White Shepherd Stories

Barn Hunt for Us All

Andiamo with his RATI title ribbon, from his first Barn Hunt.  He duplicated this at his second Barn Hunt Trial on April 9, 2017.  We do not have the pictures from this latest trial.  Both Pirate and Journey were entered in the two trials offered on Sunday the 9th of April. It was their first trial. Both Pirate and Journey titled in the Instinct class in each trial.  So all together, each of my three dogs has a total of two RATI Instinct titles.  What a team!

All three were entered in the Novice class.  No one Q'd but all were very close.  Best of all, to me, they all did both exercises that they needed to do to qualify.  They needed to climb on top of at least one hay bale, and they needed to crawl through a hay bale tunnel. They needed to find one rat and I needed to "call it" when my dog alerted for it.  Andiamo and Journey both did the tunnel at least twice. Pirate climbed the hay bale stack and he kept going to the top of the second layer of hay bales.  He looked like he thought he was king of the mountain. He only needed to climb one bale. What a guy!  I could not be more proud of them.  They really enjoyed it,  We did not manage to coordinate their finding a rat, with me properly "calling the find". Maybe next time.  Having all three dogs complete the tunnel and the climb was a big step forward.

Some of our good friends came to see what barn hunting was all about.  We had fun, in spite of some very grumpy people that we tried to ignore.  There is not much I won't do to provide my dogs with fun adventures. If this was not the case, and if I was just visiting, as a spectator, I am afraid I could not refer people to a Barn Hunt event, at least if they had the same three or four officials that this one had. (I think they were officials).

If you were driving by the fairgrounds and saw the sign about Barn Hunt.  You might think it would be something fun to watch.  It is open to the public and though you might never have seen their website; it does welcome spectators to the relatively new sport of Barn Hunt.  It lists a few rules, which you would not see, since you were just driving around and thought it might be fun to spectate. In the barn, there are no rules posted for spectators, nor could I locate any flyers that a spectator could refer to for information. A couple people with name tags might be helpful, but in lieu of some basic information near the entry or on the registration table, there was no way to find out anything helpful.  There were some nice people around, but most of them were busy with their dogs and the unfriendly people were much louder, actually yelling across the barn at embarrassed people who were just trying to understand the event.  They were so rude to so many people, it made us cringe for them.  I am not a member of the club and I had only been to one previous barn hunt.  My friends and I found ourselves apologizing to a couple people for the way they were treated. It was awful for them. It would seem that if the club did not want spectators, they should post the event as not open to the public.  It would save a lot of peoples feelings.  Our experience was that it did not seem that many of the people we saw, much cared about anyones feelings. It made us very uncomfortable even though only one of us got yelled at, and that was before she found us. She was walking into the barn and stopped to ask a question to a person sitting in a chair.  As we explained when she found us, the person she found was sitting in an area called "the blind" and no one is supposed to talk to them.  There are no signs posted and there is no way she could have known she was committing such an error. 

I am more familiar with agility trials and they also have a few notoriously grumpy people in a couple of the clubs. Other people in the clubs try to make up for the rude ones. I just find it hard to understand why people would think it appropriate to be so rude to nice visitors whose only crime seemed to be wanting to see what goes on at a Barn Hunt.  This was not a case of someone letting their kids run wild and unsupervised; nor were the people we saw doing anything except trying to figure out where they should stand or sit, to see the activities.  To top it off, one woman was yelled at so severely she was crying as she left the barn. There was no way the spectators could have known what not to do at the barn hunt, without someone telling them.  But they did not need to be told by someone humiliating them and screaming across the barn at them.  

Because my dogs having fun activities is important to me, I will most likely continue taking them to Barn Hunt events.  Other than friends who have already been there with me, I doubt if I will ever suggest that other friends visit unless they are feeling tough enough to be treated in the manner we witnessed.  It could really ruin your day.  I only speak for myself and this was only the second time I went to a barn hunt event, so I don't know all the rules.  I am trying to learn.  However, I spent one entire day of the first event, asking questions of various friends of mine who were entered in the event. They were, of course, helpful and polite. You can't expect a spectator to spend hours asking questions just to enter a public place, to enjoy an event on a Sunday afternoon. Perhaps some flyers on the table near the entry; or a board with some suggestions would help.  A sign or two designating the areas that are forbidden (the blinds), would at least give them a chance. 

The two Judges I met were very nice, friendly and helpful.  Most of the ring crews (in the three rings) seemed to be helpful and polite. I certainly do not want to leave you with the opinion that all the people running this event were mean and unfriendly.  Except for the incidents I described above, there were some very nice people working on the ring crews and working their dogs in the rings. It is fun to watch and sad that a few rude people overshadowed some of the fun, of watching the events.  

Andiamo met a sweet little female Corgi that he attempted to wow with his most cuddlesome invitation to play.

Looks like love ...

 

 Pretty little Charlie watching my boys learning to hunt rats.  

I think Charlie wants to try this.

I'm sorry Charlie I really love you best, I just have never played with a Corgi before and I wanted to meet her.  

So here is to many happy barn hunts, with many wonderful dogs and friendly dog-loving people that might take the time to make people feel comfortable, as they familiarize themselves with a new activity. They might enjoy themselves and want to enter their own dogs in the future.      

 

 

Seems Like Only Yesterday

Pirate loves his puppy, Andiamo, more today than ever.  Journey does too! 

Yesterday was rainy and kind of boring for a certain puppy by the name of Andiamo.  In the afternoon, while Pirate and Journey were relaxing to the soft rain sounds and the drowsy weather, I decided to take Andi to watch an agility trial that was going on in town this weekend.  It was one of Journey and my favorites, so I did not tell him about it.

Andi and I just went out on our own.  He is so well behaved and such a pleasure to take places.  I am glad Journey has reached a point in his recovery that I can do a little more with Andiamo.  New experiences are so important for him to have, especially while he is young and when he can have my full attention.  Puppies benefit so much from carefully guided experiences and lessons on how to respond to various new input.  

The fairgrounds is only a few miles from our home and the equestrian barn is easy to access.  We walked into the CPE Agility Trial and it was so good to see so many old friends again.  It has been months since I have been to a trial; ever since I first discovered Journey's hurt knee.  Journey has months more recovery time before we know if he will be able to do agility.  Fortunately we have Pirate, who is a wonderful companion for Journey when I take Andi out alone.   

Andiamo did well with many greetings and all the attention.  Some of the greetings were rather startling to him, as they came from friends of Journey, who thought it was him.  When Andi looked nervous from a 'too familiar' approach, I suggested that he might want to shake hands.  He enjoys that and he ended up making friends with dozens of people he did not know (or remember).  For anyone who is not familiar with agility, spectator dogs are allowed if they are well behaved and not aggressive.  The choice of allowing greetings is left to the owners and never done without permission.  Since the sport is done off-leash, it is essential that the performers be well mannered and well trained.  It is a good place to take a young dog for experience.  I do not allow my dogs to get in another dogs face. Greetings must be agreed to by both dog parents. My dogs do not assume they can just stick their nose in another dogs face.  Even Andi already knows he may, or may not, be able to greet a new dog.  He waits for an invitation from me.  The greeting is cautious, does not involve any feet, and unless play-bows are offered from both greeters, it does not last a long time. Should either dog utter any growl or warning sound, the greeting is over and you move your dog away from the other dog, calmly, but immediately.  Of course both dogs are on leash so that you have control, should the greeting go south.  

Andi is 17 months old and he has all this information down now.  He has been to many classes and met many dogs. Neither of us like unfriendly dogs and he knows I have his back. He trusts me to direct him only to nice dogs.  When I allow him to greet it is usually because I know the dog, or at least I know the owner and how they raise their dogs.  I never just "trust" someone who says "my dog is nice".  I watch all body language. It is probably my most important rule in dog interaction.  I do not want my dog to have a bad experience, ever. The psychological damage done from a bad experience can last a lifetime.  I know people who have spent thousands of dollars with trainers, trying to undo bad experiences.  I find it much easier to avoid them in the first place. If I see bad body language signs from the other dog, we pass, on greeting that dog. I can just say my dog is feeling too nervous right now, or whatever.  There are other times, other dogs that are nicer and that I will feel better about allowing Andi to meet.  I don't make a big deal over it to Andi, I just turn and walk in a different direction with him and possibly give him a treat if he appears to need redirection.  

All the above information is leading up to a very unusual experience we had yesterday.  It was a first.  A friend was there, who had met Andi for the first time since he was a little guy.  A little later, she was passing by with her adult male Border Collie and because she is a responsible dog owner, she told me he was not always receptive to puppies.  I thanked her and moved away from his crate area.  Later, she offered to let Andi meet one of her adult female Border Collies, who was very friendly.  This was a dog I knew, and she adored Journey.  She moved toward Andi and after he checked with me, he moved toward her to greet.  She was wiggling all over and very happy to greet.  (She may have thought he was Journey).  Anyway in a split second she was squealing at the top of her lungs, still wiggling like crazy.  Andi looked stunned! He had not touched her.  My friend told everyone in the vicinity that Andi had not touched her, "that is just what she does when she really likes a dog and gets that excited about meeting it."  Since Andi was considerably larger than she was, I was afraid someone might think he had hurt her.  Anyway, all was well, but the event left Andi very confused.  He just stood next to me with his ears out to the sides, which I have never seen him do before.   People near by were quick to pet him and sort of change the subject for him. He was fine, he was just very startled as he had never experienced anything like that.  

We walked around and watched the events.  Now that Andi is going to Agility classes, he is very interested in watching the dogs do the courses. He watched every move they made.  He is really a watcher.  He learns a lot that way.  He watched Pirate do rally in our class on Saturday.  Andi went out there and did so well on his first try at rally, after watching his brother do his turn.  I have found that several of my white shepherds seem to learn best of all by watching first.  Both Spirit and a friend's Labrador learned to memorize the agility courses by watching me and my friend walk the courses.  That was in the days when you could tie your dog to the fence while you were walking the course.  Spirit never took his eyes off of me while I was walking.  When it was our turn I began to notice that he knew the course.  My friend and I compared notes and realized that is what our dogs were doing.  One time a woman who was standing next to Spirit told me she had inadvertently stepped in front of him while he was watching me and he had jerked his head to one side, as she was blocking his view.  It was really funny and amazing how they could memorize the course from watching us walk it.

I am not sure about Quest. He may well have watched me too.  I just don't recall that as much because by the time he got good at agility, people were no longer allowed to tie their dogs to the fences.  Pirate learns almost everything from watching.  He opens latches on doors, gates, and even fishing tackle boxes.  I know Journey opens gates, but I do not recall him opening a lot of other things.  He can open zippers on soft crates, but I taught him not to do it.  

Andi is really good at it though.  He opens trash cans with the foot pedal.  I store their dog food bags in them, so he had incentive to learn. He is the first to learn that, as far as I know.  When we do nose work most of the dogs walk around the floor sniffing the boxes to find where the scent object is hidden.  All the dogs in Andi's beginners class did that, just as they were supposed to do. Then I started bringing Pirate to class and he had a little more experience at nose work.  He would walk out on the course and put his nose up and sniff the air for the direction/location of the scent.  As soon as he caught the scent, he would walk directly to the spot.  He seldom even put his nose in a box. He knew what he was doing.  Andi watched him and he also began raising his nose and scenting the air to locate the direction.  Andi does still sniff the boxes sometimes though.   It is interesting.  I have mis-directed my dogs sometimes when they are doing nose work.  Once the scent was in a magnetized, small container.  The instructor had placed it on a metal upright coat stand, which was located on a carpet strip.  Both of my dogs prefer sniffing carpets to sniffing bare floors. Andi often heads to the carpet, especially if the class before us had left dog scents on the carpet.   In this case, the coat stand was on the carpet and that was where the scent was.  I didn't know, and I finally got irritated that he was continually heading for the carpet.  The instructor finally told me the scent was on the coat stand.  (Bad mom!).  Very important to be aware of what your dog is telling you.  

Well, we are due to leave for agility class in a few minutes.   It is going to be a rainy drive, but not too bad.  It is all highway driving so we don't have to worry about halloween kids on the road.  

Happy Halloween everyone!

 

 

 

After the 4th of July

We made it through another 4th of July "celebration"?  I changed a few things in the way I handled it.  Some things seemed to make it better and some things apparently did nothing to help Pirate.  It is a helpless feeling when all I can really do is help him through the night.  This year I had a helper.  Andiamo was determined to figure out what was wrong with Pirate and to help comfort him.  A beautiful thing to witness.

During the day I did one-on-one training sessions with each dog. Much to the dismay of the two left in the house, we practiced some obedience; some ball retrieving, and a little rally.  Not extremely long sessions because I was afraid the firecrackers would start at any minute.  I could hear a bit of activity from the town below us, but the distant firecrackers did not upset Pirate as much.  He was so happy to show off what he remembered from his rally training.  It was fun and Pirate is very good at it.  He especially loves the "come front" sit, then the "around & heel".  He does it with such flourish and style.  What a dog!  

Andiamo is currently learning all this in his classes with Dorothy.  So he is very up to date on everything.  One thing he needed practice, is retrieving the ball. He is perfectly capable of doing it and when he feels like it he does it quite well.  He is just not a high drive ball player like Pirate.  Andi showed a lot of promise though, when it was just the two of us. His retrieval was flawed by dropping the toy maybe 20 or 30 feet back from me.  So I started placing the treat on the edge of the toy when he brought it to me.  When I had to go get it I just threw it again, no treat.  It did not take long.  He sometimes dropped it, and ran to me.  Then suddenly remembering, he raced back to the toy and brought it to me.  We did well.  Without the distraction of the other dogs, he quickly learned what was expected of him.  

Andiamo doing a nice stay!

Journey is such a wonderful agility dog, he was always too busy with that training.   He is great at some things that he uses in agility. His "stays" are legend.  He is rock solid!  He knows the name of every obstacle.  He is a much better agility dog than I deserve, but some people think that just being out on the course at my age is an accomplishment.  I realized that Journey had not done much obedience since his last obedience class, probably when he was in his first year or two.  Then he was busy with earning his Grand Championship before he turned two.  After that he was busy with agility.  Since he is currently restricted from agility, it was a good opportunity to do some obedience brush-up.  He really enjoyed it and so did I.  We will be doing this more often.  

 

Journey doing one of his wonderful stays, waiting for his cue from me.   

We all came inside just in time for the start of the fireworks.  It has been a long time since I've had a dog that was afraid of fireworks.  Spirit and Quest were not fond of them, but they just ignored them as best they could.  it was not a huge issue with them.  They seemed to become more sound sensitive as they got older.  

Journey is not extremely frightened of them, he seems fairly calm as long as he can sit or lay next to me, he will sleep.  If I leave the room he is right beside me no matter where I go.  Andiamo was not here last year.  Pirate is the one that is most concerned. He usually goes into the shower room and stays except for occasional visits out to see how the rest of us are doing.   Before the noise really got started, a friend called and I was talking with her for quite a while.  She mentioned that I didn't seem as worried about Pirate as last year.  I told her I was trying to minimize  the concern I showed because I did not want to alarm Andiamo. He was already concerned with Pirate.  Pirate was trembling and panting heavily.  He had no interest in games or treats or anything else.  I talked to him as calmly as I could.  I told him I was sorry he was having such a hard time with all the noise.  I told him he did not deserve this to happen to him.  We discussed how much we all love him and that I wished I could make it stop.  He listened, then he went back to the shower room.  

I was still talking with my friend when he came back out to the living room to check on things.  The noise was louder and his attitude was close to panic.  Quite out of character, he stepped up on the couch next to me.  My dogs are not supposed to be on the couch.  I don't let them get on furnishings that I cannot wash. So they can get on the beds, but I am hoping to make the couch last for a longer period of time.  I didn't say anything to him.  Something about the way he did it right in front of me, as if he was letting me know how desparate he was, just made me ignore his transgression. I kept talking with my friend and just casually let my arm down across his shoulders.  I stroked his neck softly and rubbed his ears - all the things that he likes.  I made sure he was not blocked from his escape route to the shower room.  After a while I noticed he was no longer trembling. He was still panting, but his eyes were closed and he almost seemed ready to put his head down.  As time went on I gently picked up his brush and began brushing his coat.  He just seemed to relax with that and I kept it going for a long time.  

Eventually he got off the couch, and he lay down next to Journey.  Andi quickly lay down next to him, on the other side.  Pirate's coat was absolutely gorgeous on the brushed side.  It had been going so well I didn't want to disturb him by having him turn over.  

Pirate is a very high spirited dog.  Nothing he does is really casual.  Rather than just "like" something he finds pleasing, Pirate "LOVES" it.  When he is joyful, it shows in his entire body.  He arches his neck and prances like a stallion.  He loves to be chased and he dares the other guys to try and get things away from him.  Whether he is diving or swimming, or running, he is competitive.  I was a little surprised when Pirate began to fear the fireworks.  It did not surprise me that when this happened, he was intense about it.  His fear began about 3 or 4 years ago.  Maybe it was just that our neighbors across the road began throwing their own huge fireworks shows that have progressed to a near professional level.  Last year he paced so bad, and was so disturbed, I put him on leash and insisted he stay with us.  It didn't really help him.  

I looked at him peacefully sleeping beside his brothers and it was a good feeling.  The fireworks had dwindled to only occasional distant ones.  I said are you guys hungry now?  The other guys jumped up and began to play.  Pirate thought about it for a minute or two and then he was up and prancing around the living room, around the dining table, and into the kitchen.   It was a long overdue dinner but they all three enjoyed every bite.  

Pirate is so full of love.  If he gave kisses we would all have been on overload.  Pi's way of kissing me is to place his muzzle on my hair, just above my forehead. He gives a deep intake of breath and that has always been his way of giving me a kiss. Trust Pirate to have a way all his own.  I am so glad that the 4th is over for another year.  

I don't know if we fixed anything this year.  I don't have any idea if the things we discovered would be helpful for anyone else's dog.  I didn't really plan what happened, I just watched him closely for his response and when what I was doing seemed to help him, I continued.  Since I am able to spend most of my time with my dogs, they have taught me so much ... maybe even more than I have taught them.  I have learned that offering support to another being is not always a matter of coaxing them to do something you decide would be right for them.  Sometimes it is just following them to the shower room and sitting next to them.  It might be that brushing one side of their body to a gleaming sight of beauty and leaving the other side a little unkempt is just being considerate.  Sometimes it is giving them what they need at the time, not necessarily what you think they need.  And sometimes it is looking the other way when your best friend needs a couch to lay on, even if it is off limits.