Eros, TEC (Temperament Evaluation Certified)

Eros and I did his TEC today at the German Shepherd Dog Club of Canada National Specialty Show in Kitchener. The TEC is a temperament test, given under the German Shepherd Dog Club of Canada, specifically for German shepherd dogs. This temperament test has only recently been developed. It is similar to the other temperament test, the TT, but not exactly the same.

There are several stations that you progress through with your dog. The first test is the judge verifying the identity of the dog, either by tatoo or microchip. Then you move on to greet a friendly stranger who ignores your dog and engages you in a conversation. Next is a friendly stranger who ignores the handler and greets and touches your dog. Then you walk towards a group of people who mull around and ignore your dog. After this you move on to a person who is out of sight and as you walk along, who then appears with a metal bucket that has stones in it. The person shakes the bucket to create a noise and then places it on the ground. The dog should show curiosity and investigate the bucket. The next station again has someone out of sight who, as you walk by, fires a gun once then there is a slight pause, then two more gunshots in rapid succession. Then you approach a person seated in a chair holding an automatic umbrella. As you come close, the umbrella is opened. Again, the dog should show curiousity to the umbrella. The final station in the first part of the test is the "bad guy" scene. A person is out of sight and as you approach, appears wearing a rain poncho and holding a riding crop. This person must act threatening to you, yelling and hitting the ground with the riding crop. Dogs must either stand their ground or bark at the "bad guy". Any fear or attempt to flee is an automatic fail.

The next part of the test involves the dog being exposed to vehicles driving by, a jogger, and of course the other dogs and handlers participating in the test. Then all the dogs are tethered to a fence and left alone while all the handlers move away either into a large group or out of sight. The judge will walk by all of the dogs while tethered. The dogs must then enter a rowdy group of people, similiar to what you may see in a busy downtown street. The dog's reaction and behaviour is evaluated at each part of the test. Dogs that show unwarrented agresssion or fear will fail. Dogs that startle at the gunshots, bucket, and umbrella sections must recover within a reasonable amount of time and settle again. Dogs that are too fearful to investigate the bucket or the umbrella also may not pass.

Eros did excellent at all sections, and I was very proud of him. He was so undisturbed at the gunshot station, he attempted to pick up the pylon that was the marker for that station and play with it. It was one of those "really cute dog" moments for me. I was also very happy he did not attempt to jump up on anyone, something I have been working on lately. He is so friendly, he loves to jump up to say hello to people. He has learned to sit nicely and calmly while greeting people.

I love doing things with my dogs, especially things that demonstrate my dogs' good temperament and behaviour. I think this is important for the breed and the sport of schutzhund. A schutzhund dog can be a balanced, stable canine companion, capable of interacting with the public in a variety of situations.

Here we are, right after the test....

AAC Nationals, Sussex New Brunswick, Aug 7th - 10th, 2008

The Tamsu group at the end of the nationals after the ribbon ceremony. Blaze moved when the photo was snapped, and he is very hard to see...


My trip out east was definitely a learning experience... Long distance driving is not for me! Wow, I couldn't believe how long and oh so boring this drive was. Once finally in Sussex, we were there quite early on the Wednesday, a full day before any of the activities began, so we had time to get proper sleep, set up our shade tents, check out the venue, and just relax.

On the Thursday, the warm up games began. I never bothered to do warm up games with Blaze before, as I figured since he is a seasoned competitor, he does not need them. Well, little did I know the handlers could take toys into the rings with them during the warm up runs...... What an absolutely brilliant idea! Take my dog into the nationals competitor rings, and reward him with toys and play.... a great warm up in my opinion. This was my first experience participating in warm up games, and what a disappointment it was! They set it up as a first come, first serve event, which meant handlers and dogs ended up waiting in line up to one hour for their chance in the ring... something Blaze would never be able to do. I only got two out of four warm up runs in, and I was so disappointed at not getting a chance to do what I had planned for Blaze that day, it really put me in a foul mood. At the end of the day, while chatting to a fellow competitor, who is also a masters level judge, he brought me back to reality when he said, "Do you really think your dog cares?" (in reference to me not being able to accomplish what I had planned for him).... And to answer honestly, "no", my dog did not care, nor did he have any idea that we didn't get to do what I had planned to do that day. All he knew was that he got two fun runs in, both of them with great rewards involved... he had no idea my plans for him were not carried out.... So, with this little statement from my fellow competitor, I was transformed back into a better mood.

Overall, Blaze did quite well. He even made it to round two of the Steeplechase event, something I never would have expected. It was a nice surprise for sure. We had only 3 errors in the whole event; Blaze refused he weave entry in both our standard runs, and he missed the final gamble in the first gamble event. Otherwise, he went clean and under time in both jumpers runs, and he had an amazing opening in the second gamble along with completing the final gamble. We had awesome times in both our standard runs, but because of the refusals, no bonus points for us. Also, the main gamble in the first gamble event was something he certainly could have done, but not enough practice or incorrect placement of myself during the final gamble could be to blame. Anyway, he never shut down, which has been our major challenge in the gamble event. In the end, we finished 19th overall, in a class of 62 dogs. Had we not made those 3 small errors, we would have been 4th overall. WOW!!!!!! That is amazing, I had no idea we could've placed fourth. I had no idea we were top ten material. One could easily argue that we are not top 10 material, as we finished 19th. However, the errors we made.... I know that Blaze is fully capable of not making those errors, so a fourth place finish was certainly within our reach. This is both exciting and disappointing at the same time. Exciting because I know he has the skill to accomplish this ---- Disappointing because these errors have been our long time training issues that have been holding us back.

In hindsight, placing in the top ten was never, ever my goal. We are in a very competitive class, with a lot of dogs. We are not a fast team, nor will we ever be a lot faster than we are right now. I realize this, and accept it. I will never try to push Blaze to be something he is not.... My only goal is that we go out and be the absolute best we can be.... If our absolute best places us 4th at a National event, then that is amazing, truly amazing that he would place in the top 5 dogs in all of Canada, something I never would have dreamed possible. If our absolute best places us in 19th place, then I would be equally as happy, as I would know in my heart that we went out and performed to the best of our ability. If we are working at our personal best, then wherever we place will make me happy. We did not perform at what I consider to be a personal best. Weave pole refusals are something we need to work on, as well as tricky gamble sequences. These are my training goals for next year, along with continuing to work on consistent handling cues.

The picture at the top is the only one I have of us at Nationals.... the environment is a little bit stressful, with everyone I know focusing on getting their dogs ready to run, it was really not appropriate to ask any of them to stop and take pictures of us.... Too bad!

All in all, it was a good experience and I am glad I went. It was all worth it to see our Coach, Sarah Mairs-Heaslip, win the 16 in Veterans Class with her world level competition dog, Gabby. What a sheer moment of joy for her, her family, and all her students. And, she initially did not want to attend this year's nationals..... Look what she could have missed out on!

And, once again, I am also reminded of all those unfortunate people who cannot compete with their canine parters anymore. Some dogs have illnesses, injuries, or some have passed on prematurely. I do feel lucky and truly thankful that I am simply able to go out and have fun with a phenomenal dog who is so willing to learn the wonderful sport of agility.

Thank you Blaze.

Killdeer Nest

In May, a Killdeer pair decided to lay eggs in the middle of my back yard. It was right in the middle of where I have my agility equipment set up. On the day I first discovered the eggs, there were two, and one had already been crushed by either me or the dogs that were running around. Killdeer lay their eggs in a shallowed-out patch of ground, usually near some rocks or gravel to camouflage the eggs, often in a wide open area. Well, it worked, so well in fact that one of us must have stepped on one of the eggs. The parent birds' calling and fluttering around alerted me that there must be eggs nearby. At first I paid little mind to the eggs, as I knew they had little hope in the middle of a yard with six dogs. However, my love for wildlife got the better of me, and I decided to at least mark the area where the eggs were so I would not step on them. I put two flat pieces of wood on either side of the eggs, which would let me know where they were and discourage the dogs from walking in that spot. I continued to train in agility, as regionals were coming up. As soon as all of us would go in the house, one of the little birds would promptly go back to the eggs and sit on them. After about a day, I decided that the two pieces of wood simply would not be enough protection for the eggs. I had some thinking to do..... There was really no other good spot on my property to move my agility equipment, and we had to practice.

So, my solution was to place my teeter base on top of the eggs... This would allow the birds free access to the eggs, and completely prevent anyone from stepping on them, and allow me to still train. I could easily move all the other equipment around the teeter to set up the sequences I wanted, so leaving the teeter in place for a long time was not an issue. Again, once we were inside the house, the birds promptly returned to their eggs, seemingly not bothered by their new accommodations.

Every time the dogs were let out, the birds quickly left the eggs, and cried out, flied around, and did their famous injured bird routine to lure the dogs away from the eggs. The dogs did not bother with the eggs for the majority of the time they were there. They were much more interested in the complaining parents. I was quite shocked at how close the birds actually let the dogs come to them... They would not let me get anywhere near as close... for picture taking purposes of course.

When the dogs started showing too much interest in the eggs, I had another dilemma...

My solution was to take the dividers that came with my dog crates, and use them as a little fence to block the dogs' access to underneath the teeter base. This worked great. The parent birds had two open "doorways" to get in and out from under the teeter, and it only took them less than one hour to figure out which was was "in" and "out". They used the "doors" as if this little set up was just meant for them. The dogs could not access the eggs at all. Then, one day, everything from under the teeter was gone. No sign that birds or eggs were ever even there. Did they get eaten by predators, or did the babies hatch and make a clean get away? I"ll never know, but I"m glad that the parents nor the eggs were harmed by my dogs.


The following day after I first discovered the eggs... the birds had laid another one to replace the crushed one, and there were once again, two eggs.


Not long after that, there were three eggs.


Picture of the eggs under the teeter base. Difficult to see them!


Picture of the two parent birds... very hard to see unless you enlarge the photo. I laid on the ground completely still for over half an hour trying to get a nice shot of them... clearly I need a better camera! The bird close to the middle of the photo is quite close to where the eggs are before my intervention.


Picture of the teeter on top of the eggs... Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of the teeter with my homemade little "fence" around the base.

SUSSEX BOUND!!!!!

A picture of the 2008 Regionals at the Ilderton Fairgrounds. This is the Standard course on the Sunday.


Blaze, with his Steeplechase "Q" ribbon, and his 9th place Jumpers ribbon. Blaze competed in the Steeplechase run on the Friday and qualified and placed 10th out of 24 dogs. He placed 9th in the Jumpers run on the Saturday, out of a group of 48 dogs.



Blaze, and I, and his 2008 Nationals Qualifier ribbon.


AAC 2008 ONTARIO REGIONAL AGILITY CHAMPIONSHIP
ILDERTON FAIRGROUNDS, MAY 23RD TO 25TH

Blaze competed at the Ontario Regionals this past weekend. We competed in the Steeplechase run on the Friday. I use the Steeplechase as an opportunity to warm up and set the tone for the weekend's events. Blaze ran fast, clean, and was motivated. It was a great run.

At regionals, you must complete 6 runs, 2 Standard, 2 Jumpers, and 2 Gamblers. You participate in 3 runs per day. This was our third regional event, and these were the most challenging regionals courses I have seen. Blaze did great in both Jumpers events, running clean and under time. The Jumpers course on the Sunday was particularly challenging, with many seasoned competitors getting lost on course. Our first Standard run had a minor error, with Blaze running wide around a jump, giving us a refusal. We had an incident with a couple other dogs just seconds before we were due to set up on the start line, so I was not sure how much this affected his ability to focus. Normally he does not miss cues from me to take a jump. The rest of the run was good, with Blaze getting his weave entry with no difficulty. That made me very happy! Our course time was great for that run, but because of the refusal, no bonus points for us. Our second Standard run was just awesome, with Blaze running 27 seconds under the standard course time. Unfortunately, I messed up his approach to the weaves (it was an ugly weave entry, no matter how you did it!), and caused him to get a refusal. This was a disappointment, as the error was not his, but mine. So, once again, no bonus points for that run.

Now, what happened in the Gamble rings is a bit of a mystery to me! It was as if someone replaced my happy, driven, motivated dog with another one who did not know what agility equipment is... During our Saturday run, Blaze actually left the ring, to go and get his toy... there was no getting him back at that point. I was devastated. He has never, ever done that before. What a sad thing to happen... I really couldn't explain it. On Sunday, he would not stay with me, and acted as though I was speaking another language and he did not understand one single word or body movement from me.. What a stark contrast to how he ran in the Jumpers and Standard rings!!! After many conversations with fellow competitors, it is now clear to me that there is something I am doing in the Gamble event that Blaze does not like, and hence he does not want to work for me. The challenge I face now, is to try and figure out what I am doing, and to stop doing it! We have some work to do. I know he is capable of fast, confident runs, so I must try and keep that consistent.

We will soon be off to Sussex, New Brunswick for the 2008 AAC Agility National Championships in August. This will be a fun time for all, and a chance to compete along side the best agility handlers and dogs in Canada. I was not certain that Blaze would qualify this year for Nationals, as the number of points needed to qualify was increased, and we had 8 months off in the fall and winter due to my demanding school schedule. Even once we were at the event, I was not certain until we ran our last run that we were going to Sussex. I always keep the words of one of my fellow Schutzhund club mates in my head... "Anything can happen in trial..". And it is true, it is so true.

I am thrilled that Blaze qualified and that we are going to Sussex. I am so happy and thankful that I have a great dog who wants to play agility with me. Congrats Blaze, you did an awesome job!

Agile Canines Regional Fun Match

Blaze and I had one more chance to practice handling outdoors in a trial-like setting before regionals next week. We went to a fun match in Barrie today, and got a chance to do 2 standard runs and one jumpers run. I always use fun matches as trial practice sessions, so I do everything just as I would in a trail. Today I had a plan to reward any correct weave entry, which is different than any other time I've been to a fun match. At previous fun matches, I would act just like I do in trial, go back and fix the mistake, and then move on. I also wanted to try a different approach to the weaves today. I decided I would give Blaze more space, and that I would not micro-manage the entry at all. I would just say "weave" on our approach, and then trust he would get the entry. Both standard runs had weave poles set up as two sets of six, at different points on the course. This meant two entries per run. Our first run, Blaze missed the entry on both sets... we continued on, and because we have 2 minutes in the ring (if we want to use it), I went back and re-attempted the weaves. I rewarded him for each correct entry. Otherwise, he ran great, and we are "back on track" as far as working as a team goes. Good news.

There was a separate ring set up with practice gambles. I went in this ring, and again practiced weaves, rewarding each correct entry. I also got out a squeaky ball, along with Blaze's usual tug toy. Although he loves his tug toy, it had been such a long time since I played ball with him, and he loves balls. Well, squeaky ball was a huge hit, and it seemed to really improve his drive for the weave entry. In our next standard run, I took squeaky ball in the ring with me, but did not let Blaze know I had it. My plan was to whip the ball out if he got his entry to the weaves, and really surprise him. He got his first weave entry, and out came the ball. He got the second weave entry, and again, out came the ball. There were parts on this course where my handling went to hell because of stopping to reward the weaves... it messed up my flow, but that was no big deal. Blaze getting the weave entry and getting rewarded unexpectedly on course was a great motivator for him.

We then did our jumpers run (Blaze's favourite event), which was clean. Then, back to the gamble ring to practice some of the gambles. We worked on the rear cross at a distance, "get out" to a far jump, and again, on rewarding weave entries.

We now have a week to practice our crosses, weave entries, and some distance work. I feel a lot better about going to regionals now, but I have resolved myself to being content with whatever happens there. Stressing about our lack of skill in certain aspects of agility because of not being able to train for 8 months will do nothing to enhance our enjoyment of the event. I should simply be thankful that I am able to attend this event and spend some quality time with a dear friend who is only in the sport for the sheer joy of running a course with me.

And I am. I truly, truly am.

Tamsu Trial...Weave Pole Woes

Blaze and I were at the Tamsu agility trial today, with high hopes of having another amazing day of agility trialling. Well, when things go wrong, they go very, very wrong. It is amazing how much my mood can affect my ability to focus. I am unfortunately extremely sleep deprived due to working long hours coupled with a long commute. And, I had an extremely horrible day at work yesterday, which put me in quite a foul mood. I tried my best this morning to re-focus, and to be the clear-headed handler my dog needs me to be, but I could not pull it together. Our first three runs went from bad to worse, with Blaze not responding to my cues. There was a feeling of complete lack of chemistry, although some of my agility friends could not tell from the sidelines, as Blaze appeared to be working nicely except for the weave issues. A comment at the end of the day from our current coach made it clear to me that she could tell I was off... very observant... Blaze got his first weave entry today, and then refused all the rest. I did manage to get him into the weaves in our very last run of the day, but I had to micro-manage the entry. This is not how I like to run a course. On one of our breaks, I got out some treats, went to the practice jump, and did some drills similar to what we have been doing in class, with lots of reward. I did some flatwork as well, hoping that Blaze and I could "regroup", and once again capture the chemistry we have been able to achieve recently. In our jumpers run, we did great. We were on, working great again together, it appeared I was able to refocus, and get myself back on track. There are no weaves in jumpers, so I'm sure this was a factor. This was our only Q for the day. Next came our gamble... we had a brilliant opening, but did not get the gamble, as there were weaves in the closing sequence, and Blaze refused the entry. I was happy though that we seemed to be back on track. Finally, came our team run. It wasn't my best work, but it was clean. We were 1.4 seconds over time. We lost at least 3 seconds at the exchange due to some poor communication.

This is a huge confidence buster for me, and regionals are only two weeks away. I somehow need to find some balance in my life. Having a challenging job just doesn't seem worth it if it interferes significantly with my training goals.

Box Classes Extraordinaire!

Blaze and I had our second Box Class last Thursday. I am simply amazed and extremely impressed at the level of thought and care that goes into these classes. The lessons are pre-planned, with several stations set up so the students can work on separate things simultaneously. Everything we do is thoroughly discussed using proven theories, and we are encouraged to analyze the sequences and the reasons behind why we would choose a certain path for our dog. Several options are usually discussed, and everyone has a clear understanding of why certain crosses will work best at particular points on course. I am learning new ways to analyze courses. Also, I continue to be impressed by how great Blaze does when my signals are clear to him. We all get individual attention, and it feels like we are getting so much accomplished in just one session! I feel so lucky to have gotten a spot in the class....
Now we must practice, practice, practice!