Lesson Plans: Maggie

Here's my last lesson plan installment - you didn't think I've leave Maggie out, did you?

Maggie is semi-retired, but REFUSES to be left out of training, so I've got some plans for her, too.  She is the most keen of all three dogs, and gets really excited when I say "do you wanna work?"  So work we will.

I've still "got it" -- let me work!!

Maggie gets to work on obedience

• Maybe this fall we'll try for our Graduate Open title so...
• Gloves - work on marking (looking at) the glove.  Maggie doesn't really want to take the time to stop.  I say "take it" and she's off like a shot.  We need to mark first, so we ensure she's after the correct glove.
• Finish up "Around the Clock" scent article training.  Go back to week 5, and finish the weeks.  Maggie seems to really like this task.
• Go-outs.  I need to re-train this.  The target work I was doing has been hard to wean.  I think I'll try a mat this time.  I can then cut down the mat to a smaller & smaller size...

Frequency:

• 3 times a week.  My time is an issue, and I'm not in a hurry.  If she never makes it in the ring again, that's ok.  This is to give the old lady a job.  Oh, and I love working with this dog :)

Lesson Plans: Ziggy

With Ziggy keeping things fun is paramount.  He really would rather be on the sofa most of the time.

Can my lesson plans include sofa time?

Please?  Please?

Here's the plan for Ziggy:

Obedience:

• Fun heeling!  Not sits or set-ups - just lots of energy, short session of heeling interspersed with running back to our (out of the ring) food rewards.  Goal is to make heeling rewarding, active & fun.  
• To our heeling, we're also adding in recalls and retrieves - all on the move, and flowing together.  The idea is to keep it all fun.  
• Attend show-n-go's whenever we can to build confidence in the ring.  Last weekend we did a couple of beginning novice runs, and the group stays for novice.  
• Our near-term goal is to get our beginning novice obedience title.  This title is all on-leash, which seems to make Z feel more comfortable.

Agility:

• I've been re-training the weaves.  I took too much time off in the middle of the last method, and things seemed to fall apart a bit.  Ziggy is now weaving all 12 poles (relatively quickly).  
• Courses - we're now running courses twice a week to work on flow and handling.  
• Jumping - work on jump grids/exercises once a week to build confidence & speed.

Other:

• Build confidence in new places.  This is one of the reasons I'm focusing on agility as of late.  It gets Ziggy working off-leash in new places, and seems to be having the desired affect of building his confidence.

Frequency:

• 6 days a week.  Z is working for his dinner most nights...

Lesson Plans: Rip

Last week I took all 3 of the dogs for a private lesson with my obedience trainer.  I'm always keen to improve my handling, and want to make sure I'm working on the right things with each of them.  I worked with each dog, then we created "lesson plans" for each of them.

Don't listen to her - I don't need all this training.

Look how calm and well-mannered I am...

Here's the plan for Rip

Obedience:

• Work on making the "front" position and the "heel" (sitting next to me) positions lots of fun and high reward.  
• Make sure he's focusing in the right place while in these positions.  When in front, he should be looking just above my knees.  In heel at side, he should be focusing on the seam of my jeans about mid way up my thigh.  (I trained Maggie to look at my face in both of these positions, and she tends to forge in heel and sit a bit far back in front).
• Short (moving) heelwork with food lure, and frequent breaks for play.

Agility:

• Continue work on agility basics - tunnel, table, beginning teeter, jump bumps (Susan Salo method).
• Work on "here" (come to side, but don't heel or sit) cue.

Other:

• Lots of socialization - in the past week Rip's been to an obedience show-n-go (goal = ring is fun, judge and stewards are fun, hanging out in my crate is ok),  open training night (goal = meet new people, learn to be a bit less wild when greeting other dogs, have fun practicing in a new place), and to training class with The Husband (goal = CGC in 8 more weeks, attention & manners around other dogs).
• Conformation -- we're working on "wait" command.  I want him to stop in a standing position on this cue (rather than sitting).  We'll also start conformation class again in early Feb.  Right now it conflicts with agility training nights for Ziggy.
• Recall and name games.  Rip seems to be entering the "deaf teenager" phase...

Frequency:

• Rip gets training at least once a day (preferably 2).  It's a coping mechanism, as it wears him out a bit.  AND he gets to have fun, play with me, and get treats!

2010 Review

Aargh.  I’ve put it off for a few days, but I guess it’s time to reflect on the past year.

It’s a bit depressing thinking about all that I hoped to accomplish last year – compared with what I actually DID accomplish.

Dog Goals:

My dog goals took a real hit.  Lots of work travel, plus lack of motivation at times, meant that I didn’t achieve nearly what I’d intended to. 

Maggie enjoyed her mostly-retired lifestyle.

Ziggy smiled his way through some good Rally scores,

and continued to thwart my attempts to make him a keen performance dog.

Highlights from the year:

• Ziggy got his RA title, with respectable scores.
• Maggie & Ziggy won obedience brace class both days of the National Specialty
• Denzil found a good “retirement” home with my parents.
• I (crazily?) added Rip to the pack.

Denzil found a great new home, and LOVES

being the center of attention.

I went on vacation and came home with a puppy.

He was living only 60 miles from my parents...how could I resist?

Personal goals:

Again, didn’t quite accomplish what I would have liked – particularly in the area of weight loss (sigh).

At least I got to visit some lovely new places....

Highlights from the year:

• I logged more than 80,000 air miles!
• I read nearly 40 books – the most I’ve read in one year since becoming a parent -- (I like to read when I’m on a plane…)
• I visited 5 countries other than my own, and acquired a stamp from a “new” country in my passport (Spain)
• I met all of my dog training/education goals 

Yes, 2010 is over.  Now I'm mulling over what I’d like to accomplish in 2011.  More about that next week (perhaps).

Denzil Update

(Denzil aka the shameless little flirt)

One of my goals for the year was to develop a long-term plan for Denzil.  I set a date of mid-March.

Well, it's the end of March, and I've actually followed through on this goal (yippee!).

A couple weeks ago Denzil and I went back to our vet for a consult on his knees.  No tests, just a quick checkup for Denzil (soundness and flexion tests) and some good discussion between the vet and I.

Based on the x-rays we got last time, and the state of Denzil's current soundness, the vet thinks that his lameness is caused by torn (but not ruptured) cruciate ligaments and a bit of arthritis.  Denzil's lameness got quite bad at times this winter - I think in part to all of the snow and ice we had.  Leaping through the snow and frapping on frozen ground is not good for the boy.

Denzil has been on Deramaxx every other day for quite a while, plus an omega 3 supplement and  chondroitin, glucosamine & MSM every day.  He seems to do well on this, unless he overexerts (which Denzil likes to do as much as possible.)  We just had blood tests done, and Denzil doesn't seem to be experience any ill effects from the Deramaxx, which is good news.

Given all of this, where did we land?  Basically, neither the vet nor I think that Denzil's knee problems are surgical.  Our plan of attack is to continue with the supplements and Deramaxx, and control Denzil's activity for 12 weeks to see if the lameness starts to get better.  He's not on crate rest - just no frapping or running, with all exercise on-leash and some conditioning to rebuild muscle in his hind end.

We've been at this for two weeks now, and Denzil is doing really well.  His lameness is greatly improved and he seems a lot happier - much more like his usual busy self.  It's great to see.  We're still working on a sustainable long term plan, but it's encouraging that he seems to be getting better.  If only I could explain to Denzil that he's a "veteran" now and needs to slow it down a bit.  Slow down just isn't in his vocabulary....

Denzil's 2010 Goals

Some background on Denzil:

Denzil is by far the most driven of my 3 corgis.  He really seems to have a border collie personality in a corgi body.  The problem with this is that Denzil "writes checks that his body can't cash."  Denzil has problems with his knees.  We took him to the Iowa State University vet school, and the vet we saw thought the lameness was caused by luxated patellas.  We recently took him back to our vet and got new,  high quality digital xrays done of his knees.  Based on these new images, our vet thinks Denz has tears in his cruciate ligaments.  To keep Denzil comfortable he gets one Deramaxx every other day, gets on-leash walks only, and we try to minimize the amount of frapping, which is challenging, given his personality.

On the up side, we also got new digital photos of his back taken at the same time as his knees, and everything looks good there.

With that in mind, here are my goals for Denzil.....

Denzil

Develop a plan to gain and maintain Denzil’s long term soundness by March 31

§  Confirm diagnosis of injured cruciate ligaments

o   Another visit to ISU for confirmatory diagnosis? - if so, by Mar 15

o   Talk to our vet – how can we confirm? - by Feb 12

§  Determine treatment options

o   Pain maintenance?

o   Rehabilitation/physical therapy?

o   Surgical?

o   New, lower-key, "retirement" home for him?  My parents??

o   Other????

Train 3 new tricks by December 31

§  Determine low-impact tricks that Denzil can learn

o   Research and determine 4 trick options by January 31

§  Develop options on how to train tricks

§  Train and demonstrate tricks

o   One trick by April 30

o   Trick #2 by August 30

o   Trick #3 by December 31

Ziggy's 2010 goals

Ziggy

Get RA and RE titles by December 31

§  Determine areas that we need to focus on January 31

o   Perform each exercise, and mark a Good, Fair, Poor

o   Integrate Fair & Poor exercises into weekly training plan

§  Practice Rally with Precision

o   This is prep for the obedience ring, so all Rally work needs to be done with “1/2 point” precision

o   Intention is to use Rally as a chance to do ring work in “wow” mode to build Ziggy’s confidence

o   After RAE title obtained, take Z back in the ring for his CD

o   Attend SCKC Rally class 2 times per month

§  Possible Rally trials

o   Clinton KC in Dewitt - April 3 & 4

o   ICDOC in Amanas April 9, 10, 11

o   Scott County in Rock Island – May 15 & 16 (2 trials each day)

o   Des Moines and/or Peoria – fall 2010

Earn NAP & NJP titles by December 31

§  Determine areas of obstacle focus by February 28^th

o   Evaluate current obstacle performance (soliciting instructor input as well) to determine good, fair, poor rating

o   Develop plan to improve each obstacle performance

§  Weaves

·      Train with channel weaves

§  A-Frame

·      Train running contacts

§  Teeter

·      Continue to build confidence by slowly raising teeter

§  Tunnels

§  Dog walk

§  Table

§  Jumps

·      Continue Susan Salo jump training

o   Develop plan to close the gaps

§  Complete six “out-of-class” practice runs by first AKC trial date

§  Compete in at least 2 local NADAC events in spring & early summer

o   Gain ring experience

o   Focus on Hoopers and Tunnelers

o   Goals for NADAC are to build partnership, improve handling, and encourage Ziggy “gallop” on course

§  Focus AKC trials:

o   Scott County in Davenport – August 14-15

o   DMOTC in Des Moines – mid September

o   Scott County in Daveport – October 2-3

Continue to build Ziggy’s focus and confidence

§  Attend 4 Show n Go’s or other practice events by Dec 31

o   Identify local show n go schedules and map dates to calendar by February 15

§  Continue “dog about town” work

o   Train at two new training locations per month

Maggie's 2010 Goals

The last post included MY goals for 2010 - what I'm committing to do as a dog person.  Now for the dogs...


Disclaimer:
The title of "Maggie's 2010 Goals" might be a bit misleading... these are actually MY goals for Maggie.  I suspect that Maggie's goals would include finding new types of stink to roll in, and finding new pieces of furniture to lay on.


Notes:
A little background on Maggie:  Maggie is retired from agility (she's 10.5 years old), and just earned her CDX.  Maggie LOVES LOVES LOVES to work, so she needs a job.  

MAGGIE

Train Maggie to do all Utility exercises by Sept 31

§  Begin to take Utility lessons at the end of February

o   Take SCKC class beginning in Feb

o   After class is over, continue with private lessons every other week

§  Research and buy equipment needed for Utility work

o   What size of articles/dumbbells to buy?

o   Purchase by Feb 5th

Investigate showing Maggie in Graduate Open

§  Once she knows the Utility exercises, should be pursue a GN title?

§  Watch GN at our May show, or Clinton or Amanas (if offered)

o   What are the exercises?  Could Maggie do them w/out too much stress?

§  If this looks promising (or maybe even Utility?) – enter Maggie in one show by Dec 31

Goals not resolutions

I'm not big on New Year's resolutions.  I can't seem to keep them.  The way I set resolutions they tend to be too broad and sweeping (e.g.:  I won't eat chocolate).  Clearly, not attainable.

Since I do believe that one needs to know where they want to go, this year I'm setting goals instead.  Goals for what I want to do with me.  Goals for what I want to do with the dogs.  Since there's something to making goals public to hold one accountable for results, I'm going to post these goals on my blog in the coming days.

To kick things off, I'll start with posting my dog-related goals.   Here goes:

Lani's goals for 2010

My overall goal is to become a better dog trainer, handler, and more reliable partner for my dogs.

Improve my dog training ability

§  Attend 2 seminars in 2010 to learn new training philosophies

o   Janice Gunn seminar in July

§  In February - Ask around re:  audit or participate? – then sign up

o   Ask SCKC list to post upcoming clinics/seminars that they hear about

o   Consider traveling for private lessons if desireable/possible/necessary

§  Read Clean Run and Front & Finish magazines each month

§  Read 4 dog training books – agility, obedience, or “dog psychology” by Dec 31

Learn about rules and ring procedure for Utility

§  Attend 2 local dog shows solely to watch Utility competitors

o   What are the exercises, and in what order are they done?

o   What commands and cues do folks use?

o   How do the successful teams warm up?

o   How do the successful teams transition between exercises?

Improve my level of fitness and agility (after all, I’m half of the team)

§  Lose 19 lbs by August 1, 2010

§  Incorporate one new human agility exercise each month

o   By Jan 19^th – review and identify 12 exercises in the (human) agility training book I bought that will help improve my (dog) agility handling ability/footwork