Baz and Guy go home

On Friday (5-16) my sister and I took Baz and Guy to the Siberian Specialty in Gardner, KS. Baz was very well behaved in the ring, but just didn't have enough sparkle. He took fourth in his class--no points.
Guy went home with is Mom, and Baz went home with my sister. We are hopeful Baz can earn his final Major and get his CH. He's a very pretty dog, it just may take some time.

The Switch

Alicia and I have switched dogs. I have Bazz and am doing a little work on handling and a lot of work on grooming. We've had a little heat wave and he's molting.
This morning I took him outside in my driveway to use the undercoat rake to get out some of the loose fur. He was on a 6' lead that was hooked over my arm. I was plucking his back leg and he decided he could make a break for it. He pulled his leg free of my hand and took off on high. Unfortunately, I was expecting it (Timber *was* half Siberian) and he hit the end of the leash. He whirled around and looked at me, with absolute shock on his face. Poor boy!
When I took Guy over to Alicia's it was a cooler day and I decided to bike him over. Guy did very well at first. He was a little nervous of the bike, but figured out that it wouldn't run him over. But when I turned onto the bike path, he became a basket case. He was afraid of the cars that were on the street (10' away), the mud puddles and even a stray mailbox. I think I overwhelmed him a little. He's doing fine now at Alicia's.
I've been working with Guy on the retrieve, he's gotten stuck. He'll put his mouth on the dumbbell, but won't put pressure on it, or hold it. Alicia's agreed to continue working on the retrieve to see if she can get him to pick it up/carry it.
At my house Guy's cat fixation had increased to the point of grabbing one of the cats on the cat shelf and dragging him off. At Alicia's the cats are much more comfortable with life in general less afraid of everything.

Guy, the lap dog

Apparently Guy is afraid of thunderstorms. That's the only reason I can come up with why he thought he was a lap dog tonight. I got home from work about 9 and let the dogs out in the back yard. It was spitting a little, but nothing major it was warm outside and my dogs were running around. Guy kept digging at the back door to go inside. I thought he wanted to go after the cats.
Guy has now decided that hunting cats is much more fun than just catching sight of them and barking. He uses his nose and will track them--he would be a very good tracking dog!
When I let him in, I came into my office to do a little work on the computer and it began raining harder. Guy came up and put his front paws in my lap. That's fine, I took the opportunity to clip his front toenails and groomed him a little. Then he decided that the back half had to come up also. He hooked his rear toenails into my thigh and began to climb, much like a rock climber. Needless to say I made quite bit of noise and he stopped trying to climb up.
After that I told to get off and lay down. He's laying in between my feet and my desk. This is normally where Quinn lays to stay out of Danny's way.
The thunderstorm is the only thing different from the last few Tuesday nights where my routine is pretty much the same. At least his front toenails are nicely groomed and so is his head and shoulders.

Guy, my new fashion advisor!

This weekend, I debuted my dog Quinn at the Seward County Kennel Club Rally trial.
Friday night, I'd planned out what I was going to wear on Saturday. Saturday night I went to bed early and I didn't plan for Sunday. So this morning I'm running around trying to decide what to wear, what shoes to wear, etc. I finally got dressed except for my shoes. I had let the dogs out back to play and when I let them back in, Guy took off. I assumed he was looking for the cats, but who knows with dogs.
Not even a minute later here he comes with one of my shoes. I asked him what he had, and he was a little hesitant, but he came over to me. Instead of taking the shoe, I told him to bring it along and we walked into the living room where I'd left this particular pair of shoes. He looked so happy, he just pranced. When I held out my hand he placed the shoe in it and willingly let me have it. What a good dog!
Now I'm pretty good about keeping dirty laundry picked up, but my biggest flaw is taking off my shoes where ever and leaving them lay around. Since Guy has a strong opinion on what shoes I should be wearing I guess I'll let him be my fashion coordinator.
I hope he doesn't bring me heels tomorrow--it's going to be a busy day.

Guy meets the cats

Guy finally figured out I have cats. Overall I don't 'introduce' the dogs to the cats. The cats, Briseaus and Ronin, are very dog savvy and chose low arousal moments to make appearances and introduce themselves.
Unfortunately, Guy decided that the cats were obviously prey and needed to be not only chased, but possibly eaten. His major mistake (and the cats' saving) was to bark instead of run. The cats made their escape and went where Guy could not reach them. Since his first meeting with the cats, he's cornered Ronin under my vanity, which was an incredibly stupid place for Ronin to hide. Later he barked at Briseaus as she sat on the dining room table. He had been off his tether, but now he's back to being attached to me. When the cats are upstairs I make sure to put up the gate so they have some peace. He's not constantly looking for them, so if they're in the cat play house or on their shelf Guy doesn't usually bother them.
I have no idea if he'd really harm them, and in all seriousness, I'm more concerned that Danny or Quinn (the cat's Daddy and Mommy) would try to hurt Guy in an attempt to protect their babies.

Playing in the backyard

The dogs are bored, it's kind of warm and muggy--just a taste of what's to come, so I took all the dogs out back to play. I started throwing toys for various dogs, but Guy couldn't stand the fact Missy kept grabbing the toy and he started chasing her. This is something Missy loves and she was then no longer interested in the toy. Danny on the other hand ignored them and happily retrieved the tennis ball. I turned on the hose to clean off my outdoor furniture when I discovered that Guy has the same passion that Lacey, the Aussie, does--trying to catch the water coming out of the hose.
This is a new hobby for Danny, he's never before been interested in it, but this spring he's done it a couple of times. Guy though is a close up and personal kind of dog. He wants to grab the full blast that comes right out of the handle. Now Lacey will grab the handle (and the hand attached to it) Guy isn't that bad. He did get quite wet and looked extremely happy and tired. I'll give him some extra kibble tonight, he worked hard today.

Guy goes to class

I took Guy to the Thursday night drop in class. It was small, only one other dog. I mostly worked on him focusing on me as a new handler. He remembered what he'd learned pretty quickly and did some nice heeling and recalls. He moves nicely to the left but not to the right, so I'm working on that. He's got most of the basic obedience stuff down, so to entertain him, I'm working on retrieve. When I presented the dumbbell he touched it with his nose at first. I did get him to open his mouth and start to take it, but then shied away as if he got scared before he actually took it. I don't know what made him back off, but he went back to nose touches. I ended on a success and we went home. I've tried it again just once and we didn't get as far (that may have been because Danny was screaming obscenities in his crate in the office).

Guy meets the pack!

We took Takki home, he missed Lyda badly and she missed him. I now have Guy (pronounced Gee) a beautiful Terv and Bazz is back at my sisters. When Danny and Guy first met on leash, Danny had some difficulty handling it, he lunged and chested Guy and overall acted like an idiot. They rode home together, Bazz and Guy in crates and Danny seatbelted in the backseat. Danny growled a little at first, but settled down just fine.When I got home, I just threw all of my dogs (and Guy) out in the back yard.Danny was fine with him in the yard and Guy fell madly in love with Missy.I don't know what it is, that fuzzy white tail over her back or her little brown eyes in all that white fur, but the boy's do fall head over heels for her. He couldn't stop chasing her and positively bouncing (think Pepe lePew). Poor Quinn who thinks Missy's his girl, kept splitting them apart.He didn't go after Guy, just tried to get Missy to pay attention to him.When I called the dogs in, Guy ran off to a corner of the yard. I did shoo him and after a lap or two he decided to come when called. I haven't had a problem outside with him not coming when called. Guy is being tethered tome for a while inside; we're still having a bit of a problem with recalls inside.

A Long Awaited Update

Okay, so I've fallen off the posting wagon. I really need to get back into the swing of posting every other day. I'll break this up into several posts.

First Meeting

We took Takki home, he missed Lyda badly and she missed him. I now have Guy
(pronounce Gee) a beautiful Terv and Bazz is back at my sisters. When Danny
and Guy first met on leash, Danny had some difficulty handling it, he lunged
and chested Guy and overall acted like an idiot.
The rode home together, Bazz and Guy in crates and Danny seatbelted in the
backseat. Danny growled a little at first, but settled down just fine.
When I got home, I just threw all of my dogs (and Guy) out in the back yard.
Danny was fine with him in the yard and Guy fell madly in love with Missy.
I don't know what it is, that fuzzy white tail over her back or her little
brown eyes in all that white fur, but the boy's do fall head over heels for
her. He couldn't stop chasing her and positively bouncing (think Pepe le
Pew). Poor Quinn who thinks Missy's his girl, kept splitting them apart.
He didn't go after Guy, just tried to get Missy to pay attention to him.
When I called the dogs in, Guy ran off to a corner of the yard. I did shoo
him and after a lap or two he decided to come when called. I haven't had a
problem outside with him not coming when called. Guy is being tethered to
me for a while inside. we're still having a bit of a problem with recalls
inside.

An long awaited update

Okay, so I've fallen off the posting wagon. I really need to get back into
the swing of posting every other day. I'll break this up into several
posts.

Bazz and the door

Today I was at a training seminar in Omaha, so I decided I had to do some serious dog training tonight. I started with Bazz.
Several years ago, while at a camp at Shirley's, she showed us a great way to teach the dogs not to go out the door without permission. The idea is you make it seem so horrible to be outside without you that the dogs don't charge through an open door. I've done this training with Gita and Danny (at my sister's house and mine) but Quinn and Missy have never done it anywhere.
I hooked Bazz up to a thick nylon leash (it was my GSD's leash and it's a lovely rose color). I opened my side door, that leads out to the driveway, and Bazz dashed out. I let him go, and just closed the screen door on the leash. He had about a foot of leash to stand there on the porch next to the door. I waited 15 seconds, I then let him in and told him how sorry I was, and how scary it must have been and how brave he was. I checked him over as if he was in a horrible accident.
I then took him to the door and opened it again. Again he dashed out. I closed the door. Waited 30 seconds. Let him back inside and went through the whole sad procedure. Back to the door, I opened it. He hesitated, I clicked, he got a treat. I opened the door again, and he dashed out. Now it's one minute, I noticed he could see me through the screen door, so I pushed the inner door to. I let him back inside and went through my routine on what a horrible experience he had.
Back to the door, back outside he went. After two minutes, I let him back inside and went through my routine. When we went back to the door, he didn't dash out, C/T.
I opened the door again, he didn't move --C/T.
I then went back into the kitchen, closed the inner door. We circled around and did it again, he didn't go out. I stepped out, he sat down--C/T. I went back in and closed the door, I opened it again, and again he didn't dash out--C/T.
Tomorrow the front door!

Switching dogs

Takki went to stay with my sister last week and I now have Bazz. I've heard that Bazz is not a well behaved dog, but so far I really haven't seen it. He's much more respectful of Danny than Takki was. The first time he was let out in the yard off lead, he didn't want to come in. We did one lap in the backyard and suddenly coming inside is far more important than anything else the backyard has to offer. He's met my dogs, but I haven't allowed a lot of contact with them. Tonight though I let Quinn and Bazz out together. It's been raining and the backyard is a mud pit. The boys loved it. They ran and wrestled and overall had a grand time. When I stepped out to call them, the came running! He's not gone through any food issues with me, but I've been hand feeding him. Each time he gets a handful of food, I take a hold of his collar. Siberians are very good at dodging the reaching hand (bad monkey!) and/or slipping collars and Bazz and Takki are no different. We're also working on Down-stays. Stays are my dogs weakest exercise, so poor Bazz keeps getting caught up in the 'stay vortex'. IMHO Takki seems more dominant and 'harder' than Bazz including being much less cuddly.

Takki takes a walk

Poor Takki, usually he gets several little walks a day to go potty, but we stay in my yard. Today we went for a walk. We went about 1 1/2 miles through out the local university grounds. I kept the leash short did a lot of about turns and overall didn't let him pull or mark. He was a very unhappy Siberian. Each time I did an about turn, he'd have to catch up to me. When he did, he got a treat. He soon learned that walking next to me was much better than pulling out ahead.

One thing I do want to point out is most of what I'm working on with Takki, is teaching him humans are relevant. Takki does Agility at home and has been trained, but he also thinks that the other dogs are far more important than people. He's testing his limits with me and he's also very upset that a. Danny doesn't play with him. b. Danny won't let him play with Missy or Quinn. Danny and Quinn are both Aussies and control freaks, as far as they are concerned Takki is a giant puppy that needs to be taught manners.

We did have a little setback with eating. He's decided that if the other dogs are out of their crates, that he doesn't have time to eat. I'm sure he'll figure it out, my chore will be to keep Danny or Missy from stealing his food.

Takki comes when called

I've come down with a cold and haven't posted, but have worked with Takki. Thursday night I was not feeling up to taking Takki for a walk, so I let him out in the backyard with my dogs. When I was ready to come in, I opened the door and my dogs all ran in. Takki decided he didn't have to come in. I called him and he ignored me. I grabbed my stock stick (6' flexible pole) and began chasing him. I didn't threaten him or hit him with the stick, I just tapped the ground behind him to make sure he wanted to run. I am a fat, middle aged woman coming down with a cold. I was lucky he was so confused by my strange behavior instead of keeping it up more than twice around the yard, he stopped and turned toward me. I called him, he came to me. I took a hold of his collar and gave him a treat. Then I told him to go play. He trotted away and stopped about 6' away from me (out of reach). I walked towards the door and called him. He came in with me.
The next day I let him out again. I realize chasing a Siberian Husky around my back yard probably takes more energy than walking said Siberian, but he needs to learn the lesson.
I called, he ignored me. I didn't have my stock stick, I just began running towards him telling him to "Move!" He ran, Quinn made himself as small as possible in the middle of the yard and Danny and Missy ran behind me (Missy knows this 'game'). I encouraged him to run once around the yard then called him, he came to me. I took a hold of his collar (no treat) and then let him go and told him to Go Play. He did, I raked the back yard. When I was done, I called the dogs to me and all of them (even Takki) came to me and we went inside.
This is not my invention, I stole this idea from Shirley fair and square. But I do know it works. When my previous dog Gita refused to come to me in the park, I got in the car and drove away. When I got Missy, I knew if I left her at the Dog Park she wouldn't care. My choices were to walk her down or make sure running away from me was not a 'fun' experience.

Takki meets my dogs

Takki met my dogs yesterday. I introduced him to Danny first. Danny's the 'alpha' of my pack, though he's not quite right mentally he does a fair job. Danny chested Takki a few times and Takki submitted appropriately. In fact, I think Takki's in love. When I introduced him to Missy (who is very confident and expects everyone to love and play with her) he bared his teeth and growled at her and Quinn was less than nothing to him. But he wants to be near Danny at all times. Danny was on his bed in the living room and Takki did everything he could to be on the left side of me and doing his down stay by Danny.

Since my goal is to encourage Takki to care more about people than dogs, he hasn't had an opportunity to worship Danny today.

Takki has to work for everything he gets. He has to sit before we go out for walks, etc. He's sleeping in the crate downstairs, and he is unhappy. I can hear him through the heating ducts yipping most of the night. Luckily, I have a white noise machine so once I turn that on it doesn't matter what Takki says.

He did go off his hunger strike--tonight he ate food out of the bowl I was holding. Common to most Siberians, food is not very important, so when I told him he had to work for his food (or let me control the bowl) he made the decision to walk away rather than eat. This morning I had to plot a track for a tracking test so I took Takki with me to the park. When I had some down time, I worked with him offering his food as rewards. He worked for me a little, but was very timid and had great difficulty focusing. When another volunteer came up to talk to us, he actually hid behind me. My goal on this front is to get him to as many new places as possible. I'm not overly concerned about him greeting people, but he needs to become more comfortable in new environments if competition is in his future. I'll be taking him back to the park tomorrow, we'll see how he does with more people and dogs.

First Meeting

When I first met Takki he came out of the trailer with his ears and tail up. His chest was puffed out and he looked like he was ready to take on the world. I offered to take him over to have a potty break and Lyda let me have his leash. He pulled quite a bit, but he is a Siberian. I love boy dogs they are sooo easy to potty. He went right away and wanted to go immediately back to Mom.
We had some people come up to us in the parking lot to meet the dogs. Takki was a little shy, but mostly the gentleman seemed hesitant so Takki was reflecting his behavior.
When we got home (a 5 hour drive) he came into the house very timid. He seemed almost frightened of everything, but now he's settled in and trying to explore everywhere. He hasn't met my dogs yet (there playing outside right now). He did meet one of my cats, she hissed at him and he immediately backed off.
He's being tethered to me while he's out of the crate. We went for a quick walk in the neighborhood before it got too dark. He keeps looking at me like "Who the heck are YOU!"