deuce and fergie update

Wanted to update on how my deuce boy has been doing. We have seriously begun our weave pole training now but have decided to use the channel method instead of the 2 x 2 method. If you know of anyone who would be interested in buying my DVD on 2 x 2s, let me know since i haven't even used it. I do feel like it is an awesome method, I just feel like it is easier to do what my trainer trains so she can help me troubleshoot any issues I am having. We have been slowly moving the channel in and out and I am very happy with his progress so far. He has nice drive and collection in and is hitting his entries well. He is far from perfect and still has days where he doesn't want to weave and I have to channel them way out and then work my way back in. It has been super hot here so I have been having to wait till 9 or so to get out and train. We haven't had class lately due to my crazy schedule and Lori being gone so I have just been working him on skills drills after the beginner class I teach. I have seen alot of improvement and have worked him up to jumping 20 inches. He still sometimes forgets to jump properly and so I have been giving him a verbal "Uh-oh" and stopping him, not so much as a punishment but more just to remind him to be careful.

I will have to admit, I have been playing around with 2 on 2 off for his a-frame and will need to make a clear decision here soon as to what I am going to do for sure. I have really had trouble fading out the hoop and I felt like the running was not a clear enough criteria for him. I think because we did running for so long that he had great drive into position and as long as I can maintain this drive, I am pleased. I will just have to monitor his shoulders and keep him very lean to keep stress off of his front end. (can you tell I am leaning towards a 2 on 2 off:)


Fergie is well, fergie. She does agility when she feels like it and I haven't been pushing her. We just got her down to 7.7 lbs so i feel comfortable having her do more like jumping and more a-frame work. I have her currently jumping at 4 inches but she may eventually have to jump 8. Again, I am in no hurry to get her into the ring. This is more of a learning experience for me to train little dogs. When she is into work, she had great intensity and can be super fast. She doesn't seem to like the heat either so I haven't been pushing her. She finally just this week got back on the teeter after deuce launched her off of it. I am thinking the teeter may always be her nemesis so NADAC may be a better option for her than AKC or USDAA. Oh well, it is too early to tell so I am just letting her go at her pace and give me what she wants. She is just now doing her sits and downs on command as we having been clicker training these behaviors. Most of my dogs get this in a couple of days so this has been interesting to see how long it takes her to get all of this. I really look forward to someday showing Fergie and Deuce!

Deuce and his own random rate of reinforcement

I guess we are in the throes of doggy adolescences for sure now. Deuce is starting to try out his wings in garbage diving and dog food gorging. Twice now, we have left thinking everything was put up and that we would only be gone for a little while so he should be okay to be left out. Right before I left for the IN, went to the store or something and came back and he and who knows who else had eaten who knows how much dog food. It happened again last night, went to the movies and came home and the dog food air tight container was opened and empty. Poor Deuce had three accidents last night and when he went out had pure diarrhea twice. I guess from now on we will have to lock up the dog food container and the garbage. Lesson learned, wish he wouldn't do that anymore but not fair to tempt fate. I am sure when I get home today, there will be accidents galore. I left him out of his crate so he would at least be able to do that on the hardwood and hopefully not walk in it. I also think I am going to have to take him to dog shows no matter what. I have gone to a couple and left him with Tony and I don't think Tony pays good enough attention to him and thus the mischief. I do also think we are going to have to go back to crating him, no matter how short the period of time we are gone. I told Tony, since we have nothing in the dining room and it will probably be a long time before we will due to all of the house problems we are having, that we should just move all crates downstairs and crate everyone. I think it is only fair as we really don't know who is doing exactly what.

Training wise, Deuce and I are still taking Lori's puppy class when I can make it and when it isn't too terribly hot. Lori has given us the drills on paper so I can work them at home, which helps. He sometimes has tons of drive and sometimes not. He is starting to do really well with his a-frame, especially in sequences and we have moved the hoop out away from the a-frame and the target passed other obstacles now. I will have to be honest, due to this weird summer, either really hot or raining, no in between, we haven't done a ton of training. I am very busy with work and very stressed with both work and the house problems so I de-stress alot by just watching tv or going to the gym. I figure I am in no rush to get him in the ring so why hurry:)

Happy Birthday Deuce, here's your present, it's an infection!

Poor Deuce! Deuce celebrated his 1st birthday on Sunday with a raging stomach ache and an infection of his "man bits". I feel so horrible as I think it was my fault that all of this happened, well not the stomach part but at least the infection. Deuce has always had a very sensitive stomach, to the point that I won't feed him anything other than his food and I even use it for treats or very bland charley bears. He has had horrible gas in the past, which has cleared up somewhat as he has aged thank goodness, but the sensitive stomach has stayed. For whatever reason, Saturday night, his stomach revolted against him and he basically had an intestinal explosion in our dining room which thankfully is plywood floors and no furniture, so easy to clean. He had a total of five accidents all of cow pie consistency and very smelly. I immediatley started to bulk him up with some cooked rice throughout Sunday and he seemed better so we left to go run some errands in town. Well, when we got back, it looked like another poop bomb had gone off in our house. The smell was unbearable and Tony immediately headed back outside till i had everything cleaned up. This time there was poop from one end of the house to the other and they had walked in one of the piles so it was smeared everywhere and there were little poop footprints going everywhere. Now I was starting to get worried. I couldn't believe how much poop was coming out of this dog! More rice down and Tony and I decided to not do yard work but instead stay inside with Deuce and of course watch True Blood Season Two.

Around 7 pm, I noticed that Deuce was getting more and more uncomfortable. He just seemed to not be able to settle, would go from place to place and seemed to be biting or licking his flank area. He got worse and worse so we held him down and inspected him and his man bits were very red and swollen and smelled infected. I couldn't believe it because we had not seen him licking. What I thought about though was after every explosion, I had taken him out and washed his touche with the water hose. I never did dry him off and he is a very hairy boy so apparently the little licking he did get in and the water staying in that area had all worked against him. He now has a very nasty infection and his poor man bits are very red and swollen. We stayed up together most of last night, with me watching him and him moving from place to place trying to get comfortable. I even iced his man parts to help him and he laid there and let me! Poor baby!!!!! He had a couple of times that he needed to go outside but seemed like the diarrhea was slacking up.

Took him to the vet today and he got his cone of shame put on and his poop area shaved a bit so I don't have to wash him so much. He is getting steriod cream on his man bits to try and help the swelling and the cone of shame is working as well. I am taking the whole day off to be with him as I would worry myself to death if I had left him today plus i have had maybe a couple of hours of sleep if you patch all the little naps together so I am not in the mood to be around people in a social setting. I really do think the diarrhea is done but not sure how long it is going to take his man bits to clear up. I feel so responsible since i was just hosing him down and not thinking about causing an infection. I guess I will have to start drying it with a hair dryer to make sure it is dry from now on. I just wish his tummy would settle down but it took Harley's stomach 7 years to settle so this may last for a while!

Fergielicious

I am so proud of little Fergie! Last night out at Lori's house, I got her out after we had worked all the other boys and let her play. We did the full size a-frame, the full size dog walk and tunnel! I was so proud of her for being so brave with all of the big equipment. I even let her off leash to do the obstacles and she only ran off once. Harley ran after her and pounced on her so we caught her. Thank goodness I have herding dogs! Anyway, she was so awesome and I was so proud of her courage. Now, we have alot of work to do on the teeter. We are playing the bang game but the teeter is so much heavier than she is. Right now I am just clicking and treating for her putting feet on the teeter and last night she actually ate cookies on the teeter after she pushed it down. Of course the teeter is being held on the ground practically so her pushing it is nominal but I am working baby steps with her. She still doesn't like the noise of it so I am having the other dogs bang it down while I feed her yummy treats. We are making improvements but I would love suggestions on how to teach the teeter to an 8 lb dog!

Deuce and Fergie again

Wow, having a little dog is such a different ball game! I am so use to my "big" dogs and at that herding dogs that are so biddalbe and want to work for you! I am still trying to find that button or trigger that gets Fergie to want to work with me, but we are doing better. She will work for food and will work for a tug toy but still doesn't have the drive I want to see. One thing that excites me is that we always train in one room and she will sit outside of that door and wait for me to open it so we can work. The other night she kept going up stairs and then peaking down the slats in the staircase like "You are coming, right?". I am really learning how to adapt my teachings to such a little dog. For instance, I had to use a tug toy to teach her turn and I usually use a food lure. She just didn't appreciate me leaning over her and would scoot out away from me from the pressure. So far Fergie knows "balance" which means jump on the balance disc, "sit", "down", "here"(touch my hand), "walk it" (climb a low a-frame) and "bang it"(bang the a-frame down). She is a work in progress but I am learning so much about how dogs learn and how to teach little bitty doggies. I love watching her brain process what i am asking or waiting for and for her to get the shaping game is so much fun! Now, if I could just get her recall more solid!!!!

Fergie and Deuce

Pud is now Fergie as we thought Fergie sounded better! Fergie is adapting very well to our home, much to my surprise. She is a very well adjusted dog, probably in large part to the staff and vet at Deer Creek. She potties in the house some but I don't mind as I haven't been paying as much close attention to her when she is in the house as I should. We took all the dogs to the show this weekend and I have to say, they all did really well. The only thing I didn't take into account was the fact that little dogs get cold and I didn't have her any little dog coats. I just wrapped her up in a blanket and she got warm and then put her in the ex-pen with the boys and they all snuggled. I was worried about her pulling out of her harness or her collar but she did great. I am still trying to get the hang of the stupid flexi and will be getting her a nice slip lead as soon as I find one i like. Deuce absolutely loves her and they play alot. They even tug and sometimes Deuce will lift her off of the ground! I am trying to get some good video of them playing together. How come dogs always know when you have the camera and stop? Anyway, I hope to weigh her weekly to see if we are taking the weight off. She is so active, I can't see how she won't loose it.

One great thing about having Fergie is the jealousy factor. If deuce doesn't want to do something, I just turn my back to him and play with her or take her into the training room (aka guest bedroom, only room with a door i can shut the other dogs out of. I love to see the look on his face when he gets ignored! It is almost like, "how dare you, I am the baby!". I will have to take her to agility class and see if this works there too. I haven't done much agility work with her as she is so fat but we could just run around like idiots and have fun when he leaves me. I am also going to try Ami's suggestions of doing all "its yer choice". I kind of started doing this the other night, taking him off leash and asking for a down instead of dragging him around by his leash. I will also go get some really smelly yummy fancy feast or something to have in my pocket so if he leaves and then comes back or makes good choices, he will get a lick. I was also reading a book yesterday about canine adolescence and it was talking about how they do the most baffling things during this period and this would probably be about the time he would go through this fun stage. I worked him a few times in the show over the practice jump and with joc and her pup for distractions and he did great! Great drive, great tugging, great attitude, so still wondering what that piece of the puzzle is that I am missing on thursday nights.

PUD

I know this is called the puppy blog but I thought I would let you in on a new "puppy" that has entered my life. Her name is PUD. She was a stray that a older lady took in and now that lady has had to be put in a nursing home and Pud is homeless. Pud has been living with the local vet at his office since September. It just so happened that I had been recently thinking very hard about getting a smaller dog. My weakness is smaller dogs because I have always had big dogs so I have no clue how to train them really, whether it be for agility or for just everyday. Pud has alot of potential, but she also has alot of belly fat. Pud is going on a diet as is Deuce (vet gave us the official okay to step his calories back) and of course both tony and I so we are hoping to get the weight off of her and our dogs. She is a very busy dog and I look forward to having a new project. Deuce thinks she is wonderful and they slept together with me in the bed, much to tony's chagrin. We now have three dogs and a cat that sleep with us nightly. Tony was grumbling about getting a bigger bed but I don't think you can get anything bigger than a king size can you? So from time to time, you will probably get a Pud update on here too!