Saturday Morning Training

Finally got to go to a Saturday morning class again! There were only 4 of us there this time though, and 2 of them got there late (ehem, Michelle and Bev!) so we started warm up heeling without them.

I wasn't initially planning on doing warm up heeling because we always go for too long and Red loses his focus, but Marc agreed we'd keep it short, so we went ahead and did it.

On-leash heeling: We did it on-leash since Red always heels better off-leash, so I figured he could use the practice. He did really well! Stayed with me, though a little forged, but had good focus. After the warm-up, Marc ran us through a heeling pattern, and he did really well for that too. I'm definitely more confident about Red's heeling now =)

Figure 8: Good! We had people as posts, which I wondered if that made a difference since he had cones at the fun match yesterday and did well, but he did good for this too. Much better, and only a small amount of bumping on the inside turns, but definitely not what they were before.

Stand for Exam: Tarted out for some reason and moved toward Marc when Marc approached for the exam. I clapped and "ah ah"'ed him, returned, repositioned and gave a more stern "stay" command, and then he was fine. Lots of treats to reward the good behavior. We did it again with John doing the exam and he was fine for it. I know he likes Marc, so maybe that's why he moved toward him (for petting?) initially.

Recall: Good!! Still a little crooked on the front from my view, but everyone else said it looked ok to them. I right finished him this time which was very good. Lots of treats! We usually do two recalls - down and back - but I didn't want to push my luck and only did the one ;)

Sits/Downs: Retard went down on the sit AS SOON AS I left!! WTF??!! I marched back to him, choked him up into a sit (and he cowered back into a down), so I repositioned him, and gave a very firm "stay", and he was fine after that - 2 minute sit. This is what I get for thinking his sits/downs were fine and skipped it at the fun match yesterday!! I didn't reward with treats when I returned, but did give good verbal praise and pets. The down was fine. I did tell him to "leave it" once for a little sniffing, but that was it. 5 minute down. I gave a jackpot after this.

Dumbbell: LOVES it, as usual. Is very exuberant with his retrieves and I keep reinforcing with jackpots, especially when he comes right to front, sits and holds it for me. Good boy =)

For our free time, I pulled out a tall jump and had him go over it a few times, which he did without a problem. Then I noticed a bite sleeve on the wall and pulled it down to play with. He immediately started biting on it and playing tug. I let him carry it around and chew on it a bit.

I talked to Michelle about the WAE and about how I think Red just didn't know what to do, so I figured I'd play with the bite sleeve a little. She didn't seem thrilled and thinks I shouldn't encourage that behavior since we are involved in therapy work. I agree to an extent, but dogs who pass a WAE aren't necessarily unable to do therapy work. A Doberman should be able to tell the difference between a threat and a non-threat. I do see her point though. I guess I'm just not used to failing anything with him and want to be able to pass next year! Don't get me wrong, I'm not all worried about passing it or anything, but I think it would be nice to have the certificate since he did so well on the other parts of the test. Lori, Red's breeder, thinks the WAE isn't a true temperament test anyway about how the dog will act in a real threatening situation, and some dogs can tell that the aggressive stranger is not a real threat. Anyway, no biggie... just thinking out loud. I do love the therapy work, but I think he is still capable of passing the WAE and doing both.