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doggies, dancing, deuce-age

busy week so far

Troupe rehearsal!  woo hoo! Dancing on grass is not easy…especially my lumpy lawn!
Khizmet and Karma & Rhaehana and Bella Luna will be dancing at the:
 Silverheights Neighbourhood Association 2nd Annual family fun day!
 We will start the show with  our little Hakim pop number and drum solo, then Rhaehana and Bella Luna will dance their classic piece and drum solo, followed by our “groovy” Shamadan (Candelabra on our heads),

shamadan-1-small.jpg

then they will dance a “gypsy skirt” dance, next Donna, Rebecca and I will do some glow poi/ glow hoop.

Date:

Saturday, June 27, 2009
Time:

2:00pm - 11:00pm           ****** we dance at 8 pm*******
Location:

Mattamy’s Mill Pond Park located on Baldwin Drive (just off Guelph Ave.)
Street:

Baldwin Drive
City/Town:

Hespeler, ON

Tennis… 30 C makes for a very sloth-like “slammy” <my tennis and juggling nickname)
ARRRR! my team is at the bottom of the standings (does that mean we are kneeling?)….I fear some of my Maties may jump ship…they be keel-hauled before they do….( just practicing my Pirate-speak for international “talk like a pirate day”….Sept 19th 2009)

gail-forehand.jpg

…..doggie classes….I thought I had it figured out….I am so wrong…. my Turbie failed his last attempt at grade 3 because he is reactive… when he sees another dog he tends to take an aggressive stance…staring and then wants to get to the dog and it always ends in barking and growling…the task for me is to anticipate this behaviour and never let it get to the staring stage…. the second he looks away from me I’m supposed to get his attention back to me….we also have a big task working on his emotional control.
    The last few times in the park (a good place for distraction) he was stellar…I’m trying to wean him off treat rewards and the goal is to try to make myself way more interesting than other things.  He loves his toys…especially basketballs….he’s popped a few already…but a basketball is too big to take into class so I have a conventional “tuggie”.
   Arriving at class, I whipped out the tuggie, but alas he didn’t seem remotely interested…so I reverted to my habit, which is treat reward…about 40 minutes in….he was really losing focus…and so was I… we were both sweaty and irritated…and I forgot all about trying tuggie again….we had 2 barky blow outs….both totally my fault…and on the ride home, Alfie trying to console me because  98% of the class he was an awesome little guy, but those 2 barky moments were all I could think about and really upset at myself…. I feel like I’m failing my Turbie again….

 turbie-looking-at-birds.jpg

This entry was posted on 25. June 2009 at 09:47 and is filed under sport, dance, dogs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “doggies, dancing, deuce-age”

  1. patty says:
    28. June 2009 at 20:42

    Let’s see….hmmm In a sweat trying to control a terrier in class….yes ..been there too! :)
    While the big dogs labs and collies etc were practically comatose in their down stays, my little guy although down was cranking his head around watching everyone else, ready to pop out of position at the drop of a hat.

    It amazes me how alertness and intelligence, while one of the more favorable characteristics of terriers, can sometimes make obedience training difficult.

    Marty McCann told me the first dog he ever trained when he was a kid was a terrier. He said he didn’t know at the time that terriers tend to be difficult to train.
    He also said some of the big breeds will do the same thing over and over again and not get bored or distracted and because of this easier to train.
    His point was to cut myself some slack and not get discouraged just stick with it.
    I found for me that Dog School was a real learning experience for the humans.

    Cheers
    Patty

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