Tis the season

For small dogs to wear their plaid coats because it is so very very cold and windy out. They each had their plaid coat on (slightly different to match their slightly different coloring) and Paul insisted that i also wear my brown plaid coat. Apparently we made quite the sight on our walk, as at least one car stopped to gape at us.

Bo continues to be most excellent: two Qs in Open B at the Catoctin trial. Couldn't pull together a Q in Utility, but he worked very nicely, settling down to heel better the second day. First day his go outs were absolutely awesomely perfect. Second day he NQed because he took the solid jump twice. A real pity because he had been working on a 197, which could have given him a fighting shot at OTCh points. But he was really good and worked so hard. And fast! drop on recalls both days were most impressive, as he was coming in at warp 6. Yet more people were charmed by Monsieur Bo.

Tip continues to be .... Tip.

practicing weaves and A-frame contacts

I borrowed a contact trainer for a week or two and pulled out the 22" metal weave poles I'd got at the CDTC awards party, and set them and a couple of jumps up in the back yard. Yes, that did take up the entire back yard, and yes I did have to rake many pounds worth of needles up first.

The main reason I got them was to practice with Bo, but since I was there with treats, etc, I practiced with Tip as well. I learned (once again) that Tip picks up behaviors really quickly. You must be careful or you'll teach him wrong and the wrong behavior will stick.

Bo better watch out because Tip could be really good -- if he feels like it.

Champion Tip!

CH. Waytogo's Walk This Way NJP

It is important to tell your dog the truth. This morning, before Tip went into the ring with his breeder, to compete in the bred-by-exhibitor class, I told Tip that if he did well, he could come home today.

Tip took these words to heart. As he won the bred-by class, winners dog, best of winners, best bred-by-exhibitor, and best of breed, to finish his championship in style!

Of course, the Toy group was about seven hours later in the day, so I brought Paul home, fed him, and drove back up to the Howard county fairgrounds and still had plenty of time to sit about and watch pretty dogs. Meanwhile Tip slept.

After looking quite handsome in the group ring, Tip and Bo were delighted to be reunited, ecstatic to eat chicken wing pieces, and very happy to sit about while I took a bath. Tip even found a piece of lingerie to take into his Fortress of Tipitude.

It's official! Bo is a Utility Dog!

Yep -- came in the mail today. Bo, Utility Dog. Its a good thing 'cuz I've entered him in some UDX classes coming up the next few months!

Tip is staying with his breeder, trying to drum up the last few points to finish his breed championship.

And apparently I am good at giving dogs the big head ... I mean getting them to be self-assured. (self centered, self assured....whatever)

Bo, Utility Dog

Bo earned his UD today, with a second place to a lovely Puli (whom I just found out was trained and handled by an AKC obedience judge!!!) .

Bo and Tip have immensely enjoyed the new Utility Dog toy tool set.

Although Bo will still respond to "insane one" the name the AKC (and other registries) know him as is: U-CD Waytogo Fuligin Beau Tay UD RE OA AXJ OF AD SSJ.

But for one length of a papillon

No Q today, but Bo worked even better. Very sharp, attentive, and precise. A little bit of anticipation and trouble going to heel, but pretty minimal. The NQ was he went forward more than a body length on the sit signal. Everything else was nice. The go outs, he went straight out then off to the right. The first jump was high on the left. I looked over at it, then gave him the signal and command and to my everlasting delight he ran sideways across that ring to do the correct jump!!!!

Overall I was very pleased with how he was working and I think he is starting to settle in and get a bit more comfortable. as before, need to work signals and go outs!

No Q, but some lovely work

On Saturday's Oriole trial, Bo was the first dog in the ring, promptly at 8AM. Many of the Utility A entries had not arrived. Bo and I got there about 7, so we had time to warm up and get a couple good walks in.

Bo did not Q, but he worked so beautifully -- attentive, keen, precise, and flashy. And he went to heel every time without the excessive nerves that sometimes plague us. We NQed on the down signal (I think it was because I smiled as he got to half-mast, so the poor thing held that uncomfortable position for about 30 seconds!!!). The go outs were weak and he ended up forward and way to the right (by the bar jump). judge gave bar first, but on the second one, Bo ignored my signal to run all the way across the ring to take the high jump.

To work on: signals, go outs, and jumping from unlikely positions.

But overall, he worked very beautifully and I was quite happy and proud.

Brags for Bo and for Tip!

Bo's Brag: 2 UD legs in 2 weekends of showing! First leg at the New England Toy cluster, he got a default first place (only Q in Utility A!). But at the Shelty trial he placed fourth of 7 qualifiers! But as we've been gone for a week and he's been at his breeder's (camp papillon) for over a week, we're not sure how things will go at Oriole. I feel doubtful...

Tip's Brag: At the Canfield show's supported entry, Tip came home with his 2 majors! He earned Reserve Winner's Dog the first day, then swept Winner's Dog and Best of Winner's the next 2 days! He only needs 3 more points to finish.

Tip, accelerating

• First Q: 2.6 yards/second
• Second Q: 3.6 yards/second
• Third Q: 3.8 yards/second

And that third time includes him missing the tunnel entrance on the first try and missing the weave poles on the first try, so he was actually moving at more than 4 yards/second -- which is close to Bo speed!

Tips First Agility Title!

Waytogo Walk This Way NJP


Tip was ripping through the very nice Novice Jumpers course today. He was 20 seconds under SCT and was faster than all but one dog (of any height!) in the novice jumpers class. And he was going to be "nice and slow and easy" dog! D'oh!


Bo's first run (in standard) was on the catastrophic side -- he kept taking this one tunnel. But he did his down contact on the A frame and did lovely weaves and many other lovely bits. His second run in Jumpers was amazing. Its like he knew the course, because I was was behind him and he just kept screaming along and doing the correct course. He did one off course (so we did not Q) but it was a truly amazing run.

fast dogs

None of our runs in agility today were Qs, but Bo put in a simply gorgeous standard run (he missed the down contact on the A-Frame). But everything was simply perfect and fast. 20 seconds under course time. One lady who watche dhis run said that you could really see him dig in, to propel himelf forward as fast as possible, and that it was especially noticeable coming out of the tunnels.

I never even got the chance to walk Tip's jumpers course, and he was also running fast. He seems to be gaining confidence and speeding up with every run. So he ended up going in the wrong end of the tunnel (bad handler!). You'd never know he used to be overwhelmed by new places, loud sounds, and strange people and dogs! he also has a PERFECT start line stay and will just sit at the end of hte run and wait to have his lead put back on. Bo had best watch his laurels.

Bo's jumpers run was catastrophic. bad handler. And he's gotten really bad about getting captured at the end of each run. We REALLY need to work on that!

I got a dog toy for working and Bo is currently destroying it. Tip is watching, as he wants to have the dog toy to destroy!

Tip, agility dog wanna-be.

Tip is 2/3 of his way towards his first agility title. We have the green Q ribbons and blue first-place rosettes to prove it! He put in a very nice run in jumpers at the Capital DTC agility trial, 19 seconds under course time.

And he held his start line stay until I released him and sat nicely at the end while I put his collar back on. (Bo, are you taking notes???)

Bo, Agility Dog!

Bo earned his USDAA Agility Dog title today, at the Hog Dog trial. He drew a pairs partner named Pagan, a lovely red border collie. Both Bo and Pagan ran clean in the pairs course, giving Bo his AD title. Yeah!!!

how to tell your dog he is wrong

well -- how to tell him he has picked up the wrong scent article. I think I have been waiting too long, and am going to try some advice on walking in towards him as soon as he has made a wrong article choice. must think this through first, though...

articles still OK

practice this afternoon went OK.

1. all metal. 6 unscented and one scented. worked the whole pile, brought back the scented within minimal fuss.
2. 5 metal + 3 leather, + scented leather. worked pile briefly, found and retrieved scented.
3. 5 metal + 3 leather, + scented metal (in the middle). Bo went out eagerly and worked the pile really hard, going round it 3 times, scenting hard, and kept forgetting to go to the center. He did not just pick up a leather one, so I finally went and pointed out the one in the middle. he picked it up and brought it and we had a party.
   

I think this might be starting to work?!?!?!

a really good utility practice

The theory is that Bo likes the nice weather. We went in to do some utility practice while Paul was in his fencing lesson. Bo was darned near flawless.

We're still humoring him on the scent articles. I've decided to only do 2 reps in each practice. metal wth 3 unscented metals: no problems. leather with 3 unscented metal and 2 unscented leather: no problem. The go outs were to de for. he did his signals at a distance....

utility ... its enough to drive you nuts. perfect one day, a catastrophe the next.

a near flawless agility practice

Bo and I put in 3 creditable runs in agility practice. It was amazing! I think he is much happier in the warm weather than all that horrid snow and cold and dark.

Hoping for some qualifying runs this weekend: USDAA on saturday and AKC on sunday.

Biking with small dogs (part 2): the smalls approve

Paul and I took Tip and Bo about for a cruise around the neighborhood. Tip looked beyond pleased, seated in his Royal Howdah with a canopy overhead, while his minion (Paul) did all the work.

Bo, of course, was a bit bunched and stood the whole time, with his head poking out, ear fringe flying in the wind. Paul reported that he looked quite happy, too.

Biking with small dogs (part 1): the baskets

Having obtained two bike baskets for small dogs (after careful perusal of options reviewed on DogJaunt, I chose the Tagalong bike basket).

Putting the baskets together was trivial:

Even a child could do it.

For once in my life, I thought I would try taking someone's good advice. In this case, it was MA's advice to train the dogs to get in the basket, instead of just shoving them in, strapping them down, and biking off at top speed.

Both dogs soon came to learn that sitting in the basket earned them treats.

In fact, we turned around during breakfast to see that Tip had voluntarily jumped up and sat in the basket, awaiting his treat.

scent articles

So we practiced again.

1. First a couple of straight metal retrieves. He needed additional commands to pick it up. I worked a batch on holds and carries, and making him move about and actively hold it, even when I tapped it.
   
2. Metal with one unscented metal. Worked and after some delay, brought back the scented one.
3. Metal with 5 unscented metals. worked and brought back scented one.
4. Metal + one unscented leather. First try brought back leather (though had indicated metal). I just stared ahead and he, after a pause of 5 seconds, went back to bring the metal one.
5. Leather + 5 unscented leathers. worked and brought it back.

It's the fetch, stupid.

Writing it down is helping already. Bo is failing to fetch, not failing to scent. So I need to get him to fetch the metal without any of the quavers and hesitations and "ooohhh I think it has cooties" that he currently has.

scent articles -- the ongoing struggle

OK. Maybe if I keep track of it each day, I will see some progress. so here we go.

1. Retrieve solo scented metal: Bo did not want to pick it up at all, and tried rolling it to me.
2. 3 metal + 1 scented metal: Bo worked the whole pile and slightly reluctantly brought the metal.
3. 3 leather + 3 metal + scented leather. worked whole pile and eagerly brought the leather.
4. 3 leather + 3 metal + scented metal. indicated leather article, then deliberately brought back lather. I ignored, smiling at pile for a minute, nothing. so I resent him. He worked sniffed the metal, thought about it, and then picked up a leather. stopped after a foot or two, and stared at me. I stood and smiled. He dropped, went back and considered the OTHER leather. He chose not to and stared running away. I pointed out the metal one and he picked it up and brought it to me.

(sigh)

Small Dogs in Snow

Bo and Tip versus Snowmaggedon.
Or was it Snowpocalypse?? I've lost track.


The smalls live up to their name -- 10 and 11" tall at the shoulder. The most recent snow storm came in at 27". (and there's more on the way tomorrow night!).

Although the storm stopped the postal service in its tracks, Bo and Tip were not deterred. The snow suits completely rock. They are by K9 Top Coat. Tip would do OK without it, but its necessary for Bo! Bo's coat attracts snow balls faster that you can blink, and then he is quite miserable. As the coat covers much of his belly and leg furnishings, he can run around with only minimal snow ball accumulation. (If you think that's funny. you try running around with hug ice balls wedged between your legs and see how much you like it!).

Most of the neighbors who saw this pair out for their constitutional towards the end of the storm just about fell down laughing. Tip's bright red union suit was good, the ridiculous fluffy heads and tails poking out were good, but the fact that the dogs were prancing along on top of the snow, while the rest of the world was slogging through more than 2 feet of snow did the trick!

However, as you can see, Bo and Tip were pretty worn out by the whole affair, and took naps while snuggled up in their other doggy coats...

Oriole Agility Trial = Snow. What is with that????

Tip and Bo had an excellent time at the Oriole Agility trial. Where once again it snowed and made the drive home very long, slow, and tricky. Who forgot to pay off the weather god?

Bo finished his Open Fast title on Friday, and got a bonus leg on Sunday, in which he FINALLY did the weave poles -- third time was apparently the charm. We also had a lovely run in standard, but NQed. (Yes, there will be much weave pole practice in our future! Once the snow and mud go away!)

Tip ran in Novice Preferred Jumpers with Weaves. First trial ever! He was GREAT! He even Qed! (I won't brag about getting first place, because he was the only 4" dog in the class).

Bo and Tip also got to go around the huge (and hugely crowded) Pet Expo. Tip thought that he was finally getting his due -- people had only to see him to rush over and gush over him. Let's be clear -- they were carried through the Pet Expo by yours truly.

We also had the great good fortune to get to see their breeder, Suzanne, and Tip's brother Tino. Tino was very very good and Suzanne finally got to see Bo run!

two bath morning

mud and papillons = not better together, especially if you throw some squirrels into the mix.

Then once your papillons are nice and clean and white again, you are loathe to let them out into the mudpit formerly known as the "back yard". Tip is on my lap, and Bo is in Tip's crate, at my feet. They are both entered in agility next weekend. Tip is in Novice Preferred JWW, mostly just to see how he does at a trial, since I have not been able to practice weave poles for weeks...