aged 4 hrs, in the 75 degree heat, with winds blowing very strong, and by the time she finished, it was 5 hrs, and only 10 percent humidity.  She did very well considering the conditions!

And here is a picture of Dottie playing with the bite wedge I bought her at the obedience trial.  Notice the nice, full grip.  Please do not notice the blurriness of the photo.  This camera does not prefer to take action shots in low light.  Pie and Dottie both love the bite wedge, and even Fancy was playing with it.

Winterfest

Dottie, Pie and I attended the Winterfest Cluster here in Ventura County.  So nice to have such a close trial!  Dottie was entered all 3 days in Utility A, and Pie was entered in Rally Excellent on Saturday and Sunday in order to finish up her title.

Dottie did not qualify any day.  The first day we failed signals and 1 article, and the second and third days we only failed one article each day.  Oddly, it was the second article all 3 times.  The first 2 days the judge put the scented article in the middle on the second article.  Dottie did not find it.  The second day she searched longer, so perhaps her confidence was going up.  After the second day I went home and put peanut butter on the article in the middle.  Then no peanut butter, then I proofed it by putting an unscented one in the middle.  She was correct each time.

Come Sunday, the judge did not put the scented article in the middle at all!  As expected, Dottie grabbed the middle one anyway. :)  Well, at least she knows the middle is an option now.  Other than signals the first day, besides the articles, she did everything right.  The rings were very big, which is unusual for being inside.  Her go outs were perfect, something which is nice since I had to work hard to get those.  We had glove 2 all 3 days, which is nice, but will I ever get her to take 1 or 3 again? 

I haven't done rally in forever, but since Pie is done with obedience, I figured I'd finish her RE title.  She had 1 leg from a long time ago.  One of my friend's lent me her rally sign explanation binder and the first day we had first with 97.  The second day I only had time to walk the course once, then I took Dottie in her ring, and by the time we came out, it was Pie's turn in rally, and she was the last dog, so they couldn't skip us and come back.  I didn't have a chance to look at the sheets telling me how to do some of the stations, so I just winged it.  We ended up with a 91, I think. Or maybe 93.  Good enough for 3rd place and her RE title.

I have practiced articles with Dottie Sunday evening, Monday morning and Monday afternoon (using the same ones that were scented in the morning) and she has gotten it right every time.  I'm sure confidence is the problem at the trial.  I worked each position of the "clock" and the middle, and just now I made a strange square, filled all in with articles, and she noses the wrong ones out of the way to grab the correct one.  I will have to try to figure out stressful ways to practice the articles, in an attempt to mimic the trials.  Not that I want to stress her out, but I want her to learn to work through the stress, and still be correct.  At this point I'm not really sure how to mimic the stress of a trial in a fair manner.  I'll ask for K's help, she always has great ideas!

On Saturday, I called a SchH friend, and we hung out at the show together, watching the breed rings and shopping.  Someone had German Showdogs entered in the GSD ring.  They are still very angulated, with sloping toplines, but they are so much nicer than American show shepherds.  Of course they didn't win any class, but we appreciated them.  We also watched the BSD, Tervs and border collies, among others. 

I'm not sure when our next obedience trial will be.  For now it is tracking time, then agility will be the focus, as the Nationals are approaching very fast!

Tracking Tests!

I got into not one, but TWO TDXs!!  The first one is next weekend, up in Sacramento, the same location Dottie passed her TD.  The second one is a lot closer, only 1.5 hrs vs. the 6 plus hours to Sacramento.  It is in Chino at the Prado Dog Training Park, the same location of the lure coursing a few weekends ago.

I would have prefered to not drive to Sacramento again, but I will not pass up the opportunity for a test.  If we do not pass on our first try, we have a second try just one week later.

These past weeks have been very warm, extra dry and windy with the horrible Santa Anna's.  Yuck.  It does not make for easy tracking.  I just checked the weather in Sacramento and they are expecting rain this week, and no temps over 60 degrees.  Yay!  Sounds like nice conditions.

The only thing that has me worried for the test is the cross tracks.  Dottie didn't fall for them during her FH, but K lay me a track last week and got her daughter to lay me a cross track, and Dottie checked it out.  I don't know how far down it she would have went, because K had me correct her.  I'm planning to lay tracks at lunch all this week and run them after work, so I will lay my own cross tracks, as I did before the FH also.  If she can ignore the same scent, just aged different, she should be able to ignore different scents also aged different.

Wish us luck!

Dottie's Article "Problem"

There is a reason "problem" is in quotes.  K determined it is not a problem at all.  She set up 3 piles of her articles and had me do one metal and one leather at each.  Dottie was correct 6 times in a row.  Once K even staked down the correct one and Dottie pulled it up and brought it back.  K's hypothesis, and she was correct as proved by her experiment, was Dottie's nose is so good, that to her all the articles smell like me, and she can't figure out why sometimes she is rewarded and other times she is not, when in her mind she is always bringing back an article that smells like me.

K suggested I steam my articles before our trial, to make sure all of the "me" scent is gone.  Off I went to Target and bought a steamer. 

Steaming away!

Sadly, the steaming did not go very well!

These all used to be leather articles.  See that little patch of brown under the metal bar on the left?  That is all that is left of the leather that used to be covering the metal bar.  Where did the rest of the leather go?  Did it evaporate?  Is that possible?  Why does the leather on the middle one look burnt?  Who knew this could happen to leather with steaming?


Luckily, I was able to borrow K's articles for our trial on the upcoming weekend.  I still have one set of full leather that I can use for my next trial, if I decide to not buy a new set.