Million Paws Walk & Old Dogs Learn New Tricks

The RSPCA in my city holds an annual Million Paws Walk on the river foreshore. Bender has probably been 4 times out of 5, and Barbie has been twice now. Last time we went, Barbie was a bit unsure of herself, broke out in dandruff and froze up and refused to move when we got to the end of the 5k walk (which is when everyone meets up again to socialise).

Since I have had Barbie we have joined the Greyhounds as Pets corporate team, which is pretty awesome because you get a free breakfast. By the time we got there though there was a massive line for breakfast and Bender wasn't on his best behaviour so we decided to walk first.

Barbie was very alert and was friends with everyone there. She has actually become a bit of a celebrity, with the GAP girls referring to her as their 'top achiever' in terms of obedience. I heard that a couple more greyhounds are enrolled to do their CGC so that is a great thing! As she sat willingly waiting for a treat, Barbie's foster mumma gaped and said 'you have done such a great job with her'.

She got a lot of pats and a lot of attention and didn't shrink away from any of it. She wasn't cranky with any other dogs, although some were a little rude, and at the end when we were chatting to people she actually laid down on the grass and had a sleep with all the people and dogs around!

Bender was mainly good. He pulled hard on the lead when we got there and was a bit overexcited. He gave a bit of lip to a few dogs, but he was not too anti-social. He seemed pretty tired by the time we got home, but he had a nap and was full of beans again.

Desma posted a video training a little Chihuahua jumping into a box on command. I realised that I had a Bender-sized box just waiting to be deployed, so I tried it out with Mr Enthusiasm. Bender doesn't do anything by halves, as you can see in the resultant video.

Sorry it's not up to my usual quality, I used the webcam on my macbook!

Sometimes they just don't understand...

The first photo I ever saw of Barbie.

It seems like my friends have been divided into two groups - some understand what I'm trying to achieve with my dogs, and why, and others just don't 'get' it. This division does not correlate with dog ownership either. I understand that. I never really thought about doing dog sports or teaching tricks with my first dog, Lucy. The other dog in the household at the time was quite a damaged package, and I spent a lot of time trying to sort those things out. In the end all he needed was routine and a calm hand. Anyway, those first two dogs didn't get much past 'sit' 'down' and 'stay'.

When I got Bender I taught him those basic obedience commands very early (he was so cute doing 'sit' at 9 weeks old!) Nevermind that he pretended not to know them when he got to 18 months. For a while there though, we were just stuck with that. Basic, practical obedience, and his favorite games of fetch and tug.

Things for me changed a bit when I got Barbie. I think partially it is because we take the responsibility of representing Greyhounds as a breed seriously. The other reason was that she was quite shy and unsure of herself in this new situation of living in a house outside of a kennel environment. Everything was new to her. I discovered she was very food motivated, and with help in a class environment, I introduced her to a lot of new situations and environments. I was encouraged by her enthusiasm and increasing confidence. I don't think she will ever be bullet proof, but training and preparing for the Canine Good Citizen gave us a toolkit to get through most situations in life. I also realised that if you want a better bond with your pet, you have to work together towards a common goal. Sure, the dog doesn't necessarily understand the goal, but the person needs it to keep focussed and heading in a certain direction.

I got a classic the other day, when I explained the Canine Good Citizen Award is a nationally recognised title, and that the dog has to pass an exam on 'real world' type obedience, and then you get the right to put letters after their name, I got 'isn't that pretentious'? I guess if I'd taken ages to explain to this person I do not know (and who doesn't seem to be into dogs at all) maybe I would not have got the response that offended me so. I wonder if they think the BSc on the end of my name is pretentious? :)

I am so glad that I can always go back to my blog, or back to the tracking club, or to my doggie friends, and don't get called pretentious for wanting to achieve something with my dogs. I guess they don't want to understand the canine-human bond which comes out of working together for a common goal. It is the bond that led to the domestication of dogs in the first place. It is the bond that allows humans and dogs to continue to work together in everything from farm work, search and rescue to agility, obedience and canine freestyle.

Barbie's feature in the GAP Newsletter

Barbie is in the February Greyhounds as Pets newsletter.

Barbie and I are also going to an open day down at Murdoch University next weekend - the vet students are having their annual dog wash and vet check day, and GAP WA are one of the charities they are donating money to. Hopefully Barbie can increase her base of admiring fans!

Wordless Wednesday - Canine Good Citizen

Guess who is officially a Good Citizen?

Barbie passed her CGC with flying colours today, along with two other dogs - Poppy (Staffordshire Bull Terrier) and Bowie (Cav King Charles Spaniel x Toy Poodle). An Honorable mention goes to Kumo the Japanese Spitz, who didn't quite pass today , but I'm sure he will next time!

As Barbie and I did all the facets of the test first, Barbie is the first dog in Western Australia to pass the Canine Good Citizen qualification. I expect there will be an article in the Greyhounds As Pets newsletter. One I don't have to write!

We all did our Level 1 and Level 2 courses together and it is amazing seeing what everyone has achieved with their dogs. Poppy is the calmest Staffy I have ever met now - though when we first met her in level 1 class she was the kind of dog who would try and jump up to lick your face. Bowie is a really smart and lovely little fella, and never really seemed to have much trouble with the test requirements (except for supervised separation), and Kumo just needs a bit more doggie confidence. Barbie's weakness is anything that requires her to hold a 'sit' so we had to repeat the 'sit and wait in the doorway' exercise, and the 'sit and accept pats from a friendly stranger'. Something that she was disadvantaged at because she doesn't like to sit (yes, she can do it, but it just takes more effort to hold herself in that position than it does for other dogs)! I was very impressed with her performance with everything else though.

I am really happy with the way she handled the situation (spending all morning, running each of the dogs through the 12 parts of the test, one at a time), and how she chilled out and relaxed on her blankie between exercises. Conserving energy is important!

Anyway a big shout out to Billy's Doggie Daycare for providing the venue and volunteers, to Desma's Dog Training for going the whole way with this CGC thing, and Leslie from Good Manners for being our independent assessor.

My 5k Dog

Sorry about the stereo silence, I had assignments to finish, but now they are all done and I have been informed that I passed, so on with the free time!

Now that my right ankle has healed up pretty well, I've decided that I'm going to start from scratch with the Couch to 5k running program. The problem that I have is that I tend to push myself too hard. With my history of ankle injury and soft tissue injuries, I think that this time around I need to pace myself.

How to do that?

Run with a greyhound!

Last time I did the C2-5k I was taking both the dogs out for some of the runs, but Bender has a tendency to stop dead (usually for a potty break), and to run too fast downhill (which leads to me being pulled through the air when my feet are off the ground, which is bad for my ankle). Barbie on the other hand is the perfect lady on a run, keeping pace pretty well (until she is buggered) and never applying any pressure on the lead, changing direction etc. Her endurance level isn't the greatest at the moment, but neither is mine, and I find that running with her forces me to keep a slower pace.

When I was running with the dogs before I got them up to 3k before I hurt my ankle. It remains to be seen whether Barbie will get up there to 5ks.

Oh and the latest update on the Canine Good Citizen, looks like the test will be pushed back to February!

The peril of treats in your pocket....

It was 37 degrees in Perth yesterday. I left the dogs inside with all of the curtains closed, and Bender did not approve. I don't think he appreciated the fact that the house was only about 30 degrees inside when I got home, and the tiled floor was nice and cool. When I got home and let them out to go to the toilet, Bender refused to come back inside.

When N got home at about 6 we took the dogs down to the river for a romp. As soon as we got there, a big Whippet who was almost the size of Barbie came to say hello. He didn't want to run so Barbie was not that interested in him. I think he was interested in the treats in my pocket though, he attempted to put his little Whippet nose in to help himself! Wise to this move (Barbie tries it out on me occasionally), I just moved away at the right time so he did not score any goodies. Other dogs noticed that I had treats too, and before long I felt like the Pied Piper with all the dogs following me around. I let Barbie offleash and she had learned from last time where she is not allowed to go. We have a clearly defined boundary where she is allowed to run. She was polite to all the other dogs and ran big wide laps around the perimeter of her 'allowed' zone (where I can see her at all times). There isn't much danger around the place, but at her pace she can easily find herself in the 'no dogs off leash' area and then we'd be in trouble. Then she ran down to the water (where I was) and lied down in it so that her head was poking out like a little crocodile.

As always people were impressed with Barbie's speed & her recall. She is funny in that she doesn't have to be running after anything in particular. I think she conjures up an imaginary bunny to chase, or imaginary greyhounds chasing her. A lady on a bench tried to converse with me, and said that I 'did the right thing by her'. What that means.... I'm not sure. She is probably one of the smartest, quietest and most low maintenance dogs I've owned. Aside from some toilet training hiccups she has been an angel. Even when she steals things she isn't particularly destructive. I've always wanted a greyhound and the fact that she has been 'rescued' is a bonus. I think I like the term 'redeployed' better than 'retired' or 'rescued' or... 'failed racer' (Nic likes to say she is a failed greyhound). I attempted to get her to chase me by running past her but I don't think I can run fast enough to be of interest. She is more interested in running with me when I am on my bike. I really need to start bike-training her because if she is going to be babysat next year, I want the housesitter to be able to run her on leash. I don't think it will take much, just encouragement so that she doesn't cross behind the bike really. Once I get her trained up I'll get a walkydog or a springer and attach it to one of the bikes. Probably will have to be the CRX as it's the most uncustomised and is more likely to fit whoever ends up housesitting. My Long Haul Trucker is likely not to be there cos I'll be taking it touring, and the xtracycle will probably be too much for some people to handle.

I had to clip on her lead to retrieve her from the water - the sun was going down and I didn't want a wet dog stinking up the house all night. Barbie is a real water baby though I haven't seen her swim yet. The intention is to take her down to a shallow, calm beach like Esperance and teach her to swim there. If she wants to. The only problem with Esperance is the 4x4s on the beach. I have a golden rule to always keep Barbie away from motorized traffic. Once I had her out of the water, I asked a guy if he minded if I talked to his teeny blue heeler puppy. I wanted to see if Barbie would say hello to her. She did seem a little too small to be out and about in public though, since her vaccinations were probably not finished :P I gave her a piece of polony because she sat her little puppy butt on the ground when I asked. She still had little needle puppy teeth. I tried to get Barbie to say hi but she wasn't particularly interested in the little pup. I think in her experience puppies are just rude little dogs which don't deserve much attention.

Bender as usual spent the 45 minutes fetching his ball. He had a gang of dogs trailing in after him.

When we got home last night I did the written component of the Canine Good Citizen test. I have to get 90% to pass, so I made sure I checked some of the facts before I wrote my answers. I am going to make it look a bit nicer because the Word document had some formatting issues and give it to Desma on Saturday. Our course is almost over and the test looks like it's going to be on the 28 of November. It's going to be a special time for Barbie because the 29 November is her GOTCHA DAY! :) I have also made a bit of progress with targetting. I can now get Barbie to jump onto the couch to touch my hand with her nose. I can't reliably get her to jump up on her back legs to touch my hand but I think we will get there. She is a little uncoordinated, so when I got her to do it yesterday, she kicked me in the chest once, and kicked me in the mouth once. I should probably start using a target stick for this kind of thing but I think she will get more coordinated. Anyway I may be able to get her riled up by targetting for the 'jazz up, settle down' part of the test. She enjoys targetting, as she enjoys 'commando'. She doesn't enjoy stay like she enjoys moving :)