Tobago the wonder Toller



"Helping" around the house

I do believe his family coined that phrase, but I wouldn’t dispute it. As the puppy formerly known as “Oak”  closes in on his first birthday he has provided much wonder and joy for his owners.

He won over his “older sister” Toller housemate Trini within minutes of their first meeting and has helped her bloom socially. He has wowed the neighbors and just about everyone else he has met with his buoyant personality. Since he left for his new home he has been in training for conformation, field, obedience, rally, agility and frisbee. He recently obtained the first point toward his AKC championship with his owner Amanda on the other end of the leash, much to her surprise and excitement. The pictures I’ve seen show he is maturing nicely. I’m looking forward to seeing him again at this year’s BYC.



Hey, what happened to my stick?





Am I swimming yet?

The pictures here are just a few of the many wonderful photos his owners have sent throughout the past year.



Frisbee dog!

Not a puppy anymore!

More on names

Rosie – Rosie came to us as a 3.5 month old pup from Evelyn. We couldn’t imagine calling her anything other than the name Evelyn had chosen as her puppy name. It turned out Evelyn had chosen her registered name too – Lonetree’s Just My Style. It was a name that suited her, though if it had been left to us we were ready with Lonetree’s Jalapeno Rose, after her sweet and spicy personality.

June – Naming June was an involved process. She was the only female in a litter of two, born on June 1st. We had been calling the puppies Johnny and June (after Johnny Cash and June Carter) and I decided the name June would suit her. But how to match that up to a registered name starting with “D”? I was at a loss. Then I came across a reference to a poem by James Russell Lowell that seemed a perfect fit:

And what is so rare as a day in June?
  Then, if ever, come perfect days;
    Then Heaven tries earth if it be in tune,
      And over it softly her warm ear lays.
      -  from The Vision of Sir Launfal (http://theotherpages.org/poems/lowell01.html)
And so June became Zephyr’s Day in June.

Lark – Another puppy name that became permanent. As I had not originally intended to keep something from the Breaker ex June litter my joke is that I kept her “on a lark”. As for her registered name, early on I had determined if I were to keep anything from this litter, the registered name would be Zephyr’s Evelyn Echo. A not very subtle homage to the breeder of my two original Tollers, Gem and Rosie, and especially appropriate because Gem’s much more famous brother Sailor is both the paternal grandsire AND the maternal great-grand uncle of this litter.

All about June

June has been a pistol from the time she popped out of Ghillie’s womb. The only female in a litter of two, she left her brother behind – literally! – when she began scaling the puppy x-pen around 6 weeks of age. I raised it once, from 24” to 30”, but decided not to raise it further as all evidence pointed toward June continuing to climb her way to freedom with simply a bigger drop to navigate after reaching the top. Curiously, she only seemed to attempt this when I was home. It was this combination of agility, determination and social attraction that made me want her to stay.

As a puppy, June’s most often employed nick name was “the devil”. She was a force of nature, as one of my friends put it. She greeted visitors like a freight train and used the living room furniture like a training ground for a future possible assent to Mount Everest. This was not encouraged, of course, and on the many occasions when June could not settle herself she earned some time in her crate. I generally crated her in the bedroom, same as her nighttime accommodations, and her vocal protest was clearly audible three rooms away. We endured her displeasure with gritted teeth, knowing that to let her out while she was vocalizing would only serve to strengthen her remonstration. I worked harder with June as a puppy than any other dog we have had so far. I remember walking her down in the backyard to enforce the concept of a reliable recall. From puppyhood, I drilled in a wait and release command for her supper. Always happiest in motion, June’s greatest struggles in obedience revolved around the stationary exercises; sit, down and stand stay. We worked at these for nearly a year before she achieved any degree of reliability.

At 5.5 years old, June has settled some but remains the most animated, provocative Toller I have ever owned or bred. She is mainly handicapped by my ability as a trainer/handler. Not only does she want to work, she needs to in order to be a contented member of the household. Thrilled as I am with her performance potential, I realize her high drive and exercise requirements would make her extremely challenging at best in most households. The same traits I treasure make me very careful when considering potential studs for June. While I’m not looking for a couch potato I do seek to temper June’s drive with a dog who takes things a little more in stride. Breaker was a good choice for June’s first litter. Two puppies have their AKC Championships and a third is only a point away, two of them have multiple agility titles, one has a WC, CD and RN and two are hunted over. All have much of their mother’s spirit but are tempered by their sire.  I’m confident my second choice for June will produce similar results, and I’m looking forward to her planned litter for 2011.

Milestones

Through a combination of hard work and good luck, I've recently had the pleasure of witnessing two milestones in our Tollers. The first is Gem. She turned 16 on February 21st. Considering the average lifespan of a Toller is 12-14 years this is significant. Gem has survived her littermates and other canine contemporaries and even some of her puppies. George and I feel very fortunate she is still with us and doing so well for a dog of her age. Some of it is good genes; I've been told it is not uncommon for Tollers in this line to live well beyond the average expectancy. I imagine some of it is luck as well. While overall Gem has been a very healthy dog, she has had a few illnesses along way though so far we've been able to successfully combat them all. Most recently, a few weeks before her birthday, she was diagnosed with old dog vestibular disease. When she couldn't get up on her own I feared the worst. We drove her to the emergency vet shortly after digging ourselves out of a record blizzard. As I held her in my arms I thought, if it was time, the best thing I could wish for her would be to go in my arms before we reached the vet. But as usual, Gem surprised us all and a few weeks out from her diagnosis is getting around almost as well as she did before, only occasionally leaning a bit to one side and still needing a bit of extra help on the stairs. She still comes to the breakfast table for a piece of banana and some yogurt from me and a piece of cereal from George. She knows when treats are forthcoming and unless she is deeply asleep never fails to make an appearance for hers. While we know we won't have her forever, we are grateful for the time we have had and continue to enjoy, our shared experiences, and all she has taught us.

The second milestone is I finally finished my first Bred By Exhibitor champion, Lark. To my amazement she finished with four majors, which is quite an accomplishment when most of us are thrilled to simply obtain the necessary two. At present, Lark is now known as UAGII CH Zephyr’s Evelyn Echo RN NA OAJ NF. That Lark is my first BBE champion is very fitting. She was named for my mentor in the breed, Evelyn Williams. And Lark’s pedigree is something of an homage (echo) to Evelyn. My foundation bitch, Gem, is a littermate to a much more famous dog in our breed, Sailor (Lonetree’s G Parklake Sailor). Lark is the result of breeding a Gem granddaughter back to a Sailor son. The result has been a very special litter of pups. I finished Lark’s sister Eta (CH Zephyr’s Eta Carinae CD RN WC) two days after finishing Lark. Because of how hard Eta’s owners have worked with her in the field and obedience ring, Eta's championship finished her Rusty Jones award requirements. Guess it's time to get out in the field and obedience ring with Lark and catch up.

A lack of affinity for water

Gem’s attitude toward water has always measured only slightly more positive than the average cat. As a puppy she would follow our Lab into the water, never going beyond the point where she could touch bottom. She would wait patiently for Zephyr to swim out and retrieve the bumper or water toy, stealing it from her in the shallows more often than not and presenting us with her prize. We thought she was very clever at the time and only aspirations of passing a hunt test with her at some point caused us to look at her behavior with a more critical eye and note the underlying truth – Gem had no inclination to swim.


In fact, Gem did not actually swim until we acquired our second Toller, Rosie. I believe the age Gem finally kerplunked her way out to retrieve her first bumper was somewhere around the 2.5 year old mark, and I remain skeptical she ever would have taken the full plunge without the competition of another Toller in the household. Despite her seeming capitulation the fact remained, Gem did not enjoy getting wet. Every time we entered a test I worried less about her ability to mark and bring back the birds than about whether she would deign to swim that day.


We entered a number of tests over the course of a few years and sometimes came quite close to passing. It wasn’t even always water that did us in, sometimes it was a mark, but without any qualifying ribbons as a benchmark of success I grew frustrated, and begged my friend Sue to see what she could do with her. Gem went to “Big Sue Boot Camp” for a few months for some additional instruction on fetching up ducks (yet another part of the field she wasn’t always consistent about) as well as some water education. Sue’s method was simple. Since she knew Gem could swim and knew what was expected of her, if Gem chose not to go in the water Sue would put her in. This seemed to make an impression on Gem, as she preferred to enter the water on her own vs. having someone else “place” her in it. Sue recommended I pre-soak Gem if possible, though it wasn’t always. However, I definitely saw improvement after Gem’s time away at boot camp.


One particular test that stands out in Gem’s long string of “almosts” involved a trek to Kansas City, MO some years ago. A local Golden Retriever club was running their own hunt tests and had agreed to judge Tollers under the NSDTRC USA’s rules. Gem passed the land marks easily and I was heartily congratulated by fellow Toller folk who were present. In many cases a dog is less likely to pick up birds on land than in water, so they all thought we had the test in the bag. I thanked them but inside I was cringing. They didn’t know my dog and her proclivity for water avoidance. As it turned out my fears were well founded. I remember standing on the bank for the first water mark. I let the judges know we were ready and they signaled to the gunner. The bird was thrown, a gunshot followed. The bird hit the open water and one of the judges called “dog”, my signal to release Gem. She took a few steps forward and stopped, after which no amount of cajoling, pleading, bribery or threats moved her. After an interminable amount of time it was obvious to all she had failed. I ask the judges if I might, very gently of course, put her in the water. The judges allowed this so I picked Gem up and rolled her out into the water. I can only imagine how it must have looked to the gallery of spectators but I didn’t care. If we couldn’t pass a test that day at least Gem could learn I too would put her in the water if she decided not to go in on her own. On the way home we stopped at a Stuckey’s and bought a small suction-cup sign for the car. It read “If you can’t run with the big dogs, stay on the porch”. It made me feel better though I doubt Gem cared in the least.


Gem eventually passed the NSDTRC USA’s BRT and WC as well as the UKC’s SHR, but as with everything, she did so in her own way, in her own time.

Christmas Cluster 2010

Another show weekend has come and gone. We had a bit of success this year in Saturday’s show, which was nice to see. It can be tough to handle your own dogs, especially against polished junior handlers and professionals. I confess the degree of subjectivity and politics makes the conformation ring my least favorite venue. I’d rather be doing agility, rally, obedience or field with my Tollers where the performance criteria is more clear cut.

Tobago (Zephyr’s Flusher of Dux) made his conformation debut in Puppy Sweeps. He treated his first circle around the ring like a road race, though as we continued to work together he settled in and did some nice gaiting. He loved the attention from both the Sweeps and regular judge, and was acceptably wiggly considering his age and experience. I look forward to working with him as he matures. His co-owners Brad and Amanda have been very appropriately referring to him “Bambi”, as at just over six months he is all leg. In Sweeps Tobago was beaten by a very nice puppy named Morgan, but he managed to turn the tables on Morgan in the regular show.

Next I showed Major (Zephyr's Epic Journey). He is a very nice male from June’s litter with Breaker. He won the Open dog class, then was awarded Winners Dog and Best of Winners for a 5pt major. Major only needs one point to finish this Championship now. He showed quite nicely for me and seemed to be enjoying himself.

I also showed Major’s sister Eta (Zephyr's Eta Carinae). She was a bit bouncier than her brother, but gaited and stacked nicely for me. She won the Bred By Exhibitor bitch class, then was awarded Reserve Winners Bitch. So close! Eta is only one major away from finishing.

After our judge handed out ribbons in the Best of Breed ring he put up his hands, palms open both to frame and stay us for a moment as he said, “Just as you are, that’s what I like to see. Not over groomed.” His comments were a pleasant affirmation our breed is to be presented naturally with minimal grooming. It’s not often we show under a judge who rewards this, let alone one makes a point of mentioning it.

We’ve now put our show clothes away until the end of January and are headed back to the agility ring until then.

In the shadow of her mother

Lark is an amazing Toller. She is social and curious and loves to play with other dogs. She sailed through puppy obedience and agility classes with many compliments from her instructors. At home, Lark has proved to be an easy keeper, always eager for a retrieving session or a walk, but equally content to cuddle up on the couch and watch TV. Lark is adept at getting her much more serious mother to play with her and it is very entertaining to watch them wrestle or tug on a toy together. Because Lark's mother June has so much drive and requires so much of my attention, it’s taken me some time to realize Lark has been standing in the shadow of her mother. She’s been left to simmer on the back burner while her mother enjoys the power burner spot.

It’s not that Lark never gets out. She has both majors for her AKC championship, as well as five agility titles and a first leg toward her Rally Novice title. But I’m starting to recognize she is capable of so much more, if only I would spend a bit more time and attention on her. Lark’s achievements to date have all been accomplished in a somewhat offhand manner compared to the amount of resources I focused on June at the same age.

Last week I decided to take Lark to my progressive obedience class instead of June. June is working at the Open level in obedience and is about ready to trial, though she could use some additional fun match experience. Lark hasn’t been focused on obedience since completing a basic obedience class following her puppy class, though she does go to agility class regularly,  conformation class sporadically and we manage a bit of field work now and again as well. We actually do train outside of classes, though not as much as we should. It was only this fall I finally focused enough on Lark to teach her to retrieve a dumbbell using clicker training methods. I wasn’t sure this accomplishment was yet transferable to a class environment, let alone any other obedience skills, but I was pleasantly surprised. She readily fetched and held the dumbbell in class, with only her front needing work at some future point. Her recall was fast and straight, though her finish was a bit wide and crooked. I forgot Lark is better at a “swing” finish, while June shines more on the “around” variety. Lark’s attention while heeling was pretty darn good considering it’s not something we’ve practiced much in quite a while. She did have a tendency to swing around to face me in her best self stacked conformation pose while the instructor talked. Obviously it’s something she learned, whether I intended to teach it or not. “We aren’t in conformation class,” I admonished her, though she persisted. Something else to work on, but overall I’m pleased. I’m starting to get excited about what we could accomplish together if I approached her training with more purpose and intent.