I like to hold a photo shoot every year to commemorate my dog family. Sometimes I get this done professionally, but this year decided to try it in the garden on my own. I’m pretty happy with the result!
First, the 2018 obedience team! Looking forward to lots of fun times with them next year:
Ruckus, Journey and Robbie
Next, the Irishers all on their own:
Ruckus and Journey
Then, my Gael, who was not very enthusiastic about having to stay still for so long when the fall fields beckoned….
And then the springers:
Rozzie and Reardon
Next, Reardon got a photo all by himself, just because he often seems left out of things (not that he seems to notice). He’s still a handsome boy:
Finally, as a bit of an outtake, here’s one of Gael when she looked like she was about to take off:
Ruckus’ development from rally novice to obedience novice trialing has required a few major changes, the biggest one weaning him off my cheerleader voice. He got too dependent on my voice in rally, which was not really his fault when I was using my voice (overusing, I think) to build up his animation and intensity.
But regular obedience trialing allows the voice only between exercises. So we needed to gradually turn off my cheerleading voice while still maintaining his attitude. Truth be told, I was seeing some lessening of intensity even by the end of his rally novice performances, so I knew we needed something to change.
So before this first fun match, we’ve moved to toys, specifically a frisbee that Ruckus loves. I’m seeing much better duration and attention, and just an overall sense that Ruckus is “getting it.” While I noticed when I watched this video that I was still using my voice a lot, it was less to cheer-lead, and more to remind him of what he needed to do.
The frisbee is now invisible in my armpit, but of course he knows I have it. We’ll keep building duration and attention in different places, and eventually progress to the toy not on my body all the time. I’m really happy with the progress and attitude I’m seeing here.
I’m frequently on the look-out for a “second sport” for my dogs, one that might be more freewheeling and less intensive than the obedience training we do. This second sport needs to fulfill these criteria:
Doesn’t take up a lot of costly or time-consuming training time;
Ignites and utilizes my dogs’ instincts or drives (thus making it more automatically and quickly “fun” for them);
Simplifies my job as a handler;
Has some photo-op opportunities.
After all, we’re supposed to be having fun, right? And what sport seems to possess all these qualities?
Dock Diving!
Actually this new sport isn’t all that new to me. I’ve tried it out with several of the dogs over the past 5 years or so, all of whom love to swim and retrieve. But until recently, it always ended up looking like this:
Roz at a dockdiving event at Issaquah Salmon Days
When I really want it to look like this:
Ruckus in a glorious dive off of the Cottage Lake fishing dock
For at last, I have found my dockdiving dog in Ruckus, the Irish Water Spaniel who came to visit last December and decided to stay. Ruckus’ first formal event came at the Enumclaw shows in August at a NADD sponsored event, where he started out jumping 14′ and ended up with a personal best of 18′. This meant he jumped himself into the Senior division in one weekend. Quite a debut. But more importantly, oh what photo ops there were, thanks to Richard Liebaert:
By the second time on the dock, Ruckus was shivering with anticipation while “on deck,” and his tremendous success and enjoyment fulfilled all the above critiera for me. All I had to do was time the throw of the bumper correctly. Pretty easy-peasy.
This inspired me to aim for an end-of-season dock-diving event in Vaughn, Washington at the end of September. Jeff even made me a “baby dock” to use at a local lake:
Once or twice a week in August and September, a happy foursome of Ruckus, Journey, Robbie and Rozzie went Cottage Lake dock for practice and fun swims. Ruckus continued to fly off the dock, while Journey and Robbie eventually got the idea, although Journey with more enthusiasm.
Then on September 30th, we drove out to the regional AKC approved dock-diving site, Brown Dog University in Vaughn, Washington:
Robbie took the most coaxing. Sure, he wanted to swim and fetch. But oh, it was a long way down. Finally he managed a novice leg by accidentally falling over my foot:
I had higher hopes for Journey. She screeched in the van as other dogs were pulled out to jump. She screeched more, dragging me on the lead (my obedience dog) as we walked over to the dock. She dragged me up on the dock and then…
Wiser, older dog common sense took over. Why jump when you can simply sliiiide into the water? Journey’s first “jump” (air quotes, air quotes) was 6 inches. Then 18 inches. Then at last 2 foot for a novice leg!
All of this high comedy was relieved by the star of the day, Ruckus, who showed the heavily lab-populated event what an Irish Water Spaniel can do:
And of course, more glorious photo ops:
And how did Roz do? After many attempts to get Rozzie to jump off the dock, I opened the door to the ramp and let her have her swims her way. Because we’re just here to have fun!
Rozzie, Reardon and their littermates, out of Duffy X Kani (Ch. Donahan’s Definitely in Style UD, NAJ, JH, WDX and Melchris Constitutional UD SH RN WD), turn 10 today, and I want to wish them all a very happy birthday!
This was one of David Hopkins’ experimental crossings of show and field springers, with their mother (Kani) being 1/4 field bred. While I wasn’t the breeder of record, I was very involved in the planning of this litter, and treasured every second of raising them. Unfortunately the litter was troubled by some heartbreaking health issues as they matured, but this was also a litter of exceptional achievements.
Three out of the five earned their Utility Dog titles, with some all-breed and Specialty High in Trial wins along the way. Two earned tracking titles. Rozzie, Reardon and Tony, owned and loved by Sue Carlson, were exposed to birds, and all showed strong potential. Unfortunately, some mistakes with gunfire made Rozzie and Reardon gunshy when they were puppies, but despite that, Rozzie’s talents earned her three out of her four Junior Hunter legs before I felt the gunshyness would just be too much to overcome. The other two girls (one in Spokane and the other in Virginia) while not participating in AKC events, demonstrated their wonderful temperaments by serving in some way as therapy/service dogs. One visited nursing homes for many years, and the other was a special supportive companion to a young girl with an auto-immune disorder.
These achievements speak to this litter’s outstanding qualities as working and companion Springers, all of whom want to please their people more than anything. I’ve certainly cried my tears over their setbacks, but I’m also deeply proud that they all possess the true heart of the Springer Spaniel. Happy birthday, Shakespeare litter!
I’ve often thought that living my life according to the principles in The Lord of the Rings works pretty well. And so a few weekends ago, I was reminded of this crucial scene where Faramir realizes he needs to release Frodo, so Frodo can continue on his quest:
How could this possibly relate to dog training? The words Faramir spoke came to mind when I recently showed Gael, my Gordon Setter, in the obedience ring for the first time in a year-and-a-half. That long break between the 2nd and 3rd leg of her novice title occurred to some extent because another older, soon-to-retire dog took precedence. But it also occurred because getting Gael to perform according to the expectations I had was simply exhausting. She didn’t seem to enjoy it, and I wasn’t enjoying it, so why keep going? I had never given up on a dog for the obedience ring before, but with other dogs taking priorities, and Gael’s obvious enjoyment in simply being a house and pasture dog, I gradually let those expectations go.
And as I let go of them this past year (to some degree subconsciously), Gael matured. She now has less “happy feet” on her stays and a bit more impulse control. This summer she seemed genuinely pleased to be re-included in the training team that heads to the training building. And so I entered her at the Portland shows.
And she passed, which finished her novice title! This happened with no extra commands needed on the heeling (a previous problem), no massive buildup to a special jackpot, and me being okay with Gael being Gael. The on-lead heel had silly moments, but she improved with a solid off-lead heel and good recall. I admit to some loud heart beats on the stays, but at the end, I walked around her, waited for the judge to say, “exercise finished” and we had our CD!
The next day I just wanted her to have fun in the ring, and so moved her up to Graduate Novice, which asks for some baby versions of the Open exercises. And despite the fact that I had only reminded her of some of these exercises quickly the week before, she passed again!
It felt like the less I expected of her, the better she did. The more I took pleasure in who and what she was, without the pressures of all the expectations, the more she flourished.
And so, at very long last, we understand one another. She might not be my High in Trial dog, but she will have moments of brilliance and will look beautiful doing it. She is very fun to train, and while we can work on getting better, the unreasonable expectations are over with. To paraphrase Faramir at the end of the video, “Release her!” We are on a new journey now.
I made a little video of her best work over the weekend just to remind myself of what she can do. While the work here isn’t perfect, there are those beautiful moments of pure energy that is my Gael.
I wrote about Ruckus in my last post, the visiting Irish Water Spaniel who is enjoying his new job with me in obedience and most likely freestyle. He is smart and willing, and so I told his owner that, yes, I could have him ready for Rally Obedience at the National. That National is now less than 3 weeks away, which means we’ve been busy compressing approximately a year’s worth (or more) of training into 4 months. Can Ruckus handle it? From the video below during last Thursday’s rally run-throughs, I’d say, absolutely!
Right now the challenge is weaning Ruckus off of his food motivators enough to get us through the time period of a typical rally novice run, which is a little over a minute. The video below shows a first run with food visible, and then a second run with food invisible (but still on me), with one food reward in the middle of the course. Fortunately rally allows the handler to use verbal encouragement, which Ruckus responds to exceptionally well. For formal obedience, that will also need to be much reduced, but for now, I’m using all the tools I can. I’m very happy with Ruckus’ attention, position and happy tail-wag throughout!
Ruckus is a highly accomplished show Irish Water Spaniel (Best in Show and multi-Best in Specialty Show + hunting titles), who is visiting us to work on his rally and novice obedience. He’s a very willing, athletic young dog who has learned many obedience moves very quickly (scroll down for more on this). However, understandably he has struggled to make the transition from his show trot with his head level to sustained attention in heel position with drive on the turns and circles. I say “struggle,” but keep in mind this is something a young dog typically works on for many months, while I’ve had Ruckus for approximately 7 weeks.
Up to this weekend, he’s been doing “spoon heeling,” where he isn’t necessarily in heel position, but is licking a spoon of goodies while we work on head up and some driving in wide circles. (For most dogs, this works with squeeze cheese. Ruckus prefers liver pate. Life is good.) He’s been making progress, but is still lagging at times in this recent video. I’m also hoping to get him to move from a pacing gait to a trot. Beyond that, I could just feel that he wasn’t quite getting it:
So I waited for the transformation–the proverbial light bulb moment when his mind and body would come together to give me what I was asking of him. Of all places, it happened this weekend at a very noisy and busy obedience trial, with collies at their specialty show continually barking on one side of a horse arena, and obedience dogs working on the other side:
Certainly there is still lots of food involved here, but Ruckus gave me 100% attention in a very busy environment, as well as drive and position. In this lightbulb moment he moved from continuous reinforcement to intermittent, and a realization of how his body needed to respond when we turn or circle to the right. (Ironically, the much harder turn to the left he has learned much more easily. Scroll down for a short clip of his turns.) He is also very dependent on my voice right now, so that will also need to be gradually reduced, and I need to keep trying to get him to trot rather than pace. Overall, though, I’m ecstatic! Now we can start moving forward more rapidly with his heeling.
Other far more complex moves Ruckus has learned remarkably quickly. In particular Ruckus is showing great aptitude for freestyle. Below he is doing a “back,” which takes most dogs weeks if not months to learn to do. It took Ruckus two sessions. This is his third session on this move (along with some weaves at the end):
Another move Ruckus learned very quickly was lateral sidepasses, another freestyle move. Like his back, he learned these in just a few sessions. His speed and enthusiasm are notable here, especially for a bigger dog:
Back to obedience. The obedience turns are taught separately at this stage, at first in slow motion. Here Ruckus is working on his about turn and left turn. Like the moves above, he has learned the more complex left turn very quickly, which requires the dog to pivot his rear while keeping his front in place:
Finally, his recall is coming along nicely, especially thanks for his owner Stacy Duncan’s field training, that solidified his stay early on.
Good boy, Ruckus! I am so pleased with his very quick progress. His intelligence and biddability are first rate!
The end of a dog’s working career is always extremely difficult for me to face, in ways that might be hard for a non-trainer to understand. For years, usually from puppyhood, any particular dog I’m training will work with me several days a week. I’ll plan out her daily training carefully, take her to classes, assess and take joy in her progress, ponder over difficulties, make sure she stays in good physical shape, and after 2 to 3 years of preparation, ride the roller coaster of dog showing with her, a roller coaster that we hope to ride for many more years as she progresses up through the classes. It’s a whole life that is at the center of both of our lives. My dogs love to train and run to the training building door whenever I head in that direction.
Rozzie, now 9.5, has had this life from 8 weeks old. But earlier this year, I noticed her difficulties with jumping on the couch and bed (she’s the one who gets to sleep with us), and twice I had to cancel show plans with her because of various health issues, worrisome but fixable.
With her utility titled earned in November, it was now time to return to training for both Open and Utility classes. I was excited and hopeful for this coming year of competition. But early in working the broad jump, she started refusing, pulling up and not being willing to attempt the jump. The broad jump calls for different skills than jumping over a high or bar jump:
The dog has to fully extend across the boards, and there is more push off of the rear legs to achieve this extension. Rozzie never had a problem with this jump before, so the refusal was worrisome.
A visit with a physical therapist (licensed for humans and canines) confirmed my fears: Rozzie should no longer be jumping. She appears to be quite able and happy to do many of the activities required in obedience, like heeling, retrieving, coming to front, etc., but the upper classes require a lot of jumping.
So Rozzie is now retired from competitive obedience. This decision did not come without some tears, but I knew the clock was ticking with her, as it still is with Journey. My hope is to have many, many more years with her as my companion. And this year, we will do some rally (although the upper levels do have jumps that are much shorter, so we’ll see how that goes), and right now, freestyle! Some years ago I worked up a routine with her to a jazz song by Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto. We’ll perform it as a demo for the first time at the Seattle Kennel Club, and then later at a freestyle show in May. She’s really having fun with the practicing, and doing this means she still gets to run to the training building with the other dogs.
So you see, it’s not really the end of the story. Not at all.
I started a draft a few weeks ago to reboot this blog, and found it full of tiresome excuses as to why I haven’t been blogging. Instead, let me just say that Kani’s death 3 years ago seemed to drain the fun away from recording the training adventures with her and her offspring. While the training hasn’t stopped, the blog did. Enough said.
To reboot, I think it’s much more productive to celebrate the wonderful obedience year I’ve had in 2016 with my obedience buddies: Rozzie (Kani’s daughter), Journey, and Robbie (a new addition 2 years ago, an English Cocker).
Rozzie finished her Utility title at the very last trial of the year. It’s been such a joy watching her confidence build in this challenging class, where there is a lot more independent work away from the handler. Supporting her through her learning and showing process has been crucial.
During this year, she also handed me a beautiful gift: High in Trial at the English Springer Spaniel National. While we were flunking Utility at the time, this win came from the Open B class. This is one of those life-long memory wins, and I’m so glad to share it with this special little brown dog with the huge heart.
Journey was placed in a pet home 2 years ago (for reasons I won’t go into here), and so has been away from me for that time period. But she came back this spring to stay, and I decided to get her utility title finished up, as I knew she would enjoy getting back to work. She stunned me by remembering every single detail of the utility exercises, a feat that I don’t think I could accomplish if you took me away from obedience trialing for 2 years! She finished her utility title in style, winning High Combined (highest score in Open and Utility) at the Irish Water Spaniel regional specialty for her 2nd utility leg.
Her 3rd leg came at in Lynden in early November. She earned her Utility title on Saturday and Sunday we played with the “big dogs” for the first time in Utility B. I was just proud to finally have a dog in the B classes for the first time in several years. Journey astonished me by winning the class and earning her first OTCH points!
After years of wishing/hoping/waiting and training for a dog to be able to compete at this level, this accomplishment has been immensely motivating to me. As both Rozzie and Journey are both 9, I can only hope they can continue competing in the next year. Their hearts are certainly willing.
Finally, my new addition to our obedience team is “Robbie” an English Cocker who came to me 2 years ago as an adult. He’s learned quickly and has all the qualities of an ideal spaniel companion: biddability, smarts, natural retrieve, and athleticism. Beyond that, he appears to be “bombproof,” handling the noises and other stresses of dog shows with aplomb. At the Chuckanut show mentioned above, he finished his Rally Novice title with a 1st place. All of his scores were 100’s. The future is bright.
As Gael gets ready in earnest this summer to enter obedience competition, I’m fussing more than usual with her equipment: which collar to show her in, which toy to get her focused on me outside the ring, which dumbbell size (especially to reduce her mouthing of it). After spending way too much money on a fancy leather martingale and cycling through numerous toys that Gael either destroys in one training session or could care less about, I discover that really, simple is best:
That’s it. A canvas puppy bumper, a choke chain, and the dumbbell I started her with (after trying all kinds of fancy custom sizes), with a string tied to it for mouthing. She’s nuts about that puppy bumper, and the chain seems to be a collar she respects, unlike many buckle collars. Soon Gael decided she needed to be in the picture too:
The Spaniel Annals 