Dogs Meet Raw

The Expert
Originally uploaded by golden_fcr_girl

Ok, well, Rori has met raw before. She was raised on it, so she knew exactly what to do to the chicken quarter in her bowl. She ate it pretty quickly. Loki, on the other hand, went at it like kibble. It was pretty funny.

Epic Fail....
Originally uploaded by goldenfcrgirl

He did get the hang of it eventually. I'm trying to give them something raw at least once every 2 weeks, for the clean teeth benefit. I still have to get my sources in order and a big meat locker before we can switch over to raw completely. Oh, and our garage needs to get fixed up first because that's where the locker would go. And, the fixing hasn't started yet. Loki and Rori are very sad because they love the raw. Although, they'll pretty much eat anything.

Mmmm, Chicken
Originally uploaded by goldenfcrgirl

Updates Under the Full Moon

So, Loki passed his CGC. Whoa, crazy, I know! I think all of the dogs on the test almost failed the dog-to-dog interaction. They just love other dogs. This was the advanced class at Petsmart by the way. On that Saturday, Loki came 2nd in his class at the show, and then on Sunday, he came 1st in his class, and then took Reserve Winners Dog from a good sized group of dogs! This week at the Flat-Coated Retriever Society of America's national specialty in Rhode Island, Loki made the cut in his class. No placing, but considering I haven't been showing for very long, I'm pretty happy about that! Besides, Loki needs to build some more muscle (fill out) and grow his coat out a little. Loki's littermate Lyddie passed the second leg of her CD and his other littermate Maya made the cut in her class and earned her WC title! Oh, Rori and Loki's mother Grace placed 3rd in 7-9 Veteran Bitches and 3rd place in Brood Bitch. Maya has her JH test today and I think unsteady singles tomorrow, and Stormy (a half brother) has his SH test today. So far the Sirius kids have done pretty well. I hope Maya and Stormy do well!

Rori is in the intermediate class at Petsmart, and that group of dogs is so different from Loki's advanced class. One lab in the class has great eye contact with his owner. He heels like a dream. He could definitely get a CD with some work. The other dogs are also more attentive, and when they heel, they don't pay too much attention to the other dogs passing by. It's so funny how different the classes are, and how different my dogs are. Loki gets so distracted, but he has great skills when I have his focus. His stay is pretty good, and he can sit and down from a distance. He's not so great at going from a down to a sit at a distance, but I'm working on it. I eventually want to get him to stand from a distance as well. Rori gives me great focus, but she doesn't have much stamina for work. I think I just need to be really positive and consistent in order to keep her eager for more. I would much rather spend 5 minute segments of training throughout the day and give them chances to reboot and maintain interest. Also, it makes daily training less daunting that way.

June 30th: I'm taking the dogs with me down to Butler, PA. They have a combined CGC/TDI test. Rori is going to take the combined test, and Loki is just going to take the TDI test.

I have a huge to-do list in terms of training. But, my biggest thing is getting a reliable recall off-leash (in a safe yet distracting environment) and getting attention and focus for other off-leash behaviors. I think we're getting closer and closer to that moment. I also invested in waterproof remote trainers. I know, I know. Electronic collars. Well, when used properly, they can be a great asset to a training program. I always carry my treat bag and clicker with me. Usually my dogs get leash corrections when needed. Also, I use vocalizations like "eh eh" or "no." For off-leash work, I like to have the remote trainer on to use as a sort of leash correction if my voice isn't enough of a correction itself. And of course, when they do the right behavior, they get clicked and treated.

Going to visit my grandma today at the nursing home with my mom. I think I'll bring Rori with us.

Sad News

Sam's last road trip
Originally uploaded by MontanaRaven

Sam, the 20 year old Flat-Coated Retriever just passed away. I never met Sam, but 20 years for any dog, especially a flat-coat, is a long, long life. I'm sure everyone in the world of Flat-Coats will shed some tears. I know I'm balling my eyes out.

Go safely to the Rainbow Bridge, Sam. May you be greeted by so many of our wonderful friends already there.

Remodeling the Recall?

I need to work on recall with both of the dogs. Rori doesn't really know her recall word yet (because I haven't formally trained her on it), and I think Loki has learned to ignore his from improper training. So, I've thought long and hard, and decided to re-teach the come command to Loki with a new word. Besides, each dog should have a different come command just like they should have a different release word. Why? Well, you don't want the wrong dog to come/go when you don't want it to. I mean, you can get by with the same ones, but I don't want them to have any confusion. So, here's my list (and why I picked the words):

Rori's come command (formally Loki's) is: "vien," which means "come" in French. Her release word is: "pronto," which means "quickly" in Italian.

I've changed Loki's come command to: "ici," which is "here" in French. His release word is: "allez," which means "go" in French.

Less common words in this country equals less chance of dogs accidentally being released and what have you.

Hopefully I'll have some positive reports in the future.

Shorter blog entry tonight, but I want to get a good sleep. I have a busy day tomorrow. I have to make sure I expend enough of Loki's energy before his CGC test tomorrow night by taking him and Rori to the park. I also have to bathe Loki and groom him because of the show this weekend.

P.S. I'm not going to change Loki's word before the test. I would actually like to pass!

Introducing....

Smiley
Originally uploaded by golden_fcr_girl

Sirius' Gliding on the Lightwave: "Rori." Also commonly referred to as "Aurora" "Aurora Borealis" "Bori" "Rori Bori" "Sweet Tea" or "Borealis." She is Loki's half-sister (they have the same mother, Grace). And she's turning 3 on June 5th. Rori has a pretty big overbite that never corrected itself, so she's no longer a candidate for the show ring. We picked her up in Vermont on St. Patrick's Day from her breeder Renee. Renee was very sad that she had to place her in a new home, but it was for the best. Rori is so happy here! She was spayed at the end of March and recovered beautifully from the surgery.

Needless to say, Loki is happier than a pig in shit. He loves other dogs. It took a couple of weeks for everyone to get acclimated, but it's great now. Even though Rori is calm, she has managed to wear Loki out and correct some of his obnoxious dog-to-dog interactions. He's still a pest, but he gets better every day.

Rori is very protective of the house and barks at anyone who comes in. Usually after the minute she'll lick the person and even accept a few pets. She's a bit skittish and shy, but I've been trying to get her out in public as much as possible to socialize her. We're doing intermediate training at Petsmart, and I took her to my grandma's nursing home today for mother's day. She did extremely well. Although she wasn't actively seeking pets, she let people pet her and she was very calm and relaxed around some very new objects and some very sick people as well. Loki's still a bit too energetic to go to a place like that yet.

Loki has his last Petsmart advanced class on Thursday aka Marty giving the class the CGC test. AHHHHHH. Actually, I think he'll do fairly well except for the dog-to-dog interaction. Shake hands with another dog owner while the dog shows no more than a casual interest in the other dog and sits nicely. HAHAHAHA yeah, that makes me laugh. He got on the second try at our last class, so as long as I work on attention this week and tire him out before the class, I think we'll pass.

Even though Rori is older, she didn't respond well to my commands at first and I don't think she'd ever been clicker trained, so we started from scratch. But I'm very pleased with how she's coming along. She clearly used to be a show dog. Renee did a fantastic job with her on that. Whenever you pick up the pace she breaks into the most beautiful trot I have ever seen. I wish Loki could be half that graceful with me. Just one more thing to work on, I guess.

Loki and I are going to a show on Saturday and Sunday. I bought a camcorder to video tape us practicing this week and hopefully Renee can give us a few things we need to work on. This is all practice for the National Speciatly in Rhode Island at the end of May/beginning of June. But more on that later.

I just couldn't be more pleased that my mom finally caved in and let me get Rori!

I would love to get a female to potentially breed, but I just don't trust my mom with a female in heat. She could barely keep Loki away from Rori after her spay surgery! If Loki ever meets the contract requirements and sires a litter, I might convince my mom to keep one of the puppies. Either that or convince her to get a toller. I really, really want a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever. For know, I'll just keep on dreaming and enjoy my Sweet Tea and Crazy Boy.

P.S. I don't just want to breed my dogs. I have specific criteria that I want to follow in order to help improve the breed. And, I'm not sure if I could financially support a litter in the way that I'd want to at this juncture in my life (vet bills, vaccinations, space, high-quality food, microchips, etc). If Loki does meet his health, temperament, and performance requirements, then I'd consider using him as a stud dog. However, I'd only let him breed once or twice and to outstanding bitches that met the same requirements as he did. No sense in breeding unsound dogs. Also no sense in adding to the problem of "frequently used sire" syndrome.

The Boy is Back

The boy is back! I am so happy, because I really, really missed him. He has a total of 4 points now. We won't be showing him again until the National Specialty, and then he'll go back with his handler for a couple weeks after that. Definitely no more than a month. 3 weeks without any dog in the house is HELL.

From the boy:
I had lots of fun with Kevin and Heather. I got to play with other dogs, although not too much with the boys because I "assert my dominance" or something like that. I got to run around the ring and have this person pet me. Well, it's not really fun when said person touches my jewels, but I'm not a little pup any more so I can take it like a dog. Bad Boyz Club members, I am sorry that I don't have any antics to tell you of. Mom paid for me to be there, so I had to behave all nice. I'm sure I'll manage to stir up some trouble back at home. All in all, a fun trip!

On some not so hot news, I took Loki to the vet yesterday because he had a thingy on his shoulder that got bigger while he was away. Also, he had a liquid poo when I let him out after class yesterday. The vet thought that the bump might be a cyst or a wart and that is looked benign. She aspirated it, so we should know sometime soon whether or not there is anything to be concerned about. They're also going to check his stool sample to make sure he didn't pick up something while he was away and gave me a wormer for 3 days. He hates it. It's white and chalky, and smells so nasty. They didn't have an oral syringe big enough for the dose, so I have to give it to him in steps. Poor baby. And his poos are still really runny, so I'm going to give him bland chicken and rice tonight. I'm also going to give him this electrolyte concoction that I made for him to drink every hour or so to make sure that he doesn't get dehydrated. Recipe courtesy of Stanislaw and Big Pupi over at I Eat Raw Meat.

Loki again. A light in our house went all crazy, so Grandma called somebody to fix it. When the dude walked in, I barked and barked and barked. I mighta scared him. I didn't mean to. I just wanted to check him out and make sure he's cool. He is cool, but I don't think he'll pet me.... Mom says I'm a nut sometimes.

To elaborate on the light: when we tried to turn the hallway lights on last night, the fuse was off. So, when my mom went downstairs to the basement to the circuit breaker, the fixture started smoking a bit when the power went back on. She turned the circuit back off, and now we have the electrician here. If Loki hadn't been on a barking frenzy when he walked in, he might have pet him. He's a goose, I swear =P But, I'm very happy to have my baby boy back, stinky butt and all.

Away from Home

Oh I miss my boy so much. Loki is off with a handler until February 3rd. He got 1 point on Friday going WD, and yesterday he got 1st in his class. I had him entered in 12-18 Dogs, but apparently I should have entered him in Open. Apparently it's the unspoken rule when having a professional handle your dog. Oh well, he's having fun. I think it's good for him to be without my mom and I for a while, because he is very attached. He still will whine like crazy if I go out of site.

In old news, we got Loki color tested, and he's BbEE, which translates to he is black (couldn't have figured that one out =P ), carries liver, but does not carry yellow. Yellow is a major no-no because it isn't in the breed standard. I've heard several people say that has to do with yellow being recessive, however, liver is recessive too, so that argument is specious. He also got his CERF (Canine Eye Registry Foundation) Exam after his 1st birthday, and everything came back normal. Now, I just need to send the results in. When he turns 2, he'll get his hips, elbows, and patellae OFA (Orthopedic Foundation for Animals) tested. He's a very healthy and energetic pup, so there is no indication that he has any problems. And I hope the tests will confirm that. But that's a long way off.

In secret news, I might be getting another dog. However, I'm not sure if my mom will say yes. So this is extremely tentative. I hope she says yes.

*Edit*
Well, no new dog yet. Mom says we have to wait until the divorce is over. Who knows how freaking long that could take. At least we can get another one eventually.