Journey of the "R" Gang

Ryddick's troubled journey

2010-10-25T21:38:00.000-07:00

Little did I know this would become a difficult journey. A journey not everyone is willing to take. Some of it included hatred from local Obedience club officials (but that is another story) .

From the moment I met Ryddick at 6 weeks old I knew I had to have him. I did not know what it was about him, but I just had to have "him". I was offered a few other dogs from the litter that seemed a bit more "normal", but I had this feeling about Ryddick that we were destined for each other.

Ryddick 8 weeks

My heart sank when I brought him home and he was horrified of the other dogs. It wasn't your normal fear of meeting other dogs. It was full blown vicious snarling, barking, lunging, he was horrified. I talked to the breeder and she said he did that with one of the older pups she had bought and added to the litter. I was shocked to hear this. The 4 month old she had purchased was added into the kennel with the 6 week old littler of pups and left to "play" with them. Ryddick got the most attention from this pup. Being so young and defenseless he must have tried all he could to get away from this much bigger puppy. This went on for 2 weeks until I picked him up to take home.

As the days went by he got used to Rylie, Raygen and Ryker and he showed more and more of his personality. He loved to snuggle with me and ran around with the other dogs. He still was not able to meet dogs not in my household without going into a severe rage. He also showed more and more sings of fear of human strangers.

9 weeks, first encounter with small children

At 9 weeks old he met his first children, a 4 year old girl and 2 year old boy. I only got to about 10 feet near them before he went into a rage. This got progressively worse as he got older. Since children are unpredictable I am not comfortable exposing him to any of them. In puppy class he was not able to play with the other puppies he was so afraid of them. He would freeze and show his most vicious snarl. I implemented a rigorous training and behavior modification program. At the age of 6 months he was diagnosed with severe Panosteitis in both his rear legs. He was in a lot of pain and this was a huge setback for training and meeting new people and dogs. He would wake up from, what seemed, a deep sleep growling and snarling at his surroundings from fear of being touched. It took months for him to outgrow the Pano. I kept him on pain meds, but they seemed to have little effect. He would wake up in a rage when anyone (people or dogs) would step near him. He was fearful of feet and I had to desensitize him to them. A little cheese-in-a-can goes a long way. Even though he is much more comfortable sleeping around us, he has decided to sleep away from us at night, in the living room. He has the couch all by himself, a dogs dream.
I have trained him in Obedience, Rally, Agility, and was doing some Flyball drills in my yard and next to Flyball practice. I take him to regular herding lessons during the warmer months.
Agility started out to be a lot of fun with him. He was very responsive to my cues and his first runs in the ring were a dream. I remember the trial when he told me he did not want to do it anymore. Thinking he would overcome his decision, I continued to show him in Agility and it all came crashing down.
In July of 2010, I contacted my vet and talked to her about possibly trying some Fluoxetine (Prozac) on him. This was not an easy decision and having tried changing his diet, herbs, flower essences, aroma therapy, DAP, Calming Cap, T-Touch, Massages, training (and what else is there?) I thought it was time to help him with some western medicine.

He has been on it since August 30th and I have noticed some changes. Instead of going into a frenzy when Rylie and Raygen are playing tug of war he lays in the grass and watches them. He has significantly calmed down around any of the dogs doing agility in our yard. Herding has become much more enjoyable and less of a roller coaster of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. My only regret is that I have not put him on the meds sooner.

Ryddick with his friend Chocolate

Ryddick is very sensitive to touch. He quivers when I put his collar on. He refuses to come near me when I have anything that resembles a coat, harness or halti. One time I though putting on his Cool Coat for herding might help with the heat. It became apparent that he hated the coat and let out his frustration at the sheep.

Ryddick thanking DOG for Prozac

Ryddick has also a medical mystery. His epiglottis is always open and he will choke on food when fed in large amounts, August 30th Choking incident. Sometimes his saliva will go down the wrong pipe and he gets very concerned when dogs get near him when he coughs. The vet has not been able to explain why the flap is open. At this time I feel that surgically experimenting on him is not necessary since we have managed to keep his food and water intake without any joking incidents for a few years now.

Pocatello AKC Agility

2010-10-05T10:36:00.000-07:00

October 1st -3rd we visited Pocatello for an Agility trial. There were many firsts. Raygen got to run in F.A.S.T. Novice preferred and earned his NFP title. One of his runs was 13.41 seconds, with 59 points.
Although he decided to end the run by leaving me for the tunnel who had the time at the end, I like the fast time in which we accumulated 59 points in. Running contacts can definitely take many seconds away form the runs.
Rylie earned her first Excellent STD leg. She had a lot of fun in JWW however she ran past jumps and weaves is not something that gets her Q's. She was sore on Monday and I have decided that Agility may just be to much for her and retire her to pursue K9 Nosework and also go back to some Freestyle training.
Ryker got to run again for the first time in 13 months. Even though we did not Q, his times were mind boggling. I had some late cues and he was already on to the next obstacle when he realized what I actually asked of him. A spin 'cause he is waiting for me to tell him where to go, knocking a bar 'cause I am cuing to early are only some minor errors I need to iron out somehow. I am hoping that I have his weave entry cue figured out. His problem has always been collection before the weaves, actually the lack of collection. He did get some nice weave entries when I cued weave collection. We will see in future trials.
My motto was run as fast as you can, give him the cues he needs, run like you train with Stacy and the HELL with being afraid. I had more fun running fast and not cuing then running to Q. In the future this may change or not.
And then there was Rydge's first ever trial debut. I had him entered in FAST and JWW. As I entered the ring the first time and took his collar off he perked up and looked at the course. It seemed that he was a bit unsure, but exited at the same time. His first run was JWW and he did everything I asked him to.
FAST was way hard for him. Leaving me five feet to take a jump is sure harder then doing it at home. His second JWW runs was much faster, which I like a lot more. I entered him not expecting to much, but getting Q's as a reward feels nice.
Looking forward to the next trial.

Livin' on the Edge aka Rydge

2010-08-31T21:47:00.000-07:00

In January of this year I fostered a little black Toy Poodle. He needed to get neutered and had a mild umbilical hernia that needed to be attended to. He had extreme separation anxiety and still whines a bit when left in his x-pen downstairs. As the weeks passed he changed from this shy little pup to an outgoing, friendly dog.

Ryker ignored him, which was fine with me, as Ryker usually does not like small dogs. Rylie also had no interest in him, at first. I did catch her playing with him one time and it was so dang cute. Rylie does not play much with dogs other than Raygen. Raygen didn't care much about Rydge either.

Ryddick on the other hand loved to play tug with him. He would self handicap lying on his bed and let Rydge pull and pull. Ryddick looked like he was falling a sleep, while the 10lb monster jerked on the tug, letting out a little growl every time he did.

He was operant within a few days. the hardest part was for me to make the treats tiny and to keep up with his insane speed of offering behaviors. I decided to try some Agility with him. It was amazing. 2x2's were a breeze and he weaved in no time. The teeter was also not much of a challenge. Mhh, maybe I should keep him? I have fostered over 70 dogs and I have never kept a dog. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to keep several, but the timing was never right. My daughter accused me of making a dog out of this shy Toy Poodle. A few weeks ago he got to run in Course-A-Lure for the first time and he won a few Bronze Medals with a best time of 16.06.

I don't know what the future will hold for us. Maybe Agility, Rally, Obedience and more Course-A-Lure. I use him in my puppy classes and reactive dog classes and as a decoy dog for BAT sessions. He has a calming effect on dogs like none of my other dogs do. Nothing that can be trained.

Ryker Limping part two

2010-08-31T20:52:00.000-07:00

Live has changed since Ryker started limping last year. I have been religiously following my vets advice to continue him on the Water Treadmill and laser therapy.

He loves his water treadmill hour so I did not mind taking him. However his condition did not improve. He was good for a day, then got worse on the next. Then I asked the rehab therapist if I should take him to see the chiropractor. She said that "Why try to fix something if it isn't broken". I did not know what to say. Have they not been listening to me? At that moment I felt I have been used like an endless money bag. I decided to see another vet to retake the x-rays. Remember the original diagnosis was: " ..... evidence of left hind limb hip dysplasia, with mild OA present along the dorsal rim of the acetabulum." " The lumbar spine shows some LS sclerosis which could be indicative of L7 S1 instability."

Well, this vet did not find anything wrong with Ryker's skeletal system. He prescribed some Previcox for him to take for a week, than another week of leash walking only and then, he said, I should be able to start training him again. I felt a bit numb as his words seemed unrealistic. Remember he has a bad hip and spine and some pills won't fix that. Well, they did. I have not seen any lameness since this day. The vets diagnosis was that he may have a mild pinched nerve that gets aggravated sometimes. Seems to make more sense with the symptoms he was showing.

Ryker Limping

2010-03-05T10:49:00.000-08:00

Ryker has improved a lot since I last posted. I have taking him to four accupunture sessions, twow accupressure massages and he has been going to visits to the water treadmill twice a week.

He loves the water treadmill. He runs all the to the rehab room and pushes the door open and starts scratching the belt for the treadmill to start. He was in for 5 minutes the first session and worked up to being in for 56 minutes at 1.1 mph. If you ask him he would love to stay in longer. I have not seen him limp for 3 weeks and I have started to let him run around the yard at his own pace, which is a nice canter. So far so good. Maybe I can start training him in agility again in May. I want to make sure that whatever hurt him is fully healed before doing the crazy stuff again.

Ryker is hurt....

2009-12-17T19:52:00.000-08:00

..... and we don't know what it is. I took him in for x-rays and was told he had some mild hip dysplasia. I was also told that he had some mild scoliosis in his lower back. I had two other vets look at the x-rays and was told they were of mediocre quality and there was no evidence of hip dysplasia.

I also had him examined by another vet in Salt Lake City. Ryker was not lame at the time and the vet said his gait was beautiful. He also confirmed that he does not have hip dysplasia. He did some leg stretches with Ryker and confirmed that he was uncomfortable stretching his left leg.

He recommended to give him some crate rest and to keep him on the leash to avoid running and jumping. The following week I met with Anita our acupressure massage therapist and she also recommended to keep him in on crate rest for 4 weeks. I have seen very little improvement. Sometimes Ryker comes out of the x-pen normal and other times he keeps his left rear leg up and hobbles around for a few minutes. It is very disconcerting not knowing what is wrong with him. I am not planning on doing anything with him until he is fully healed. I would rather keep him as a healthy pet than to enter him in any more Agility trials. My plan is to let him rest until the end of February, than sign him up for some underwater treadmill sessions. Maybe he will be ready for the USDAA trial in April, but I am in no hurry and will be ready to wait for as long as it takes.

Ryddick and Chocolate

2009-10-21T20:06:00.000-07:00

This is Ryddick with his BFF Chocolate. He is a 7 lbs Yorkie/Shi-Tzu mix. Smartes little dog I have ever known.

Gotta Love Me!!

Ryddick and Dexter

2009-10-21T19:59:00.000-07:00

Ryddick loves puppies. This is Dexter, who at the time the pictures were taken was 9 weeks old.

Ryddick and Dexter (Corgy)

About the choking incident on August 30th, 2007

2009-09-21T15:39:00.001-07:00

Someone on Facebook posted about how to do the Heimlich and CPR on your dog. It brought back a very scary memory about an incident that happened two years ago. Here is the email I wrote to my friends.

This morning, Ryddick, my 15 month old BC, was choking on some of his food and stopped breathing. He was close to loosing consciousness and his live was in our hands. My husband did the Heimlich and I tried to give him breaths into his nose. I could not get any air in. It was closed! His tongue had turned blue and his gums white. He wasn't moving and had this horrified stare into nothingness. My puppy was dying and all we could do was to push on his belly and hope for the best. It took forever, but IT WORKED!!! He recovered within minutes and there seems do be no sing of brain damage. We were so, so, so, sooooo lucky. I guess the Infant and Adult CPR class finally paid off! I am going to invest in a grinder this weekend.
We were very scared. We knew that if we did not succeed he was going to die. That is why it is so important never to leave dogs unattended when they feed. I would have found him dead. I don't ever want to have to do it again, however I know that I can.

My poor Raygen

2009-09-17T14:51:00.000-07:00

Today I went to the vet with Raygen and by "accident" he found a growth under Raygen's tongue. It was not there on August 8th, when Raygen had a tooth fixed. Growing that fast is a bit scary. The Dr. took a biopsy and send it in. Results are not going to be available until next week.

Even if it is benign it still has to be taken care of. It is very close to the salivary Gland and

Under Raygen's tongue. Note that the growth looks like two, however it is one with an ulcer in the middle.

This is after the biopsy.

Great Pratice

2009-08-12T00:07:00.000-07:00

I had a great Agility practice tonight. Ryker and I where connected. He read my deceleration and acceleration cues perfectly. At one point I decelerated to soon and he was not sure if he should go or not. What a good boy. I did not have enough time to run any of the other dogs. I did get to practice some jump chutes with Ryddick and Ryker this morning. It was nice and cool and they did really great. A bit later Raygen and Rylie both joined in the one jump practice I was doing with Ryddick and Ryker. Raygen was actually working very nice for me. He usually does not want to do much practice. I will try some more in the morning after Sammy and Baxter are done with their private lesson.

No U-FLI Nationals

2009-08-07T15:32:00.000-07:00

UTB Flyball Team BOD has decided not to go to U-FLI Nationals this year. A few team members where very angry at the decision. Other than the BOD nobody knows why this decision was made. Frankly, I am to sick and tired to care, maybe I will have some feelings about it later. I canceled my hotel reservation and made peace as much as I can with whatever is happening or going to happen. Can't let this get me down. Great news is that Ryker really doesn't care. He is as happy as a clam. Ready to go play and fetch a toy or swim in the pond or jump over jumps or just sleep. Sure helps when the world keep turning and nothing really matters. My happiness is my dog happiness. Maybe I am trying to hard?

Surprise, Surprise!!!

2009-08-01T16:09:00.000-07:00

Today I was pleasantly surprised when I got my mail and found a title certificate from the AKC. I keep track of every leg that we earn and this one must have slipped by me. According to the AKC, Raygen has earned his AXP.
I will double check online to see where he got his first two legs. I will also contact the AKC on Monday to make sure that this is not an error. I sure don't want this to nip us in the butt later.

Ryker earned his AAD and more

2009-07-26T18:36:00.000-07:00

This weekend we were entered in the Wasatch USDAA Agility trial in Farmington. We took Friday off since it was the day we got back from C-Spot Win Camp. I am glad I did. I got home at 11pm Thursday evening and the dogs wanted to run around the yard for a while before going to bad.
So, Friday was a slow day, doing laundry, watching the yard getting watered and visiting frinds at the trial.
I decided not to run in all the classes. I split up Ryker and Raygen. Ryker ran in STD Advanced on Saturday and earned his Std title and AAD. Now we can move up in all future trials to Masters classes. Way to go Ryker!!!
Raygen ran in Snookers and Jumpers. I took an off course in Snookers, it was such a nice course. Jumpers was really cool. He Q'ed in that.
On Sunday I had Ryker in Masters Gamblers and Advanced Std. Gamblers was really confusing me for some reason. I ended up taking advice from G and Ryker earned 3rd place. All three dogs that placed were withing 0.50 seconds of each other. Way cool!
Ryker's Std run wasn't as pretty as I failed to see the "serpentine" challenge that included a teeter. The approach to the second jump and teeter was totally wrong and he took an off-course jump. I realized that only after I watched another competitor handled it like a serpentine.
I was so focused on getting Ryker through the Gamblers course that I totally forgot that Raygen was in the same class. I had no plan for him when I entered the ring. For his running style the course was a good one to just run as fast as I could and let him take whatever was in his path without much handling and get the minimum points. Even though Jim Basic was drilling us with some "panic" drills, I messed up and did not take my time getting Raygen set up to get a nice Gamble over the first tow obstacles. He is such a Velcro dog. BUT he got the points.
Also, great news, my battery charger cable has been found, thanks G, and I can finally charge my camera again to take movies and pictures again.

C-Spot Win Camp

2009-07-24T07:46:00.000-07:00

C-Spot Win Camp has again been a great success. My electives were with Karen Holik and Stacy Peardot-Goudy. Two days we had 2.5 hours with our elective and then 4 hours with one instructor each..... Stepanie Spyr, Ann Braue, Stacy Peardot-Goudy and Karen Holik.
The courses were challenging and we were pushed to the limit. I would have loved working with all of them more.

Ryker was sore on day two and one of my team mates, Kathy Owens, let me run her awsome dog Johnnie. It was sooo much fun.
Thanks Kathy.

I am looking forward in implementing what I have learned to my Agility classes.
Lots of work to do!

WW Flash Moy of Spunk

2009-07-01T03:18:00.000-07:00

Ryker's GGGGrandad Flash Moy of Spunk aka Flash

1994 ONYX

1996 NAFA Hall of Fame

DOCNA at Willow Park

2009-06-29T19:18:00.001-07:00

The dogs and I went to Willow Park in Lehi to attend at DOCNA trial. I entered Raygen, Ryker and Ryddick. Rylie is still recovering from her TPLO surgery, however I am hoping to run her the end of the year. Ryddick was entered in one jumpers run each day. He did fabulous on Saturday, however Sunday he knocked a bar and had a major melt down. Ryker handled quite nice through the courses. I was able to do many front crosses, however they are still a bit "loose" due to my timing and him still learning my body cues. It really helps to shut up and not give any verbal cues unless absolutely necessary.
Raygen had major stress issues doing the weaves. We had a heart to heart on Saturday evening and he was great on Sunday at the trial. I used raw beef heart and did some weave pole games with him at home and he went nuts. He is such a food motivated dog.
I really enjoyed Willow Park. My favorite part, there is a pond where I was able to take the dogs swimming to cool off. They loved it.
At the end of the trial Christa picked the winners for the raffles and Ryker was one of the lucky ones to receive a $25 certificate for the next SASS trial. YEAH!!!
New titles

Happy Birthday Ryddick !!!!!

2009-06-24T00:00:00.000-07:00

With all your troubles in your early life you turned out to be a very nice dog.

Thank you for being who you are and helping me learn more about the animals (crazy) mind.

Your affection towards people brings out huge smiles into this world.

You are loved; very much!

Ryddick 6-24-06

USDAA Lynnleigh Farms June 2009

2009-06-22T08:41:00.000-07:00

This has been a very busy weekend. Ryker performed a crazy A-Frame jump-off. Never has he done this before. Last Standard and Pairs run I insisted that he stop with a 2o2o. He did nicely.
Our team event on Friday was a bust as far a placement went. We ended up winning a rubber chicken for taking the honor of last place. Ryker broke his SLT in Snookers, even after giving him a second chance, that is when I decided to stop him right there. Team or not, if he breaks his stay at the start and I go on, I might as well not have a dog all weekend. It paid off and he did not break another SLS all weekend.
I ran him more like I train and it felt really, really good. My brain is thinking more like: "I can get there vs. I can't get there". Stopping motion, any motion, including blinking eyes is the key. >g<> not blabbering to much. It only confuses him.
The highlight of this 3 day trial was to watch some amazing participants handlers run their dogs.
Stephanie Spyr, Elicia Calhoun, Stacy Peardot-Goudy, Kate Moreaux to name a few. Amazing runs by Emily Snider, Linda Wallace Kipp, Kyle Schumacher and few others that I don't know the names of, was like attending a lecture for free.
The low of this trial was a local handler being quite rough with her dog and got everyone talking. The judge looked on as she jerked her young dog around, "punishing" her. Shame on anyone that stood around watching this, including the Judge, who was thinking about stopping this madness, but opted out of being a judge at that moment. Shame on the handler, too. The handling was terrible and the dog had to make decisions on her own. I hope you can become the person your dogs needs you to be, soon.

Jim Basic

2009-06-20T22:12:00.001-07:00

Day 3 Jim Basic Seminar Picture

Jim Basic was invited to give a seminar in Draper. It was all about the Gamblers. I signed up for two days. First day to audit foundation and third day for working Ryker in "Gambler".

Day one was all about the foundation. We do some of the drills in Flyball, which helps Ryker with going on and on and on ahead of me.

Then we did some drills on how to teach the dog our body cue to go out.

Jim set up some simple excercises to challenge the novice dogs a bit more. It was pretty amazing how quikc they caught on.

I was not planning on going to day two. A previous commitment ended up not being planned out and I decided to got to day two and audit some Advanced Distance excercises. I am glad I went as this day was a continuation of day one.

Day three was a working day for Ryker and I. We did some drills over the a-frame, teeter and weaves. We talked about timing the obstacles to determine how many obstacles our dog can take in 30 seconds. Jim helped us to learn to stay calm with some "panic" drills.

Other drills consisted of how tunnels can be taken without adding extra seconds and how sequencing obstacles will help get more valuable time to get more points.

Ryker did good. I did some icky A-frame contacts and I am hoping it won;t affect him at our next trial. I am hoping of going again next year when he comes back.

WW Kyla Moy

2009-06-17T05:00:00.000-07:00

Ryker's GGGGrandma

U-FLI Nationals

2009-06-16T22:58:00.001-07:00

Perfect Pass.... Ryker is going from left to right, Zoe is coming from rigth to left

This is at full speed, both dogs.

We had a great weekend in St. George. The weather was very nice. Not to hot and a bit of rain. We were safely in an air conditioned building. All the dogs including Chocolate was with me. Seems like a lot, but they were very well behaved and I had enough downtime to take them out and play with them.
The great news is that Ryker and his teammates Qualified for the U-FLI National in Nebraska on September 25th-27th.
What a great adventure that will be!

Happy Birthday Ryker !!!!

2009-06-11T13:54:00.000-07:00

You are the most amazing dog.

I want you to live forever!
6-11-05

WW Phantom

2009-06-10T03:00:00.000-07:00

Ryker's Brother Phantom

WW Hughes

2009-06-03T05:00:00.000-07:00

Ryker's Brother Hughes

WW Otter

2009-05-27T05:00:00.000-07:00

Ryker's Brother Otter at the Beach in San Diego

Ryker in the news

2009-05-26T10:47:00.000-07:00

Border collie Ryker weaves through the agility course during the Front Range Agility Club Dog Agility trial at the Ranch-Way Feed Indoor Arena at The Ranch on Saturday. The two-day event features different courses and events for different skill levels for dogs and their handlers.

Group IV Terrier Club, May 22nd - 25th

2009-05-26T07:09:00.000-07:00

This weekend we attended a four day AKC Agility trial in Sandy at Lynnleigh Farms. Even though I do not enter the FAST class, it was a very long 4 day weekend. All classes are run by category starting with Excellent, then Open, then Novice. It makes for a very long day for dogs and humans if the judge is not efficient. This was the case on Friday and Saturday. Course changes took a bit longer then we were used to. Judging for us on Sunday and Monday was Lisa Potts. The pros were her speedy course changes, fun and fast courses. The cons .... she had a very negative opinion about Poodles in Agility and made it known to everyone. It was very unprofessional and untrue.
Raygen earned two more legs in each class. On Sunday we had a perfect run in JWW, until third to last jump, he spotted a dog he seemed the urge to greet and jumped the fence instead. I called him back and finished the last three jumps. I chose to scratch his runs on Monday.
Ryker's best run was on Friday morning. I felt we were connected. He got into his weave poles both times on Saturday since they were set-up to get a front cross before them.
On Monday he was running for another handler in JWW. It was a very fast course and I was amazed as how much speed he is capable of.
Rylie, Ryddick and Chocolate were hanging out under the tent and got to go on walks around the Farm. We also practiced some socializing with a kid and got to meet lots of people.
In conclusion... I will not enter any of my dogs in a four day trial. I need to train weave poles with Ryker and lots of fun, fun, happy Raygen time. It is OK to say hi to a dog, but he needs to wait for me to send him to say hello first. Maybe some Ruff Love?

WW Maja

2009-05-20T05:24:00.000-07:00

Ryker's Sister Maja

Trial-Camp-Trial May 8th - May 18th

2009-05-19T23:22:00.000-07:00

WOW! I was gone for 10 days and I wish I would have gone longer.
Our first stop was in Brighton, Colorado at the FRAC trial. The site was a very beautiful grassy park. Lots of room to let the dogs run and not get in anyones face. There was a nearby lake, however I kept that a secret from Ryker.
Raygen and Bren had a nice pairs run and he earned his Performance III Pairs title.
Ryker kicked butt in his jumpers run and placed first in the Advanced group. Another Red&White Utah BC, Killy, took first in the Performance II class. I felt like I was connected to Ryker.
Raygen missed his Gamble by an inch (or yard). I stumbled and almost fell over the gamble line, causing him to hesitate, then come to investigate my stumbling feet.
One of our judges was Anne Platt from Escondido, CA. She was my one of my first Agility trainers 5 years ago.
After Brighton we headed to Ft. Collins for a three day Agility Camp. First day we had Dana Pike. We did a lot of course running and some course analysis.
Day two we worked with Jan Pinder. It was a bit more challenging and I really liked that Ryker was responding to my cues. She would be one I would like to visit again.
On day three Stacy was our instructor. I just can't get enough of her. Ryker had some very nice sequences. I tried new things and he gets it! Front crosses are getting more and more fun to do.
I can get there! Soon it was time to head out to the Pueblo trial.
I was able to visit my friend and Ryker's and Ryddick's breeder. Mike, her husband, made us Longhorn Burgers and fantastic Margaritas.
All the dogs were there including three of the 8month litter. My mind was fighting hard not to take Jane, a beautiful dark, dark Red&White half sister of Ryker and Ryddick. Not a time to get a new pup right now, not here in Utah.
The trial site was one of the University's soccer fields. Ryker had an extra day off after camp. I only ran Raygen in Snookers and Gamblers. Me bad for messing up our Snookers course. Him very, very bad for messing up our Standard course.
I pulled him from his Sunday Gambler because of his misbehavior and refusal to stop fixating on Tango the Lab.
Ryker did great in Standard and was a dream to handle, but knocked a bar. His contact are great. He will stop when I ask him to and run through when I ask him to keep going. I was told that this will be a problem in the future as he will stop listening to me when I ask for a stop? Maybe?
Hi did earn a Jumpers leg in Advanced. I loved that run. He was able to get a few difficult sequences.
Time came to fast for us to drive home. I would have loved to keep on going.

WW Bo-Tyne Copper

2009-05-13T06:34:00.000-07:00

Ryker's Grand-Dad

Copper

WW Will Work For Food

2009-05-06T09:49:00.000-07:00

Ryddick is such a Ham. He recently joined in with helping out a bit more doing household chores. I left the DW open and he happily climbed in and started to pre-wash the dishes.

OAP and OJP

2009-05-04T09:43:00.000-07:00

Fruits of our Labor

That is how many times Raygen Q'ed at the AKC IKC trial this weekend. This was the first trial I have moved him to the lower 16" jump height and I am so happy I did. He is much happier jumping lower. He earned both his Open STD and JWW tiles one 2nd place and 5 1st places and He earned his first leg towards his AXP in 1st place.
Looking forward to our next trial over Memorial Day weekend at Lynnleigh Farms in Sandy.

I am stumped

2009-05-02T16:55:00.001-07:00

At this time I am stumped as how to help Ryker with his Weave Pole stress at trials.
He has the best weave poles at home. As soon as we go to the training yard he will not take them for at least the first time. It all started out by him not getting the entry at which point some well meaning trainers suggested to pull him out as soon as he gets in the wrong way. Oh, boy was that a big mistake. It was getting so bad that he completly ran past them like they were not even there? He would always get them the second try. On Thursday he ran passed them, both in STD and JWW. On Friday he actually got in, in STD and JWW, even though it was at the second pole. Saturday was a bit of a mess. I was way to close to the triple and my hand was over the jump to point it to the weave poles. He lightly bumped into my hand, before taking the weave poles the correct way.
Well, in JWW it was extremly difficult to get him in. He first ran passed the weaves, then refused them two more times. Even though it did not seem as such a big deal that he bumped my hand, it had a very negative effect on him. My plan at this time is to let him take the weaves all the way through, even if he takes them the wrong way and continue with the course.
I have got to get his confidence back. Moral of the story, when getting advise think it through as how it would effect your dog. Pulling Ryker out as soon as he hit the wrong entry has taugth him that he should avoid the weaves.

WW One Slick Buck

2009-04-29T05:29:00.000-07:00

Ryddick's Dad

One Slick Buck aka Slick

TPLO Recovery

2009-04-28T12:28:00.001-07:00

It has been Nine weeks since the surgery.

10 sessions on the Water Treadmill, Hot Tub with electro stimulation and laser therapy, and crate rest and leash walks have been part her recovery. She is doing amazing. Today was our final consult with Dr. Pam and she was impressed with how little muscle tone she has lost. She said that by summer we can trial in Agility again. Not sure if she would be mentally ready. We would have to train a bit before we get back running over obstacles.

The hardest part is keeping her weight at under 40lbs. She is 3 lbs over at this time. Her daily calorie intake should only be 400. I am off to the store to get more green beans as this will be part of her her diet plan until she looses those extra pounds.

Happy Birthday Raygen!

2009-04-25T07:41:00.000-07:00

I wish you many more Happy Birthdays!

WW Flash Kruger

2009-04-22T05:24:00.000-07:00

Toy Crazy Blond Bombshell

Ryker's Dad

Pueblo, Colorado 2008

WW Tuff's Jewel

2009-04-15T09:18:00.000-07:00

This is the only picture I have of the boys' Mom, all wet from swimming in the pool.

Ryker and Ryddick's Mom

USDAA Loveland, CO

2009-04-10T17:58:00.000-07:00

We had a great time in Loveland Colorado at the FRAC USDAA Agility trial.
The weather was a mess, though. we got there OK and settled into the Hotel and by the time Saturday came around it was bad. High winds and drifting snow. At one point I though I was going to get blown away while I was out with Ryker. He surely did not enjoy it either.
Needles to say he did not get the exercise he needed to be able to give me some nice runs.
I am happy to say that he did not knock a bar all weekend. He earned first place in Snookers in his class. I walked a hodge-podge course and while watching other dogs I decided to change our strategy and it sure paid off.
I have Raygen entered in only three runs, one of the was Performance National Qualifier and out of 60 dogs only 19 Q'ed and he was one of them. He did very well.
Coming home was a mess. We ended up staying in Laramie for the night and headed home the next day, arriving in Layton at a bit after 5pm.
It is good to be home. I actually missed Utah weather? ICK!

WW Time Flies

2009-04-08T05:59:00.000-07:00

1 day

4 months

2 years

WW Time Flies

2009-04-01T05:42:00.000-07:00

Ryker 2 weeks old

5 weeks

2 years

Idaho Trial

2009-03-30T12:47:00.000-07:00

We went to Idaho to an Agility trial. It was fun. Raygen continues to show improvement. His speed is satisfactory. He is very confident while running. I am a bit disappointed that the DQ's aren't coming as easy as I wish they would. The highlight of the weekend was him having the perfect run and making it in time to earn a second place, but NQing for running out to say hello to some of his dog friends. I was told by a few that they thought I handled it quite calmly.
What can I do? The damage was done. He was put on the leash and right into his kennel. I have decided to enter him in preferred for the next few trials. At least I can earn titles in either JWW and STD.
Ryker had some amazing runs. He however has not been able getting into the weave poles. Training at home has been non-existing. Snow on the ground has made it hard to practice weave entries. I am hoping this issue will be resolved by mid-summer.
Ryddick was entered his first Open JWW leg. No faults! It was nice. He will be taking a break for at least until September. More herding is planned soon.
Coming up... CO, FRAC.

WW WHOA!

2009-03-25T08:47:00.000-07:00

A penny for your thoughts

Ryker earns his RAE

2009-03-21T15:18:00.001-07:00

Today Ryker earned the highest award given in AKC Rally Obedience ....... RAE (Rally Advanced Excellent)
Friday he earned 4th place in Excellent B and 1st place in Advanced B, points were 96 and 98.
Saturday was lots of fun. He tied in points and time for 3rd place with Laurie Hope's Sheltie, Dirk. We had a run-off and Dirk took 3rd and Ryker took 4th. Then in Advanced Ryker and a red Husky tied with 100 points for 1st place. The Husky's time was 2 seconds faster and Ryker got a very nice second place. I was very happy with his performance.
This was our 10th DQ. Ryker is going to be on sabbatical in Rally. Not sure when I will do Rally again. My plans are to finish Rylie in Rally Advanced and Excellent and Start Ryddick in Novice.

WW Unusual Friendship

2009-03-18T05:35:00.000-07:00

Ryddick and his friend Grimm.

Can you find him? Look closely on the upper left corner of the A-Frame

It is a Magpie that I the priviledge to raise and Ryddick and him bonded.

Feeding RAW

2009-03-15T03:27:00.000-07:00

Ryker eating his first turkey on Thanksgiving 2007

I have been feeding RAW for 2 years. I was happy with the food I was feeding my dogs, they liked it and I had no issues with allergies. Then on March 15th 2007 some of the foods of the same company were being voluntarily recalled.
Someone in the Ogden plant in Utah had cut corners and bought un-approved rice from China. No other plants were effected. At least that was the story that was told to the consumers. I have been thinking about feeding RAW for at least 4 years prior to this incident and this helped me make my decision to switch very easy. 70% of my dog training friends feed RAW and have been telling me to switch all along.
I did it cold turkey, no pun intended, and brought back the unused portion of the kibble back for a full refund. For the first 2 months I fed only chicken. Chicken feet, hearts, gizzards, liver included. I did not want their tummies to get upset and chicken the best way to help them switch. After about 6 weeks I added a bit of fish, then beef, then lamb, then turkey. It was challenging to give them enough skin and bone. Loose stools, more bone; harder stool, more skin. Here is a list of foods they get, salmon oil, coconut oil, olive oil, cottage cheese, pumpkin, green beans, spinach, carrots, bananas, apples, yogurt, eggs with the shell, anything I can get my hands on from beef, pork, turkeys, chicken lamb, fish. I have been offered lamb heads, but I am not brave enough to handle it. I am sure my pups would love it.
I stopped feeding raw chicken bone. Rylie and Raygen would swallow large pieces and on more then one occasion regurgitate them during the night. They still get bone, but it is crushed into pieces and blended into a paste. I used to feed raw meaty beef bones and lamb bones. I noticed Rylie had broken a tooth and that was the end of feeding larger bones, too.
This does not prevent me from still feeding them raw. I have never seen dogs go crazy at feeding time before.

Calming/Avoidance

2009-03-13T04:05:00.000-07:00

I wanted to take a picture of the pups as they sat next to each other. I positioned them and asked them to stay. As I turned around Ryker had turned his head away from Ryddick and when I snapped the photo Ryddick was also avoiding him by looking and lying down. This is typical avoidance behavior. Yes, there are issues between Ryddick and Ryker and yes, I have to manage and train them to be able to live in the same home. No I will not re-home either and no using aversives does not work to fix this problem. It may suppress it, but not fix it.
I have been training using positive methods described in the books, Click To Calm by Emma Parsons, Feisty Fido by Patricia McConnell, Control Unleashed by Leslie McDevitt. I have learned to better read Ryddick's body language to avoid a full blown tantrum. I am happy with how they respond to the training and proud to say that I did not use aversives to get where we are.

WW Posing for a Poster

2009-03-11T00:00:00.000-07:00

Left to Right Ryker, Rocci, Ziggy, Raygen, Donner and Ty (or Ty and Donner?)

WW Time Flies

2009-03-04T00:00:00.001-08:00

Less then 2 weeks old

3 1/3 weeks old

6 years old

Rylie TPLO Update

2009-03-03T12:58:00.000-08:00

The Surgery went well. My vet allows me to be with my dogs when they wake up. After an hour sitting with her I took her home. Spending the night is not an option for me or my dogs.
I have been lucky with my vets, as they allow me to make important decisions without making me feel bad in any way.
Rylie has been extremely well behaved. I have set up an x-pen in the living room next to the couch and an x-pen next to my bed. I keep her on a short leash when I take her out into the backyard to go potty. She gets to walk for about 5 minutes and then I put her back into the x-pen. I know she does not understand the new routine, but she doesn't mind. I take some time to open the x-pen and sit in with her and play some target games and a new trick that I will post on youtube when she gets good at it.
And as a bonus.... she pooped today. Nothing since Wednesday the morning before the surgery.
Phew, she was getting heavy hauling up and down the stairs.

WW TPLO Surgery

2009-02-25T06:00:00.000-08:00

Rylie is going to have TPLO surgery today. I am hoping for the best.

WW Like Father Like Son

2009-02-18T00:00:00.000-08:00

Slickcrownjewl aka Ryddick

One Slick Buck aka Slick

Success at GIVTC trial, 2-15/16

2009-02-16T15:40:00.000-08:00

More runs and more ribbons. Raygen Q'ed in both JWW and earend another 16 points. As a bonus he finished 4th in his last JWW run. The ground cover was very hard, dry and slippery and at one point in my STD run I slipped. It was difficult to stay on task with handling and Raygen sucked into the wrong tunnel twice.
Ryker did really well. He never dropped a bar, did all his contacts, did not run a wrong course. He was just not getting the weaves. Which keeps us from qualifying in Exc. No mistakes allowed.
Ryddick ran again on Monday and qualified both in the JWW and Std run. No knocked bars, no off-course and no refusals and two new Agility titles NAP and NJP (first AKC titles). After such a long break I now need to make a plan on what, how and where to train. Next trial will be in Farmington in March. It will be a DOCNA trial and there is training in the ring allowed. Good for Ryddick and I.

IKC Agility Trial 2/13-14

2009-02-14T14:02:00.000-08:00

Ryddick JWW

I had a great time the last two days at the IKC Agility Trial in South Jordan. Raygen' s JWW run on Friday was very nice. He only missed the serpentine when he looked for Libby, a dog he really likes. Ryker's JWW was O.K. on Saturday. He pulled out of the weaves and missed the serpentine. I handled mostly with rear crosses and the last sequence with 5 jumps was sloppy. He however did not knock any bars and held his SLS until I released him. This alone is reason to celebrate. On Saturday I was doing some front crosses that I haven't tried with neither dog at a trial and it worked beautifully. I did not stumble and fall and they read my cues nicely. Ryker did take and off course, but recovered nicley after that. Raygen was listening very well and I overhandled a jump and pulled him off. Otherwise my handling seems to get more in sinc with the big boys.
Our Standard runs were amazing. Raygen Q'ed both days and earned 23 points. Ryker had a beautiful run on Friday with only one off course. Saturday he ran beautifully. He missed his weave pole entry, however the rest of the course was clean and again he did not knock a bar.
As a bonus I ran Ryddick today. His teeter issue is not as bad, but he still barks at it. He knocked a bar in STD and pummelled a jump in JWW. The rest of the course were nice. He handles a bit more like a tank than a Ferrari (Ryker) and he is a lot of fun.
Here are some videos

Flyball St. George, January 31st, February 1st

2009-02-12T15:37:00.000-08:00

I am a bit behind in posting about our very successful Flyball tournament with my team UTB.
This one was was sponsored by Stampede in St. George, Utah. The drive is not to bad and the weather was very nice.
Raygen and Ryker were signed up for singles races and Ryddick came along for the ride.
This was Ryker's debut race. His best time was 4.18 seconds. This was Raygen's second tournament and he really loved it. His best time was 4.77 seconds.
To my suprise I was asked to run Raygen and Ryker in one of the team races. Raygen's turn was on Saturday and Ryker was to run on Sunday. Both of them did fantastic and earned their of TF/Top Flight title. Maybe Ryker will go to Nationals in Nebraska this year?

WW Red Heads

2009-02-11T00:00:00.000-08:00

Red Baron aka Ryker

Ryker's Grandad Bo-Tyne Copper

Ouch!

2009-01-05T17:49:00.000-08:00

Poor Rylie. I entered her in the AKC Agility trial the end of January, but decide to pull her entry. She is hurting real bad and it is not getting better. The cold is really taking a toll on her knee.I am not sure if she will be able to do any Agility in the future. She only jumps 12" in AKC. Which would not be hard for a dog that doesn't have an injury.I have been giving her Deramax for the pain. She is also on Adequan, but I don't see to much of a difference. It has gotten worse since seeing the vet. She is also on a ton of suplements. Makes me very sad that she is hurting so bad and nothing seems to work. She is still so young.

Ryker's Goals for 2009

2008-12-30T23:05:00.000-08:00

Get my RAE. Only two DQ's to go. March looks like it would be a great month.Obedience? Maybe, maybe not. Like Ryddick already mentioned. I may try some ASCA Obedience. Or Rally if they start to offer it. Herding, nope, not for me. Sheep excite me waaaaayyyyyy to much. Agility, yup, lots of plans for AG. I am planning to get my AX, AXJ, MX and MXJ. Depends on how many AKC trials mom is going to take me. I am also planning on Qing for the DOCNA Nationals and maybe the USDAA Nationals, too. My other plan for USDAA is to get my AAD and MAD. But again that depends on how many trials we are going to go to. In Flyball I am signed up for my tournament debut the end of January. My goal is to go to Flyball nationals this year in Nebraska. I am going to work very hard to get there. Tricks and Freestyle is something I will definitely continue.So, I think that's it.

Raygen's Goals in 2009

2008-12-30T19:44:00.000-08:00

More herding, more Flyball, more Agility, more tricks, more kisses.I am going to try not to be mean to other dogs. Sometimes it is hard to be good especially when they pee over my pee. That is just soooo rude and has to be punished.

Rylie's Goals for 2009

2008-12-30T16:59:00.000-08:00

I really don't care. I just want to play fetch.Mom said she would love for me to finish my RA title. I only need one more leg and the trial in March might be a good idea to enter.I will also try to get my NAP and maybe my OAP and OJP. My leg is bothering me sometimes and I can't do anymore Flyball.Herding sheep would be fun, but they sure aren't Cattle and nipping them is a big no-no.I love doing tricks and I will learn more tricks fur sure. Freestyle is my favorite sport.I also promise to continue to keep the peace. A home without peace is not good. Mom needs me to help.

Ryddick's Goals For 2009

2008-12-28T18:55:00.000-08:00

More herding, herding, herding. I really lover herding. Mom said she will borrow some sheep from Shauna so I can herd every day, all day. That would be great.Agility, I think I love Agility. I get soooo excited and can't control my emotions. Mom says I sound like an ape.Obedience, no, not really. Nobody seems to have any fun in Obdience. I play Obedience with my mom, but competing is not going to be an option for me.Rally, sure why not. I haven't done much, but seem to understand what mom wants me to do.Maybe I will get started in Rally in March.Flyball, no, not for me. I get to excited and nip other dogs so they stop barking and hurting my head. Way bad for my psyche.Tricks and Freestyle, yes, yes, yes. Lots of them. I love it when mom plays tricks with me. I catch on very quick.And I will try to be better to my big bro. Going to CU class is helping me though. I will continue with CU classes for sure.

Ryker earns his AD !!!!

2008-12-07T22:47:00.000-08:00

This weekend started with a very funky run. Ryker took off the start line without being released. He hasn't done this in a while and it took me by surprise. Instead of stopping I kept going. This was what turned out to be a huge mistake. He was not at all in sync with me. The highlight was the Luganis off the Teeter. I don't think he even moved the teeter a foot.Snookers was great, however, without looking at a map I missed the closing part and was one point short of Q'ing. Our run in Pairs was great, however, my pairs partner had an off course and we ended up not qualifying.The best run was Jumpers. We were the second to last dog of this trial and the only concern I had was the beginning sequence into a possible tunnel trap. He did great! He did a perfect SLS. I lead out to the 3rd obstacle. The tunnel entry seemed a piece of cake and a calm feeling overcame me and it felt like we were running the rest of the course in slow motion. My adrenaline had kicked in and my brain was able to take in the speed at a much faster rate. It was very cool.That run was what we needed for the AD (Agility Dog) Title. Next goal in USDAA.... AAD.

New USDAA Title

2008-12-07T19:43:00.000-08:00

We again had a successful weekend. He needed a Snookers leg and a Gamblers leg to earn his PDIII (MAD). Snookers went great until he took the dog walk in the opening sequence. That off course did not get us a Q.Gamblers was a great run. He did everything I asked him to, including the weaves and I still had time to sent him over an extra jump and tunnel for more points. The gamble was a jump to opposite tunnel entry, dog walk and jump. After I called him away from the incorrect tunnel entry he was confused about taking the other end. We ran out of time and I helped him finish on a high note. I was very happy with his speed and enthusiasm. I only entered him in a few runs this weekend to keep him motivated and he sure did. His weaves were great, he was even barking when he went through them.His standard run was great and he earned his PSIII title with a blue ribbon. (Performance Standard III title = 5 qualifying legs in Masters)I am looking forward to our 2009 trials.

Ryddick at a Trial

2008-12-07T18:53:00.000-08:00

I was working on some being calm on the mat at the trial this weekend. It went great until a person I know came by and leaned over to pet Ryddick. She had her dog with her and she went to sniff Ryddick. I was holding Ryddick muzzle close to me. he had started to growl at her dog. Even after letting her know that this was not a good time to bring her dog this close she kept insisting that they get along. It seemed forever until she finally left. I wasn't angry at her, just a bit baffled that she did not notice Ryddick's stress and warning growls. Her dogs and Ryddick get along great out in the field and off leash. However, in a stressful trial environment nothing seems as it is.My friend saw all this and after talking to her she suggested not to put myself into a situation like this, where people can accidentally sabotage my training efforts. So true! Thanks EA!

Watch Dog

2008-12-03T16:57:00.000-08:00

Late last night Rylie was sleeping on one of the dog beds in dining room. She woke up and while still laying in her bed started to bark. She must have heard something outside, since it was an alarm bark. It usually is a cat or other dog barking so I told her to stop it and she did. A few minutes later she barked again. I picked her up and put her on the couch next to me so she would stop. She cuddle up to me and went back to sleep. This morning I found out why she barked.

All five chickens have been killed by what I assume where Raccoons. I was so furious. They took 3 of them and left 2 behind, dying of their injuries. Not even taking a bite out of them. These are not cute little raccoons you see in a Disney movie. These are nasty, dirty, sick looking creatures.
Talking to our neighbor this morning, they got into his garage and ate his cat and dog food.
I had a talk with Rylie this morning and thanked her for trying to let me know my chickens were getting murdered. She barked and me and ran to get a toy.

Flyball

2008-11-26T19:40:00.000-08:00

The weather has been incredibly nice for Flyball practice and it has been lots of fun. Raygen gets very excited when it is his turn to play. The one thing we haven't been able to get him to do is NOT double step between jump 2 and 3. Actually, the only time he won't do it is we play chase recalls. He loves those. G took some pictures at practice and he even posed at one of them. Can't wait to go to practice on Sunday again!

Blowing Bubbles

2008-11-26T18:50:00.000-08:00

I have a youtube friend that taught her dog to blow bubbles and I though it would be fun to teach my dogs., too.It was incredibly easy to teach Ryddick. He is very clicker savvy and understands shaping. I will teach the others as well and post it on their Blog when I do.Here is the youtube link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7Fc1MV0qwk

Retirement from USDAA

2008-11-23T16:56:00.000-08:00

I decided not to run Rylie in 16" Performance USDAA and pull the entry. She only needs one Standard and one Gamblers leg to get her PD1, however she really is uncomfortable jumping at that height. I tried at the last Club practice and she ended up not even wanting to do the weave poles. The title really doesn't matter to her. I will still run her in AKC 12" preferred and try to get into Excellent. We will see how she feels.

Flyball News

2008-11-11T22:46:00.000-08:00

Ryker the Drool King

Ryker is back in Flyball training and we are having great results. We figured that we where putting way to much enthusiasm into the box turns and he wasn't able to concentrate. This is our routine for now, G will say quietly "Ryker get the ball" and I whisper "OK" and let him go. It was amazing. Of course he already knew how to do a box turn, but we weren't able to add the ball before then. He was doing full runs by the end of the day. It was pretty. We are going to be careful not to add to much other stimulation to his runs. I am hoping that we are going to be able to go to the next planned tournament. First we are looking forward to the USDAA trial in Farmington.

Growth Mistery

2008-11-10T18:49:00.000-08:00

4 stitches for the big one and 1 stitch for the little oneDuring the last few weeks I have been thinking about if I should have Ryddick go under a general anesthetic or a local one. There are pros and cons to do either. This morning I decided that a general would be best in his situation. Having to hold him still while getting a growth on his back removed would have been a challenge for the techs and very stressful for Ryddick. Come to find out there was another one that had started on the side of his torso.The good news is that they are not tumors and it is benign. The bad news is that he will most likely going to get more throughout his live. I can't remember what the exact name of it is, but the vet explained that something gets into his follicle and becomes calcified and it will grow very quickly.He was groggy all day. I hope I don;t have to do this more then once a year. There is an option of learning how to get the cyst before it becomes larger, but it would involve a big needle and someone to hold Ryddick down. Maybe he will hold still for some liver?

Herding 11-7-09

2008-11-07T18:43:00.000-08:00

Today we put Ryddick back into the "big" arena in a long time. He did really good. At first he seemed a bit lost. Shauna kept her cool and he calmed down and did some nice work. At the end he seemd to know that it was time to stop and it took a minute for Shauna to calm him down and "that'll do". Here is the linl to the uncut video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E67Kv5D5rJQ&feature=channel_page

Vet Visit

2008-10-30T20:10:00.000-07:00

Decided to take Ryddick to the vet to have her look at a growth on his back. It is a growth of some sort and it is scheduled to be removed in week. I will have it send in for a biopsy to make sure it isn't malignant.

Teeth Cleaning

2008-10-23T16:53:00.000-07:00

Went to the vet to get Rylie's teeth cleaned for the first time ever. She will be 6 years on January 17. Her teeth are in really great shape as far as stains and tartar is concerned. Brushing her teeth when she was on kibble and now feeding Raw has helped keep them clean.Since she was under anesthetic, i had the vet take some x-rays of her right knee and it looks like she has some arthritis in it. Back in 2005 she had an injury she got during Flyball. We put her on Adequane shots and some pain meds for when she runs around a lot. I decided to retire her from Flyball and only jump her 12" in AKC Agility. I will try to finish her PDI USDAA title at 16" in December.

Herding 10-19-08

2008-10-20T20:11:00.000-07:00

I took Ryddick herding on Friday and Sunday this week. I was very happy with the progress he made. Several times I was thinking of not continuing with herding, but Shauna told me that she can see some nice pieces amongst the chaos. I am so glad that I stuck with it. Today was the best day so far. Ryddick can take more and more pressure form Shauna without exploding. His balance is very nice and is able to get the sheep away form the fence without getting frustrated. It was very pretty to watch Shauna and Ryddick work the sheep. The next step would be to bring him into the bigger arena. That may happen early November.

Herding

2008-10-19T19:39:00.000-07:00

Went herding two times this weekend and got some great results. I have been getting the sheep out of the corner for the first time without loosing control of the sheep or the Raygen. He comes on strong like an ACD, but he needs to learn some self control while he is herding. He barks a lot. He is having so much fun.
What a good boy!

Retirement from Flyball

2008-10-16T16:52:00.000-07:00

I took Rylie to the vet today to have her teeth cleaned and to get some x-rays done to check out why she is limping so much.
About four years ago she hurt her knee and the patella was luxating. The vet at the time put her on an anti inflammatory and it fixed the problem. Apparently there was already some damage done and she now has some arthritis in her knee. We are giving her adequane shots twice a week for the month and then when she needs it. I am going to officially retire her from Flyball and only run her in Agility at 12". More walks instead of endless fetching in the yard is going to be our routine from now on. And more Freestyle!

CU Helper Dog

2008-10-11T22:42:00.000-07:00

Ryker had a job at the CU Seminar for a private lesson. He was doing some one jump work while the other dog was doing mat work and some simple agility exercises, including running through a tunnel. Ryker tugged and jumped and tugged and jumped. He does not care about other dogs or anything else when he is working. He had a great time. What a good boy!
Here are the links to private session he helped with. I am in teh background with Ryker. Elizabethanne is working with Chase. Lesie McDevitt is helping Elizabethanne.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgJhpjAFVIw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cAZWSskeww

CU Helper Dog

2008-10-11T19:37:00.000-07:00

Raygen got to help out for a private lesson at the CU Seminar. He was very good. We were "hiding" around the corner of a building and surprised another handler and her dog. He stayed with me and he got treats and never looked at the other dog. He seemed to understand his job. He usually wants to visit. Not this time. Good Boy!
Here is the link. Raygen was soooo good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr922IgVp1Q&feature=related

CU Seminar With Ryddick

2008-10-05T18:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterdays "On/Off" game was great for Ryddick. He showed little signs of stress. Today we worked a bit with a dog coming up from behind while on his mat and doing lots of "Look at That!" Scary Big Dog. Everything went well, until Leslie took my mat away. I learned that even though Ryddick is laying on the mat it has become my security blanket. I relax when he relaxes and it save on his mat. His foundation mat work is great and I will use it for our Agility and other training. A friend of mine and I have also learned that both our dogs are ready for the next level.Leslie is great. We went to dinner with her and Bill. I can't wait to continue using CU in my training regimen.

Control Unleashed Seminar, Flyball, Agility and Herding

2008-10-04T19:35:00.000-07:00

Raygen is going to be a helper dog on Monday. He did really well at the classes and he was asked to help out at the seminar. I am looking forward to it.
Since a few weeks ago he seems to finally understand how to play Flyball. There is a difference in teaching the behaviors and the dogs understanding the behaviors. I swear I heard the switch turn on. He loves it! He has also become more confident in Agility. I would bet that Flyball has helped him with that. He is consistently Qing in Jumpers and even places a few times. I have to insist on contacts and not rush him for speed points. He has not yet been over course time and those DQ's are so needed.
Herding is going well, too. He is trying very hard to understand what I am asking him to do. I am not sure what I am doing either, other then staying clear of those darn sheep. Almost got knocked over, that would hurt.

Herding Lesson

2008-10-04T18:35:00.000-07:00

Posted a herding video on youtube. I love this DOG!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYpNuMu7UD0

CU Seminar with Ryddick

2008-10-04T18:32:00.000-07:00

Today was our first day at the CU seminar. Since Ryddick knows to relax on his mat, Leslie showed me a few games I can play with Ryddick using it. She showed me how to use it for our "on/off" game. Get him to get all excited, but keep him below threshold and then ask him to go to mat. He did really good and enjoyed working with her. He did a bit of his primal noise and pounced on Leslie. She didn't mind and asked for him to go to the mat and he immediately did. Leslie was trying to figure out where his threshold was and after that was able to work him a bit better. He stayed focused and was able to calm down when he was on the mat.
She also explained to watch his mouth, eyes and nostrils for calmness. When he did show any of the calm signs she would mark it and give him a treat. Off course he may not know what he got a treat for, but I will work with him and it won't be long until he knows what is expected.
Tomorrow we are going to work on parallel games, dog in your face (butt), and added distractions.

PKC Agility 9-26/28

2008-09-29T22:02:00.000-07:00

Ryddick is the new owner of a PKC STD 1st place ribbon. This was the first time I had entered him in an AKC trial. He did really great. He got a bit upset when I raced him to much. I will tone it down a bit next time. He got a very nice weave pole entry in JWW, but he ended up knocking a bar after that.I entered him in 16" preferred, but the judge measured him just under 23"? He has been measured just under 22" and just over22", but never that close to 23".He can certainly jump that high, but I was really hoping that he would be able to jump 16", less stress.

GSLDTC September 12th-14th

2008-09-15T19:33:00.000-07:00

We had some nice weather at the trial in Framington and Raygen was feeling fine on Friday. First run he actually took off and ran towards the weave poles? Yup, he is officially a weave pole sucker. So much for our Std Q. In jumpers he missed the chute? Yup, he won't suck into the chute anymore. Then he hit his shoulder on the second weave pole and in the middle skipped one. Interesting day. On Saturday he wasn't feeling good at all. He was constipated and I pulled him out of JWW. Poor dude didn't get relief until much later in the afternoon. Sunday was great. he was feeling fine, so fine that in Std he jumped off the dogwalk and missed the contact. Wuzz up? The rest of the course was GREAT!!! He had an amazing run in JWW and placed FIRST!!! This was a first in JWW Exc B for us. Double speed points. I know you all think 12 points isn't much, but for Raygen it is huge!! Last we year missed a JWW run by .59 sec. so yup, "You've come a long way Baby!"Challenges we had at that trial....Parking fee add $10Great Salt Lake Dog Training Club ran out of food for VolunteersBitches in season walking within feet by the ringPeople bringing their lunch and sitting within feet of the ringObedience out of site sits and downs were withing feet of the ringGSLDTC uses a set of 20" weaves and in the other ring a set 21" (or 22") weaves? (that is why he miscalculated the entry and startled himself)Tunnel holders are made out of metalSlooooow judgeAs much a I like staying local I can not competed at this particular trial anymore. To much stress, so not worth it.Two more weeks 'til Pocatello. One of my favorite trial sites, people and not that far.

Box Turn

2008-09-08T16:48:00.000-07:00

It has been almost a year since I stopped training Rylie in Flyball. Here is her boxturn at last weeks practice. She loves to play Flyball. So back to regular practice we go.

http://s365.photobucket.com/albums/oo100/utbphotos/box/?action=view&current=rylie2.flv

Stress in the Ring

2008-09-02T22:41:00.000-07:00

Ryker has been showing some stress in the ring. I have been listening to some advise of different trainers and it backfired. He has only done the weaves once all weekend. I have to make a plan and see how he does. Go back to where we had "fun" and don't do so much training. I know what is right for him and need to stick with it and don' t listen to much what others say. Play, play, play. Oh, and eat my Wheaties so I can keep up with him.

Flyball

2008-09-02T19:30:00.000-07:00

Did some Box training with Raygen . He is getting better every practice. I am going to run him for the first time at the October tournament in St. George. I am going to have a blast!!!

IKC Agility Lynnleigh Farms

2008-09-02T19:29:00.000-07:00

We finally earned another DQ, I am 1/4 towards the big MACH.Saturday and Sunday we did not qualified for any runs. Always close, but just not enough. No room for error in the Excellent classes. So tunnel suckers beware, it won't get you any extra points.On another note... he has an infatuation with Golden Retreivers and Labs. What is up with that. If he does not get to say hi to any of them he gets frustrated and does not want to pay attention. So this weekend I used teh Premack and we said hi to all the Goldens and Labs at the trial. There were quite a few. At one point he even ignored a Golden. Sure is nice not to have to worry so much.

PetCharts

2008-09-02T19:28:00.000-07:00

I recieved an email from PetCharts.com that my youtube video that featured Raygen , was selected to appear on the PetCharts.com website. I did not submit his video, but if you have a video, photo or story about your cat or dog you can submit it to PetCharts.com

PKC Agility 9--27-08

2008-08-28T16:51:00.000-07:00

After a very long break (Jan 2007) from Agility trialing, I entered Rylie in the PKC trial for one JWW and one STD run in Nov Pref 12".She did great! I was calm while running her and not to worried about making time, since this was preferred and we had pretty much all the time in the world. She placed first both runs and earned her Novice STD Preferred title. I am very proud that she was able to stay with me and not go crazy.

WW Agility Run DOCNA

2008-08-27T20:00:00.000-07:00

Weave Pole Entries

2008-08-25T19:44:00.000-07:00

Ryker has a hard time getting his weave pole entries. He does not collect before hitting the entry. Then a few months ago he was weaving and he must have hit his nose. It was bleeding and a few times after that he ran past the weaves. I have been training a bit the way Rachel Sandres showed us. I will do some more and hope he will understand the entry a bit better. USDAA trial is coming up and I hope we are going to have some great runs and a Q would be nice.

Herding Goats

2008-08-25T19:27:00.000-07:00

I decided to use the goats to teach Raygen some slow "driving". I have him on a 25 foot leash so if he decides to take off he will not be able to chase them down. He did really well. I ask for a lot of sit and release while walking up to the goats. Gotta control that puppy.

Tricks

2008-08-21T19:23:00.000-07:00

This one I captured and put in on cue in less then a day. Raygen is very operant and he catches on quickly on what I would like for him to do. I will post tricks as I have time to record.
Raygen Sneeze
Raygen Shame

Off The Wall

2008-08-16T16:45:00.000-07:00

I took this Video in April and finally got around to post it. The growling in the background is Ryddick chasing Rylie after she runs to get the ball. Her turn is nice and tight and her head is down when she lands.

Teeter Work #2

2008-08-15T22:01:00.000-07:00

We went to Agility practice to Huntsville and I worked Ryddick on the teeter. He did not show any sing of going over threshold and wanting to attack the teeter. I click when has take 3 steps on it and reward at the end. It works great. He is concentrating on getting his treat and not on attacking the teeter. I did a short sequence, jump, tunnel teeter and he again was great on the teeter. I tried again and the little stinker actually bypassed the tunnel and ran onto the teeter. Shauna laughed at me for creating a Teeter sucker. Heehee

Obedience II

2008-08-13T21:58:00.000-07:00

I signed Ryddick up for an Obedience II class and even though I have only trained him for Agility he is doing some fancy Obedience behaviors. His tucks are to die for. He comes when called, picking up his leash on the way and he will do a long sit and a down. We were asked to bring our mat out and show how well the dogs go to mat and he runs to it and lays down. We enjoyed class and maybe I will start him in Rally next session.

USDAA Trial August 8th and 9th

2008-08-10T19:42:00.000-07:00

Ryker did it again! He earned yet another new title. This time in Snookers Starters. I have been hoping for a Jumpers leg to get his AD this weekend, however that did not happen. Not paying attention to what he was looking at cost me the only jumpers run that weekend. I am hoping to get it at the next trial though. He ran an almost flawless Advanced Standard course until the weaves. He entered correctly and immediately looked at me and came out. Then the funniest thing happened at before the last jump. He seemed a bit confused as to if I wanted him to take it or not. I kept telling him over, over, over. He spun around a few times looking at me and the jump as he approached it and finally took it. Everybody laughed as I cheered him on for taking it. It was funny.
His contacts were to die for. He is always so far ahead of me on the Dog Walk and I run my butt off. Most of the time, next to the judge, who is trying to watch for him touching the yellow, but Ryker comes to a dead stop not making it hard for the judge at all.
His start line stays are continuing to improve. I have to stay mentally strong and walk off if he ever breaks it. No dumbing down allowed!

USDAA Trial August 8th and 9th

2008-08-10T19:22:00.000-07:00

Snookers was our first run and Raygen had a great opening until we came to the threadle. I was careful not to call him to much since I did not want him to shut down so he did a beautiful serpentine instead. Oh well.Next run was jumpers and we had no connection at all. I realized to late that I did not take some time to go over to the rodeo happenings for him to check out the cattle and horses. He was very distracted. After our run I took him over to see the calves hoping to eliminate any further issue.It seemed to have worked since we Q'ed and earned first place. All in all he did very well and is only one leg away form his PIII Standard tile (5 needed) and one Gambler and one Snooker leg for his PDIII (MAD). Hope to get it in December at our next USDAA trial.