Last AKC show of the year

Earlier in October we ran in our last AKC trial for the year. I do believe we are improving! We did three days total and came away with one qualifying Open Fast run and one Q in Excellent Standard. That Standard run didn't make it onto the video camera, sadly.

Indigo had a grand time.

 

 

 

She only appeared to be possessed in a few of the photos. See the drool?

 

 

 



Here is a just one "little" (ok, pretty large) thing Standard run that I was happy with other than how aweful she was at the start line, arguing with me about the stay. The error was taking the tunnel after the first few jumps and I am not sure how she saw that as an option!

She kept more bars up than she has in the past. And hopefully I am learning to run her better so she CAN keep the bars up!

 

 

Fat tail.

 

 

 

 

Here is a Novice Jumpers run in which I clearly called "come" in time, don't you think? We've been practicing coming sooner! She does try really hard to go the way I want her to it's just so hard when she just wants to stretch out and go as fast as she can. We almost had this one!

 

 



 

 

We get to do a Nadac trial this weekend. Can't wait to TUNNEL!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 



practicing agility

Two Saturdays ago we went to a practice, here is a video.

The beginning didn't end up on tape but I wish it had! Indi actually held her start line stay, twice! She appears to have traded her start line stay for her two on two off contacts. I could not get her to stop on a-frame or dogwalk! Other than that, it was a little wild and didn't exactly feel controlled but was fun none the less. Throughout the following week at home we practiced actually stopping at the bottoms of the contacts. Indi stops, I say YES and then my release word and then toss her the ball.
Looking very much forward to a show this coming Friday and Saturday! Hoping that I can run fast enough for my dog and be where I need to be when I need to be there.

Indi's Birthday

Indigo turned two years old on Wednesday. For her gift we did an extra agility lesson mid week. We worked weaves, contacts and start lines. For the contacts our teacher had me click for Indi's front feet hitting the ground while I moved ahead of her and she stayed on "target". Then the release word and I tossed her ball back to her to reward for position. We tempted her with a tunnel right after the A-frame and she held position perfectly. Such a good girl!
We worked a few challenging weave entries and she got them all.

She still has a tendancy to knock bars but I don't obsess over it. The fact that she'd rather do agility
than almost anything else is more important to me than keeping every bar up. Her enthusiasm is definitely contagious.

Then we went home for a second gift. A cardboard box.



Joy

Who needs new toys when there's cardboard?
 

JOY!

To finish the day, a piece of salmon with birthday candles in it!



 

 

Rye waits patiently on the couch for the theatrics to be over so he can have some salmon.

To top it all off I got news that a photo I had entered in a calendar contest had won! We received the calendar today and Indi is "Miss April" for the Idaho Humane Society's friends for life calendar!

I entered this photo.

So excited!

An aging Rye

Today I was reading through a list of blogs written about aging in agility, here is a link if you wanted to go read.  http://dogagilityblogevents.wordpress.com/aging/
It made me nostalgic and a little sad, thinking about Rye. I had to go watch some of his old agility runs on youtube. My goodness he was fast! Not always but sometimes! He was also nervous and that made him do things like run out of the ring to go find my husband on more than one occasion. A definite sign of stress. He had his moments of greatness though. Here is a favorite run.

Now we've gone so long without practicing that he can't weave 6 poles!
He sleeps very soundly. So soundly that I came home the other night from going out to eat at IHOP with sausages for the dogs, walked through the house to find him lying on his bed in the back room sleeping. I walked right up to him and held the sausage under his nose to wake him up. I wish I had my video camera! Quite adorable.
Even on our regular hikes he walks on the trail behind me more often than he goes out into the sagebrush.
I was starting to worry about him, his heart mainly. I took him to work for blood work and to have the vet listen to his heart. His murmur has not changed at all so that is great! He has no obvious arthritis, just less range of motion in his front wrists than normal. And his blood work came back completely normal. Very very happy.
So I guess he's just getting old. He'll be 13 in February.
I bought him a new toy, and Indi can't touch it. It stays in it's spot until we go to the park where Indi fetches her ball (over and over and over) and Rye plays with the Weiner Bear.

The Weiner Bear, body of a weiner dog and face of a bear...

Give me my Weiner Bear

 

An older video of Rye playing with a Kong frisbee. Definitely see a difference in energy! This was almost two years ago. Now he still does his adorable happy dance with a toy but for like 5 seconds and then he lays down with it.

 

Last weekend we took the dogs on a short vacation to Stanley, Idaho. We stayed in a hotel and hiked around Stanley Lake. Rye never once walked behind me on the trail. What is up with that? Is he bored of his home foothills that he has walked probably hundreds of times? Was he just invigorated by the new smells? Whatever the reasons, I was happy to see him having so much fun!

 

 

Agility and Rally-O in October

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!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTWyTVdfcAE

Agility!

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.

So proud of her!

 

Indi's first agility trial

My black dog ran in her first and second agility trials this month. We have lots more to work on but she did very well for her first time out.

Our very first run was perfect, nice and smooth. Though I did cut it a little close on the blind cross after the chute! I'm still not super great at judging when it is safe to use a blind.

We knocked a few bars and went around a few jumps on the next runs so did not qualify.
Last run of the two day trial, I think Indi's brain was tired. She started out well and then wanted to play. She jumped up at me to try and bite my hat strings and just didn't cooperate on a few sections of the course.
 Here is that video. It is entertaining!

Overall I loved her enthusiasm and I know she enjoyed herself, as did I! I haven't worked that hard on making practice JUST like a trial in that her reward comes after we leave the course, after we put the leash back on. So that was new for her. I used a tug toy to warm her up which she actually wasn't crazy into like she is in practice and I used food as a reward at the end. In practice I have been using a combination of ball/tug/food but to be honest, mostly ball since it is her favorite. She has a lot of drive for the obstacles themselves in practice and I think it has transferred fairly well into the trial ring.
 Neither Amber nor Rye would ever accept a tug toy as a reward in a trial environment, it was always food. With Indi's tug drive in practice I thought she would  for sure play with me as a reward but we haven't got to that point quite yet apparently! And a ball tossed to her while she is on leash is just....underwhelming...

 She is so much fun to train. It is a high, running with her.
We have one last show for the summer coming up this weekend, wish us luck!

ode to my black dog

I drew a little something. But I didn't get it quite right. I thought I'd share anyway.


Indiglow.

Beast.

Freight train.

Thing.

Monster.










I was talking with a fellow agilityer about Indi and she said "well, I won't mention what so and so said about her...." So of course I wanted to know!  So and So said "have you seen that monster Claire has at her house?" 
I am the proud owner of a monster!

Another fellow agilityer was greeting Indi and asked "So, how much of a handle do you have on that thing?"  This makes me happy!
I love her exuberance! Her life! Her passion! Her Thingness! Yes, she is a little unpracticed at calm greeting behaviors but really, I swear, as soon as she gets to leap on you at least twice she will calm right down! I am so not good at being consistent with greetings. It is not my training strong point. I have read that a dog can learn that it is ok to jump on you, but not anyone else. She still hasn't made that distinction. I step on her leash a lot, when she is wearing one.

At least she doesn't normally punch random strangers in the gut like she did me tonight at the park! I tried to side step her oncoming approach but misjudged. She is large. I am happy that she loves to come to me.

It is very hard to be angry at this face! I hardly ever am. 

late winter agility

Late Winter but starting to think about Spring! New garden boxes for my husband to build for me, hose projects, got my seeds from last year out of the fridge to look at (tomato, crook neck squash, green beans, spinach). Pretty soon all my veggies will be bone dry and I will want nothing to do with them! For now I am dreaming of eating fresh strawberries from my garden.
Here is late February in Boise. A few inches of new snow overnight and we woke up to this. By afternoon it had all melted off again.

My yard is small, small and soggy right now. We have room for all of the normal agility equipment but just barely. Indi can't build up too much speed in my little yard so we work on tight turns, contacts, weave entries.

 

What we really need work on is running a full sized course together! At class today we did a small sequence. It was only the second time she has been able to run on a full scale course. We started out pretty good, three jumps to the tunnel, jump, front cross, jump jump, throw ball. Then on our next turn we tried to go a little further into a slightly more challenging section of course. It showed me just how much more work we will need before we will be able to run a real course together! She is way out ahead of me. How the heck am I supposed to direct her from so far behind?!? I have never taught my dogs left and right commands, only "turn" and that always worked in the past. Whichever side my dog is on, turn means to turn your head away from me while I cross behind you. Maybe I need left and right? Maybe I need a faster brain/legs/body!

  I must say, she is everything I wanted in my next agility dog. Lots of drive!

 Now that I have her, what do I do with her? 

she weaves again and Christmas pictures

My dad bought me a set of 12 weaves when Amber was first starting to learn agility. They're spaced 20" apart. Amber and Rye never had a problem practicing on them even though at trials they used weaves set 24" apart for a long time. Indi has been learning on stick in the ground weave poles which feel a lot different than a real set of poles with a solid base. When she got the hang of six straight poles I attempted once to run her through my set of 20 inchers but quickly realized she is much too long and tall for them!

So Indi's Christmas present came a day late. A new set of six 24" weaves! (I'll have to save up for that second set)

Here she is the morning after bringing them home, weaving a real set for the first time. I thought maybe it would look and feel different enough that she wouldn't be able to do them right away but that was not the case. She does every once in a while get caught in them like I've seen larger dogs do.

She still doesn't always want to bring me back her toy and I think we need to work more on recalls! She was super excited though and that makes her more likely to do victory laps instead of returning.

The weekend before Christmas we went to visit our family in New Meadows, Idaho.
There, Indi got to drag Emma, my inlaw's Vizsla around with a toy.

Help open presents.

Help break down boxes for recycling.

And best of all, play frisbee in the snow!

We hope you all had a most beautiful Christmas day!

she weaves!

Four poles!
We've been doing the two by two method which is how Rye learned. Amber learned with channel weaves. I can't say either one was better for us since Amber almost always had really solid weaves and Rye didn't in competition but that may just be an individual dog thing. I do like the idea of the two by two method better. It feels to me that the dog really learns it well independently. It is working well for Indi since she is so toy motivated.

Next up, add two more off to the side and slowly move those in line with the other four. I started these about two weeks ago, working a few times a week and just yesterday she really had the idea down.

siblings!

Indi turned a year old this past Tuesday!
A few weeks before that we got as many of her 16 siblings as we could get together, which turned out to be only four, for a pre birthday celebration.
This is her brother Wilson. Also a crazy retriever/water dog. Wilson is about the same size as Indi. He was the smallest puppy in the litter.

I've included their puppy photos that I took for their webpage to show how they have changed.

Wilson at 8 weeks.

Her brother Enzo also loves to retrieve and swim and is just a little taller than Indi. Enzo's owner cooks for him!

Enzo at 8 weeks.

Here is Wilson and their sister Zeva. Zeva was returned to the Vizsla rescue a few months ago and still needs a home.  No surprise, she LOVES water and balls. She was the most shy out of the litter at 8 weeks and still is a little hesitant in new situations.

Zeva at 8 weeks.

Indi and her sister Zeva. Indi is such a big help!

Indi, Enzo and Zeva.

My beautiful, 62 pound girl, Indigo.

Indi at 8 weeks.

And, to illustrate Indi's personality perfectly, a photo from when she lived with her first owner. A puppy playdate with brother Wilson and a different black and tan sister, Daphne. Two against one and look who's winning?

Here is a little video of Indi doing some agility a few weeks ago, bars set at 12 inches.

And.......


B is for bone!

Working girl

Indigo loves her work! On my mornings off I take her to a neighborhood park with a tug toy and practice. We heel, sit, stay, down, stand, come, pivots, eye contact, all for that toy. The one we're using now is a Chuck-it brand floating bumper toy which is pretty strong but starting to tear in the center. She isn't always 100% accurate but is so fast and so willing to do what I want to get that toy. I love her eagerness. Her down at my side is always on my foot. She tugs like a Schutzhund dog.
Then the days I work she goes with me and I take most of her breakfast kibble with us. When I have breaks in my day I take her out to practice and she is just as awesome and focused. She sometimes gets to play with other dogs who are in boarding. She is learning to come to me briefly for a treat while playing but that is not her strongest feature.
At the school yard down the street, the moment I take off her leash she turns to me for the frisbee. Even if there happens to be another dog on the field.
Our beginning agility lessons are going really well, with that same focus.  We're working on just the basics in class, more eye contact, hand touches, basic clicker training. At home we work on some of the obstacles, she is fast and loves it. She has really good endurance.
All this awesomeness and I took her to my obedience teacher last week for her first lesson and she was horrible! She didn't want her toy or my string cheese. Her nose was on the ground almost the whole time we were there. I was so looking forward to showing off what she had learned! My teacher asked me if I had taken her anywhere else to work besides my back yard.
Then last night we came home from work and the sun was hitting my fall blooming crocuses just right to give them a funny look. WOOF! I wonder if her eyesight isn't 100%?
I have been reading about using just yourself as the interaction and reward and thought I'd try a little bit of that instead of the toy. She bites! She definitely likes it but is still so mouthy, it just doesn't work for me. She also goes looking for a "toy" after a few seconds. A twig works just fine for her if a real toy isn't available.
My husband keeps reminding me that she is still a puppy. I know that but I feel this giant pressure for her to become a perfect adult dog. What if she is never able to compete with me in anything? What if she keeps having these moments of being spooked by random things? What if she develops hip dysplasia?
I paid the $35 last week and she is now my registered AKC "canine partner". 
Here she is, my crazy, almost 10 month old girl. Indigo Jane.
I do love her.