Almost Fall!

There is an absurdity around the world of dog sports, and definitely from the outside looking in. It’s hard not to giggle when people take it SO SERIOUSLY. When I hear someone giving a lecture and just so serious and scientific … about running around in circles with your dog – it just seems unreal that someone is an authority about running around in circles. But I think that’s the thing, any hobby seen from the outside seems a bit silly – just look at things like, say, cat shows. But if you’re involved, wow, THE DRAMA. Because it’s very important to people, they’re invested, they’re passionate – and that’s what makes life fun. But, yeah, I think I’ve been in the dog world long enough of have passed through and gone to the other side and can definitely see the absurdity of it all again.

Still, I never get bored with the world of dogs – communicating with another species is just fascinating! And the quest to get better at it never ends. Over the summer I had several workshops on basic communication topics, like play and connecting on the startline. And I deliberately used Bryn as a demo dog, because we struggle with a lot of it. You can’t take it for granted, and I KNOW it’s a big part of what is missing with Bryn’s trialing behavior – because we didn’t work on it enough. Huge motivation from own workshops to actually work with OWN dog! Yes, we should be playing every night – and now we are! Just super basic stuff, just personal play and getting that excited and happy dog in different environments – and especially with other people and dogs around. Even in these smaller situations, she definitely shuts down all that wonderful play that I take for granted has this sensitive side I’m not used to seeing.

So we are working on it, and how much fun is that (a lot!)? And it reminds me to do it with ALL the dogs, who all love it, there is no reason they should not all be having their own personal play sessions every day. Bad owner not making it a priority! Border collies can make you lazy. And Bryn is so used to toys, it’s so obvious that I didn’t do my work with making sure she just loved playing with me. And it did not take much before she is SO EXCITED to play. Gosh I love that little thing! Working on our play, working on getting those toys off of me, working on getting into the right frame of mind going into the ring, working on our ending rituals – and then we’ll work on taking it on the road.

Summer is ALMOST over – we made it! And it’s crazy I’m going back to my normal schedule of classes already. That summer actually went by really fast, and it didn’t seem as extreme weather-wise as some summers that we’ve had. The nights are getting colder again, and some just beautiful days. Love me some Fall, and looking forward to getting back into agility. We did not train as much as I would have liked over the summer, but, hey.

We made strides on all of our issues, I feel a lot better keeping it together on course with both Asher and Bryn. Going back to basics with our natural motion cues was hugely helpful for both dogs. Knock on wood, both of their running dogwalks looks good, their weavepoles are fairly solid. Asher did a lot of jump work … which may or may not make any real difference in his performance, but I think he has a lot more understanding of what he CAN do … if he wants to. We have worked some on international skills, but have stuck mostly to front sides as our basic motion skills are what we needed to rehab. Bryn definitely made progress working on her flatwork Justine skills, which in turn definitely helped her table and heeling performance!

We don’t have any particular goals we’re working towards, we’ll see if any UKI catches on around here, otherwise we’re just working on AKC skills. We will start the AKC league thing the middle of the month, which I think will very much help the dogs to get out to a new location regularly – and we can work on our play and before/after run play.

In the world of herding, Maddy is gone for like a month, so no sheep practice. We also got waitlisted for the USBCHA trial I attempted to enter, so that’s out. I wasn’t terribly upset about it, it was quite the drive. Still, it’s a nice time of year for a trial, so I think it could have been fun. Oh well.

I did actually run Asher in an AKC herding trial though! Carol had entered the boys in a rare local trial, just one day with two runs for each of A course (arena). As Asher has his championship now, he was pretty much point fodder for the other dogs – so I decided to run him. He was actually first up in the morning, so Carol ran him the first run so I could see what it should look like – I’d never actually been to an AKC herding trial before! There a lot more fiddly rules, like when you can and cannot put your leash on your dog after the run and things like that.

Asher had been rather frantic for Carol that morning during that first run, and I was unhappy with the slicey rushy outrun he gave her and his general frantic energy the whole time (we’ve been working so hard on that!). So I was planning to just stop and redirect until he gave me the skills I know damn well he can do – at least in this environment where he’s comfortable, he’s practiced there and it’s relatively close at hand. But then he just did them, fairly thoughtfully – all the way through mostly! I was super pleased that he actually calmed his ass down – he really IS growing up! And that dog that I know he can be is in there, maybe he’ll actually give that to me in a new place (someday!). Not perfect, but good stuff, and that run actually got him reserve high in trial – what a good boy! I’m optimistic we’ll get our shit together one of these days.

Navarre did really well at this trial too, no displacement or shit eating. Pushy and fast, but it’s not like he has another mode with herding. I was really pleased to see him looking very mature too – and very relaxed and happy. He really does enjoy working with Carol. He continues to get points towards that championship – I have no doubt they’ll get it (and probably soon!). No big plans in herding either, we could always go up to Fidos and see where we are there this Fall/Winter. Might go up and try to finish Asher’s D course title this Fall too, since Carol kicked him out …

Haru is settling in really well, he’s just SUCH a cool little kitty – I love him so much! He has been somewhat standoffish with the other cats, which is interesting to me. Not that they love him or anything, but he doesn’t really make overtures, and doesn’t really respond to theirs. Maybe he’s playing hard to get. Today Marvin came and groomed Haru’s head a little, and Haru, once again, didn’t really acknowledge him at all. Mostly the older cats just lay there and watch him sprinting around like he’s on crack and seem perplexed by him. Haru will brush up against them and they don’t mind – they don’t mind if he eats along side them. But, yeah, so far no playing, no cuddling (though Haru will snuggle up with Haku!).

Haru remains very confident. He did great for his trip the vet, he doesn’t like the car ride (or probably the cat carrier), but he made himself right at home in the vet room, not at all concerned about the new place, new people, vaccination or microchip. I don’t remember if I mentioned about taking my cats in to the vet before Haru got home to make sure they were up to date on everything. Just Marvin and Fizban as Dragon got the full update already this year. They actually did really well, that Marvin surprises me, he can be very sketchy at home sometimes, but at the vet he was nervous at first, and then just wanted to explore everything. Marvin hadn’t been vaccinated since he was a kitten since his extreme reaction to the rabies vaccine when he was younger. But these boosters went fine, though I declined the rabies. Fizzy will get a dental next month, but they are both doing well. I took Navarre too, but while he does have a lot of staining on his teeth (he always has), no dental needed for him, he’s doing fine.

Anyway, at home it’s similar with Haru, he is very confident and comfortable with most things. The dogs can throw him, he will retreat and hiss if they’re rambunctious or he’s not prepared for them. But then he quickly chills out and is right down underneath them, laying on them, sniffing noses. The problem being is that my dogs are programmed that if a cat hisses at you, you STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING IMMEDIATELY. So Asher especially just wants to be a good dog, so if he’s in the house and the cat is out he just hides so he can’t be blamed for any adorable hissing. Bryn is the only dog that could care less about the tiny hisses, because Bryn has very good self esteem.

Haru continues to enjoy fetching, he likes your typical cat fetching toys – springs, paper wads, light toys. It’s so weird to me that he just seems to find it endlessly fun and brings it ALL the way to you. He will bring me things in the night, but if I don’t wake up he just plays with them next to me. Bryn gets jealous when I throw things for the kitten and refuses to let him have anything.

As Haru is getting more comfortable, we started same training. I have no expectations, and always hard when they have no clue about it in the beginning. We’re starting with a nose touch to a stick target. He’s VAGUELY started offering behavior, but it’s tenuous at this point. He has figured out there are treats involved and if I tap the ground they will be there. I don’t think he’s connected his behavior to the click yet, or even the click to the food yet. But still, I’m pleased with him as he has remained engaged and interesting every time we’ve trained (two short sessions a day). So he’s got that going for him, and doesn’t just sit there like a lump, wander off or get bored. Such a fun kitten!

The plan is to work some basics at first, teaching him his name, nose touch to target stick, platform station and paw target to hand. I think that will keep up plenty busy for a while. I have an adorable harness for him, so want to get him used to wearing that and doing some walks in the backyard and eventually over to the arena. We shall be busy!

And my schedule is packed full for the rest of the year too, which should be fun – busy busy!