Teach Your Pet

Chapel Hills Jumping Juniper, RE RL1X RL2

My senior dog, a fox red Labrador retriever, Juniper started life with me as a crazy and energetic foster puppy - a candidate to be a service dog.  Though he did not succeed in that career, Juniper worked as my teaching assistant for many beginner, intermediate and Rally classes and taught me just how wonderful living with a high drive dog can be when you train with positive reinforcement and a lot of patience.

Juniper became a great partner in competition Rally obedience, making everyone smile as he prances, dances and grins his way around the ring.  No-dog has ever had more fun performing! 

Juniper completed his APDT Rally Level 2 title at Ann Arbor on April 4, 2009.  Juner performed very dependably, earning 1st, 3rd, and 2nd place ribbons and qualifying for an award of excellence from APDT.  Since then, he has earned his Level 1 championship title (RL1X), more placements AND earned his first perfect 210 scores. 

Juniper was ranked in the top 20 point winners in RL1X level in 2009. Not bad for an old grey-muzzled boy! He is now 13 years old and retired from competition and from helping with clients and classes.  He's under pain meds and supplements for arthritis, and is moving more stiffly and slowly, but still enjoys his outings to our neighborhood park.

It's been a privilege to live with his joyful Labrador spirit for so many years.  Who would have guessed that our out-of-control puppy would grow up to be the best dog in the world?

Musicbox Knight Errant (Raleigh)

If you are not familiar with the breed, Lowchens are an old european dog breed, first popular in the 1400-1500's as a companion dog.  Rescued from near-extinction in the 1950's, the modern Lowchen combines spirit, intelligence, and animation in a compact, sturdy and very stylish package.  Raleigh is very playful, a good problem solver, has a bit of terrier-like feistiness in his personality, HATES to be alone and is a very alert watch dog.

Raleigh did a fine job of helping me renew my puppy raising skills.  Now 4 years old, he completed his Canine Good Citizen certification in January 2010 and has been my primary assistant in my obedience, rally and freestyle classes.  He's also developing the skills needed to take over Juniper's job as my partner in desensitizing reactive dogs.

Raleigh is the first dog I am training following (roughly) Sue Ailsby's Training Levels program - I am VERY pleased with how well we're developing communication and responsiveness. Clicker/mark training is amazing!

Raleigh and I have started training some moves and tricks which someday will let us start "dancing" together.  We had a great time in October learning some basic moves at a workshop with Freestyle judge and trainer Gloria Voss.  We recently joined Michigan's WCFO chapter, the Freestyle Fanatics, with an eye toward earning a Beginners title in 2012.  Or maybe in 2013 or 2014: life is complex when a family member has cancer and it may be a while before I give Freestyle the attention I'd like.

My thanks to Donna Jones of Musicbox Bichons and Lowchens who placed Raleigh in my care and trusted me with his upbringing. He's the gift that keeps on giving!

Trailsinger's I Love Lucy

We adopted Lucy, the queen of our pack, at age 18 months - she'd already lived in 3 different households by the time she moved in with us. We found her through Petfinder.com: if you like bassets and other hounds, there are way too many available in rescue.  Go adopt one!

Now 9 years old, Lucy is a Canine Good Citizen who served for 3 years as a therapy dog, volunteering to be petted and admired at a nearby nursing home every Wednesday evening.  She is a bright and willing learner: despite the distraction that having a supernose provides, bassets are very trainable - especially once they understand that learning and performing equals getting food rewards and attention! 

Lucy's enduring behavior challenge is her tendency to resource guard.  I have learned to manage her environment to minimize her opportunity to guard goodies AND to accustom her to be more comfortable and accepting of dogs and humans near her food bowls and chew toys.  She has taught me a lot about this difficult and common dog behavior.

In mid December 2008 Lucy had a herniated disc that paralyzed her hindquarters. Surgery, underwater treadmill work, accupuncture, daily walks and physical therapy exercises have helped her rebuild her muscle tone, body awareness and motor skills and restored her ability to walk and trot. Now 3 years after her surgery, Lucy is happy and active and strong, though her gait still shows some impairment. She has worked as my assistant in my Basics and Interemediate dog training classes. 

Trailsinger's Ladybug

If any dog ever tempts me to try agility, it will be this girl.  Fast, elegant, clever and athletic, the Ladybug looks to be a mix of Chinese shar pei and chihuahua (or maybe some sort of small terrier?)  She's 15 pounds of speed, kisses, wiggles, charisma and cunning.  She can scale or squirm under any normal fence and can leap from floor level to a 29 inch high table top in a single bound from a standing start.  

Ladybug moved in with us after we found her wandering down our street in May 2008.  We tried to find Ladybug's owners through ads in the papers, posters around the neighborhood and contacting the local shelters.  Meanwhile, she ingratiated herself with the entire household, becoming especially important as a playmate for both Raleigh and Lucy. After a month with no claimants, we got her shots and license, had her spayed and began house training in earnest: she's our dog now!

Our biggest success in 2011 was to complete the reinforcement of our backyard fence.  Now the only time Ladybug goes wandering is if we forget to latch the gate (humans are hard to train!!).

Now about 4 years old, the Ladybug's goals for 2011-2012 are to earn her Canine Good Citizen certificate (she passed 9 out of 10 items her first try) and begin work on her Rally obedience performance skills.  I think she'd also like to play with K9 Nose Work (if I can get to a seminar to learn how to teach it) or she may decide Freestyle is worth a try - she definitely wants to learn whatever I'm working on with Raleigh. 

There are no real limits to what this street dog could do, given the chance.  I'm glad she's likely to live a long life so we'll have plenty of time to train together.