Reiker drops the ball

And it's a good thing! I got to pick some items from Clean Run as a gift from Mary a few months ago, and it finally arrived. She had the stuff for me on Tuesday at class.

I ordered four Timberwolf Balls (Archie LOVES these), two JW balls and an Orbee 3in1 ball set. I also got a little stuffed Tuffit thing for Sheela, I'll let you know how/if it holds up to the big dogs.

Anyway, I sent two Timberwolf balls home to mom, but kept two with me. Finally, two identical and moderately Reiker resistant toys! Here's a video clip of him working his "Drop" for the other ball to be thrown. He was doing really well, but the added distraction of the camera in my hand, and my focusing on trying to aim the camera really threw him off. Anyway, he had fun!



PS: I found my camera! Just need to charge the battery (forgot the charger at home!) tonight and I can start getting regular photos and video again!

Promised video

Here's the video I promised!

Gait analysis

I took some video of Reiker to send to Dr Bowra at the Aldergrove Animal Hospital. I've edited it down to the requested 30 seconds, but I'll be posting the full chunk of video tomorrow.

We did a very very long track yesterday. I went all around the full driveway. That was hard, since there is much more distraction on that path. I had to help him quite a few times, but he did find it in the end.

He can now turn away from a toy on the ground to target my hand. His hand targets are looking really good.. UNLESS my hand is above his head. Possible "stay" hand signal? who knows.

Tracking fun!

I really need to find my camera. It snowed a while ago, and I'd been running some short snowtracks with Reiker. I just attach a leash to his favourite-zomg-must-have-Bad-Cuz toy and drag it along the ground behind me. I love snowtracking because I can see where I've been, so it's much easier to help him, not that he needs it!
Anyway, on Friday, I wanted to really challenge him. I'd been putting out fairly short tracks, and he was finishing them in no time and looking for more. So I took his toy, hooked it to the leash, and walked from the door of the motorhome, all the way down near the neighbours place (with a few curves) then across the property to the bank, up behind the brush pile, through a couple cars, towards the house, across the driveway where the cars have recently driven, and hid the toy behind an engine a previous roommate left here. I have no concept of how many feet/meters this was, though I could pace it out I guess. Maybe next time, I'll count.

Got Reiker out, on GL, and he came out of the motorhome looking for his toy.. it wasn't there (obviously). He had a bit of trouble finding which way to start looking (The door is a very high traffic area), so I waited him out a bit, then just led him a few steps away to a lower traffic part of the track. He put his nose down and went. He didn't lift his nose up until after 3 or 4 turns, when he stopped to have a poo. He continued about another 1/4 of the track, then started to (finally!) look like he might be getting TIRED. He slowed down and started really working the track. Stopped for another poo. Onto find the toy. He found it, picked it up, then rushed over to a bush to pee. Sigh. Silly dog won't take a minute to empty before he starts working. Something to add to the "to work on" list for sure.

Overall, I was terribly impressed with him. He's very very good at tracking, and now that he's starting to understand the game, he's doing as well as Archie. I think he has more sheer talent, where Arch has more practice.

Hit the wrong button!

This is what happens when you think you're hitting "Record video" but you're actually taking a photo!

And more foster kittens!

We got 4 more kittens a few weeks ago. They left on Thursday, after we've worked hard to socialize them. I'm hopeful they'll all get adopted quickly, and not as surprise christmas gifts!!

Foster Kittens

The last day of our first litter of kitten fostering, we took them to Petcetera where they would be adopted from. These photos are from when we dropped them off. They were all adopted within a week!

Reiker update

Reiker (Maco) spent some time playing ball at a friend's place. He's on a long line for safety. He was really reliably bringing the first toy back, dropping it, then chasing the second (huge progress!) so I asked Evan to get some video.. As soon as he pulled out the camera, Reiker went back to sniffing and being unfocused.. We did get some nice video tho!
Can you tell which toy is higher value? And these "Grass Balls" by JW were fantastic. I think he needs a couple for two-ball games!

West's agility class

Look at this 2on 2 off!!!

 

West playing with a different Sunny

Who has an oddly similar appearance!

Playing with a friend..

West update

West is doing very well in his new home. I have several photos and videos I will post here in the next couple of weeks!