Three Stars and a Wish...a new Sagan blog tradition

Alright, so it is no secret I'm a worrywart when it comes to my freckled friend.  I decided I would start a new tradition each week...and it is a school thing...three stars and a wish.  Since we had a great class tonight at agility, I thought I would start with this class:

Three Stars:

• Sagan actively tugged obnoxiously today on TWO toys. (Thanks Andrea).
• Sagan went in his kennel with no fuss in class (first time he was contained in the flimsy twisti-kennel) (Thanks Andrea)
• Sagan was able to redirect his attention to me after really reacting to the setup where there were 5 dogs actively circling, going through the chute, with hooping/hollering going on.  After 2 rounds of him burning the leash through my hand to react to every running dog...I GOT HIM ON MY TUG TOY!!!!!  And even better, he was able to work when it was his time to work.  I think I could kiss him, but he might break my teeth if I do, so..... (Thanks Andrea!)

A Wish:

• That Sagan learn how quickly how to show some restraint and self control in a pretty typical agility environment:  dogs actively engaged and moving.

Tonight, we did some contact work, chute, left/right turn, close/side, and a couple of sample tight turns...

Some pics are coming up...Sagan gets to see TWO of his litter this weekend!  Rye and Ben will be down at Fido's Farm.  Awesome.!

Updates on Sagan after a long break!

Yeah, so the new school year always eats up a lot of my time (I do have to teach, after all).

Sagan is doing well.  I have not updated his socialization log in some time, but much of it is the same.  USUALLY, he does not go ballistic with strangers.  We continue to have the odd bad interaction (he growled at a girl at one of my runs....  snarfled at someone in a parking lot).  But he also has moments of loveliness....running up to someone, tail wagging, able to stand in a crowd full of people waiting for a run to start.  He is making progress, but still requiring vigilance on my part.

In terms of activities, I've turned into a soccer Mom.  Here is Sagan's current schedule:

• Tuesday night:  Pre-agility fun and focus with Andrea Dexter with Agilityflix.  Classes for the winter being held at NW Paws at Play.
• Wednesday night:  Agility foundations class with Sandra Katzen at Vortex Agility.
• Sunday afternoon:  Rally obedience with Monique Feyrecilde at Seattle Agility Center
• One day a week:  swim with Tracy at Rema's dog therapy pool
• At least one day a week:  2-3 mile run with me.

I guess right now, I am most thrilled with his progress in rally obedience.  He is still a puppy and has some attention issues, but he is turning left like crazy right now.  I think he is doing really well.  In the past 2 weeks, he has held TWO 5-minute downs the whole time.  I am reinforcing like crazy, but I am walking away from him, and there are distractions.  GOOOO SAGAN.

I am most anxious about his progress in pre-agility.  He will tug and fetch like CRAZY at home, but it takes me way too much effort to get him engaged on toys in public environments.  He is soft to people pressure and finds these environments overwhelming (not shocking).  I've worked him a couple of times taking him to Argus Ranch.  Last time (September), I got him within 5 feet of the barn, laying down, with dogs and people walking past.  SCORE.  But in terms of using tug and fetch as rewards and training tools, we have a long way to go.  We start the agility foundation class on Wednesday, and I have decided (with Andrea's help) that we will focus on good treats there for now.

Can't believe he is coming up on 10 months old!  In a couple of months he will be on adult dog food.

Milestones:

• Ran his first 5K race with me on 10/1 with a crowd of about 100 people.
• Is  now jumping into the pool of his own accord to fetch and absolutely LOVES it.

By the way, people, it takes an army.  In addition to the folks mentioned above, thanks to Chris Haworth at Manners Unleashed, Cody Pollock for housesitting, Tracy Middleton for being Sagan's obedience instructor for 2 classes, and my husband for allowing me to have a third dog. :-)