Smart pet tricks

Tristan has to learn a new trick because I'm very jealous. On Sunday after the trainer's dog was finished tracking, he (the dog, not the trainer) very casually pulled up the marker that is set at the start of the track and carried it off the field in his mouth. Pretty darn cute! The marker is a traffic reflector on a 3 foot stick so it's a great trick. I really got a kick out of it because the trainer is very serious about Schutzhund and it was fun to see him get a little silly with his dog.

Later Tristan got to show off his high five which I recently taught him. But big deal - the high five is one of the usual 'show him once' tricks. I just showed it to him and he had it. I know the marker will take a bit more work so that he knows he only pulls it up after he tracks and not before.

My neighbor's Australian Shepherd mix does a great dance that I'm also envious of. He stands on his hind legs and twirls around and around for a treat. I tried to show it to Tristan but he would have none of it. He tried to pretend that he was too big and heavy to do it but I notice that he stands up just fine when he's trying to get his ball. He knows he can't jump up on me but he'll pop up next to me being careful not to lay a paw on me.

For sentimental reasons my favorite trick for Tristan is cute puppy. He lays on his back and wiggles around for his tummy to be rubbed. This is a tribute to my beloved Rocky who I had for over 18 years. Rocky would do his cute puppy routine if he was excited or wanted attention. He'd wiggle madly but then stop and look up upside down to check out if you were paying attention to him before resuming his gyrations. Tristan does it on his own when he doesn't want to move from his (my) warm spot on the bed. He knows I'm a sucker for it and it gains him a few more toasty minutes. (No comments allowed that I'm breaking the cardinal rule about not letting your dog on the bed.)

I'll have to add the marker and dance tricks to Tristan's list of tricks to be taught. Tristan has almost 60 commands that he knows. I was surprised when I started a list* and kept finding more to add. The one I really want him to learn though is 'find the keys'. If he's so smart, he should be able to master that one.

*I'm not a compulsive list maker, however, I've never seen a spreadsheet that I didn't like.

Good training day

Our tracking field was freshly fertilized with compost today. I got a whiff and suddenly I was back at my grandparents' farm in the Midwest. Thank goodness it prompted a flood of good memories otherwise it would have just been stinky.

Tristan did pretty well considering the fresh compost. It's hard to compete with only the scent of my footsteps and whatever treats I leave on the track. As always Tristan did better than me with tracking. I have such a hard time recalling the turns. When laying the track, I think I've used good reference points that I will remember but inevitably when we go back to track, one good turn looks like another. (Is there an adage in there somewhere?) I end up thinking Tristan has gotten off the track when he's on it and I'm the one who's trying to mess him up.

When we did obedience work, Tristan was much more settled today compared to last week. The trainer helped me by working him on the dumbbell. It's really amazing to see how he builds interest in the dumbbell by making it a big game for Tristan, while at the same time, getting Tristan to hold the dumbbell without mouthing it. He makes it look easy and I think, 'Ah, I can do that' until reality sets in one nanosecond later. I'm really hesitant to work on my own with the dumbbell since it only took me one time to get Tristan messed up about taking it in his mouth.

Tristan is still blowing his coat and he looked more and more like a mature dandelion as the day progressed. He started out pretty tidy but by the end of the day he was one tuft guy.

Search and rescue

We did a quick recon to Lake Wenatchee. It was a great drive - sunny all the way with lots of snow but mostly clear roads and very little traffic.

Our turn around point was Lake Wenatchee State Park. We had it mostly to ourselves although some cross country skiers came through and Tristan was very interested in them. He spotted them from quite a distance and really checked them out as they neared. I think he was processing the unusual way they moved.

Tristan did his best impression of a search and rescue dog, that is, if the purpose of search and rescue is to find missing balls rather than their real life saving mission. He had a lot of fun playing fetch in the snow especially with the added interest of a disappearing ball. What could be better than combining fetch and digging in the snow? Tristan bounded up and down breaking through the snow and then digging furiously to retrieve his ball. I'm highly unlikely to get caught in an avalanche but it's good to know Tristan has his snow searching skills down pat.

Flower power

Our first flower pose of the year. I know, I know. They're not blooming yet but look at the lovely buds on these rhododendrons. It was gorgeous today and I loved seeing the buds beginning to form with their promise of spring.

Herding sweaters

We hit some pet stores today and Tristan got really excited about some wool doggy sweaters on a table. We could walk around everything else in the stores without any reaction but he really wanted to get at the sweaters. He's reacted before when we passed by some sheepskins. He's definitely hard wired for sheep.

Tuft love

Tristan is blowing his coat. This is not of monumental interest, however, I couldn't resist the pun so you're stuck with a picture of Tristan's fluffy tufty tush.

Training again - and again

It was really hard to head out for training today. When I let Tristan out at 6:00AM, it was pouring. What the #@$%? Where was the sun that was predicted for today and that I'd been relying on? Sorry for all the weather whines but this is really a grim winter. My only excuse is that I'm the poster child for seasonal affective disorder which I've had even before it was a disorder. We managed to get out the door and, thank goodness, the rain stopped.

There was a small turnout for training today. I laid a longer track with more turns and spaced food about every ten to twenty feet. After a bit of a rough start because Tristan was going too fast and pulling, he settled down and I took the leash. He did well on the rest of the track and found the corners with no problem. I took grief because of the size of my food rewards. The trainer said he'd pick up any missed treats and give it to his dog as dinner. Pretty funny and point taken. I use Natural Balance rolls and I'm overly generous in my cubing technique.

Tristan was squirrely in obedience and hard to calm down. He still gets so excited when he gets out on the field and sees other dogs chasing balls. No matter that he has his own ball and gets to play with it too as a reward. If it's a ball, it belongs to Tristan. We've been doing well in obedience training during the week so it's frustrating to get to the field and have to deal with trying to get him to settle down. Obviously getting him to focus in the midst of the other dogs is part of obedience and he needs to do so reliably. Is this a familiar refrain or what?

Protection? No problem there.

Foiled

Tristan was flummoxed by some new logs at his park. They were the right size and shape but they were made from concrete. That didn't stop him from trying to move the logs around but they were too heavy even for his mighty efforts.

Look at the glorious sun. It's hard to believe snow will come tomorrow. I felt a bit nostalgic for my old Miata when I spotted several convertibles taking advantage of the balmy weather.

Back on track

It was great to be back doing club training. While Tristan and I continued to train on our own during the break, there's no substitute to working with the trainer and other members. I firmly believe the weather today was ordered just for me. It was beautiful all day long with lots and lots of sunshine.

Tristan did great tracking which was a wonderful surprise and relief as it's been almost six months since he did any. I laid food every five to twelve paces since it's been so long. He had been up to 30 paces. The trainer tracked with him so he had a good start back and it was wonderful to see him do so well after such a long layoff.

We also got some great help with the dumbbell. The trainer played with the dumbbell with Tristan who, of course, acted like he'd never ever think of mouthing it, well hardly ever. He got Tristan very interested in it and kept him moving fast so he didn't juggle it in his mouth. I'll follow these techniques so Tristan will learn to hold the dumbbell calmly but still think it is fun to retrieve.

So now it's travelogue out, training in. Well, maybe not a total supplanting of tales of our jaunts but certainly a change in emphasis back to training. It's great to be back training and learning new things.

Coupeville excursion

I tried to escape the gloom with another jaunt to Whidbey Island. The plan was to head to Coupeville in hope of some sun. The north part of the island gets about half of the rain as the south so the odds were in our favor. Regretfully, the sun was not to be although, at least, there wasn't any rain.

It's hard to be too gloomy though when there's a beautiful beach to romp on. Tristan had a grand time moving driftwood up and down the beach and we had fun playing fetch. I was really proud of him when he actually stuck his nose under water to get his ball. That's a first for him.

Some bling for his grill

Tristan went to the veterinary dentist today. For anyone who doubts me when I call Tristan a chew monster, I can bring a note from the doctor. The official diagnosis is 'he's ball crazy'.

I took Tristan in because I wanted an evaluation of his teeth and if there's anything that can be done. His canines are wearing down because of his relentless ball chewing. His other teeth are great and his canines are still ok meaning no root canals are required but the vet recommended capping them so they won’t wear more. I actually wasn’t too surprised because I knew his bottom ones have really worn a lot – but all four were a shock. The biggest surprise is that the caps have to be metal and not porcelain or ceramic because the latter aren’t strong enough. Can you imagine how scary Tristan will look with metal fangs? I know he can be rather intimidating looking just because he’s a sable GSD but with steel teeth? Crikey! We’ll have folks parting a path left and right when we wander through a crowd.

I’m going to talk to the trainer and breed warden on Sunday before I make any decisions. The caps are okay for Schutzhund but Tristan doesn’t have his breed survey yet which he needs in order to sire any pups. Caps are not acceptable for confirmation, however, I don’t know if it affects the breed survey. Thank goodness he already has his SG (very good) in conformation. He received that last year when he placed first in his class at the Pacific Northwest Regional show (I'll take any opportunity to brag). Tristan has everything else and “just” needs a SchH1 title.

I will, of course, do what's best for Tristan. The optimal result would be not to cap his teeth and for them to stop wearing down but that doesn't seem like a realistic possibility. The dentist wouldn't give an estimate how long before his teeth might wear down to the nerve. He suggested varying ball sizes every day. I don't let Tristan use tennis balls very often because they are abrasive, however, the vet pointed out rubber balls are also abrasive.

A friend suggested I'd probably insist on some diamonds in the caps. Heck, I won't be able to afford any jewels after paying for the caps; but if you see a ferocious looking GSD with some bling in his grill, that's us!

Ready for training

There's been no official club training for a month now. It's set to start again on Sunday and we're getting antsy for it. I've been working with Tristan a bit every day so he doesn't regress. Last year during the time off we got very raggedy and I've been determined that it doesn't happen this year. We've even made some progress on our own as we've been working on the dumbbell retrieve. Mostly I've worked on the bring command in preparation for it. This took all of one second for Tristan to get it. I just wanted him to learn that this is different from throwing the ball for fetch. He has to wait until it is thrown and "bring" means he returns the item directly back to me with a calm and pretty sit in front.

I've been a bit hesitant to work too much more on it. We've worked mostly using a ball as I want Tristan to learn from the start that the dumbbell is not for chewing. It's going to be tricky and I need the trainer's help with it. When I first presented the dumbbell to Tristan, he started to mouth it and I told him no and held it steady. He immediately thought he was not supposed to take the dumbbell in his mouth when sitting there. So now when I present it he sits there calmly with his mouth clamped shut, very sure that it's a test and he's being a good dog not to take the dumbbell!

Another thing we've started on is the send out with down. My first step has been to make sure Tristan's platz is very reliable and that he will down at a distance. We've always done the platz at my side or in front of me. Now I have him platz when he is at a distance from me. He did it fine the first time and now I'm extending the distance at which I give the command.

It will be good to get back to club training so I can get more advice and we can start to connect the dots.

My 2008 resolutions

Hey, Tristan here. My resolutions for 2008 (with only a slight nudge from she who must be obeyed - or so she keeps telling me) are:

• Get my SchH1 in 2008.
• Stop whining when I get really really excited like when we go onto the training field or to the park.
• Convince P to stop dressing me up so much. I want to have more big bad tough Schutzhund postings and fewer "Isn't my dog cute" entries. Good grief, get a grip, P!
• Leave the down pillow alone. Although I long ago determined that it was safe for P to use, I still do random checks on it. It's fun to see P have white tufts of down in her hair all the time but I'll try to be good.
• If I get my SchH1, I'm going to try for my SchH2 too. Big goal but I think I can get P trained, finally!

Happy New Year

Time to party!