Blueboy Luca

Hello and welcome to this blog for Luca the Schipperke, Marceline the Papillon and Topaz the Borderpap. We live in northern tropical Australia on the lands of the Larrakia people. My name is Grace and my pronouns are she/her/hers.

You will find photos and posts about the dogs under #Luca, #Marceline and #Topaz.

Other tags of interest: #dog books – all book content goes here including quotes, photos and reviews #dog agility – agility training videos and anything related to the sport #video edit – all my edited dog videos #street dogs – dogs from around the world I’ve seen on my travels #dog history – dog stories from history #old dog photos – photos of dogs from the past #dog thoughts – my rambling thoughts about dogs

Some posts where I share my dog thoughts: Quality over quantity Respecting my dog as an individual My dog is a dog and he does dog things Spending time with dogs Be better when I know better Stella If you let a dog into your heart it will make itself at home What has your dog taught you? Pessimism in dogs The closest thing I have to religion is dogs Dogs need access to off-leash spaces I am baffled by people who claim their dogs have some kind of hierarchy Punishment first Why did you get a dog at that particular time in your life? Leadership and dogs Children are for people who can’t have dogs The future of dog breeding Dogs are unique Changing your training Community pet hub Ethical frameworks Deradicalisation Small feelings Dog-shaped niche Dog training affirmations Nobody's dog is cared for perfectly

Sometimes I write dog poems (or dog song parodies): Little Boy Blue Not Perfect Maybe I could give you warmth You are a special kind of alive Luca dog on a voyage to the nursing home That Puppy Feeling In the morning she makes the tea

I also occasionally post things of a more informational nature: Living with a schipperke Schipperke history Schipperke coat colours Living with a schipperke (again) Engagement building through play Managing Luca’s reactivity Living with a schipperke (once more, with feeling) Reflections on reactivity Why I’m against greyhound racing in Australia Designing a dog park Introducing Luca and Marceline Fussy Eater Why I hate dog buttons Dog book recommendations Emotionally intelligent dog media

And some other miscellaneous posts that I like: Photo recreation 1 Photo recreation 2 Blue Boy Blues, an album by Blueboy Luca "Why Not Visit?" Edit 1 "Why Not Visit?" Edit 2 Luca’s Theme My bikejoring set up Dog–human co-evolutionary partnership My dogs as Björk songs My dogs as Björk albums Luca’s Spotify playlist Marceline’s Spotify playlist Topaz’s Spotify playlist My pitches for Designer Dogs

Please note that my dogs are primarily self-interested amoral creatures, and their behaviour is reflective of their environmental conditions. They are also anti-fascists who support the liberation and celebrate the diversity of all people. They value animal welfare and advocate for least inhibitive, functionally effective, positive reinforcement-based interactions between humans and animals. My dogs invite good faith communication and do not tolerate bad faith engagement. My dogs are explicitly pro-abortion and tell me so every day. Know this when you interact with their media on this blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

I've read about half of Click to Calm by Emma Parsons and I was pleased that most of the foundations I have already taught Topaz. What still needs some strengthening (as always) is recall and what needs an overhaul is stationing and handling.

Then in the section of additional skills to teach, I will train: go touch object, get behind me, whistle recall, recall from tight leash, collar grab, chin rest and emergency relocation. I had previously started back up and "this way" already, but I need to practice more.

I have only just reached the section of the book with the core content about the click to calm method. If there's anything useful in there I'll share it.

to be clear, my breeder was fine. she wasn't rude or aggressive or unsupportive. she just gave me a lot of "advice"(?) that I didn't think was useful, and could be construed as defensive or deflective. it's not the most terrible thing in the world, it was just a little grating when I had to work up the courage to even say anything. that's all. even when relations/conditions are good, talking about this stuff is really hard.

I told the breeder about Topaz's behaviour. I did my best to come across neutral, with no blame or negativity toward her. I just felt it was ethical to let her know so she is fully aware of what she has produced. That doesn't mean it's her fault or anything like that, I just think it's important information.

She took it OK, but I think part of her did feel maybe attacked? She said some stuff that implied to me that she thinks it's normal border collie stuff and that experienced owners do better and that foundations are more important than sport skills. I found this extremely annoying, but I've decided not to take it on board. This is what I expected working breed people to be like, I just hoped that it wouldn't be the case. I don't know why she felt the need to say all that to me because I didn't find it useful or supportive. If I took it on board, it would have just made me feel guilty, inadequate and that it's all my fault my dog's behaviour is difficult.

If she wants to believe that it's all normal and fine, that's her prerogative. At least I stuck to my ethics and let her know for repeat breedings. Being a vet, she was thankfully polite and positive about putting Topaz on prozac, so there's that.

— Emma Parsons, The New Click to Calm: Solutions for All Dogs In a Challenging World (2021)

@wyrddogs tagged me to provide three random facts about myself.

I tag @as-old-roads @scruffydogposting @beansnpeets @dogtiber @appenzellerlouis

Last night I took Topaz to club. We did this sequencing work for five minutes, then the rest of the night I worked on her chilling out. We did some good sitting on the raised bed near the field until the other dogs started running, then she had a freak out. So I moved us very far away and waited for her to offer to get on the raised bed again. Then I worked on 300 peck. We got up to 21 the first try, then she had another freak out when she heard someone's tunnel cue. So I took her away to walk around a bit, then came back.

When she got on the raised bed again, we got up to a 29 count before she jumped off – but no freak out. We then did a lap of the field and she didn't bark at anyone. Then we came back to stand near some other trainers and dogs and she only made some mild frustration sounds, which was because she wanted to get near them to be friendly rather than to be antagonistic. So that was actually nice to see.

I'm trying really hard to frame this more optimistically in my brain. That things can improve if I work at it. But I've had another week of feeling utterly terrible after she was aggressive with my grandfather, starting to worry that maybe I'll never be able to have visitors over and what if in future she bites a judge? Some things we've made good progress in and others we just plateau or go backwards and I have no idea how to move forward again.

Next week I have an appointment with a behaviour vet. I would like to get her on some medication to trial it. If I was to anthropomorphise her behaviour, I would describe her as paranoid. I think that maybe a low dose behaviour medication might be able to bring her baseline down so she's not on edge all the time when around other people and dogs. I can see that she wants to be social and play and sniff and relax, but she doesn't seem able to in many situations. We've only in the last two months managed to see consistent calmness at home.

I'm trying for this dog. I love her. I still feel crippling shame about her. I haven't told her breeder about any of this yet because frankly I don't know how. I don't know how to talk about it without it verging into either blame or shame, neither of which I want. The mean selfish part of me just feels angry that all I want is a dog to do agility with and every dog I get is wrong for it in some way. I don't know why things look effortless for so many others and I feel like I have to fight tooth and nail to just feel like things are OK. But that's not helpful to anyone, so I try to let it go.

Cooling off

I would love to be the person who only ever says my dog is perfect and never have any complaints, but the truth is that is not me, not right now. I can't pretend to be positive all the time when my default demeanour at the moment is pessimist. I have to actively work every day to fight against it. I have to work hard to notice and treasure the good. It doesn't feel authentic to only mention what's going well. My dogs are beautiful and complex and interesting and triumphant all the time, but sometimes their behaviour is also difficult to work with and tiring to manage. I love living with dogs, but also living with dogs can be really hard sometimes.

Swimming, swimming is the opposite of flying

It's been a big long break but we are back at training. Marceline's training night is Thursdays and I am really happy to see her so enthusiastic. I think she is glad to have a night with me to herself.

I am keeping things light and simple to maintain her joy, and I managed to experiment last week with using someone else's food for the second course, which kept her interest high. I want to test this again as it might be a way to keep her engaged later in the evening.

The first two runs were perfect except for the missed contact, but I wasn't bothered given how she was so happy to run it. The second two runs were surprisingly good given she often stops performing at this point. She does find tunnel sends with that level of discrimination very difficult, so that's something to work on. You can see she stops twice to scratch on her last run so that was a clear sign she was done. I should probably only ask for one more run if the changing food option works out, so as not to abuse it.

Frolicking