snow fun & 2x2s & ear infection & agility fun run/classes

Lots of stuff here. First of all, Ellie's had an ear infection but she's definitely healing up. We've got her on a very low dose of prednisone and ears cleaned out with a solution every day for ten days, but it's been ten days so we're just doing once every week now.

Second, I've started Ellie with 2x2 weaving since I'm not too crazy about channels. We're making a lot of progress but the snow, my next topic, is really slowin' us down! With her 2x2s, we're almost at 4 poles completely straight. Yay!

Third, SNOW!!! We got snow Friday night and it's stayed the whole weekend, though it's melting. It was only about 2 inches but Ellie and Teddy had such a blast out there, running around and eating snow. Got lots of pictures up on my Flickr after that.

Lastly, early January we're going to be starting agility classes! At DogLogic, same place we took our Obedience classes. Cannot wait! My limited setup, well, really limits our training, so I'm excited. Problem is I can't decide what class... Intro, or Beginners. They are both at opposite ends, while we're somewhere in the middle, leaning closer toward Beginners. Also, on New Years Day, January 1st, we're going to our first fun run at DogLogic! I can't wait. It's free, too, yay!

Pics from our snowy adventure...

run-away tunnel & weaving woes

My tunnel is gone! Which means no tunnel work until Christmas, since I'm getting a competition tunnel (in pretty teal, yay)! We need one badly as Ellie's scared of the real tunnels. She's a goofy girl. I think it's cause they don't let in light like our thin fabric one did.

Well, I've gotten weaves and we've been having... issues. Not really with Ellie as she's doing good weave-wise the problem is me! I'm training her channels but I'm not sure if I'm doing them quite right, oh well, she's my first agility dog, it's supposed to be about trial and error, right?!

6th obedience class

This was yesterday. It didn't go so well. I mean, it was okay, but there was a new dog in class. A very barky Australian Cattle Dog, who just kept barking and barking at Ellie. Which I think majorly stressed my sensitive puppy out. We were working on mat exercises and she just shut down totally. Ugh I hate seeing her like that. She rolled on her back, tail clenched between her legs, feet in the air. She peed a little, too. It was kind of embarrasing especially since I wasn't quite sure what in the heck was causing it.

My trainer came over and though Ellie was just doing a really good play dead! Hah i wish. But I told her, no, that she just shut down and wouldn't move or even take treats. So Karen (trainer) suggested it was probably because of the ACD barking so much that just caused sensitive little Ellie Bellie to stress out. We took her out side and she perked up immediately. She got some water, we talked, and planned to take her back in but away from the Aussie Cattle Dog.

So Ellie and I stayed by this little stairway block thing that kept us farther away and pretty much out of sight from the ACD. I just comforted Ellie and didn't really do any training after that. Karen explained what happened and we all took a break.

So not a very good class, but I have been noticing that shaping is really starting to "click" with Ellie. Also, stay tuned for a weaving post a little later, to the few that read this blog hehe (: