Today I had a chance to sit down and reflect on Kenzie's training (and to some extent Ness's). While try hard to not make comparisons between our kids the temptation is sometimes to great. Kenzie is an absolute star, retains what she is taught and gives me 200% every time we go and do something and I guess that leaves me somewhat frustrated with Ness's lack luster attitude on occasions. Well Kenzie guess what - my ability as a trainer has been shaped and has grown through having trained your big sister Ness. I am sure that is the reason you are such a success at whatever I try is because of what I have learnt training her.
So girls we are heading out on New Years Eve to the Gawler trial and we are just going to try and have fun in the ring - passing anything will be considered a bonus. After all what better way to spend the evening of your 27th Birthday but in the company of my two favourite furkids who mean the world (and of course your training buddy Tash and Riv hahahaha).
And yes Sandi you have probably said that to me a zillion times so this post is dedicated to all you have said :).
And please in 2009 may you both remain fit and well and with relatively few soreness issues. Kenzie I am expecting big things of you this coming year but most of all lets enjoy the journey.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Christmas Eve
Kenzie and her fur sister Ness want to wish everybody a very Merry Christmas and all the best in whatever endeavors they decide to tackle in 2009.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Training Session with Tash 23 December 2008
With the big kids trialling obedience on New Years Eve just over a week away we got together for a final practice session before the trial.
We headed off to the main oval at Unley High School just for somewhere different. Well we set up all the UD gear and up show a family with a remote control car. They are buzzing it left right and center around the bottom of where we had the gear set up.
Any way I tried little Miss Kenzie with her first dog in a box. She was ok but a bit distracted. Funny thing she could be half distracted and still went and sat in the box. I also did some heelwork, setting up at the start peg and a few turns. Her heelwork was soooooo nice. She has the most wonderful working position and for a little girl who has never done turns before they were spot on from the very beginning.
I also did a bit of stay practice/Susan Garrett One Jump (on in her case no jump) work. She is a lovely little girl to train and I am looking forward to getting seriously stuck into her training in 2009 and hopefully commencing her trialling career :).
No videos from tonight.
We headed off to the main oval at Unley High School just for somewhere different. Well we set up all the UD gear and up show a family with a remote control car. They are buzzing it left right and center around the bottom of where we had the gear set up.
Any way I tried little Miss Kenzie with her first dog in a box. She was ok but a bit distracted. Funny thing she could be half distracted and still went and sat in the box. I also did some heelwork, setting up at the start peg and a few turns. Her heelwork was soooooo nice. She has the most wonderful working position and for a little girl who has never done turns before they were spot on from the very beginning.
I also did a bit of stay practice/Susan Garrett One Jump (on in her case no jump) work. She is a lovely little girl to train and I am looking forward to getting seriously stuck into her training in 2009 and hopefully commencing her trialling career :).
No videos from tonight.
Monday, December 22, 2008
My little girl is growing up
Eeeek my baby girl isn't such a baby any more. She has come into season for the first time at the age of 8.5 months.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Kenzie - The first 8 months
A music video I made of a selection of photos I have taken over her life so far. She is absolutely everything I dreamed of and then some. She is a bright, happy, sweet little girl who throws her heart and soul into everything I ask. I am hoping this is a sign of great things to come but at the moment she is just enjoying life to the full and I couldn't ask any more of her.
Who would have thought this time last year I would have been sharing my life with another great bundle of black and white energy :).
Kenzie Bear your a little shinning star.
She is also taking after her sister with her obsession for swimming/fetching at the beach rather than wanting to play with the other dogs. She has always been happy to run up to where she can touch, regardless of the waves crashing around her but will go no further. The past 2 mornings she has actually started to swim and this morning was retrieving the toy in the water :).
Go Kenzie Panda!!!
Who would have thought this time last year I would have been sharing my life with another great bundle of black and white energy :).
Kenzie Bear your a little shinning star.
She is also taking after her sister with her obsession for swimming/fetching at the beach rather than wanting to play with the other dogs. She has always been happy to run up to where she can touch, regardless of the waves crashing around her but will go no further. The past 2 mornings she has actually started to swim and this morning was retrieving the toy in the water :).
Go Kenzie Panda!!!
Friday, December 19, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Training with Tash - 17 December 2008
Well being good we met up with Tash tonight for a training session. After the last session which ended up in a bit of a disaster I made the decision to train Miss Kenzie first tonight. I took her to the park around 5 for a solid game of ball as well so she wasn't quite as full on. It certainly paid off with a much less feral performance. She only tried to launch herself at me twice during all our training and when told off she did settle.
The session didn't quite go to plan. My plan for the session was 3 separate mini-sessions. Session 1 was to be some heelwork - anti-clockwise and clockwise circles rewarding with food.
Well circle heelwork was a no go. She kept crowding my leg and dictating the "circle". I did some straight line stuff instead which was really quite good. She even threw in a couple of absolutely stunning about turns which weren't really meant to happen the just did. I did manage a bit of circle heelwork. Her duration problem isn't attention so much as she just gets hard to manage as she gets under foot or launches.
Video of heelwork session 1:
Session 2 was to be duration positions/control work as well as restrained recalls. This session went more according to plan and I ended up doing sits and drops with me throwing the tuggy around and teasing her. She did pretty well, I lumped a bit and pushed it a bit far but I did get a lovely sit stay right at the end with some pretty good distance. I also had Tash hold her and we did 3 restrained recalls to the tuggy.
Video of session 2 is posted below:
The plan for the third session was Stand for Exam with me standing in front feeding her. She did well and was happy to stand there with me feeding intermittently and have Tash "examine" her. I also did a small amount of heelwork and by that stage she had settled even further and wasn't quite as crowded or dictating it quite as much.
She is certainly a little live wire when it comes to training. I just need to get my act together and train her some more :).
The session didn't quite go to plan. My plan for the session was 3 separate mini-sessions. Session 1 was to be some heelwork - anti-clockwise and clockwise circles rewarding with food.
Well circle heelwork was a no go. She kept crowding my leg and dictating the "circle". I did some straight line stuff instead which was really quite good. She even threw in a couple of absolutely stunning about turns which weren't really meant to happen the just did. I did manage a bit of circle heelwork. Her duration problem isn't attention so much as she just gets hard to manage as she gets under foot or launches.
Video of heelwork session 1:
Session 2 was to be duration positions/control work as well as restrained recalls. This session went more according to plan and I ended up doing sits and drops with me throwing the tuggy around and teasing her. She did pretty well, I lumped a bit and pushed it a bit far but I did get a lovely sit stay right at the end with some pretty good distance. I also had Tash hold her and we did 3 restrained recalls to the tuggy.
Video of session 2 is posted below:
The plan for the third session was Stand for Exam with me standing in front feeding her. She did well and was happy to stand there with me feeding intermittently and have Tash "examine" her. I also did a small amount of heelwork and by that stage she had settled even further and wasn't quite as crowded or dictating it quite as much.
She is certainly a little live wire when it comes to training. I just need to get my act together and train her some more :).
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Dogs SA Funday
Today was the Dogs SA Funday at SACA park. The girls had a blast and were both very well behaved. Kenzie coped much better then I had otherwise anticipated and I was a it surprised.
We got roped into doing some of the canine freestyle demo with Carol and the Aldinga crowd. Teach me to show off a few tricks with the air of them. They did a bit of tandom heelwork and tandom tricks. She was happily playing with me during the warm up and didn't freak out at performing off-lead with people around.
After doing that we hung around for the fun competitions. Kenzie and Ness went in the Best Groomed and the Best trick. The person judging had a kid alongside and Kenzie was great even when they approached. She was happily standing or trotting in the "ring" (they were using one of the show rings).
She did freak a bit in the best trick when the kid was close and I went to send her around Ness but I moved back away a bit and she was good.
Anyway the girls won the best groomed as well as an encouragement prize in the tricks. Since they one the best groomed we then had to go back in and compete against all the category winners for Best in Show.
Well my two little super stars were awarded the Best in Show prize :).
After that we had a wander around some of the other stands and I took the opportunity to weigh Kenzie. Kenzie weighed in at 12.2kg - at just over 8 months.
Here are a couple of photos of the pair of them taken the day before.
We got roped into doing some of the canine freestyle demo with Carol and the Aldinga crowd. Teach me to show off a few tricks with the air of them. They did a bit of tandom heelwork and tandom tricks. She was happily playing with me during the warm up and didn't freak out at performing off-lead with people around.
After doing that we hung around for the fun competitions. Kenzie and Ness went in the Best Groomed and the Best trick. The person judging had a kid alongside and Kenzie was great even when they approached. She was happily standing or trotting in the "ring" (they were using one of the show rings).
She did freak a bit in the best trick when the kid was close and I went to send her around Ness but I moved back away a bit and she was good.
Anyway the girls won the best groomed as well as an encouragement prize in the tricks. Since they one the best groomed we then had to go back in and compete against all the category winners for Best in Show.
Well my two little super stars were awarded the Best in Show prize :).
After that we had a wander around some of the other stands and I took the opportunity to weigh Kenzie. Kenzie weighed in at 12.2kg - at just over 8 months.
Here are a couple of photos of the pair of them taken the day before.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
A few photos and a training session with Tash
Well whats news since I lasted posted......
Sunday was the monthly DOL meet. I was very impressed with how Kenzie responded. I had warned people that she might be shy and to not try and pat her and she had a good time playing with the other dogs and was even going up to people happily enough for treats :). Here are a few photos that I took at the meet.
Secondly Tash and I decided on Monday were going to get serious about documenting our training with the kids. We drew up training plans and have created a training file for each of them. We had a training session on Tuesday night. Since this is Kenzie's blog I will just report back on her session. She was very feral and note to self in future don't expect a baby to work after she has watched both Ness and Riv work. Having said that it wasn't all bad. Her second session was really nice. We worked on Dumbbell, Heelwork, Stands and Stand for Exams.
Here is the link to the video from the first session:
The only final bit of news is that I decided to measure Kenzie this morning and by my measurement she is ~ 44cm. Little girl better not grow anymore otherwise she might be a 500 dog yet.
Sunday was the monthly DOL meet. I was very impressed with how Kenzie responded. I had warned people that she might be shy and to not try and pat her and she had a good time playing with the other dogs and was even going up to people happily enough for treats :). Here are a few photos that I took at the meet.
Secondly Tash and I decided on Monday were going to get serious about documenting our training with the kids. We drew up training plans and have created a training file for each of them. We had a training session on Tuesday night. Since this is Kenzie's blog I will just report back on her session. She was very feral and note to self in future don't expect a baby to work after she has watched both Ness and Riv work. Having said that it wasn't all bad. Her second session was really nice. We worked on Dumbbell, Heelwork, Stands and Stand for Exams.
Here is the link to the video from the first session:
The only final bit of news is that I decided to measure Kenzie this morning and by my measurement she is ~ 44cm. Little girl better not grow anymore otherwise she might be a 500 dog yet.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Kenzie 8 months old Photos
Well nearly - here are some photos I took of Miss Kenzie 1 week short of 8 months. She is still such a little girl but what she lacks in size she certainly makes up for in personality.
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