and if you couldn't quite tell what Indi is supposed to be in this one, it's the big bad wolf of course! With Granny's hat!
Side note:
NOT that I believe wolves are evil, cuz they're not! They are beautiful, intelligent, secretive animals who deserve to be in the wild like they always have been and are vital to our ecosystem. End rant and thanks for reading.
I had to share a little trick that Indi and I have been working on. I suppose it's a freestyle move.
It is a half turn and then she backs up under my legs. I think it's pretty cute!
Someday we will put together a routine and set it to music!
Training it was pretty simple since she already loves to come up behind me and shove her head under my legs. From there she has learned to walk backward and forward with me. Next she learned to stay standing with her back to me, harder than I thought it would be! Then walk back under my legs from that position. Then we added the spin. I admit, I just kind of faked it til she got it!
Two weeks ago we competed in our first Rally Obedience trial together. I entered one day only since I didn't want to try and do agility and Rally at the same time. I didn't have a very clear idea of how she would do but we actually qualified! On the way into the ring she jumped up at me and was very excited, as in agility. I tried to have her sit in heel but she sat crooked and behind me. The judge asked if we were ready, I said uh, yes and then we started. I forgot to wait for the judge to tell us forward! She was nice and did not hold it against us. On the course Indi was very focused! I was impressed! Our only error was that she got up from her sit when I was walking around her in a sit stay. We didn't go back to fix it so we lost 10 points.
I'm a little afraid that this was just a fluke! Maybe next time in the ring she won't be so focused? Or maybe I have a really awesome dog! I really didn't expect her to be so focused in a new place with no toys or treats and no action of agility!
Then we went on to compete in our fifth and final AKC trial for the year. We got one Q in Novice fast for our second leg and.....that was it! On every other run we knocked a bar (or two).
However, that did not mean we didn't enjoy ourselves!
Indi continued her trend of not exactly waiting until my "ok" to leave the start line. Except for the last run of the weekend which was a Standard course where she did wait til my release word! It was a beautiful run, so very fast but alas we did not get it on tape and she knocked two bars right near the end. Here is our best Jumpers run. Our last chance at qualifying in Novice Jumpers for the year, failed because of one bar! Oh well!
Up until the last three weeks I have still been taking Indi to work with me. We have kennels for boarding dogs in the back that she stays in. We don't have that many kennels and we try to keep noisy dogs on one side and quiet dogs on the other. I do keep her on the quiet side even though she is at times a barker.
She has over time developed some anxiety about other dogs walking past her kennel. You would think she was going to kill the dog on the other side the way she reacts!
For a long time now I have been taking half of her breakfast to work with me (kibble) and tossing it into her kennel every time I walk a dog past her. I finally decided that was not working. She would bark like mad as the other dog went past and THEN turn around and eat her food.
So thanks to Patricia McConnell's blog from a few weeks ago about noise levels in kennels I have a new system!
The sheet! Why didn't I think of it myself?
It helps a lot! I also still throw kibble over the door each time I walk a dog past. She does bark occasionally but not nearly like she was doing before. She does not bark just to hear herself talk like some dogs, only as a reaction to another dog. At home she barks at the neighbor dogs but hey, they started it!
And of course she gets to go outside with me on my breaks and play ball or play with approved doggy group playmates.
Chester the Pointer is definitely approved!
She is growing up and does not always want to play with other dogs like she used to. She mostly wants me to throw her ball.
The almighty ball...
Last weekend we drove the dogs to Pocatello Idaho for Indi's fourth AKC agility trial. Along the way we stopped at Massacre Rocks state park to let the dogs run. Such a cool spot!
Rye really does not like warm weather. For one thing he doesn't and has never handled the heat very well. For another, it seems the only thing we do when it's hot is throw a toy in the water for that black beast sister of his. He watches. He looks forlorn.
Cool weather makes Rye HAPPY!
He may be 12.5 years old but he has not slowed down at all if it's cold enough to run!
Then, on to agility...
Indi has decided FOR SURE that agility is the BEST THING EVER. All summer I have asked her to stay in various places, cementing it into her brain. She knows it very well! At our agility teacher's house she can stay. At the river she can stay. At the park. For dinner. Backyard. When we use the practice jump ringside, she can stay! As soon as we enter the ring, she can't stay anymore. I have turned into one of those handlers who walks slowly away from their dog at the start line, hand up, palm out, repeating No, sit! Stay! Stay! No, sit, stay! and then she goes...
I KNOW that the best thing probably would be to take her off course and waste the run and entry fee when she does that. That maybe it would teach her that she has to stay. The thought of doing that just breaks my heart! I don't think I am strong enough! She loves it so much that all she wants to do is be able to GO and for me to stop her I think would deflate her more than a little. I can't!
Also related to staying, she is not very solid on her two on two off contacts. She can somehow stay on the table!
This weekend was worse than previous on the stay subject but the best we have done so far together!
Indi tried out Novice Fast and got a Q. Got a Q and a first place in her first Open Standard class and another Q and first in Standard on Saturday. We still don't have any Novice Jumpers legs! Friday she was one knocked bar away from qualifying and Saturday, her genius handler sent her over a wrong jump. Both were beautiful runs even so.
She is beyond fun to run with!
Here is a video of our best run, Saturday's Open Standard.
