Sorry about the lack of posts this last week - it was a bit of a shocker. I'll try to be a bit more organised in the future so I can at least post some photos if I don't have time for a 'real' post :)
Today, however, is another information post. This morning was Laura-moo's obedience trial at advanced level. The levels go beginners, intermediate, advanced, transition, and I think novice then open after that, though I could be wrong. Most people don't go beyond advanced unless they want titles, and the advantage of passing advanced if you happen to live in the A.C.T. is that registration fees for your dog are very significantly reduced.
This was Laura's first proper obedience test; beginners don't do an 'official' test, and we missed the intermediate one due to out-of-towness and did it with three others on the next normal training night. She's been to the grounds before during the day, though, so I didn't anticipate that aspect of it being much of a problem.
Overall, she did very well. I went into it with mixed expectations; on the one hand, if she's having a good day, she can be brilliant - but if she's not, she's a wretch. We didn't mind if she didn't pass, since we plan to do advanced again anyway - we don't do anywhere near enough practice to be able to keep up in transition, and if you pass advanced three times you qualify for the letters C.D. after the dog's name :)
First up was the loose-lead walking. Eh, this was so-so. She didn't yank, but she wasn't exactly with it, either. The heeling was about the same, sadly. Quite a bit of sniffing, not much eye contact... just generally distracted. She turned well, and did all of her default sits and the drop while heeling fine, but it just wasn't... snappy.
The position changes were okay. She drifted forward a little on the stand, which she always does. We've been working on not drifting so much for the stand, and while she did take a few steps, she didn't make it all the way to me, so I suppose that's something to be happy about :) And she didn't really drift at all for the drop, so that's happy :)
The stand for exam - can I just say, Wow?! She did not budge a single toenail. She was perfect. Absolutely, 100%, could not have been any better, perfect. I am SO happy about this one, so, so happy!
The recall was lovely, no comments really to make. I thought for one heart-stopping moment she was going to get distracted by a yummy smell and wander off to the side, but she came over, and all was well :)
Stays were great, though I lost marks because of the way I was standing. I usually stand with my fingers splayed, but apparently this counts as an extra signal to stay, for which they dock marks :( But I know for next time.
All in all, I was pleased with how well she performed given how distracted she was. I don't think I got a single 'look' when I asked for one *grumpgrump* and she spend ALL her spare time in the ring looking over at the other dogs... Oo, dogs I haven't MET! I MUST go play with them!
*sigh* :)
The instructor's comments were to work on keeping her attention (OH yes), and try to phase out the food, since as soon as I turned to the food, I had 100% attention. (I didn't, but the instructor seemed to think so, so yes :D). Also, I have to make sure I give her time to perform the task - which is odd, because a couple of times, I deliberately held off giving a second command and waited, and she did it. I obviously didn't wait a few times though, because I lost a few marks for the double commands I had to give for some of the drops etc.
A pass mark is 75 (out of 100) and we ended up with 81, which is not brilliant, but it's respectable, and hey, we passed! We're a third of our way to our first title :o)
Congratulations also to Abbi, who not only passed intermediate, but also tied third in her ring and has a lovely shiny yellow ribbon :) Well done!
Coming up this week: some cute puppy pictures from the day we got the monkeys :)
Showing posts with label Laura. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Laura. Show all posts
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Plans
So, even though I went through that yicky pressure-ful phase, I still have rough training notes scattered around the place, and I'd really like to collect and collate them. What better place than here? :o)
So for the next few weeks, posting will primarily be playing catch-up as I hunt down said notes and put them up here - with photos, of course!
To begin, a bit of background.
Laura, aka RoseDelight My Sunshine, was born on the 5th of May 2007 - even though her certificate says the 8th! We really couldn't afford a purebred at the time, but after watching my last dog degenerate severely from conditions that ought to have been prevented by a responsible breeder (she was a petshop pup, a rough collie), we were determined NOT to go the petshop route.
My mum and sisters were also in the market for a pup, having lost the collie a few months prior.
I had just decide that, alas, I must give up on the idea of a dog for now due to funds, when Middle Sis stumbled across an ad in the online classifieds: Labrador puppies, bargain price, but microchipped. My ears pricked up. Non-breeders don't usually chip.
We investigated, and lo-and-behold, it was indeed a legit breeder, a small family who breed their dogs purely for the pleasure of the puppies, and not in any way for profit. We were sorely tempted - but I refused to say yes to a dog without having seen it. I had no first-hand experience in judging puppies, but I'd practically memorised the breed standard and read every thing I could find on choosing puppies - what to look for in temperment, quick tests to perform, etc etc.
The breeders were marvellous. They offered to drive the puppies down to us (about a two hour trip) so that we could see them, with no obligation.
Of couse, I'm sure they figured they were pretty safe - four girls, two squiggly puppies... Are they really going to say no?
I would have, had there been anything to say no to. But my little yellow honeycake was, as near as I could guess, a pretty well-shaped dog, and even after a two hour car trip was attentive, curious and friendly. I checked out her papers, and was pleased to see that I recognised a few of the kennel names in her pedigree - of course, at the time I didn't realise quite how good they were!
And so we brought her home, and my mum and sisters took home her sister Abbi. And let me tell you, despite the accidents on the carpet, despite the howls at night, despite the poo up all the walls at times and the complete lack of anything that resembles a backyard at either house - we haven't looked back. We love our dogs. They're here to stay :)
So for the next few weeks, posting will primarily be playing catch-up as I hunt down said notes and put them up here - with photos, of course!
To begin, a bit of background.
Laura, aka RoseDelight My Sunshine, was born on the 5th of May 2007 - even though her certificate says the 8th! We really couldn't afford a purebred at the time, but after watching my last dog degenerate severely from conditions that ought to have been prevented by a responsible breeder (she was a petshop pup, a rough collie), we were determined NOT to go the petshop route.
My mum and sisters were also in the market for a pup, having lost the collie a few months prior.
I had just decide that, alas, I must give up on the idea of a dog for now due to funds, when Middle Sis stumbled across an ad in the online classifieds: Labrador puppies, bargain price, but microchipped. My ears pricked up. Non-breeders don't usually chip.
We investigated, and lo-and-behold, it was indeed a legit breeder, a small family who breed their dogs purely for the pleasure of the puppies, and not in any way for profit. We were sorely tempted - but I refused to say yes to a dog without having seen it. I had no first-hand experience in judging puppies, but I'd practically memorised the breed standard and read every thing I could find on choosing puppies - what to look for in temperment, quick tests to perform, etc etc.
The breeders were marvellous. They offered to drive the puppies down to us (about a two hour trip) so that we could see them, with no obligation.
Of couse, I'm sure they figured they were pretty safe - four girls, two squiggly puppies... Are they really going to say no?
I would have, had there been anything to say no to. But my little yellow honeycake was, as near as I could guess, a pretty well-shaped dog, and even after a two hour car trip was attentive, curious and friendly. I checked out her papers, and was pleased to see that I recognised a few of the kennel names in her pedigree - of course, at the time I didn't realise quite how good they were!
And so we brought her home, and my mum and sisters took home her sister Abbi. And let me tell you, despite the accidents on the carpet, despite the howls at night, despite the poo up all the walls at times and the complete lack of anything that resembles a backyard at either house - we haven't looked back. We love our dogs. They're here to stay :)
Thursday, September 11, 2008
The Process of Growth
I realised, as I was writing the introductory post, that there is a strange correlation between learning to love my dog, and learning to love my other passion, writing.
I've known for years that I loved writing, that it was something I wanted to do, someone I wanted to be. And at the beginning of last year, I decided once and for all that writing was something I was going to do, and I got serious.
Seriously infatuated. I read - no, devoured - websites of information, joined groups, talked with people, and generally absorbed anything on the topic that I possibly could. It was fun - it was exhilarating. I was spending time doing something I loved, and I was learning.
But then came the next stage: fear. I'd learned all these things, I knew all this stuff - and now I had to put it into practice. But I had no experience, no history, no first hand knowledge of how it worked - and I got scared. Suddenly, having to put words to paper every single day became the most labourious thing I'd ever attempted. The sheer pressure of having to be Productive drove away my creativity. My right brain went into hiding, and all that was left was my left brain, beating me around the ears and generally shouting at me to Do Something, or I would Fail.
I stuck with it, though, and gradually I passed into the next stage. I learned that writing is something you do with all of your brain, and that it's okay to be lax about the boundaries sometimes, and that above all else, writing is fun. I remembered how to play with words, and rediscovered the joy that that gave me.
And in rediscovering that joy, I found my passion - awakened, returned, and stronger than ever before - refined by the fire of my fear. With this renewed passion, that dreadful P word ('productivity') was no longer an issue; the words came, and it was fun. And when they didn't come, that was okay.
This is where I am still today. There may be further stages ahead; I don't know. I haven't been walking this road for long enough to judge. But regardless, the act of passing through, of conquering that fear and reuniting both halves of my brain has made me a better, stronger, wholer person.
And I would be completely oblivious to this entire process had it not struck me last night that I have gone through this exact same process with what I fondly refer to as 'dogging'.
In May last year, I became infatuated. I read everything the net had to offer on clicker training, on puppy feeding, on exercise and health and training and care routines. My husband was going through an extremely difficult time, and I was convinced that a puppy would be something to remind him that he was still loved, that he was still respected and looked up to - that, in general, at least one small fluffy creature thought the world of him.
In hindsight, I was right (which is both rare and lovely :D); the husband and the dog bonded immediately and have been mutual adorers since day one - even when, on day three, Dear Husband was confronted with a bathroom smeared in sloppy puppy poo from floor to as high as the dear twat could reach :o) (Hehe, I was away at a conference that day.)
For me, however, I now realise that the process has been akin to that of writing. I had the infatuation stage, which lasted for about the first few months.
But then the fear set in. All of a sudden she was growing, and growing fast, and our training fell behind where I knew it could be, and the pressure to be Productive mounted. Again, my creative, subconscious brain rebelled, fleeing to safety, and leaving me stressed by Yet Another Thing I Had To Accomplish.
Thankfully, the groundwork had already been laid, so dear Puppykins was perfectly unphased by the sudden drop in the amount of training she received, and continued to be a well-behaved and well-adjusted baby-pie - and of course, she still had the DH :o)
I certainly didn't neglect her - she was inside almost every day, I spent time with her, I worked with her every now and then at home, and took her to training once a week at the local dog club - but the fear, the pressure was still there (especially, and in a very big way, when we began showing).
But gradually, the pressure began to ease. My other brain returned, and I realised that raising dogs is like raising children: you'll never get it perfect, but you can get it good enough, and good enough really is good enough. And so the fear has passed. I've weathered the storm, I've been watered by the rain, and I've come out the other side a stronger, wholer person.
And now, I can't wait to get home to my dog :)
I've known for years that I loved writing, that it was something I wanted to do, someone I wanted to be. And at the beginning of last year, I decided once and for all that writing was something I was going to do, and I got serious.
Seriously infatuated. I read - no, devoured - websites of information, joined groups, talked with people, and generally absorbed anything on the topic that I possibly could. It was fun - it was exhilarating. I was spending time doing something I loved, and I was learning.
But then came the next stage: fear. I'd learned all these things, I knew all this stuff - and now I had to put it into practice. But I had no experience, no history, no first hand knowledge of how it worked - and I got scared. Suddenly, having to put words to paper every single day became the most labourious thing I'd ever attempted. The sheer pressure of having to be Productive drove away my creativity. My right brain went into hiding, and all that was left was my left brain, beating me around the ears and generally shouting at me to Do Something, or I would Fail.
I stuck with it, though, and gradually I passed into the next stage. I learned that writing is something you do with all of your brain, and that it's okay to be lax about the boundaries sometimes, and that above all else, writing is fun. I remembered how to play with words, and rediscovered the joy that that gave me.
And in rediscovering that joy, I found my passion - awakened, returned, and stronger than ever before - refined by the fire of my fear. With this renewed passion, that dreadful P word ('productivity') was no longer an issue; the words came, and it was fun. And when they didn't come, that was okay.
This is where I am still today. There may be further stages ahead; I don't know. I haven't been walking this road for long enough to judge. But regardless, the act of passing through, of conquering that fear and reuniting both halves of my brain has made me a better, stronger, wholer person.
And I would be completely oblivious to this entire process had it not struck me last night that I have gone through this exact same process with what I fondly refer to as 'dogging'.
In May last year, I became infatuated. I read everything the net had to offer on clicker training, on puppy feeding, on exercise and health and training and care routines. My husband was going through an extremely difficult time, and I was convinced that a puppy would be something to remind him that he was still loved, that he was still respected and looked up to - that, in general, at least one small fluffy creature thought the world of him.
In hindsight, I was right (which is both rare and lovely :D); the husband and the dog bonded immediately and have been mutual adorers since day one - even when, on day three, Dear Husband was confronted with a bathroom smeared in sloppy puppy poo from floor to as high as the dear twat could reach :o) (Hehe, I was away at a conference that day.)
For me, however, I now realise that the process has been akin to that of writing. I had the infatuation stage, which lasted for about the first few months.
But then the fear set in. All of a sudden she was growing, and growing fast, and our training fell behind where I knew it could be, and the pressure to be Productive mounted. Again, my creative, subconscious brain rebelled, fleeing to safety, and leaving me stressed by Yet Another Thing I Had To Accomplish.
Thankfully, the groundwork had already been laid, so dear Puppykins was perfectly unphased by the sudden drop in the amount of training she received, and continued to be a well-behaved and well-adjusted baby-pie - and of course, she still had the DH :o)
I certainly didn't neglect her - she was inside almost every day, I spent time with her, I worked with her every now and then at home, and took her to training once a week at the local dog club - but the fear, the pressure was still there (especially, and in a very big way, when we began showing).
But gradually, the pressure began to ease. My other brain returned, and I realised that raising dogs is like raising children: you'll never get it perfect, but you can get it good enough, and good enough really is good enough. And so the fear has passed. I've weathered the storm, I've been watered by the rain, and I've come out the other side a stronger, wholer person.
And now, I can't wait to get home to my dog :)
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Before We Begin...
After this week, I'm going to do my very best to post twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thurdays. This complements my blogging routine on my writing blog, which is Monday-Wednesday-Friday. So, if you're very keen, you can now hear from me every single weekday :o) You must be so thrilled :D
However, this week being week one, and this being a blog primarily about me and my puppy after all, I thought you might like to see a photo of my Squishyfishy. I'll be posting squillions more, of course, but I thought one to start with might be nice :)
So, this is the ratpack, my little Laura.
In't she cute? Aww....
However, this week being week one, and this being a blog primarily about me and my puppy after all, I thought you might like to see a photo of my Squishyfishy. I'll be posting squillions more, of course, but I thought one to start with might be nice :)
So, this is the ratpack, my little Laura.
In't she cute? Aww....
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
The Beginning...
I am opening a new blog. It's something I've been meaning to do since I got Puppy, but have somehow managed to avoid.
It was the pressure, I think; the pressure of having readers, however few, who would read my goals and hold me accountable; dogging was just another area I had to be Productive in.
And fear. I realised last night how large the fear part was - because last night, I loved my dog.
Oh, of course, I'd loved her since we brought her home in July last year; but last night, I Loved her.
Somehow - I don't recall - the subject of breeding came up. I ended up on the net, googling for pictures of a whelping box to show the Boy (aka Husband), who had never seen one.
I stumbled upon a fabulous, insightful blog called Lab Tails - and my life, in a small but ever so important way, is changed.
Labradors, perhaps no more than other dogs but certainly with a unique enthusiasm, love their people. Unreservedly, unashamedly, unconditionally - and without fear.
And I realised that, although I dreamed of that magical connection between human and animal, and although it was here, within my reach, I was holding back from it.
I was scared.
I was scared, because Laura will die.
My Sunshine, I named her, in the hopes that that was what she would be - a ray of light in the greyness of our lives, hope in times of trial, warmth in the cold and the fear. And she was. She was sunshine, and she was mine...
But she was never My Sunshine.
Until last night.
Lab Tails reminded me of something very important. Dogs, no matter what they do, no matter how many mistakes they make, and no matter how many others they may hurt, never have regrets. It is not in their nature to regret actions past - and neither is it in them to worry for the future.
I will die - but Laura loves me nonetheless, with an exuberance and joy that lights up her entire body and fills it with uncontainable wriggles.
And now, her love is returned.
Hence this blog. I do now what I have always intended to do - trace my journey, track my progress, and chart my way across the known world of training, and the complete unknown of showing.
Welcome. I hope that somewhere, somehow, you too will experience that unconditionality of a dog's love - and learn to return it.
It was the pressure, I think; the pressure of having readers, however few, who would read my goals and hold me accountable; dogging was just another area I had to be Productive in.
And fear. I realised last night how large the fear part was - because last night, I loved my dog.
Oh, of course, I'd loved her since we brought her home in July last year; but last night, I Loved her.
Somehow - I don't recall - the subject of breeding came up. I ended up on the net, googling for pictures of a whelping box to show the Boy (aka Husband), who had never seen one.
I stumbled upon a fabulous, insightful blog called Lab Tails - and my life, in a small but ever so important way, is changed.
Labradors, perhaps no more than other dogs but certainly with a unique enthusiasm, love their people. Unreservedly, unashamedly, unconditionally - and without fear.
And I realised that, although I dreamed of that magical connection between human and animal, and although it was here, within my reach, I was holding back from it.
I was scared.
I was scared, because Laura will die.
My Sunshine, I named her, in the hopes that that was what she would be - a ray of light in the greyness of our lives, hope in times of trial, warmth in the cold and the fear. And she was. She was sunshine, and she was mine...
But she was never My Sunshine.
Until last night.
Lab Tails reminded me of something very important. Dogs, no matter what they do, no matter how many mistakes they make, and no matter how many others they may hurt, never have regrets. It is not in their nature to regret actions past - and neither is it in them to worry for the future.
I will die - but Laura loves me nonetheless, with an exuberance and joy that lights up her entire body and fills it with uncontainable wriggles.
And now, her love is returned.
Hence this blog. I do now what I have always intended to do - trace my journey, track my progress, and chart my way across the known world of training, and the complete unknown of showing.
Welcome. I hope that somewhere, somehow, you too will experience that unconditionality of a dog's love - and learn to return it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)