Ruger Helps Out

Ruger has been learning so many things in the 7 months since we saved him. This video is of a trick I am working with him on. He unties my shoes, takes my sock off and picks the sock up and hands it to me. I am layering this trick to get him to put clothes in the laundry basket. He is doing so well, with this trick and I am tickled by his enthusiasm.

Ruger is also coming along in Agility. He has no fear issues thank God. Ruger would jump through fire to get a hot dog. He has great focus and a wonderful work ethic. Ruger is also a sweet guy and though we had a very rough start (biting the carpet cleaning guy), he has come a long way in 7 months. I am hoping to enter him into some novice trials in the fall, maybe sooner if he masters the teeter! Ruger may never be the fastest, greatest Agility dog, but he is a lot of fun to be in the sport with.

My wins with Ruger have been a longer lead out and he doesn't go crazy barking when I put him up to walk a course. I enjoy him immensely, or as I said to Mike, "Ruger is a joy to have in class"!

Lady Helps Out

Even though Lady is on Hiatus from Agility Classes, she is still training. Trick training is part of her repertoire. This is a video of Lady putting clothes into laundry basket. This is actually a trick I was building with Ruger, but Lady sort of took the laundry and loaded it! She figured out what I wanted from Ruger and implemented the final version. She is one smart cookie. This is the wonderful by-product of having Ruger is that Lady is upping her game. It does not work at Club-Doggie or in a fear situation, but at home, she tries to out-do Ruger and usually succeeds (poor Ruger).

We are working on the fear issues, which have become the "F" word in our house. I am not sure I will ever get this dog to shed the terrible anxiety that has become the roadblock to her life. We work one day at a time. Hey, worst case, Lady becomes an extremely trained house dog. Gotta love a Diva.

Fundamentals of Training

I have decided to use my blog as my training diary. Reason - I hate writing stuff down and I am a better typist.

Lady - We are close to having Lady for 2 years. March 8th is our anniversary. Lady has come a long way in her agility training and she is a wonderful dog and loving companion. Unfortunately, and I blame myself whether it be ignorance or just poor training, I cannot move her past her fear issues. To be fair, I have not whole heartedly attacked the fear problem. One of the trainers who got Ruger past his biting problem was pushing me to use a shock collar on my lovely dog. We had a few sessions and I felt horrible and a traitor to my dog. Lady was no better than before and now runs when she sees the shock collar, I think we will bury it. Now what? Well, I am going to try a gentle leader, I have signed up for Susan Garrett's class on Recallers. I am reading Lori Mcdivit's book "Control Unleashed". I am also playing and having a good time with my dog. I bought her a bunny furred toy and she is MAD about it We go out in the yard and sort of train on the agility equipment, but mostly throw the toy around. Lady runs around the yard taking jumps, tearing through tunnels and weaving the weave poles, all while carrying the toy. This is not a dog who hates agility, this is a dog who is intimidated by the indoor facility to a point where she is just panicked. How mean am I. I have come to the conclusion that if she is not okay with Agility Drills class, I will put Ruger in her class and he will have class twice a week and Lady and I will work in the back yard and small outings to build her confidence. I am not going to force her to be scared. It has been two years and my "walk it off" attitude is not working. I am even toying with pulling her from the USDAA trial on St Paddy's day. I will just loose my money and the last trial Lady was little miss happy pants. I keep see sawing on this issue. At any rate, I am pulling back with Lady and taking the fear problem one little piece at a time. I am also going to contact police dog trainers to see what sort of training they put their dogs through to desensitize them, I have a loose plan, but will tighten it up once I get through these classes, books and anyone's advise other than corporal punishment for my sweet little monkey eyes.

Ruger - First I will say Ruger is a major league shit when it comes to food and is an absolute savant when it comes time to steal said food. We are working on the fundamentals of "Itsyerchoice" game and crate games. Plus Ruger is untying our shoes at night, taking off our socks and handing them to us. He is fast becoming a great trick dog and isn't scared by his environment. He also is easier to teach directionals to. It is quite easy and lately our training sessions have been to stump the chump on directionals, but he is infallible. We still have not perfected his weaves. If I am on the same side as him, he's great, but we are working on that as well. Ruger is so much easier than Lady, but will not play with me like she will. We are working on that and making very small strides. I think the foundations I am laying, coupled withe fact that Rugee love going to Club-Doggie, give me hope that a good agility dog is in the works.

People have made comments about re-homing dogs, but I chose these dogs,the didn't choose me.  It is only that I work really to make them great dogs and I will. Lady will be a challenge, but I have no doubt in my mind she can do it.