Seperation anxiety???

What the heck?  My WFD is manifesting seperation anxiety!  The move isn't going well for poor little Jasmine.  At first, I didn't notice anything apart from her pooping or peeing in the basement.  That didn't worry me overmuch because that's a behaviour she usually falls back to in a new environment.  If I keep an eye on her, it isn't a problem since I can predict when it will happen.  This time, it's nothing as trivial.

First, it was peeling paint from the front door.

Then, it was scratches on the front door molding.

Finally, the botton of the molding was chopped off.  See picture below.

Yup, all this damage made by a little bichon mutt.  I did a "call out" on facebook and here are some of the suggestions that I was given.

• Put on radio.  Actually, it was suggested that I rig something up and make the radio (and house lights)  turn on 15 minutes before my arrival as a predictor.  However, since I usually turned the radio on when I left Jasmine alone, I decided to keep the old habit.  Time will tell if rigging something up will be necessary.
• Leave at random times of the day, and keep them short.  
• Put Jasmine in her crate.  Unfortunately, I never trained her to loooooove her crate.  She endures, but that's about it.  Therefore, the crate is up, all cozy inside with a fluffy blanket, and I'm hoping she'll decide it's her "happy place".
• Get some dog appeasement pheromone (DAP).  Done, and it's plugged in.
• Ignore Jasmine 10 minutes prior to my departure and after my arrival.  I pat myself on the back since that's a habit I've had from day 1.  In those days, it was to avoid Jasmine peeing in excitement near the front door.
• Last but not least, give her some wonderful long lasting reward when I leave.  Not easily done with a low food drive dog.  She ignores her treat until I come back, and I, the evil human, puts it away until the next time I have to leave.

Wish me luck!

Easy does it.....

It's finally done!  The condo is sold.  A new house has been bought in the community where I found my new job.  I moved into the new place last week during one of the worst rainfalls in history.  Several of my neighbours have had serious flooding in their basements, but that isn't surprising after 60 mm of rain fell in just 12 hours.  I count myself lucky after only founding a very small puddle downstairs and a leak in my fireplace.

Ever since I accepted the new job in late June, no real breakthrough has happened in agility, except for Jasmine's first try at standard courses in a trial environment.  I was a bit worried in July when she started limping down the A-Frame and even the front door steps at home.  Even so, I ignored the voice of reason and got into a frenzy of competitions in August and September. What I was thinking?  I finally scratched Jasmine from the trial at Dreamfields last month.  Too much going on and my sanity was being affected.  Not only that, but I decided I didn't want to invest hundreds and even thousands of dollars in vet bills later on.

Jasmine went on a complete break from agility for at least three weeks.  The result is no serious limping has been observed for at least 14 days.  Yay!  We participated at an agility fun match today and she did well.  No zoomies and boy, was she focused.  She did a good A-Frame but stayed on top during the other tries. The contacts could have been better.

What about flyball you ask?  Well.  After three (or is it four?) years of training, mademoiselle Jasmine has finally caught the ball while the box was triggered.

Sometimes, it pays to take some down time.....

September already?

It's amazing how time flies when you're having fun.  At the end of June, I applied and got for a job at a library about 85 km South of here, and it seems that I've been in a rush since then. The condo has been listed and sold.  Found a house at the new place and waiting for banking authorization and the house inspection.  On top of that, I went crazy a few months back and registered in a series of trials in September.

Indeed, not very good planning on my part.

In August, some of us planned a camping trip at Sharbot Lake Provincial Park.  A camping trip which comprised of 8 humans and 10 dogs.  Yes, very impressive.  The good citizens in all of us opted for campsites that were set a good distance from the others, making sure that our dogs were quiet.  Well, mission accomplished in my mind.  : )

Our digital and video cameras were clicking away the whole weekend, so here is sypnosis of the two days we were there.  I'll try to give credit to the right photographers, but I apologize in advance if that doesn't work out.

For the most part, these pictures have already been on facebook, but I still wanted to add them to the blog as well.

Tucker and Jasmine make sure that Lyne doesn't forget any important ingredient.

If Jasmine wasn't playing or sniffing around, she was napping.

Tarot time!

Tucker waiting for his handler to join the group.

Sometimes, you take pictures, but you don't expect to have such a cool finished product.

Picture 1 of my two favorites of the weekend.  Jasmine swimming to her floating toy.  Photographer : Mutts and a Klutz

Finally, this is my favorite.  Jasmine swam to retrieve a toy, and came back to me.  Now isn't that a proud puppy?  Photographer, Mutts and a Klutz.

I truly, truly hope this becomes a yearly tradition.

You win some, and you lose some

The last few weeks have been chaotic, to say the least.   Not only am I changing jobs, I'm moving as well.  Jasmine's training had to be put on hold because of the required house visits, so I'm not as diligant as I used to be.

This weekend was the K9 Kup, and I tried to sneak in a few hours of training to avoid any agravations due to zoomies, failed weave entries, and so on.  Hmpf.  Sure, she didn't zoom away, but she did run clean either.  A very frustrating situation when you know she can be very good when she's "in the vibe".

I was very proud of her yesterday when she did a mean teeter at the training field.  She also respected our new "no zoom rule".  What could possibly go wrong today?

Famous last words.

Snooker course

Not my favorite game, but I admit it's fun when your dog follows you.  A fellow team member showed me a great sequence and I morphed it to make sure no flicks were involved.  We did a great beginning, but I goofed thinking I could "skip" a jump which was part a three part required sequence .  Don't know why I did that, because I never did before.  Bill, today's judge, told me he didn't whistle us off right away because Jasmine was doing so well.  Either that or he didn't see us skip that jump.  : )

Jumpers

Gasp!  Jasmine self-released at the startline!  Double gasp!!!  I was pretty miffed.  My mean lead-out champion cheated on me.  Hmmmm.  I'll have to work on that before the next "real" trial.  I got her focus back and finished the course.  However, I've thought about this and next time, even if she simply self-releases at the very beginning, I'm taking her off the field right away.  That little stunt took me so off guard that it resulted in her going off doing her own thing for a few seconds.  What's interesting is that even with that little joy ride, we still finished under time.  Jasmine IS a speed demon.

Standard

Nose touches woes....Startline stay is good.  Rear cross on the teeter, and she hesitates before "spot", but since we're still working on that obstacle, I accept it.  She waits for her release.  Good 2.  Completes the table.  Good 3.  Everything is going smoothly until.......yep, that darn A-Frame.  It's becoming a trademark of hers.  If Jasmine admires the view, I lose her soon after.  She omits the nose touches on the A-Frame and tries to run/play away.  My voice gets rough as I'm thinking "oooooooooooooh no, she's not pulling this on me today."  My weave queen doesn't weave.  (sigh).  I try her twice, no go.  I can hear my coach saying "LYNE, YOU SHOULD HAVE KEPT TRYING UNTIL SHE GOT IT".    I agree.  I'll do as she says at the next trial or K9 Kup, I promise.  She also didn't do any of her nose touches.  Argh!  I think she self-released on the dog walk, and at the very end, blew her nose touch. Hmpf..  Listen to my voice when I say "jump".  It's rough because I'm peeved she didn't nose touch and self-released soon after.

All in all, we've had better days, but she didn't zoom away,  I'm grateful for that.

Here is the video.

Obstacle Training

Our ongoing quest for a Q in Advanced Jumpers is quite difficult.  Maybe it's a psychological wall in my head?  I can nail the difficult sequences in class, but in competition?  Oh boy.  Something else entirely.  I'm hoping that this weekend's fun match will also help me practice full sequences as well as front crosses.  They're always a problem in trials since I can't seem to figure out where to use them.  : (

My goal for July is to have Jasmine successfully complete obstacles.  As of yesterday, June 14th, the A-Frame is done!  Yipee!  No longer does she stop at the very top to contemplate the scenery.  She quickly trots downward to a beautiful 2o2o contact. 

The training for the A-Frame has been going on since last April I think.  I always start by doing several rear-end body awareness exercices which are to "back-up" as well as backing up on the obstacle itself.  After, I physically put her on the first slat from the ground and ask her to target, or in our case, "spote" is our command word.  Oh and, by the way, don't forget to wait for a focus forward before giving the target command.  After each successful AND confident attempt, I raise her position on the next slat, and up she goes, until she reaches the very top.

I was training on my lonsome yesterday, when I suddently thought (yes, that does happen once in a while) what's the difference  between starting her from the top of the A-Frame to doing the whole obstacle?  I took my courage in hand and the result was the fastest and most confident A-Frame in Jasmine's life.  Wow!!!  I tried it on the other side (dog on left).  Same result!  Double wow!!!  Tried it making sure she was nose touching and staying in her contact position as I was continuing to run away.  Same result!  Triple wow!!! All that hard work finally pays off. 

Next on the list?  The dogwalk.

People read this blog?

Wow!  I had no idea.  I met a friend at a trial this weekend who told me she was anxiously waiting for new posts on this blog  Initially, I thought LR was my only reader but it seems that I acquired a second one.  ; )  I apologize for being so slow and will try to improve my posting frequency in the future.  I have to admit that my blog was originally written in French and I added this English blog later on to keep a kind of brag page for Jasmine's accomplishment.  Way back when I was in high school, I was considered quite a writer, but my every day job requires me to write only report-like compositions, all very blah and boring. 

The first blog "La carrière canine de Jasmine", was my solution to that.  It would be my place to write about our adventures in different dog sports and make it interesting.  That way, I would go to my original love, writing.   I may not have mentioned this before, but you may have noticed by my style of writing that English is a second language for me.  My first language is French and I really want to keep it alive, not only by speaking it.  If any of you have heard of a very good agility blog in French, let me know.  I'd like to add it to my list of "interesting links" on the French version of this work.

I started an English a few months later after the French one, but the work involved keeping both blogs updated, as well as doing the translation, was a bit too much.  It discouraged me and I didn't blog at all for several months.  Now, I'll make an effort to keep both running and updated.  The entries might be shorter, but at least you'll have the latest news. 

Thanks for the encouraging pat on the back. 

Q 2 = Bye Bye Starters Jumpers

We're back in beautiful Kingston for a Spring trial.  Finally, I can truthfully say I completed a run with no butterflies in my stomach.  That is an accomplishment in itself.  Maybe it has to do with the fact that I'm getting more and more comfortable?

Just before our run, we do a few jumps in the warm-up area, when, as we were walking out, Jasmine was attacked/lunged at by a boston terrier.  This isn't  the first time a dog of that breed attacks her, and I'm starting to wonder...  Is this only a coincidence or is she sending out bad vibes to them?  Anyways, I spent a good moment working on focus exercises with her such as sit, heel, down, stand, and rewarding her with salmon treats.  I then insisted she play tug with me, which she finally did after I knelt down.  I now know what to do to get her to tug for with me on deck.  Usually, she does everything she can to avoid making eye contact with me.  


For some reason, I did the walking/run release at the start line to practice what we've been doing in class.  Jasmine is having trouble targeting when I walk or run during lessons.  Maybe I shouldn't have tried this in a trial but it worked.   Did I mention I'm getting too comfortable in trials?

Never thought for a moment about using my arms so the usual routine is there.  I start with no arms, bring in arms in the middle, and then just run for dear life at the end.  Luckily, Jasmine sees her line for the end sequence, but I kept yelling out obstacles names even so.  Another behaviour she finds challenging in class and I had a flashback while I was huffing and puffing my way to the finish line.

Result?  Hehehe.  A Q!  We've now finished the Starters Jumpers Class and we've moved up to Advances.

Yikes!!

Double yikes!!!

Interested in the run?  Here is the video.  Enjoy!