Winter 2011-2012 Indoor Training Projects

Winter is officially here and I feel like Hibernating. Bear, on the other hand, has ideas of his own.

Lately he has been bringing me his toys, trying to entice me into playing with him. If I don’t respond he brings them to Sean who exclaimed earlier this week “will you DO something with this dog!” So I got up and sliced up some cheese then Bear and I did some ‘work’ until it was gone.

 

Bear relaxing after a bit of work...

 

This is only the beginning of winter so I’m thinking that, for once, I should be proactive and come up with some plans for training I can do indoors in my living room that will also help me reach some if the performance titling goals I have in mind.

Here is my list of training projects with our larger goals attached.

  • Back up in Heel Position – We had this down pat and then I went and screwed it up somehow. At our last CARO rally trial we NQd on our back up 3 steps (and rightfully so). I’d like to fix this so I don’t have to worry about it anymore.
  • Scent Discrimination – This is a challenge coming to CARO Rally shortly with the Introduction of the Working Levels. It’s also a skill that qualifies as an Expert Trick Dog title with the Do More with Your Dog Association. I am also convinced that teaching Bear to solve scent “problems” will help our tracking training.
  • Object Discrimination – This is another challenge coming to CARO Rally with the Introduction of the Working Levels.
  • Retrieving – Retrieving has been the bane of our existence! I’m being rather dramatic – it’s not life or death – but if we want to earn a Working Level title in rally, we need a good retrieve and if ever we want to earn the Trick Dog Champion Title, we need a retrieve.
  • NoseWork – This is essentially another scent discrimination game and I think it’ll be fun. This is also an Expert trick dog Exercise.
  • Long Stand/Down – I have dreams of attempting a Draft Dog Test and in order to do this Bear needs to perform a long stand (on leash, alone) and a long down (off leash, in a ring with other dogs). I think I’d also like to attempt the excellent level in CKC Rally which involves an honour exercise so I think the long down work will transfer nicely.
  • Kick-Back Stand – I would like to train this with a verbal cue only because I think it looks soooo good in Rally when a handler says “stand” and the dog pops up into a perfect stand. Call me vain but I want to look cool!

My plan is to train these as I go and report on how we are progressing and what methods we’ve used and what discoveries we’ve made so stay tuned!

What behaviours/exercises are on your winter training list? Are they related to titles or just things you’ve always wanted to teach your dog to show off to your friends?

On the Road Again…our CKC Adventure

Bear's all smiles with his new ribbons!

After Bear’s performance last month in Regina, I decided to enter him in a couple of CKC Rally Obedience trials here in Brandon at the Wheat City Kennel Club Dog Shows.

In the past, our poorest performances have been at CKC shows. There are likely a thousand and one reasons for the poor performances but I’ll list only a few.

  • For a distractible dog, the CKC venue provides a plethora of distractions from dogs in the ring next door, to interesting things under the judges table to TOYS!! In the ring.
  • CKC shows (at least here in Brandon) feature 2 of Bear’s “Most feared” things; Baths and Blow-dryers. These are the only 2 things that cause him to salivate in those long stringy ropes of stress drool.
  • The Brandon shows have lately come a a time when I’m very busy and have not spent the time working with Bear that I should have.

We got our CKC Rally Novice title in 3 trials and attempted our first Advanced level trial back in February 2009. We’ve been failing miserably at CKC Rally ever since – or not entering at all.

There are a few things that have caused me to reconsider trialing at a CKC event. 1) This year the Wheat City Kennel Club November show set the Obedience & Rally in a completely different ‘barn’ of the Keystone Centre – away from bathing stalls and the blow-dryers. And, 2) Bear’s ‘on the road performance’ has been improving lately and I wanted to test things out in a different environment.

Even though we’ve been having moderate success in other venues, I still had a plan to help Bear be comfortable and focused in the ring which went as follows

  • I decided to enter two trials, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. We only needed two legs and I didn’t feel like tempting fate with two runs on Saturday.
  • I made a batch of Tuna Brownies since they seemed to be a hit at the previous trial.
  • I paid for some “mat time” on Thursday evening as the club was setting up. We mostly played some games, ran around, acted like fools but it allowed us some time to familiarise ourselves with the locale before other competitors arrived.
  • Late Friday Afternoon, I spent about 20 minutes with Bear, walking around the venue, giving him cookies for reorienting to me and generally just having a nice relaxing time.
  • On both trial days my plan was to leave Bear crated in my car, away from all the show insanity, bring him in for a bit during the Excellent runs and then let him rest back in the car while I did my walkthroughs.

On Saturday we had a pretty good run – by CKC Standards. There were 6-1 point deductions for Bear being out of position (and he was) but we finished and qualified with a score of 94. More than anything I was glad that I was able to keep my nerves intact while we were in the ring and not give up the second he drifted away a bit.

On Sunday our run was better but more interesting. On one of our About Turns, Bear left heel position to check out a mop & bucket just outside the ring. I’m not certain his feet even left the ring mats but his nose did. He recovered and continued to work and so we continued but to be honest, I was worried we might have disqualified. Believe it or not we qualified with a score of 95 and earned our CKC Rally Advanced Title! One thing I love about CKC is that they list scores immediately so you don’t have to wait through your whole class to find out if you qualified our not. After the steward wrote down our score, I have to admit, I might have engaged in some excited fist pumping and happy dancing!

Upon closer inspection of the CKC Rally Obedience Trial Rules and regulations (January 2, 2008) I learned that leaving the ring does not result in a non-qualifying score. I suppose that if a dog ran out of the ring like its tail was on fire a judge award a non-qualifying score on the basis that it was unmanageable.

All in all I am THRILLED that we’ve reached this milestone and I’ll happily pay the $50 CKC Membership that we need in order to receive our title certificate!

We’ve got a bit of down time now from trials tests etc. Not a lot going on until February 2012 but I am starting to think about what I’d like to do with Bear next year and am going to develop a little plan to help us get there!

Rally Course of the Week – December 5, 2011

Course Details

Level: Novice (CARO)

Space Required: 60’x70′

Designer: Ayoka Bubar

Comments: This is a long course on a very large field with plenty of sits. The ony redeeming factor is that the sits are relatively spaced out and provide handlers with many opportunities to reward their dogs.

Download this Course: CARO 50′x 70′ Course – Novice 3 (T11-63)

If you would like to have your course featured as a course of the week, just email it to me (prairiedogdaycare@yahoo.ca) and I’ll happily give you credit and provide your personal or business contact info and link.

Making a Cart – Part Three:Behold! The FrankenCart!

I’m not sure what I was thinking when I planned to attend 2 seminars and 2 rally trials within 4 weeks. Add in the fact that Sean was away for  a week of that time, and the fact that I was planning one of those seminars and POOF! There went the time.

Lack of time made for a furious week of cart completion which went right up to and including the Saturday evening before Our Weekend with Sue Ailsby. The complications seemed endless:

  • I did not have the proper saw for cutting the very expensive aluminum angle but eventually realised that I needed a hacksaw. Once I found the right saw, I purchased a Mitre stand when I really needed a Mitre Box. and now I know more about mitre-ing than anyone should know.
  • Once I had the aluminum angle cut for some reason, it did not fit the boards (bottom and sides) I had prepared. Since wood is relatively inexpensive, and easier to cut I decided to cut the boards down so that they would fit the angle.

By this point I gave up all pretence of following the instructions – since I had clearly not followed them to begin with.

  • Since I wasted so much time cutting aluminum, I thought I would get ahead of the game and drill holes in the angle before I assembled everything and, of course, I drilled holes in the wrong places the result is aluminum angle that looks somewhat swiss cheesy.
  • Where the wheels and shaft were concerned, things went relatively well. The threaded steel rod that Sean procured for me was a bit long but using my newly acquired hacksaw skills I was able to cut it down. Once the wheels were mounted on the shaft, I could tell that the turning of the wheel was going to wear on the sides of the cart but I have a plan to fix this. I will also have to find a way to secure the wheel to the cart from the outside.
  • The cart shafts were probably the most stressful part to complete – I had no clue where to find a tube bender and no desire to purchase one (I’d never need one ever again). Luckily Sean and a coworker of his suggested cutting and welding the tubing into a 90 degree angle creating the same basic shape that was called for in the plans. They did this after work, on their own time and I shall be eternally thankful because the shafts are the best looking part of the cart!
  • If all of the above was not enough, the eye bolts I purchased to serve as the brakes on the shafts were too short and the end caps that I purchased for the shafts keep falling off.
  • and Finally, I never did find the ½ u channel to ‘finish the top edge of the cart but it’s a relatively minor issue compared to anything else.

*SIGH*

Behold! The FrankenCart! Do you thnk Bear looks impressed or worried?

With a few weeks hindsight I have decided that the cart is not all that bad. I have lots of ideas for how to improve it which are as follows:

  • Cut boards and the aluminum angle to make the cart a more manageable size – I have experience with this now!
  • Purchase washers for both bolts that attach the shafts to the cart to prevent the shafts from wiggling so much.
  • Purchase washers and possibly lock nuts for mounting the wheels.
  • Find some appropriately sized bolts to use as brakes.
  • Use plumbers tape to help seal the end caps onto the shafts.
  • Look (again) for ½ U channel to finish the top edge of the cart.
  • I am also going to install some more eye bolts onto the cart to provide anchors for bungee cords and tie-down. Apparently the load n a draft test can be anything and if you lose it – you automatically fail!

Stay tuned for photos after FrankenCart’s makeover!

Notes on Our Draft Dog Seminar with Sue Ailsby

Last month, we hosted a weekend with Sue Ailsby of Training Levels fame and one of the topics we decided to include was ‘Drafting with your Dog’. My reasons for wanting the seminar were purely selfish – but there were quite a few folks who were also interested which made for a great time.

Sue (and Jill from Regina) arrived with 4 carts and a tangle of harnesses so that most people would have a chance of fitting their dog properly. Sue brought a Powerpoint presentation on carting which described (among other things) the many types of harnesses available, the difference between a cart and a wagon and some of the basic rules of the CKC Draft Dog Test.

Once we learned the theoretical basics we got down to the practical basics of harnessing your dog, getting your dog used to pulling on the traces, teaching the dog that the cart is a good thing, and getting the dog used to pulling alongside the cart shafts. We did not get to hitch dogs up as Sue felt that was best saved for a time when dogs are more familiar with the process and less likely to spook in the shafts.

My primary goals were to have someone who knew about drafting to look at Bear’s harness to ensure that it fit properly. I also wanted to make sure my cart was of an appropriate size and that the shafts were properly placed. Here’s what I learned:

  • The harness I ordered was too small around the yoke and rested too high on Bear’s neck. I’m really glad I found this out before hitching Bear to a cart or adding weight. In a great stroke of luck Bear’s harness fit another dog at the seminar perfectly and the dogs mom bought it from me on the spot! I would have been able to return the harness for a small shipping fee but selling it to Jenny meant I could have anew harness in my hands much, much sooner.
  • The cart I built is WAY too big and bulky for a Draft Dog Test. There are no specifications for size or dimensions according to the CKC rulebook however there is clearly an advantage to a smaller cart when performing the manoeuvre and figure eight portions of the test.
  • My shafts are the right height. They rest mid-body on Bear and allow his legs to move freely. However, the more I look at them, the more I think I may have installed them a bit too wide apart but I’ll make the changes to the size of the cart before I change the shafts.

All in all a great seminar – I learned many things that I would never have been able to learn through blogs, websites an books!

I also found out from Jill that there is going to be a Draft Dog Test in Regina in the Fall of 2012 so now I have a bit of a reason to resize my cart and get Bear hauling over the winter.

Taking our show on the road

I’m a little behind on Rally posts but here is the first of many. A few weekends ago, we attended a CARO Rally Trial in Regina, Saskatchewan hosted by KAOS Dogsports Inc.. I have wanted to take our rally show on the road since our last ‘away’ trial in the spring and this was a good opportunity: Regina is as close as it gets for a CARO Trial around here, the KAOS facility is really nice and the folks are awesome! I decided to enter one Excellent C Run and one Advanced Team run each day.

Saturday was a non-qualifying day but I was relatively pleased.

During our Advanced Team Run, Bear did some stress scratching and drifted a bit around the food bowls. The good news is that he did come right back when called – he did not become obsessed by the lore of food. Our partners, Dayna and Romeo had a nice run but the scratching costs us too much time – we were 19 seconds over the allotted course time which meant our run was non-qualifying.

Our Excellent C run was also non-qualifying because Bear attempted to leave the ring. In hindsight, I was so fried by the time we got to the second to last exercise that I walked right by the sign and as I realized my mistake, he went off to visit he timer and ring steward outside the gate who kindly, did not allow him to go. I called him back and set him up for the last exercise, which he performed, which was a recall and then we left. It was not a stellar run but it was important to me because even though I did ‘lose’ him, I was able to get him back in the game without a huge effort and we finished on a good note.

On Sunday, I made a few small changes to our trial routine that I think helped.

  • I brought Bear into the building for about 15-20 minutes in the early afternoon to visit and have some cookies.
  • I borrowed some of Dayna’s Tuna Fudge which just about made Bear’s eyeballs drop out of his head.
  • For the Advanced Team Run, I decided to take Bear’s collar off completely so that it would be much easier and quicker to put his collar/leash on at the end of our run and save us a few seconds.

The Advanced Team course was more of a moving course (which is more of our kinda thing) and we didn’t have to walk close enough to the food bowls for them to be a distraction for Bear. We lost a few points for crooked sits. Our Teammates, Romeo and Dayna completed their half of the course easily and we finished our run with time to spare, and a score of 196 which earned us a High in Class and some snappy ribbons and prizes. This was the final leg we needed to complete our Advanced Team title – The first rally title we’ve obtained since 2009

Since our Advanced team run was the final leg for both of us, Dayna and I also entered the boys in an Excellent Team Run. Both dogs were less precise than earlier that weekend but we still qualified with a respectable score of 186.

Our Excellent run was also much better. We disqualified with a sloppy back up three steps (need to fix that again). The tunnel was also incredibly exciting for him and while he heeled nicely, he did kind of ‘forget’ some exercises. Since we had already NQ’d I decided to use our time to retry those stations and Bear did get them right on the second time and we finished the course with plenty of time to spare considering we took the time to perform three retries.

I am thrilled with this weekend because I was able to keep Bear working through full courses which to date has been a challenge in a new environment. Typically, I have ‘given up’ and left the ring when things were not going well but this past weekend, I felt like I could and should expect more of him because after all – to him it’s all the same whether we qualify or not. Now I think we have a few exercises to work on but otherwise I’m ready to take this show on the road again.

...Because we need a photo, here's one of Bear resting in the hotel after a hard day's work.

Rally Course of the Week – November 28, 2011

Course Details

Level: Advanced (CARO)

Space Required: 50’x70′

Designer: Ayoka Bubar

Comments: Alas! An advanced level course without food bowls! Believe it or not, food bowls are not mandatory at the advanced level however you will typically find them at least once in a 2 day trial.

Download this Course: CARO 50′x 70′ Course – Advanced (T11-50)

If you would like to have your course featured as a course of the week, just email it to me (prairiedogdaycare@yahoo.ca) and I’ll happily give you credit and provide your personal or business contact info and link.

Rally Course of the Week – November 21, 2011

Course Details

Level: Advanced Team (CARO)

Space Required: 50’x70′

Designer: Ayoka Bubar

Comments: This team course has both teams working near the foodbowls and both each team will pass the other team as they proceeed through their half of the course. In Advanced Team, each team works off leash and the first team must be leashed before the second team can remove their leash. This means that you need to be relatively well prepared in quick leash removal and replacement in order to save valuable seconds – especially on a large outdoor course!

Download this Course: CARO 50′x 70′ Course – Advanced Team (T11-51)

If you would like to have your course featured as a course of the week, just email it to me (prairiedogdaycare@yahoo.ca) and I’ll happily give you credit and provide your personal or business contact info and link.

Rally Course of the Week – November 14, 2011

Course Details

Level: Advanced (CARO)

Space Required: 50’x70′

Designer: Ayoka Bubar

Comments: This course features a winding design which means teams will be working past the jump and the food bowls without actually performing that exercise. The design of this course can be slipt up to work on many shorter sequences in smaller spaces (For example, Exercises 1-7, 5-14, 8-11 or 8-18).

D0wnload this Course: CARO 50′x 70′ Course – Advanced (T11-51)

If you would like to have your course featured as a course of the week, just email it to me (prairiedogdaycare@yahoo.ca) and I’ll happily give you credit and provide your personal or business contact info and link.

Rally Course of the Week – November 7, 2011

Course Details

Level: Novice (CARO)

Space Required: 50’x70′

Designer: Ayoka Bubar

Comments: This course is set on a large field and contains a weave once, a straight figure eight, and a spiral. This means that the dog and handler need to be moving at a decent clip and perform precisely (no retries and few extra cues) to get through the course in under 4 minutes. The large number of cones on course also means more opportunity to lose points for knocked or moved cones which are, without fail, a result of the handler crowding the dog. No matter what sized dog you are working with, you will need to think about your dog’s body placement (and your own) through the cones to give both of you the room you need.

Download this Course: CARO 50′x 70′ Course – Novice 1 (T11-51)

If you would like to have your course featured as a course of the week, just email it to me (prairiedogdaycare@yahoo.ca) and I’ll happily give you credit and provide your personal or business contact info and link.