Agility Time

Tomorrow we go back to agility class.  We have not done any agility since our ATChC in September.  That's a long time to be away but I really needed a break and I think Bosley needed a training break as well.  Also, our winter classes are held in a horse arena. It is dirty and dusty and I spend 3 days after being in there coughing, so I decided not to do winter classes this year.

Now that we have our ATChC, I don't feel any real need to be working towards something agility related.  Yes, it is still fun and we will still trial a bit but I don't feel that bit of motivation that working towards a title brings.  I can work on post-ATChC titles, but with how little we trial it is unlikely we will get too far (but a Bronze Gamblers would be nice as that tends to be Bosley's best event).  I would really like to get an AgMCh in CKC agility, but considering there are so few CKC trials I don't know how realistic of a goal that is. I know it is possible if we work at it, we are half way there, but Bosley has had some trouble with his pasterns (no lameness, but they have gotten weak) and so I don't know if I want to jump him at CKC height.  Things to think about.

I am looking forward to going back to class.   I miss my agility friends and cheering everyone on, and seeing people and their dogs grow as a team.  I miss running with my dog and having him chase his bully stick around the course.  It is amazing how quick you lose touch with everyone and everything when you are away for a few months.  I was looking at the class layout for the week and I saw one of the skills we are supposed to practice is blind crosses.  Haha - we used to be threatened with having to put money in a "blind cross jar" if we did one of those!  I guess I was away for longer than I thought :)

Hopefully we don't suck too much tomorrow and we both remember what we are doing.  Regardless, it should be fun.

ATChC

This is another "catch up" post from last year.  

The very next weekend after our DDX test, we went to Medicine Hat for an agility trial.  We trialed very little in 2012 - only a few weekends and usually just one day weekends.  We trained in agility on and off over the spring and summer, but most of my concentration was going into training for draft.  

We entered 3 things each day in Medicine Hat.  Bosley only needed 2 qualifying runs for his ATCH - a Snooker and a Jumpers.  You always hope you get those last needed Qs, but I know not to get my hopes up too high. 

Saturday had an awesome Snooker course.  I knew it was totally do-able for Bosley.  We were going along good, only had a few more obstacles to go and I was feeling confident and then ... Bosley decided to practice his distance skills and take a jump that wasn't any where near our intended course. Tweet - off the course we went.  

Jumpers was the last run of the day -  I am never sure how we will do in jumpers because the times are usually very tight for us.  They have been a lot better since I dropped Bosley to veterans, but still, he needs to have a nice steady run in order for us to make time.  The course was tough (as all masters Jumpers courses are) and I wanted to get a but of extra oomph out of Bosley at the end of a long day.  So, I had a friend hold him near the start line and I went and hid.  I came back right as it was time to go to the line - I grabbed Bosley, who was super excited that I came back - dropped his leash and ran.  Bosley was perfect!  He got all the tight turns and the backside of the jump and I got all my crosses in where they needed to be.  We easily made time for our 4th masters jumpers Q and the last one needed towards our ATChC.

Sunday came and I grabbed the course map for Snooker.  My heart dropped - it was an awful Snooker layout - lots of distance and lots of tunnels.  Bolsey does not like tunnels and the really slow him down. I was doubtful we could do it.  Oh well, there are more trials, and we would give it our best shot.  Bosley ran great, tunnel after tunnel combination.  We were getting closer and closer to having enough points to qualify but I knew the timer was going to go at any second.  The timer buzzed and we left the course.  I was adding up our points in my head, still not sure if we made it.  I couldn't wait, so I asked the scribe for my score sheet and added them up.  We actually made it!  Bosley earned his ATChC!  

It took us 3 years from our first trial to our ATChC.  That may not be very impressive to most agility people, but we trial very little - only a handful of times a year.  Bosley is the 6th Berner to earn an ATChC and I believe he is only the second Berner male to earn this title.  I am very proud of my big boy and the things he does for me.  Bosley is a great partner, has taught me lots and I really couldn't ask for a better dog.  

Test Day

Sorry - this is going to be a long and boring post about our DDX test last year.  I want to make sure I write it down so I don't forget the details of the day. I don't expect anyone to want to read all of this. 

We headed out late Friday morning to drive the 8 hours to Regina. If anyone has ever driven through southern Saskatchewan you will know this drive is, to but it mildly, boring. Not much to see but prairie and the further east you travel, the flatter and more boring the drive gets. Fortunately, the drive was uneventful and we arrived in Regina in the early evening, found our hotel and then took a drive to find the test site so I wouldn't be stressed trying to find it in the morning. I also wanted to get an idea of what kind of terrain we would be dealing with - I knew Bosley was well conditioned for any type of terrain, so I want worried about that, but it is nice to know what you might encounter at a test. The test site was at a private acreage and from the road I could, not see anything too daunting, but you never know what the judges will find as obstacles. There were lots of trees and a pond all surrounded by farmers fields. I could not see anything really challenging in the way of steep hills, but I could not see everything from the road - so I would have to wait until the morning to see what challenges the judges set up.

The next morning we headed to the test site to set up and get ready. There was lots of shade for the dogs and everyone there was friendly (as draft people tend to be). Bosley got to share his x-pen with his Berner cousin Sophie who was entered in the DD test.  Equipment check went well and we had lots of time to inspect the load and to figure out the best way to secure it in our cart. The test load was money!  Pennies actually. 2012 was the last year that the penny would be made in Canada and to celebrate going penniless, the test committee had bags of pennies as the weight. Luckily, the pennies were packed nicely in the boxes that they come in from the bank so the load was stable and easy to secure.  It was time for the test to begin. 

The DD dogs went first with their basic control exercises then it was my turn to do the ring cart manouvers. I got Bosley ready and we went into the ring. I'm sure all the judges and spectators thought we were going to fail right then and there. Bosley pulled me into to ring, was sniffing and not paying any attention to me at all. Not a great start. One judge even said "don't let him pee on anything".  I got his attention took off his leash and put him in a stand stay to go get his harness. Once Bosley realized his cart was there he settled down and was ready to work. I harnessed him and we walked to the cart where I hitched him up. So far so good. The judge did their inspection and we were ready for the exercises. There were lots of people sitting around the outside of the ring talking and as soon as we were ready to go the entire place went quiet. I could feel everyone watching us - no pressure there!  First was the backup - 4 feet and it must be perfectly straight.  Bosley has a strong backup and went back straight on our first try.  On to the beside the cart work.  The ring had several trees in it as obstacles and we negotiated the course well - I didn't expect any problems here.  Next was the behind the cart work.  We had been working so hard on this and it is a very daunting part of the test as this is where most DDX teams fail.  Bosley started strong as we headed into the first turns.  We then needed to pass though two pylons and then do a slow.  The slow was the weakest part of our behind the cart work.  I called "easy" and Bosley  didn't slow.  I called it again and he turned back to look at me and I thought he slowed but wasn't sure if the judges would think that he slowed enough.  On to another turn that took us between two trees - we made it thought them without bumping anything and then two more turns to finish.  Bosley went wide on the last turn and I had to really work to get him back on course.  That part of the test was done.  I felt good about everything except for the "slow".  

Next was the freight haul part of the test.  We loaded the cart and began the haul.  There was nothing significant for hills - a longish gradual incline and a small ditch that were no problem for Bosley as I had been making him do steep long hills and steep ditches in training.  There were a few tight spots in the trees that we needed to negotiate but overall the freight haul went well.

Last was the backpacking portion of the test.  By the time we got to this part of the test, it was later in the afternoon and hot.  Backpacking is not Bosley's strongest event and I was worried he would want to lay down since it was so hot or would pee on something (both are fails).  I put his pack and and loaded it and we were ready to go.  The backpacking portion of the test can be very challenging with major changes in terrain.  We started by walking through the farmer field and then down a gravel road. We then turned off the gravel road and down a ditch into what seemed to be an old pond.  There was very high grass (Bosley could not see over it) and the ground was uneven with thistles and low underbrush.  I tried to stomp down a path for Bosley so he wouldn't step on any thistles while keeping a close eye on him so he didn't try to pee on anything.  We then came up out of the grass onto another gravel road.  Bolsey kept trying to leave the road and head down the ditch on the other side.  I finally realized it was because there was a pond on the other side and he must have smelled the water and wanted to go get a drink.  We finally turned off the road and went into the trees (and shade).  We walked thought trees and long grass and then down a long stretch that was between the trees and the farmer's field.  We got to the end and turned around and walked back, cut through the trees again and then we headed back to the ring area.  We got back and I unloaded Bosley (hoping that he didn't lay down at the last minute), put his pack on the ground and we were done!

It was finally time for the awards.  The only thing I was unsure about was the "slow" during the behind the cart maneuvers.  The judges came out, gave their speeches and then were ready to announce the qualifiers.  Bosley was the only DDX dog competing and I was holding my breath.  We did it!  They called Bolsey's name!  I was so happy - we worked so hard and to pass on our first try was thrilling.  It was a long road and many, many hours of training to get there, so it was so rewarding to have all 3 judges pass us.  



So, now we just get to cart for fun!  Not that it wasn't fun before, but there are no more tests for us to enter.  There are brace draft tests, but when you do not have a second carting dog, it is hard to use and train someone else's dogs and I'm not sure Bosley would appreciate being hitched to a cart with someone else.

The Easter Berner

Happy Easter from the cutest (and most tolerant) Easter Berner!

November 12, 2012

November 12, 2012.  The memory of certain days will stay in my mind forever.  November 12, 2012 is one of those days. November 12, 2012 is the day we said our final goodbyes to Maggie.

It was about a year ago when I noticed Maggie seemed to be drinking a bit more water than usual. Then she had an accident in the house. She hadn't had an accident since she was a puppy so I knew something was wrong. A trip to the vet revealed she had an infection and after a couple days on antibiotics she seemed normal again. We finished the antibiotics and everything seemed good. A couple weeks later, the same symptoms appeared again.  Another trip to the vet and more antibiotics but this time I asked for blood work to be done. The blood work came back with high Creatinine and BUN levels.  They were more than three times as high as normal. The vet did an ultrasound and found significant scarring on both kidneys. To try to bring those values down, Maggie spent a week at the clinic getting IV fluids to try to flush her kidneys and bring those levels down. It helped a bit, but not as much as we hoped. At this point she was eating okay and seemed very normal but it didn't take long and her appetite started to go downhill. I cooked her special kidney friendly meals but when she didn't want to eat them I would give her anything she wanted just to keep her eating. Much of my days revolved around finding things that Maggie would eat - what was good one day, she turned her nose up at the next.  Scrambled eggs, roast chicken, A&W hamburgers, steak.  Anything Maggie would eat, she would get.

To try to keep Maggie's kidneys working as well as they could, I was giving her sub-Q fluids at home. A litre every day. She was such a good girl about the whole thing and would lay on the couch and get her treatment.  I am certain the sub-Q fluid treatments were a big factor in keeping Maggie's kidney levels stable - they kept her hydrated and took stress off her already damaged kidneys. Unfortunately, it didn't work forever and her values started to creep up and she began to get too weak to have the quality of life that she deserved. It was a very hard thing to see - her mind was still active and her eyes still bright but her body was too weak to go on.

November 12, 2012 we had to say good-bye.

MIA

If anyone actually checks this blog, you will have noticed that you couldn't access it. I am still here but made my blog private for a while because there are some crazy people out there. I may elaborate more on that later, but then again the crazies are still out there, so maybe not. So for now, all comments will be moderated before being posted to the blog.

I am planning on updating the blog on a more regular basis. I have some posts in the works - some good, some not good.  So hopefully I will have a new post tomorrow or maybe even later today.

Quest For A DDX

I decided this spring that I was going to be ready for a Draft Dog Excellent test in the fall.  A lofty goal indeed, as I had never seen a complete DDX test and wasn't too sure what to expect.  All I knew that it is a tough test with a very low pass rate.  There is also a huge intimidation factor (at least for me) surrounding the DDX - you hear all kinds of horror stories about the courses set by the judges and what is expected.  And then there is the whole "handling from behind the cart" that fails many, many teams.  Intimidating indeed.

I started my training by going to an informal training session where a couple of experienced draft people (judges) were willing to answer my million questions.  The rule book is vague in many spots, so I wanted lots of clarification of what was and was not allowed in a test.  I also wanted some help on getting started with the behind the cart stuff.  I got some good advise and tips and went home ready to train.  Most of my training concentrated on 3 things - behind the cart work, conditioning and backpacking.

Behind the cart work:  We practiced this every day that we were out with the cart.  I won't lie - it was hard.  I used a target and a clicker to get started, but I really wanted to fade the target quickly.  In the beginning the whole thing was a disaster.  Getting Bosley to walk ahead in a straight line was the hardest - he really just wanted to make a big circle so that he could get back beside me.  So baby steps with this - clicking a rewarding for just walking a couple steps in a straight line.  I took a trick from agility distance training and would throw a container of goodies in front of him to reward him going straight ahead.  Once Bosley had some confidence that he could actually work in front of me, I started adding in the turns.  Another disaster.  Once he started the turn he wouldn't stop until he was back beside me again.  Patience is the name of the game in draft training, good thing I have lots of it.  So, I decided to use Bosley's strengths to help with our training (duh).  Bosley has an awesome halt with his cart, which is a huge advantage when doing draft work.  I started using his "whoa" before and after all turns and it worked - things actually started to come together.  It was a bit choppy, but it was getting there.  Good enough for a test?  I didn't know.

Conditioning:  This is a huge factor in draft work.  In a test, you never know what the terrain or conditions will be like, so you need to prepare for anything.  We would alternate days of hard hill/strength work with days of longer endurance work, always with a loaded cart.  By test day, Bosley was easily pulling 80 pounds up and down steep hills, through ditches and over rough terrain.

Backpacking:  The dreaded backpacking.  When we started training, Bosley hated the backpack.  I put it on and he didn't think he could walk.  Poor boy.  But once we started hiking more with it, he got used to it.  He never did learn to love wearing it and every time I increased the weight (he needed to pack 16 pounds for the test) he would walk like he would sink into the ground at any second.  The good thing is that I always kept cookies in his backpack, so he knew he would get a treat when we were done and that really kept him motivated.

Five months of training finally came down to the test weekend.  I was feeling OK going into the test but still unsure of what to expect.  I am the only one of my local dog training friends that does carting work, so I had no feed back on how I was doing or what I could do to improve.  I just had to trust that my dog understood his job and that I trained him the best I could.  So, all that was left was to pack the car and head off to the test.

Blogger Fail

Wow, it has been over a year since I have last blogged.  That doesn't mean that nothing has happened for the past year, it just means I have been very neglectful about writing about anything.  For various reasons, I stopped posting, then once I got out of the habit it was hard to get started again.  I am going to try to blog on a more regular basis - hopefully I can get back into the swing of things.

Since I have a year of catch-up to do, I think I will start with what is going on right now, and then work my way back through the events of the past year.

Bosley and I reached some big goals this past summer and so now he is on a training vacation.  We have been doing bits and pieces of obedience work, but for the most part we are just going on walks, cuddling on the couch and taking a well deserved break.  At first it was odd not to be training daily and then it was kind of nice to just kick back and relax but for the past couple weeks Bosley has been letting me know that he is about done with break time.  He is always looking for ways to engage me - which usually means that he will retrieve anything he can find (shoes, hats, toys, my pajamas) and bring the item to me in hopes of a game of play or a cookie.  Mental breaks are good and hopefully he is just as enthusiastic when we get back into the full swing of training in the next couple weeks.

Since we accomplished a couple of our big goals, I now have some new goals in mind that should keep us busy for a while.  I don't want to over-do my first blog post in a year, so I will write about those goals in another post.  I also need to blog about the details of our recent accomplishments, but that will be for another day as well.  Hey, I haven't blogged in a long time, so I need to stretch things out :)

Some Nice Things

After the negativity of my last post I thought I should concentrate on some of the nice things that have been happening lately.  

Last year, when Bosley passed his Draft test, he qualified for the BMDCC Working Dog Award.  To earn this award your dog must have a CD title plus titles in two other approved performance areas (draft, agility, tracking or herding).  This award is to honour the working dog heritage of the Bernese Mountain Dog.  The certificates are presented at the National Specialty and since I wasn't there this year, mine came in the mail a couple weeks ago.  I still need to frame it, but here is a picture. 

Another nice thing is that Bosley has earned both his Scent Hurdle Dog and his Scent Hurdle Dog Excellent titles in the past couple weeks.  What is most exciting about this is that it makes him the first Bernese to earn a Scent Hurdle title and he gets his picture on the BMDCC website "Berner Firsts" page. You can check out the BMDCC website BMD Firsts In Canada but you need to scroll all the way to the bottom to find Bosley.

We also had something nice happen in agility.  The Dogs In Canada agility stats for 2010 came out and Bosley made the cut!!!  Points are based on YPS only and since we get to very few CKC trials, and Bosley is not always the quickest out there, I was very surprised at the results.  He finished as the #1 Bernese Mountain Dog and as  #4 in the Working Group.

Another nice thing is that I found this window static sticker this weekend at the dog show.  It is really hard to find Bernese Agility stuff and I couldn't help but buy this sticker for my car.  How cute is this?

It is nice to focus on the good stuff as sometimes it is easy to get caught up in those pesky negative thoughts.  So, here is to "good things" :)

P.O.'d

There are always people in this world who seem to live their lives looking for the negative in everything and stirring up trouble.  How they live like this, and feel good about it, I will never know.  I usually try to avoid these types of people and not get caught up in their world.  I like to think of myself a positive, easygoing person and I try not to let little things bother me.  But sometimes when my world encounters someone who I think has gone a bit overboard on stirring up trouble and negativity, I get a bit ticked off.

Last weekend, my friend Jo and I went to an obedience fun match in Calgary.  The invitation for the Fun Match said "no choke collars or prong collars allowed".  No problem - I never use either in my training and even if I did, I would respect the rules that other clubs have in place.  So, we go to the Fun Match, visit with a few of the people there that I know from trialling, do a run through with Bosley (which I was very pleased with) and went home.  I thought it was a good day.

Fast forward a few days and I hear that someone complained about me and how I treated my dog.  They said I was using a choke chain and giving Bosley corrections.  Now, first of all, NO ONE from the Calgary clubs know me or know how I treat my dogs in or out of training.  They have maybe seen me in a couple trials or at the very few fun matches I have gone to.  None of these people really know me personally.  This makes me angry - that someone would jump conclusions about me and my training.  Second, I was NOT using a choke chain.  Bosley's obedience show and training collar is a martingale.  If someone thought I was using something different, come and ask me - face to face - don't just assume.  Third, the person hosting the Fun Match has got into trouble because of something that I didn't even do.  I can ignore someone that I don't know who said something negative about me - I really don't care what people who I don't know (or who don't know me) think about me.  But I do care that my perceived actions got someone else in trouble.  That is NOT fair.

Jo took a video of my run through so that I could watch it to see how Bosley was doing in the ring (it is easier to see things through video then trying to remember what happened).  The person who complained, who I am quite sure doesn't know either Jo or I, somehow found the video on Jo's YouTube page and forwarded it to the owner of the facility.  The owner of the facility has threatened to ban the host of the Fun Match from using her facility again.  So, I went back and watched the video again - maybe I missed something.  The only thing in the video that I could see was that when we were waiting for our turn to go in the ring, I gave Bolsey a tug on his collar.  It was a light, sideways tug that wouldn't have been strong enough to tighten the chain on the martingale.  It was not a pop or a correction - just a "pay attention" tug.  I kept his lead on during the heeling so that I could prevent any lagging, but I didn't need to use the lead/collar once during our heeling.  His collar could be mistaken for a choke in the video - but how about someone ask me about it, not just conclude that I must be jerking and yanking my dog.

I am all for positive training.  I am a positive trainer myself.  But there are a group of people who need to get off their high horse and realize that just because you don't use a clicker 100% of the time,  or use anything but a flat collar, or maybe add a correction (gasp) occasionally, that does not mean that those dogs are being abused in their training.  There are certainly bigger issues in the dog world than someone using a martingale at a fun match.

Bad Blogger

I haven't updated my blog in over a month!  What a bad blogger I am.  Does busy and tired count as an excuse for not keeping on top of my blog?  Here is a quick update.

We have been trying to enjoy the summer before it is gone.  We have been doing some obedience and agility training but I haven't had time to get Bosley in his cart for a while.

We were at an agility trial a couple weekends ago.  Bosley earned an Excellent B Standard Q and and Excellent B JWW Q.  That brings our total of 'B' Qs up to 8, so slowly we are making some progress there.

We also did some Scent Hurdle racing the weekend of the agility trial.  Bosley was a good boy (but not too fast after doing agility all day in the heat) and he only brought back the wrong dumbbell once.  He earn 10 more points towards his SHD title.

Thanks to Wendy at Paws On The Run Photography for the wonderful agility and scenthurdle pictures.

Maggie has just been hanging out.  She did an agility demo on Canada Day and had a blast playing agility and visiting with all the kids.

Disappointed

Well, it looks like we won't be doing a draft test this year.

At the beginning of the year, I was unsure if we would be ready to enter the DDX test. A couple months ago, I decided that we could be ready. We just needed to tweak our behind-the-cart skills and Bosley needed to get used to wearing the backpack for the backpack portion of the test. I was getting excited to enter.

There is one draft test a year in our province. This year it is being held in conjunction with the Alberta Kennel Club's big summer show at Spruce Meadows. The premium list for the draft test came out a couple weeks ago. There is no DDX being offered. They are only offering the DD test this year. I am not sure why as draft tests usually have small entries, so there should be plenty of time to test the few DDX dogs that would enter. The only reason I can think of is because the location it is being held at. The DDX test is very demanding, both in skill and in the type of terrain that you need to navigate. The backpack portion is usually in heavily treed areas with streams and challenging obstacles. The Spruce Meadows area is very flat and bare.

I guess Bosley will have another year (at least) to get used to wearing that evil backpack.

Possessed

Something was really wrong with Bosley the other night at agility class.

Bosley is a dog with very low prey/chase drive.  He never pays any attention to gophers when they are running around.  When we are out for a walk and a rabbit runs by, he will watch it run and will maybe make a half-hearted attempt of 5 or 6 steps to chase it, but that is it.

That all changed the other night.  It was our turn in agility and Bosley was on the top of the dogwalk, when a cat (who knows why there was a cat on the agility field) ran by.  The cat was not even close to us, but Bosley saw it and stopped on the dogwalk to watch it.  I didn't think too much of it because Bosley likes cats (well, he is more curious about them than anything).  He ran to the bottom of the dogwalk and then took off like a shot after the cat.  The cat hid in some tall grass and Bosley stuck his nose in there and got a swat.

It all broke loose after that.  Apparently Bosley doesn't take kindly to being swatted across the nose by cat claws.  The cat took off running with Bosley in hot pursuit, howling and carrying on like he was possessed.  The cat climbed up this big log pile and Bosley climbed up right after him.  The cat would swat him and Bosley would jump off the log pile and then climb right back up again. The cat finally ran and jumped over the 6 foot fence that surrounds the field.  I thought that Bosley was actually going to jump the fence - he was trying to climb it and actually got his front paws to the top of the fence but luckily he couldn't pull himself over.

The whole time I was screaming at him and he didn't even look at me - I'm not sure he even knew I was there, he was so focused on getting that cat.  I grabbed him and drug him back to the agility area where everyone was waiting for us to come back (they couldn't see what was happening from where they were).  Everyone looked up shocked as I brought Bosley back, blood pouring from his face.  A couple people thought he killed that cat, that was how much blood there was.  Luckily, Sarah had a first aid kit so we were able to clean him up and disinfect the scratches.  He only had a few claw marks on his nose, but they sure bled like crazy.

I really don't know what was with him.  I thought dogs were supposed to be smart and when a cat swats them, they are supposed to learn their lesson.  Apparently that just makes Bosley really, really angry.

MAD Maggie

This past weekend we headed out to the first outdoor agility trial of the year.  On Maggie's very first run of the weekend, she qualified in Masters Standard to finish her Masters Agility Dog of Canada title! 

 To some people this is not a big deal, but for Maggie and I, it is like getting an ATCh - something I was never sure we would achieve.  This will be the last agility title that Maggie and I earn together.  I promised her that once she finished her MADC, she would get to retire from competitive agility.  She will still get to play and do demos and the occasional local trial just for fun but no more trialling.  

Maggie is such a good dog and she really does love to play at agility but I know she doesn't always love the ring and she only does it because I ask her too.  I can really see her slowing down physically and because her poor structure, I do not think it is fair to ask her to keep competing in such a demanding sport.  It is sad to see our competing days coming to an end but Maggie will have fun doing other things. She loves to do agility demos and have people cheering for her so she will keep doing that.  She will get to come out and have fun training but without the pressure of competing, so our fun is not over.

Maggie - Your Tour Guide

"Hi, I am Maggie and I will be your tour guide for the the day.  Today we are going to visit the University that is right by my house.  We go to the University often but just to where the big fields are. My mom takes me there to do my tracking and Bosley gets to go there to practice his carting.  We sometimes just go there for a nice walk around the lake.  But today you will get a special treat.  My Mom took me right on campus where the students hang out.  There weren't many students there today because it is summer break, but a few people stopped to pet me, which is always nice.  Anyway, on to our tour:

Here I am in the big sculpture thing that is right outside the Student Union building.  It probably has an official name, but I don't know any of that stuff - I'm just a dog"

"Next we will visit the sculpture park where we find this interesting sculpture with a chair under it.  For some odd reason, the chair is on these springy things so it moves when you are on it.  Good thing I'm an agility dog and don't mind sitting on something that is wiggling around.  Your everyday, average dog tour guide would not be able to show you this work of art by posing on it, so you are lucky that I am your tour guide today"

"Next we take a walk down the side of a building where we find this very interesting pattern.  Not sure what this is all about, but my Mom thought it would make an interesting picture."

"Moving on to more of the sculpture park.  This sculpture is filled with books.  Not sure how they got all those books stuffed in there, but some of them looked interesting even though I didn't see anything dog related."

"Here is a picture of the entire piece of art.  See the book on the very top?  That's funny.  On another interesting tour note, the long building in the background is U-Hall.  This is the oldest building on campus.  U-Hall was designed by a world famous architect, but I don't know his name, I just know he is very famous.  The building was built right into the side of the coulee so that it would blend in with nature.  Nature is good - so that was a very nice idea."

"Since the University was originally built into the side of the hills, that means that there are a lot of stairs.  Here I am taking a rest on some stairs.  We didn't go all the way up them, so I can't tell you what is at the very top, but I am sure I saw some doors that probably go somewhere very interesting"

"This is one of the newer building on campus.  It looks fancy with it's big pillars"

"Outside the fancy, big pillar building are these mirror window things.  I like these mirror windows, they make me look long and sleek like a Greyhound, don't you think?"

"My next stop on our tour takes us to this nice rocky place.  It is kind of like being in the mountains.  We climbed up the rocks and had a great time.

"This rocky place is also a good place to take a rest.  If you are coming to this place, I suggest bringing some water.  My mom left the water in the car and all that rock climbing made me thirsty.  She should really know better, but she didn't expect that we would be doing any mountain climbing today"

"The final stop on our tour takes us back to the sculpture park.  This piece of art has very nice lines and movement.  It really 'speaks to me'.  This was my favourite sculpture in the park"

"Well, that ends our tour for today.  I hope you enjoyed having a look around the University and some of the interesting things that it has to offer.  I also must mention that there are lots of gophers here, if that is your thing.  I really wanted to chase them and catch them and shake them, but my Mom said that's not good for the tourism business."

"So, until next time, this is Maggie your tour guide wishing you happy touring"

Agility Class

In this week's agility class we ran this Gamblers course from one of last years Regionals.  It has lots of opportunity for some good points in the opening, which was nice to see.  Some Gamblers courses have a nasty setup for getting opening points, especially for dogs like mine that need something that flows to keep their momentum going.  

I was super happy with Bosley on this run through.  He had a nice opening and he nailed the final gamble.  In our set up, I think the teeter was a bit further behind the tunnel then the course map shows, as the dogs really had to go back to get the teeter and they could not see it at all when they exited the tunnel.  This course gave me a bit more confidence with our distance work - we will get a Masters Gamblers Q yet :)  Too bad all Gambles didn't have the teeter - Bosley loves the teeter!

Obedience Disasters

So I am a bit behind on my blogging, so I will do a quick post about our obedience trial last weekend. I can pretty much sum it up in one word . . "Yikes!".

Friday's run started out OK - we lost 5 marks on heeling for a bit a lagging and a lot of sniffing the posts on the figure 8. Drop on Recall was great as was the Retrieve on Flat. Then was the Retrieve Over High. I threw the dumbbell, and sent Bosley out. He took the jump, went straight to his dumbbell and bent to pick it up. Right before he grabbed it, his nose came up and he was doing some serious air scenting. He caught the smell of something. I was hoping he would be a good boy and just get his dumbbell, but no, he figured out where the smell was coming from. Someone had a big bag of rollover on their crate just on the other side of the ring, and Bosley jumped the ring gates to go get it. Bad Boy. Good thing the owner of the treats saw what was happening and she grabbed them before Bosley could. Bosley then ran to our setup to see if he could get any of his own treats, but I always keep them zipped up in our training bag. By this time I was calling him and at least he was good enough to come running back in the ring, over the ring gates. Luckily we had a super nice judge who said "training in not allowed in the ring, but if you happen to send him out to his dumbbell again, I told you that training in the ring is not allowed". I sent him again and he got his dumbbell (which was still laying out there from the first throw) and brought it back perfect. Then, he stepped through the broad jump.

Saturday didn't get much better except that Bosley didn't leave the ring. But, we failed heeling. Heeling? Really? And he stepped through the broad jump again. And laid down on his out of sight sit - his stays are usually solid and I don't even worry about them.

I really left the weekend feeling not too good about the whole obedience thing. This is the first weekend I have ever felt like this after doing obedience. It wasn't just because Bosley failed a couple things - I can deal with that as long as I have a nice overall performance. I really had to work hard to keep his focus at all. Frustrating.

So, Wednesday I went to Calgary to do a private obedience lesson with an obedience judge/instructor/competitor. I have a great group of people that I train with here, but I just needed a fresh perspective on what I am doing. So I made the 4 hour round trip for a 1 hour lesson. We started with her saying "show me your heeling". I took about 3 steps and she said "OK, stop there". Uh Oh. She made some little changes to when and how I reward. She said Bosley has a great foundation but I just missed a step along the way and that is letting him know that when we are working, we are working. He doesn't get a choice and I can't let him gawk around. When we are working, he is focused on me only. She said I am too easy on him :) I laughed - I certainly know that is true.
She also gave me some proofing ideas for his dumbbell and some ways to make the retrieve more fun for him. So, lots of good stuff packed into that hour lesson. Now I just need to work hard at putting everything together. We have 2 months until our next trial and I really hope to see some improvement by then.

Spring Training

Last night was our first agility class back outside after the very long winter.  Our last agility trial was in February, and I have given Bosley an agility break since then.  I think he has been out to train twice in the past 3 months.

Apparently the break was good for him, because he was very excited to be out in class last night.  We ran a jumpers course from a past regionals event, so the course was very technical with a couple very tricky spots.  Bosley ran the course fast and smooth and we both handled the difficult parts well.  It felt really, really good to run such a difficult course so well.  We have a few agility trials planned for the upcoming summer months, so we have some work to do to get Bosley conditioned to do all that jumping again (although he didn't seem to have much trouble last night) and we need to work on distance again as we haven't done any gamble work for quite a while.

Nice Day For A Walk

When the dogs and I went on our walk this afternoon, I decided to take one of my favourite routes starting at the University ending at Indian Battle Park (and of course back again).  We haven't taken this route for a while, so I was excited to get going.

We drove into the parking lot and right near the spot where I always park were a herd of deer.  Here are two of them, wondering why we were interrupting their grazing.

This picture was taken from my car window - those deer aren't too scared.

The dogs started barking at them, so they decided they would move on a bit.

So we started our walk.  The first part of the walk is all downhill.  The hill is long and fairly steep.  This picture is near the top and if you look carefully, you can see two people on the trail ahead of us - they are at about the half way point of the hill.  Our walk takes us down the hill, then over the pedestrian river bridge (which is where the road is that you see to the left) and then to Indian Battle Park which is in the area of the large suspension bridge on the far left of the picture.

Here we stopped in the park for a water break and to take some pictures.

This is the picture I used for Maggie's 52 week project.  While I was taking pictures of Maggie, I told Bosley to go lay down.  He decided the perfect place was in the shade behind the bench Maggie was on.  You can see his big head if you look behind the bench.  Funny.

We wandered around the park, which was very busy today, and then we headed home.  This is the path heading back towards the University.  Things are slowly starting to get green.

And of course, what goes down, must go back up.  Here we are on the long walk back up the hill.  This is about at the half way point.  I needed to stop and take off my jacket - it's a lot harder work walking back up.

So, a very nice, enjoyable walk today.  The dogs thought it was a bit too warm though - they are still wishing it was snowy.

Some Thoughts

A couple weeks ago, a friend asked me if I have ever considered getting a different breed of dog. She knows I like to do lots of dog sport stuff and since she has Bernese herself, she knows that sometimes the breed has limitations when it comes to being competitive. Bernese are not the fastest agility dogs and they tend not to like work that involves a lot of repetition, like obedience.

My answer was easy - my dogs are my pets and companions first and competition/performance dogs second and I have yet to find another breed that appeals to me as much as the Berners do.

Yes, I could be a lot more competitive in agility with one of the "typical" agility breeds but I don't know if I could really provide the right type of home that a high drive, competitive dog would need. I love my cuddly dogs who fit well into my lifestyle. If I want to hike for 2 hours they are up for it. If I want to nap on the couch for 2 hours, they are up for that too.

There are plenty of breeds that I admire and some that I have seriously considered as a "contender" to fit into my household, but something or another just does not seem right. When we get a dog, it should be with some thoughtfulness considering how that dog will fit into our lifestyle. We may get a dog with the intentions of it being a "performance" dog, but often that does not always work out for various reasons. That is why, for me, my dogs are my pets first and if it turns out that they enjoy agility, obedience, or other performance events, great. If not, they are still my companion.

For me, at this time, the Berners are a perfect fit (well, I could do without all the shedding). They are goofy and make me laugh. They are sweet and sensitive. They are fun. They are easy going, "take things as they come" kind of dogs. They are smart but not in a "I need something to do" sort of way. They are always smiling. They make me smile.

I think the only thing that would make me look to a different breed would be the serious health issues in the breed. They have an unfortunate short life span when compared to other breeds of their size. But, it is hard to resist a face like this.