So we're getting there!

I NEED to do some restrained recalls, with both dogs, but Flash especially. It's so hard to train with only myself sometimes. At least this Sunday, after the Flyball seminar I'm teaching, my team mate and I will be doing recalls & hopefully some box work. Need to do it with Baer, but I need to get Flash just initiated with the box.

Here's to planning for tomorrow & onward.

Incredible.

A woman uploads a photo of her extremely overweight black lab, then when people point out the dog is horribly overweight, she defiantly posts "No, he's not overweight, the vet said he's fine." for 15 minutes.

Seriously? You posted a photo of an overweight dog- I understand it may be "rude" for someone to point it out, but even then, honestly, you're an adult. You can handle it.

YOU have the power to control whether your dog is overweight or not- and if they are overweight and you're NOT over feeding them, and you ARE giving them plenty of exercise, then there is most likely a medical condition going on. So if your moron of a vet says, "No, the dog is fine." then obviously they have 1) no clue what they're talking about, and 2) you need to find a different vet who will tell it like it is, and help to find a cause to the problem.

Instead, someone clamps their hands over their ears and shouts "Lalalala". Seriously? I'm flabbergasted. I hate seeing overweight dogs- and I really hate when someone is in so much denial that they say their dog is not overweight.

Yes, yes it is. And by about 15 pounds by my guess.


The world is damned, and doomed.


Anyways, here's Mr. Flash! 17 weeks old, stacked. He's been raw fed since he was weened- he's quick as a bullet, smart as a whip, biddable, and loves people. He's my agility, flyball, and racing Whippet, and I love him.

From our 1.5 hour hike today. :) Tired never felt so good.

Well, I'm impressed by the Monkey man.

Working on reinforcing his retrieves. I like throwing the ball out- it makes him look for it once it's landed, in front of him. I'm hoping in Flyball, this translates to looking forward at the ball in the box. I'm working on releasing him now, I want the behavior of releasing to be second nature to him. He's really good about holding still when being released too, unlike the Lab who's repeatedly digging her back legs into my thighs.


I have practice this weekend with one of my IDOL teams. I love this team- they're fast, they're intense, they're driven. I cannot wait to practice with them- I'm driving 2.5 hours each way to get there. I'd drive more than that, too. If it gets my dogs and I ahead of the game and further than where we were before, it's worth it.

If you treasure the destination, you will never get there. If you treasure the journey, you're already there.

Ahh. The joy of having two dogs again.

It's raining. The puppy runs out, goes "Ugh, this sucks.", pees immediately, and runs inside with us.

The lab walks slowly out, goes "Ugh, this sucks.", and stares at me for ten minutes. She doesn't like to do her business when it's raining. Why torture us both?

Training every day, teaching Baer to get all 4 feet on a stool (she's getting there) for her core & strength training, and Flash I'm working now on getting him to do 2 on 2 off on the stool. Both showed progress today. I'm loving the clicker. They learn so fast, I'm used to it taking a while to teach a dog anything, prompting them to do shit and luring them into motions that they didn't understand. 

But now they understand immediately what I want from them. Because they're offering behaviors that makes them more self-aware, I think. They're wicked smart, because I'm encouraging them to think. Not be fearful, not be lured into anything time and time again, but think about their actions. Brilliance. Now if only I could get better at my shitty timing.

Don't take things personally, 

take them seriously. 

Weave poles with Baer- she can do 12 at a time now but I wanted to reinforce her entering the poles from different angles. 

Two feet on the box! I'm working on getting a short plastic stool- so that he can get all 4 feet on, then work on getting the front feet off. Sounds complicated, but once I have the proper tools, it won't be.

Love, love, love clicker training. 

Now I'm trying to get Baer to learn to stand on her back legs- she has NO concept of the idea. She'll learn, but I have a feeling it won't be as easy as I thought. Once she learns, however, it will be an invaluable skill for her to become even faster. 

Today's rain has drained me. I was looking forward to taking the dogs for a walk, but now once the weather breaks, we're going on a hike. A mama bear and her cub were seen around the field at work- we're getting a bit stir crazy now.

Training Flash to bring the ball back & get on the tug. We're working on distance, and the next time I have to add is running away from him now when he's returning to me. Unfortunately, I have to do this alone most of the time, meaning I can't really video tape much. So here was my best attempt :)