Hierarchy of Interest

Kimma is pretty reactive on leash.  She's getting better and better every day through tons of training and work, but I don't think she will ever be "bomb-proof."  I'm OK with that, as long as she is manageable and can walk reliably on a loose leash a good amount of the time.  It also helps when she doesn't freak out other people who are unfortunate enough to be walking past us with their dogs...

Pentti, on the other hand, is not nearly as reactive on leash, though not through my own doing - he came to us that way.  But even he has some issues.  The man can't walk with a loose leash to save his life.  We're working on it, but he is so sensitive that even turning around and going the other direction when he pulls can sometimes be enough to make him shut down.  But of course, in the show ring, he's fine.  Go figure!

Anyway, I think I've come up with out a pretty accurate hierarchy of interest for both of my crazies, based on their every day leash walking habits.  It doesn't necessarily mean that they bark at everything listed, but I can usually predict what they will react to and how bad the reaction will be.  The "items" listed go from least interesting to most interesting for each dog.

Kimma:
14.  People
13.  Kids 10 and under
12.  Strollers
11.  Females on bikes
10.  Males on bikes
9.  People running/jogging
8.  Skateboards/scooters
7.  Birds
6.  Dogs in a fenced in area (someone's yard, in the dog park when we're outside, etc.)5.  Ducks/geese
4.  Things blowing across the sidewalk/street (leaves, wrappers, etc.)
3.  People with dogs on leash
2.  Dogs off leash (usually where they aren't supposed to be, of course)
1.  Squirrels

Pentti:
7.  People of any age
6.  People running/jogging
5.  People on bikes/skateboards/scooters or with strollers
4.  Things blowing across the sidewalk/street
3.  People with dogs on leash/dogs in a fenced in area*
2.  Birds/ducks/geese
1.  OMG SQUIRRELS BARK AT THEM IN THE TREE MUST CATCH THEM ZOMG SQUIRRELSSSS!!!!!!  EFNBIH(*YWO(&E*Y@#IHio8y9q2h LIUHWIRY#*(*Y

So yes.  Squirrels are where it's at.  Finnish Spitz were bred to hunt birds/small game, so it doesn't really surprise me, but the look on their faces when we see a squirrel is insane.  I sometimes let them tree the squirrels, but after they wait or perform some other task first.

If I had the money/time, I would actually LOVE to get them trained to hunt.  In fact, someone at a dog show even asked Pentti's handler if he could purchase him to be a squirrel hunting dog!  Nope, guy.  Sorry.  I guess the only hunting these barkers are going to do will be done in my yard!

In other news, WE GET PENTTI BACK FROM WESTMINSTER ON FRIDAY OR SATURDAY!  I can't wait to have my little cuddle bug back!  And I'm sure Kimma will be happy to have her live-in playmate home again!

*Luckily with Pentti, we haven't come in contact with any off leash dogs.  But I'm sure he would not react too well given his history, especially if they tried to sniff him.  (He was attacked at a show trying to defend his handler, so he is not a fan of random dogs)

Kimma the Beast.

Well, that makes it sound like she's doing extremely well, doesn't it?  What I really mean to say is "Kimma the Beast-IE!"

I thought we were making some real progress on our focus work, but apparently not.  Now I have her pretty good at home, but she's still all over the place at class.  Proofing, proofing - I know!  We're working on it!

This past week at class, she just didn't want to work.  At all.  She wanted to run around and sniff the grass as soon as I released her from a "wait" for our first sequence of the day!  She couldn't even wait until the end of class to be bad!  So our trainer called her a beastie.  And I fully agree with this nickname.

Our trainer and I ignored my crazy zoomie puppy and walked into an adjoining fenced in area.  Little Miss Kimma followed at a distance, and came right in with us.  So then, we left her.  She got to explore that area, and when she was bored, she just had to suck it up and wait for me to come back and liberate her.  Of course, this involved a lot of barking (all directed at me, BTW), but once she was out, she was better...  Or so I thought....

She did good flatwork up to the start line for the sequence we were going to do, but as soon as I unleashed her and released her from her "wait," she was gone again.  So I went into yet another fenced in area, she followed, and I leashed her up once we get inside.  Her off-leash privileges were revoked for the rest of class.

So for next week, poor Kimma will be waiting in her crate for her turn to go.  Hopefully this will help her to focus a bit more on me, and not on the grass!

In other, better, news, we had our first practice for the CGC test.  It was with 5 other dog/handler pairs whom we know, and it was held in the same place where we do our indoor training.  Now, a lot of things went well.  She didn't bark at any other person/dog, didn't try to play with anyone, and only licked the floor on occasion - real progress from the last time we were in that room!

Here are a couple of videos taken during the class!  And no treats were involved during the exercises, just after.

I shouldn't have started that exercise until I had her attention...  I must remember that!  Gain attention, then carry on...

Again with gaining her attention!  Ugh, will I ever learn?!?!


...Maybe one day...

Better, especially since it involved the oh-so-exciting orange-cone-of-fun!!!  And I did have a piece of kibble in my hand.  Not when I got her into a good starting position, but I must have grabbed it before we started walking. 

The only thing that keeps getting us is her boredom barking/whining.  That, and the fact that she was quite intrigued by the orange cones we were using as place markers...  But the boredom barking is allowed (to a degree) for the test.  Hopefully she doesn't go overboard when we have to do the supervised separation!  That would be the one time she actually cares that I've left her...

Maui Weaves Too! (Sorta)

Weaves... How cool is it to watch a Border Collie run through them?! Two feet on each side of each weave as they rhythmically speed through the poles, bending them as they race through each one and onto the next obstacle... Wonderful to watch! As my trusty co-writer explained in the previous blog, weaves are considered the most difficult of all agility obstacles to learn. And as Maui is definitely not a Border Collie, I was faced with quite a challenge. But my 12-month-old, 12-pound Toi Leo puppy and I where up to it!

In agility class, Maui had tried to weave using the Channel Method. He did make some progress. But I don't think he really understood why he was doing it. It didn't seem fun for him. He just didn't have the excitement he had after running the A-Frame or going over jumps. But when he did get it right, boy was he fast!  So like Katie, I decided on the 2x2 method. Maui is extremely food, or should I say cheese driven, so with a treat bag full of cheese and a clicker in hand we began 2x2 weave training.

I couldn't believe how quickly he picked up on it! He seemed to understand exactly what I wanted him to do. First 2 then 4 then 6 weaves. In that little lion beats the heart of a Border Collie! I sent the video Katie filmed of him weaving to his trainer. This was my dog and I had taught him to weave... 

Unfortunately we are now back to 2 weaves. After some great feedback from Lesley I realized in my rush to teach Maui to weave, I had removed his speed and his drive to run the poles. As you will see in the video, Maui will complete the poles and then look back to me for his click and treat.

So we begin again... This time armed with his trainers feedback, Susan Garrett's 2x2 training video, and of course cheese!

Kimma Weaves! (Sorta)

When learning agility, one of the most daunting obstacles is the weave poles.  Well, at least they're daunting for me.  Kimma doesn't care, as long as she gets treats at the end.

So I decided to attend a weave seminar at our training club last December.  We learned about the different methods of learning weaves (v-method, channel method, 2x2 method, learning with metal guides around the weaves), and we also got to put some of those into practice.  It was super informative, and after attending that class and watching some videos on YouTube, I decided to try Kimma with the 2x2 method, developed by Susan Garrett, whom I cannot give enough props to - she's awesome!

We started by sort of shaping her going over the 2 horizontal weave poles, which she got the hang of very quickly.  Then we turned them a bit so that she wasn't just going in perpendicular to the weaves, and slowly moved the angle of the poles so that she ended up going in a straight line.  Awesome.  My dog can weave 2 poles.

Next, we put the next set of poles slightly in front of the first set, and at an angle again.  So she was able to go through the first set straight and the second at an angle.  We slowly closed the gap and moved them closer, so that they touched and were straight.  This was done over a period of a couple of days, while practicing a few times per day. Yay!  Now she's doing 4!

This is all well and good, and I'm super proud of my girl, but we have run in to a few problems.  First of all, the way I trained, I walked beside her a lot.  This caused me to almost steer her through the poles at times, and of course I wasn't aware that I was doing it.  I changed that, but she still wouldn't go through with my walking with her.  So I had to back track a bit, separating the poles again into the straight line for the first set, and the second set at an angle again.  I either had her wait at the beginning for me to release her through, or tried to send her through and throw the treat for her.  I slowly moved the sets of poles into the straight line again, and eventually we got through that issue altogether. And she's even got a bit of speed going!

So here it is - a compilation of Kimma's weave experience thus far!

I'd say we are about 1/6 there!  Yes, I can do math (4 weaves out of 12 is 1/3, not 1/6!), but we need to rework a bunch of stuff, basically starting from scratch.  Which is always fun.

I hope to make some 2x2s this weekend so that I can stop stealing them from Margie and Maui.  Between those and a few more jumps, I'm going to have an exciting next few days with my PVC pipe cutter!

Look. Good! (Treat). Look. Good! (Treat). Loooooookkk. Good!!! (Treat).

Ah yes.  Focus.  Kimma's lack of such will surely be her downfall.  

Having an independent dog is good, in that they give you space and can play on their own sometimes, but it can be annoying when you're trying to train them.  It's quite interesting, though, because Pentti has become my little shadow, while Kimma just needs to know where I am and she will give me space.  I think it may be one of the male vs. female differences with Finkies.

Anyway, since I've decided to pursue agility and obedience with Kimma, I need to get her focus issues under control.  She's VERY food motivated, so I'm able to use that to my advantage, but since she has been put on an extremely limited diet, it's gotten more difficult.  Alas, her beloved hot dogs are not a part of the "vet approved" treats she can have.  Poor girlie!

So while we're at training, I basically have to be my own one-woman-circus act.  I spit out trick after trick, command after command, but eventually, her nose gets the better of her (and she gets bored), and she MUST go sniffing.  

Things that have worked for us have been a strong "leave it," after which we walk away and do some flatwork training and "follow me" type of games; and of course, the whole "look" command (a la the title of this post!).  

And yes, she's completely different inside, it's just the grass is full of interesting little goodies!  Heck, this girl loves the grass itself.  I think she was a cow in a past life....

It's gotten so bad that she will zero in on a specific plot of grass at agility training and run to it every chance she gets (basically, whenever I actually need her to do something off leash).  

After weeks of frustration, however, I can safely say that she is on her way to becoming a more focused dog.  It all started with making our backyard a place to play AND work, rather than play and sort of-maybe-sometimes work.  I put her back on leash (which hasn't been the case since she was a baby!), and did some flatwork with her.  Any sniffing was met with a firm "leave it" and a treat when she looked at me.  Then we would continue to walk, treating along the way for eye contact.  We did change of sides, turns, slow walking, to runs, normal paced walking, everything!  Eventually there were no attempts to sniff.  So we went inside, and did it all again a couple times a day.  About a week later, and we could do all of that off leash with minimal, and often no, sniffing.  

Next we brought the jumps back out, off leash.  We kept working, never taking a break so that the temptation to sniff didn't present itself.  It was awesome.  One of the most productive training sessions we have ever had.  And we capped it at 10 minutes, played some fetch, and came back in.  This has been repeated a few times in the past week.

At agility class itself, I can say that things are going a lot better.  We have to do a bit of "wait" work, as she doesn't always know what that means anymore, but her latest clean run is a testament to all of our hard work lately.  

Yes, she is off leash, with other dogs nearby, and plenty of yummy grass to sniff!  Though, I will be honest in saying that this is the third time the run was attempted, but she looks like a real agility dog!  

Another positive is that she has been easier to get back after she breaks her wait, as she now tends to go towards other equipment instead of towards a random patch of grass...  Then she walks over to me and stares as if she's saying, "What?  I didn't do anything!  Look, now that I'm here, can you spare a treat?"  What a treat-hog!

Ah well...  At least we know that she's not afraid of any of the equipment!

Our Story.

These are the tales of Kimma: A Finnish Spitz (Fox) and Maui: A Toi Leo (Lion), told from the point of view of their highly strung owners!!!

This is Kimma (pronounced Kee-mah).  She is a one-year-old female Finnish Spitz.  I (Katie) have had her since she was 8 weeks old.  What a cute little thing she was!  Totally quiet on the 3 hour ride home, fell asleep on my lap our first night after a fun play session...  Then BAM.  She gets crazy.

She looks so innocent!

Now, Finnish Spitz are categorized as being a medium-high energy breed, and are bred to hunt birds and small game, though they can also hunt larger creatures, like elk and even bear.  They are very loyal to their "masters" and very intelligent.  The Finnish Spitz is also a sensitive dog, so a positive approach to training is a must.  They can pick up on moods easily, so training while upset/mad will likely be fruitless.  Like most Northern breeds, they are quite independent.  In addition, they are bred to bark and are very vocal.  In Finland, they even "crown" a "King of the Barkers," which is their yearly hunting champion - yes, these dogs can bark like there's no tomorrow!

Kimma is all of those things, and bit more.  After the first week or so, I remember thinking to myself, "What have I done?!"  I have no prior experience with any dogs/puppies (never had one as a kid, and didn't have too many friends with dogs), this girl is insane, and I'm crying basically every day.  She's a barker, a chewer, and biter, and requires more exercise than any dog I've ever heard of!  So we signed up for puppy training. 

It was OK, but there was so much more to this dog.  She NEEDED constant training.  She craved it.  I saw how quickly she picked up on stuff, and I knew that we could achieve some great things.

It was at a dog park where I met Lesley, and her then 4.5 month old Border Collie mix, Tia.  After seeing how well Kimma and Tia played (they are about the same age), and also how fast Kimma could run, Lesley asked if we ever thought of doing agility.  I replied no, as I planned on finishing out our puppy basic training and then maybe doing another training class or two while teaching her some tricks on my own, then we were going to just live our lives.  However, the more I thought about it and watched some videos on YouTube, the more I realized that this could be just what my little reactive/hyper/barker of a dog needs...  Agility it is!!!

Now, as I sit here approximately 8 months later, I couldn't be happier with our decision.  Of course, some additional issues have come up (focusing, more reactivity problems, and some illness), but as long as she keeps loving what we're doing, we will figure out a way to conquer it all!

And if it wasn't for agility, Kimma and I would have never met Margie and Maui (her boyfriend!). 

And this is Maui! He is a one-year-old Toi Leo, which is a hybrid dog breed. The breeders began developing Toi Leos 6 years ago to reduce small dog medical problems such as eye and patella issues. Four breeds create this hybrid: the Japanese Chin, Long Hair Chihuahua, Pekingese and Pomeranian.

Maui and I (Margie) became a team when he was 9 weeks old. What a cute little man. 3.6 pounds and already groomed then with his unfashionable lion cut. Curious, bright, intelligent, affectionate and no barking! I took him with me everyday, everywhere I went so that he would socialize well. Me and my little buddy! As all was going so well it was time to socialize with four legged friends, so Maui was enrolled in Puppy Class. And after learning some basic obedience was introduced to Agility. He loves it! 

It was here that he found his VOICE - and what a voice he has! Really, what did I expect? He does come from dog breeds that all bark... A LOT. First it was just barking at other dogs to get them to play with him. Then it was barking and lunging at them before he even got close enough to smell them. Then barking and lunging on his walks at joggers, cyclist, other dogs, people, deer, squirrels and anything else that moved outside, including leaves blowing in the wind! Oops I forgot! He even barks at things that don't move. With one exception: Kimma. Maui just loves her and like every man in love, he quietly listens and lets her have the last word.

OK... So he has barking issues and currently walks on a gentle leader to reduce the barking and lunging. Although he does resemble Hannibal Lector with this on, I just love the little guy!

Pentti:  "Yes, I know.  I'm so handsome - even with stick pieces in my mouth!"

In addition to following the training of Kimma and Maui, Kimma's 3-year-old Finnish Spitz "brother" Pentti (CH Finkkila's Pentti) will also be making some appearances in this Blog, as he and Katie progress in his conformation career!