Endzone Dog Sports Audibles

Patterns, Rewards, and Embracing Mistakes in Training

2011-09-01T17:26:00.000-05:00

Schema heeling just as nice on my right side

One of the things that is important when teaching something new to your dog is to be constantly moving and changing things towards the perfecting of the desired behavior or criteria. Of course, it's important to understand and know what you want that end result to look like, too. Many dog trainers - when teaching a new behavior, exercise, or obstacle - will continue to remain in a "safe" and successful place because the dog is not making mistakes. Or they just plain avoid the steps and the mistakes and jump to the end result while helping or aiding the dog too much. The dog never figures out how to perform without help or sort through any issues by doing them in smaller increments.

Most trainers are afraid of mistakes because they are concerned that the dog will not figure it out without help and lose animation or focus. So, when a mistake is made, they impatiently - and too quickly - jump in to help the dog or correct the dog. So, to avoid mistakes, they continue to allow their dog to practice something that should only be temporary on the way to putting all the pieces together for the final result. Or an even more common issue is that trainers don't complete the process of training so that the dog fully understands their responsibility for what has been taught because they feel that it is good enough to qualify and they can handle through it. The behavior/exercise/obstacle is minimally trained or too formally trained and yet the expectations for trials is to just trial and get experience and continue to train at home to develop the needed skills.

Unfortunately, trialing before foundation skills have been fully taught, is limiting and can lead to unwanted behaviors at the trials. "Practice makes perfect" so it's important to be MORE than ready when entering the dogs in a performance event. I do not want my own dogs to be practicing unwanted behaviors in the trial setting as those issues can become more difficult to solve when the dog learns to view criteria and reinforcement differently than I do in a trial setting.

There will always be issues that arise at the trials that are different than in training - those are to be expected and those are the issues that give us knowledge and perspective as to what more is needed in training. I certainly had plenty of issues when I started trialing Schema in agility that did not occur while I was training her. However, she had great skills and impulse control and a wonderful relationship with me. Knowing what pushed her past her ability to focus on task at the trials was important information for me in order to continue to develop her ability to bring her skills to the trials.

Mental maturity, impulse control, focus and a great relationship with your dog will ensure a better transition from training into the trial experience. When it comes to obedience trials, I believe it is even MORE important for the dog to have mental maturity, impulse control, and focus as there is so much more down time and precision in a very quiet setting. The quiet setting can be even more distracting to the dogs because any noise sounds louder and any movement seems more pronounced (dumbbells, retrieves, handlers running, or even just the judge in the ring). In herding or field work, the reinforcement is so high that the impulse control and relationship must be very well developed or bad "line manners" or issues walking to the post will develop and adversely contribute to poor focus and compromise in that run and future runs.

What is a reward? A reward can be any of the following and there are endless examples that are not listed. Some of the better known rewards would be:

food
toys
running and chasing something
sending a dog to a bird, dumbbell, or any other highly valued retrieve
sending a dog to sheep or allowing them to work sheep

Some of the following rewards are not recognized and dealt with as rewards or reinforcements for the dog and that is why the unwanted behavior continue to happen. There are many more than are listed below.

Pulling on the leash is reinforcing when you continue to move forward
Breaking a start line stay, contact, or table before you release them is rewarding them for doing that if you allow them to continue
In obedience, chewing, mouthing, or playing with retrieve objects are rewards for dogs that are stressed about fronts, stressed about corrections, or are not understanding requirements.

When dogs continue to practice unwanted behaviors in any setting and are continually rewarded for them (whether recognized by the handler or not), they develop a pattern and expectation for that particular behavior. It's more difficult to break that pattern, once it has developed and has become a habit. The other issue that occurs is that the dog has been prevented from making mistakes while they are learning and then they can not problem solve or cope with mistakes in training (without help and intervention from the handler) and the ring/trial performance then becomes something very different to them. This is what creates the so called "ring wise" dog (which is a really poorly labeled term). Basically the "ring wise" dog is created by a handler that has allowed patterns to develop as well as providing too much help and not enough independence in understanding the requirements. And because dogs are such brilliant observers, they notice the difference between training and the real thing and they respond differently as well.

So, in conclusion, what can be done to break this cycle of making the ring or trial a more comfortable place for both you and your dog? Ensure that your dog is well prepared and can train each exercise in obedience or each sequence in agility at a much advanced level than what is expected in the ring. Break teaching of the exercises down into small parts and challenge the dog's understanding by embracing mistakes. Be patient while the dog learns to solve problems and use rewards for correct behavior rather than corrections for incorrect behavior. Make sure that you are not rewarding something that you want to eliminate. Teach the first steps of any complex exercise or obstacle simple and as distraction free as possible and simplify the task when there are lots of distractions. Keep a good attitude and stay focused on your dog while you are working them.

We all make mistakes in training, but the most important thing is to find someone - a mentor or instructor - that is willing to help guide you to breaking those old patterns that are holding you and your dog's performance from becoming better.

Not Your Every Day Off Course Obstacle

2011-08-11T10:07:00.000-05:00

While trialing Schema in Standard, it has become very clear the table has become our biggest off course challenge. It's not something that I naturally look for when I am walking a course - in fact, many times I have not even noticed the table when I am looking at the dog's path while walking a course. Only to find out later, while running her, that she locked onto that obstacle and either got an off course or a very wide turn because of it. I have to actually remember before walking the course to look for the table and see where it might come into play for her.

Schema driving to the table

I did not specifically intend to make the table a highly valued obstacle, but because of transferring my Crate Games training that I've done on her to the table, it has now become one of her favorite obstacles. When I started training Schema, she had very little impulse control. By lacking impulse control, I mean that she was very easily distracted by movement by other dogs. She is still distracted by other dogs, but she works hard to focus on what I want, now. That's because I've developed a communication system with her so she knows she is accountable for her actions (this is an entirely different subject that I could write a long blog on). It is her choice and she rarely now makes the wrong one now because she knows that she won't get to play otherwise.

While transferring her Crate Games to the table, I realized as I increased the distractions that it could be a great way to get more training done with my dogs. By, having them all out on the table when I am training, I can individually release each of them off to work. Score and Reason were both reinforced and trained to wait on the table until they were released and they both learned to be able to stay there and watch me work the other dogs - a HUGE time saver, as I was able to train 3 dogs at the same time during a training session.

Schema and Presto hanging out on the table, waiting to be released

So, now the table has become such a highly reinforced obstacle as it leads to playing more agility. It's not your every day off course challenge, but I think I can handle it just fine.

Expecting More Than You Give

2011-08-05T09:49:00.001-05:00

One of the things that I think people could benefit the most from during training sessions is understanding how important it is to establish and maintain a connection with your dog. This isn't something that you only need during competition or during training. Maintaining or establishing a connection prior to training or competing is so critical for success. Yet, this is probably one of the most overlooked or misunderstood training issues in dog sports.

I see examples of this lack of preparation and connection all the time. Dog is at the end of the leash and handler is distracted - either talking or completely immersed watching something. The dog knows the person is distracted and unfocused because this happens frequently when they are together. When this happens, the dogs seeks out things that are more reinforcing for them (like sniffing the floor, investigating table tops and training bags within reach, going to other dogs, or just learning to be complacent and inactive). Basically, the dog and handler are not at all connected or focused.

People are consistent in how they remove themselves mentally from their dog and the dog figures out the pattern and applies himself to many other situations. This is well practiced during training sessions and classes - whether obedience or agility. The dogs perfect their performance of understanding how and when to disconnect from their trainers under certain telltale conditions. But what I find so interesting is how these people then suddenly snap into "working mode" and start focusing on what they are planning next. They have switched from being focused on social things into immediately wanting focus from their unsuspecting dogs.

The innocent dog (who is now in a completely different world - totally immersed into smells, doggy interaction, sights, or tastes) is expected to recognize immediately that they are now in working mode and transition into that perfectly focused partner. There is usually no time spent trying to get the dog focused because the person is hurrying into whatever is coming next (as they probably pushed the socializing up until the last minute). They expect the dog to have some sort of mind meld and to be so connected to the trainers thoughts that it immediate knows that it's time to focus. And when the dogs don't immediately know that the handler has gone from unfocused to focused, they are corrected or overly handled or controlled. This gives a very poor start to the training or competition and causes some perceived attention issues in the ring.

What people don't understand is the attention issue is not the dog's problem. Rather, the attention issue is the trainer's problem. When you have decided to socialize or get unfocused while you are hanging around (or waiting for your turn) with your dog, put them into working mode by doing a sit stay or down stay or Crate Games - so they can focus on a task. Then it is up to you to be able to multitask (train AND socialize) at the same time. Continue to reward or address stay progress with the dog, while you socialize, talk to someone, or watch something in the ring. If you can not multitask training with these things, then you have two options.

1) put the dog away (in a kennel, tie out, x pen, car, etc) during the time you need to be unfocused on the dog.
or
2) remain focused on the dog and keep that connection with them and ignore what is going on around you

When both you and the dog have been disconnected from one another, in order to both be successful in training and competition, you need a short period of time to reconnect. It is unfair to expect any dog to immediately go into working mode when they have been "somewhere else" mentally, just because you can go from unfocused mode into working mode immediately. Take time to warm them up mentally with a game of tug or heeling or anything else that helps reestablish that very important connection.

Here is a great article by Bob Bailey on this subject: click here to read it.

Here's hoping that some of the things I've mentioned can help you become more productive and ultimately more successful with your training. Many times it's not the training itself that causes the issues, it's the fact that there is consistent lack of connection between dog and trainer which causes other training issues to arise.

Wayne Dyer Quotes

2011-07-22T08:29:00.000-05:00

I saw these Wayne Dyer quotes on my friend Gail Smith's Facebook status and simply had to share them - they are all too great not to share.

"Conflict cannot survive without your participation"

"When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself."

"Loving people live in a loving world. hostile people live in a hostile world. same world."

"You cannot always control what goes on outside. But you can always control what goes on inside."

"You don't need to be better than any one else you just need to be better than you used to be"

'How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours. '

Consistency In Life and In Training

2011-07-21T09:42:00.000-05:00

As I “grow up”, I find myself no longer wanting to fight, correct, defend, promote, or be apart of any type of life drama. The only "drama" I enjoy is the drama between me and my dogs as I run a course with them (Thanks to Tracy Sklenar for coining that term and helping me with that "drama" on course).

I've made many changes in my life over the years and have been able to gradually eliminate or add things into my life to support my wanted lifestyle. Some of the many things on this list of changes includes:

no longer turning on the television
no longer reading the newspaper
never watching a video (or reading something) that looks to be sad, gruesome, or scary (I would never click on a video that is described as "disgusting or horrible").
no longer "fight" for any "cause"
listening only to music on the radio (no talk or commercials)
never respond to negative talk
allow others to have opinions
not feeling the need to defend anything that I am doing (this one is the hardest for me and I am constantly working on it)
acknowledging and appreciating things or events that are fun and pleasing
having the ability to look or walk away from unwanted things (accidents on the road, gossipy conversation next to me)

This is a work in progress and I am not perfect, but I am definitely improving. I feel it's important to be consistent in both life and in training and the more I go this direction, the more I am finding I love it and want to continue to live this way. Living life like this and training like this is just more fun and more fulfilling for me. I am sure that some people might feel that I have lost my mind. But I think I have actually found it.

Keeping Up

2011-07-09T17:53:00.000-05:00

Summer time in Minnesota sure makes it difficult for me to sit down at my computer and keep up on Facebook and my own blog. Lots of reading, relaxing, training, teaching lessons, and taking lessons. It's so much fun taking lessons with Terry Smorch as he always has practice courses built for FCI Worlds practice with Presto. Way too much fun and so good for both Schema and me.

Score has been critter hunting and batting around the handle-less horse Jolly ball in the back yard (handles removed because Schema is dangerous to herself and everyone around her when she has hold of the handle and is beating the ground and herself with it). Between finding chipmunks, moles, frogs, large toads as well as very teeny/tiny almost impossible to see toads, and now he is obsessed with dragonflies - he is easily entertained.

A new obsession - dragonflies

What is so funny about the dogs is the simple pleasures they find to entertain themselves.

Jolly Ball TIME!

Schema taking that handle-less Jolly ball down

Total ecstasy

Ya can''t get away from me!

Holes where the handle used to be. No one gets hurt, now.

And of course, Score has the ball that Schema doesn't want today (until it looks like he's having too much fun)

Score always plays with his Jolly ball by pushing it up against me

Then when they've gotten enough exercise, they look so happy.

On the deck, satisfied after play

Except that Schema is never done or satisfied...let's zoom in and see what she is doing....

Yep...that's the way she looks when she wants someone to come out the door

If it stays this hot, I think tomorrow we will go swimming, otherwise if it's cool we'll do some training or maybe just another day in the back yard reading and letting the dogs play with their Jolly balls. So many decisions.

Happy Birthday Reason

2011-06-22T07:02:00.000-05:00

It's Reason's 12th birthday today. I am so blessed to have him in my life. All the clips in this video were taken in the last week. Happy Birthday to an amazing little boy. The video says it all.

Coming Out Of The Closet

2011-05-20T08:28:00.004-05:00

For people that know me well, when my dogs have health issues, I prefer to be alone and I not to talk about it. I am most comfortable just being with my dogs and my family while I work through "things". That's just the way I cope with it all.

Because people cared so much and were asking, I was able to pull myself out of my comfort zone and post a note on Facebook to describe what happened on May 2nd after returning home from a herding trial in the Milwaukee area. Reason had 4 grand mal seizures (midnight, 2pm, 8pm, and 10pm). The 10pm seizure was the very last one he had and has not had one since then. Except for a few people, I never spoke about what was diagnosed from the MRI that was done on May 4th.

This blog entry is to explain what happened and to thank all the wonderful friends I have here in Minnesota and all around the country for caring so much about me and about Reason. I got so many messages of support and positive energy from people, I couldn't possibly respond to everyone. The dog community can overwhelm me with emotion as to how much they really care about other people and dogs - it's like a strong family that supports and respects each other and I am so proud to be a part of it all.

During the MRI, the neurologists at the University of Minnesota found a small mass in the left frontal lobe, which was now causing him to have problems with his right side and lots of ataxia. There was a small amount of edema surrounding the mass. Options were given to me - do nothing and he would have 1-2 months. Surgery and he would have 1 - 1 1/2 years. Side affects from surgery might involve a slight head tilt to the left and inflammation to the left eye. With a radiation treatment, he would have 1 - 1 1/2 years, with the exception that there are only 2/3 of masses that respond to radiation. 1/3 of them will not respond. Also, radiation would involve 3 or 4 weeks of treatments (radiation apparently has very little affects on dog being treated for a tumor in the head). The neurologist felt that the mass was meningioma, which is a benign/slow growing tumor.

I was fortunate enough to have some time in order to make a decision. Reason was stable and functional - just having difficulties with balance and ataxia, but was happy and vibrant. Dogs are amazing in how they adapt to what is presented to them physically - they never complain, they just move on. I constantly assessed his attitude and his will to continue and by the end of two weeks, there was no doubt in my mind that Reason wanted to continue to share this life with me in the physical world. Dr. Audrey DeClue, who has been responsible for keeping Reason and my other dogs physically able to continue to run in agility was an amazing support resource and friend as I talked to her almost daily on the phone over these last weeks (and this with her busy equine schedule travelling around the country). She also saw him the weekend after the MRI to evaluate him. She did some research for me and helped me make my decision. I was also able to discuss this with one of my obedience students, who is a retired neurologist and he also helped me understand the process and verified my decision to do the surgery. In people, this is totally curable.

So, on Tuesday, May 17th, I dropped Reason off for the surgery, which was completed around 12:30. The surgeon was very happy with how it went and was able to get it all - along with some normal tissue as part of the mass went a bit deep. The mass was not part of the brain. Now it was just waiting to see how he would respond neurologically coming out of surgery. Reason always has issues coming out of anesthesia in that he comes out fast, but he remains anxious, whiny, impatient, and does not like to be confined so he vocalizes. He won't rest and won't lay down until his body just makes him collapse from being overtired. This usually goes on until 2 days after anesthesia. The neurologist was impressed and amazed at how quickly he recovered from the surgery. He was responsive, alert, and everything was working from a neurological standpoint, except some normal weakness from the surgery.

I went to visit him on Wednesday evening and I wasn't prepared to see so much of his face having been shaved. But I was thinking the incision would look much worse than it did - it looked wonderful and it was already healing. I was able to see the MRI (really cool techy stuff) and it made me so grateful to have such an amazing resource that we have here in Minnesota with the University of Minnesota Veterinary Medical School.

On Thursday, after talking to the neurologist in the morning, I was told that Reason could come home that afternoon. When I went to pick him up, he looked SO GOOD and really wanted to go home. There was no head tilt, no inflammation to the left eye, and the ataxia appears to be gone and his right side is working better. Now we start the healing process that is the most difficult one for all people with high drive dogs - keeping him quiet so that the incision and the surgery site can heal properly. Score and Schema have been so good about leaving him alone and still treating him with respect. Reason remains his bright and happy self as he adapts to the after effects of the surgery.

When I came home, I was so touched by my good friend and Reason's breeder, Janice DeMello as she made this video tribute to Reason. She used the song that I posted in yesterday's blog and put together some great memories of us from over the years. While the video made me cry (again), it also made me smile as I can see how blessed I am to have been able to share my life with this amazing little being that has touched my soul forever.

Jan describes this video, "This video is in honor of Nancy Little's brave boy Hob Nob Meant To Be aka Reason after he underwent surgery to remove a brain tumor on May 17, 2011." If the video doesn't work below, here is a direct link: Click here to go directly to video on YouTube.

And because the video shows some photos of his incision just after surgery, I wanted to show Jan how well he was doing after he came home, so I include that video here for you to see as well. This is classic Reason, except with a facial hair cut. This is about 54 hours after his surgery.

So, while I went into a lot of detail through this experience of mine with Reason, I know you will understand that I will now want to move on from what is now "ancient history" to me. I am no longer focusing on what happened, I have now moved into looking at all the good times we are going to have ahead of us. Reason is my inspiration as he is strong, vibrant, full of life, and always having a good time. We should all live life like that.

Love you ALWAYS Reas!!

I Won't Let Go

2011-05-18T21:00:00.000-05:00

Thank you Tanya for sending me this song. It made me cry...crying is good for the soul because it cleanses the spirit and can put things into perspective. I am back to smiling again with a new found determination - just like Reason.

Made Me Smile

2011-05-10T21:20:00.001-05:00

"Worrying is using your imagination to create something you don't want."

--- Abraham and Esther Hicks

It was finally summer in Minnesota today. What a glorious day. As I took Reason out to potty this morning, he caught a whiff of something near the tree he was about to pee on and when I looked, I saw a healthy little tree frog just sitting there taking in the warmth of the day. That put a smile on my face.

Tree frog in the front yard

Later on in the day, I set up two Susan Salo grids from one of her "Repeaters seminars" to run Score and Schema on. It was a grid that both of them had issues with in the past because of the spacing - Schema has had an issue compressing from extension and Score has had an issue extending from compression. I ran that grid hard with Score and he was fluid and strong. That put a smile on my face.

Schema did the sequence beautifully - even the parts she usually has difficulty with. So, I changed the height of two of the jumps from 22 (which is what she always jumps in practice) to 24". Schema had some initial issues in the section that she has had in the past with that height change. She got herself too close to the jump after the double and then tried to lift her head to get her body over the next jump. She is so athletic that this can sometimes save her jumps, but I don't want her doing that because that just means she is not reading her jumps correctly and jumping with poor form. That is wear and tear on her body. I want fluid, proper jumping from her. I added a foot in the compression section after the double and placed a diagonal bar in front of the jump that she had issues with. When I added that foot and the diagonal on the next jump, she jumped that sequence beautifully. I took away the diagonal bar and she did it nicely again. Then I put the jumps back to the initial spacing without that extra twelve inches and it was still good. These kinds of sessions where I can get her to figure it out on her own really make me smile.

Then, I got Reason out while I put away all the jumps. He is such an amazing dog. With all he's been through, he is still having the time of his life. He was doing his floating trot and smiling through that gray face of him. Demanding that I kick the toy. Living life to the fullest. THAT REALLY MADE ME SMILE!!

Kick that toy!

Relaxing in the hot weather

I want that toy!

Love you Reas!

Perfect Thought For The Day

2011-05-06T10:36:00.002-05:00

"We practice the Art of Allowing. Which means reaching for the thought that feels best, not the thought that is the real thought, not the thought that is telling it like it is. Telling it like it is only holds you where it is: "Damn it, I'm going to tell it like it is. I'm going to tell it like it is, because everybody wants me to tell it like it is." Tell it like it is if you like it like it is. But if you don't like it like it is, then don't tell it like it is—tell it like you want it to be. If you tell it like you want it to be long enough, you will begin to feel it like you want it to be. And when you feel it like you want it to be, it be's like you want it to be."
~Abraham and Esther Hicks

The World

2011-05-04T20:35:00.000-05:00

To the world you are a dog. But to me you are the WORLD.

More Photos From Iowa

2011-04-29T21:21:00.001-05:00

I got these wonderful photos from Tammy Etscheidt, who was also taking photos at the Tracy Sklenar seminar. How lucky we were to have two talented photographers that weekend.

I love the expression in Schema's face as she is going over this jump.

Photo by Tammy Etscheidt

Then there are these cool photos that Tammy took when I was working Score on the yearlings in one of the large pastures on Saturday. It was so much fun being out there in the sunshine with green grass all around us.

This one was quite obviously when I sent him for an outrun - oh, the joy in his face!!

Score - sending on an outrun
Photo by Tammy Etscheidt

Then this awesome photo of him fetching the sheep after picking them up at the top.

Score - fetching the yearlings
Photo by Tammy Etscheidt

And this one of Score getting them to me. These sheep had not been worked by dogs and this was about as close as they were going to get to me. Score did a great job working them. So proud of him.

Score
Photo by Tammy Etscheidt

Thanks Tammy for the awesome photos!

Tracy Sklenar seminar

2011-04-28T22:37:00.000-05:00

Photo by Ami Shefield

I can't remember enjoying an agility seminar as much as I did this past Easter weekend with Tracy Sklenar, hosted by Christy Thomas at her 50 acre farm about 10 miles north of Council Bluffs, IA. Christy was an amazing hostess as she was also lambing at the same time (along with a few challenges that go along with this) she kept smiling all weekend.

Tracy is so patient, yet so inspiring with all the working teams. I could hear her repeating the same things over and over in order to convey concepts that were important for each team. Yet, she kept demonstrating and communicating with the same passion and perkiness and humor. She is by far my favorite agility seminar presenter because of this - if something bothers her, it goes completely unnoticed. She makes people feel important and worth the extra attention to detail and she puts people at ease by remembering their names as well as their dog's names.

Friday morning we were indoors for the Masters seminar because of the wind and the cool weather. But the afternoon session had us outdoors in the bright sunshine on plush green grass with lovely temps in the 60's - perfect weather for working the dogs.

Schema jumping indoors in the barn
Photo by Ami Shefield

Saturday, I had the day off as it was the ABC's of handling, which was specifically for learning the handling system and more for Novice dogs. Anyone that had a working spot throughout the four days, could audit free on any of the other days, which was a wonderful additional benefit of attending this seminar. Auditing and reviewing some of the basic handling was wonderful for me as I was able to pick up some of the finer points of the handling as was demonstrated by Tracy.

On Saturday, Christy was nice enough to sort out 6 of her yearling Cheviots into one of her large pastures. These sheep had not been worked much by dogs, so I was able to work Score twice on Saturday gathering them. It was a wonderful experience because it was a new field, with different draws and sheep that were very light, so he had to figure it all out. He made some mistakes at first, but he was doing some great outruns and gathers after he figured it out.

Monday was European Day with courses that had lots of back sides of jumps and very tight wraps and turns through tight boxes of jumps. Schema did a great job and showed that she has lots of great skills as a young dog. Most of the homework I took home to work on were handling weaknesses or new/better skills that I need to work on (love this stuff!):

1) Be more aggressive with my threadles and serpentines
2) Do the change of arm in the serpentines and threadles WHEN they are needed instead of trying to get to perfect serp and threadle position.
3) Continue to move when I'm doing a serpentine and keep my feet pointed in that direction
4) Take big steps when doing muliple serps or threadles, rather than the smaller steps I was taking
4) Change my footwork for the threadle, so I can move up the course faster
5) Use more acceleration (even if it's briefly) so I can show deceleration.
6) "Punch" those tight wraps with the same arm when in position at the jump
7) Use lots of motion forward with the same arm and leg near the dog to get a good threadle push through
8) Use spacial awareness information Tracy provided when walking a course to ensure I know where to drive out of my front crosses.

Serpentine
Photo by Ami Shefield

Some of the skills I need to work with Schema are:
1) More rewards at my front crosses to put more value into driving to me (she is driving her line and sometimes forgetting about that)
2) More independent 270's or back side of the jump

I'm looking forward to going back to Christy's in September for another weekend of Masters/European Day with Tracy.

Thanks to Ami Shefield for taking photos all weekend of the dogs working. She got some great ones of Schema...and what's up with this one? I guess I'm thinking about all the handling skills I need to work on when I get home.

Photo by Ami Shefield

Schema
Photo by Ami Shefield

Rewarding Schema with a good tugging session
Photo by Ami Shefield

Driving off the start line
Photo by Ami Shefield

Schema sliding teeter
Photo by Ami Shefield

Awesome slide teeter
Photo by Ami Shefield

Photo by Ami Shefield

Appreciation and Allowing

2011-02-26T12:42:00.003-06:00

Score - I appreciate and love his effort
"Image by GreatDanePhotos Copyright 2010
(www.greatdanephotos.com) used with permission"

I've been thinking about this topic for a while, but Stacy Peardot-Goudy's recent blog entry on just saying "Thank you" really prompted me to finish my thoughts in writing. If you get a chance, read her blog as a background by clicking here.

It's true that plenty of people have difficulty accepting compliments. It's human nature to put ourselves down for various reasons - especially when someone we respect tells us that we just did something wonderful (could it be true?). Many times coming out of the ring, we tend to reflect only on the disappointment of not getting the almighty qualifying score, when there are just so many other small successes (even HUGE successes) that need to be recognized out on the course or in the run. Because it tends to be human nature to reflect on the negativity and failures, many times it can be difficult to really see those small successes. This is precisely why I highly recommend getting all of your runs (obedience, herding, agility) on video tape. Yes, it is an inconvenience at times, but if you are diligent about looking at all aspects of your run - not just the fact that something happened that you did not like - you will continue to grow as a handler as well as a person. It can take some effort and some training to try and find something good in a run that feels like a failure to you, but it's all about progress. And part of the progress is trying to find the successes as well as the "homework" in each and every run.

Everyone - even the best trainers/handlers like Terry Smorch and Stacy Goudy go home with more homework. Even in the qualifying performances, they will find personal successes as well as homework and ways to improve performance. They are inspired by homework - not deflated or feeling like failures because of it. You see rare times when they have a major failure, but when it happens they push past it and realize the lesson or another opportunity to improve. Failure or mistakes should inspire you, not make you crazy or upset.

But this isn't the reason why I am writing this - Stacy covered this topic, quite well. I just want to take the subject of accepting a compliment a little further and coming from the opposite side. Giving compliments and/or appreciation of others.

Reason - I appreciating being able to run him at 11 years of age
"Image by GreatDanePhotos Copyright 2010
(www.greatdanephotos.com) used with permission"

There are plenty of people that I highly respect as trainers and handlers - like Stacy and Terry. They set an example as high caliber trainers and exhibitors in more ways than others - not just because they are on top of their game, but also because of the way they treat other people. When either of them sees a performance or even something within a run that is spectacular, they will both make an effort to tell that individual (stranger or friend/peer) that they loved what they saw. To me, appreciation and giving compliments is just as important (if not more important) than accepting compliments. That is because it comes from within...and when you appreciate or love something, it makes you feel better and you become a better person for it. There are a few high caliber trainers that only give compliments to their students (or people attending their seminars) or to their peers. I'm not sure why that is, but whatever the reason, it is a self limiting behavior and only holds them back. I think one of the most liberating behaviors is getting into the mode of appreciating and "allowing" others to do things differently.

Whether or not the person accepts the compliment is actually their own personal issue that they have to work through (been there myself at one time). Finding fault or taking something personal because an individual chooses differently than what you would is inhibiting. Sometimes people need to make a few mistakes in order to get to a place in their life where they can actually see the benefit of what someone else might be telling them. Or who's to say that maybe that person is just comfortable doing things their way and it just feels right to them. It's more important for people to feel good about what they are doing, than to be convinced to change. And it's up to us as individuals to find a way to feel good - rather than relying on compliments or support from others.

It is far better to have different training and handling styles and methods so as to enjoy diversity and motivate change. Observing handlers and trainers doing things differently can be inspiring and can allow new ideas to be recognized and realized. At one time no one trained or wanted to train running contacts and there were many good reasons stated by some of the best trainers in this country. That didn't stop a few people who were inspired and motivated within and decided to do things differently by taking a different journey. They were willing to make mistakes along the way and adapted and set forth changes because of those failures. Now, seeing a gorgeous running dog walk is a thing of beauty, when it is trained and handled properly. All because someone appreciated and loved something and was focused on doing what felt right to them - even amongst any and all criticisms from the standpoint of consistency in handling and training it.

Schema - I love and appreciating her amazing contacts
(photo by Kim Schaefer)

Whenever I start to feel upset about something, I will try find some kind of way to appreciate - anything. Even by looking or focusing on something completely different than what was causing me to become upset. Focusing on appreciating my dogs, my friends, my peers, the sunshine - whatever makes me happy or changes the way I am currently feeling. There is always a different way of looking at things and when I try to focus on some small change to make me feel happy, the negative feelings go away and my world changes with it.

Focus Forward

2010-12-31T19:38:00.000-06:00

One of the first things I teach my agility dogs is to focus forward when I leave them at the start line. That way, I can lead out - ahead and laterally - and they will look ahead at the line of obstacles in front of them.

Schema, Focusing Forward
Image by GreatDanePhotos Copyright 2010 (www.greatdanephotos.com) used with permission

As I sit here tonight with the new year just hours away, I feel like I'm sitting at the start line with my life out ahead of me. I'm focused forward, looking out ahead at all the possibilities the future beholds. It's always fun to feel like starting over with a clean slate. A brand new "run" is starting and expectations are high. I can feel the excitement of what the new year will bring and I know that there will be potential "off courses" as I navigate my way through my 2011 course. These off courses provide me with extra incentive to put my attention back on the things that are wanted in my life.When I cross that finish line at the end of 2011, will it be a perfect run with no refusals, wrong courses, or failures? I doubt it. But, just like my dogs, I plan on still finding joy in my performance rather than dwelling on any of the imperfections of my 2011 "run".

My goals for 2011 are simple. Feel good.

Nothing Better Than Nothing on Birthdays

2010-12-26T10:47:00.000-06:00

Day after Christmas - as most people know it, it is craziness at the stories as after Christmas sales start and the masses go out to get a good deal or to return or gifts. This day for me is so much different as it's a day of peace and tranquility. I was born the day after Christmas and I really disliked having a birthday that day when I was growing up. Now, I can't imagine having a better one as an adult. I was no different than most kids in that the things that were the most important to me at that time were the presents and the attention I got from everyone. Because most of my presents from my friends were combined (Happy Birthday/Merry Christmas) and I saw no one but my family on my birthday, I felt that I had "less" of a birthday than most others.

Looking back, now, those were only the years from when I was in elementary school and high school. When I was in college, I started to feel differently about my birthday as I started to appreciate different things in my life - my family, my dogs (yes, I had dogs and horses throughout my life).

What I love about my birthday now is that nothing is expected (Tom and I don't exchange gifts for Christmas or birthdays anymore) and the day is open to do anything on the spur of the moment. I woke up this morning after spending Christmas Day with my parents and my sister and youngest brother's families. Such wonderful kids - all so different, and so talented in different ways. They all play competitive sports and all excel in school and I just love them all and enjoy seeing them maturing in their own way. What a great day we had eating good food (love my Mom's spaghetti - NO ONE makes it like she does) as well as many other side dishes made by everyone.

Going from a day of so much busyness into a day like today with so much peace and quiet is the ultimate of balancing for me. I love my time alone with my dogs and Tom and not having to be anywhere. I woke up today to a day with sunny skies and warm temps (relative to December in Minnesota - maybe not to other parts of the country) and the smell of coffee brewing in the kitchen. Then after feeding the dogs breakfast, and checking in on Facebook, I see so many people taking the time to post to my wall, wishing me a Happy Birthday. Facebook is such a great community with support, well wishes, and those birthday wishes are really special to everyone that has experienced them.

Now, what to do for the day? I love not having a plan. Some of my fondest childhood memories are spent with my family and making decisions on the fly. As a family, we enjoyed doing things on the spur of the moment - like the time our family was driving back from Colorado visiting my grandparents and we came to a split in the road - home or Yellowstone? We all decided Yellowstone and my Dad just immediately veered off to the west. Other memories are when our family would take drives out into the country after Mass on Sundays. Dad would go driving further out in the country with the intent of getting completely lost on the back roads and then trying to find our way home (no GPS devices at that time). We always enjoyed the beautiful countrysides and as time went along, it was harder and harder to get ourselves lost.

So, a day of nothing-ness or a day filled with just doing whatever I want to on the spur of the moment. That is just the ultimate for me. I won't know what this day brings until it's over. Just the way I like it.

I hope you enjoy your day after Christmas as much as I plan on enjoying it.

Change The Channel

2010-12-21T12:18:00.000-06:00

Have you ever seen someone alone in front of the television set intently watching something that they were not enjoying at all? Usually what happens is if the person isn't enjoying what is currently being broadcast on that channel, they are quick to change the channel in the hopes of finding another program that is more interesting. In fact, many times there can be lots of channel changing in the hopes of finding something more entertaining.

It's interesting to me that most people will not "change the channel" when they going about their daily lives and notice something that bothers them. Instead of just thinking about something else or trying to see it differently or even just settling on allowing a difference of opinion, the subject is pointed out, dissected, obsessed over, talked about in multiple conversations, and further dramatized. This actually does nothing, except make everyone that is involved feel badly.

I used to do the same thing and what I found was that talking about it and obsessing about all the wrongs and horrific actions only made me feel worse. I only felt better when I eventually forgot about the subject and nothing that I ever did while focusing on it, solved the perceived "problem". What I challenge myself to do now, is to not look at the things I know are going to bother me. Some people are going to think I'm just putting my head into the sand and I'm okay with that because I actually feel much better doing things this way. If there is a "horrific" video posted on Facebook, I won't watch it. If there are articles posted about animal abuse or child abuse or any other emotional triggers, I won't read them. If someone is in trouble or needs support, I will focus on the positives in order to be there for them. I know that there is far more good and positive things out there in the real world, than negative and I try to remain focused on that. And when something negative comes into my life, it will eventually lead to something positive anyway...it always does.

I stopped watching television many years ago because most of what is broadcast is primarily with the intent of creating drama. Drama tends to draw the "nosy" side of people with emotions about that story. That causes more talk, more finger pointing, more videos, more blogs, and more follow-up stories and discussions, rarely making anyone feel better.

Oh, I still find myself occasionally falling into my own trap of obsessing on something negative, but I am getting better at quickly figuring out a way to "change the channel". Dogs are very good at changing channels as they will focus on something good (good sniffs, running away/doing zoomies, etc) when they find that something is stressing them or bothering them. They are masters at finding positives or reinforcers.

To take this a step further, sometimes drama is personally created by trying to blame or point the finger at someone else for something that has happened that bothers or irritates us. "S/he made me so mad" is a very common statement that precedes a story that has seemingly put us at a disadvantage or in a position of having someone else causing us some kind of negative situation. If you are very honest about it, when you are mad at someone else it is never caused by that person. It's something that you have allowed to bother you and it's just more convenient to put the blame on someone else for that wrong. "He cut me off in traffic, that made me so mad", well why are you mad? He's now in front of you instead of tailgating behind you....or maybe there was an emergency...or even being more honest, have you ever unintentionally done that to someone else when you were in a hurry and then regretted it? Or are you just upset that someone else is just going faster than you are able to go? These are the incidents that can really test your commitment to be empowered to control the way you look at things. People simply can not make you upset, if you just don't allow them to - that is totally under your own control and when you realize that, it is very enlightening.

No one is perfect and we all make mistakes, learn from those mistakes, and apply what we've learned to improve our lives. That's what it's all about - it's not our jobs to try and change other people - that is useless wasted negative energy and an impossible task.

What are my goals for 2011? My goals are to continue to allow people the right to have a difference of opinion, continue to find opportunities to "change the channel" when drama appears to be present, and just continue to try and find ways to feel gratitude and enjoyment in 2011. These are goals I know I can achieve and they will bring about endless good things in the year to come.

Puppy Play, Socialization, and Confinement

2010-11-13T23:36:00.000-06:00

Lots people are getting puppies lately. One of the questions people will ask me is where they can find a good puppy socialization class where there is puppy play time. While I am sure there are wonderful classes with puppy play time and instructors that are careful to ensure that the size and age are equal as well as the personalities (no bullies), I would never personally put any of my young dogs in a class or place where puppies are allowed to play as part of the class. I'm not trying to say that these classes are bad or wrong. I just don't like them for my own dogs.

Bringing Gimmick home from Advance, NC
and Denise Wall's farm
(photo take by Denise Wall)

When I get a new puppy, I want them to bond with me. Before they come home with me and they are in the litter, they find reinforcement from playing with the other puppies and if you have a wonderful breeder, like I do, they get lots of interaction from her (or him) as well. However, that being said, when a new puppy comes into my life, I want them to learn that all the fun and reinforcements are coming from me - not from other dogs. Since my dogs are not only my pets, they are future performance dogs, I want to ensure that I am not allowing them to further associate other dogs as a source of reinforcement or pleasure. Some dogs, like my young dog Schema, have so much prey drive and are highly stimulated by motion that if I would have given her more access to running and chasing other dogs as a young dog, her focus would have been almost unmanageable now. I understand that many people use these puppy play time sessions to exercise and tire the puppies. But again, I feel that its in my puppy's better interest to have me exercise them - mentally and physically. It might be more of an inconvenience by some (I actually enjoy training and playing with puppies), but the pay off down the road is priceless. With me exercising my young dogs, I can continue to train and reward and build a great relationship. And they grow to look to me as the source of excitement and adventure in their lives.

In terms of socialization, I believe that I am the best person to properly provide those experiences for my puppies (not other dogs or puppies) and give them the best exposure to life. I can monitor and control their behavior by rewarding them for things I want repeated and distracting them or removing them when there are unwanted behaviors.

Reason at 9 weeks of age

Some people have had or currently have dogs that have been dog aggressive or are just highly stimulated by the presences of dogs and they don't want to have the same situation happen with their new puppy. But by putting your puppy into a puppy play socialization class, doesn't guarantee that they will learn to deal better with dogs. They can still have a bad experience and still end up with fear issues. Most dog aggression is fear based and I believe that I can minimize and prevent fear issues with my own training and proper exposure to people, dogs, places, and various environments. Also I believe fear issues or behavior issues can be aggravated by the owner's reaction to how the puppy reacts to something and so I feel it is more important for me - as the puppy's leader - to build trust by controlling those situations as much as possible. Puppy play sessions are not controlled enough - at least for my own liking.

Score

I am also very careful to not let my puppies run with my older dogs (for the sake of them getting hurt, as their bodies and bones are not yet done growing). Even my adult dogs that are good with puppies are not allowed much time together with the puppy and when they are I am there supervising. Depending on the puppy and how much they are interested in the other dogs, I might start allowing them some time together outside to play, while I am watching. But by then, I know they have a reliable recall. If it appears that my young dogs are ignoring my commands to recall away from the activities or they are being too "doggie", they will lose their privileges. I do not want them to be practicing bad habits of ignoring me or my commands.

Tack and Reason on the bed
Teaser on the floor next to the xpen

I like to use an exercise pen (xpen) in the house and motels to keep my young dogs separate from my older dogs. This helps the adjustment between the young and old, helps me to be able to do things in the house and not have to worry about my pup getting into something they shouldn't, and also prevents the pup and the dogs from too much interaction at the start.

In the house or in the motels, I never let my dogs rough house or wrestle or run through the rooms. Many accidents happen indoors and usually when the dogs are tired and just running amok. My young dogs seem to get very active and tend to run wild the most around bedtime - usually 9:30. When they start running like that, they are removed and put back into their xpen. Almost immediately after being confined, they fall fast asleep. This running amok is very similar to what happens with the Border Collies when they are adolescents and are being worked on stock. If they are mentally exhausted (due to the difficult demands and tense pressure situations that stock training involves), they will start doing the same thing - running hard, but with very little thought. That is the time to quit as well.

Schema

As my puppy grows up, they are allowed more and more privileges and will be allowed gradual increased freedom. I am also quick to take away privileges and freedom I start to see behavior issues or changes. But my dogs spend most of their puppy hood and adolescent time in an xpen when I am not around or I am busy and unable to watch them. Lots of very good dog trainers struggle with young dogs getting into trouble chewing unwanted items, getting into unwanted areas, eating things they shouldn't eat, grabbing food off of counters and many other bad behaviors because the dog is not constantly supervised. I'm always surprised that performance people are resistant to using more confinement and structured separation with their dogs to minimize these unwanted situations. Because my puppies and adolescents are raised by being confined in an xpen when they are not being supervised, they learn to relax and when they are out they learn to interact with me or just hang out with me. They do not go off looking for trouble (if they do, they lose their privilege of freedom).

Score at 14 weeks

I love puppies and I thoroughly enjoy training, playing, and interacting with puppies. They are as bundles of pure energy and enthusiasm. They are empty pages of a future novel that we will write together as we share a very special journey.

If You've Never Failed, You've Never Lived

2010-10-27T15:17:00.000-05:00

Score Herding photos

2010-10-24T19:23:00.001-05:00

These photos were taken by Amy Johnson of Great Dane Photos. They are from a herding trial in the summer of 2009 where I was doing a lot of training and some trialing with Score. The photo series was taken at the pen and then after a successful shed.

Now that I'm back working Score on stock after having to take the summer off (due to Lyme disease treatment and complications), the season is coming to an end. I can look at these photos and dream of doing it again next year. I so missed working Score, as I just love the way I can set a line when he is driving and he will hold the sheep on that line. It's something that was very natural in him and I just didn't screw it up.

Images by GreatDanePhotos Copyright 2009 (www.greatdanephotos.com) used with permission.

Last weekend I was able to sneak an AKC A course trial in to see if he could handle some pressure (the arena courses really put pressure on the dogs because of the fence and the draws) and he handled himself really well up until he had to turn them across the field which is where he stopped listening. I was happy with his work up until then. The repen was really fun because the dog and handler had to work to get them into the pen.

Here is a video from that arena course:

Spring of 2011, I'll be back to regular herding training with Score and Schema. It's good for them and so challenging and enjoyable for me.

Gratitude

2010-10-06T17:46:00.000-05:00

Kathy Flynn sent me this lovely message"

"Carolyn Hax says, “Being negative is easy. There will always be a downside to everything good, a hurdle to everything desirable, a con to every pro. The real courage is in finding the good in what you have, the opportunities in every hurdle, the pros in every con.”

The opposite of this is also true! “Being positive is easy.” Don’t let the negative things get you down! You can overcome anything that you want to – you just need to want to! Make the decision and be positive. You know you can do it. When you do make the switch, you will see more gratitude flow into your life!"

Paul B. Taubman, II

And I found the video below, which relates to this same subject. There are endless inspirational quotes (I had to pause the video many times for some of them). I don't know how I could ever feel bad after watching it and listening to the music.

Why Talk About It?

2010-10-05T16:03:00.000-05:00

Here's a question for you. If you think you heard something said about a friend that is not nice and would upset them, what would you do? Would you interrupt the conversation and defend your friend? Would you say nothing and then go tell your friend? Or would you just ignore the conversation?

I know in my high school and college days, I felt the need to tell my friends what was said. I felt that they needed to know so they could defend themselves.

If I am really honest with myself as to why I used to want to tell my friends what I heard said about them - it was actually to bring about more attention to myself to someone that I felt was important in my life. Not really done to help my friend at all (since it only ends up hurting them more). Once I realized that it's just best to ignore negative things being said about others and to even try NOT to hear gossip that is being discussed, it really made me feel like I had more control of my life. I do not need to pass along "news" being discussed by someone that obviously has different intentions in life (or is in a different place right now than I am) in order for me to feel better. I do not need or require others to like me or respect me and I don't need to try and control others' discussions, even if they are about me or any of my friends. It's impossible to do, anyway and that is something that will only affect them. It only affects me, when I let it affect me - and that just makes me feel so much more in control of my life.

Passing along negativity only brings about more negativity and more hurt feelings. Life is not about "defending" what you feel is right. Live life like our beloved dogs do - they hold no grudges and do not defend anything they do - they just do what they feel is reinforcing and ignore anything that is uncomfortable until it goes away.

You gotta just love dogs!

Reason's Relatives

2010-08-17T22:52:00.000-05:00

In the past, I didn't think that Reason looked anything like either his dam, Static (bred by Edgar Gould) or his sire, Scheme (bred by Red Oliver). Here is a photo of Static (lower left) and Scheme (upper right). Scheme is also Score's sire and Score looks identical to his handsome Daddy.

When Reason's breeder, Jan DeMello went back to her home area in Massachusetts a few years back, she visited with her long time friend, Edgar Gould while she worked dogs and watched some of his dogs working. Edgar was no longer trialing, but he still had Static's sire, Craig and Jan sent me some photos of Craig working. I thought that Reason looked like his paternal grandfather, Craig.

What Reason inherited from both of his parents was their work ethic, intensity, and longevity in being able to perform. Static went to live with Sharon Ferguson when she was 7 years old. Jan knew that Static would excel in obedience and Sharon loved trialing in obedience. Static was an awesome obedience partner for Sharon - competing until she was over 13 years of age and achieving a UDX3. Static died when she was over 16 years of age after living a very full life of herding, obedience, and agility (never competed, but was trained on all the obstacles).

What prompted me to write this blog entry? Sharon Ferguson sent me a photo of Static heeling at the age of 11 years. When I looked at that photo, I couldn't believe how much she looked like Reason heeling. I remember watching Jan working Static in obedience when they lived in Indiana and Static was such a cute heeling dog. Now looking at the both of them, I can see that although he doesn't have her markings he does look more like Static than I thought.

Here is a photo of Static heeling with Sharon at 11 years of age:

Here is a photo of me heeling with Reason in Open B (where won the class and took HIT):

Here is photo of Static working stock:

Here is a photo of Reason working stock:

I can't keep Reason out of the water as he is an incredible swimmer and absolutely LOVES to dive off the dock at my parents lake home. He will retrieve the bumper tossed into the water, then swim back to shore and drop in on the dock as he runs up to the end and takes a leap back into the water waiting for the next round. Here is a photo of Static diving into a pool:

Static had an attitude about her. She was a control freak and wouldn't let any of the other dogs do what she felt was bothersome. Reason has that trait in him as well and along with that controlling air about him, he also inherited her trademark "smile". Reason uses this when he feels a dog is getting too close to him and he also puts on his best smile when there is a ball on the floor that someone is going to kick towards him.

Thanks Sharon for sending me that photo and thanks to Jan for blessing my life with such an amazing boy.

Cool Schema Photos

2010-08-11T21:33:00.000-05:00

I just love these photos of Schema that were taken by Kim Schaefer at the Tails In Motion USDAA trial last weekend. Thank you Kim for these wonderful action shots of my best girl, Schema.

MAC AKC Agility Trial

2010-07-20T18:53:00.000-05:00

I had a great weekend at the MAC AKC agility trials. Reason and Score ran in Excellent B while Schema ran in Open. Score double Q'd on Saturday and Reason double Q'd on Sunday. Schema had some great runs in Open, but we have some weave issues on the exits that need work.

Here are Score's runs for his Double Q on Saturday:

Here are Reason's runs for his Double Q on Sunday. Reason is my amazing 11 year young boy who I am thrilled to be still running in the 20" class:

Here is a great jumpers run by Score with one bar down:

And then my 2 year old baby dog, Schema. She is trying so hard and with her ground speed and her love of this game (and handling mistakes on my part) we are gradually coming together. Here is a great Open JWW run from Saturday - no mistakes on her part. I was late on one front cross (which SHE SAVED) and then I sent her off course on the next front cross. She is such a good girl:

Here is her Standard run on Sunday. A great start to this run with great contacts. But the weave entry was difficult because they were coming out of the chute at a 90 degree angle. When I redid her entry she stayed in until the last pole and popped it because of the a-frame contact ahead of her. I decided to go on and fix this later in training.

Drama Or Empowerment

2010-07-02T20:28:00.000-05:00

Lots of people on Facebook are talking about the "drama" at some of the trials they've been to recently. Drama can show it's face in many different ways. But here is an article by Jack Canfield that really sums it up for me. This was posted on Marlene Chism's "Stop Your Drama" blog. Click here to go to the link to the blog entry.

Who is responsible for your success at the trials (whether it be obedience, agility, herding, etc)? Well it is absolutely - 100% yours. I can't think of anything that could happen during a performance or related to a performance that wouldn't be your fault - either as a trainer, as a handler, or because of your own mental state.

It's when the failures at the trials are very disappointing or frustrating, that excuses and complaints can start to creep up and get in the way of making progress. "Someone distracted me.", "I didn't have time to walk the course.", "The steward took another dog out of order when I was ready.", "The judge made a terrible call or The judge was inconsistent with the scoring.", "The set out of the sheep was terrible on my run'.", "The sheep were too difficult to work.", "The judge ran us into the gate.", "The course was too difficult", etc.

These external factors are not the source of any issues that you had with your performance at the trial. The source of the problem is you and your own attitude. Sometimes you are extremely disappointed and embarrassed and it's just much easier to blame the dog, the judge, the equipment, the workers, the club members, etc than to take the ultimate responsibility and fix your own attitude. Yes, those external factors might have contributed to "the drama", but it was you that scripted it, cast it, selected the audience, and opened it up to the public.

There is ALWAYS a better way to look at something that is making you feel poorly or uncomfortable. The main thing to remember is that you can't change what happened. And trying to convince people that you were not successful because of outside circumstances is not going to make you feel any better or do anything to make a positive change. In fact, if you are really honest with yourself, it will actually make you feel worse as you gave it more energy and focus. Instead of doing that, make peace with it. Find a way to look at it differently. Let it inspire you to make changes. Take a step back and be honest with yourself. You don't need excuses when you are talking openly and honestly with yourself.

We are doing this mostly as a hobby - for fun and enjoyment. The dog's performance is just a reflection of our mental state of mind or our focus - good or bad. If you are complaining, justifying or making excuses, then there is a good chance that things will go wrong again and again. And, because you expect things to go wrong, you will continue down that uncomfortable path. That is because you have put too much focus on what is wrong and what can go wrong and why it usually goes wrong. As Jack Canfield says, "Blaming only ties up your energy".

However, if you are empowered by failures or unexpected performances or situations, then chances are much better that things will improve. Even if your performance takes a while to improve, if you don't lose sight of that inspiration to make changes, you will eventually improve...little by little. Many of the most successful people in this country have overcome greater obstacles that have repeated over and over and over again. They continued to remain empowered and focused on what they wanted and eventually they achieved it. One of my favorite videos is one of the Michael Jordan Nike commercials - for those of you that have been reading my blogs for awhile, you have probably already seen this - but if you haven't, you can click here.

What I have also found that helps my mental focus is surrounding myself with positive people - both at trials and away from trials.

So, I'll end this by quoting the Jack Canfield because he sums it up better than I could ever do:

___________________________________________

"Believe, Believe, Believe! Have unwavering faith in yourself, for good and bad. Make the decision to accept the fact that you create all your experiences. You will experience successes thanks to you, and you will experience pain, struggle, and strife thanks to you. Sounds a little strange, but accepting this level of responsibility is uniquely empowering. It means you can do, change, and be anything. Stumbling blocks become just that—little hills to hop over.

"Take no less than 100% responsibility. Successful people take full responsibility for the thoughts they think, the images they visualize, and the actions they take. They don’t waste their time and energy blaming and complaining. They evaluate their experiences and decide if they need to change them or not. They face the uncomfortable and take risks in order to create the life they want to live.

"Stop complaining. Look at what you are complaining about. ...Really examine your complaints. More than likely you can do something about them. They are not about other people, other things, or other events. They are about YOU.

"Make an immediate change. Are you unhappy about something that is happening right now? Make requests that will make it more desirable to you, or take the steps to change it yourself. Making a change might be uncomfortable for you. It might mean you have to put in more time, money, and effort. It might mean that someone gets upset about it, or makes you feel bad about your decision. It might be difficult to change or leave a situation, but staying put is your choice so why continue to complain?

You can either do something about it or not. It is your choice and you have responsibility for your choices.

"Pay attention. Looking to others for help and guidance is helpful, but don’t forget to stay tuned in to yourself—your behavior, attitude, and life experiences. Identify what’s working and what isn't. If you need to, write it all down. Then…

"Face the truth and take action for the long term. You have to be willing to change your behavior if you want a different outcome. You have to be willing to take the risks necessary to get what you want. If you’ve already taken an initial step in the right direction, now’s the time to plan additional steps to keep moving you forward, faster.

"Isn't it a great relief to know that you can make your life what you want it to be? Isn’t it wonderful that your successes do not depend on someone else?

"So if you need just one thing to do different today than you did yesterday, make it this:

"Commit to taking 100% responsibility for every aspect of your life. Decide to make changes, one step at a time. Once you start the process you’ll discover it’s much easier to get what you want by taking control of your thoughts, your visualizations, and your actions!"
___________________________________________

Inclusion, Diversity, and Appreciation

2010-06-27T22:14:00.002-05:00

Have you noticed that there are times where a few of your lifestyle habits start causing negative energy to grasp hold and interfere with your attitude? The goal in our lives should be all about finding happiness and joy. But do you find yourself occasionally noticing the opposite?

Ask yourself a few questions and be honest with yourself.

1) Can you approach someone that feels different from you (uses a different handling system, trains with someone else, comprehends and takes things in differently than you do, has a different personality, etc) and pay them a compliment? If you answered "No", then is it because they don't compliment you? Or do you justify not telling someone that they've done a good job because they train or do things differently than you do and they are successful?

2) Do you embrace and appreciate the different ways that people do things and "allow" them to be different?

3) Can you listen to a friend or another person "gossip" (what someone has done or what has happened to someone, someone's dog, someone's mistake, etc) and seriously not contribute to it by asking any more questions, not giving opinions or input, and just drop it and not let it go any further with any further thought?

4) Do you treat people the same in every situation? (in front of a crowd, among many people, alone with them, in a formal situation, in an informal setting)?

There was a time in my life where I wouldn't have been able to honestly answer these questions. I suspect if I had been asked, I would have answered them very differently and would not have admitted that I needed to change the way I approached life and the way I viewed others.

I was fooling myself in believing that I was living my life incorporating the Golden Rule. While I can honestly say that I've always been good at paying compliments to others, it's not easy to admit that there was an empty feeling or a feeling of jealousy during some of those compliments. At one time, it was very important to me to debate issues that I felt were "wrong" and argue the importance of doing things the way I had decided to do them. If people did things very differently than I did, it was worth trying to find fault with something in order to justify what I was doing. This was purely personal for me as it would make me feel better - surrounding myself with more "believers" or company - which would make me temporarily feel better or more powerful. Being popular is powerful in the mind of an insecure person as is being in the right company. It was important that I was respected and for people to know of my successes and experiences. The hardest thing for me to admit was the gossip. I would hear something from someone and feel the need to add fuel to the fire by contributing more negativity. Then I would think nothing of passing it along to anyone else that I felt might be impressed or who would listen. It was important for me to be "in the know" and if it elicited more negativity, it was worth passing along. I also regret the times that that I would "tease" (which is a kinder word than what I was really doing) a person in front of a crowd. I did this because it would temporarily make me feel better.

Interesting enough, while I might have felt better at the time by my treatment of others and while I might have felt at the time that I was a positive person (and I was in other ways), I was actually contributing more and more to my own negative energy. It took a long challenging/stressful event in my life that helped me make changes that have made me a better person.

What I know now is that I can honestly answer each of those questions with a very bold "Yes". I always treat people the same way - whether in a crowd or if I am alone with them. If it appears someone is treating me in a way that I know is different than they usually do, I know that it's not my problem and it's nothing personal towards me. It's just the sign of an insecure person who doesn't recognize that they are contributing to their own negative energy. I am very proud of the fact that I no longer gossip or pass along anything negative to others. I will listen politely, but not contribute and then I will let it go. I genuinely pay compliments to people with the sheer appreciation of what they have accomplished and without needing the compliment returned to me. I appreciate diversity in handling, different opinions, and I don't take things personally. I'm not perfect in any of these areas and I do still make mistakes, but I am quick to recognize it and it only makes me more determined to do better next time.

I believe in inclusion - not exclusion. I believe in diversity - not conformity. I believe it's important to appreciate others for what they are contributing to my experience - even if it's an opportunity to realize how not to behave. And sometimes when someone is really bothering me, if I am really honest it's something about that person that reminds me of something that I don't like in myself. I love differences of opinions because it creates change and gets open minded people thinking, and I appreciate and respect everyone's journey through life. We are all at different places in our lives and everyone is trying their best to improve and become a better person. The way to make your world and your life experience feel wonderful and more enjoyable as each day passes is to concentrate on making changes within you. That's the only way!

A Very Special Photo

2010-06-25T20:53:00.002-05:00

This photo is very special to me. It was taken at the St. Cloud AKC trial on Saturday, June 19th, 2010 by Deb Forstner. She was kind enough to send me a copy (both digital and paper). She said in her message (and I'm paraphrasing) that she lucked out in getting such a nice shot. What she didn't know was just HOW amazing this photo is and just what she captured. I am actually in the photo, but when I zoomed in and took a look at Reason jumping, I had to smile.

One year ago - June of 2009, I ran Reason at this same trial. What I didn't know at that time was that it was going to be the last time he would be able to do trials until mid January of 2010. About 2 weeks after that trial in 2009, I was doing a 2 jump practice session with Schema on serpentines and I tried it with Reason. Serpentine and turn to the right....serpentine and turn to the left. It was at that time that Reason cried and as I looked towards him, he was raising his right rear leg. I thought he had torn his cruciate ligament. When I looked closer at that leg, it wasn't painful. But the outer digit on that rear right foot was jammed/dislocated. I quickly pulled it back into place, he screamed and appeared fine. No lameness. That same thing happened again the next day when he was just turning on his own in the yard. The diagnosis at that time was that it was a torn ligament. He was on a tight supportive wrap for 4 weeks and extremely restricted leash walking. For at least 8 weeks after that, I gradually built up the strength in that leg with various exercises that were given to me by Lin Gelbmann (click here to read more about Lin). And he appeared to be doing well and I gradually had him jumping again. In October, he dislocated it again going through a tunnel by banking to the left.

I was devastated. Not because of him needing to be retired from agility, but because Reason is such an active dog - a do-er. He needs activity - a job. All these thoughts were going through my head as I tried to think about how I was going to prevent this from happening again. In early November I saw a specialist at the University of Minnesota (Elizabeth LaFond) and when she saw Reason's toe, she told me that it was moving in ways that it should not move. She gave me four options, one of which was amputate the toe. This option gave Reason the shortest recovery time - where he could be back to being a normal dog (well, normal Reason) the quickest. I made the decision to go that route and I was lucky that there was an opening the following Friday. So, on November 6th, the surgery was done and he came home the next day. Not a bit of lameness after the surgery. The procedure was a success and the incision healed beautifully.

There was no balance issues and after 3 weeks, I started to exercise and rehab that leg and foot again. As I started working him with exercises, I noticed that he was actually moving better and was more relaxed than before the surgery. The thought occurred to me that I might be able to do agility with him again. A few weeks later, I started to jump him at 16" and handled it wonderfully and he was SO happy. I was able to practice a few times on a dirt arena as well as the mats at TCOTC and he did great. In mid January, I entered him in his first AKC trial (the Malinois trial) and he was AMAZING! He actually placed 2nd in two of his classes - one was a jumpers class. I was so happy and he was even more happy.

He's been trialing since then - only at the AKC trials and I am very careful of the surface. I won't run him on any surface where he can not dig in.

So, why does that photo above so special to me? It had been one year since that last agility trial before that dislocated toe happened. In that photo, he is 3 days short of turning 11 years old - that in and of itself is amazing. But look closely at that right rear foot as he is turning over the double (on his way to the weaves, BTW :-)). You can see that he is flying over the jump without that toe.

Thank you Deb for this VERY special photo!!!

How could another year roll by...

2010-06-22T19:17:00.005-05:00

It seems just like yesterday, when I posted the video for Reason's 10th birthday (click here to watch it). Now another year has gone by and today he turned 11 years old.

I am truly blessed to have this incredible dog in my life. From the moment I first held him when he was a baby, I knew there was something special about him. Even at 11, he is always ready to do something. He's still competing in agility and running in his regular height division. He's in great shape physically and mentally and I cherish every time I lead out at the start line in agility with him.

So happy birthday Reason. Words can not express how much joy you bring into my life, just hanging out with you. You are my REASON for....well, for everything.

Peak Performance Words To Live By

2010-06-17T21:13:00.002-05:00

I love this quote by Abraham, Esther & Jerry Hicks

"Don't try to recreate peak experiences. Instead, just accept them as the gift that they are, and don't beat up on yourself for not being able to stay there. Because if you stayed there, they wouldn't be peak experiences. They would be normal, every day in time hum drum boring, experiences. So, savor the peak experiences and compliment yourself upon your achieving of them, and expect more of them, and leave everything else out of the equation. "

Training Addiction

2010-06-12T20:42:00.000-05:00

This is a question that I pondered recently while I was driving in my van. I absolutely love training dogs - even before I got involved in competing in dog sports, I was training animals. Before I had dogs, I had horses and I was just as passionate about training them. I have been training animals (horses, birds, dogs, cats, and anything else I could get my hands on) since I was 5 years old and my Dad bought me a Shetland Pony.

This question applies to all of dog sports - Why do we get so addicted to training our dogs?

I know for me, I thrive on variety, problem solving, and the challenge of continuing to improve in order to get better results. But that still doesn't answer the question as to why I am so passionate about the time I spend with them in training. For me, it goes much further than the training itself. The passion revolves around my desire to better my communication between each of my canine partners and the ultimate connection and bond that we develop as a team through the training sessions. There is nothing better than finding a path of communication in a way that inspires them to enjoy the games we play together. I find that training dogs grounds me and keeps me focused on what is right in this world.

I'd be interested in hearing from you on this subject, as well.

Schema is Two Years Old

2010-05-02T17:25:00.000-05:00

It's hard for me to believe that two years have already gone by and my baby girl has turned two years old. I remember when Reason and Score were her age and that seems like yesterday.

Schema has been the best match that I could have ever anticipated as she is dripping with drive and style. To say that she gives me goose bumps, when I work her is an understatement. Not only does she love to work, she also really tries to do it right (in Schema style).

Collage by Laurie Erickson

I could go on and on and bore everyone with written words, but I think I'll just leave you with this KICK ASS video that captures her personality. I somehow deleted the lovely heeling and circle work video clips from the video when I created it. But I still love the way it turned out and the song fits her perfectly.

Happy Birthday, Schema!

MACH Score

2010-01-17T20:06:00.009-06:00

What an amazing weekend of AKC Agility with my two wonderful boys, Reason & Score. The American Belgian Malinios Club AKC agility trials were held at Simon arena in Cannon Falls, MN (about 30 minutes south of St. Paul) in an equestrian center. This trial was the first AKC trial to be held in this arena and the ABMC went from a one ring trial to this three day, two ring trial with a wonderful judging panel. Thank you to both this club and the Golden Retriever clubs (next week trial at the same site) for taking a chance on moving their trials to this dirt arena. What a wonderful trial.

Reason made his comeback after having his toe amputated back in November and he put in some wonderful runs. Today, he even placed 3rd in Excellent Jumpers with a time that was .01 seconds from 2nd place. He is running better than he has run and nearly double Q'd today except that I mishandled him in two areas, which I was able to correct in Score's subsequent run.

Score went into this weekend needing one double Q to finish his MACH and he saved the suspense for the last day. He had a great jumpers run and was just .06 seconds behind Reason's run and just out of 4th place. Going into Standard, I knew what I had to do to get him through that course clean - one was that I HAD to get a front cross (and not a rear cross) in before the second to the last jump, which was a wingless jump right after the chute. Score has some challenges coming out of tunnels and chutes seeing things fast enough and I was not as confident using a rear cross there as I felt he would probably drive to the wing jump, which was the last jump.

Since I was able to get that front cross in with Reason, I knew I could get it with Score. But it was very close. When he went over that last bar, the crowd broke out in excitement which really touched me. Score was so funny because when I was trying to do a quick lap with him, he wouldn't give up his leash and wanted me to tug. I got him to drop it and threw it off, but he went to grab it again. I finally convinced him to run with me one more time.

Here is Score's MACH run. Thanks to Mark O'Sell for videotaping along with the wonderful comments and keeping the camera running before and after the run.

Schema Agility Update

2010-01-03T18:16:00.004-06:00

What can I say...I just love this little girl, Schema, who just turned 20 months yesterday. She has everything I want in a dog - she's driven, biddable, athletic, focused when she's working with me, and just such a sweet heart. I just can't say enough good things about her. She runs agility and does obedience like her uncle Reason. I just love working with her and we've come a long way these last few months as we're just starting to put it all together.

Schema has great skills and a great foundation. I've balanced a good deal of impulse control exercises along with drive. Until just recently (late November) she had done very little sequencing of obstacles. I had never had her in any class or even had her out in public working obstacles. I worked alone and worked on lots of skills. When I was in a public setting with more distractions, I would work basic circle work, stays, positions/lineups, etc. Just keeping her busy and focused - yet always pushing her to be able to handle more "work" in public.

Within the last couple of months, she has really turned it up a notch and she is starting to show me that she is ready to start entering some trials (which means that March will probably be her AKC debut). Next weekend, I have her entered in one USDAA class per day (Gamblers one day, Jumpers the next) in a local one ring trial. This will be a good test as to whether I feel she is ready to start trialing.

Here is a video of a run through at On The Run Canine Center today. I was very happy with her work, but confused as to why she kept missing her weave entries. She has great entries and I proof her and test her constantly on them to make her think. However, after doing those first two run throughs and looking back to the video, I realize that the blue cone that numbered the course at the entrance to the weaves on that side, was distracting her and caused her to repeatedly miss her entries. It was a great thing to find another opportunity to proof her weaves more in training by putting distractions at the entrance. I've done that by putting distractions along the weaves to get her to pop out, but never at the entrance.

I love her contacts - especially the dog walk. In the first video, she was a bit hesitant going over the top of the dog walk in the first run. But in the next run, she was close to being back to her normal speed over the top. What I love most about her dog walk is her speed as she powers the downside of that contact.

Here is the video of Schema's first run:

Here is the video of her second run:
(with only one dog between our runs - we were both exhausted):

Reflecting Forward

2009-12-31T22:02:00.001-06:00

I'm typically not a person that likes to look back at the past. I think I got this trait from my Dad, (John Gagliardi) who has been successfully coaching college football for 61 years and is the winningest college football coach of all time. He has always claimed the reason why he has survived for so long is because he primarily looks ahead - towards preparing for the next game.

So here we are on the brink of a new and exciting year, 2010. The year, 2009 has nearly passed and as I sit here I want to "reflect forward" instead of looking back over the year. I have always been historically challenged in that I really never enjoyed the subject in school and don't enjoy reading or hearing about documented events of the past. I tend to have difficulties in recalling supposedly important events in my life and when they happened. I guess I am more of a dreamer, a planner, and a doer

This next year is going to be different for me because I have chosen to change the way I think about things. I acknowledge that there are going to be good times and not so good times, but I am going to embrace the not so good times as well as enjoying the good times. It is always those not so good times that force the changes in me for the better. I love to challenge my dogs with their training skills, by pushing them to fail in order that they can learn how to be successful. I am planning on doing the same thing for myself as I push myself forward into areas that can and will cause discomfort, inconvenience, and less of the same thing. Doing much of the same thing because it is convenient, comfortable, and/or easy doesn't bring success and satisfaction into life. Taking myself out of the comfort zone will force uncomfortable changes that eventually create results. I am going to embrace changes that are not easy and will push me in a new direction. Then all I have to do is trust my instincts.

As I reflect forward, I can feel the excitement and the new beginnings just around the corner. I know that the past has nothing to do with my resolutions for the future. The past has only gotten me to this point in my life and I'm glad I'm here. I enjoy making changes to the way I look at life with the ultimate goal of feeling the same natural joy that my dogs feel every day of their lives. So with my personal resolutions for 2010, my focus will be on very specific results. Results are everything. Results make a person feel good about themselves as they give purpose. My driving force will be making myself accountable for the specific commitments that I've made for this next year - no excuses. To do this, I need to change the way I think, change what I say (even when no one is around), and change what I do.

It's all about change. Not changing is easy, but it doesn't bring fulfillment and ultimate success. My goals and resolutions have nothing to do with training dogs and competing, as I feel I have a very good handle in that area of my life. My goals are specific personal goals that are the foundation skills of my life, which (like dog training foundation skills) positively affect everything else in life.

Happy New Year!

Happiness and Appreciation

2009-12-25T13:33:00.011-06:00

This was going to be my topic for today as I have been thinking about this a lot lately. However, Susan Garrett just blew me away with her words on her own blog with the same general topic.

So, since she said it better than I could say it, I'll just point you to her blog entry "What Are You Seeking?".

Merry Christmas to each and every one of you!

Edward Gal's Masterclass Video

2009-12-23T16:45:00.000-06:00

The amazing rider, Edward Gal has had some record breaking rides with his horses in dressage the past few years. There are so many parallels between training horses and training dogs. This video, while it is 25 minutes long, is jam packed with training advice which is similar to training dogs. If you come from a horse background, you already understand how much there is in common and for those that ride (or rode), there is a "feel" of rhythm and tempo between the rider and the horse.

In the video Edward talks about the importance of control and reacting to what the horse is doing to get that control and keep the horse in tempo. He is constantly balancing the training session with control when the horse wants to run or move faster and out of tempo. When he feels the horse is anticipating a move, even if he was going to do that particular maneuver, he will do something else to ensure that they are still in balance. I love all the analogies between training the horses and training dogs and how he is constantly working on the foundation pieces of each exercise and not going further until the bottom brick of that maneuver has been laid.

My very favorite quote in the video, applies to dog training is this: "When you lose control, you don't have anything.".

Enjoy!

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Placement Of Rewards

2009-12-21T22:22:00.005-06:00

One of the common discussions I have with my students is the proper placement of rewards. They are, of course, very used to hearing me encouraging them to reward in a certain place and a certain way and they do a great job applying the concept. However, when I observe trainers that have described a problem between their ring performance and their training sessions, very few of them are rewarding the dog with food (or toys) at the proper time and in the correct place to help communicate exactly what is wanted at the time.

This happens especially often during heeling or during fronts and finishes in obedience and in agility it happens with start line stays, contacts and weaves. The food or toy is giving totally out of the context and most of the time what is rewarded is the release of that position or something totally different than what is wanted. In obedience exercises, the trainer many times incorrectly rewards the end of the exercise - not the exercise itself. What happens is that the trainer gets so excited about the progress, that they throw a party with tons of praise and release the dog from that position while mindlessly giving the dog the reward for what happened moments ago. The dog never associates the previous behavior with that reward.

It's important for the dog to "feel" the desired behavior and to be rewarded in that position. If you are working on a position (down, sit, 2o2o on contacts, etc) let the dog be in that position for a short period of time while you reward them with food or with a game of tug for 2o2o on contacts. Don't let them release from position just because you are rewarding them (another training issue that confuses dogs and probably another future topic).

So, because many obedience exhibitors train with food (incorrectly) and trial without food and see that their ring performances are horribly different than their training sessions, they think that they need to eliminate the food completely so that the dog gets used to not having food. That will only continue to confuse and stress the dogs because there will no longer by any pay for training and there has not been enough association between the rewards and the required performance in order to get a consistent happy performance. Without rewards, performances become lack luster, slow, robotic, and unenthusiastic by the dog. Most people want a happy dog in the obedience and the agility ring. They don't want slow and unenthusiastic performances because those lead to lots of mistakes, and nonqualifying performances. Games, rewards, and breaking down the exercises into core/foundation issues are very important to success. Many times once the foundation issue is identified and worked, rewarded, proofed, and polished many of the other problems go away.

Classical conditioning is a very powerful tool to use while teaching obedience exercises, like heeling, fronts, finishes as well as all agility obstacles. It associates a very positive experience with certain positions as well as certain behaviors. If the placement of the reward is not correct, then the dog never truly understands what the trainer is trying to communicate. The dog only knows that their trainer is sincerely happy and get a cookie or a toy away from what just happened. If your placement of reward is not correct, then you most definitely will not have the performance that you want in obedience or in agility. Your training sessions will always be different than your ring performances because you have not properly associated what you want in the various core/foundation behaviors with proper rewards.

Here is an analogy I have used with my students that seems to make the most sense for them. When you get a new puppy, they initially do not like their crate. How to you crate train a puppy? You use classical conditioning with lots and lots of rewards and positive associations with the crate. Puppy goes in the crate, you throw a treat in there. Simple, right? You would not make any positive association with that crate if you got the puppy to go into the crate and then only gave them food when they came out. You wouldn't send the puppy in the crate, then have a party and let them come out for a treat. The puppy would not positively associate the crate with something good and they would quickly learn that if they go into the crate and then come out, they are rewarded. They would not want to stay in the crate.

Once dogs have a positive association with a position, behavior, or any execution of an obstacle, then it's time to try and proof it by SERIOUSLY trying to get them to fail. Making a game out of making mistakes and getting the dog to problem solve will do wonders for your ring performances in obedience and agility as well as your confidence in the dog. If you are too quick to make things easy when the dog makes a mistake or the dog reacts to failing you are not helping them. In fact, they are actually training you to help them so they CAN be rewarded. Most trainers don't go through enough steps to let their dogs think and problem solve enough in order to be an team partner. What usually happens is that trainers try to hard to control the dog as well as handle the exercises/obstacles and that is WAY more work than you really need to do. If you teach the dog his/her responsibility by allowing them to make mistakes without constantly intervening to help them, they will eventually learn their responsibility and then all you have to do is handle. Handling is SO much easier when you don't have to control the dog, too.

Next time you are training an exercise, and obstacle, or a sequence of obstacles, pay attention to what you are rewarding and when you are rewarding. It's fine to play with your dog between exercises or obstacles, but make sure that they have been rewarded many times in the proper place in order to ensure that they are associating it with what is wanted.

Christmas Letters - A Mockery

2009-12-20T11:21:00.003-06:00

I have always wanted to write one of those clever Christmas letters to send along to all my friends and family. However, I never get around to it as it is hard enough for me to get cards out on time each year.

I always look forward to reading my sister, Gina's annual Christmas letter each year. Gina is a elementary school teacher, who is taking a break to raise her very active and large family. Each year I think she can't possibly come up with another letter so cleverly done - but each and every year I get a new version with a different theme as she makes a mockery of Christmas letters.

Here is her 2009 Christmas letter:

Joey is a frosh at SJU and has already completed his physics major in his first semester. He will get his math major in the 2nd semester and then choose a 3rd major sophomore year. He won Homecoming kind, valedictorian and most intelligent, best looking and most amazing kid on campus.

Johnny is a junior at Becker and took the ACT test Dec 12th. Of course he aced it, getting a perfect score. He completed the 5-hour test in 20 minutes which was amazing since he took the Chinese version just to challenge himself. He also won best looking kid taking the test.

Tommy is a freshman at Becker and has always loved to shoot baskets. On his basketball team he is 100% shooting from all over the court. He hasn't missed a free throw, a 2-point shot and has already made 90 points on just his 3-point shots...in only the first 2 games. (Last game he played blindfolded and was still dropping shots from all over the court.) He is also the best looking kid in the conference.

Robbie is in 6th grade and is already taller than 2 of his older 3 brothers and is about a 1/2 inch from the last. He loves baseball, football, and basketball and while he is the star of all his teams he seems to be best at baseball. He hit 1.000 again this season as he has since T-ball. Every at bat...Robbie hits a homerun, every batter he pitches to...he strikes out. He is also the best looking kid on all his teams.

Kari is in 4th grade and plays all her sports like she is used to playing with 5 brothers. She is the smartest kid in her school and also had a perfect ACT test. She took the Spanish version and it was in Braille. She used her toes and completed the test in less than an hour. She hit 100% in softball and has not missed a shot in basketball yet this season. Oh, and she is the best looking kid in her school.

Jimmy is in 2nd grade and proves that often God saves the best for last. He was the best flag football player in the league, best baseball player in the state and even though he isn't old enough to play basketball yet, we are sure he is the best at that as well. He is the best looking Benson which is an amazing thing since all the Benson kids are so phenomenally good looking.

So again our kids are better than all of your kids in every way. Enjoy your normal children at Christmas and keep them aiming high by shoing them what they can attain if they strive to be like the Benson children.

Merry Christmas and see you on Facebook.
Gina and Jeff Benson

He's Back!!

2009-12-18T21:55:00.001-06:00

Reason, that is...

Reason has been on the injured reserve list since mid August with what we thought was a torn ligament in his right rear toe (the outside/non weight bearing toe). He was rested and had that foot and toe stabilized in a thick wrap and he was on leash and restricted activity for 8 weeks. After another incident where he dislocated that toe in mid October, I got an appointment with Dr. Liz LaFond, who is an orthopedic vet and a surgical specialist at the University of Minnesota Veterinary Hospital. When she looked at that toe she immediately told me that it was unstable and was moving in ways that it should not move. She felt that if nothing was done that Reason would continue to jam that toe and dislocate it - even in normal day to day activities if he would suddenly turn to the left, he could do that.The quickest and most effective option for his situation was to amputate that toe. So, on October 23rd, that toe was amputated.

It was amazing in that he was never lame or gimpy on that foot after the toe was removed. He adjusted immediately to his situation. He got back to help me with sheep chores after four weeks of rest and then I gradually building up the strength in that foot and ensuring that he was using it.

Last night for the first time since July, Reason ran a standard course and handled himself fine. I am actually getting more and more confident myself that he is going to be fine.

I am enjoying our training sessions again - working on the little things. And I look forward to our training and trials we have planned for 2010. Reason is my heart and soul...I love this dog more than words can express. There is nothing better than seeing him smile again because he can run and TURN again.

Failure - It's What You Make Of It

2009-12-10T20:47:00.001-06:00

I just love Nike's "Failure" video with Michael Jordan. It's a reminder of how important "failure" is in our life, when it's used to inspire change.

It's also demonstrates how there are two different ways of looking at things - dwelling on failures or finding a way to be successful due to failure.

Own It And Then Let It Go

2009-12-02T12:11:00.001-06:00

The black moment is the moment when the real message of transformation is going to come. At the darkest moment comes the light. --Joseph Campbell

There are times in life where something comes up that causes me to feel negativity (sadness, anger, fear, uncertainty, skepticism, etc). I've gotten better over the years in dealing with these negative emotions and recognizing their value in my life (yes, negative emotions do have value). I can recognize these indicators quickly because of the immediately change in my emotions. What these feelings tell me is that there is an opportunity for me to make a shift and to improve my situation. Each shift and expansion I make, causes me to love my life even more and isn't that what it's all about?

So when life presents those challenges and I look at them and feel negative emotions, I challenge myself to come to terms with them as best as I can - some are easy and others take more effort. I try to look at them differently - and know that it's okay to feel those negative emotions. They are the indicators that there is something that needs addressing in my life. It's not anyone else's issue nor is it my task in life to change people for the sole purpose of making me feel better. I own those negative emotions and they are my own wonderful insights. Once I make the mental shift that everyone is doing the best they can (including me) and I focus on things that bring me joy, I then realize that there is no one or anything in this world that is responsible for making me feel bad - it's my own doing.

Pushing those feeling away, suppressing them, or even defending and justifying them won't help me feel any better. Recognizing those feelings, allowing them, and then making peace with those emotions will always make me feel better. When I realize that I own the issue that caused me to pay attention to it, I can frame my emotions in a way that allows me to just let it go.

There are so many wonderful people (friends and family) in my life - and I'm surrounded by my simply amazing dogs that continue to help me remain grounded. When I am having the most difficulty making peace with where I am in life, I only have to look into my dogs' eyes.

Then I see just how perfect life really can be, if I just look at it differently.

The Optimist's Creed

2009-11-29T23:23:00.002-06:00

One of my favorite bloggers, Loretta Mueller (who has been much better about keeping up with her writing all summer long than I have) wrote a wonderful entry in her blog today about keeping a positive attitude and the importance of friends. The motivational poem that she included, by Christian D. Larson, reminded me of a wonderful message I had saved a couple of years ago. When I went to review it because the message is just so powerful for me, I was stunned that the author was the same one that Loretta included in today's blog entry. I have copies of this powerful message posted around the house to remind me of what I believe is most important in life. It had faded into the background for me and I had not read it recently. Here is a copy of the message as well as a wonderful video of that same creed:

I Promise Myself

To be so strong that nothing can disturb my peace of mind.

To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person I meet.

To make all my friends feel that there is something worthwhile in them.

To look at the sunny side of everything and make my optimism come true.

To think only of the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best.

To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as I am about my own.

To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.

To wear a cheerful expression at all times and give a smile to every living creature I meet.

To give so much time to improving myself that I have no time to criticize others.

To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

To think well of myself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud word, but in great deeds.

To live in the faith that the whole world is on my side, so long as I am true to the best that is in me.

Christian D. Larson

If you want a printable copy of this, click here.

To see a wonderful video of this same message:

Catching Up

2009-11-29T23:03:00.000-06:00

It's been ages since I've updated my blog. I've been doing lots of training and haven't really had the time or desire to sit down on the computer and put my thoughts down. Now that winter is fast approaching, I hope to be doing more writing. And as I look at my favorite blogs out there, I'm not the only one that has take a bit of a break in writing. I think it's good for the soul, to take a break sometimes.

GoD and DoG

2009-08-14T11:17:00.003-05:00

There's not much more I can add to this video. I've watched many videos over time and have been touched by a great many of them. But this one really hits home for me. Enjoy it:

Reason - The First Ten Years

2009-06-22T06:56:00.003-05:00

"Each friend represents a world in us, a world not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born." Anais Nin

Reason came into my life on June 22nd, 1999 and has been a source of joy and inspiration for me throughout the years. It's hard to believe that ten years can pass so quickly, but they did. Time flies when you're having fun.

Happy Birthday Reason! Here's hoping our journey continues for many years to come.

Also Happy Birthday to Reason's littermates, Surf, Quip, Summit, Storm, Splice, & Cinch.

Test Driving the Weaves

2009-06-19T16:29:00.002-05:00

I've been meaning to update the blog with Reason's weave entry results from last weekend's trial. We had a two day local AKC agility trial here in Minnesota and it's been a couple weeks since I started Reason's weave retraining with Susan Garrett's 2x2 method. I realized that it was a very short time between our retraining and the real thing, but I've also seen a huge improvement in Reason's thoughfulness as well as true understanding of entries as I have been doing a lot of proofing and pushing in our twice a day training sessions. During these sessions, I usually use only four or six weave poles to minimize all the weaving he is doing during the week in these sessions (afterall, he will be 10 years old on Monday).

I can't tell you how pleased I was with his weave entry performances during those four classes. The grass in the rings was very dry from the extreme lack of rain we have had this spring (and from the use of it for trials and classes) and it was quite slippery for the dogs and that added to the complexity of the weave entries.

Reason succeeded with three out of the four weave entries and he never jammed his right shoulder onto the second pole as he had previously done. Since he has a history of many years of driving hard into the weaves, I knew that I was never going to change the fact that he doesn't slow down and collect himself. But as I watched the videos from the trials and stepped through the frames on his entries, he has definitely made a change in that he is ever so slightly rocking back as he enters. He is making his own physical changes becaue of his mental changes as he figures this out for himself. And that is a huge step in the right direction.

The one entry that he missed was a very difficult entry - and the slippery grass only added to it. It was a very fast start from the double to the Aframe and then over a wing jump to the weaves. That wing jump blocked the view of the weaves and Reason drove very hard over that jump, which carried his momentum to the left side of the weaves. He had to drive hard to the right to get to the poles and by then, he was past the first pole and entered incorrectly.

This incorrect entry led me to a lot of very creative exercises this week trying to drive Reason hard past that first pole on the left side of the weaves to get him to have to work hard to pull back to the right to get the entry.

I know that if I would not have done the retraining with the 2x2 method, that Reason would have probably missed three out of those four entries and possibly all of them, due to the slippery surface. For those that he actually made, he probably would have still slammed his shoulder hard into the second pole.

I made a short video of Reason's weave entries from this past weekend. Good luck to all of you that get to go to the ACTS USDAA trial this coming weekend. I wish I could be in two places at the same time as there is local herding trial that we will be competing in this weekend.

Here's the video of Reason's weaves (thanks Jacque for video taping us).

Reason and Schema's 2x2 Training continues

2009-06-12T20:47:00.003-05:00

I'm making great progress with both Reason and Schema in their 2x2 weave training. And to top it off, it's been very rewarding for me.

Schema is now at stage 7 (2 sets of poles, 4 feet apart, poles at 1 o'clock and 7 o' clock). In her first session today (June 12th), she was making a lot of mistakes and it was taking too much time, and I ran out of battery on my camera. So, there is only video of Reason from the morning session. Schema had another session later on this evening and it went incredibly well - missing only a few and figuring out immediately on the second attempt how to be successful. My throws are getting better for her, as I'm starting to be able to read her better and I have a clear marker on the ground (I have to have something on the ground - I don't seem to be able to hit the "line" if it's a marker, like a tree or an object that's not on the ground). I just love this little girl - everything about her continues to amaze me. With Reason, I have been proofing his entries by gradually adding more distance, speed, drive, and now an occasional jump. He is at 6 pole (3 sets of the 2). In the video, I didn't have enough stakes for the poles, so the last set of 2 poles were moving a bit after each of his attempts. I am really trying to test his self control at the entries and this morning I was able to get him to fail twice (he was able to get the entry successfully on his second attempt). Two weeks ago, he would have never been successful at any of these entries - even if he was closer to the weaves and without as much speed. This is definitely a work in progress, but now I feel I have the tools and the communication with him, to help him continue to improve.

Reason can see weave entries!!!

2009-06-07T21:53:00.006-05:00

Reason

I am just so thrilled with the change that I'm seeing in Reason as he is progressing in with his 2x2 weave sessions. I have been diligently doing 2 or 3 sessions a day and working him on very difficult entries. I videotaped a session this morning and he missed on entry from the left side of the weaves where he actually wrapped the first and second pole. In the past, he would have never even tried to wrap that pole. And he even succeeded on the second attempt at that angle. He is consistently getting very difficult entries from the right where he has to collect himself and get around the second pole. I added a little more drive and distance into this session and he still understood what he was doing.

In session that I did later on in the day, I added even more distance and drive and I could not get him to fail. I think it's time to move on and challenge him more, so I need to review the DVD and the transcript to see what is next.

Schema

So, in Schema's session, I've been struggling with the throw and I am late, many times which causes her to turn her head back at me. I'm late because it's been harder for me to react to her mistakes or successes with only two poles. In some of the sessions that I don't have on video, I ended up rewarding her for going around both poles instead of wrapping the first pole. I'm improving gradually, but it will continue to get better as I learn how to read her better. I am confident that both of us will improve.

Reason and Schema - 2x2 Training

2009-06-05T17:57:00.002-05:00

I'm having so much fun training (and in Reason's case, retraining) the weaves with Susan Garrett's 2x2 method of training. In particular, I am just thrilled with Reason's progress. He is now at the 4 poles in a straight line stage. Yesterday he was making mistakes a various places in the entry arc outside of the low challenge area. Today, when I videotaped our session, he was 100% accurate.

Here is a video of our session today. Don't you just love his face when he is waiting for me to send him to his 'beloved' weaves? That is the same face that I see at when I am sending him from my side on an outrun to pick up sheep, at the start line in an agility trial, and on retrieves (gloves, articles, and the dumbbell) in obedience. I LOVE that expression as he reminds me to enjoy life.

And then there is Schema...I am finding it so much easier to toss the toy to Reason because I can read him better. Knowing that Schema is going to miss her entries more often, I am very late in throwing the toy and it's not always hitting the reward line. Both she and I will improve as we go through this process.

Can an old dog learn new weave entries?

2009-06-04T22:39:00.006-05:00

After watching Susan Garrett's "2x2 Weave Training - 12 poles in 12 days" DVD and following the discussions and questions on her blog, I have long planned on using this method to teach Schema her weaves. It was just a matter of waiting for the right time during the summer months when the training could be done outdoors.

Photo by Amy Johnson, Great Dane Photo

At the same time, I've been thinking about Reason and the issues he has had over the years with weave poles. He is absolutely crazy about weave poles - to the point where they cause more off courses (or at least draw him enough to cause a refusal) than any other obstacle. When he runs into the agility field, he seeks the weave poles out and will stand or lay down near them as I set something up. When he knows that I am going to send him to the weaves, his eyes glaze over in anticipation. Once he is in the weaves, he powers through them. But the problem is and always has been - the entry.

Looking back at many of his runs from over the years, Reason, has had many errors on weave entrances. He powers into the weaves without slowing down and slams his right side into the second pole. While he tries to hang on and then wrap around that pole (and many times he is successful doing that), there are many times that the force and speed is so great that he ends up skipping the third pole. This is worse if there is a very speedy sequence prior to the weaves or if he is entering the weaves from the right side and at close to 90 degrees. With Reason's tenth birthday approaching in less than ten days and with him still in great physical shape, I want to keep his body from this type of obvious stress. The other weave issue for him is when he has to make the entrance from the left side of the weaves and wrap the first pole. I've know for a very long time that Reason's weave entries were not good, but I never realized how little he knew about these entries until I actually tested him on them a few days ago. I decided to set up a simple set of 4 poles to test his entrances. If you imagine the first pole at the center of the clock and the fourth pole at 12 o'clock, Reason could make the entry ONLY if he started anywhere between 7 o'clock and 4 o'clock. He was much better on the 6-4 o'clock range and he started to get less accurate between 6 and 7 o'clock. The more distance I added and the more speed he got, the more mistakes he made - even in this small and very easy range. If I moved to 8 o'clock, I could see that Reason was not "seeing" the entrance. He had that glazed over look and was just looking at the weaves as a whole. When I would send him into the poles, he would just go into them on the left side (wrong side) between the first and second poles, instead of wrapping the first pole and entering on the right side.

So, I have been pondering these last few days as I get ready to start Schema's 2x2 weave training. I have some time off between trials with Reason. Should I just give it a try and see if I can retrain his weave entrances with this method? Well, it certainly isn't going to hurt anything. And it could only help him see things more clearly. So, the training began a few days ago with both dogs. But first with Reason and 2 poles. I knew that I could skip the first 2 steps because the value of these poles is HUGE with Reason. So we started at Stage 3 - with the 2 poles at 2/8 o'clock. I already knew where his mistakes would start to happen. But what I didn't expect was his high failure rate without being able to figure out the solution. I give this dog credit as he definitely kept trying, but he continued to fail over and over without figuring it out. I had to finally make it easier and go from there. It was after this first session that I felt pretty sad about how difficult these entries are for an obstacle that he loves so much. So after a fairly high rate of failure, during the first session I made the second session more successful. I stayed within the low challenge area and he had a better success rate during that session. With the third session, we started in the low challenge area to set the reward line and stayed there for about 5 successful entries in various places in that area. Then I started moving outside of that area and into the more difficult entries on what would be the left side of the poles (which would involve a wrap around the first pole to make the entry) and he started to make mistakes. I marked the mistake and this time the difference was that when he came back and retried it, he got it the second time. This was a HUGE change in his mental state to be able to focus on the task of finding his entry. I tried one more place on the high challenge area on that same side of the poles and he missed it again, but - again - on the second attempt, he figured it out. I then switched to the other side of the poles so we were starting on the left side in the high challenge area and he got that entry the first time. The second high challenge entry on that side was deeper and he made that one as well. I felt pretty good about his progress after this third session with Reason. So, I'm actually having a lot of fun reteaching weave entries to Reason and at the same time starting Schema from the ground up. Even early in the process, I'm seeing fairly impressive changes in Reason's ability to see the weave entry. While I'm not sure where this project will take us, I know that it is long overdo and it will be something that we can continue to work on and have fun with over the next few months. Here is a video of Reason missing out on a double Q because of missing the weave entrance after a fast sequence. He couldn't hang onto the entry. You can't see the crash into the second pole (because of the ceiling posts in this room), but you can see the weave poles getting pulled up from the hard hit (and they were taped down extremely well - I taped them as a course builder). This kind of pounding on a dog can't be good for them.

The Golden Rule

2009-05-21T11:36:00.001-05:00

Have you ever heard of "The Golden Rule" otherwise known as "Ethic of reciprocity"?

I've come to know the dog community as family. There are tightly knit agility, obedience, herding, and other dog sports families (local & statewide, regional, and national). It's never a surprise to me when that community comes together to help, to support, to celebrate, or to show that we care. When it is needed, there are people that organize ads and parties, teach classes,re-homes dogs that need special care, cook, clean, help take care of family & dogs, and other examples - too many to mention.

But what about the times between celebrating successes and supporting someone's challenges in life (loss, health, etc)? How do you treat the people you come in contact during a typical trial or training class in your favorite dog sport? Do you intentionally withhold compliments from someone's performance just because you don't like them, because your opinions differ on some subject, because they are having lots of success and you are jealous, or just because they have never spoken to you or give compliments to you? Do you criticize someone because of the way their dog is trained or how they handle a particular sequence? Do you secretly feel good when someone else fails or has a bad run because of some disagreement you have with that person?

My Dad has always stressed following the Golden Rule. He has been very successful in raising some pretty talented and well adjusted kids (if I humbly do say so myself) as well as coaching some very talented teams to become the winningest college football coach. He has always stressed that you don't need any rules, except the Golden Rule (see page 74 of _No-How Coaching_ by Jim Collison).

The Golden Rule has been described in slightly different ways, depending on the religion or culture, but basically it states that you should treat others the way they would want to be treated.

When you simplify your life and try to focus on what is good, it is easy to train yourself to treat others with respect, to be friendly and courteous even under trying situations, and to overcome prejudice. But if you find yourself in a world of negativity, excuses, time constraints, lack of patience, and stress, it's easy to find temporary feelings of power and gratification when you criticize, laugh/joke at a person's differences or point out their failures.

There were times in the past where I deviated from the one rule in life that now keeps me grounded. While it used to take constant readjustment of my mental outlook, it's becoming easier for me to pay attention to the great things that people are doing. Even if I witness something that I don't like, I can still find a way to quickly draw something positive from it (if I know what I don't want, I most certainly know what I do want) and then focus on that.

The amazing thing about living the "Golden Rule" is that it brings more happiness and joy into your own life - as well as bringing joy into others.

Sometimes in the winds of change, we find our true direction

2009-05-14T21:21:00.000-05:00

Last weekend at the agility trials, there were a few conversations about the difficult times - losing jobs, financial adjustments and juggling in order to be able to do some of the things we still enjoy.

I lost my corporate job in 2002 as a senior software engineer after I took a chance and left my job of 20+ years to join a small start up company in the telecommunications industry. I had always been a valued hard working employee, so the news that my job was being cut (along with many others) felt like my world had collapsed at the time. But the tears and the major adjustment passed quickly as I felt a little better about the change as each day passed. I was sleeping 8-10 hours every night and getting up refreshed in the morning. I didn't want to admit to myself at the time that I actually felt relief and even joyful not having to be anywhere that I didn't want to be each day.

My previous employer hired me as a part time contractor, working 3 days a week. So, I had Mondays and Fridays off and instead of working 10-12 hour days on a salary, I worked 8 hour days on an hourly rate. I started a small dog training business, Endzone Dog Sports, Inc., giving private obedience training lessons and some herding lessons during the daytime to help pay for my dog expenses and entry fees. After a little over a year of contracting, I decided to take a break from software development and focus on what makes me happy - training dogs training people to train dogs. And I've never looked back.

Although, I no longer do herding lessons (I didn't want to keep the extra dog broke sheep that were useful in teaching new people & dogs herding), I love the obedience lessons that I do each week. My students are incredible teachers for me as they allow me to find creative ways for the dogs to learn various skills. When students don't understand something I've described or they have questions concerning the details, they ask for clarification and that helps me to continue to develop better ways of describing the process. I love challenges in training and even more so, I love it when a student decides to put their trust in me to help them with a handling or training issues.

So, I just want to thank all the devoted students and friends that have been training with me - some just a short time and some for a very long time. You guys have kept the wind in my sails and I can't even begin to tell you how much I enjoy working with each and every one of you and your wonderful dogs.

Can It Get Any Better?

2009-04-26T19:02:00.012-05:00

Last weekend (April 18th & 19th) Reason was running in an AKC herding trial in Advanced B sheep. The sheep were hard to pen and many experienced dogs and handlers weren't getting the five Katahdins into the free standing pen. On Saturday, we didn't get any further than the pen because I rushed the process and got them circling the pen and decided to retire our run. But on Sunday, it felt like I spent almost the entire 10 minutes at the pen - patiently waiting for all them to decide that that was a safer place to go. Reason was working one side of the pen and I had the rope and was working the other side. He was patiently walking in a few inches and stopping as we would wait for the sheep to settle before I would have him walk up a few inches again. The cold wind and rain was blowing hard and I thought my left arm that was holding onto that rope was going to get so weak that the gate would blow back into the sheep and scatter them away from that opening. Patience, focus, and Reason listening to my commands finally got the sheep into the pen. After the pen, these sheep set up for a shed really nicely and Reason came in and held the two on the end. That was his HXBs title, which rounds up all the A course & B course advanced titles on him (he already had his herding championship).

Now fast forward to this past weekend (April 24th, 25th, & 26th). It's a three day obedience trial at St. Paul Dog Training Club in South St. Paul, Minnesota. Reason is entered in Open B and Utility B all three days. The obedience trial has been designated as an AKC National Obedience Invitational Regional Qualifier (for more information on these events, click here). Reason just loves obedience and considers it just as fun as agility, which is why I love going into the obedience ring with him. He gives his all on each exercise, burning rubber on the way out and just as fast on the way back to me. And he just floats at my side when he heels with me.

It wasn't a surprise to me that this event drew in some of the best competition from the surrounding states along with a couple of dogs from states that required a flight into town.

We started off on Friday qualifying in both classes with great runs, but a bobble in each class kept us out of the placement. On Saturday, he was 1/2 point out of the placement in Open B with a 198 1/2 (1st & 2nd place was a 199 1/2, 3rd & 4th place was a 199). In Utility B, he had a great run but nearly grabbed the wrong article in his race to find it but figured it out quickly and got the correct one. I was pleased going home on Saturday night knowing that we had gotten UDX legs 6 and 7. When I arrived at the trial this morning, I found out that Reason was actually in the lead as the 4 top qualifying dogs for the Invitational invite. I was thrilled to know this and just focused on our performances for the day. Our Utility B run was a great run, with a 198 and 4th place (tied for 3rd). He had a decent run in Open B, but not good enough to place. This gave us UDX leg 8 and the icing on the cake was that Reason ended up in the lead for the regional qualifier.

Because of the number of herding and agility trials we compete in, there is no way that we could ever qualify for the National Obedience Invitational with a breed like the Border Collie. What an honor to be able to qualify for this prestigious event in Long Beach, California from a weekend of trials like this. But then again, the honor really is that I have such an amazing and versatile partner, Reason.

Obedience photos by Great Dane Photos.

The Fog Has Lifted - Finally

2009-04-21T17:43:00.007-05:00

I think we made it through the most challenging part of Schema's heat cycle being at day 18. The last four days, (including last weekend while staying in a motel all together) have been rough on Score. Before this, he could be distracted from her through various means (mostly quirks that I could devote an entire blog towards). But during the breed able days, he was a butt seeking magnet and he was determined to mount her and efficiently get it done, so it was tricky around the house (and REALLY tricky in the motel) keeping them apart. I knew that my personal fun police officer, Mr. Reason, would not allow anything naughty to happen. If Score even looked at Schema lovingly, Reason would let me know by growling and chasing him away.

This morning it was like the fog had been lifted and things were almost back to normal. Score is no longer interested in her rear end and when they went outside to relieve themselves, this morning he did his own business and wasn't thinking about Schema's business. Right now Schema is on the couch chewing a bullystick and Score is by my side wanting to go outside and play.

Score has been such a good boy, always sleeping quietly through the night while he is in a kennel next to Schema's kennel in the bedroom and also while riding together in the van. The most difficult times for Score had been during the daytime when he was used to just hanging out. That was when there was a lot of whining and a lot of "want" (and lots of growling from Reason).

Last weekend we were out of town at a herding trial and I could see the effects that the peak of the heat cycle had on him. I could tell that he was mentally drained. His flanks were more explosive and not soft when they needed to be. And he wanted to hold on to the livestock instead of releasing them when he continuously refused to take the flanks I was giving him. His body was moving fast, but his brain was stuck. His runs on Saturday were not pretty, but his sheep run on Sunday was much better as he and I were a little more connected.

Schema's first (and last) heat cycle couldn't have happened at a better time (well, I suppose the peak of it, could have happened before our motel stay). Besides the herding trials last weekend, the only other thing I have going on in April are obedience trials this coming weekend for Reason. All is well in this house right now.

Contrast

2009-04-13T20:17:00.000-05:00

Have you ever thought about the way humans and dogs deal differently with contrast or unpleasant situations in their lives?

Humans love to find reasons why bad things happen to them or to others. When they are embarrassed about a mistake or when the outcome in a situation is not what they expected, blame can be a convenient diversion. Humans have tendencies of dwelling and chewing on the bad things that have affected them. They continue to hold their focus on those thoughts throughout the day - analyzing and replaying the situation over and over again and only totally letting it go when they go to sleep at night. However, then they don't sleep well because that stress on their body won't let go.

We could actually learn a lot from our dogs by observing the way they deal with contrast and unpleasant things. Dogs so cleverly divert their attention from negative situations towards things that are more reinforcing and pleasurable. That could be something as simple as a sniffing a blade of grass on the ground. They always know how to effectively shift their focus from the negative to those things that are much more appealing. And even when they are immersed into something fun, they continue to challenge themselves by seeking out things that might be even better. When something bad happens to them, they immediately move on without blame and naturally turn away and look for something more interesting. Dogs expect good things to happen to them. But when they find themselves in a predicament, they don't complain - they just keep looking for that expectation of all that is good. And the wonderful thing is that they do eventually find it.

When life brings contrast or things we don't want into our view, we have a choice. We can choose to look at what we perceive as negative and continue to view it that way or we can be like our beloved canines and find a way to look at contrast differently. If it makes you feel bad, then find something else to think about or try to think about that contrast in a different way.

I remember a very long time ago when I used to get very upset when I would see someone driving a truck with a dog that was loose in the back. Whenever I would see a dog running from side to side in the back of a truck going down the road in front of me, I would start getting angry at the driver. How could they risk the life of that dog? I didn't want to be the one to see the dog getting thrown from the truck. The entire situation would consume me and I hated the feeling that would come over me when I would see something like this. So, I decided to try to find a different way to look at it so I would not have to deal with that negativity. I decided that the likelihood of that dog being thrown from that truck was very low. I told myself that the person driving the truck obviously loved the dog because they were taking them along and the dog was not left at home kenneled or tied up. When I decided that I was the source of my negativity and by looking at the situation differently, I could feel better - well, it was the beginning of a new personal challenge that I took on. Whenever I am upset, I take the challenge of trying to find a different way to look at the situation.

One of my favorite quotes is one by Dr. Wayne Dyer: "If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change."

Wool Ewe Stay Or Wool Ewe Go

2009-04-06T20:41:00.008-05:00

A sure sign of spring around here is when the sheep get sheared each year after a year's worth of wool. After not being worked or handled from late November until April, the sheep are frisky and decidedly not in favor of relinquishing their wool.

It was a cool Minnesota day today with a northwest wind and temps in the 30's, but we were sweating after shearing, worming, and clipping hooves (actually the shearer did most of the sweating).

I love this time of year. The weather teases us with snow and temps below freezing one day followed by temps in the 40's and 50's the next day. There is excitement in the air as we gradually transition from indoor activities into outdoor activities. The dogs are feeling their wheels as they run across the fields which is no longer frozen under them. Life is good.

Can't We Just Be Friends?

2009-04-04T23:40:00.007-05:00

I've had the opportunity over the years to observe a lot of dogs and trainers inside and out of the obedience, agility, and herding trials. Lots of the dogs are well schooled in the venue that they are competing in and many of the handlers are very experienced. What I notice most is not the greatness of the runs on course or the great training session, it's the relationship between the dog and the handler. Some people have a strong connection and relationship with their dogs and others have a very poor relationship.

With all the foundation training people do with their dogs in order to train the necessary skills, what would help the most would be to put more effort into building a stronger relationship between the dogs and their owners. That relationship is the key to getting great performances and just having a better companion. How do you get a better relationship? It's simple, become a better leader to your dog.

Dogs are not comfortable in enviroments without a leader and without structure. And depending on the personality of the dog, they will learn various ways of dealing and coping with any uncomfortable situation.

Many humans will bring new dog or puppy into their lives and try to treat their relationship like a new best friend. My dogs most definitely are my best friends, but they only became my best friends because they respect my leadership and the structure that I provide them. I'm not talking about total dominance, I'm talking about balanced dog training - where we (the humans) are training the dogs rather than the dogs learning how to train the humans. Dogs think about life and living much differently than we do. They deal best with straighforward situations which are black and white. They do not do well with our human negative emotions and they do not understand our verbal world of communication, but they are masters at figuring out our physical communications (motion) and signals.

My dogs never cease to amaze me at their ability to watch me and figure me out. I remember one time where I went to turn on the lamp in the family room, only to find all 3 of my dogs slinking away to various parts of the house (I saw Reason's tail going around the corner, Gimmick went behind the couch, and Score went slinking off into the kitchen). "What in the world was THAT all about?", I thought to myself. It didn't take me long to figure out what they were responding to - that lamp never gets turned on unless the dogs were getting groomed. It just happened to be a stormy/dark day and more light was needed in that room. The brilliant interpreters that they are, my dogs had figured out the pattern. If you pay attention to observing your dogs and their reactions, it can make you a much better dog trainer.

Occasionally I will hear someone express that they have someone else bring their dog to the vet (or be involved in any situation that they view as negative) because they don't want to be associated as the bad guy. This setting up a poor relationship pattern with your dog and it is not being fair to your dog as they look to you as a leader. Dogs are going to have to deal with fun things and not-so fun things in life. That's the nature of life and dogs and the choices they learn to make. They deal with negative things by avoiding them - and that's to be expected. But if you are not there to help support them unemotionally through some of these required "not-so-fun" experiences, how will you be there to support them when they decide that they don't want to do something that is required or when they decide they want to do something that is not allowed in their day to day lives? That will lead to training issues down the road in your favorite dog sport.

When you train specific skills to your dog in agility, obedience, or herding, how will you help them understand the parameters of the skill you are trying to teach, if you are only exposing them to positive things? How will they deal with the negative things or even the difficult or challenging things in life and in training, if you are intervening and not allowing them to make a choice? You might create a very dependent dog that simply can not deal with making mistakes or failing in any situation. These types of dogs will shutdown or slow down and stop trying as they stress out because they can't depend on you to help them. Or you might create an entrepreneur dog that gets creative in dealing with things that they don't want to deal with or challenges their focus and skills. These types of dogs can learn how to seek out and find their own reinforcers or fun things to do when they are not taught that the choices they make leads to outcomes that are even less enjoyable. Neither of these situations is going to give you a great relationship with your dog and it will certainly create future training issues as the dog learns effectively how to avoid or resist those perceived "unfun" or uncomfortable challenges in the future.

Dogs deal better with negative situations by having a strong unemotional support system in a strong and dependable leader.

Yes, training new skills should be done with positive associations and experiences. But dogs should also be allowed to make mistakes along the way and eventually learn how to deal with those failures based on the outcome of their choices. Dogs that are never allowed to fail or make errors or experience negative situations, are much more of a challenge to train for any dog sport. Proofing games are an important part of training dogs to really understand the skills they have learned so they can perform in any environment and have a clear understanding of their job. However, you can't effectively or fairly proof a dog that doesn't deal well with failure or mistakes. And as a trainer, you must be able to allow the dog to work through mistakes without jumping in so quickly to try and help them. Dogs that learn to keep trying when they've made a mistake are dogs that have great relationships with their owners. There is a strong connection in place as the dog looks to the owner as a leader.

So set aside some time and observe your relationship with your dog. Are you too quick to try and intervene to make each experience a positive one? Do you let your dog make mistakes and unemotionally give them the response that is needed to help them make better future decisions? If you are having issues in obedience, agility, or herding with your dogs, take a few moments and be honest with yourself about some of the relationship and leadership issues that occur around your house. Sometimes honesty is the best medicine on the road to recovery.

Behold the turtle: He only makes progress when he sticks his neck out. --James Bryant Conant

2009-04-03T18:42:00.019-05:00

I've had this blog ready to go for some time, but "time" is always getting in the way of starting. And since that's never going to change, something has to - so that will be me. It's TIME....so here we go....

I'd like to introduce my wonderful dogs, who contribute daily to my ability to stay grounded. They are my therapy, my comic relief, my dose of reality, my inspiration, and my lessons in life. I'd also like to thank Janice DeMello for breeding and placing my dogs with me. I couldn't have asked for better partners.

Reason

Reason is a 9 year old black tri Border Collie. He is my soul mate and sometimes I swear he knows me better than I know myself. He is my partner in obedience, herding, and agility and he performs all of them with an incredible amount of enthusiasm and determination. He is also my main help to sort and hold the sheep when they need shearing, medications, and various other chores.

Reason is a very talented obedience dog. There is nothing better than going into the obedience ring with him as a partner. The joy on his face when he is heeling, retrieving, jumping or performing any of the other obedience exercises is contagious and I feel priviledged every time we enter the ring together. Looking into that little graying face as he awaits my commands - just makes me want time to stand still.

Reason introduced me to the wonderful world of agility and I am forever grateful for this new adventure. Most people learn agility with slower dogs. Reason does not do anything slow and agility is no exception. There is nothing more exhilerating than running a course together with my powerhouse, "Little Boy".

Score

Score, a 4 year old black and white Border Collie, is the middle child in our house. He is closely related to Reason as they have the same sire, Scheme and Reason's mother, Static, is Score's grandmother. While Reason looks nothing like Scheme, Score looks like his Daddy's twin. I just love his expressive face with his head that tilts as he tries to interpret what you are telling him. Score is an effortless runner. He can power up to speed and run for a long distance and not even be breathing hard.

Score is doing some great things in agility -trialing in USDAA Masters and closing in on his MACH in AKC agility. He qualified for USDAA & AKC

Nationals this year, but I decided to trial closer to home.

Next year we are definitely going to Tulsa for the 2010 Nationals.

Score is also developing the skills and becoming great herding dog. He has a great feel for his stock and the tougher the sheep, the better he is - he loves a challenge and he rises to all that I have presented to him. I'm looking forward to enjoying many successful years with Score in herding, agility, and even possibly obedience.

Schema

In May of 2008, I couldn't resist bringing in the newest member of my family, Schema. Schema is a black tri granddaughter of Reason and Score's sire. She is out of a bitch, Posh, that I loved immediately when Jan decided to keep her. My word to describe Posh when I first saw her was "stunning" as she reminds me of Static. Schema's sire is a powerful and talented dog, Bezel, who has the most incredible contacts I have ever seen.

Schema is an amazing little girl, who has a great work ethic and has a lot of natural talent working stock. She is very athletic, determined, and yet she is very biddable and sweet. I love watching her run as she is such a powerful, yet efficient and graceful runner. I can envision that her jumping style will be very similar.

I've been working on a lot of foundation obedience and agility work with her and she just loves it all. I'm excited for the new things we will learn as we grow together as a team.

That's a brief introduction to my dogs. If you want to read more about me, you can read it here.