So here is your quick recap of this past weekends trial:
Just a few notes on WHY we had most of our problems – the American Bank Center was insanely COLD. Those of you who know me in real life know that I NEVER complain about being cold (I lived in Ithaca for 4 years and never complained) but Goddamn this place was cold. Anyway, that explains a lot of our problems as you will later read about.
Saturday:
Obedience in the Morning: Somehow that Saturday morning I ended up in the ring with a dog who was not Mackenzie. This dog would not pay any attention to me, forgot how to sit, ran with a tight lead throughout the entire Heel on Lead, and then did a beautiful Stand for Exam.
After her Stand for Exam I asked to be excused from the ring.
And then I ran outside and cried a lot and asked my parents if we could just go home and I wanted to quit and never come back and blah blah blah.
Rally in the Afternoon: Our run was wonderful. We went FAST and when we finished the whole crowd went into an uproar (perhaps they watched us that morning too?) Several people told me afterwards that they thought we were going to get 1st place, it was that good.
As it turns out, we did make a few mistakes, but regardless we Q’d with an 83. Fourth place was a score of 85 so we were pretty damn close to placing.
Sunday:
Obedience: This time it WAS Mackenzie in the ring with me. A few things were rough but it was INFINITELY better than Saturday. We obviously got some points off when I was heeling by myself in the Heel Free, but I called her back to me and we finished it out with a fabulous Fast/normal. Again her Stand for Exam was flawless (how did that happen?) and her Recall was nearly perfect (she sat crooked) and she finished beautifully. Even though she was shaking uncontrollably the entire time we were in the ring (from being so cold).
So then we went back into the ring for the group stays and it was
1. a huge black Belgian sheepdog
2. a huge Rhodesian Ridgeback
3. a little tiny Mackenzie
4. a huge Boxer
Everything was going fine until the Rhodesian Ridgeback waltzed on over to his handler. Mackenzie watched him, looked around at the other two dogs, and then ran towards me at FULL SPEED in typical Happy dog style. She screeched to a halt in front position wagging her tail and looking up at me. I smiled and said “Couldn’t stay away for that long huh?” The judge gave us our leashes and excused us for the long down.
Rally: After nearly Qing that morning, I figured we had nothing to worry about in Rally since her attention was so much better. I got the course and let Mackenzie hang out in her crate to try and warm up. Whenever she was out of the crate she was visibly shaking from the cold so we didn’t practice too much. So we were all set to take a break outside when the Judge decided to forgo his lunch break and start the NOVICE class right then. We walked the course and then we started.
I got Mackenzie out and we warmed up with some practice moves and we were all set to go. I had good focus from her and I thought we had it in the bag.
Halfway through the course I’m thinking something was a little off with her. She didn’t want to sit for too long and she was acting a bit odd. So we’re at sign 6 Call Front Finish Right Halt. I call her front, ask her to sit, she looks back at her butt, sits, and then pops a squat.
My dog PEED in the Obedience Ring.
I can blame the cold, I can blame myself, I can blame it on the judge for not taking his lunch break, but I can’t blame Mackenzie. It was too much for her. It was too cold and she couldn’t deal with it.
So we left in shame. I smiled, thanked the judge, and walked out of the ring, took off my armband, got my stuff and called my parents over and we left.
Will I eventually go back in the ring, of course I will. There’s a first show for everyone. Even the OTCH Border Collie in the ring next to us had a “first show” and I’m guessing it wasn’t all Qs and 1st places. So yes, our first show was a disaster, but it could have been worse.
We did come home with one Q and one green ribbon after all. And more importantly a lot of nice compliments from a lot of nice people.
There’s a reason you don’t see Dachshunds in the obedience ring. But you will see this one again. 
A few weeks ago during one of our nightly (well, maybe not exactly nightly but we do try to train nearly every night) I enlisted the help of both my Mom and my Dad. Dad was choosing and holding up the Rally signs for us to work on and Mom was holding the full length mirror (big girl + very small dog means I can’t really see where she is in relation to perfect heel position without getting myself completely out of position).
As we were working my Dad made a comment,
“You know, you’re really lucky that you’ve got a dog that absolutely LOVES all this stuff.”
And she does. She absolutely LOVES training. Whether we’re doing obedience or tricks, she just really enjoys working with me. And I am lucky. To have such a drive-y dog in such a small package. A dog who will respond above and beyond my expectations. People ask me all the time “Why does she just keep staring at you? How do you get her to do that? Did you train her to keep her eyes on you at all times?” We just work that well together. We are a team.
The only thing holding us back from dominating the dog sport world is our location. There is NOTHING down here. Our nearest obedience club is more than two hours away. No one has ever heard of earthdog or canine freestyle. Sure some people enjoy throwing a ball or frisbee for their dog or teaching them to down and stay but no one wants to pursue any of that as a sport and actually compete. But I love this stuff. Thankfully so does my dog.
So yes, I am lucky to have such a ready and willing dog. And I will take her as far as I possibly can even with our current limitations. She is everything you could ever want in a performance dog. And I am very very lucky that she loves this “stuff” so much, because so do I.
Maybe it was the Hurricane. Or the fact that she’s been a total DEVIL today (more on that later). But whatever it was, Mackenzie was more ON tonight in our training than she’s been in a long time.
Because of the Hurricane, I got the day off today. Throughout the day we’ve been to my Nan’s house (my Mom’s mom), my Grandma’s house (Dad’s mom), my Aunt’s house (Mom’s sister: who is in NYC for the summer with her daughters – my cousins – and my Uncle), and various other streets to assess the damage that Dolly did.
This morning when we went to my Grandma’s houses Dad had the brainy idea to take Mackenzie. I won’t go into all the details (imagine the worst YOUR dog has ever been and multiply that by at least 3x) but needless to say, Mackenzie was horrible. I imagine it was partly our fault because we were nervous about what we would find, and while we were driving there was a lot of “OMG look at that! Look over there! What happened at that house?” and so on (remember Mackenzie is a highly reactive hunting-type dog so any mention of “LOOK WHAT’S THAT OVER THERE” gets her going). So we probably added to her being nervous and excruciatingly whiny and trying to jump out windows (I would roll down the windows to take pictures which I may or may not post in this blog).
Once we got to Nan’s house it was evident that we really should not have brought her. There was broken glass on the driveway, a horrible Basset Hound chained up across the street who barked for the entire time we were there, and TONS of bugs and mosquitoes, not to mention a lot of work for us to do.
Anyway, we cleaned up and finally made it home after threatening to leave Mackenzie on the streets with a pair of mean stray dogs who chased our car on the way to my other Grandma’s house. The rest of the day was spent at my Aunt’s house (without the dog) trying to clean up their flooded living room where my brother slipped and fell on some wet tile. So all in all it’s been an awful day.
This evening after we got home from my Aunt’s house we were sitting in the living room and Mackenzie was on the sofa with my Mom on one side and my Dad on the other. Beethoven (her worst enemy) was laying under the coffee table near my Dad’s feet. My Mom got up to get my brother an ice pack for his back and Dad decided to get up at the same time. In what seemed like slow motion, Mackenzie took a flying leap off the sofa and onto Beethoven’s neck in a flurry of fur and teeth. I yelled at her to stop (believe me, this happens nearly once a week with those two so we’re used to it just being a lot of noise and white fur) but this time she was really into it and didn’t want to let go.
After a few moments she let him go and I grabbed her and escorted her to her crate for a cool down. Once I closed the door to the crate I told her she was a DIABLA (devil).
Fast forward a couple of hours (after all of that I really needed a nap) and we had our evening training session. A few sessions ago I was really starting to stress out about her crooked fronts and sloppy finishes but apparently she’s been studying because she was totally tight and clean tonight.
At our last training session we brought out the target stick (which I hold in my mouth so that I can keep my hands at my sides) and she was cleaning up her fronts and finishes, but even then I had no idea what to expect today (especially with the way she’s been acting today and the Hurricane yesterday). What I got was this incredible dog who was actually coming close enough to me in her fronts to actually bump my leg! In previous sessions we had been having a lot of trouble with her even coming close enough at all, now she was actually TOO CLOSE! Obviously we don’t want her front paws on my feet or her nose bumping my leg at a trial, but I would much rather work on that then have a dog who comes front and sits 3 feet away from me.
We worked all the Novice Rally signs and she was totally brilliant. The cones exercises are going to be a problem though. I get quite dizzy watching such a short dog while we’re heeling around those damn cones. After the Spiral-Dog Inside sign I need a few seconds to get my bearings back or else I would probably be on the floor with her. Other than my problems, Mackenzie was definitely clean on everything. Fast Forward from Sit might get her a little bit crazy because sometimes that’s how we end our sessions, but we’ll work on maintaining control after that sign. All in all, her fronts and finishes were absolutely brilliant. It was probably one of our best sessions (especially given the circumstances).
And in the best news of the night, she finally did what I would consider a solid flip finish.
She got jackpotted and hopefully she’ll keep trying it.
Worked on some freestyle with Spencer tonight. It was 10:39PM and I had been watching some YouTube videos of disc dogs *coughbordercolliescough* and I got the itch to practice with him. We worked “around” where he runs behind my back (to the right) and comes to the front of me on the left side so I can throw for him. We did some long distance catches (as “long distance” as my living room can be considered). Also some short distance/height catches where he’s right in front of me but he has to really jump for the catch.
In general he’s really improving. We haven’t mastered leg weaves… or rather, we haven’t gotten leg weaves at all, ever. He’s really good at “spin” and all of his other tricks (sit up, shake, wave, roll-over, bark) in exchange for the disc which is good. What I would really like to get before our little demo in July is leg weaves and him jumping over my leg in preparation for a knee/leg vault. OMG and we’re going to start work on a back vault.
In less interesting news Dad got me a new nalgene when he was in California this past week and I LOVE it, but I left it in my car yesterday the whole time I was at work. So then today Mom made a big deal about me remembering to get it down at work, so I got it down at work… and forgot it there. And I’m off tomorrow and Thursday. 
Oh but Mackenzie did a really good Stand for Exam AND Stand in motion while at work.
I sent out THREE Letters to the Editor to The Monitor, The Brownsville Herald and the Valley Morning Star. The following is what I sent them:
Letter To The Editor:
The recent stories appearing in the newspaper and the news media about pit bull attacks has compelled me to write this letter in an effort to inform the general public about the complexities of this often misunderstood breed. I write this letter not only as a dog lover, and dog owner, but also as a dedicated and knowledgeable dog professional. I have met, trained, and interacted with hundreds of pit bulls and pit bull mixes both in New York where I graduated from college and here in Texas.
Many people are intent to persuade the public that pit bulls are not only innately aggressive but almost solely owned by people wanting an aggressive breed of dog who are more willing to encourage this negative behavior. The original pit fighting dogs were known for their aggressiveness towards other dogs but never toward their human masters. In the days of dog-fighting any dog who tried to attack a human handler was immediately “culled” or put to death because they would be of no use if they were aggressive toward their human trainers and handlers. Pit bulls were never bred to be aggressive towards humans but because they were bred to be aggressive and willing fighters (as far back as the time when they were used for bull-baiting), in the wrong hands certain traits may be magnified.
The idea of nature versus nurture is a very common one in this debate and pit bull fanciers will argue that it is not the four-legged beast but rather the two-legged one that is to blame for the breed’s negative image. In the wrong hands almost any breed could be deemed dangerous if handled poorly over a significant amount of time. Many believe the solution to the “pit bull problem” is to simply ban the pit bull breed(s) altogether. The most blatant problem with “Breed Specific Legislation”, which means legislative restrictions placed on the right to own specific breeds, is that it does not take into account the owner’s responsibility for the dog or the individual temperament of each dog. Nearly every city in the United States has some sort of legislation in effect that holds the owner responsible if their dog attacks or bites someone. Therefore, the solution is to enforce the laws that are already in place. Other proposed solutions are requiring new dog owners to complete introductory classes or attend seminars that promote proper canine care and more specifically, classes that outline responsible dog ownership.
Is owning and raising a pit bull a bigger responsibility than owning a different breed of dog? Absolutely. Not only do you have a large, muscular, powerful, high energy dog to train and socialize, but you also have to be very aware that your dog is not going to be liked by everyone, and even hated by some. If you own a pit bull (or any powerful breed) it is up to you to take proper precautions to ensure your dog is a well-behaved member of our community. Sign you and your dog up for a positive-reinforcement based training class, take him out on daily walks not only to exercise him, but to socialize him to various sights, sounds, dogs, and people. Raise your dog with the idea that he is a valued and cherished member of your family and he will behave like one.
Respectfully Submitted
Did I mention they don’t publish/accept anything longer than 300 words? Yea, it’s 561.
When I was in college I would always dress up for exam days. No matter how I felt that day, or whether I had actually slept the night before, I would always put on some really good clothes, do my hair and makeup, and try and look as fabulous as possible. I figured this was the day that all those other days were leading up to. All those days of sitting in class writing notes, listening (or not) to lectures, and waking up relatively early to go to class (or not). The exam day was the culmination of all those days and nights of hard work (surely I’m exaggerating for some classes) and I wanted to make it special.
Now that I’ve graduated there is a new goal in mind.
It was more than a year ago that Dad, Mackenzie and I attended an AKC Obedience and Rally seminar in Austin, Tx. A year ago I decided that we were going to get serious about dog sports. A year ago Mackenzie and I went from “pet training” to “competitive obedience training”. And here we are now. One year later and a few months until our first trial. Our first time in the ring and our first time at a dog show.
We’ve been training with this in mind for over a year, I’ve already requested the days off from work, Dad is going to clear his schedule, Mom is coming too, and even Matt is interested in what all this talk is about. Today I bought a really badass collapsible crate, a new orthopedic bed (in the same shade of blue to match the new crate) and a new Wing-a-Ball (to save for the show weekend).
And naturally, I needed some nice new clothes for the trial. I got two new striped button-down shirts (one in blue stripes and the other in pink/red stripes) which are short enough to leave un-tucked, but I may tuck them in just in case they prevent Mackenzie from seeing my eyes. When I was trying them on I even practiced giving a right and left finish signal to see how well they moved (clearly they passed the evaluation). I also got some really cute shoes with hardcore grips on the bottom to wear in the ring as well.
This is it. The trial is in the beginning of August.
Things we really need to work on in order of how much work they need:
-Stand for Exam: with as many people/situations as possible
-Proofing Stays: I want at least a 2 min sit/stay and a 5 min down/stay before August
-Recall/Front: She comes in a little crooked and sometimes is a bit too far from me
-Heeling is great: need to work on-lead more since mainly we work off-lead
-Figure 8 is pretty solid: could use some proofing with different kinds of people
Also within the next few days we need to refresh our memory of Rally (duh) and figure out if we are going to enter both O/RLY on Saturday and Sunday. God I’m giddy.
Filed under: dogs
If you’ve never been to a Pet First Aid class, you need to go. If only for the amusement of the CPR dummy dogs and cats (well that and for the countless other tips and tricks you should know when living with dogs/cats). When you breath into their noses, their little chests (complete with “lungs”) move up and down as though you are actually bringing them back to life.
Anyway, I must get dressed for work, but I just wanted to say that I am now certified by the American Red Cross in Pet First Aid for both Dogs and Cats!
And after the class I rode around the parking lot on a TRIKKE.
I got my hair cut this afternoon and I must say it looks pretty fierce. And you know I don’t use the word ‘fierce’ that often, so it must be true. After my haircut I went to get some pictures developed at HEB. Then I came home and did some scrapbooking. Is that a verb? Scrapbooking? Whatever, it’s awesome. I can feel myself start to get totally obsessed with it. I try not to shop in the “scrapbooking” section at Hobby Lobby because I feel this urge to spend hundreds of dollars on scrapbooking accessories. God, I love it. It is incredibly fun to do and if I can’t imagine how bad I would be if I were actually a stay-at-home Mom… Thankfully I am not, and instead I scrapbook pictures of my clients and their dogs.
At around 5:30PM I began briefing Mom on what she needed to know to play Judge for Mackenzie and I. And let me tell you, it was quite a challenge. My mom, an extremely intelligent and successful woman, could not for the life of her figure out how to do a logical Heel sequence. Her favorite thing to call out was “Forward…Fast…Slow…STOP!” right before she ran us into the street.
After a few tries however, she gave us some pretty good ones. The “Fast…Halt” was actually pretty good practice even though it can’t be called out in the ring. We managed to get a few good sequences both on and off-leash. We then did a few Stand For Exams which Mackenzie did beautifully for the first (and only) time in her life. And this is my Mom, so imagine how she’ll do with a stranger if she can hardly stand still for my Mom. She’s never understood that even though I gave her a command she is still allowed to be petted. When we are at work and I’m working with her and someone comes up to pet her and let’s say she’s in a sit/stay, she will actually scoot away from the person who is trying to pet her. Either that or she will actually get up, walk a few steps away and then sit down again. Like she simply can not be bothered with petting when she is in a stay. Obviously we need to work on this.
We did Figure 8s with little cones as the posts which she did very well with. And then we did a couple of Heel Off leash sequences. Mom of course was terribly nervous that Mackenzie was off leash in the front yard (no fence) during 5-6PM traffic. Much to her surprise, Mackenzie is actually MORE attentive to me when she is off leash.
By this point I was sweating so much that my hair was about to start getting frizzies so we came inside. I talked to Dad for a little bit about how I was now officially promoting Mom to Head Coach and demoting him to Assistant Coach because she was learning so quickly. As we were talking Mackenzie decided to attack Beethoven (our 16yo Lhasa Apso). Although we’ve made great progress in lessening her food aggression, there are just some times when she can’t help herself (like Spaghetti Mondays obviously). She’s been crated for the past half hour (while we ate dinner) and we will probably work on training some more in a little bit once she calms down.
Tomorrow I’m going to a Pet First Aid class in Harlingen with a few of my clients and people from our therapy dog group.
I think if Mackenzie were a real person she would be some kind of life counselor or a psychiatrist. She has this incredible ability to get through to not only people but she is simply amazing with other dogs.
As some of you may know, a few months ago Mackenzie was showing some real signs of dog aggression. Her label would be “dog-reactive” or “leash-reactive” but to the average dog owner she would be considered “aggressive”. In other words, she was (still is sometimes) a BITCH.
A “happy and playful” (in dog trainer terms: a RUDE, BADLY-TRAINED) puppy would run up “just to say HI” and Mackenzie would react. We got to the point that she was growling/snapping at nearly every dog who approached her unless they were well-trained and calm. So obviously, since my job is as a dog trainer, the majority of dogs she would meet were not well-trained (yet).
I knew something had to be done so I did all kinds of research, asked other trainers, bought books, and got my ass in gear. Today, almost a year after the peak of her aggression (she drew blood from the nose of a Golden puppy) she helped me with a dog/leash-reactive Lab. I let her in the training area (off-leash), she sniffed around, stretched and yawned several times (calming signals) and kept her eyes on me the whole time. The Lab didn’t react at all. In fact, both of them acted, for the most part, like the other dog wasn’t there. Mackenzie was amazing as was the Lab, who also seems to only react when the other dog approaching him is rude and ill-trained.
We’re at the point now that Group sits and stays in the Novice ring are a real possibility. A year ago I might have said her dog show career was impossible. A year ago she stopped coming to work with me and I was thinking that maybe it was hopeless to even try to work with her around other dogs. I was wrong. We’ve worked through it and we continue to work on her reactivity every single day. She has made tremendous progress and now greets other dogs with enthusiasm. She really is incredible to watch.
The Chuck-It is BY FAR the greatest dog invention in the history of dog inventions. Little did I know what I’ve been missing out on, but today marks the first day we try out our new Chuck-It. Initially I thought they were dumb and huge and horribly awkward to use, but once I found the Chuck-It JR. (in bright yellow!!!) at the natural pet food store in Harlingen, I had to have one. Best $8.99 I ever spent.
Every week, (unless one of the dogs is sick with a rash, infection, allergies, vomiting, and any other random ailment my dogs get just to make me worry) we go out to this elementary school park near my house and meet one of my clients/friends and her Aussie Matilda. Usually we just bring the frisbee(s) and toss that around for Spence while Matilda watches and Mackenzie gets into trouble. Today I brought the frisbee AND the chuck-it and I was going to allow Spencer to choose which one he would rather play with. When he insisted on carrying his frisbee all the way to the car, and then getting it down all by himself at the park, I thought he had already chosen. I got the chuck-it down anyway and when he realized OMG ITS A BALL!!! all hell broke loose. This boy is OBSESSED with balls.
My first attempt at throwing left Spencer panting and waiting for me to actually do something even though the ball was several thousand feet away (yes, several thousand feet away). It took him two throws to understand that the yellow stick-thing isn’t actually part of the fun (which of course didn’t stop him from carrying the whole stick + ball all over the park when I told him to carry it).
He has such intense ball drive which comes from how we raised Spencer as a puppy. A professor friend of my Dad’s had a litter of Scottish Terriers that he needed to “get rid of”. Dad and I have always wanted a Scottie so me Dad and Matt went over to look at them. They were the absolute definition of Farm dogs. The mother dog, Maggie I think was her name, was totally scruffy and had probably never seen a pair of clippers much less gotten a proper “Scottie trim”. The pups were probably about 4-5wks old.
Needless to say, we came home with a fat jet black (with a white beard and tie) wiry terrier puppy who we would soon name Spencer. From the day we brought him home my brother kept saying “I hope he likes balls. I want to play catch with him”. Now Mackenzie is no master of catch and fetch, but she does at least try. It’s just that her mouth is too small. So my brother was hoping for a dog who would actually be able to catch a ball in his mouth. Shortly after we brought him home we introduced him to a ball. At this point he’s so ball crazy that we only ever let him see any balls when we take him out to the park.
If he were a Border Collie, we would absolutely be at the top of the flyball and disc dog world. But instead I’ve got Border Collie drive in a Scottish Terrier shaped package.
