SNOW DAY!!

By 6 a.m. this morning we had more than 9 inches of snow and by noon we finished the storm with 12 inches. Now it's a beautiful sunny day. There was no way, even with 4WD I was getting out of the driveway, so we had a snow day!

The dogs had a blast playing in the snow. And yes, that's how Ian and Devon ALWAYS fly off the deck...

Connor had a rough start this morning. At 6 a.m., the thought of sliding down the snow covered steps to the yard was too much for him, so he pottied on the deck. Considering he'll be 9-years-old this weekend, he's allowed. You can tell he got over his worry about the steps in the daylight!

Devon can go down the steps about as fast as she comes up them!

However, Devon does have some problems FINDING things in the snow. For a tracking dog (and a field dog) things falling into the snow baffle her. Last week she lost a bumper at HY BAR Training Center, and Bang the Rottie had to find it for her! But she stuck with it today, looking for a CUZ Chicken. 

Part 1, the throw and search...

Part 2 (I totally give up on her)...

Part 3, she gets a 10 out of 10 for persistence! Even though it took her 10 minutes, she's a good girlie!!

And typical for Devon, once she figures it out the first time, she's got it! She never lost the chicken again (bringing it to me was an other issue....).

If you got it, I hope you all enjoyed the snow as much as we did! I shoveled a path for Connor to make it to the steps and down them safely. My dad drove the tractor 1/2 mile to my house and dug out my driveway. So I'll have to go back to work tomorrow. Oh well, at least we had a fun, quiet day today!

Update on weave entries

Well, working on Devon’s weave entries with just three poles really seems to have helped. Last night I reviewed all the entry positions with dog on left and on right, and she just nailed them and weaved out all 6 poles. She was really proud of herself, too! Of course this was from a sit about 6 feet from the poles. However, we were having problems with that a few weeks ago. I’m curious to see what class and this weekend’s trial will bring. Unfortunately if the weather prediction is accurate, our class tonight may be doubtful. But we should be able to make Thursday’s class. More later!

Paw Power Rally Trial

This morning, Ian, Devon and I headed north to the Paw Power Rally trial. Ian has 5 legs toward his RAE2 title. We earned those legs back in 2007 when I was preparing for the 2007 Belgian Sheepdog National Specialty. Unfortunately Ian decided to start breaking his honor position in Excellent, which at the time disqualified him. I knew rule changes were on the horizon which would make blowing the honor a -10 points and not an NQ, so I stopped trialing him until the rule changes took affect in January 2008. Now that we're getting ready for the 2009 Belgian Sheepdog National Speciality in Wisconsin in April, it seemed like a good time to go back to rally.

I had never been to this venue, and it was a nice club. The trial was small, with less than a dozen dogs each in Excellent B and Advanced B. As I was setting up my crates, we all started smelling natural gas, and we had a brief scare that there was a leak. After they called the gas company and more exhibitors came in saying the smell was on the west side of town too, I felt more comfortable and it was determined there wasn't a problem. 

I will say there were more Rotties at this trial than I have seen in one place in my life! According to the exhibitors, our judge Ms. Ronnie Bizer trains very nice performance Rotties and most were nervous about trialing under her. I found her courses to be flowing, doable with challenges, and good for big dogs. However, I was a little concerned about Ian with all those Rotties, especially having to honor with them coming down the line toward him.

I didn't think about who would be honoring Ian as he was running until we were about to enter the ring. The biggest intact male Rottie in the building was on the honor for Ian's run -- Yeah! This guy was huge, and I was working hard to make sure Ian was with me down that line toward where the honor dog was laying. And then I realized the judge had stepped between Ian and the Rottie as Ian was nearing the honor station. While I wanted to give this judge a big hug for easing my concern, Ian was not impressed with how close she was to him. However, that worked to my advantage as it pushed Ian around the corner away from both the judge and the Rottie. In the video clip below, you can't see the Rottie until the end of the run. However, as Ian makes the turn around the cone, you can see the judge (my hero!) and you now know what she's doing.

Luckily, Ian honored for a Berner. What made me even more pleased was during Ian's honor, the judge was over by the far ring gates. Clearly, she wasn't worried about my dog; and I'm thankful for that small vote of confidence for a Belgian Sheepdog. I don't get those too often!

After Ian runs, you will see I have a devil of a time getting him to lay down on the honor. He finally crowds himself into an uncomfortable down, which he didn't hold. That's because the big Rottie left drool all over the floor during his honor. Ian wanted NOTHING to do with laying near that drool! Apparently he doesn't even like Rottie cooties! The stewards were having a big laugh, since it was quite clear why Ian was avoiding that spot! 

Because Ian broke his down, he lost 10 points and his score was 87 out of 100. That cost him 2nd place in the class. He redeemed himself by WINNING the Advanced B class with a score of 95 (first prize was $10, so he bought me lunch). I have to tell you I thought our Advanced run was terrible until I saw this video. I should have taped our runs years ago. Ian is a wonderful rally dog! Look at that near perfect heel position! And he's right with me the most of the time! The only fumble was when he wanted the jump during the spiral heeling around the cones. I know I'm working hard out there, but I've never given him the credit he deserves. He looked lovely, and at our next trial I'm going to relax more and enjoy the run! I have a great dog!

Fair warning, rally runs are almost as bad as watching obedience runs (i.e. paint drying can be more exciting). And Ian doesn't exactly rush through these signs. 

Rally Advanced B -- Score 95 points, qualified and 1st place

Rally Excellent B -- Score 87 points, qualified

Devon at the WRGRC WCX

This is a photo from the land series of Devon's Working Certificate Excellent test in October 2008. I really like this photo because of the contrast of the white bird and the way the bird's wing and Devon's ear have the same curve. Very artsy for working in camo!

A bit about obedience

Devon really enjoys obedience. We had another private lesson this week with Linda, and Devon did surprisingly well. I still have to work harder on set ups, but the "get close" work we were doing on her left turns was really nice. She also surprised both Linda and me with her fronts. I've not really worked them, and we had her doing side step and step back fronts within a minute. She is going to be a fantastic heeling dog.

Our only struggle in obedience has been the foot touch to the wall. This is a part of how Linda and Mike teach the go out. Unfortunately, Devon hasn't liked the foot touch. She'll do it at their training facility, but when I get home after a couple of successful attempts, she runs away very stressed. This time I've stuck with it, and I've seen some improvement. I started sitting on the floor and asking her for the behavior with lots of good treats. This is really helping. I'm also changing the word to "Smack." I think this will also help solidify the behavior as a happy one for her. Thursday night we were able to get her to touch three different posts at Pawsitive.

Devon is a really flashy obedience dog. I can't wait to see how her skills will continue to develop! 

Field training in January

I managed to take advantage of our only nice weather in weeks. It came in yesterday with mild temps in the upper 40s. Of course I had agility class last night. The cold front came through today, but the temps were still warmer than they have been. In spite of a very cold breeze, Devon and I managed to sneak in a T drill. For only doing these a hand full of times over the last 3 months, Devon is doing remarkably well. On 20 bumpers, she only missed one over, her first to the right. I knew one of her overs was weak, and after today it has to be the right that is weaker. I just called her in and got her running back again (she showed some mild stress with the failure). Then before I sent her to a right over again, I identified the pile for her. That worked, and I got her back there a second time without a throw.

I'm going to have to stretch her out on these T drills when the weather breaks, but for now the small T is working really well. And 20 bumpers was a good amount for being stuck inside for many weeks. 

Connor's a good dog

I have to brag on what a good boy Connor is. Thursday morning he was nosing around a pair of pants I had worn to agility class Tuesday night and just dropped on the floor when I went to bed. Of course I’d had treats in the pockets, and I knew he was searching for leftovers. I scolded him slightly and picked up the pants from the floor. As I did, I heard something hit the floor – it was a whole piece of salmon jerky that was in the pocket of the pants. I didn’t give it to him, because I didn’t want to reward him for scrounging in my clothes! I have friends who don’t have any pockets left in most of their training clothes because the dogs eat them out looking for treats. Instead, I broke the treat up and put it in the dogs’ Kongs that morning. Connor is such a good boy for not tearing up my pants looking for that big reward! He had full access to my bedroom for 36 hours before he decided to show me there was a huge treat left there. What a good boy!