AUSSOME ASCA weekend!

Three runs from this weekend- the 2 best, unfortunately, were not caught on tape. The first 2 are Boo, the last one is Hemi's jumper's Q. (The first video includes a special message from Mike!)



Boo finished the weekend with 5 out of 10 Q's, a 1st place, a second place finish only .02 behind first, and was runner up high in trial! I couldn't be more proud of my little man!



Hemi is doing the dogwalk consistently in class, or has the last several weeks. He is not hesitating and requiring zero assistance from Gene to do the dogwalk. Hopefully, sometime soon, that will transfer to a trial setting. When it does- LOOK OUT AGILITY WORLD!

Tea Party 4/15/2010

Tea Party tonight:  This was a large banner they had up for everyone to sign.  This will be rolled up and delivered to Washington, DC

One of may favorite photos:

How true THIS is!

Where old meets new---the times may change, but the message still rings true today:

Then there are the *new* messages!

Hey....some of us OWN poodles! 

And...inventive new products!

DAWG turns 25

Texas' oldest agility club continued it's 25th anniversary celebration this weekend.  I decided to share some of the photos I took while I was there:

First, a group shot of the wonderful Veteran dogs in the Veteran's parade:

A few of our Members' dogs:

Buster

Vrai

And, Baron

I LOVED this look:

And..Flurry:

And, I found this shot humrous...

Happy 25th Anniversary to DAWG.  I have only been involved a few years, but it's not only the oldest agility group in the state, it's the BEST!

NO!

I had an interesting conversation with some friends today regarding the use of the word "NO" and it's uses in dog training, and the conversation was interesting enough that I thought it should be shared.  It started as we were discussing a dog that has a tendency to sniff on the table during an agility trial.  We all agreed that, with the particular dog, stress was the major factor.  It was brought up that the usual tendency for someone who has a sniffing problem, is to utter the word "no" at a trial, and expect the dog to quit sniffing and become MACH  material immediately!  This seldom works.  The conversation regarding the reason this doesn't work went something like this (author retains the right to paraphrase and/or alter the exact conversation in order to make delivery of said message more effective):

B:  Let's play a game of trivial pursuit.
M:  Sure
B:  What piece of a WWII mess kit was referred to as a pus blanket?
M:  Hrmmm.. Bread?
B:  No
M:  Napkin?
B:  No
M:  Crackers?
B:  No

There was a lag in the conversation as we started at B, waiting for more information.  None was forthcoming.
I googled this, and even called my Dad- a career military man- to try and glean the answer to no avail.

So, what does this prove?  I have given my 3 best answers, and have offered other behaviors, and still do not know what the correct answer is.  I also do not have enough information to answer the question.  All I have is "no". 

When it comes to dog training, I'm not about what works, I'm about what makes sense to me.  This makes sense to me.  Dogs learn best (as we all do) when the information provided is black and white.  Simply teaching the dog "no" can make them stop one behavior, but doesn't provide them the information they need to perform the correct behavior, and this can cause undue stress on the dog.