Back in Action

Mercury is officially out of retrograde, and I do feel like things seem to be looking up overall. The big news, Bryn’s OFA results came back – no issues at all! Hips rated Good, elbows and shoulders were normal. HUGE relief, it’s been a rollercoaster of emotions and trying to prepare for all the bad things. Turns out, no big bad things – just a pulled butt muscle. Bryn has continued to improve, has had three shockwave treatments and is slowly returning to activity. Fingers crossed, no backsliding so far.

It’s never fun to have an injured dog, but this ended up pretty much being the best case scenario, and it was nice to get those OFAs done. I can now say that I REALLY know what Bryn is made of these days from nose to tail – and it looks good! Possible Bryn babies are back on the table for next year when she’s 3.5 or 4 … assuming she continues to look good and we can find a boy that is right for her. I’m also okay if she doesn’t get bred, there are plenty of potential future litters that I am interested in, so we shall see what the future brings. I’ll admit, I just love her so much, it’s hard to resist!

In the meantime, I can start training my dogs again! Bryn actually did really well with the international skills class (that we did on the flat), I loved the format and she got exposed to a ton of proofing. Definitely struggled more on the more complex stuff we did on the last class, commitment is lacking in the face of other enticing obstacles and my motion – not a huge surprise. At least on the flat she is looking good and, knock on wood, I think she’ll be able to do international courses once someone actually trains her. She’ll still be flanky, but that’s a whole other issue. Hurrah for Bryn!

She’s also entered in her first herding trial the end of February. You know, what with us not having done ANYTHING for two months. But I’m planning to enter Asher up at Fidos and I figured, hey, why not Bryn? I don’t care if she can do it, but it gives us something to shoot for, and Fidos is as easy as it gets for baby dogs for USBCHA, they have Novice which is super simple (and I entered her in Ranch too, because why not?). I actually feel way more confident that she won’t make a mess of things than I do even now with Asher. But, yeah, she doesn’t actually know her flanks, which is kind of a huge hole here. Her outruns have continued to be nice, she rates herself pretty well on the fetch, she can drive to a baby dog extent, even if I do have to fix it to keep her straight. And, yes, I can flank her just fine, just requires a bit more, “Bryn come – go bye” as opposed to actually saying the commands. I’d like to think she could do baby dog things, nothing like a trial to make you humble though.

And, yes, Asher is entered up at Fidos for his first trial in forever in Feb, Pronovice and Open non-compete, because, once again, that’s the safest place to do it and it will give us multiple runs per day. I’d like to think we can do it, or at least do it better than we did before. Well, we should at least be able to do PARTS of it. Time will tell. We did a little practice at Maddy’s the other day up in the big field and, lo and behold, all his old issues were back – including not finding his sheep, not responding to any commands and bringing sheep back when I clearly didn’t want him to. At one point we were just working figure 8s around some panels and he wouldn’t flank around go-bye, I haven’t seen him do that in forever. So … hey, we will just keep working, what else can you do? He did get better though, I will give him that. And the sheep did want to bolt back to their friends, which makes him jumpy … but sheep always want to bolt back to their friends, this should not be news to him.

In other news, the Winter of Agility has … not gone well for Asher. I have successfully taught him to stutterjump, apparently. I think doing both the backsides (which he stutters with) and then the complicated jumping exercises which require him to think gave him a complex. We went to the first international AKC agility league and he was stuttering at everything. Sigh. My only consolation is that ETS dogs don’t usually stutter at backsides, I think he’s just trying SO HARD to be right – but he has no ability, so he’s just guessing now.

The good news, I was able to get him to stop doing it my arena by putting him through some exercises with stride regulators and helped him feel more confident about what he should be doing – but I think trying to ‘fix’ his jumping has actually made it worse. I guess I should have left him well enough along and let him throw his body around like maniac. He is a puzzle. He did get better with the international skills over the month, and I think overall he had a good time. We are not done trying yet, not with international skills, not with jumping. Though I reserve the right to change my mind. We will keep forging forward and see if we can come out better on the other side. Maybe we won’t, but as long as he’s willing to try, we will keep at it. I did put the dogs in their own classes (of mine) during the week, so that will give us some momentum as well. It’s not ideal, I’m not super focused on them, but it’s better than nothing.

I am on a mission to get some feedback on both the dogs and on me, as it’s been way too long in that regard. So we’re trying out some online options that are NOT all about international skills. So far I’ve gotten some very helpful feedback and things I hadn’t even considered. Like Asher is SLIPPING in my arena, WTF? I think of him scrambling because he throws his body around (which I guess is still true), but he was literally slipping on his takeoffs for backsides. Now, it’s winter so I haven’t been watering with the freezing temps, so we worked on the surface this week and getting it back to being much more damp and we’ll see what happens there (no OTHER dogs were slipping, but they weren’t being ridiculous like Asher …). Obviously have to go back to start with his backsides anyway and try to help him understand how to do them more safely. He’s gotten some WEIRD ideas in his head about backsides, that’s for sure. Also got some ideas to help with collection and, once again, making it happen instead of assuming he’ll make good decisions – because he doesn’t.

We also went to the Kirstin seminar, which was … a bit of a bust, just because my dogs’ lack of skills. Asher started out very strong, and really looked good with his backsides to start with! But he quickly lost confidence and it was just managing that and then the fallout from that which makes him weird … so we didn’t get really work on things. It is nice sometimes to have someone else say, ‘I have no idea why he’s doing that,’ though – we would have to stop and fix the weirdest things with him. And THIS is why we never actually get to put things together! As for backside jumping, she recommended using some small round fabric laundry baskets on the backsides, BOTH sides of the backside, and do for EVERY backside for quite a while. Knock on wood, they do seem to be helping what little we’ve done – much less weirdness. Asher’s contacts looked great, a couple missed weave entrances due to speed, but he got them the second time, nice independence. Couldn’t do a TUNNEL, but hey. She also recommended staying farther away from him on wraps, which is novel, so we’ll try that.

And the Brynnie-Wynn got to go to the seminar! If she was looking at all off or fatigued I was ready to swap Asher in, but she came out swinging and never lost a step or any enthusiasm. WAY more sassy and enthusiastic than she was at the last seminar she did at the same location. I just jumped her 8 inches and she was just driving forward like it was no big deal this time. I was NO WHERE where I needed to be though, as she had like ZERO commitment. She was pulling off of everything like it was going out of style. And those international skills we worked on? Nowhere in sight when motion was involved. She did some backside stuff in the beginning, but by the end of that seminar she was like, “Frontsides 4 evar!’ It was a little frustrating as she had done SO WELL with a lot of these skills … in small spaces without speed. Though, to be fair, I went home and tried to replicate her ridiculous baby dog behavior and she just did the skills like someone HAD trained her – even with motion. Hmmph. Still, more importantly, loved her attitude, loved her try, loved her sassiness. I had a dog that was ready to work and that makes me super happy. And we will go home and work on COMMITMENT. A-hem.

Took Bryn, Asher AND Navarre up to Fidos so we could get some practice in before the trial. I was pleased with everyone overall, though all the normal issues remain. Asher can’t move sheep that don’t want to move, he still comes in MUCH too hot on his outruns and sucks at looking for sheep. He can do good things too though, but it didn’t really make me feel much more confident. Have been trying to get back to whistle, and he is more slicey with the whistle at a distance (well, he’s just more slicey in general at a distance!). Bryn did some normal baby things, but also a lot of good things. She’s getting USEFUL if nothing else, which feels good knowing we can get the job done if need be, even if it doesn’t look the prettiest. And as Carol came up with us, even Navarre to got to work – and he did so GOOD. Which is a bit of shame, as there is no where to actually USE his skills at this point, but he was very happy. And out of shape, we’ll get back into hiking and things again now that Bryn is back.

Also been up to work at Maddy’s a couple times, got to work both her sheep and our old sheep. Asher got to work on ‘trust me, FIND THE SHEEP’, but did some nice penning and driving. Bryn still needs to work on stretching her outrun, and she’s getting stickier on her drives, which I don’t care for. Ron feels she has way more eye than the boys. I didn’t order that.

We’ll also see how Asher continues to do with obedience, he was definitely much goofier in class than when we practice at home. But he can now heel at a fast (and happily!). Still weirdly sometimes get stuck on the recall though, and his finishes remain poor despite lots of practice, which is a puzzler to me. Oddly, it’s just more comfortable to heel with Asher when I have my hand at my side rather than at my waist, so that’s different. All my other dogs I’d smack them in the head, but somehow I don’t with Asher and we both like it better. He’s been really good with stand for exam, but playing around with Open exercises too. Obedience is fun with him, so we’ll keep at it. No goals right now to compete. We are not going to be able to do class again though, all of us really need our Friday hiking, and that’s a priority this year. We shall see how much obedience actually happens, we’re in no rush.

Mostly just getting ready for 2023 classes, looking forward to getting back to normal with the crew around here – the weather has been SO much nicer we’ve been getting outside more. Mentally preparing for Asher to be FOUR YEARS OLD in April, which still seems crazy to me. Where does the time go? I feel like he’s still 2 … certainly acts like it 😉 Oddly enough, the rest of the dogs seem appropriately aged, so I think it’s just because he’s a tad, uh, immature for his age.

Then I have a big birthday coming up, or a big birthday to me, anyway. I actually thought I already WAS 46, but apparently I got too ambitious with rounding up. And I am a rounder, and when you get to 46 you can start rounding up to 50 … which is sort of crazy to think about. It really is just fascinating to getting old, to see the changes in the world happening, and how ‘back in the day’ really was a totally different world. And what will our lives look like in another 5-10 years at this rate? I think to a certain extent is a very normal thing to start thinking the world is coming to an end as you get older, because is it so different than it was when you were younger. But I’ll admit, we live in some very ‘interesting times’, and I hope this is just ‘normal’ feelings of apocalyptic doom that happens as you age. I guess we will all find out.

I have also been feeling contemplative about dog training and sports in general. Though I don’t think my feelings about it have changed much. I’ve always loved the training and relationship building, but never had the drive to compete. I think it’s perfectly plausible to be both ambitious and competitive and make sure you are not putting too much pressure on your dog, but I’ll admit I often see the other side of it and it just turns me off. I hate seeing dogs ground down by too much repetition, too much physical stress, too much pressure and unrealistic expectations. We ask a lot of our dogs just doing agility, but asking them to travel all the time to new places, compete every weekend, and push, push, push – whether that be pushing for qualifying every run for rankings, or pushing for more speed when the dog is overaroused and not thinking about their body … it’s a lot. I love agility, and I think it’s a lot safer than it used to be, but it’s hard to watch sometimes. I love agility for agility, for that wonderful communication and teamework with your dog, for that joy of getting through it together. That sort of relationship with another species is just intoxicating. I love seeing that part of it, I often think competitions can really mess up a wonderful thing.

The plan is start looking at putting on some UKI trials of my own this year. I feel like now that UKI has found their groove in terms of course design, it’s what I feel agility should be working towards. Nice spacing, good flow, challenging but not ‘crunchy’ or stupid. Hopefully. Now that you can ‘buy’ courses from certain designers for other people to judge, this means you can predict the courses will be fun and safe. They also seem much more newbie friendly and just something I’d really like my students to be working towards. AKC will definitely reign supreme in many ways (it’s really great for those that are into titles), but I think if we get UKI offered regularly in the area it could be much more accessible and popular than USDAA was. A focus on agility for agility would be wonderful, and something I dearly miss. Smaller trials are more fun anyway. I’d like to think with the smaller arenas around here we could get at least a UKI trial every other month to every month. That’s what I’d like to see happen, so I’ll start looking into it.

Hard to believe it’s already February – I can feel Spring in the air!