Dog Camp 2008!!

We had a BLAST! Mashi, Saphira and I packed our stuff and headed to Centenary College in Hackettstown NJ last Friday to attend Camp Barking Hills. We attended so many fun and fascinating classes and accomplished so much. Here is a breakdown of what we took:
Friday night:
Presentation of Classes
Saturday:
Better Training Through Communication — Shaping with Verbal Cues or Clickers, Pet Tricks A, Recall Remedies P1, Swimming Lessons (yes Mashi, a shiba, swam), CGC Prep A, Dealing with Fears and Phobias, Canine Olympics
Sunday:
Skateboarding, Pet Tricks B, Recall Remedies P2, On the Ball: Fitness and Conditioning, Pampered Pooch Cooking Seminar, CGC Prep B, Canine Troubleshooting, Craft Night,
Monday:
Two CGC Tests (Both Passed!!) and Self Control, followed by awards and tricky tray.

It was an amazing weekend. Mashi's team won the Canine Olympics, both of them earned their CGC's (while Flyball was going on in the same gym), and we learned so many things. I wish that it happened twice a year. We had such a fabulous time and I can't wait to go back again next year.

Fostering a Happy Stable Dog

Dog Camp was this past weekend. It was an amazing blast and I will write more about that later. But I wanted to address a topic that camp brought up while I was there. One of the instructors, brought up how she fosters the tough dogs. The reactive, fearful, and aggressive dogs. This is where Dawn and I have a lot in common.
I foster the hard case dogs for NYC Shiba Rescue. The ones that have bit, the ones with food aggression, the reactive ones. I like working with these dogs because I feel like they need a fair chance. They need someone who can get down deep and see if the problems can be figured out. I like being the tough dogs second chance.
What came up in conversation was how our own dogs are so different from the fosters. Not in issues but more in behavior. For the most part, my fosters are better behaved then my own dogs. When looking back at this and talking about it I realized why. Because I run I tight ship at home, especially for my fosters. I also don't let my fosters get away with bad behavior from the start.
To rehabilitate them better, I only ask one thing of them, to be happy, stable dogs. I take all the guess work out of their lives. They have a schedule to depend on. They know when feeding will be, when training will be, and know that they do not have to worry about anything. They simply get to be the dogs they never got to be before. Without unnecessary stresses, they become more confident, stable and calm. They start to listen and look to me for instructions within days and issues melt away. Once they are settled in I can focus on the stimuli that sets off their issues (if I can find any) and desensitize it. Since they are not effected by other stresses their issues fade quickly and they become wonderful companions.
Now off to give Ginger a big hug. She has come so far and I am so proud of her. She will make someone extremely happy someday.

Hard Work and The Show Ring

Ugh, what a long week. The weekend was filled with shows and rescue work. Saphira's breeder was sick so Saphira did not get to show. That meant it was just Mashi's big weekend. While Mashi did not come home with anything but first in his class, he still tried hard. Saturday was the first day he showed on grass. He was excited, a little stressed and very distracted. The table was wobbly and that made him a little unhappy. He tried to focus though and after our ring time we practiced obedience in a grassy area in the middle of the place. She was nicely focused and upbeat. It was a nice opportunity to test him. I finally got to meet Mashi's breeder family and even his brother. They were very pleased with how he turned out.
Trenton was Sunday and Mashi was a lot more together and wanting to show. He was used to the grass by now and was very upbeat. We used a different lead and it seemed to help focus his attention. The judge was very nice and kept telling me that he really liked Mashi. No idea what he did not put him up then but I will take the compliments anyway.
After Trenton I headed to South Jersey to visit with Jenn from NYC Shiba Rescue. We hung out and I got to play with Sophie the new puppy and Tiki my old foster. Tiki looked so good and so happy. Eventually we covered Intake and covered most of the in person training. I know Jenn will make an awesome Intake Director.
Got lost on the way home and didn't get home till late but it was still an nice evening.