Deuce's first christmas

This is Deuce's first Christmas and we have had some very interesting weather to say the least. Yesterday, we started getting snow and crazy wind and it hasn't stopped yet. Last time I went out and measured, the snow was at 7 inches, but with the wind, we have at least foot tall snow drifts. I really feel like this is the most snow I have seen since I moved to KS, and we have only had two snowstorms so far. We didn't get the dogs specific gifts this season but gramy sent them tons of rawhide, so they have candy cane rawhides and little rawhide bones with red and green rawhide wrapped around them. Needless to say, they will have some interesting colored poop for a while. They were kind enough to share their bones with Chloe and Dana and Haley, their whippet girlfriends. They also got to each get a big spoon full of sweet potato after daddy got what he needed for the sweet potato casserole (and I am sure he is sneaking them more scraps).

Our plans had been to head over to Robert and Deanna's house and spend Christmas with them and their two girls, but the weather kind of changed that. Oh well, we have plenty of food and the doggies are super happy we stayed home with them. As usual, Deuce is wanting to go out every five minutes, just like a little kid and play in the snow so I have to watch and make sure he isn't out too much. Tony spilled something outside so that has been their favorite place to hang out all day and eat snow. I figure at some point, if tony ever stops cooking, we will have to all go out and play in the snow or at least dig out tony's truck just in case we need to go anywhere. Of course, mother nature decided to play a trick on me and brought me my monthly friend about a week early and I have very low supplies so we may have to find something that is open at some point.

Well, not much else to talk about other than I hope each and every one of you have an awesome and safe Christmas and a wonderful new year. I will be posting a wrap up of the year here in a couple of days for your reading entertainment. Lots has happened in the Coleman household in 2009 for sure!

Playing Catch Up

Well, Tony is stuck in Topeka and I am trying not to play GH so I thought I would update my blog. So what is new you ask? Well, my schedule has kind of changed so I am not blogging as much. I have to admit, I was so excited when Deuce started sleeping till 7, but could never get him to sleep later. I don't have a definite start time at work so I usually leave the house around 9ish so I love to sleep as long as I can. He loves to be outside, no matter what the temp so I have been letting him and Harley play outside for an hour while Miller and I catch another hour of sleep. I know, I am being lazy but i LOVE sleep and he LOVES being outside! That is why I am not blogging as much as I use to:)

I am letting Harley babysit Deuce alot and I really hope this isn't a bad thing. Miller babysat harley and was his playmate and it didn't seem to affect Harley (i don't think). They play alot and I do have to separate them and put harley out of sight when I train. Harley really plays hard like Deuce does which most dogs don't so I am proud of Harley for being such a good big brother.

Agility-wise, haven't been doing much, the weather has been too icky lately. We got snow over a week ago and it has lingered quite a while. We have started doing the whole teeter now by having him sit close to the down end and me being at the up end with a cookie. I am trying to get as much speed as I can get and he is doing really well. He has tons of drive and the teeter does not scare him at all. I only do a couple every few days so there isn't too much concussion on his bones. I am also doing lots of toes and am linking the two together only on the teeter. He is doing well and I hope to improve his performance but I want to take it very slow and not rush any details. I need to drag a jump in so we can start working jumping at like 4 inches of course, which is more like a baby speed bump. We have been doing lots of foundation work but need to start honing in on some of our specific skills. I am excited to have a puppy class to attend, probably in the spring when the weather gets better. He needs distractions and to get on other people's equipment. He is still in that very excitable stage, especially to certain stimuli so we need to be able to work through that.

So funny story, I still do alot of work in the bedroom with doing load up (table criteria) on the bed and then doing outs and turns since the room is so big. I still have his balance disc and use it for working his hind end and for working toes. I had been working him for about 10 or so minutes and wanted to finish up on some toes/hind end work and then quit so asked for toes. He gave me that f#$# you look and walked over to the disc, hiked his leg and peed all over the disc. WOW! What an attitude dude! I was laughing so hard, that it was very hard to be mad at him. I really wish I had a video camera as it truly was funny. He is so funny right now with his little dude tude! I am just laughing it off and rolling with the punches. I love miller's attitude so I am hoping Deuce has his own little 'tude as well.

Today we were sequencing teeter to table and he did reach up and nip me so that isn't going to work. I just had a foster dog that did the same thing and I worked through it so I am sure we will be able to work through this as well. I think he just gets over stimulated and he reacts and that is such a herding dog thing. I did work some rear crosses from teeter to table and some front crosses and he held his position very well. I am so proud of his progress for the little bit we have done since the weather has turned bad (and we have added GH to our life LOL).

Okay, promise I will do better in the future of keeping you updated!

Brain Fart!

Okay so I have had a huge training brain fart. I have to admit, here lately, most of my time has been spent on Miller and his PT. I figured that Deuce needed some time to grow up anyway and didn't need the intense training sessions. I guess I was wrong! He is going through yet another stubborn phase it seems where i give a command and he just looks at me like "Yeah right!". The other day, Victoria Stillwell was on animal planet and she was having a puppy doing puppy push-ups and I tried to get Deuce to do puppy push ups too and he couldn't do them. He specifically had problems going from down back up to sit. I have worked really, really hard on getting him to do any command by shaping the command and then knowing the command without any physical cue other than my voice. I sometimes have to do some luring but i try to work off of shaping as much as possible. I found that if I lured him up from the down with either a here command (touch my hand with your nose) or pulled my hand up in an upwards sweeping motion, he would come up, but if I simply said sit, he would either just lay there and do nothing or start offering tricks. At first I tried everything to get him to come up but nothing was working so had to get my clicker and take him to a quiet place where it was just him and I and basically patiently wait him out. He eventually started offering a sit from the down but it takes quite a while to get there. I am still getting lots of back talk and offering of other behaviors before the sit. I am hoping to really work this all this week to try and get this issue resolved. This could be a huge problem as I have trained an automatic down on the table and if it is a sit in AKC and he refuses to come up, we could have occur some faults or even a DQ.

Another issue we have run into involves harley and not Deuce but harley doesn't have his own blog so I am going to talk about it here. Harley has become a huge counter surfer and it is becoming a big problem. I walked back in the house the other day as I had forgotten something and he had a stack of cookies that tony had bought at a bake sale in his mouth. Luckily these were just peanut butter cookies, no chocolate, but still, he should no better. I have toyed with the idea of crating Harley forever and it may come to fruition now for sure. I can't have him counter surfing all the time as I sometimes forget and leave stuff out and don't want him to ingest something he shouldn't. The problem is, I need yet another wire crate. I think our house is full of them for sure but what doggy house isn't ? I am looking to downsize Deuce's crate anyway as I don't think he needs his litter box anymore so Harley may be moving in to Deuce's crate and Deuce may be getting a new downstairs crate. I really want to keep his upstairs kennel where it is because we have a routine involving it and I don't want to change it. I get up and feed when tony's alarm goes off at 5:20 and then we all go back to bed. I have found that deuce likes to go into his crate at that point and chew on a chewie so I use it for that purpose. I don't think he would like to be downstairs while the rest of us are upstairs and he doesn't always settle back down after he is fed. I like getting a couple more hours of sleep in so don't want to change our routine. Crates go on sale at Tractor supply next weekend so may have to invest in yet another crate and of course another kong and a case of peanut butter LOL!

Snow day or should I say Snow DAYS

Here in KS we had our first big snow storm of the year. I was so excited because this was to be deuce's first experience with snow. The first time I let him out in it, he was jumping up trying to catch the flakes in his mouth! It was so cute and I tried to video but it was too dark to get a good image. I had decided to take the next day off since they were saying it was suppose to get super bad. I am the biggest winter driving wimp you will ever meet and I blame it on my southern roots. For years I drove a 2 wheel drive truck that was horrible in snow and I have always had neighbors or friends that worked at KSU that would come pick me up and drive for me. Now, all of my friends/co-workers have moved so I have to drive myself. Well, I say drive myself but what i mean is freak out about driving and then either just stay home or attempt it and have a huge panic attack and say I am never driving in bad weather again. BUT, I digress, this is a blog about Deuce not my neurotic driving habits LOL!

Anyway, as the night progressed, the forecast looked worse and worse, so bad that Tony who never takes a day off, called his apprentice and told him to not attempt to come in the next day. By the end of the storm, we ended up with almost 8 inches of snow and 40 mph wind that blew huge drifts. I know this morning when I went to get in my van, the snow had drifted and was as high as my knees!

Let me just say that Deuce has had a great time playing in the snow! He LOVES it! If i let him, he will stay out in it for hours. He is just like a little kid, I have to make him come in and warm up for a little while. He continually rings the bell to go out and I have had to teach him how to close the door as he has learned to open it and will leave it open and let all the cold air in. Now, if we just had a mud room and a doggy door! This is the third day with snow and he just plays and plays in it! I tried to go to work today but the roads have been bladed down to the ice underneath and I just can't deal with slipping and sliding. Thank goodness I have a boss that is so understanding of my fear of winter driving. Let's hope that this winter isn't a bad one! I have no vacation days left and am working off of sick days!




Deuce has also developed a very bad habit that I am so responsible for. We recycle everything we can as our county has a huge recycle trailer about two blocks away. We have containers outside for each type of recycling but also have a couple of open wooden crates in the house that recycling material sits in until I fill it up and take the recycling outside. We started by letting him play with plastic bottles which he thought was really awesome! Now however, he has started digging things out of the box to play with or shred. His favorite right now is cardboard. I usually let them out in the morning when I shower but because of the bad weather, have left him in, in the morning. This morning he shredded two boxes, a jiffy corn bred mix box and a soap box. I guess I should be glad that at least he chooses to shred that stuff instead of important stuff, although he has taken alot of interest in Tony's PS3 which would not be a good thing to chew on for sure!

Deuce is growing so much!

Okay, I have been super bad about updating my blog! Partially it is my husband's fault for buying me a nintendo Wii of which I have gotten very addicted to Guitar hero. The other fault lies in Miller as I have been doing his PT in the morning instead of blogging. So there, it isn't my fault LOL! As you can see by the picture, Deuce is getting fairly big! I weighed him last week and he was 34 lbs already! We aren't doing alot of one on one training anymore, just letting him grow up and working when the opportunity arises.

Agility wise we are starting to work on more obstacles. He is now doing the chute, a-frame full height, teeter full height, very low puppy jumps (4 inches), table with a shaped down, channel weaves, and of course all of his foundation work. I have only had him on the dog walk a few times. The height of it scares me and he still isn't very sure about his body and I could see him falling off. We do some back chaining on it but that is it. We are still working toes on the bottom of contacts and on everything else that is a surface change or a height change but not linking the two behaviors together. Right now distraction training is the best for sure. We are going to start puppy class here soon and I imagine it will be more about just working through distractions rather than obstacle performance. We all have equipment at home so all of our puppies know equipment and know tons of foundation but need to start getting their brains to working while there is distraction present. The other night, Lori and I had set up a tunnelers class for the beginner's graduation night and after they left, we worked the puppies. While one pup worked, the other one had to do behaviors or pay attention to us and it was great training! I am really looking forward to our class! It is always a good idea to have someone else watch you and make sure you are doing everything right.

Overall, Deuce is turning out to be such a great puppy! He has been so easy to train whether it be crate training or potty training. He has great work ethic and has an on and off switch that i LOVE! He has an independent streak and a mommie streak at the same time which seems to be pretty balanced. He loves his daddy but still pees on him occasionally. He LOVES to ride in the car and if I want him to rest, I will load him up and take him for a ride and he goes right to sleep. Deuce will work for food, toy or just praise which I love. Harley is so food motivated that if the food isn't in the picture, you can forget it for sure. He has the most beautiful heel as long as there is a cookie in my hand! Anyway, he has been a treat to have and to train and I can't wait to see what he does in the agility ring. We love him so much and look forward to seeing what he can do in the future for sure!

deuce and the agility equipment

Okay so I have been super bad about not posting so I thought I would sit down and write something. Last night was the first time Deuce got to do the a-frame and the chute. We had it out for the beginner class so I decided to let him do those obstacles for fun. The a-frame was super low so I just had him running back and forth over it. He showed no fear with either obstacles and I am so proud of him. The tire jump was also set on the ground so we did some through with that as well. I really want to buy a nice tire jump and was wishing that they had one at USDAA nationals that I could have bought and drug back but they didn't. Maybe this year at AKC nationals I can buy a piece of equipment since we will be so close. Anyway, mom helped me with the chute by doing restrained recalls and after a few times through with the fabric open, we started dropping it on his back as he came through and then just letting him push through. He took it all in stride and had no problems what so ever. He really is a fearless little puppy for sure.

I had been teaching some tricks and now he can do roll over, shake, wave, high five, speak, and show me your teeth. Show me your teeth really isn't a trick but he had become quite the butt head about handling his mouth. I know he is losing his baby teeth right now and his gums are sore but that does not give him the option to growl or bark at me when I want to look at his teeth. I put this command on a clicker and it just means let me raise your lips and look at your teeth. I think I will also put a stack command on clicker as well if we ever do decide to venture into the show ring. Speaking of which, I need to get him registered for ASCA. I got his AKC registration done immediately but have been lax in getting his ASCA and UKC paperwork in. You can see where my priorities lie! As soon as he is old enough, I will get him USDAA and NADAC registered for sure.

Deuce's National Blog

Okay so it is one hour to go before we get home and I am feeling silly so I am going to dictate Deuce’s blog straight from Deuce instead of me coming up with the words. Okay Deuce, you are on!

Okay mom, thanks! Well, been bored to death so I guess I can tell everyone how my trip went. Three days straight in a crate going up and coming back is a lot! Thank goodness mom has super thick cushions so we ride comfortably! Got to see a lot of very interesting country for sure! Got to pee on a lot of different indian tribe lands including Hopi, Peublo, and Zuni lands. Mom says that indians were in this country before white people and that they got most of their lands taken away from them as the white people moved west. They sure do have lots of casinos, gas stations and gift shops now! I was a really good boy just napping or quietly playing with my toys while we rode but when I got to the hotel rooms at night, I was wound up and ready to play! Every night either mom or gramy would have to play with me and tire me out. I tried to play with my big brother Miller but he is my older brother and he doesn’t play. Some times I would piss him off and he would put my whole head in his mouth. Mom was really worried about Miller because he had an injury so she fussed over him a lot which took her attention away from me! Miller got lots of stretching and massaging that I didn’t get. I can’t wait till I compete so I get as much attention as he does! Anyway, we got to the show site on Tuesday and I got to play in something called an RV. It is like a little house on wheels. Mommie brought my crate for me to sleep in but I ended up sleeping in the bed with her and gramy the whole time. Since Arizona was an hour ahead, I was up at 6 am every morning ready to go, even if mom and gramy weren’t! A growing boy can’t miss a meal can he? The first day we were there, I got to go walk around the outside of the field and check everything out. There were so many other dogs there! I wanted everyone to play with me whether they wanted to or not. We did lots of walking as everything was really far way from where our RV was. Mom told me that as soon as the vendors opened, she was buying me a harness cause I pulled a lot and pulled out of my collar when gramy was walking me and scared her. I did get a nice new comfort flex harness in a nice boy color, blue. I love it because I don’t pull as much and even when I do, it doesn’t strangle me or put stress on my neck.

The first day of competition, mommy wasn’t going to run miller but she decided to just do a couple of obstacles and leave the course. I got to go with mommy and gramy down to the crating area where mommie had a crate for miller and I to hang out in. Oh, the sights! On top of all the doggies there, there was two huge pools mommie called dock dog diving pools that were full of water! Mommie asked how much it was for me to go in the pools but they wanted 20 bucks! Mommmie said that was too much so I just made myself happy by playing in the puddles created by the pools. There was also this fun thing called lure coursing where doggies chased a lure around a course but I didn’t think that was as cool as the water. Mommie says when I get bigger I can try out lure coursing and I can do herding. They had a pen with some goats for instinct testing but those goats were huge and had huge horns and mommie didn’t think that would be a good idea for a young pup like me. There were 6 rings of agility, can you believe it? I can’t wait till I am old enough, I am going to be out there for sure! I even got to meet a little red merle female aussie that played with me and her name was lucy. She is for sure my new girlfriend and I will miss her lots!

On all the other days, gramy made me a kong with peanut butter and I got to hang out in my crate in the RV while big brother miller went down to the field and ran. Mommie would leave early every morning to go walk the courses and miller and gramy and I would go for nice long walks and play. Well, gramy would play, not miller. He takes this whole agility thing very seriously so when it is time to show, he doesn’t play at all. Gramy would usually take miller down to the field to meet mommie and I would hang out in the RV. I am so glad because it was air conditioned and all of those other poor doggies had to hang out in the heat of Arizona all day. Whenever mommie was done running, she would bring miller back to the RV to rest and I would get to go down to the field. I got to see so much action and got to do toes and sits and downs amongst all of that distraction. I got lots of pets and treats as no one can resist a cute little wiggly aussie puppy!

All in all, I had a great time and can’t wait till next year. Mommie keeps on saying that we might be in Kentucky and I might get to play in blue grass? Wonder if I will turn blue too? We are almost home and I can’t wait to see big brother Harley! Mommie says next year maybe harley will have to go too so I will have someone to play with and burn off some of my energy, especially at night! I will be so sad to have gramy leave as I really love my gramy. She took such good care of me, playing with me and walking me. She says I can come and visit her in Tennessee anytime!

Here are the latest of deuce's tricks. He is so dang smart, it amazes me! We worked on these tricks maybe two days with the clicker and i have already faded it out. I now need to decide what the next set of tricks is going to be so he doesn't get bored. I know I am a better dog training after training berry, miller, and harley but I think he is extra special smart! I have seen pictures of his dad doing lots of tricks so I know he has it in him for sure.

I have been letting him sleep loose in the bedroom and I hope that isn't a mistake. I had been leaving him in the bed until I was almost asleep and then getting up and putting him in the crate. He still goes to the crate when we go upstairs and sometimes I have to invite him in the bed. I was waking up when he would get out of the bed because getting in and out of the bed was a big deal for him when he was little. Now, he can jump up and down very easily so I don't wake up anymore, which could be bad. I had him in the bed last night and i was so tired that I crashed hard and didn't wake up till the alarm went off and he was asleep in the floor. Hope he isn't going and pottying somewhere. Our carpet doesn't show accidents till a couple of weeks later so unless I see the wet spot or step in it (ewwww) i don't find them.

Harley and Deuce are enjoying the earlier light. Guess I am going to have to switch Miller's 10 minute walks to the morning and take everyone. I was really enjoying our walks together just him and I but I know the other boys won't let me go without them! Deuce is doing better with Miller's stretches. He was coming up and bugging us and wanting attention but he now knows when Miller and I go upstairs that we are going to be stretching and don't need his help. I think it was hurting his feelings a bit because we train upstairs when I am working on new behaviors because there is very little distraction and he was confused as to why I was taking miller up there instead.

Ok time to get ready. I have a very busy day at work since I missed yesterday so am ready to work my butt off!

Deuce and the golden puppy

Had a great day today with Deuce and just had to share. I am helping a family with their 12 week old golden puppy and I took Deuce along to help me show them some stuff and also secretly to let him get to play. After I worked with the family, we brought deuce out and he and liberty had a great time running around their yard. She loved his rough and tumble play and even though she is younger, played really hard with him and kept him on his toes. I look forward to going more and helping this family and letting Deuce get to play with his new girlfriend some more. Plus, it was a great training opportunity for me as I got to work recall off of them playing and also working some of his core behaviors while she was running around trying to entice him to play. She is a very lovely, very smart little puppy and I can't wait to help them with her more!

I also took Deuce to work with me in the lab and got to play with him there too. He got to ride in an elevator and loved it! I feel like he is becoming a bit of a worrier and that is good and bad. He worries about where I am at all times and also worries when I leave the room and it is just he and Tony. He also seems to worry about some of the foundation training that we are doing so I try and make is as fun as possible or just play on days I think he is acting worried more. I think he is really confused as to why I am spending so much time with miller. I have to either lock him out of the room where I am stretching miller or put him outside since he thinks he should be getting the cookies instead of miller. That is another thing, he really prefers to be outside most of the time off playing by himself. He doesn't care what the weather is, he is truly an outside dog. He also prefers to be under my chair at the computer but even when we are in the other room, this is where he wants to be and where we always find him. I like his independence and hope that will help when we start doing more true agility training.

Now I need to trim toe nails and clean ears so signing off for now!

Halloween Night

It's halloween night and we have trick or treaters!!!! What a great time to work on behaviors like sit or down with distractions and wait. Deuce is very excited to see each group of trick or treaters so is having a lot of trouble but working through it.

What have we been up to lately? We have been shaping the table now. I don't have a removable top but the table is very low so he has no trouble "loading up". This means get on the table and down no matter what.

I felt bad last night because we headed out for Metal fest which is a yearly gathering of local metal bands. We really haven't been doing much lately as far as going out because I hate to have Deuce in the crate too much. We did lots of playing before we left and I made sure he was nice and tired but I still felt bad. On a very funny side note, I had decided to dress up as we were going to go by a friend's costume party. I dressed up as axl rose. Tony ratted my hair and we put it up like Axl use to do it pre chinese democracy era and then I ripped some holes in some old jeans and tony made me a shirt that said "shit happens" which was one of axl's favorites to wear. I also had a bandana on my head with some sunglasses on top of that which was also a favorite of Axl's. Anyway, we stopped by the party, said hi and watched some the people and their crazy costumes and then headed out to MetalFest. When we got there, we heard they were having a mistress of metal competition. Most of the girls were dressed quite scantily and were way prettier than I was but the host Shawn talked me into getting in it. During the first round, we had to tell what tour bus we wanted to end up in after the concert and of course since shawn and I are in love with the same singer, she already knew what my answer was. The crowd cheered some of the bands and booed some of them. Many of girls had no clue what to even say so it was kind of comical, since it was about metal. In the second round, we had to tell what our favorite horror movie was and then we had to scream as if we were being killed. Well, I was in band for many years and have great lung capacity from playing in field shows so when it was my turn, I let out a yell that lasted for ever! I couldn't even believe I screamed that loud and that long. I got lots of cheers but of course the girls that were scantily clad got tons of cheers no matter how loud or good they screamed. Shawn reminded the crowd that they were voting for the best scream, not the hottest chick so we all had to scream again. I and three or four other girls got pulled into the finals and they had to re-vote and the former mistress got to pick the winner. Of course I got picked because of my scream, not because of my looks so I won tickets to a couple of concerts and a new KROCK tshirt. It was a ton of fun, got lots of high fives and lots of compliments on my scream. I still can't believe I got up there and did it because I was nervous as hell! I guess next year I get to help crown the new mistress of metal!!!!!! We got in around 1:30 and in bed around 2. We had such a great time but i still feel so guilty for poor deuce having to be in the crate so much yesterday. We are going again tonight but he has been out playing all day so I don't feel so guilty. Deuce did wake us up at 7 just like I thought he would but tony got up with him and let me sleep in. I got back up around 9:30 so got some sleep. I have been chugging caffeine all day today so hopefully I won't fall asleep tonight at the show!

I have to work tomorrow so I plan on taking him to work with me and doing some training. I am trying to get him into as many situations that I can to work his basic training. We are still working on his new tricks, shake, wave, and roll-over as well. He is a very fast learner so I am really enjoying adding some fun stuff in.

i think we are to the chewing phase

I think we are finally in the teething/chewing phase. He seems to be finding everything he can to chew on, so I am having to be ever vigilant and always have a toy to give him to chew on instead. He was very active last night as we were trying to watch tv (something i hardly ever do), so I was up and down all night! He got in the garbage last night on one of his missions and got a dog food sack out that of course is bigger than him and drug it into the living room to show me. He is such a little mess!

I started working on the table last night. I am going to use load up since that is what we used for Harley and is in my mind. For him, load up means get on the table and lay down and hold position till i say ok. Yesterday was our first time so once I get it more solid, I will use load up on everything and it will mean just get on whatever I am next to and lay down. Same thing with toes, whatever we are using, toes means get on with both back feet and hold till momma says ok.

The weather was nice last night so we did some bang game too on the teeter. When I was working the bang game, I notice a practice arrow in our yard by the fence. I was very upset to say the least. We have some college kid neighbors who have been very good so far but they are hunters. They have their target up against our fence and I had already told them that they needed to be very careful as we had dogs that were out in the yard sometimes. I marched over to have a talk with them but lucky for them, they weren't home. We live in the city so it is illegal to fire any time of weapon so they are breaking the law but i have let it pass till now. Based on how the arrow was, it probably ricochet off of the target and into our back yard but still it had enough force to burrow itself into our yard. I wanted to get things handled before tony got home but they never came home. Tony decided it was our arrow now and broke it in half so I guess they won't be getting it back.

Tomorrow is the day of our exam in KC and I am feeling very good. Miller has been very happy and wanting to do agility in the yard which is so weird for him. He really doesn't like working in the yard but he wanted to do table with deuce last night. He kept on running out and jumping up on the table with trying to intercept him so he wouldn't jump. He thought it was a really fun game and was smiling the whole time. I finally had to put him the house and risk him eating something. Speaking of eating something, Harley ate a big portion of Strawberry's new JM food. I had gone over to the neighbors and left the wash room door open and I had her food in there partially open. Not sure how much he got but his tummy was not happy last night at all. I am going to have to go buy another plastic air tight tub I guess. Why are those little things so expensive?

Need to go work deuce. Decided to teach him shake too and that is coming along nicely but sit pretty is not. It is a hard behavior to get him to offer and when I use the cookie above his head he topples over. I put him in a sit with his back next to my chest so that he can lean back on me, which helps but he always swings around to face me, so I have to place him back in a sit facing away from me. Shake was super easy, I just put his paw in my hand and told him good shake and gave him a cookie. Well, better get to it!

another busy day, yeah!

I am getting so anxious for thursday. I just wish it would hurry up and get here. Miller seems to be doing great and I am having trouble keeping him calm and subdued, which is kind of weird for miller. I so want to go to nationals and am so hoping that we get a good report on thursday. I am hoping that the vet says whatever it was is healing. Okay back to the puppy since it is his blog.

Deuce is doing great, growing like a weed! He has an ouchy broken tooth which would explain why he isn't eating with gusto as he once did. It is a baby tooth so hopefully it will fall out soon, but in the mean time I just soak his food. I am also giving him yogurt as his tummy has been a little off. We are finished with this panacur he was taking for the possibility of giardia so I am hoping that is what was hurting his tummy. Of course I can't give just him something so everyone is getting yogurt in their food. Deuce is still doing really good in his training. We are doing toes on every surface we can and I am getting toes on surface changes,not just height changes which makes me happy. Means he really understands what toes means. I am trying to add movement on my part now to toes. We just started so he is having issues but are working through those. I have also been adding running around him to wait or running past him or doing silly things and he is holding both the sit and the down while i do that. I am also having Harley heel around him as he is holding position and this is the supreme distraction so we are working through it. I have also decided to start the trick training. We are working on shake hands and sit pretty. Just started both of them so he is still trying to figure out what the heck we are doing.

I think Deuce is starting the teeth process as he is starting to chew on lots of different things so I am trying to be very vigilant and always have a toy for him to chew on. Berry has all the sudden started helping him and has destroyed several toys for him. Funny how the adult dogs are reacting right now. Miller is regularly getting stuff off of the counter and eating it. Last night, we decided to go to the local bar and eat and we took deuce with us. He loves going in the car and sleeps in his car crate so well that we thought it would be easier on him. When we got back, Miller had eaten a whole big container of already made croissants. Berry had also chewed up his favorite toy so i give up!

Okay going to go train now. Two more days of waiting.

Hutchinson Weekend

Wow, what a fun weekend! Again, I thought I would be bummed about not getting to run Miller but really had a great time and stayed pretty busy. We didn't get to the hotel till 9:30 on friday night and for some reason, Deuce was really active and ready to go. I wasn't really all that sleepy so I stayed up and played with him while tony and the rest of the crew slept. We didn't get to set up our crates on friday night but this place always has tons of crating so I wasn't really worried. We got up early and headed over after stopping at the local coffee shop. We decided to crate harley and deuce together again and they did really great together. For some odd reason, I think it helps Harley to relax. Tony and harley had great runs with bobbles on both but he is learning. I have learned to keep my mouth shut, let him watch the video tape and reinforce to myself that Harley is now his and I have no control over how he runs him. I got to run in jumpers! My friend Lauri let me run her sheltie Cosmos. I had a great time running a smaller dog. Agility friends are the best!

We decided to take the dogs to the Dillon Nature Center so they could unwind after being in the crate for a while. Took a nice long walk and enjoyed the leaves and the wildlife. Harley went for a little swim in the pond and of course deuce wanted to swim too. Looks like we have two water dogs now in the family! After taking tons of pictures, we decided to head over to the Cosmopshere and let the doggies sleep a while in their crates in the car. The cosmosphere is awesome! I think I could have spent all day just in the museum, but we had to go see the planitarium, the IMAX theater and the science show. I convinced Tony to skip the science show since I play with science every day and instead just spend more time in the museum. I love museums so I was happy. The planatarium was all about the hubble telescope and the IMAX was about the forces of nature including tornadoes, earthquakes, and volcanoes. We had a great day learning all we could about rockets and space and even got to see the actual Apollo 13 capsule.


That night we went out to Yoder KS, which I think is an Amish community and had dinner and pie. We were stuffed to the gills but I knew that Deuce was going to be ready to go. When we got back, spent some time in Lori's room talking about League stuff and injuries and random dog training. We decided to take the puppies out and do some training. The hotel we were in had a water park for kids kind of like the great wolf lodge but smaller so great training opportunities. We worked on behaviors with the kids screaming and then found an atrium with a bunch of round tables to work restrained recalls and outs and toes. It was a great distraction working both puppies at the same time. Deuce even got to play with Solei and they had a great time. Deuce also got to play with zoom and even edge. Deuce still was pretty active when we got back so stayed up with him and finally got to sleep around 12. I did not get a ton of sleep this weekend so will probably go to bed very early tonight.

Sunday dawned early again. I had let Deuce stay loose in the room and even on the floor as he seems to be a hot dog and gets really hot sleeping with me. I didn't find any accidents so two times now we have stayed in a hotel and no accidents YEAH! I had his little pop up crate set up and would feed him in it and then try and go back to sleep. They are so use to getting up early and eating that they can't seem to break that habit. We were literally 3 minutes away from the trail site so we really didn't need to be up so early but the boys didn't see things the same way I did. Again, Tony had some great runs but just no Qs. He is learning so much and I see the light bulb going off every run! I got to once again run a friend's dog, but this time it was an aussie named Scoot, the same scoot that i helped take care of when I went out to North Carolina for nationals. We got a Q and a good time! I had so much fun running him as he runs really nicely and fast and I can actually do some rear crosses. I am not use to a dog that doesn't really check in as Miller does every single obstacle so it felt so much smoother than when Miller and I run. I ended up doing some shopping too! I love not running as I feel like I get so much done and get to socialize so much more!

The drive home was uneventful although I was very sleepy and had to have Tony drive from Salina on. Played with everyone and let them have some outside time. Now the pup is under my feet snoozing and I am wanting to snooze too. I guess I will end on this. Had a great time this weekend, got lots of training with distractions in, even some training right next to the in and out gate. Am still keeping my fingers crossed to run at nationals so i am hoping Thursday will hurry up and get here so I will know one way or another.

Getting excited to go to Hutch

Sorry I haven't been keeping up with my blog lately. I have been a little preoccupied and in the mornings have been really busy for some reason. Check out my performance blog for the latest on miller so I don't have to type it twice:) We are going to see a specialist on thursday Oct 29th so I am hoping we get answers then.

On to my little or should I say big Deuce man! I kind of had let him go about his own business for a few days and boy can I tell! We had to have some remedial sessions on toes and a few other things but now we seem to be on the right track again. I am really thinking about going to the Ann Braue seminar and take Deuce if I don't have to spend a ton of money on Miller and his injury. I think I will probably audit but we will have to wait till next week to decide.

I have to tell you a funny story about Deuce and how he trains us. We have bells on the door in the back so they always ring when we open them. Most smart dogs figure that out and will ring them to tell us to let them out. Well, Deuce figured that out really quickly so he will go in the other room and ring the bell over and over for any reason. Since I don't know when he is playing or when he is serious, I always let him out. He seems to really like being outside even if it is raining or windy, dark or light. He will even get in the pool if it is freezing outside! Anyway, last night he was ringing the bell constantly and when I would let him out, he would go out and then stand there and look at me, like aren't you coming out? I had gotten tired of him doing this so before we went to bed, I ignored his bell ringing and made him come up to the bed. We always start out with him in the bed with us and I was reading and he came up, sat next to me and then proceeded to pee all over the bed. I couldn't believe he did that! I had to strip the bed and then couldn't remember where the other set of sheets were so just grabbed a couple of comforters and slept on those last night. He got most of the pee on my big body pillow so everything had to go into the wash. URGH! He is too smart for his own good!

Since I am not running this weekend, I hope to get alot of training in at the trial. Probably won't blog again till sunday night. I do want to say thanks to all of my friends out there who have been so super supportive of miller and I through this frustrating time. Your kind words and encouragement and support have been really really great and helpful and I love you all. No one can beat doggy/agility friends (and mommies)!

Now I feel a little stupid

I took Deuce to the vet yesterday to have him looked over. It was time for his last set of puppy shots and he wasn't previously feeling well so didn't know if we needed to just examine him for what was going on or give shots or what. He seemed fine when I came home, had not thrown up and was very perky so we decided to go ahead and give him his last set of shots. My vet did do a fecal on him to check as we have had some giardia going around and they did find two suspicious looking cyst like objects in his fecal float so we decided to go ahead and treat him. I am going to take him in today to bathe him and then will bathe him when he is done with the treatment. We haven't noticed any problems in the other dogs so we are just going to wait and watch them and treat accordingly. Giardia is so widespread and is everywhere so it is not a major concern in my book. The funny thing was, his poop was full of hair and the vet asked me why that would be and I remembered as I was grooming berry on sunday, deuce was running around eating the hair. That would probably explain the puking! I didn't really examine the puke as it was 5 in the morning, but I bet it was full of hair too! Boy, I feel stupid!

On to miller. My vet looked him over yesterday so he would have a better feel for what was going on to talk to KSU or whomever we end up going to. He watched him gait for quite a while, both walk and trot and then watched the videos I have posted on youtube to see how he normally runs and how he ran at Lincoln. He did some manipulations and we decided that it wouldn't be a bad idea to go ahead and do a hip x-ray, just to rule stuff out. I am also going to get him started on Duralactin, a natural pain supplement, and some JD dog food just in case. He did previously throw up when I tried to supplement him so I am hoping he doesn't have an aversion to the supplement source. I am going to try everything in my power to get him well, but am also going to be very realistic about nationals.

I feel like I haven't been doing much training with the puppy lately as my mind has been elsewhere. We have done lots of just everyday training (sits and downs and waits), but I need to get back into my foundations. I asked for toes today as we were walking and he looked at me like I had lost my mind. Need to get back to work with him for sure!

sick puppy?

Not sure what is going on with the puppy this morning. Let him sleep in the bed for quite a while last night before i put him in the crate. Sometime between then and 5:20 am, he puked a whole bunch in his crate. I didn't notice for some reason when the alarm went off so let him out where he pooped and peed like normal and then i fed them. He wasn't interested in his food but seemed fine. Waited and waited and then gave up and took him back upstairs when I found the puke. It looked like not solid food but mashed up food which scared me. He ate last night at 6 ish so he should have digested his food by the time he would have thrown up. Of course the first thing I thought of was obstruction! I put him back in the bed with me and he slept in till 7 and then we got back up. He was hungry and that point and ate his food and is now playing. I am going to call the vet and make sure I don't need to bring him in. I may take the day off if I need to. He is currently playing like crazy with Harley so seems fine.

I didn't take him with me last night when I took Miller to Topeka to the chiropractor. I was talking about him to Dr. G and he made the comment that Deuce is going to be bigger than Miller (not good) and that he won't be very agile. Really hurt my feelings. I don't want a huge dog as it won't be good for agility and will be a ton harder on their joints to be big and doing agility. I guess if he can't do agility well, we will do herding or obedience or something different but I really want another agility dog. I wouldn't mind having a dog jump in the 24 inch class but that totally screws me in USDAA once again. He would either have to jump 26 inches or be put in performance like miller. Not that i don't like competing in performance but would like to have at least one dog in the championship level.

On to miller news. So i took Miller to the chiropractor yesterday. He watched him walk alot and said he looked alot more lame than the last two times (he seems better to me) he saw him. Worked on him for a while and of course adjusted different things which is good, not the same adjustment every time. The other vet Dr. S did some chinese medicine with him and some acupuncture on his knee. Not sure why they think it is in his knee as they don't think it is ligament or joint but they don't know what it is. I called my vet last night and we talked for a long time and he is going to call some vets up at KSU today and see what they can figure out that we need to do diagnostic wise. He was throwing around words like MRI or CT-Scan and I was about to pass out! Those cost a ton of money to do! At this point, nationals is not in the picture at all and we might be taking at least 2 months off, if not more. Dr. J, my vet, also knows someone that has a nice clinic in Mission KS that could do some work on him as well. It would be great if I could get him in at KSU and do some physical therapy there. If it is a soft tissue injury, we need to be doing PT right now. I can attest to how much soft tissue injuries suck and am still battling mine! I will do everything in my power to fix him and get him better so this may be a very long and interesting journey.

what a weekend

What a weekend! I really thought I would be really down in the dumps all weekend cause I couldn't run miller but i actually stayed so busy I didn't have time to have a pity party. I ended up working the score table all weekend, and while I miss getting to socialize with everyone and watch everyone's runs, I think it was a good thing for me to stay busy. Tony was in charge of the dogs all weekend and I guess Deuce got to see lots of people and lots of dogs and got to go out to the ball field and play with his brother Axel. I miss getting to do training with him but I got to do a little on sunday and he did pretty good with the distractions. He was so extra good this weekend for his daddy! The crating was really tight this weekend being a two day show, so we didn't drag all of our crates in, just put him in with Harley. I think it was actually a good thing as I think it helped harley stay calmer. Normally harley doesn't rest at shows, stays up and awake but every time I walked by, harley was asleep. I don't want to start a habit of always putting them together like we did with Harley and Miller when harley was a baby. Other than the really stinky gas that Deuce seems to always have now, things went really well.

When we got home on sunday, I had to take advantage of the beautiful fall day. Yes, I said actual fall day!!!! I was wondering if we were going straight to winter this year but sunday proved me wrong. It was gorgeous and sunny and it was the perfect temperature. I worked out the yard most of the afternoon till I couldn't see anymore. Deuce and I did outs, heres, gos, and turns with the gates at speed and the bang game. I need to make sure we are hitting all the foundation skills we need to be working on. I am kind of wanting the crate games dvd. I don't want to become a strict follower of susan garrett but i think she puts awesome foundations on her pups and I want awesome foundation on my pup. I may have to ask for her crate games dvd and the 2 x 2 method for my birthday from Tony!

I also decided yesterday that since we had a little bit of wind that i would brush everyone. Berry is shedding something terrible and she hates to be brushed so I chased her around the yard with the brush and the shedding blade. She looks 100 times better and must feel better for sure. She still isn't done, but i figured after a couple of hours I had tortured her enough! I also brushed miller but he was acting jealous I think because of all the attention that Berry and the puppy were getting. Miller gets to go back to the chiropractor today and hopefully will get some acupuncture as well. Nationals is coming up so soon and I have to get him back to normal again! He acted fine the weekend, was his normal wiggly self and pulled me to the ring once when I got him out but I just couldn't chance it if he needed more time to heal. Everyone was asking about him so I had to tell what was going on about a hundred times but it makes me feel really good that people were concerned.

Oh yeah, I guess I hadn't talked about Tony's Q!!!! It was sooo exciting and guess what, I missed it! Tony had a really nice standard run, with Harley actually getting all three of his contacts!!!!! He just had a knocked bar and I think an off course but overall harley kept it together and didn't seem too stressed. He only needs one more Q for his AX so I am really hoping he can get that this year. In jumpers, I had break so I was going to eat really quick and get back to the table. He had told me that there were a few dogs ahead of him so I thought i had time to get food and come back. Well, as I was coming back, so was he and he had already run!!! Not only did i miss seeing it, no one taped it :( Figures the one awesome Q run he had, I didn't get it on tape. That is usually what happens to me to so I am of the opinion that taping = hex = NQ!!!! Tony had a smile on his face that lasted all day and all night for sure. He got 12 pts on his run so he now has 98 MACH points. If he could just get into Ex B in standard, he could start working on doubles. He needs one more leg for his MXJ as well. He was really excited that he could get two titles next weekend! He has come so far with harley in such a short time. I almost want to enter him and harley in a few more shows so he can keep up the good work while Miller and i take a break so they can keep the streak alive! We only have Hutch next weekend and then we are done for the year. We aren't going to Columbia or Wichita or Tulsa (megadeath concert weekend) so we are done for the year. Tony hasn't shown any interest in harley doing USDAA and that is all that is left for this year.

Well, need to go do some spot house cleaning. Didn't get much done yesterday as I was glued to the outside and tonight is Denver versus the chargers. Even though Denver released my brother from their organization, I still have a little orange in my blood so will have to watch and cheer them on against their rivals, the chargers!

Puppy and daddy day

Today was the KCGRC show in Lawrence. I had decided that I was going to volunteer and do whatever I could to help out since I wasn't running. Tony was in charge of taking care of deuce and miller since they both came along for the ride today. I think he did a great job today and got deuce out alot and played with him alot. I helped at the score table the whole time and thoroughly enjoyed it. Maybe if miller is out for a while, I can chip in more like that. Anyway, I guess Deuce got to see lots of people and other dogs and even took one woman's earring off according to tony. Since crating was so tight, we decided to just throw harley and deuce in together. It went really well and I think it even helped harley to relax a little as every time I walked by, Harley was asleep. Tony had a great jumpers run today, with just two bars down but it was a nice fluid run. I will take bars over crazy harley!

When we got home, since they had all been in the crate all day, I decided to work Deuce on outs and heres with the gates, toes on the board outside, and turn on the flat. He did really well and I am excited that he is still showing so much enthusiasm for agility. I hate that I didn't get to work him more at the show, but I really enjoyed helping at the table. Lots of my friends got double Qs today and Jeri and her german shorthair got her MACH which was really exciting! We are going back tomorrow so I will be helping at the table again. I am going to try and leave Miller here tomorrow instead of taking him. I really think that being in the crate all day made him super stiff and was not a good idea for him for his injury. Deuce will go because being in that environment is great for him. Okay got to go. KSU is up 45-0 on texas a and m and I need to go cheer! GO CATS!

bummed

Okay, so I am majorly bummed:( Miller, who we all thought was better came up lame again in class last night. This was my worst fear, that we would not have fixed what was really wrong. He was okay for about 4 runs and then came off the line silent again and I knew immediately something was wrong. He seemed all funky in the back end again so we are going to head back to the chiropractor monday. I am actually going to call him today as they have an acupuncturist there that could work on him as well. I just hope we can get this fixed by nationals in three weeks. I am not leaving and driving all the way to AZ without a 100% sound dog. It just doesn't make sense to get all the way out there and then him come up lame. This is going to be such a tough call because he seemed better this week and then came up lame. I am going to probably have to eat two weeks of entry fees too but I will do whatever needs to be done to get him well. I am not ready to retire him and am hoping to have at least another good year with him. What bums me out the most is that this was probably his last USDAA nationals and was really hoping to do well this year. I have been really, really lucky as far as injuries go so finger's crossed we can get this fixed and continue his career. If I don't do nationals and pull him from these two shows, his agility season will probably be over till January so he would have plenty of time to get better.

Okay on to the puppy as it is his blog! Deuce got to be the demo dog for the beginner class. I had him out before the advanced/ pre-comp class and got to work 20 foot multi-colored curved tunnels and some toes on some contact equipment. He got to play some with Joc's puppy before she felt like they were playing too rough and had to separate them. He then had to go sit in the crate for an hour and he actually did that without barking or screaming! I was so excited that maybe he is getting that in the crate does not equal dying. He got to come back out and be the bang game demo dog. He was so cute showing all the other dogs how to do the bang game except he didn't want to share his teeter with any of the other dogs, no matter how big they were! He also got to do a full sized dog walk but that made me really nervous. I didn't want him falling off from so high up so we only did that twice and then stopped. He is a tough guy but don't need two hurt puppies!

Well, off to ice my knees. I fell getting in the shower yesterday and busted my good knee up pretty bad, go figure. I hit my knee on the metal track for the glass doors so not only did it bruise pretty badly but it scraped all the skin off so it is sensitive too. I think my other knee is starting to really bother because I am having to compensate and use it more. I just can't seem to catch a break right now, so maybe a break for both of us would be good!!!!!

sorry

Sorry I haven't been blogging the past two days. We have been sleeping till 7 every morning and then I have been doing housework or training so not as much time to blog. I am enjoying more sleep but I do miss the amount of time we were spending together. We also haven't been going on our morning walks. It has either been in the 30s or raining and i am a big winter weather wuss so haven't been going out. My knee has also really been bothering me after my running so I am trying to rest it so I won't have to go back to PT.

Training wise we have been working on pretty much everything. Now I really don't have specific times where i work on things, i pretty much work on everything all the time if that makes sense. He knows the basics so now anytime is a good time to work any of his commands. Waits are great to work all the time and so are sits and downs in any position. Heres are great when I need to call him away from something or get his attention back on me. I try to incorporate all his commands into daily life. We also have been working lots of gos and comes through the hoop. He LOVES this game!

I do have a couple of concerns and not sure what to do. He always has really nasty ears. I have never had a dog that had ear problems. I am trying to be very proactive about it but i just don't know why he is having these issues. He is also a very itchy puppy even though we have no fleas. He is constantly chewing and itching. He isn't licking his legs but am wondering if the chicken protein is not good for his tummy. I need to talk to my vet and will when he gets his last DHLPP shot this friday. Maybe this is just a phase he is going through? Tony thinks the litter bothers him still and it is pretty much on everything in his kennel. He still uses it quite a bit during the day so am hesitant to take him off of it. Not sure if he will hold it going 8 to 9 hours in his crate and would rather him go in the litter box than all over the crate and himself.

Well, time to get ready for work! Will try and get some videos of come and go through the hoop!

Puppy gas

Deuce has gas again and I am pretty sure we have narrowed it down. I had bought a bag of puppy food when Deuce wasn't gaining weight and then never used it so I have been using it in his food tube so that we use it up. I had stopped using it for a while and the gas went away, but i have recently been using it again so we can use it up and he has horrible gas again. Thank goodness he likes pepto pills! I guess we are going to have to just give the bag away or throw it away. Tony and I can't handle the smelly farts anymore!!!! Nothing but wellness treats for this little dude from now on.

Poor Deuce got stuck in his crate alot yesterday. He went with Miller and I to the chiropractor in Topeka. He is so good! Other than farting in the crate, he just slept the whole way there, while we were there, and then when we got home. When I got home, tony and I had to go and do some shopping so he went back in the crate, with his favorite, ice. When we got home, we played alot and then back to the crate for sleepy time. Poor guy! I think that was why at 6:30, he was done with the crate for sure!

We had good news last night with Miller that I will share on here even though this is the puppy blog. Dr. G said that his back was doing a ton better and he didn't really need another adjustment. I have decided to start taking him every monday for a couple of weeks while we are showing every weekend and before USDAA nationals. It may be overkill but at least it lets me know he is okay. We have two more AKC shows this year and USDAA nationals and maybe two more USDAA regular shows and we will be done for the year so he will have a break till the winter show season starts in January.

I should also update you on my knee. I am no longer going to PT, am released so been running and exercising on my own. I ran thursday, friday, and saturday last week and was sore on sunday so took sunday and monday off. I am running about a mile with a quarter mile to warm up and cool down. I am hoping to get back to at least three miles so maybe I can run a 5K some day. Haven't gotten my last PT bill but i am sure it is going to be alot! I am so glad that i went though as they taught me some good exercises that will help me run better and even walk better.


Not sure what we are going to do training-wise today. Worked some toes upstairs with just lots of praise, no toys or treats and he did great. I try to find any situation I can to work toes now as I want that drilled in his little head! I have seen the light bulb go off for turn so we are working lots of turns. I have faded the cookie out so that helps with him jumping and not really paying attention to what I am asking him to do. Need to work more on spins in front of me and more wait. Wait is working really good in some situations and in others not so much so really need to reinforce it more. I really need to get my gates fixed so that we can drag a few in the house (tony is going to love me this winter) so we can work on more outs and heres and turns at full speed. Am also working on targets with a nose touch cause you never know when you might need to work a target and they are really nice to use when you are working distance skills on contacts.

Well, off to get ready and go to work. Poor baby goes back into the crate:(

monday's suck alot

For some reason I thought today was sunday again and was so stoked and then remembered it was monday:( If you are on FB, I declared yesterday stay in your PJs and watch movie day. It was in the high 30s yesterday and very cloudy and gloomy looking. We stayed on the couch all day pretty much, in our pjs and watched lots of movies. This is a strange feat for me because I am usually not still for more than a few minutes (unless I am on the computer). I did take miller out to Lori's house and work him for a while over 20 inch jumps and some contact equipment and he seemed fine. We go back to the chiropractor today so here is to hoping we get cleared to run this weekend! I did bring Deuce with me and did get some obstacle training in. We did the dog walk, lowered, tunnel, the bang game, and some outs and turn around the jump wing. He had a good time and I did too, just wish Lori lived closer so we could come out more often. It is about a 30 minute drive for me, which isn't that bad, but not close enough to do it more.

Here is a video of me using my NADAC hoop to teach here and go and through. It is also useful to work waits or stays with. It is a work in progress but the hoop is so easy to use and very portable.

saturday part two or I am bored to death and tired of playing games on facebook

Well, Tony isn't home yet and I am tired of playing FB games and KSU is loosing miserably so I thought I would blog about today. Took Deuce to my vet's office and borrowed their raised tub so I could give him a bath. He really stunk and was dirty so thought it would be nice to have a clean puppy, even if it would only last a little bit. He did really good, tried to play with the water coming out of the head of the shower attachment. He even let me take some pics of him looking very wet and pissed off. I was going to blow him dry but their forced air dryer just about took my skin off and didn't have a low switch, so decided that wasn't a good idea. Towel dried him and headed home. He got to play with a very large golden who was there to have a check up. He was very unsure about what to do with her. She was very big and had a bone in her mouth. The owners told me she was super friendly and liked to share but i was a little wary. Sure enough, she spit her bone out and deuce went for it and she rolled him. I didn't make a big deal about it as he needs to know not everything is his but decided to leave and not try and let them play any more. Did some training before I left to get some behaviors while he was distracted and he did pretty well. Still had to use treats instead of tugging but it was hard for him not to go play with the dog in the waiting room or all the people who were waiting as well.

Had to order some more pee powder as Deuce has been having a few more accidents. I think anytime I brag on a dog, they then go and have accidents. He got a swat on the butt and some yelling when he pottied right in front of me, right after he had been out for quite a while. We got some really good training in today with my NADAC hoop. Not sure how i feel about him going through jump standards without bars so thought, why not use my hoop that Paula Froog gave me, no jumping involved. I worked on restrained recall and because I was by myself, I just threw the food tube through the hoop and told him "go, through". He only ran around it a few times, which i expected so he just didn't get the food out of the food tube when I got to him. He got so excited with this game that i was having him run all the way across the room to go through. We then worked on go through and here (hand touch to nose). I worked foot work for front crosses and rears just to get him use to me doing different foot work while he went ahead of me. He did better with the front cross footwork but was a little concerned with the rear cross foot work. I was pleased with his first time seeing some of this.

We still need to work more on his release. He still is needing more than just the word "okay". I am still having to throw something which brings motion into the equation and I am trying to get away from that. Need to talk to Lori and see what she has to say. I also made it a game for the big dogs. As I said in a previous blog before, I had been putting them outside or in a room when I worked Deuce but want them around now as a distraction. I would put them in a down or sit stay and if they held it (very hard for harley, imagine that mr. contact buster) they got a cookie too. The only problem was whenever I used deuce's release word, it was also their release cue as well so they would come running too! It was kind of fun and they enjoyed getting some cookies too.

I really need to work on wait more and more. I used it with the hoop and he did break a couple of times but got what i wanted fairly quickly. The problem is when I ask for the sit and then try and move around or go behind him, he flips around, still in the sit but still facing me. I guess at least I know where my weakness is for sure. He does better in the down, but I think it is because he can see me better when i go behind him.

Going to be another boring day by myself again tomorrow but at least the antique stores in town will be closed so I won't have that temptation. Will probably do more work on what i worked on today. I need to work on my gates as they are falling apart. I can drag them in the house too so I don't have to work outside. I plan on taking Miller out to Lori's if the weather is nice and have him do some a-frames and dog walks to see where he is at with his back/pelvis issues. Well, that is all for tonight. Need to go cut his toe nails while he is sleepy and not wiggly!

It's freezing outside for real

I can't believe that it is only October and the outside temp is at the freezing mark. BURRRR! I finally caved in and turned the heat on after tony left this morning and even rolled my little heater out and put it behind me at the computer. I don't mind cold when I am sleeping and am burrowed under my blankets, but when I am just trying to do stuff around the house or work on the computer, it sucks!

Tony is working all weekend so it will be just the boys and I hanging out. I really need to take Deuce to the vets and bath him. They have a tub there that is raised and have claimed that I can come any time to wash him. He stinks right now so I am thinking now would be good. He was outside playing the pool even though it is freezing outside. Crazy puppy! He is full of energy right now and Harley is not in the mood to play. He keeps on touching his nose to the heater (porcelain) and then snorting over and over again. How many times does he have to touch it to know it is hot! He is just like a little kid right now, or more like a little brat! He is going through this "you can't make me" phase. He has been swatted on the butt a couple of times and he gives you this look like, "How dare you", but then he does whatever you want him to do. I drug my gates out yesterday and did some out and here drills and he was doing fairly good. He seems to have great attention to my hand (thanks Lori for instilling this in us) so he follows his out commands well. We also drug the tunnel out and did some tunnel work. I have a 15 footer and really need a longer one to do more advanced work. Did some rears but he is so focused on getting the tunnel that he didn't care. Also did some here's out of the tunnel and he did great with that as well. The only issue I was having was that he was preferring the food over tugging last night. I guess that is just sometimes how it goes. I really like his drive to the tunnel now. He is pulling me on the leash wanting to go in and I love that. Am hoping we don't have a tunnel suck now!

We also worked Miller on low jumps last night per the chiropractor's instructions. I am still not convinced he is better, but not sure. I had set the jumps up the backyard and he was refusing them but he hates working in the backyard and always has. He views the backyard as his "toilet" and he just won't work there, so I drug them out to out side yard. I had them set at 16, and the ground was soggy so he refused a couple but I think it was more that the ground was soggy and not that he was hurting. His barking was normal and when I finally got him going with some food, he jumped fine. Seems to be okay today, not sore but who knows how much deramaxx is still in his system. I will put the video of his run at the bottom of this blog and on my agility blog so people can see how he was jumping and how his bark was different. I am just not sure if he is back 100% but I am so paranoid now and am probably over analyzing him now. I just don't want to run him if he is still not healed. I don't need any Qs or points for nationals as we are good to go on those so these shows are just practice but will loose all of my entry fees for sure.

Plans for the day training-wise may be slim as it is so cold outside and I am sure not ready for the cold! We need to work on wait as that is our weakness for sure. Also, even when I ask him to line up beside me or in between my legs, he is doing that swing out thing again. Seems to want to be in front of me no matter what so need to work on that. I will probably blog later so that is all for now!

so glad it is friday but the weekend is going to suck!

Not going to be much of a weekend:( Tony is working all weekend, which is good for finances, but not good for any activities we had planned. We decided to postpone the agility seminar due to the threat of some really crappy weather, including 20 mph winds and snow. There is a rock show i would really like to catch tonight but without tony, I can't really go. Guess it will just be me and boys hanging out. I will try to resist the urge to go antiquing without tony! The new store in town has some really nice stuff that we were both drooling over yesterday when we went and picked up our new dresser.

On a good note, I did run last night. PT told me to just do as much as I felt like doing so I did a mile. Walked for five minutes and then stretched, then got back on and ran full out. Did try and cool down more as that is something I am guilty of not doing and then iced my knee just in case. So far today I feel fine so I think I will be able to get back to it. I would really like to be able to run a 5 K some day. Notice I said run, not win or even come close to winning. I am not genetically programmed to run so I can't push my luck! I can tell a huge difference on the agility course when I am running alot so would like to continue that course of action!

Puppywise, still working on out. I used the couch last night and I could see the light bulb go off. Will probably take his act on the road this weekend and do some outs around trees in the park and such. It is so much fun working with young dogs that have light bulb moments. Still working lots of toes on different surfaces and still working on turn. I am waiting for the light bulb moment on turn. I need some more obstacle work though. I haven't done much other than tunnel and the bang game. Need to talk to Lori on what we can work on at this early age. Have been mainly working foundation work. I also need to finish my video:) as I have been really taking my time with it. I have been also working on lots of toy drive too. We do lots of tugging, which he picked up on pretty quickly but am now working on retrieving. He will go get the toy and bring it in my direction and then will either drop it or run past me with it. We are a work in progress!

Some times i feel like i am not doing enough with him but then sometimes I feel like I am doing too much. It is hard to find that balance. I want him to be a puppy and grow up happy but I also want so many foundation skills on him that my other dogs lack or got a lot later in life. Harley has been the best babysitter and now plays with him constantly. Miller joins in sometimes but for the most part ignores him as does berry. They have all accepted him which makes me feel good.

Well, off to do some training. Haven't gone for a walk all week so really need to do that tonight. The mornings have been so frigid that I have been a wuss and have opted to let harley wear him out and do training instead of walking.

Not much to write about this morning other than to talk about the little ordeal we had yesterday with the big dogs. Tony and I have been contemplating crating everyone but berry for a while now. At the old house, we had outdoor kennel runs with concrete floors so that the dogs could be outside during the day, but we also lived in the country so they could bark or do whatever they wanted and it didn't really affect anyone. When we moved here, we decided not to put the kennel runs in so that the neighbors didn't have to listen to our dogs do whatever it is that they do all day. We do have very tall wooden privacy fences but harley is a climber and so is miller so I am sure they could probably get out if they really wanted to. SO, we decided to just let me be loose in the house. We really never had a problem until we got the puppy. Now both Miller and Harley have become super counter surfers. So far they have eaten a stick of butter, a box of saltine crackers, a baked potato still wrapped in foil (ouch), a bag of tortilla shells, and yesterday a bottle of deramaxx. We were lucky in that the bottle only had 6 pills in it, but we have no clue who ate it, if they shared it or what. When Harley was a baby, he ate a whole bottle of cosequin that had like 100 in it and he didn't have any ill affects but Deramaxx is a NSID so a little more damaging to the GI tract. At first, I was upset but then I remembered that my friend's whippet had eaten a bottle of deramaxx twice and she is only 20 lbs and she never had any ill affects. I wasn't too worried but when I called my vet, he was a little concerned. He called Norvartis to see what we should do and they recommended blood work and a UA to establish a baseline and then re-test at 24 and 48 hours to check liver and kidneys. He first wanted me to have them puke so Tony and I drug everyone out to the back and started loading them up with salt water. Both puked quite a bit but mostly either clear or bile looking puke. My guess is whatever got eaten got eaten as soon as we left for work so it probably had worked its way through already. Both boys got drug down to the vets and got to have jugular blood taken and pee collected. They were both extremely good for the whole procedure. I figured last night, I would know the culprit as it would cause some GI tract disturbance but no one woke me up all night. No one has even had any problems this am so am thinking this is going to be okay. Of course I will probably worry the whole time I am at work today. Blood work should come back this afternoon so we shall see what those results tell us.

On to the puppy. Not much to talk about other than he is doing well with all the training. Started training out the past couple of days just in the house with chairs or the ottoman. Seems to get it so will be doing some "out" and "here" exercises like Lori has suggested. Deuce is starting to really push the boundaries on some commands. Kind of getting the i don't really have to do what you tell me to attitude. He got his first pop on the butt yesterday and he sure didn't like it. He is also super distracted when any of the other dogs are around. Previously, when I train, I put the other dogs outside or in a room so it is just he and I. Now, I am letting them be around and I am working him with them present and he gets super distracted. I am working Rachel Sanders recall idea where I recall him, he comes, then he gets released back to playing with Harley. Also, if he choses to stop interacting with me, I walk away and ignore him. That gets his attention pretty quickly. We haven't been going on our daily walks but hope to get back to those tomorrow. Miller seems to be doing well so will at least start back to morning walks and then maybe incorporate both walks again. The weather has started turning already and has been pretty nasty already so not looking forward to what this winter is going to bring.

Well, time for a short training session and then get ready for work. Will blog later when I get the results from the bloodwork.