roxy's first valor agility event

Roxy and I went to our first VALOR event this past Sunday.  VALOR is a venue for agility dogs that might need a bit more space or management in order to compete -- dogs that are nervous around people or other dogs, for example.

We ran in the training division, which is just the beginner level courses, but they allow you to bring treats or toys into the ring.  Roxy ran 2 different Jumpers courses, and one Standard course.  She ran qualifying runs (what is referred to as a 'Q') in all three courses, which is really exciting considering it was our first event.  All that is required for a Q is for the dog to complete all the obstacles in the right order without lunging at or aggressing towards the camera person.  There is no time limit in VALOR.  I'd still like to work on our speed, and we more practice on distance handling, but in the meantime, I'm really happy with our progress and specifically Roxy's ability to adapt to a new environment so well.

Roxy also received a lot of compliments, she met a few people (and of course checked their hands and pockets for treats) and she saw several dogs, but didn't react to any, aside from mild curiosity.  My favorite comment was when we walked into the ring on our first turn, in a brand new environment with strange people everywhere... Roxy was so relaxed, mouth open, tail wags and paying attention to me, and someone said, "Wow, she's so happy!"

Here is my favorite video of the day, primarily because it's her fastest run.  She was really booking it, and even though she knocked down a bar and missed the last jump, I was so proud.  We re-ran it for a Q, but this run is the one I'm happier with because her speed is better.

And here is our standard run (I know the video says Jumpers, it's just labelled wrong).  I'm really proud of her, she went up the A-Frame and the Walk without any hesitation.  We've been doing it in practice without a problem, but this was a new venue with equipment that is new to her, we were outside, which we hadn't done before, and there were new people and strange dogs as well.

It was a very successful day, and we're looking forward to doing it again!

take the good with the "bad"

At agility today, Roxy decided she only wanted to wander around the course when it was our turn to run... she had no interest in actually running, or even walking around, with me.  But she did run with our instructor, and she greeted every person that came within a few feet of her with tail wags and butt-offerings ("Here's my rear, please scratch!"), including a complete stranger.

And on the way home we stopped to get gas, and Roxy didn't bark at the gas station attendant and responded to "leave it" when I asked.... which has been something we've been working on, but haven't had a whole lot of success with.  After all, the gas station attendant is a monster who attacks the car, and Roxy doesn't like it one bit.  So, this was a proud and happy moment for us.

I guess I'll take a dog who occasionally ignores me on the agility course (the "bad") if it means a dog who happily greets strangers and doesn't make the gas station attendant pee his pants (the good)!!

roxy's learning to play

Roxy and I have been playing agility for a little over a year now, and she really seems to enjoy it. My goal has been to keep things light and fun. I want agility to be a positive experience for her, a happy outlet for energy, and another way to help build her confidence. So far we've been pretty successful, although there are times I get a little frustrated when I can't figure out what is going wrong, but I've learned that when I get frustrated, we get nowhere, so instead of getting frustrated, I just run around the agility course with her, pretending there isn't actually a course to run. Anything she does is fair game and then we're done for the day. It helps me get my frustration out, and makes sure to keep it fun for her without much pressure to do certain things.

So, with agility we've started playing a bit more, in general. I'm experimenting with different techniques to get Roxy to play with me more, so I can transfer them over to agility and help build speed and drive in her. The first thing I did was put her play bow on cue.  I say "Roxy, play paws!" and she play bows.  I use it to get her excited, because "play paws" is how I get her excited to play with me at home.  It's transferred over to agility class a bit, but I really want to find other ways to get her excited (partly so I don't have to get on my hands and knees anytime I want her to run fast, but also because it's good to mix things up with her and use different motivators!).

So, I've been working on getting her interested in playing with toys that don't involve food (like tennis balls, tug toys, stuffed toys, etc.). Some days, I come home from work and she's beyond happy to play with a tennis ball. Usually she only wants to play with the one that Buster has, but nevertheless, she wants to play with it, which makes me happy! When we play, it's not a formal game of fetch or tug or anything -- it's playing however she wants to play and however she's having fun doing it.

So, here's a short clip of her playing and chasing a tennis ball. Although I don't think she's really too sure how the game works yet, she does seem to be enjoying herself, at least a little bit.

This is a huge improvement over her previous interactions with tennis balls, which included the patented, "Why you fro dat fing?" look with the long-winded, "I aint gettin dat," sigh.

In addition to playing with the tennis ball, Roxy has also been learning how to tug!  Prior to a few months ago, the only thing she'd tug was her flirt pole.  That's literally the only toy she'd play with, besides from de-stuffing toys, and that isn't a team sport for Roxy.  Her normal flirt pole is taller than I am, which makes it a bit cumbersome to use while running a course, so I made a small flirt pole, but she wasn't quite as interested in it, so I still need to troubleshoot that.  In the meantime, we started playing with the easy "Tug-It!" toy, which she wound up tugging into 2 pieces in a matter of 30 seconds (thanks to turkey sausage!), so we moved on to the advanced version, which she enjoys and tugs with, but hasn't destroyed yet (whew!).  I also have a rabbit fur tug style toy that we can put food in, but the interest in that is still short-lived, so we'll keep working.  Either way, I'm happy she's tugging on something small enough to bring to agility classes.

all-around update

Roxy's leash-walking skills are getting better and better.  We're now able to do most of our walk with minimal stopping.  We're actually down to walking in a heel position without any treats when there are minimal or no distractions -- and when she screws up, I can mark "oops" and she'll come back into a heel because she knows we don't go anywhere until she's next to me.

She still pulls when she sees something moving (a person, a dog, a leaf, another animal) but we're working on that.  It's tough because once she notices whatever it is moving, I mark "oops" and stop but she stays at the end of the leash, pulling. So I have to come up with a new strategy for handling that because it's not working.  She'll just keep pulling until the moving object is out of sight, or close enough for her to recognize. Then she'll come back into a heel position.  So, we need to work on heeling with distractions.  I need to up the ante with rewards for not pulling with distractions.  So I'll probably start in the house, then in the backyard, then the driveway.... all before working in the street.

Roxy's agility class is also going fairly well.  She still gets really excited when I ask her if she wants to go to school.  We've been learning left and right turns, rear crosses, and we've been working on the teeter, which Roxy is doing wonderfully on.  I thought she'd be spooked by it, but she's really doing great.  She'll jump up when it's at the highest height and pull it down, then climb on it with all fours.  We haven't worked up to walking across it yet, we're taking it slow to make sure it stays happy. I'm debating what we'll do after this class, though.  The class is really for competitive agility and although Roxy enjoys agility, she isn't as driven as I think she might need to be in order to actually compete.  I think I need to work on some crate games with her to build her drive a bit and see if that helps.

As far as Sonny goes, his behavior continues to fluctuate.  He came out of his crate once last week and zig-zagged his way towards Rob, who was laying on the couch.  He got close enough to sniff Rob's legs before retreating to his crate.  That's how he started interacting with me, so albeit it's slow progress, but it's progress nonetheless.

He's been playing with Roxy and Buster a lot more, and Roxy is becoming more tolerant of him.  He had been licking her muzzle feverishly and she let him know she didn't like it and he's getting better.... he's down to a drive-by-licking instead of a full-on make out session with her face.  Roxy's also been instigating play with him more, and her and Sonny tear through the backyard, running in circles after each other some days.

Sonny has also been playing and interacting with me more.  He has such personality; there is so much spunk and puppy in him.  He is really a goofy dog and he makes me laugh.  I'm fairly certain he learned to play fetch from Buster because he keeps coming up on the couch with the ball in his mouth, allowing me to take the ball and throw it for him, and then taking a flying leap over me after the ball...  When he comes out of his crate in the morning, he wags his tail feverishly while play bowing and grabbing toys to carry about.  It's nice to see him acting like a dog a little bit.

He is still pretty scared of men.  He's been sneaking about and snatching Rob's stuff and running to his crate with it, and that has helped me devise a plan.  I'm going to start desensitizing and counter-conditioning Sonny to smaller parts of Rob... i.e. his smell, his voice, etc. One piece of Rob at a time.

And Buster is, well, Buster.  He's wonderful.  This morning he was watching me do something on the counter in the kitchen and he turned around quickly to go elsewhere, and in the process he smacked the whole side of his face into the cabinet and then sat down with this pathetic look on his face.  I crouched down and he buried his face into my body and let out a big sigh.  He's a silly dog, but he's really such a sweet, sweet dog.  He loves to just climb right into my lap and snuggle. 

We spent a few hours at the park on Sunday and later on, I caught him sleeping on the couch with his tongue sticking out...

roxy's first night at agility training

Last night Roxy and I went to our first agility training class at Morris K9 Campus.  This class actually helps you train for agility competitions, so there is a lot more learning involved, and a lot less "run over the equipment as fast as humanly (doggedly?) possible!"

We walked in the door about 10 minutes early and the prior class was wrapping up.  Roxy and I stood there, sort of taking it all in.  The agility room was huge, in comparison to where we'd been before.  The equipment was newer, larger, and there was a lot more of it.  I was super stoked, and so was Roxy... she was so excited that she was talking up a storm and prancing her paws around while trying to sit.

Roxy wanted to be friends with literally every person that walked by us.  She approached everyone with excitement and tail wags and she was happy to be pet by several people, all without being offered any treats or soliciting treats from me.  This is seriously a big deal for her; she was in a new environment with new dogs, new people, and lots of exciting smells and she did amazing.  The fact that she went and did this all on her own was such a proud moment for us.

And then of course, came the Pit Bull bias.  Some woman darted across the room as soon as she saw us, and asked if Roxy was friendly with other dogs, and I guess I didn't respond fast enough for her, because she said, "I have a really friendly dog and I don't want your Pit Bull to bite him," and she walked away. I was really taken aback and by the time my brain caught up, the lady had already walked off.

On to training.... We did some exercises on the equipment, specifically the A-frame and the Dog Walk.  Roxy didn't blink at the equipment, even though it was definitely larger than what she was used to running on.  We worked on slowing down, focusing, and contact points, and Roxy seemed to do pretty well.  We also started training left and right turns, which Roxy did well with also.  I'm psyched to practice them for next class and get her using them while moving.

Everyone in class had a clicker on their wrist, and the instructor was great.  All humane, positive reinforcement training, just as expected.

The woman I met earlier approached me again, without her dog, and said abruptly, "I don't have anything against Pit Bulls, it's just their owners." And I didn't know how to respond, because, well, I'm a Pit Bull owner... But she continued, as she pet Roxy and just said she's had a lot of bad experiences, not just with Pit Bulls, but with American Eskimo Dogs and German Shepherds as well.  I politely explained I volunteer in rescue, and work primarily with Pit Bulls and other bully breeds, that I'm fully aware of their potential dog-dog issues, and I know my dog very well.  She seemed apologetic (minus the actual apology) and went on to tell me how her last dog was attacked by an off-leash American Eskimo Dog so she is just extra cautious.  She introduced herself at the end of the conversation, and she was nice the rest of the class, but her comments still turned me off a bit.

Then, half-way through class, Roxy and I were working on the A-frame and another girl came in with her dog, Katie.  They started working at the table and the girl took Katie's leash off and wouldn't you know that Katie immediately made a beeline for Roxy.  She charged her, full-speed and got right in her face, snarling, and within half a second, Roxy and Katie were battling it out.  There wasn't any contact and neither of them had a mark on them when it was over; it was all snarling, growling, and barking in each others faces, and it was easy to separate them because they really didn't want to be near one another to begin with... but wow.  Thirty minutes into a class with literally 5 dogs total, and this is what happens? Go figure!

But Roxy didn't seem phased by it.  Once it was over, it was over.  She moved on, and I followed suit.  She did wonderful during the rest of class, and was actually tired by the end of it, which made me happy.

All-in-all a good class, in the sense that the class itself was great, and I expect that we can avoid the almost-fight next week.

This morning, we spent some time relaxing in the sun, where she proceeded to be the laziest stick-chewer ever...

the dreaded alpha roll

There was a 7-year-old Welsh Corgi in our agility class the other day... a walk-in style class that's meant for the dogs to have fun and be exposed to agility equipment in a non-stressful, low-expectation environment.  The class was light that day -- only 5 dogs total -- and this was his first class ever.  He was there with his owner and her two adult daughters, and the daughters were taking turns going through the course with him.

Towards the middle of the class, Mr. Corgi slowed down and began refusing some of the obstacles, despite the lures.  He had run through the course several times and he was obviously tired.  On one of the last runs, one of the daughters grabbed his leash and started walking him towards the equipment.  He stopped dead in his tracks and pressed down firmly with his front legs.  The girl gave the leash a tug and he fought against her, pulling backwards against the tightened leash, and then he laid down.

He was done. Totally shut down.  You could see him shutting down on his previous run, so really they should have ended it there.  But this girl was determined to get the dog on the equipment; she wanted him to go through the course one more time.

I told her he was done, she should ask him to sit, down, paw, etc., whatever he knows that is easy and reward him for doing it, so they can end on a good note and move on.  But she wasn't going to let that happen.  She was going to get that dog on that equipment, no matter what.

Her face got red as the dog refused to budge. She kept pressure the leash in an effort to get him to follow along.  His body language was not good; he was staring right at her and holding his ground. I looked around and saw the look on other people's faces, and most of them were as confused as I was, wondering why this was still happening.

The girl finally gave a little slack on the leash, and then yanked it once, really hard.  And Mr. Corgi growled at her.

I could see it coming from a mile away.  This had happened before with this dog; he braced himself when she gave slack.  He knew what was coming; and I knew what was coming next if she kept this up.

I'm honestly not sure what she had expected.  He had given her every other signal he knew that said he was done.  He stopped, he froze, he avoided looking at her, he put all his weight on his back legs and pulled back from her, he laid down... And he was polite about it, as far as growls go.  He growled a low, soft grumble, as if he was letting her know, "Please back off and leave me be!"  He didn't lunge, snap, snarl, or move forward in any way.  He was simply protesting, "No! I've had enough!"

But that was the last straw.  She was already embarrassed that she couldn't get him to follow, and now he had the audacity to growl at her?!

I started to say, "You're going to get..." but before I could finish, she reached down and snatched his collar and a struggle ensured.  The dog was panicked, trying to get out of his collar and run, and he twisted his body around and the girl let go of his collar.  She quickly went to grab him again and he bit her hand, breaking skin.

The girl grabbed him by the neck and attempted to roll him over on his back.  For a small dog, he put up a big fight.  I protested as this was happening, but the girl wasn't listening. She's already started and was committed to dominating this dog.

Roxy let out several whines as she watched the poor dog struggle to get away.  He was whining and letting out these awful yelping noises. Roxy was shuffling in place; she ran behind me, in front of me, and behind me again.  She sat down, whined, and looked up at me.  She could feel his fear, I know it.  Her look was asking me to help him, but there was nothing I could do.  If I got close to that situation, Roxy would have reacted, either to the dog, or the girl.  Nothing I said had stopped her, and I felt so helpless.

We had to walk out. I was so upset watching this debacle, and Roxy was visibly stressed. I don't know if dogs can perceive things the same way we do, but whether it was because of what she saw or what she heard, she was obviously unsettled.

I'm still baffled by what happened... This poor dog's body language was all over the place. He was scared and looking for a way out of the situation. When he realized he was screwed, he tried to make her back off.  You could see he didn't want to bite her, but was prepared to if she threatened his safety. Yet this girl continued to push this dog as if he wasn't going to defend himself. I'm not sure what she thought would happen. I could see it coming a mile away.

It was really difficult to watch.  I've seen it in videos before, but usually it's edited so you don't see the whole thing, and often times the sounds are edited out as well.

Watching it in person and listening to this dog struggle was awful.  I can't believe people do this to "train" their dogs.  Not only does it not teach them anything (except to be scared of us), it so easily results in a bite.  I keep seeing it happening in my head and I can't help but cringe. There were so many moments that this could have ended well, yet the girl kept bushing him.

I spoke with the instructor after, and although she agreed that wasn't the appropriate thing to do, it wasn't for the same reasons.  She said the "dominance down" isn't appropriate because not everyone can physically dominate their dog like that.  I told her I thought they should have stopped after his last run, but she disagreed.  She said once they started, they "have to follow through" with making the dog do some of the obstacles.

Needless to say I will be looking for another agility facility to bring Roxy to.  I can't continue to go to and support a training facility that thinks that's appropriate or acceptable.

I found a new place about a half hour from us, but they don't have any open classes that fit our schedule right now.  They don't offer a walk-in style class, but I think Roxy's ready for the next level now anyway.  That's actually the whole reason I started with the walk-in class first, to make sure she could handle a group setting like that.

This place in Randolph, Morris K9 Campus, uses humane training. I have to call and talk to them, but it looks promising.

training: roxy at agility last night

I take Roxy to a walk-in style, on-leash agility class just about every Tuesday. It's truly helped her build confidence, and it gives me a controlled environment to do some desensitization and counterconditioning on a weekly basis, especially in the winter when there are far fewer people and dogs outside to work with, as far as triggers go. It's a pretty basic class:  mostly basic equipment, dogs are kept on leash, they don't touch or play, and it's more for fun than anything else.

Roxy views every person in that class, even new people she's never met before, as treat dispensers. She's very comfortable in that environment, and she handles other dogs being near her much better now that we're around them all the time. There are some dogs in the class that are on the reactive side, some because they want to play with all the other dogs, some because they're anxious, some because they're hyper, and others are just plain talkative.

When we first started going, Roxy was a bit reactive when the other dogs were running about or barking, but she has gotten so much better and is now more curious than anything else. Last night was no exception. Rob came to class and he commented on how he thought she was the best behaved dog in the class, and the best on the equipment as well. He was really impressed with her running through the obstacles, which made me very excited because for a while, he was thinking Roxy didn't even like coming to agility, that it was more for me than for her.  Now he knows that's not the case!

So, without further ado, Roxy's run at the end of class last night.... she was pretty tired since we'd been through several times already, but she did really well.  I'm so proud of her.  She stays so focused on me and looks to me to see what's next when she doesn't know. 

play bows and tail wags

This past week was a very "progressive" one for Roxy.  I've been noticing how different she's been lately.  Her tail seems to wag a lot more, and faster, for a longer period of time.  She seems overall happier and more relaxed.  Sonny's presence has definitely brought her up one level in anxiety, but that was to be expected and her and I have been working harder to keep her comfortable and happy.

First, Roxy did amazing at her agility class.  The training facility's owner came by, and he's a big, loud, scary, "walk-with-a-purpose" sort of guy, especially to a dog who's unsure of herself or unsure of people.  Roxy hadn't met him yet, and he was walking along the line of dogs and had been saying hi to most of them as they approached him.  As he came nearer to us, I told him Roxy was fearful, and he said no problem, and stopped within smelling distance for her while interacting with the dog next to Roxy.  Roxy immediately approached him, sniffing and wagging her tail, and after her sniff, she turned her butt towards him, happily asking to be petted.

This is HUGE progress for her. Contrast that to 7 months ago when, if someone had even walked in her general direction, she would have backed up with whale eye, scared and unsure.  And, if she had chosen to sniff the person, there would be no petting allowed, as per her lack of a request.  And if the person moved unexpectedly during the sniffing process, it would have been game over; she'd have scampered away, never to return.

It was seriously a huge moment for her and I.  The walk-in, informal class has a lot of the same people each week, and the people who are there frequently were giving her lots of complements on how far she's come.

Sunday's walk provided another victory.  I had Roxy and Sonny out on a walk and it was a little chilly so I wasn't expecting to see too many people.  But there was apparently an open house down the road from us, so there were a good amount of cars on our dead end street...

As we approached the open house, there was a couple getting out of a car and Roxy spotted them.  We had stopped and turned around to avoid stressing Sonny too much; Roxy, on the other hand, turned and watched the people carefully as she immediately and feverishly began wagging her tail and whining to get closer to them... I couldn't believe it.  She whined a lesser version of her "Mommy's home" whine.  It was an "I want to say hi!" sort of whine, and she's never done that for anyone aside from a few choice people she already knows and loves.

She's also been more interested in playing with Sonny, who she previously was very happy to ignore completely.  She is overwhelmed by playing with Sonny and Buster at the same time, so I've been doing lots of 1-on-1, mixing it up with the three of them.  Sonny play bowed and play-growled when we came in from our morning potty break yesterday, and Roxy immediately perked up, as if she was waiting for him to make that noise. She ran right up to him, slammed both her front paws on the ground and rolled her head around and let out a small growl, which is what she does with Buster when she's excited and really wants to play.  Sonny was so happy, as if the girl he's been pining over finally noticed him, and Roxy and him played for a good 10 minutes before I decided to end it on a good note.

Roxy has really come so, so far compared to where she was, who she was, when I adopted her. All the desensitization and counterconditioning work that her and I have been doing is paying off, and I'm so excited that I want to scream and tell the world how proud I am of her!!

roxy, my super dog

Roxy had a ridiculously awesome day at agility class last night.  We started agility a few months ago, and she's been progressively getting better, in general, and it's been such a great outlet for her winter energy and a great place for us to train as well.

She tends to get pretty excited and anxious when a new dog is in class, but it calms down after the first couple of minutes typically.  But, she has a harder time with that when the new dog is vocal, easily excited, etc.

Last night there was a 4-5 month old German Shepherd Puppy, who was very, very excited.  She's a regular at the doggie daycare, and plays very well with other dogs (so I'm told), but she was non-stop barking, lunging, whining, and all sorts of talking, and she just got more and more excited when a dog started moving through the equipment...

So, Roxy was watching the shepherd when she barked, but she stayed sooooo calm, except for just the tiniest little whine she let out when the shepherd saw the first dog running and got really really excited.

Then, even better... Roxy was in a sit, the shepherd is barking like a loon on our left side, there's a little white fluffy dog on the right side of us that started talking back to the shepherd, and there was a Golden Retriever running through the course at top speed, right behind Roxy.  A few months back, this would have been KRYPTONITE for her. She would have gone into panic mode standing up, her eyes shifting back and forth, she'd be trying to get away, trying to hide behind me, whining, leading to high-pitched barking, etc.

So, when she heard the golden about 3-4 feet away she turned her head and looked at the golden, but she stayed in her sit. I called her name and BAM she turned towards me and held her sit and watched me, amidst all that distraction and scary stuff.

This is a HUGE milestone for her. HUGE. On a million levels.  Looking back, I wish I had a video of her prior behavior so I could post a new video to show the difference in her.  I'm totally, 100% impressed with her and couldn't be more proud of her.

Plus, she ran the equipment really well last night, even with the shepherd barking the whole time.  She was so focused and she didn't skip a beat

I am so amazed and impressed with her transition from the dog she was before vs. the dog she has become.

agility

With all of Roxy's progress, I started taking her to the weekly walk-in agility class at Pawsitive experience in Rockaway.  This is the training facility that my local rescue uses.  Honestly, I'd never take a dog there to do any sort of actual training.  Although they have banned prong collars from use inside their facility, they still do a lot of correction based training (read: non-humane training) and I will not do that type of training with my dogs, or any dogs I foster or work with at the kennel.  But this place is 5 minutes away from home and has literally done wonders for Roxy's training.  Now that it's getting colder, there are fewer people to encounter on walks, and fewer dogs to practice ignoring, and fewer stimuli in general.  So this once a week course has been great.  Plus, I think it's important to mention that the instructor realizes Roxy's issues, respects what I choose to do to train her, and doesn't suggest that I give her a leash correction for barking.  She gets it, and we have a mutual respect for one another, despite the fact that I think their ways of training are, well... outdated and can be pretty barbaric.

We started a couple of weeks back and Roxy was pretty reactive the first couple of weeks.  The instructor said it's pretty normal for a new dog to act that way, because there is a lot going on, new smells, new dogs, lots of movement of said new dogs, new people, etc.

Anyway, this has become a great place to practice Roxy's self-control and do a lot of focus work.  Plus, she really seems to like agility.  The instructor was very impressed with Roxy's first class, especially being a fearful dog.  She struggled with the tunnel and the chute the first class, but did everything else without a problem.  At the second class, she was going through both the chute and the tunnel with ease.

The other great thing about this class is it's a "no-touch" class for the dogs.  No dogs are off-leash and no dogs are wandering around or getting in Roxy's face.  But I get the opportunity to mark and pay Roxy for calm behavior while there is a lot of stuff going on.  And there are tons of people there that think Roxy is just beautiful, so we get the opportunity to meet lots of dog-savvy people who ask before they give her treats and ask before they attempt to pet her.  We've been going through our "go say hi" protocol and it's been working great.  There are some people she likes almost immediately, and others it takes a little longer, but overall she's doing really, really well and I am so proud of her.