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Adventures of the Miller Pack
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| I've had lots to write about, but seem to struggle to find the time to do it. We are in the middle of ramping up for USDAA Nationals for Smitty and Austin, and still in the throws of raising a puppy. Smitty and I are more in sync that we have ever been, and well, Austin and I are pretty connected on course too!
My current musings revolve around how amazing it is that my special little Grit is only 5 months old. I thought at 5 months, pups didn't know much. They were, well, still puppies! But I have to keep reminding myself that Grit is still so young. She is one of those pups that can be described as an "old soul".
We are still in Silvia's Puppy Class, working on our last assignment. This class will finish up next week, and then we have 2 weeks off until Foundation starts (conveniently while we go to USDAA Nats!). However, most of my focus with Grit as of late has been more around "life" or "relationship" skills.
Here are a few things that we have been working on:
1) RIding in the van: Grit is still having bouts of carsickness. The biggest trend I've noticed is that it helps her to ride more frequently. So with the cooler temps, we began operation "Grit goes everywhere". She can produce more drool than one would think possible. I'm still secretly hoping for the "grows out of it" that folks talk about, but will do all I can in the meantime to help her acclimate. This has the incredible side benefit of exposing her to many, many environments, and getting little bits of tricks and play in all sorts of new places.
2) Group class: It's also my goal to keep Grit enrolled in one group class a week. We are enjoying Senior Puppy at PBH right now, and I need to look for our next class after USDAA Nationals. I think these classes are good for distraction training, as well as taking us both out of our comfort zones just a little.
3) Play, play, play: Something that we have certainly done, but that I'd like to see a higher percentage of our time devoted to. I'm THRILLED with the progress that we have both made over the past week in this area. Trials are wonderful for this. She now has a couple of toys that she particularly likes, and I'm figuring out how she likes to play. She's even turning into "obnoxious puppy" when I pull them out with excitement, which is what I'm really looking for!!!
4) Retrieve: Another skill that continues to improve! I was particularly pleased with a session that we did at the trial last weekend, where all dogs but one were in the expen, and the dog that was out did a couple of retrieves with everyone else watching. Grit is proving to be another amazing dog that learns by watching, and when it was her turn, she was like a bullet. We are also getting more instances where she jumps up to give me the toy, which is awesome!!!
5) Connection/verbal responsiveness: This is an area where I've noticed we are really developing a bond. I can already talk to Grit in a conversational way, and she responds to what I want to do. We went through a little phase where she didn't want to go back inside several weeks ago, but now, an easygoing "come on Grit, let's go" has her charging to come in. A quick "hey", catches her attention and she stops what she is doing. She is just starting to feel "programmed" to my channel, knowing what I want almost immediately.
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| For those that are currently active in dog sports, how do you spend your puppy's time at an agility trial, flyball event, or other sport?
I’ve been having fun thinking about this a bit. We have sooooo many choices with how we can spend our puppy’s time at a trial. There are lots of things for them to learn. I’ve been working to balance Grit’s time between “learning the ropes” (hanging out in her crate or expen, learning that everyone gets their turn, going potty “in public”, it’s fun to get in/out of your crate, etc), socializing (meeting friendly people and dogs, keeping an eye out for anything that she finds scary so that we can see if we can change her opinion, learning to “hang out” at a trial), and then interacting with me (playing with toys, chasing me, shaping tricks she thinks are fun, etc). The whole experience has been amazing to me. It’s startling to see your puppy too overwhelmed to do the simple things that come so easy in other places, but then it’s incredible to see them overcome little issues and grow confident and suddenly remember who you are and the fun games you play together!  Of course, I found that between 16 year old Cole, my 3 active dogs in agility, and puppy Grit, I was very, very busy!!!
And here is Grit after a very full day at an agility trial!
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| Hard to believe that we are already on Lesson 5 of 6 in Silvia's class. Although I must admit, I'm so excited about Silvia's Foundation class that starts soon afterwards, I can hardly stand it! It's pretty amazing to think about what all Grit has learned. I'm pretty sure I've never known this much about a dog that has only lived with me for 8 weeks.
Anyway, here's our 1st submission for Lesson 5. All behaviors are in very early stages:
I'd also like to write a little about our experience at the agility trial today. I'm disappointed to write that we've had a set back with Grit's carsickness issues. We had a series of unfortunate events when traveling down to the Charlotte that seemed to have triggered some things, but I'm still confident that with time and experience, she will overcome those issues. I have noticed that if she is tired, she's a lot less sensitive, and more likely to just curl up and go to sleep.
Anyway, I've noticed a definite pattern when taking Grit to a new environment (which could mean a pet store, an agility trial, a park or our driveway). She just sort of zones out. Now don't get me wrong. She can interact with people and dogs and sniff around just fine. But even then she's a little inhibited. However, what's really noticeable is if I ask her to do one of her tricks, or even just plain eat a kibble. No go.
But what I've learned is to just give her a little time to acclimate to the environment. Let people pet her. Let her meet and greet friendly dogs. And just relax a bit. Because she does come around. By the end of today, we had several fun play sessions, stay session, and performed several tricks for kibbles (I never pulled out anything better). I did often give her 3 kibbles in a row for her efforts...almost like I was intentionally rewarding her just for eating, if that makes sense.
We also made a couple of trips down to the pond, which she thought was AWESOME. I've never seen a puppy get so much AIR just jumping into a pond! WOW...baby went BIG! :) And I do think the refreshment of being wet, plus just being uninhibited in the water really helped her come around.
Once back home, we spent a little "family time" hanging in the backyard, and then did a couple of short shaping sessions (once inside, once outside), since she'd hardly eaten any of her kibbles all day. These were both very productive and positive. And her efforts in the driveway tonight were far better than those yesterday. I've just GOT to continue to make the effort to get her out and about rather than just gravitate to the comfort of my living room! | | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
| This past weekend really was amazing, as all the pups did so very well. It seems that a month off was good for everybody (and these two pups actually had almost 2 months off!).
Little Regan was but a table fault away from going a solid 8 for 8!!! She picked up QQ's #58 and #59, so we have a victory lap in our near future!!! :-) She gave me lovely contacts all weekend as well. This is a challenging environment for a lot of pups, but she handled it extremely well. I think the last time we were here, she air scented my mother in the crowds. ;-)
Oh and then Austie, my heart. I could watch this video a hundred thousand times. I don't need any more reminders that our time on course is finite. His niece died at just 9 last week. I learned of a sweet vizsla with lymphoma at the tender age of 5 just days ago. Heck, his brother died of lymphoma at 4. Seeing him THAT happy at the human equivalent of 75 years old. WOW. Makes my chest get all tight and my eyes blurry. So very, very special.
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| Somehow I managed to put a couple of these together last night before crashing!
1) Grit's last submission for Lesson 4 in class. I was pretty pleased with how far along she got! The "sitting up" for duration is very, very new. My goodness, puppies doing tricks are just the cutest things!!!
2) Highlights of Smitty's runs from the weekend. This was our 1st trial back after a self-imposed month off of trialing. It took just 2 runs to get our groove back (seemingly better than ever!) and then her next EIGHT runs were clean. HOLY CRAP! She picked up QQ's #15 and #16, completing her requirements for Reno, plus 2 FAST, 1 T2B leg, and another JWW leg!
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| Today was our 1st day at the CPA AKC trial, our 1st trial back after taking August off, and Grit's 1st trial period. I'd like to attempt to list all of the awesome things we packed into one trial day!
1) Hanging out in an expen - a 1st for Grit; what was amazing was to watch her just chill out in there....I just loved coming over and seeing all 4 pups sacked out. Grit got MANY turns out...probably 10-15 throughout the day, so I don't think she ever really felt left out, and she was always in there with at least one other dog.
2) Getting measured - we got her at 17.5" today...I would consider that a more "official" measurement. So funny, folks sure have different opinions. She looked HUGE to some, TINY to others. I do think it's safe to say that at 5 months, she ain't done growing just yet.
3) Tricks - It was very challenging to get Grit to focus in a trial environment enough to shape tricks. Plus there were SOOOO many people and dogs that wanted to meet her. However, I did discover that back in our far corner, she COULD focus, so we did most of our training there, and left our excursions to be more socialization in nature.
4) Scary metal stairs - the facility had a great set of metal stairs...1/2 with backing and 1/2 completely open. Wow, was she brave and confident. Nice to see her so comfortable. So far, surfaces really haven't been an issue for her.
5) Met lots of cool new dogs and people - she's pretty much convinced that all dogs and people love her. :-)
Back at Aunt Cathy's we had 3 major breakthroughs with tricks:
1) She balanced on her own in beg positiong while eating multiple cookies
2) She "hugged" a water bottle instead of a pole
3) She used the wall rather than her board to lift her same side feet
Super tired....gots to go to bed... | | comments: 4 comments or Leave a comment |
| Hooray, we did our training on the front porch!!
Stacking Bowls (small into slightly larger) - SHE GOT IT ON THE 1ST TRY!!!! WOOHOO! I think she understands enough that soon, I can withhold reward altogether if it doesn't make it in the 2nd bowl. For now, she gets 1 kibble if they clang, jackpot if it goes it, and no kibble if they don't touch.
Side Legs: Wow, the hard board makes SUCH a difference. (cool side note: I didn't have this stabilized very well on the front steps, and it was rocking AND banging at 1st....she didn't care!!! I think someone is going to LOVE the seesaw!!). She is now nicely standing and can do either side equally well. I think she's ready for me to increase the angle!
Heeling: I'm now putting my hands behind my back, just to make sure they are completely out of the picture. Heel is easier than side, but she's catching on. I'm still back to not moving much. Want her to really understand her position 1st.
Pole: I'm really tempted to switch to another object and see if she still does it. Very nice gripping with left paw.
Sit/Stay: Huge improvement. She's letting me lead out a good 10 feet now. I want to gradually add in more excitement and fun proofing. | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
| I keep thinking that we can't have super awesome things happen EVERY day, but well, it seems like we do!
Highlights:
1) Mega confidence in an environment that last week was lukewarm, at best. Blazing fast restrained recalls. Fun toy "chase me" games on flexi. Complex shaping on grass in the parking area. HUGE name = look away from exciting dog in ring for meatballs success.
2) Shaping breakthroughs - firm paw grip on pole; standing for 2 same side paws; 4 paws IN our challenging bowl (and this was in a tough environment); stacking bowls success (3 in a row in fact!) using a slightly larger bowl to stack into
3) 1st group stay - even stayed while Smitty tugged and retrieved a toy! VERY clear she understands her release!!
Add in a nice neighborhood walk, complete with a visit with 2 very nice standard poodles, and no barking when strangers came into the house, and I'd say we had another super awesome day!! :-) | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Sit: She's getting much more reliable (I think she was really hungry this morning!). Again, once she's in position, she's surprisingly solid. She also REALLY understands "ok".
Stacking Bowls: Tried a smaller bowl into a larger bowl. MUCH more successful! I still think there's a breakdown in our communication about where to drop the bowl. If I wait to click for dropping, she gets frustrated fast and decides she'd rather go do something else. So I think I'll still click for approaching the other bowl, and jackpot for actually getting it close enough to make noise. :-)
Same Side Legs: No progress here. If anything, not as snappy as it was yesterday. In attempting to alter her position, I seem to have lost having both legs raised at the same time. Think I'm going to need a little help with this one. Of course, I could go back and teach it on my own legs, which is how I taught the other pups this trick, but I'm enjoying experimenting with alternate methods, and I'd like her to be more "off my body" than the other dogs need to be.
Heel/Side: Again, this is a difficult exercise to engage her in, I guess because there's no "prop". I'm working on keeping my hands OUT of the picture, and clicking for light contact...perhaps a step or two, but not a lot of movement from me.
Hug-a-Pole: This one looks pretty bad until the very end, where she started to offer holds similar to last night.
She also lost interest in training, so we just stopped (she might have gotten full? not sure) | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Here's the latest. I think she's made progress on all the exercises. I'm looking forward to Silvia's thoughts on how to progress some of the tricks.
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Adventures of the Miller Pack
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