Ella - weight check

Ella had her weight checked yesterday. She now weighs 22.8 pounds. At her last check, she weighed 23.8, so she is down by 1 pound! Only 4 more pounds to go!

Here is what she gets with each meal (2 meals per day):

1/4 cup kibble (reduced on long training days)
1/4 cup cooked veggies (increased on long training days)
0.2 mg Soloxine (thyroid)

Treats:
1 small Old Mother Hubbard biscuit (after late night potty)
1 stuffed Kong (yogurt, kibble)
training treats (these are high calorie) - enough for 10 minutes of training

Exercise:
20-30 minutes of Frisbee with Robbie each day
20-30 minutes of playing with the other dogs

Saccarappa Show and Go

Ella and I spent Sunday at the Show and Go in Westbrook. We had a great time hanging out with other dog people. The building was quiet, there was plenty of parking and there were not a lot of people.

What we did right:
Ella peed 3 times outside on cue.
She stayed in her crate without crying.
She only greeted dogs with permission (though this still needs work).
She did not act nervous.
She entered the building nicely, without trying to run away.
Ella stood in place for the Stand Walk Around!
Ella took the jump nicely.

What we need improvement on:
Entering the ring.
Removing the leash and holding the collar.
Off leash heeling.
Distractions on the floor (food, stains on the flooring, etc).
Not sniffing the signs.
Me knowing where she is while doing the course.
Not skipping signs.
Pressure from the judge (Why is this stranger following us around?!?)

What I wish didn’t happen:
Ella stealing Donna’s string cheese (sigh).
Me touching Ella in the ring (she thought I was correcting her and decided that she had had enough, but I was really just patting her and moving her closer to me).
Ella trying to leave the ring and being afraid of the judge when she did that.

I will admit that Sunday night, I was feeling very discouraged. I could not stop going over what we did wrong and I worried that we would be abysmal failures at our trial in April, which is only 3 weeks away. I had to think hard about what we did right and completely focus on that. If I don’t then I will be so nervous that we will be bound to fail in April. So, I have some goals for the remaining time we have before the Casco Bay trials and a few goals for the trial itself.

I want to point out that I deliberately did not choose “Qualifying” as one of my goals. This is because it really puts pressure on us. If Ella and I were able to attend more classes and more fun matches, then our goals might be different. We might have to use these trials this year just as training and getting used to the show atmosphere.

Next three weeks:
Practice heeling for 5 minutes each day.
Work on signs.
Run a few courses.
Work on leash removal and collar grabs.

Day of the trial:
Enter ring smoothly.
Take off leash without stress.
Do the first 3 signs well.

Stand p.3

We are making progress.

Ella held her stand while I stepped one step to the right and then while I stepped one step to the left. She also held it as I stepped backwards 2 steps.

Then, this morning, she held the stand for 7 seconds (10 out of 10 times).

Our goals for the stand:

1. Hold stand while I walk around her counterclockwise.
2. Go from a down to a stand (she now goes from a sit to a stand).
3. Hold stand while I walk away from her 20 feet.
4. Hold stand while I stay beside her and judge (read: stanger) touches her.
5. Hold stand while I walk away 20 feet and judge touches her and I return.
6. Do all of the above in a noisy area.

Now that she understands what I want, we will move towards these goals surprisingly fast.

Two More Trials

Ella is now signed up for two more Rally trials:

May 2, 3 - York County Kennel Club (Acton)

May 16, 17 - Vacationland Dog Club (Scarborough)

Stand p.2

We took a day off from training, since Tuesday night's session was full of frustration.

Thursday, we re-tried the stand and it had sunk in. Ella stood and held the stand for 3 seconds each time. I just needed to wait until she fully planted her rear feet.

Now, to introduce more duration.

Note: we tried the stand on Tuesday on the couch, on the floor and on the table. She would not stand unless I lured her or pressed my hand against her belly.

Teaching Stand

One of the Rally Advanced signs that Ella needs to learn is the Stand Walk Around Dog sign. At this sign, Ella sits in heel position, then stands and remains standing while I walk around her. I resume heel position and we continue on.

Stand is a behavior that has been problematic for us. Ella has never been shown in "breed" and does not know how to do a stacked stand. This type of stand is not required, but she has to stay in place and plant her feet while I walk around her.

We started working on stand about a year ago. It is fairly easy to teach a basic stand from a sit. You hold a piece of food in front of the dog's nose and move it forward slowly. As they stand to get the treat, you click and release the treat. Ella picked that up very quickly.

The problem is that she won't stop shifting her back feet. And, she will not hold a stand. There could be a few reasons for this:

1. She thinks that the behavior I am looking for is actually a touch, so she follows my hand.



2. She has been taught to orient to me and moves her body so that she faces me.



3. She is too food oriented and following my hand in the hopes of a treat.



4. She is responding to body pressure and moving her rear away from me (like with the pivots, which is a natural behavior).

Some of the same problems that we experienced with these two signs are cropping up now. We eventually fixed the problems, but it took some extra practice (and patience).

One of the things that we did for those signs that worked was to increase the duration of the behavior. So, I have begun working with Ella on long stands. She is at 3 seconds right now. That means, she will hold position for 3 seconds before she starts moving her feet. I have to be sure to click her before her feet move, so that she will begin to learn that stand means plant her feet and do not move them.

Then, once Ella realizes that she should hold the stand for as long as I ask, we will start to work on holding that stand while I move around. I might back up on step (or, even just shift my weight to begin), step to one side, back up two steps and so on.

Some trainers suggest that I hold Ella where I want her and walk around her. While this might work for some dogs, it is aversive for Ella and she will get worried and I will have to stop the session (she will not participate any more).

Note: This is another behavior I would like to have ready for the April trials, but if we don't, then we'll just have to take our chances!

Step stool training - part 2

Session 6 - Saturday

Ella and I continued working on the stool. In this session, we made two complete rotations around the stool to the left and one to the right. I am going to transition her to a small, round box instead of a stool, since it will be easier for the two of us to go around it.

Session 7 - Saturday pm at Mom's house

Ella showed off her stool prowess and did a complete left rotation on a small square stool and on a round stool at my Mother's house. She did this in the living room while my niece was playing nearby.

Session 8 - Monday pm

Ella will now rotate around the stool to the left with only small movements from me. To the right is harder and she keeps wanting to step off the stool. So, we started working on duration on the stool. Ella will stay on the stool for 5 seconds now.

Note: In order to transition Ella from the stool to the floor and into Rally pivots, I am going to have to fade the stool, introduce a cue for left and right rotation and make sure she understands that she should maintain heel position while doing this. Each of those steps must be broken down into smaller steps and each small step taught to fluency. We may or may not accomplish this by our April trials.

Step stool training - part 1

Ella and I have begun training rear end awareness using a step stool. The trainer in the previous post's video used a book and we will eventually phase to that, but the higher step stool works better for us right now (I do not have to bend as far to deliver treats and Ella knows she is on something).

Session 1 - last Thursday

Ella does not shape very well. She tends to offer behaviors that she is fluent in, rather than thinking about what I just clicked and repeating that. So, when I train with Ella, I often have to lure her a bit and then she will make huge jumps in understanding.

I started the session and tried to shape her to step on the step stool. After a minute or two, she was offering to paw the stool, which was amazing, since she doesn't usually paw things. But, she would not go further than that and started to get frustrated. So, I took out a treat and lured her up there (front feet). After luring 3 times, she offered the behavior without luring. Then, when she was offering the behavior, I upped my criteria to have some duration (3 seconds).

Session length: 5 minutes (after shaping portion)

Non-session work

I store the step stool next to the container that I keep the dog food in. This really solidified Ella's confidence in getting on and off the stool, since she was able to see into the container and that was rewarding to her. As I scooped out food, I would occasionally give her a piece to reward her.

Session 2 - Sunday

Ella immediately offered front paws on the stool at the beginning of the session. In fact, she offered a little too much behavior. She was all over that stool. Front paws on, one paw on, four paws on, jump over, circle the stool. So, I asked for a long down and she calmed.

I then indicated that I wanted her to put her front paws on the stool (up). I asked for duration a few times (7 seconds). Then, I asked her to stay in position while I moved. I only moved one step to the left or one to the right.

My final goal is to move into her so that she has to shift her back feet around the stool in a circle. This is a pivot and she has to be able to do them in both directions (this is important for Rally).

Session length: 5 minutes

Session 3 - Wednesday

During this session, we worked on varying durations (up to 10 seconds) and movement from me. While she did really well with duration, she was not keen on maintaining her feet on the stool while I moved. So, I need to change how I am doing that portion.

Session length: 3 minutes

Session 4 - Thursday

During this session, we worked on movement. Ella still steps off the stool when I move into her (from the right or the left). So, I stopped and I worked on getting her to be on the stool in heel position - she was only C/T when she was on the stool in heel position.

Session length: 3 minutes

Session 5 - Friday morning

I decided to lure Ella during this session. When she was on the stool, I held a treat in my left hand, stood next to her and moved into her space (to my left). She had to shift her back feet. As soon as she shifted, C/T. I upped criteria for this very quickly - if she wanted the treat, she had to move her feet a quarter turn around the stool.

Session length: 5 minutes.

Tonight and this weekend, I will be working with Ella to move around the stool next to me, both to the left and to the right. I should also point out that I do similar session of this with Robbie. He is not to the level that Ella is yet, though, since he is also working on perfecting his down.

Dog Pyramid

Some of my favorite dog supply sites are Clean Run, Dogwise and Pet Expertise. I recently placed an order from Clean Run for some agility books and decided to order one of these.

It is called a Dog Pyramid created by The Company of Animals in the UK. The bottom of the toy is weighted (like a Weeble Wobble) and there is one hole where food goes in (and comes out). This is a noisy, hard plastic toy (non toxic), but it is interactive, so I thought it would be fun for Possum, since she likes playing with toys and this one won’t roll away from her.

I put about ½ cup of kibble in there (it holds more than that) and set it down for her to play with. She spent about 45 minutes playing with it. The dog has to whack it fairly hard in order for it to tip enough for food to fall out. Of course, the more food that is in there, the easier it is for the dog to get the food out.

Possum is now sleeping and Ella is playing with the refilled Pyramid. Again, this is a pretty noisy toy, but Ella is having a fun time trying to get that food out of there. 30 minutes and there are still some pieces rattling around and she hasn’t given up yet. Nor has she become frightened by the noise it makes.

Not only that, but the toy is teaching her to use her paws instead of just her nose (if you recall, Ella tends to be a nose only dog, not a paw oriented dog, and I sometimes lament teaching her to use her paws).

The hole is fairly small – a piece of Solid Gold kibble just fits (I used Halo brand food in it). A small funnel would be useful if you want an entire dinner's worth of food in there. The hole is also the only spot that my small dogs can get a hold of in order to carry it around. It is about 7 – 8 inches in height and surprisingly heavy. I wouldn’t recommend that this toy be left with extreme chewers, but with supervision or dogs that just play with it, it is a great toy. Nor would I recommend that you put any soft food in it, since it is one piece and cleaning it would be nigh impossible!

All in all, this is a great toy.

It retails for $16.95 from Clean Run.

PS. When I was adding more food, I dropped the toy from counter height onto the floor. Not a scratch. On floor or toy.

Tricks

The ClickSolutions website has a lovely list of tricks we can teach. Let’s see how many Ella and Robbie know.

Ella
Nose touch to hand
Circle around me
Nose touch to other objects

Robbie
Nose touch to hand
Shake hands
Ring bell with paw

Last night, we worked with a step stool. I want them to put both front feet on the stool. Eventually, I want all feet on the stool and I also want just the back feet on the stool. This is a fun trick to teach and also serves to stretch and strengthen muscles. It is a helpful trick to know for agility.

Ella took to the step stool like a fish to water. “What, you want me to get up on this for food? O-KAY!” It took less than 5 minutes to have all four feet on that stool. Probably, having done this in the past helped:

Robbie was a different story. He walked around the stool. Sniffed the stool (click). Bumped the stool (click). Luring him with food didn’t work – he gave up quite quickly. So, I put my hand flat on the middle of the stool with the palm up. He pawed my hand (click). Pawed hand (click). Pawed hand (click). I moved my hand to the edge furthest away from Robbie. He pawed the stool (click). Pawed stool (click). We did this 10 or so more times. Then I lowered my hand to below the stool’s edge. He looked at my hand, looked at me, looked at my hand and walked around the stool. I moved my hand so he couldn’t paw it. He went back around the stool, I put my hand back. One paw went onto the stool (click). Paw on the stool again (click). Paw on the stool again (NO click). He looked at me, looked at my hand, put one paw on the stool (NO click) and then pawed my hand with the other paw (click with JACKPOT). When I next cued him to get up on the stool, he put both paws.

Robbie and I then worked a little on pawing a Staples Easy button. He paws it just fine, but doesn’t paw it hard enough to make it speak, so we have to work on that a little.

Then I asked Robbie to down. He wanted to paw my hand (no click) and thought about things and then downed. I will be working on requiring faster responses to the cue with this one.

Casco Bay Dog Training Club April Trials

I mailed out Ella's entry for the Casco Bay Dog Training Club's April 11 and 12 trials in Bath.

She and I will be competing in Advanced A.

No leash.

Noisy building.

I just hope that Ella doesn't turn around in the ring and head for the door.

Beginner Agility Week 2 – Ella

This week, class did not start well for Ella and I. I was tired from a very long two day conference for work and she was not impressed with the ride to Skowhegan and the classroom. The first thing she did after I took off her leash was to head straight for the door and stand there staring at it. She wanted to go home.

After a minute where I composed myself (when I get tired, I tend to burst into tears, which sucks), we grabbed a jump and went all the way to the back of the room away from the others. Ella and I practiced jumping where she sat and I called her over the jump. Then I walked by the jump and asked her to jump. Then I jogged and she jumped. After we had done the jump with me jogging a few times, then we went back and worked as part of the group.

During this class, we worked on two things: taking a series of jumps (2, in this case) and working in the tunnel.

Ella tried valiantly to stay right at my side (heel position) as we worked on the jumps. A couple of times, she would almost trip me, because I had to cross behind her to get in the right position to cue her over the second jump. After a few rounds, we were getting pretty good at doing two jumps.

Then we worked on the tunnel. The tunnel for class is a medium blue color. It can be really dark in there for some dogs, so practicing with this color would take some of the fear away for Ella.

We started with the tunnel lying straight. I use the cue “through” since it is only one syllable and will be fairly easy to say while I am out of breath on course.

Then we moved one end of the tunnel so that there was a 45 degree bend in one end. We spent some time sending the dogs through.



Then we moved the tunnel so that there was a 90 degree bend. Finally, we ended with a 180 degree bend (so both openings of the tunnel faced the dog).


Ella did great! She willingly entered the right side of the tunnel 90% of the time. That is, until I asked her to enter the left tunnel entrance at the end. She turned and sat down. Apparently, we didn’t generalize enough yet!

During our second hour, I worked with Ella on the lowered teeter. She would hop onto the middle and I would click her for taking one step, then two and then walking past the point where the teeter pivots (and then moves). She didn’t really like that, but did more this week than last. I made sure to have her walk to both ends of the teeter. And, I also started working with her to stop on the contact section (yellow) and sitting down – she isn’t confident enough to lie down yet.

The she got to explore the room a little and get used to the weave poles.

So, after a few glitches, we had a great class.

Front & Rear Crosses - Ella

Ella and I practiced front and rear crosses last night. She gets very excited when I bring the treat bag out and jumps onto the couch and lies down. I have to spend a minute or two getting her to stay on the floor so that we can train.

The beginning step of a front cross is quite easy for us to practice, since she stays in place while I do my footwork. Since one of the skills for Rally is for her to sit while I walk around her, she has this first step down!

Rear crosses were harder. I have been focusing on rear crosses where Ella turns to the right. I hold the treat in my right hand for right turns and my left hand for left turns.

She really resisted turning to the right. Funny, since turning to the left was easy and fun for her. For a while, I thought that it might be a physical limitation. Maybe it pained her to turn in a small circle to the right. Every time we would get to 3 o’clock, she would sit.

Since she will touch a target stick, I decided to try that next. I asked her to touch and she would follow the stick to about 4 o’clock and then stop following. We tried this a few times and it wasn’t really working. She and I will have to work on following a target stick farther and in more complex patterns.

I finally figured out that she thought that I wanted her to sit, since she was originally taught sit by holding the treat over her head. When she was at my side and the lure reached 3, it was above her head, just because of her size and how far I was bending.

As soon as I realized this, I lowered the treat as I lured her in a circle and – lo! She turned all the way. I clicked and she got a jackpot. We worked on this about 10 more times. Each time that she turned, her body became more fluid.

We ended the session with some puppy sit ups.

Robbie practiced down a few times. Then, he had a bath.

Beginner Agility Class Week 1 – Ella

Ella and I attended her beginner agility class last Wednesday. We signed up for two classes in one evening – Beginner Agility 1 & 2. It is a very small class, which is what Ella needs.

We practiced going over jumps. Ella has been jumping off and on and I use the cue “jump.” It is a one syllable word and will be easy to say while I am running around the field breathless.

Ella did not like one of the other teams in the class, though. The dog was very talkative and the owner used large movements and moved quickly. As long as I was between her and that team, she was OK with working. So, as a result, Ella would not jump over a jump if she was between them and me. Instead, she would run behind me or around the jump to avoid them. This made the first hour difficult for us. I ended up giving her treats for watching the other team being wild.

Thankfully, most agility trials that we have seen have a 10 foot barrier around the ring gates for the field. This should keep most dogs far enough away from Ella to keep her from feeling scared. And, in time, she will become used to the way other teams are.

The second hour was a bit more successful, since Ella and I were the only students. My goal was to have her become more confident around the teeter. We lowered the teeter down to as low as it would go and I clicked and treated Ella for any interaction with the teeter.

She started by offering one paw on the teeter (this is something I have been shaping her to do, since she isn’t much of a paw dog). Then she started to step with two front paws. Sometimes she would hop over the teeter. Other times, she would have all four feet on the teeter. At that point, she was jackpotted!

Then I started working with her walking up and down the teeter. When she walked down one side, the teeter wouldn’t move. When she walked down the other, it would move a few inches to the ground. When she was on that end, then she would get a jackpot of cheese. At that point, I jackpotted her whether or not she remained on the teeter when it moved.

I save the really high value treats, like cheese, for the harder equipment. She knows then that what she has done is really special.

We spent the last half hour playing with a ball, talking to the teacher and having her run through the tunnel. That was great because she has started to pick up speed on the tunnel and she comes out of it with her ears up, rather than half way laid back (indicating that she is worried).

Our homework was to practice front and rear crosses. I have to admit that we haven’t spent much time doing that!

When I left the class, I was torn by how I felt about agility. It didn’t feel as though we accomplished much that night. I was thinking about how hard it was to learn a new skill and how frustrating it was for me to not know the terminology and to get Ella to understand what I wanted. It is also frustrating when your dog catches on faster than you do!

But, as I reflected on this during the weekend, I felt the same way about Rally and now she and I are having a lot of fun practicing for upcoming trials. It will just take time and practice and breaking things down into small steps. We’ll get there!

*Thank you, Clan Duncan, for the great web art!

Training - Ella and Robbie

Saturday

Ella, Robbie and I drove down to the Post Office. Well, I drove and they rode. The parking lot was quite full, so I had a lot of opportunities to play "Catch a Glance" with Robbie. There was a man in a baseball cap driving a loud truck, an older lady with a walker and then an older couple who had bulky jackets on. There were a few more people, but those listed are the ones that stood out.

We sat in the car and Robbie was clicked and treated for watching quietly. We trained while sitting in the car. He watched (and I clicked) as the people pulled up in their cars, got out of their cars, walked into the PO, walked around in the PO (Robbie could see them through the windows), walked back to their cars, climbed in and drove off. He woofed once, showed tight whiskers once (this happens right before he makes the woof) and watched nicely the rest of the time.

Ella heard the same click that Robbie did, so essentially was clicked for staring intently at the treat bag. This might seem like a bad thing, but I think it really helped with our session on Sunday.

When I left the car to get my mail, Robbie watched quietly for me, but did not bark. Yippee!! That is awesome progress for him.

At home, Ella and Robbie each practiced with me for 5 minutes individually:

• Ella practiced sit-stay (with me walking around the corner and back), down, touch (target stick) and heeling between the living room and kitchen.
• Robbie practiced sit, down, attention and touch. He is really slow on the sit and tends to stare at my hand that is holding the clicker, so I have to remember to hide it behind my back. I lured the down, which he picked up on quite quickly. The next time we practice, I will only lure him once or twice to see if he is getting it quicker. Robbie only has one behavior on cue right now - sit.

Sunday

Ella and I attended the sheltie club's rally practice on Sunday morning. It was an hour long practice. There is no instruction - people just get together with their dogs and set up some practice Rally courses.

Ella tends to lag and not make eye contact with me when we heel.

• One possible reason for this might be because I have taught her to lag. I don't really think so, though, because I have always clicked her for heeling in the proper position.
• Another reason might be because she learned to lag when I had terrible ring nerves at our first trial. Again, this might be a small factor, but not enough to make her lag all the time.
• The third reason that she might lag could be because I have not taught her how to heel everywhere. In other words, she heels great at home - trotting nicely, eyes on me, happy sheltie smile. But, she does not do this other places. So, I haven't proofed (generalized and added distractions) her enough!

When I first taught Ella to heel, we used a target stick (she is too short for me to get her to touch my hand while I am walking normally). In order to use one, your dog needs to know how to "touch." Ella will try to touch that target stick while I am trotting, while I hold it above her head or if she has to jump up on stuff to get to it. I have proofed Ella well on "touch."

So, I hold the target stick in heel postion and ask Ella to touch it. She gets clicked for touching it when I give her the cue while I am walking. I drop the treat on the floor and I continue walking while she picks it up. Then I ask her to touch the stick again, so that she has to run to get back into heel postion. She likes this game and will target that stick even when we do about turns and 360 turns.

She would also walk alongside me and look up happily. This might be due to our special work on Saturday where she got clicked for looking at the treat bag - she would look at my face and then the treat bag while we were heeling on Sunday. I would often click her when her eyes met mine and she was maintaining heel (when she hadn't been cued for touching the target).

We practiced heeling for at least 20 minutes. Then, we practiced heeling with a sit. That means that Ella stops when I stop and sits while maintaining heel position. The clicker came in very handy with this, since she tended to forge ahead of me and not pay attention to when I was stopping. She would sit 10 inches forward of where she should be. So, I would have her touch the stick, then stop and ask her to sit.

After a few times, she was sitting on one cue of sit (no touch cue) in heel position. Ella has been clicker trained since she was a pup, so is very clicker saavy and learns very quickly now.

We then joined the other two people and walked through some cones in order to practice the serpentine and the spiral signs. The first time we tried it, Ella did not maintain heel position. So, I sped up my pace and used the taget stick frequently. After that, I just pointed with my finger to heel postion and she maintained it (I will fade the pointing once she is reliably holding that position and I have introduced the "heel" cue).

We then ran a course. We did a sit, moving side step right (which we need to work on), halt 1-2-3 sit (which she did perfectly), slow pace (again, she maintained heel), spriral, serpentine (she knocked a cone over) and an about turn.

We still need to work a lot on heeling, since this is the place where our performace will break down. But, she did an amazing job yesterday. I am very proud of her.

Confidence

This is what happens when you help your sheltie become more confident and daring.












She actually pushed the drawer to make room for her back feet.

And, her front feet are balanced on those bowls.

2009 Goals: Ella

I have signed Ella up for a beginner agility class. It starts on February 4 and runs for 4 weeks. We are going to take the class from an instructor near us in Skowhegan.

In the meantime, I have been working on getting Ella hyped up about toys. She is usually a food fixated sheltie and I have only trained with food in the past. But, it seems to be important to have your dog be able to play with toys when you do agility. It increases the drive of the dog.

I found a tug toy that we use just for agility. It is a polar fleece braided tug, but the maker also braided in rabbit fur. Ella loves it and will tug quite well. It has seemed to get her a little excited. Honestly, though, I can get her more excited by running around waving my arms and laughing. She gets really nippy when I do that!

The plan is to still use food to get her used to the equipment. She loves the jumps and jumping on the table (I use "Get on that couch" as a cue, since we use that term at Nana's house). She learned to run through the tunnel quickly, too. I think the dog walk will be pretty easy. The A Frame and the teeter will be the hardest, but we can just compete in the Jumpers class (jumps and tunnels) until she is ready for the other equipment.

My goal with Ella is accuracy first and then speed, since I know that she can put on the speed once she is confident with the equipment. And, my biggest goal is for her to have fun.

Portland Head Light/Fort Williams

I recently had a meeting in Portland and took Ella with me. During my lunch break, she and I stopped at Fort Williams to take in the sites.

Even though the day was gray and the surf was very loud (Ella says: SCARY), we had a nice walk. The Princess LMNOP even deigned to pose so you can see the lighthouse in the background. She is lying by a plaque for a part of Fort Williams. It is a short walk down to the lighthouse.

Dogs are allowed on leash (Ella says to remember to bring your poop bags!). A lot of people were smiling at her and we overheard one lady say to her husband that it must be nice to have a dog that poses!

Belcroft Ella Minnow Pea, RN

This past weekend, August 28 - 31, 2008, was "The Maine Event" dog show run by the Central Maine Kennel Club and the Midcoast Kennel Club. It was an All Breed Show with Obedience and Rally Trials.

I entered Ella in Rally Novice A for Thursday, Friday and Sunday.

On Thursday, we went to work for an hour before we went to the show. Won't do that again, since Ella was unhappy with being left in the car while I was working. We got to the show site around 11 and then it was pretty much hurry up and wait. I helped where and when Donna needed me to steward and Ella spent time in her new soft sided crate. Unhappily. It was hot and she was hot and we didn't do our Rally run until after 5. And, it was the very first time we had ever shown, so it was stressful for both of us.

Ella placed second on Thursday with a score of 85.

Our biggest problems on Thursday were caused by me. I had ring nerves and held the leash too tight, so we got quite a few points off for that. You can see the tight leash in the photos that I had a friend take (all the photos are from Thursday).

Friday, we did not go into work before we went to the show. I made sure that I had a cooler and water just for Ella's cooling coat, which I soaked overnight. I had a baggie of larger treats that were for when she went into her crate. I also brought a thinner leash to use to make me more aware of where I was holding it. We spent a lot more time walking around the show site and I played with Ella in a quiet corner. She spent most of her day with her cooling coat on and spent a lot of time sleeping in my lap.

Ella placed second with a score of 96 on Friday.

Our biggest problem on Friday was ring nerves. We lost 3 points for "Lack of Briskness" which was caused by me being so nervous that I could not walk faster. Ella performed each station beautifully and tried really hard to reassure me!

Saturday was our day off and we needed it! We were both pooped. And, I got my "Conquering Ring Nerves" book in the mail and was able to read the first couple of chapters.

Sunday had Rally beginning before Obedience, so we got to the site early. It was quite breezy that day and Ella did not like the billowing tent at all, but tolerated it. We didn't spend as much time warming up on Sunday, but I spent a lot of time doing deep Yoga breaths for my nerves. When I did my walk through, I paid less attention to the signs and more to my pace (I needed to walk at a pace that had me take about 6 steps between each sign).

Ella placed third with a 90 on Sunday and got her Rally Novice title.

I am really proud of this little girl!

Ella and I need to proof our runs on breezy days so that she doesn't react quite so much to the tents moving. We also need to do a better warm up routine and run through a couple of the course signs when we do warm up. At this point, it looks like she might be at least a two day show dog - one who does better being on the show site for two days.

We are going to spend the winter practicing the Rally Advanced signs and attending as many shows and matches as we can.

Rally-O Class

Ella and I took a Rally-O class on July 13 in Augusta. It was a hot, sunny, windy day and we had a lot of fun - though we were both pooped afterwards!

I think that Ella and I would have Q'd (qualified) if it had been a real course in a real trial, even though we would have failed one station:

The reason that she would have failed this station is that she pops up from a down-stay when I walk around her.

I liked the spiral stations (there were two on the course) and the fast station where you change your pace from normal to fast and then back to normal. Those are easy! What can be a little nerve wracking is when you get to the change direction type signs and you aren't sure which way to go.

While we were doing on of the spirals, one of the cones blew over, which startled Ella. She recovered nicely with some coaxing from me and even agreed to pose with a bunch!