Darwin's favourite toy

let's play! 

dreaming of... agility! or....

maybe this should be titled "I love my Daddy's jammies"

When Roo gets up in the morning, Darwin hops up and takes his spot in bed. In the daytime, he usually snuggles by my pillow but this time I caught him cuddling up to Roo's jammies.

 

So agility class 2 has come and gone & once again I'm so pleased with Darwin. He's focused, attentive and not too worried about things so far.

We've only had small jumps, the pause table and the tunnel so it's not like there's been much to be scared of, but......Darwin is not too sure yet about the tunnel when it curves.

Which is all sort of funny because about 2 weeks ago I got a tweet from CleanRun about their tunnel overstock sale & since I had birthday money burning a hole in my pocket, I considered getting one. But experienced agility peeps suggested other equipment would be a better purchase & I didn't get it. Now I'm not sure if I should be regretting it or not because if I had it here, I could work it every day.

It's just something he needs more time with - and in a class, there's just not that much time to spend on a piece of equipment. That's one of my concerns with the class: too much luring and a teensy bit of strongarming dogs onto equipment.

I think Darwin is balking partly because of his vision problems. While I can't make a real tunnel, I'm wondering if I can make a sort of approximation with gardening hoops & a tarp draped over, to practice a behavior: get in that dark hole and run until you come out the other end. I don't think it's the footing that's the problem for him, as he's running through a straight one with no problems. I'll see what I can create in the yard.

Darwin goes to agility

please, please, please Mama, can I do agility?

YES? Wheeeee!

Darwin went to his first ever agility class last night & he was more than fine. He had excellent focus, wasn't too scared by things falling over (wobbly jump equipment & big puppies & leashes led to several bangs) and for me, the best thing of all?

OMG - he's a normal dog.

He's like, normal.
He doesn't bark. He doesn't lunge. He doesn't cower....though he actually does not like having his butt sniffed & he'll just spin away. If someone insists, he spins around and tries to hump them. OK, not quite normal, but normal enough for me.....

And I was the prize idiot in the class who let her dog approach a dog w/ space issues & minor reactivity. Oooops. SO sorry little cute Boston. I should know better but OH MY! It's so fun to have a dog who, you know, if you drop a leash, they just run around, say hi to a puppy & then come back. And the Boston sort of looked like he wanted to say hello but then after a few seconds he said "GET YOUR STINKY DOG BREATH OUT OF MY FACE". Which is amazingly cute when a Boston says it, by the way.

The only problem I see so far is that Darwin watches me possibly too much. Like, when running. And since he's blind on one side, he'll just run right into things if his head is turned away from them. So I'll be trying some exercises to get him to look forward while running. It also means I'm not sure if I'll be able to handle him on both sides. We'll have to see how that works as we go.

And I'm already thinking that this class is ok for getting our feet wet but I won't be continuing here so I'm keeping my eye out for something a little bit different. Recommendations welcome.

more pictures, less rants

Hey, I promised you earlier this week beautiful pictures taken by my friend and here they are.

Baby (black collar) & his new sister Lola (red)

 

Lola is a convenient chinrest.

 

Here's Darwin. There were mice, moles, voles and birds to occupy his little brain. I love this shot of my favourite little bird dog!

 

Bear spent most of his time mooching cookies.

I'm old and tired. Feed me!

(honestly, he is not fat. He just sits splayed out like a puppy & it makes his butt look ginormous. Baby & Lola's mom even remarked on his svelte physique...)

And here are Daisy & Zyra, playing up a storm, and Lola on the peripheries, curious & trying to join in but not sure how this game is played. These Canadian gals are tough, Lola! But Lola is from Texas so I'm betting next time around she'll be in there playing up a storm with the girls! 

park day!

Last week, before all the crazy snow stuff started, we went to the park. 

Wheeeeee!

 

Darwin was happy. 

I was happy too. But less so when I downloaded the pix off my camera. 

Hi! Am I in focus? This is cute eh?

 

Would have been cute! But no, not focused.

This better?

 

Yes, this is better. 

 

And this is good too. Mostly because Bear, unlike the other dogs doesn't actually move much. This camera can handle stills, just no movement please. 

Here's Daisy rolling in something gross. It makes me laugh how happy she is when she finds something dead or stinky. Or dead AND stinky.

She was SO stinky, H had to climb up to get away..... nah, just kidding.
He climbed it cause it was there.Daisy got leashed because it was surprisingly busy at what we've grown to consider our own private playground, and Daisy does not always play nice with strange dogs.

 

But she had no problems at all with this new friend. 

Seeing double?

 

Yes indeed, there are TWO of them! My friend who adopted Baby, the maremma we fostered, has adopted another maremma, from Texas. This was our first meeting with her and everyone LOVED Lola.

OK, I'll stop torturing you with my bad photos. In my next post, I've been given permission to put up my friend's excellent pictures of the outing. SHE has an awesome eye and a skookoom camera but no blog, no flicker account, no photobucket. Her pictures are gorgeous so tune in tomorrow!

Is this a good photo? I'm smiling!

 

Um, well, it would have been, but that focus thing again......

Oh wait, not finished torturing you yet with  my photos. 

Spot the dog!

 

 

 

 

Yup, it was Lola running back to mama & new brother.

 

I have a visitor!

I have a little smooshable puppy!

From 2011-10-31

A little muffin is staying with me for a few days while her owner is in hospital & her regular backup caregiver is holidaying in sunny California.

Notice the look on Darwin's face? Not only is he being asked to look at a camera (whaaaaa!) but also? Puppy? Mooooooom doesn't looooooove meeeeeeeeeee anymore?????? (whaaaaa!)

Darwin, the very sensitive boy, has older sibling syndrome so he needs lots of extra attention.

Bear is all Grumpy Old Man: 'young lady, show some respect to your elders! The youth of this day .....' grumble, grumble, grumble.

Daisy has been trying to get the pup to play but pup is a bit scared of big, big, big dogs and she's been trying to get the cat to play with her instead. Her method is to walk up to the cat, say Hey! You're my size! and start to bark at her. PLAY, PLAY, PLAY? Hasn't worked so far :-)

why nobody else makes their bed either

Remember this?

Excuse the blur but I couldn't sneak any closer or use the flash or I would have woken sleeping beauty up. This is Amelia's bed (where PB used to sleep all the time!)

Um, Darwin?

Friday was Darwin's Happy Gotcha Day! Yes, two years already with the smooshable black and white roo-roo dog!

He got a new toy to celebrate. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of him playing with it because two years later, he's STILL really unhappy with paparazzi. He loves his new toy though! It's one of those stuffies with no stuffing? Looks like a floppy snake with two squeakers at each end. He has skunk like that from last year and we added a raccoon to the collection. He's really learning to enjoy playing and tugging - but not outside. I tried to take skunky out to use during some training in a park & he was all what? don't bother me with squeakers. I'm hunting birds.  (Daisy, otoh, who hardly ever plays with toys at home went nutso, running around with it and doing the shake & throw 'kill the toy' thing.)

A few days before, I did shoot these - through a dirty window so quality is poor but he didn't hear the camera lens opening or the slight click it makes. Until the last photo for which I decided to try opening the sliding door to get a clearer shot. He ran away right after.

This is our indoor cat Rachel's pot of grass, which we keep on the deck for her. She can go out and sleep in it in the sun, or munch on it. Darwin has developed a big love for it - possibly because Darwin's running & jumping & digging have totally trashed the grass in the dog's yard & now he has no nice grass of his own.

 

Oh grass! 

 

I love you! 

 

I adore you! 

 

I just heard a click behind me. Mwah for now! I'll be back lovely grass!

Dog Recall Homeschool

I just realized that for non dog folks, that blog title would not scan properly. You might be tempted to say I have a subject/verb agreement problem (Dog Recalls Homeschool; or Dogs Recall Homeschool) but there would still be the problem of what could that possibly mean?

Well, actually there is no grammar problem here; "recall" is the dog coming to the handler on cue, and this is about teaching a dog to recall, myself, at home. :-)

The last few weeks my inbox has been buzzing with info about an online recall training course. & I don't mean 'buzz' in that social networking way. I keep seeing it all over because genuine real people on numerous training lists have been mentioning it, debating signing up or announcing that they faced down the sticker shock and *did* sign up.

I considered it, watched a bunch of the sales pitch videos but I didn't sign up. Mostly because the sticker shock, but also because the more I read about the trainer, the more I think our philosophies are not quite sympatico.

And the sticker shock. OMFSM.

BUT, I do really need to work on recall & so I thought, I homeschool my kids, I can homeschool my dogs & I don't need a correspondence course!

I have a shelf full of books and resources, including Pamela Dennison's Training the Whistle Recall. I have also viewed Leslie Nelson's Really Reliable Recall (public library has it! Yay!). I also have Susan Smith's Emergency Recall protocol.

Can you tell recall has been important to me?

I have one dog who does not always play nice with strange dogs.

I have another dog who will chase birds, possibly across provincial, state, and country borders.

If they're going to be offleash, I need to be able to call them and have them come to me fast, no matter what.

Like this:

If you click to embiggen, you'll see awesome mud splattering as Daisy drives hard to get to us. (or possibly to chase her doggy friends. This was not taken during recall training.)

Also on my shelf of dog training stuff, amidst the dvds, books, e-books, binders, training notes, saved e-mails, I have several gems from Dee Ganley & Brenda Aloff, all focused on how to deepen our connection with dogs. We can motivate dogs to be with us & to stay with us, if we understand what motivates them. The first part of good recall protocol exercises is always to consider & make up a long list of motivators (& 'punishers' or aversives as well. These are things to avoid happen anywhere near you, or as a result of a recall command).

What is it that a particular dog likes, what will motivate him to work for you, what is his 'price'? How can you make being with you so amazingly wonderful that they think the sun rises and sets in your eyes? What will keep that dog's attention on you when distractions ramp up?

Not sure Darwin's attention is actually on me here. What is he looking at on his right?

I want to challenge myself to do a 'recall intensive' for 30 days and see what progress we can make. I'm not officially starting yet (though I did take Darwin out to a playing field on Monday & worked him on a long line with the whistle. He was awesome!), I'm still in the prep stage, gathering up all my resources and rewards. Darwin's especially are tricky - it's hard to compete with real live flying birds! I have ordered something which I'm hoping will blow his little brain. I'm keeping it under wraps until it comes (& no, I am not getting homing pigeons!) Once I officially start I'll update & try to keep track (probably on twitter) how things are going.

How about you? Are you working on training anything specific? Planning any intensives to improve performance?

(both photos courtesy of my friend who is a skookum photographer and has a delish new camera. She gave me permission but doesn't want credit. You can look forward to more great shots because I've appointed her official photographer of our feisty fido dog club outings. Even though she did make comments about needing her wide lens for Bear. Ahem.)

Doggy play date

Over the Christmas holidays I was talking to someone who said she's glad she doesn't have big dogs because you have to walk them! Even in the rain!!!!

Er. Right. It's perhaps not a surprise that we didn't bond instantly.

My friends come out on perfectly miserable days for doggie play dates. One even drives an insane distance and has to explain to the border dude that yes, she's really here because her dog wants to play with our dogs. Yes, even on really wet rainy days.

I was the only one who brought a camera - most likely because I own the cheapest camera & don't particularly worry about getting it wet or falling in the mud with it. Alas, I'm the worst photographer of the group so what follows is not going to win any awards. It will, however, show the world the wonder of living in Vancouver in January. Look! Grass! It's green! Yeah, yeah, we're soaking wet. But we have green grass!

We spent two hours out there; the dogs had a blast, we plodded through mud, and I squealed like a girl when I saw a mouse - not because I was scared of the mouse but because I really didn't want to see a dog eating the mouse. It appeared to be a particularly dimwitted mouse because it was running in and out of the puddles by my feet over and over again. Fortunately, the dogs were otherwise occupied and the mouse lived another day.

There was an eagle flying overhead at the park and when I got home & was unloading all the wet and muddy towels out of the cars, I saw four Canada geese flying overhead. Spring is around the corner in our little corner of the world.

Darwin has drive

This is what it looks like when I walk Darwin.

This graphic by the way, comes from the great store Beauty of the Beasts, home to hundreds of fabulous t-shirts for dog crazy people.

Actually Darwin is getting better. Better in this case means that I've managed to train a wonderful behavior chain which consists of Darwin starting off walking well (for two steps), dropping his head & leaning forward like he's in a tractor pull, me giving a stop cue: Dar-WIN!!!!, Darwin spinning back around me (on my right side, thus wrapping leash around me), and Darwin returning to heel position on my left. Then two steps of walking well & repeat.......

We're both dorks & I know I'm the bigger dork because I KNOW how to fix it (here's how, by the way. That's part 1. The video continues in part 2 & 3.). I just have to do it. And we've been making progress at loose leash walking (LLW) when he's on his own, it's just the realities of walking with two other dogs, schedules, etc (I can put in more excuses if you like....) which means that most of the time he does not get as much one-on-one as he needs/deserves.

What I suspect though is that even when we get the LLW down, there will always be a small risk of Darwin galloping off with my arm. I think that sometime in the past he either broke a tether or pulled a leash from someone's hand & had the hugest jackpot reward of his life. (bird? squirrel? overturned hot dog cart?) Even when he's walking nicely, I'm maintaining a high rate of reinforcement, everything is going well, he's prone to suddenly launching himself into the air. No warning, no indication. Just suddenly: SPROING! I want to be 50 feet to the left of you hornblower! Oh darn! Your arm is still attached to your torso! And none of the heavy duty gear you've shoved on me has broken! Pout...... Ah well. I'll try again later!

I was organizing some pictures on the computer & found these. It's a set of photos shot by Roo this summer while camping. I'm watching Roo & the kids fish on a sandspit & I'M BORED. Can you tell how bored? Darwin is not bored. Darwin is thinking: BIRD! Daisy is thinking, hmmm? What chance of cookies? Don't you want to do some training?


This time around there was a warning. You can see Darwin leaning, you can see I've noticed it, and I'm pretty sure I took a step forward to try to block him a split second later. Voice is useless, his auditory processing seems to completely turn off when BIRD mode locks on, & so a body block is the only chance I have. And I didn't get in front of him in time.


Roo missed the part where Darwin launched himself, & ripped several muscles in my arm. Instead he caught the split second later when I yelled 'DARWIN, JUST WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING??!!!" Hello, I'm a clicker trainer & I'm yelling at my dog on the beach! Look at Daisy's ears. She's all: "oh no, mom is mad! You're in trouble now, Darwin!"

My arm is only attached to me by this polar fleece coat, you crazy dog! Now, for the last time Darwin, sit here nicely & stop being a jerk!!!!!!
What was I thinking? I mean really. A good trainer is supposed to know when it's time to quit. It's clear his brain has fallen out of his head & been replaced by a large glowing BIRD!!!!!

Hello? Darwin! I'm talking to you!


That's when I realized it was time for the next phase of training: Idle threats.

That's it. Forget it. We're leaving. And Darwin, if you think I'm ever going to take you anywhere again, young man, you are sadly mistaken. You will spend the rest of your life in the campsite and see how you like it. You wretched dog. Do you know how much Robaxacet costs? That is coming straight out of your toy allowance. You know what I should do? I should just let you go. Yup. Go. Just go swim across the lake chasing after the duck and get cramp and drown and do you think I'd do anything? NO. Because I can't swim with my shoulder all frozen up so I couldn't come after you. And whose fault is that? ..........

You can see how concerned Darwin is about my rant.

Oh he's got drive all right. Now if only we can channel it for good......

Kensington? I don't think I've ever been to Kensington.

English Setters are often described as 'gentlemen'. Or even a 'gentleman's gentleman'. Which, if you are familiar with the works of PG Wodehouse, instantly conjures up Jeeves.

I've been pondering this for a year because while I knew that there was probably a reason English Setters are generally not the dog of choice for people who want to compete in obedience, I assumed the reason was that they were quirky and independent. However, a sneaking - & may I say totally unfair - suspicion snuck into my brain.

What if when they said "gentleman", they meant Upper Class Twit of the Year?



Or perhaps it's Barmy Fotheringay-Phipps? (pronounced Barmy Funghy Fipps, of course & again, well known to PG Wodehouse fans)

He's the source of the Kensington line.
Barmy: "I don't think I've ever been to Kensington."
Wooster: "Oh hullo Barmy. Yes you have. Your mother lives there."
Barmy: "Oh. That Kensington."

You can watch Barmy & Wooster here; the famous line is at around 6:40 & this entire clip is actually the first part of the first episode of the first series of Jeeves & Wooster with Hugh Grant Hugh LAURIE (thanks Fe!)& Stephen Fry. If you haven't seen it, you must. (& read the PG Wodehouse books too, of course)

I was starting to have Darwin say things like:

"Heel? I don't think I've ever done heel before."
"Yes you have! I showed you yesterday."
"Oh. That heel."

"Sit? I have never done sit before."
"Yes you have! You just did it a few seconds ago."
"Oh. That sit."

And every time he looks at me with great confusion I just sadly say "You've never been to Kensington, have you?" in a plummy British accent.

Now, as I've said above, I think this is grossly unfair. Darwin is a bundle of nerves and has a bit of OCD but he's coming along nicely & just before Christmas he finally started being able to take food outside. This was a huge breakthrough as before that he was so over-aroused in the presence of outside,outside,outside! that he couldn't eat. Being able to take a treat & eat is a good basic test for whether your dog is able to think and learn anything.

So that was in late November, early December. You'd think I'd have accomplished something by now with him. But nope. Sadly, he's been a neglected dog.

But all that's going to change. I've even written a song for him. Well, lyrics.
The song is Johnny Reid's Darlin:



Except, yanno, it's Darwin. Sing along with me:

darwin
you're really pretty crazy
i shouldn't be so lazy
and finally train my dog

darwin
the birds are all around here
you've lost your pretty mind dear
and i don't have a gun

taking me a clicker
bait bag in my hand
gonna train

darwin
we're gonna learn some new tricks
i'll teach you all the best tricks
and a recall too!

darwin
a tear is in my eye now
knowing i could try now
to teach it all to you

hey!

darwin,
i love you more than ever
i'm glad that we're together
darwin mine!

etc etc etc

pix from Osoyoos, September 2009

A year ago, we adopted a blur

Here he is:


Darwin is still scared of the camera but a bit less so. Once I figured out how to make the camera silent, he pretty much stopped running away from it, but he poses in the most mournful manner.

I am so sad.

WHY? Why do you torment me with that black box?
Don't you love me?

Yup, Darwin, I do. I adore you. And so, I take pictures of you sleeping.

In a cute snuggly "paws by face" pose:

All snuggly, wuggly in my bed:

Um. Well. Ahem.

We've had a great year.

There were outings to rivers:

Swimming in lakes:

Camping:

Birds! Birds! Birds!

Birds! Birds! Birds!

Birds! Birds! Birds!

Notice that when there are Birds! Birds! Birds!, I can sneak a camera in his face without him melting down.

His smiley, tail waggy face is the one I see most of the time. Darwin is a charmer and a cuddler. He brings me a toy to show me & then plays keep away. His tail is pretty much always wagging.

A few weeks before Christmas, he was finally able to accept treats outside and I began to do some more clicker training with him. Prior to that, the moment he stepped outside, his brain fell out on the road and he just vibrated Birds! Birds! Birds!

Now, he can actually sit outside (usually), he re-orients, takes treats and is slowly learning to not drag me in pursuit of every winged creature out there.

And look, we can sometimes even snap an awake indoor photo. You'll have to imagine it but he's saying Roo-Roo - an endearing English Setter trait & their own particular way of talking.


Happy 1st Anniversary Darwin! I'm so lucky you're here!