First of all, I should be working. Agility work unfortunately, not actual billable hours, but instead I am doing neither. I have to mention two things for you to understand this post, which I have neglected to mention in previous posts:
1. I have a new car. A lovely HUGE, BIG, SPACIOUS new car, due to research, negotiation and a little help with from The Nerd. I LOVE the space. Chaos loves the space even more than me. So much room?!?! What to do with it all.... (insert evil laugh here).... weeeeeelll....
2. It has been 26 days since my last cigarette (thank you Champix and Happy Pills, all prescribed by doctor). I am in the process of weaning myself off both Champix and Happy Pills and it is not easy. Just fyi, if I only take the Champix and not the happy pills, I go slightly homicidal and The Nerd fears his life. Funny enough, it doesn't get me remotely irritable, never mind homicidal to my dogs... just shows you how friggin awesome my dogs are. Addiction sucks. Beating it sucks even worse until you have won the battle. This I have to mention because 'having a smoke' used to be my 'vent'. I have had to learn A LOT of self-control in the last 26 days.
On Wednesday I am leaving for the Port Elizabeth Disciplines weekend... it was going to be Thursday, but then I tonight I got an invitation from Psycho Chicken's breeders to spend a night with them (they are on the way) and who can say no to spending some time on a beautiful farm with fantastic working dogs? I have also offered to drive down some 'stuff' (stuff includes puppy pens, suitcases, and ACTUAL puppies)... How much do I love having a HUGE car? You have no idea... but the person that mentions petrol consumption will get smacked upside the head right now!
I really can't wait to get away... We are doing some 'minor' maintenance to the house... there is NO such thing as MINOR maintenance anything! I am done with having people in my face the whole day, being over-promised, lied to, being treated like an idiot, having to throw tantrums to get results and NO SPACE TO TRAIN at my own house.
Oh wait, to get back to the subject... So I picked up half of the 'stuff' tonight from a friend and we did some brief training together. This is a friend that I haven't trained with in MANY years (have we really, I know you do read my blog occasionally *big smiley face*) and we generally have VERY different beliefs in handling, although we tend to agree 100% on training (yup, that IS possible). There was one small section of a course, which she had handled, discussed, timed and dealt with in a class set-up(NO-ONE's fault, this is my point, Agility is NOT about heroes, but about thinking)... her words to me (sorry hope I am quoting verbatim here, otherwise I owe you a beer) 'I couldn't get it right, my dog kept turning the wrong way, but nobody understood what I was trying to do'. I hadn't really walked the course (Well at all), so took me three tries, but then it all just clicked.... we were trying to do exactly the same thing and I figured it out... her dog is MUCH, MUCH, MUCH faster than Spaz Boy, but that was irrelevant.... we both 'wanted to do the same thing' but just had to THINK about it. There are no words I can use to describe exactly what happened... but the point is, we (two totally different people) found something that worked for US and what WE liked with two totally different dogs.
You know they have that whole 'blog action day' or 'blog action subject' or 'blog theme' or the thinga-ma-jig and loads of famous and non-famous people write about it? The last one was 'internationalisation' and I could have written a whole book on it! Very ambiguous theme too! That could have been directly aimed at the South African AWC 2013 or about handling or course design or rules... or a million other things. All the posts I read seemed to focus on handling and had 'new moves', 'ketchker turns', 'german style' etc worked in there somewhere, which is all fine and well, but I still think it 'misses a certain point'. Yes our handling differs (example: USA courses are a lot 'simpler' by our standard, but the handlers have a lot more success in teaching dogs to USE their speed and drive, Europeans depend more on handling, the Brits have a lot less concern for distance between obstacles, the USA rewards consistency more, the Brits aim for speed and consistency, the Europeans have more of a 'all or nothing attitude', the South Africans are always just busy trying to catch up to everyone... etc). This same handler I trained with this evening and that thanked me for 'helping her figure out' what she wanted to do (which she would have done before the week was over on her own in any way), when an entire class and a trainer could not do two days ago... well I probably have every single round both our large dogs have run this year on video and if I had the time, I could do comparisons on every single round and I can guarantee you that at least 75% of the time we make different handling decisions. Because of handler fitness and ability, because of difference in dogs (speeds, turns, training, trust, strengths, weaknesses, being clever, being stupid (yup sometimes REALLY stupid), ideals, ideas, faith and lack of it, core beliefs EVERYTHING), we make different decisions, however in this case we found something that was PERFECT for both of us. And THAT ladies and gents is Agility.
There ARE rights and there ARE wrongs in Agility, but there is no golden recipe. I admire Lisa Frick, Natasha Wise, Silvia Trkman as much as the next person does (probably more, because I am the ultimate Agility Super Nerd). I read all the blogs, I buy the books, I watch the dvd's. I subscribe to EVERYTHING. But Agility is about finding what works for YOUR EXACT RELATIONSHIP (between dog and handler)... THAT is the secret, the trick, the recipe, the magic... THAT is what I try to bring out in my students and what I feel is a trainer's job. I have had another PHENOMENAL handler run my Spaz boy and he has always done a better job than I could have, but because of the difference in relationship, I could never handle it the same.
There is only one EO and one AWC every year. The reality of winning either event (both being my ultimate dream by the way) in each dog and handler's lifetime is lower than 2% (I actually worked it out... ). So the first obstacle is setting your own obstacles (Don't call them dreams or goals, because obstacles can be overcome)... after spending a year with your pup, you should have a pretty good idea of what your most ultimate achievements COULD be... and that is where you (and hopefully your trainer) will start.
When Spazo, my awesome Chaos boy started competing, he got ignored... honestly and utterly discarded. No-one but myself saw any potential. But when he was a pup I realised a few things and developed a long-term plan. Fair enough I made my mistakes, as we all tend to do, but now, at the age of six, Chaos IS a dog that people watch and check and follow and REGARD as competition locally, regardless of the mistakes I made (that still haunt us yes, but at least I LEARNT). My Spaz child is my rock, my world, my 'something to grab hold of when I am falling off the cliff, whahaha, my cigarette when I can't smoke', he will never BE an international top 10 dog and I don't care, he is my heart dog... Then I got blessed again, with my Steinenmeister Volt dog... whole long stories behind him as regular readers will know.... a whole new breed, an import... and what I got, was this fantastic, AMAZINGLY talented, reliable, working, loving... well kinda perfect dog (except for one aspect, which I can't mention on my blog). Even though I have been doing Agility for 17 years and I had one of the most raw talented dogs I ever met, I still made huge mistakes that we are fixing every day. The lack of Small dogs competing in South Africa makes it even harder!!! But he truly is a talented dog. In the hands of an experienced, well-educated small/medium dog handler (like Sabrina Hauser or Daniel Schroder) he may very well have been an AWC medallist last year. And then my newest Pscyho Chicken Child.... I kind of feel guilty, as I am literally robbing a herding competitor of a world champion dog. I have had herding handlers approach me about her. I can see it. I can actually FEEL her herding potential, however, I do not have the opportunity to pursue this and she is my girl and we will figure each other out to become as perfect at Agility as our partnership will allow.
All this thinking about the evolution (that is a MUCH better term than internationalisation by the way) of Agility, made me go back and watch OLD videos of myself and others and finding satisfaction that we have at least GONE somewhere (mostly gone somewhere better) rather than stagnate, so for tonight, I will leave you with this video of my 2012 PE Agility trip and if I get asked nicely, I will make a similar 2013 vid and we can all bask in the evolution and fun and absolute awesomeness of Agility...
Please comment on this post, as I really look forward to other's opinions on training, handling, dogs and agility in general.
Learn from yourself and others, discard what you don't need, but no information is invaluable.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Friday, March 22, 2013
The Voltenstein
This morning at training... VERY early, as in before the sun comes up, in the pitch darkness that is called supreme Agility dedication, a friend made a comment that made me all teary-eyed and stupid, but summed it up very well... Volt had just run one hell of a complicated sequence and as per his usual madness was spinning around me to go and do it or another course, or well anything again and she said to Volt... 'you just always run your heart out don't you boy?'
Today I just feel my Super Sheltie needs a special mention.
Please understand, we have tons to work on, turns aren't always our strong point and sometimes I am just way to slow for him. I tend not to trust him nearly enough and my handling decisions are questionable at times. Very occasionally Volt feels that it is more constructive to bark at me like a maniac while circling me at full speed, this is mostly in the middle of a course. Oh and there was that one time that he just went completely looney, apesh#@, coocoo for cocopuffs and literally did everything on the course that he was not supposed to. Our start line stays, are... lacking to put it mildly.
He is definitely allowed all those things too.
Volt competed in his first Agility Show 1 year and 12 days ago... in this time he has done more than most dogs do in a whole career and apparently he is far from done. At this point in time the titles and wins and rosettes and trophies and stuff really don't mean much to me though. Getting it 'right' is the fun part. And with Volt it is REALLY fun.... and there are Volt puppies planned for the future as well, I can't WAIT for more fun Shelties around...
I am really lucky to have found a one in a million dog like my Sheltie boy. He has given me so much the last two and a half years, a life time worth of unforgettable memories and special moments. Achievements aside, being on an Agility course with Volt is one of the most amazing experiences I can't describe, regardless of the result.
All the regional qualifying trials for our SA Champs and AWC Try Outs have now been completed and Volt managed to finish top of the Small dog category, well done Machine! Here are the videos of all the trials (just a quick explanation, you run 4 jumping rounds and 4 agility rounds and then the points earned in your best 3 jumping and best 3 agility rounds are totalled):
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Random updates... again...
It seems 2013 might just not be my year for keeping the blog updated, yes honestly due to lack of effort on my part, let's not lie... this year has just been one of those 'head-over-ass-spinning-full-speed-down-hill-into-inevitable-doom' kind of years so far... which is a good thing really... one of two things could happen... the ride could get even more interesting and I do like rollercoasters... OR things could just get better. Either way, it won't be boring... and yes I exaggerate, but that is nothing new. The videos in this post are just some recent random training videos, unedited nogals... yup, I am being really lazy indeed...
So our regional trials are done and dusted, we finished al four trials (so 4 x jumping rounds and 4 x agility rounds) to determine the qualifiers for the South African Agility Championships. One province still has to complete the trials, so videos on this matter will have to wait until next. Steiner Weiner the Super Sheltie, occasionally known as Volt had some good trials... we won't say the same about me, he had to compensate for me more than once let me tell you. He is currently lying on top of the scoreboard for both SA Champs and AWC and he should theoretically keep that lead. We can only hope. Spaz had the worst luck he has ever had. My boy, that has never had a real injury to speak of, picked up a bad muscle strain while running the first trial and just as he was recovering from that, he managed to rip the top layer off ALL four his paws, so please don't ever ask me again why he is called Spaz. So he ran the trials with almost no training, after having missed a few regular shows, so I wouldn't call them our best trials ever. He managed to pull through for me on the last two trials though and is currently lying 11th in the SA Champs and 6th in the AWC section, although that might change when the final scores are calculated. He is definitely safe to qualify though.
With the annoyance and worry of the trials being over, we can get back into 'all-or-nothing-go-for-broke-fun-full-speed' Agility. I am very much looking forward to that and we have quite a busy time coming up too, including the first 'away' shows for the year. Woohoo, looking forward to seeing some friends from all over the country and some lekker competition.
It also just occurred to me, that I forgot to blog about the National Dog Jumping League 2012... results only came out recently, but I am proud of the Spaz! He won the National Dog Jumping League 2012, what a boy! His full brother (from a different litter) came second as well, so Up the Farm Dogs! Voltenstein didn't do too badly himself... he missed the first round of the competition as he was too young (yes hard to believe my little Stein has only been competing for 1 year and 11 days!), but he did manage to win 3 of the 6 rounds, since it is a cumulative competition, he only finished 7th over-all, but I will take it!
And now of course it is time for a Psycho Chicken update... loving her to bits and she honestly does give new meaning to the term 'working girl' and no get your mind out of that gutter. She just has one interest in life and that is to work... whether it is playing circus circus for a clicker, going through tunnels are just running around full speed with me, work is IT in her little mind. We will leave it with those updates for now... Sorry for the lazy unedited training videos, hopefully you enjoy them anyway...
So our regional trials are done and dusted, we finished al four trials (so 4 x jumping rounds and 4 x agility rounds) to determine the qualifiers for the South African Agility Championships. One province still has to complete the trials, so videos on this matter will have to wait until next. Steiner Weiner the Super Sheltie, occasionally known as Volt had some good trials... we won't say the same about me, he had to compensate for me more than once let me tell you. He is currently lying on top of the scoreboard for both SA Champs and AWC and he should theoretically keep that lead. We can only hope. Spaz had the worst luck he has ever had. My boy, that has never had a real injury to speak of, picked up a bad muscle strain while running the first trial and just as he was recovering from that, he managed to rip the top layer off ALL four his paws, so please don't ever ask me again why he is called Spaz. So he ran the trials with almost no training, after having missed a few regular shows, so I wouldn't call them our best trials ever. He managed to pull through for me on the last two trials though and is currently lying 11th in the SA Champs and 6th in the AWC section, although that might change when the final scores are calculated. He is definitely safe to qualify though.
With the annoyance and worry of the trials being over, we can get back into 'all-or-nothing-go-for-broke-fun-full-speed' Agility. I am very much looking forward to that and we have quite a busy time coming up too, including the first 'away' shows for the year. Woohoo, looking forward to seeing some friends from all over the country and some lekker competition.
It also just occurred to me, that I forgot to blog about the National Dog Jumping League 2012... results only came out recently, but I am proud of the Spaz! He won the National Dog Jumping League 2012, what a boy! His full brother (from a different litter) came second as well, so Up the Farm Dogs! Voltenstein didn't do too badly himself... he missed the first round of the competition as he was too young (yes hard to believe my little Stein has only been competing for 1 year and 11 days!), but he did manage to win 3 of the 6 rounds, since it is a cumulative competition, he only finished 7th over-all, but I will take it!
And now of course it is time for a Psycho Chicken update... loving her to bits and she honestly does give new meaning to the term 'working girl' and no get your mind out of that gutter. She just has one interest in life and that is to work... whether it is playing circus circus for a clicker, going through tunnels are just running around full speed with me, work is IT in her little mind. We will leave it with those updates for now... Sorry for the lazy unedited training videos, hopefully you enjoy them anyway...
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Thanks
Yup, I have been bad again and I am bound to be bad again after today, I am at a point in my life where I am just terrible at updating my blog.... but after a day like today, you kind of have to post...
The day started off bad... as in VERY bad... on my way to our Top Dog Invitational, my car broke down. This is the same car that I was supposed to trade in tomorrow! While it is still covered under warranty and there should be no cost and it should not affect the whole trade-in-deal/new car story, it DOES mean sorting through a pile of steaming cr@p to GET it sorted and longer before my new car.
I am however fortunate enough to have friends that went out of their way to come and help me out, drive me to the show, pick up the slack for me being late by building courses etc, supporting me and just being there for me. I am even more fortunate to have phenomenal boys that did not put one single foot wrong today... as always I put both feet and my left thumb wrong at some point, but it didn't matter, since my boys just rocked regardless.
While I can't deny that the result on paper was good with 7/8 clears which made for 5/6 wins between my two competing dogs (Chaos rocked especially hard today), that is the least of my thoughts tonight. I stuck by my handling decisions, I worked damn hard on those decisions I made and for once I seem to have made mostly correct-ish decisions. I am happy with my rounds, despite recognising the small flaws.... how cool is that. I have to mention that the support and 'embrace' (that sounds insanely corny, but I have been sitting here for 7 minutes trying to find another appropriate word and I just can't) I received from the Gauteng Agility Community really just made for a GOOD day despite the bad sh!t!
Thanks to all and here is the video of today's rounds... well done to all my friends and fellow competitors that also had a rocking day.
The day started off bad... as in VERY bad... on my way to our Top Dog Invitational, my car broke down. This is the same car that I was supposed to trade in tomorrow! While it is still covered under warranty and there should be no cost and it should not affect the whole trade-in-deal/new car story, it DOES mean sorting through a pile of steaming cr@p to GET it sorted and longer before my new car.
I am however fortunate enough to have friends that went out of their way to come and help me out, drive me to the show, pick up the slack for me being late by building courses etc, supporting me and just being there for me. I am even more fortunate to have phenomenal boys that did not put one single foot wrong today... as always I put both feet and my left thumb wrong at some point, but it didn't matter, since my boys just rocked regardless.
While I can't deny that the result on paper was good with 7/8 clears which made for 5/6 wins between my two competing dogs (Chaos rocked especially hard today), that is the least of my thoughts tonight. I stuck by my handling decisions, I worked damn hard on those decisions I made and for once I seem to have made mostly correct-ish decisions. I am happy with my rounds, despite recognising the small flaws.... how cool is that. I have to mention that the support and 'embrace' (that sounds insanely corny, but I have been sitting here for 7 minutes trying to find another appropriate word and I just can't) I received from the Gauteng Agility Community really just made for a GOOD day despite the bad sh!t!
Thanks to all and here is the video of today's rounds... well done to all my friends and fellow competitors that also had a rocking day.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
All or nothing
Without realising I have taken a break from blogging, along with my little Agility holiday... for those of you that just enjoyed wonderful, snowy X-masses and New Years... well here in the cookpot we call South Africa, we are enduring extreme heatwaves, threatening thunderstorms (that haven't made good of any of those threats lately) and just finished the only month of the year that we don't have Agility.
Me and the boys took a well-deserved month off, bought a small above-ground pool (okay I did that, not the boys) for an Xmas present and spent a lot of time in the garden and swimming. I did start 5 different posts over Oct/Nov/Dec which is lying unpublished or unfinished in my draft tray.
I decided to keep this one short and sweet, that way I know I will publish it.
2013 will mark my 17th year doing Agility. What I love about the sport, the reason I have been around so long, even through all the political bullsh!t, is the fact that each moment is new and different and amazing. Each dog, each handler is an individual and ever second is one of learning. Each year I learn new and wonderful things. I am not necessarily talking about training methods or anything that obvious. I am talking about those little things. My one continuous lesson throughout my entire 'dog training' career (which is now 21 years short), is the value of your relationship with your dog. It is something you cannot put into words. The unique bond you have with each dog.
But my main lesson for 2012 only came very late in the year. Agility is a game, it is all or nothing. If you as a handler give it your all, if you put everything in, your dog puts everything in and at that point, regardless of the results, you are having fun, you are right there, in that moment.
Anyhow, short and sweet as I say. And due to being lazy, too lazy to go look through pics to post here, I will leave you with my only edited vid of 2013 so far....
Me and the boys took a well-deserved month off, bought a small above-ground pool (okay I did that, not the boys) for an Xmas present and spent a lot of time in the garden and swimming. I did start 5 different posts over Oct/Nov/Dec which is lying unpublished or unfinished in my draft tray.
I decided to keep this one short and sweet, that way I know I will publish it.
2013 will mark my 17th year doing Agility. What I love about the sport, the reason I have been around so long, even through all the political bullsh!t, is the fact that each moment is new and different and amazing. Each dog, each handler is an individual and ever second is one of learning. Each year I learn new and wonderful things. I am not necessarily talking about training methods or anything that obvious. I am talking about those little things. My one continuous lesson throughout my entire 'dog training' career (which is now 21 years short), is the value of your relationship with your dog. It is something you cannot put into words. The unique bond you have with each dog.
But my main lesson for 2012 only came very late in the year. Agility is a game, it is all or nothing. If you as a handler give it your all, if you put everything in, your dog puts everything in and at that point, regardless of the results, you are having fun, you are right there, in that moment.
Anyhow, short and sweet as I say. And due to being lazy, too lazy to go look through pics to post here, I will leave you with my only edited vid of 2013 so far....
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Lots of Random Thoughts... mostly on puppies
Yup, all my good intentions and plans of updating the blog REGULARLY with some thoughts are out the window or the door or the cat flap again. Honestly, I have started writing three posts in the last month, but they are all sitting cosy in my draft box. Maybe in the far future some edited versions of these will see the light of day, but for now I don't think they should be published. So instead you get another of my trademark warbled messy thought shares and updates...
Let's start off with they Psycho Chicken, also known as Devil Dog... Man, I am enjoying this bats@#! crazy pup, she is just awesome. Now it doesn't matter what you say, but it is damn hard to compare your dogs as pups. Because in short, you forget. When I got Volt, I promised myself that I would record his puppyhood... every damn second of it. I came close I guess... I was reviewing old puppy vids and journal entries and growth charts and photos... and there are BUCKET loads full, believe you me. At the end of the day though, you forget... you forget the 'entireness' of the puppy-hood if I can put it that way. The little things in between that string the whole thing together as a whole. With Chaos and Quake, I wasn't in much of a position to record all of it, so records are sparse, but in all fairness, I probably remember pretty much the same amount of stuff as I do with Volt, which includes about 70GB worth of vids, photos and writings...
I know that Volt and Quake would play themselves into exhaustion and pass out, you know, kind of like puppies are supposed to. Volt was especially annoying, because he would crawl into tiny little 'Sheltie Spots' where no-one else would fit in. Chaos has always been like he is now... he would play when you wanted, then go and lie in a corner, watching me until I had recovered from MY exhaustion and was ready to play with him again. Psycho? No she really doesn't believe in sleep. She will spend as much time as you allow her, shoving toys in your face, fetching and retrieving. It literally never stops, unless you put her in her crate... and even then, she lies there watching you, waiting for the door to magically spring open to the 'world of toys'. Her motto is, if you can't find one, make one. Last week she spent about 3 hours playing with an A4 plastic sleeve. A green one. It was big time fun and she retrieved it like a pro. Her favourites are still rocks... of any shape, colour and especially size. This annoyed my mom a slight bit, when during a visit, she basically emptied the whole rock garden, looking for some poor sucker to play a game of fetch. This habit is proving hard to break. Have you ever counted how many rocks are in your garden? Trust me, its a lot. And she is cool when you exchange her for another toy, but at the end of the day, there are many hours in her day, to go and find ANOTHER rock. I generally run out of exchange toys, long before she runs out of rocks.
Which brings me to my next point, retrieving. I have never had a puppy that was a 'natural' retriever. I remember that it took me an hour of sitting on the passage floor getting Volt to bring back a toy. And a month to translate 'inside' retrieve to 'outside' retrieve. Not her. She retrieves any time, anything, anywhere. This is one thing I am definitely not moaning about... yes, it is rather exhausting, especially by 02h00 on one of my insomniac mornings, but still a very nice attribute to have in a puppy. As strong as her retrieve is, that is how strong her tug is. She is a rough tugger, a fearless tugger, an undistractable tugger. And once again, she will tug on anything you have to offer (or don't offer - including Delta's tail). So I obviously have a toy dog here, no doubt. Don't worry, in between all this demonic obsession with toys (hence the nickname Devil Dog), I do ensure she has enough rest, well lets put it this way, I ensure I have enough rest... and enough nutrition. At the rate she is burning calories, I have to say she eats A LOT.
Her attention span for her age, IS something to write home about. I am yet to see her attention on me broken by a distraction, which in my books is very impressive for a three month old puppy. Having said that, it is even more impressive that I have been able to call her off everything so far, including huge games with Volt. She learns very quickly and I haven't seen her get frustrated, other than when she is REALLY trying to get me to throw the toy and I ignore her. A lot of people I have spoken to, claims this is because she is a girl, but since she is my first female dog in 21 years, I am far from ready to make sweeping statements like that. Besides, I have never had any real issues with 'maleness' with any of my boys. Although I have heard that Psych's litter brother has some 'attention issues'.
Now please understand, she is far from perfect. Her herding instinct is intense. Very intense. Sometimes it overrides even the toy obsession. Instead of chasing me (running around like a circus clown with a tug toy), she will choose to try and herd me, or they toy, or both. This sounds like a stupid little thing, but it is a BIG thing that influences everything she does. 'Training' (which means running around like mad hatters with toys) is very hard, as she doesn't like being close to me, she would rather be a good 'herding distance' away. We will work through this. The funny thing is that her herding instinct developed the 'read, steady, go' game to a whole new level that I can definitely USE for Agility.We will be tugging like mad, but the moment I say 'ready' she drops down into herding position, facing in the same direction as me... she then won't move until I say go. I can jump up and down, run around her, although I haven't tried it and I am not planning to, I am pretty sure I can jump on her head and she won't move. Guess how I will be teaching my waits? One thing I definitely need to improve from my other dogs, since both Volt and Chaos can at times have, shall we call it a questionable start-line wait. The other problem I have just proves that it MUST be me. She is not terribly into her food! AGAIN! She will eat anything if she is working for it, but putting down her meals and expecting her to eat it all at once is proving a challenge! What the hell do I do to my dogs?!?! Seriously need to figure this out.
Volt was the best socialised, most well developed puppy in all of existence (okay might be slight exaggeration, but you catch my drift). His breeder really goes all out to ensure that her puppies are ready for life. The box full of issues that is Chaos, however, came as he is, with endless fears and worries in tow. He really is not the easiest dog, that is probably one of the reasons I like him so much. Despite all of his 'every day' problems, he is a fantastic working dog, with fantastic work ethic and concentration and absolute honesty. I am definitely not a pro on the whole sheep thing, just put some of my dogs to sheep once or twice, but personally I think Chaos would have been a fantastic herding dog. Well if you are to judge by his wonderful 'outrun' to gather a 'herd of silly Border Collies' chasing after a ball. The reason I mention this, is because him and Psych come from a very similar environment. They are farm dogs. Yes, they are whelped in the house and they grow up with love, but they grow up in a puppy pen, with toys and having to cope with the farm sounds and movements. They don't leave the farm until they are 8 weeks old or get introduced to children or cats etc. Since these are working sheep farms, the breeders don't tug with them or introduce them to a clicker (these are not tools the farmers themselves use, or quite frankly need to use judging by their success in their sport). These are all things that Volt saw long before he met me. Psych's box of issues however, is completely empty, she is an open book. Like Volt she loves all dogs, like Quake she loves all people. She is not noise or movement sensitive and adapts to any environment you put her in within minutes. She has not displayed any fear of anything up to date and her tail is always wagging. She has not shown any stressed body language or worry. She has never gotten car-sick. I can definitely NOT say the same for Chaos, who in all essence came from the same environment. Please note I am now only comparing all my dogs up to 3 months of age, since that is how old she is now.
I also recognise that 'life happens', that I make mistakes and that there is bound to be (and have been with my other dogs) screw ups that will affect her. Just yesterday, I made the mistake of leaving her in the same room as Chaos alone for 5 minutes, while opening the gate for the OH and he nailed her, breaking some skin. My mistake, since I know very well that Chaos didn't even like puppies when he WAS a puppy and age has made his grumpiness in this regard even worse. While it didn't seem to affect her directly (she was up and ready to go, displaying no fear, just her normal respect of Chaos), every little thing in our puppy's lives make a difference. Sorry ladies and gents, none of us are perfect, so things DO happen to our pups. Life happens, it HAS to happen and our dogs's ability to cope with these things is very important. Of course us as owners also have our own preferences, which influences the whole dynamic as well. I ,for example, get supremely annoyed when people go all 'baby moggy' and pick up my puppies, fussing in cooing baby voices and not wanting to put them down. Dogs have 4 legs to walk on. There is a reason for that. My dogs get plenty love and attention and cuddles, but I am NOT for picking puppies up the WHOLE time and definitely NOT into annoying baby voices. I am also far from paranoid and while I try my bestest not to judge people that carry their own puppies everywhere for the first few months, I definitely don't agree with it.
So my whole train of thought was the whole 'nature vs nurture' debate. No-one will ever be able to prove any argument here conclusively, since it is physically impossible (well until they solve the whole time-travel thing) to start over with exactly the same dog. Dogs are individuals and even two dogs from the same litter can't be compared 100% in this regard. So in essence you will NEVER know which factor contributed more. But I do have a feeling that Psych's lines have a much more stable temperament than Chaos ever had, no way of proving it though. However how this is a huge influence on our choice of puppies.
Now I am not judging and I don't know if there is a way that is more right than the other. I have never raised a litter of puppies and to me, the proof is in the pudding. I am not going to make some grand statements here, when I don't have awesome puppies bred by me running around. This however brings me to the actual point I wanted to get to from the beginning... yes after all that rambling, there was a subject I wanted to raise.
Not all dogs are suited to Agility, fact of life. Which is why it does annoy me that some people are forever trying to lower course speeds/jump heights/championship requirements, so they can do Agility with THEIR dog (that is not actually suited), it is kind of like any other sport... if you are only 1.4m tall, it is unlikely you will ever be able to excel at the High Jumpther or if you weigh 100kg at your skinniest, I doubt you will ever be a jockey. Even outside of sport, if you are tone deaf, you are never going to play in the New York Symphony Orchestra and if your brain is not good with 'numbery' things, then it is doubtful you will cope as an accountant. But that is a whole different blog post.
Now if you have made the decision to get a Border Collie for the purpose of Agility (and keep in mind that a pup is a 15 year or longer commitment, regardless of their talent in Agility) and you have decided you can live with the breed, it doesn't end there AT ALL. Depending on who you speak to, Border Collie breeding is a rather contentious issue. I can only testify to the situation locally and of course the endless articles, books and forums that I have read. Border Collies are one of the breeds that have developed into distinct different categories. Border Collies which you see in the breed ring and Border Collies you see winning herding titles and Border Collies that win the Agility World Championships, tend to be VERY different dogs.
I am not going to make sweeping statements about what is wrong or right. Even the discussion of purpose bred dogs are becoming a bit moot, as yes, Border Collies were developed and bred (by US, humans) to herd, to have a herding instinct and there for one could insist that it is part of the breed and this instinct should be a requirement (and yes, this is actually my personal feeling too), however turn that argument to all your fighting breeds (yes, also developed and bred by US as humans) and you wouldn't exactly WANT that instinct to be dominant? I have never owned or worked a breed other than a herding dog, hence my reluctance to make the statement of 'purpose bred' dogs. I feel times have moved along. Let's face it, there are less sheep farms and less farmers using working BC's, more and more people pursuing other hobbies with their dogs. Dog-fighting is mostly illegal (thank goodness!). Fewer people actively hunting with dogs. The jobs of carriage dogs have disappeared. Does this mean these breeds should just disappear into oblivion?
Nope, I am not getting involved into that argument. But when looking for a prospective Agility Border Collie, you have to realise that all breeders have a purpose for breeding. Whether it is to produce pets or breed dogs or pure herding dogs or agility dogs. There are positive and negatives to all sides of this, many 'breed' breeders have disregarded work ethic because of the dogs' looks. While some 'work-orientated' breeders may overlook some other fault because the dog is a good worker. I know there are constant arguments between these two groups as to who is right and wrong. I rather think the argument should be about WHERE their puppies go.
Many handlers that I know, go searching for their next 'champion Agility dog' amongst breed lines and then they are surprised (and worse FRUSTRATED) that the dog might not have the work ethic or stamina that they require. Other 'weekend warriors' go looking for 'just another house dog that sometimes does Agility' from the strongest working lines they can find and then they are surprised (and worse FRUSTRATED) that the dog goes all Norman Bates on their house, garden and car and herds their kids. Now of course with love, training and a lot of common sense, you can turn any of these around into a dog more acceptable to you, as long as you know what you are getting in for. I have had my fair share of all of those categories and I can 100% attest to the difference in these dogs. Believe me, don't believe me, but it is a fact.
If you do breed Border Collies, I am not going to judge your motives, as long as you can have sound motivations for all the breeding choices you make.
The secret is to be honest with yourself and the breeder in your requirements and not to jump on the next band-wagon, just because you want a puppy. It is just as important that the breeder is honest with you in what they produce. This part is a bit harder, because they are just as much attached to their dogs, as we are to ours. They HAVE to believe in their dogs if they are breeding with them. And unfortunately some might be a bit 'disillusioned' to the capabilities of their dogs, or purely want to 'sell puppies'. So many aspects are important for an Agility dog (structure, temperament, workability, HEALTH), but more importantly this is a partner you will share the next FIFTEEN (or more) years with. They have to live in your house, travel with you and be a companion. So make the right decision for you. The one thing that is NOT negotiable is health and if you support a breeder that insists on breeding with lines where there are known health problems, then I am sorry, but I WILL judge you.
While I am beyond ecstatic with my new girl, not everyone would be able to cope with a puppy like her. I am very biased on the matter, I will always prefer the structure, temperament and workability of the current 'working Border Collies', but I definitely wouldn't recommend them to all Agility handlers. And while I might never cope with some of the popular 'breed' kennels's dogs, they might suit someone else's life perfectly. When choosing a pup, be honest with yourself as to what you are getting yourself into, make sure you have done your research, but most importantly be honest.
Let's start off with they Psycho Chicken, also known as Devil Dog... Man, I am enjoying this bats@#! crazy pup, she is just awesome. Now it doesn't matter what you say, but it is damn hard to compare your dogs as pups. Because in short, you forget. When I got Volt, I promised myself that I would record his puppyhood... every damn second of it. I came close I guess... I was reviewing old puppy vids and journal entries and growth charts and photos... and there are BUCKET loads full, believe you me. At the end of the day though, you forget... you forget the 'entireness' of the puppy-hood if I can put it that way. The little things in between that string the whole thing together as a whole. With Chaos and Quake, I wasn't in much of a position to record all of it, so records are sparse, but in all fairness, I probably remember pretty much the same amount of stuff as I do with Volt, which includes about 70GB worth of vids, photos and writings...
I know that Volt and Quake would play themselves into exhaustion and pass out, you know, kind of like puppies are supposed to. Volt was especially annoying, because he would crawl into tiny little 'Sheltie Spots' where no-one else would fit in. Chaos has always been like he is now... he would play when you wanted, then go and lie in a corner, watching me until I had recovered from MY exhaustion and was ready to play with him again. Psycho? No she really doesn't believe in sleep. She will spend as much time as you allow her, shoving toys in your face, fetching and retrieving. It literally never stops, unless you put her in her crate... and even then, she lies there watching you, waiting for the door to magically spring open to the 'world of toys'. Her motto is, if you can't find one, make one. Last week she spent about 3 hours playing with an A4 plastic sleeve. A green one. It was big time fun and she retrieved it like a pro. Her favourites are still rocks... of any shape, colour and especially size. This annoyed my mom a slight bit, when during a visit, she basically emptied the whole rock garden, looking for some poor sucker to play a game of fetch. This habit is proving hard to break. Have you ever counted how many rocks are in your garden? Trust me, its a lot. And she is cool when you exchange her for another toy, but at the end of the day, there are many hours in her day, to go and find ANOTHER rock. I generally run out of exchange toys, long before she runs out of rocks.
Which brings me to my next point, retrieving. I have never had a puppy that was a 'natural' retriever. I remember that it took me an hour of sitting on the passage floor getting Volt to bring back a toy. And a month to translate 'inside' retrieve to 'outside' retrieve. Not her. She retrieves any time, anything, anywhere. This is one thing I am definitely not moaning about... yes, it is rather exhausting, especially by 02h00 on one of my insomniac mornings, but still a very nice attribute to have in a puppy. As strong as her retrieve is, that is how strong her tug is. She is a rough tugger, a fearless tugger, an undistractable tugger. And once again, she will tug on anything you have to offer (or don't offer - including Delta's tail). So I obviously have a toy dog here, no doubt. Don't worry, in between all this demonic obsession with toys (hence the nickname Devil Dog), I do ensure she has enough rest, well lets put it this way, I ensure I have enough rest... and enough nutrition. At the rate she is burning calories, I have to say she eats A LOT.
Her attention span for her age, IS something to write home about. I am yet to see her attention on me broken by a distraction, which in my books is very impressive for a three month old puppy. Having said that, it is even more impressive that I have been able to call her off everything so far, including huge games with Volt. She learns very quickly and I haven't seen her get frustrated, other than when she is REALLY trying to get me to throw the toy and I ignore her. A lot of people I have spoken to, claims this is because she is a girl, but since she is my first female dog in 21 years, I am far from ready to make sweeping statements like that. Besides, I have never had any real issues with 'maleness' with any of my boys. Although I have heard that Psych's litter brother has some 'attention issues'.
Now please understand, she is far from perfect. Her herding instinct is intense. Very intense. Sometimes it overrides even the toy obsession. Instead of chasing me (running around like a circus clown with a tug toy), she will choose to try and herd me, or they toy, or both. This sounds like a stupid little thing, but it is a BIG thing that influences everything she does. 'Training' (which means running around like mad hatters with toys) is very hard, as she doesn't like being close to me, she would rather be a good 'herding distance' away. We will work through this. The funny thing is that her herding instinct developed the 'read, steady, go' game to a whole new level that I can definitely USE for Agility.We will be tugging like mad, but the moment I say 'ready' she drops down into herding position, facing in the same direction as me... she then won't move until I say go. I can jump up and down, run around her, although I haven't tried it and I am not planning to, I am pretty sure I can jump on her head and she won't move. Guess how I will be teaching my waits? One thing I definitely need to improve from my other dogs, since both Volt and Chaos can at times have, shall we call it a questionable start-line wait. The other problem I have just proves that it MUST be me. She is not terribly into her food! AGAIN! She will eat anything if she is working for it, but putting down her meals and expecting her to eat it all at once is proving a challenge! What the hell do I do to my dogs?!?! Seriously need to figure this out.
Volt was the best socialised, most well developed puppy in all of existence (okay might be slight exaggeration, but you catch my drift). His breeder really goes all out to ensure that her puppies are ready for life. The box full of issues that is Chaos, however, came as he is, with endless fears and worries in tow. He really is not the easiest dog, that is probably one of the reasons I like him so much. Despite all of his 'every day' problems, he is a fantastic working dog, with fantastic work ethic and concentration and absolute honesty. I am definitely not a pro on the whole sheep thing, just put some of my dogs to sheep once or twice, but personally I think Chaos would have been a fantastic herding dog. Well if you are to judge by his wonderful 'outrun' to gather a 'herd of silly Border Collies' chasing after a ball. The reason I mention this, is because him and Psych come from a very similar environment. They are farm dogs. Yes, they are whelped in the house and they grow up with love, but they grow up in a puppy pen, with toys and having to cope with the farm sounds and movements. They don't leave the farm until they are 8 weeks old or get introduced to children or cats etc. Since these are working sheep farms, the breeders don't tug with them or introduce them to a clicker (these are not tools the farmers themselves use, or quite frankly need to use judging by their success in their sport). These are all things that Volt saw long before he met me. Psych's box of issues however, is completely empty, she is an open book. Like Volt she loves all dogs, like Quake she loves all people. She is not noise or movement sensitive and adapts to any environment you put her in within minutes. She has not displayed any fear of anything up to date and her tail is always wagging. She has not shown any stressed body language or worry. She has never gotten car-sick. I can definitely NOT say the same for Chaos, who in all essence came from the same environment. Please note I am now only comparing all my dogs up to 3 months of age, since that is how old she is now.
I also recognise that 'life happens', that I make mistakes and that there is bound to be (and have been with my other dogs) screw ups that will affect her. Just yesterday, I made the mistake of leaving her in the same room as Chaos alone for 5 minutes, while opening the gate for the OH and he nailed her, breaking some skin. My mistake, since I know very well that Chaos didn't even like puppies when he WAS a puppy and age has made his grumpiness in this regard even worse. While it didn't seem to affect her directly (she was up and ready to go, displaying no fear, just her normal respect of Chaos), every little thing in our puppy's lives make a difference. Sorry ladies and gents, none of us are perfect, so things DO happen to our pups. Life happens, it HAS to happen and our dogs's ability to cope with these things is very important. Of course us as owners also have our own preferences, which influences the whole dynamic as well. I ,for example, get supremely annoyed when people go all 'baby moggy' and pick up my puppies, fussing in cooing baby voices and not wanting to put them down. Dogs have 4 legs to walk on. There is a reason for that. My dogs get plenty love and attention and cuddles, but I am NOT for picking puppies up the WHOLE time and definitely NOT into annoying baby voices. I am also far from paranoid and while I try my bestest not to judge people that carry their own puppies everywhere for the first few months, I definitely don't agree with it.
So my whole train of thought was the whole 'nature vs nurture' debate. No-one will ever be able to prove any argument here conclusively, since it is physically impossible (well until they solve the whole time-travel thing) to start over with exactly the same dog. Dogs are individuals and even two dogs from the same litter can't be compared 100% in this regard. So in essence you will NEVER know which factor contributed more. But I do have a feeling that Psych's lines have a much more stable temperament than Chaos ever had, no way of proving it though. However how this is a huge influence on our choice of puppies.
Now I am not judging and I don't know if there is a way that is more right than the other. I have never raised a litter of puppies and to me, the proof is in the pudding. I am not going to make some grand statements here, when I don't have awesome puppies bred by me running around. This however brings me to the actual point I wanted to get to from the beginning... yes after all that rambling, there was a subject I wanted to raise.
Not all dogs are suited to Agility, fact of life. Which is why it does annoy me that some people are forever trying to lower course speeds/jump heights/championship requirements, so they can do Agility with THEIR dog (that is not actually suited), it is kind of like any other sport... if you are only 1.4m tall, it is unlikely you will ever be able to excel at the High Jumpther or if you weigh 100kg at your skinniest, I doubt you will ever be a jockey. Even outside of sport, if you are tone deaf, you are never going to play in the New York Symphony Orchestra and if your brain is not good with 'numbery' things, then it is doubtful you will cope as an accountant. But that is a whole different blog post.
Now if you have made the decision to get a Border Collie for the purpose of Agility (and keep in mind that a pup is a 15 year or longer commitment, regardless of their talent in Agility) and you have decided you can live with the breed, it doesn't end there AT ALL. Depending on who you speak to, Border Collie breeding is a rather contentious issue. I can only testify to the situation locally and of course the endless articles, books and forums that I have read. Border Collies are one of the breeds that have developed into distinct different categories. Border Collies which you see in the breed ring and Border Collies you see winning herding titles and Border Collies that win the Agility World Championships, tend to be VERY different dogs.
I am not going to make sweeping statements about what is wrong or right. Even the discussion of purpose bred dogs are becoming a bit moot, as yes, Border Collies were developed and bred (by US, humans) to herd, to have a herding instinct and there for one could insist that it is part of the breed and this instinct should be a requirement (and yes, this is actually my personal feeling too), however turn that argument to all your fighting breeds (yes, also developed and bred by US as humans) and you wouldn't exactly WANT that instinct to be dominant? I have never owned or worked a breed other than a herding dog, hence my reluctance to make the statement of 'purpose bred' dogs. I feel times have moved along. Let's face it, there are less sheep farms and less farmers using working BC's, more and more people pursuing other hobbies with their dogs. Dog-fighting is mostly illegal (thank goodness!). Fewer people actively hunting with dogs. The jobs of carriage dogs have disappeared. Does this mean these breeds should just disappear into oblivion?
Nope, I am not getting involved into that argument. But when looking for a prospective Agility Border Collie, you have to realise that all breeders have a purpose for breeding. Whether it is to produce pets or breed dogs or pure herding dogs or agility dogs. There are positive and negatives to all sides of this, many 'breed' breeders have disregarded work ethic because of the dogs' looks. While some 'work-orientated' breeders may overlook some other fault because the dog is a good worker. I know there are constant arguments between these two groups as to who is right and wrong. I rather think the argument should be about WHERE their puppies go.
Many handlers that I know, go searching for their next 'champion Agility dog' amongst breed lines and then they are surprised (and worse FRUSTRATED) that the dog might not have the work ethic or stamina that they require. Other 'weekend warriors' go looking for 'just another house dog that sometimes does Agility' from the strongest working lines they can find and then they are surprised (and worse FRUSTRATED) that the dog goes all Norman Bates on their house, garden and car and herds their kids. Now of course with love, training and a lot of common sense, you can turn any of these around into a dog more acceptable to you, as long as you know what you are getting in for. I have had my fair share of all of those categories and I can 100% attest to the difference in these dogs. Believe me, don't believe me, but it is a fact.
If you do breed Border Collies, I am not going to judge your motives, as long as you can have sound motivations for all the breeding choices you make.
The secret is to be honest with yourself and the breeder in your requirements and not to jump on the next band-wagon, just because you want a puppy. It is just as important that the breeder is honest with you in what they produce. This part is a bit harder, because they are just as much attached to their dogs, as we are to ours. They HAVE to believe in their dogs if they are breeding with them. And unfortunately some might be a bit 'disillusioned' to the capabilities of their dogs, or purely want to 'sell puppies'. So many aspects are important for an Agility dog (structure, temperament, workability, HEALTH), but more importantly this is a partner you will share the next FIFTEEN (or more) years with. They have to live in your house, travel with you and be a companion. So make the right decision for you. The one thing that is NOT negotiable is health and if you support a breeder that insists on breeding with lines where there are known health problems, then I am sorry, but I WILL judge you.
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
I am Psyched!
No, I haven't forgotten about my AWC updates and I promise I will definitely finish them, but for now I have a completely different update I need to do.
For those that don't know, I have actually been planning a puppy for a very long time. Volt definitely got me addicted to the whole 'small dog thing'... they are pretty cool once you get over the 'try not to squish their heads while you are running' concept. And I am definitely planning to alternate my dogs in the future, but that ofc means that the next pup must be a large. And Chaos is just over 6 now, so I really needed to start thinking about a pup (I was thinking 2013, but as per the usual life happens). Regular readers will know I moan (let's be honest, it is really more like B!TCHING) about South African bred dogs and health and work ethic and build and bla-bla-bla. The other problem we have is that many, many of the sheep farmers and active sheepdog trialers (who have nice imported stock that I like) are not willing to give puppies to Agility people. And for a very long time I have been chatting to a few of these breeders. For a long time I have been chatting to European breeders and I craved a pup from one of these breeders, but after returning from the AWC trip and re-assessing finances etc, I realised that I would have to try locally. As luck would have it, one of the afore mentioned sheepdog people just had a litter with two dogs that I really liked... and so a puppy was booked.
But the story doesn't end there! By the time I booked a pup, I had a choice of 5 puppies (from a litter of 9) and I liked the looks of Pink Girl the most. So on Friday I packed my little car and took on the 800km (almost 500 miles) roadtrip to the middle of nothing and nowhere to visit the breeder and pick up the pup. The farm is STUNNING! One day there felt like a week holiday. I got to meet the dogs, help work some sheep and discuss training (particularly the difference between herding and Agility). It was divine.
When I first arrived we spent a couple of hours with the puppies and I have to say that I was quite impressed by how spunky ALL the puppies were. Honestly, I would have taken any of them to work! Pink girl was for sure the prettiest puppy. However watching them all, Orange Boy and Yellow Girl were the two that stuck in my mind (coincidentally the breeders also said, without me mentioning a thing, that those two were their favourites), however I was happy to take the pup I had booked. But after long discussions, the breeder said he would really love for Yellow Girl to come home with me and he thinks she would be the best choice for me, so he spent hours convincing the other owners to swap puppies with me. I really appreciate his interest in his puppies and my needs honestly. And in the 5 days since she has joined our household, I could not be happier. Thus far, she is MORE than I had hoped for. And that is a lot coming from me, because I will be honest... normally I only REALLY starting liking my pups from 4 months onwards... puppy breath and cuddles are cool and all, but I like it when they start becoming DOG.
I love getting to know my new pups... I love picking up their little oddities and preferences... Psych prefers to play with rocks above all other toys... something which I will have to try and curb, you know the whole 'dogs kind of need teeth' thing. She is very strong... strong enough to drag Delta (17kg/37 pounds) across the floor by his tail. Psych does NOT like being picked up. She sounds like a chicken when she screams... but seriously now, no jokes.... I will stop for now, because I am still going to drive you coockoo for coco puffs with all of these little observations... so for now, welcome to Psych! And ofc no Alett welcome would be complete without a video!
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