These doggies jump, climb and leap

Image via Wikipedia

• 
  
  Videos
  
  
  

LAGUNA WOODS- Linda Samson has trained her dogs to jump, climb and leap through obstacles, all with lots of coaching, love and of course the occasional treat.

Samson, originally from South Africa, has lived in Laguna Woods Village with her husband for just over a year now, and since she retired she has more time to devote to her beloved pastime—dog agility training.

Samson has spent the last six years training two 12-13 pound rat terriers—Lexi, 7, and Surfer Girl, 5. Lexi has won the high honor of "Accomplished Performance Dog" by the U.S. Dog Agility Association (USDAA), and both have competed and won numerous competitions across the country.

Laguna Woods Village resident Linda Samson, with her two rat terriers, Surfer Girl, left, and Lexi. Samson trains the award-winning dogs in many dog agility competitions across the country--but Samson says it's just plain fun.

"I've always wanted to do it," she said of dog agility training. "It's been a lifelong ambition of mine. I've always loved animals and I love training animals."

Dog agility competitions are run by both the American Kennel Club and the USDAA and can offer prizes up to $10,000. In dog agility competition, a dog is led through an obstacle course by a handler, and then given points based on speed, accuracy and the difficulty of the course. At some events, dogs compete in events for a few days, then judges tally points at the end to determine a winner.

"You plan your sequence to get the most number of points," said Samson of some courses where handlers can choose the obstacles.

Samson said she was always interested in dog agility training, and when she found she had the time, she began reading books, watching DVDs and taking coaching lessons.

She said there are a few different kinds of courses and using body language is key to leading the dog through, since they take silent cues from their handler. She said dogs like Lexi and Surfer, because they are small, pay attention to your feet. Although there is a lot of time put into training the dog, Samson said she likes it because it makes her and the dogs happy.

"I find them fun and challenging, too," Samson said of competitions.

Samson has been readying both dogs for the 2009 Cynosports World Games which begins Nov. 11 in Scottsdale, Arizona, one of the largest competitions put on by USDAA. Samson said Lexi will compete in six events and Surfer in three, with some of the best dogs from the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Now that she is retired, Samson said she usually makes it to competitions twice a month.

Samson said it is fun for her and the dogs to train for these events. She said three times a week she attends classes at Jump Start Dog Sports training facility in Yorba Linda, and also rents a field to practice obstacles with the dogs. She also runs and walks with them outside daily. Samson said she prefers the jumping and running in dog agility to dog shows.

"It's so much more fun," Samson said. "Dog shows are just boring."

 In addition to jumping through obstacle courses, Lexi and Surfer also have worked with cancer groups and in hospitals as therapy dogs for patients. They perform tricks for patients to keep their spirits up.

Samson said Surfer loves tricks, as she performs an instant roll on the floor of her home when Samson yells out, "Bang, bang, you're dead." And she said Lexi, the elder of the two, is more focused when on the course.
And what are her secrets to training a dog? Positive reinforcement, said Samson, in addition to treats.

"I mean, you wouldn't work without a salary check would you?" she said.

Read the original article here

Pictures of my little man!

Rat Terrier ResQ

To One Dog, You May Just Be the World…

Rat Terrier ResQ, Inc. is a national all-volunteer Rat Terrier rescue group committed to saving Rat Terriers in need. These dogs are special loving creatures and, at times, end up with people who don’t understand them. These Rat Terriers may end up in shelters after having been abandoned, neglected or abused. We work to get them safe, loved, and healthy — and then find them the real forever homes they so rightly deserve.
Rat Terrier ResQ takes in the unwanted, the unloved, the untrained, the unmanageable, the underestimated. We watch these dogs as they develop and learn, as they become wanted, loved, trained, manageable and just-right! Please consider giving one of our Wonder Dogs a new life by adopting from ResQ today.
Rat Terrier ResQ has Rat Terriers available for adoption in in foster homes all over the United States. Are you looking for a new Rat Terrier to warm your heart? Read about all of the Rat Terriers we have available for adoption.
Our adoption fees are Adults $150., Puppies (under 6 months of age) $175. and AHTs $200.
If you know of a Rat Terrier in danger of euthanasia, please let us know.

---

Can’t adopt but still want to help a dog? Please visit our Sponsor Dogs to choose a dog to help!

This is one of the rescue sites I love to visit.  They have the cutest pictures of ratties!  Now that my little man is getting up in years, I am thinking more and more about another rattie, but with all the foster dog issues right now and Satch's hurt feelings, I think I will have to just keep looking and find ways to support these organizations.  Rat Terriers make the best pets for anyone.  They are loving and loyal and very fun-loving.

Please visit the site below to see if you can help.

The Animal Rescue Site

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

The Animal Rescue site is the newest addition to a network of charitable web sites run by CharityUSA.com. CharitiesUSA.com uses the marketing power of the World Wide Web to get corporate sponsors to donate in exchange for advertising. Proceeds generated by the site are used by the North Shore Animal League America and the Fund for Animals "to provide food and care to animals awaiting adoption or living in the animal sanctuaries."
Other CharitiesUSA sites include the Hunger Site and the Rainforest Site.
 
The Animal Rescue Site focuses the power of the Internet on a specific need — providing food for some of the 27 million unwanted animals given to shelters in the U.S. every year. Over 10 million animals are put to death every year in the U.S. alone because they are abandoned and unwanted.

Each click on the purple "Click Here to Give - it's FREE" button at The Animal Rescue Site provides food and care for a rescued animal living in a shelter or sanctuary. Funding for food and care is paid by site sponsors and distributed to animals in need at the Fund for Animals' renowned animal sanctuaries (including Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch in Texas and the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in California), pet shelters supported by the Petfinder Foundation , North Shore Animal League , and other worthy animal care facilities supported by the GreaterGood.org foundation.

100% of sponsor advertising fees goes to our charitable partners.
__________________________________________________________________________________
I signed up for the email reminder and every day I give the site a click.  I will always do this because I believe that there are too many homeless and hungry animals out there.  This is one way I can do more than just feeding the strays in my neighborhood.

I hope you will also click daily and provide food and care to helpless animals all over the world.

If you visit their site, you can also shop online and help third world craftsmen make a living.  I use the site to buy several gifts throughout the year.  The quality is excellent and the cost is reasonable.  All around a win-win situation.

The foster dog Saga continues!

Tomorrow is the day we are taking the little foster dog in to be neutered.  He will get his last shots and then have his procedure done.  After that, I will have done all I can to give him a good life--except adopt him which is looking more and more likely. 

My Satchmo, however, is not pleased.  I spent the entire night last night being the referee between the two dogs.  Satchmo likes to sleep under the bed covers but up by the pillows so his nose is exposed.  This little dog, Austen, usually will sleep at the foot of the bed on top of the covers, but last night he wanted to sleep under the covers and when he could not do that, he wanted to sleep on top of Satchmo.  Guess who didn't exactly agree with the sleeping arrangements?  Yep!  I spent most of the night separating the fighting dogs.  I was not pleased with either one, but I do have to agree with Satchmo that he should not have to give up his spot just  because there is a new dog here.  I cannot quite make Austen see the sense of this, as he very much wants to have his head right up Satchmo's butt.

Anyway, the two will just have to work it out, or one of them will be sleeping in the cage at night.

Rat Terrier Rescues

Today I want to showcase one of the rat terrier rescue sites I visit regularly.  Here you will find information about ratties, but more importantly, you can view pics of available ratties that are waiting for a "forever home".  Who knows, maybe the dog you need is there just waiting for you.

Seriously, ratties make the best companions and are the most loving pets.  They are energetic, but not annoyingly so; they are loving, but not in a clinging, needy way.  They love to please and are very intelligent, so they learn well.  The only drawback to the breed I have found is that they are very independent and can be stubborn.  This is really not a problem if you learn to handle your rattie correctly.

So, today I want to talk about Ratterrierresq.

Here is an excerpt of one of the available dogs for you to see and think about adopting.

Monty

Sex: Male  •   Located in: Connecticut   •   Age: Adult

*Monty is being fostered in South Windsor.*
My name is Monty, and I am about 2 to 3 years old and weigh 14 pounds. I love to run and play, but my most favorite spot is next to my human. I love stuffies (stuffed toys) but I’m a little hard on them. I am learning about walks on the leash,and am a doggie-door champ, but at first that was a little scary: now I teach everyone else how to use the doggie door when they first get here. My foster mom says I am very handsome (of course), very smart and the best snuggle bunny you have ever met. I love, love, love to sit in my person’s lap, and snuggle with them under the covers at night. I am house trained, don’t really like the crate very much and would prefer to just be loose in the house. When I see a new house, I might forget and try to “mark,” but a stern word is all it takes to remind me. I can jump really high, and the perfect home for me would have a fenced backyard, or someone to walk me a lot. If you are looking for a handsome guy to be the love of your life, look no further! Please see more pictures of Monty!

liamorgan “Feedback lies at the core of effective learning.” Gladwell. #necc09

This dog is okay with:

cats

dogs

kids

Came to rescue on: Apr 15, 2009  •  Permalink to Monty's profile  •  

Good Dog, Smart Dog

 After reading this article, I have a new found appreciation for my little man.  I have always known that he was special, but I really never thought he could be as special as the dog in the article.  However, it seems I have very low expectations of my little man.

I only included an excerpt from this article.  There is more than what I have below.  Please go to the original site to read it in full.  Then, won't you come back and tell me if you agree or disagree with the article?
______________________________________________________________________________

By SARAH KERSHAW

Published: October 31, 2009

Life as a Labradoodle may sound free and easy, but if you’re Jet, who lives in New Jersey, there is a lot of work to be done.

Ross Macdonald

He is both a seizure alert dog and a psychiatric service dog whose owner has epilepsy, severe anxiety, depression, various phobias and hypoglycemia. Jet has been trained to anticipate seizures, panic attacks and plunging blood sugar and will alert his owner to these things by staring intently at her until she does something about the problem. He will drop a toy in her lap to snap her out of a dissociative state. If she has a seizure, he will position himself so that his body is under her head to cushion a fall.
Jet seems like a genius, but is he really so smart? In fact, is any of it in his brain, or is it mostly in his sniff?
The matter of what exactly goes on in the mind of a dog is a tricky one, and until recently much of the research on canine intelligence has been met with large doses of skepticism. But over the last several years a growing body of evidence, culled from small scientific studies of dogs’ abilities to do things like detect cancer or seizures, solve complex problems (complex for a dog, anyway), and learn language suggests that they may know more than we thought they did.
Their apparent ability to tune in to the needs of psychiatric patients, turning on lights for trauma victims afraid of the dark, reminding their owners to take medication and interrupting behaviors like suicide attempts and self-mutilation, for example, has lately attracted the attention of researchers.
In September, the Army announced that it would spend $300,000 to study the impact of pairing psychiatric service dogs like Jet with soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress disorder. Both the House and Senate have recently passed bills that would finance the training and placement of these dogs with veterans.
Hungarian researchers reported in a study last year that a guide dog for a blind and epileptic person became anxious before its master suffered a seizure and was taught to bark and lick the owner’s face and upper arm when it detected an onset, three to five minutes before the seizure. It is still somewhat mysterious how exactly dogs detect seizures, whether it’s by picking up on behavioral changes or smelling something awry, but several small studies have shown that a powerful sense of smell can detect lung and other types of cancer, as the dogs sniff out odors emitted by the disease.
Beyond these perceptual abilities, in which trainers can use the dogs’ natural instincts, some research has examined dogs’ actual cognitive ability, and found not just good doggie, but smart doggie.
“I believe that so much research has come out lately suggesting that we may have underestimated certain aspects of the mental ability of dogs that even the most hardened cynic has to think twice before rejecting the possibilities,” said Stanley Coren, a psychology professor at the University of British Columbia and an author of several books on dogs.

Read the rest of this article here>>

Related articles by Zemanta

• Rover's as smart as the average tot (thestar.com)
• Beyond the bow-wow: Learning to speak dog (nationalpost.com)
• How smart is your dog? (timesunion.com)