Dino Competes in Disc Dog Tournament!

Dino Competes in Disc Dog Tournament!

March 24, 2007

Davis, CA

Dino did very well. I took him out on Friday to the high school to practice. This was the first time I did the longer throws rather than just up close. He tried to jump up and catch them. I think he caught a couple and missed a couple, but he was really trying. He was getting distracted, so I stopped after a couple of minutes.

On Saturday, I didn't know how he would do. I didn't know if he would run out of the ring or chase another dog or what. But he was focused on the frisbee and we did several throws. I don't think he caught any, but he was trying for each.

The second round was the same. He started to get tired and running back slower, but he was still trying to catch them and chase after them. He never ran out of the ring or chased another dog.

Second Bath!

I was able to give Dino a bath today at work. This was his second since I got him. The first took a half a box of cookies to keep him from screaming and going hysterical. He was much better, but he still was very whiney and anxious. I had some cookies, but I didn't dwell on them. I just kept doing the bath and prasing him and tried to do it as fast as possible.

Second Obedience Class

Dino's second obedience class. I remembered to bring a mat for him to lie on and I got there early to practice walking on a loose leash to the room. He was doing well and figured out about lying on the rug because I would click and treat when he did that. He was definitely very wound up and excited.

We stayed for the second class.

He is offering the down multiple times. I am not clicking when he is just about to down. I will start to click when I tell him to heel. I am luring him in the heel position and clicking and treating when he is in the correct position.

These classes are great to practice on his focus with distractions. He has to learn that he has to pay attention and do things even with distractions.

Obedience Class

Thursday evening 7 PM. Dino's class. We were late a few minutes. We will be there on time next time. Parking places are a long walk to the building which takes extra time.

I need to remember to bring a mat for him to lay down on. I forgot that in the car.

Vicki used Dino to demonstrate about sitting without a cue, and she tried to use him for another exercise but he was bouncing all over the place so she gave him back to me. We had a problem with the heeling because he was all over the place. I was able to get his attention back with the food, but I think it was good practice because he needs to know how to pay attention with distractions. Later when we were at the Advanced class he had more attention. We were using Vicki's prime rib. I don't know if that helped!

The Advanced class was good. There were very advanced dogs. We did more heeling, figure 8's recalls, stays. Dino's stays were bad. He was only able to stay for a few seconds, but we have not practiced that much in various places so we need more work. That is why we are there. To practice and learn.

We have to practice on having Dino offer the downs as part of learning the down. We practiced the next day outside of work. It took him several minutes. I had to lure him into the down several times, then I waited and he started to offer the down, and he kept doing it. It was really interesting. I have not trained a dog in this method before and it is interesting to see how enthusiastic the dog is to offer different things and to keep trying. I really like it.

Also what I noticed is that if I wait for him to offer sits at doors and other usual sit places, he does it himself instead of having me to ask him, which is really nice. I wonder if those things will stay or eventually fade away. I will ask Vicki.

Obedience Class

Dino did good. We were a few minutes late because I fell asleep until 6:30 PM. We needed a lot of repetition to get to the front door and inside. The other dogs were very wild and Dino fed upon that. He had a hard time focusing but once he remembered about the click and food he was more focused.

We stayed for the second class. I thought everything went well, but when I got home there was an email from Vicki that she didn't think he was able to do the second class. But, I was confused because he was doing very well. I don't know what she was talking about and I wanted to email her back.

He was focused on the heeling and sometimes we would go off to the side to work on attention.

Next Thursday is the last class, then we can start in the drop in obedience and Rally on Thursday.

First Herding Lesson

I scheduled a time at 12 noon to take Dino to Joyce Shepherd in Santa Rosa, a herding trainer recommended by Patti Veligan. She bought her dog, Ace, from Joyce. Joyce breeds Kelpies and Border Collies. She has training every Sunday from 12 to 5. I brought both dogs, but I was only doing the testing with Dino. On the phone I told her I thought Dino was Corgi and Border Collie. when I brought Scout and him out and let them run around in her enclosed yard. She thought he had Basset in him. She said out right she was reluctant about his potential but that she would test him and see what happened. I was pretty nervous after she said that because I was afraid of being embarrassed by him not doing anything.

I brought him on his flat collar into her "round" pen where there were three sheep. Dino was definitely excited about being there and was pulling at the end of the leash.

She explained a few more things before we went in. She would direct him and he was going to be off leash. I was pretty nervous about him being off leash because I know he would chase the sheep. I didn't want him to hurt them.

I let him go and he immediately started chasing the sheep. She said she was very surprised that he seemed to have a strong instinct about what to do and how to turn and how to chase the sheep. He wasn't afraid or hesitant. She was very complimentary of him during that time.

We took a break for a short time to give him some water and to catch his breath. I put him on a chain and tied him to the fence.

About a 1/2 hour later we went back to the same place and did it again. Dino seemed to be bored and more distracted. He was sniffing and peeing and eating poop. He was definitely still interested but seemed more distracted. The pen was pretty small and we kept going around and around.

Joyce had me handle him a bit. I had a hard time understanding what to do and fumbled around.

I definitely want to go back for more training and take Dino as far as possible.

Dino's Mixed Breed Registration!

March 1, 2007