|
|
By W S Myles
Walker, Clanheath Designa Knite arrived a week earlier than expected. Click on the image above to see a larger version. Look how big ‘little’ Shadow has grown! Click on his pedigree name to see his page on the Clanheath website.
The politics are still sorting out – Gemma isn’t quite sure about him, and Shadow is finding out that she can’t get away with the antics that Mum allows her to get away with. Not that I’m worried by the latter – I wish Gemma wouldn’t pander to Shadow the way she does. She should be teaching her to have some respect for other people/dogs.
Shadow hasn’t learned ‘No’ nor her name yet, so the only way to stop her harassing Gemma is to physically pull her off.
The flash card reader is acting up; I dread the thought that there is a bent pin on the socket, because it’s embedded in my 24″ monitor  I might just have to abandon it and get a new one.
Walker went on a 10km walk with Gemma and me tonight, around dusk and under the near-full moon. He has good leash manners, albeit that he wants to walk well in front. Once he knows the limit of the leash, he doesn’t pull very much, which is good. He just maintains an even tension on the tape. I’m glad he settled down, because at the very first, he was pulling like a truck. Hard enough that it was all I could do to stay upright.
We met about half a dozen people and dogs along the way, and all went well.
I get the impression that he’s never been on a 10km walk. Probably not even a 2km walk. He better get used to them 
When he got home, he wanted nothing more than to eat and find somewhere to sleep… whereas Gemma wanted to play! So we all ate dinner outside under the moon, and had a snooze to plan our next day or two.
Over the next few days we’ll see how he fits in. He’ll be going to training with Gemma and me tomorrow morning, if only because I can’t leave Shadow alone with him at this early stage, lest she goad him into a response we’ll all regret. Afterwards, we’ll have a chance to get some free running in the fenced enclosure, and see if we can’t get him to play frisbee with Gem.
He has let Shadow know when she ‘crosses the line’ a bit too far, on more than one occasion. I have no problem with this; she has to learn that not everyone is as utterly tolerant as her mother.
It is quite amazing to see Walker and Gemma together. The size difference is astonishing, even though his actual mass is not that much greater (perhaps 50%) he looks at least twice as big. This is emphasised by the fact that he’s in near-full coat and she’s practically bald.
So far, things have gone better than could be reasonably expected… and no incidents. We have uncovered a few phobias and the like which will take some work. He needs confidence, and time to develop it. He seems to think that a brush is an instrument of torture, whereas Gemma will come running if she sees it brandished. Gemma is used to drinking from a tap, but I could not get Walker to come within two metres of the same tap. I suspect some history there.
In fact, the biggest ‘problem’ we’ve encountered is that Gemma thinks we’re about to go out for exercise every time I call him, because his name is so similar to our cue! One might have to change
By W S Myles
…wandering about at Gundaroo’s street fair.
She got to meet dozens of people and canines of all shapes and sizes.
We even watched some sheep handling demonstrations. Both girls were very interested in the sheep in the pen we were standing next to. Gemma remembered, but Shadow seemed to instinctively know…
Needless to say, she was exhausted by the whole experience. We had to stop and rest under trees every 10-15 minutes or so. That’s fine… it was a good escape from the sun for me, too.
By W S Myles
Tonight’s trial at BDOC was a hoot. I’ve never enjoyed a round of exercises as much as we did tonight.
This is what UD is supposed to be like. A series of games.
We came very close to qualifying, and almost certainly won the ring on the night… only 12 points dropped across the board apart from the zero (another 15) on the “metal” article in scent discrimination. Our nemesis.
I’m pretty stoked about the whole night; she worked really well for the second night in a row. Maybe not quite as enthusiastic as her best, but she was clearly engaged in what we were doing for a change.
28 17/19 15/0/14 27 18 10/25. So close but yet so far!
SB DJx2 Scent x3 Sig Gloves Exam/Stay
We appear to have re-found the form we had just before Gemma came into season!
Such a pity that there are no local trials now until March! Oh well, it looks like we’ll be doing a lot of driving in the near future. Sigh. Speaking of driving, I tried a new route to BDOC tonight, via Gungahlin dr. It shaved over 10km and 10-20 minutes off the trip compared to the back road behind Mt Majura.
Over the summer break, we really must work on distraction proofing; recent practice sessions have highlighted a “confidence breaker” on the Directed Jump and Scent Discrimination exercises in particular. A noise or dog moving around at the wrong time, and the whole thing falls apart.
This is how we learn and improve: examine the performance, study the circumstances, replicate, and work on the issues. A month or two back, her finishes broke down in trials but were OK in training. Frustrating. Then they broke down in training too – which is good, because THEN you can work on perfecting them. You can’t correct faults in the ring. Just like intermittent faults in equipment, performance errors can be extremely hard to correct until they become consistent. Once consistent, you can selectively reward the better or best performances and extinguish the improper ones. In the case of the finishes, they are now much better and consistently close to ideal position. Proof that the method works.
It took me a couple of months, but my own “heelwork” (the body language I send to Gemma) is also getting back to what it was earlier in the year. I’m sure that part of Gemma’s insecurity was due to my not giving her all the usual warnings in a consistent manner that a position or turn is coming up.
The last two trials have “felt” different to our recent efforts – I don’t know whether it’s confidence or preparation, or some other “X” factor, but I haven’t been obsessing about the judges’ orders or being foot-perfect – just relaxing and letting events just happen. Athletes talk about being ‘in the zone.’ The higher brain disconnects from the performance and the body just takes over, leaving the “executive” mind free to strategise and analyse. We are finally getting back in that very mode.
What a bummer that we ran out of trials
By W S Myles
What she lacks in experience, she more than makes up for with unbridled enthusiasm!
-
-
I know there’s a bone in here somewhere…
-
-
Who’s the king of the castle?
By W S Myles
There is possibility that Gemma may have an adult companion as well as Shadow, at least for a week or so, mid-November. There is an outside possibility that he may stick around.
This fellow is from the other litter 10 days later than Gemma’s, so he’s a week and a half younger. They grew up together until 8 weeks or so – 15 puppies all at once!
Poor guy, he’s been bounced around from place to place for most of his life and never really settled down. He’s been invited to have a ‘vacation’ with the girls, and enjoy the company and activities we get up to.
He’s a handsome chap, make no mistake. He hasn’t had much training at all, so it’ll be interesting to see how much he picks up in that week or so. If he’s anything like Gemma, or his brother Sonny, he’ll be a quick study.
More news on this if and when it develops…
By W S Myles
I really must stop visiting the fridge so often.
Shadow has worked out that this is where all the tasty things to eat come from. As soon as I open the door, she materialises underfoot, as if by magic! Aladdin, eat your heart out.
Shadow has been ‘out and about’ several times now, and has met most of the dogs that Gemma and I run into regularly. I’m pleased to report that she has been a model canine citizen in all these encounters. She’s made lots of friends already.
Gemma had to suffer through a UD trial tonight in the rain. Maybe we should trial more in the rain, because she did remarkably well. She had three goes at the directed jumping (the third one was perfect, but the others were zeroes ), and she missed the metal scent article because it was soaking wet even before I put my scent on it. Miraculously, she got the wood and leather ones almost instantly. Still scratching my head over that. The metal, I can understand. How the heck did she get the others?
She got her chicken reward anyway, because what she did pass, she did very well indeed. Points for effort and enthusiasm – which she had plenty of tonight.
30 0/0 14/0/15 27 10/25. ie, she dropped all the points on DJ and the metal SD, but only four points otherwise! We even got a compliment on the heelwork in Signals, and a ‘nod’ for tracking in the seekback.
This is very encouraging, as it could mean we are back on track. Good enough for second place (mainly because only three of us stayed around for the ‘stays’!) It’s only our second weekend of trials since the puppy interlude in May-Oct this year.
There is another trial tomorrow night, but I don’t think we can realistically expect more than 169 from that one either – and that’s the last local trial until march 2009!
That should give us plenty of time to retrain and proof.
Meanwhile, I’m still musing on whether to enter the Agility ribbon trial on the 19th. I figure we have very little to lose, since it’s within walking distance from home.
By W S Myles
Simple answer: the yard the girls live in is almost entirely clay and mud, in the process of re-landscaping. They love playing “king of the castle” on the mounds of dirt and stones.
The girls are Border Collies.
Do I have to join the dots? They’re filthy
The fence is up, the gate is hung, but the ground hasn’t been covered and finished yet.
The pictures wouldn’t show much that you can’t project anyway (she looks the same, just bigger), and she’d just get dirty again in a poofteenth of a second, achieving nothing except irritating both Shadow and Me.
By W S Myles
Well blow me over and knock me down with a feather.
Shadow loves walkies.
Shadow loves roast chicken.
Shadow has learned that being cute gets you attention and even food if you’re really good.
Imagine this: every last skerrick of kibble disappeared in seconds tonight. Not that they were particularly hungry – they were all mixed by hand in roast chicken pieces before hand
We are just getting her used to the idea that you can be “almost” free on a retractable lead. You can go and sniff whatever you like, so long as it’s within five metres. Gemma learned to be reliable off lead long before she “really” got the idea of walking on the same side of poles and trees… so it was never really an issue. It was a stark reminder of how far we have yet to go, Shadow and I, when she consistently tried to walk on the wrong side of such obstacles today at the lake.
Oh, but all those sight and smells! Not to mention other doggies that aren’t black and white! What a surprise! They smell right, but they look all different!
Oh… and since three quarters of the back yard is claypan right now, with piles of soil and dirt around… Shadow has discovered archaeology. It’s only dirt, but boy is she messy! No more pearly white socks for Shadow, they’re more “Golden Retriever” than BC now.
At some point quite soon, I’ll have to get a professional painter/renderer in to give me a quote. My house is “bagged” and painted, and overdue for repainting. The painting is the easy part – stabilising the material to be painted is rather outside my realm of experience. Some re-surfacing will almost certainly be required around most of the first two courses (layers) of bricks, or whatever paint goes on will flake off within months.
If anyone has any ideas regarding dog-friendly surfaces for the bitches’ run, I’d love to hear from them. The worst of the weeds, roots, and holes have been dealt with now – just another few days for it to settle and I can think about putting down the pebbles again (with multiple layers of plastic & weed mat) – but perhaps with a wide stripe of coarse sand at the fenceline to: a) act as a toilet area; and b) collect the leaves from next door’s overgrown plants Sand is soooooo much easier to clean than pebbles
By W S Myles
Shadow went for her first real walkies outside in the big wide world.
At first, she did the same as Gemma. Propped. Hard!
Unlike the early days with Gemma, this time I had the “hands-free” bungee leash to introduce on-leash walking. Within a couple of minutes and 100m the leash was being stretched in the opposite direction.
All those wonderful new things to go and look at, sniff, and even taste if daddy wasn’t looking.
It took Gemma several days to reach the same point, but at a month older and more set in her ways. I’m almost dreading the next month or so – at 16 weeks, Gemma could easily pull me over if she surprised me by bolting in an unexpected direction. Shadow is almost that strong now.
So we did another walk with a retractable lead. Much more civilised – but not hands-free.
Over the next week, she’ll be learning that a patient and polite walk-away is perfectly OK, but galloping away is not – the retractable will be applied with the same method as a car seatbelt. A slow reel-out won’t lock a seatbelt, but a sudden extension will.
A confusing time at Agility yesterday; Stewarding at the trials was OK but according to what I’m told, you need to have a “height card” signed by two Judges (or, it seems, a Judge and a club official) before you can enter an Agility trial. Gemma has always jumped 450mm in Obedience, because that’s the height she maxed out at, a year or two ago. There was always the hope that she’d grow another 20-30mm when she was carrying the pups (and level out at the front) but it seems that she might have only grown about 5mm.
This is a problem, because it puts her right at the absolute limit of the “400″ class jump height in Agility and Jumping. Depending on exactly how you measure her, she could be under or over 455mm. At 456mm, she would have to jump 500mm .
The confusing part is that no matter how I stood Gemma, or on what surface, I was regularly getting a variance of nearly 1cm around the 455mm mark. The frame read off at under 450mm at times, and one time was over 460mm! However, it does seem that she has grown a bit in the process of having puppies. She was consistently under 450mm before and is now sitting at 455mm +/- 2mm on average over various stances and surfaces.
It wouldn’t bother me except that she’s slightly built, and has had problems with her landings at times. I don’t want her to have joint problems in her later life because she was forced to jump 100mm higher than absolutely necessary.
It’s also a bit confusing that something so apparently important as a height card is so hard to come by. I’ve never seen one, ever. Despite having one measurement of “over 455mm” and one official measurement of “under 455mm” ready to sign-off, there were no cards to be found. So I’m in limbo. I don’t know whether we’re actually eligible to enter, or not!
Shadow and Gemma had a good day out with lots of other dogs. Shadow went socialising with several friends at the club, and made more than a few acquaintances of her own. Everyone says (to my great relief) how quiet she was. When I first went training at the club with her tagging along, you could hear her tantrums from 100m away, behind the clubhouse!
We probably shouldn’t admit this, but we sneaked in a few runs of the Novice Jumpers course while no-one was using the ring. Three clear runs of the course, well under time at 400mm. It took two more failed attempts at 500mm before a successful third run. Yes, she knocked down three, one, then no bars at 500mm – but the third run was significantly slower as she ‘gathered’ for each jump… and “refused” the first bar twice when I led out.
I think she’s trying to say something, huh?
What a trooper. She did it anyway.
By W S Myles
It’s been a regular hive of activity here for the last few days as the old fence and backyard were razed and the new fence raised. There is still much to do, but the vast bulk of the contractor work is now complete. This, of course means that almost all of the rest of the work is going to be me, a shovel, stringlines, and a lot of back-breaking work…
Shadow didn’t particularly like being cooped up in the bathroom, and then in the bitches’ run (much larger) after having a much larger area up until then. Now, things are back to normal – they can run around the entire house and yard. The bottom panel of the bitches’ run fence is now temporarily back in place if I need to ‘contain’ Shadow while the gate is open for access.
It set us back a bit on the toilet training, but I couldn’t exactly let her outside when there were no fences at all!
In effect, I’m renovating from the outside in; starting at the perimeter fence, then the grounds, then the outside painting, the inside painting, and finally the floor coverings. There isn’t much point painting or re-carpeting in the house until Shadow is well and truly house-trained I’ve gotten away with minimal maintenance since this place was new, and it’s starting to catch up with me.
I tried to match the original colours about five years ago when the pergola needed a serious going over, but never could quite match it. This time around, I have the simplicity of knowing that everything needs painting anyway, so it doesn’t have to match old work. The original paint was described as ‘an alchemy job’ by the fellow who did it. He mixed large barrels of various colours for several days until he settled on one combination – which, I might add, was quite an attractive combo.
These days, the colour sensor technology is much improved, so I could probably get a tint formula which is an almost exact match to the current schema – but that has now faded and weathered. Time for a new look.
Once the outside painting is done (the walls are rendered), I can start thinking about upgrading various bits and pieces like a solar booster for hot water, solar panels to supply about half my power needs, and water tanks.
We’re all off to steward at the Agility trial this afternoon and evening, and exactly as I predicted it is a wet day. As usual. I can make it rain any time I want by agreeing to steward in advance. From memory, only one trial has been dry. Some have been just impossibly wet.
Shadow had her 12-week shot a couple of days early so she could come with us today. She’s leveling off a bit now, having just reached 6.5kg
Shadow is now sitting more or less on cue, even from other people. I still have to keep ground-level clear of loose objects I want to keep, or risk turning around to find them gone at 5m per second.
|
|
Recent Comments