Denise Fenzi Seminar

Over the weekend I attended a 3 day seminar given by Denise Fenzi. There is so much about this seminar that I am still trying to process that I am having a tough time putting it into words. Other than AMAZING!

The seminar Saturday and Sunday was about building drive and motivation for obedience and Monday was for problem solving for obedience. I was lucky enough to snag a working spot in both seminars.

Grace and I worked together on Saturday and Sunday. I was hoping to be able to find ways to communicate better with her and also to build in some play with her. Although we have tried novice a few times usually it has been just an effort to see where we are in our training. I know that we have heeling issues and I was hoping to maybe work a bit on that. First the play- I was successfully able to get Grace to play with me both Saturday with a toy and Sunday without. It’s not the vigorous play of many dogs, but she was responding. For the first time ever she showed some interest in a tug type toy, chasing it and even tugging mildly. She also responded really well to some gentle pushing and physical play during a heeling session.

During our one on one sessions with Denise, not surprisingly she saw the same bad behavior on my part in watching my dog and not looking forward. But she also noticed that even though I still do that, I also do catch myself and am trying to change the pattern. She liked the way Grace performs when she is paying attention, but she noticed that her periods of attention are short, so we need to work on building those. Oh and her sits were gone again, so we will be paying with those too. They come, they go…..

Monday I worked with Magic. Each team had the opportunity to work with Denise twice while the other teams looked on. In our first session we spent most of the time talking about teaching a go out as I need to do that. We didn’t do it, but I got fabulous directions on how she does it and I feel confident enough that we can start on our own. I did ask for some assistance with our retrieves. Since Magic loves to retrieve, in general our retrieve is nice. But his enthusiasm is also occasionally an issue as he does a few things that are not the best. Magic will munch on the dumbbell, or occasionally he will pick it up by the bell. So I got a few suggestions for both of those issues and we will work on it.

In our second session we worked on our heeling. Honestly Magic’s heeling was really nice for the first few minutes, then suddenly, he realized that there was a quiet room, everyone was watching and the normal lagging began. Denise was able to point out where that happened. She worked me through a few exercises with him and within just a few minutes he was back up and heeling much better. And I did much better too in not looking back at him which also helps! We will never be competing for high in trial, but I am hoping by incorporating some of this we will at least be successful. For the first time I realized that yes I DO want a UD on this dog and I AM going to make the effort and try.

One of the things Denise did convey well that hit home with me is that many dogs equate silence with being wrong and that we need to change that perspective. And I find that to be very true with my dogs. So I am trying to change how I do reward the dogs and what I say as well as when I say it. The other thing I need to incorporate more in my training is verbal rewards for effort on the dogs part, when the dog has tried but failed. The actual reward, whether food or play comes with success, but a good try, let’s do it again instead of a true no reward marker such as oops or wrong.

There is more, much more and I hope to be able to talk about it as I use it in the future. It was incredible seeing her work with each team and so many different issues. She was quick to point out why similar issues from dog to dog, need to be handled differently due to the dogs motivation and style. If it is at all possible I would love to do another seminar in the future with her as she was honestly the best presenter I have seen. If you have the chance to see her go for it! I know I will.

Been a bit lax lately

Winter is just dragging on and on which I think has an effect on my posting.  Been waiting to get some good training time in, but need the sidewalks at least relatively ice free and a temperature in a decent range would also be nice.

Magics flyball class has one more week. He loves it and seems to be doing well.  We need to decide if we are going on. I would like ot but finances are crimped, so we will have to see.  Graces agility is coming along well, I am pretty pleased with her, but I need to get her to understand weaves, and I need a snow free yard to do that.

Siren did some nice work in nosework class last night- a couple of blind (for the handler) finds and she gave a stronger indication than normal which makes me think she is getting more confient with the game. When class was over the instructor wanted to do a little matwork with her pup with some other dog distraction, which was great for Rin. She was really good at not worrying about the other dog, not reacting much at all.  When the stationary location was not an issue for either dog, we did a little heeling work.  The only small reaction she gave was when the pup leaped off the mat to get a treat in her direction, she flinched a little, but recovered well. Which is really great I think and I was almost happy she did get a slight startle as it shows that her confidence is improving.  A year ago that may have provoked a much greater reaction, growling and lunging.  To just startle and then go back to working is a huge improvement. I think its time to start an obedience class with her now.  By the way, her heeling, unlike Magics was so pretty. I just love this dog and really hope i can work her through the fears because she could be my OTCH dog-if David will let me work her that is.

Peace is happily holding down the couch.

training me

My dog could be great if he had the right handler. As it is he is stuck with me. Magic, and Grace too, I promise you I am going to work really hard on being a better handler. I am going to trust my dog to do its job. OK guys, I am going to trust you to be there. No more looking over my shoulder to see where you are.   We are going to be a better team. OK?

PS, this means lots of treats while we make sure you know what your job is too. Treats are good.

Quote for the day

Your real performance standards are not the behaviors you expect, but rather the behaviors you accept.

~BJ Gallagher

Crufts - heelwork to music

Did anyone else watch this and become so totally amazed and inspired?  Some of this heelwork was so beautiful it brought tears to my eyes. What an inspiration.

Pressure

Pressure. Some people fold under pressure, some bloom.  I must be a combination of both, because I tend to put myself under pressure, yet at times I fold. Sunday was a good example. Saturday went very well, Magic was up were were getting decent scores. Sunday I decided that well if he did earn his level 2 in the first trial of the day I would go add level 3. Which I did, and then I fell apart. And it was so stupid too. First I NQ'd on the trial 2 level 2, then when I was walking level 3 the first time I had basically decided we weren't going to Q so just have fun and do the best we can, learning time.  Well, although not perfect, (Slow Downs, lagging on the fast) we did Q. So that should have relaxed me right?  Nope, got me more wound up and although we did Q in the 2nd trials level 3, it was the worst score of the weekend. Lots of little dumb things, for Magic again slow downs and some lagging, but also stupid Dawn thing, shuffling my feet, not making clean pivots.

Not really sure where I am going with this blog, its more for me to process the weekend. But I did sort of do it again.  I entered the Des Moines APDT trial. Now I need to see if I can get more happy heeling, see if we can learn some back end awareness and how ti down without taking a minute to do it.  No pressure, right?

thinking again darn it

So I am at the dentist this morning, trying to ignore what they are doing, and I start thinking about the dogs.  I am so glad I went to play agility yesterday, it really gave me a lot to think about.  It confirmed that I definately need to get Graciegirl into the foundations class.  I need to find a way to really get her to retain her focus on me.  She has really good attention, very sporadically.  But like a kidlet with ADD she often goes off into Gracieland.  And apparently there is a lot of things much more fun than listening to mom in Gracieland. 

And I think maybe more foundation work will help me with better body language. Poor Magic he has to run with me and usually I dont know what I am doing so how is he supposed to?   Agility puts me out of my comfort zone, I do enjoy it, but its really hard for me. So maybe I will just back off of agility, and focus on obedience again.  And hope that by starting over with Grace I will get better and then be a better partner for both of them. But, pushing the comfort zone is good too, so not really sure all my thoughts resolved anything....

Perfection, hah, I think NOT

Over on Susan Garrett's blog she has a thought provoking post on seeking perfection. I can honestly say, and you can easily tell when watching my dogs, perfection has not been our goal.  Versatility, cooperation, teamwork and fun have been my goals.  I do not fault those who have goals for those high level titles at all.  Someday I may have those goals. But early on I had several experiences that made me realize that, for me, its about me having fun AND my dog having fun.  Mostly its about my dog having fun.

Early on in my training with Magic I was at a class early so I was watching the prior class. There was a lady there with her dog doing some scentwork. She dropped the article in the pile, went back and sent her dog. The dog trotted out to the pile, picked the right article, and started back. On the way back, she dropped the article and sneezed several quick sneezes. (not sure whether her sneeze caused her to drop it, or she dropped it to sneeze) Before the poor little dog had stopped sneezing, the trainer was pinching that poor dogs ear and forcing her to pick up the dumbbell. The next send to the pile she went out picked the dumbell and slowly came back, but not straight, not perfect-she got another ear pinch.  The rest of the time she worked that cute little dog, her head and tail were down and she worked. She worked well, but she clearly was not enjoying herself.  This team often earns high in trial, but at what expense?

I want my dogs to enjoy the ride as much as I do.  I really don't want to force them to do the things they hate. Yes, originally I wanted to work toward Magic's CDX, but he hates heeling, and although I will work this year towards trying to help him enjoy it, I won't force the issue.  He seems to love the weight pulling.  He charges to the front of the cart to get hooked up.  I think if he could talk he would tell me that agility is great! I am pretty sure that if I could throw a toy for 6 hours a day he would race after it for 6 hours a day. Are we awesome in any of those, nope, but we are having fun. Even when we leave the agility course and I am calling him a goober and asking him to tell me when did "tunnel" start to mean take the frame, its being said in the a goofy loving voice and his tail is wagging and we are both happy.  I am not a great trainer,  I am not consistent enough, nor steady enough to be one, and I KNOW our mistakes are my fault. Yes I am proud of the titles we have earned, but I am also proud of my dog even when he does lay down during the heeling pattern and wait for me to get back.

Please if you ever see me lose it at a trial or in training where I take it out on the dog, STOP me, set me down and remind me, that is not the person I am nor the person I want to be.  Please.