Training class

Went to Saturday morning class again today =) I used my new DT tote bag that I got for Christmas and I LOVE IT!!! I feel so cool carrying it around =) Everything I need fits in it nicely and it looks good too.

Red was much better than last week. I can really tell the difference when we haven't gone for awhile versus when we can go regularly. He was quick on his down commands this time - which I was worried about after his brain farts last week.

We got there and played tug with the puppy jute for a couple minutes, then warmed up a bit. I rewarded with the jute after almost every exercise to build up motivation with it so I can use that drive at the trials. He seems to really like it.

We started with heeling, as usual, but didn't heel for as long this time. His focus was better and I only rewarded for focus and being in correct heel position - he has a tendancy to want to drift ahead of me out of position.

Next were figure 8's and he did really well for that as well. Good focus and nice sits.

Then recalls... which is what we need to work the most on. He anticipates the recall when the judge says "call your dog" and he hops forward a bit. So we had the judge say "call your dog", then I'd walk back to Red without calling him. Did that twice and it seemed to help because he wasn't bouncing when the judge said it again after that. Then there are the problems with the straight fronts... I've been working a bit with Red at home and using the word "front" to mean sit in front straight, and he's been doing that well with short distances. But the further away I am, the more likely he is to sit crooked at the end. So for this recall at class - which is a long one - I didn't quite go all the way back, and when Red got close, I started backing up saying "front" and he came in straighter but still not perfect. I am not finishing him AT ALL now. I think if I continue to work on the "front" command, it will improve, but we still have a long way to go in this department... Who woulda thought recalls would be the hardest thing for Red to do???

Next was sits/downs. We did every other dog in line this time - meaning every other one sat or downed, and then reversed on the next go through. I think we did 3 minutes each this time. We did the down first and Red did really well at first. I was clear across the room with my arms folded. He went down in a sphinx position first, then rolled onto a hip for a bit, then completely flopped on his side, then went back into a sphinx. At the VERY end, he popped up into a sit. GRRR! We almost had it! I didn't reward him when that exercise was over.

The sit was a bit better. I didn't go clear across the room for this because he is more likely to break a sit and go down than he is to break a down into a sit, and I wanted to be closer to correct him. Sure enough, at the beginning when another dog broke her down (she was next to Red), Red went down. I walked back, got him back into a sit and walked back to where I was, arms folded. He was doing really good, so I went back and rewarded him once, then walked further away. Then it was over and I rewarded well for that one.

Then the others set up the jumps and broad jump to go through a course with their dumbbells. I went off to the side and practiced short recalls with straight fronts. He does so well when its a short distance!

Then they had me take Red through a Novice obedience run. The judge told me to really make my slow/fast paces noticeably different than my normal pace (which is naturally quite fast). Other than that, the heeling was very nice - both on leash and off.

The recall was better this time, he came in and sat quite straight after I backed up and said "front", but then when I reached around my back to get a treat, he moved out of position crooked again in anticipation to accept the treat. So I'm going to have to have the food in my hand before I call him next time.

The stand for exam was excellent! I only gave the command/signal to stand once, told him to stay, and he didn't move his feet at all when the judge approached and put his hands on him. He did reach his nose around a bit to sniff though, but didn't move his feet. I returned and really rewarded for that!

Then we were done. I had to go because I was waiting on a phone call from my mom - my sister is (hopefully) having her baby today and I needed to be on call to go to the hospital when the time got closer. But anyway, I was glad to be able to do the full novice run-through. It's good for both me and Red to do all the exercises in a row like that.

So all in all - good training this week!

Homework:
1. continue to work on "front" to the recall and slowly add distance.
2. work on long sits/downs without returning to reward