Summertime......

and the livin' is easy!
Roxy, as well as Lilly and Sophie are exhausted from a weekend at the beach. We live right near the beach and go fairly often but we just spent a long weekend on the west coast where the kids didn't have to be leashed at all...not even to get to the beach. So it play time all the time. YAY!

Of course we did have to do a few "work" sessions but working on "recall", for example, on the beach is much more fun than in our usual training sites. They get to chase sticks and coconuts into the water, have wild zoomies and jump up and down off the banks of sand formed by the waves. Every once in a while I call them back and make them sit, down or finish and that's a quick training session that's fun for everyone.
We all had a blast!!

Halti's

We've resurrected the Halti from the bottom drawer of my desk and I'm happy to say we're having some success. The Halti looks like a halter for a horse and is designed for the handler to be able to redirect the dogs head, hence reestablishing focus on the handler.
You can read about the Halti here:Halti info It's a UK site but gives an in depth explanation. You can purchase them in many pet shops.
Anyway, I bought it ages ago and never really worked much with it. She did actually get used to it by wearing it around the house for a few days. Acclimating the dog to the Halti is important, otherwise you'll spend the majority of your training session trying to stop the dog from rubbing it off. Roxy hated it at first!

We're dealing with some leash aggression and I'm always needing to get Roxy's attention when another dog is approaching. She tends to tune me out and either stand stock still scoping out the other dog OR wanting to haul me over there. NOT acceptable.
My inspiration came from watching some podcasts HERE I was directed to by a fellow Dane lover. Now these podcasts seem like a plug for the Gentle Leader to me, but overlook that and look at the method and how the handler redirects the dog.
I'm very excited by Roxy's progress. Of course we're going through treats like there's no tomorrow but we'll start phasing those out when the reaction is more consistent.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

We won!

It was not in the Advanced Class!

It was NOT pretty!

The second day of the Tropical Treat Cluster went better than the first but again I had to pull her out of the Advanced class. Half way through, the brain shut off. The frustration of repeating a command while Roxy was looking to see what that Whippet over there was doing proved too much for me. I hate to watch people dragging their dogs around any class and I certainly didn't want to be one of those people you see who's voice escalates with each wrong move by the dog. Back to work we go!!
We won the Novice B class but it was NOT a pretty round. We had one retry and she never really was totally focused on me until the end of the course. She scored an 84 which is a qualifying score but I know she can, and has done better.
I've realized we need a lot more ring time AND it's definitely a handler error in the ring. Outside the ring, and I mean right next to the ring she did everything perfectly. Sam is my witness and even he couldn't believe it. Back to work in class and around town with all sorts of distractions.
Since I always believe in finishing on a positive note, even while blogging, I'll just let you know that we have also started agility training. This is proving to be fun for both of us and also gives us another venue to practice with lots of dogs and people around. I think this will give both of us some more confidence and help us in the long run.

Rally Advanced

YOU WANT ME TO DO WHAT??

Yesterday was the start of the Tropical Treat Cluster sponsored by the Caribbean Kennel Club and the Ponce Kennel Club. It's a four day show with conformation, obedience and rally.
I have Roxy entered in Rally classes Advanced A and Novice B. Advanced is the second level of Rally and all stations are performed off leash. I've also entered her in Novice B(for dogs or handlers with previous titles)for some more show experience. If you'll recall, we were having some problems with distractions and the whole show experience being totally overwhelming for her.
Well, yesterday was still quite overwhelming. I ended up pulling her out of the Advanced class only 4 stations into the course. Being off leash wasn't necessarily the problem, it was just that there are so many other very interesting things to see that I was having to ask her to do things like 3 times. Rather than start a bad habit of ignoring me, I decided to retire.
Novice B is on leash. She did an OK job, not brilliant by any means but not awful. I know she was fed up by then since we'd already been at the show for close to 3 hours. I have learned in the past that it's not good to over work her or practice too much and that she doesn't like to hang around. She kind of shuts down.
Today we are back to the show this afternoon and entered in the same classes. I plan on getting there quite late!
On a positive note, I did notice that she was much more relaxed during the show. I might not have had her full attention but she was not nervous or freaking as she was at the first show. Slooooooow progress.
Next week, we'll be back in class and back to work.

Way Too Much Fun!

We've just been having way to much fun lately to sit down at the laptop and write. Last week we celebrated Huey's 4th Birthday in fine style at El Morro.

The dogs had a great romp in the park and really wore themselves out. We've been having beautiful days with clear blue skies and a good stiff breeze. The temps are getting up there but it's still cool enough to run around during the day.
Everyone enjoyed pupcakes and cookies at our house and we opened presents too.


Roxy has been working hard getting ready for her next Rally show in which we will be competing in Advanced. This class is off leash so we're really trying to do a lot of proofing with distractions. She has attention issues still when other dogs are too close to her but she getting a lot better.
With all the nice weather we've been frequenting the beach and yesterday was the perfect day. The beach was empty and the water was calm and clear. Lilly was really wound up but took a break to show off for a moment.

Roxy spent most of her time investigating and retrieving coconuts.

They were all super energetic and really seemed jazzed up by the wind. Check out the ears flying!

Tomorrow, Roxy and Lilly are headed over to Huey's house to spend a few days while the humans jet off to Bocas del Toro, Panama for some sailing and diving. See ya next week and Happy Easter to you all.

Caribbean Great Dane Club Meet

After several years of inactivity within our club, Selena and I decided to take the bull by the horns and organize a Meet and Greet for the Danes in a local park. The weather was not the best but we were lucky enough to be able to use the big pavilion during the brief rain showers.
Initially we had 8 Danes and their owners as well as a few other people interested in learning more about the breed. We received a sponsorship from Royal Canin and raffled off dog food as well as giving away some puppy kits. We all chatted about our dogs and everyone got to know each other. All the dogs behaved really well and we were happy for a fair turnout.
Both Selena and I had to leave after a couple of hours and apparently missed a whole bunch of people. In good Puerto Rican fashion, the majority arrived VERY late. Luckily some other members of the club were still around so we were thrilled to have such a good response. Seems even more people are interested in regular meets and soon we will be appointing new officers so we can really get things moving.
So that's what's happening on our little island. DANES RULE!!

Planning a Meet

We're getting pretty excited down here in Puerto Rico. Caribbean Great Dane Club is planning its first Meet and Greet. Unfortunately our club has been inactive for the past couple of years so Selena and I decided to take matters into our own hands! We've planned a meet in a nearby park to be held on the 17th of February. Flyers have been put up, we've announced it on a couple of local boards, the canine calendar, and are in the process of arranging to have it announced on a local radio station. One of our older, more experienced members has offered to hold an open discussion on care and feeding of Danes. I've been fielding phone calls and emails and Selena has been in touch with several people at the Humane Society. We're over the moon at the response so far.
Our main goal of this meet is to contact as many Dane owners as possible just to get an idea of how many are actually out there. Our aim is to further education of the breed and promote proper care as well as discouraging improper breeding practices. Wish us luck!
You can see Roxy & Lilly-above-taking a break from our latest planning session.