Jim and Jackie's

This weekend the group that Reese and I work stock with had our Christmas Party. It was a lot of fun. I am so lucky to have a great group of people to herd with and these people have become very good friends of mine. We watched videos of herding from the past year, it was fun to see all the progress we made last season. It was also fun to see the green grass and warm sun shining down - gives you hope that Spring is not too far away. It does however make me realize how much I have missed herding and our almost weekly trips to the farm.

In addition to good company, although a few people couldn't make it one being our fearless leader, we had of course ample dog talk going on, and a great meal. If you ever hear of a restaurant called "Jim and Jackie's" make sure you stop in for a meal. I guarantee you will not leave disappointed or hungry! Jim cooked ribs and we also had Jackie's famous beans made from her secret recipe, baked potatoes with ALL the fixings, and pie for dessert. A little wine to wash it all down and we all had to be rolled away from the table.

It was fun to see Nick who is Reese's brother at his house in his own element. He and his sister Ash were very fun to watch play together. Or should I say it was fun to watch Nick trying to get his serious sister to play. He and Reese are so alike in the things they do, it is actually kind of scary. They both drool like a faucet with the right stimulas and they love their ball and bring it to you to throw but then they play keep away until they decide you are worthy of throwing it. Nick barks to get Jackie's attention and I kept looking around because is sounds exactly like Reese. They both have barks that can be really high pitch - can you say ear piercing and very annoying, or they have a deep, deep, bark for when someone is at the door or they are protecting you. So fun to see him.

This is Nick just hanging out at the party.

This is Reese resting after a bit of ball play. Can you tell they are related. They even hold their front paws the same way.

Ash loves to be in videos, she is the dog that looks right into the camera as she runs by, but she doesn't like the flash. Cameras in the house are scary - so no pictures of Ash today.

Reese got to stay at Grandma and Grandpa's house while I went to the party. It was a new experience for them and her but all went well, so she will probably stay with them more often as the need arises.

Warm temps this weekend in the 4o's made our runs and walks sooo enjoyable. Ran in the morning, did some work around the house, and walked in the afternoon yesterday. Topped it off with a good movie. What could be better.

Problem or Opportunity?

We have been having a bit of a problem with our running contacts this week. Last week at our lesson we spent quite a bit of time working on running the plank. Reese had been nailing the contact very well at home.

At our lesson she wasn't hitting the contact with the consistency she had been and was jumping and bouncing more than we wanted. We tried sending her through a tunnel and then onto the plank, but that seemed to get her a bit too excited and she missed the plank - she loves the tunnels. My trainer got her to correct her stride and start hitting the contact when she placed a low jump in front of the plank.

This week at home I was to use a jump with the plank to keep working on this. But it didn't quite work that way. Our first session she hit the contact once but after that lost it. She couldn't hit the yellow with the tug at all. Tried treats that worked maybe once then we lost that. I didn't want her repeating too much so we stopped. I left it for a day or so tried again with the same result. Clearly I needed to try something else.

Hmmm a problem, OR was this an opportunity?

Well actually it was both, but a problem doesn't have to be bad, after all it gives you the opportunity to fix it, and learn. So I went back to what had worked before. Used treats and she hit the contacts, went to the tug and she hit the contacts. Hmmm. Left it for a day.

Tried it again tonight and didn't use the jump but had her sitting back from the plank farther where she would if I was using the jump. She missed the contact. Hmmm, what is going on. Something is different, what could be causing this?

I put her closer to the plank where she had been when we started the plank work so she was almost right in front of it, she hit the contact. She hit it again and again. Moved her back a couple feet and she missed. Put the jump up so she would land right in front of the plank and then step on...she hit it, moved the jump back just a bit which gave her more room between the jump and the plank and she missed.

AHA!!!
So I figured out the problem was her distance from the plank. At our lesson last week I placed her farther from the plank then she had been when we worked it at home. It was too much of a change. This was, of course, handler error because my trainer said, "set her up like she is at home" and at the time I thought I was. But now knowing what the problem is I realize I had set her back too far at the lesson and that started some of the confusion.

Bottom line....I don't think she understands the criteria, to hit the contact, well enough yet to start adding things - like distance, major movement, running along side the plank for the full length etc. I'll work very incrementally getting her farther from the plank with the jump to test her and see where we are for our lesson this week.

I could have called my trainer to ask what I should do next, I could have left it and not worked on the issue until our lesson, but I didn't want to do that. I am glad that I worked the problem and figured out what was causing the issue. That is the first part of correcting an issue is to identify the cause. Once you know the cause - then you can work on how to fix it.

I have some video but don't have time to get it up tonight maybe I'll get a chance tomorrow. This issue might have set us back a little bit in our training but it was a great "aha moment" when I realized what was happening. I am okay with losing some training ground as long as Reese or I learn something in the process and we did.

We will see what our trainer says the next step will be when we have our lesson. I have a feeling it might be something like, "repetition, repetition repetition, you need to more practice."

Yes!!!

It finally, got warm today. Well if you consider 18-20 degrees warm. For us it was like a heatwave after it being below zero since Christmas Eve. We still have a lot of ice on the roads, but it is starting to get better from the sun, people driving on it, and now the warmer tempertures we are supposed to get this week should get rid of it.

It was so nice to finally be able to play outside again. Reese and I were both starting to get a little crazy from being cooped up in the house. We have been practicing our tricks and our agility homework but nothing beats all out crazy running in the yard - through the snow chasing our soccer ball.

Tomorrow we will be back to multiple walks a day hopefully we can get back to our running this week. We will check the roads in the morning and see how they are. We were just starting to get into a running routine and then the sub-zero temps and ice hit, but what are you gonna do.

Tonight I made banana bread. Reese has a strange fascination with PAM cooking spray. Well any aerosol spray can actually. But whenever I cook I can count on her to help with the greasing of the pans. Here is a little video of tonights help.

I used to not show her what I was doing and tried to hide it from her by spraying the pans over the counter. Her reaction was much worse, so I thought why not just show her what I am doing, and it has actually been getting better. Taking the mystery out of what goes on with noisy cans above the counters.

Yes, it's true folks border collies can be a little weird. There is also the time I used hairspray from an aerosol can. Reese came bounding into the bathroom jumping on me which sent us both flying into the bath tub. I looked up just in time to see the the shower curtain, rod and all, rapidly desending straight for my head. Ya, I can laugh about it now, but at the time.....grrrrr!

Why the fascination with aerosol cans. Who knows. She did bite into a Claire Burke popourri can when she was a puppy. It was only about 1/4 full thankfully. She bit into it as she was carrying it through the house. Once she bit into it the contents just kept coming out at her. She didn't get hurt or sick and nothing happened to the can other then it leaked and that was the last Claire Burke I had. Ever since then aerosol can's make her mad.

The only other weird thing Reese does is that she does not like one certain set of railroad tracks in town. She will watch for them when we are driving and will start getting ready about 4 blocks ahead of time. Actually she starts prepping when we are turning onto this road about 6 blocks ahead. I do try to avoid this road when she is not crated and if she is crated, the crate gets covered and then she is okay. It seems to be a visual thing she has connected to the noise and bumps of the railroad tracks. In this video she is spinning a bit in the crate. Usually she is rocking back and forth from side to side trying to see past the passenger seat at her evil nemesis.


Living with a border collie - never a dull moment. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Hmmmm.......could be a problem?

Reese and I were doing a little contact work this morning before work. The old board we had started with was leaning up against the wall.  The old board is thinner then the full length plank we are now using. I glanced over at the board against the wall and thought, how weird, it looked so much wider than the one at my feet. I know the thinner, shorter board is 12 inches wide because I sawed it....by hand. Well most of it, I had some help - Thanks Dad.  

Hmmm.......yep the one against the wall certainly looked wider. It could be an optical illusion as the large plank is about 1 1/2 inches thick and and the thin one is a little over 1/2 inch thick. The large plank is longer than the other one, and it's painted.  Do you see what I mean....Reese thinks it looks odd too!

The unpainted one looks wider doesn't it. So I got my tape measure and sure enough...

The painted board

is 11 inches wide and the thin, short board is 12 inches wide.

What!!! You have been making me run a narrowor plank than necessary!! You are an evil handler!

It really isn't that much of a difference. Now if it was the other way and she was running on a board that was 13 inches and the competition size was 12 inches I think we could have a problem. But in this case she is running on an 11 inch wide plank and in competition she will have more room as it will be 12 inches wide. So I think we will be okay.

Sure

easy for you to say, you just run NEXT to it.  I have to run ON it.

But

you said I'm doing good, right? Isn't that why we raised the plank tonight?

Yes it is.

Today we did a number of short sessions. A session this morning we were 6 for 6, then at lunch worked it a bit we were 5 for 5. Then tonight we decided to test it and raised the plank about 2 1/2 inches or the height of a brick. Whoo hoo, again we were 6 for 6. So today's runs were 100%.  Good girlie Reese.

Dogwalk

Worked on some dogwalk contacts again tonight. Working on moving around while Reese is running so that I am not just recalling her to me from the other side of the plank. So tried to be behind her while she kept running, or run beside her. Didn't work as well as I would have liked as due to the layout of my house I would have done a quick faceplant into the wall. So I did have to improvise a bit.

She is doing well though and still in the ninety percent range. I have realized that when she has missed a contact it is when she is tired. So I am going to do shorter sessions with her and see if that helps. That way it will really reinforce the criteria I want and I can start being a bit more picky about where on the contact I want her to hit. Right now she is about 1/4 of the way down into the contact and that is a perfect place to hit it. However, I would like to see her stride allow her to hit it about 1/4 of the way down with her two front feet so that her back feet can also hit it a bit lower to ensure that 1. she hits the contact and 2. that the judge has ample opportunity to see her hit the contact.

Here is a short video of how she is doing, this is the second half of our work tonight. I didn't tape the first half. And no music until I can figure out how to add other music faster on youtube you are going to get silence or me on the videos. 

Like a Well Worn Sweatshirt

You know the kind I am talking about. The sweatshirts that are old, thin and worn out from being worn so often. Maybe a hole here or there, but those old sweatshirts are always the favorites. They feel so good, because they are soft and the stiffness that some sweatshirts have is gone. They just feel right... you can't really explain it but most everyone I know has that one sweatshirt that is their favorite.

So this

is like Reese's sweatshirt.

 

It used to look like this

you

can sort of see the resemblence can't you?

So I bought her a new chuckit ball, because when they are ripped in half they don't roll well, and they certainly do not bounce. They do however, dangle. When holding one half in your mouth the other half dangles from the thin yellow piece of rubber (see above) that connects the two halves. When running with half the ball in mouth the other half, the dangling half, bounces up and hits the carrier in the face, most often right between the eyes. So I guess I stand corrected they do bounce, just not in the usual way.

So I bought a new one. This nice, beautiful, clean, ROUND, intact, chuckit ball.

Did she want to play with it.  Hell no... she wanted to play with this one.....

Sheesh!

For safety reasons this one has now been confiscated!

Happy 2010!

Bella and Sophie wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year!

Just waking up from their New Years Eve catnip induced coma....

Ya had to use the flash didncha! You know I hate the flash!

Seriously, get that box outta my face before I scratch it right outta your hands!

I'm just going to lay here and make like a rug and maybe that crazy canine will leave me alone!

This year on the blog I am going to try to include more things about Bella and Sophie. There should be quite a lot of goings on with Reese with her back in official training for agility and herding will continue as soon as the weather cooperates. 

It has been cold for the last week or so and looks to be cold for the coming week as well. Reese is getting antsy to get back outside and so am I. Today I had to put Reese's booties on just so she could go outside to potty, didn't want to use the wax just for that so we opted for the booties. Since the previous explorations into the netherworld did not produce what we wanted in the way of doggie doodoo, the booties allowed enough time outside to produce the results we wanted. Yippee. Back inside we went.

The cold is giving us a good opportunity to work on our tricks. I hope to have a new tricks video of some of our older tricks better perfected and be able to show off some new ones in the next month or so. We are also continuing to work on our running dogwalk and other agility homework.

In terms of training goals for Reese I am not looking at anything in particular except that I want to continue to build on the relationship we have forged last year. I want to continue to foster and build it. Much of that relationship has been built by working stock and building the partnership that comes from a working relationship based on trust and learning to read each other and being there when the other needs it.

Our relationship/partnership/bond has also grown leaps and bounds by simply playing with each other. Really playing - just being goofy. Chasing each other around the yard, rolling on the floor together being silly. Playing fetch because we like to, playing tug just because we can. Sitting together snuggling on a cold night watching a movie or reading a book. Taking long hikes together. Learning new tricks and just being together.

We do of course hope that trialing is in our future this year for at least one of the venues we have been working on, but as I have aged I have learned the value of patience (to some extent). Yes, we want to trial, but I don't want to trial before we are ready. I am not in a hurry to trial "just to trial". We have waited a long time and when we are ready, we will trial, but not before.

So here is to a happy, healthy 2010!