Miki...

Miki is one of our dogs that Debbie is currently running in agility competitions (the other is Race, our Border Collie).  The photo at right is of Miki exiting a tunnel obstacle in a recent competition.  Click on it and check out his expression.  What do you suppose is going through his little dogly brain at that moment?

It worries me :-)

A First Place!

Debbie and Miki ran in an agility competition this past weekend.  It was a three-day meet, and they ran twice each day.  On one of those six runs (the standard course on Friday, amongst 20 or so 16" jump height dogs), they took first place!  Miki is a Field Spaniel, a breed most agility competitors know for their inability to focus on the job at hand and their easy-going, unhurried approach to life (including agility competition, where speed matters).  They are pretty much the precise opposite of a Border Collie, the canonical agility champion.  For a Field Spaniel to take a first place against a big field of dogs that included all the usual suspects (breeds) for agility competition is a bit like an unmodified Volkswagen setting a new land speed record.  Here's that first place run:




Here are the other five runs over the weekend as well: here, here, here, here, and here...

Miki and Debbie...

...had a great weekend, in agility competition at NTC.  They ran four times, qualified on each run (so two double-Qs!), and got a total of 68 points for speed.  Miki is now almost half way to his MACH title – and on track to break all records for field spaniels in agility.

Woo hoo!

Miki, Taking Second in Standard...

This is from last weekend, where Miki qualified on 5 out of 6 runs, and took one second place (shown below) and one third place.  Debbie was handling, of course.  Woo hoo!

Go, Miki, Go!

Debbie and Miki had six runs in agility competition this past weekend.  This time we go them all on video!

Miki and Debbie!!!

Here's video of a very nice run that Miki and Debbie made in competition last Sunday.  They did a terrific job...

Four for Four...

Debbie is running Miki in an agility competition today, downtown at the old NTC.  She just called me, and you could hear the smile: Miki just finished his fourth run for the weekend (two in jumpers, two in standard).  Result: three first place finishes (and one fifth), and he's now in Excellent B in both.  Bonus: he earned his first 19 Mach points.

Woot woot!!!

One other interesting note.  Yesterday she took Miki down by himself, and noted that he seemed a bit stressed by the end of the day.  Today she took Race (who wasn't entered) down with him, to see if having his buddy along would make a difference.  Debbie reports that Miki was distinctly less stressed.  Having his friend along made it all easier...

Debbie and Miki, In Competition!

Five runs, five winner's ribbons.  Debbie and Miki rule the agility field!

Dogs...

Now comes the important part of our trip: the dogs!  Racer and Miki had the time of their lives yesterday.  After the long drive from home to Mt. San Jacinto, they were visibly surprised to find that when they got out of the truck they were in a doggie wonderland.  Lots of space to run around in!  Lots of new smells!  Lots of things to play with – especially pine cones.  Racer has a thing for pine cones; they are by far his favorite toy.  Then there was the stream – oh what fun to run and splash in it!  After a couple of hours of running around like crazy, they crashed on the drive home, sleeping like logs...

Here are some photos from the day; videos will follow:

Debbie and Miki...

Running on 5/22/10 (they took first place on each run):

Debbie's Excellent Weekend...

Debbie competed in an agility trial on Saturday and Sunday – with Mo'i and Miki. The trial was local, down in Bonita at Rohr Park.

This was Miki's very first agility trial, so he was entered in the novice class. He was up against about 15 other dogs, and ran twice each day. The results: he took three first places, and would have had a fourth except for a bar he knocked off one jump. Many people were very surprised by Miki's stellar performance, including Debbie!

Mo'i had just one clean run out of the four, and he didn't place. But the “Q” was enough to put him back in first place for the trial year (June to June). He'd fallen behind as he was out of competition for months after his back surgery.

So Debbie had a most excellent agility weekend!

Miki and the Tennis Ball...

Miki is our two-year old field spaniel, the youngest of our gaggle; we still call him the “puppy.” He's still in the early phases of his training for agility competitions. One of the drills that Debbie uses to build drive and focus is also one of Miki's favorites. It's a simple game – Debbie puts Miki in a sit at her side, tells him to “stay.” Then she tosses the ball across the room, while Miki waits for permission to go. Once he's released, he tears off after the ball, brings it back, and gives it to Debbie. Then (and only then!) he gets his reward.

Watch the video to see Miki in action on the first part of this drill.

BTW, this little video was taken on my cell phone. I'm still having trouble wrapping my brain around that...

Miki Report

Miki is almost a year old — still very much a puppy, but also starting to mature into a “real” dog. He’s developing a very sweet personality, too.

Yesterday we took him along on a hike we took (more on that in a subsequent post). He had a wonderful time with all the new smells, and playing in the snow and ice. Whenever there was an icy patch in the road we were walking on (a frequent occurrence!), he’d head for it — apparently to delight in the sensation of slipping and sliding. Something we’ve noticed about Miki is that he seems to really, really hate losing his balance or being flipped over. Our other dogs all treat this as part of playing, but not Miki — he’ll resist any attempt to knock him over, and very effectively, too. This makes his delight in the ice all the more mysterious.

As you can see in the photos, he is developing into a very nice specimen of a field spaniel. About the only “ding” we can see is that his ears are shorter than most field spaniels (a breed noted for its long, droopy ears, accentuated by long, curly hair on them). Other than that, he’s just about perfect…

Puppy Time

Miki is now seven months old, which is kind of “early adolescence” on the doggie time scale. Think 13, 14 year old kid and you’d be about right. Daily we see him turning from a puppy into an adult dog.

Yesterday, on a short walk down to our mailbox and back, he did two very new things.

First, on the way back up the hill from the mailbox, he suddenly stood stock-still and stared intently into the sky. I was watching him, not the sky, so I didn’t see at first what he was looking at. I noticed that whatever he was looking at seemed to be standing still, and that it had his complete attention. My guess at that point is that he was watching a bird preening on the telephone pole, or something along those lines. Then he abruptly sat down, threw his head straight up, closed his eyes, and commenced a full-throated howling that would have made any coyote proud. I looked up to see what he was looking at — and of course it was the moon. In broad daylight the moon (about half full) wasn’t very conspicuous, but it had Miki’s full attention. He howled for several minutes, while I laughed at him. It was very cute, but … after a minute or so, tiresome. Plus I worried that our neighbors a mile or so away might not think this 400 decibel howling was cute. Finally I got him distracted, and we continued toward home.

Where we had our second adventure and new experience for the day.

In our fenced yard, I took Miki off his leash to play fetch with him. I used an unopened pine cone, rolling it down our driveway for Miki to chase and catch, and proudly bring it back to me so I could throw it for him again. If only people were so easy to please! On what I was planning to be the last toss, perhaps the 20th of the day, Miki took off after the bouncing pine cone as ususal, running straight down the driveway. But then he started curving off to the left, and he sped up until he was going startlingly fast — and ahead of him was a rabbit, running for its life. Miki caught the rabbit and dispatched it within seconds in a very … professional … way, very matter-of-factly. Then he ran back after the pine cone and returned it to me, ready for me to toss it again.

We have two adult field spaniels (Mo’i and Lea) who have been trying to catch rabbits for years. It’s their favorite sport, and sometimes with think the rabbits enjoy teasing our dogs by staying safely out of reach. Mo’i has been spotted with a couple of dead rabbits, but we suspect those were either already dead when he found them, or there was something wrong with them, as we’ve watched Mo’i easily outpaced and fooled by the rabbits many, many times. Miki, on the other hand, ran down a perfectly healthy adult rabbit running at full tilt. The little guy is fast.

This gets the ponder going… Will he keep that speed on the agility course? If he does, he’s going to be a formidable competitor…

Miki Journal

Miki is our brand-spanking new, 10 week old male field spaniel puppy. Very early this past Sunday morning, we brought Miki home, after an epic trip to pick him up from his breeder (Sheila Miller). He’s now been with us for four days and nights, has gotten to know myself, my lovely wife Debbie, our other two field spaniels (Mo’i and Lea), and most our nine cats. Lots of progress in just a few days. And a most amazingly different experience with our first two field spaniel puppies. For starters, Miki is not making any fuss at night, and we still haven’t had a single “accident” in the house. The experience with Miki is profoundly different, and in entirely positive ways.

If you knew our first two puppies, you’d wonder how this could possibly be. Their heart-rending screams on the first night we had them home and in their crates were impossible for us to withstand — they slept on the bed with us within a few minutes, and the crates were completely forgotten. Our experience with Lea and “accidents” was so vivid that when we bought our new home we made sure we had waterproof padding beneath our all-synthetic carpets — and we were very glad of that when we brought Mo’i home. Neither of them took long to house-train, but in the interim their “production” was prodigious. And emotionally they had us completely wrapped around their little paws. I’m sure they laugh about it even today…

The difference: sticking with the crate training. That’s really the only significant thing we’re doing differently.

Miki made it easy for us on the first night — we put him in his crate, put the crate on a chair in our bedroom (so he could see us), and he settled down after just a few minutes of heart-rending shrieks. I’m not sure if it was our prior experience, Debbie’s much higher level of motivation (she wants Miki trained right for agility), or the glasses of wine we had before bed — but somehow this time we made it through drama boy’s piteous performance. After that, he just shut up and went to sleep. Just like that. And we had a night of peace, as we have each night since. During the day, he spends quite a bit of time in his crate. Miki clearly thinks of it as “his” home; he often goes in voluntarily while playing, and curls up for some rest. Once, one of our cats (Maka Lea) had occupied his crate in his absence, and the discovery of him in there was a shocking and upsetting event for poor little Miki — you could almost hear him say “But but but that’s MINE! Get your sorry, hairy, feline butt out of my crate!” Each time we take Miki out of the crate, we take him immediately outside to do his business — which usually he is quick to do, and much relieved for having done so. Then it’s back inside for some training and some play, then back into the crate he goes (with a little treat as a reward).

Crate training works. We’re believers now, and kicking ourselves for not having perservered with Mo’i and Lea. Sigh.

Miki has started to learn some important lessons already. He’s learned that if you get right in the face of a 45 pound adult male field spaniel, you’re going to get a terrifying set of jaws snapping back at you. He’s learned that if he bites mom or dad too hard, a piercing shriek loud enough to roll you over in a couple of backwards somersaults will be your reward. And he’s learned that if he acts in a manner that any cat deems unacceptable, he’ll hear a demonic hiss that is followed posthaste by the supersonic swipe of a fully-clawed feline paw. In other words, little Miki is learning that the world has some boundaries. He also seems to be just barely beginning to grasp the notion that if he does something that mom or dad likes — or asks for — that a tasty snack is the result. Miki really, really likes those tasty little snacks, too <smile>.

The training of the new owners (Debbie and I) started last night, with the first session of the badly mis-named “Puppy Class”. It really should be called “Remedial Puppy Owner Class” or some such thing; that would be much more accurate. We’re learning how we should behave in order to seduce our puppy into behaving the way we want him to. The instructor, using small words that could be understood by any average California adult (e.g., 3 letters or less), carefully described the basic theory of “puppy training”. So far as I could tell, it all boils down to this: place chunks of the very best corn-fed Iowa beef somewhere between where the puppy is now, and where you want him to be. Each chunk should be approximately one-half the size of the puppy. With a series of a few hundred such bribes (per hour), the puppy will be happy to do whatever you want him to do, until he gets full. I figure we’ll need somewhere between 7 and 9 Angus per week for starters; more when Miki grows up.

To be continued…

The rest of the pictures (click on the small pictures for a larger version):