December DragonDogs Update

It has been a lot of fun playing and learning with the dragondogs this month.  Not everything has gone as planned and all of that melts away when we are being with our dogs.  Andrea has gotten back into the groove of obedience training, working on the sit prettys, back ups, and “tell me’s”.  Kai is a disc prodigy learning new tricks in minutes.  Lilli’s winter coat is so thick she looks like a bear, albeit a teeny tiny blue merle colored bear.

Leila as usual is absolutely adorable and quite puzzling.  At times she shows no interest in the disc and when she does, she still seems misguided or awkward.   Lilli loves to pursue and kill, Kai loves to chase, Leila loves to bring it back. For Leila, all the joy seems to be in the moment of return.  Since her very first day with us she lit up at the praise she received for fetching a  tennis ball. Her drive or work ethic is very questionable at 11 months.  She was bred as a confirmation dog, crate trained, and responds very well to any indoor training.  Take her outside and train and after 3 minutes she is eating grass.  Physically she seems like she is still growing into her body and mentally she seems unfocused though very loving and obedient.  She adores Lilli and Andrea thinks maybe therein lies an issue.

Lilli is so strong.  She is a sack of muscle, built for speed.  She doesn’t have longs legs but she makes up for it with sheer intensity and power.  She wasn’t able to compete in the last 3 weeks of Canis Major but we learned a lot in the first 2 weeks.  Lilli seems to thrive in a competitive atmosphere, she keeps her focus no matter what the environment.  She is not a dog with hops so we need to find the elements that accentuate her power and speed.  Last weekend we did a toss and fetch at Markham Park and Lilli did not place in the top 6.  She was probably in the top 3 as far as how she should have finished, but a combination of wind and bad luck and disc exchange made for a poor performance.  Lilli can read a disc as good as any ultimate player I know.  High discs at steep angles falling away from her, she still catches them.  So our work needs to go into the exchange at the line.  Ideally I would like her to drop the disc in my hand.  Lilly’s drop is erratic and I am not sure what is behind the choices.  It is possible I am putting pressure on her to drop which she interprets as tug.  When we practice she does pretty good with the drop though clearly we need work.  If Lilli and I can nail the exchange we will be a threat to win any TF competition.

Kai is an absolute firecracker.  She is bouncing as soon as she comes out of her crate.  And if you come over be careful not to bend over because she loves to vault!  She has a strong tug and her fetch usually gets the object back within 3 feet.   Kai was in the same toss and fetch this past weekend and she finished 6th in the expert division.  We were thrilled at her performance even more than the placing because Kai had run off twice in her first TF at Canis Major.  This time Kai ran twice each with Andrea and I and while she did get a little tired, she came back with the disc every time. A big breakthrough for us and the Kai Bear.  Kai doesn’t have the intensity (yet) of Lilli but she does have the love of work, play, us, and the discs.  She asks to play all the time.   She is still developing her body for safe and effective disc play and her progress is fantastic.   Outside of play, Kai is full of love and enthusiasm and has become the premier cuddler and lapdog.   Her “sit pretty” is marvelous.

For Andrea and I we are both getting a better sense of throwing the disc for maximum effect meaning the right time and place to maximize our dogs jump.   We are still very basic on our movement with very little flair or “athletic humor” as Ron called it.  So we will be working on TF basics and disc dog flatwork movement.  Also Andrea has nailed a great chest vault with Lilli so it’s my turn now. Leg vaults are coming along and reverse tricks still elude us.

Thanks so much for reading our blog and sharing your comments with us.  Thanks for the ideas and the pictures you share with us too.