Postings by Tika RS-O JS-O GS-N CL3-F

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Tika RS-O- JS-O GS-N- CL3-F Mine?     Barked: Thu Apr 4, '13 1:27pm PST  As I mentioned in my last post on this thread, I started trialing Tika early. She did a NADAC Beginners Agility at only a year and two weeks. She also had been in the ring for Sub-Novice Obedience and Novice Rally at exactly a year old...so I knew that she could maintain focus on me. She had just (I mean just!) been introduced to an A-frame, but already had a 2o/2o contact. I wasn't worried about a Q - I was working with her on being in a big open ring with only me and the judge. When Tika's first trial came around at almost 16 months I wasn't sure what to expect in the ring. We had only done full courses (10+ obstacles) a handful of times - but I chose runs where I knew I could make a course easy or workable for her. She Q'd in 4/4 runs that weekend and ran very happy. Come the end of January for her second trial she did great. But by mid-February all of a sudden I saw troubles...she had a fall off the dogwalk at a funday (back in December) and then started avoiding jumps and not following body cues. It wasn't until early March that everything fell apart and I saw her lose her confidence. She was bar knocking, crashing tables, running through her contacts, missing weave pole entrances, etc...all the little bad things finally added up and she lost her confidence. Luckily my trainer and I both saw it and I took action. Mid-March she had her last trial until May (she was spayed)...but I immediately began working on drive/motivation. The difference in her between early March and mid month was night and day. She is currently on an agility break but is learning running contacts and will be going back to basics when we get back to real practice later this month. If I hadn't been aware of her loss of confidence - I would have pushed too hard and probably broke her down. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Tika RS-O- JS-O GS-N- CL3-F Mine?     Barked: Wed Feb 13, '13 5:43am PST  Been using a similar recipe for years - I had always used oat flour, but lately it has been oatmeal ground up in the coffee grinder. Works just fine & is significantly cheaper lol! my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Sports & Agility > Keeping a dog calm at trials

Tika RS-O- JS-O GS-N- CL3-F Mine?     Barked: Wed Jan 30, '13 9:08am PST  CPE is fantastic! Same atmosphere across the country from what I have found too! Part of the reason is that there are typically only 50 or so competitors there vs the mass amounts in AKC (more classes a day per dog equals less dogs and people). I enjoy CPE and that was why I opted to use it for my young girl's debut vs USDAA lol! my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Sports & Agility > Keeping a dog calm at trials

Tika RS-O- JS-O GS-N- CL3-F Mine?     Barked: Sat Jan 26, '13 11:54pm PST  Definitely cover the crate and if you can bring a small fan that you can attach or set outside the crate to make some "white noise" so the sounds from the outside are a bit less. I would also try a ThunderShirt or other type of wrap (or even a regular t-shirt pulled tight around the dog's body) as that can help with trial stress. My girls are pretty good about trials...but my boy tends to amp himself up if left to his own devices if I bring him (I usually am away from the set-up a lot helping out) - he gets a covered crate, a fan, and his shirt and he does really well. Granted we did a lot of building up to this and I didn't try it first weekend out - there were about 5 sessions at home before taking the leap to see how he did at the trial. Yes, he still will burst out of crate wiggling when I get back to him, but overall I would say that his behavior is noticeably calmer and he is much easier to deal with at trials. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Behavior & Training > What Are You Doing For "Train Your Dog Month?"

Tika RS-O- JS-O GS-N- CL3-F Mine?     Barked: Wed Jan 23, '13 4:00pm PST  Ok, I lied - Tika started scent articles last night - now to add in some harder things to scent lol! my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Tika RS-O- JS-O GS-N- CL3-F Mine?     Barked: Thu Jan 17, '13 8:42pm PST  I am planning on doing some USDAA at some point. Right now she is in season and then for the April trial she will be recovering from her spay...so maybe at some point this year we'll play. No AKC for us as I have enough venues I plan to run in - I don't need to spend more lol! It was at the Elma trial in November my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Raw Food Diet > Gassy girl!

Tika RS-O- JS-O GS-N- CL3-F Mine?     Barked: Tue Jan 15, '13 9:43am PST  Tika is 19 months and has gone into her first heat, but along with it has come some serious gas. She is typically a gassier dog than my other two, but not to the extreme of the past two weeks (she has been in season since the 31st). At first I thought she just wasn't handling pork very well (it has always caused a few burps from her), but the last time I fed it she was clearing the room. She isn't showing any distress or issues though (although there was a softish stool a few days ago and some diarrhea when she got into the cat litter - ugh). Even chicken has caused her to fart. I am purchasing some pro-biotics later today as the ones I had were past their prime (uh...10 months past due - oops!) and hope those will help. But has anybody else had experience with hormones like this? I am hoping this passes (ha!) when she goes out of season as I would like to sleep through the night without waking to a dog farting in my face my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Behavior & Training > Quick Heel Question

Tika RS-O- JS-O GS-N- CL3-F Mine?     Barked: Wed Nov 7, '12 11:29pm PST  I had a good heel with Tika, but recently started platform training and have seen a huge improvement in her heeling and ability to find and stay in the position. I lucked out into getting the DVD (Step Up to Platform Training by Michele Pouliot) from a friend and loved the concept. Platform training is big with musical freestyle people and they have gorgeous heeling and positions so I figured it couldn't hurt. I had already done a lot of perch work, but found it not as precise for positioning. I trained my platforms with a sit instead of a stand as that is what my goal is, I may retrain to a stand someday, but I like the sit and it is working well for us as I do have hopes to get a few obedience titles. Platforms are a ton of fun too, I made two more to work my other dogs in standing positions and they are having a blast with it as well. I sadly haven't done enough of this kind of training to fully describe it, but there are some good YouTube videos out there. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Sports & Agility > Agility Trial Videos!

Tika RS-O- JS-O GS-N- CL3-F Mine?     Barked: Fri Nov 2, '12 2:09pm PST  Congrats! Love the jump over the tunnel - that was too cute She looks like she is a great worker and loves the game - her coming back mid zoomies was awesome! my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Tika RS-O- JS-O GS-N- CL3-F Mine?     Barked: Sat Oct 27, '12 1:26pm PST  I know plenty of highly trained dogs that have never seen a choke chain or prong collar. I guess I will have to give up the hope of any obedience titles with my Tika as I refuse to train her with force and physical corrections Too bad I already trained some utility exercises lol! Ditto Farley though. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

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