SAR Training

Tuesday night Mason and I met Eric at work and we headed over to an open space land that has a huge field in the middle of it. The grass was at least 6 inches over Mason’s head. After we determined which direction the wind was blowing, I took Mason to a mowed path over on the far side of the field from where Eric was going to hide. We waited awhile and then headed out to grid out the field. I had no idea where Eric was hiding besides that it was on the far side so my grid was kind of sloppy (he tells me). Oh well, I will keep practicing. We got pretty close before Mason started on the scent cone but he did find him and that’s what’s important. After he got his tug reward Eric took him back to where we had started and I hid. Eric knew exactly where I was going though so his grid was a lot better and while it took Mason awhile he was quicker at finding me. I love watching him work the scent cone - it’s so neat! He was pretty hot and tired after this so we headed home.

Obedience Class #4

We had class finally on Wednesday night. It was originally supposed to be our last one but with all the cancellations it is the third to last one. I tried Midas with both his flat collar and his prong collar on and switching the leash between the two. He did farely well. We did a practice test where she ran each of the dogs through the testing points and then at the end we worked on what was harder for each of us. Midas and I have to work on loose leash walking. While it’s 10x better than it used to be, in that he is not hauling me all over the place, he does seem to like to keep the leash pretty taut, which is a no-no for CGC. He did have a moment of excitability which would also have disqualified us, but I can be content with the fact that the other dog started it . He’s doing a ton better with the whining, but if there’s a dog not in our class but still within his sight, he whines - which is also grounds for disqualification. The next two weeks (before the test) we will be practicing a ton on these things. I would really like him to pass.

Water Wubba

Midas’s foot is finally doing well enough that I felt we could do a little bit more work on The Catch as his last event it was clear he had forgotten the goal of the game (and my throws need more work). I also got him a Water Wubba as his new dock jumping toy since the Tug was retired for Mason’s use in SAR. I’m glad I decided to practice this as it took a couple of tries before I figured out how I had to hold it so that he could consistently catch it. He was all revved up for the game too. He sat and stayed perfectly and was extremely tense and alert and blasted out of the sit to me every time. It was fantastic. Next I brought Mason out. I left off with his training at the point where he was consistently lunging after the toy. He has come leaps and bounds since then. He has a strong enough sit that I can get a couple of feet away from him and he is now jumping and catching the toy. I didn’t have him go too far off the ground and still his landings seemed a little hard to me so we only did a couple of times (with loads of praise) before calling it quits, don’t want to hurt his tender joints. I think we’ll have another great dock jumping dog…if we can ever get him to jump off the dock .

Loose Leashin’ It

Tonight I took each of the boys for a walk to practice loose lead walking. With Midas I decided to completely forgo the prong collar and just see how things went with the flat collar. It went really well. His walk went as well on the flat as it’s been going on the prong, which is a HUGE difference from when we started the loose lead training. We do have to work on it being taut and also on our left turns. But, progress is being made. Hopefully enough so that by the time the test comes around he’s got it down pat. Next up was Mason. He has a habit of straining at the leash until he can’t breathe and is literally gagging. This is usually in an attempt to get to where Midas is. I decided that if we got him strong in walking without Midas then our attempts to walk with Midas would be more successful. He is great with the “checking in”, which is looking up at me every once in awhile. He did extremely well. He did pull a couple of times but by switching directions and praising a TON when he was in the right position, for most of the walk he was where he was supposed to be. That was really exciting for me. He is so eager to please that once he gets the hang of it, it should go really quickly.

Potty Bells

On a side-note. I hung up some cute potty bells and began to teach Mason to ring them every time he needed/wanted to go outside. At first it was a struggle to get him to ring them before he got so excited he leaked all over the floor. Now though, he is eager and willing to do it. I say “go ring your bells” and he races over, smacks them with his nose a couple of times and then (wiggling all over) bolts to the door. All that is left is to teach him to do it when we aren’t telling him to

Today we went to Eaton Rapids to meet with Mike from Mid Michigan Kennels. It was fantastic! The drive was a little over an hour and the last bit I felt that we might be lost but we found it without any troubles. Mike ended up being an extremely charismatic man, easy to talk to and with a lot of knowledge. His office walls were covered in awards and certificates. He used to be on the police force and in the army as well. Anyway, after watching me play with Mason and his tug and some discussion about the differences between scent tracing and tracking we headed out to a field not far away. We will be working on scent tracing with Mason. This means that he will not be following the direct path of the missing person, but getting their scent on the wind and following that. I was really nervous. I was worried that he wouldn’t care that one of us was hiding or not. Once we got there, Eric had instructions to walk around the outside of the field to get to the tree at which he was going to hide behind. He took Mason’s favorite tug toy with him. This way, when we started Mason out in the field he would not be able to just track Eric’s footsteps around the outside. Also, he didn’t get to watch Eric leave, we had him between the two trucks. Once Eric was in position we headed out into the field. Mason was allowed to go to the end of the leash and wander as he pleased. All of a sudden, his head snapped up and Mike gave me the instruction to release the leash. Mason darted off to the right and at first I thought he was on the trail of something not-Eric. But then he veered left. Back and forth, working the scent cone just like Mike said he would. Here’s a rough diagram of what it looked like:

It was honestly pretty awe-inspiring to watch. Once he reached Eric he got huge praise and to play with his tug, which he promptly retrieved back to me We were ecstatic!! Unfortunately, Eric didn’t get to see him in action. So, I went and hid this time on the opposite side of the field from the start point and behind a huge pile of rocks. He had to work a little harder and get a little closer but he found me. The funny thing was, he had lifted his head, eyes pointed right at me and didn’t even see me until he had run right into me. Mike said he “wasn’t seeing with his eyes, he was seeing with his nose”. It was awesome! I couldn’t stop smiling. The final verdict was to play this hide-and-seek game with Mason around 2 times a week until April, in different areas, environments and seasons. Then we could enroll him in classes. We got instructions on how to further the training but with the same basic concept as what we did right there. Mike said that he thought Mason had it in him: he has the nose, the personality, the drive and he’s people-oriented. He said we have done a good job socializing him. I am soooo excited!!

Obedience. Last night was supposed to be Midas’s first Obedience class…which we missed all but the last ten minutes of. The directions I got were for Cherry St. downtown GR and really it was supposed to be in Ada . So, then we had to hurry home and get the real directions and then hurry there. I was really bummed. Really, really bummed. The class went over so we sat in the truck and waited….and waited…and then just for a change of pace, we waited some more. Finally it ended and I got to speak with the instructor. She was terrific. She told me to work on Midas with focusing on me. She also said that the prong collar might work out very well for me, if I use it correctly. After a lengthy conversation we headed home. I felt much better and not so depressed. Tonight after work I practiced some of the things she said and it worked fairly well. I also took Midas for his very first loose-leash walk ever !! I was so excited! It was lovely. The thing about the prong collar is that he self-corrects himself, I don’t have to do a whole lot. Once I taught him that the concept was to stay on my left, next to me, he pretty much did with no direction from me. There were a couple of mistakes, but it was our first walk so there’s plenty of time to finesse. I am hoping it will carry over to the dock jumping competition at Traverse City with Ultimate Air Dogs this weekend.

Search and Rescue. After watching Mason at my grandparents’ place hunt up the stick we throwing during fetch and have the determination to keep at it long after Midas had quit, I decided maybe he would excel at something beyond therapy training. After a little bit of research (very little, not a whole lot I could find on the Internet for Michigan), I found Mid-Michigan Kennels, Inc. I emailed the trainer and he requested that I call. I talked to him today after work and he was great! I am bringing Mason there on Tuesday. He’s way to young too start real training, but I can start playing some games with him to see if he even has the right “stuff” to do SAR. I’m pretty excited.

RAW Food. I’ve been researching the benefits of switching the boys to a raw dog food diet. We have a line and are probably picking up an extra freezer on Monday. This is not just for the dogs (if we even switch), we need the extra space for all of our extra food…Eric can not go by a bread sale and not buy at least 3 loaves. Unfortunately, everything I’ve found online is waaaayyy to expensive to switch. I joined a couple of raw yahoo groups in Michigan and am hoping to get some more info. I also haven’t contacted any meat shops in the area yet. If anyone has any additional info, good or bad, please let me know!

Dock Jumping. Tomorrow we are heading out bright and early to Traverse City to take the dogs to the Cherry Festival. We are staying with my parents good friends and they are going to be there too. It will be the first time either have seen Midas compete, I’m nervous! He is competing both days too. After watching all the photos that Eric took at Battle Creek, I realize I am throwing WAY too early for him to even attempt to catch the bumper, so I hope to work on this during the practice dock time. I worked on him in the backyard again tonight and it went very well. He’s doing really well with it, I can only hope it transfers to the dock. Mason has started getting out of the truck by himself now, so maybe he’s worked up the nerve to actually jump off the dock - only one way to find out .