Canine Freestyle

We had a great day today at the Canine Freestyle Federation Retreat and I learned a lot. We did Artistry and Presentation where we had to heel across the floor doing inside and outside circles and look good while we did it. Then we worked on the opening shape for our routine. The hardest part was the proofing class where I had to practice doing a sit stay while the teacher walked around me and tempted me with treats! If I stayed, Barbara rewarded me with pieces of cheese. It was very difficult but I really tried to do well.

The nice thing about Canine Freestyle is that any kind of dog can do it. Big or small, it doesn't matter. Your person has to pick the right kind of music that suits you. Then of course you have to practice a lot to get good at it. Here are some pictures of different dogs at the retreat.





Lucky and Jeanine are heeling to his music. He is paying attention to Jeanine very well.



I'm exhausted and I need to rest up now because tomorrow we will practice technical moves.

On the Road

Yesterday morning we got up very early and went over to Lucky's house. Lucky's person, Jeanine, and Barbara drove us to Tennessee to the Canine Freestyle Federation Retreat. I've never been to Tennessee and I enjoy learning freestyle so I was happy to go. Lucky and I had to ride in crates to stay safe.



It was a very long trip but we stopped at lots of rest stops to stretch our legs. I was certainly glad when we finally arrived as spending 7 hours in an SUV is very boring.

We are staying at a motel. The room has two beds so I spent a lot of time jumping back and forth between the beds to decide which was more comfy.




The motel room also has a little kitchen with a refrigerator for all my treats and food. I am eating my dinner here.



Today was the first day of the workshops. There was a freestyle trial and then Barbara and I went to a class on attention. I learned a lot and got many treats. Tomorrow I am going to learn all about artistry and presentation - whatever that is.

Puppy Class

I am the demo dog for the Junior Puppy class that Barbara teaches at the Animal Protection Society on Monday evenings. Barbara thinks it is so important for puppies to attend a well run, reward based puppy class and I do too. I went to puppy class when I was 12 weeks old and look how well I turned out!



This is Tank, a Mastiff puppy. He's pretty small now but he is going to be huge when he grows up so his person was very smart to enroll him in class. Tank is a very nice puppy and I even let him chew on my ear a bit.



I demoed the recall for the class as it is my best skill and then I watched the puppies practice it. Unfortunately they are all so wiggly it was hard to get photos of them doing their skills. We also did the Puppy Confidence Course and had several puppy socialization times.

Here is a photo of Bella, a nice Rottie mix puppy. She is very smart.



Here is Honeybear, the Goldendoodle. He looks a lot like my friend Riley only smaller.



This is Roxie, a West Highland White Terrier. She is very confident for such a young thing.



All these pups are less than 4 months old and already know how to pay attention, sit and down. They know that learning with their people is a fun thing to do and they are having lots of great socialization experiences. They are also a lot of fun to watch because they are so silly! If we can get them to hold still I'll post pictures of the other puppies next week.

He's Just Not That Into You

You know, if you have read some of my earlier posts, that I have lots of boyfriends. Since a girl can never have too many admirers I thought that I would make another conquest today at the dog park. I met Lucky, a very handsome Brittany. I was quite taken with him and he was very polite but I could not get him to chase me or chew on me.



I did play bows, I sniffed him, I even rolled around on the ground but it was not to be.





Barbara thought that I was behaving like a bold hussy but Lucky didn't seem to care.



We got along fine but there just wasn't any spark. I will have to try to be even cuter and more playful the next time we meet. I hope that I am not losing my touch.

I Sniff, Therefore I Am.

I am always trying to improve my mind and my computer skills. Barbara doesn't let me near her laptop but last week when I was at Furry Paws I saw Andrea's laptop on a low desk. I could not help myself and took the opportunity to surf the web.



Here I am studying Albert Camus, the author and philosopher. His writing is a bit heavy for me but one never knows when knowledge of existentialism will come in handy.

Bad Treats

I never thought that I would ever say that a treat was bad but it has happened. On Friday Barbara gave me one of the duck breast strips that we got on our treat shopping trip. I ate it fast as I like to do but I guess it cracked into a sharp piece.

I felt pretty uncomfortable on Saturday and didn't eat my breakfast. When we went to freestyle practice I was lethargic (and I am never lethargic) and just lay at Barbara's feet. She was very concerned about me especially when I didn't want to do anything during our turn and wouldn't even eat a piece of cheese. Then I did a massive throw-up (don't worry, no pictures of that!) and up came a 1 1/2 inch long piece of the duck breast strip with a point. I felt much better after I got rid of that pointy thing in my stomach and I am back to normal now.

Barbara was so upset that she sent an email to the manufacturer. If your people get you that kind of treat - Don't Eat It.

Treats, Glorious Treats

My friend Lucy and I got together at the training center yesterday. She is a lovely redhead. We are sitting so still with Lucy's person Allen because her other person, Susan, had some extra special treats - cheese tortellini!! Delicious! So delicious in fact that I got a bit overexcited and tried to jump on Susan. She is used to silly setters and just turned her back on me when I jumped. Susan would only give me tortellini when I sat politely.

Back at home I found that our treat supply was in a disgracefully poor condition. Just one stick of string cheese and a couple of stale biscuits. That was very disturbing news since one of my New Year's resolutions was to eat more treats. I can't eat treats that aren't there so Barbara took me to Furry Paws and Feathers, my favorite pet supply store, for some retail therapy.



I inspected the store thoroughly before I picked out any treats. Andrea is holding out several tasty selections for my approval.



I had to pick out many bags because I found out that Barbara gives a lot of my treats away to other dogs. I am shocked! She is a reward based trainer so she uses lots of treats in training, as she should. However I had no idea she was using some of my treats with her students' dogs. This is really going to affect how well I can keep my New Year'sresolution.



In the end I got 5 different kinds of treats - carrot, lamb, peanut butter, duck and salmon. It was a very successful shopping trip as you can see from my happy face.



Now if only I can get Barbara to make tortellini for me, the way that Lucy's people do for her, life will be perfect.

Farm Animals

We like to take walks in area that has nice paths around a pond. They also have cows, donkeys, goats and fake sheep. The cows are called Belted Galloways and have a white stripe all around their middle. One of the cows came to the fence. At first I thought that he had never seen a Gordon Setter before and was going to admire me. Then he stared at me. I don't know what staring means in cow body language but if another dog was staring at me like that I would be giving him every calming signal I knew how to give. I just tried to get as far away from the fence as I could.



















Isn't this a cute baby goat? I wanted to get near her and would have loved to have played with her. Every time I got close to the fence the mama goat stepped in front of her to protect her from me.





Here are the fake sheep. I used to be very concerned about them and even wrote a post about "Evil Sheep" last fall. Barbara has desensitized me to the fake sheep so I don't mind seeing them the way I used to. But it is still beyond me why anyone would want to have a herd of concrete sheep when they could have real woolly ones.

My Sister Tori

My sister Tori is a conformation show dog. Aunt Karen brought her down to a big dog show at the State Fairgrounds this weekend and Barbara and I went to the show to cheer her on.

It is very hard to show in conformation. You must have lots of baths and grooming which, as you know, I don't like. Then you have to learn to stand very still while the judge examines you. Tori does this very well but I found it extremely difficult when I took a handling class. Then you have to gait around the ring so the judge can see how well you move. That was the only part I liked to do.

Tori did not win today but she is very beautiful and I know that soon she will win many ribbons at dog shows just like our mom Misty and our dad Garrett. I'll just stick to tracking since it doesn't involve any baths.

Perfectly Good Day - Ruined

I had a great morning. We woke up early and headed over to the dog park where I had a great run with a nice collie and a chow mix. Then I met my friend Amiga to do some tracking. I found many articles with roast beast in them and Barbara was pleased with how well I followed the track on the turns. I returned home for a nap while Barbara went to work. I thought that when she got back we could go for a nice walk. But NO! She said "Niamh you smell like a dog. You must have a bath." Of course I smell like a dog, I am a dog for goodness sakes. What am I supposed to smell like - a squirrel??



We went to Max's Dog Wash where I had to get in the tub and get wet down, soaped up and rinsed off. It was horrible. Even though I got treats through out, I was miserable as you can see from my photos.




Then I had to get on the grooming table and get blown dry which I think is cruelty to animals and worse than the bath itself if that is possible.



I think people are obsessed with baths. They have entire rooms in their houses to devoted to the practice which seems a waste of space to me. They should skip the baths and showers and just stay nice and smelly.

Rally Practice

It was another busy week. I had Drill Team on Monday night, Wednesday I helped Barbara with her new Basic Family Dog class and Thursday I visited Furry Paws and Feathers Pet Supplies to get more treats. Friday morning I went tracking with my friends Amiga, Ayla and Trotter so I thought that I would have a lazy weekend and get to sleep in.

Instead Barbara and I went out to the Animal Protection Society training center and met Ayla and her person Sandi. We practiced Rally obedience which is a fun way to do obedience. Rally is a course with stations of obedience skills like heeling around cones, fronts and finishes, different kinds of turns. You get points off your score if you don't do the station correctly. I am learning the skills so I can do all the stations. Barbara and Sandi set out a course and Ayla and I took turns practicing. Of course we got lots of praise and treats for doing the skills.


Barbara and I going through the figure eight cones.



Ayla doing a right finish around Sandi.

It is a lot of fun to do Rally and dogs should encourage their people to try this sport. Don't worry, you do not have to learn to read the signs - only your people do.

There are Rally competitions with different levels of courses and dogs can win prizes and ribbons. Barbara and Selkie used to do lots of Rally together and they earned the Rally Novice (RN) and Rally Advanced (RA) titles. Here is a picture of them getting their RA at the Gordon Setter National Specialty in June 2006.




My mom Misty recently got her Rally Novice title and has a leg towards her RA. I'd like to get good at Rally so that I can win prizes and ribbons and have lots of initials after my name.

Tracking for Roast Beast

I got up early this morning to go tracking near the lake. It was cool and breezy which always makes me feel skippy. My boyfriend Trotter was there too with his person Chris. Barbara had a very special reward for me - delicious roast beast - which I had never had before. Each article on the track had pieces of roast beast under it. What a wonderful smell.

I was very excited at the beginning of my track and took some time to settle down. It was windy which blows all the scent around. Once I focused I did very well (and found 2 articles with roast beast) until I got to the first turn. I knew where it was and indicated the turn but Barbara had mistaken where she had laid the turn and didn't let me go there. I tried to tell her again but she didn't pay attention so then I got a bit confused. She really MUST learn to trust me since I am the one with the good nose!! Even Chris knew that I had indicated the turn. Barbara must not be able to smell much at all, poor thing.

Finally we got going the right way, I crossed a dirt road, found more articles and made a very good right turn. Then it was straight on to the final article which was a special toy filled with roast beast and cheese. Yeah!

Here is a picture of me with the toy. It is made out of fire hose material and is very strong.


You can see that the bottom opens up to a secret compartment for the roast beast.


I gobbled up the roast beast and cheese so fast that Barbara couldn't get a picture of it. HA!!

Tellington Touch

Tellington Touch is a technique used on animals to help us relax and connect us with our bodies. It is like a massage but very gentle. Barbara thought it would benefit me since I don't like being groomed or having my nails clipped. I can tolerate it but it isn't much fun. Gordon Setters have a lot of hair so we need to be brushed often.

Royal's person, Jenn, has done TTouch on me and it felt really nice. She organized a TTouch training workshop at the APS and it was taught by THE Linda Tellington-Jones who developed the method. Barbara brought me to the workshop so that one of the student practitioners could TTouch me and help me.

Joan really likes dogs a lot. She was very gentle with me, doing very soft touches over my skin. I got a little worried when she started working on my hind legs. I really don't like having my back feet touched. But Joan respected me and got me used to the touches very gradually. The TTouch felt wonderful and I got quiet relaxed. Joan showed Barbara how to do the touches so she could do them on me at home.

Then Joan did something that I thought was really weird. She wrapped me up in an Ace bandage. It is supposed to help reduce anxiety and help me connect. I was not sure about it at all and kind of froze up. Joan gently coaxed me to walk around and then the wrap felt fine but I still think it looks extremely strange.




Later I got to meet Linda Tellington-Jones. She did lovely touches on my face and tail to help relax me. I would have let her do the touches to me all afternoon. Here is a picture of me with Linda and then one of Linda, me and Joan.




I hope that Barbara remembers how to do all the different TTouches so I can have a session everyday. Who knows, I may even get to like being groomed.

Volunteer Award

My special person, Barbara, went to a reception tonight and she got a nice certificate from the County Commissioners for being a NC Key Volunteer for Orange County. She volunteers at the animal shelter doing evaluations of the dogs there and helping them find good homes. It is very sad that dogs have to be in the shelter. By evaluating them she can tell what kind of training they need and help make a good match so they get their own special person to take care of them.



Here is a picture of Barbara with some of the people who work at the shelter. She's the one in the blue shirt. I'm very proud of her and gave her lots of kisses when she came home with her certificate. Unfortunately dogs were not allowed at the reception otherwise I would have gone and eaten lots of the snacks.

My New Friend Riley

I was taking a nice nap this afternoon when Barbara came home and told me that I was going to meet a new friend. I like having lots of friends so I was glad to get up and go. We drove to Karen and Jim's house. I'd been there before and they were very nice to me, giving me lots of pets and treats. Well now they have a new puppy. His name is Riley and he is a 5 month old Golden doodle. He looks quite big for his age but I really think it is all the hair.




When I first got to Karen and Jim's I was more interested in running around their yard than playing with the puppy. He, however, was very interested in me. The yard is fenced and there is a big deck with lots of levels to jump off of. I could jump off the highest level but Riley had to use the stairs. I led him on a big chase all around the yard. He would run up to me and bite on my ears! When I wanted to get away from him I just ran really fast and he couldn't catch up. We had a good time. I love to be chased.




Riley is a playful guy and he chewed on my legs and actually tried to walk underneath me. I think he has quite a crush on me (and why wouldn't he since I am so pretty) because he tried to hump me several times. I would flip him off when he bothered me but he really is very sweet. A girl can never have too many beaus but I think that Riley may be a bit too young for me.