Recent content by crysania

Her bestest friend is Jackson, but he just moved away. They come back once in awhile and we always meet up. Other good friends are Hershey, who lives across the road. Teri, my parent's dog. And Max, the Chihuahua who I have no pictures of for some...

Based on the Border collie we had when I was a kid, I used to think I never wanted one. She was out of control, chewed on everything, herded everything, and we spent all winter chasing her down when she ran off. As it turns out, I LOVE the breed. Our girl was just undersocialized (we got her...

Australian Shepherds. I love them. Gorgeous dogs, love their energy. But nearly every single one I see run in agility barks the whole way through the course. DRIVES ME NUTS. I'm very happy to run with my quiet dog.

This is one of my absolute favourites of Dahlia.

I will also admit here that I do mostly non-verbal because I have exercise-induced asthma and when I get out there and really moving I may not be ABLE to say much. lol

It's VERY exciting when they just get it. Dahlia has decided the weaves are awesome fun (especially sets of 6) and just flies through them, one-stepping it all the way (instead of the two-stepping you saw in that video). It's such an amazing thing to me because weaving is so NOT natural for...

I'd hate to come down hard on this but the dogs who are the #1 most aggressive dogs are dogs who are chained. The chain creates a barrier where the dog can see much but can't get to it and it creates serious frustration. That frustration often leads to aggression. Being chained for a dog is...

I'm not sure about pros vs. cons, but I'm big into training my dog to do most everything through body language (in fact, one judge asked if my dog were deaf...oops). I think dogs read body language better than they hear verbal language and so showing the motion forward vs. the body coming up...

I just want to celebrate a little! Weaves were SUCH a struggle for Dahlia and I. Once we got to 4 and then tried 6 it just fell apart. Well, she's FINALLY getting it. This past weekend we did a "speed circle" with weaves (6 poles). So around in a circle it was tunnel, weaves, jump, weaves...

This sounds like our class! We were taking at least a few classes before we even got to jumps or anything. We never led any of the dogs over anything on leashes and everything was introduced slowly. But boy when you get out there the dogs have learned a lot of confidence and the handlers have...

I think they definitely do! We did a lot more with the dog walk and A-Frame early on and then started with the teeter. We first shaped end behavior (2on/2off) on the dog walk and A-Frame, then did some teeter bang games and 2on/2off on there. Because Dahlia was confidently running the dog...

Aww thank you! She's a dog people instantly fall in love with. I know I sure did. I met her on a transport and as soon as I saw her I KNEW I had to bring her home.

She is definitely adorable and she has so much fun, even if I have no idea what I'm doing. I love seeing how happy she is to do it!

Think of it: you’ll rarely see hunting, agility, Frisbee, or law enforcement dogs being offered food rewards during training or job performance. Are they joking? I train in agility and I see an awful lot of treats used during training. Not every dog wants to work for a ball or a game of...

How scary. Any update? I hope she returns safely.