Schutzhund Bug. Caution: causes narrowing of vision

From a letter to his breeder.  PS, I have a link of Jorah playing with a horsewhip!

Jorah update:

Obedience is going well!  We are beating or matching the 3 other dogs in our group consistently-he is the youngest, so I expect to crush them once he is more mature.  We will be ready for that canine good citizen test very soon!

We will pick tracking back up in a few weeks.  I am going to buy cones to make the job a little easier on me: "Where did this trail start???  Oh, we turned here..." etc

I watched our trainer's schutzhund group practice this last saturday (1/2 hour away, first invite.) Glen put the bite sleeve on me and another visitor for a dog to work out its initial energy--I could hardly stand upright!  "Move around some more.  Make it interesting"  "...!"
"Now, can you imagine a full body suit?"  "No!  Well, I can imagine it, but I can't imagine moving anywhere in it."  Today my shoulder has been incredibly stiff.  Right in the trapezius.

On Tuesday we will see if Jorah has any potential for the 3rd category, guard/bite work.  He utterly failed a few months ago.  So I have been working on encouraging his own initiatives for chasing toys and tugging.  At first I was trying to encourage him by attaching it to a command, but Glen says that was using "pack drive" vs "prey drive", so now it's just a lot of encouraging happy noises when he chases his bunny.  (Which has been working much better for his enthusiasm.)  Still, Jorah is definitely a lover, not a fighter!  After his initial nervous move, he doesn't bark at people unless they come at his house or car.  I told our dubious trainer that I don't expect him to be great at it, I just want to be able to complete all three activities when we compete.

I'll be pretty bummed out if we can't learn it, as that was the most exciting part of the sport to me.  "I'll take him jogging with me at night, and we'll be fine if some creep jumps us.  But if its just a random bro, they'll be fine because he'll know to only bark: unless commanded or they attack."

At his current mellow-levels, I'm not sure how competitive we would be in agility.  But maybe those trainers have secrets for unlocking a dog's Ultimate Motivation (I think Jorah's is playing with another dog, not sure how to use that one.)

If the verdict is negative, he will still be my sweet and quirky boy.  I was starting to get caught up in the excitement of Doing the Things competitively, and wishing Jorah had some obvious guard drive.  Then some stray compliments and puppy cuddles got my head on straight again.  I got him to be part of my family, not a competitor.  We are gonna compete for sure!  But I must hold it as a second priority to see Jorah's full identity.


Despite sidewalk time on our walks, Jorah's nails have gotten about 1/4" too long.  I got big, long scratches on my arm when he jumped up to say hello and his back feet slipped out from under him.  To be fair, that probably would have happened either way.  Our clippers aren't very sharp anymore, so I'm worried about cracking into his quick.  He HATED a pair of Safari's that I bought last fall.  It's frustrating that everyone recommends them so brightly.  I found a Miller's Forge pair that I will try, but it is an Amazon.com add-on item, so that has to wait.  I have been amassing small things (like those cones), and I'm thinking that if I buy Fury on Blu Ray, that will get us to 25.  In the meantime, one day (when I should have left for work, of course) he laid down on my bed and we clipped ALL of his back nails with no fuss.  Front nail, not so much.  Maybe I'll get a cheap fish filter for his water bowl instead.  But V-day is coming up.

walking vs playing

I've set up a sort of routine of two big walks a day-morning and night, and something small in between.

Today I was pretty weak in the morning, then had homework and a redbox show to finish before 9.  I set up a killer zip-line scheme in our front green area and sat on my chair to do some Taylor Series review, with several toys for the puppy.

He was too busy watching local passerby to really have any enjoyment.  (Unless that was it.  Pretty weak.  Still better than the living room stimulus.)  But I was pleased with his willingness to watch and not bark.  I praised him each time with new people.  He whined to walk about, and against my self-important sense "he HAD his time" I took him on a short walk-he voided his colon impressively.  So, while It would have been nice for him to just use the far end of his zip line, I'm glad that that was taken care of.

Well, dinner and the show happened, and I finally took him out again.  Another short walk done, it seemed wrong.  So I grabbed the soccer ball, and we had a merry time chasing it/him.  I poured some snow on his face, and broke into a sprint of abandon at one point-the only time I caught up with him.  It was nice.  Felt great for a few seconds before "how much longer?" and "I should be studying" guilt crept back in.

I can't find the original article I read recently, but it got me thinking about the possibility that I have taken on the "no play, no time, too busy, too silly" attitude adults had shut me down with in my childhood; it had been intimated that this is a way of trying to deal with or control the (admittedly mild) trauma.  Pretty jacked up, but with the trends of more obvious dysfunctions running in families, there is probably something to it.  Emotions aren't logical.

So I did my best to push that sort of play-hate back, and not regurgitate lame excuses on my dog.  He only has so much time.  If I wait for convenience to play, he'll already be an old dog.  It can be hard to remember that while I need to run around to work, class, the store, etc, he is just sitting at home with little original stimulus.  (I mean, de-stuffing a toy can only be as exciting as fresh air and stretching your muscles so many times.)  He CAN'T go outside unless I open the door.  That's a lot of waiting, and dependence.  (Plans are for a doggie screen door this summer.  At least he'll have autonomy to the patio.)

Eventually I got very thirsty, he seemed mildly tired, and we came inside.  While the temptation to risk the dog park to wear him out can be strong, tonight I got the sense that I am enough.  It was solid fun for both of us.  I guess I'll keep trying the zip-line if the weather is kind again.  He might just be so unused to seeing people when we aren't on an actual walk, where he is distracted anyway.

The other night we just took a very long walk in a nearby community I had never explored.  It is like a strip mall where people live.  ridiculous and awesome, but I wouldn't care for it.  Our long yards are better than their tiny fenced lawns.  Anyway, the walking is alright, but he spends so much time sniffing that I would not call it much of a bonding activity.  Lots of "leave it" practice.

vent [explicit]:

PS, I hate people with little dogs.  "let's say hi!  You know, for 2 seconds."  They let their micro-brats get Jorah all riled up, and just float away while I'm in charge of controlling a 60+ pound puppy that is trying to jerk my arm off.  Thoughtless dicks.  Maybe I'll start saying "you can bring your dog over, but then I'm letting him go."
Tonight the worst one was just standing there all jolly while Jorah was literally compressing my palm bones together with each bound. "Slowly!" She commands.  "slowly."  I bit back "that's easy for you to say!"  Told Jorah to "sit" instead, which lasted 1.5 seconds.  She isn't a complete social retard, and saw my struggles "maybe another time."  "Yeah!" Like, in an off-leash area.  Probably never going to happen.  I really hate her stupid bitch, she thinks it wants to play when all it does is bark at my idiot.  (No, not a happy bark.)  I did it for his sake, but in hind sight, letting him get away with such rude leash behavior is not going to happen again.  I have a neighbor 5 units down who never lets their dog near another one.  My main theory is dog aggression, but I'm starting to see their way of thinking as much more multi-faceted and prudent.


An article about the benefits of play, came up when I was looking for the one I alluded to.  Here it is.

Homework Doggie

No pics-I lost my phone last monday when Jory and I went to a frozen lake... I... don't like to talk about it.

So homework!  He's all like "take  me out!  I'm bored... zzzzz... OUT NOW PLEASE!" etc  but I have a bathroom rug, heater, and because he's my dog, a feather pillow under the table where I study, so he snoozes there right by me.  Very heart warming.

First couple of days were frustrating, but I had been letting him run around on a zip leash, and all he wants to do is sniff snowbanks and dig out mice.  "go to the bathroom, you stupid dog!"  Then we are inside again, his time up.  and an hour later: waaaa.  Kind of steaming.

So, re-introduction of structure.  My homework (and keyboard tourrettes "facebook"... no, canvas... "blogger"  augh!)  punctuated by Short leash walks around the grounds/block, & playtimes, it's working well.  Especially practicing obedience commands on the walk, he isn't trying to drag me around hardly at all that way.

I tried having a play time with him, but he was ignoring me in favor of mouse slopes.  In the crate he went.  We both napped for 1.5 hours.  "20 minutes"  Must have been a sugar crash from my lunch, or something.

Later I found him surrounded by three toys:  one of them my horsewhip being chewed on-at the knot!  His stinking charm.  I wasn't very severe, but I said "no", faded out... then returned with it and a "no"!  ha-HA.  No terrible harm done.  My fault for leaving it on the floor.

I got pretty severe when I thought I heard him chewing on another remote.  It was his bone!  haha, he had half a heart attack, so I praised him up and down.

and so we go.