Ole has been concentrating on catching the tennis ball when I throw it to him. He's getting a lot better at it . At first he would wait until it hit him in the face and then grab the ball as it rolled onto the ground. BTW, I wasn't trying to hit him in the face! Now, he is actually catching it. I tell him to "Wait"' then i step away from him and lob the ball to him. He even seemed surprised the first time he caught it but I made such a big fuss over him when he did that now he does a victory lap after he catches it. Cheers and clapping are expected. Yesterday we found an old forgotten Frisby laying on the grass in the park and I started tossing that to him after he had been fetching the ball a few times. He seemed to kind of like it but had a very difficult time picking it up off the grass . He finally figured out that if he pressed down on one end of it the other end would pop up and then he could grab it. After that he had a great time with it. Tonight I alternated getting him to fetch the ball and then get the frisby. Next we played catch the ball. Catch the frisby he doesn't quite have yet. i think I will introduce him to a soft cloth frisby tomorrow and see if he does better with that. We've been meeting up with a female German Shepherd named Luna and her owners every morning and together she and Ole chase tennis balls until their tongues hang almost to the grass. Luna's owners get a big kick out of Ole as he is so careful with his manners around Luna. All Luna has to do is give him a look and he backs way off and gives her as much space around the ball as she wants. Whatever Luna wants, Luna gets!
We met Donna and Ginger today and a local rec center& with all 4 dogs and practiced nose work. For Ole, we hid containers with Birch scent and placed treats on top of them. For Shelly, Ginger, and Elmo we hid 6 different containers, 2 of each of the 3 scents. We picked some bleachers to hide most of the scents around and the dogs did really well. Ginger boldly climbed up and around on the bleachers to get to the hides which is something she never would have done 6 months ago. Her confidence has really soared with nose work. Ole had never seen bleachers before but he willingly climbed all over them to get to his hides. On one of the 3 sets of outdoor bleacher a big old bulldog was laying about 2 steps up the bleachers none of the dogs initially knew he was there but they all handled his presence really well. At most , Ginger and Elmo barked at him once or twice but then went on about their task finding that precious scent. he just lay there and watched them. There were a lot of people walking around , a few bums were crashed on the lawn and a dodge ball game was being played right in front of the bleachers but the dogs ignored all the distractions and stayed on task. All in all it was a good session.
Today was suppose to be dog bath day for Ole and Elmo but I just didn't get to it. I had a private lesson at 10:00 then did a bunch of house work and just couldn't get motivated after that to scrub them up. Tomorrow will have to do I guess.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
Ole gets a taste of the farm
We've had a busy few days. Emma , a little 10 month old Brussels Griffon, (all 8 lbs of her) came to stay for 3 days while her owners were away on a trip to the Bay area. Ole was besotted with her and she detested him. Elmo however was just her cup of tea. Elmo was cool and calm with her and she liked his style. Ole kept flinging himself at her feet which would cause her to snap in his face and yap at him which in turn would get him all flustered so that he would pat at her with his plate sized feet. She HATED it and could find nothing at all endearing about his attempts at play. She mostly followed me around like a little shadow or hid under the couch or other pieces of furniture. She actually handled the whole staying with a stranger and 3 unknown dogs very well all things considered and ate really well and was immaculate in her potty habits. She wasn't big on the nightly fireworks shows but didn't completely freak out. I got Ole up extra early every AM and did at least a 40 minute power walk and training session to take the edge off so he would be calmer with Emma. For walks, I did two dog walks combining Shelly and Ole and then Emma with Elmo. It was impossible to walk Ole with Emma as he was too excited about her. She was I think rather happy to get picked up by her owners on Sunday night. I've only done one practice session for nose work since last week. Did 6 hides for Shelly and Elmo, all outside in the alley and then 4 outside hides for Ole on our lot. For Ole I hide the birch scent which is in small containers and put food treats on top of the containers so that when he finds the scent he gets instant rewards. He is still pretty new to scent work so I want to make sure he understands that he has to find the scent right at it's source and that he associates the scent with his reward. I'm going to try to do another training session tomorrow if I have time.
I took all 3 dogs to Fiesta Island today and Ole found a pile of horse manure . He grabbed a mouth ful as a snack before I could stop him...shades of his old life on the farm!
Tonight I had a puppy class to teach and Abner could not watch the dogs while I was at class. The SUV is in the shop so I had to cram all 3 dogs plus my X-Pen and puppy agility tunnel all in the Mini Cooper. It was like clowns in a Shriners tiny car. None of the dogs seemed to mind but I will be glad to get my bigger car back. We have a really cute class of puppies. There is a 10 week old blue merle Great Dane, a cute black chow mix, a labradoodle and a little cattle dog mix. Elmo especially liked the only little girl in the class named Joey who is the cattle dog mix. Elmo is very romantic being that he is 1/3rd poodle.
Ole is at least as tall as Shelly now and you can tell he is going to get probably at least 3 or 4 inches taller than her. I need a bigger car! His ears are staying up now but I think the right ear will always be a little weak and wandering. I love it as it has such personality. He is a very sweet boy.
I took all 3 dogs to Fiesta Island today and Ole found a pile of horse manure . He grabbed a mouth ful as a snack before I could stop him...shades of his old life on the farm!
Tonight I had a puppy class to teach and Abner could not watch the dogs while I was at class. The SUV is in the shop so I had to cram all 3 dogs plus my X-Pen and puppy agility tunnel all in the Mini Cooper. It was like clowns in a Shriners tiny car. None of the dogs seemed to mind but I will be glad to get my bigger car back. We have a really cute class of puppies. There is a 10 week old blue merle Great Dane, a cute black chow mix, a labradoodle and a little cattle dog mix. Elmo especially liked the only little girl in the class named Joey who is the cattle dog mix. Elmo is very romantic being that he is 1/3rd poodle.
Ole is at least as tall as Shelly now and you can tell he is going to get probably at least 3 or 4 inches taller than her. I need a bigger car! His ears are staying up now but I think the right ear will always be a little weak and wandering. I love it as it has such personality. He is a very sweet boy.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Ole meets a ghost and Elmo wins a title
It's been a very busy 4 days since last I blogged. Thursday and Friday I spent a good deal of time working on my art piece, made 2 trips to Fiesta Island with the dogs, and Ole spent 4 hours on Thursday at Daycare where they found a flea...DRAT! I had to give him another Comfortis pil on Friday to keep the critters at bayl. I've tried several organic flea repellents but they weren't hacking it apparently, so had to bring out the big guns. We had no flea problem until it finally got a little warmer just a few days ago. At daycare they have a strict no flea policy so they gave Ole a bath. When I came to pick him up he was relaxed and happy. Hiromi said that after his bath Ole ran around in circles to celebrate his flea freedom.
Friday night I spent getting ready for the Canine Nosework Trial in San Pedro. Donna and I had both entered our dogs in the nosework trial1 event on Sunday and had also signed up as volunteers for Saturday morning so that we could both help out and learn the ropes. I left Abner and Elmo and Shelly sound asleep on Saturday morning, none of them even raised their heads. I had to get up at 5:00 AM to get ready and Ole tried to help by also getting up and being as under foot as possible. While Ole was outside doing his AM potty, I came back in the house and bundled up a large sheet that was laying on the floor and placed it just in front of the back door which enters into the garage. When Ole came back in he lay down in the hall in front of the back door to get his morning cookies. All of a sudden he started barking and leaping backwards . I looked and saw the sheet heaped in the corner and quickly ran over and stomped on it till it was dead! Ole wagged his tail kind of sheepishly and then tentitively came over and sniffed the sheet completely relaxed and I praised him for being a big brave German Shepherd that even his dad Rex could be proud of. He is very sweet. He was sure that he would be able to talk me into letting him go also but alas, I was hard hearted and left him home putting him in his crate with some biscuits .
It was a long drive up there with a bit more traffic than we were expecting, but that's LA for you. We had a bit of a problem figuring out which toll exit to take to pay our toll for the 73 toll road which ended out costing us an extra $1.50 in fees but after a few wrong turns we found the place the Trial was being held right about the time we were suppose to be there. Corrine from nosework class was waiting for us and had saved us a spot in the parking lot by some trees. We were real happy to get out of the car and we now knew how to get to the place when we drove up with our dogs on Sunday. We all signed in as volunteers and were given our assignments for the day. Donna was to be the time keeper for the exterior search , I was the time keeper for the interior search, and Corrine was to be the container mover for the container ( suitcases, purses, boxes and bags) search. The trial we assisted in was for the most advanced and experienced handlers and dogs called NSW3 (Nosework 3). There are 4 components to all nosework trials: the container search where the dog handler team must find and alert on 1 or up to 3 odor hides., the interior search which involves the search of 3 rooms with 2 or 3 hides & one of the rooms has no hide in it and the team must find all the hides as well as figure out which room is clear of any hide ( very difficult!), an exterior search which can be in a grassy or concrete surface. It is about 1000 sq feet of marked off space, and the vehicle search which has 3 or 4 vehicles and 1 up to 3 hides. The handlers and dogs must determine which vehicle/s have hides on them , which vehicles are clean and the dog must locate exactly where the hide is and alert near it. The difference between Nosework 1, 2, and 3 is the number of odors the dog must identify and the degree of difficulty of the finds. Each of these searches is given a time in which it must be completed, anywhere from 2 minutes for a container search to 4 minutes for an exterior . In our interior search, the teams had 4 minutes to search each of the 3 rooms ( total of 12 minutes). If they went over 4 minutes in any room they were disqualified. (In nosework 1 only cardboard boxes are used in the container search with no distractions such as food or toys placed in any of the containers like they do in NWS3.) These guys had it tough! We tested 12 dog/handler teams and it took until 2:00 in the afternoon. With me in the interior judging, was the judge,named Nicole, the steward and myself. both the judge and I had stop watches to back each other up on the timing and the steward photographed the search of each of the 3 rooms by each team. It was a tough one and I think only 4 maybe 5 of the dog teams passed this particular part of the test. In order to title in nosework you must pass all 4 elements of the trial with a score of 100 points. In Donna's group(exterior search) only one team passed and in Corrine's group (containers) only one passed! In fact no one passed the NSW3 trial at all and we heard later that only one team passed the NSW2 test which was given after we left to drive back to San Diego at 2:00. Speaking of that drive., the traffic was hideous!!! It took us over 4 hours to do the 2 hour drive back to San Diego and there is only one rest stop between San Pedro and San Diego. Bladders were tested for sure that day.
Sunday was a tough one. I got up at 4:15 AM and quickly got dressed and cleaned up and slugged down my AM breakfast drink. I carried Elmo who was in no way ready to get up, downstairs, put him down to take him outside to potty and he sprinted back upstairs and burrowed under the covers of my bed. He woke Ole up so I had to sneak Elmo back downstairs and put him on the leash . I put everything in the car and made sure Ole was quiet in his sleeping pen and Abner was asleep in bed, before Elmo and I headed off to Donna's house to ride up to San Pedro with her and Miss Ginger. The ride back to San Pedro was much easier this time and we had Donna's husbands pride and joy to ride in , his immaculate1960's ?? volkswagen camper van. We got robbed by the coin machine at the toll road toll booth and had to pay twice to get through the barrier. There were no attendants at 6:00 in the AM on a Sunday. Once we got to the Trial things went a little smoother. Corrine had the shady parking spot saved for us so we set up camp, pulled out the vans awning and set up chairs and dog crates. There were 48 competitors for NSW1. They divided us into 3 groups A,B,&C. Corrine and I were in group B and Donna in C. I was designated as number 7 to do the box drills and then exterior search with Elmo, Corrine and her Tibetan Terrier dog Gus were #8 and poor Donna and Ginger were # 48! That meant she had to wait 4 hours or more before she and Ginger had their 1st turn at boxes and vehicle search. Dog sports in general are like this, hours of waiting for only a few minutes of competition. At least we had a good comfortable place to hang out in between our turns. Elmo was a real little pro and ready to work. As soon as we walked into the auditorium were the 18 boxes were set out for him to search his nose was working. I said "Find It!" and he trotted purposely to the first line of boxes, dismissed them as unimportant and headed to the 2nd line. He hesitated slightly and glanced up at me at the second one from the end but did not alert to it. I thought it was probably the one but that he just wanted a chance to sniff them all and we had a whole 2 minutes for the search so I went with him to the rest of the boxes and as soon as he kind of gave up on them had him take me back to the box of interest and sure enough, he tapped it with his nose,
gave me his AHA! look and sat right next to the box. I called "Alert "to the judge, she said"Yes!" and we had it, our first leg of the trial journey. Elmo got his hotdog pieces at the box and a butt rub and lots of praise and the steward sent us off to the exterior search area. Oh, I forgot to mention that before the trial started they also divided us all into groups of three and each of us in the group had to pick either interior, vehicle or exterior as an element. at the end of the trial the group with the fastest combined scores would be the winning team. Elmo and I selected interior search as our part of the team competition.
At the exterior search area we had to search an area of about 800 sq feet that was located outside between two classroom buildings and was divided in half by some school lockers which had an awning over them. It had a concrete surface and was hedged in the back and sides by shrubbery. Elmo was ready to go! He practically leapt across the start line and immediately checked out the east side of the lockers. as we got to the far edge of the lockers his head snapped to his left because he had caught the odor and he honed in on a picnic table . He circled one end of the table and stood on his hind legs up under the table and tapped the underneath surface with his nose. He then sat right down and gave me his most happy I did it look. I said "Alert" and the judge asked me to tell her where the hide was . I said under the table top next to the metal bar supporting the top. She said "Yes", and Elmo once again got to celebrate his successful find. We were both thrilled to say the least. The interesting thing about this all to me was I was not nervous at all during the whole day, a little excited , but not nervous and I think it helped Elmo because he was the same way. Dogs pick up on their owners energy and tend to mimic it. After that we had to wait until 2:30 for our next turn at the vehicle and interior searches. Corrine and Gus didn't have as much luck as Gus did not alert at all in the box drill but got the exterior search, and Donna, when her turn finally came at 2:00, Ginger aced the box drill but was 4 inches off her find for the vehicle search so did not pass vehicle search. After a late lunch, Elmo and I were up for our vehicle search. Once again I could just feel his confidence rolling up the leash and he found his odor with in 34 seconds no problem. One of the observers said that Elmo made it look easy, and I was amazed at how much he was enjoying the competition. Corrine's dog, Gus had problems with the vehicle search( usually Gus's best event) and did not pass it . Elmo and I were 3 for 3 with interior search to go which was also our team event. I had my fingers crossed that we wouldn't let our team down. Elmo sailed into the room gave his head a flick to the left to check a corner of the room and then (this was our off leash search) zeroed in on a big work table near the center of the room. He seemed very interested in a stool just under the table, stuck his head under it , and Bingo sat and smiled at me. I said" Alert", the judge said "yes", and we had it!!! our first title, NSW1! The long and short of it is , out of 48 teams 17 passed the NSW1 trial and Elmo and I were one of them . Our team won first place in the team event, also a ribbon. Donna and Ginger won everyones hearts with Ginger's determination and work ethic and charm but did not pass the trial this time. They did a great job however and if Ginger had been two inches taller probably would have passed. GInger couldn't reach the exterior search hide to alert properly at it but knew where it was. She worked so hard and with such enthusiasm that the observers all cheered and clapped for her at the finish and she strutted out very proud of herself. She was mentioned several times at the awards ceremony afterwards. It was a long exhausting day and fortunately there was very little traffic on the way home, got there in 1&1/2 hours. Ole was thrilled to see us and is very proud of his big little brother Elmo. He wants to grow up and be just like him , without the girly tail of course.
Friday night I spent getting ready for the Canine Nosework Trial in San Pedro. Donna and I had both entered our dogs in the nosework trial1 event on Sunday and had also signed up as volunteers for Saturday morning so that we could both help out and learn the ropes. I left Abner and Elmo and Shelly sound asleep on Saturday morning, none of them even raised their heads. I had to get up at 5:00 AM to get ready and Ole tried to help by also getting up and being as under foot as possible. While Ole was outside doing his AM potty, I came back in the house and bundled up a large sheet that was laying on the floor and placed it just in front of the back door which enters into the garage. When Ole came back in he lay down in the hall in front of the back door to get his morning cookies. All of a sudden he started barking and leaping backwards . I looked and saw the sheet heaped in the corner and quickly ran over and stomped on it till it was dead! Ole wagged his tail kind of sheepishly and then tentitively came over and sniffed the sheet completely relaxed and I praised him for being a big brave German Shepherd that even his dad Rex could be proud of. He is very sweet. He was sure that he would be able to talk me into letting him go also but alas, I was hard hearted and left him home putting him in his crate with some biscuits .
It was a long drive up there with a bit more traffic than we were expecting, but that's LA for you. We had a bit of a problem figuring out which toll exit to take to pay our toll for the 73 toll road which ended out costing us an extra $1.50 in fees but after a few wrong turns we found the place the Trial was being held right about the time we were suppose to be there. Corrine from nosework class was waiting for us and had saved us a spot in the parking lot by some trees. We were real happy to get out of the car and we now knew how to get to the place when we drove up with our dogs on Sunday. We all signed in as volunteers and were given our assignments for the day. Donna was to be the time keeper for the exterior search , I was the time keeper for the interior search, and Corrine was to be the container mover for the container ( suitcases, purses, boxes and bags) search. The trial we assisted in was for the most advanced and experienced handlers and dogs called NSW3 (Nosework 3). There are 4 components to all nosework trials: the container search where the dog handler team must find and alert on 1 or up to 3 odor hides., the interior search which involves the search of 3 rooms with 2 or 3 hides & one of the rooms has no hide in it and the team must find all the hides as well as figure out which room is clear of any hide ( very difficult!), an exterior search which can be in a grassy or concrete surface. It is about 1000 sq feet of marked off space, and the vehicle search which has 3 or 4 vehicles and 1 up to 3 hides. The handlers and dogs must determine which vehicle/s have hides on them , which vehicles are clean and the dog must locate exactly where the hide is and alert near it. The difference between Nosework 1, 2, and 3 is the number of odors the dog must identify and the degree of difficulty of the finds. Each of these searches is given a time in which it must be completed, anywhere from 2 minutes for a container search to 4 minutes for an exterior . In our interior search, the teams had 4 minutes to search each of the 3 rooms ( total of 12 minutes). If they went over 4 minutes in any room they were disqualified. (In nosework 1 only cardboard boxes are used in the container search with no distractions such as food or toys placed in any of the containers like they do in NWS3.) These guys had it tough! We tested 12 dog/handler teams and it took until 2:00 in the afternoon. With me in the interior judging, was the judge,named Nicole, the steward and myself. both the judge and I had stop watches to back each other up on the timing and the steward photographed the search of each of the 3 rooms by each team. It was a tough one and I think only 4 maybe 5 of the dog teams passed this particular part of the test. In order to title in nosework you must pass all 4 elements of the trial with a score of 100 points. In Donna's group(exterior search) only one team passed and in Corrine's group (containers) only one passed! In fact no one passed the NSW3 trial at all and we heard later that only one team passed the NSW2 test which was given after we left to drive back to San Diego at 2:00. Speaking of that drive., the traffic was hideous!!! It took us over 4 hours to do the 2 hour drive back to San Diego and there is only one rest stop between San Pedro and San Diego. Bladders were tested for sure that day.
Sunday was a tough one. I got up at 4:15 AM and quickly got dressed and cleaned up and slugged down my AM breakfast drink. I carried Elmo who was in no way ready to get up, downstairs, put him down to take him outside to potty and he sprinted back upstairs and burrowed under the covers of my bed. He woke Ole up so I had to sneak Elmo back downstairs and put him on the leash . I put everything in the car and made sure Ole was quiet in his sleeping pen and Abner was asleep in bed, before Elmo and I headed off to Donna's house to ride up to San Pedro with her and Miss Ginger. The ride back to San Pedro was much easier this time and we had Donna's husbands pride and joy to ride in , his immaculate1960's ?? volkswagen camper van. We got robbed by the coin machine at the toll road toll booth and had to pay twice to get through the barrier. There were no attendants at 6:00 in the AM on a Sunday. Once we got to the Trial things went a little smoother. Corrine had the shady parking spot saved for us so we set up camp, pulled out the vans awning and set up chairs and dog crates. There were 48 competitors for NSW1. They divided us into 3 groups A,B,&C. Corrine and I were in group B and Donna in C. I was designated as number 7 to do the box drills and then exterior search with Elmo, Corrine and her Tibetan Terrier dog Gus were #8 and poor Donna and Ginger were # 48! That meant she had to wait 4 hours or more before she and Ginger had their 1st turn at boxes and vehicle search. Dog sports in general are like this, hours of waiting for only a few minutes of competition. At least we had a good comfortable place to hang out in between our turns. Elmo was a real little pro and ready to work. As soon as we walked into the auditorium were the 18 boxes were set out for him to search his nose was working. I said "Find It!" and he trotted purposely to the first line of boxes, dismissed them as unimportant and headed to the 2nd line. He hesitated slightly and glanced up at me at the second one from the end but did not alert to it. I thought it was probably the one but that he just wanted a chance to sniff them all and we had a whole 2 minutes for the search so I went with him to the rest of the boxes and as soon as he kind of gave up on them had him take me back to the box of interest and sure enough, he tapped it with his nose,
gave me his AHA! look and sat right next to the box. I called "Alert "to the judge, she said"Yes!" and we had it, our first leg of the trial journey. Elmo got his hotdog pieces at the box and a butt rub and lots of praise and the steward sent us off to the exterior search area. Oh, I forgot to mention that before the trial started they also divided us all into groups of three and each of us in the group had to pick either interior, vehicle or exterior as an element. at the end of the trial the group with the fastest combined scores would be the winning team. Elmo and I selected interior search as our part of the team competition.
At the exterior search area we had to search an area of about 800 sq feet that was located outside between two classroom buildings and was divided in half by some school lockers which had an awning over them. It had a concrete surface and was hedged in the back and sides by shrubbery. Elmo was ready to go! He practically leapt across the start line and immediately checked out the east side of the lockers. as we got to the far edge of the lockers his head snapped to his left because he had caught the odor and he honed in on a picnic table . He circled one end of the table and stood on his hind legs up under the table and tapped the underneath surface with his nose. He then sat right down and gave me his most happy I did it look. I said "Alert" and the judge asked me to tell her where the hide was . I said under the table top next to the metal bar supporting the top. She said "Yes", and Elmo once again got to celebrate his successful find. We were both thrilled to say the least. The interesting thing about this all to me was I was not nervous at all during the whole day, a little excited , but not nervous and I think it helped Elmo because he was the same way. Dogs pick up on their owners energy and tend to mimic it. After that we had to wait until 2:30 for our next turn at the vehicle and interior searches. Corrine and Gus didn't have as much luck as Gus did not alert at all in the box drill but got the exterior search, and Donna, when her turn finally came at 2:00, Ginger aced the box drill but was 4 inches off her find for the vehicle search so did not pass vehicle search. After a late lunch, Elmo and I were up for our vehicle search. Once again I could just feel his confidence rolling up the leash and he found his odor with in 34 seconds no problem. One of the observers said that Elmo made it look easy, and I was amazed at how much he was enjoying the competition. Corrine's dog, Gus had problems with the vehicle search( usually Gus's best event) and did not pass it . Elmo and I were 3 for 3 with interior search to go which was also our team event. I had my fingers crossed that we wouldn't let our team down. Elmo sailed into the room gave his head a flick to the left to check a corner of the room and then (this was our off leash search) zeroed in on a big work table near the center of the room. He seemed very interested in a stool just under the table, stuck his head under it , and Bingo sat and smiled at me. I said" Alert", the judge said "yes", and we had it!!! our first title, NSW1! The long and short of it is , out of 48 teams 17 passed the NSW1 trial and Elmo and I were one of them . Our team won first place in the team event, also a ribbon. Donna and Ginger won everyones hearts with Ginger's determination and work ethic and charm but did not pass the trial this time. They did a great job however and if Ginger had been two inches taller probably would have passed. GInger couldn't reach the exterior search hide to alert properly at it but knew where it was. She worked so hard and with such enthusiasm that the observers all cheered and clapped for her at the finish and she strutted out very proud of herself. She was mentioned several times at the awards ceremony afterwards. It was a long exhausting day and fortunately there was very little traffic on the way home, got there in 1&1/2 hours. Ole was thrilled to see us and is very proud of his big little brother Elmo. He wants to grow up and be just like him , without the girly tail of course.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Ole's ear-do
So for at least a week Ole has had two pretty up right up tight ears....BUT not today. Today his right ear rebelled and went floppy again. I rather like it as it gives him a kind of foppish marmaduke charm. I love the way it bobs up and down as he walks while the left ear stays upright like a unicorn horn.
Monday I was mostly busy in my studio and with a dog trip to Fiesta Island. In the Am, Ole spent some quality play time with one of his girl friends Fiona. Then later Donna and I also did some nosework practice with all the dogs. We didn't have class Monday night and it was nice to have a little time off for a change. Tuesday, I took the dogs to Fiesta again where they had a great time sniffing and running. I saw several rabbits but my not so sauvy dogs missed them and didn't get a chase in. We spent 3 hours at the studio working on the newest art collage then at home ding lots of boring household chores. Jay our plumber came by to take some measurements in the two bathrooms for the remodel and by the time he left, I had to get ready for the Tuesday night beginning obedience class. Elmo came to help with class while Shelly and Ole stayed home with Abner and went for a walk. Donna brought Ginger to class also and we did some odor hides for both dogs on the mail carrier trucks next door to where we taught the class. We let the two dogs practice their odor detection both before everyone arrived for class and after the students had left.
Today(Wednesday ) Ole got to play with his other girlfriend Taz the yorkie /Chihuahua/ MinPinX and he was in Heaven. I swear, as much as he adores Fiona, Taz is really "The ONE". Now those would be weird puppies!. Shelly had a morning monthly chiropractic adjustment and massage appointment. She's doing well for an 11 year old big dog. I brought Ole along also so that I could weigh him. He hasn't really gained much weight and is now 66.6 lbs. His major growth spurt has passed, but judging by the size of the knobby growth plates on his front legs , he's got a bunch more growing to do. His head still looks too big for his body to me, and he's as long and sleek as a snake. From there we went to the studio and did a little more work and then headed home and got to work at the computer answering emails and preparing for nosework class. We also did a major vacuuming job on the SUV so that Donna and Ginger would not be strangled by dog hair on the ride up to Tustin for class. Class was fun tonight , but sadly , our favorite instructor, Desiree is moving out of state to take her dream job in a few weeks so that is great for her but the class will miss her. We did box drills, an interior search, and vehicle searches tonight. Elmo started off a little shaky with the box drill, he didn't seem to be able to concentrate on task at first. Our friend Ann told me to massage his 3rd eye right before a search and he will be more alert. I have to remember to do that on Sunday at the nosework 1 Trial. I guess I better figure out just where that third eye is on him! Elmo got better with each search. Shelly was completely off her game on the box drill but did great with all the other searches. I think she thought some one was going to pop out with a camera and flash it at her at any moment. Ole did great. He is completely focused and enthusiastic and couldn't be any happier than when he is in search mode. He is a joy to watch. Ginger was of course spot on with all her searches. She is a
walking nose, all 7 lbs of her.
Monday I was mostly busy in my studio and with a dog trip to Fiesta Island. In the Am, Ole spent some quality play time with one of his girl friends Fiona. Then later Donna and I also did some nosework practice with all the dogs. We didn't have class Monday night and it was nice to have a little time off for a change. Tuesday, I took the dogs to Fiesta again where they had a great time sniffing and running. I saw several rabbits but my not so sauvy dogs missed them and didn't get a chase in. We spent 3 hours at the studio working on the newest art collage then at home ding lots of boring household chores. Jay our plumber came by to take some measurements in the two bathrooms for the remodel and by the time he left, I had to get ready for the Tuesday night beginning obedience class. Elmo came to help with class while Shelly and Ole stayed home with Abner and went for a walk. Donna brought Ginger to class also and we did some odor hides for both dogs on the mail carrier trucks next door to where we taught the class. We let the two dogs practice their odor detection both before everyone arrived for class and after the students had left.
Today(Wednesday ) Ole got to play with his other girlfriend Taz the yorkie /Chihuahua/ MinPinX and he was in Heaven. I swear, as much as he adores Fiona, Taz is really "The ONE". Now those would be weird puppies!. Shelly had a morning monthly chiropractic adjustment and massage appointment. She's doing well for an 11 year old big dog. I brought Ole along also so that I could weigh him. He hasn't really gained much weight and is now 66.6 lbs. His major growth spurt has passed, but judging by the size of the knobby growth plates on his front legs , he's got a bunch more growing to do. His head still looks too big for his body to me, and he's as long and sleek as a snake. From there we went to the studio and did a little more work and then headed home and got to work at the computer answering emails and preparing for nosework class. We also did a major vacuuming job on the SUV so that Donna and Ginger would not be strangled by dog hair on the ride up to Tustin for class. Class was fun tonight , but sadly , our favorite instructor, Desiree is moving out of state to take her dream job in a few weeks so that is great for her but the class will miss her. We did box drills, an interior search, and vehicle searches tonight. Elmo started off a little shaky with the box drill, he didn't seem to be able to concentrate on task at first. Our friend Ann told me to massage his 3rd eye right before a search and he will be more alert. I have to remember to do that on Sunday at the nosework 1 Trial. I guess I better figure out just where that third eye is on him! Elmo got better with each search. Shelly was completely off her game on the box drill but did great with all the other searches. I think she thought some one was going to pop out with a camera and flash it at her at any moment. Ole did great. He is completely focused and enthusiastic and couldn't be any happier than when he is in search mode. He is a joy to watch. Ginger was of course spot on with all her searches. She is a
walking nose, all 7 lbs of her.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Ole gets a Pawticure
Yes, Ole is no longer a farm Shepherd...he enjoys his every 6 weeks pawticure, which he had yesterday. Tess says he is completely relaxed while she files his nails and then massages his pads with lavender oil. He's the most relaxed of my 3 dogs. The Shepherds back at the farm in Wisconsin would be horrified at this I'm sure but you know, Ole likes his comforts.
After our morning training session, Ole got to play with his newwest heart throb, Fiona the Aussie. That kind of made his morning. He enjoys the training session but Fiona was the whipped cream on his sunday! After that I took him home and fed all three dogs and then took the for an off leash hour long run at Fiesta Island. then it was back home where I dropped off Ole and Shelly and then Elmo and I went off to meet Donna and Ginger for some nosework practice at a local mall. We got permission from a pet store manager to hide some scent containers around their store for Ginger and Elmo to find. Some of the hides were a tad difficult but our little troupers found them all. From there I ran Elmo home and dropped him off and picked up Shelly . Shelly and I had a private lesson to attend to at Fiesta Island. From there we went back home , picked up Elmo and Ole and took all three to Noah's for their nail trimming appointments. Busy day!
Today, Sunday, after Ole's morning training and Yes, another play date with the lovely seductive Fiona I packed all the dogs up and we went to my studio for several hours of work on my latest art project. After that , we drove over to the little local mall and met Donna and Ginger for more nosework practice. We ran into one of our old clients and her 7 year old daughter there and talked over old times and introduced her to Ole who she hadn't heard about. Ole was very good and well mannered with them both. Elmo made sure that he got most of the attention by cuddling up to the lady and her daughter. We spent about an hour doing scent work and then Donna headed back to work and I took my guys to Fiesta Island for some R&R. This time I took them down to the fenced area and the shoreline so that they could do a little wading. They had a ball running in and out of the water as we strolled around the island. They got completely filthy so after all that fun I carted them home and immediately closed them in the bathroom and started the dreaded dog baths. I washed Ole first and he wasn't thrilled but enjoyed the toweling off part of the process. Shelly and Elmo were easy as they have done this a hndred times before. By the time Everyone was shiny and clean I was a wet sopping mess and Abner and I had to meet friends for dinner ' so I quickly dried Elmo with the blow drier and then made their dinners and cleaned all dirt out of the car. Abner came home and he and I got cleaned up, we fed them, walked them for a potty trip to our lot and then gave each one a bone( Ole got his in his crate) and off we went to dinner. PHEW I'll sleep well tonight!
After our morning training session, Ole got to play with his newwest heart throb, Fiona the Aussie. That kind of made his morning. He enjoys the training session but Fiona was the whipped cream on his sunday! After that I took him home and fed all three dogs and then took the for an off leash hour long run at Fiesta Island. then it was back home where I dropped off Ole and Shelly and then Elmo and I went off to meet Donna and Ginger for some nosework practice at a local mall. We got permission from a pet store manager to hide some scent containers around their store for Ginger and Elmo to find. Some of the hides were a tad difficult but our little troupers found them all. From there I ran Elmo home and dropped him off and picked up Shelly . Shelly and I had a private lesson to attend to at Fiesta Island. From there we went back home , picked up Elmo and Ole and took all three to Noah's for their nail trimming appointments. Busy day!
Today, Sunday, after Ole's morning training and Yes, another play date with the lovely seductive Fiona I packed all the dogs up and we went to my studio for several hours of work on my latest art project. After that , we drove over to the little local mall and met Donna and Ginger for more nosework practice. We ran into one of our old clients and her 7 year old daughter there and talked over old times and introduced her to Ole who she hadn't heard about. Ole was very good and well mannered with them both. Elmo made sure that he got most of the attention by cuddling up to the lady and her daughter. We spent about an hour doing scent work and then Donna headed back to work and I took my guys to Fiesta Island for some R&R. This time I took them down to the fenced area and the shoreline so that they could do a little wading. They had a ball running in and out of the water as we strolled around the island. They got completely filthy so after all that fun I carted them home and immediately closed them in the bathroom and started the dreaded dog baths. I washed Ole first and he wasn't thrilled but enjoyed the toweling off part of the process. Shelly and Elmo were easy as they have done this a hndred times before. By the time Everyone was shiny and clean I was a wet sopping mess and Abner and I had to meet friends for dinner ' so I quickly dried Elmo with the blow drier and then made their dinners and cleaned all dirt out of the car. Abner came home and he and I got cleaned up, we fed them, walked them for a potty trip to our lot and then gave each one a bone( Ole got his in his crate) and off we went to dinner. PHEW I'll sleep well tonight!
Friday, August 6, 2010
Ole says no more lunch
At now 7 months and 66+ lbs, Ole's biggest growth spurt is finished. He will still continue to grow but just not as quickly as he did between 16 weeks and 7 months. He will reach about full height at 10 months and will continue to fill out until around 3 years when mental maturity sets in. His brain will be fully formed at 1 year but he won't have read the users manual until 3 to 3&1/2. His appetite has also slowed. I made him lunch yesterday (the usual 2 cups ) and he wasn't interested in it at all. I had a private lesson to go to and I was only going to take Shelly as my assistant , so I left Elmo loose in the house and put Ole in his crate with a chewy. When we got back from the lesson, Abner had also just gotten home a couple of minutes before us and told me that Elmo didn't even get up to greet him when he got home. I took one look at Elmo and realized that I had forgotten to pick up Ole's bowl before I left. Elmo ate ALL of Ole's lunch!!= 2 cups of food! Elmo weighs (weighed?) 19 lbs . His tummy was so full he could barely get up. No dinner for Elmo last night that was for sure! He was none the worst for wear this morning just his normal cheery self. Probably dreamed all night about his big score at Ole's food bowl. He is Elmo the opportunist for sure.
Ole had his last beginning obedience class last night. He was very good. It was a review class of all we had learned the first 5 weeks and he has improved a lot.....Sit and sit stay, down and down stay, stand, come heel , leave it and lots of eye contact training. At home and at the park we also work a lot with fetch as it is a great not only bonding game but gives him a good work out..
This morning on our morning training walk we met up with one of his girl friends, little Taz the yorkie minpin, chihuahua mix. He is quite taken with her and did everything he knew to get her attention. She would briefly flirt with him and then terrorize him with a quick correction for being so forward. He loved it! After our morning chores, I dropped Ole at daycare and then took Shelly and Elmo to Fiesta Island so that Elmo could run off his huge meal from the day before. Eating all that food did not slow him down at all , he gave Shelly a run for her money. We ran into one of our Mission Beach neighbors who also has 3 dogs. They normally always bark at each other because they always see each other when they are on leash. They were all off leash at Fiesta so no barks just friendly relaxed greetings on neutral ground. Too bad Ole missed out .
I had an appointment so took the dogs home and went to that then on my way home stopped and picked up Ole. he was good in daycare as always but was a little worried apparently when one of the caregivers put on an elephant mask. They gave him treats while wearing the mask and pretty soon he thought the mask was a real good idea. Socialization and desensitization continues , age should not stop it.
I went to my studio and Ole napped while I worked on the new art collage and then we drove over to Dusty Rhodes Park where I met with a client and she got to meet Ole for the first time. I did not take Ole into the dog park. he had done enough socializing for one day and I didn't know any of the dogs that were at the park. We stayed out in the grassy area and Pam and I talked. Then Ole and I went home and I did some house work and then all 3 dogs and I went over to Donna's house and we all walked over to a local rec center where we practiced their nosework homework. Ole was A MANIAC to do his turns. Fortunately as soon as he started working he calmed down and concentrated on the job. They all did well. We're going to practice again tomorrow and Sunday.
Ole had his last beginning obedience class last night. He was very good. It was a review class of all we had learned the first 5 weeks and he has improved a lot.....Sit and sit stay, down and down stay, stand, come heel , leave it and lots of eye contact training. At home and at the park we also work a lot with fetch as it is a great not only bonding game but gives him a good work out..
This morning on our morning training walk we met up with one of his girl friends, little Taz the yorkie minpin, chihuahua mix. He is quite taken with her and did everything he knew to get her attention. She would briefly flirt with him and then terrorize him with a quick correction for being so forward. He loved it! After our morning chores, I dropped Ole at daycare and then took Shelly and Elmo to Fiesta Island so that Elmo could run off his huge meal from the day before. Eating all that food did not slow him down at all , he gave Shelly a run for her money. We ran into one of our Mission Beach neighbors who also has 3 dogs. They normally always bark at each other because they always see each other when they are on leash. They were all off leash at Fiesta so no barks just friendly relaxed greetings on neutral ground. Too bad Ole missed out .
I had an appointment so took the dogs home and went to that then on my way home stopped and picked up Ole. he was good in daycare as always but was a little worried apparently when one of the caregivers put on an elephant mask. They gave him treats while wearing the mask and pretty soon he thought the mask was a real good idea. Socialization and desensitization continues , age should not stop it.
I went to my studio and Ole napped while I worked on the new art collage and then we drove over to Dusty Rhodes Park where I met with a client and she got to meet Ole for the first time. I did not take Ole into the dog park. he had done enough socializing for one day and I didn't know any of the dogs that were at the park. We stayed out in the grassy area and Pam and I talked. Then Ole and I went home and I did some house work and then all 3 dogs and I went over to Donna's house and we all walked over to a local rec center where we practiced their nosework homework. Ole was A MANIAC to do his turns. Fortunately as soon as he started working he calmed down and concentrated on the job. They all did well. We're going to practice again tomorrow and Sunday.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Ole still has a lazy right ear
Ole's right ear tends to tip against his left ear. It has become the job of his left ear to hold up his right I think. It doesn't matter however because I like his ear-do...it gives him a charming look, the not so serious German Shepherd. I hope it stays just like it is.
We've done a lot of nosework practice in the past week, at my studio, in a storage garage, in a flower bed under a staircase, in Donna's kitchen and under her diningroom table, in Donna's studio, at Warwick's bookstore,in La Jolla and at a park along the ocean in La Jolla, and a vehicle search of Donna's neighbors car and to top it off, we did a box drill in Donna's drive way, (not all in one day!). The nosework trial is in a week and a half so Elmo and Ginger need all the practice they can get. This afternoon, we had class in Tustin and they really put us through our paces with both indoor and outdoor drills and a 4 vehicle search! I was running from one dog to the next as I brought half the dogs in the class. Ole got his first intro to finding scent in boxes. They put a container with birch and some hot dog pieces in a box in a line of 8 boxes and Ole had to find it. He was fantastic, never missed a one . All 4 dogs did very well and were clear with their alerts. Elmo was impressive and fast. Shelly takes her time more and sometimes will pass by the odor and not indicate it until she has searched the entire area. Ginger is also fast , faster than Elmo and very methodical. Ole is just plain"Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" They are a joy to work with and to watch in action.
Ole is going through a barky stage...he has discovered his bark! He especially likes to announce his arrival at Donna's house , class, Ann's house and both Veterinary offices. Today when we got to Donna's house to pick her and Ginger up , they weren't outside yet and Ole stuck his head out the window of the car and started calling them"Woof,woof woof". Translation: " Come on, hurry up, don't you want to go to class? It's where all the fun is!"
Last night, Ole was the class demo dog in beginning obedience. He did a good job and as a reward got to play with Rusty , an adorable chocolate colored Aussie . She is a cute cute pup and well Ole does like the ladies you know!
Yesterday I delivered the art piece to my customer. It looks fantastic in her house and she was thrilled. Actually , so was I. I've now started on a second piece which I think will be as good or better than the first one. It's exciting to see it develop.
We've done a lot of nosework practice in the past week, at my studio, in a storage garage, in a flower bed under a staircase, in Donna's kitchen and under her diningroom table, in Donna's studio, at Warwick's bookstore,in La Jolla and at a park along the ocean in La Jolla, and a vehicle search of Donna's neighbors car and to top it off, we did a box drill in Donna's drive way, (not all in one day!). The nosework trial is in a week and a half so Elmo and Ginger need all the practice they can get. This afternoon, we had class in Tustin and they really put us through our paces with both indoor and outdoor drills and a 4 vehicle search! I was running from one dog to the next as I brought half the dogs in the class. Ole got his first intro to finding scent in boxes. They put a container with birch and some hot dog pieces in a box in a line of 8 boxes and Ole had to find it. He was fantastic, never missed a one . All 4 dogs did very well and were clear with their alerts. Elmo was impressive and fast. Shelly takes her time more and sometimes will pass by the odor and not indicate it until she has searched the entire area. Ginger is also fast , faster than Elmo and very methodical. Ole is just plain"Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" They are a joy to work with and to watch in action.
Ole is going through a barky stage...he has discovered his bark! He especially likes to announce his arrival at Donna's house , class, Ann's house and both Veterinary offices. Today when we got to Donna's house to pick her and Ginger up , they weren't outside yet and Ole stuck his head out the window of the car and started calling them"Woof,woof woof". Translation: " Come on, hurry up, don't you want to go to class? It's where all the fun is!"
Last night, Ole was the class demo dog in beginning obedience. He did a good job and as a reward got to play with Rusty , an adorable chocolate colored Aussie . She is a cute cute pup and well Ole does like the ladies you know!
Yesterday I delivered the art piece to my customer. It looks fantastic in her house and she was thrilled. Actually , so was I. I've now started on a second piece which I think will be as good or better than the first one. It's exciting to see it develop.
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