The first couple of weeks after Secret came home were just for her to settle in. Unfortunately my parents had not relented and she had to live at my partners house. This made everyday training very difficult, especially as I was now working as a full time small animal vet.
My previous two dogs had a lot of obedience training when they were young- I have always believed obedience is a necessary part of agility and I still do so (despite then fact it would probably be labelled as a slightly old-fashioned view point now!) Jess my first dog has her Obedience Champion title, and Terra has her CDX (the middle title) and I think the skills they learn in obedience are important in agility. More then that- they WAY a dog learns obedience can be very beneficial- if you as a handler and trainer can produce a dog that happily and accurately produces good obedience work then agility work will be easier and more successful. Depending on the way it is taught it can also encourage a 'thinking' dog, especially with some of the more advanced exercises (e.g scent discrimination). And anyone that can teach a dog to heel happily in the ring with no primary motivators for 10 minutes should have no problems with teaching agility, which is traditionally much more self-motivating for the dog.
That was my opinion and Secret was supposed to do her share of obedience work- except it didn't really happen when she was a pup. Due to a variety of circumstances, but mainly my lack of access to her I decided to work on other skills and leave obedience till later. Possibly a big mistake!
The first behaviour that Secret learnt as a pup was to nose touch a hand. Probably the most useful behaviour to learn, as once they do this you can use it for all sorts of things- leading them round, shaping other behaviours, starting contact training and rear end awareness work.
This was trained in a very basic shaping manner (NB shaping is the term used when a trainer rewards a behaviour the dog offers fairly naturally without having to be lured or forced into position). All Secrets' initial behaviours were trained using the clicker. I chose not to condition the clicker this time but started straight away using it to mark a behaviour and rewarded quickly afterwards. Secret as a puppy was smart and food-motivated. It didn't take her long to work out the idea of the clicker and her natural instinct of sniffing a hand soon translated into a fairly sold hand target (sometimes too solid, she had the tendency to shark on the odd occasion, which I also didn't worry about.)
Other behaviours taught at this age (8-16 weeks) included sit and down (fold back only, for a couple of reasons, firstly its necessary for obedience if I later decided to do it with her and secondly it teaches great body awareness). I also tried to encourage her to play with a toy, at this stage she wasn't overly interested.
...ready for action !
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Friday, January 30, 2009
The final decision
The next morning I still wasn't sure who would be coming home with me that night. Chunky Monkey had been the pup that stood out the whole way along..but now it seemed Intermediate Girl was a late-bloomer with some real potential and lots of play drive.
I went for a walk taking just the 2 pups, calling them from their puppy pen up a hill. They both came running, but then Intermediate Girl wandered off whereas Chunky Monkey stuck close by. Then I got my partner to hold the 2 pups, ran away and called them both. Chunky Monkey came flying towards me, running as fast as her little puppy legs would go. Intermediate Girl sat there, looked at me and again wandered off. That was it- my mind was made up. Chunky Monkey, the first born pup, would be coming home with me that night and her name was now officially 'Secret', show name to be 'Macs KeepaSecret'.
I had been considering names for a while..which I generally find to be a fairly pointless exercise as all of the dogs I have owned have named themselves. When we first got Jess (as a family dog) we thought she would have a music-related name..something like 'Allegro' or 'Tempo'. Nope, she was just Jess. I couldn't come up with anything for Terra's name..she was nameless for a couple of weeks after she came home..until my partner asked 'hows the lil terror'..and it stuck so Terra she became.
For this pup though I was determined to find a name that would be suitable in advance. I didn't want anything that might jinx her..e.g 'Driven', 'Super' etc. Lets wait and see if she turns out to be fast before bestowing a name that could be very embarrassing if she didn't live up to it! I chose 'Secret' for a couple of reasons, firstly and predominately because I liked the name, and it shortened well to 'Seek'. Secondly, she was one! No-one in my family knew about this litter..I was planning to bring her home and hope everyone fell in love with her and she could stay. If not, I was relying on the kind hearts of my partners parents..who already had my second agility dog, Terra.
So Secret, my partner and I said goodbye and thanks very much to Sam and drove back to Perth..she dozed at my feet (dreaming of ?sheep and farm life?) and I dozed in the car and thought about the exciting road we had ahead.
Secret!
I went for a walk taking just the 2 pups, calling them from their puppy pen up a hill. They both came running, but then Intermediate Girl wandered off whereas Chunky Monkey stuck close by. Then I got my partner to hold the 2 pups, ran away and called them both. Chunky Monkey came flying towards me, running as fast as her little puppy legs would go. Intermediate Girl sat there, looked at me and again wandered off. That was it- my mind was made up. Chunky Monkey, the first born pup, would be coming home with me that night and her name was now officially 'Secret', show name to be 'Macs KeepaSecret'.
I had been considering names for a while..which I generally find to be a fairly pointless exercise as all of the dogs I have owned have named themselves. When we first got Jess (as a family dog) we thought she would have a music-related name..something like 'Allegro' or 'Tempo'. Nope, she was just Jess. I couldn't come up with anything for Terra's name..she was nameless for a couple of weeks after she came home..until my partner asked 'hows the lil terror'..and it stuck so Terra she became.
For this pup though I was determined to find a name that would be suitable in advance. I didn't want anything that might jinx her..e.g 'Driven', 'Super' etc. Lets wait and see if she turns out to be fast before bestowing a name that could be very embarrassing if she didn't live up to it! I chose 'Secret' for a couple of reasons, firstly and predominately because I liked the name, and it shortened well to 'Seek'. Secondly, she was one! No-one in my family knew about this litter..I was planning to bring her home and hope everyone fell in love with her and she could stay. If not, I was relying on the kind hearts of my partners parents..who already had my second agility dog, Terra.
So Secret, my partner and I said goodbye and thanks very much to Sam and drove back to Perth..she dozed at my feet (dreaming of ?sheep and farm life?) and I dozed in the car and thought about the exciting road we had ahead.
Secret!
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Puppy Tests
To finally choose which puppy I wanted from the litter I was going to do a number of 'puppy tests' on the litter, the results of which would help me choose my new companion/performance dog. Of course it didnt quite turn out that way..
The tests that we decided to use in the end were designed to test the pups play drive, bounce back, people relation skills/interest in people, reaction to heights and so on. An agility dog has to be brave, not phased by strange circumstances/noises (eg loudspeakers, fireworks etc). A top agilty dog also needs to be completely focussed on her job and handler and if something strange happens must be able to continue doing her job. Its also helpful if the agility dog isnt so focussed on other dogs she cant do her own job! These tests were all designed to try and determine which of the pups would best fit this description.
The tests were all done by strangers to the pups, to try and make them as accurate as possible.
The tests involved putting the pup into a new area they hadnt seen before and:
1) calling the pup- checking willingness to interact with humans
2) dragging a mop around- checking prey drive and willingness to interact with a toy
3) throwing a rolled up paper ball and seeing who fetched/returned it- again play/fetch drive
4) making a big noise (throwing a saucepan down) and seeing what the reaction was- bounce back
5) placing a pup in an enclosure with only a small opening and seeing who could work the way out- problem solving
6) placing the pup on a tall structure to check for fear of heights
The pups all performed differently in the tests. Among the girls intermediate girl had the most play drive but wasnt so keen on interacting with people. For the boys shoulder spot boy generally performed the stongest over most of the tests. I still wasnt sure..and had the next day to decide which of the girls (for I had narrowed it to Chunky Monkey and Intermediate Girl) I would be taking home!
Chunky Monkey and Intermediate Girl
The tests that we decided to use in the end were designed to test the pups play drive, bounce back, people relation skills/interest in people, reaction to heights and so on. An agility dog has to be brave, not phased by strange circumstances/noises (eg loudspeakers, fireworks etc). A top agilty dog also needs to be completely focussed on her job and handler and if something strange happens must be able to continue doing her job. Its also helpful if the agility dog isnt so focussed on other dogs she cant do her own job! These tests were all designed to try and determine which of the pups would best fit this description.
The tests were all done by strangers to the pups, to try and make them as accurate as possible.
The tests involved putting the pup into a new area they hadnt seen before and:
1) calling the pup- checking willingness to interact with humans
2) dragging a mop around- checking prey drive and willingness to interact with a toy
3) throwing a rolled up paper ball and seeing who fetched/returned it- again play/fetch drive
4) making a big noise (throwing a saucepan down) and seeing what the reaction was- bounce back
5) placing a pup in an enclosure with only a small opening and seeing who could work the way out- problem solving
6) placing the pup on a tall structure to check for fear of heights
The pups all performed differently in the tests. Among the girls intermediate girl had the most play drive but wasnt so keen on interacting with people. For the boys shoulder spot boy generally performed the stongest over most of the tests. I still wasnt sure..and had the next day to decide which of the girls (for I had narrowed it to Chunky Monkey and Intermediate Girl) I would be taking home!
Chunky Monkey beating up one of the boys
Chunky Monkey and Intermediate Girl
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Introducing Mac's KeepaSecret..
Secret is my 3rd agility dog. She is a 16month old black and white border collie, kindly bred for me by a good friend, Sam Weaver. Her mother is Ivanhoe Sally, a finely built tri colour border collie from 3 sheep working lines and her father is farm bred Mick. Mick is the full brother to the fastest agility dog in Australia, Domino.
When I was ready for another puppy I hadn't decided where I wanted to go. Despite the way Terra has turned out I don't like her structure (being very straight in the shoulders and too tall for her build) so I didn't want to go back to her breeder and I was not interested in a show border collie. I (along with everyone else in WA!) have always admired Domino- he is truly in a class of his own with his speed and drive to do agility- so when a friend said she knew where Domino's full brother was living I was more than interested!
I always liked a bitch of Sam's called Sally for her structure being very light and finely built. Personality wise she is also out-going and very people oriented so I was thrilled when Sam said I could use her for this litter. The farmer who owns Mick very kindly said we could use him so the mating was set to go ahead!
Karen and I drove down to pick Mick up..he hadn't been off the farm before and we took him straight to Karen's to give him a bath..poor dog, he coped very well. Then it was down to Sam's sheep farm in Kojanup to wait for Sally to come into season, and also to see how he would do on sheep.
2 months later we are still waiting..starting to get a bit anxious as Micks owner needed him back on the farm and Sally STILL hadn't come in season! Eventually right at the last moment she finally came in and the mating went ahead successfully. Mick went back home and we settled down to wait. A couple of days before Sally was due to give birth Sam's roof collapsed and flooded part of her house! Not ideal with a bitch due shortly to give birth to (we hoped) a large litter of puppies. I offered to have Sal up here for the birth and we made arrangements to bring her up to Perth.
The night of the 3rd of August 2007 Sal started acting very restlessly..pacing and looking for somewhere to nest. I took her temperature, found it to be low as expected and tried to convince her the spot I had chosen (a large crate covered with newspaper and lined with towels) would be a good place to give birth. She seemed to agree, because not long after midnight the first puppy was born, a little black and white girl. I had decided I definitely wanted another bitch for my next agility dog as I prefer their attitude and business like nature so I was very pleased that the first one out was a girl, for at least my puppy was born! This little girl was moving moments after birth, due to that primeval force that was driving her towards the food source and the vital source of nutrients she needed to survive, milk.
Sal however wasn't having a bar of it as after chewing off her umbilical cord (much to my relief this wasn't her first litter although it was mine!) and then delivered at approximately 1 hour intervals 5 other puppies, leaving 3 girls and 3 boys.
We had decided that on this litter we were going to try Early Neurological Stimulation or ENS. This is a method of carefully stimulating the puppies sensory systems that is supposed to help with improved cardiovascular system, stronger heart beats and adrenal glands, more tolerance to stress and greater resistance to disease (Battaglia 2001). Very hard to prove in studies but there have been papers written about this system (the so called Bio Sensor or 'SuperDog' system) and it was very much in vogue in the US and UK amongst performance people so we decided to give it a go. Since Sam's house was still undergoing repairs the puppies stayed with me for the first 3 weeks and I performed the exercises. These involved tickling the puppies feet, turning them upside down and tail down, lying them on their backs and placing on a cold towel, all very briefly, for approximately 3 seconds. These are performed from day 3 to day 16. Initially the puppies all tolerated the exercises well but later on started to struggle, especially the first born girl!
After the 3 weeks was up I said goodbye to the pups as they went back to the farm. All seemed to be doing well except one, the 3rd born girl with the white head, who didn't appear to be putting on as much weight as the others. Sam had very kindly agreed to raise the pups in that critical 3-8 week period.
Updates were frequent by email and also on a blog that she started to give us progress reports on the pups, and hopefully to help us to choose which one to keep! I had the first choice from the litter, and I knew it was going to be a bitch. Karen had the next choice and agreed that she would pick a dog, to leave unsterilized if possible in case we wanted to breed on.
The puppies soon developed puppy nick names. The first born bitch was always the pushiest and the most dominant pup so hers was 'Chunky Monkey' (also being the biggest- obviously very good at getting food!) The others included 'Intermediate Girl' 'Shoulder Spot Boy' 'Big Boy' 'Little Man' and 'Midget'.
During this time I was frequently asking Sam what she thought..which pup showed the most initiative, outgoingness, which one liked people and which one liked to tug. They were a very even litter and it wasn't an easy call to make but frequently Chunky Monkey was mentioned at being the first to do this that and the other..
When I was ready for another puppy I hadn't decided where I wanted to go. Despite the way Terra has turned out I don't like her structure (being very straight in the shoulders and too tall for her build) so I didn't want to go back to her breeder and I was not interested in a show border collie. I (along with everyone else in WA!) have always admired Domino- he is truly in a class of his own with his speed and drive to do agility- so when a friend said she knew where Domino's full brother was living I was more than interested!
I always liked a bitch of Sam's called Sally for her structure being very light and finely built. Personality wise she is also out-going and very people oriented so I was thrilled when Sam said I could use her for this litter. The farmer who owns Mick very kindly said we could use him so the mating was set to go ahead!
Karen and I drove down to pick Mick up..he hadn't been off the farm before and we took him straight to Karen's to give him a bath..poor dog, he coped very well. Then it was down to Sam's sheep farm in Kojanup to wait for Sally to come into season, and also to see how he would do on sheep.
2 months later we are still waiting..starting to get a bit anxious as Micks owner needed him back on the farm and Sally STILL hadn't come in season! Eventually right at the last moment she finally came in and the mating went ahead successfully. Mick went back home and we settled down to wait. A couple of days before Sally was due to give birth Sam's roof collapsed and flooded part of her house! Not ideal with a bitch due shortly to give birth to (we hoped) a large litter of puppies. I offered to have Sal up here for the birth and we made arrangements to bring her up to Perth.
The night of the 3rd of August 2007 Sal started acting very restlessly..pacing and looking for somewhere to nest. I took her temperature, found it to be low as expected and tried to convince her the spot I had chosen (a large crate covered with newspaper and lined with towels) would be a good place to give birth. She seemed to agree, because not long after midnight the first puppy was born, a little black and white girl. I had decided I definitely wanted another bitch for my next agility dog as I prefer their attitude and business like nature so I was very pleased that the first one out was a girl, for at least my puppy was born! This little girl was moving moments after birth, due to that primeval force that was driving her towards the food source and the vital source of nutrients she needed to survive, milk.
Sal however wasn't having a bar of it as after chewing off her umbilical cord (much to my relief this wasn't her first litter although it was mine!) and then delivered at approximately 1 hour intervals 5 other puppies, leaving 3 girls and 3 boys.
We had decided that on this litter we were going to try Early Neurological Stimulation or ENS. This is a method of carefully stimulating the puppies sensory systems that is supposed to help with improved cardiovascular system, stronger heart beats and adrenal glands, more tolerance to stress and greater resistance to disease (Battaglia 2001). Very hard to prove in studies but there have been papers written about this system (the so called Bio Sensor or 'SuperDog' system) and it was very much in vogue in the US and UK amongst performance people so we decided to give it a go. Since Sam's house was still undergoing repairs the puppies stayed with me for the first 3 weeks and I performed the exercises. These involved tickling the puppies feet, turning them upside down and tail down, lying them on their backs and placing on a cold towel, all very briefly, for approximately 3 seconds. These are performed from day 3 to day 16. Initially the puppies all tolerated the exercises well but later on started to struggle, especially the first born girl!
After the 3 weeks was up I said goodbye to the pups as they went back to the farm. All seemed to be doing well except one, the 3rd born girl with the white head, who didn't appear to be putting on as much weight as the others. Sam had very kindly agreed to raise the pups in that critical 3-8 week period.
Updates were frequent by email and also on a blog that she started to give us progress reports on the pups, and hopefully to help us to choose which one to keep! I had the first choice from the litter, and I knew it was going to be a bitch. Karen had the next choice and agreed that she would pick a dog, to leave unsterilized if possible in case we wanted to breed on.
The puppies soon developed puppy nick names. The first born bitch was always the pushiest and the most dominant pup so hers was 'Chunky Monkey' (also being the biggest- obviously very good at getting food!) The others included 'Intermediate Girl' 'Shoulder Spot Boy' 'Big Boy' 'Little Man' and 'Midget'.
During this time I was frequently asking Sam what she thought..which pup showed the most initiative, outgoingness, which one liked people and which one liked to tug. They were a very even litter and it wasn't an easy call to make but frequently Chunky Monkey was mentioned at being the first to do this that and the other..
The whole litter
Introducing Me!
I have been nagged/convinced by a good friend to start this blog, which will be the 'story of Secret'. It will cover all the details of her early life/puppyhood, training and hopefully competing. At this stage it will be private as there are training techniques I am trying with her that I don't want advertised yet (until I see whether they work!). Later on, it maybe made public.Anyway, to introduce myself first. My name is Kriszty and I am a veterinarian practicing in small animals in Perth, Western Australia. I am also an avid and competitive agility addict. I currently have 3 agility dogs:
Och AgCh Jess UD ADM JDM PT is my first (and heart) dog. She is a 10 year old show bred black and white border collie from a local kennel. She was bought as a family pet, and I started doing obedience and later agility to give her something to do. She turned out to be extremely talented at anything she tried, especially agility, and dominated the agility scene in WA from around 2003-2006, winning WA Agility and Jumping Dog of the Year numerous times, as well as winning states, royals, representing WA in the team for the last 5 years and so on. I will post more on Jess later as she is a very special dog- as well as doing all that she also has a congenital and inherited heart condition called a PDA (Patent Ductus Arteriosis) which has meant she has had to have 2 heart surgeries and still lives with the problem.
AgCh Bellview FoxyLady CDX ADM JDM ADO JDO SPDM SDX GDX PT is my current top agility dog. 'Terra' is co-owned between myself and my previous partner. She is currently the top jumping dog in Australia (winning Masters Jumping at the last 2 nationals) and is WA's top agility dog. She is a 4 year old tri colour border collie from a local working dog border collie breeder, Bellview kennels. She is turning out to be a dream dog with a fantastic fast serious attitude on the agility course and a laid back, soft and clingy one at home! She resides with me approximately half of the week.
I will introduce Secret in the next post..
I will introduce Secret in the next post..
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