Vet Visit

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.

PKC Agility 9-26/28

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.

Teeter Work #2

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

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.

ASCA Trial August 2nd and 3rd

What a great weekend. Ryddick has some great runs. He did his SLS, never knocked a bar and I added the weaves to our gambler course and he did great. His contacts were very nice and he loved going through the tunnels. When we were almost done with our Gambler run he ran past the last run out of the ring and did a "perimeter check". I was suprised and waited until he came back. I am going to teach him to go to his leash after his run to give him a target end behavior. Not sure what I cue it as yet. He did earn his first ever title in Agility, JS-N. Maybe he is ready for JWW?

Weaving, weaving, weaving

Last night I had 12 weave poles set-up for Ryker to play in. Ryddick offered me a ball to throw and ran to the weaves and did all 12. I threw the ball and he came back and did it again. He loves the poles. What a good boy!

Single Stepping the Weave Poles

I have been practicing the weaves a few times each day and Ryddick is single stepping them. He finds some really hard entries and doesn't give up if he won't get rewarded for a mistake. Operant dogs are really great.

Amazing Ryddick

It has been so nice in the evenings that we sit outside in the big yard and throw the balls for the dogs. I was amazed at how calm Ryddick is around Ryker in the yard. I have him in a down stay next to my chair while Ryker runs around. He has been very calm and waits his turn. When it was his turn to play, I ask him to find the weaves. We were sitting about 25 feet away from them. He took a sharp turn away from me and even though the angle was at about 190 degree, he still found the entry and went through all six. Needless to say my jaw dropped open. I threw the ball and when he came back I thought that it might have been a fluke and I again said weaves. He did the same thing just a bit faster. I am amazed at how quick he learned with the 2x2's. He is so amazing. By far the smartest dog I have ever met.

Chicken Herding

My stepson came over the other day and dropped off 5 of his chickens that kept jumping the fence in his yard. Well, they jump our fence to and come into the big yard. So I did a bit of herding with Ryddick. It was so cool. He goes into this herding mode and helps me with bringing them back to the pond. Chicken herding is different then sheep herding. I don't have to watch out for getting run over by sheep.

Weave Poles

Yeah! My baby is doing weave poles. He is very cautious about it at this time, seems like he doesn't want to make a mistake. I am going to do some of the exercises that I learned at camp to proof the weaves. Now I have to do some more handling exercises so I can enter him in AKC sometime early next year.

Herding Downs "Play Ball"

Previous post I have been talking about expecting more downs while playing ball, to help Ryddick build muscle and be more biddable during our herding lesson. Saturday morning we went to beautyful Kelley Creek Farm. Keeping a long line on him kept him from getting away with charging the sheep. I like to keep him from going over threshold as much as possible. He did very nice and only started to go in twice, but we were able to stop it before he went into full "crazy" mode. I was very happy with the lesson.

Play Ball

Ryddick loves to play ball. He also gets to go to herding lessons. One of the exercises I do with him is, send him out and have him lay-down. Then call him and lay-down and call and lay-down. Then I release him and he gets to fetch the ball. He is getting the hang of the game. This also helps him built his muscles in his rear. He used to pull himself up with his when he was going through the PANO phase.

Teeter Trouble

Ryddick has been having difficulty with the teeter. While he is going forward on it he will go into attack mode. This weekend I have had the opportunity to do some Teeter work in Huntsville. He did really good and by the end of day 2 he was not showing any sings of attacking the teeter. At first I would work on some low "slam it" exercises. Gradually leave the teeter higher. Once I felt he could get on the full teeter I would click as soon as he stepped on it. That way he was looking forward to a rewards instead of thinking about attacking the teeter. It worked great. I was watching for sings of stress and always stopped before he would have a raging fit. I hope to be able t do more teeter work in different places. I can't trial him unless he is "healed" ;-)

Happy Birthday Ryddick!

Mr. Boister is turning 2 today. We didn't do anything special. CU class was at 6:30pm and he was so good. Happy Birthday Ryddick!

USDAA Trial 21-23

Ryddick didn't do much this weekend. We did some calm mat work and he got to jump over the practice jump a few times. We walked calmly around the agility field and I sat for about 5 minutes by the ring giving him treats while being quiet. It was hot, so most of the time he slept in his crate in the open van. What a good boy! He did get to run around with a ton of other Border Collies. And we played a bit of tug and he got to go into the baby pool and .... I guess he did get to do some stuff.

Ryddick's Friend

Chocolate is visiting again. Ryddick and him play a lot. Chocolate is a Shi-Tzu Yorkie mix and only about 7lbs. Ryddick is 46lbs. He towers over Chocolate. When they play, Ryddick is very gentle. He pushes him around with his nose. Chocolate will charge and jump on Ryddick and he will roll over. It is so much fun to watch them play.

2x2 Weave Training

After 8 months of not training Ryddick on the 2x2's, I decided that it is time to start again. I made is very simple and started with one, then two, then three. He not only picked up very quick from where we left of last year, but he seemed to have a better understanding of what to do and I was able to move forward within minutes. When he doesn't do it right I don't toss the toy and he knows to try again and correct himself. He is so damn smart. Raygen and him are the most operant dogs I have ever met.

Group IV Terrier Club

Ryddick and his BFF Chocolate

I had 4 dogs at the trail this weekend. Raygen and Ryker were entered in the trial. Ryddick came along for the ride and I was babysitting Chocolate from Friday to Tuesday. Ryddick and Chocolate are BBF. Everybody though he was cute as a button. With only weighing 7lbs he isn't even bigger then one.Anyway, Ryddick did really, really great. We were sitting next to the ring while dogs were running and he did a lot of the LAT game with me. He loves LAT. We also did some mat work and he got to see some more horses and lots of people. He really likes people. All this hard work has paid off.

CU Class

Tonight was the last night of our Control Unleashed Class with Ryddick and I really liked it. It is very relaxed. This particular class was by invitation only. It was a first in Utah and I am going to continue to hold classes for the next session with some Agility excersises. One of the pre-requisite was that we all had read the CU book and have an understanding of the exercises. After we arrive, the first thing we did is set up our "station", a mat, a crate and maybe a chair. We also set up a "box" with ring gates. Then we brought in our dogs and start. I love doing passive attention on the mat with Ryddick. It has always been active attention in class and sometimes that is just not what he needs. Note in the seminar section, the club is sponsoring for Leslie to come in October. I am signed up for a working spot with Ryddick. I am so excited. I am making a huge sacrifice by not going to the DOCNA nationals, that is scheduled on the same weekend.

ASCA Trial May 17th and 18th

Smooth Dog

It was Ryddick's Agility trial debut. He had 2 amazing runs on Saturday. One was in Jumpers and he did great with 6.01 yps. He did knock the second to last bar and therefore did not qualify. Gamblers was great, too. He earned his first ever leg in 3rd place. On Sunday I did a bit more training in the ring. He was very upset with the teeter. Not sure how to describe it, but he wanted to tear it apart while he was performing it. Since he hasn't displayed this at home I am almost certain he was stressing.
On the other hand the Jumpers run was perfect and even though I almost lost the course he ran it at 5.37 yps, Q'ed and earned first place. Now we go back to a bit more training and maybe he gets to run again the end of the year.