Another Great Week

Well, Toby and I had another great time in class last night. I thought for sure with the long Holiday break and the rain we would not do well in class. But once again Toby came to my rescue. What a lad! His toy drive is really coming along. Last night I played tuggie with him with two different toys. One toy was his favorite of all time. The long stick with a rope and a squeekie attached to it. He played so hard with that thing that when the instructor came over to watch, Toby had already tired out. It is so great watching him have fun! When he is having fun I am having fun. This class has just been the best thing ever!

This class has made me focus on having fun with Toby and having fun training. I use to always worry about getting into the show ring. Now I am OK if we don't show until next year. I don't need to be in the agility ring to have fun with my dog. I am having fun with my dog right now!

Toby did great with the long line. I had not had a chance to work with him this week after the little mishap last week. The huge correction he got by mistake when he was following me and trying to get the toy. It just did not phase him. What an awesome dog!

We still need to work on our stays and drops. Toby did OK with his stays, he just did not like it when the dogs on either side of him got up and went to their handler. I tried to get back to him to treat and reinforce his stay but I was late and he got up. Maybe next time.

In a couple of weeks we will be taking a test. We must pass this test or we can not move up into P3. So far I think we are going to be OK with the test, we just need to drop a few lbs. This poor dog is getting 3/4 cup of food a day and a 1/2 can of green beans. Sometimes I see him hunting for food. But it has been made very clear to me that if he is not at a good weight he will not pass. So I guess I just need to suck it up and make sure he is at a good weight. That also includes more exercise!

Great Class

Tonight Toby and I Headed out to DDS for our Tuesday night class. It was a great class. I was so afraid that we would be yelled at for not knowing our stuff. Wow! was I in for a pleasant surprise! Some how I managed to get Toby to play with a toy in class. I guess it was the yummy treat that I placed inside of the snakes head. What ever works. We worked on the drop command. Toby is getting better with that one. We worked on the down and settle. Toby has been doing the down and settle for some time now. The instructor wants me to use only one word; however, Saying down and then settle works great for us. So unless it becomes a big issue I am just not going to worry about it. When we were working on the long line I had a little mishap. Toby was doing so well but I did not notice that his line was caught on a piece of equipment. As Toby was running straight for me he got a huge correction from the line being caught. The instructor had me doing the exercise over again to make sure Toby did not think that this was a real correction. Toby was very hesitant but came to me. I will have to work with Toby on the long line this week to make sure that this doesn't work negatively on him. Any way as we were leaving the instructor complimented me and Toby on our Toy drive. She was impressed that we had come so for in just one week. Well she thinks it had been one week, I did not tell her that I have been working on this for some time now. Oh Well! at least Toby is starting to like his toys outside of the house.

In Loving Memory

A moment of Silence for those waiting at the Bridge to join us once again.


Wendy

August 5, 1987-November 17,2007










With Love
Terrie and Toby

He has toy drive!

Yes! My baby does have toy drive! I was so afraid that he would not have toy drive like he needs to have for agility. Toby has toy drive at home. He loves playing squeekie ball in the hallway. He loves to tugh in the front room. He loves pushing a pool noodle across the yard. But when I take Toby to a new place he wants no part of any toy. I guess I just needed the right toy.

Last night I took Toby's favorite toy to obedience class with us. We arrvied about 15 minutes early. I took out his toy and play just a bit with it. He was so so with it. Then we had class. Man! great improvement just in one week. The class went a little long. When the class ended I took out Toby's toy once again. He had a blast! I know I am going to look a little funny with a long stick with rope and a fuzzy on the end sticking out of my pocket, but if this is what I need to do for my Tobes then this is what I am going to do. I am sure if I keep up with it, it won't be long before he is tugging with me with a normal tug toy.

As far as obedience class, it went great. We both had fun. We were very good last night. Learned some more stuff to work on. We need to practice finishes. On the recall Toby can now catch the piece of food that I spit out of my mouth when he stops and sits facing me. We had to practice that one a lot this week. What a great trick. At least for me it is.

P2 class

Well, last night was the first class for me and Toby. I was very nervous about it. This is the first time of having this instructor. She was full of information. My head is spinning from trying to remember everything. I think Toby did very well. I know that it is defiantly going to help us. I need someone who can tell me what I am doing wrong.

The watch me game did not go over very well with us last night. I guess because it was new to us. I have always used my finger and said the command "watch me". Tonight while doing our home work if became very clear that we did learn something last night. I need to just remember to take each step and complete. Toby caught on very quick that if he looked at me he would get a treat. Then I was able to have him watch me for a count of 10. All I had to do was follow the instructions. One step at a time. I just keep wanting to hurry things up.

The "Drop" is proving to be a little more harder. I am having to force Toby down. This is something he just doesn't want to do. When he goes down he wants to settle. If he doesn't settle he will pop up before his release word. I would not be worried but we have been working on this for almost two weeks now. I know that it is something I am doing.

Toby sits are great for a short time. He will sit fast but he doesn't want to sit long. If he is in a sit for very long he will go down and settle. I think he is getting better. At least he will sit for longer periods of time now. I guess I just need to be patient.

Toby's stays are doing good at this point. He recall in this setting is good. The recall on the agility field "edit".

And because I did not have all of my school supplies, we had to sit out on an exercise. The come to the hand. I felt bad. But I will have everything next week.

As far as toy drive. Toby has it at home. He can care less about a toy when he is out and about. I went today and bought a buck tail and tried to weave it into one of his Tug toys. It took me 30 minutes to weave it and it took Toby all of 2 seconds to tear it out. So I thought that I would get out his favorite toys of all times. When he was a puppy I bought him a tug toy that had a long stick and a fuzzy on the end. He loves that toy. We put it up because he was tearing them up real fast and it was very hard to get replacements. I think I am just going to have to take Toby to the park and see if he will play with it outside in a new place. If he does I think we will be on our way to having a toy drive. In the mean time I will order a "skin" for him. I think the most important thing I learned is that I was not having fun with my dog. I was pushing him and pushing him to be this star. He will be a star we just need to have fun along the was.

Drop

Not much going on this weekend. I spent all day Saturday playing with my new washer and dryer. I guess it is a little sad when you brag about your new toy and it is a washer and dryer. Doing laundry was kind of fun. I am sure it will go back to being a chore next week.

I spent some time working with the Tobes this weekend. I am trying to teach him a new command. "Drop" When Toby goes into a down from the command down he likes to sit first and then go down. I also use settle so that he will move onto his hip. I think changing to "drop" he will understand that I want him to down on top of his feet so he can pop up in a hurry. I think this is going to take some time. But I do think he is starting to understand what I want.

The other command that I need to work on is "stand". It has been two years since I worked with this command. I think some how I taught Toby to stand by using his release word "free". I guess I am going to have to talk with the experts on this one. The last thing I want to do at this point is add more confusion to Toby's life.

What! Its 5:00 A.M.

All of the clocks have been changed for some time now. At least I thought that all of the clocks had been changed. Not Toby's. Instead of getting me up at 6:00A.M. he is now getting me up at 5:00A.M. I am hoping that soon his internal clock will be with everybody els. I do have to admit. It is so sweet when he wakes me up. I will be laying on my right side and I feel a paw on my cheek. Then I feel these kisses. When I turn over to my left side low and behold Toby is staring at me. It is just so cute. Poor Dave! When Toby gets him up it is with great force. Toby will jump on the bed and then walk all over him. Sometimes thoses paws feel like stakes trying to peirce there way into his body. Sorry Dave!

Toby and I had an obedience class on Thursday night. It went very well. Lots of distractions. I am learning just how I have not been very clear with Toby about who is boss. One thing we have to work on is that when he is told to sit he stays in a seated position. Toby will remain sitting for a while. Then when he is tired he will go into a down. I must have pushed him into the sit position from a down about 50 times that night. He is getting better. He just has to learn that he needs to do what I tell him to do. Not what he wants to do. After all this is why we are doing obedience at this point and not agility.

I'd rather be in a Fish Bowl

Tonight was the last night for agility training for a while. We are going to be working on obedience. I sure hope this will help us. I am beginning to believe that Toby would rather be in the back yard barking at all of the people and cars in the alley way. This is what I call a fish bowl. Lets face it. There is a fence between Toby and the outside world. Just like there is glass between a fish and the outside world. I was so hoping that Toby was going to be a great agility star! Something has gone terribly wrong in our training. I hope the obedience is going to help.

I always thought that a tired dog was a happy dog. I thought taking Toby for a 3 1/2 mile walk this morning before I went to work would be all that was needed to do to help Toby with his zoomies. Nope. Did not happen. He decided that he was going to make up his own coarse which he did. He seemed to have a blast. I didn't. My next step is to do obedience with Toby for a while and hope that this will snap him out of this self rewarding thing he is doing. Maybe tomorrow will be brighter!

What a show off!

Thursday night Toby and I went to our first obedience class. He was such a show off. He worked really well. The instructor had us leave our dogs and walk only as far as we thought our dogs could handle. Well, I turned my back to Toby and must have walked about 20 feet away from him. He did not move a muscle. When I called him he came straight to me. He did all of this in a some what strange place that was extremely noisy. Loud trucks, and trains echoed off of the buildings. A couple of times Toby did bark and growl at the noise but I was able to keep him in check. If only he could do this when we are on the agility field!

Tonight I met a couple of friends out at an agility field to work on some of the obstacles. When I did not direct Toby like he thought I should have he went nuts on me. He just gets very upset with me if I don't do what he wants. Man! I have created a monster! He worked really well with Dori. I can see that we need to work on becoming a team and be patient with each other. I think we are on the right path by taking obedience for a while!