Midsummer, contemplating fall

Life continues. Today is my day off; I am pedaling my bike trainer, which is what I am usually up to when I post. I just had to have the trainer serviced because use had worn the steel tube that attaches my bike's rear wheel to the trainer mechanism so that it was no longer flush and didn't hold the bike. The mechanic filed it down and added a washer, and then asked how much I rode it. I guess he isn't called upon much to repair trainers. I told him that I rode 20-30 hours a month, which is true, if less accurate and less personal than my first answer: enough to keep me centered, happy and sufficiently sane.

Comfort the Pictus cat died last night, and I am sad about it; there was perhaps a time when I felt a bit embarrassed about grieving a fish, but that's long past. I'd had him for seven years and got him as an adult; the outer observed age of the species seems to be about eight, so I think the little guy did ok with me. I got him on the way home from a really disastrous court appearance in my first year as an attorney; I'd made a bad newbie lawyer mistake and felt awful, thus "Comfort the catfish." He was a good little fish, and his active presence added a note of cheer and beauty to my home.

I'm in a place in life where a number of the animals that I obtained in my 20s are reaching their expected lifespans and passing, others who I have thought of as the babies are in their prime, and a younger generation is beginning to establish. It's a very bittersweet feeling, like thinking of who I was when I got that fish, how confused and trapped and not who I am now I was. How much happier I am now and how much more sorrowful. How much more myself I feel, how my life with these animals now feels smooth and harmonious, as the animals I used to have and don't anymore felt utterly right and perfect and different than these when I had them.

I walked my three sheepdogs this morning and then bathed Coba; I took Nikolai for a short walk and bathed him, too. Now I'm pedaling on the deck, hour 2.30, watching Tiger stalk around while Magic, 16, lounges on a cushion in what passes for midday sun around here. For Sysiphean boulders, you have to admit that they are awfully loveable and cuddly. I couldn't be happier.





( cats, dogs, bugs, slugs )

Coba training!

Long rambling dog-geekery; feel free to skip over if this isn't your thing.

I just made the homeliest jump ever: a PVC pipe duct taped between two old plastic flowerpot stanchions. It took me about a minute to make it and about three to teach Coba to jump it. He definitely associated the "jump" command with what he's supposed to do; this isn't the first time he's been introduced to the concept, but it's the first time I've done it in awhile, and his best performance so far. He does really well when he is positioned squarely on one side and I am squarely on the other, less so when either of us start more than a few feet away from the jump or on a diagonal to it. These will come with time; I kept the session short and fun. The jump is also lower than it will be in the ring, but height can come later.

What this is all for, of course, other than it just being fun to train one's housefox to do entertaining things as well as being good diversion for an active little mind, is that I am starting to look seriously at what's needed for Open level obedience competition. It seems likely, knock on wood, that Coba earns his Novice title of Companion Dog either this month or next, and it would be pretty cool if he was ready to enter Open classes next summer. Ergo, train the dog now.

We have a way to go.

The article above summarizes that "Open Class involves 7 exercises: Heel Free and a Figure 8 (off leash), a Drop on Recall, Retrieve on Flat, Retrieve over High Jump, Broad Jump, and Group Exercises: a 3 minute sit stay and a 5 minutes down stay with the handler out of sight of the dog." Coba's heel free/figure 8 is getting pretty snappy, to the point where I'm hoping that, at least if he's in the mood, we are going to look pretty good in our upcoming Novice appearances. His Drop on Recall is good enough for the ring now, and his stays with me out of sight are coming along well enough. That's proving easier to train than I thought (of course I introduced it last winter). This leaves the jumps and retrieves.

Jumping should be easy enough to train; he already has a good attitude about it, and it's only a matter of time and repetition to build confidence. If his jumping gets as snappy as his recalls are now, he is going to be just adorable.

Which leaves us with the retrieve, Coba's least favorite idea in the world. This is a dog who doesn't even want to pick up (any) toy and bring it to me while enthusiastically playing. I've gotten him to the point where he will hold a plastic dumbbell toy when I put it in his mouth, change positions (sit to down to stand and back) and perform short recalls without dropping it, though his opinion of the exercise is eloquent. I try to use the best rewards for this, things like tastes of canned food he only gets for this exercise, but I haven't seen his 'tude improve yet. There's no hint that he will willingly take the object into his mouth, and I that's our biggest hurdle: convincing Coba to pick up that distasteful foreign object---the horror!

I am thinking of training with something much lighter, like a piece of fabric or leather, to begin with. Perhaps I'll use a glove, as the directed fetching of gloves comes up in Utility, and he might find them less objectionable than a plastic dummy. His moving stands are quite good, btw, as are many of his non-verbal commands, and I honestly think that the most difficult thing I will have to teach Coba in terms of obedience competition may be the one I'm starting to work on right now.

As soon as he'll pick up something, anything, on command, the rest is time and fine-tuning. Given Coba's reluctance and sensitivity, it may take awhile, but with consistency, short, positive sessions and the nastiest dog food I can find (from my POV, anyway) we should eventually get it.

...I hope.