Year 1 Timeline

October 2008, 7 months - Odin developed OCD in his right shoulder. Started getting really teenager-y. We had the botany beach bash and after he could barely walk I realized we had to do something about this.

November 2008, 8 months - Odin goes to work more. Gets even more teenagery, possibly exacerbated by pain, which other than the intermittant limp, he shows no other outward sing of. Goes on crate rest. Has surgery and stem cell treatment for his OCD (osteochondritis dessicans, a separation of cartilage from the bones of the shoulder that causes severe growth problems) in late November, after much help from my old friend Laura, now a vet in Colo.

December 2008, 9 months - Crate rest hell. The sedatives make him sort of crazy lurchy and clumsy, which is, you know, great for post-op recovery. We take short calm rehab walks, and I try to stop his energy (he does not agree that he needs to rest at all) by trying the cesar milan-thing where you repeatedly zzzzpt-strangle your dog to assert a calm dominant energy. This did not work for us. So we got a front clip harness, which worked much much better (3 weeks after surgery, so the gentle squeezing wouldn't be too much for the healing joint). Odin finally comes off crate rest, crazy with energy but much improved. He looks ridiculous half-shaved.

January 2009, 10 months - I don't know if he understood that we did our best to fix him, or if he just felt so much better that he became less obstinate, or if he just outgrew a phase that had nothing to do with the OCD and subsequent crate rest hell. But as we tried slowly to condition him up (he much preferred fastly conditioning himself up), he starts to really gel in a lot of behaviors to default good choices. How did this happen? Not jumoing up on people so much, way better on leash, insane desire to chew everything going away...


March 2009, 1 year - Odin starts getting really reliable off-leash. Start phasing out clickers, and working on long, solid stays and recalls. I go away for work for 2 weeks and worry that Odin won't be mine when I get back. He totally still is.



April 2009, 13 months - Odin's first time on sheep. Labeled hard by Laurie, he did not really perform best under her dominance-style training, but managed to stop trying to kill the sheep and instead come to balance on them. Tricks are now like, "find your blue ball, not that ball" and "bring me your leash!"

May 2009, 14 months - Odin is a fixture at work. He comes with me to the field, and does well. We experiment more and more with a raw meat-supplemented diet. We are starting to work better as a team. Also, I work on slowly conditioning him. We take a break from sheep for a couple months. He continues to be very exciteable but a true, sweet joy to be around. Loves children and meeting anyone.

June 2009 15 months - Odin comes to the railroad. He now firmly prefers balls to a frisbee, but still anything will do in a pinch. I'm starting to finally feel a bit more confident in my training instincts and timing as a handler - sometimes we achieve syncronicity and sometimes we crash and burn - I ask for a recall in a situation much less challenging than chasing a deer (which I can call him off from), - like when he is across the room from me or heading across an open field towards shade - and he clearly, with deliberate thought, weighs his options and flips me the bird - this about 5 - 10% of the time, and admittedly done with a bit of reluctance.

As for sheep, I enlist an online "mentor", an Open handler from the boards, who encourages me to try another trainer. I do and am amazed at 1) the difference in Odin's stamina, 2) the kind attitude Derek displayed towards him, 3) how wowed the other clinic-goers were with his talent! Laurie hadn't really indicated she thought he was any great talent, but Derek called him a "natural" and "responsive" - basically the opposite of hard. Maybe because he didn't approach my dog assuming he was a spoiled brat, which I suppose he could be - but I don't really think so. :) He's perfect, even when flipping me the finger (although that is going to STOP!)

....

So that brings us pretty much current. Now, I'm looking at this amazing dog I have, and thanking my luck daily Eric took us to his breeder. He is beautiful, thin, humorous, obsessive, drivey, keen as hell for sheep, and totally, completely devoted to me.

Love this dog. Let's see if we can learn how to work stock together.