I finally have a Saturday off work so Red and I can attend the Saturday morning training group =)
I brought chopped up colby cheese cubes for treats, though it doesn't really matter what I have because Red will take my hand off for it.
Today was good. There were a lot of people there today, including Jen and Libby. It was there first time attending the group. Michelle was there with Maisy even though Michelle will be leaving for Vegas today for a week..*jealous*
HEELING: We started off with the heeling. I did it on-leash this time. Red's focus was good though he still tended to wander too far out ahead sometimes. Otherwise, I thought he did well.
FIGURE 8: We started and went to the left, like we usually do. We got around the 1st post, Red bumping me the whole way. Michelle stopped us, and we all brainstormed about what I could do to keep Red from bumping - since this is how we keep losing the majority of our points in Rally. We decided to try to have us go right initially, instead of left, and to slow down and say "easy". Red and I started again, I went to the right and it immediately seemed better since he started on the outside. Once we came around to go to the next post, I slowed down a bit and said "easy", and it worked! No bumping! I was also told to make my circle a bit wider and more of a circle rather than a U around the post, and this helped too. I was really happy with this improvement and will continue to work on it this way.
STAND FOR EXAM: Set him up, told him to stay, and he immediately moved his feet before I even left. "Nope", I said, and then set him up again. The second time he was fine the whole way through.
SITS/DOWNS: (3 minute/5 minute) Excellent! The sit was a little uncomfortable because I think he wasn't in a tall sit when I left him and his feet were out in front of him a little (my fault). So usually when I tell him to "stay", it means DON'T MOVE YOUR FEET. He held it, looking quite uncomfortable the whole time, and then about 3/4 of the way through, he looked at me guiltily and then ever..so..slowly.. picked up one of his paws and moved it closer to his body in a more comfortable position. All the while with this look on his face like a bolt of lightning was going to hit him for moving his feet. It was so cute, LOL. The down was perfect. Automatically rolled onto a hip and held the position like a champ. He even put his head down on his front paws at one point, completely comfortable. Jackpot after this!
RECALL: YAY! It was awesome! I set him up, went down the entire length of the mat, and called, "Red, FRONT!" and he came in fast and straight, and sat in PERFECT front position! Release and jumping around and rewarding for that! I think I took one step back and sort bent over to have my hands near my knees to lure him there, and once he was there, I straightened up and he was perfect! So happy! The second time was good too. A huge improvement from what it used to be. I've been really hammering that "front" position into his head when we work, so hopefully when I call "Red, front!" he comes into the correct position, and I think its working! The only issue I see with his recall is, when the judge says "Call your dog!" Red sort of jerks in place in anticipation of the recall. He doesn't move his feet or anything, just twitches his whole body like he's ready to spring forward. So have to try to work on this a bit.
DUMBBELL: After the recall, a couple people got their dumbbells out for retrieve on flat, so I got Red's out too. I haven't got it out in awhile... He was excited to see it. I put him in a sit (in no particular position), tossed the db out a couple feet, then released and he went straight and picked it up. I praised and then ran the other way for him to follow me, then turned around and stopped and he stopped in front position, and I quickly removed it from his mouth. Praise and reward!! Did this again and then put the db away. He seems to only tolerate a couple reps of db exercises before he refuses to do it anymore, so I always stop before this point. At the end of the class, I got the db back out again and just had him sit and hold it for a few seconds, then I removed it from his mouth, and jackpotted him.
JUMPING: Got out the 16" jump (his jump height for Rally) and took him over it a few times. One time I don't think I gave him the command soon enough because he was watching me and didn't jump and ran into it. So after that, I started into a jog well before it and gave the "over" command and he was fine. He was lazy a few times and nicked it with his back feet, in which case he wasn't rewarded and we did it again so he completely cleared it, THEN he was rewarded.
And that was it. I felt like we accomplished a lot today. With the bumping on turns, I know how to help correct that now. The sits and downs were great. And the recall was MUCH improved. I think I will continue using the "front" command for this rather than "come".
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2 comments:
the one thing i would caution you is slowing down on the posts - in traditional obedience, adjusting your pace to your dog is scoreable - so if you noticeably slow down on one post, the judge is within their power to take off points simple for that, even if the dog maintains position. the handler is to maintain an even pace throughout the entire fig8 and the DOG is to change pace, not the handler.
its really hard, and its one of the things that rah and i have the hardest things doing as well - and part of our problem is that physically, rah hits me when he heels with his head up no matter what, especially when we do inner posts - and its compounded by the style of heeling ive taught him. maintaining a steady pace with even footsteps and pushing through the posts while teaching the dog that they need to move out of the way is going to be the better method. the inside post is simply a longer modified left turn, and the dog needs to do the same thing it does on the left turns - swing is butt behind you while moving the front end out of the way (and for rah its also backing up a tad - for rah, when he does his inside post he actually backs up and then comes back into his normal forgey heel position). so use your left turn cues for him, i would say.
Thanks, Kim, that makes sense. I didn't slow down too much for going around the posts, but I think in general I need to slow down a bit. Between both of our long legs, we are cruisin... How else would you go about stopping the bumping on the inside post? I don't want to push him out or anything because I've been told he has a nice close heel and I don't want to do anything to make him not want to heel closely. But I can't be having him impeding my forward motion either, as I'm sure his degree of bumping would be scored...
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