Pie is a Paid Actress (Sort of)

I received a forwarded email a few weeks ago about a student production at USC looking for a German Shepherd to use in a film.  It was originally sent to the local German Shepherd club, but they responded back saying all of their dogs (really, ALL of them?) were training for an upcoming herding trial and couldn't help out.  The club said they knew someone with dobermans and would that work?  Sure, said the students, so the email was sent to the doberman lady.  The dobe owner was quite concerned about how her dog would be portrayed in the film.  The dog was to be a war dog in WWII, and she didn't want dobermans being associated with any type of aggression.  Her dog is a therapy dog, and what if someone saw the movie and became afraid of her dog?  Kind of seemed like a moot point to me, since she then went on to say her dog doesn't bark on command, which is something they wanted.  Due to her concerns, she did not want to be involved.  I understand not wanting a negative representation of your breed, but dobermans were historically used as war dogs...  note: as it turned out, Pie didn't even have to bark...

So, THEN the German Shepherd people said we know a gal with Malinois, will that work?  And the poor students probably have no clue what a Malinois is, but I think at this point, their eyes were glazed over from the lengthy response of the doberman owner, and they were getting desperate.  With their affirmative answer, the email was forwarded to me.

I contacted them saying I'd like to help out, but due to the short lead time, I had very limited weekend available.  I said I could do it last Saturday.  The following day I needed to be in Sacramento for Dottie's tracking test (!) and they said they could work around my schedule and get me in and out quickly so I could drive up to Sacramento that afternoon- about a 6 and a half hr drive.

Interestingly, there was some background work I had to do to get ready, such as apply for a one time exception to the USDA permit to exhibit a dog.  The thing that made me nervous about the whole thing was I couldn't 100% get the director to tell me what he wanted the dogs to do.  He mentioned tracking and barking and growling.  I tried to teach them to growl and we are actually making some progress.  I practiced having them stand still and look back over their shoulder and bark at me without turning around.  But I wasn't sure what they really wanted.  My plan was to use Pie, since she looks more like a real Malinois that Dottie, who kind of looks like a tall fox. 

I found the set and had no idea what to do once I got there.  The actual filming was not happening anywhere I could see, so I nabbed the first random person I found and said "I have the dog" and what should I do.  I was then introduced to the second AD, as if I should know what that means.  I guessed the second assistant director.  He introduced me to a few more people, and then finally the person who had corresponded with me, the producer.  The producer was very thankful (and in fact everyone was) that we had come, and kept asking me if I needed anything.  He had bought some treats for the dogs.

I watched a scene rehearsed, then they filmed it,  then they filmed it from the actor's point of view, then from one of the other actor's veiw point, then they added more snow, then they moved the camera around.  Then they thought they might need Pie soon, so I got her out.

The location was in a secluded canyon, and Pie was convinced we were there to hike.  When it is hiking time, she can't stop whining.  Not only is it not impressive for a war dog to whine the whole time, but it wasn't even her turn yet and I was afraid the whining would be heard on camera.  Acting with Malinois- not as easy as it looks!

I wanted to leave her in a crate when it wasn't her turn, but the walk from the cars to the set was long enough that if I had to go get her each time it would hold things up.  And the 1 rickety bridge and other creek crossing with no bridge sort of precluded carrying a crate to the set.

 Let me give a quick synopsis of the movie.  It is based on a true story of 1 of the student's relative.  Set in an Eastern European Country (not sure which one) during or before WWII.  There is a man and a woman and I believe the woman is Jewish and the man is not.  However, the man claims to be Jewish to save the woman, and I think that also saves a bunch of other people.  The movie is only 12 minuets long and is their 3rd project, but not their final one.  They get a tiny bit of budget from the school, and they contribute the rest.  Which is why I said Pie sort of got paid.  And why they didn't get a real dog actress.  They said they couldn't pay me, so I asked for a bit of gas money.  So they gave me $13 (plus the dog treats.)  Hey, I'll take it.

So- Pie's first scene.  "We just need her to walk in on leash with the K9 Guard and the Guard will had the coat to the officer and then she'll walk back off."  For most dogs, that would be super easy.  Pie doesn't walk on a leash.  First take, she walked in on her back legs she was pulling so hard.  They re-did it a few times and actually by the last take she walked normally.  The great part was the guy playing the K9 Guard used to train horses in dressage professionally, so he has a clue about large, possibly unruly animals.  He did a great job with Pie and of course Pie loved him.  As an aside, despite the whining, everyone on set was in love with Pie.

So after me mastered walking on leash, they filmed a wide angle version involving the hero.  Pie walks in, the handler gives the bad guy the coat with the Star of David, the bad guy throws it at the hero, the hero puts it on, and the bad guy shoots him.  The whole time the lines are being spoken, Pie is standing there whining.  So embarrassing.  The handler tried backing up a bit, off camera, and petting her to keep her quiet.  In the wide angle shot, she has to stay there in the shot.  I have the the utility sit signal.  She ignored me.  If they had more time I'm sure I could have gotten her to do it, but they only have 4 weekends to do the whole movie, so time was short.  What they did like was when the poor hero is shot, and falls forward, Pie lunged forward every time.  She was just curious as to why this guy is falling over, but they thought it was really realistic because a war dog would try to get him like that.  The actor was a bit concerned but I assured him it was just harmless "what is this guy doing?"  The funny part is because the handler did keep her from going too far forward, she tried to explore him using her feet.  I hope that is in the movie- Pie reaching for the fallen hero with her front feet.  :)

The next scene was much more to Pie's liking.  Just running through the forest on leash as if they are chasing the hero.  To get her to run away from me, I threw the tennis ball.  Then the director had them turn around and run back.  She came back with the ball in her mouth!  Oh Pie.

Next was her shining moment.  They wanted her to sniff around the base of the tree in some bushes.  I hid my tiny keychain flashlight fob and told her to find it.  Perfect!  The fake snow got on her face.

Lastly she ran through the stream on leash.  She liked that one too.

It was really neat being on set because even though it was a student movie, all the equipment was the real stuff and while everyone was young, they knew all the lingo and were very professional.  I quized the producer and he said most of the people there were in the class, but the actors were SAG and have an agreement with the college.  They don't get paid, but use it to fatten their portfolio.  They are up and coming actors.  Some non- actors were volunteers, again to further their work experience, such as the English young lady working on the costumes.  I watched her make a cap right before my eyes!  And finally, some people are groupies.  There are 12 classes, but only 3 classes are chosen to produce their movie.  You have to pitch it to a board and the board decides.  Then once your movie is chosen, the class decides who is the director, producer, sound guy etc.

I will eventually get a copy of the movie, and I should get tickets to the screening, but it might be a weekend I have to work.  Additionally, they will submit it to different film festivals.

Prop weapons.  And Guard Dogs.

The star of the production and her co-star.

Making snow.

The hero is cornered.

Some more snow.  That is the bad guy walking away.

The questionable bridge.

That long tube was for the fog.

Fog and lights at night.

Our hero and more fog.

I was there from 1 to 7:30.  They knew I had to go to Sacramento, so they tried as hard as they could to get me out quickly, but the director decided he wanted some night scenes.  One other item of note is the lunch was Indian food and I ate some but the chicken was spicy and the rice had way too many surprises in it!

Good Dogs

Can your dogs do this?

But the outtakes might be even better!

Dottie dropping hers and left out Fancy.

The Mals thinking about cheating.  As soon as the tongues come out, the cookie falls off...

Oopps!

Pie- one of the few dogs who can look happy with a cookie on their nose.

Let it be pointed out that I staged and took these pictures with no assistance.  It would have been easier to place the treats, then have someone else take the picture, but that was not a luxury I had.

In other news- Dottie got into a Tracking Test, and I am headed up to Sacramento this weekend!  We were draw 12 out of 12, so we barely made it.  The other 2 tests we applied for we were draw 10 out of only 3 spots and maybe 6 out of three.  If we wanted, at those other tests (both in San Diego) we could have shown up and been on the alternate list, but with so many other alternates in front of us, that is pointless, I'd say.  Wish us luck!!

Southwest Region Working Dog Trial Report

*Disclaimer- I wrote this so people unfamiliar with IPO trials might have some idea what I am talking about.  And, this is only my second trial so I don't claim to know all or be the most knowledgeable person out there. I don't think either my dog or I am the best, but we try hard.  I hope my post reflects this.

From my previous post, you already know the results, and now you will know how we ended up with those results.

On Friday we arrived at the park for our preassigned field practice times.  We had 8 minutes for obedience.  B and I signed up back-to-back so we could share the field and maximize our time.  It turned out the go out spot was in the same general location as we thought, but much further to the left.  This gave Dottie some trouble as she wanted to go to the spot she had practiced last week.  I should have just let her, and moved the toy back to that spot, but instead I set about to fix it.  By the time our time was up, she was going to the correct spot, but slowly.  I'd rather have a fast, crooked go out, than a slow straight one.  Other than that, the practice went well.

We watched the other teams while waiting for our protection practice time slot.  Many teams had trouble with the go out and the jumps.  Being an agility dog, Dottie is used to taking strange jumps in strange locations.  AKC obedience helps with that also.  But many of these dogs only take their jump on their training field, and refuse jumps when presented with them in new places.  Since the other dogs in the competition are more experienced than Dottie, this gave me a little confidence.  If they have trouble and have been doing it longer than us, we don't look so bad by comparison.

Next up was our 5 minutes for protection.  We were not allowed to use the helper we would actually compete with.  One of the helpers from the other club stepped up to help us.  First, we frustrated Dottie by working her up and not allowing her to bite.  This was a new helper, in a location she has never bit anyone before, so that makes some dogs insecure.  An insecure dog will not bite, so we had to put her in the right frame of mind to give her more power.  Plus, this showed her the location of the find or hot blind.  Many dogs will refuse to search every blind when they know where the helper is, so I wanted to make the practice as much like the actual trial as I could.

After frustrating her, we ran down the field (running was necessary to save time) to the start location for the blind search.  Dottie tried to blow off one of the blinds so I called her back and we did it again.  She found the bad guy, barked, got a bite and we ran back to do it again.  This time she did it correctly.  At a regional level competition, the field is much bigger and the blinds are much wider spaced.  Then our time was up!

After practice was done we headed to the hotel to check in.  I usually stay at cheap-o, sometimes nasty Motel 6, but B booked the Red Roof Inn.  It was undergoing renovation and was pretty nice.  It even had a mini-fridge.  After lunch we headed back the the field for the draw.  The draw tells you which order you will go in.  I already knew I was "Flight 4" since I was going for IPO 2, but I drew Draw 4, which means I went last.  Last is ok.  Better than first.

Then it was back to the hotel for TV watching, being nervous, and Domino's Pizza for dinner.

After the first day.

Pie helping herself to a chair in the hotel room.  That doesn't look very comfy, Pie.

3 dogs and 2 people on the bed.  I think Hanky weighs more then my 2 girls combined.


I had a lot of trouble sleeping that night.  Yes, I was nervous, but it had more to do with the room being way too hot.  We had the A/C on, but it was broken and wouldn't work.  It was actually quite cold outside, so it must have been the doggie body heat making the room hot.


Saturday dawned cold and windy.  Windy enough to try to blow my car off the freeway.  We got to the field in enough time to watch the IPO 3s who were going first.  Then, quite suddenly, it was time for the IPO 2s!  They ran a head of schedule all weekend.  

Obedience was first.

My brother manned the video camera.


Dottie did the long down first.  No problems except she 
didn't sit up all the way at the end, then laid back down- 
I seem to remember her doing that during her first trial also.  
Not a huge deal.  For those not familiar with Working Dog 
Sport (the new name now that Schutzhund is not used any 
more- the sport is called Working Dog and the trials and titles 
are called IPO) it is not like AKC obedience.  You can
give second commands and even fail a section completely, and 
still pass.  Of course, your score will reflect that, but in some 
ways it is easier than AKC.


Next up was our field exercises.  During the heeling, Dottie kept stopping!!  Watching the video, it felt a lot worse than it looked.  I gave extra commands and off we'd go, but what gives?  The only solution I came up with is the last thing she did on the field was protection, and perhaps she was looking for the bad guy?  I really think that was the case in the group when she zeroed in on the people and gave each of them a hard look.  Other than the stopping, her healing was pretty attentive.  Forging, but  that is a known problem I am trying to work on.  Our score was high insufficient.  Ouch.  If you watch the video, keep that score in mind and compare what you see in the video to what you see in the AKC obedience ring and you'll see why I said "in some ways" AKC 
is easier.


During the sit while moving, I used handler help (shoulder motion) to make sure I got the sit, and it worked.  Down was fine, but I was quite loud to make sure she went down.  The stand while moving got us an "excellent" and the judge said it was perfect!


Retrieves were very good for Dottie.  They want the dog to be very fast, pick up the dumbbell and turn on a dime, and hold it very hard and tight.  She did not present that ideal picture, but again, for her, they were probably some of the best she's done.

And finally it was the go out.  I said, "Dottie will always go out, I'm not worried about that."  Famous last words.  We heeled out the 12 paces and I sent her.  And she went, then stopped, turned and faced me and stood there!!!  I was flabbergasted.  Everyone always says you should keep your hand out in the visual go out cue the whole time but I never do because 1) my dog always goes out and 2) even if the dog didn't go out, I did not think a visual cue, once they turned around to look at me, would be enough to make them go out more.  So, this day, as every day, I dropped my hand as she went out.  When she stopped and faced me, there was nothing else to do, so I put my hand back up.  If I was flabbergasted when she stopped to face me, I was dumbfounded when the visual cue caused her to turn away from me and continue going out!!   We have NEVER practiced a redirected go out like that. Wow, I was impressed.   I have absolutely no clue why she stopped like that, but since I only gave "handler help" with the arm signal, and not a verbal second command, the exercise was not a total loss.  We ended up with 86 points which turned out to be High IPO 2 obedience.  (There were 3 other dogs competing in IPO 2.)  At our first trial we had only 80 points, so this was quite an improvement for us.  That and the fact that they score tougher at regional and national events (another difference between AKC.)

Our club mate B with Hanky had second place- points lots mostly for going around a jump. That kills you in points.  The other 2 ladies had trouble with the jumps and/or the go outs and were in the 70s.

Forging a bit, but nice attention.

Retrieve.

The wall.


We had lunch then it was time for protection!  B had trouble 
when Hanky refused to out on the long bite after 3 commands
and was disqualified.  I think the wind played a factor in that 
because the handler is so far away and the wind is so loud.  
However, everyone told B how her dog was the most powerful
dog of the day, and the most impressive in protection, so she 
felt better. 


Dottie and I came on the field.  During the blind search 
(and through out the routine) I relied on the premise that 
the louder you are, the more your dog listens to you- or so
I hoped.  There is only a few places on the video you can 
hear how truly loud I was (again due to the wind covering
it up for me.)  The loud, stern voice seemed to help, 
because she did listen.  It is a balance.  If you are too stern, 
the dog will think she is in trouble and will not be powerful
enough.  But if the dog is out of control, you will be disqualified
and thrown out.


Dottie did the blind search correctly and ran into the find blind and started barking.  Her barking was very rhythmic and never let up.  I used my huge voice to call her out of the blind and out she came.  On the escape, she inched over the line, so the judge made me come back and reset her.  I was afraid she'd use that as an excuse to go too soon, so again with the firm loud voice.  Her hit on the the escape was hard enough to draw gasps of approval from the crowd.  Atta girl Dottie!


She outed correctly each time and our back transport was actually quite good since there were no turns!  Usually a back transport has left hand turns, and Dottie tries to cut the corners so she can get closer to the helper.  No turns= no cheating on her part.


Next came the courage test, aka long bite.  She heeled down 
the field with me much better than her first trial.  The dog is
supposed to sit quietly until you release them, but she was 
wiggling, moaning and being very naughty.  The judge told 
me to let her go and I did.  I always give her a command
but this time I didn't because she obviously knew what
was going on.  Big mistake.  When I let her go with no 
command, it was as if she thought she accidentally 
escaped and slowed down for a stride or two.  But
when I didn't call her back, it seemed she decided it
was ok and picked up speed.  On the video it does 
not look as bad as it did in person.  She slowed down 
a bit as she came into the helper for the bite, which is 
unusual for her.  Probably she felt a tiny bit intimidated
by biting this strange man who was yelling at her.  That 
is why they call it the courage test.  Even though it is not
correct to slow down, it is much safer on the dog's body,
so I was actually happy.


Then it came time for Dottie's out.  The field is 100 yards long.  A football field.  The dog takes the bite around the 75 yard or between the 50 and 75 yard line, depending on how fast the dog
is.  You are not allowed to move from your spot.  The wind is howling, the dog is worked up.  How loud can you be?  I give my out commands in a short burst.  I don't drag it out like some
people.  But with the wind I decided to give that a try.  First command- "OOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUT!"  No out.  Hmm... that is a new one. I can see her down there, tugging for all she is worth.  (The video shows she has a bad grip, and when she has a bad grip, she actually tugs harder...)  The judge tells me to give a second out command.  I know this is it.  Will we go the way of B and Hanky?  If she doesn't out after this time, we get one more chance, but most dogs will not out after the third command if they have already blown off the second one.  Should I give another drawn out command?  Go back to my short command? I can yell pretty loud.  But I could tell the wind was whipping my words away from Dottie.  Did she even hear the first command?  I went for a second OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUT!!!!!!!!!!!  and low and behold she outed.  Phew.  I started down the field and crossed my fingers she wouldn't re-bite.  She did take a dirty bite or two, but nothing that required a command to out her.  We transported to the judge with a small bobble and then we were done.  A huge sigh of relief.

Searching the first blind.

Yes, the blind is inside out- for wind control.  They were also 
staked down, 
and tied down with a cable.

Escape.

More escape.

Still escaping.

Guard.

That looks painful.

Feet bumping while in the guard.

Re- attack.

Courage test.  Yes, she always uses her feet.

Another shot of the courage test.


Dottie is not the most impressive dog in protection.  She is 
small and a female.  But she has enough moxie to get the job
done.  We finished with a score of 80 Pronounced, meaning 
she had more than just sufficient courage and hardness to get the job done.  80 is the lowest score you can get in protection and still pass.  (It is 70 in the other phases.)  We got 80 at our first trial and this was 10 times better than that.  The things that hurt us this time were the 2 out commands, and the fact that they grade harder here.


 

Besides Hanky, another one of the dogs was disqualified during protection for "out of control" or no out (I'm unsure which, but it was a good DQ, not because the dog refused to bite) so there was only Dottie and one other dog left in the ruining.  That dog had a good protection score, so we were only ahead by a few points.


B and I went out to eat at Claimjumpers (yum, but my steak was not as good as it should have been) then walked around the Antelope Valley mall, then back to the hotel room.  I slept much better because we left the window open a crack.


Sunday came and it was hardly windy at all, which is great since today was tracking!  The dogs who had DQed in protection did not get to go onto tracking.  We found the tracking site ok, but couldn't figure out how to get onto the field.  Eventually we found one access road, but had to go through a ditch to get on it.  My car is not made for that kind of thing, but nothing was going to keep me from tracking.  I found the best spot to go through and made it fine.  Turns out there was another, easier way to get on, but I guess it was a secret or something because we didn't find it.


We socialized a bit, and I was wondering who was in charge and how I would know when it was my turn.  To pass the time I got my tracking line ready, put on my boots, and then stood around some more.  That is when B said, "That is the other IPO 2 out there right now!" and suddenly a random guy was telling me to go out there with Dottie.  I quickly pottied her and was very glad everything else was ready to go.  Turns out they were ahead of scheduled, and our trouble with getting onto the field caused use to not be there as early as we wanted to be, so they started with out us and let the other lady go first.  There is supposed to be a draw so no one is favored with an easier track, but that was not the case this time.  B told me the other lady looked like she had trouble, so as I was walking out there I was thinking we just might win.


It was a long walk out to our track, with Dottie dragging me the whole way.  Of course Dottie was ready to start and off we went.  Dottie put her nose in each footstep.  On the video you can see her head moving back and forth, and this is her nose going into each footstep in the dirt.  We had trouble right before the first corner and Dottie's line was getting caught under the rocks that we were now tracking over.  She downed at the first article, overshot the second corner by just a tiny bit, then we ran into problems.  The track went back into the rocks, and then when it came out, the ground looked soft but there were no footprints!  Dottie does not need footprints, as proven by passing her TD certification, but the lack of footprints on the soft ground had me worried.  I knew there should only be 2 tuns on and IPO 2, but what if they threw in an extra turn just because and we missed it?  What if we had missed the last article?  Surly the judge would say something??  But I trust Dottie's nose more then I trust my eyes, so when her nose got jerked to the side like it was caught on a fish hook and reeled in, and the rest of her body followed, I followed also.  And there was the last article.  She did it!


The judge gave us a 94 and said the conditions were like an FH (the advanced IPO tracking title) due to the change of terrain from sand to rocks to dirt and back to rocks.  The track layer said if we failed we could have asked for a retest since the conditions were harder  than they should have been.  The judge also complimented us and said I did a great job training her (thanks K!!) since she doesn't just want to be near the track, she wants to be right on the track.

A picture of part of our track.

After tracking.  Dottie carried her "start flag" all the way back to the car.




Walking off, I thought we had probably come out a head of the other competitor since a 94 is a pretty good score and B thought the other competitor had trouble.  I'm glad I thought that going in, since it turns out she got a 99 point track.  Wow! We only came out a head by 1 point!  Had I known that going in, I would have been much more nervous.


 


So, with that 94 point track, Dottie became the 2012 IPO 2 Regional Champion.  Not bad for a 45 pound female Malinois with an unknown pedigree.  Dottie was definitely the smallest dog in the competition, and one of maybe 3 or 4 females.  Male dogs dominate this sport due to the testosterone they have.  The other 2 malinois, who were in IPO 3, so we were not competing against them, both failed tracking, but had very nice obedience and protection.  Also in the competition was a female doberman (cool!) and 2 rottweilers.  The rest were German Shepherds since it is the German Shepherd Club.

To round out the weekend, I won 2 raffle baskets! The other happy news was B won the Sportsmanship Award!  Congratulations to them, they deserved it 100%!

Raffle baskets!

I really did not go into this competition thinking we would win.  If Hanky had outed, he probably would have won because his protection score would have been amazing.  But I wanted to go anyway to show off my little girl Malinois and to have the experience of being at a regional level competition.  To win at a regional level event, when it was the second event both my dog and I have ever been in, was a big surprise and a lot of fun!  B and I are already planning on going again next year.  I hope it is less cold and windy!

Accepting our award.

With our High IPO 2 award.

The results and I.

Results from the weekend.

B and I.  Look at the size of her trophy!  :)

2012 Southwest Regional IPO 2 Champion!

Yes, Dottie and I were high IPO 2 at the Southwest Region Championship!  I will have a full report with videos forthcoming.  For now, here are a few photos.

IPO 2 Regional Champion and Handler!

Dottie doing her thing.

My video photographer for the weekend, youngest brother.  He did a great job!

The girls and I after the first day of competition.

Pie helping herself to a too small chair in the hotel room.

Three dogs and 2 people on the bed.  That is Hanky and B, our fellow competitors.  Fancy was pouting under the desk.

Tracking on rocks is always a challenge.  Especially when your line gets caught under the rocks.

After our track.  The stake Dottie is holding is the start flag for our track.  It has a foam German Shepherd on it.  Dottie carried it all the way back from the track.

I won 2 raffle baskets!

The scores for the weekend.  The slashes mean the competitor was disqualified and not allowed to go on.

The scoreboard and I.

Accepting our award.

B and Hanky won the Sportsmanship Award!  They very much deserved it.

Another Silly Video

This was taken at the place I give lessons on Wednesdays.  The tube is used to form concrete.  I think it is about a foot wide.  Not easy for Dottie to fit in, but she does!  I want to try Pie in it, but I don't think she will physically fit in.



Speaking of my Wednesday classes, we had a good turn out for this week.  5 dogs, who each brought a handler who listened nicely.

Tomorrow starts the big Southwest Regional IPO weekend!  Practice on Friday (8 minutes for obedience and only 5 for protection), obedience and protection on Saturday, then tracking on Sunday.  I decided to stay with club member B at her hotel for the social aspects.  Youngest brother has been hired to film our routines.  Good, bad, or ugly, I'll post the results here.  Stay tuned!

Experiment

Dottie has been staying behind a baby gate instead of crated when I go out.  She has the small bathroom and a small hallway to stay in.  Nothing has ever been destroyed.  The shower curtain is not torn down, the bath rugs are not chewed or even nibbled, and there are no claw marks on the walls.

Therefore, when I went to church on Sunday I left her loose in the house for the entire hour!  Very daring!  Nothing was chewed, destroyed, broken, gotten into, or in any way distrubed.

So, I took an even bigger chance.  On Tuesday, I lever her loose in the house for the entire day.  Yes, the whole day.  The results were the same as on Sunday.  Is my puppy growing up?

Friends have suggested it is a fluke, she is just luring me into a false sense of security, she'll regress when she hits 8 years old (why is 8 the magic age) and/ or that now I should get a new puppy.  I prefer to think she is growing up and maturing.  The dogs hardly ever stay home these days- too much training to to do to waste even 1 lunch hour.  But next time they do, I'll leave her loose again and report the results.

Here is a short (true) story for your enjoyment.

Tracking with Dottie- I fell in a hole, onto my hands and knees, dropped the line, and she kept going. Not even a glance back. Shouldn't be surprised about that, but the funny part was me chasing after her tying to grab the line and it kept slipping just out of my reach. I got it eventually. Luckily there was an article coming up so if I was unable to catch the line, that hopefully would have stopped her.  But as I chased after her, futilely snatching at the line, wI must have made a pretty amusing picture.

Shouldn't the Rain Make Them Frisky?

Malinois  (n) \mal-in-bad dog\  1: the breed of short coated, medium sized brown (with black overlay and black mask) dogs, originating in Belgium, slightly resembling a German Shepherd and well known for their keen mind and h̶i̶g̶h̶ ̶e̶n̶e̶r̶g̶y̶  apparent willingness to sleep on the couch all day, dead to the world, not even keeping busy chewing on a bone. 

Seriously, is there some kind of carbon monoxide poisoning going on in here that only affects dogs??

Dog Torture?

Yes or no?  *No dogs were harmed in the making of this picture.

I suppose the real question is if I should show this photo to the owner of the chi, who I am dog sitting....

Regional Practice

Today, the other competitor from my club, B, and her dog Hanky, headed out to the park in Acton to get in some obedience practice on the regional field.  We took her car, figuring it would be easier to put a small Dottie sized crate in her car, than a huge Hanky sized crate in my car.

We were lucky that the rain was done for the day, so we didn't get wet.  The address of the park is not listed on the website, but Acton is small enough that it only has one public park and we found it.

When we got to the park there was a group of young men playing soccer near the backdrop.  The website told us the field would use the backdrop as part of the fencing.  So we knew which part of the park to practice in.  We played with the dogs a bit, then worked them some, then the players came over and used the back drop as their goal (encroaching on the "field").  Then another group came and set all their equipment down right were we think the go out end was going to be.  The park had other places to practice, it was just our bad luck they wanted to play/ practice on the area of the park that will be used for the trial next week.  Eventually the second group moved off to the side, leaving a bag and soccer ball at the go out end.  Of course that won't be there trial day, so it was making it easier than it will be.  I sent Dottie anyway and she zoomed in on the ball, but downed when I told her.  Dottie wanted to down on the sit in motion, and wouldn't sit up out of the down for pickups.  Well, I don't expect my ob score to be that great anyway- lots to continue to work on.  The routine seems so simple, but when you break it down and train each tiny piece, it is not simple at all.  Then we just hung out a bit, walked around the entire park and when we were done with the little walk everyone had left so I sent Dottie for one more go, letting her get the toy.  B decided to do one more with Hank, and just as he was running back, that is when the cop showed up.  I have the worst luck with being allowed to train dogs off leash without getting in trouble!  I always get caught, kicked out, or told to leash up.  Darn!  The only times the dogs were off leash was for the go outs.  But off leash is off leash...

There was another dog group, who seemed to be training dogs for movie work.  At one point they wanted the dog to stand behind a chain link fence and bark.  He didn't seem to grasp the concept.  Fancy could have done it better.  One of their dogs looked like a Border Collie, pit bull mix.  Their dog was off leash, but they were gone by the time the cop showed up.  She (the cop) could tell we were not bothering anyone, but said in the past they've had lots of complaints, so she had to enforce it for everyone.  She was very nice and even apologetic and we didn't get a ticket, so that is good.  Luckily for our training, we really were done.

B and I were both surprised there were no other trial people practicing.  Maybe they couldn't find the park due to lack of an address on the website!  Or maybe they will show up for practiceon Sunday. 

On the Friday before the trail we will get 8 minutes to practice obedience and 5 minutes to practice protection.  Due to those tight time limits, it was nice to get on the field a head of time and let Dottie associate rewards with the location.  I just hope we guessed the go out direction correctly!

Gophers, the How To Guide

My dad recently published this post.  Here  Man Vs. Gopher.  As you may remember, I had good luck killing the gopher I had in my yard.  Since that conquest, I haven't had another one, although I've been keeping a lookout.  When taking the trash out the other day, I noticed the area on the other side of the driveway had some new mounds.  I'd let them live in piece if I had any kind of guarantee they would stay on that weed infested side of the driveway.  But, it would only be a matter of time until they tunneled under the driveway to munch on my tender grass roots.  So I set about to murder trap them.

Success!  The very next day, I had caught him.  And this time, the trap killed him, so I didn't even have to finish him off.  I will share my gopher trapping technique, in case anyone is interested.

I use the Macabee Ol' Reliable gopher trap.  You will need at least two.  I think they were around five dollars each at the hardware store.  I had to do some serious critical thinking in order to figure out how to set them because they are not like a rat snap trap where the pin keeps the trap open.  The backside of the pin actually keeps the trap open.

Click here if you are wondering how that works.

I know you need to anchor your traps or the gophers make off with them.  I have no idea what they do with them once they disappear.   I wasn't prepared and didn't have any twine, but I had a chewed leash.  I ended up using this, and now think the extra thickness might be a good idea to dissuade the vermin from chewing the tether and still making off with the trap.  Along with the tether, you also need an anchor.  The very first time, I tied the leash to a long pvc pole (a jump bar, actually) but after that I switched to a base from a stick in the ground pole.  That had the added benefit of doubling as a hole finder.

Rounding out your list of supplies should be a shovel, a hold finder (screwdriver) if your anchor won't do, and some gloves.

In order to trap one of the animals, you have to find an active hole.  Look for one with moist dirt on the mound, with a pebbly texture.  If the mound is smooth, it has been there a while and won't do.  Dig up the mound.  Take your hole finder and poke around on the inside of your hole until you find the 2 tunnels leaving the mound/ hole.  This is the part I have the most trouble with.  Sometimes I can't find the tunnels, and I have to fill the hole back in and try a different mound.  I don't know if I am just defective, or if the gophers have already abandoned this section and back filled the tunnels.  If you have 2 fresh mounds, you can also try digging a hole between the 2, and using the direction of the mounds to find the holes.

Once you have found the tunnels, use the hold finder to clean them out some more.  Then (with your gloves on!) reach into the holes as far as you can, getting a lay of the land.  I think I have an advantage here since my hands are small.  I can go in pretty far and figure out where the tunnels curve. 

Tie on your tether and set your traps.  Carefully put them into the holes as far as you can reach.  I think this is critical.  Probably the closer the gopher gets to the disturbance you've created, the more cautious he will be.  Since you've felt out the tunnel, you can be prepared for curves and can set it at a correct angle in the curve.  Since you have 2 traps, you put one in each tunnel so you catch the gopher no mater which way he comes.  Of course be sure to attach your tether to the anchor. 

I then carefully back fill the hole.  I feel that if you leave the entire hole open to the elements the gopher may wall off the tunnel before reaching the trap, fearing something tried to dig him out and it isn't safe anymore.  I say carefully fill in the hole so the falling dirt won't set off the trap.  They should be far enough down the tunnel that it isn't a problem.  Then, I leave an air hole or sun hole or something of the sort to lure the gopher to his waiting doom.  Who knows how many miles of tunnels they have under there.  By leaving the hole exposed a bit, I think that it encourages the gopher to come investigate.  He smells the fresh air or sees the light and wants to come see about fixing the problem.  If you filled it in completely, it could be more than a day before he comes back to the area with the traps, then you don't know if you should move the traps because he's moved on, or if he just hasn't been back that way yet.

Traps should be checked daily and continue to monitor the area after you catch him since gophers will move into vacant tunnels.

If you were not successful and have an empty trap, reset the trap at least one more day in the same location.  If you still did not catch anything, and especially if there are new mounds, move onto one of the new mounds.  Be careful with your traps, because sometimes even pulling them out does not trip them.  You do not want those pinchers going into your body (especially if they have left over gopher guts on them- yuck.)  I recommend tripping the trap with the shovel.

Notice I didn't mention poison at all.  I am afraid of poison due to the dogs.  A sick, poisoned gopher could be disoriented and wander out of his tunnel and die and then get eaten by a dog, which would then poison the dog.  Or, a dog could get into the stored poison.  It is just not something I want to risk, so I use traps only.

As described above is the method I have perfected over the month or so and two dead gophers that resulted.  Yes, not a long time of accumulated experience, and not a very high kill list, but so far my kill rate is 100%, so I must be doing something right.

Tracking Dog Certification

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Dottie and I passed our AKC Tracking Dog (TD) certification.  This is really a big accomplishment for me since I have never done an AKC tracking event before, and even though I trained all three of my current dogs for tracking at the same time, Dottie is the first dog who has been successful enough to certify.

The purpose of the TD certification is to be allowed to enter an actual tracking test.  In most parts of the US, tracking tests are few and far between due to lack of suitable land. Then, when there are tests, there are usually openings for only 3 dogs.  So the thinking is they don't want totally unprepared dogs entering, taking up a spot, then failing badly.

The certification is the exact same as an actual test.  It has all the same elements.  Once you pass, the AKC tracking judge who laid the track gives you 3 certificates that are good for a year and that you send in with each entry.  If you enter a test and don't get in (each test has a random draw, so hopefully my lucky streak comes into play) the secretary sends you the certificate back.  The only time you won't get a certificate back is if you enter the test then fail.  That way if you fail three tests in 1 year you will have to re-certify.

Dottie's certification track was held in an empty industrial lot in town, next to the freeway.  The cover was dead and very short and not uniform- mostly thin, but also some bare patches.  Lots of pokers, and huge ground squirrel and gopher mounds.  However, there was basically no wind, which is always nice.  The track was aged for 40 minuets.  The judge puts 1 article at the start for the dog to take up the scent, and one article at the end that the dog must find or you won't pass.  The track is a quarter of a mile long.  Which, for a SchH trained dog, is very, very long to go without an article.

I had a lot of confidence in Dottie since not only does she have a good nose and doesn't quit, but I can also read her very well.  She is very clear when she is on the scent, vs. when she is searching for it and when she thinks she is on it, but isn't 100% committed.

I have NEVER done a blind track before, where I have no idea where the track is and have to trust her.  Yes, it was hard, but since she is so clear in her signals, it wasn't as hard as it would have been if it had been Pie or Fancy who pretend they are tracking, but are really just guessing.  The other thing I haven't done before the certification is tracked her on a harness.  But I kind of liked it because it kept the line from getting wrapped around her leg so much if she gets into search mode.

Dottie circled a bit at some corners (we had 5) and in the middle of 1 leg had quite a bit of searching.  The judge thought she was sniffing the animals ("crittering") but Dottie doesn't do that when tracking.  It is possible all the animal scent confused her, and he also mentioned a man and his dog crossed the track, so that also might have confused her. The part that confused me was our last corner.  It was an obtuse angle, instead of the 90 degree angles I am used to.  I didn't realize an obtuse angle was allowed, so when Dottie took off at a direction not perpendicular to the way we were going, I wasn't sure what she was up to.  However, everything about her posture told me she was on the scent, so I followed along.  That was our last leg, and my agony of confusion was short lived since she found the wallet.  Most people use a glove, so the judge thought he was being funny when, after I indicated my dog found the article, he told me that wasn't his.  But, Dottie has never incorrectly indicated an article, so I didn't believe him. 

I have three entries ready to send off tomorrow.  2 in San Diego (3 hrs away) and 1 in Sacramento (8 hrs away).  Those are the closest tracking locations.  All 3 are in February.  I hope I get into one!  If not, there are a few more coming up in March. 

Next I have to work on aging the track more because for the Tracking Dog Excellent (TDX) the track will be aged from 3-5 hours!

New IPO Rules Seminar

The second weekend in January was the weekend I had to work, but I took it off.  I get to miss one a fiscal year and I decided this was a good one to miss.  Not only was there a 2 day seminar I wanted to attend, but the closer we get to our inspection at work, the less likely I will be to receive approval for time off.

The seminar I wanted to attend was put on by our SchH club and was regarding the new rules that go along with the name change from SchH to IPO.  (I may be boycotting the term IPO.  Now that I know what it translates to, it is just so dumb.  Like calling agility, “NR”  National Regulations.  That is what you call the rules governing your sport, not the actual sport.)  In the morning there was a slide show, followed by Q/A, then lunch, then some demos on the field, then the field was opened up for practice. 

The slide show was informative, the Q/A not so much because people just need to pay better attention.  Lunch was good.  I got put in charge of the hot dogs on the open flame grill and I got smoked out and then my fire went out (just add more wood next time.)  The demos were helpful and Dottie gave a demo of how not to approach the start flag on a track. The dog should be walking calmly, not dragging you.  I can’t help it if she gets excited to track.  I heard afterwards some people were impressed that she took up the scent and followed the track on the training field where everyone had been walking all day.   She really likes to track.  Then we got in some protection work on a helper she’s never worked with before.  I had him yell really loud at her on the long bite in prep for the regional.  She did well.  Except for the back transport.  We just don’t know how to do that yet.

Then the next day most people went home and the seminar was a new helper classification and current helper re-certification.  I am not interested in being a helper (I don’t need a big dog crashing into my knees and popping them out, I handle that just fine on my own) but by watching and listening, I learned a lot about how to spot a good helper vs. one who needs more work. This was only addressing trial helper work, which is very different than a training helper.  Then all of the helpers had to work dogs thought out the day, and also do a full SchH 3 routine with a dog they didn’t know.  Dottie helped out here, and again it was great for her to get on different helpers.  During the practice, it was evident some of the helpers were more skilled than others.  The brand new guy almost ran me over on the back transport (another reason I can’t be a helper, I don’t think fast enough- I almost neglected to get out of the way!) and another guy tripped over a dog, who then came off the sleeve, and it was good on the dog’s part to re-grip on the sleeve, and not on the body part that was closest to his mouth (the man’s rear end. Ouch.)

During Dottie’s routine, she was very good, again except on the back transport.  And she was a bit dirty with getting in little bites on the outs.  But not too bad for a little girl. It gave me confidence to see her work with a helper she didn’t know.  I’m told the helper at the regional pressures the dogs a lot, so I wanted to be sure she was ready for that.

It was a great weekend, very educational, fun, and any weekend I’m not at work is an even better than great weekend.

Also, one more note- the "judge" in the video was our normal helper, so Dottie gave him a second look during the side transport when we report into him. Wondering, "What are you doing here without the sleeve?"

Southwest Region IPO Trial

IPO= Schutzhund.  Due to political reasons, Germany no longer calls protection sport Schutzhund and since it originated in Germany, our United States club followed their lead and calls it IPO now as well.  What does IPO stand for?  Good question.  I had to look it up:  Internationale Prüfungs-Ordnung.  Then I used Google Translate to see what that means.  It says:  International auditing rules.  Ummm....?  or International Exam Rules, which makes a tiny bit more sense but what type of exam?

That is actually a topic for a different post.  This post is about the fact that I entered Dottie in the Southwest Region trial.  We are listed here  (click).  It is in 2 weeks and we are trialing for our IPO 2.  We can't expect to win the trial.  Right now we are being a bit sloppy in obedience and protection.  But I hope to put in a good effort with my tiny little female.  Most of the other dogs entered, if not all, are males.  That is because males have the testosterone needed to be aggressive and brave.  Dottie just has heart.  And lots of it.

We will be on a strange field, with a helper she has never worked with before, under more difficult grading conditions.  (In this sport, at Regional and National level competitions, they score you differently than at local trials.)

Next weekend, we are heading down to practice on the obedience field.  The Southwest region is very large, but we are lucky that the trial is about 1.5 hrs away.  Last year it was in AZ.  One other lady from my club entered, so we are offering each other lots of support.  For both of us this is our first Regional level competition and our second competition ever.  Lots to be nervous about, but we are tying to keep it under control.