Oh Yeah, You Blend

She’s in a bit of an 8 month old shithead phase, so today we did a bit of much-needed reminders about Crate Games and tricks and relationship building. She’s wonderful anyway, it’s normal testing the boundaries stuff, and it’s quite easy to pull her back to being her usual self. I wanted a strong-willed dog, and Vallhunds are that! She face planted while practicing today and got right back up and went back to work, not much phases her so far, which I love. And she is being great with Sue’s new puppy Blast for such a hellion!

(she is not actually weaving 12 poles, we’re still on wide open channels, but she does do a few in line)

Zhora had another PERFECT WEEKEND (the first since the puppy break)! Oksana Syrkin is one of our very favorite judges, her courses aren’t easy, but my dogs love them. If I had repositioned Nina at the start of Saturday Standard, she likely would have stayed and not missed her weaves, when she gets into hyperfocused stare ahead ignore Amanda mode, I know she isn’t really connecting with me. And we might have doubled. Oh well…that one didn’t get recorded, so maybe a good thing.

Nina Saturday Jumpers (second place, 23 points, 5.5 YPS):

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (part 1 of QQ #67, 18 points, 4.7 YPS):

Zhora Saturday Standard (part 2 of QQ #67, 3.8 YPS, 28 points):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (5.2 YPS, 22 points, nearly had a runoff with Dana but were in fifth):

Zhora Sunday Jumpers (part 1 of QQ #68, 4.9 YPS, 20 points):

Nina Sunday Standard (AUGH! THERE ARE 12 WEAVE POLES! She gets through all the tough stuff…):

Zhora Sunday Standard (part 2 of QQ #68, 4 YPS, 31 points):

Cora RATN!

Cora (AKA Popcorn), Alkemi Corona del Roble LS just became Alkemi Corona LS RATN! She earned her first title today at age 8 months (the first title for any of the C litter puppies): Barn Hunt Novice!

Cora lives with her uncle (Zhora’s brother) Lobo, Alkemi Beowulf del Roble LS, who was the first Swedish Vallhund to earn the Barn Hunt Open and Senior titles, so little Cora comes by it honestly.

Congratulations to Cora and her owner Jan! The Zhoraberts are kicking butt already!

We’ve been doing bits here and there but really haven’t done much other than some very basic things, and look what she can do!

Love this puppy so much. She’s 8 months and one day old. She does a few tiny jumps once a week or less (in case you’re wondering). Love her focus and working drive, love how she isn’t afraid to be wrong, and I LOVE how bombproof she is so far!

Really excited about how fast she’s running and how she’s taking distance and driving to obstacles. I also LOVE that she reads the deceleration cue at the wrap perfectly:

Love how she gets more confident as she goes along!

Alice Best of Breed 5/18/18

Alice (Alkemi Clear Air Turbulence LT) earned her first Canadian Kennel Club championship points today under judge Tony Monk at the K-W shows in Kitchener, Ontario. And she did it it style too! Winning Best of Breed over two specials and two class dogs for (I think) two points (that’s her CKC major out of the way with her first win!).

Yesterday she showed well but Ulla’s Winni (Nina’s half sister – they are both Bibi daughters) won breed and then a group 4 under Swedish judge Wera Hubenthal!

Today she showed really nicely, we worked well together and I think I did a better job with her too. I was thrilled with her. And the judge said very nice things about her when we were getting the picture taken (nice proportions, looks like she could do the job she’s supposed to do, good bone, etc.), and then the photographer dropped a big handful of plastic signs right in front of her (the ones that say what the win was), and she just sniffed at them, and they both commented on what a great temperament she has, no spook at all. Hooray for good genes and Puppy Culture! And kudos to the judge for checking the standard when he wasn’t positive about tails before he made his selections! All the other dogs were bobtails and all came from Ulla, so Alice looked very different, but the judge found her and liked her!

Judge Lavonda Herring is always one of our favorites. Her courses this weekend were pretty tricky, especially for Lavonda, and we didn’t have our greatest Q rate ever. But the dogs and I had fun and that’s what really counts as always!

Zhora Saturday Jumpers (third place, 19 points, 4.9 YPS, me blind crossing like a maniac):

Nina Saturday Jumpers (doing her usual “rabid badger” impression because of the tunnel start, NQ, there are 12 weaves Nina…I know you want to get a move on, but THERE ARE 12 WEAVES):

Zhora Saturday Standard (NQ, I was a “moose” and she didn’t see the teeter until she couldn’t get on safely):

Nina Saturday Standard (second place, 31 points, 4.029 YPS):

Zhora Sunday Jumpers (third place, 16 points, 4.6 YPS):

Nina Sunday Jumpers (if she hadn’t broken her start line stay, this would have been an awesome Q):

Zhora Sunday Standard (CURSE ALL THAT SENDING TO THE TABLE WORK!):

Nina Sunday Standard (the only bar she dropped all weekend):

CONGRATULATIONS to Jennifer Corbin and Cricket (Zhora’s sister, now officially Alkemi Braveheart LS ADC) on earning her Agility Dog of Canada title in Agility Association of Canada (AAC is like USDAA but in Canada)! Cricket is a speed demon like her mother Nina, and Jennifer and Cricket have worked very hard. This is Cricket’s first title, but I doubt it will be her last, they’re an awesome team! Way to go! (Cricket also barks on the table….I fear this may be genetic LOL)

Can we just take a moment to admire this handsome devil? Pluto (Zhora’s son Alkemi Crusader LT, formerly known as Chex) lives in Los Angeles, his owner Pat is an amazing dog trainer, and maybe he’ll get to be in the movies some day! So happy he has an amazing home, and I can’t wait to see what he and Pat do in the future! He’s growing up very nicely!

Alice and I attended Puppy Palooza this past weekend at Follow The Leda in Gansevoort, NY. It was an information-packed, well-run, fun, and very informative weekend!

As with any seminar on any subject, it’s important to stay true to your own training philosophies and beliefs, while keeping your mind open to new ideas that could be useful. You keep what you like and discard what you don’t. I have definitely become a fan of the One Mind Dogs methods, because they really do just work and make sense to me and my dogs, and while I am not a “purist” of any method, I do think OMD is far more natural to me than any other, and since I started Alice with the OMD puppy course, I am working within what I started.

What I liked:

• it really made me conscious of how much reinforcement I am giving away by letting my dogs get it from the environment or each other instead of from me. So I picked up all the toys that could be tug toys, and have already had two tugging sessions this morning. If I want to use tug as a reinforcer, I need to make it valuable, not free. That said, I am not someone who is going to deny my dogs the joy they get from playing with each other. I’m not doing Ruff Love and I’m not aiming for the World Team. I just want to be reasonably successful at my sport and have fun with my dogs, and have my dogs have fun with me.
• Some really good discussion about tug mechanics and ways to get a dog tugging well (Alice had a decent tug drive but I can see already that just changing a few things has improved it even in just two days). Also not giving up, if you start a tug session, you HAVE to get at least a little tug going before you stop.
• Some excellent reminders about not being lazy and getting up and USING training opportunities like mealtimes and high energy times
• I LOVED the motivational posters she has all over the training arena. I usually hate that sort of thing but these were great and actually did make me think.
• The concept of Transitions (Greg Derrett) – starting at the crate, working on connection and building drive with tug or food from the moment you get the dog out, and between exercises or after an error.

What I will be discarding (or at least adapting):

• Tara is a Greg Derrett adherent. I am not. I might have appreciated a heads up that the methods being taught were going to be taught strictly within the Greg Derrett/Anthony Clarke framework, rather than just presenting things as “this is the right way” (as opposed to “this is the right way within the GD/AC  methodology”). This was not a huge deal, but it did chafe a little, especially being told that things that didn’t follow this methodology were “wrong”.  I do mostly OneMind Dogs, their methods aren’t “wrong”, they just differ in some ways to GD/AC methods, and for me they work.
• Reinforcement Zone – I do not want my dog driving to my front, that’s not how I handle. But I will be more conscious of my reward placement.
• The comments about how puppies should not know what a jump is or what weave poles are. My puppy is sequencing with tiny jumps or just standards, she is working the “offering the jump” exercises, she is learning one set of 2 x 2 weaves, she is running through channels. NONE of these things are harmful to her and ALL are beneficial.
• Circle work. I am sure it has benefits. But most of those benefits (learning acceleration/deceleration, learning the handler’s running style, learning to switch between reinforcers, etc) can also be had by running small sequences and doing handling flatwork or handling work with hoops. And running small sequences and handling flatwork are more efficient for me. I feel like for me, circle work is what I did 15 years ago, I no longer really think it has benefits that can’t be equally obtained in other, more efficient ways.

Overall, I am glad I went. Both Tara and Jared were really good instructors, and it was a very fun weekend.

Orbit (Alkemi Cosmic Curiosity LT) won best puppy at the Kandasaga AKC match today! Awesome work again Ruth and Jim!