# Utility



## ArkansasGold

So jealous you are getting to go to the Matthew Twitty seminar! He will help you "heal your heel" for sure. 

I am wondering how to train for Utility as well someday, so I hope you get some good answers!


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## Alaska7133

I had the same problem, focusing on other things and my heel went out the window. I was so disappointed the last couple of times we were in the Open ring. He was so good. Back to working on heeling again, hope I don’t lose something else. We have most of utility down pretty well. But that darn heeling, he used to be beautiful. I actually have the little bugger back on a leash and a treat in his face. How embarrassing. I actually picked him up and left the ring before we even made the first turn. I didn’t want him to think he could be that bad and get away with it. We have so very few trials in Alaska, it’s a long wait for the next...

Good for you to do the Twitty seminar. I’ve done a couple of Connie Cleveland seminars and really liked them. Will you be a working team?


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## K9-Design

Heeling is the hardest thing in obedience (GOOD HEELING) and it needs constant upkeep. 
I like to do a heeling only session each day -- it might only be three minutes. I will pick something to work on during that session, say, about turns, or left turns, or halts, and make sure not only do you get a correction in but that the dog improves and does it correctly in that session. Having said that, keep the session short. When I teach heeling I practice every day but here's what I do. I use food initially to teach heel position. I will form a meatball-sized piece of food in my hand, and break off tiny bites as the reward during the session. As soon as the meatball is used up, we're done. So sessions are always 2-7 minutes, that's it. You can go work on the other exercises separately. Don't EVER ask your dog to heel if both you and him can't give 100%.


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## DevWind

Alaska7133 said:


> I had the same problem, focusing on other things and my heel went out the window. I was so disappointed the last couple of times we were in the Open ring. He was so good. Back to working on heeling again, hope I don’t lose something else. We have most of utility down pretty well. But that darn heeling, he used to be beautiful. I actually have the little bugger back on a leash and a treat in his face. How embarrassing. I actually picked him up and left the ring before we even made the first turn. I didn’t want him to think he could be that bad and get away with it. We have so very few trials in Alaska, it’s a long wait for the next...
> 
> Good for you to do the Twitty seminar. I’ve done a couple of Connie Cleveland seminars and really liked them. Will you be a working team?



No. I have an auditor spot. I've done a couple of Connie Cleveland seminars too.


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## DevWind

K9-Design said:


> Heeling is the hardest thing in obedience (GOOD HEELING) and it needs constant upkeep.
> I like to do a heeling only session each day -- it might only be three minutes. I will pick something to work on during that session, say, about turns, or left turns, or halts, and make sure not only do you get a correction in but that the dog improves and does it correctly in that session. Having said that, keep the session short. When I teach heeling I practice every day but here's what I do. I use food initially to teach heel position. I will form a meatball-sized piece of food in my hand, and break off tiny bites as the reward during the session. As soon as the meatball is used up, we're done. So sessions are always 2-7 minutes, that's it. You can go work on the other exercises separately. Don't EVER ask your dog to heel if both you and him can't give 100%.



I'll have to go back to the basics like this. I took him to an Open class in a very busy environment when he was still basically a puppy and his heel has never been the same. Mr Pilot Man will be getting that heel back. His scores are always in the 190's but I'm very picky with him.


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## Jerry N Connie Walker

Alaska7133 said:


> I had the same problem, focusing on other things and my heel went out the window. I was so disappointed the last couple of times we were in the Open ring. He was so good. Back to working on heeling again, hope I don’t lose something else. We have most of utility down pretty well. But that darn heeling, he used to be beautiful. I actually have the little bugger back on a leash and a treat in his face. How embarrassing. I actually picked him up and left the ring before we even made the first turn. I didn’t want him to think he could be that bad and get away with it. We have so very few trials in Alaska, it’s a long wait for the next...
> 
> Good for you to do the Twitty seminar. I’ve done a couple of Connie Cleveland seminars and really liked them. Will you be a working team?


. Anney Oakley's dogs can Heel. Heeling is a dance and flashy heeling Is because of relationship. Matt is a personal friend and I don't get to train with much and I train by myself. You and your dog a great relationship are all you need. I have shared this around before, it is a video of my GSP bitch recent open run. I am beyond anxious to get my Brassfire puppy

https://youtu.be/087qZxusbjc


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## Alaska7133

Abeille said:


> I have 2 in Open currently! I know.....I'm crazy! LOL They are my first dogs to show at this level too. Winx isn't real consistent so I may be showing her longer. She has 2 CDX legs, which is pretty exciting when a couple of years ago I wasn't sure we'd ever get a CD! Pilot is a very consistent guy. Usually if we don't qualify, it's my fault. He has 1 leg. I showed him just to see where we were at and he did very well. Everyone tells me that he has tons of potential. I've got to clean up a few things, which we're working on. We've lost a beautiful heel. I'm working on getting it back. I'm hoping to learn a lot from the Matthew Twitty seminar I signed up for. Maybe it's just a young dog thing I need to work out?
> 
> 
> 
> I need to come up with a plan for teaching Utility. I've been working on a few things. Anyone have any tips for training at this level? I do have friends that are teaching me some things.



Hey there. How have your obedience trials gone this summer and fall? I was curious about an update.


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## DevWind

Alaska7133 said:


> Hey there. How have your obedience trials gone this summer and fall? I was curious about an update.


They both got their CDX on the same day in September! Pilot qualified and took 1st both days. Winx qualified on the second day and took 2nd. I found out that Pilot needs work with someone holding his dumbbell. He scored 192 and 193. He lost at least 5 points each day points because he wanted his dumbbell back. It’s not a normal thing around here for the judge to hold it the whole time. I have to be careful with his corrections so it will be a challenge. 

I’ve been working on utility with Pilot. We have almost gotten gloves down. We’ve been working on go outs but the jumping part is getting really good. We both got completely frustrated on the scent articles so we put them away for a while. We are learning utility together and without being in a class. We have some cleaning up to do in open yet. 

I made a deal with Winx. If she qualified she was done with obedience. She’s not a big fan. She does agility now and loves it. And I have the benefit of a very well behaved agility dog with the best start line stay out there. ?

We are taking a break from trials while we are learning utility. 

Thank you for asking!


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## DevWind

double post


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## DevWind

Well, Utility is coming around pretty nicely! As I was working with him one night, someone said, "He's really starting to look like a Utility dog". I'm taking that as a complement! Found a method of teaching a go out that's working for him. He's wanting to run out on "mark" so I'm working on that. Just excitement I think. We are back into private lessons so that helps. We are going to just keep at until we get it. 

I did go ahead and enter him in Open B in January......Our first time playing with the big kids!


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## DevWind

We are catching on to articles! Yay! I apparently worked on too much and confused him on other things today. How do you break it up so they understand each one? I’m going to only do a couple of things each session but do you only work one exercise or a couple?


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## AmberSunrise

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## DevWind

I did food on the article. He only worries about where the food is. Take it away and I'm back at the beginning. 
We did hide and go seek with the PVC tubes. Food again so back to the beginning. Not to the extent you're talking about.
Tosses into a pile were probably the most useful with him. 
When he was figuring it out and got it wrong, I just said "wrong" and resent him. Very happy response when correct. 
I keep corrections light with this one. He's a softie.

It's been off and on for a while with him working it out. For whatever reason, it just clicked what I want from him last week. I started with using tongs to place the unscented ones out and only scenting one. He is up to six metal articles. I had my 8 year old granddaughter set them out for me. She touches them is very creative with her placement. She will do a normal pile or line them up. Last night, she spread them all over the kitchen (don't worry, it's a small kitchen) and he found the right one. He is starting on leather too. At first I thought he was just getting lucky, but he's sniffing and actually searching for the right one now. We need to get it on turf still. Lots of turf rings here. We are well on our way with articles. 

For the other exercises, while they are still learning how do you separate them? I'm thinking about doing a signal session, or directed jumping session. Just working one exercise a session. Is this the way others do it? I completely confused him yesterday by working on too many things. Since I've never done Utility, I'm not teaching a puppy. He's 2 1/2 and technically my first CDX dog by 5 or 10 minutes. My biggest problem is that I can only get to my club once or twice a week and weather here isn't real good for outdoor training.


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## AmberSunrise

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## DevWind

Thank you! He does have some of it down pretty well. He goes to the correct glove with decent reliability. He loves the jumping part of the directed jumping exercise, we haven’t put it with the go out yet. Although I think he might do better with the go out if I did. Sometimes the work IS the reward. ? In this case it could be. He is balking after 2 or 3 go outs. Maybe if I let him jump when he does it correctly, it would be a motivator to try again. We’ve been working signals one piece at a time to prevent walking. I plan to start keeping a journal of what I did in each session. We’ve been lazy today after the weather keeping us up all night.

He has his CDX so we are trying to maintain and clean up there while learning new exercises.


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## DevWind

Articles are his favorite now! I took him outside to work with him. every time I released him, he ran to the article bag. He got them right every time and we were outside. Now that I'm done being sick and got everyone on a schedule I'm working with him more.


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## DevWind

This has kind of turned into my Utility diary! LOL He has gotten very good at pretty much everything. I've recently figured out the jumps are like a wall with him for go outs in trials. He gets to the jumps and turns to look at me. We finally found a way to replicate his behavior so I can work on it outside of a trial. We moved the jumps closer together. Now I can really work on the pressure and get him through it. Next trial he's entered in is on his home turf so hopefully that helps!


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## Alaska7133

Abeille said:


> This has kind of turned into my Utility diary! LOL He has gotten very good at pretty much everything. I've recently figured out the jumps are like a wall with him for go outs in trials. He gets to the jumps and turns to look at me. We finally found a way to replicate his behavior so I can work on it outside of a trial. We moved the jumps closer together. Now I can really work on the pressure and get him through it. Next trial he's entered in is on his home turf so hopefully that helps!


Have you watched any of Connie Cleveland videos on directed jumping? She has some good games to play. 
I have an idea. What about sitting your guy, walking out with the dumbbell and setting it beyond the jump. Then walking back and sending him for the retrieve?


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## DevWind

Alaska7133 said:


> Have you watched any of Connie Cleveland videos on directed jumping? She has some good games to play.
> I have an idea. What about sitting your guy, walking out with the dumbbell and setting it beyond the jump. Then walking back and sending him for the retrieve?


I've been to her seminars twice! Do you mean with the jumps brought in closer? So he can get through this "wall" in his mind? He loves his dumbbell....who knows? It can't hurt!


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## Alaska7133

Abeille said:


> I've been to her seminars twice! Do you mean with the jumps brought in closer? So he can get through this "wall" in his mind? He loves his dumbbell....who knows? It can't hurt!


Connie makes everything look so easy. Here's a link to some directed jumping that might apply.


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## Alaska7133

Here's another video:


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## PalouseDogs

Welcome to the joys of (F)(H)Utility. I used the Laura Romanik Go-Bop method (google if interested) but it sounds like you are already substantially into the training process and are having trouble with confusion in the ring. Or in different locations. 

Directed Jumping is a lot about constantly seeking to balance where you reward. Since going out all the way is his issue, in training, you need to be rewarding almost every time he goes all the way to the stanchion. It may help to back up to basics and teach him to touch the stanchion with his nose or "bop-it" ala Laura Romanik. I am not a fan of putting treats at the stanchion. I think the dog quickly realizes there is never a treat at a trial and gets confused about what you want. 

In training, when he gets to the stanchion and touches it with a nose or paw, use your reward marker ("Yes!" Clicker, whatever) and then walk out to him and give him the reward with your hand touching the stanchion. (If he gets up and comes to you after your reward marker, no problem. The reward marker marks the correct behavior but it is also a release. Just walk out to the stanchion and give the reward.)


If you reward too heavily on the stanchion touching behavior, he may begin ignoring a sit command in a trial and keep going to the stachion. If that starts to happen, in training, begin rewarding the sit more often, but going all the way to the stanchion in a trial is MUCH better than going halfway. It's only 3 points. Halfway is an NQ.


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## DevWind

Yes. I’ve seen dogs nearly knock over stanchions. I’ve taught him to go out to a mat which magically shrinks as he gets better. I am continuing to improve his performances. All of these ideas are helpful!


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## K9-Design

I'm no great utility trainer but I've started putting a bumper at the stanchion (tucked against the side of it, under the gate) and man does that create some drive!!! Gotta say I've not had the stop-between-the-jumps situation, although I firmly believe the dog has to break and mend every part of an exercise before they actually know it.


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## DevWind

K9-Design said:


> I'm no great utility trainer but I've started putting a bumper at the stanchion (tucked against the side of it, under the gate) and man does that create some drive!!! Gotta say I've not had the stop-between-the-jumps situation, although I firmly believe the dog has to break and mend every part of an exercise before they actually know it.


100% agree with you! I feel like that’s true with ANYTHING we teach them! I’m afraid with a bumper he would completely forget the task at hand.


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## K9-Design

That should tell you where you rank versus the bumper


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## DevWind

You could be right! Haha! He’s a little weirdo.....his equipment is extremely important and he must keep anyone from taking it! Ive done too well with teaching the retrieve I guess..... At the last trial, he tried to retrieve the judge’s pen when she dropped it.


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## GrandmaToGoldens

There are some differences between the Australian sendaway for directed jumping and the AKC one; our distances are a bit greater and we send the dog to an area delineated by pipe or other edging. When I first started trialling many years ago, we sent our dogs out towards nothing and they had to keep going until we cued them to turn and sit. However, the principles are the same. I like to send the dog to the required destination in relation to the jumps from early training, and gradually move the starting place back. So, if the jumps were causing a problem, I’d go back to sending the dog from between the jumps and gradually move the starting position back (not the destination). That might also assist your dog by ensuring that, in early retraining, he bursts past the jumps before he has a chance to slow down.


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## DevWind

Oh my! This weekend was different! I've been working super hard on the directed jumping exercise and guess what?!? He DOES them at a trial now! Everything else seems to be broken, but hey, that's how it goes. He wasn't himself at all. Did all new things. Not sure what's going on. No training for a few days so we can either let the problem resolve or get him looked at. He's just a little off is all....nothing serious.


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## AmberSunrise

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## DevWind

Pilot is good now. We aren’t sure what it was. Possible virus or maybe even ate a sick bird.


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## Selkie

Abeille said:


> I keep corrections light with this one. He's a softie.


I'm hoping to eventually do Obedience with Darwin. He's my first dog. How can you tell if a dog is sensitive/if you're over-correcting vs undercorrecting? Is it really obvious or kind of subtle?


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## DevWind

Selkie said:


> I'm hoping to eventually do Obedience with Darwin. He's my first dog. How can you tell if a dog is sensitive/if you're over-correcting vs undercorrecting? Is it really obvious or kind of subtle?


Its really something you have to learn as you train your dog. For example, my girl needs a leash pop to get her to listen sometimes. If Pilot so much as hears the links in his collar, he immediately fixes himself.

Things I recommend if you plan to show obedience:

1. Find a local dog training club. The more balanced their philosophy, the better off you’ll be. 
2. Start working on CGC requirements. I feel like it’s a great first goal for beginners! All of my obedience dogs have a CGC.
3. Go get yourself a dumbbell. Play fetch with it now. When it comes time to formally work on retrieve, you’ll already have a dog that loves the dumbbelll. Just remember it’s NOT a chew toy. He only gets it when you are playing fetch. That also makes it very special. 
4. If there’s a competition level class going on, watch it for a little bit. 
5. When you find that dog club class, don’t be afraid to tell your instructor what your plans are. If your instructors show, they will probably have extra little tidbits to help you that the general “All I want is a well behaved pet” people Don’t need or want.
6. Never give up! There are times when I hear how well my dogs’ siblings are doing and I get a little down. Don’t get me wrong, I’m super excited for those dogs and handlers. I have to constantly remind myself that Pilot is my first Utility level dog. These folks have had much more training than I do. I may never get to their level, but I’d love to try!


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## DevWind

So…..Matt Twitty seminar. Learned a lot of valuable techniques I plan to use. The one thing I was told that I’m not sure is going to work was the “pressurized play” specifically brought up for my dog. It’s not a bad thing for the right dog. Mine just acts like he’s being beaten. I’m just not going to work on upsetting him to point of biting me. Just doesn’t make sense to me To potentially ruin a sweet dog. Instead, my plan is to build his confidence on the exercises. Even if it means taking several steps back.


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## ArkansasGold

Abeille said:


> So…..Matt Twitty seminar. Learned a lot of valuable techniques I plan to use. The one thing I was told that I’m not sure is going to work was the “pressurized play” specifically brought up for my dog. It’s not a bad thing for the right dog. Mine just acts like he’s being beaten. I’m just not going to work on upsetting him to point of biting me. Just doesn’t make sense to me To potentially ruin a sweet dog. Instead, my plan is to build his confidence on the exercises. Even if it means taking several steps back.


I am not sure this is going to work for you either, honestly. Matt could have done a better job explaining what he’s looking for in pressurized play. It’s supposed to be a play-bite, not a bite-bite, but Pilot is so sweet that he just can’t comprehend biting you in any way. I liked your compromise of tugging instead. Tugging may be the key! 

I did think his insight on not looking Pilot directly in the eye on some things helped a lot.


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## DevWind

ArkansasGold said:


> I am not sure this is going to work for you either, honestly. Matt could have done a better job explaining what he’s looking for in pressurized play. It’s supposed to be a play-bite, not a bite-bite, but Pilot is so sweet that he just can’t comprehend biting you in any way. I liked your compromise of tugging instead. Tugging may be the key!
> 
> I did think his insight on not looking Pilot directly in the eye on some things helped a lot.


Pilot just learned tug in the past maybe 6 months. I think it's the closest I'm going to get. He is a super sweet boy and would never dream of biting me. 

I am going to see what happens if I don't look him in the eye. I think the fact that 35 people were paying attention to only him didn't help matters at all. I've been working on pressure with him and it's slowing improving. It's nice that Matt does think he has the potential to go all the way.


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## DevWind

Update.....

I'm not exactly sure what happened at that seminar. He is showing like a different dog now! No "border collie slink"! He heeled pretty nicely. Not where he used to be but MUCH better! Did his signals but didn't quite lie down all the way and anticipated the sit. (That's something I can work on!) ?The mats were sticky. I don't know that it bothered him but it may have been a factor. The biggest acheivement? HE DID HIS GO OUTS! Walked too far forward but he did them! To white gates against a white wall. The judge even paid me a compliment and said he had beautiful go outs! I'm so happy with how he did! We went someplace where we really didn't know anybody and kind of did a different "warm up". I played into the "mama's boy" stuff. Got him out of his crate early, took him out to potty, came in and let him snuggle and get pets. Oh...and I forgot to put his chain collar on. So some combination of events really boosted his confidence.


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## ArkansasGold

Wonderful!!!


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## AmberSunrise

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,


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## DevWind

I know it's normal to have difficulties at first. I was actually considering giving up! We got our second wind though and I think Q's are coming soon!


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## DevWind

Trial this past weekend...He did well. Missed signals completely. Did one beautiful directed jump, didn't sit for the others. Every thing else was very nice for a green dog and handler.

So now we need to work on his sits on the directed jumping. It's funny, in practice he does an arch to go out. At trials, it's straight as an arrow. We also need work on his signals, but overall he's improving all the time! I've been entering him in rally and that seems to be confidence building for him (and me...haha!) My husband took some videos and the border collie slink is almost gone so I know for sure his confidence is better! I see small improvements with each trial. Nothing is being failed due to lack of effort.

We also showed in rally this weekend, he earned his RE and a leg towards RAE this weekend! I think the recent rally entries are having a very good effect on him!

Last but not least, one of the judges came up to me after the trial and said that we looked good in the ring together and he could tell that Pilot and I have a very good relationship! That means a lot to me! I was also told that he only says things like that if he means them.  He is called a "mama's boy" often so I appreciate someone seeing it in a positive light!


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## DevWind

Not trial related....just talking it out. Sort of a gripe, I guess. A little frustrated maybe. I was training last night and my friend told me that I'm doing my signal for directed retrieve wrong. My signal gets his attention on the glove I'm sending him to but I was told that I couldn't do it over his head. It has to be beside his head. Immediately, I asked why she didn't tell me before now. She said it didn't bother her before now. We have never NQ'ed as long as he got the right glove. Never had a handler error marked down. You would think that someone, somewhere along the way would tell me I'm wrong before now! A judge would mark a handler error so I could ask what I did wrong...anything! We have great communication the way we've been doing it and now we need to change it! Luckily, I don't plan to show obedience again until January.

Don't get me wrong...I love my friend! Just...please....tell me before we both are doing it wrong at trials!

Oh....does anyone else have a "do not show" list? Mine has a judge that for whatever reason, Pilot doesn't care much for. She gets too close while he's working maybe. I have nothing against her personally. She's a fair judge. I want him to be more confident in the utility ring before I show to her again. The problem is, one of the local clubs always hires her! My plan was to enter him when she's judging rally and get him more used to being around her again. Any other ideas?


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## DevWind

Been a tad bit down about not getting a single utility leg this year. I guess there’s always next year.🤷🏻‍♀️ We have done fairly well in rally at least. I think we earned 4 titles this year. I’ve enrolled us in a rally class next session.

We got some nice utility gloves and the most amazing smelling treats for training tonight from our friends. Aren’t they pretty? She told me I should transfer some turquoise cuffs to them to match our articles.


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## GrandmaToGoldens

Abeille said:


> Been a tad bit down about not getting a single utility leg this year. I guess there’s always next year.🤷🏻‍♀️ We have done fairly well in rally at least. I think we earned 4 titles this year. I’ve enrolled us in a rally class next session.
> 
> We got some nice utility gloves and the most amazing smelling treats for training tonight from our friends. Aren’t they pretty? She told me I should transfer some turquoise cuffs to them to match our articles.
> View attachment 887833


Well done in Rally! Utility will come, maybe when you least expect it. So many things need to fit together perfectly for a UD pass, but when it does it’s brilliant.
I’ve only entered a few trials in the last two years, between lockdowns and not wanting to trial in the city when there were COVID cases, but I doubt whether Honey would have qualified anyway. She has lost so much confidence. I’ve pulled her from UD until April, so I can work on her confidence.


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## PalouseDogs

Utility is so much easier to fail than to pass. Keep plugging away. What exercise does he have the most trouble with?

Kelly


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## DevWind

PalouseDogs said:


> Utility is so much easier to fail than to pass. Keep plugging away. What exercise does he have the most trouble with?
> 
> Kelly


The normal ones most dogs struggle with. Signals and directed jumping. He knows them but when we get in the ring, he seems to forget he knows them.


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## PalouseDogs

You didn't ask, but a couple of suggestions that I found helpful:
1) Have a pre-training routine, about a minute or two, that you always do before you go between ring gates. If you don't have ring gates at home, put a couple of chairs or something out to have a gate to go through. In a trial, time your getting him out of the crate so you can go through your pre-ring routine. Don't do anything stressful. A couple of spins, hand-touches, short heeling, a couple of fronts, several treats. Don't hover by the gate at a trial or in training. Stay several feet away and heel in.
2) Take it on the road. Go to different places, BUT don't go through a whole routine. Stop at a park, go through your pre-ring routine, do a signals heeling pattern, give the drop signal. If he drops, "YES" treat, quit. If not, remind him to drop, go out of the "ring", go back in, try again. Don't worry about straight fronts, etc. Focus on the things that are NQing you. 
3) Work on heavily and repeatedly rewarding all the signal positions. At home, do several short heeling into a stand and rewarding the drop, then repeat with the sit. 

Good luck. Utility is hard.


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## diane0905

Abeille said:


> Been a tad bit down about not getting a single utility leg this year. I guess there’s always next year.🤷🏻‍♀️ We have done fairly well in rally at least. I think we earned 4 titles this year. I’ve enrolled us in a rally class next session.
> 
> We got some nice utility gloves and the most amazing smelling treats for training tonight from our friends. Aren’t they pretty? She told me I should transfer some turquoise cuffs to them to match our articles.
> View attachment 887833


Yes, very pretty!


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## DevWind

PalouseDogs said:


> You didn't ask, but a couple of suggestions that I found helpful:
> 1) Have a pre-training routine, about a minute or two, that you always do before you go between ring gates. If you don't have ring gates at home, put a couple of chairs or something out to have a gate to go through. In a trial, time your getting him out of the crate so you can go through your pre-ring routine. Don't do anything stressful. A couple of spins, hand-touches, short heeling, a couple of fronts, several treats. Don't hover by the gate at a trial or in training. Stay several feet away and heel in.
> 2) Take it on the road. Go to different places, BUT don't go through a whole routine. Stop at a park, go through your pre-ring routine, do a signals heeling pattern, give the drop signal. If he drops, "YES" treat, quit. If not, remind him to drop, go out of the "ring", go back in, try again. Don't worry about straight fronts, etc. Focus on the things that are NQing you.
> 3) Work on heavily and repeatedly rewarding all the signal positions. At home, do several short heeling into a stand and rewarding the drop, then repeat with the sit.
> 
> Good luck. Utility is hard.


Thank you! Anything that might help. I did learn one thing at the last trial. I did rally last time. On the first day he Q’ed everything. On the second day, on the masters run I said something like we can do it. Let’s go have fun. When that’s translated to Pilotese it’s “I’m worried, I don’t know what I’m doing, don’t follow me” He totally screwed up that run. 

He seems to do best with a little heeling and waiting several feet away in a sit with an occasional good boy and some head scratches. I think I say too much before we enter the utility ring. I’m testing my theory at the next trial.


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## DevWind

Trial day:

We got BEAUTIFUL signals! Yay!!!! I screwed up directed jumping so I failed us this time. We did a fix and go to show him just where to go after the second go out was short.


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## DevWind

Test reply🙂


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## DevWind

I haven’t updated this lately. I have to tell you all how frigging proud I am of my boy today! I bumped him up to B and he did so well! Ribbon good? No. Am I happy? Absolutely! The only thing he missed was an article. Did his directed jumping even with the sun shining in a window and leaving a lopsided rectangle at the spot. It got most dogs. Other than that we lost 1/2 to 1 point on all the other exercises! This was just what I have been waiting for him to show me!


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## PalouseDogs

That is awesome. There are so fricking many ways to lose points (not to mention NQ) in all the Utility exercises, if you can get to only half or one-point losses on each exercise (and Q, of course!), you might have yourself an OTCH dog. 

Darn those articles. If only we could ask the dog what he's smelling.


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## DevWind

PalouseDogs said:


> That is awesome. There are so fricking many ways to lose points (not to mention NQ) in all the Utility exercises, if you can get to only half or one-point losses on each exercise (and Q, of course!), you might have yourself an OTCH dog.
> 
> Darn those articles. If only we could ask the dog what he's smelling.


Thank you! He certainly has the potential! not sure if I do! Lol We would definitely have to travel for the wins…obedience is VERY competitive here. There’s a small group of ladies that do every local show. They all score between 197-199.


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## ArkansasGold

Are you coming to Columbus All-breed at the end of next month?


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## DevWind

ArkansasGold said:


> Are you coming to Columbus All-breed at the end of next month?


Maybe. There’s a lot we are considering that weekend. I need to go look at their premium. They have had a no children rule in the past. Sometimes I have to bring my granddaughter along.


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## ArkansasGold

DevWind said:


> Maybe. There’s a lot we are considering that weekend. I need to go look at their premium. They have had a no children rule in the past. Sometimes I have to bring my granddaughter along.


Granted, I haven’t trialed there in a long time, but I know people have brought their kids in the past. Your granddaughter is old enough to behave and she’s also show/dog savvy, so I can’t imagine there would be a problem with that.

Anyway, I am entering Eevee in either BN or Novice. Haven’t decided which yet. Hope to see you!


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## DevWind

ArkansasGold said:


> Granted, I haven’t trialed there in a long time, but I know people have brought their kids in the past. Your granddaughter is old enough to behave and she’s also show/dog savvy, so I can’t imagine there would be a problem with that.
> 
> Anyway, I am entering Eevee in either BN or Novice. Haven’t decided which yet. Hope to see you!


It was something they instated during Covid. I'll go look now and perhaps drop an email to the secretary. I can understand no young children. She'll be 11 and sits there quietly playing her video games if she has to come now.


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## DevWind

So I looked them up. Kids are allowed again! It's a weekend full of local events. So big choices to make! 

Agility trial....was thinking about entering my granddaughter with Winx
Fun field day.....my GR club is having one on Sunday and it's definitely on my radar. (FYI...Open to non-members) I was considering entering a WC in May.
Obedience trial....yeah....probably where I should be.

I've been discussing it with my friends. Our obedience breakthrough was HUGE! After our talk, I'm thinking that we should stick to the obedience track for the time being so it's looking like I'll enter! Jr Handlers can enter for $10 so I'll see if I can get her to try it. I wish AKC had a C class like UKC does. Not for ribbons and prizes...just for experience. Oh well.

One thing's for certain! No more Utility A for him. He was so funny. The first exercise was directed jumping. When I said "go out" He got this expression like "Really? I get to do the fun stuff first?" and took off. LOL Thankfully, I don't pattern train since I can't remember the regular order anyway!


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## DevWind

Turns out I'm entering 2 dogs! Lydia has decided that she wants to show there too! Unfortunately for her, she has to enter Open B.


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## DevWind

A word to the wise………UKC Advanced Open looks and sounds like fun but don’t do it!!!

I entered Pilot in it this weekend since I didn’t want to mess up his AKC training. BIG mistake! We’ve been working on it for a little while. There wasn’t much he didn’t already know. Moving sit was the thing we didn’t already have some knowledge on. We thought he could get it but no. I went ahead and bumped him up to Utility so he could have some fun. I did intentionally failed the second directed retrieve. Reason one, I’ve spent too long convincing him to go out to the stantion to tell him to stop part way. Reason 2, I wasn’t about to introduce something brand new at a trial. 

All in all, he did very well in utility. He did everything exactly like I asked him to and was happy doing it. If it had been AKC, he would have had a leg today. 🙂 Hard to believe I felt like giving up a couple of months ago and it has suddenly clicked in his head! I’m so excited and can’t wait to get to the next trial! ive learned he likes the exercises mixed up best. I’ve learned not to chat with him too much before hand. Learned not to let other people influence our before ring routine. 

The knowledge I can pass along is this. Get to know what works for YOUR dog. I get Pilot out about 30 minutes before our turn for a potty break. After that, he goes I. His crate whilst I potty myself 🙂. Then we sit down together for a cuddle session. He’s allowed up on me for his love and pet time. When the dog before us goes in the ring, I warm him up for a minute of two. We then wait at a safe distance and I scratch his head. That’s the routine that works for him. I think our time alone calms both of us.

Also…..if you see someone in the bathroom not wash or the pretend to wash their hands it’s not because theyre gross. It’s so their hands don’t smell like soap while Doing articles


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