Easter Fun!

On Good Friday we decided to hold a little Fun Day for our agility groups, and as wished for the sun appeared to shine on a beautiful day in the field! Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, all the dogs were exceptionally well behaved, and I hope fun was had by all! Here are the results of the various fun competitions, along with a little video of some of my dad's footage...



Advanced Agility Competition
1st - Jacky & Heidi
2nd - Sue & Clyde
3rd - Derek & Jack
4th - Katie & Tuula

Foundation Agility Competition
1st - Bethan & Kiri
2nd - Sarah & Roman
3rd - Alicia & Jasper
4th - Rachel & Samson

Tunnel Fever - Beginners
1st - Jacky & Jess
2nd - Chris & Daisy
3rd - Bethan & Kiri
4th - Jennie & Percy
Highly Commended - Rachel & Samson and Alicia & Jasper

Tunnel Fever - Advanced
1st - Derek & Jack
2nd - Jacky & Heidi
3rd - Jacky & Ben
4th - Jennie & Meg

Scurry Run
1st - Jacky & Ben - 5.06 seconds
2nd - Shelley & Whirligig - 5.28 seconds
3rd - Kay & Dazzle - 5.44 seconds
4th - Derek & Jack - 5.50 seconds

Split Pairs
1st - Kay & Willow with Derek & Jack - 14.84 seconds
2nd - Karen & Breeze with Katie & Tuula - 17.72 seconds
3rd - Jennie & Percy with Ian & Sammy - 20.12 seconds
4th - Alicia & Jasper with Sue & Clyde - 25.25 seconds

Thanks to everyone who came down to join the day. And to the generosity of you all in spending your pennies on cake and doggy treats baked by Holly Prichard for her friend Michaela's Lymphoma Appeal. Well done in contributing a fantastic £60 to the cause!

The Kids Are Alright!

So, as it's the Easter school hols, I ran a small session yesterday called 'Kids and their K9s' to give some of the junior handlers in my classes a chance to do something themselves with their dogs with minimal adult intervention, and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I think the kids did too...there were lots of smiley faces (from the kids and the dogs!).

I was really impressed with the handling skills of all the children involved - they were all gentle and considerate with the dogs, their rewarding rate was excellent, and they were very encouraging and enthusiastic. It's great to see the next generation of dog handlers (and maybe future dog sport competitors?!) coming through, as these children will be the dog owners of the future, and if we can teach them how to safely and successfully train and bond with their dogs now then we're setting them and the pet dogs of the future up to enjoy better relationships and a brighter future.

Plus it's just good fun! :-)

First ambition achieved!

So, it's been a busy few weeks At Four Paws One Direction, with lots of events taking place. I'll be reporting soon on our brilliant day of scentwork with guest trainer Pam Mackinnon of Talking Dogs, and posting some pics and results from our own Agility Easter Fun Day, but first of all I wanted to start with my own particular triumph from the weekend, as I'm so very very proud of my little Whirligig, and so elated to have achieved one of my ambitions for this competitive season already! So please indulge me in a moment of personal triumph!! ;-)

I'm sure my nearest and dearest are already fed up with the constant 'woohoos' that keep coming from me, but I'm just so happy at the moment, as on Saturday my little Whirligig qualified for the UK Agility Beginners Steeplechase finals with her first ever clear round at only her third ever competition. Having been to spectate at the finals at the end of last year, my mum and I were both so excited and inspired that we had in our heads an ambition for this season that we might qualify Whirli and Dazzle so that we too could be there competing this year. We knew the bulk of the qualifiers were early on in the season, and that it might be a bit ambitious to hope that they might be up to the standard so soon in their competitive careers, but we had hope in the back of our heads that with all the foundation work done these two really could be our best ever agility dogs so far, and that they really could be good enough even so early on. And they really have proven that to be so!

We've done three shows so far, and are taking the long term view with them both so have done training rounds so that we can reward good sequences and build value for being in the ring in all of our rounds apart from the qualifiers, despite the fact it was obvious at the first show that they could both have come home with rosettes if we'd wanted to run competitively as both Whirli and Dazzle did stunning training rounds that could have won their classes. The course for the qualifier on Saturday wasn't the easiest in the world (in fact I think it was harder than Willow's Senior Steeplechase course!), but I knew Whirli could do all that was required of her, and whilst there was one slightly hairy moment of wasted time on a very awkward approach to a tunnel, she did a fab job and flew around the course! We were beaten into second place by Amy Lawson and Luna, but you really can't argue with that as Amy's a seasoned and highly talented trainer and competitor, and Luna is a stunning little cocker (and possibly the future mother of my next dog!! Lol!). And as first and second place qualified, I was more than elated with the day's work!!

I'll be sticking with the long term view and will continue to run training rounds to reward contacts, enthusiasm and great efforts for the next few shows, especially now that I've already achieved my season ambition of qualifying for the Steeplechase final, and mum and Dazzle will be doing the same, although they have a few qualifiers to try to win so they can join us and the spaniel contingent in the Midi final at the end of the year (mum was doing a lovely round on Saturday but sadly got lost mid-course!)! It's really tempting to want to be able to say that they won up several levels in their first few shows, and I'm sure they are more than capable of it, but we want to build their confidence and enthusiasm at these lower levels for now - there's plenty of time to take home titles yet! After all, they've got at least another 8 or 10 seasons in them yet!! Watch out...spaniels about!! ;-)

Bring on December!!

Shelley & Whirligig

Fantastic Mr Finn

I'm absolutely devastated at the loss today of my beautiful Mr Finn. Anyone who knows me knows how much I absolutely adored that dog. But they'll also know that the last few years for us have not been good, and that the last 12 months have been an absolute nightmare for us both, and the last couple of weeks have been even worse again. After extensive testing revealed very little that could be done to help, it was decided to release Finn from his demons and allow him to run free over Rainbow Bridge. Words can't describe how utterly heartbroken I feel.

I thank you all in advance for your kind thoughts and wishes, but I am currently unable to form words. Maybe one day soon I'll be able to talk about the good times and how special my little man was to me.

Shelley and Whirligig x

Barking - problem or symptom?

Barking, alongside jumping up, is probably the most common behaviour problem reported from dog owners. But is it something to be viewed simply as a 'problem'? Or is it a symptom, to be viewed as information from your dog about how he's feeling or what's going on?

Dogs bark for a variety of reasons - boredom, frustration, fear, to alert you to something. It's a perfectly natural response (and in some breeds has been bred strongly in on purpose). However it can be incredibly annoying to us, and is something we always desperately try to stop. Where most people fall down in their efforts to stop it is to simply look at suppressing the behaviour rather than addressing the underlying cause of the barking - the dog is barking for a reason, if you don't remove that reason then it will keep happening. This is where 'anti-bark collars' (or water squirters) are often called in - but whilst these may seem at a glance like they work, all they are doing is suppressing the behaviour (and often only whilst the collar is on - take it off and the barking starts again); they aren't addressing the cause or the underlying emotional state. (And yes, I will confess to having used a bark collar in the past, but I didn't know any better at the time, and wouldn't again)

Take, for example, the over-aroused dog barking at the other dogs working in a training class - the barking is likely happening as the dog is frustrated and wound up and is trying to express that. Apply a bark collar and the barking may stop - but does the underlying frustration or over-arousal stop? Or is the dog still feeling those things but is now too afraid to express it? It would be like someone cutting you up on the road, you getting enraged or frustrated, and then just as you start to vent (either to yourself or the other driver depending on how brave you are!) someone shoves a gag in your mouth - do your feelings of anger and frustration go away, or are you now simply enraged but unable to verbalise it? And how would that make you feel? The only way to successfully address the barking in this example is to look at one of two things - taking the time to work with your dog under his arousal threshold to desensitise him to the presence of the other dogs working, or to manage the situation by removing the dog completely so that there is no longer any reason to bark.

Unless you address the cause, the symptom will persist.

I'd like to encourage us all to stop thinking of certain behaviours as 'problems' and to start looking at them as symptoms; to shift to a point where the first question we ask isn't 'how do I stop my dog doing x,y or z?' but 'why is my dog doing x, y or z?' That small shift in thinking can revolutionise how you look at dog behaviour, and you'll never look at a problem in the same light again! :)

Have you made your New Year Resolutions yet?

So, here we are in 2012! Hopefully you're feeling inspired by the new year and the fresh start that accompanies it, and have written yourself a few goals and resolutions to aim for. Mine include getting fitter before the Spring so I can do my best by Whirligig when we start our agility competitive career in March!

What about your dog training resolutions? Have you thought of something you'd like to aim for or improve upon with your dog? Fancy taking up a new hobby? We've got some new stuff on offer to fulfil your doggy resolutions!

• Want to take up a new hobby and enjoy time with your dog? Try out our Foundation Agility class.
•  Want to improve your dog's recall skills, responsiveness or your relationship? Sign up for our new 4 week 'Recall and Relationship Building' course.
• Is your kid a keen dog enthusiast and budding trainer of the future? We have a half term 'Kids and their K9s' workshop planned for Feb.

The new year can be a great time to take stock of your dog's behaviours and think about what you'd like to see improved and how you might get there. Think of a behaviour you'd like to see improved, think about what your ideal response would be, and then think about what currently interferes with it or stops it happening. Once you know where you're starting from, what you're aiming for, and what distractions you need to train against, you can then begin to formulate a training plan to build that desired response. And if you need a hand with that plan, contact us or your local dog trainer!

Happy New Year, one and all. I'm looking forward this year to continuing to build Four Paws One Direction into a successful training business with proven results, to starting Whirli's competitive agility career, to further expanding my knowledge base through working with some great trainers, and to completing Lauren Langman's Accredited Agility Instructor Level 2 course at the end of the year! Cheers!

 Prim taken by Pets 'n' Pictures