Fall Canine Camp

After having so much fun with Roo at The Canine Center for Training and Behavior's Spring Canine Camp, I definitely didn't want to miss Fall Canine Camp! But we couldn't miss work on Friday, so we went with the "Saturday Only" option.

Of course we have Wichita too now so it worked out perfectly that Jeff could go too- 2 people and 2 dogs!

We left the house at 6:30am on Saturday morning and drove out past Wimberly to 7A Ranch. It was a little hard to find in the dark, but eventually we made it and got checked in. We had breakfast and signed up for morning activities while the dogs hung out in the car. Then we walked around and explored the ranch for awhile. It's a pretty cool place, they have some guest rooms, an old west main street with small buildings including a cowboy museum and a real ice cream parlor. We walked down to the Blanco River too, but it was too cold for swimming.

Our first activity of the morning was lure coursing. Roo has run lure a few times at the Canine Center. Wichita and Comet (the other dog in our group) had never done it before. So trainer Shari had Roo go first to show the other dogs how it's done. Roo ran a couple of laps and Wichita freaked out! Shari was sure he was watching the lure move and wanted to chase it, not barking & whining at Roo. Either way, she had Jeff unclip Wichita so he could run and suggested we let Roo run with him, since the dogs know each other, she thought Roo might show Wichita what to do. Wichita did not need a teacher. He LOVED chasing the lure, and Shari was impressed by how fast he was! There were a lot of the super sharp grass burs in the lure area, and unfortunately, Roo kept getting them stuck in his paws. He always stops moving when he gets a grass bur and waits for me to get it out, so he stopped on the course a few times, while Wichita just kept on going. For some reason, Wichita barely picked up any grass burs and poor Roo was getting all of them. They got about 4 turns on the lure course and ran a few laps each time. Shari noticed that they were working together to chase the lure, which was pretty fun to see. Our one true failure at Canine Camp was that Jeff and I did not take any pictures or videos of the boys on the lure course. It was so fun and impressive, but I can't show any of you. I already knew that Roo really enjoys lure, but it made me so happy to see that Wichita clearly loves it!

Since I failed to get pictures, here's a random internet picture of a lure coursing machine and lure (the white plastic bag)

We still had a little time left before the next activity, so we went over to the tracking station for a few minutes and trainer Jyl showed us the very basics of laying a track and getting your dog to follow it. Since we only had a few minutes, I'm not sure if  either dog really picked it up well or not. But Jeff and I learned a little bit and can test it out at home now.

Our second session was field first aid with Dr. Zimmer. The dogs didn't enjoy that nearly as much as lure, since they just had to sit and listen. But Jeff and I found the information very helpful, especially since we like to hike and plan to go backcountry hiking/camping with the pups next summer. Dr. Zimmer talked about overheating & heat exhaustion, hypothermia, snake bites, cuts, bloat, and a few other issues.

Then it was time for lunch and a little more exploring of the property. We also got Wichita to jump an agility jump for the first time ever, we didn't realize this would be useful later.

Roo demonstrating the jump for Wichita

Wichita says "oh, this is easy"

Our next activity was hiking. Again, Roo and I had done quite a bit of canicross hiking at Spring Canine Camp, so I knew what to expect. I loaded Roo's pack with 4 full bottles of water and put it on him. Shari had a pack for Wichita to wear but we left it empty since he's not used to wearing a pack yet. We put on our hip belts and hooked up our canicross lines. We pretty much just walked around the ranch and down to the river and back since 7A Ranch doesn't have any real off road trails. We practiced commands like "Hike Up" to go, "Stop" to stop, "Easy" to slow down and "On By" to keep moving. We also practiced turns and swings. In canicross, the dog is supposed to be out in front and tow the person a little bit. In general, Roo is pretty good at it. We run this way quite a bit. Of course it was brand new to Wichita. It was also new to Jeff. I had told him all about it and how great it was after Spring Canine Camp, but getting to actually experience it makes all the difference! I heard Jeff tell Wichita, "Buddy, you're going to give me free extra mileage every day when we hike in Colorado". Wichita did fantastically as long as Roo was in front him and he wanted to catch up to Roo. Wichita was not so good at leading, but he'll learn.

When I saw the camp schedule, I didn't think Jeff would want to do "Advancing Your Nosework" with Wichita. I thought we'd swim or maybe Jeff & Wichita would do "Intro to Agility" but Jeff decided he wanted to try nosework with Wichita, even though it was the more advanced option. Inka the instructor was very nice about setting Jeff & Wichita up with 2 boxes to practice the "find the treat in the box" game. They went off to the side and practiced for awhile and next time Jeff & Wichita's turn came around, Wichita walked into the "harder than beginner but not quite advanced" course and found the proper box like a pro! By the end of an hour and a half nosework class, Wichita was trying to sniff around and look into every box he saw! Roo really enjoys nosework too, and for as little as we've done, he seems to be pretty good at it. Nosework is the next 6 week class I want to take at the Canine Center...with both dogs now.

Wichita working his nose like a pro

Roo working to find the scent, Wichita watching intently

Roo says, "I found it!!"

Everyone at camp participated in the Kidnapping Mystery. All the campers and their dogs were divided into teams. We had a great team: Me/Roo, Jeff/Wichita, Marla/Kona, Amy/Greta, Lory/Kida, and the one girl I didn't already know whose name I have already forgotten and her dog Brindle. Wichita was definitely the least experienced dog on our team. We knew we'd rotate through stations to find clues about who got kidnapped, who did it, why, and where the victim was taken. The stations would involve agility, retrieving, nosework, and air scenting.

We were at the air scenting station first, all 6 dogs did really well and we got all 7 clues there. We strategized so the dogs with more air scenting experience went first and those with no experience then just had to follow where the other dogs had been and it worked well for us. Even Wichita found Jackie's hiding spot with no problems. Since this was our first station, we weren't quite sure how the clues worked.

our air scenting station clues

We looked at clues and thought "maybe the kidnapper is an opera singer" Then someone turned around, looked at the Opera House behind us and went..."hey! maybe the place is the Opera House!" YES!!!

Of course it's the Opera House!

Our next station was agility, it was by far the toughest station. Each dog had to run a short agility course, you got a clue for a clean run, time did not matter. We had 3 or 4 dogs with a decent amount of agility experience and Wichita was the only one who had never done any agility. I took Roo through very slowly to make sure he hit every weave pole and didn't knock down any jump bars. Brindle had lots of agility experience, but her owner couldn't slow her down enough to get a clean run, which was a little sad because clearly she's an awesome agility dog. I was super impressed by Jeff & Wichita. Jeff had never taken a dog through an agility course (he has watched me run Roo many times, but never done it himself) and Wichita had never even seen most of the agility equipment before. Jeff took him through slowly and they got a clean run! Awesome! We got 4 of the 7 clues at the agility station.

a dog bowl and some small clothing...not so obvious

Our clues weren't so obvious this time. By the time we left agility, we thought maybe the kidnappee was a small dog who wears a visor.

On to the nosework station. For this one, we had the most experienced dogs go last, since there were 7 clues to find, the first dog had the best chance and the last dog would have to find the very last clue. All the dogs found their clues no problem, although Roo took a long time, he was second to last and "found" all the clues that had already been found before actually finding a new one. Our best Nosework dog, Greta, found the last clue in about 2 seconds!

We got all 7 clues here too and decided the motive for the kidnapping was love/heartbreak, but the Charlie Brown shirt confused us at first...then we decided that maybe Snoopy was the kidnappee and one of the Peanuts girls did it because she loved Charlie Brown. But which one loved Charlie Brown? They were all so mean to him! Lucy? Peppermint Patty? Marcy? Sally? Definitely NOT Sally, she was Charlie Brown's sister.

We'll figure it out at the retrieving station. Roo was deemed our ringer for retrieving, so we went last. Each dog took a turn going into the fenced area to find a "clue" pick it up and bring it out to the owner. Roo was the only dog on our team who loves to retrieve, so it was tough for most of the dogs. Wichita took a turn and went into the clue area and just stood there and looked at Jeff, didn't even sniff at the clues, and they were mostly fun "clues" like a rope toy, a football, a baseball, a stuffed toy, etc. Kida was the most fun. She went into the area and after some looking around, picked up the football. Lory called her, Kida stopped, looked at Lory, dropped the football, and went to Lory. She sent her in after the football again, Kida picked it up, ran around with it and dropped it again. Finally with all of us calling and encouraging her, Kida came out of the fence WITH the football, and we all cheered! Roo walked into the area, picked up a small stuffed Paddington Bear toy and brought it out to me immediately...he really does favor his Labrador genes. There was a little pepper shaker attached to the Paddington Bear so that confirmed the answer for me. I looked at Marla and held up the pepper and went "PEPPERmint" then held up Paddington Bear and said "PADDY". Marla said "YEAH!"

We told Shari that our answer was that Peppermint Patty kidnapped Snoopy because she loves Charlie Brown and she hid him in the Opera House. We were correct, so we qualified to choose one dog from our team to compete with one dog from the other qualifying teams to go find Snoopy in the Opera House. I told my team, if it's a stuffed Snoopy toy, Roo will definitely find it and carry it back, so they chose Roo to represent the team. We took off toward the Opera House with the other teams and went to check the women's restroom at the Opera House. Roo is sometimes nervous about going into small, dark, enclosed spaces. He got very nervous (plus I had no idea if Snoopy was in there anyway), so we turned around and kept looking. A few minutes later, Whiskey (and his owner) came out of the women's restroom carrying a big stuffed Snoopy toy and looking very proud of himself! DARN IT! We may not have won, but we had so much fun with the Kidnapping Mystery!

Next up was the Doggie Costume Contest. I had spent the week before camp making and testing Roo & Wichita's "SCUBA Dog" costumes. I didn't realize we'd have to parade down Main Street in the costumes! Everyone laughed at the poor SCUBA Dogs trying to walk in their fins! We got lots of comments on how cute they looked, how creative their costumes were and Jyl said that I put too much effort into these things :)  There were lots of other awesome costumes too. Judi & Poppi dressed as 20's flappers, the pair of Great Pyrenees were the Coke polar bears, Marla & Kona were rodeo clowns, there was a Ragedy Ann & Andy, a unicorn, a Hello Kitty and a few other great costumes. The Great Pyrenees Coke Polar Bears won the costume contest by popular applause. Unfortunately, I didn't get pictures of any of the dogs in costume except Roo & Wichita.
A few pictures of my SCUBA Dogs: 

Jeff and I were starving by dinner time. We fed Roo & Wichita and left them in the car to nap while we went inside for a dinner of roast chicken, garlic mashed potatoes, salad, and pumpkin cheesecake bars (Pumpkin Crack as Jane called them).

I knew how much Roo would enjoy Canine Camp and I knew I would thoroughly enjoy watching him work and learn. I wasn't sure how it would go for Wichita since we've only had him 7 weeks, he's still pretty new to us. We're still learning and figuring out his likes, dislikes, and abilities. Wichita seriously impressed us! He was a champ at lure; he seemed to pick up and enjoy canicross hiking; he loved nosework; and he did shockingly well at air scenting and agility in the kidnapping mystery.

Canine Camp

Many of you helped Roo and I go to Canine Camp by "liking" this picture on facebook and helping us win part of our camp entry fees, so I thought I should tell you all about it.

Thanks for voting for me!!

The Canine Center for Training and Behavior holds Canine Camp every year (this was year 7 I think) at Lazy Hills Retreat & Conference Center outside Ingram. Lazy Hills is 750+ acres and TCCTB brings all their stuff for every single class they normally teach at the center. You can do basic skills training, manners, tricks, Canine Good Citizen training, Lure, Air Scenting, Confidence Building, Agility, Tracking, Rally, Ttouch, Yoga with your dog, Nosework, Fieldwork, Dog Powered Sports, Swimming & kayaking, seminars on first aid, nutrition, toy making, etc. The possibilities are endless. When they sent the schedule of classes the week before camp, I spent hours deciding what to do and when! This was going to be Big Fun!!

The night before we left, I told Jeff, "I really hope I'm not setting myself up for disappointment, I have pretty high expectations for this being a ton of fun, I feel like it'll be hard for it to be as good as I expect"...

I took Thursday afternoon (and Friday) off from work and Roo and I headed west at about 1:30, so traffic wasn't too bad leaving Austin. I don't love driving long distances (some might say 2 hours isn't that long, but it's pretty long for me!) so I planned a few fun stops along the way.

Heading to Camp!

First stop Wildseed Farms. If you know me, you know I love this place.

pictures in the big red flowers

more pictures with the flowers with my mom

I realized my phone was almost dead despite being plugged in the entire drive, so next stop was the AT&T store in Fredericksburg for a new phone charger.

helping my mom get a new phone charger

Then on to Jack & Adam's to say hi to owner Josh and meet his new dog Remy. But Remy was away at boarding school and Josh was on his way to Galveston for the half Ironman over the weekend.

I didn't get to meet Remy at J&A

On to Kerrville and dinner at Grape Juice, where Roo got a lot of attention.

Can I please have some?

We spent Thursday night at By the River RV park & Campground, I had never been there, and it's a beautiful place! There was a waterfall right by our campsite!

Our campsite, Turtle Falls

Turtle Falls

Friday morning we explored at the campground a little then headed out to Lazy Hills for Canine Camp! I had 2 goals for Canine Camp. Roo has been afraid to swim and nervous about kayaking with me. So I really wanted him to learn to enjoy swimming and kayaking during camp. I was really disappointed at check in/sign up when the first swimming & kayaking class was already full. I hadn't planned an alternate class for that time, since swimming & kayaking was our main objective. I asked trainer Shari what we might like to do instead. She suggested Hunting Instinct Testing. So that's what we signed up for instead. We got checked in to our room and unpacked, then it was time for lunch, so Roo hung out in his crate in the room and I went to lunch. I'm not sure what I had expected, but for whatever reason, I assumed the food for the weekend would be just ok, but I was very pleasantly surprised! The food all weekend, was really good! I brought lots of snacks and I don't think I ate any of them.

Our first class after lunch was Nosework. That's where the dog finds a hidden scent. Roo seemed to like it and was pretty good at it. A couple of times trainer Julie set up a course with lots of boxes and the scent in one, I'd walk into the area and think she would tell me to let Roo start searching, but Roo had already found the right box!

Nosework is fun!

Our next class was the Hunting Instinct with trainer Jane (also the owner of TCCTB). Each dog would follow Jane's German shorthaired pointer hunting dog on a ranging run and she'd see if the new dogs showed any interest in finding game. Roo did flush out a bird at one point, but we agreed he had no idea he'd done it. He had a ton of fun bounding through the tall grass and brush with Jane's dog. Toward the end I asked Jane what she thought, she asked what our goals were. I said "I don't hunt, I just wanted to see if this was something Roo might enjoy". She replied "he clearly enjoys running around out there" Haha! Jane is definitely a "tell it like it is" person. Since we were first to go, Jane said we could watch the other dogs or go do something else. So we took off to go see what else we could do. I noticed that some of the kayaks were not being used, so we raced up the hill to the room, I grabbed swimming stuff and we ran over to the swimming lake. Pam was in charge of swimming & kayaking so she was happy to see us and helped us get in a kayak right away. Roo got in without any trouble, but he was scared while I paddled around. Not as scared as the first time I took him in Austin, but still not enjoying it. So we got out to try some swimming. This was really my biggest goal for camp. Roo loves playing at the edge of the water, but he'd been very afraid to get deeper than he can touch. So we put a life jacket on Roo, I knew he could swim without one, but I thought it would help him be less afraid.

I like this life jacket!

Then Pam, Shari and I got in the water along with Shari's dog Madame Curie and told Roo how much fun it is to swim! I wish there was video, we were being silly, offering treats, and encouraging like crazy, and at first Roo was having NONE of it! Shari was giving Curie treats and saying "dogs who swim get treats!"in a sing-songy super happy voice. Roo was super jealous! Finally he got in and swam out to us, then swam right back where he could touch, but that was really all it took!! He did that a few more times, with all of us praising him and telling him how awesome he was. Then he found a big stick so I threw that in the water and he went out to get it, I threw it further and further until he was swimming out pretty far! Then I took the life jacket off to see if he would swim without it- No problem at all! I was SO HAPPY!!!  That's really all I had wanted from camp was to get Roo to enjoy swimming. I must have said a million times "Roo, you're making me so happy!!" and "Roo you're the best dog in the whole world!" It was awesome!!

swimming!!

Canine Camp is on a schedule so we had to get out of the water so I could go to a Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture seminar. On the way up the hill, I ran into Jane I told her "Roo and I don't have hunting goals, but we do have swimming goals, and Roo can swim now! I'm so happy!!!" She probably thought I was crazy getting so excited that my Labrador can swim :)  Roo took a nap while I learned about Chinese medicine and acupuncture. It was really interesting. I really like this kind of stuff especially after our experiences with Katie and her cancer. Dr. Carolyn Love taught the class, and I definitely know who to go to if we ever need that type of help for Roo!

Next we had another opportunity for swimming & kayaking, yay! This time Roo got right onto the kayak and acted like he loved it!! Again, I was SO HAPPY!!! Seriously, I had 2 goals for Canine Camp and we accomplished them both before dinner on day 1!! Then Pam put Roo in a life jacket again so we could practice the "if your dog jumps in the water from the kayak, this is how you get him back in". That didn't work so well, when Roo jumped in, he swam straight to shore, so we'll have to work on that.

I'm the captain!

By dinner time, I was STARVING!  And the food was so good! spaghetti (with zucchini noodles as an option), turkey meatballs, salad, and brandied apples with ice cream for dessert- YUM! Of course I was telling everyone how happy I was that Roo had become a swimmer and kayaker and those were my main missions for camp!  After dinner the trainers sat around the pool and answered questions and told stories, it was really interesting and fun, but I couldn't stay too long, I was super tired from such a fun day!

Saturday morning started with a breakfast of frittata, hash browns, bacon and fruit. Roo & I had an active morning planned so I was not skimpy with my portions! First was Dog Powered Sports with trainers Shari and Pam. At first I wasn't 100% sure I wanted to do this with Roo, but it ended up being great! The idea is you can teach your dog to pull you while running/hiking or on a bike or scooter. At first Roo wasn't so into it. He runs with me a lot and he knows he's supposed to run BESIDE me NOT out in front of me. Shari explained to me that he'll get the idea that when he's wearing a towing harness, he's ALLOWED to pull, and when he's wearing his walking harness he is NOT allowed to pull. Shari decided that since Roo likes to be beside me, it was best to have me run out in front of him at first and let him tow someone else. This was a ton of fun and I think Roo and I both got pretty tired out! Pam took this video:

An interesting note about TCCTB- they really specialize in reactive, aggressive, fearful dogs that people have a tough time training. Jack (the other dog in the video) couldn't get within 20 feet of another dog without freaking out. Jack and his owner are working hard on being calm and confident, and also on getting some energy out (hence dog powered sports) to make being calm easier. Roo doesn't realize that not every dog is friendly. But Roo came running to me after the video stopped, so there was no incident with the dogs.

Next up was a hike including some big hills, Shari was the lead trainer on this too, so Roo & I got to practice our canicross skills (dog out in front helping to "tow" you along). The hike was beautiful and I was really happy to learn about and practice canicross. Jeff and I like to backcountry hike and we plan to take Roo with us. Most backcountry trails are very narrow, so having Roo beside me isn't ideal. But canicross is perfect, and Roo seems to really enjoy it and understand the commands, so we'll definitely be doing more canicross!

great view from the top of the hill!

I decided we needed something a little less athletic after lunch, so we went to Ttouch with Kathy Cascade. Ttouch is really interesting and I knew nothing about it before camp. (I can't really explain Ttouch well, so if you want to learn about it, check out the links). It can help with almost any issue with your dog (fear, aggression, barking, pain, etc). I was hoping to get some methods to help with recovery for athletic dogs. She definitely gave me some touches and methods for that. But there were quite a few nervous dogs in my class so Kathy really focused on how to help dogs gain confidence. She used Roo as an example a couple of times and it was fun to watch how he moved around the confidence course. It was pretty amazing to see some of the very fearful dogs walking around the course with other dogs without freaking out.

Next up was a "break" for about an hour. I decided to take Roo kayaking again. They also had the zip line open and it goes right over the pond, so Roo watched the zip liners intently :) After a little while he actually laid down and fell asleep in the kayak. I wish I had pictures of that, but I do not. Then we went to Intro to Agility class. Roo has been doing agility at the Zoom Room for awhile, and I've been wanting to take him somewhere else to see how he would do in a different environment. Turns out he did really well!

waiting my turn at agility

waiting patiently to jump through the tire

To end Saturday's classes we went to Canine First Aid and CPR. I figured this is stuff I should know, especially for hiking in the backcountry. I now know Roo's normal pulse and respiration rates and other vitals, so I'll know when something is NOT normal. Trainer Shari showed us her dog first aid kit and gave us info on how to tell when something is an absolute emergency versus when you can wait to get to a vet or treat an issue at home. I also learned how to do CPR on a dog...I mean there wasn't a dog mannequin to practice on or anything, but Shari did demonstrate on a big stuffed dog.

Dinner Saturday was outside at the pavilion and it was a lot of fun. The chefs had been smoking meat all day, there was chicken, pork, sausage, potatoes, zucchini, eggplant, beans, cornbread, etc and it was all delicious! I heard a lot of people stayed out late "partying" at the pavilion...I was too tired for that!

I woke up about 5am on Sunday to a huge storm, I checked the radar on my phone and saw this and a tornado warning!

I thought, well at least we had tons of fun Friday and Saturday and learned and did everything we wanted and more. Roo and I sat on the porch and watched the lightening for awhile. I walked down to the dining hall for breakfast to find the power was out! They still managed to have cereal, yogurt, hard boiled eggs, sausage, fruit, and muffins for breakfast, pretty good for no power and we ate by candle and fireplace light!

watching the storm

By the time we finished breakfast the rain had mostly stopped, but it was cold and windy! Roo and I didn't let that stop us. We went to Agility Course Run class (more advanced agility than intro). Roo did much better than I expected! And trainer Julie took a ton of pictures for me :)

Tire!

Jump!

coming out of the tunnel!

Jump!

dog walk!

coming out of the tunnel FAST!

 Then Roo swam again :) I really love watching him swim out after a stick and swim back with it!

I love swimming!!

 I decided we should kayak one more time too. Pam took these pictures from a bridge over the water.

I love kayaking too!

Hi Pam!

We still had a little more time and Shari was doing another Dog Powered Sports class, so I grabbed canicross equipment and asked if we could go hiking on our own to see how Roo would do on the trails without another dog to follow. He did great and we were having so much fun that I was late getting back for lunch!

Sunday lunch was essentially the end of Canine Camp. I had no idea there would be a little closing ceremony with awards! So I was really surprised when Jackie (TCCTB manager) gave Roo and I the "More Fun Than Dirt" award! It's for the most fun/enthusiastic camper/dog team, so cool!!!

We definitely had More Fun Than Dirt!!

Jeff asked this awhile ago and I'm sure others wonder so here's the story behind "more fun than dirt". Lee Mannix was the dog trainer who originally opened TCCTB, he was pretty famous for being an amazing dog trainer especially with aggressive, fearful dogs. From what I understand he was a typical Texas country boy and very much a "tell it like it is" person. Jane told me over the weekend, "Lee Mannix always said (with a very thick accent!) 'if you can't be more fun fer yer dog than sniffin' the dirt, then I just can't help ya'" And we all know, sniffing the dirt can be a whole lot of fun for dogs! Hence, TCCTB's mission is to help dog owners be "more fun than dirt" for their dogs. Roo and I certainly had More Fun Than Dirt at Canine Camp! My concern that my expectations might be too high was completely unfounded, Canine Camp was actually even better than I expected!

Thank you to everyone at TCCTB and Lazy Hills for hosting an amazing Canine Camp! And thank you again to everyone who voted for Roo in the facebook contest!