Leg Weaving Trick

Teaching Kastle to weave between my legs as I walk. This is hard on so many counts. First, he had a tendency to chomp my hands as he came through (too high), I cleared that up by not holding anything in my hand and just asking for a nose-to-palm touch. Second, he's long and fast and I'm short, with short, stubby legs; logistically this is difficult for timing purposes. The video is rough, but I think he'll get the hang of it.

Obedience at the Park

Kastle was high as a kite at the park again today. Pinch was on but I had to do some harsh corrections paired with calming signal touching to get him to work properly. I may have to run him first, so he gets some energy out before asking him to heel properly. He muzzle punched me in the face twice (out of excitement, not aggression and it was barely brushing me, not slamming into me by any means), which is completely unacceptable.

Here is what the heeling (we also did sit and down out of motion and some recalls), looks like when he gets a hold of himself. I need to teach him a "real" left turn, he's starting to get too...well, good, at the crazy jumping left turn so I need to quit doing that until he knows how to turn.

Here is the correction video. It is broken down for critique. I firmly believe that with a high drive, non-soft dog such as Kastle, the best and most clear way to make him understand what I want and what is unacceptable is to pair clear, quick and precise corrections with calming touch and praise at the right moments.

Down Training

Introduced a new demand to Kastle's training. It is something that is mandatory for SAR training and the one thing I struggled with Mason the most with. The Down on Recall. Kastle nailed it, first time learning it. Then I started tossing food and down him on the way (like the Voraus). He did wonderfully! I started working on his long down too, about 3-4 minutes total with me sometimes out of sight, going up the stairs and swinging back by for food reinforcement for holding position. Very happy with that! I worked some on his back up as well.

New Muzzle

During protection, a club member caught Kastle biting the bars of his crate :-( Apparently he can hold himself together during tracking and obedience, not during the noise and contagious excitement of protection. So, he had to wear his new muzzle. It fits really well and definitely does the job. He cannot pant with a fully open mouth with it on, but in order to be able to do that, the base would have to be wide enough and then he can fit a foot in there = more problems. He pouts but he seems to be getting more used to it. I snuck up on his crate while he was waiting for his next turn and he was just laying there, smelling the wind and enjoying the beautiful day. The place I ordered the muzzle from will be using his photos for their advertisement so that's really neat.

Back to Schutzhund Training!!

Now we're back to SchH training too! :-D Since Kastle will not be participating in protection for quite awhile yet, I track in the morning, do obedience and then pull him out for several rounds of obedience in the road while everyone else does protection. This makes sure he is good and tired on the drive home and gives us a lot of time to train together - which we both love.

This week we added a pinch correction. Why? Because when I tried to heel like we had been doing for his whole life on the full field, he was Out. Of. Control. Forging, snapping, jumping, even swinging completely out of position. I had to put the ball back in my armpit and even then, ugly. After that hideous session, we took him out to the road and taught him the appropriate way to heel. Then after several successful lessons like that, moved back onto the field. So far, so good.

Jason believes that Kastle's drive is coming up, peaking or spiking right now, at 10 months. It's like handling a different dog. I am interested to see what he will turn out as.

New Tricks

I'm teaching Kastle to back up, just something I want him to learn. After he gets a handle on that, I am going to put his Stand on verbal and finish up his flip finish. I am also tightening up his box turn. Lies got us a pallet so I raised the pushboard up, set it up at a steeper angle, and then put the jumpboard in front of it. I think it should work well to tighten his turn up and get consistently all four feet high on the box.

Back to Serious Training!

So glad to be back to training with Kastle :-D We worked on heeling today. Our goal was to fade the ball in the armpit and use my new training vest (used, new to me). I also played around with sending him around one temporary blind. He did pretty well.

We went from ball lure in arm pit to ball lure hidden in front, chest pocket. I don't like how this is making his heeling look - he's forging and crowding a little and seems to be messing with his foundation in terms of positioning. I think I want to switch where I hide it up and then make him stay where he needs to be. I am happy with his pace and prance and I like how clear he is on the reward though. More heeling/training photos are HERE.

He's a springy little thing.

Check out that turn!

The video:

Back to Flyball!

Now that Kastle's mouth is healed up, he got to come to flyball training this week! :-) Unfortunately, it has been so long since his tennis ball training (to ignore loose tennis balls), I was pretty sure he wouldn't remember it at all. But, he surprised me. He did really, really well. I only lost him once or twice and we tested him fairly well (tossing tennis balls towards him, leaving them on the racing mat, kicking them while he was watching etc). I'm proud.

We worked on runbacks over the jumps first, then we started to build up the whole sequence again. He's dropping the ball and his turns on the box are a little loose and lazy so some things to work on :-)

Family Picture (10 months)

Love my kids :-D

Tongue shot

10 Months Old

Kastle is 10 months old. I am really pleased with his development so far. He's so so patient when I stack him, which is good because he has a show coming up!

 Frontal/Head shots.

Wink!

I particularly liked this litter that I got Kastle from because of Ike (drive, personality and temperament) and his sire is a dog whose structure I particularly like. I like my dogs more square, stocky and muscular. Kastle is shaping up awesome so far :-D

Family Picture with Cardis!

The usual hassle trying to get everyone in position, looking forward, and being good. But, we finally managed!

Other attempts are HERE.

Kastle, why do you make this face....

Muzzle is OFF!!!!!!

Kastle's muzzle got to come off today (supposed to officially come off tomorrow morning but tonight seemed close enough!). The first thing he did was grab a bone and lay down for a good chew!

Here is what his mouth is looking like these days (click collage to make bigger).

The individual teeth shots are HERE.

Time with Mom

Jason is out of town for two days so it's just me and my kids (and Finn). Eden and Kastle get to sleep with Mom for these two nights and they seem to be feeling very privileged :-)

Skunk/Peroxide Ear Reaction

Seems that Kastle had some sort of reaction to the skunk spray...or the peroxide bath, or both. His ear is dry and flaky and VERY itchy. Poor guy. When are things going to start looking up for him?!

He's itching it bloody so I've started to melt Coconut Oil and smear that in there. That seems to be helping a lot!

Walking with Corgis

Took Kastle for a walk with the Cardigans today. They are so cute bracketing either side of the big, bad German Shepherd :-D

Walk with Midas

Another long walk with Kastle with my favorite Lab, Midas!!! We had a wonderful time :-) Especially nice for Kastle after his rough night...Before the walk, I spent about an hour brushing out the mats under his ears. They are caused by the muzzle roughing up his ear fluffs and are a TERRIBLE hassle to get through. :-( I hate and he hates it and we both end up hot, irritated and tired after so the walk was a nice, refreshing change!

Skunked

Kastle's medication for his mouth makes him have to pee more often. I also get up often in the middle of the night so I've been in the habit of letting him out to potty at the same time. This morning he lunged after what I thought was a cat in our driveway, I called him off quickly, he peed and came right back into the house. At which point I realized it was not a cat...but a skunk. *sigh* Kastle smelled so horrible, I almost could not detect it at first and I already had him in the living room when I realized. Plus, the stupid thing hit the side of the house (by the kitchen/entry) and the Element. I popped Kastle in the basement and then started to Google around (and check my trusty GSD forums!) for advice. I found this recipe:

1 quart of 3% hydrogen peroxide
1/4 cup of baking soda
1 teaspoon of liquid soap

 Mix this up at the time of use (the mixture must be fresh to work properly). Pour or sponge it on dog. Knead it well into his coat. Be careful to keep the formula out if the dog's eyes, nose and mouth; you can use a sponge to carefully wipe it onto his/her face. Let it sit five minutes then rinse with plain water. Becareful not to get it in the dogs eyes. Cover them with a wash cloth if needed. If a second dose is needed mix a new batch from scratch. The mixture reacts with the chemicals in the skunk spray and oxidizes them. If the mixture is not fresh, the reaction will not work. Do Not Store leftover shampoo.

I got the idea off of THIS website. The recipe was referenced more than once by people that had used it so I thought "why not?". It worked AWESOME. I smeared vaseline over his eyes and around his nose and was VERY careful to not get it in his mouth. I left it on for the 5 minutes and by the end, when I was rinsing him off, I could not smell a thing. He was extra poofy and dark though. So thankful for this! The rest of the house, however, REEKS. We have candles burning, windows open and fans blowing.

 

Chewed Muzzle

Today while I was picking up the house some, I heard Kastle throw a fit in his crate in the basement. When I went to see what the problem was, I found him with his muzzle half-on and half-off. He had managed to pull it off enough to get the top part in his mouth while the bottom part stayed on around his lower jaw. He had gnawed on the top part nose-piece and ate the leather buffer and part of the plastic was sharp and pointed. :-( The side with his injury. I fixed it up with electrical tape for the time being but the base is so big, he can get his feet in there and pull it off. I can't get a smaller generic one because then his nose is too long. I am ordering a new one, built specifically with for German Shepherd shaped faces.

Walking with Nikon

Since Kastle can't get much exercise via training/playing these days, I have been taking him on a lot of nice, long walks. Today's walk was with Lies, Jason, Poppy and Nikon. Nikon is a dog-intolerant dog and he was very tolerant of Kastle today. :-) Kastle kept trying to rub his muzzle off on Nikon and Nikon would grumble but that was it. They did wonderfully. I prefer my dog to walk on walks and not try to play or interact with the others on the walk. Kastle is really doing well.

Park with Friends

Kastle's been cooped up for so long with no training, no toys, no chews, no tugging, no playing with others...no fun. Today we brought him to the park and met with Lies and her dog so that he could at least run around. I kept him muzzled so that he could not play with his mouth or pick things up etc. He despises the muzzle but it keeps him safe and he did still get to exercise.

Pouty muzzle-head before play time.

Playing with the crew.

 After a bit, he realized he could run around without having to constantly stop to rub his muzzle.

Part of the group (the only part with down stays LOL).

The rest of the photos are HERE (click link to go to set).

Kastle's New...Bling...

Temporary solution until we can figure out what to do about Kastle's mouth.

He's not thrilled but if it helps...