A lot has happened in the past seven months. Not much of it was dog training, but today I came across a video from last December and I thought I would share it with you.

A year ago I was teaching Ruby to put his front feet on a target when he was entering “two on, two off” position on a dog walk. This position was originally taught on a box and then transferred to the dog walk, but it was never as solid as I would wish. If I stayed behind Ruby often couldn’t complete his task.

So I started training him to go to the end of the plank without me and to focus ahead:

Java got a bit stiff in her back from who knows what and I gave her a 3 week pause from training while we were sorting it out with the physiotherapist. She was acting a little subdued and I thought she was in pain.

When we fixed her back it became apparent that she has another problem – she has been feeling sick in the mornings. I’m pretty sure she was feeling sick all along, I just didn’t realize it because I was focusing on her back. She only vomited once so I didn’t give it too much thought, but when the physiotherapist told me that her back was now fine and Java started to greet me on her hind legs like she used to (confirming that her back is feeling better) I started looking for other reasons.

She was refusing food in the mornings. I give my dogs most of their food by hand. They get their first bit for putting the harness on, as I have observed it makes them a bit uncomfortable (presumably because I’m leaning over them as I do it) and they do a little avoidance dance – come close and then “remember” they were thirsty or something when I prepare the harness. If I give them a piece of kibble for sticking their head through the loop that makes it a trick and these behaviors largely disappear.

Java was refusing that treat and the next few treats. If we went for a walk in the morning she didn’t look excited about it and became very slow after 20 minutes. She was wearing her “puking” face, but I was so focused on her back issues that I thought it was a sign of pain. Nope – she was feeling sick. In the evenings she was back to her happy self again, we could go for normal walks, she would be excited and eat anything.

I took her to a vet, but they couldn’t find anything. Curiously, I started feeling nauseous in the mornings around the same time as Java. Like her, I was also feeling just fine in the evening. Could we be feeling nauseous for the same reasons? Could it be tap water? Tap water is perfectly fine to drink in Ljubljana, but perhaps there were seasonal changes to it and we were a bit more sensitive than Ruby? (For years I have been getting morning nausea in spring/summer and I haven’t been able to figure out why.)

As a test we drank only bottled water for a while, but there was no change. Eventually I found a medicine that helped my stomach and cleared up nausea completely. For Java a combination of getting the last meal right before bedtime at 1 AM (yes, we are night owls 😉 ) and eating Dorwest tabs helped prevent the worst. She didn’t have the “puke face” in the mornings and was excited to go for a walk. She often didn’t take that first treat, but at least she had a good appetite when we got back.

Even though she looked fine, when training I could see that food has lost some of it’s value. It didn’t get her as excited as before, which got us in trouble with running contacts (I’ll write about that one later).

Luckily, for the past few days she seems almost back to normal. I’ve stopped giving her Dorwest tabs and today she was asking for food throughout our morning walk. I love having my hungry Java back ❤

Poor tortured posing pups 😉

Trinity all grown up ❤

Ruby doesn’t like puppies. You can almost hear him saying “ewww get this thing away from me, QUICK!” when a puppy is near him. Just like some people adore children while others would rather have a dentist appointment than deal with screaming little versions of humans, so it is with dogs. Java happens to like puppies, Ruby not so much.

So when my sister got Trinity the Boston Terrier puppy, Ruby was not impressed. To add insult to injury, the dwarf got most of Mateja’s attention, one of Ruby’s favorite humans. And toys! The horror! As far as Ruby was concerned, all the toys at Mateja’s place belonged to him and his friends – and Trinity was most certainly not his friend.

Recently Trinity turned 1 year old and Ruby’s attitude changed. He recognizes that she is no longer a puppy (and maybe seeing her started to predict good things just a little).

This is Ruby’s “I’m about to go crazy” face.

Let’s play, Trinity!

This is not the end of the road yet, but it looks very promising 🙂

Beautiful photos by Mateja Lugarič 🙂

Trini: “Java, do you like Boston Terriers?”
Java: “Yes, but I don’t think I could eat a whole one”

The wonderful photos are by Stisnprtisn!

I don’t know if I should be sad or if I should count myself lucky. You see, I don’t know what a “heart dog” is. People talk about it, how they got that one in a million dog, that pup with whom they formed a truly special connection.

I have a very special connection with two very special dogs. I don’t know if this means I haven’t got my “heart dog” yet or maybe I have two? All I know is that whenever someone praises one of my dogs I instantly feel the urge to praise the other one. I don’t feel like one is better than the other. They have different characters and different strengths, but I wouldn’t change one for the other. They are both very special to me in their own unique way.

Ruby has a lot of heart. He might not be a good jumper, but he LOVES agility nevertheless and puts his whole heart into playing. During a recent seminar instructor commented that Ruby was “willing to please”. I just smiled. He is not “willing to please”, but he loves agility so much that he would do anything to keep the game going 🙂 The toy he gets is just a symbol of winning. The ultimate reward is to play some more.

Java is my shadow, loves hanging out with me and I never have to worry about her chasing wildlife on walks. She is just the easiest dog to live with and gives the best morning hugs, her long tail wagging wildly. She also loves agility, but there is a different vibe to it – like she’s excited, but not 100% sure what she’s so excited about 🙂 Which might be because of her limited exposure to agility. It’s definitely too early to expect that she would love the game for itself like Ruby.

Java is awesome because she cares about what I think and tries to please me. Ruby is awesome because he doesn’t care what I think so if I’m having a bad day this won’t get to him and he will still have a blast training. Yin and Yang. Both very close to my heart. ❤

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
– Mark Twain

This post was written about two months ago, my finger was on the trigger, but I didn’t post it. The main reason is that I thought it would be misunderstood by the majority of people. But there is also an odd chance that there is someone like me out there who really should listen to their fear MORE, not less, and every single article they read is telling them to blast right past their fear, that everything is going to be all right. You know what? Popular culture is often wrong.

It took me a while because I’m dense sometimes… It took me a very long time, in fact, to realize that I should listen to myself, not to other people. Listen to my instincts, not to other people’s truth.

People say to just go ahead and do what you’re afraid of doing. Fear is bad. Do what you’re afraid of. Conquer your fear by barging right through it.

But fear is there for a reason and saying that it should be disregarded is like saying you should disregard the pain that tells you your hand has just reached into the fire. Yes, sometimes pain needs to be ignored, like when doctor takes your blood. But more often than not it is useful, and the same is true for fear. It’s a warning.

For the past few months I gave myself permission to listen to my fear. This was harder than you’d think, since I have practiced ignoring it for so long. I had to remind myself several times that it’s OK to listen to what fear had to say. And when I listened closely it usually had a valid point. There was a step I was missing. There was something else I could do. I was rushing things. I wasn’t ready. Or my dog wasn’t ready.

Sometimes what fear had to say was inconvenient. It meant I would have to change my habits, take the longer path to the goal, bend some rules, find new solutions, build new relationships, test my commitment and the limits of my health. But it was good information.

Maybe I’m the only one who didn’t know that fear needs to be heeded sometimes. Maybe it’s because I was raised to disregard my feelings or because I took the common advice “do what you’re afraid of” and applied it too literally. I don’t know. It was a stupid thing to do.

Fear is like pain. It’s only safe to ignore it once you know what it’s trying to tell you. It doesn’t have to keep you from taking action, only from taking action blindly.

So act less like this quote:

Always do what you are afraid to do.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

And more like this one:

What is needed, rather than running away or controlling or suppressing or any other resistance, is understanding fear; that means, watch it, learn about it, come directly into contact with it. We are to learn about fear, not how to escape from it.
– Jiddu Krishnamurti

Or maybe I’m the only one stupid enough to ignore fear even when it carries a useful message. If so, please disregard this post.

Cheeky girl

We had some snow in the beginning of January and I thought I would let Ruby and Java run together. Of course the first thing Java did was run into Ruby, so then he didn’t want to play with her.

Java does this thing on walks where she runs ahead of me, stops and turns, waiting for a recall. She has me well trained 😉

We do a lot of recalls during walks, some because I don’t want to only do “difficult” recalls where they would have to leave something they want to come to me, some because they are about to roll in something smelly and the recall is the surest way to prevent it and some to regulate Java’s zoomies. In the beginning I didn’t want her to run full out much because I wasn’t sure what her wrist could take. Frequent recalls ensured that her zoomies were short-lived. Plus, she got some extra recall practice which she sorely needs after spending such a long time on leash.

No recalls on this video, just talking to dogs 😉

Ruby and Java say the new blanket passed the test. I agree.

Ruby and the first snow

2015 feels like a beginning of a new era. It’s hard to say why or what will change or even if it will have anything to do with dog training. I was never a very intuitive person, preferring logic over emotions, but as the 2014 is coming to a close I can feel the energies shifting.

Sometimes I get an urge to make a video. I will hear a song and it will just play on repeat in my mind until I make a video. It happens as it’s time to go to bed and makes me stay up all night. That’s what happened two nights ago… I heard All of Me by Jon Schmidt for the first time and knew I won’t sleep much that night. A quote danced on my brain “To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield”. I googled it and found Ulysses by Lord Tennyson:

Come, my friends,
‘T is not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

(you can find the whole poem here)

It was such a perfect description of my state of mind, my wishes for myself and what I wish for all of you in 2015. Peace? Yes. Joy? Yes? Healthy dogs? Yes. Fun trainings? Yes. But above all, the spirit that will take you where you truly want to go. No excuses. No regrets. Give it your all. Happy new year, everybody!

The other day I tested sending Ruby to the backside of the jump from 2m and from various angles around the jump. He surprised me by getting most of it right. It seems I keep forgetting that he knows this stuff and then I’m surprised when he can do it 😛 Actually he did everything right, but he kept curving into me before going to the jump and several times he almost ran into the wing because of it. What’s going on here?

I like to test/train stuff like this at home, far away from anything that looks like agility equipment. If I mess it up and really frustrate Ruby, this feeling of frustration won’t be attached to agility, only to my props at home (if any). Also, if I leave equipment out of the equation it helps me to analyze the situation and better understand what is going on.

So at home I took two food bowls. For the first two tries I only set one bowl 2m ahead, restrained Ruby and released with “Take it”. No problem, he went straight ahead and gobbled up the kibble. Next I set the second bowl to my left, so that it was slightly closer than the first bowl, but Ruby would have to go across my feet to get to it. The bowl ahead was full, the bowl to my left was empty. It should be an easy choice to just go straight ahead, right? Well, not for Ruby! He first started toward the bowl on the left and only after I took a step forward he changed his direction to the bowl that was directly in front. Looks like we replicated the problem 🙂

Obviously curving into me and going across my legs to get a reward is a strong behavior for him if he is drawn even to an empty bowl. It has nothing to do with agility equipment, not wanting to take the backside of a jump and the like – it’s based in misunderstanding of what I expect when I release him from a restraint.

We have been playing with it a few times and it seems I have thoroughly confused his poor whippety brain. Now he’s not sure if I want him to go ahead or stay close to me, go straight or curve in. He is slow and careful.

I attribute this to being a lazy trainer. I usually train with kibble at home and only bring out the goodies if I need more excitement or if I want to differentiate between a good try and a great execution of exercise. Of course yummy goods need to be chopped up first while kibble is just grab-and-go 😉 I think rewarding with something yummy could help here, because it would add value to going straight faster than kibble does. I’ll let you know how it turns out 🙂