Contacts Revisited

Back to the drawing board with all the contacts this week. And, yep, apparently when we were training the contacts he never actually noticed the height – as that was definitely the problem. He will do everything low, but up higher he wigs out. He can’t even turn around on the dogwalk now without worrying about falling! So we will go back to our confidence games, it’s just funny he was fine with it all until he wasn’t. I’m not worried about it, the behaviors are still there, just need to get him more confident with height. Not sure how long it will take, but we’re in no rush.

With the teeter we went back to just jumping into position on the end of the board, totally enthusiastic. So we moved to going from a table down into position, ridiculously enthusiastic – and independent, he was into position before I could even take a step towards the end of the board. So, huh. Came back out that afternoon to progress … suddenly he was nervous about it. Hm. We’ll just take it slow and not assume just because he looks really good for one session that he’s ready to progress. Slow and steady is the name of the game …

With the dogwalk we went back down to a lowered dogwalk and started with hoops just to make sure he had somewhere concrete to target, would help him be moderately successful and encourage him to move out and not think too much. Success for all of those, no problem with the hoops, very enthusiastic, but still somewhat uncertain with his footing sometimes. Took the hoops off, behavior looked mostly solid, no avoidance. Happy with that reintroduction. But take out the speed and excitement he’s definitely not confident with just getting up and turning around even on the lowered dogwalk, so we need to do a lot of that. Didn’t get to the aframe, but I assume it’s similar.

Worked on some independence with channel weaves, he does love his weave games! He can now stay in with opposite motion and me pushing past while he weaves. Entries remain really nice and independent from all angles and he was being less kamikaze going through the channels, which made me feel better – open channels are pretty low impact as long as the dog isn’t being reckless. He got to be demo dog during classes this week, he was not super great with that these days. I do think it’s showed with this latest training set-back that he needs more work without my dogs around. When they are there he gets really high and it masks some of his issues. More one on one time is needed.

Worked on our Justine homework, such good stuff there, love her progression of things. Introduced backsides, did some tunnel and jump proofing. He did great, he likes these games and he’s such a great little problem solver. We have a lot more proofing to do, but there is always something.

Navarre actually did some agility, helping someone get some Pairs Qs for the USDAA at Home program. He was SO HAPPY. And, knock on wood, no issues I could see. Let it be said, he gets to play doing the running dogwalk when I’m working Asher and his dogwalk is so amazing – Asher has a lot to live up to.

We had a double hike this week, accidentally. After we got finished with the first hike I couldn’t find my keys, so we went back out and hiked it again – still not finding any keys. Which makes sense, since they were in my pocket. Whoops. But we actually had a lovely time on both hikes, and it was a good time to tire the dogs out before the 100 degree weather. They very much enjoyed themselves, but Haku was VERY sore the next day – 12 miles is too much for him – he’s definitely looking older these days.

Summer is still very much here, but the days are getting shorter and the end is in sight – 3-4 more weeks before things get back to normal. By mid-September most of the really hot days are behind us. Then I have a herding October planned, so hopefully we’ll have some lovely weather for that (we usually do!).

I had hoped that maybe the virus stuff would calm down by this Fall, but I don’t see that happening. We’ll see what 2021 brings, but hopefully my puppy will get to have his agility debut at some point (not that he’ll be ready for a while!). Trials don’t sound at all fun at the moment, but unfortunately this is going to be around for the long haul, so we’ll see what the future brings.

We did practice a bit of herding this week, the sheep were being kind of stupid and running around for no reason despite the fact that it was super hot. I thought maybe it was Navarre’s fault, but they were doing it with Asher too – and Asher was being super polite. Navarre wasn’t as bad as he can be, but also not as good. He seemed to get hot really quickly, more so than Asher, funny enough. We attempted some penning again, with zero success with Navarre – much more success with Asher, who can actually kick out when asked. It’s always helpful to have a concrete training plan in mind, and I didn’t, and Navarre was just sort of being a pill.

Asher did better, but started off really pushy. Still having issues with him just walking up straight away from me – he can do it off a flank, but not just straight away, for some reason. Didn’t matter whether the sheep were running or not, he keeps looking back at me like he’s confused. But his flanks were nice and he can do those at a distance no problem. The sheep are always calmer with him. He also got to work the large group when we ended and I put all the sheep together to release to the upper pasture. He was a bit confused by that, and when they broke into two groups he needed to be encouraged to get ALL the sheep – so bigger groups would be a good practice for him. Mostly I think both dogs need specific useful tasks so they both understand why I want them to do things. Asher is better with that type of thing, but I think he’s had more opportunity to actual chores here and there, and Navarre has no idea. Agility is easier for all of us, I think, because I know exactly where I’m going and what I want it to look like.

Navarre’s back is definitely improving, saw Maddy again this week and his mowhawk looked noticeably flatter by that evening. Knock on wood, I think he’s improving, Maddy thinks so as well. He is enjoying the raw diet, well, the raw part, he’s kind of over the whole Honest Kitchen part of it. So Haku is getting ‘second dinner’ finishing up after him. I finally got an email from Darwin’s asking if I still wanted the food I ordered like a month ago. Good lord, that’s some terrible customer service. So I think I’m going to go another route and see if I can get some Columbia Naturals raw through Maddy. Navarre has just been having chicken backs and turkey necks with the honest kitchen while I was waiting for the Darwin’s to show up, but especially as he’s not eating as much of the honest kitchen anymore I want to make sure he’s getting a balanced diet.

Asher’s new siblings were born over the weekend – five new ones! No red ones though, Asher remains the weirdo. I hope they stay local, that would be really fun. I know at least one will stay local, as Heidi is keeping one – so we’ll get to play with a new sibling. It was really fun to watch the births, and really made me think of Bright and the one litter I ever raised with her. I am so thankful that Bright had such an easy whelping and that she was a very carefree mama. Her puppies never lacked, but she definitely never felt the need to hover – and those puppies were INDEPENDENT. She was still nursing until they left, she enjoyed them, but she was up and back at life within three days of giving birth. Definitely a working mom, she never lost her figure and saggy breasts were never an issue for her. God I miss her, we had such good times together.

I am continuing to look into adding a puppy to the household in the next year, though it won’t be an Asher sibling. I absolutely adore my Asher, but I can’t imagine having two of him, as well as the dogs really disliked Asher more than any other puppy we’ve ever had in the household, for whatever reason. I’d really like to have a smaller girl that I know can jump. It’s hard for the big boys to do agility, and I worry about them in the long run as well. My preference would be for a small, light boned, flexible girl from lines that are known for good jumping and longevity. Other than that, I really don’t know. I’m open to whatever personality feels right – I can see that being a more reserved dramatic dog like Bright, or a more hardcore bitch, as the boys need it. I think it’s just a case of I’ll know when I meet her, though I’m also open to letting Haku make the pick. I would really like him to at least feel okay with the new puppy most of all. I’m pretty sure Asher will like any type, and Navarre won’t like her until she’s older (but surely can’t hate her as much as he hated Asher) – but with Haku, she’s not going to be Bright, but I want him to feel comfortable with her. We’ll see, no one has been bred yet, possible litters are still up in the air – time will tell what puppies actually end up happening.