A blog to track the training and activities of my border collie, Jedi.
Sunday, July 3, 2016
Day 85 - The Dog Tank (20 weeks old!)
Jedi had his first exposure to fireworks last night. With the 4th of July on a Monday this year, you can pretty much expect there to be three nights of the stupid things. Really, I'm surprised they didn't start on Friday. Secret doesn't do well with fireworks, but she just retreats to the laundry room for the night. Luke doesn't like them, but he's dealing okay these days. Thankfully the Klee Kai are completely oblivious to any booms and Jedi for the most part seems to be following their lead. He startled and woofed a couple of times, but I wouldn't call any of the behavior fear-based. I guess we'll see how the next couple of nights go.
Jedi doesn't believe in sleeping in. Despite the fact that we didn't go to bed until after midnight because of the fireworks (granted, we were all sleeping on the couch), Jedi was up and at 'em at 6:00 this morning. I managed to ignore him (or coerce him to snuggle) until I finally got up at 7:30. Breakfast this morning was spent on the cone. Again. Because Jedi has proven that he knows left/check, I started to interrupt him when he went in that direction. Progress continues to be made in millimeters, but we're still not getting a full bypass without a tossed treat. I ended the session with the four paw pods just to give Jedi something different to do.
We didn't bum around the house too long this morning before we hit the road for our big adventure of the day. I signed Secret and Jedi up for open swim at The Dog Tank in Menomonie at 11:00, so we left home at 9:00 for that. The Dog Tank is a dock diving pool that opened up last month about an hour and forty minutes north of here. They had an open house/grand opening on the weekend of our last AKC trial, so I wasn't able to go. This was my first available weekend since they opened, so off we went!
The sport of dock diving has always appealed to me. I've been jumping Secret off docks into the local lakes and rivers for years. I've tried three different times to get her to jump into a pool with no luck, but they were also at public events where, well, I couldn't just shove her in. Due to her love of jumping/swimming, I really felt like if I could just make her get in a time or two it would click and she'd realize it was something she loves to do. I've never had a chance to jump Jedi off anything into water yet, so I had no expectations there for him. My main goal was just to introduce him to pool swimming so that we wouldn't experience the same issues that I've had with Secret.
During our first go I took each of the dogs up separately. I shoved Secret off the ramp a few times and she pretty much acted like she hated me for it. For Jedi's first turn I figured we'd start on the ramp, but just for giggles I tossed his bumper over the edge to see what he did. Well, he jumped! There was a pause at the edge, but then in he went. Much like we experience at the lake, the biggest trouble of the day was getting Jedi OUT of the pool. He'd come to the ramp, but then fail to make it all the way up. The trainer was in the pool and helped out several times, and I also found myself climbing down the ramp to haul him up.
On subsequent trips I took both dogs up together. I thought maybe it would help if Secret watched Jedi go off the dog. I did "shove" her in a couple of times, and then the next time we went up she started jumping on her own! Once she figured out that the pool wasn't going to kill her she was jumping the same as she does in natural water (if not better, considering she wasn't jumping off a slippery wooden dock). Jedi got better and better with less hesitation at the end of the dock before he jumped. His jumps were probably averaging in the 5'-6' range, which is great for his first time! Secret was pulling some 19'-20' jumps.
There were a couple of ladies sharing dock time with their two dogs, same as I was doing with mine, so we just kept rotating. This was hard on Jedi, because he pretty much thought it needed to be his turn all of the time. At one point I dropped his leash and he took off running, trying to find a way back into the pool (sorry buddy, gates). Yeah, a little obsessive. With lots of barking. I mean, Secret wasn't much better, though, especially when they saw the other dog's ball flying through the air. We had a new dog before our last turn who was taking a bit longer (first swim) and Jedi pretty much started to have a meltdown.
When we wrapped up in the pool I took Jedi & Secret out into the big field to chase frisbees for a bit to dry off. My only real concern with this was that Jedi would leave me to try to get back to the pool again (we were outside the fenced area at this point). He did great, though, and stuck with me. I did grab his collar when it was time to go back in the van, though, since I figured the most likely time he'd try to make a break for it would be when he sensed the fun was over. I put the dogs up to get a drink while I went to pack up the crate I'd taken in and never used. Then they got a quick potty break and it was time to head home. I thought Jedi did well to make it home without needing to stop, especially since he peed out half the pool when we went out into the yard. :o)
Jedi got another late lunch (2:15) when we got home. We just played on the paw pods. We had a super quiet afternoon and then spent dinner on the peanut. I figured Jedi would enjoy this since he keeps trying to jump on the peanut every time we go downstairs. I cleaned up the yard, but other than that we really haven't done anything since getting home from Menomonie. I'm pretty sure I'll pay for this later. Jedi and Kizzy have been running around outside since shortly after dinner and there are fireworks going off already. I guess he doesn't care!
Jedi had his first exposure to fireworks last night. With the 4th of July on a Monday this year, you can pretty much expect there to be three nights of the stupid things. Really, I'm surprised they didn't start on Friday. Secret doesn't do well with fireworks, but she just retreats to the laundry room for the night. Luke doesn't like them, but he's dealing okay these days. Thankfully the Klee Kai are completely oblivious to any booms and Jedi for the most part seems to be following their lead. He startled and woofed a couple of times, but I wouldn't call any of the behavior fear-based. I guess we'll see how the next couple of nights go.
Jedi doesn't believe in sleeping in. Despite the fact that we didn't go to bed until after midnight because of the fireworks (granted, we were all sleeping on the couch), Jedi was up and at 'em at 6:00 this morning. I managed to ignore him (or coerce him to snuggle) until I finally got up at 7:30. Breakfast this morning was spent on the cone. Again. Because Jedi has proven that he knows left/check, I started to interrupt him when he went in that direction. Progress continues to be made in millimeters, but we're still not getting a full bypass without a tossed treat. I ended the session with the four paw pods just to give Jedi something different to do.
We didn't bum around the house too long this morning before we hit the road for our big adventure of the day. I signed Secret and Jedi up for open swim at The Dog Tank in Menomonie at 11:00, so we left home at 9:00 for that. The Dog Tank is a dock diving pool that opened up last month about an hour and forty minutes north of here. They had an open house/grand opening on the weekend of our last AKC trial, so I wasn't able to go. This was my first available weekend since they opened, so off we went!
The sport of dock diving has always appealed to me. I've been jumping Secret off docks into the local lakes and rivers for years. I've tried three different times to get her to jump into a pool with no luck, but they were also at public events where, well, I couldn't just shove her in. Due to her love of jumping/swimming, I really felt like if I could just make her get in a time or two it would click and she'd realize it was something she loves to do. I've never had a chance to jump Jedi off anything into water yet, so I had no expectations there for him. My main goal was just to introduce him to pool swimming so that we wouldn't experience the same issues that I've had with Secret.
During our first go I took each of the dogs up separately. I shoved Secret off the ramp a few times and she pretty much acted like she hated me for it. For Jedi's first turn I figured we'd start on the ramp, but just for giggles I tossed his bumper over the edge to see what he did. Well, he jumped! There was a pause at the edge, but then in he went. Much like we experience at the lake, the biggest trouble of the day was getting Jedi OUT of the pool. He'd come to the ramp, but then fail to make it all the way up. The trainer was in the pool and helped out several times, and I also found myself climbing down the ramp to haul him up.
On subsequent trips I took both dogs up together. I thought maybe it would help if Secret watched Jedi go off the dog. I did "shove" her in a couple of times, and then the next time we went up she started jumping on her own! Once she figured out that the pool wasn't going to kill her she was jumping the same as she does in natural water (if not better, considering she wasn't jumping off a slippery wooden dock). Jedi got better and better with less hesitation at the end of the dock before he jumped. His jumps were probably averaging in the 5'-6' range, which is great for his first time! Secret was pulling some 19'-20' jumps.
There were a couple of ladies sharing dock time with their two dogs, same as I was doing with mine, so we just kept rotating. This was hard on Jedi, because he pretty much thought it needed to be his turn all of the time. At one point I dropped his leash and he took off running, trying to find a way back into the pool (sorry buddy, gates). Yeah, a little obsessive. With lots of barking. I mean, Secret wasn't much better, though, especially when they saw the other dog's ball flying through the air. We had a new dog before our last turn who was taking a bit longer (first swim) and Jedi pretty much started to have a meltdown.
When we wrapped up in the pool I took Jedi & Secret out into the big field to chase frisbees for a bit to dry off. My only real concern with this was that Jedi would leave me to try to get back to the pool again (we were outside the fenced area at this point). He did great, though, and stuck with me. I did grab his collar when it was time to go back in the van, though, since I figured the most likely time he'd try to make a break for it would be when he sensed the fun was over. I put the dogs up to get a drink while I went to pack up the crate I'd taken in and never used. Then they got a quick potty break and it was time to head home. I thought Jedi did well to make it home without needing to stop, especially since he peed out half the pool when we went out into the yard. :o)
Jedi got another late lunch (2:15) when we got home. We just played on the paw pods. We had a super quiet afternoon and then spent dinner on the peanut. I figured Jedi would enjoy this since he keeps trying to jump on the peanut every time we go downstairs. I cleaned up the yard, but other than that we really haven't done anything since getting home from Menomonie. I'm pretty sure I'll pay for this later. Jedi and Kizzy have been running around outside since shortly after dinner and there are fireworks going off already. I guess he doesn't care!
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