Wi's new brother

Presenting Pix!

He'll be 9 weeks old tomorrow and is almost a perfect puppy to live with. Loves to play, loves to eat, loves to learn. loves to retrieve, loves water, LOVES Wi... :D

Some of his clicker training videos:

Big news!

Last Saturday Wi participated at the Slovenian Retriever Clubshow (9 Tollers enters, a record) where she got excellent and CAC in Open Class (under judge Lena Hägglund). Wi's nephew Naali (Nanaimo Arctic Naali, son of Wi's half-sister Mo) was also there.

Naali & Wi

This Saturday Wi participated at a hunting competition which also counted for titles CACT and CACIT.

She did all tasks quickly and almost without faults (she dropped both rabbits, I'm guessing the first one was out of inexperience for carrying it such a long way (we only traied at about half that distance before) and the other one was because she got stuck in thisk bushes and thorns so she dropped the rabbit, then picked it up again and jumped over the obstacle). She also moved out of down in a sit while I moved out of her sight folr a few minutes while they shoot 2 times, but I knew this will happen since we didn't train it enough (and if I left her in sit, she would stand up).

In the end she got 197/204 points which was enough for 1st reward class and 1st place among 9 dogs! So she also got her first CACT and CACIT!

Very VERY proud of my little red girl!

Just a little bit more

and we're going on this year's hunting exam (September) and competition (October).

We trained everything (land, water, track, search) and did it with duck, pheasant, rabbit and even did a retrieve of a stuffed fox (little bigger than Wi). :)

She's a lot calmer while waiting by the water, but that was without any shooting during the training. She normaly gets really high and loud if there's any shooting so we'll try to get at least one traiing with shooting in before the exam.

Some photos:

We're also getting ready for the retriever specialty show that will be held with the European dog show. Hopefully her hair will grow back a little bit in the spots where her allergy is the most visible. Luckly this year we got away with no hot-spots. :) She'll go to my friends for a few days (she'll handle her at the show) while I finish stuff at the university and go to a seminar.

We did some agility last week. I'm loving her teeter, no more hasitation at all! :) She's flying on it and loves to do it. Her dogwalk contacts have gotten worse so that's our main focus through the fall (we won't go to any agility competitions since they clash with our hunting exams/uni stuff) and hopefully she'll be back in trial for the winter cup. :)

RIP Dora

Dora

8.10.1999 - 4.8.2010

Her last photo, taken a few weeks ago...

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge.

There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together.

There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.

The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Author unknown

Time of the year again

Last week we had Oratorij again (church camp for children) and Wi got to help me with my dog workshop alongside Max, BammBamm and Žak.

BammBamm cuddles

On first day Wi and Max helped with general things about owning and caring for the dog. Max mostly stood at the side and occasionally came for some petting while Wi was always in the center, showing how to be the perfect demo dog. At the end we did the weaving throug childrens legs again, some walking over their backs and some funny tricks.

On second day I was late since I had an exam that day before the workshop so we didn't get to do everything I got planned. Wi and BB (and little cavalier Billy) showed kids how to start clicker training with dogs, how a session looks and what can all be tought with the use of clicker.

On third day we had "Doggy circus". Tamara and Žak came to show the children amazing frisbee tricks. BB also showed some catches and flips. Later Wi showed her array of tricks and after that Wi and Žak did some tricks together.

Wi & Žak

In the end we ended up throwing toys to the dogs and children racing the dogs back and forth.

Nova Scotia DUCKLING Tiolling Retriever

We also have a little duckling at home for 2 weeks now. Wi found 2 of them but one died last week.

Naali

We also met up with Maja and Naali (Wi's nephew) and did a bit of dummy and show ring training. Such a cool Toller boy! ;)

Agility training

Some photos from this morning:

Wi's dogwalk was better than last time. She hit the contact everytime but she's still not running over it at full speed. She slows down a bit in the middle. It could be just a temporary thing since her fall off the dogwalk so I'm going to wait and see if it gets better on it's own.

We did some jumping grids and cik-cak. We need to train cik-cak at 65 cm more because she turns a bit too much to the side (she turns AND leans to the side of the jump) and when landing she sometimes hits her mouth to the ground because of the angle she lands at.

Teeter was good. We'll need to work on her end behavior a little more but the speed was good and she didn't hesitate at all.

Last weekend we went to Netherlands to look at some FCR puppies with my friend. On this photo you can see Wi with 2 FCRs who both had litters at that time. My friend's puppy is from the black bitch.

Kisses, Wi & Ootje

Our first agility trial in A2

Yesterday we had our first agility trial in A2 category in Ptuj.

In agility Wi was runing really well (considering we had no trainings and she only jumped at that height about 3 times before) and she didn't knock down any bars. We got 5 faults for the jumped contact on the dogwalk but I was expecting that. We were able to practice some more on the dogwalk after agility and she hit the contact everytime, each time it was a bit better. :)

In jumping I handled her really bad and she knocked a bar so we got 5 faults and some points for the time.

Overall Wi was 3rd. :)

She also managed to steal some pastrys...I don't think we have been to a trial where she didn't steal someone's food...she also tried to eat adhesive tape, probably thought it was some kind of a treat.

Starting the new "work season"

We still need to work A LOT on Wi's self-control while working with water & cold game. At the beginning she was as over-the-top as she could be but towards the end she calmed down a lot and she was able to work without losing her head completly. She doesn't have the same problems while working with game on land so we'll work from there and then start to work near the water and then in the water when she'll have more control over herself.

Oh and yesterday she managed to open the door of my room while I was away and eat the whole family lunch. So when I got home I was greeted by a sight of one red stuffed pig on the doormat. She could barely move for 2 hours but she's OK now. You can still see she's a little "fuller" but other than that she's the same (still acts like she hasn't eaten in ages...). :)

Brushing off the dust

Finally time for some updates!

There's not much going on here. I'm pretty busy at the university and the weather has been really bad. As soon as the mud dried up the rain came again and everything turned into mud. So last week we finally had one agility training after the whole winter.

I mostly placed jumps on 65 cm to see how she would jump over them. We warmed up with a bit of running and some low (35-45 cm) jumps and then did some sequences of 3-5 jumps with tunnels. I was surprised at how good her jumping looked. She also pulled ahead and looked really comfortable with the height. She did knock one bar but that was my fault (bad handling!). Her teeter performance was also better than I expected after such a long brak and how it looked a few months ago. Not as fast and confident as on last trainings but still enough speed and independance.

The contacts on A-frame were good but her dogwalk was terrible. If I was ahead of her she did it but if I wasn't she was jumping off like crazy. Hopefully this will go away when we start training more often.

We also got new balance pods and we are learning 101 ways to use them. :) The most popular with Wi is standing on 2 domes (1 with moth left and 1 with both right feet on) and stepping from one object to another by stepping on the pods inbetween (still not done with this one, she needs a little more balance). And then there's a whole variety of standing on the dome on 1-4 feet though 3 feet (left in the air) is her favourite. Or standing on 3 pods with the free leg in the air (working on balancing with front left in the air, other 3 are ok but with this one she loses balance really fast).

We're also doing dummy trainings again. Doing lots of doubles and more difficult singles and every now and then we do some easy blinds and some free search. Also working on her whistle commands. She's still having difficulties with stopping and turning towards me sometimes. She always stops but sometimes that's all she does and it's a bit hard to give her a directional command when she's facing away from me at 60m.

We're going to an agility trial next Sunday. I think this will be our last trial in A1. :)

Also it seems we'll be going to a Canine Freestyle comeptition in Germany in June. Still looking for "the song"...