Thursday, May 15, 2014

Happy 9th Birthday Baby Girl!

So today is Abby's 9th Birthday! Seriously can not believe I've had my baby girl for nearly 9 years! She's my best friend, my partner in crime, and the love of my life. She's taught me so much and we've been through way to much. Can't imagine myself without this little brat.


At 9 years old she's still going strong enjoying agility and her newest venture dock diving! I've been told time and time again(mainly by my dad) that's she's to old to be doing this or that, but I look at her and she really loves what she's doing. So we'll keep going until she tells me otherwise(and believe me if she didn't want to do agility or whatever she'd basically refuse to do it.... I'm so proud of her and she's really changed my life. So here's to many more amazing and fun filled years with my little brat!

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Long time no post...

Well it's been a while since I last updated and let me tell you a lot has happened since we last posted!

To start well Karma finally started reactive dog classes! She had her first class two weeks ago and did awesome! We ended up going with a completely different trainer/facility than we had originally planned because financially it was a better fit for me not to mention about 5 mins away from my house. I personally preferred the other facility, but these guys are nice as well and I think I'll enjoy training with them.

So for a mini synopsis of what happened...

Basically we did this walking thing where all but one of us were "stationary". And the moving dog(the one that visited all the dogs) would approach in an arch and we would move toward them in an arch and then keep going and once the dogs got used to that we would do the same thing, but pause and toss treats(so the other person would toss a treat at karma and I would toss to their dog) and move along. Karma at the beginning of the class was obviously over aroused, but I did get her to the point where she eventually was able to settle and we kinda wigged out and had a party and tugged the leash etc. She also did pretty good with the pausing and treating cuz after she'd get the treat I'd basically tell her let's go and we'd sort of jog off and we'd tug or whatever and she did well...

Then Karma and I went on a walk with three other dogs and when we got back all dogs/handlers went for a walk together and we would take turns "leading" So dog in back would pass the other dogs at a safe distance while still under threshold and get to the front etc.

Now during the initial walk she pulled like a freight and when we were passing the reactive boxer(who started lunging/barking at her) she was able to pass without reacting back! And that's huge considering barking is a big trigger for her. Anyway the last walk with all the dogs was basically for everyone to just destressed and by then she was perfectly fine walking in a pack of dogs. Her tail lowered and she just relaxed. And durng the walk don't think she had a single reaction...

Anyway afterwards we all had a chat with the trainer and we talked a lot about calming signals and the points to the exercises etc. eh that's all I can remember...

So yeah that was our first class. Unfortunately we haven't had the chance to go back(our membership is a lifetime thing so we can go to as many classes as we can make etc), but with summer rolling around I'll be a bit more free to attend classes....

Abby's agility is still going awesome! We actually ended up stopping agility classes. Originally it was due to her health problems, but I started to notice that with the break when she did get the chance to do agility she was more motivated and happy getting to play. So I decided it was best to stop classes and now we are just doing run thrus, ring rentals, and trialing when we can and I couldn't be happier with how she's doing! She actually turns 9 next week and I have plans to do a ring rental and pool rental next weekend for her birthday!


Finally both girls have officially started dock diving! We ended up joining Dixie Dock Dogs and have made it to at least one club practice and I took them to a pool rental. At the first practice I managed to get Abby in to about her chest, but she was really unsure about the ramp(at least that's what I assume because she's really spooky about ramps in general) and while you could tell she really wanted to go in she just wasn't confident enough. Karma on the other hand wanted nothing to do with it. Now at the pool rental I finally got Abby in and once she realized that it was safe it was nearly impossible to keep her out of the pool! From that point on she pretty much fell in love with the sport hehe. Still haven't gotten her to jump off the big kid dock, but that'll happen sooner or lat. Karma on the other hand still thinks water is evil and must be avoided at all cost *sigh* Hopefully she'll catch on sooner or later though...