The Dogs Are Really In Charge

Agility Ups and Downs

noreply@blogger.com (Laura, Lance, and Vito) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 03:57:00 +0000

The Toller had a short day at the USDAA trial this Saturday. Many pros but also one big check on the negative side.

Gamblers- NQ
It took awhile for Vito to start tugging with me in our warm up, although he still remained engaged with me and wanted butt rubs. He did a great job of entering the ring and not staring at anybody, even though I actually set him up facing the timer and scribe. We all had to start with that jump and I wanted to do the dogwalk second but it was really bad approach if you started from the traditional side. I was the only person to start from the opposite side but the wrap made it a perfect approach and there were several dogs who slipped when started the other way and weren't fully trained in squaring up.
Anyway, I was really happy with run! Vito seemed really confident with some decent speed for him! I unfortunately didn't do a smooth rear cross to the gamble, got too close to the line, and I knew Vito would turn in to me after doing the chute since we almost NEVER practice the chute. So he crossed the line and while I was successful in sending him back out we were .24 seconds over time.

Standard- Q
Our warm up was still a bit slow to start getting into it, but then he really got excited.
The opening was almost identical to my gamblers opening and Vito ran the dogwalk even more confidently. It was beautiful! He did slow down in the weaves but recovered after the table. Vito actually slid into his automatic down for the first time in a trial, but didn't quite get his elbows 100% down so still needed my verbal cue. I was super happy with this run!

Pairs- Q
Disaster. I used Vito's tennis ball in warming up which he really enjoyed. But right before entering he stared at a man watching the ring. He didn't react, but Vito got excited like he thought he knew the person at first and then just stared when he realized he didn't. I thought I had him as we entered
and took off his leash to set him up but then Vito transferred his fixation to a ring worker (female) sitting at the 2nd obstacle (the chute). Major reactive barking. Since they were still setting bars I tried moving away and Vito easily came with me but still tried to bark and stare past me as I body blocked. I moved again but it didnt' help. The "go" button was pressed as I crouched down in front of him and my brain froze as I was trying to decide what to do. Vito decided for me as he took of barking at the worker although did take the first jump. He rushed her and then excitedly jumped on her. She ignored him and I was able to call him back to me after about 5 seconds. He then did the chute which was right there but barked again and curled back to go another few feet to her. This time he came back almost immediately and was very fast and focused as he finished the rest of the very short course which even included the teeter. He did a great down as I passed the baton to my partner. Since she was clean and fast we managed to qualify.

I have no idea what triggered the huge difference in the last run versus the first one. He was a bit more excited from his ball versus tugging, but not too much more since it's not like he gets ball obsessive at trials like he does in other places. It had been 7 hours since he has his Clonidine which is right at the point where it wears off for him.

I have no idea what I should have done on that last run even if my brain had kicked in before Vito decided for me. I see 2 options. #1) Try and get him back, but accept the fact that Vito needs to check out the person and then finish the course or a short sequence afterwards to show him that it's no big deal and agility is fun. I know that there is no risk of Vito harming the other person. #2) Immediately re-leash Vito and pull him from the course as he's barking. According to my notes, Vito has reacted at an agility trial 7 times, including Saturday's, and 1 time at an obedience trial. 2 of them have been to his Daddy who he suddenly notices watching. 1 of them was to the spot where he thought his Daddy was standing but really nobody was there (and it was more mild barking and jumping at the wall since he couldn't react to anybody.) 2 of the episodes have been to judges where Vito will react at the start line but will run the course until he gets to judge's location. And then there was 1 mild barking episode to a leash runner and Saturday's big episode to a worker. Our 1 obedience episode was to a loud dog and handler warming up right at the ring entrance. There have been a handful of other times that Vito has stared at people in the ring and outside of the ring without reacting or running up to but it is still not a common occurrence. If I do notice Vito staring at someone outside the ring, I have been successful at getting Vito to calmly walk up the person and get cookies for hanging out near them. Once we get close he takes a quick sniff and is fine. I don't think he has ever done reactive barking outside of the ring at a trial, but if he does get in reactive mode it is impossible to get him back without backing up to a very far distance or alternatively letting him approach the person despite his barking.

So, any advice if it were to happen again? Any advice on what to do with Vito in general?

The pairs run was unfortunately not videotaped but I do have footage of our gamblers and half our standard run:

Run!

noreply@blogger.com (Laura, Lance, and Vito) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 23:57:00 +0000

Best winter ever.

Obnoxious Lab.

New victim

Break for family photo

Finally brought out a toy!

I had to have a few discussions with Fi about proper playing behavior. 1. Don't yank the disc out of Vito's mouth if he caught it. 2. Bring it back all the way to me, don't rely on the Toller to finish your work.

Disc Dog Playdate and Goals

noreply@blogger.com (Laura, Lance, and Vito) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 19:44:00 +0000

Yesterday I took Vito and Fiona to a disc dog playdate. My goal this year with Vito is to try and fix 2 issues that I think are feeding off each other:

1. His tendency to not collect for the leap, but over pursue and jump when he is right underneath the disc.
2. His huge head-down outrun each time I send him around. Unfortunately I've also been rewarding that by doing a lot of long and low throws. Vito is more likely to not do #1 if the disc is far enough ahead of him and not floating.

Being motivated by all the Pawsitive Vybe videos available to everyone, I came up with a plan.
my plan yesterday was to send him around and only do short 10 yard floaters. I fully expected him to catch zero discs as I visualized him being 20 yards out before even noticing the disc was behind him, or tipping the disc if he did manage to see where the disc was.

Instead, Vito shocked me by collecting with ease and having the highest catch ratio he has ever had. Not once did Vito take off sprinting and multiple times he even looked back at me to see where the disc would be. My best guess is that training indoors helped him by the pressure of the walls and the slightly slippery floor. Now I just need to find a place to train inside in order to make collecting a habit!

As an added bonus, Vito remembered his eye contact games and only did 1 punch and scream!

Since Vito was doing so well I was able to play with some fun stuff as well. I finally trust myself on disc placement and timing to let Vito work on vaults. Thanks to Chris Simmons for the pictures!

Vito has also nailed the reverse chest vault, without a disc. Working on takes with the disc makes it weird so I guess I better practice the throw before I let Vito.

I also took Fiona out to play for a little bit in the basement. She would be one awesome disc dog! Fi already has a great switch between discs and a decent drop it. I worked on teaching her the around and started doing tiny little overs. She is one intense little lab!

Cuddle Buddies 2

noreply@blogger.com (Laura, Lance, and Vito) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:30:00 +0000

I posted a post over a year ago depicting the cuddle team of Luke and Vito. Vito may never seek out the cat to spoon with, but he's quite content to let Luke curl up with him on a daily basis. The pictures taken since the last post are begging me to be posted.

UKI Agility Trial

noreply@blogger.com (Laura, Lance, and Vito) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 03:27:00 +0000

The boys and I went to a UKI Agility trial this Saturday. The courses were not as tight as I was expecting and actually had a NADACy feel to them, even the advanced levels on Saturday.

Vito
Vito was in 3 runs: gamblers, agility, and steeple chase.
Pros: I think we're getting a good warm up routine down. A mixture of butt rubbs, then tugging, followed by the food flick game. I guess we won't be able to do the food flicks at outdoor/dirt trials, but it's doing a really nice job of keeping him focused yet also some intensity. Even when our first two runs were delayed once we had already entered the ring, Vito did a nice job of staying focused on me and keeping excited. Zero looking at the judge or ring crew. Running contacts were all in and we didn't have any issues on course. Since steeplechase was basically one big speed circle he was a very happy boy! Of course that is the one run where the record button wasn't actually pushed on the video camera. We qualified in 2 out of the 3 runs and in agility he just knocked the first bar.

Cons: While Vito seemed pretty confident this trial we still have a ways to go in running. And although he handled the delays in our runs pretty well I know it sucked some zap out of him.

Lance
Lance was only entered in gamblers and the 2nd round of agility. In gamblers he was a bit fiesty, totally sailing over the yellow on the dogwalk and then popping out of his weaves. During agility I did a more active job of trying to manage his contacts and I think he got a toenail in on the aframe and dogwalk. I have no idea what to do with the corgi's contacts still! At least he always has a blast. Lance qualified in both runs.

UDX Leg #1- With optional fronts!

noreply@blogger.com (Laura, Lance, and Vito) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 02:35:00 +0000

Today was the first time Lance and I went for that special double Q. It was also his first time in the open ring since getting his CDX in May 2010. My main goal for today was for Lance to hold both the sit AND down since it was such a struggle when going for that CDX.

The short post is that we qualified in both runs to get leg #1!!! And we lost 30 points on fly by finishes...

Utility B

Lance did pretty good. He was a tiny bit more distracted than usual, looking at the crowd several times in between exercises and when left on each stand. But he worked well and was excited to be there. Biggest problem was the sudden lack of fronts on the signal exercise and both directed jumping. We lost 15pts in those fly bys alone!!! Other issues was a no sit on heeling, a dropped dumbbell on the first article as he came back to me (but picked it up to present it at least!) and a sudden sprint off to a spot of light on the 2nd article when he suddenly thought he found what might be it.

Open B

This was our first time starting with something other than heeling! I was actually worried since Lance tends to get forgier and forgier the longer he is in the ring, but not today! I think this was the best heeling pattern and figure 8 he has EVER done! But then we also had 3 fly bys and lost another 15 points. Sigh. The only time he didn't skip the front was on the retrieve over the high. My first throw was too long and went out of the gate so as the judge went to pick it up I had Lance do a quick front. Maybe the reminder helped, but it sure didn't last for the broad jump where he actually thought about fronting but then said screw it at the last moment.

Vito's Vacation

noreply@blogger.com (Laura, Lance, and Vito) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 03:41:00 +0000

Adam and I recently got back from a 7 day vacation to Hawaii!

While Vito has slept away from home before, he has only spent 2 nights away from me. With Vito's anxieties I was very worried about taking this trip. I have separation anxiety too!

The dogs were farmed out to different places with Fiona staying in one of the approved fosters for the service dog organization, Lance staying with a short-dog obsessed coworker, and Vito staying with another coworker. Vito's place also housed twin 4yr old boys, 2 dogs, and a cat. Vito has met all but the cat before and I took him to their house earlier that week to get familiar with the place. He was super excited but seemed fine with the boys (whom were very respectful!). One of the twins commented to his mother that "this one might be hyper around us" and repeated the advice "no balls in the house!"

Worry wasn't necessary.

Vito's report card was a good one. He was completely relaxed around the kids, even gave kisses every morning. Never had to go in the car, and while he was left alone a handful of times he at least demolished a bully stick on one departure. Apparently he even played with the female lab!!! At night he was allowed to sleep in bed and she commented that he was the sweetest snuggler ever.

This week since we've gotten him back has been rough on him. On the positive side I think it is less due to the stress and stimulation of his vacation and more due to the lifestyle of not only having to come to work with me every day this week but having to deal with a very absent mom while there (the "H" litter is at work and puppies=chaos!). The first full day back home he slept, slept, and slept some more! Vito decided being anxious wasn't worth it when you're just so tired so he decided to sleep the entire day at work and even a little bit in the car!

Lance and Fiona did just fine although I was worried I wasn't going to get Lance back since she loved him so much!

As for our trip, it was fantastic. I haven't taken a vacation since living as an adult and it was everything I want a vacation to be. Namely, doing nothing but going to the ocean every day! We did go whale watching and while the whales weren't very playful that day, we did see many momma and baby teams, followed closely by a waiting male. Unfortunately the vacation was kinda wasted since the puppies came in to work earlier than I was expecting so now I'm stressed again from puppy care! Oh well, you can't have anything but good thing to say about a free trip to Maui!

Kitty trick update

noreply@blogger.com (Laura, Lance, and Vito) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Kitty training is hard work! Much improvement though since I was able to successfully transition to training with his kibble instead of his wet food. I tried in past years and failed to train with dry food but I guess the wet food was just the jump start we needed. Although I still don't think he really gets the clicker.

1. Shake: Paw is raising high but still working on actually touching my hand.
2. Beg: We have duration!
3. Figure 8: Kitty still rubs against my leg every half 8, but at least he's getting to go through and alternate.
4. Back stall: Awesome. Full height, no lure. But I do have to shove him back far enough or he 'll keep rubbing.
5. Stay: Working on platform stays. He thinks me just handing him food is the way it should always be.
6. Rollover: He "offered" it once when he was pissed I wanted him to sit and wasn't getting any food just from rubbing against my leg. I'm now on a mission to get this trick but can't get him to even lay on his side.

USDAA Trial #2

noreply@blogger.com (Laura, Lance, and Vito) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 21:46:00 +0000

2012 is going to be Vito's year. Vito was signed up for 1 day of agility today at the USDAA trial. It's our 2nd USDAA trial and I am enjoying the venue. The exact opposite of NADAC but I guess I like opposites.

Video. And yes, I forgot my shoes at home:

First up was Pairs and I wasn't sure how Vito would feel about needing to be put on a stay and having my attention diverted from him. But being in the ring while the other dog was running got Vito very excited. Some screaming occured and he didn't mind at all when I went to get the baton. Unfortunately the other dog decided to join us on course. Thankfully Vito did an excellent recall and didn't seem phased by the 2nd stay he had to do. I think he actually RAN too! So needless to say I was ecstatic over how anxious free Vito was on this run. Video may be being sent to me soon.

Our second run was standard. It was a little harder to get Vito focused on me during our tugging warm up but once he did focus he remained very into it. Before going into the ring he stared at the leash runner but was able to focus nicely once we were actually in the ring. He wasn't quite as confident on the run as I would like but it was still a very nice run. He even tried super hard to get the weave entrance after his running dogwalk contact but since I didn't want to decelerate before he got his contact he entered at the 2nd pole.

Last run was jumpers and probably his best jumpers run to date. I'm not sure if a course comprising only of jumps is more stressful for him or just because it's usually the last run of the day, but we usually have slow and stressy jumper runs. Today Vito was happy in jumpers! I screwed up by thinking I wouldn't have time to do a front cross when I clearly did. I know Vito doesn't like rear crosses in trials but I did one anyway and pulled him off a jump. Luckily it didn't completely demotivate him and he started to speed up a little bit again.

I am starting to feel better about Vito's trialing. Maybe not super confident yet but it feels like we're getting there!

Well that didn't work!

noreply@blogger.com (Laura, Lance, and Vito) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 05:42:00 +0000

After meeting with the Veternarian Behaviorist in November, we had discussed lowering Vito's Prozac dose. He was on 40mg once daily which was a very high dose for his body weight. Well I finally decided to make the plunge and lower it to 30mg 3 weeks ago and then we waited to see if any changes would occur with his separation anxiety.

Nothing at first. Then Vito started to act a little restless when left alone. No longer sleeping but flopping around on the bed, moving positions every 2 minutes. Because of the Holidays I was off of work and not leaving him for too long so I wasn't sure if he would relax more if left for a full 2hrs or longer. I got my answer this past week and it wasn't one I wanted to hear.

The footage of Vito left for 2hrs and 40min was not pretty although since he left the bedroom all I had was sound to go off of.. He started howling again, and actually started at 40min.

Needless to say we upped Vito back to 40mg the next day. The main downside is that being on such a high dosage effects what other medications Vito can be on. Our Plan B for car anxiety was Trazodone and that is now officially ruled out.

On the positive side, the Chlonidine is doing a great job at managing his car anxiety. He was still alternating between very calm in the car and somewhat anxious on .25mg given just before car rides so we recently switched to giving it twice a day, every day, at .2mg. Knock on wood, he hasn't had any panic attacks since the switch 6 days ago.

New Years NADAC trial

noreply@blogger.com (Laura, Lance, and Vito) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 05:42:00 +0000

Lance had a great trial this weekend! 3 runs each day with a perfect Q rate!!! He's especially enjoying his criteria-free managed contacts! As of right now I'm just slowing down for the dogwalk and pausing a tiny bit for the aframe, but I'm not saying anything. His dogwalk actually looked perfect on Saturday and one of the runs on today! The aframe is much more iffy and Lance usually doesn't get more then 1 front foot in the yellow. Much more prone to misses and I think he got 2 gifts today! I'm not sure what I think of it from a safety stand point but at least he's not slamming into a stop and seems to run out of it nicely. From a managed stand point we got a few gifts today so I know I need to do something differently :)

Happy corgi video! Several mistakes on my end but he was a good boy and even earned his open chances title!

Vito did not have as great of a trial on Saturday's 3 runs. I started writing this section on Saturday evening and it was not an uplifting post. I'm not sure if his performance was due to anxiety, drugs, (I need to write an update post, we recently decreased his Prozac and of course he's still on Clomipramine), or being an idiot from loving to scratch on the astroturf too much (this is the only location he does that too!). He wasn't doing bad, just holding back and the only real reason I can think of is stress.

Thankfully today's 2 runs went MUCH better! Vito was still obsessed with the astro turf but once I brought out a toy he was tugging like crazy during his warm ups! We were able to run into the ring and I had a toller asking to be let go! The runs we still full of little mistakes but he was happy and running! Before his 2nd run, chances, I was a little worried as he stared at the leash runner a bit too long but then decided that he really wanted to play after all. And all running contacts this weekend were solid, even if they weren't quite full speed! I don't know what accounted for the 180 in attitude but I desperately needed the glimmer of hope. I'm choosing to think that Vito was tired of his 2011 version and wanted to start out the new year with a bang!

A happy NQ run in Chances:

For comparison: The better of his runs yesterday, a so so Touch n Go run, and the worst, a very sad novice jumpers run yesterday:

Disc in December!

noreply@blogger.com (Laura, Lance, and Vito) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 20:00:00 +0000

This has been the best winter ever! With no snow on the ground I've been able to continue playing disc with Vito. We take a nice walk down to the park and then he gets to play. Throws long and low reduce risk of spaztastic jumps. Sometimes I even take Fi and Lance along to run. Fiona is showing a strong interest in the frisbee and even Lance is having fun chasing after rollers. If I'm lucky he will even bring one back :)

Vito playing some disc. No plan just having fun:

Baby Bjorn 12/30/06-12/27/11

noreply@blogger.com (Laura, Lance, and Vito) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 02:08:00 +0000

Rest in peace Bjorn. His initial name when we got him was Baby and of course that didn't stick with us. However Bjorn means bear in Norwegian and for some reason being Baby Bjorn seemed to fit him.

Bjorn was the biggest thief in our house. All the ferrets love to hoard things, but Bjorn was the greatest at it. His favorite thing to steal was pens but he would eye any new object. Successful thefts have ranged from a hammer to an extremely large Loofa doll dragged under a 1/2inch closet door. He's also had wrestling matches with Adam over who gets to have the Wii remote.

Everyone who has met the ferrets loves Bjorn the most. He had the softest fur and was the most patient ferret for being held by adoring fans. Of course he was still a ferret and couldn't tolerate being still for too long.

Bjorn was a ladies man. His best friend was Molly and I know she will miss him terribly. He was also Lance's introduction to ferret play, teaching him just how hard he can bite their tails before ferrets strike back.

Goodbye buddy.

CDSP Obedience

noreply@blogger.com (Laura, Lance, and Vito) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 23:15:00 +0000

Vito
Today was a big test for Vito. I wanted to see how his anxiety would hold up being back in the obedience ring and a CDSP trial is the perfect place since they allow praise during exercises and treats in between. It was also a very small trial so Vito would feel less pressure from people.

Run #1
I thought Vito did pretty well. He was a little bit stressed setting up but held it together nicely. A few times he scanned the audience and he eyed the judge before the drop on recall but mostly he remained working, even if it wasn't as enthusiastically as I'd like. Vito even retrieved the dumbbell when it landed right at the judge's feet. Miraculously Vito even did a mini go out despite our very little practice in it. We qualified for our first Open leg.
Video here

Run #2
I debated about entering Vito in a second round but decided to go for it. The trial environment itself doesn't bother him at all and he was still working with great attitude outside of the ring.

A few more glances at the judge in the second round during the set up and heeling but then I felt he did a better job of remaining connected in between exercises and was more excited about his reward then in the first run. Until he thought I dropped a crumb before the retrieve. I got him back but then on the send I said take it and Vito took 2 seconds to sniff the supposed treat spot before getting his dumbbell.

The last exercise is where he fell apart. Right after I set him up Vito became distracted by a team warming up right at the ring gate. He looked over his shoulder and on the third look I backed up to get his attention but Vito barked. I thought I still might have him but he barked another time, I of course step on his tail and of course Vito starts reacting more heavily so I excuses ourselves and exit out the back.

Thankfully because it was CDSP I had treats in my pocket and I was able to reward eye contact and moving with me. He was still very focused on the other end but I was able to back up towards it, staying in front of him, and then back off by moving forward away the other end. He was quiet within 30 seconds and relaxed within another minute or two.
Walk of Shame Video here

Sigh.

Lance
Lance did 2 runs of CDSP Utility today. Except for thinking he was the Incredible Hulk on the first run and crashing through the jump, he did very well! We qualified the second round to get leg #2.
Video here

Merry Christmas!

noreply@blogger.com (Laura, Lance, and Vito) — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Vito on Clonidine

noreply@blogger.com (Laura, Lance, and Vito) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Vito started on Clonidine to help his car freak outs and general anxiety on November 24th. He started on a very low dosage and I've slowly been increasing it since we aren't seeing any adverse side effects.

Initially it seemed to help him, even at the lowest dose of .1mg. But after a few days the anxiety was creeping back. Which each increase the Clonidine seemed to help but then backed off or fluctuated. Some times he would be completely relaxed on a drive to a location but freak out on the way home, or reversed. Currently we are at .25mg and initially it seemed to go the same. Some good trips, some bad.

But the last several days have been miraculous. These last days Vito has been given the pills twice a day since he had to come with me at work all day and then to the obedience club in the evening. They were very long days and while he still isn't doing great at work he has done worse in the past. But for the car rides Vito has been very calm! His eyes even seem heavy like he wants to sleep but can't, and Vito is even eating treats in the car now.

Vito panic attacks not even a month ago:

Or one of his original melt downs here

The new calm Vito:

Vito also seems to be able to handle social situations better. He's always done pretty well just hanging out at obedience/agility settings but can tell the difference between a trial or class type of setting and everything else. The later makes Vito anxious. Actually it makes Vito over excited and in turn he becomes anxious. But lately he seems to be making small steps of progress. Earlier this month I took Vito and other dogs to work where we were hosting pictures with Santa for the puppy raisers. Even though it was the same building he walks in several times a week, as soon as we entered Vito knew it wasn't a normal work day and started to stress. The good news is he did not start trembling and stuck with quieter whining as opposed to much louder whines and/or screams. He was able to look at me when I said his name and calm down within 20 minutes. (Video here)

At an agility seminar lecture a week later (on speed, drive and motivation!) he needed to watch everyone arriving and was clearly anxious but only whined a little bit, was not over excited, and was able to lie down for most of it. He reacted a few times to people arriving late but was quieted quickly. (Video here)

Hope.

Vito in 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Laura, Lance, and Vito) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Same long and heavily edited video as in Lance's post:

A look back at Vito's year.

Anxiety
In February I decided to see our vet about starting Vito on drugs for his separation anxiety and general anxiety. The behavioral modification that we had done with Vito had helped but Vito could still not be left for more than 2 hours and he had never once slept while left alone. His anxiety was starting to increase to the point that Vito would again start howling when we were gone. In public his anxiety was also increasing as Vito was starting to get worried about people watching him while working and overstimulated in any new place.

Vito started with Clomipramine but was only on it for 25 days before I took him off. Maybe it was too early to tell, but it seemed as though Vito's reactivity was increasing and he was becoming more anxious in his crate at trials. His appetite decreased a lot on medication and remained decreased for most of this year. He then started Fluoxetine (Prozac) and after 6wks Vito slept for his very first time in his life when left alone!
The Prozac initially made him very flat so I quit training him and pulled him from his obedience trials. While Vito was much more relaxed when left alone on Prozac he would often be restless; wanting to sleep but constantly adjusting position every few minutes. Combined with his general anxiety still getting worse we increased the dosage in July. After 6wks the increase dosage helped his seperation anxiety immensely. Vito can be left for 5.5hrs (and likely longer but not tested) and I don't worry about him! It is a huge relief to be able to get out of the house without worrying about my dog!

Along with our success in July, Vito's car anxiety started. It came out of the blue and was full blown panic attacks. Vito restarted Xanax which helped control it but his reaction to the drug seemed to fluctuate. Some days Vito would act very sedated and other days he seemed fine. On lower doses the Xanax had no noticeable effect on him. I discontinued Xanax in September because I hated it and of course his full panic attacks resumed.

In November I finally went to see the behaviorist at the University. Vito started Clonidine to help with his car anxiety and general anxiety and we are slowly increasing the dosage. It is still too early to say if we will stick with it or not but so far it seems to be helping. We also have recently lowered his Prozac since Vito is doing so well on it. Hopefully we can lower his Prozac to a more reasonable dosage.

Agility:
We didn't do a ton of trials this year so despite Vito competing for 1.5yrs he hasn't actually done much. Vito's been slow to start showing the world what he's capable of. This year Vito still did a lot of happy bouncing around versus truly running. While agility trials don't give him the time to worry that obedience trials do, there are still times where he will start stressing and chooses to fixate on a person. The leash runner, judge, or even Daddy have all been targets for Vito fixating on and then going up to say "hi" when the course brings him there. There has been no rhyme or reason to when he's going to do it but I can always tell when I walk up to the line. Thankfully it's not too often!

Our last trial, in October, has been the first time that I felt we were really connected. Vito was excited, he actually ran with some speed, and walking up to the startline he kept his focus on the job at hand. It was also the first time I switched our waiting in line plan (1-2 dogs away from our turn). I didn't keep tugging, didn't offer treats, and didn't have him do any tricks. All we did was crouch down and let him look at the ring. The last week of December is our next trial so I'm hoping we can get the same results despite it being so long since the last trial.

This year his running contacts have been doing fabulous. There were several months this summer that I spent trying to get turns off the dogwalk and I felt like we were starting to make progress. But then I stopped going to practice after we moved further away. Vito's doing a really nice job of listening to me and turning on the flat and I'm happy with not messing with driving all the way down. I don't think he missed a single dogwalk or aframe in (his limited number of) competitions this year!!!

Obedience:
Because of Vito's increased anxiety this year and the effects of the medications, Vito has done very little obedience or rally this year. January and February Vito was still doing pretty well and wasn't on drugs yet and during those months he earned his last leg for his AKC Rally Novice title, two legs towards Rally Advanced, and his first two legs towards CDSP Novice Obedience. After that time, any trials entered were done as tests to see where he was at and I only entered one run or ended up pulling him from other runs because of his flatness. During those test runs, Vito did earn his last legs towards his Rally Advanced, CDSP Novice, and APDT Lv2 titles.

Most trials Vito has been very laggy and flat. Now that the drugs are sitting better with him the flatness is gone, but he still has some anxiety about the ring. I believe it's the pressure of a crowd watching him as he does better in less crowded areas and tends to be worse the closer he is to the entrance/stewards. I've taken him to 2 run throughs the last month and Vito is doing a much better job of working through the pressure. We will be entering a CDSP trial next week where I can give treats in the ring. My hope is to have a happy dog!

Disc:

Vito still loves it but I don't think he's any better at catching discs! The dog is just so intense and won't actually collect to jump nicely. The result is lots and lots of late jumps and tipped discs. I've been learning to throw long and low and Vito can do pretty well as long as that disc stays out ahead of him.

We've also been working on eye contact and impulse control ever since the Pawsitive Vybe Seminar in May. While he is much better about not screaming or punching me after a few throws, Vito can now even give me eye contact when asking for that first disc! Walking onto the field is much improved but still not consistent. I think this self control work has come a long way towards Vito being able to think and do his tricks when I have a disc in my hand. Still VERY hard but it's now possible!

This year I pushed myself and we did our first few freestyle routines. I didn't actually have a set routine in any way but figured it was about time we do it. Vito has placed first in the novice division.

Tricks:
We didn't work on too many tricks this last year. Vito hasn't been too excited about his food ever since he started medication and my usual training time is with their dinner. We did get duration on his paw over his nose (finally!), taught light switches on a lowered switch, and recently learned to drum. I also played around with getting Vito to hug a toy while begging, but most of that work was Vito thumping his legs towards his chest!

Goals for 2012
1. Obedience: My number 1 goal is to have a happy dog. I would love it if Vito could get back in the obedience ring next year but I won't do it if I think it's going to stress him out.

I plan to work on obedience in different environments, hitting as many run throughs as I can
Working on entering the ring behavior, finding a way to get him ready to work immediately rather than having him do a wakeup routine first.
Work on out of out of sight stays around the house and in other areas.

2. Agility: My hope is that Vito starts to shine this year. He's been happy and now I hope that happiness turns into actual running :)

Work as many trials I can so I can enter more trials this year.
Start doing USDAA with him and see if I like it. Continue doing NADAC because I like distance work and I'm hoping that the flowiness helps Vito to be confident to run fast.

3. Disc: Keep Vito safe!

Practice throwing more so I am more confident in my abilities
Develop an actual routine or at least several sequences I can draw from to combine.
Keep working on impulse control and develop a way to walk out onto the field consistently without Vito screaming and punching me.

4. Increased exercise: This last summer I started running with him and I shocked myself by not hating it too much. Of course I quit as soon as it got a little cold. But Vito really needs more exercise so I want to make it a goal for me to find a way to exercise him more in the winter and then hopefully start running again next spring.

Lance in 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Laura, Lance, and Vito) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:21:00 +0000

Another year almost gone! Here's my yearly wrap up video! The great thing about editing a video is that I can pretend all the frustrations and issues didn't exist and only show the good stuff :) I took a lot more footage this year so sorry about the 10min length, but of course it easily could have been 30!

I'll write up Vito's year in a few days, but for now here is a look back at Lance's accomplishments in 2011.

Obedience:
We had done one graduate open trial in December and we did a few more in the beginning of the year to earn 2 legs. Lance gained confidence as we went although we struggled with self doubting on the articles, straight go outs instead of to the glove location, and taking bonus jumps on the directed retrieve. After a Denise Fenzi seminar in July I made some changes and Lance's problems with articles disappeared!!! Later that month we went to a CDSP trial where Lance earned his CDSP open title and even got a leg towards CDSP Utility.

In September I became brave enough to try our first AKC Utility trial! We did a few trials where Lance attracted quite the crowd with his happy attitude and we earned our UD this December!!!

Rally:
Lance didn't do much rally this year as he only needed 1 leg for his APDT RL3 which we earned in April. He also took over Vito's APDT runs so has 1 double Q towards an ARCH.

Agility:
Poor corgi. Lance's proofing towards his 4 on the floor was going really well and he was nailing it in trials! But I was still very unhappy with the safety of Lance's aframe as he would launch and then fold up his leg to smash into his down at the bottom. In February I decided to go with a running aframe and since I was already retraining I added in the dogwalk. I spent all summer working on running contacts with him every morning before work. We made a lot of progress in the dogwalk but then it would fall apart as Lance would start to stress. Rebuilt it multiple times until I finally decided to give up in September. And the aframe was just a wreck. Now since I can't bear the thought of retraining the corgi again, we are going to managed contacts. No criteria on his part :) His dogwalk is actually going really well, likely do to all the work put in this summer. The aframe I'm still not sure how to handle it without him flying into space.

With our contacts retraining, Lance did very few agility trials this past year. When he did compete we only entered runs without an aframe or dogwalk. Lance still has a major stuttering issue on the jumps and it hasn't been a priority for me this past year with all the contact training. It's part of the reason I have decided to focus only on NADAC with him. I like doing distance training and more hoops mean less jumps. Although the greater distances between obstacles actually results in more stuttering as Lance seems to do better on twistier courses.

Tricks:
I wasn't very ambitious this year in our trick training. Several tricks were started, failed, and restarted multiple times. The attempted tricks:
- Hold a toy in his paws, while sitting up. Semi accomplished. Lance really gets the concept and reaches for the toy when presented. He also understands his feet have to come together. As long as I hold an end, it looks beautiful. But if I let go Lance tends to spike it to the ground. Sometimes we have it but usually it's balancing on his chest. Lance has tried to tell me it's impossible for corgis but I don't believe him.

- Drumming. Win! Lance learned to drum his front paws on a cookie tin. He also thinks he has to drum his back feet at the same time...

- Cover nose with paw. Fail. I've wanted this trick with Lance for a long time but just can't get it. He'll swipe at his nose but has no duration. Or he'll have duration but without his paw actually making contact.

- Backwards hind foot limp. Fail. I managed to get one step backwards while he's holding up his back leg. But mostly it's a lot of grunting, hopping, and kicking a nearby dog with his back foot.

Goals for 2012:
Work towards Lance getting his UDX, earn at least half of the QQs by the end of the year.
Work on at least one new idea to fix his forging during heeling, especially on the starts.
Figure out a way to handle his no criteria contacts in agility :)

More Kitty Training

noreply@blogger.com (Laura, Lance, and Vito) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 01:25:00 +0000

I've still been training with the cat a few times a week. Luke still likes to rub, rub, rub against me wanting me to just give him the food already. I'm not so good at raising criteria with a cat. Sometimes I think I'm asking too much too fast and other times I think he's playing me for a fool.

We're working on shake, spin, beg, and jumping up on surfaces I target my hand to, including my back because who doesn't wish their kitty could do a back stall? :)

Cat video:

Fiona 7 months

noreply@blogger.com (Laura, Lance, and Vito) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 21:47:00 +0000

Fi is 7.5 months (And only 40lbs.) She is doing very well in her training and I love working with her. She has great drive and loves working for a toy as much as she loves working for food. Big change from the little puppy where I had to work very hard at building toy drive and even harder at being able to do tug with the possibility of food being present. For a lab she's pretty cool ;)
Video!

For the most part her submissive issues are gone. She is very confident out in public and loves everyone she meets. But at home we're still having the occasional wussy Fi show up. Every now and then she will submissive pee when she thinks she could be in a little trouble, even if I'm just praising her for finding a bone. When super excited she will also pee, especially if she is asked to sit. And there are also times where she will suddenly hide in her kennel and not want to come out. Thankfully these situations are rare, occurring a few times a month rather than on a daily basis. There's hope for her!

Fiona is also a complete teenager now. Her biggest testing has been with loose leash walking. OMG my best friend! Oh, my other best friend!!!

Lance's UD!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Laura, Lance, and Vito) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 23:56:00 +0000

The corgi did it! Leg #2 on Saturday and #3 Sunday to get his UD!!!
Video proof!!:

I have never been so thrilled about an accomplishment as I am right now! I didn't think Sunday's performance was his best one (and was shocked at how generous the judge scored us with a 192!) but he certainly keeps his attitude up throughout. As an interesting side note, Lance has earned all 3 of his AKC obedience titles at this venue!

Now I need to decide how to move forward. I do want Lance to get his UDX but that's an expensive journey and funds are almost non existent. With Lance's stay problems he had in going for his CDX (usually sat or stood on the long down) I'm not sure if I should just enter open to gauge his readiness or bite the bullet and enter both since he can certainly use more experience in utility as well.

Breakdown of Sunday's trial:

Signals- 2pts
Not as great attention as usual, he looked away a few times. I'm not sure what happened on that first halt! Signals were good and he didn't move on the stand again! He finished without my cue, went as soon as I started to look down at him. I had just started to give my hand signal when I saw the corgi already moving but the judge apparently didn't catch it.

Article 1&2- 1pt
Another confident and quick search of the piles! Lance finished on the judges order on the first send but once again the judge didn't mark it. I'm not sure how we've gotten so many free passes the last 2 days!

Glove (#2)- 1pt
I turn left to the #2 glove since Lance usually loves his left turns but like yesterday, Lance didn't go very smoothly with me. I was a bit worried as I gave my mark as he was slightly facing the #3 glove, but since I went straight down with my hand and practically touched his head he never even looked at the #3.

Moving Stand -1pt
Forging was worse than yesterday if one can imagine. He took 2 steps after I left him but didn't move during the exam itself at all.

Directed Jumping-3pts
Mostly straight go outs but Lance came in a tiny bit before sitting the first send. Same on the second send but he decided not to sit.

Utility Leg #2

noreply@blogger.com (Laura, Lance, and Vito) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 04:51:00 +0000

We qualified!!!

Signals -2pts
Right off the bat I screwed up and cost us points by giving a verbal heel. As soon as it came out of my mouth I recognized my error and grimaced. But it turns out the judge didn't register my mistake so I actually didn't lose any points. His heeling was pretty good in the forging department but he got distracted on both the about turns. The signals were good and this was the first time in a trial that Lance did not move at all after I left him on the stand!

Articles -.5pt
Confident find and no tasting of any!

Glove (#3) -.5pt
Lance didn't turn very nicely with me although it wasn't too bad. He also broke eye contact and looked at the jump. I waited a second for him to break focus off the jump before giving him his mark.

Moving Stand -1pt
Forging but not as bad as his last 2 trials as Lance was at least somewhat with me. He moved as the judge approached but he at least didn't move as I left as he has been doing recently in trials.

Directed Jumping -6pts
Lance was excited and wanted to go before we started but caught himself :) Mostly straight go outs and he took the correct jumps without knocking them! Auto finish after the first jump and the second send out he turned when I called the sit but then decided to turn back to the gate and raised a paw towards it before turning back to me and sitting.

New Ferret Video

noreply@blogger.com (Laura, Lance, and Vito) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:00:00 +0000

A couple people have asked me about the ferrets recently, wanting a new video. But sadly the ferrets are all getting up there in age. They sleep a lot more and steal a lot less. As the youngest one, Opie is still causing a bit of trouble and doing a great job at keeping the lab in line. Fiona loves rolling around on her back for him to crawl over her and most days I still hear her crying when she gets nipped at.

But to pacify the ferret fans, I compiled some older footage of the ferrets. Most of it is 2yrs old.

Sadly, Bjorn seems to be on his last leg. He has lost a lot of weight and mainly just sleeps. I don't think he will be with us in 2012.

Photo by Sarah Beth Photography

Vito sees a Veternarian Behaviorist

noreply@blogger.com (Laura, Lance, and Vito) — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 22:48:00 +0000

Vito had his behavioral appointment at the University of Minnesota. While I really like and respect our normal veternarian we were at a loss for where to continue with Vito's anxiety. He has been doing so great being left at home but his car anxiety is still very intense, he still can be reactive towards people, and he has general anxiety in public places (especially evident at non dog shows).

Right off the bat Vito was giving an excellent example of his issues. He was panting and whining in the waiting room and continued his panting once in the exam room. Vito settled down quite a bit and was very cuddly with the doctor but was still very alert to sounds outside. Twice he had reactive outbursts and I was able to prevent him from starting a few other times. He started trembling and tried to hide for the basic physical exam we saved for near the end.

The doctor agreed with me that the Prozac is going well with helping Vito's separation anxiety. She did note that he is on a very high dosage and has plans to decrease it in a few weeks. Vito was initially on 20mg but was increased to 40mg since while the Prozac was helping at the lower dosage he seemed restless and unable to fully relax when left alone.

We are also going to be starting Vito on Clonidine to help with his car anxiety and general anxiety. While we can use it on an as needed basis, because Vito has to go in the car a minimum of once a day we're going to be likely giving it twice daily. My fingers are crossed that it doesn't give Vito any sedation effects like the Xanax did. The next drug she suggested was Trazodone but he definitely couldn't start it until his prozac was lowered and she didn't think it would be as good of a fit with his issues.

As additional work for me, I'm going to start some ds/cc work in the car. She agrees with me that it is likely won't help since I will be unable to keep him below any threshold we might build. Because Vito HAS to go in the car for at least one trip a day it will destroy any progress made. Nevertheless, I will start working on it by hanging out in the car with Vito and some treats in the Minnesota winter.

She checked to see if Vito had any mat work and I sent him to my jacket. I thought she was going to recommend the formal relaxation protocol and said I really didn't see myself doing it! But since Vito was so visibly relaxed on his "mat" and not any operant relaxed fashion of just trying to get treats, we passed and she said I didn't have to :) But it was recommended that I actually work on mat work a bit more and to reward him if he doesn't react to stimuli.

We talked quite a bit about trialing for obedience and agility. I explained my hypothesis of Vito's anxiety being linked to the pressure of a crowd watching and his need to really take in the environment around him.
Our last agility trial in October was the first time that Vito and I were connected at the start line for all of our runs. It was also the first time that after doing some tugging to warm him up I just crouched down and let him watch the ring before going in. I don't know if doing the same for obedience would work but I do need to find a routine that would allow Vito to be ON as soon as he steps in the ring. And I need to start doing it in our little practice sessions instead of letting him do his little stretches that he can't do in a real trial. The run through went fantastic last weekend but I didn't do anything differently as a warm up.

I look forward to seeing if the Clonidine is going to help Vito. The good news is that I should know soon as it is a fast acting drug. We're starting out on a really low dosage just to make sure we're not getting any bad side effects and then will slowly up it until we find a dosage that will hopefully help him.

Chuck Graduates!

noreply@blogger.com (Laura, Lance, and Vito) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 23:48:00 +0000

Chuckles and his new mom are now an official team! The graduation ceremony for Chuck and 14 of his friends was this past weekend. We got to be reunited with Chuck before the ceremony and then walk him up the stage to hand him over to his momma. Chuck has already been living with his new mom for almost 4 months as they have been diligently practicing their skills at home and out in public.

Most of his job involves retrieving. He retrieves her crutches, her prosthetic leg, and things she drops. Chuck also braces to help her get off the floor or out of a chair, and opens doors using the push plates. And his absolute favorite task, and the one most helpful to his new mom, is tugging the laundry basket out of the closet, out the apartment door, down the hallway, and to the laundry room. That is quite the distance!!!

Reunited!

Some of the other puppy raisers/fosters with their dogs