Kili's third birthday is coming up. And with it comes the 1 year anniversary of the start of her agility trial career. It's pretty cool to look back at each year and see how much has changed! This time last year we were entering our first "for real" trials and discovering all the wonderful challenges that come with stepping into the trial ring, with all of its extra distractions and excitement.
And while I was looking back at last year, I started to think about the year BEFORE that... which was the very start of learning the game of agility itself. Her first time on equipment, not jumping full height yet, not totally understanding the game yet.
And that got me thinking about the year before that, when she was just born and starting to learn about the world around her.
It has been an amazing, frustrating, elating 3 years. Kili is my first performance dog, and I gather I've done a lot of things wrong with her. All the things that she has learned, I've been learning along with her! My next dogs will have the benefit of having me already trained by Kili. There are times when I'm really frustrated, when I don't know if we can do something... when I'm not sure if it's worth it. But Kili always gives me her all (well, when she's not running off being a dolt ;) ) and so how could I ever give up? I could not be prouder of what we have accomplished so far, and I can only imagine what lays ahead of us still.
It's Flashback Friday! Here's a video of 12 week old Kili pestering old Ruby girl who we babysat for a few weeks. Ruby was 15 years old, deaf and probably quite vision impaired. She really hated being bothered and Kili was epic at it. Kili has always had this weird habit of thinking that when another dog tells her to bugger off, that they're actually playing a game. She LOVES it. Don't worry, after this video I made her go and do something more constructive than bugging an old lady.
October is a special month at our house as we celebrate both dogs' "gotcha" days!
Summit has been home 3 years as of October 20.
Kili passed the one year mark on the 15th. Tomorrow is also Kili's 14 month birthday.
With so many milestones in one month I thought we'd better celebrate with a photoshoot. One of the Humane Society's foster parents is a professional photographer and she was holding a fundraiser to pay off the bill at our clinic. For such a worthwhile cause and a momentous month... how could I resist?
I have very few photos with my dogs, mainly because I tend to be the one on the other side of the camera. And while I tend to dislike photos of myself (especially awkward ones when I'm running and making weird faces) I really did need some with them. One day I'm going to want them!
Since the dogs do not trial (yet!) I also wanted some pictures of them working, so I brought my jumps out to the park with us. Summit warmed up over some low jumps and then I moved him up to the 26" height so we could get some more impressive shots. I rarely ever ask him to jump 26".
I was very impressed with Kili at this photoshoot. When I was working with Summit of course there was no one around. As soon as I went to get Kili for her turn people kept walking past to go down to the water or back to their vehicles. It was endless. Finally I thought I had a break in the traffic and got her out to start working with her, and then a group of people came walking by. Kili never even acknowledged that she noticed they were there. She tugged like a little pro, was on the jumps when I asked, held her sit stays, and was just generally very focused.
In my last post I talked about how Kili is out of control. She's actually nuts in the agility ring. She is hyper excitable and she lacks focus. She is extremely distracted at all times by EVERYTHING. I have never had to deal with a dog with so much environmental distraction (take that for what it's worth though as she's only my second dog). It can be frustrating at times, and sometimes I just don't know how to deal with it.
One big problem in the ring is when we are doing a sequence of obstacles, she'll do one (often the last one) and then sort of get lost. If I throw a toy for her, she grabs it and takes off with it. She doesn't exactly do zoomies but she really has fun playing with that toy... without me.
I've been working with her on a couple of games to encourage her to bring me back her toy to play with me, instead of just playing by herself. The first games help as the beginnings of a retrieve. When tugging I suddenly let go of the toy and take off on her, encouraging her to chase after me with the toy. When she gets to me we play tug for a bit and then repeat. Sometimes I ask her to release the toy then I drop it or throw it just a few feet. When she commits to taking the toy I take off the other way so she chases after m, and again we play tug when she gets to me. Within a session I alternate between those two games, with the idea being to build a longer and longer retrieve and to eventually not be running away and just have her bring it to me. You may have seen in a couple of the more recent videos I've posted that she does bring me the toy to tug, but that's in our own yard. Places that are not our yard are a whole different ball game.
The last thing we've been working on is a bit of impulse control and focus work. I ask her to release her toy ("off") and then I dangle it in front of her and dare her to take it. No matter what I do with the toy she shouldn't try to grab it until I tell her to ("take it!"). Check out her focus on that toy! Love it!
Kili just turned 13 months. She now weighs in at 26.9 kg. I think her final adult weight will probably be around 28 kg. We've probably got about another 5 months before we'll know for sure. We've also only got 5 months left before her spay!
Kili's big problem in the agility ring is control. I wish I had some videos to show you but the only time she is in the ring is for class and I try not to share many videos from class, just because it involves instruction from the trainer and that's how they make a living! However, take it from me, control is not Kili's strong point in any setting. In agility she blasts herself over jumps, through tunnels, and over contact obstacles with intense enthusiasm. However, this leaves her prone to not having enough control to take direction from me in time to make the next obstacle. She does not seem to go into zoomies as many greyhounds are apt to do in the ring, but she is just so haphazard and out of control that she can't collect herself in time to make the next thing I'm indicating. A lot of starter courses have long straight aways, so our trainer has really been working on driving over straight courses. Kili's got the speed. But she lacks the control and discipline for these straight sequences.
To help her a bit I've been trying to do more control work at home with our two jumps. We basically do a variety of patterns over these two jumps which involves lots of tight turns. So far so good in the backyard!
I also threw some practice with 2-on-2-off contacts just for some variety. Kili has a good understanding of this concept but on full sized equipment she comes in with such a head of steam (again, control is a bit of an issue) that she usually cannot stop in time for 2-on-2-off. We are really working on making this a solid behaviour at home and then we have a couple little tricks on the real equipment to help her get the brakes on in time!
For the Labour Day weekend we decided to take a little road trip with the dogs to the nation's capital, Ottawa. What prompted this trip was the fact that there was a CKC Sighthound Specialty about an hour from Ottawa that I decided to enter Kili in. If I'm going to drive 4 hours for a conformation show you better believe I'm going to turn it into a fun trip!
We left Friday night after work. Packed the dogs and all our stuff into my truck and hit the road. We stayed at a little country inn about 15 minutes from the show grounds. In the almost 3 years that we have had Summit we have traveled with him several times, but we have never stayed at a hotel/motel so this was the first hotel for BOTH dogs.
Summit: Ahhhh... my very own bed!
They did very well. There were no concerns about Summit, of course, but I wondered how well Kili would behave. We did not have any need to leave the dogs unattended (crated) for the duration of the weekend which was good, but even so I was impressed with how Kili managed to chill when we were home. Of course, that might have had something to do with all the activity we crammed into our days!
The next morning we were off to the show. I was a little uncertain how Kili would behave since she had a meltdown at her last outdoor show. Well, lo and behold, she had another meltdown as soon as she got out of the truck. I have come to the conclusion, after this weekend, that outdoor shows are just TOO much for her. There are too many distractions and she becomes overwhelmed. When she's overwhelmed she can't focus, she can't listen, she won't let me stack her (she objects to her hind end being touched and hind feet being moved) and she won't take food. Her first go in the ring was not even filmed because she was behaving so poorly. Fortunately we got a great judge! I was so happy with him. I went into the ring with Kili and immediately told him the situation (young dog, minimal showing, very environmentally aware) and he said to me "Don't worry, this is going to be great! You and me are going to be the best team for this dog. Do you have any food with you?" Yeah, I liked him right away. Often times if a young dog isn't behaving I find the judges just sort of dismiss you and don't really pay attention to judging your dog. This judge not only actively tried to make sure my dog had a positive experience in the ring and learned something, but also made me feel like even though my dog was not acting perfectly that he was still looking at her conformation. Being the only greyhound present she won the breed and got to go into the ring again for the group.
Whatever, we all know who the REAL model in this family is!
Between turns in the ring I elected to take Kili and Summit for a walk away from all the commotion. The show was taking place on an RV campground so we walked along the roads between camp sites. As soon as I got Kili about 100 metres away from the show grounds she became much more focused, was accepting food, and was even allowing me to stack her. It is incredible what a little separation will do to get you back under threshold. I did lots of attention work and practice stacking, let her sniff and explore and by the time she went back for her second turn in the ring she was much better. You can tell by comparing this video to the ones of her at the indoor venue what a huge difference there is. She is distracted and uncooperative at this outdoor venue. However, I was very happy with the way she pulled herself together for her second turn in the ring. So much so that I decided to end on a good note and pulled her from the All Breed show that afternoon. We walked around to the vendors in order to continue to expose her to the hectic show environment but did not show again which allowed us to leave ahead of schedule and get an early start to our vacation in Ottawa.
Ottawa was a lot of fun and I was pleasantly surprised with how well Kili behaved on leash given some recent frustrations we have had at home. Ottawa LOVED the hounds. We were stopped left, right, and centre with people asking about the dogs and wanting to take photos of them. In the 2 days that we were there I think 4 or 5 people requested photos of our dogs, including one memorable pair of young boys who ran after us with very embarrassed expressions and asked, in broken English, if they could take a picture with our dogs. We said sure. Then they looked even more embarrassed and explained that they would like to take a picture crouched down like they were racing the dog. Turns out these two young men were track athletes at their school. I wish I had thought to ask if I could take THEIR picture taking a picture, one on each side of Summit, on the ground in a runner's starting crouch. Too funny and definitely the most memorable "can I take a picture of your dog" experience that we have had. I WAS mildly annoyed that they asked Jarrett if they could take a picture with the dogs. They're MY dogs!
We visited Parliament Hill since Jarrett had never been to Ottawa before. Here are some memorable photos!
I had been noticing some unusual behavior from Kili recently that I had initially attributed to a growth phase. She had been laying around at home a lot, not eating super well, not really wanting to work. She was still playing like a banshee with her friends but unless there was another dog over she mostly just wanted to lay on the couch. In fact she was very insistent on laying on the couch even when there was no space for her there. She didn't seem to want to lay on the very comfy dog beds that have. I had also noted recently that she seemed reluctant to sit. At first I thought maybe with all her growth that she was having more difficulty with a comfortable sit as some greyhounds can, but a couple of times she would sit and kind of whine at me. The last straw was at her agility class this week when she kept running around jumps. We thought she just wasn't far enough along in her training to understand that she should be taking them, but then I set her right in front of a jump and she just stood there, then tried to run around it. We dropped the jumps to 8 inches and she did agreed to do them. I had also noticed that night that she was not a bullet through the tunnels like she normally is. And by the end of the class (which she did not complete as I decided something was wrong with her and switched her out for Summit to finish the last exercise) I noted that her gait was very careful. She was not obviously lame on any particular leg but she just seemed cautious all around.
Our agility trainer uses a local animal chiropractor so she gave me her name and contact information. I called her that night and was able to get Kili in the next day after work. I was a little anxious as I've never become completely comfortable with being adjusted myself and have actually stopped going for the past 2 years since my problems had somewhat resolved (I am now trying massage therapy instead) and I have never had a dog adjusted before. My trainer had assured me that this chiro was very gentle with her adjustments and good with the animals which reassured me a little. The chiropractor found that Kili's left hip was very tight and Kili also seemed to be sore on that side compared to the other. We got Kili partly adjusted before the chiro elected to stop early so that she wouldn't be overwhelmed (big brownie points for her in my books!). We are going back in a week for another adjustment, but even last night following the appointment I noted a HUGE improvement. She wasn't just laying around on the couch anymore but she was poking around the house and being a general pain in my butt. When she did finally settle for a nap she did so on her dog bed and not on the couch even though there was space for her. Hurray!
We are going back on Monday so we will see how her second appointment goes.
Today is Kili's first birthday! She managed to survive her first year in this world. And so did I (just barely)! It has certainly been a very interesting first year for Kili, and an eye opening 10 months for me. I still remember the very first night as she was screaming in her x-pen all night... and I thought to myself "Oh my gosh, what have I done? I can't raise a puppy!". Although at a year old, Kili is not a mature adult yet. She is starting to show SOME signs of being on her way though, and I think she is probably out of the woods as far as frustrating me into a blind rage goes (I'm exaggerating of course but she did frustrate me to tears on a few occasions). Don't get me wrong, we still have our share of frustrations that pop up, but most days I can see the great dog she is turning out to be. Most days. ;)
In honour of Kili's birthday I threw her a birthday party. Doggy birthday parties aren't exactly my thing. I'm not that crazy dog owner who treats her dogs like children. However, a friend of mine wanted a party and I figured it was a pretty big milestone. Why not? Puppy play date in my backyard on Kili's birthday is the same as a puppy play date in my backyard on not her birthday... right? I just happened to have a cake in my fridge that said "Happy 1st Birthday Kili" on it.
Charlie came all dressed up!
Charlie's shirt says "Happy Birthday Kili!"
Cake time!
Kili's not excited at all!
Kili telling Cole where to put it.
Summit telling Cole where to put it.
Everyone was tired at the end of the day.
I also put together this little video putting the whole first year of her life together. I had a lot of fun making it and I can imagine that 12 years from now I'm going to be really happy to have it to watch and reminisce with little old lady Kili on the couch. Hopefully she'll have calmed down by then!
Yesterday the scale read 24.6 kg (54 lbs). I am told that from this point on I can expect her to gain up to an inch in height and 10 lbs in weight.
It's been an interesting and tough 10 months. I've learned a lot as a trainer and as a person. I hope I've become better at both as a result. We've got a long way to go still but it's all slowly coming together, and that excites me!
Something we have been working on in class has been tight turns. The idea is to teach the dog to turn tightly around equipment (generally jumps) and to drive hard around. It's a fun exercise and it's important (at least so I'm told!) so I thought I'd share some of our training.
To start with I'm just using our garbage can because my jumps have a slightly raised middle support. Once she learns to go around the can (or any other object you choose) you'll see that it's not hard to transfer the concept to your jump standard.
I set the garbage can in the middle of my work area and then I gently hold Kili's collar and direct her so that her nose is pointing around the can. I release her collar and call her. I've positioned her such that she really has no choice but to finish the turn... it's the fastest way to get to me! If she had chosen to turn back around and go the wrong way I would have simply set her up the next time with her nose even FARTHER around the curve. As the dog catches on you start her closer to the intended start point so that she is making more and more of the curve on her own, until finally she is making a full 180 degree turn around your object.
At this point I elected to replace the can with my jump and directed her to take the turn around one of the poles. You can see that she makes a couple of errors because it is a much smaller object, but I just set her up closer to it so that she really has no choice but to go around it. From this point we will be working on starting farther and farther away from the jump and having me just send her to the jump. Beyond that I will start increasing the height of the jump.
The idea is always for the dog to DRIVE out of that turn and to you. Make it fun! I find a toy works best for this exercise and I'm not sure if having a lot of fun with it is what turned her from the toy interested pup you see in the first set of clips to the toy obsessed dog you see in the next set. I included a bit of her tugging through both these sessions which were several weeks apart purely to show you the difference in her tugging! I am thrilled with her tugging recently. I'm not sure what's gotten into her but I love the toy drive!
We have had our share of frustrations in group class. Kili is a social butterfly and if allowed to work off leash she will not listen or recall but must visit with other dogs (several of whom are not okay with being visited, I might add). However, watching these backyard training videos is very rewarding and morale boosting.
This was an almost brand new tug toy. I love these toys. They are made by a local company (but don't worry, they ship!) called Salty Dog Canvas and they are fantastic. This one is called the Mini Teaser Tug. It has sheep shearling, rabbit fur, and an Orbee raspberry ball. Salty Dog guarantees the Orbee and will replace the toy if the Orbee is destroyed. Well, go figure we broke it! I actually have the moment when it broke on video and I've included it as well as still photos of the toy before and after. The owner of the company said that they've never seen one break this way... as in inside out! They are sending me a replacement. Can't say enough good things about this company!
Kili made her triumphant return to the streets of Toronto today. We took the hounds into the city to attend a Greyhound Meet and Greet. I was very pleased with Kili. It was her first time back in Toronto in about 5 months. We do not get NEARLY the amount of traffic and commotion in our small city and I wasn't sure how she would handle it now that she's older. She did great though. Took food well, responded to simple commands, was curious about things, didn't show the slightest fear.
The meet and greet was held at a pet store. It was a very nice pet store that even offers coffee and snacks for patrons who wish to sit on their comfy couches for awhile. We did just that.
Then we decided to take the hounds for a walk around the block to make sure everyone saw how beautiful they were even if they didn't walk by the pet store! Look at all the traffic! This store was located at one of the busiest intersections in the city.
On our walk we found this great fountain! It was a pretty cool day so Kili didn't show off too much of how bold she is around water, but she did wade around and even drank from one of the fountains.
Summit decided that he was going to be the official Ambasadog for the group. He spent the ENTIRE afternoon schmoozing and walking up to random people demanding petting. I think he may have convinced a few people that greyhounds are the dogs to have!
That's right, you know you want to take me home.
Kili and friends
Kili showing off how easily she can sit
After doing our duty for the greyhound adoption world we took the dogs for a walk at the beach. This was Kili's first trip to the beach and she was very interested in the water, though unfortunately dogs aren't supposed to go in except in the designated dog park... so chosen I suppose because no people ever use that section of beach due to how rocky it is!
Kili's metamorphosis to amphibious form is complete. The heat of the summer has really helped to encourage her into the lake and she now goes splashing on a very regular basis, enjoys playing with the hose and in her little kiddie pool. She even sometimes opts for a short swim with her buddy, Cole. I've included a video of her first INTENTIONAL swim.
