Navarre Experiment #1

Nothing like a disconnected trial to give you motivation to train. This week we started a new experiment in agility. I really don’t like constantly calling (yelling, really) to try to get my dog to come in. And besides that, it obviously doesn’t work. So this week we looked at running silently and seeing what physical cues Navarre responded to best. Also taking away my verbal cues, of which I’ve learned to use A LOT, I no longer have any expectations that I cued it, therefore he should respond to it (because he obviously wasn’t at the trial).

Now, we’ve played around with running silently before, and I didn’t really care for it as Navarre slowed way down and had a lot more questions. But this isn’t about speed, and he SHOULD be able to run without any verbals at all.

This is what we played with:

So, off the bat, OMG, Navarre pulled off of so many jumps! At least when we first started. Which shows me that I’m not supporting things very well and relying on his verbal cues, probably too much. So it was good for both of us for him to start paying more attention to what my body cues were saying, and for me to really make sure I was supporting everything appropriately. Navarre really is a remarkably honest dog. Sometimes. 😉

However, the more we played with this the better we got – though if I fell behind it became a hot mess. Navarre does not drive ahead without a verbal, he will turn back and wait – which I found interesting from Mr. Drifty. So like on the white numbers 15-17, with the running dogwalk I could not get him to continue on to 16 without a verbal, he’d either come in over the off course jump or just sort of peter out and look back at me expectantly even with me really trying to push from the rear. Good to know.

So, end result of our first experiment, we had ZERO issues getting him to come into me without verbals, all of our issues were getting him to push out and go away from me without verbal support. So, huh, go figure. We will continue to play with this, though I wouldn’t expect as good of a result at a trial, as we don’t have as many issues with the drifting in practice anyway.

Operation Hand Touch continues to go well, at least with our flatwork he comes in with so much power to his hand touch that it hurts. We still haven’t really started to put it together on course, but just working on the hand touch I think has helped when I am using my hands on course.

Made an appointment with the sports vet in June (the earliest they had) for Bright and pulled her from the Justine seminar in June as well. As expected, that helped her recovery quite a bit. She’s still not right, but significantly better the last few days. I’ve been letting her do mild exercise, running in the yard, in the arena, and she’s so starved for activity just letting her in the house she bounces around like she’s on crack. So we’ll see, I’ll be curious to see what the sports vet has to say, even if she seems fine at that point. She will be 7 next month, even if she seems recovered in a month, it’s a good time to get her thoroughly checked out.

Meanwhile, that leaves Navarre getting most of the training action these days – guess who can flank his toys now? I do find it a very helpful exercise, as just as with sheep, he wants to do it eyeing up on the toy, but once you get him to actually release and flank he actually does it pretty nicely! He doesn’t do inside flanks yet, but he thinks this is a fun game. He doesn’t know what ‘stand’ means, as that’s not his stand cue, but he’s going to learn!

Oh, and Haku got to be demo dog for baby dog classes today. He’s such an amazing dog, we haven’t done aframes for years and years, he did a very nice demonstration of a bad running aframe and an amazing example of an awesome stopped aframe – he’s still got it. Oh, and tables, his table is fantastic as well. He really has a lot of agility skills, it’s too bad he didn’t get to use them more. Just love that dog.

Summer of puppies continues, got to finally visit with Carol’s briard puppies – 3.5 weeks. Not quite ripe, but still very cute. We took them outside for the first time, they were very brave about it. Though still young and shellshocked enough that we could stick hats on them and they just sort of sat there looking ridiculously cute. Next time I visit they will be much more interactive, but I’m in a phase where I like the pushy, naughty dogs – I liked the sassy girls in this litter.

I think I’m ready for something a little more challenging for my next dog, though I reserve the right to change my mind by the time that I’m actually ready for another puppy. I’m having a bit of a love affair with the belgian breeds, if only they weren’t so big and hairy. I do like their personalities, I always have. No Malinois for me though, too much. And just finding any of them that can jump – good lord. Still, I do like them, they are on the list, though I doubt anything will come of it. I also found a sports mix that really speaks me, border-staffy/whippet mix – kind of a combo of all my doggie loves. Once again, probably won’t happen, but the sports mixes have never really stood out at me – but something about that one. I don’t know if I’m brave enough to get a sighthound, but a sighthound sports mix may be the perfect solution. Once again, probably won’t happen, but I’m open to the idea if the right dog comes along.

No windsprite puppies this summer, so won’t get to play with one of those. I am getting to play with a briard puppy for a week, and a sheltie puppy for a couple weeks, then may be doing some puppy raising for another border collie, because that’s always fun. See if Bright likes yet another female or it was just Aja that she liked (she was Bright’s niece – I swear Bright can tell if dogs are related to her!). This puppy will be more challenging, I assume – sort of a Haku/Fred/Navarre mix. But they are all individuals, and that’s what makes it so interesting and fun, every puppy is a new adventure.

At least one other litter I’m hopefully going to get to play with this summer, belgian shepherds from a dog I really like a lot. Yet another litter of puppies that all look alike though – I love the variety of border collies! Though if you put little outfits on them, that can really help them stand out in a litter.