Extreme Makeover - Gordon Setter Edition

Next weekend is my Canine Freestyle competition. We have been practicing a lot and I hope that we will get good scores. Barbara said that is important that I look particularly beautiful (probably because she will be looking spectacularly un-beautiful and she needs me to distract people from looking at her) because I will be the only Gordon Setter there and I have to be a good representative of my breed. I knew that this meant extreme dog grooming torture.

This morning Barbara drove Ambrose and me in the dog-crate-on-wheels up to VA to visit my Aunt Karen, who is my breeder, and my biological mom, Misty.



Misty is 10 years old but still quite active and playful and of course very beautiful and good. Whenever I get to see her I always give her a little kiss on the face. She is the only adult dog that I do that to. I am very respectful of my mom.



Misty is a good hostess and let us run all around her house and yard. She was very tolerant of goofy Ambrose who brought all his cooties along and left them everywhere. I noticed that she was carefully marking over all his cootiefyed pee-mail.



After some good play we went down to the special dog grooming torture chamber. Look at the array of evil implements that were laid out to be used on me.



Here is my before picture. I am all tufty and my feet are like bedroom slippers.



My Aunt Karen is quite skilled with dog grooming torture of Gordon Setters. She managed to snip or clip every hair on my body. She was very gentle with me and never let the clippers get hot and never poked me with the shears. I was pretty good through most of the torture, but I did get fussy when she worked on my back feet and when she got close to my ears. Aunt Karen gave me lots of breaks to relax and Barbara gave me liver treats when I behaved myself.



Ta-da! Here is the after photo. I think that I look pretty spiffy.



And I am very happy to have survived all the torture in one piece.



You can see where I get my good looks. That is me in the front and Misty in the back.

The APDT Conference - Atlanta

Well she had a good excuse this time. Barbara has been very bad about blogging about our adventures lately but she went to the Association of Pet Dog Trainers annual conference in Atlanta so we will cut her some slack. Over 1200 dog trainers gathered for 5 days to hear lectures from the best dog trainers and behaviorists in the world.

Since Barbara is on the Board of Directors she had meetings before and after the conference so we spent 10 days at K9 Kindercare - good thing we like it there. She got to stay at the Hilton on the 24th floor of the hotel. Look at the view from her room.



Some of the speakers included Dr. Patricia McConnell, Suzanne Clothier, Dr. Alexandra Horowitz, Dr. Pam Reid and many of our dog training heroes. Barbara got to spend time with Dr. Temple Grandin which was very interesting. There is a HBO movie about Dr. Grandin's life and struggles as a person with Asperger's syndrome. She is brilliant and has great insights about animals.



Victoria Stillwell (It's Me or the Dog on Animal Planet) spoke at the conference. She and Dr. Grandin had a lot to talk about with each other.



It was a great conference and we hope Barbara learned a lot that will help her be a better trainer.

We did a lot of playing at K9 Kindercare. Ambrose made a new friend while were there.



But the best part of Barbara going to the conference is the trade show. The vendors have everything a dog could want. She bought lots of treats and toys for us. I investigated the bags carefully when she brought them home.



Of course I will do my annual treat taste testing experiment soon. I know that you want to know all about the most delicious treats.

CNN

We got a very exciting call this morning. CNN is filming a series on animal learning. They are going to show lemurs, bonobos, dolphins and of course, dogs. They planned to interview Dr. Brian Hare at the Duke Canine Cognition Center and film dogs performing the research studies. Ambrose and I have participated in a few of the studies and have blogged about it here. Dr. Hare asked if Barbara could bring one of us to Duke this afternoon for the filming. Of course she said yes and of course she brought me because who knows what Ambrose would do if he was being filmed for national television?

I got to meet the reporter Randi Kaye (I was hoping for Anderson Cooper) and showed her how good I am at finding treats. She asked Dr. Hare lots of questions but I was just focused on the food. The nice camera man filmed lots of repetitions of the tests but I don't know how much of it will actually be on TV and how much will end up on the cutting room floor. The show is supposed to air on CNN sometime in November and when I know the date, I will let you know so you can see my 15 seconds of fame.

Of course Barbara forgot to bring her camera to document the filming (she really is only good at providing my transportation) so there are no photos. Boo hiss!

Here is a photo of the two of us performing at the Bark Fest.

Freestyle Demos

In one month Barbara and I will compete in a Canine Freestyle Federation trial. We have a new routine, to Celtic music, that I enjoy performing because it has my favorite jumps in it as well as turns and spins which I also like to do. We have been practicing a lot to get ready for the trial.

Last Saturday we went to Yanceyville to perform our routine at the Caswell Animal Protection Society's Bark Fest. I had a good time but of course Barbara forgot to take pictures of me. A lady from the Caswell Messenger took my picture so maybe I will be in the newspaper.

A few weeks ago we went to the Woof-A-Palooza to support Chatham Animal Rescue and Education (CARE). There were many vendors selling dog treats and toys. We had a booth with lots of training information. I was on my best behavior so people could see what a good trainer Barbara is and they will sign their dogs up for her classes. We did not bring Ambrose because I know he would have disgraced us with some crazy adolescent antic.



We performed our freestyle routine for the crowd.



The audience was very impressed with my jumping abilities.



CARE raised lots of money at the Woof-A-Palooza which will help them foster and find homes for lots more dogs and cats.

Here is a movie of Barbara and I rehearsing our routine last month. We still have some work to do to polish up our performance and of course it would help if she was not so clumsy. I am always graceful but Barbara has two left feet. Well, I have two left feet as well, but I am supposed to have them.

Catching Up, Again!

We've been on hiatus while Barbara went on vacation to NY. Last year we went with her in the dog-crate-on-wheels and got to visit our cousin. But this time she flew in a plane and of course since I have no intention of ever flying in the belly of a plane, Ambrose and I went to stay at K9 Kindercare. We always have fun there but I was quite jealous that Barbara spent time with Coby and Angie while she was there. I bet she gave them a lot of treats too.




Once Barbara got back she had to prepare for all her new classes at the training center and had to do boring stuff like fill folders with homework. She started 7 new classes just this week so of course we, and our blog, have been very neglected.

I saw from the video on the last post that Ambrose found my squeaky sheep at the training center and put his cooties all over it. I had to give that sheep a good shake to try to get them off.



Then I ripped some of its little feet off. I think the only way to decontaminate it is to let Barbara drown it. I am always reluctant to let her launder my stuffies but there is no help for it. Then I will have to find the sheep a much better hiding place.



I was even more miffed to find out that Ambrose is getting his own column in the Paw In Hand newsletter! What kind of advice is he going to give? I shudder to think about the poor dogs who write to him for help. Does this face give you confidence???



As busy as she has been somehow Barbara found time to perform more dog grooming torture on us. Ambrose had a bath last week and I had one today. In an effort to prevent the dreaded fluffy butt, she remembered to bring a towel to pin on me to make my fur straight. But she forgot the big diaper pins she usually uses and had to use some little safety pins from her purse.

Of course by the time we got home, I had scratched and tugged some of the pins out. Then Ambrose caught sight of me in the towel and barked his fool head off. When he finally realized it was me, he tried to help pull the towel off which I found very annoying so I had to yell at him.



Barbara said that if we continued to behave so badly she was going to trade us in for some goldfish!

I kept the towel on for a while but decided to try to shake it off. Unfortunately, while I had gotten most of the safety pins out, the towel was still pinned tightly around my neck. Barbara laughed and laughed but it was NOT funny.



I will say that my fur is now nice and straight and I will be quite beautiful when I go to the freestyle show and go tomorrow.

More Fun Time with Wallace

It continues to be ridiculously hot here in NC. It is very bad for us mostly black dogs. It is hard to get enough exercise and still keep cool. Niamh does not like the heat at all and only wants to stay inside in the AC. I have been going over to Scout's house and playing with her and jumping in her pool. We get nice and wet and then shake the water off on our people!



I want Scout to get out of the pool and chase me.



My brother Wallace came back for a visit to our training center. It is nice and cool there.



We had a great time training and playing. Of course Barbara did not have her camera on when we had a really nice, bashy game. Then just as Wallace got ready to leave I decided to see if I could get him to play some more. I think he was tired so it didn't get as wild as our earlier game but you can see that we had a good time together. Wallace is the one with the striped leash. I'm the one who is barking.





After Wallace left I made a huge discovery. Niamh has been hiding her Squeaky Sheep at the training center! It is the great one with the 16 squeakers inside. Well once I found it I gave it a good shake and raced around and around with it, squeaking it like mad. Niamh will be so annoyed when she see what fun I had with her toy.





One of the reasons we haven't been posting much lately, or commenting on your blogs the way we would like to, is that Barbara has been working on making a monthly newsletter for Paw In Hand Dog Training. Not being the most creative person in the world, this has taken her some time. I would be very surprised if you hadn't heard an explosion of HBO words yesterday when she somehow managed to erase all the changes she had made and the new copy she had written for the newsletter! I know it woke me out of a sound sleep.

The most exciting part is that I am going to have my own column in the newsletter! It will be called" Ask Ambrose" and subscribers will be able to write in with questions about dog training and behavior and I will answer them in the next newsletter. I know I will do a good job since I love training and and I am an expert in dog behavior because I am a dog. Notice that Niamh did not get her own column. She will be sick with jealousy when she finds out since she thinks she knows everything.

A New Boyfriend and Freestyle Practice

A girl can never have too many admirers. However, I like them to be well behaved and they must follow my signals about what is the appropriate way to play with me. I am very good at flirting with them and training them to play appropriately.

Jix is a handsome, young Retriever/Collie who was recently adopted by a nice family. They are doing a great job in training him but they told Barbara that he gets very overexcited when he sees new dogs. Barbara suggested that they come to the training center so that Jix could meet me.



He did get very excited when he saw me, lunging and barking. I am used to this reaction and it doesn't bother me. I knew Jix was just stunned by my Gordon Setter beauty. What boy wouldn't be?? So we practiced walking by each other until Jix calmed down. He got lots of good treats for passing by calmly. After awhile he realized that I was not impressed by his antics and settled nicely.




We got let off leash and of course Jix wanted to sniff me. Now I am happy to be sniffed politely, but intensive sniffing of my personal areas is quite annoying. My body is my own! I flipped around and told Jix to behave.



He stopped but then couldn't help himself (how could he resist?) and went back to trying to sniff me. I chased him off smartly!



After a few times Jix got the message. See how he is politely averting his eyes? That is how I like all my boyfriends to behave. Then we had some nice playtime together.



On Saturday we met up with our friends from the Carolina Canine Freestyle Guild for a meeting and practice. The meeting was so boring that I fell asleep. What can people talk about for an hour and a half?? Finally it was the dogs turn to get in the ring and practice. We worked on our freestyle routines and then I got to learn something new - platform pivots.



I had to learn to stand with my two front feet on a little platform while my back feet stayed on the ground. At first I thought that this was very silly and kept jumping over the platform. But Barbara kept clicking and treating me for putting my paws on the platform and after awhile it was very easy.



Then I had to learn to move my rear feet while my front ones stayed on the platform. This is harder than it looks but with clicks and treats I could do it.



Barbara was quite pleased with this. She said it will help me with my left pivots in freestyle and rally. It is also good exercise. Now she wants to teach it to Ambrose although where we will get a platform large enough for his big feet, I do not know.

More Science Experiments

We got an email from the folks at the Duke Canine Cognition Center asking me, Ambrose, to participate in another research study. I was there a few months ago helping them with an experiment on true and false information. Even though Barbara says I got called because they did a random sample of the data base, I know they picked me because I did so well on the last experiment. They didn't ask Niamh back. HA!

This experiment was on spatial recognition. Barbara had to hold an occluder (fancy scientific name for a piece of cardboard) in front of me while the experimenter put a treat in one bucket and pretended to put a treat in another bucket. Then I was released to see which bucket had the treat. Hot dogs. Yum!



I quickly learned that the hot dog was always in the bucket on my right and never in the one on the left. Easy peasy! After awhile I didn't even bother checking the bucket on the left.



Then Courtney, the researcher, had me go to the other side of the room and do the experiment from the other direction. She wanted to see if I was going to the bucket based on spatial relationships in the room or response learning. My results showed that I was going to the right even when we switched directions so it is response learning. Doesn't that sound impressive?



Courtney was very nice to me. She kept saying how well I picked up the skill of finding the treat. It wasn't hard but I appreciated the compliment and of course I will do almost anything for treats. Courtney petted me a lot and said I have a sweet face.



I like going to Duke to participate in their experiments. They love dogs there. The other students made a big fuss over me too and I got to eat a ton of treats. They can call me any time they need a smart boy to help them.



Of course I do have a sweet face.



The only thing I can complain about is that when Agatha and Archie went to Harvard to participate in their studies they got a diploma. Where's my diploma?

A Two Breakfast Morning

You know that I have been concerned that Barbara is now 385 in dog years. She is very decrepit but I have decided that it may work to our advantage! Yesterday Ambrose woke her up much earlier than usual because he needed to go outside. She grumbled a bit but of course took us both out for our business and then made our breakfast when we came back in. We had a good breakfast and then she looked at the clock and exclaimed that it was too early and she was going back to bed. When she woke up later, she took us out again and then made us a second breakfast. I was amazed at our good luck. Just before she put the food down, she said "Did I give you breakfast earlier?" I didn't say a word and neither did Ambrose. We just sat there looking very hungry, she shrugged and gave us our second breakfast of the day!!! If she is this forgetful now, just think how many breakfasts we will get when she is 400 in dog years.

Other than that, life has been very boring. It has been so hot, that I barely want to go outside. We did go out to the dog park very early to try to beat the heat. No one else was there yet so we had the whole 3 acre park to ourselves. Here is a short movie to show you what I did in the wet grass.






BTW I have seen Ambrose's attempt to take over the blog. That is goofy little brothers for you. I think he has been influenced by Mango's pee wee labradork brotherDexter. Don't worry, I will never allow Ambrose to have two posts in a row again!

My Brother Wallace

Ambrose here! I am getting to do 2 posts in a row. Niamh will be sick with jealously when she sees the blog.

Anyway life here has been very dull. It is too hot to do anything fun and I am bored. But today Barbara said that I was going to see my littermate Wallace! His person brought him to our training center to do some practicing.

I have not seen Wallace since last November and he has grown to be bigger than I am. I am 70 lbs and he is 80 lbs! This spring he earned all of his confirmation points and is now a Champion! His fancy name is Ch. Albannach A Knight's Tale.



We were a bit unsure about each other at first but we walked around the center together, did a lot of sniffing and got lots of treats for being good boys.

Here we are together. I am the one on the left and Wallace is on the right. His feet are even bigger than mine!



We did get to run around a play a bit too but then I got a bit over excited and started to hump Wallace which Barbara thought was very rude and she made me stop!



We are going to get together again next week. I am looking forward to hanging out with my bro!

I Like Blondes!

This is the 200th post on our blog! It is not my 200th post of course since Niamh hardly ever lets me have a post to myself but the 200th since Niamh started the blog. We are so glad that we have met all of you in the blogosphere.

It has been hot and humid here which means life is very boring. It is hard to get enough exercise in the heat. Fortunately my girlfriend Scout has two kiddie pools and several times a week I get together with her for some running and a dip in the pools.

Here I am standing up on a chair to try to get a treat from Scout's person.



Scout is a very athletic girl and is getting good at agility.



And now I have a new blonde friend named Ginger. Isn't she pretty?



Scout introduced us and since I have a "thing" for blondes I am trying to get Ginger to play with me. I think that she is somewhat overwhelmed with my enthusiastic style of play and Barbara says I need to be a bit more gentle with her. Scout and I are used to playing very wildly as you can see in this little movie clip.



But I am sure with time, I will win Ginger over and she will play bitey face with me the way Scout does.