Magic loves lure coursing. SO much he practically wears himself out while waiting his turn. Lunging whining pulling such a naughty dog.But I can't fault him during his runs. He runs lovely. Now we just have to wait for spring for another trial.
Edit! Some additional information since I just got the report of his times for the runs this weekend. Magic is just a bit over 12 inches per his AKC agility measurements. Dogs over 12 inches run the full 600 yard course, and they have 2 minutes to do it in. Dogs under 12 run a 300 yard course and have 1.30 minutes if I remember right.. Magic ran the first run on 1.0032 and the second one a little bit slower at 1.0375
Quicker than I thought!
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Friday, October 21, 2011
Happiness
I had a quick email conversation with another dog breeder this week and we both commented about how we are so broke we would love to do or get something but can't. Why am I mentioning this, well because although we both have an area in our lives where something is lacking, that was just a quick comment. It was quickly followed with the thought that that was OK that we couldn't do whatever, we both have what we need. We have our homes and our families, we are able to feed them, even if sometimes its ramen noodles, we have our dogs and we are happy. And she has beautiful puppies to make her smile.
And I am happy. Although there have been periods in my life where I hade more, more money, fancy clothes, a nice car I don't remember being happier in those times. Although life is never perfect, you can be happy with less. I think that noticing and thinking about the things that are good can help cement the good feelings inside.
3 things that made me happy are 1. Graces happy prancing heeling. 2. Making 2 socks at once on a circular needle 3. Getting snuggles from a 28 gram bird.
What 3 things made you happy this week? Please share your joy!
And I am happy. Although there have been periods in my life where I hade more, more money, fancy clothes, a nice car I don't remember being happier in those times. Although life is never perfect, you can be happy with less. I think that noticing and thinking about the things that are good can help cement the good feelings inside.
3 things that made me happy are 1. Graces happy prancing heeling. 2. Making 2 socks at once on a circular needle 3. Getting snuggles from a 28 gram bird.
What 3 things made you happy this week? Please share your joy!
Monday, October 17, 2011
Bridget Carlsen Seminar
This weekend I attended a Bridget Carlsen dog training seminar put on by a local dog club. I had signed up for this seminar quite a while ago, and I remember how excited I had been at the time to get one of the limited working spots. But then during the long wait I attended the Denise Fenzi seminar which was just so good, I was seriously thinking of letting my working spot go to someone else. But I didn’t and I attended the seminar with Grace as my working dog. Ultimately, I am really glad that I attended.
I am really bad about taking notes at Seminars. I wish I were better. I find I spend all my time listening and watching for those small things I can take with me to use. I know that her style of training is not something that everyone would be comfortable with, but I found that there were so many points and aspects in her training that were brilliant. Her end result working style with her dogs is a bit more extreme than I care for. It's extremely flashy and showy though, and quite inspiring to see. Her dogs do appear to love working with her, in fact the only issue I saw the dogs have with her was having to leave her to go into a kennel, where none of them preferred to be.
I loved her version of jackpotting, which is a form of working for your meals, but the way she is doing it, it truly is a cue you can carry over to the show ring. The corgis and I are starting this tonight. I liked her sit, back sit, or down, back down, we are going to incorporate this too. I found a ton of merit in how she trains her young dogs at slow speed. I can see how it would help the dogs put the whole picture together. I AM going to teach gloves the demonstrated them last night, that just made so much sense to me. I think I may wind up switching to her method for Magic's scent articles, as it utilizes tied down articles and I am hoping it can help cure him of his need to bring back every dumbbell he sees regardless of the scent on them. (ever seen a corgi try to get a 4th metal article in his mouth). There is quite a bit more I am sure once I go through the notes I did take.
Bridget is not a purely positive trainer. Her dogs do get corrections. They are told when they are wrong, they have consequences. They are given a poke or a squeeze, or physically placed into a position. Yet they were very happy, very stable, adoring dogs just dying to get out and work with her. I feel I am primarily a positive trainer, but I do find that I am not totally averse to using some corrections, and or body positioning-in some situations. Many of you know that Grace tends to be very barky. This weekend I tried Bridget's correction, a verbal no and a muzzle grab, followed by praise when quiet which worked pretty well. Now I am not talking about a painful grab or squeeze, just a hold, which seemed to help her understand the part I didn't like was the mouth, not the rest of what she was doing. 2 corrections like this while ringside and the barking stopped, and she waited patiently for quite a while.
On the other hand, there were some times when I felt the correction was excessive and beyond my comfort level. I don't use a prong myself, I train in a wider flat buckle. I did feel uncomfortable with some of the usage, but that was student dogs. And in all honesty, these dogs did take very tough corrections and keep right on with no noticable changes to the attitude. I do know some people who do use prongs and I totally respect them. I will physically place my dogs into position if needed and I don't find it offensive. Maybe that comes from hand stacking a dog on the conformation table, but my dogs have never been bothered by that, or by me replacing a foot where I want it. I think like many things, how a person trains can vary widely and still be fine. I want my dogs to want to work with me and be my partner. I think they do. They all ask for work time. Trimming toenails, that would be another story, none of them ask for that.
I am really bad about taking notes at Seminars. I wish I were better. I find I spend all my time listening and watching for those small things I can take with me to use. I know that her style of training is not something that everyone would be comfortable with, but I found that there were so many points and aspects in her training that were brilliant. Her end result working style with her dogs is a bit more extreme than I care for. It's extremely flashy and showy though, and quite inspiring to see. Her dogs do appear to love working with her, in fact the only issue I saw the dogs have with her was having to leave her to go into a kennel, where none of them preferred to be.
I loved her version of jackpotting, which is a form of working for your meals, but the way she is doing it, it truly is a cue you can carry over to the show ring. The corgis and I are starting this tonight. I liked her sit, back sit, or down, back down, we are going to incorporate this too. I found a ton of merit in how she trains her young dogs at slow speed. I can see how it would help the dogs put the whole picture together. I AM going to teach gloves the demonstrated them last night, that just made so much sense to me. I think I may wind up switching to her method for Magic's scent articles, as it utilizes tied down articles and I am hoping it can help cure him of his need to bring back every dumbbell he sees regardless of the scent on them. (ever seen a corgi try to get a 4th metal article in his mouth). There is quite a bit more I am sure once I go through the notes I did take.
Bridget is not a purely positive trainer. Her dogs do get corrections. They are told when they are wrong, they have consequences. They are given a poke or a squeeze, or physically placed into a position. Yet they were very happy, very stable, adoring dogs just dying to get out and work with her. I feel I am primarily a positive trainer, but I do find that I am not totally averse to using some corrections, and or body positioning-in some situations. Many of you know that Grace tends to be very barky. This weekend I tried Bridget's correction, a verbal no and a muzzle grab, followed by praise when quiet which worked pretty well. Now I am not talking about a painful grab or squeeze, just a hold, which seemed to help her understand the part I didn't like was the mouth, not the rest of what she was doing. 2 corrections like this while ringside and the barking stopped, and she waited patiently for quite a while.
On the other hand, there were some times when I felt the correction was excessive and beyond my comfort level. I don't use a prong myself, I train in a wider flat buckle. I did feel uncomfortable with some of the usage, but that was student dogs. And in all honesty, these dogs did take very tough corrections and keep right on with no noticable changes to the attitude. I do know some people who do use prongs and I totally respect them. I will physically place my dogs into position if needed and I don't find it offensive. Maybe that comes from hand stacking a dog on the conformation table, but my dogs have never been bothered by that, or by me replacing a foot where I want it. I think like many things, how a person trains can vary widely and still be fine. I want my dogs to want to work with me and be my partner. I think they do. They all ask for work time. Trimming toenails, that would be another story, none of them ask for that.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Pull results
The pull last weekend went very well. It's the first one I have chaired, thankfully with Denises help, it went pretty darn well. Both days we only had a couple of dogs who didn't qualify. We had several dogs reach new personal bests which is pretty fun to see.
Grace pulled both Saturday and Sunday, Saturday she pulled 570, Sunday 516, both 10 point pulls. Peace only pulled on Sunday, but pulled better than she has in quite a while pulling 624. Siren was the family winner with a pull on Saturday of 678 and Sunday 786-both pulls earning her and David 15 points toward her UWPCH. Sundays pull was just over 30 times her body weight. If we can get the videos loaded I will post it. She is so happy working with David.
According to Darryl, Magic was not happy being left home alone Sunday. Apparently about 15 minutes after we left Darryl woke to the sound of Magic and his unique version of a howl. He got up and found Magic laying on the arm of the couch howling his soft quiet version of a howl. Its quite funny, its the quietest howl I have ever heard, but it come complete with the nose pointed to the sky and the classic aroooo just very very quiet-almost whisper quiet! Darryl invited him to join him in the bed instead.
Grace pulled both Saturday and Sunday, Saturday she pulled 570, Sunday 516, both 10 point pulls. Peace only pulled on Sunday, but pulled better than she has in quite a while pulling 624. Siren was the family winner with a pull on Saturday of 678 and Sunday 786-both pulls earning her and David 15 points toward her UWPCH. Sundays pull was just over 30 times her body weight. If we can get the videos loaded I will post it. She is so happy working with David.
According to Darryl, Magic was not happy being left home alone Sunday. Apparently about 15 minutes after we left Darryl woke to the sound of Magic and his unique version of a howl. He got up and found Magic laying on the arm of the couch howling his soft quiet version of a howl. Its quite funny, its the quietest howl I have ever heard, but it come complete with the nose pointed to the sky and the classic aroooo just very very quiet-almost whisper quiet! Darryl invited him to join him in the bed instead.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Weight Pull this weekend!
Come on down to Zumbro Falls and have fun with us all at the Mn Mixed Breed Clubs first October pull. We will be having a pot luck, and have some fun awards. Grace will be showing off her usually fairly creative pull techniques, which while not very succesful is quite funny. Hope you can come and have fun with us.
Day of Show entries too... click the Premium for a copy
Sunday, September 25, 2011
28th Anniversary and Group 2
Yesterday was our 28th Anniversary, Earlier in the week it was the 30th anniversary of the day we met. Hard to believe. I certainly don't feel 30 years older, 15 maybe but not 30! Although we both had to work, we had a nice dinner at home after Darryl got home, including some cake.
Today I took the girls to the local UKC show. There was a judge here who I had been reading on line, and I really wanted to see how he worked his rings. So even though they are both pretty nekkid, I entered them in just one show so we could go out and have some fun. And we did! I honestly have to say I agreed with everything he said, both good and bad about my girls. He loved Peaces movement, told me she looks like she could herd cattle all day. And he gave her a Group 2. Now it wasnt a big show, but there were more placements than that so I was very pleased. Then I helped show a klee kai and a toy fox terrier. Had a really nice day, enjoyed spending time with many people. I took a chair along but the only one who sat in it was Peaceful.
Today I took the girls to the local UKC show. There was a judge here who I had been reading on line, and I really wanted to see how he worked his rings. So even though they are both pretty nekkid, I entered them in just one show so we could go out and have some fun. And we did! I honestly have to say I agreed with everything he said, both good and bad about my girls. He loved Peaces movement, told me she looks like she could herd cattle all day. And he gave her a Group 2. Now it wasnt a big show, but there were more placements than that so I was very pleased. Then I helped show a klee kai and a toy fox terrier. Had a really nice day, enjoyed spending time with many people. I took a chair along but the only one who sat in it was Peaceful.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Busy Weekend
Wow, that week and weekend just flew by! Last week I was doing a lot of overtime (unpaid but required, grrr), but that did make the week fly by. Saturday I started my day with a trip to the farmers market where I picked up a big box of tomatoes. Since my garden did not do very well this year, I had to resort to buying some, but that's OK they will still taste just as good. Peaces Grand Championship certificate came in the mail too. She got free cookies for that. I am sure she had no idea what they were for or why I was smiling so much, but hey cookies are always good, right?
In the afternoon, I drove to Spring Valley WI to play at an agility fun match with Christi and Carol, put on by Overdale Kennel where they train. What a blast! The courses were based on USDAA courses which I have never done. I had a great time, but Grace had the best time of all I think. She was a totally naughty dog. She got the zoomies on every course and went so far as to leave the ring in her last run. I have heard people say that when dogs get zoomies it is stress, but really, she looked so darn happy to be playing you can't catch me I find it hard to think it was stress. I really think its just Grace having fun and being Grace. Not sure how we are going to deal with that, though. I don't plan on doing a lot of outside agility with her, but I really don't want to have to chase her around the park though! She did get a 2nd and a 3rd but we could have done so much better had I not had to rein her in.
Magic ran 4 times and earned a 1st in both snooker and pairs, a second in gamblers and a third in starters. I had never run gamblers or pairs and really had fun doing these. Even though we won the snooker round, we could have really had much better points if he hadn't jumped both the A frame contact and the first dogwalk contact. I may have to retrain his running (actually jumping) contact to a 2o2o. It cannot be harder on his frame than the four footed landings he does coming off.
I was too tired Saturday night to do more than think about doing anything with the tomatoes, but I did make a plan for the next day. Sunday was rainy and yucky, but we started the day back at the market since I had decided I needed peppers and onions too. Got back home and made a day in the kitchen. Threw on an audio book and made 2 pans of stuffed peppers and a pan of cabbage rolls. We had peppers for dinner last night, have some for lunches this week and will have the cabbage rolls tonight. I froze 2 meals worth of peppers so later in the winter we will have an easy meal night.
Since I thought the first batch of onion jam I made last week had too much rosemary I made a second batch and combined it with the first. Still a bit too much but better. End result 3 1/2 pints and 3 1/4 pints. Made another recipe of tomato jam, this time cutting out a full cup of sugar and peeling and seeding the tomatoes first. I like it better. Came out with 2 1/2 pints and 3 1/4 pints. Then I did some salsa, well, David helped a bit since he was home by then. I got smarter through and wore gloves cutting up the hot peppers this time. No repeat of the painful hands thank goodness.
The dogs took Sunday off. Everyone needs a day of rest right?
In the afternoon, I drove to Spring Valley WI to play at an agility fun match with Christi and Carol, put on by Overdale Kennel where they train. What a blast! The courses were based on USDAA courses which I have never done. I had a great time, but Grace had the best time of all I think. She was a totally naughty dog. She got the zoomies on every course and went so far as to leave the ring in her last run. I have heard people say that when dogs get zoomies it is stress, but really, she looked so darn happy to be playing you can't catch me I find it hard to think it was stress. I really think its just Grace having fun and being Grace. Not sure how we are going to deal with that, though. I don't plan on doing a lot of outside agility with her, but I really don't want to have to chase her around the park though! She did get a 2nd and a 3rd but we could have done so much better had I not had to rein her in.
Magic ran 4 times and earned a 1st in both snooker and pairs, a second in gamblers and a third in starters. I had never run gamblers or pairs and really had fun doing these. Even though we won the snooker round, we could have really had much better points if he hadn't jumped both the A frame contact and the first dogwalk contact. I may have to retrain his running (actually jumping) contact to a 2o2o. It cannot be harder on his frame than the four footed landings he does coming off.
I was too tired Saturday night to do more than think about doing anything with the tomatoes, but I did make a plan for the next day. Sunday was rainy and yucky, but we started the day back at the market since I had decided I needed peppers and onions too. Got back home and made a day in the kitchen. Threw on an audio book and made 2 pans of stuffed peppers and a pan of cabbage rolls. We had peppers for dinner last night, have some for lunches this week and will have the cabbage rolls tonight. I froze 2 meals worth of peppers so later in the winter we will have an easy meal night.
Since I thought the first batch of onion jam I made last week had too much rosemary I made a second batch and combined it with the first. Still a bit too much but better. End result 3 1/2 pints and 3 1/4 pints. Made another recipe of tomato jam, this time cutting out a full cup of sugar and peeling and seeding the tomatoes first. I like it better. Came out with 2 1/2 pints and 3 1/4 pints. Then I did some salsa, well, David helped a bit since he was home by then. I got smarter through and wore gloves cutting up the hot peppers this time. No repeat of the painful hands thank goodness.
The dogs took Sunday off. Everyone needs a day of rest right?
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