Tag Archives: agility

throw the handler a bone too!

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It’s always lovely to hear when someone appreciates your dog, thinks they’re cute, or is wowed by their talents. Their isn’t a dog person on the planet that doesn’t get gushy, even if it’s just a wee bit, when their dog gets attention. I know my Dad gets a nice smile on his face when you say sweet nothings about his dog, I am pretty sure it’s universal.

But sometimes we forget to acknowledge and appreciate the other half of the TEAM. It is a cool thing when you throw the handler a virtual bone too!

When Ocean was a tiny puppy I was head over heels for her. We were unknowingly creating a powerful team.

I was so proud of her, all the way around, and I did gush when people talked so nicely of her. She came to this planet talented and wanting to work, so that is what we did together! Her reward in life has always been motion, and in motion is when you can feel what she is all about.

When Story was a puppy I didn’t fall head over heels for him, it was more of a partner feeling, a hang out dude feeling. And I couldn’t stop smiling. He was so comfortable with himself, and so comfortable with whatever was going on, it all happened in stride. Yet there was some grit to him, and that is what made him perfect in my eyes.

When he started to power on the juice he was amazing, like running next to a steam train. He is fast, accurate, and a great team mate. Running next to him is like drinking five energy drinks, and then topping it off with espresso whipped cream! And he has that natural charisma that makes people watch and take notice.

And then came $eeker. A lot of puppy, a lot of things going on with him emotionally, and a lot of creative training.

He is a wicked smart dog, and one that is successful in certain environments. When $eeker and I are in sync and the planets are aligned just right, he is amazing, and to watch him takes your breath away. But that doesn’t happen every time we step out. Even in our failures I love working with $eeker, he requires me to see training a bit differently.

TEAM, or the acknowledging that we do this all together is something that I strive for. The ‘US’ is so important to me. When I look at my dogs I feel complete, whole, TEAM.

My dogs throw me a bone by wanting to work with me everyday, wanting to try new things, and wanting to share space and time. That is the handler bone that means everything to me, keeps me inspired, and keeps me moving forward!

For those teams that haven’t received that feedback yet from their dogs, well here is a shout out from me! Keep working towards team, stay inspired, and enjoy the ride! Here’s throwing you a virtual bone!

Nancy

we made the newspaper, and a successful sale!

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Our new Dog Gym made the Sunday Bozeman Chronicle! I’m always a bit hesitant to give interviews, you just never know how it will be translated and rewritten.I do about two per year for newspapers and magazines, some come out great, and others make me cringe. This article was pretty accurate and to the point, yay! Thank you Amanda. And some beautiful photos by Adrian Sanchez Gonzalez.

Such a busy and exciting weekend!

As everything goes, it doesn’t happen without family and friends support and handwork. Early mornings and late nights, laughter and coffee. But we did it! And it was awesome to see friends from the dog world from years ago, that either stopped by to buy, or just to have some early morning coffee and chat.

Kenny Hess with Petcurean stopped by and dropped off sample dog food for our sale, it was awesome! They are going to be sponsoring our puppy and competition classes. Thank you!

Liz, Sharon, Piper, Spore and Renn helped through the whole Used Dog Gear Sale, thank you isn’t enough. It was our first, and because we had such amazing response we will most likely have them annually. People were able to sell gear, others picked up great deals, and we had a few other dog training facilities come and buy a bunch. We opened at 6am, and sold half of everything by 6:30am. It was awesome. Smart phones and Facebook actually put a new spin on things. We did sales even after we closed. What was left was posted, and we still have gear going out and being picked up this week!

I am proud to say I now have one shed free of stuff! woop!

Start saving your dog gear fro next year!

Nancy

leave it to a trainer to be a dog gear hoarder!

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So I thought it would be a fun thing for my clients to be able to sell some of their puppy gear and maybe buy something used/new at a Used Dog Gear Sale. It was kind of a last minute thing, but hey, it’s all about fun! It’s this Sunday the 12th by the way, from 6-11am at our new Dog Gym!

My friend Liz very generously offered to help. She’s a professional handler/trainer as well and has been accumulating dog stuff for years. She told me what a great idea, and a good opportunity to dump some of her stash. I gently giggled to myself, I haven’t been accumulating much gear, I’m not a gear head type of person. Minimalist me!

Then I went to my agility shed, and then to my training shed, and then into my garage, and I had the realization that I am a hoarder of dog gear. Oh dear god!

I currently have over 85 items pulled to sell, and I have yet to go through four boxes that are high on the shelves. Some used, some still in their original packaging, and some I don’t remember buying at all. All great stuff!

Pretty harnesses (17 harnesses to be exact, what was I thinking?!), gorgeous collars, nice puppy crates, shirts, books, bowls, toys, hats, and on and on! This doesn’t even include some of my agility equipment that I am selling that is currently at our gym.

I am on my way to start pricing everything, I should be done by late tomorrow. Then I will start helping my clients price their stuff!

This should be an awesome sale! Perhaps I will meet other fellow dog gear hoarders and we can exchange some fun gear… no no no… I mean sell our gear!

Nancy

 

prepare your dog

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Life has a way of changing on us, it is truly the only constant. Sometimes we initiate the change, which can be pretty cool. And then some times change happens whether we are ready or not. Some glide through change gracefully, for most it’s more of a bumpy ride until one adjusts.

For our dogs, change is only positive if we have prepared them. By prepared I mean introduce them and socialized them to a world far bigger than the one at home. Socialization at a young age or when you get your dog is far more than just important, it is preparing your dog for the future. In other words you are investing in your dog by introducing them kindly and considerately to people, places, things, events, and other well socialized dogs. Exposing them to experiences in a positive way and keeping their world broad and open.

One of the more common scenarios I have seen over the past ten years is a very well meaning person that comes to a point in their relationship with their dog where they want to do more, maybe a dog sport, maybe therapy, or maybe move into a different living situation with new people. The dog on the other hand has had limited exposure to life outside of the home, and if there were outings they were to dog parks. Some dogs literally jump at the chance to do more, most however have some level of stress as they were never prepared for change, let alone new and different. And some dogs just don’t have the coping skills to transition at all into the new change, change that is being made for them by their owner.

While this may seem like a lot, remember that nothing will stay exactly the same in your life over the next fifteen years. Prepare now so that the transition for you and your dog goes much more smoothly.

About three years ago Ocean went into renal failure due to the administration of drugs she was not supposed to have. After visiting a teaching veterinary hospital, I decided to do home care with her during her fluid therapy as she trusts me to do anything with her, we have worked hard for that relationship. I had to learn how to administer IV and subcutaneous fluids in a matter of five minutes.

Did I prepare her for fluid therapy when she was younger? No. But because I have taught Ocean many skills over the years, her and I work seamlessly as a team. I asked for a down on her pillow, asked for relax which is head down, asked for pa so she would extend her leg to me, and then ready which is the word for me starting something. Although this was change for us all, we were able to work together on new and different, I could take most of the stress out of the situation. I would massage her during each session, and then we would go for a light walk afterwards. On some level I hope I brought some understanding to her that this was going to be a good thing in the long run. I am happy to say that she is ten and healthy!

Tips -

  1. Take your dog to new and different places that allow dogs. Visit hardware stores, outdoor restaurants if your dog has a good settle, book stores, walking malls, etc.
  2. Train often and train creatively. Introduce new tricks and new behaviors all of the time. Keep training fresh and fun. Create a dog that trusts learning from you.
  3. Expose your dog to new people, new places, new things, new events, and other well socialized dogs on a regular basis, especially when young. Give them exposure!
  4. Give your dog skills. Whether a dog sport is in your future or not, trying a little of this and a little of that builds your dogs knowledge and skills. Try a core conditioning class, doggie yoga, foundation agility or body awareness, freestyle and tricks, treibball, etc.
  5. Prepare your dog to work in new locations with you, not just in your yard. Practice your skills on a sidewalk, in a park, on a trail, in a store.
  6. Crate train your dog. This may seem odd, but having a dog that has a safe place, and it’s constant, and they can count on it, helps with transitions. You can bring a crate into a facility for training and the constant is the crate, while introducing new skills and new experiences. Bringing a crate into a hotel room is for safety and also for being a polite guest, but it creates a constant place during travel, which is change. Crates are great management tools, and if conditioned properly, create a place of calm and of safety. And it is a constant in a world of changes brought ton by owners.
  7. Expose your dog to new sounds, new smells, new sights. These can be little outings.
  8. Have friends over to your home so your dog gets used to other people in the house in a positive way.
  9. The more you teach, the more you can ask from your dog.

Think of the future and prepare, your dog will appreciate your efforts! Nancy

our first workshop in our new Dog Gym!

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Well it has been one month and three days since we started renovating an old warehouse. We have had very few glitches, the flooring, or rather the damaged flooring has been the biggest, and truthfully the only one that has caused any kind of stress. It set our renovation/opening schedule back two weeks, but we had plenty of other things to do so our time was still accounted for.

We have had a limited number of classes in there during renovations, about thirty clients in the past month. Every week they have seen changes here and there, sound boards going up, more color, new equipment, bathroom finished, etc.

But yesterday was a big day for us, emotionally mostly. Spore installed the new rubber mat flooring, and we had our first two workshops in our new space! Woop!

I love giving workshops. For the past two years I have been traveling around the country  giving them for other clubs and organizations, it’s been an awesome experience. I love the concentrated time, the exchange of skills and ideas, and the relationships. This was the first time I scheduled workshops for my own clients, right here in Bozeman, and now in our own Dog Gym. It was awesome! Plenty more to come, check out our schedule. I will be offering monthly workshops, but I am also bringing in other clinicians that specialize in other areas of training, health and more.

Piper came to assist yesterday and did an awesome job with the camera, both still and video. She helped the various teams, and kept the snacks and water coming for us all!, thanks Pip! Enjoy… Nancy

train silent

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Years ago, as in the late 1980′s, when I was on the Park City Ski Patrol, I was fortunate enough to be put on the K9 search and rescue team during my rookie year. I didn’t volunteer for it, raise my hand, or jump up and down and say pick me pick me. What ever their reasons were, I am still grateful to this day.

At that time I believe there were forty seven or so full time patroler’s, seven were women. We were put on teams of four for each season, and rotated around the mountain weekly. Sometimes the areas where we were stationed were like a paid vacation. Beautiful skiing, low volume of skiers, and lots of hang time. Other stations were like working in a big city ER room from sunrise to sunset.

The unique part of my team was our Team Leader and the dogs. Lyn was a quiet, hard working, and unassuming man. While he wasn’t particularly chatty, he did take notice of everything. Great sense of humor once you got to know him, or if he cared to let you get to know him. It was my first experience with training silent.

Training silent is something he did naturally, I don’t think he actually had a word for it. It isn’t ignoring your dog or hoping they just catch on, in fact it’s quite the opposite. It’s spending a great deal of time with your dog, working, teaching, watching, observing, and playing, in a structured and managed environment. Building trust. Silent doesn’t actually mean no words, although it can, but more of a minimal use, or rather a quiet use. Having our dogs understand words is important, building great body language so we stop confusing our dogs is even more important. When we stop jabbering on, we have to become better with our other languages, as in body language!

Lyn made me a better skier by dragging my ass all around the mountain while working. He was shaping me into a good dog handler, and he also taught me a great deal about listening. It wasn’t just about hearing words and paying attention, it was about listening to everything around me. Listening with all of my senses.

Because I was young and hungry to learn, Lyn included me in most of the dog work. All of the games, drills, and pit work. I’ll be honest, I was buried in deep pits a lot my rookie year. But I knew there was good work going on, I was learning, and was thrilled to be Lyn’s apprentice so to speak. Playing with the dogs had a purpose. Touch, massage, attention to health, work, directed play, etc. I still use this in my own training program, 24+ years later.

One thing that kept repeating itself over and over was the relationship he had with his dog. Never a heavy hand, never a loud voice, never a command, never any gear that caused harm or discomfort. It appeared to be through their relationship that great work happened. They had a true working relationship. They spent so much time together that their communication was seamless, their mutual respect was tangible. With the other K9 handlers on the mountain it was the same. Lyn was a gentle but effective teacher and was training other handlers well.

After the ski season was over I started a summer conditioning program with one of the other dogs. Thrilled to be asked, and again, not a bad job to have! We hiked the Wasatch and Uinta mountain ranges all summer long. And I kept learning.

Years later when I moved on and started competing in agility and other sports, training silent was something that many of the top competitors were doing, it was awesome to see. Agility classes were offering silent night sequence work, it was awesome. It taught handlers how to work on better body language, directionals and distance, encouraged true team work, and it took the whole command thing out of the picture. It’s kind of like checking the ego at the door.

Talk to anyone that has been involved in a dog sport, 99% of the mistakes are called handler errors. You learn quickly how amazing your dog is, and how much work you need to do as the handler! I can’t tell you the number of times my dogs have covered my mistakes. If there is one thing I value most, its the trust my dogs and I have in each other. It keeps me humble, and it keeps all of us in the right place to move forward.

So here is to training silent, being a good listener, and observing … And here is to my daughter who is the most natural handler I know. She takes my breath away when she is out working our dogs. She reminds me that all of us can do better.

Nancy

renew, reuse, return …

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So exciting that most of everything new going into our Dog Gym is not actually new but rather renewed, and/or reused materials. I think I’ve mentioned before that my husband is a pack rat of sorts when it comes to building materials. He saves anything he can from job sites if it’s marked for the dump or burn pile. He detests that type of waste.

Lucky for me with this project! Our new bathroom has flooring, wainscot, vanity, and bead board from other projects in years past. Same with some dry wall, wood trim, odd pieces of lumber, shelving, and so on.

My new reception desk is going to have some rocking great, gorgeous, green granite tops and a walnut base thanks to my Pack Rat, woop! The pieces are small and oddly shaped, which I love, so Spore and I designed a lily pad type of desk, with various levels. We are having the edges buffed out this coming week. It will keep it’s broken chiseled look in some areas, but smoother to the touch. I would never be able to afford a custom piece like this, it feels simply awesome to be able to design and make it. And even more awesome that I will be using it everyday!

It feels good to create this space, and to try and reuse and renew what Spore has been saving. And we might even have more garage space, sometime soon!

The only set back has been the flooring. While it is recycled rubber, yay!, it is a new product we ordered on the recommendation from three other agility facilities. Ten rolls and 3,300 pounds of recycled chipped rubber, and it arrived damaged. Only two of the rolls were good to use, eight had to be returned. Apparently the freight company dropped the ball some place along the way from PA. They either did employee fork lift training with employees who had previously had their driver privileges revoked, or set them out for target practice. Either way, a set back. The manufacturer and company we are working with have been super professional and took care of claims right away. Our new flooring is due to arrive this coming week.

Being the gardener that I am, we now have three beautiful flower pots in front of our office. They are crammed with; salmon colored petunias, pineapple sage, tri color sage, lavender, and cream dream marigolds. It’s starting to feel homey!

After a full week of privates and classes, I am painting odds and ends today, and taking over more equipment. Then perhaps a bbq with the family, some treibball games with the dogs, and a glass of wine! Nancy

Moving along… it’s been a week now

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So we have plowed through the big stuff in just under a week. I can now say that the business I founded a bit over nine years ago, Paws & People, is truly a family business. This whole adventure would not be possible without all of us doing it together. We’re kind of like the von Trapp family except we train dogs and we don’t sing. ;-)

Our dogs came over for their first visit to the gym, we had to limit the area as we are still cleaning up construction stuff. Story made it clear that he has been waiting for his own studio for quite some time! He was like dragging an anchor through the sand when it was time to leave last night!

We are filming with TawzerDog today, Alta and her grandsons arrived last night. We have a temporary set up for today, and eight lovely teams coming in to participate. This will be my 3rd DVD with Tawzer, and will be titled, Building the Therapy/Crisis Team: ideas & training from puppy through adulthood.

We had a bump in the momentum yesterday, kind of a big one. Pip has had a persistent problem in one area of her jaw for over a year. Her doctors have been monitoring it with us. It kind of came to a head yesterday and we had to go get blood work and an MRI. They gave me the low down on the worst case scenario of what they thought was brewing, and it knocked me to my knees. Gratefully, it wasn’t, and after five hours at the hospital we came home with tears and happy smiles. Pip went right back to work with her Dad, she said she needed the distraction. I love my children to the moon and back, and my heart felt every ounce of that yesterday!

Today the kids are working the Farmers Market, then coming to help with the filming, Spore is turning that crappy old bathroom into one of my dreams. I am kind of glad he is a pack rat with building materials. He saves things here and there for possible future projects. This bathroom will have a new vanity, sink, faucet, and toilet. It will have oak flooring, and wainscot. The kids and I saved our tea wrappers and chocolate foils over the past week and decoupaged the mirror frame for the bathroom. Chocolate and tea rock, just sayin!

Have a great Saturday, Nancy

moving stuff in little by little with Batman!

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The sixteen hour days just might be catching up with us! Spore was painting until 2:30am, his day was actually more like twenty hours. The painting is done for the most part, now just small trim pieces that go up here and there. Today we have mirrors, lights, bathroom and heater stuff.

Over coffee last night Spore said that $eeker reminds him of Batman. When I asked what he meant, because honestly I thought it was the paint fumes talking, he said that $eeker has that sweet aloof, sometimes snobby side like Bruce Wayne, but he is really dark and wicked smart at the core like Batman. I had to pause because it’s kind of true.

I found this old clip that really reminds me of what it must be like to be $eeker. ;-)

So the office space is finished, we will use it as a break room until the furniture for that space is finished, later this month. It is so warm and cozy, and filled with the most beautiful natural light. Ha! After four years I am finally hanging my 2008 agility Championship photos. They have been on top of my bookshelf for four years stacked with dry erase boards and cork boards. It’s nice to see them, really for the first time! The dog art work from friends and family will be added to this space over time.

The large working space is painted and the flooring ordered. The ceiling is a lovely Morning Breeze blue, and the walls Chai Latte. NOTE – If you love this blue ceiling paint (it’s the same as what’s in our home for those that have been here), we have 5 extra gallons and will sell them at half price, BEHR, let me know!

Our floor will be 100% recycled chipped rubber matting. It should arrive July 18th or so. We went through five companies, and the advice from friends and fellow competitors really helped. Thank You!

Bathroom goes today! woop…

Cheers, Nancy

what is your face saying?

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It’s all about the dog; dog training, dog body language, dog food, dog gear, dog behavior, dog tricks, dog etc. I believe that sometimes we are so focused on learning more and doing more that we over look some of the obvious moments with our dogs. Like what are we doing to encourage our dogs, or not doing and discouraging our dogs.

During our classes this week, we had some really cool discussions on handler body language. What are you telling your dog? Anyone that has done agility at the competition level knows, if you’re not consistent with your body language, you can look forward to the  train wreck on course.

What are your shoulders, arms, hips, knees and toes telling your dog? Does it look like your playing twister out there, or are you aligned and direct with your body so there isn’t any guess work? I play with three sports, freestyle, agility, and treibball. Consistency with my body language when I am working on directionals and distance are vital to success.

But what is missed so often, and is just as important in my opinion, is what our facial expressions are telling our dog. Have you ever seen a handler try to call their distracted dog with a nice voice, but their face is curled up in a knot of frustration because the dog isn’t coming? Guess what the dog might have seen? If I was a dog I would have to weigh that pretty carefully, ‘keep smelling this bush or go to scary person, keep smelling the bush or go to scary person… bush sounds better’.

Consistency in what we say, how we say it (tone), and what our body/face is expressing, is super important. Our facial expressions can open up a trusting working relationship with our dogs, they can also shut them down. Now I’m not saying to go around looking like a cheer leader all day, that would be just as freaky as frowning all day. But rather be honest in your expectations with your dog in regards to your communication. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard owners say, “my dog won’t come when I call her, she’s so stubborn”. When I stop and watch the whole picture, it is almost always the handlers body/face language that is actually keeping the dog away. Same thing with dog sports and working out the glitches, almost always handler error.

It really gets better once you acknowledge what you need to do in order to make things better and more consistent.

My daughter was kind enough to let me take these photos to give you an idea of the variety of facial expressions I see when people are working with their dogs. This isn’t exactly like the Sesame Street, which one of these is not like the other, they all might be valid within a specific context. But the context I am going to use is handler focus, working relationship, people interested in their dogs working with them not against them.

note – I don’t know the statistics on how many times we change our facial expressions per couple of seconds, but I bet it’s a lot. Keep in mind we are fluid and ever changing, this is just to assist handlers, and to be more honest and consistent with what they are telling their dogs. Sometimes tweaking the small stuff makes a huge difference!

Eyes to side, lips pushed forward and tight – no dog will willingly come to this. This face is stay away, even if the words were seemingly nice. Not a great face to encourage great performance. Handler needs to do something to relax and breathe and then start with their dog in a new space.

Eyes up and not engaging. This expression is a shut down of energy for dogs. Don’t believe me, go try it in your yard. If your looking to build more motivation with your dog, getting frustrated and rolling your eyes will not help.

Squinty tight eyes, crinkled brow/nose/lips. Dogs know the look of disgust. Again another shut down expression. If your dog does something that disgusts you, let it go and move on, this look will push your dog away.

This is the classic, the smile that never reaches the eyes. You may think you are being nice to your dog by smiling, and even a good faker of it’s OK, Really, but you don’t truly mean it if it doesn’t reach the eyes, and simultaneously, the heart. Ever had the experience with a person who does the fake smile with you, it doesn’t exactly leave you warm and cozy.

The look of disbelief, another shut down when working on motivation and the working relationship. let it go and move on.

Pretending to be happy by widening the eyes. Keep in mind, you can’t trick a trickster, they can sense the real meaning that something is not right. A good way to put a dog into conflict.

The smile meets the eyes, honest and sincere. A puppy would come to this every time. A great face to have when building motivation in performance work.

The smile meets the eyes with mouth open, the head slightly back, honest and sincere. A puppy would come to this every time.

Enjoy working with your dogs, be honest about what you are telling them, and encourage them with appropriate body/face language. It takes practice, but it’s worth it!

Nancy