10.31.06
Check out our ad in the UDC Focus
I finally recieved the latest UDC Focus and was happy to see our ads made it in 
10.25.06
Late night…..
It was a great training night for Miss Mo. I started out with obedience and was focusing on the sit out of motion. She started out by insisting on platzing when I asked her to sit. I think this is because we have worked so hard on the command platz when she is free and running. I taught her to platz whenever I ask; unfortunately she has shown me that I should have done the same with sitz. Minor over site on my part, but was delighted after about 5-10 repetitions with help into position and reward with food that she started to catch on. Her healing was beautiful, but when I attempted small sections of running she got bouncy on me and thought it was play time. I gave her some corrections into position and she re-focused on the task at hand. I think at this pace she will be ready for her BH this spring. Keeping my fingers crossed
During protection, she was showing more fire than ever. It seems that Cosmo is blossoming before me and every time she is worked the more confidence and fight she brings to the table. We worked her in a dark parking lot with one overhead light. Butch had her focus on me while he tapped the sleeve and walked around her. She had nice focus and bit with nice intensity when released. Her bark-in-holds were convincing and the more he pushed her the more she wanted to hold her ground by straddling his leg. During the final portion of her protection work, Butch dropped to the ground when she bit the sleeve and rolled around with her. She held on and did well, but when he rolled over on her she let go, but re-bit on the other side. He continued to cover her eyes and put pressure on her and she hung on for dear life. I could see she was trying to figure out what was going on, but she was working through it and wouldn’t relinquish her full bite. I thought it was a great experience for her and more work like this will continue to build her confidence and teach her that she is able to “win” the fight at all costs. 
10.21.06
No Mali Nationals for me….
Ahh, why is that? Well, I don’t have a Malinois, but thought I would go and support my friends at the nationals. Although, it didn’t happen. I have been working so many hours at the hospital that I found myself wanting to sleep in late this morning and say F*ck tracking. Instead of spending my weekend dedicated to the dogs, I made the executive decision to make it a family day and head out to fall fest. We got to work our way through a corn maze, take a hay ride, and attend wine fest. The kids enjoyed listening to the latino band and I had one, two, maybe three or more glasses of wine It was fun time had by all. Here are some pics of Baccara enjoying the day.
10.16.06
Good training weekend!! It started out with tracking on nice green grass with a cool breeze in the air.
Cosmo: When I placed her track, I made four legs, three articles, with a series of “S” curves at the end. I didn’t mark the last section of curves, because I decided she either figures it out and gets the reward or doesn’t get her jackpot. She started out intense and hit the first corner nicely, the second corner she NAILED!!! It was the nose sweeping foot to foot with a literal 90 degree pivot to the next leg. The next leg was nice and she did a tight circle (her back legs never left the track) and went down the final leg and into the curves. When she hit the curves, I had to blindly trust she was on the track. She appeared to do well as I noticed she periodically picked up food and found her way to the reward. I was very happy. For obedience I did the BH routine for the first time broke up into little sections. She did every exercise without issue. I put her on a long down and she had a little hiccup and crawled forward when it started getting loud from a nearby fox hunt with dogs barking up storm. I corrected her back to position and Mike fired the gun and she remained indifferent. I think we have found the key to protection with her. The harder she gets pushed by the decoy, the stronger she responds. She was biting full, taking stick hits, and doing a nice bark n’ hold in the blind.
Jingo: He did an equally nice track, but did do a couple large circles on a couple corners of his track, but he balanced it with some very nice turns as well. He indicated all his articles without issue, but did get a little sloppy on the final article. In obedience, Mike focused on the dumbbells and long down. Jingo did these without issue. The day wrapped up with working on the blind search. Jingo was being stubborn at first, but once he realized not running, was NOT an option, he began to cooperate. My complaint with his blind search is that he runs very wide around the blinds. Hopefully we can tighten that up in the next couple of sessions.
10.10.06
Why I have a lump on my head!!
I was attempting to get photos of Cosmo while she ran around. The inevitable happened and she collided into me smashing the camera into my face and knocking it to the ground.
I love my dogs!!! I have been upset about some recent events and Cosmo litterally knocked some sense into me I went from being stressed to laughing until tears ran down my face with a huge knot on my head. Thanks Miss Mo!
Tracking, again….
I tracked Baccara and Cosmo at the local school grounds yesterday. The grass was green, soft, but dry in areas. I laid Cosmo’s track and had Mike make a track for Baccara.
Cosmo: Cosmo’s track was four legs long with three articles. I really should be making them longer, but I didn’t because it was warmer than normal and I was being lazy. Cosmo tracked nicely, with good intensity, and indicated without reminders. Although she was doing one thing wrong, she would see the article and indicate about half a dog length in front of it. I suppose that is better than over stepping, but it is still not correct. When I approached her with the reward, I coaxed her forward to the article with the food and gave the command Such Platz. It seemed to work well, because the last article she indicated very nicely.
Baccara: This is a classic example of why I never ask Mike to lay a track. He made an extremely difficult track through many barren areas that consisted of mostly sand. He also did odd angles and who knows what else. Anyway, since Baccara and I have not tracked often together, I wanted an easy Schutzhund three track to build confidence and help us become a good team. When I realized the type of track he laid, I was cursing him the entire way. Baccara did ok, but struggled through some areas and failed to indicate any articles. I was really angry, maybe more angry than I should have been. I just hate setting a dog up for failure, so my next track will be a very easy Schutzhund three track with lots of food.
10.01.06
Not afraid to admit failure….
My week has been a series of highs and lows. It started out with Saturday training at the club. It has been awhile since I have tracked Cosmo with the training director’s supervision. I brought her out and she did a lovely 4 leg track. Her little tail was wagging a 100 mph and showed tons of intensity. She needed some reminding on the articles. She stopped, but needed the additional reminder of platz. Butch said she looked good and to keep up the same training. It is nice to hear since I enjoy tracking so much. In Obedience Cosmo has made great strides and really understands the positions, pivots, and beginning steps of healing. She understands when given a command not to move until I release her. It is funny because I have told her sitz and forget to release her and give a pop on the leash. She won’t move. She will maintain her ground until I say “ok.” I have never had a dog so solid in her obedience. It is great stuff, unlike the other beast… Oh, I will save that for later. Protection went well and she was taking the stick hits without issue. It almost seemed like the more pressure put on her, the better she would bite. I am so proud of her.
Baccara: She has temporarily joined the ranks of house beast. Her and Snips are enjoying ruling the roost, but I am putting her to work soon.
Jingo: Um, this is where the failure part comes in. Ok, he isn’t a failure, but Jingo firmly believes that obedience isn’t necessary in Schutzhund. We took him to the Fairhill Schutzhund Club trial and he failed the obedience phase. The tracking conditions were ideal, with nice lush grass. He earned a score of 78 because passed one article and had a couple of tight circles on the corner. In obedience he scored a 60 because he blew the long down (went to visit the judge), forgot to sit during the sit out of motion, and sat during the platz out of motion. In protection he ran nicely around blind one and then galloped down to blind six. After that his routine was solid and he earned the score of 90 pronounced. In the judge’s critique, it was recommended we include blinds 2, 3, 4, and 5 into our training program It was a great time and as always we learned a few things too! Here are some pictures:
