Author Archives: annieriecken

“It’s a car, what do you do for a car?”

Posted on December 5, 2011 by annieriecken

Chico has learned to associate certain things that he used to be afraid of with treats. In doing that, he has learned to substitute behaviors I want for ones I don’t. Here’s an example. In the beginning, his fear of … Continue reading →

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Dog friendly

Posted on December 2, 2011 by annieriecken

Chico came into my life as a very reactive dog. Anything that he didn’t understand made him lose his cool and because there were a lot of things he didn’t understand, he lost his cool a lot. One of my … Continue reading →

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Walk with a view

Posted on November 23, 2011 by annieriecken

Last weekend I had the fun job of tending Julie’s dogs while she went out of town. White Mountain Agility sits on 90 acres, much of it in conservation, at the edge of an even larger piece of protected land. … Continue reading →

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One lucky dog

Posted on November 21, 2011 by annieriecken

Chico, Dakota and I went for a ride this morning. As usual, Chico did his own thing; running about off in the woods, but not far away. At the end of the ride I saw something sticking up out of … Continue reading →

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Dog and pony show

Posted on November 18, 2011 by annieriecken

I don’t own, but get to ride whenever I like, a horse named Dakota who lives in my town. His owner has had a hip replacement and she hasn’t ridden for years, but she’s had Dakota all his life and … Continue reading →

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Morning walk

Posted on November 17, 2011 by annieriecken

Chico and I live in a beautiful spot. Yesterday we went out early and found this lovely sight.

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A few obstacles

Posted on November 11, 2011 by annieriecken

A couple weeks ago I took the Flip to agility class and asked one of my classmates to shoot a little video when we were working with a sequence of obstacles. Amusingly, Chico loves the tunnel so much he ran … Continue reading →

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First training exercises

Posted on November 9, 2011 by annieriecken

I came home from our first lesson at Julie’s with a few games, as she called the training exercises, to play with Chico. That’s one thing I love about training with Julie: it’s all a game, if human and dog … Continue reading →

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Click, treat

Posted on November 7, 2011 by annieriecken

We use clicker training. Clicker training is based on psychology, operant conditioning to be exact (ja, go ahead and Wikipedia it, or go back to that Psych 1 textbook in the garage). A small clicker makes a noise that marks … Continue reading →

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Field Trip: SWOAM 2011 Field Day

Posted on October 31, 2011 by annieriecken

On a sunny September day Chico and I went over to Brunswick, Maine, quite near the coast, to the member education field day of the Small Woodland Owners Association of Maine (SWOAM http://www.swoam.com). This is a chance for people who … Continue reading →

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