# Competition Training Logs - Feb 2014



## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Our shortest month of the year as the days start to get longer -- may it be warmer and drier so we can get out & train our dogs.

Today I have 2 classes at SmartyDog and then a private at Tails

Rally at noon with Towhee (SmartyDogs)
Utility at 1 with Faelan (SmartyDogs)
An Agility private with Brady (Tails U Win)

Tomorrow I have a rental at Dave's where a few friends will hopefully join me.

For the month --
Training all the dogs
Faelan: Utility, Open concentrating on heeling and fronts. Agility as well.

Towhee: Open obedience, drops, scent articles and agility: I am hoping I can have her run a few Agility trials at the end of the month before her next season - she is entered and we made the cut so :crossfing:crossfing

Brady: Novice, moving SFE, recall over the bar jump, scent articles, retrieving etc in addition to Agility

Casey: Novice level obedience and Physical Therapy type training.

In review of last month, I really think the timed and focused training sessions in the morning are working very well. It helps keep me on target, I know I will not spend so much time I will be late for work etc


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

Woke this morning to about 4-5 new inches of snow and coming down hard , roads are terrible so no training at SCKC drop in training as I really wanted to do articles with people around also and especially gloves . If he was to do it correctly instead of over achieving as he did Tues. I would be thinking he finally has the idea but if he did his habitual over doing it I was going to bring 2 gloves filled with rocks as a detriment to his over achieving tendency . Tues was encouraging but with Nugget you never know as he proved by NQ at the trial last weekend on the broadjump AGAIN after doing many many times in practice since the last failure. This 3 rd leg is becoming pretty elusive but we aren't going to quit he is young and once he gets gloves and does the BJ he will be a competitive dog as mostly everything else is pretty good. We did do a couple short go-outs - turns in place - articles and signal exercise albeit a shortened version in the house and a couple f+f this morning so training till Mon.at club is over hopefully roads will be cleaned up by then as my club is 64 miles round trip away.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

*sighs* We got a couple inches this morning and it has been coming down steadily ever since. We probably will have a 1/2 foot before it's all done. 

Which means.... I'm going to remove my entries from a fun match tomorrow. I don't think I'm going to make it. >.<

From the sounds of it - the match is rapidly devolving from a 4 ring fun match to just 2 rings and the likelihood of people doing open floor as opposed to structured run throughs - just because most of the workers probably won't make. 

*glum*


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

Kate know how you feel darn weather is really getting to be a "PAIN" several friends of mine were entered at Car Dun Al show today and I already know of two who didn't make it. It's getting expensive to just send entries and wind up throwing the money away.


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## ashleylp (Jul 23, 2011)

I don't envy yall - it is 75 degrees here with beautiful skies.

I took Caira to our frisbee meetup this morning. They are normally on Sundays but due to Super Bowl Sunday being tomorrow we met today. Unfortunately, only four of us were able to come out. The intimate group setting was actually nice, though, because I got to work with Caira a lot. The other three women were able to help me with my back stalls, foot stalls, and chest vault and one of the ladies and I FINALLY cracked how to teach her to vault off of my chest.

The back stall is coming along nicely as well, but we need more work before we add in the disc. The footstall is a huge work in progress, mostly on my end, as I have a hard time supporting her weight with my legs. I think I'll have to go to the gym or start doing squats or something. I've never been one to exercise much.

The wind wasn't too strong but strong enough to make some of my throws terrible. One of the girls is really great at a lot of trick throws so she taught all of us how to do a few new ones. I can do a regular back hand and an overhand throw fairly well now. I need to work with Caira on catching butterfly throws.

One big positive that came out of today's meeting - one of the other girls wants to start training her dog for Rally, and as I am just gettng started in Rally with Remy, she'd like to meet up. Her dog is an overly dominant male (as is Remy) so she understands the importance of not letting him off leash to run up on Remy (I have had trouble at meetups before due to people allowing their off leash dog to run up) and she has some background in training so it will be nice to get her perspective and to train with her. The main thing I need in a training partner is accountability - I push myself a lot further when I have someone to compare myself to and when I want to be able to show improvement week after week.

I love this group that trains frisbee. There's just something about me trying to teach Caira and being able to ask "Hey, what am I doing wrong? What am I doing right?" --- and to have three other ladies give me great constructive criticism and help me figure out different ways to go about some things. That's exactly what I've been missing in my training journey.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Incredible day so far. I have learned tons and need to absorb; everything from not being smooth enough on a german-about to adding ground flax seed to my dogs food to try to improve Towhee's coat to lowering Brady's protein intake and see if that helps some squirreliness.

It is supposed to be close to 50 tomorrow and I can see patches of ground in my back yard  Time to get out the 2x2 weaves and follow through on Brady's agility lesson - hopefully seeing ground and not snow will last for a bit  But perhaps not if the snow mentioned above will be heading east.


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## PalouseDogs (Aug 14, 2013)

As of today, it is 10 weeks until our first trial of the year. We have a little snow on the ground and our mild winter is going to be interrupted by a spell of bitter cold for at least a week. We are stuck back in the loft for a while. 

I persuaded the hubby to video some training in the loft today. Watching yourself on video is kind of humbling, but since so many others are brave enough to do it, what the heck. I sure do a lot of jabbering during training. 

I made multiple short videos of parts of the training sessions, to avoid having one too-long video. I'll post links as I get them loaded to youtube. 

Here's the first one: doing articles. I had a problem with Alder dragging himself out slowly to the first article last year, which I attributed to getting too formal in the rush to have him ready to show in Utility last fall. I've been working on his attitude by often doing only one article in a training session. If I do both, I'll usually take a play break between articles. He's not moving at the ideal brisk trot in this video, but it is a very short distance to the pile and he's not hanging his head and tail. Improvement. 

I'm bundled up because, while it's warmer in the loft than outside, it's still only mid-30s in the loft.

Link:
Articles in loft, Feb 1, 2014 made with Videoshop - YouTube


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## PalouseDogs (Aug 14, 2013)

Heeling and signal training videos.

With Alder the poodle boy, I don't aim for perfection on heeling. He is a dog with slow reactions and poor fine muscle control. (He's a klutz.) I want enthusiasm and confidence. I kind of botched the signal training. Alder can't take make pressure. He was a little unsure and I should have done more to relax him and/or build his confidence. 
Alder set-up, heel, signals Feb 1, 2014 made with Videoshop - YouTube

I push Maple harder for perfection, and she is a dog that can be pushed a bit in training. She has major anxiety issues about riding in vehicles and being away from home, but on her own ground, she has a lot of confidence. I'm working on her forging on the heel. Watching the video, I have to ask myself, "Self, why don't you try more left turns and counter-clockwise circles? If she knows that a right turn is always coming, of course she's going to forge!" 

On the signals, I was mainly watching to see whether she'd move forward going from down to sit. We've been doing a lot of work on that. She did good.

Maple, heeling and signals Feb 1, 2014 made with Videoshop - YouTube


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Thank you so much for sharing those videos  I love your loft and I love your dogs.

Videos can be humbling for sure, but they are almost as good as having your instructors there LOL I'll share something that happened in class yesterday that my instructor caught but I did not and would not have without a video if I was alone. Working rally with my Towhee on the 1-2-3 step halt, on the 2nd step she shifted back slightly so I did not check that her butt hit the ground - it had not!! She sits in heel position but she does have an almost rock-back head motion so I 'assumed' her butt hit since we were on carpeting and I could not hear her usual plants LOL


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## PalouseDogs (Aug 14, 2013)

This is for Jen and her hoop training. This is the broad jump with Maple. The first time, I throw a ball while she's jumping to encourage her to focus forward. The second time, I have her do the front and finish. I'm using only 2 (mismatched) boards because we're on a hard, unmatted floor. I don't want her jumping full distance on this floor.

Maple, Broad jump, Feb 1, 2014 made with Videoshop - YouTube


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## PalouseDogs (Aug 14, 2013)

*Pivots and DR*

The last video clips from yesterday, this time pivots and directed retrieves (DR). My experiment with embeding video didn't work, so it's links again.

With both dogs, I worked on pivots first, and finished with a single DR. 

Maple:
Maple, pivots and DR made with Videoshop - YouTube

Alder:
Alder, pivots and DR made with Videoshop - YouTube

The video with Alder is another good example of how video can help with training. On the pivot to glove 1, I wasn't keeping my feet on the imaginary paper plate. Must work on that.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Faelan, Towhee & I headed out to a ring rental at Dave's (the can returns, grooming and cattery place) There was a cat adopt-a-thon in the next ring  Brady & Casey headed out on a hike with my brother & BIL - Brady needs to spends less time with me and the full pack so...

Wow, just wow. Towhee decided that not only can she do scent articles, she can do metal scent articles and not need canning rings .... 3 in a row with the full set out there since I had just worked articles with Faelan.... good Towhee 

I alternated between the dogs basically doing the same exercises but at differing levels as needed with the exception of Ms Towhee's drop training which she is now doing while I am backing up (slowly) Yay 

We started with Go Outs, then directed jumping. Faelan did the exercise split then chain while Towhee had the exercise split.

Next we worked articles and the both did great 

We moved to heeling next - signals for Faelan while heeling with random drops for Towhee.

Next we worked on Retrieve on the flat - the same for both Faelan and Towhee with the whole chain except finishes - we did not work finishes at all today.

Then we worked retrieve over the high jump, followed by Broad Jump - both dogs at competition style level.

Then Faelan had MSFE, combined with signals, combined with straight heeling while Towhee had heeling followed by drops out of motion and coming towards me.

We then worked recalls and Faelan was expecting the drop cue so we spent some time there and Towhee just had straight recalls.

We then worked some Directed Retrieving ( Towhee's pivots are very nice but she likes glove 2 but still very good for her 1st time). 

We then practiced their sit stays while I packed up.

We had quite an audience throughout including small children reaching through the gating - I truly love that place  Where else can you get almost all the noises and even people reaching through? Now if they would start up a barbecue or kitchen near the rings that would be even better.


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## Brave (Oct 26, 2012)

February snuck up on me! I totally didn't even think to look for this thread. uh oh! 

I sent the video of my hula hoop training to our trainer, and she said we seem very dedicated and it's a fabulous trick, HOWEVER, I need to exercise Bear more based on the way he acts in class. And he's not even BAD in class. He has a few times where it takes him a bit to settle, and he gets distracted by scents when we're moving across the field during exercises. Anyways, I want to run him in the dog park. To me, that will be the easiest way to burn loads of energy right before class. But they don't want you in the dog park before class. Kind of stumped. Walking him for an hour didn't help, and I only have an hour between when we get there and class. It's not like I get to go home and run him around. 

I wonder if I wipe his paws down after the park, if that will be good enough for them. I think they are worried about bringing germs or illnesses to their training grounds. 

Maybe I should go to a baseball field or something right before class, with Bear on a long leash. We can play fetch that way. 

I took some more video of us training this weekend. I have to find the time to upload it. We got a foster girl on Friday night, so my life has pretty much revolved around that this weekend. 

I'll come back tonight to check out the video you posted for me! Thanks for sharing it.

ETA - I asked the trainer how best to refocus Bear when he gets distracted, and she told me to shorten the training sessions, and to make it less like constant drilling. I think we have fun training at home, it's at class that I cannot seem to reaquire his attention. We've been practicing "watch me" and "focus" and reattuning him to "bear" but come class night, there are times, I poke him (gently, mind you), in the sholder or neck area like a "hey you, don't blow me off"

How do YOU require your pup's attention once they are off in la-la land?


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

*Monday Class*

Yes - we finally got to go to class in like forever!!!!! :greenboun:thanks:

The funny thing was pretty much every female dog in our class and the one following was in heat. Didn't affect my guys other than the parking lot smelling WONDERFUL to them. LOL. 

Did go-outs and directed jumping with both guys to start class. Some forwards and backwards. 

Heeling with Bertie - he stayed focused a bit longer this time. I was helping him out a ton to stay back in heel position with his head up. He kept wanting to gait instead of this heeling stuff.... :bowl: 

Figure 8 with Jacks - practically perfect. 

Stands with Bertie - held them solid, but need to rebuild his confidence in stands. I think as I pick up a second class a week (as the weather gets nicer and Adele gets back home from Florida) those stands will mondo improve just with additional practice. 

DOR with Jacks - perfect one-time

Straight fronts with Bertie - good. Slightly crooked front. Teacher reminded me to stop babying him with the "shoot" (I unconsciously stand with my feet apart for fronts with him - I don't with Jacks). 

DOR with Bertie - I just dropped and rewarded him. Hoping to get faster and faster with those drops without losing the fast fronts. 

ROHJ with Jacks - The "bonus" is I'm finding he's happy to jump at this point of his recuperation, but unsure about jumping with something in his mouth. So I took the exercise apart and just set him up with the dumbbell in his mouth and having him jump with it. 

Dumbbell toss with Bertie - he pounced on the dumbbell and came back with his head spinning. He doesn't have the "control" just yet to handle retrieves with multiple dumbbells flying. <- He wasn't the only one having problems though. When I was doing the high jump with Jacks, another golden in the class (there are 5 goldens, counting my 2) went flying in and was trying to wrestle the dumbbell out of Jacks mouth. Anyway, accepted that one retrieve and moved on to something else.

Broad jumps with Bertie - this was his first time working with 2 boards instead of 1. He has the idea that he's supposed to jump - and keeps trying to anticipate the call. I'm starting to work on getting the command out and see him in the air before tossing a treat so we don't get stuck at the treat toss phase. 

Stays with both dogs..... <- The goldens all hung out together for stays.  Bertie's stays were perfect, but Jacks had some problems. He definitely was not tired. Mostly him sitting up on his down stay (2-3 times towards the end when I finished up with Bertie and stepped out of sight - so likely an insecurity issue). 

That's it.


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

Training at my club was a very unsatisfactory session tonight. I tried doing gloves staring with 1 and he did it ok then I sent him for 3 and that he got also ok then the bugaboo 2 which he got and went for the other gloves. I then put out two filled with rocks at the 1-3 spots and sent him for 2 which he got and again went for the others which when he tried to pick them up found he couldn't and after calling him to me he came and I thought great he learned too only get one glove . I was so wrong now he won't leave my side to get any of them. We quit gloves as I could see he was getting stressed and tried go- outs this he completely messed up leaving the ring. After this we went in the open ring and it was a little better , Nugget did take the BJ 4 x in a row , I then threw the dumbell for him over the HJ and got a crazy bounce to my left but I sent him over anyway which he should have done but instead of going over the jump he went around got the dumbbell and came back over it. The rest of the exercises were sloppy , lagging on fig 8 slow on a couple sits doing the heelng exercise . He did do a good MSFE and recall x2 . 


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Shhhhh, Ms Towhee might read this thread at night and she cannot go into season yet ..... not until at least March 

My crew had last night off - shoveling duty called.



Megora said:


> Yes - we finally got to go to class in like forever!!!!! :greenboun:thanks:
> 
> The funny thing was pretty much every female dog in our class and the one following was in heat. Didn't affect my guys other than the parking lot smelling WONDERFUL to them. LOL.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

This morning each dog had 2 timed segments (3 minutes and 2 minutes)

*Towhee* Heeling with drops, drops out of motion, drops while I am moving backwards and a few fronts. Followed by scent canning rings (80%)  

*Faelan* Heeling with signals, left turns, come fores followed by fronts with a scent article in his mouth.

*Brady* Heeling with come fores, 1-2-3 step halts, 1-2-3 step fronts followed by scent articles metal and then leather (100%)

*Casey* Heeling with signals, recalls, front & finishes. And just some get it get it get it games.


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

Nugget settled down from his stress of last evening and did articles with leaving my side quickly and correctly getting both leather and metal and also did MSFE and Signal exercise very nicely. Two baited go-outs which he knew a treat was there so they were fast and straight albeit short ( in house) f+f he was pretty good on the finishes not so much on the fronts . Turns in place were good as he moved right with me in heel position and we did a recall from down and this was nice. Tomorrow is a day off as he and Sadie go to the groomer and then Thursday at SCKC?


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## PalouseDogs (Aug 14, 2013)

As predicted, the temps have been getting colder. Our only OB training has been in the garage loft. I've been working on the problems (Mine and the dogs') I saw in my videos. With Maple, I'm working on the forging with a lot of left turns, counterclockwise spirals into tighter and tighter circles, and plenty of halts. She gets a ball toss or treat when she stays in heel position for many steps.

I'm working on keeping my feet on the imaginary paper plate for the #1 glove pivot.

Working, working, working on Alder's drops (confidence and not moving forward), with drops close-up, lots of praise, etc. Also, his anticipation of the recall from sit, which is a delicate balance between anticipation and having him not come at all.


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## Brave (Oct 26, 2012)

Big fail on my part. I didn't' get around to posting those videos. Whoops! 

Bear and I practiced in the parking lot at work for about 10-15 minutes last night. I wanted him to get use to be on the long line and paying attention to me. I bought some cheez whiz last night as a bribe to keep with me. 

This morning we practiced on the long line in the driveway. He is getting more and more confident on the take. With us being on leash, I've modified the trick to: 

Sit/Stay
walk 30 feet away
Release and Jump through the hoop (he gets some great air now that he's getting some speed!!) 
quickly treat and praise for successful jump
"trot" over the hoop to get back to the correct side so I don't accidentally tangle the lead. 
Done! 

I'm going to ask DH to film our trick tonight. Or try to take photos. I hope we don't mess up. I'm still having trouble using a toy to get him to go long through the hoop. I think I know what I need to do, but I haven't gotten a chance to practice it. So I'm debating whether to try it before class and use it during our performance, or just sticking with what we've been doing so far.


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## coaraujo (Nov 2, 2012)

Now that I finally have a car again I get to start up classea again, hooray!!! This morning I had family dog II ob with Oliver. Ahh it was awesome . Having a few months off so Oliver could mature really helped. We went from (last class about 2 months ago) refusing treats and giving 0 attention/focus to acting like this super smart well trained dog. Its a small class where one of the owners is a trainer herself so its closer to competition level ob. Which works out great for me. We did a lot of heel work, left and right about turns, box work, stays, stand for exam, sit down stand mixes, and fronts. Then we had some down time to practice what we wanted while our trainer worked with a reactive dog in the class. I took advantage of the dustracting environment to work on retrieves. It was really hard for oliver, I think it might have been a bit too much too soon. I tried to make it really simmple by having him picking up the bumper and placing it in my hand from only a foot away. He did much better at these short uncomplicated retrieves.

What we did well:
Attention heeling - eyes were glued to me and he even got prancy on me at some points . I think ive realized I heel too slowly with him. If I kick up to a more brisk walk his focus is great. I can speed up and slow down from there with him maintaining focus. But if I start slow I lose him immediately.

Box work, pivots were great, clearly hasnt forgotten what to do even though we had some time off.

Get in (swing) and Around. I havent named these or even tried training them but with hand,motions Oliver immediately understood what to do. Time to add the verbal cue!

What needs work:
He lags on right about turns, I think its partially my fault. I need to video so I can see what Im doing. 
Left about turns - uhh weve never practiced these so theyre really ugly right now lol
Fronts, oh god, I suck . Weve never formally practiced these but a lot of the times on recalls oliver finishes in a front (crooked). He had no idea what I wanted from him. Hed come and sit too far away so id try to get him to come closer and hed go into heel. If I kept my hands at my sidea hed come front and down :thumbup:. At one point I set up some cobes to try and get him to sit straight, I had treats in my rigjt hand, obviously he went crooked. Dumbbbb. I also was asking him to front when there were matts on the floor which caused him to go crooked. The poor thing, I couldnt have made it any more confusing for him. We'll be adding this to our to do list, using a straight hallway where I cant confuse him. 

In all my excitement from class I signed us up for another class, breed handling, tonight!!! I dont think Oliver will get all that far because he has a gay tail, but I think it will still be fun and a great learning experience, and who knows maybe his pretty boy looks will make up for his tail.

Looking forward to watching everyones videos once I get out of class (i pay more attention and put,more effort into the boys' classes than I do my own college classea LOL - I should have majored in dogs..)

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## Brave (Oct 26, 2012)

Class went great. Bear and I stopped on the way up at a dog park and he ran off some energy for 30 minutes. When we got to class, we were early, so I put Bear on the long lead and we practiced our hoop trick in the parking lot. 

I broke out the BIG guns, and brought a can of cheez whiz to mix it up last night. I also brought a small "tigger" head that had some felt tails and a squeaker and his favorite rope toy to work on keeping his focus on me. That was a BIG BIG BIG BIG BIG hit. So much so, that we got 98% loose leash walking AT CLASS! I was amazed. 

Once we got to our group, I asked one of the instructors for a red ribbon to indicate that Bear needs his space. She was shocked b/c Bear isn't aggressive, overly shy/scared, or "reactive," but I explained that he is easily overstimulated and I would prefer if we could tell others that he needs space. And in the end, I think it worked in our favor. 

No new lessons tonight. We practiced casual heeling, and I accidentally sprayed cheez whiz ALL OVER the side of his muzzle. My friend in class, doubled over in laughter. Bear was in heaven licking himself trying to get it all. The teachers evaluated our leave-it. They said b/c Bear is SO good at it, that I need to up the ante, which we will. 

We did distraction work. They put about 6 piles of distractions in a circle on the ground, and we had to weave our dog between the piles. Bear and I did ok. He didn't linger over any one item, but he did try to investigate them. I had a hard time handling him, which is my fault, it was an off night. They told me I needed to treat and reward him more. I had his leash in one hand, and his rope toy in the other as his reward. He didn't give a toot about his rope toy. Lesson learned. 

Next was long distance recall. They added a long line to our leash, one of the instructors held Bear, and the goal was to get him to come to me, and avoid the large pile of distractions in the middle. The instructor had a hard time holding Bear back, b/c he wanted to go where I was. Which might be a problem when we take the CGC, though we were not allowed to ask him to sit and stay before we did this exercise, which is why I think he was so wound up. I've been drilling into him to always stay by my side. She warned me that we might have a drive-by recall, so I got out his tigger head (which is a training ONLY toy, so it's extra special, I think). She told me to call when ready. I said, "Bear! COME!" and he was off like a greyhound. Didn't even look at the distractions. He came flying at me super fast, probably would have knocked me on my bum if he hadn't stopped. I gave him his toy, and grabbed his collar, and praised praised praised. Such a good boy! My friend told me she had NEVER seen a dog come so fast. I'm VERY proud of Bear. 

Finally we did the tricks. I was the only person who did a long-distance trick. I asked if I could step a ways away from the group since Bear was on a 30 ft lead, so to minimize distractions. He did GREAT! The trainer explained that the dogs may or may not perform as well here as they did at home b/c it's a brand new place, and can be overwhelming. Bear did his sit/stay badly. He broke it when i say "ready" instead of "ok". He ran up to the hoop, balked for a moment and then jumped it. WHEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

After that first jump and treat, he spent the next few seconds playing hoop hop, just jumping from one side to the other. The class was laughing. 

Overall, I am VERY proud of how well Bear did. I'm going to start swinging by the dog park before each class, b/c it seemed to worked great. 30 minutes was all he needed, and he burned more energy there than he does when we play fetch. The park only had about 5 dogs there, and the owners were VERY responsible. Which is a nice change.


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## ashleylp (Jul 23, 2011)

I am so out of shape. We worked on foot stalls today and I can hardly support her weight. These might have to take a backburner until I am stronger. It's sad to admit.

Tomorrow will hopefully not be so windy and we can throw some frisbees. 

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## Brave (Oct 26, 2012)

ashleylp said:


> I am so out of shape. We worked on foot stalls today and I can hardly support her weight. These might have to take a backburner until I am stronger. It's sad to admit.
> 
> Tomorrow will hopefully not be so windy and we can throw some frisbees.
> 
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What are foot stalls?


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## ashleylp (Jul 23, 2011)

This is a foot stall! My legs have a hard time not wobbling. Caira can get on my feet fine, but as soon as she is up there her weight causes me to wobble wobble and she can't stay up...

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## Brave (Oct 26, 2012)

Woah! I'm VERY impressed!!! I imagine it would make me wobble too. I wobble just picking up Bear. lol!!!!


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## Gwen_Dandridge (Jul 14, 2012)

I'm super impressed, but I'm not going to try this with a golden. She would flatten me. 

We did agility on Tuesday and she was great again. Gosh, I guess feeding her more treats really does show results. She missed a jump and the instructor wanted to try it herself. Maddie trotted off with her, but she was very excited, sort of like the body language of Brave's photo. Maddie did the jumps and then raced back to me, with that same galloping gait and grin. "See, see what I did."


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## ashleylp (Jul 23, 2011)

I'll post a couple videos of us working in the morning. We have two tricks that we were struggling with down now... Great progress!

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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

Training last night was a step in ten right direction Nugget and I .got our 5 min. In the utility ring and I brought 2 rock filled gloves and the normal 3 which I set out as they would be in a trial. I sent him for our bugaboo glove first #2 and he hesitated at my side so I repeated take it and stepped a couple feet with him toward it and he then took off got the glove and returned to me then we did #3 and then #1 all were gotten with Nugget returning to me WITHOUT any attempt to over achieve YEA!! The gloves with the rocks never had to be used. This made my whole evening. We also did 3 baited full ring go- outs all were fast and straight but the one that I sent him over the bar he refused but a retry was done and he took it nicely. DOR better than excellent (2) and 2 straight heeling too was very nice but fig 8 we had a crooked sit. ROF and ROHJ well done with good fronts ( help from me to get them straight) S+D no problems on either one he almost goes to sleep on the down.overall one of the better sessions with definite progress on the glove exercise. We also did BJ twice which he took on first order and gave me to good f+f.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

I took the past few days off since I was pondering why I do this whole dog obedience thing but decided since I personally do it for my love of my dogs ... the thrill of training and seeing the confidence and joy when one of my dogs 'does good' ... I just need to work towards those aspects that bring out the beauty of this sport and the teamwork that becomes possible. 

so ... back to my timed sessions this morning.

*Towhee* beat all the other dogs into the training room and we worked 3 minutes of heeling, drops out of motion, drops coming towards me and the beginnings of the Get It Get It Get It Down game. We then moved to 2 minutes of scent articles where she was introduced to her actual (metal) show articles. They fit her wonderfully and while she made mistakes she did a few very well - nice pickups, holds and Gives.

*Faelan* was next. 3 minutes of heeling, come fores, signals and spins - towards the end of my session it occurred to me that I perhaps should not work come fores with him since he has a tendency to forge .. oops  I then set up articles (2 minutes) with his fronting platform to start getting serious about his fronts while doing articles  I think he loved the new game! 

*Brady* and I did 3 minutes of heeling with stands out of motion, come fores, drops out of motion, standard halts with sits and more stands out of motion. I set up his front platform and worked (untimed) a full set of articles with metal then leather (100% success rate) and then we practiced some finishes with me holding the scent article finishing with some Get It Get It Get It come games.

*Casey* and I worked (untimed) some heeling, come fores and signals - he had a great time and is always so thrilled to be working ; how I love Lil Red


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## Laurie (Sep 20, 2009)

I just started a new job so our early morning training sessions are no more! Poor Lexx is pretty pouty when I leave the house without him. 

I did take him to the building last night for some training. We worked on heeling with food distractions. I put peanut butter, cheese and carrots on lids around the room and had him heel around those items. We also did recalls with the same distractions. He did better than I thought he would!!

We worked on dumbbell retrieves over jumps. He used to ace this but now it`s like jump...sniff.....ah, maybe I should pick up the dumbbell and take it to mom! But...throw his ball or his dokken over the jump and he`s a retrieving fool. Same thing on the flat. So more work on that apparently.

We worked on go outs and directed jumps. He`s doing very well on this. This seems to be one of his favorite exercises.

Broad jump....no problems at all. 

Signal exercises very good. We have to work at his drop at a distance because he seems to hesitate (at times) but up close it`s automatic drop.

Moving SFE....good. 

Articles are going well but they seem to bore him. 

We had agility Wednesday night. He`s doing very well on his sequences but anything involving a tunnel and a jump he loves. He`s still unsure of the teeter so that`s a work in progress.

We are going to a Marie Sawford obedience seminar on February 22 and 23 so am really looking forward to that. We still need some work on our focus so I`m hoping she can help us out with that.


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

We got a late start for our morning training but it went well. Articles Nugget needed his usual tap on his butt to move out to the article pile but the second article send for was very brisk the way I like it to be, both send for metal and leather correct but only one straight front. Signal exercise and short heeling with a slow and a halt included very nice. I placed one glove out and he went on order retrieved it and came to me without the need to say COME and front me albeit they weren't straight but I'm not going to nit-pick on anything doing with the glove exercise. We also did several f+ f and a recall from the down position which he gets better all the time with the front on this and finally turns in place and these too are improving as I do this in front of my hallway closet doors which are mirror covered which really lets me see straight or crooked f+f. Amazes me what Nugget will do for a small amount of Zukes pieces.


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## MaureenM (Sep 20, 2011)

We had class Monday, so glad to be back. Our instructor said she's going to really start proofing her a lot more. So on the first retrieve on flat I tossed the dumbbell, and the instructor stood about a foot away from it. Finley went out, picked up the dumbbell and went right to her with it. After a couple of times working through this, she figured out that regardless of who's there, she needs to bring it back to me. On the recall, the instructor with her GSD sat on the floor about a foot to the left of her path to me. She came to me, with her head turned to look at them. Ran straight despite the fact her head was turned. On the first run of this she stopped about a foot from me, crocked sit (easier for her to look at them). A quick reminder of what "Come" means, and the next time, although she still looked, she had a straight front and very nice finish (all the better to see them with ). She did very well on all the jumps, (after she stopped retriveing other peoples dumbbells) which was good since we haven't worked on them at home a bit due to snow, ect. After setting her up for the bar jump as I was walking away to the other side of the room, a classmate threw her dumbbell. Before I knew what was happening Finley broke her sit to get the dumbbell :doh:. Truthfully, she looked so pleased with herself it was hard not to compliment her on the retrieve. Heeling was good, again some heads up, but not consistent when we're in the group by any means. We need to concentrate on left turns and her swinging her butt into place without me slowing down. The other thing,sometimes, probably more so than not, I will think that she's sitting straight while in heel position. The instructor, standing in front of us can see that she's not. Off a bit, to the right. So after getting her straight I tried to make a mental picture of what her front feet should look like if she is indeed straight. All in all a fun night! We were all reminded not to miss class Monday to stay home and watch Westminster...


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

I know we have more snow coming this weekend (big surprise), but I do vaguely have plan for next week - and hope I can stick with it?

Monday - regular class

Tuesday - regular class

Wednesday - No obedience, but if I have a free evening - I'm hoping to do a drop in class at the Monday location. 

Friday - I think there are fun matches in the evening. Might be a good time to stop over there with both boys. 

I just have cabin fever and looking ahead - I just want to get out and do stuff and try to make up for any lost time. >.<


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## Brave (Oct 26, 2012)

Training is progressing. I'm working on perfection with the hoop, and leave it. 

I can have a trail of cheez whiz dangling, and Bear will leave it!!! What! 

And Mr. Resource Guarder can now be around another dog with food on the ground and leave it alone!!! <---- feel like having a party for this! 

I took out the hoop this morning and without any treats, just praise, Bear jumped through it about 6 times back to back and got pretty good form. I love my little man! 

Luna, my foster, is getting better with Sit, and Off, and "no more". That's about all we've managed to teach her. "down" is still elusive. I don't think she gets the concept.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Grins. I have contacted the lady who created my Faelan & Towhee's scent articles and we have preliminarily decided on:

Red Fox combined with a Winding Trails design (Brady's name is Sunfire's Desert Fox; I like red foxes better than desert foxes and when I hear FoxRun I always think of winding trails - his sire is FoxRun Out of the Ballpark)


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## ashleylp (Jul 23, 2011)

Here are a couple of videos... first one is the foot stall and the second is a chest vault we've been working on!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tA6VIl96X4k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_InEzxdY2A


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## lhowemt (Jun 28, 2013)

FAIL! Pearl and I took the Canine Life and Social skills test today and failed. Ugh. It started off as a bad day and we practiced our 1 min stay and 1 min settle and leave it. She did horrible. We got to the testing location and you'd think she had never been there. She was totally distracted. She did great on her first leave it pass, and on the way back she made a beeline for the crumpled paper. Then went straight to the stuffy. Fail. That made it easier when she jumped on the evaluator during the stranger approaching portion. Aaarrrgh! At least her stay and settle were rock solid.

I guess it was good practice, and we'll put off repeating it until she is dome with her heat. We already backed out of next week's CGC because of that. So I guess by the time we take it she should be rock solid. Yeah, we'll see.

Now we're going to get into our Fenzi precision healing course.

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## MaureenM (Sep 20, 2011)

ashleylp said:


> Here are a couple of videos... first one is the foot stall and the second is a chest vault we've been working on!
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tA6VIl96X4k
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_InEzxdY2A


Just have to say, very cool!


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## ashleylp (Jul 23, 2011)

Thanks! Every day she gets better and better...

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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Those were awesome 



ashleylp said:


> Here are a couple of videos... first one is the foot stall and the second is a chest vault we've been working on!
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tA6VIl96X4k
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_InEzxdY2A


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

*Scent articles*

for Brady - we have pretty much agreed on a combination of Winding Trails and Red Foxes. A few pictures of Brady using Faelan's articles which I think will be his size as well


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

>Sharon Your custom articles are beautiful!

This morning drop in training for Nugget and me , hope his improvements on the DR continue.


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

Thursdays progress took two steps backward today as far as the DR is concerned . I set the gloves as in a trial and the first get it he went for the wrong glove and then back to over achieving getting #2 and racing for #1 with no regard to my come come come order which earned him a correction not for going for the wrong glove but for not coming when told to. I tried many more times just wanting him to get the correct glove and return to me two times in a row with no success he would get one without over achieving SOMETIMES but not once two in a row. Only 4 other people showed up today so I got quite a bit more time in the utility ring over the normal 15 minutes so we probably tried sending Nugget 25-30 times for a glove never did this before but I thought maybe doing it over and over he might just get his act together I even on the few retrieves that he got correct glove without over achieving threw it in back of me to make a game of it which he definetly liked this but still as soon as I tried to get him to get two in a row he wouldn't do it. He was showered with praise on the few successful retrieves and treats and of course nothing when wrong. Nugget is getting close to getting the e-collar but I really don't want to do this . All open exercises went pretty well with about 80-85% straight F+F . He also did the BJ on first order and I really liked his ROHJ as twice out of three throws the dumbell landed on its end and he went over and got it very nicely grasping the bar with a little turn of his head not even knocking it over with his nose first at least something's went well. His go- outs six in all 4 baited and 2 without all very nice and the jumps were taken correctly.


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## PalouseDogs (Aug 14, 2013)

Nugget's dad, Have you tried focusing on a single glove position in each training session?

In reading your prior posts, it sounds like, in most training sessions, you are working him on each position, sometimes with multiple reps. A couple of things might be happening. Maybe he's decided that, since you always send him to get each one, you want all of them, so he might as well grab them all in one retrieve. Or (what I think is more likely), every time you repeat an exercise, he may think he's done it wrong the time before. 

For a different reason, I decided to only do one glove with Alder each training session. (With him, I wanted him to believe that the gloves were gone after a single correct retrieve, and he should not go looking for another one on the go-outs.) I went so far as to put three folded slips of paper in a baggie with the numbers 1, 2, and 3 on them. I'd draw a slip out of the baggie to see which glove we'd do that day. If he went for the wrong glove, it was an Ooops and I'd walk to him to abort the exercise and take the glove. Early on, I would pick up the wrong glove before resending, or move the wrong glove much further away. I would want him to succeed on the next try. Then, I MIGHT put down the wrong glove and repeat, depending on how confident he was seeming that day. Either way, I only worked a single position, and if he got it right the first time, I praised and played and moved to a different exercise.

When I'm having an issue with an exercise, especially with the poodle (who isn't the brightest bulb in the poodle pack, nor the most confident), I focus on the part of the exercise we're having trouble with and go back to square one if I need to. With Nugget, I'd go all the way back to one glove down, chosen at random each session. When he gets it, praise, praise, praise, and don't send him for another glove in a different position that session. Forget the front and finish, and work the pivots separately. After a few days, put down glove 1 and 3. If he goes for both, just walk out to him, take the gloves without making a big deal of it, and repeat with only the correct glove down or put the wrong glove way far away, outside of the ring if you have ring gates. Set him up so he has little choice but to be right and, when he gets the correct glove, that's the end of training for that exercise for that day.

Good luck


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

My crew have the weekend off - I have cancelled my rental etc. I could perhaps consider their fascination with my tissues as a lesson in focus under distracting circumstances but decided its easier on me to just let it be LOL

Hopefully they will just be that much more anxious to work when I feel like a human again.

I do agree with backing down on the Directed Retrieve - I would probably do one glove only for a more extended period of time, and continue only 1 glove being retrieved at a time even once they are all out for a very long time - perhaps forever. This based on how my dogs know they did not get it quite right if an exercise is repeated. Nugget is a really great dog but seems to need a simpler approach to the DR exercise, nothing wrong with that. I think all dogs have a few problem exercises where slower forward progress builds a solid base.

ETA: Richard, I believe you have access to some incredibly talented and accomplished trainers - have you worked with them for a detailed training plan about the gloves? I know when I have run into problems, my trainers have worked with me for when I can introduce what, when I can move on to the next step (example; 80% success rate in 10 different places with step 1, then they can help me re-evaluate and plan next steps). Just a thought, I know you know what you are doing but a pair or two of extra eyes can be very helpful and they may have encountered something similar with their dogs.


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## ashleylp (Jul 23, 2011)

I'm getting a slow start today but we are headed to our frisbee meetup! I'm normally so excited I can't sleep but today I am so tired I'm having to drag myself out of bed. Hopefully I can stop for some caffeine on the way and perk up a bit 

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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

> Palouse Dogs and Sunrise. I'm taking your advice and going back to sq. one, this morning I got a glove and held it at both ends ( fingers and cuff) and with a mouthful of Zukes told Nugget to take it and he did without any problem this was then followed up by OUT which I have to do because when he over achieves and gets two or three he doesn't willingly give them to me. I did this take it - out exercise several times with praise and treats . I then placed the glove 5-6 ft. in front of us and with a lot of excitement and get- it get- it get- it and then come come come come said quickly without any f+f praised and treated as he brought it to me and on order of out gave it to me willingly to get his treat I repeated this short informal retrieve 3x then I set the glove about 22 ft from us ( all the room I have) sent him for it without the turn in place just the hand direction for him to take and he got it then returned to me without me asking him to f+f . This send for the glove also was given as much excitement and fun as I know how to do and the successful return to me was followed up with a little party and praise and treats. We stopped at this point on a high note and will do it again tomorrow morning and much later in the day at club where I will have access to a full size ring. 


> Sharon you are correct I do have access to several excellent trainers and have gotten their thoughts on my DR problem with Nugget and several suggestion have been tried but so far no magic bullet but I have tried to incorporate all the good suggestions I've been given such as bending over more - holding my arm straighter and extending as far as I can and holding it there till after he is past it - bringing glove #1 - #3 much closer and reversing this with #2 being closest and sending him for #1 or#3 nothing has changed even filling 2 extra gloves with rocks which has been the best anti over achieving tool so far but he even tried getting the right glove then one rock filled glove then running over to get the other but just couldn't shove all of them in his mouth but I'll give him a E for effort.


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## Laurie (Sep 20, 2009)

I did a little training with Lexx in our basement last night. He was so full of it and was enthusiastic about the exercises we did even his articles!!

This morning we went to the building to train where I was hoping his enthusiasm from last night would carry over to today when doing his articles.....nope! I told him to `find mine` and he saunters over to the pile, gives them all a sniff and then leaves to sniff something else. I went and got him, sent him back to the pile and he proceeded to pick the scented (metal) article. The second and third time he chose the scented article without the attitude!! I`m not too sure how to make this exercise more exciting for him. I already jump around like a fool!

His on and off leash heeling and figure 8s were really nice today. 

We did a couple of broad jumps with no issues there. 

Did some dumbbell retrieves over the jump. Rather then setting up like we would in a trial, I got him revved up and sent him over the jump to retrieve the dumbbell. First time he stopped to sniff; second and third times he went over and returned correctly.

Seek back with glove. First time he retrieved it correctly but on the way back thought it would be fun to toss it in the air and shake it a bit.:doh:
He got a little correction. The second retrieve also brought out some goofiness so he was corrected again and then proceeded to chase his tail which earned him a couple of minutes in the crate. He was not into bringing me that leather glove today and kept spitting it out. After his time out, we did a couple of take its and holds with the glove which were okay.

Signal exercises were awesome today. He even did a down and sit at a distance. No issues with his recall. On that note, we finished our session and played ball for a bit.


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

Laurie. Have you tried putting a little canned cheese on the bar of the articles so your dog is more enthusiastic to work the articles to find the correct one and finding his reward followed by you giving lots of praise and rewarding him further with a little treat when he comes to front.


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## Laurie (Sep 20, 2009)

Nuggetsdad said:


> Laurie. Have you tried putting a little canned cheese on the bar of the articles so your dog is more enthusiastic to work the articles to find the correct one and finding his reward followed by you giving lots of praise and rewarding him further with a little treat when he comes to front.
> 
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com App[/color




I had previously scented the bar with some kind of food (ie. chicken, hot dogs, etc.) and he was choosing the correct one all the time. I thought maybe that was too easy so I went away from using food for scenting. 

I would say he's 90% accurate in choosing the correct article, he just shows no excitement in doing so. Perhaps I'll try the cheese to see if I can get him pumped up a bit more. Thanks for the suggestion!!!


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## ashleylp (Jul 23, 2011)

Laurie, I'm not an obedience person so I could be totally off base here, but have you tried playing with the article? When we force fetched Remy for hunt (which can be harsh) we used the bumpers to play fetch a LOT so that we weren't just negative when they were around. Now, when he sees his bumpers, it's a similar response to seeing his tennis ball come out. 

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## Laurie (Sep 20, 2009)

ashleylp said:


> Laurie, I'm not an obedience person so I could be totally off base here, but have you tried playing with the article? When we force fetched Remy for hunt (which can be harsh) we used the bumpers to play fetch a LOT so that we weren't just negative when they were around. Now, when he sees his bumpers, it's a similar response to seeing his tennis ball come out.
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


I'm so green at this obedience stuff myself so I've actually not considered this and don't know if it's a good idea or not to tell you the truth!! 

I would just worry that Lexx would think articles are fun things to play with and decide during a trial that he was going to play with the article rather than bring it back to me. He can be rather goofy! But maybe I'm overthinking it as well. 

Perhaps one of the more seasoned trainers could chime in on this for their thoughts. 

Thanks for the suggestion!!!


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Not seasoned, but I would never play with dumbbells or articles or gloves. Takes a lot of work to get them to stop pouncing, tossing, mouthing, and playing with them. 

Up the rewards though - and maybe back off a smidge on training if you are training articles a lot....? 

That was the worst thing with doing RTC with Jacks - because you are doing a lot of repetition to start with each training session and the dogs get burned out. 

When I finally switched gears and just do regular piles and ask for 2-4 retrieves tops in a session, the only issue I seem to have is Jacks hurrying too much and scrambling to find the article as soon as possible instead of actually working the pile. 

With Bertie I'm training the articles a little differently (I'll probably teach them correctly when I take the utility class with him), but I'm not having him do 12 retrieves per session like I was with Jacks when I started him off. And to start him off I never put a noticeable amount of bait on the articles. I just rubbed peanut butter or lotion on my hands and as I backed off that, he still is finding the right scent without losing excitement if there isn't a glob to lick.


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## ashleylp (Jul 23, 2011)

Well, Frisbee club was a struggle today -- Caira got so amped up and wouldn't focus at ALL. She was off of her game. She has been doing great with her back stalls so I tried to do a few out there - no way was she going to focus long enough. After three failed attempts I had her do an easier trick and ended for the day.

We did go over to a friend's place tonight and took Caira. We worked on a few new tricks and some heads up heeling and she was much more attentive. I wish she didn't lose it when she sees a frisbee - she just gets so excited. I think we are going to have to start laying frisbees all over the ground while we work on focus.


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

This morning articles which Nugget not only got each one correctly but also went to the pile briskly on his own without his " butt tap " also returned and gave straight fronts each time YES !! We also did short heeling signal exercise which he did well. Turns in place for the most part good but not always getting a good sit. Back to sq. 1 glove only 1 laid out which if more room was available would be #2 place and Nugget left my side briskly took mark retrieved glove and returned to me . Lots of praise and jackpot of treats and that was it quit on high note. Club training tonight if it doesn't get cancelled again because of cold. I'll do the same with glove as this morning hope this works. 


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Funny thing to share....  

A while back I tried teaching Jacks the "pot game" (or whatever it's called). The idea is for the dog to put his front feet on a pot (or whatever) and be able to pivot around? 

Jacks' head was burning up (from thinking so hard), but at the time I was able to train him to put his feet on an object (I think I used books then) on command. I never was able to get him to pivot around. I think that would have broken his brain. 

With Bertie he saw me refresh it with Jacks and automatically put his front feet up there and even did a little pivot on his own when looking up at me and the treat. <- I just about fell over. >.< 

We also practiced "Go Outs" in my basement a lot this past week. 

I do have question for those more experienced than me.... and this is where I've gotten confused between how I taught Jacks to GO OUT and how I'm trying to teach Bertie with some mixed results.

With Bertie there's a bit of sideways movement when he runs out to a spot if I do not put a target out there. <- That's something I'm trying to fix, but unsure how unless I put a target back out there and just practice with a target 99% of the time? 

The other thing is my instructor (I think I mentioned this in the past) cracked down on me telling the dogs to "Go Out" or "Go touch". She told me to just tell the dogs "GO" and have them touch all the time unless I call sit. 

^ The omission of the word "OUT" caused more confusion than I think it's worth.  

Anyway - people whose dogs are solid on Go-Outs - 

Do you practice with a target the majority of the time?


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

@Megora,

I use a target/reward/retrievable most of the time in training. I vary releasing back to the reward after the sit, letting the dog continue to the reward/target, or cuing sit and then the jump. 

I use Away since Go means 'continue straight taking everything in your path until I tell you otherwise' in agility for my crew.

And yep, I sometimes get a side ways type movement when a dog has an ear cocked back to hear what comes next  Head is forward mostly but focus is divided; since my goal is decent scores I let it go; besides it is kind of cute LOL

ETA: I will also run behind my dog or run to my dog once they are sitting to reward in place from my hand - this also allows me to release them fully for a game of tug at the 'sit spot'


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

@ Megora I like Sharon after a completed go- out will go to Nugget to reward him for a good straight go- out. When he cuts it short or goes to far left or right I will set him up 10-12 feet from the wall or fence depending what I'm using and bait the place I want him to go to and send him for his cheese reward which I let him eat and then give him the sit order. I usually like baiting the first go- out and I make sure Nugget knows the treat is out there, this gives me fast straight go- outs 99% of the time. They only have to do two in a trial so I feel they know a treat is waiting for them on the first one and even if it's not they usually get a decent go- out the first one and even if the second one is slightly flawed by the time you enter a utility trial it will be second nature for them to do it fast and straight.


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## MaureenM (Sep 20, 2011)

It's so interesting to read what everyone's doing and different ways to teach things!
We went to the Show N Go Sat. The first run was in Open so she could do the jumps and retrieves. Of course, the first thing we had to do was heel off leash. Truthfully, it left a lot to be desired. I don't know where her mind was, but it wasn't on me. After the about turn the judge asked if I wanted my leash back, which of course I absolutely did. Put it on her and continued to heel. The 1st halt, she didn't sit. Busy looking in a mirror which covered the entire wall on her left. Gave a correction with a "Hey!...". From that point on she did good. I almost asked to keep her on leash from the get go, but seconded guessed myself and didn't. We did a straight recall, which was spot on. She came so fast for a second I thought she might not stop. For the stays I walked out of the ring, but stayed where she could see me. The sit was fine. Then when we were all leaving the ring for the down there was a point where I couldn't see her through the crowd. Apparently she couldn't see me either because as the crowd moved I can see her elbows are up and she's getting ready to sit, stand, something. I gave a signal for down, she did and stayed. We have a lot to do before we'll be ready for open. 
We did 2 novice runs. The heel off leash in those was much better then the open experience. On the figure 8 both times she was lagging a bit on the outside turn. One straight recall, and one off a little to the right. 
The judges were very nice and encouraging. One told me to make sure I wait for the instruction before I turn when heeling. She said both times I started to turn to the left just before she told me to. She also said that she has had judges take her all the way to the gate before asking for a turn. Class tonight!


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## coaraujo (Nov 2, 2012)

ashleylp said:


> Well, Frisbee club was a struggle today -- Caira got so amped up and wouldn't focus at ALL. She was off of her game. She has been doing great with her back stalls so I tried to do a few out there - no way was she going to focus long enough. After three failed attempts I had her do an easier trick and ended for the day.
> 
> We did go over to a friend's place tonight and took Caira. We worked on a few new tricks and some heads up heeling and she was much more attentive. I wish she didn't lose it when she sees a frisbee - she just gets so excited. I think we are going to have to start laying frisbees all over the ground while we work on focus.


I'm not sure what your training facility looks like, but is there anywhere to tether Caira or a place where you could set up an ex-pen so when she loses focus she gets tethered or placed in the ex-pen? This is what I do with Oliver when he stops focusing in class. It has the "you don't know what you got until its gone" effect. He's looking around drooling over all the girls in class but the minute I leave his side he's like OMG MOOOOM NOOO . Then he's heads-up healing with eyes glued to me for the rest of class. I'm wondering if doing something like this will help Caira starts to learn that the only way she gets the frisbee is if she gives you attention. I do a similar thing with Bernie. He's very high drive so sometimes he loses control. I put him in a crate or tether him and he has to watch Oliver fetch and do hunt training. When he's let out he acts like an angel. Anything to get that bumper!


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Signing up for a Say Yes online class, combined with my vet bill on Saturday, just triggered and 'unusual activity' alert from the fraud dept at BofA - spent awhile straightening that one out since I just could not understand what mechanical person was saying with 'Cheshire VCA' ... needed to speak with an honest to goodness real person to verify the charges given the distances involved <sigh>


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## coaraujo (Nov 2, 2012)

Oh where to start...

Tonight we did some retrieve training with dinner. Bernie's main focus was a solid, firm hold - no toying. He did very well, even the 10 foot retrieves were done without bobbling. His drive and excitement is contagious. Oliver's main focus was self-control. Waiting until release to fetch instead of charging after the dumbell. And some..uh blind like things I guess? I'd put him in a wait and go put the bumper in a different room and ask him to fetch. That way he actually had to search for it a bit. He did very well. He automatically comes to heel with the bumper now. Muscle memory is kicking in - perfect!

I have class tomorrow with Oliver. Obedience in the A.M. and breed handling in the P.M. Both of which we need to work on stands. Oliver's a bit of a lazy bum and loves to sit and lie down so we have some work in that area. BUT luckily in conformation you're allowed to use treats so I have this feeling that my fattypants <3 will be okay. Goal for class tomorrow is to do some retrieving in a new environment and work on straight fronts. I also need to learn how to groom Oliver and get a show lead and collar. I have no idea what I'm doing with this!

Big news - I contacted a training facility in north MA that specializes in training service dogs. I'm hoping to train Oliver to be a medic alert dog for me - kind of similar to a diabetic alert dog except for my medical condition. They sound pretty confident that we'll be able to make this happen and I'm hoping all the obedience and training we've done so far will help us in this new feat. I'll have a conference call with the trainer this week to have a more detailed discussion. They're pretty new-age utilizing skype training sessions for those who are farther away. 

Question for all of you experienced trainers . Oliver needs to learn to mark, he already does it somewhat subconsiously, but I need to teach him a command to look straight ahead that way when the gun goes off and the bird is thrown he is watching. What do you use as a command and how do you train this "look". Right now Oliver is very used to heads up heeling so when he gets to my side he usually looks up at me for eye contact (which is great, good boy!) but in the field I need him to be looking for the birds!

Thanks!


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Just really quickly....

Tonight I really missed my sister coming with to help with the crating/hanging out situation. Bertie was barking up a storm when I had Jacks out training. So embarrassing. >.< 

Interesting thing to start with - my teacher had one of her other dogs (she has 3 I think) out for training after the dog's been on a long break. And the big thing she was working on was Go Outs - and working through all the problems I was asking about earlier on this thread. It was interesting to sit back and watch. 

Heeling - Bertie did fairly good, except for the spots where we were running up the butt of one of the girlies who are in heat. I had to pull into the middle each time and circle or wait to find a spot to jump in again. <- Bertie isn't necessarily going all "studly" about the girlies, but I don't want to get him learning any bad sniffy habits out there. 

Figure-8 - Jacks was very good. 

Moving Stand - Jacks was solid with the exception of me reminding him to stay when he turned his head sniff the guy patting him down. Very enthusiastic and nice return to heel.

SFE - Bertie did a couple with both f8 partners. He was rock solid. No submissive peeing when the big tall guy patted him down <- very huge deal.  

DOR - Jacks did a few of these. He wasn't dropping on a dime. <- And this is something I'm going to bring up with the chiro in a couple to see if his back is bothering him again. 

Fronts/DOR - Bertie did very nice. With his DOR, I'm mainly focusing on the drop and rewarding him for that, no front. 

High Jump - Jacks does 16" fine. He's very reluctant about doing higher than that. So we are still dealing with that issue. Again, I'll bring up with the chiro. Also see if getting him out swimming and hiking in summer to take that weight off him will help. I'm just so thankful we have preferred classes so if it does come down to him never being able to jump his height, I can at least have him jump what he can and say we did it. <- I skipped broad jumps after this because Bertie was having a tantrum in the crate.

High Jump/Broad Jump - Bertie is jumping very high (he jumps straight up like he has springs on all four feet) with the boards set at 16". After struggling with Jacks, it was nice to see that. Broad jump - I had him take 2 boards (I think it was 20") - very nice jumps. 

Stays - Both guys did fine. Jacks did pop up with 30 seconds left on his down... boo. Did fine otherwise. Bertie - I'm babysitting on the down stays until he's as solid about them as he is with the sits. Sits I'm full distance away and quiet pretty much. Down stays, I just don't trust him. And it just helps keeping him calm. With him, if he breaks a down and you correct him. Then good luck getting another down out of him. 

That's it.


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

Club training went pretty well the one glove was placed at the # 2 position and I had to tell him twice to get it as he didn't leave my side at first but the second get it he went right to it picked it up and returned to me with a decent unasked for front and he got lots of praise and treats . That was it for the DR. four go- outs two baited all straight and fast I'm pleased with these tonight. BJ done 2x one a good front the other the front was straight but on my right side too much. ROHJ and DOR and ROF all pretty good heeling and fig 8 very nice along with solid S+D. The only really bad thing was Dave one of the instructors gave Nugget the MSFE which he rarely has a man go over him and Dave plays with him every week so no way would he hold still but he did lock up nicely. We did it a second time which was better but still no cigar , later a lady did the MSFE on him and it was fine.


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## Brave (Oct 26, 2012)

Tonight we went to the dog park and practiced with lots and lots of distractions. We kept it short and sweet, used commands he knows well. Used fetch as a reward. He did great. Best behaved dog there!! Practiced gate etiquette entering and leaving the park. A good night and a tired puppy. We're all set tonight. 


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

I started the drop on recall game with Phoenix today, where you drop them, then throw a treat behind them to get, and as they are running back to you drop them again, repeat several times (but not too many times! . I play that a very long time with my dogs when they are young, so when I put a drop in a formal recall down the road they are already used to dropping while running at me. It took him a few tries to get, but once he understood what the game was he had fun with it.

I noticed last week Flip seemed kind of sad/depressed. I thought maybe having a little brother was starting to get to him, even though I make sure to give him individual attention and love every day. Then I realized we hadn't trained even a tiny bit all week - I've been sick and feeling too horrible to do anything. So I did just about five minutes of training with him. That was definitely the key. The spark in his eye was back and he's back to his usual happy self.


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## PalouseDogs (Aug 14, 2013)

Laurie said:


> Perhaps one of the more seasoned trainers could chime in on this for their thoughts.
> 
> Thanks for the suggestion!!!


Not all that seasoned myself, but have successfully trained articles to Alder, the poodle boy, who is a (ahem) challenge (along with a couple of other dogs who were easier).

Wandering off and sniffing is often a sign of stress. Alder went through that during training when I was making it too difficult for him. 

Even if your dog usually getst the right article, he may find the exercise stressful. Possibly he finds it hard to decide among the articles. Perhaps he is overly worried about making a mistake. Perhaps you are fussing too much about his front and finish when he returns. And on and on. 

Your best strategy would be to find someone experienced who can watch you to see if there is something you are doing. 

Some things you might consider:

Do you always, or almost always worry about his straight front? Are you perhaps frowning down at him when he comes back with the correct article because he's not sitting straight? He may believe it's the article that's the problem, not the front.

Do you air your articles sufficiently between sessions? Lingering scent can make it a more difficult exercise. (I rinse any articles I touch after a session, although I know it shortens the lifespan of the leather articles.) 

Do you always do both articles every time? Maybe he's decided that the second retrieve means he's always wrong on the first. 

When you say you cheer him on, what do you mean? Do you encourage and cheerlead when he's moving slowly? That is a very dangerous trap. The dog can interpret it as praise for moving slowly. Absolutely no cheering when he's slow. Save your praise and enthusiasm for when he has the correct article and has returned. Be quiet while he's going out and until he returns with the correct article. 

Do you repeat the exercise many times in a session? I wouldn't. After he gets the correct article, don't repeat with that article. (That's an issue I have with the RTC method, besides it being mind-numbingly boring.) Sometimes do both articles in a session, sometimes either leather or metal, but not both. If you want to work on fronts, separate that aspect from the discrimination part. 

I wouldn't go back to putting cheese on the articles. At this point, I think it'd only confuse him. (Is he looking for cheese or your scent?) If you think his confidence needs rebuilding, I'd instead go back to only a two or three article pile, to make it simpler, tie down the unscented articles so that the correction for the wrong article comes from the article and not you. (You don't say anything while you let him figure it out.)


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

So.. what was she doing with the Go Outs  Inquiring minds would like to know 



Megora said:


> Interesting thing to start with - my teacher had one of her other dogs (she has 3 I think) out for training after the dog's been on a long break. And the big thing she was working on was Go Outs - and working through all the problems I was asking about earlier on this thread. It was interesting to sit back and watch.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

I don't know that I would consider myself seasoned but I have trained a few dogs in scent articles .

I like the suggestions PalouseDogs has made and would like to expand on a few.

My dogs are taught from day 1 that mistakes are fine, but they make me talk. Uh Uh, try again etc. Silence is a good thing since they will get to present me with the article & I will take it - this carries through to the ring very well LOL ETA: I do start them with a clicker so there is feedback at the very beginning but it is quickly faded until they have committed to an article and are returning and faded further until they have completely come to front.

If you do not have a trainer you can work with, video tape - and point it at yourself to watch your expressions. Are you looking tense? relaxed? Do you in any way let your dog know when he is right? It could be a finger twitch or a raised eyebrow? 

I have found my current utility dog dislikes heavily/hot scented articles. Really, he will circle the pile pretending to work until the articles cool down. This can leave him prone to stress from being out at the pile for awhile. Have you tried varying amounts of scent? You scent will naturally be stronger in a trial if you get nervous.




PalouseDogs said:


> Not all that seasoned myself, but have successfully trained articles to Alder, the poodle boy, who is a (ahem) challenge (along with a couple of other dogs who were easier).
> 
> Wandering off and sniffing is often a sign of stress. Alder went through that during training when I was making it too difficult for him.
> 
> ...


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Sunrise said:


> So.. what was she doing with the Go Outs  Inquiring minds would like to know


Basically....

Her portie had some issues going out straight. She was either going up the middle and veering right to the end stanchion, or she was taking the bar jump on the right and going to the end stanchion. In her poor little portie brain, the middle stanchion did not exist.  

Pat drilled her for a while and what "fixed" the problem was her putting her in a wait at the start spot - full length away - and then she herself went up to stand at the point where she would start veering right. 

She sent the dog a couple times - and after a false start where the dog assumed they were playing the agility game and took the high jump on the left, she got her to run full distance to the middle stanchion. Then went back to sending her from heel position - and got successful runs then. 

Pat said a lot of people will see the dog having a problem marking the middle stanchion or whatnot and will go up and tap the thing and draw the dog's attention to the target. She doesn't like to do that because she feels the dogs then rely on the owner SHOWING them the right way each time, even after the point where the dog should know better. This dog has her utility title, I believe - so she knows better. 

When I asked her about having a target out there all the time and what to do about Bertie dragging his nose along the gate trying to find a "hot spot" that gets the "YES" out of me.... she suggested putting a car mat out there at the go-out spot. Works the same way as the pvc pipes that people put out there to form a box and the platforms as well, but easier to fade away. 

And again, she told me not to get into the habit of always going out there and tapping the target.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

This morning each dog got to work 3 minutes on heeling with MSFE. My head cold is starting to clear and the dogs are definitely bored so

*Towhee* had some drops out of motion and Get-It Get-It Get-It down games

*Faelan *had a few signals thrown in and some left abouts

*Casey* had some signals – mostly since ‘he started it’ LOL 

*Brady* is still learning the Drop out of motion in heel, MSFE and sit so that was our concentration – mixing it up so he hopefully will learn to differentiate the hand positions used for each and what he should do; arm at waist = sit, had above his head =stand; arm & hand pointing down = drop. I’ve never started this before a CD is earned so we shall see how it works

It occurred to me that the break I took a bit earlier in the month trying to decide why I do the whole obedience thing? This is why  My dogs jockeying for their chance to work, to earn rewards and to have special time with me – just as they long to spend time with me, I love spending time with them but love the structure of something to do with that time I get to spend with them.


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

Disappointing session today at SCKC , Nugget would not leave my side for the single glove I sent him for in the #2 position until I said " get it" the second time and started toward the glove myself when he realized it was what I wanted. Last night at club he did the same thing. His go- outs about the same as last night with the baited ones being done with a better straight line but he did a couple unbaited and they were fine other than one which was off to the left about 1 point worth. A unpleasant surprise when I set him up for the BJ he refused it twice which made me go out in front and call him over where he then charged it at full speed , this was done twice and then I set him up the way it must be done and whatever had disturbed him had gone away. Nuggets only problem in Open came back to mess us up again. The rest of the open exercises went well other than a couple of fronts which just werent the picture of perfection and in a trial would have been scored they weren't terribly off but it only takes a little in open b. Tomorrow I'm thinking I'll only do articles and maybe the one glove and call it a training session as I feel he is more into it when he gets a little brake.


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## Laurie (Sep 20, 2009)

PalouseDogs said:


> Not all that seasoned myself, but have successfully trained articles to Alder, the poodle boy, who is a (ahem) challenge (along with a couple of other dogs who were easier).
> 
> Wandering off and sniffing is often a sign of stress. Alder went through that during training when I was making it too difficult for him.
> 
> ...


 
We typically only do 3 "sends" per session. There are times when he's more enthusiastic than others. But typically he saunters to the pile, picks the right one and saunters back. He's very accurate when choosing the correct article whether we use the tie down method or just have them loose. 

When I send him I simply say "find mine". Once he picks the right one and is on his way back, that's when I celebrate. If he does happen to pick the wrong one I usually just say "uh uh" and resend him. 

His fronts are very good. I rarely have to correct him. 

I was doing some morning training with a friend of mine and he didn't see anything wrong in the way we were articles. In fact, the few times we did it, Lexx was pretty gung ho!

We are going to an obedience seminar in a couple of weeks so I'm hoping I get the chance to speak to the trainer about it......maybe show her what he does. Of course then he'll be all full of it!! We will just persevere and eventually it will come.


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

Nuggets articles and one glove DR done very nicely with good turns in place leaving with enthusiasm and straight fronts and finishe. We only did one metal one leather and the one glove and quit with praise and his treats , to do more reps could only have gone downhill as EVERY element was as good as I could ever want. Some days are better than others and this morning was one of the better ones. 


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

I think I need to review notes before my sessions LOL

I confused my Brady on scent articles since I did metal first then leather in a full pile - he had problems with leather and I realized I have not trained him in leather -- oops. He figured it out with some help.

*Towhee:* we did some scent articles (not so good) and some drops with the get-it get-it get-it down game. She is starting to anticipate the drop so time to start randomizing but it shows she is into the game now  We also worked heeling.

*Brady:* scent articles as mentioned, some moving stand for exams with heeling & returns and started the drop signal.

*Faelan: *Articles, heeling (amped up with slows), some fronts & finishes. very good session

*Casey:* Heeling and signals

ETA: Hunkering down with the expectation of another foot of snow tomorrow <sigh> Hopefully I will get to agility tonight but the agility trials this weekend may be a no-go due to the parking situation there - limited parking in ideal conditions and we have a lot of snow ..


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## PalouseDogs (Aug 14, 2013)

Alder, the poodle boy, has me wanting to beat my head against a brick wall the last couple of days. He is hesitating on the signal drop, and if I don't add a verbal, he only sits. Aargh! I think the problem started because I looked unhappy about a slow drop and I've been working on getting him to not take steps forward on the drop. He's concluded I don't want him to drop. Okay, I've known for a long time that he must have been absent the day the memo went out about poodles being smart, but really. We've been working signals for a long time. He goes through phases when he has no problems and then he goes through periods when he acts like he's never had a signal lesson in his entire life. 

Just venting. I can't get mad at him. He's a sweet boy who does his best and patience, patience, patience is the only thing that works. 

On the up side, Maple is doing great on signals. I seemed to have cured her of moving forward a step on the transition from drop to sit. Unlike Alder, I can do a lot of reps with her in a short period of time. Reps with Alder only seem to increase his uncertainty. 

On the scent articles, both Maple and Alder have a hard time finding the scented article if it is in the center of the pile. They both check all of the articles surrounding the middle scented article, sometimes twice, before it occurs to them to check the center. Neither has any problem with the article being anywhere on the periphery. Since I noticed this peculiarity a couple of months ago, I've been putting at least one of the scented articles in the center when we work articles. It still throws them for a loop. Anyone else see this in their dogs?


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

>Palouse Dogs I haven't ever had the problem of the scented article being in the center but I train with a well know exhibitor who's young dog went thru this for a while but it worked thru it. With several reps of the exercise your dog probably will also you might also try lining the articles in a row and having your dog " find it". As far as the drop where your dog takes several more steps you might want to try putting a piece of pvc pipe right in front of where you want your dog to drop . A small barrier is sometimes all that's needed and of course if the dog drops just before the little barrier lots and lots of praise and treats . Good Luck!


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Just bumping this back up.  

I did open floor last night with both guys before a class I did with Bertie. Just did heeling because I had this "people are going to start walking in any moment" feeling + I didn't want to get there too early in case all the rooms were busy (they weren't). I think the next time I go (in a couple weeks probably), I'll do more than that. 

Totally had nostalgia too - the room we trained in was the same one I trained Jacks between the time he was 5 months and two years. <- The training facility has 4 rooms. The last 3-4 years we've been training in the 1-2 rooms. Last night we had class in room 3. We've had fun matches in this room, but that's not the same.

I was all like - "this is where it all began". I remember getting to class 30-40 minutes early and just going out there to "play heel" with baby Jacks.


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## Brave (Oct 26, 2012)

I'm a bit late. We had class on Tuesday night, and IMO it was phenomenal!

I found Bear's KEY word!!! "FOCUS" It was like a beacon of light shining off him!! :--saucer_eyes::bowrofl::bowrofl::bowrofl: 

I got full attention 95% of the time, EVEN when we weren't working! 

This week we learned right and left turns. I'm a bit backwards b/c I'm left-handed and I keep Bear on my RIGHT side, versus everyone else who puts him on their LEFT side. So my RIGHT turns sucked b/c Bear was on the inside, and I had a hard time determining how much space to keep between me and the cone so Bear had space, and how fast to go, what to say, etc. Left turns were great! Bear kept up and was giving GREAT attention during ALL of them!! One of the assistants commented that Bear and I are a great demo team. 

We did more "casual" heeling (semi-heeling???) and I was SO focused on Bear and his progress that I didn't keep up with the rest of the class. We learned change of pace (so a slow walk vs normal vs fast) and Bear was GREAT at it! Now that I got it through his thick skull to ALWAYS look at me, he is just doing SOOOOOOO incredible great. I'm :squintdan 

We're learning emergency downs, and I goofed up BAD!!! I remember watching one of the puppies do "drops" here on the GRF (I think it was Jodie, but I could be wrong). And I thought that was the BEST word ever! I like to keep my emergency commands different that everyday commands. My emergency STOP is "WOAH!" and it works wonders for us. So I wanted to use "drop" instead of "down." 

Bad idea. :doh: Because Bear already has a "drop" that I forgot about until I went to reward him with some tug. :doh::doh:

So I put the word choice on the back burner... maybe PLANT would work better. Cause he could be planted in that spot and NO MOVING. lol!!! That just came to me. They told us to only do 3 repetitions each day otherwise the dogs will think you're mad at them. 

We practiced our Sit/Stay and Down/Stay. I have an almost constant praising him for a good stay. Idk if that is a BAD thing or something I should wean him away from. He is solid for a minute, but as the clock ticked closer and closer to two minutes he broke his stays about 3 times both for Sit and Down. Not a major break, but he tried to move (change positions, scoot forward an inch, etc). 

They did a practice run for the CGC test by dropping a metal chair right behind them. Bear was sitting focusing on me, and I was doing my best to NOT anticipate it. He startled, and turned his head to look, but stayed in a sit at my side, so I'm happy with that. 

They tested our leave-it, and the main instructor was unhappy with Bear's progress. She felt like he was "pushing me around" and that I wasn't showing him "enough leadership."  But he has made SO MUCH progress from only 5 weeks. I'm not really sure what she means by "leadership" b/c I think I'm a great leader, and Bear obeys me so well as it is. She told me I need to practice practice practice at home. I explained with my foster, it's hard to do leave-it b/c she has no manners in that respect. So the trainer said my foster shouldn't even be out with Bear at all, that she should be in a room by herself. WHAT?!  

There is a professional trainer/breeder (of border collies) in the class with two of her pups and she commented on how great a trainer I was, and that Bear's demeanor in class is astounding. She even asked why I had the red ribbon on his leash (indicating he needs space) b/c she's never seen him act aggressive or shy. And b/c of how well he is doing, she didn't think we needed it. I explained he gets overexcited and overstimulated easily, so it's best that we work up to focus in close quarters.  

It's hard to hear you're doing great one minute and then to hear I'm not providing enough leadership in another minute. 

Last thing in class was to show an improvement on our trick. Well I didn't bring my props so I showed Bear's "spin" which we've been working on off-and-on for a few weeks. it's still in a luring phase. 

After class finished, I hung back and chatted up a fellow student which was practice for the CGC. Bear left her dog alone, didn't even try to play with him. We were only about two feet away from each other. So great progress there too!!


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

I took a snow day today  I didn't really do much concerning dog training with the exception of catching up with one of my Daisy Peel courses - reviewing & planning next steps for doggie fitness & agility basics. 

I recorded 5 weeks worth of lessons with videos and started my EverNote notebook. A ton of excellent information from what to watch for with Sit Pretty and Crawl, balancing on a 4x4 and all kinds of things including what to do when a back roaches during difficult moves to jumping basics. I am reviewing this not only with an eye towards the younger dogs but how to help Casey stay as strong and agile as possible. 

The dogs of course were disappointed to not have actual training but planning & learning is good  They are getting plenty of exercise bounding through all the white stuff.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

I was feeling better today because it was "warm" (29 degrees) and the birds were out.... but geez. Looking at this picture just made me feel cold all over...  










^ Aerial view of the Great Lakes.


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

Went to training this evening and it was a mix of some bad and some good. The bad would not leave my side on the one glove DR had to give a second command and he then got it and returned to me but with a crooked front.

Refused the bar the first time then took it on second and third try . 

The good a absolutely gorgeous DOR and two straight with two very nice fronts and all three nice finishes

Heeling was good with one crooked sit on fig.8 

Baited go- outs two very good straight in the center of the ring , unbaited ones one good straight one one off to right about three feet.

BJ was taken on command but the matting for whatever reason was extremely slippery and I watched two other dogs slip on it so I only did one with Nugget and moved the three boards in to much less than his normal 44 in. Jump and even this he slipped on and gave me a poor front but this wasn't his fault

ROHJ and ROF OK BUT his fronts on the ROF all off a little and he anticipated the retrieve on one.

Sits and downs solid.

MSFE very nice good lockup and zero movement during his physical exam.

This morning the one glove DR at home no hesitation on leaving me and a good front , also very nice Scent Discrimination exercise . He also did a pretty niceSignal exercise albeit a shortened heeling part of the exercise . Not a great training session but not a terrible one either. Day off tomorrow but drop in training Sat and maybe a fun match if we can get in on Sun.


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## PalouseDogs (Aug 14, 2013)

By the end of last week, we had a total accumulation of about 8 to 10 inches of snow, the most all winter. I feel for you all in the mid-west and east. I was mighty sick of the snow shoveling and snow blowing with that piddling amount. This week, the pineapple express (warm, moist air from the Pacific) blew in. The fields went from white to wet, muddy black in the span of a day. Nothing like 40 mph winds at 40 degrees to melt a whole lot of snow. 

Problem is, the ground a few inches down is still frozen, so the surface is a spongy bog of saturated mud. Still, it's all good. Virtually no snow left except in protected ditches and hollows. I hate snow. 

The days are now long enough, I have about 45 minutes of light outside after work if I hustle home. I spend about 15 or 20 minutes decompressing by doing poop patrol in the yard while the dogs air and stretch their legs after spending the day inside.

This evening, I did two very short cold blinds in the yard with Maple (I know, field training is a different category). Then, I got Alder, the poodle boy, out and did signals, which he is still having a memory lapse about. (Eight weeks until our first show of the season! Yikes! I am in trouble with him!) The light was fading fast, so I hustled him inside and went through a round of signals with Maple. She did good, except she was back to scooting forward on the transition for down to sit. I used a white bar in front of her to work on it. It was nearly dark by the time we went in for dinner. 

Rain expected tonight. It is muddy, muddy, muddy...


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## PalouseDogs (Aug 14, 2013)

Jen, sounds like you are doing fabulously with Bear! Just a caution, however. If you want to show in formal trials, Bear will have to heel on the left. I don't know about the CGC test.


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

Too late for the fun match on Sunday all filled up. Oh Well ! I will just have to be satisfied with drop in training tomorrow.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

Megora said:


> Anyway - people whose dogs are solid on Go-Outs -
> 
> Do you practice with a target the majority of the time?


I missed seeing this until now. I like using the stanchion as the target. That way the target is always there (or almost always there), even in the ring, in most parts of the country. 

I used to almost always send the dog all the way out on the first send. Then I found flip was expecting to go all the way out the first time in the ring and was blasting through my sit command. So now with him I usually do a couple of regular go outs and then do one where I send him all the way to the gate.


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## Brave (Oct 26, 2012)

PalouseDogs said:


> Jen, sounds like you are doing fabulously with Bear! Just a caution, however. If you want to show in formal trials, Bear will have to heel on the left. I don't know about the CGC test.


Do you think it'll be hard to transition him to the left for competition obedience? I always figured it would be something else to add to this "trick bag" right vs left. lol!


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

If you are wanting to do competitions, I would definitely put at least as much time working him on left side heeling as right side. Right now you are creating a habit of him being on the right, and in the stress of a trial situation, it will be almost instinctual for him to want to move back to the right side. I would only ever recommend a very experienced trainer attempt to teach right side heeling first if they want to compete later,because it's going to take intense training to overcome that natural feeling to be on the right.


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## Brave (Oct 26, 2012)

Loisiana said:


> If you are wanting to do competitions, I would definitely put at least as much time working him on left side heeling as right side. Right now you are creating a habit of him being on the right, and in the stress of a trial situation, it will be almost instinctual for him to want to move back to the right side. I would only ever recommend a very experienced trainer attempt to teach right side heeling first if they want to compete later,because it's going to take intense training to overcome that natural feeling to be on the right.


We haven't introduced a "heel" command yet. I've been using the word "focus" to get him to focus on me while we walk, which puts him in a "semi-heeling" position, as the trainer explains it. 

Maybe if I start off right away with using "heel" to mean heeling on the right side, I won't have as much damage to overcome??


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

@Jen - I'm left handed too.... but my brain broke imagining working either dog on my right side. I think I would be like Zoolander and spinning around to look at him because I can't turn right.  

Seriously though - the reason to always work a dog on the left is to make that space his comfort zone. For novice A people (and some B people too) the worst thing ever out there is losing the dog on the off leash heel and having them come up to the wrong side. I don't know if that's the dogs going to a "non pressure" side or if they are used to working on the right for some things. But in general - you want the default position for your dog to be your left side for that reason.


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## Brave (Oct 26, 2012)

Megora said:


> @Jen - I'm left handed too.... but my brain broke imagining working either dog on my right side. I think I would be like Zoolander and spinning around to look at him because I can't turn right.
> 
> Seriously though - the reason to always work a dog on the left is to make that space his comfort zone. For novice A people (and some B people too) the worst thing ever out there is losing the dog on the off leash heel and having them come up to the wrong side. I don't know if that's the dogs going to a "non pressure" side or if they are used to working on the right for some things. But in general - you want the default position for your dog to be your left side for that reason.


Drats!!!! I make a bunch of mistakes training Bear. He is such an angel for being able to learn with some of the blunders I throw at him. 

Did you have trouble getting your hands use to their respective duties? My left hand is normally where I hold the leash, and I found when Bear was a puppy that if I tried to keep the leash in my right hand, I kept switching it while out on walks. 

I suppose I can keep the leash in the left hand and just treat across my body?


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

I have both the leash and the treat in my left hand generally. 

I've done the reach across with my right hand too - not for moving-rewards though.


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## Brave (Oct 26, 2012)

Megora said:


> I have both the leash and the treat in my left hand generally.
> 
> I've done the reach across with my right hand too - not for moving-rewards though.


This is going to sound asinine, BUT, can you show me a picture of how you manage to hold the leash and treat in the same hand? Our club has us put the look of the leash over our thumb and fold excess leash together and hold it in the palm, so if needed, we can drop the leash and won't get dragged (a la how you would hold a horse's lead). This takes up my WHOLE hand. 

I'm sure there is a better way.


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## TheZ's (Jun 13, 2011)

I worked really hard with Zoe to make "place", the left side heel position, her default position. I didn't realize how much of a habit it had become for both of us until we were trying a little agility last summer. It was really hard for both of us to transition to work with her on the right side.


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## Brave (Oct 26, 2012)

TheZ's said:


> I worked really hard with Zoe to make "place", the left side heel position, her default position. I didn't realize how much of a habit it had become for both of us until we were trying a little agility last summer. It was really hard for both of us to transition to work with her on the right side.


Ooooo dear... so it's different depending on the venue? Maybe we should do agility first. lol!!!!!!!!!


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

I use a very short, thin leather leash for heeling when a leash is needed. I think the leashes might be 12-18 inches? They fold readily since they are 1/4 -> 3/8 of an inch wide. You would need a leash that allows slack going from Brave's collar to you waist but not much more.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

Get a shorter/thinner leash so there's less to hold in your hand.

With Flip I showed him in novice with a 30 in leash. That's just the right length for him that if I hook my thumb in the loop there is a small amount of slack in the leash. No need to hold any extra. Anytime I need a longer leash I make sure it's a 1/4" width.


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## TheZ's (Jun 13, 2011)

Brave said:


> Ooooo dear... so it's different depending on the venue? Maybe we should do agility first. lol!!!!!!!!!


We only got our toe into agility but what we were learning is you may want your dog on either side depending on the course.

I'd be interested to have some of the more experienced people comment on the best sequence of training if you think you might want to participate in obedience, agility, and . . .


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

I use a 2.5 leash - that helps. I generally have the handle folded over grasped in my hand. 

The only time I had to use a longer leash was for beginner novice - it's necessary because the sit for exam is on leash and you have to step 6 feet away. It's a huge pain handling all that extra leash. 

There is a lady in one of my classes who has a 6 foot leash with her cocker spaniel. Ever week that I get her in the figure 8 group with me, I'm itching to grab one of the dogs leashes and hand to her to try. You don't need a lot of leash with these dogs.


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## Brave (Oct 26, 2012)

Wow! You guys rock! Maybe it's time I traded in his nylon collar and leash for some leather ones. I've never found a short nylon leash. 

Where do y'all find these short leashes? Any favorite online venues?


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

Www.3cdog.com has a large selection of what you're looking for. 


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

My preference is obedience first. You need obedience/manners for the start line, to walk safely among the excited dogs & handlers, wait, recall etc

Dogs are very good at reading our body language and often take their cues from things we are not even aware of. So my dogs are trained from the beginning that a bent left elbow with my hand at my midsection is a very different thing than my arms in other positions and for agility they are taught the 'laser finger' indicates which side they should be on and the distance of my hand from my body indicates how close they should be - for sends this could also involve the closest foot/leg etc. For get in close my arm is against my side while my finger is pointed down.

I would never have my hand against my midsection with a bent elbow in agility or even field. If my left hand is against my midsection that indicates normal heel position 

Hopefully this helps ...



TheZ's said:


> We only got our toe into agility but what we were learning is you may want your dog on either side depending on the course.
> 
> I'd be interested to have some of the more experienced people comment on the best sequence of training if you think you might want to participate in obedience, agility, and . . .


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## TheZ's (Jun 13, 2011)

Really helpful. To me it's almost scary how observant the dogs are of the nuances in our body posture and movement.


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## Brave (Oct 26, 2012)

Sunrise said:


> My preference is obedience first. You need obedience/manners for the start line, to walk safely among the excited dogs & handlers, wait, recall etc
> 
> Dogs are very good at reading our body language and often take their cues from things we are not even aware of. So my dogs are trained from the beginning that a bent left elbow with my hand at my midsection is a very different thing than my arms in other positions and for agility they are taught the 'laser finger' indicates which side they should be on and the distance of my hand from my body indicates how close they should be - for sends this could also involve the closest foot/leg etc. For get in close my arm is against my side while my finger is pointed down.
> 
> ...


That is so insightful!! I have my left arm bent with my hand on my stomach and I never thought this might indicate a heel to Bear. 

I can see the point about obedience being good before agility. We were told Bear couldn't do agility until he is 100% under control off leash. YIKES! I can have him be about 90% under control ON LEASH at the moment. lol!!!! Maybe by the time he's 3 or 4.


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## PalouseDogs (Aug 14, 2013)

People that start agility after they've been doing obedience with a dog for a long time will find that both they and the dog need to learn to work off both sides. (Been there, done that.) The dog will tend to be more comfortable on the left side and go there by default. So, if you plan to do agility, start training agility at the same time or before you do obedience and, in agility, work with the dog equally on the right and left side.

But, the difficulty in retraining an obedience dog to agility is exactly why you want to start with the left side in obedience. You want that to be the default position for the dog when in doubt. You won't be heeling in the agility ring (hopefully!). The dog works off both sides in agility, but he'll know the difference between agility and obedience. 

Like many others, I use a 2.5 ft leash in obedience. I used a thin 6 ft for Beginning Novice, where you need a 6 foot leash. For training and for Regular Novice, the leash only needs to be long enough to show a little slack when the dog is in heel position. You can hold a handful of treats in your right hand and "feed" them one at a time from right to left. When the dog is eating one treat, move another one to your left hand from the right when the dog isn't looking. 

Start retraining Bear ASAP, but don't correct him when he tries to heel on the right. Just show him what you want. It'll take him a little time to get used to the new position. I'd use a different command.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

It is not looking good for Towhee & I to head to the agility trial tomorrow. We were hammered with snow last week and then yesterday and now they are calling for snow tomorrow. The snow mounds are approaching epic portions. 

The facility has limited parking in clear weather and fussy business neighbors who will not allow parking in their lots (although they are closed) - probably for insurance reasons. Between the parking and the snow falling, I just can't see it happening ...

Towhee just keeps not getting to run


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## Brave (Oct 26, 2012)

Right now I'm using "swing" to mean come sit at my side (right) and focus on me. 

Do you think I could make it "swing right" and then differentiate it from "swing left" 

Then I just use 'heel' regardless of position? 

It seems unorthodox. I guess we can rack it all up to inexperience.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Brave said:


> Right now I'm using "swing" to mean come sit at my side (right) and focus on me.
> 
> Do you think I could make it "swing right" and then differentiate it from "swing left"
> 
> ...


Something my instructor with Jacks' first couple years repeated to infinity is what you use as commands doesn't matter. What matters is consistency and set up/communication. 

If you say APPLE to your dog meaning heel, and always say APPLE while guiding the dog into heel position and rewarding for that heel position - the dog will associate APPLE with heeling. 

Some people I train with do use some different sounding command - one lady especially who has put an OTCH on every single one of her goldens. I've sat back and listened to her training heel to her pup and.... I don't think she's speaking English some of the time. : I'm like what command did you just say and what's it supposed to mean?! 

Using "Swing Right" and "Swing Left" <- The problem is the dogs generally respond on the first word. So (example) - I say "By Me" for right finishes, and Jacks and Bertie aren't waiting for me to say "ME", they're already up and circling on the "BY". 

For finding heel position or getting into heel position - I use body language more than anything else. I'm putting my hand and focus where I want my dogs to be. With Bertie there's a reminder to sit (because he likes stacking himself and looking pretty). With Jacks I remind him to "get back" because he will always set himself up about a butt-sit to forward. 

Leather leashes trump nylon. It's easier on your hands. I think you can order a nice leash from J&J. The training leash I use for both my guys was one that had been hand made and sold by our teacher back when I was training Danny. 

I have picked up other leather leashes for training though - generally at dog shows so I can handle them and make sure they're comfy for handling. I like smoother/softer leather.


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## Gwen_Dandridge (Jul 14, 2012)

TheZ's said:


> I worked really hard with Zoe to make "place", the left side heel position, her default position. I didn't realize how much of a habit it had become for both of us until we were trying a little agility last summer. It was really hard for both of us to transition to work with her on the right side.


We definitely worked with Maddie to heel on both sides. For obedience work it is the left side, but just for safely sake, we trained for the other side also. Sometimes a road is dangerous or a too aggressive dog on lead is coming the other way and I don't want her near.

Of course, with agility she is now perfectly ready to go on either side.


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## Gwen_Dandridge (Jul 14, 2012)

We did well this week, both of us!!! Maddie did a great 'send' to a tunnel opening curved away from us. She found it!!! She also aced the weave poles each time. I didn't screw up as much!!!!! Hurray!!! My front crosses are better and handling is a touch better. Woo-hoo!

I was also told of a place in Somis, Ca where I might try competition obedience again. I'm going to try next week. Third time is a charm.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

I've given up on leather leashes in this house. Flip LOVES leather and no matter how careful I try to be, they get eaten. I placed an order for three bio thane leashes, eager to see how they work out.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

@Jodie - Sammy was the same way. He ATE leather leashes and collars. Trained me to keep the training leashes and leather collars in my training bag or my car. 

Side story, but Jacks just is destructive with anything he thinks is a stuffy. <- I had my green eyed powerpuff girl stuffy that's been in every single one of my cars since I was a teenager. Discovered today he found it and shredded it. Made me sad because I don't know if they sell those anymore.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

Last week I came home to find a brass leash clip in the floor. No sign of a single bit of the six feet of leather that had been attached to that clip.

I just ordered Phoenix his first leather collar. I'm a little nervous about Flip trying to chew it off of him.


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

Going to drop in training this morning must work on the same old problems . Gloves in the DR most troubling especially outside of our home as Nugget doesn't leave my side ( normally ) on the first " take it " and then it's a crap shoot if one he gets the correct one and if he will bring it to me WITHOUT getting the other two and if he does get the other two will he " give " them to me without me having to force it? All week I have only sent him for the #2 glove and because there is only one he has been correct everytime and has been rewarded and amply praised and then we quit the glove exercise without multiple repeating hope it's working. TheBJ too can be a problem for us with mostly at a trial ( of course) he refuses to jump, so we practice this some also. Most all of the other exercises he is doing well and my biggest problems with them would be F+F but this is everybody problem and on his good days he is getting most of them straight. The only other thing I really would like to get more solid are go- outs which when bait is out there his go- outs are great but sometimes when there isn't bait he goes a little left and sometimes a little short not enough to NQ but losing enough pts.to be non- competitive. 


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Uh Oh. Found a problem but there was so much going on I need to break it down to find out what the actual issue(s) was/were.

Signals with Faelan at a local Grocery Store. We are between major snow storms and its the weekend so the place was jamming. Carts, people, sliding vehicles, bob-cats doing snow removal, me in a coat. Working under the eaves with icicles dripping, icy spots underfoot and against the building. Faelan had issues with the down signal ..... repeatedly. Close in he did fine, start gaining distance he was not going down.

Brady on the other hand did very well including his moving stand for exam. He is starting to anticipate the finish however. 

Boy, I wish Faelan had the opportunity to go through all the online classes while we were working foundation work ...

ETA: We did more signals in the driveway and he (Faelan) started sitting before downing. Hmmm, I might have to make an appt with a chiropractor to see if there is something going on with all this snow and lack of exercise other than bounding & falling through the snow pack.


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

Just returned from training and I'm awfully happy with results today. Nugget took direction and got the #1 glove as directed which was about halfway to wall and didn't even try to get the other two which were all the way back , only flaw was I did néed to say " take it" a second time. When he came back which he did straight and fronted he got his treat and plenty of praise. Oh did I mention the other two gloves were filled with rocks . After his praise I threw the glove behind me for him to get as a reward much less formally three times the last setting him up and telling him " take it" which he did immeadiately. We then changed the desired glove to the #2 position and again repeated with the #3 glove all three were a success without any attempt to get another glove. When I was done I took him directly to the rock filled glove thinking he might learn a lesson but he had no desire to take it so maybe we are starting to get the idea. After working the DR we did 4 go- outs and all of them were good two baited two not baited he also did both the bar and the HJ twice each on first order but his first jump he did tick the bar but not enough to even move it. A friend came in and did the MSFE which he did take one comfort step but never moved during the rest of exam and gave me a straight heel position on the swing order. Open ring every thing we did including the BJ he did quite nicely and again the one DOR absolutely fabulous with him dropping so fast on the hand signal he slid on the matting 2-3 feet. All in all a very good successful session with improvement on the problem areas ,not solid yet but getting there.


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## PalouseDogs (Aug 14, 2013)

Inspired by Sunrise's timed flash training sessions, I did a quick signal exercise with both dogs after I had their breakfast plates ready and before I fed them. 

It hadn't started raining and the wind hadn't picked up, so I brought each in turn out to the yard. We did a preliminary short heeling pattern followed by signals. Alder didn't drop on the first signal. We redid from the stand. He dropped the first signal but didn't sit until I added a verbal reminder. Recall and finish were good. Praised and brought him back inside and gave him his plate.

Maple took several steps forward on the first drop (a new problems). Said "Oops", retried, much better. Sat from drop with no forward movement. Good front and finish. I praised and said "Let's get breakfast" and she raced to the door. She understands so many words. 

I am thinking that part of Alder's new problems with the signals is that I am again drifting on signals. If I don't check my signals in the mirror periodically, I have a bad habit of gradually changing my signals. After our training session, I did signals in front of a mirror. My right-arm drop signal had drifted a little so that my arm was not as straight up as it should be, while my left arm sit signal (lifting hand up away from my body) has drifting higher, so my sit and down signal were looking more similar, except for being given with different arms. 

I worked on making sure my drop signal was straight up and my sit signal was well out with hand no higher than shoulder and vowed to practice signals in the mirror before most training to make sure they aren't changing. 

With the longer daylight, I will soon have time for a fast pre-breakfast training session before work on weekdays, if I don't dawdle over coffee in the morning. I plan to run through signals most mornings, in the hope of getting Alder more consistently Qing that exercise before our first trial.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

I took the boys to go train today. I realized when it was Phoenix's turn just how little he knows LOL. He only knows a few skills, but his practice time is really just more about him being comfortable being out anyway.

One of the things I've been working on with Flip is letting him work through his own mistakes rather than being right there to fix everything. I spent so much of his life making sure everything was so perfect, fixing every off pivot and every step of heeling, that when we got in the ring and I just ignored all that stuff, he didn't know how to cope. So I'm learning to do run throughs letting the little stuff go.


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## ashleylp (Jul 23, 2011)

There is a frisbee training meetup today but I am not feeling well so I'm considering skipping it. Caira and I have been working on training around here so she isn't lacking. I hate missing one but I am worried that if I go I'll just start feeling worse - it is all allergies 

I do feel pretty bad for skipping it though. 

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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

1 inch of that white stuff overnight and 2-5 forecast for tomorrow at the time I'll be heading to my club for training I'm really really sick of this lousy weather and now later in week the weather man says we will have flooding which is toooo special for words! Sorry for the venting I just came in from cleaning my driveway to get ready for the next storm . On a better topic just put a check in the mail for a correction match and a trial for the end of March where with a little luck Nugget will get his third CDX leg. I'm getting tired of NQ ing in open b so he just has too get it so we can NQ in utility . LOL


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

*Towhee earns a 2nd place Nov STD Q*

Towhee & I went to an agility trial today and she earned a 1st leg with a 2nd place in Novice STD  Good girl!! She had a refusal on the tire, I don't think she's seen one since last summer!! I restarted her in Regular classes rather than Preferred and she has only had 2 classes since before her maternity leave - and no work at home since we have a lot of snow.

I thanked the judge in Novice JWW since she was very unfocused, and I learned why when we got home - she really had to poop!! The site had huge mounds of snow and little room for exercising so while she did pee there apparently pooping was just not going to happen in all that dirty snow ... as seen in her picture, she wasn't too thrilled to sit her naked little butt on the frozen slush either ::


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Passed a very fun milestone with Bertie.... a lot sooner than I reached it with Jacks.... ! 

Trained both dogs this past half hour or so, and was able to take turns with them without using a crate or baby gate to contain the young-un.  

Put Bertie in a "wait" while working DOR and Go-outs with Jacks, and Bertie held his wait like this is old hat. 

I've been able to get him to hold a Stay at class while doing the Stand For Exam exercise with other people, but never tested him with me doing something FUN with Jacks. What a good little guy he is. *crows*


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

> Kate that is a milestone getting the pup to hold a "WAIT" congrats on this I'm guessing you're feeling pretty proud.


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## PalouseDogs (Aug 14, 2013)

Hooray for Towhee! 

It rained almost all day yesterday and was so windy today, I didn't really want to train. It was one of those weekends that, if I didn't have dogs or had only old dogs, I would have really enjoyed lounging around drinking tea and reading mystery novels. 

But I have DOGS; more to the point, I have a young golden retriever who gets really annoyed when I lounge around on my off days instead of entertaining her. So, we had a fairly long hunt training session (handling exercises) and, after the wind had mellowed out late in the afternoon to merely blustery, an obedience session.

I figured it was about time I start throwing in a few Open exercises to refresh Maple's memory, since she still needs that last leg and the first trial is less than 8 weeks away. She did great on the BJ and DOR. I still have not addressed her big problem in Open, which is jumping on mats, instead of grass. Since there are no close indoor facilities around here, I need to bite the bullet and buy mats. Expensive, but I guess it's less expensive in the long run than a lot of NQs for jump refusals on mats.


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## MaureenM (Sep 20, 2011)

Sunrise said:


> Towhee & I went to an agility trial today and she earned a 1st leg with a 2nd place in Novice STD  Good girl!! She had a refusal on the tire, I don't think she's seen one since last summer!! I restarted her in Regular classes rather than Preferred and she has only had 2 classes since before her maternity leave - and no work at home since we have a lot of snow.
> 
> I thanked the judge in Novice JWW since she was very unfocused, and I learned why when we got home - she really had to poop!! The site had huge mounds of snow and little room for exercising so while she did pee there apparently pooping was just not going to happen in all that dirty snow ... as seen in her picture, she wasn't too thrilled to sit her naked little butt on the frozen slush either ::


Great job Towhee!!!!


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

Tonight is supposed to be training at my club but the forecast is for 4-8 more inches of this white stuff and the heaviest is supposed to fall when I would be driving there. It's a 64 mile round trip so I think I may have to cancel my plans again. Better safe than sorry. We did do a little training at home this morning articles which were done well other than the front on one . Signals and the short heeling good and two short go-outs which were done well. We also did a couple turns in place and a single glove placed in what would be the #2 position and Nugget did get it without hesitation on my order. All this is good but being where other people and dogs are with the distractions they cause would be better. Tomorrow training at at SCKC which is much much closer to my home and by then the roads should have been plowed.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

We have so much snow around here even the parks are not open since the crews are so busy plowing roads they haven't gotten around to the 'non essential' parking lots - I was thinking Saturday I may be needing to take the training gear off their treadmill and actually fire it up - Brady has never used it and Towhee hates it (literally - she does the splay the legs thing grabbing onto the side rails LOL). 

I use playroom matting, the interlocking kind, for my indoor training room - I don't know if that is the type of matting you are talking about? I was thinking of heading to Home Depot to pick up enough to use on the driveway under the jumps since I have shows coming up too. 



PalouseDogs said:


> Hooray for Towhee!
> 
> It rained almost all day yesterday and was so windy today, I didn't really want to train. It was one of those weekends that, if I didn't have dogs or had only old dogs, I would have really enjoyed lounging around drinking tea and reading mystery novels.
> 
> But I have DOGS; more to the point, I have a young golden retriever who gets really annoyed when I lounge around on my off days instead of entertaining her. less expensive in the long run than a lot of NQs for jump refusals on mats.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Waiting to see if people panic and cancel class tonight....  I think we are supposed to get 1-3 inches of snow. Which comparatively speaking is a headache to drive in, but not the worst. But other areas will probably get the weekly dose of 6 inches, so....


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

Since it's a beautiful sunny 70 degrees here, we might get to do some outdoor training this week :curtain:


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

> Jodi are you rubbing it in to the rest of us? I'm jealous of you and your way way better weather .


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

Nuggetsdad said:


> > Jodi are you rubbing it in to the rest of us?
> 
> 
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maybe just a little :. Actually, while it's beautiful out, it rained a ton last week, my yard is still holding water, and the ground is so soft that every time I take a step I end up sinking in mud. So probably no outside work for us.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Hehee.... we're complaining now, but knock on wood, hopefully within 3-4 weeks, I'll be waffling between going to class and doing stuff like this with the dogs...


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

It's a balmy 25 degrees here Sun is shining and a light breeze makes it feel cooler but .. tada .. I set up some plastic gating at one end of the driveway, checked it out and you really could not see the gating with the backdrop of a wall of snow. So I grabbed a blue gardening kneel pad (my stanchions are in the shed - I am not trudging the 100 feet or so through snow up to my hips in places to get a few) to put in the middle of the gates and a carpet square to protect their butts from the really cold asphalt. Grabbed a training dowel and away we went  No jumping of course - yes I have seen people do it on pavement nope, that is on my never ever ever do list!

*Faelan:* signals, moving stand for exam, Go Outs, grabbed a few pylons and we did Figure 8s with a few front & finishes and recall games. Faelan did very well - I am wondering if a light pink jacket may not be visible to dogs? Today I wore a gray & black jacket and his signals were perfect!

*Towhee:* Heeling, Figure 8, recalls, Fronts & some finishes, some releases. She got to do a few go-outs to food and did well - I believe she likes that game !! I finished with a straight recall, her very first DOR and a straight recall. Good Girl 

*Brady:* Heeling, Figure 8, MSFE, a few recalls and he also got to do some Go-Outs using food. He did very well with the exception of a few halts which were crooked. My bad of the day for him - I work a lot of heeling games including 'Fly' where they are released to go around a pylon, post, tree whatever. When I was standing within a few feet of the pylons I was using for Figure 8, Brady kept 'flying' rather than finishing ... I moved further away and he did fine.

*Casey:* Heeling, Go-Outs with food, a few recalls and we finished with some heeling with games.

I rarely work in the driveway, so it is a treat for the dogs and a built in distraction since they usually are in the driveway on their way to the Xterra to go somewhere  Today they had the added distractions of neighbors scraping/pounding on iced up stairs and driveways, roofs being shoveled with the resultant 'thunks' of falling snow and swearing men, a few houses having work done etc.

I will probably be doing at least one more session for scent articles and such, but I did want to get out and enjoy the somewhat warm weather & sunshine since more snow is forecast for tonight and I have the day off. I almost headed up to a drop in class over an hour away - it would have been with Faelan for Utility and possibly the hour before that with Brady for Novice but that would have been close to 5 hours away from Casey and Towhee, and honestly I don't really know the teacher and want to spend my day off with all my dogs. And I asked and she does a lot of heeling << bleck >>.

And now my disgusting, nasty neighbor is out on his ATV - honestly he and his kids do circles by the hour on dirt bikes and ATVs - round & round & round they go - they have 1/2 acre at most and they just drive the blasted things round in circles


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Not snowing.... but class was cancelled as a precaution. BOO!


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

I finally made a good decision and stayed home not letting my stubbornness override good sense, the roads are horrible and watching tv the interstates are 2-3 times normal travel time with lots of accidents and cars stuck. Hopefully the road to SCKC 
will have been plowed by tomorrow morning so I can get some training in this week.


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## MaureenM (Sep 20, 2011)

Tonight in class, after practice on the bar jump, everyone did an individual open run through, although our "off leash" was on leash. Over all good. Crowded a bit on the inside turn during the figure 8. The outside turn was good. She did good on the jumps and retrieve on flat. For the Novice portion of class I started using a parachute type cord/string rather then Finley's regular leash during the group heeling. She did pretty good with it, and it seemed easier for me to feel if she was out of position. The first recall was off again, but the rest had good front's. Most of the time her front's are good, but then for whatever reason we still get an off one thrown in there. I hope to go out (a store or something) for practice at least 2 more times this week with her and then of course the usual stuff at home. I think the weather's going to cooperate, so hopefully we'll be back at a somewhat normal routine. The trial is Sunday. I got the official confirmation in the mail. There are only 7 other dogs scheduled for Novice A. We are the second to last to go in our group, and it is the last run of the day. We follow a group of 26 dogs that are scheduled to start at 11:30. I haven't decided what time I should get there. I don't want to be worried about running late, but I also don't want her there too long ahead of time. I think an hour ahead of time would be good.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Good luck at the trial 

If the 26 dogs ahead of you are Novice dogs, that is around 3 hours of judging plus the judges break, if taken. However, since no time is listed for your class to start they can start whenever the previous class finishes. So I would think the class might start any time after 2, allowing for no shows and for no judges break. 

I know I can be a no-show if my dogs are sick, they just are not as ready as I thought they would be, sometimes if I just have something I need to take care of come up. 

I love being close to the end of the groups - no long wait and you have enough time to leave the ring, and play & exercise your dog before being called back in 

You mention Novice A, so although you probably already know this, I will mention it. It you feel that your dog has qualified, warm your dog up while the judge is doing the scores in case you are called into the ring for a run-off 




MaureenM said:


> Tonight in class, after practice on the bar jump, everyone did an individual open run through, although our "off leash" was on leash. Over all good. Crowded a bit on the inside turn during the figure 8. The outside turn was good. She did good on the jumps and retrieve on flat. For the Novice portion of class I started using a parachute type cord/string rather then Finley's regular leash during the group heeling. She did pretty good with it, and it seemed easier for me to feel if she was out of position. The first recall was off again, but the rest had good front's. Most of the time her front's are good, but then for whatever reason we still get an off one thrown in there. I hope to go out (a store or something) for practice at least 2 more times this week with her and then of course the usual stuff at home. I think the weather's going to cooperate, so hopefully we'll be back at a somewhat normal routine. The trial is Sunday. I got the official confirmation in the mail. There are only 7 other dogs scheduled for Novice A. We are the second to last to go in our group, and it is the last run of the day. We follow a group of 26 dogs that are scheduled to start at 11:30. I haven't decided what time I should get there. I don't want to be worried about running late, but I also don't want her there too long ahead of time. I think an hour ahead of time would be good.


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

> Maureen Good luck at the trial.


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## PalouseDogs (Aug 14, 2013)

Maureen, best of luck at your trial. That's a big entry for Novice A. I'm not a good one to ask about when to arrive, since I'm usually at trials by about 7 am to get a good parking spot and (maybe) a good place for my crate and stuff. I like to watch the Utility and Open classes. It makes for a long day if you're stuck at the very end in Novice A.

For a Sunday trial, assuming there's not a Monday trial, if you show up around noon, there should be plenty of places for crates. A lot of the Utility and Open people will have packed up and left (unless those entries are huge.) By the time you run, almost all the other OB competitors will be gone and it will probably be very quiet, unless the OB ring is in the same building as Conformation.

After you arrive, be sure you walk your dog long enough for him to be "empty." The excitement of a trial can get a dog's bowels moving.


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

Training at SCKC didn't go very well Nugget would not leave my side on the first " take it " order period although on the second order and my taking a step or two towards the glove he would . Once he went for the wrong glove and went to the rock filled glove which he was smart enough not to even try to pick up. I did just throw a glove and said take it and he went right for it and got it but this was very informal and just for fun as a reward . Go-outs baited and unbaited were all good and straight although the last unbaited one he went out slower than I like but I couldn't make a butt tap on him as my 15 minutes were up and I had to get out of the utility ring. In the open exercises heeling was sloppy with a couple less than perfect sits and a couple wides . Overall poorer heeling than normal today. His DOR again extremely nice and about half of his fronts were straight and exactly perfect a couple were straight but a tad on my right side. ROHJ signal exercise MSFE and ROF all pretty good with a couple little imperfections here and there but the basic exercise certainly qualifying . Nugget has done better and today the only exercise I really liked was the DOR which is his best exercise but we all have our OFF days and today was one of Nuggets.


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## coaraujo (Nov 2, 2012)

MaureenM said:


> Tonight in class, after practice on the bar jump, everyone did an individual open run through, although our "off leash" was on leash. Over all good. Crowded a bit on the inside turn during the figure 8. The outside turn was good. She did good on the jumps and retrieve on flat. For the Novice portion of class I started using a parachute type cord/string rather then Finley's regular leash during the group heeling. She did pretty good with it, and it seemed easier for me to feel if she was out of position. The first recall was off again, but the rest had good front's. Most of the time her front's are good, but then for whatever reason we still get an off one thrown in there. I hope to go out (a store or something) for practice at least 2 more times this week with her and then of course the usual stuff at home. I think the weather's going to cooperate, so hopefully we'll be back at a somewhat normal routine. The trial is Sunday. I got the official confirmation in the mail. There are only 7 other dogs scheduled for Novice A. We are the second to last to go in our group, and it is the last run of the day. We follow a group of 26 dogs that are scheduled to start at 11:30. I haven't decided what time I should get there. I don't want to be worried about running late, but I also don't want her there too long ahead of time. I think an hour ahead of time would be good.


Good luck at the trial!! :wave:


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## coaraujo (Nov 2, 2012)

So far today's been a very good day training wise. I got to obedience class this morning (a Family Dog II class with around 10 dogs that's usually pretty crazy) to find class had been canceled because of the snow. BUT I had joined halfway through the session so i wasn't on the email list and didn't get notified so my trainer let me stay and train with Oliver anyways. So we had the place to ourselves for a whole hour! It was awesome!! (way better than having class ). We focused on retrieving for a half hour, then did some attention heeling, and then did some sit, stand, down rotations. Oliver works really well for rough play, which usually doesn't go over well in a 10 dog class... so it was nice to be able to run and tug and wrestle with him. He was so focused, I think he would have heeled right into a wall for me . 

This dog really is something else. The training center has random rope/plush/ball toys. I got Oliver to do some beautiful heeling with tug as a reward. He was a little tug demon. At home he sucks at tug. I try very hard to get him into it, but I usually only get minimal tugging from him. But of course the grass is always greener...the toys at training class are much more fun than the ones I have at home. 


Hopefully my handling class won't be canceled tonight. The snow has stopped so the roads should be clear.


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## Brave (Oct 26, 2012)

I'm at an impasse.  

My husband's work shift change and since we share a car, I now have no way to get to class. 

Do you think I could train Bear for competitions from a book and youtube resources? Or does he NEED to be in class? I'm trying to find another class that is either closer and between when I get off work and when DH has to go to work. Right now it's not looking promising for a club. 

This really bums me out.


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

> Brave you can train at home with a little help from videos - books and knowing what you are trying to teach your dog. A copy of the AKC rule book will inform you of what your and your dog must do for the various titles you might like to earn. There are videos on u- tube that can be helpful. It is harder for someone that's never done it before but an awful lot can be accomplished . Keep looking around for possible Sat.-Sun. Class when you can get the car or find someone who might take you with them to where you are now attending offer to pay them after all if you drive your own car it costs money. Where there is a will there is a way and you might even consider private lessons . Good Luck stick with it.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

@Jen - the biggest problem for people who train at home vs weekly/frequent classes is getting focus and proofing against actual distractions you will run into in an obedience ring. 

I've never done this because we have a glut of clubs within driving distance and they tend to be a bit more expensive than those nearby clubs.... but there are online classes you can take. This won't help with proofing, but they should help you and Bear learn all of the basics the right way the first time. Other thing is looking out for seminars. 

My hats off to people who do for the most part train "alone". It's hard. It's hard to stay motivated. It hard to keep perspective in training.

**** No class tonight - got bumped to tomorrow. I was initially planning on doing open floor with the boys, but will enjoy our evening off.


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## Gwen_Dandridge (Jul 14, 2012)

Agility went well today. Maddie was great and I was okay. I'm starting to hear that I'm about ready to try some fun trials.


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## MaureenM (Sep 20, 2011)

Sunrise said:


> Good luck at the trial
> 
> If the 26 dogs ahead of you are Novice dogs, that is around 3 hours of judging plus the judges break, if taken. However, since no time is listed for your class to start they can start whenever the previous class finishes. So I would think the class might start any time after 2, allowing for no shows and for no judges break.
> 
> ...


Thank you! The 26 dogs are Novice B dogs. Glad you mentioned the possibility of a run off, not something that had I had thought of . I do like that we are 2cd from last, enough time to get out of the ring, give some treats, and be back in for stays while staying in a "working" mindset. For our group, all the dogs except for Finley and the dog behind us are entered on Saturday too. I'm thinking maybe some of them might finish Sat and not show Sun. I'm getting excited, not nervous yet...hoping it stays that way  

Thanks for the good luck all!!!


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

Nugget this morning did his I can't find it so I'll just get anything routine with articles which he hasn't pulled in quite awhile but a " find it" a second time and he dropped the incorrect article and went back to the pile and immeadiately got the correct one. We then did them a second time . This guy is just too food motivated which is good most of the time but sometimes he pulls this or gets a wrong glove just to get one for his reward treats or what really gets to me is anticipating and leaving for the dumbell after I've told him " wait" . The rest of this session was ok signals - turns in place- f+ f - recall from dropped position and two short go- outs.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

The dogs had their timed training sessions this morning with a bit of a switch up. Their heeling routines were timed for 3 minutes while their scent articles were untimed but worked for 2 good retrievals with a small stuffed toy providing a distraction.

*Faelan:* we worked heeling, signals and a few drops followed by 1-2-3 step fronts. His scent articles had the toy in the middle of his pile and he was distracted but left to his own devices recovered and correctly found the metal article. I moved the toy to the right side and scented a leather article placed a few inches away from the toy (actually a Chuckle Buddy); he briefly examined the toy and then quickly retrieved the correct article – good boy   He then stole the toy when all the dogs were done LOL

*Brady:* we worked heeling with spins and throughs, stands out of motion, drops out of motion and left turns. For his scent articles I placed the chuckle buddy about 6 inches from the pile and he virtually ignored the toy. First metal and then leather with little to no trouble – good boy 

*Towhee:* we worked some head up heeling, some drops out of motion and then get-it get-it get-it down games interspersed with letting her come in after a goldfish toss. She is starting to understand the drop I think. We then worked articles with the canning rings and the toy really messed her up so it took awhile to get 2 clean rings but she did it and it was tough for her! I also need to work on her pivots. We finished with a few quick 1-2-3 fronts.

*Casey:* We worked on some heeling, drops out of motion, signals and straight retrieves – he was a  happy, happy boy – precise no, but happy yes!


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## coaraujo (Nov 2, 2012)

I got some really great advice from one of my inspirations - a trainer who trains GRs successfully in hunt and field with only positive methods. While it is definitely the path less traveled by...for some reason it's the one I've chosen. I have been able to learn a great deal from members on this forum and an immense amount from my field trainer, but there are times when I run into issues where I can't find answers because our training methodologies differ. I've learned quite a bit from Susan Garret's puppy peaks program because she also uses positive only method's, but her main focus is agility so I still hit these speed bumps in field work. It's nice to have someone in my corner who not only talks the talk, but has walked the walk and can help me out. This individual also reminded me of why I started up hunt and field work in the first place - because I found it to be a really interesting and FUN thing to do with my dogs. I love being outside in the wilderness and fields and I love being with my dogs. 

So, i'm lightening up my training load - so to speak. I'm off to have fun and play with my dogs. There's nothing more rewarding to a hunting dog than the retrieve itself (and thus nothing more useful in a trainer's toolbox), but the dog needs to realize that first so Oliver and I are off to bring out his desire to retrieve.


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

Molly is jumping full height again!! Last week, she was still a tiny bit iffy about the jump at 16 inches. This week, we started at 16 and it was so _easy_ for her that I upped it to 20. She is now jumping with more ease than ever before. I think it helped that I got rid of the step stool for her to jump up into my car. She was not liking it at first, but now she has no problem jumping up. I think she didn't know how to really PUSH up using her hind legs, which is what my instructor hinted at a few weeks ago. When she knocked the top board months ago, we had to start all over again, very slowly. She loves to jump up and over logs and tree stumps (and giant snow balls) way taller than 20 inches, so it was probably a confidence issue as well with the wobbly-ness of the jump. I'm thrilled!


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

This morning was all about core conditioning on a jump.

I worked Towhee, Faelan and Brady at 20 inches and I started Casey at 12 inches but moved it down to 10 inches. 

Close jumping starting with a sit, tossing treats down to the floor to re-inforce heads sown jumping, then jumping them into a close wall or me, with in air turns with the laser finger. These were basically some of the Linda Mecklenburg developing jumping skills drills. Each dog had 3 minutes and that was it since these drills are conditioning drills as well.

I then tried to lure Casey onto his peanut - uhh, was not happening so perhaps that will wait for my seminar in a few weeks.

Now, I will do some of my homework - tossing a tennis ball between my hands while talking --- LOL doing unrelated tasks to help my handling skills ala Susan Garrett

ETA: 3 minutes of pacing while talking and tossing a tennis ball - hahaha - I needed to pace to maintain my rhythm - next up trying to juggle more than 1 tennis ball. And boy oh boy!! The dogs were amped to see a tennis ball and me going into the training room LOL The younger 3 have never played with tennis balls since Casey wore his teeth down with them, but they seemed to know exactly what they were

ETA 2: I did not make the agility class last night. Freezing rain, drizzle and snow with temps hovering around 30 degrees had me declining the 80+ mile round trip drive to class <sigh> This winter is seriously getting old


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

I believe it is becoming a more travelled path  More and more trainers in our area are creating new training 'rules' and expanding our toolboxes - good for you for searching out and finding folks whose training philosophies agree with yours :wave:




coaraujo said:


> I got some really great advice from one of my inspirations - a trainer who trains GRs successfully in hunt and field with only positive methods. While it is definitely the path less traveled by...for some reason it's the one I've chosen. I have been able to learn a great deal from members on this forum and an immense amount from my field trainer, but there are times when I run into issues where I can't find answers because our training methodologies differ. I've learned quite a bit from Susan Garret's puppy peaks program because she also uses positive only method's, but her main focus is agility so I still hit these speed bumps in field work. It's nice to have someone in my corner who not only talks the talk, but has walked the walk and can help me out. This individual also reminded me of why I started up hunt and field work in the first place - because I found it to be a really interesting and FUN thing to do with my dogs. I love being outside in the wilderness and fields and I love being with my dogs.
> 
> So, i'm lightening up my training load - so to speak. I'm off to have fun and play with my dogs. There's nothing more rewarding to a hunting dog than the retrieve itself (and thus nothing more useful in a trainer's toolbox), but the dog needs to realize that first so Oliver and I are off to bring out his desire to retrieve.


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

A different morning than yesterday with Nugget going to the article pile after a pretty nice turn in place and getting both L+M correctly on first command . Then he did the DR on the what would be the #2 glove leaving without any hesitation any getting it with a straight return but a crooked front. We did a recall from the down position and it was good also a shortened version of the signal exercise with it too being done cleanly. A few f+ f in front of the mirror and we called it done. This evening training at SCKC which is reasonably close so this rain -snow-sleet- high wind crappy weather won't deter us today.


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

Weather tonight was something else as I got to the training site I couldn't see the building for the fog. Then a storm followed with thunder and lightning and when I left the wind was howling . Mother Nature has gone nuts.. Training went well other than my nemesis the DR where he again wouldn't leave my side unless I ordered take it a second or third time and took a step toward the glove. Good thing is even after he finally did get the glove he never tried to over achieve and get one or both of the rock filled ones. BJ-and all of the rest of the open exercises went pretty well and go- outs and High Jump along with the bar also done nicely. MSFE also done well but he would have failed the signal exercise tonight walking behind as I left him , very unusual . Also broke the long down as a strong wind blew something into the side of the building directly behind him and he got scared . The very worst thing today besides falling this morning was the message from my breeder informing me that the breeding failed and her bitch is not pregnant so now her next girl to come in season is July so I have another long wait.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Richard - very sorry about the puppy news. Frustrating waiting until fall...  

I realized yesterday at a very mad-crazy-embarrassing class that I either have to put a prong on the kiddo again while learns control. Or warm up with a prong and switch to his show chain....

Or go to class with a paper bag over my head.  

I admittedly was in a fog yesterday and probably shouldn't have gone to class. But I wanted to get out of the house. <- But the kid needs to learn control before I take him near another show ring. I'm so glad I figured that out yesterday, because I'd initially been going to show him this weekend. I still would like to do a drop in and watch, but think I'll keep him out of the ring. >.<


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

I am sorry to read this Richard - I know how you have been looking forward to the possibility of a pup.



Nuggetsdad said:


> . The very worst thing today besides falling this morning was the message from my breeder informing me that the breeding failed and her bitch is not pregnant so now her next girl to come in season is July so I have another long wait.
> 
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com App[/color


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

My crew has this morning off - no particular reason other than I have a sinus type headache ... I am so ready for some dry, sunny weather.


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## Laurie (Sep 20, 2009)

Took Lexx to the building a couple of days ago to do some training. I'm really missing the morning sessions we were doing but with me having to be out of the house by 6:30 a.m. it just isn't possible anymore (except for my Fridays off and the weekend).

Anyway.....we worked on all of the Novice exercises and he was awesome. No complaints with any of the exercises. He used to lag going around on the figure 8s but with some "get it, get it, get it" exercises, he seems to have figured that out.

We also did some dumbbell retrieves on flat and over the jump...both were done well and done with some enthusiasm as well.

Go outs were great. The last 2 were done with no bait and his directed jumping is very good. He will jump with a hand signal.....no verbal. 

We've worked a bit on the articles. He's very accurate but still acts like it's the worst thing in the world he has to do!!

All signal exercises, MSFE are very good.

Agility was Wednesday night. Due to another storm, there were only a few of us at class. None of the out of town people came. We worked on some sequences, stationary table and the dogwalk. He was very good. He has really matured at class. No more wanting to go visit the other dogs or wondering off. 

This weekend were in a 2 day obedience seminar with Marie Sawford. Looking forward to it!!!

The following weekend we start a weave clinic for 5 weeks. Shortly after that, we will start his advanced tracking class. And after that, I hope to get him into field work. We only have one Retriever club nearby and if they don't offer classes/training, then we could be hooched. I will then try to hook up with some of the more experienced field people to see if Lexx and I can tag along on some of their outings.

Richard: Sorry about the puppy as well!!! I would be extremely disappointed.


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## PalouseDogs (Aug 14, 2013)

Brave said:


> I'm at an impasse.
> 
> My husband's work shift change and since we share a car, I now have no way to get to class.
> 
> ...


Probably most people that train for competition do most training on their own after their first competition dog. It's figuring out how to train that first dog that will be difficult without a competition class.

Honestly, I don't think your current class is a competition class. If you've been heeling the dog on your right side all this time and the instructor didn't tell you that won't fly in a trial, then you are in a pet dog manners class. There's absolutely nothing wrong with a manners class. Most competition-oriented dogs can benefit from being in a manners class early. It helps them learn how to behave in an environment with a whole lot of dogs around, which they will have at a trial.

However, if you really think you want to try competition obedience, you would benefit from finding an instructor that has put OB titles on a dog, preferably at least a CDX. I would urge you to GO to an obedience trial (without your dog!), buy a catalog, and watch the dogs in the B-classes. If you see a handler showing a dog with good attitude, approach the handler afterwards and ask if they are familiar with dog trainers in your area. Consider private or semi-private lessons if you can't find nearby classes. One or two privates (usually $30-$60/hr) once a month can be as good as a weekly class if you are willing to train a few minutes a day at home.

I also recommend doing lots of reading. Adele Yunck's "Competitive Obedience, A balancing act" is a great start. Diane Baumann's "Beyond Basic Obedience" is a classic that I find myself going back to again and again.


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## Gwen_Dandridge (Jul 14, 2012)

Maddie and I went to a new place (about an hour away) to try competition obedience (again) and more agility. It was dark and there were bright lights which in the past have been frightening to her. She was edgy but not unreasonably so. Her agility was very high energy, probably because of the new location and her excitement, but not too bad. Way better then I had expected with a new local. What was fun for me was there were four goldens out of five dogs doing agility. I wasn't outnumbered by border collies this time.

Her obedience, which was thankfully after the agility, was pretty good. She didn't look bad among the other dogs who are actually competing in shows. Her stays are still awesome. One thing that happened was there was a dumb bell throw and retrieve. The instructor asked if Maddie knew how to do this and I said "no" but we'd give it a try. 

Maddie stayed, as I knew she would, when I threw it. Upon release she raced for the dumb bell grabbed it....and tossed it into the air over and over. Then she rolled on it.

So, maybe we have a little ways to go before she can do this.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Almost all of the training facilities I go to are an hour or more away - I am currently working on my spending plan (aka 'budget') and my gas bill is sure bringing that home to me!! Wow! 

Sounds like you found a good fit if you can put up with the commute 

and yes, perhaps Maddie needs just a bit of work for her retrieve 



Gwen_Dandridge said:


> Maddie and I went to a new place (about an hour away) to try competition obedience (again) and more agility. It was dark and there were bright lights which in the past have been frightening to her. She was edgy but not unreasonably so. Her agility was very high energy, probably because of the new location and her excitement, but not too bad. Way better then I had expected with a new local. What was fun for me was there were four goldens out of five dogs doing agility. I wasn't outnumbered by border collies this time.
> 
> Her obedience, which was thankfully after the agility, was pretty good. She didn't look bad among the other dogs who are actually competing in shows. Her stays are still awesome. One thing that happened was there was a dumb bell throw and retrieve. The instructor asked if Maddie knew how to do this and I said "no" but we'd give it a try.
> 
> ...


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## Gwen_Dandridge (Jul 14, 2012)

Sunrise said:


> Almost all of the training facilities I go to are an hour or more away - I am currently working on my spending plan (aka 'budget') and my gas bill is sure bringing that home to me!! Wow!
> 
> Sounds like you found a good fit if you can put up with the commute
> 
> and yes, perhaps Maddie needs just a bit of work for her retrieve


Well, I'm super lucky as another golden owner goes regularly and is happy to have me tag along in her huge car with three dog crates. I'm happy to share gas but she insisted that she didn't want recompense. So I brought a loaf of homemade bread to share and gave her a jar of passionfruit lime curd that I had just canned last week. It's hard to know how to pay for kindness sometimes.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Are online classes an option for you? You would need a Camcorder if you are a participant and a high spend internet connection helps, but I find these classes very convenient with my work/commute and show schedule. I even copy the lessons to my EverNote area for future review and for those lessons I just cannot do in a timely manner.

Parks, malls and even outside of dog parks can do wonders for training your dog to work with distractions and are more fun (to me) than heeling around in circles and taking an hour per dog.

Agility classes are more flexible concerning multiple dogs but most of that learning is done outside of class as well - so if you have instruction (videos, DVDs, online classes) you can really do most of your training at home with public training maybe a few times a month.



Brave said:


> I'm at an impasse.
> 
> My husband's work shift change and since we share a car, I now have no way to get to class.
> 
> ...


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

I had an opportunity and took it.... 

Worked off leash heeling with Bertie - with me shifting my hand over my stomach and seeing how he does. He is pulling FORWARD while keeping track of my hand (that treat-giver that it is), but is shifting back to heel position when reminded. 

Did fronts with a verbal swing (no hand signal) and with just the hand signal on the by me. 

Then Go-Outs - with me teaching him to run as far as he can as opposed to using a specific target. <- I think this is fine in the hallway since they really have to run a straight line. 

Then drops -

Then decided to introduce gloves since I didn't have any other retrieve item handy except a big winter glove.  Poor baby's brain was just about BROKEN. He was convinced we were still doing go-outs. So he ran out past the glove to the end of the hall, spun around and SAT. When I drew his attention to the glove, he then was running out and touching the glove (like he thought it was a target? I dunno!) and spinning around and SITTING. Finally I decided to revert back to tossing the glove a very short distance and reminding him to bring-it-front. That worked. 

Jacks who had been gated away this whole time came rushing out and not so much saying hi to me or Bertie, searched for the glove (which had been put away before bringing him out) and emphatically retrieved it. I had to laugh, because he was out of sight and really had no way of specifically knowing that was what Bertie was retrieving - but he KNEW and had to dramatically fetch and bring it back to me.  

Both dogs did stays - with me out of sight (I stayed just outside the entrance of the room and peeking time to time around the corner). 

Then I sent them outside while I set up a trail for them to track. 

The carpet needs cleaning anyway because everyone's been tracking muck from our driveway into the house. So figured it didn't matter. *coughs-laughs* I took smelly treats from the treat bin and made a few scent rubs into the hallway carpet to set up a trail for them to follow and find the treats. 

Jacks knows this game very well and came in, smelled my hands, and immediately dropped his nose to the ground and rushed off to follow the trail to the treats. Bertie watched him, copied him, and figured out the trick enough for him to follow his own trail (I sent them back outside a couple times more while redoing and making the trail longer and leading into rooms and hiding under things) with me holding Jacks. It was kinda nifty to see. <- I really do want to try tracking with Jacks especially, but Bertie did get the idea fairly quickly so maybe him too.


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

Nugget did his articles correctly this morning and both were correct but the front on the first was crooked but the second was a good one. We also did the GLOVE twice in the #2 position which he went and got on first order and gave me a good front on one. We didn't do anymore as I'm taking him to drop in training this morning .


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Today's session took place on my driveway in the sunshine  It is in the upper 30s, possibly the 40s so I took advantage of it and set up partial ring gating - no round abouts since I will be heading out this afternoon with Towhee girl so I needed something quick

*Faelan:* Signals, Go-Outs, Scent Discrimination, Directed retrieve to glove #1, Signals, MFSE and we finished up with DR to glove #3 and a few baited go-outs. He did very well - I think he really misses being able to move out etc - the dogs have been inside for a long long time and I haven't been making it to classes, so he was a very happy boy!

*Towhee: *We did some heeling (very nice), some dumbbell work, a few drop games, a few recalls, more heeling, some ROFs, a few 1/2 distance Go Outs and we spent quite a bit of time on Directed Retrieving - she is very quick to go, gets the right glove but will drop the glove right before her front so we have some work to do ... eta - her pivots were not perfect but her maintaining focus on me while we pivot and waiting for my arm to drop for her mark - mmmmya (picture that Italian gesture for prefection!  )

*Brady: *We worked some short heeling with halts, 1/2 to full distance Go-outs, a few moving stands, a few recalls, 2 retrieves on the flat and a few games.

*Casey: *Heeling, recalls, signals & Directed Retrieves.


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

Drop in training other than the DR was pretty good overall, go outs 4 in all only one baited really think he is getting it and his sits other than the baited one immeadiate although he did turn and sit on his own on the last one. Jumps were taken on order and he got all but one front. A friend who I run thru utility regularly and a much better trainer than myself I believe has come up with solution to my DR problem. After watching my struggle (AGAIN )SHE ASKED IF SHE MIGHT TRY and at this point anything that might get Nugget to do the DR I'm willing to give a whirl. Chrissy said Nugget keys on watching me so intently that he really doesn't see the line (mark) that I'm trying to get him to go and also it's obvious to her that he is afraid of making a mistake which I already knew but what she tried was a back to basics TREAT TOSS . Chrissy held him by his tag lead showed him a piece of cheese tossed it about 10 ft gave him a line with her hand and sent him with a get it get it and sure enough he got it and then after several reps she threw a glove and he took the line and got it then repeated with a rock filled glove and the one correct one and he did it we quit with lots of praise so it looks as though I must go all the way back to treat toss and exaggerating the line and making sure Nugget looks where I'm pointing instead of looking at me. His open work BJ - ROHJ- ROF- DOR Heeling and fig8 and the s+ d all done very nicely with a few very minor flaws? MSFE was alright but as we started to heel he forged a bit and when Chrissy went over him I thought he was playing the exorcist the way his head turned watching her as she went over him but he did not move so he was a good boy.


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## ashleylp (Jul 23, 2011)

Brave, have you checked out the Fenzi online dog training stuff? Check it out 

We have been totally swamped with work (blessing and a curse) but I took some time out last night to work with Caira on frisbee. Check out this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay7pLRDeHvg

Now, I'm feeling crappy. Hoping it's just allergies and it goes away.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Towhee had a very good day today 
At the TMAC Agility trial in CT

Her 2nd Novice STD leg was a 2nd place (Table fault)
Her 1st Novice JWW leg was a 1st place


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## MaureenM (Sep 20, 2011)

Sunrise said:


> Towhee had a very good day today
> At the TMAC Agility trial in CT
> 
> Her 2nd Novice STD leg was a 2nd place (Table fault)
> Her 1st Novice JWW leg was a 1st place


Great job Towhee!!!!


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

We all just had another driveway session; temps are close to 50 although that will be changing so time to take advantage. My neighbors are strange - they go into the woods and take trees by the week, and then chop them up for the week's firewood - weird but kind of good distraction as they rev their ATVs and then fire up their automatic wood cutter. Further distractions were people across the street chipping at ice and trying to get their sports cars across the icy surfaces. So overall, enough distractions close to home 

I set up gating with a acrylic dowel and a blue gardening pad again for the go out spot (the top of my driveway parking area is about 60 feet long by 30 feet wide).

*Faelan: *Signals (excellent), Go-Outs (mostly excellent - he wanted to cut a few short), heeling (nice), recalls with F&F (pretty good) and the MSFE -(very very nice). We finished up with dowel tosses into the softened snow banks which he found quite rewarding 

*Towhee:* Heeling (very nice), Recalls with F&F (very nice), pivots (need some work but her attention is excellent), and we worked up to full length Go-Outs with the turn & sit and finished up with some get-it, get-it, get-it down or come games and some personal play - you know the type where you just hope noone is watching but the dogs love ??

*Brady:* We started with some heeling and I needed to shorten the 'leg' lengths a bit - while he usually has very good focus he seemed to have problems today - oh well, that's why we train right? His MSFE were excellent, his recalls and F&F were very, very nice. We finished with some Smack da Baby and In your face games.

*Casey: *We worked signals, heeling, recalls and Get It Get It Get It come games - we finished up with us both sitting on the lower deck stair just 'being' ... he likes that


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

Nugget and I just did a couple of treat toss's and I'm trying to emulate Chrissy actions of yesterday's training . Nugget did take and look at the thrown treat and get it but I physically had to move his head to look at the treat instead of me but if going back this far in basics is successful so be it. The end result is my reward. On the less serious side my female golden Sadie did the unthinkable - she ate all of my Goldfish and only about a dozen of the cheesy crackers had been eaten by me but I left the bag on the floor next to my lazy boy chair. Lesson learned this won't happen again. Training at club tomorrow which I'm looking forward to.


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## PalouseDogs (Aug 14, 2013)

Nuggetsdatd, when in doubt, going back to basics further back than you think you need to go is always a good fall-back strategy. I'm experiencing that lesson myself these days, with Alder and signals.

I've been having a heck of a time with Alder and signals. This last month, we couldn't seem to get through an entire set without an NQ mistake. We've been working on the parts of the signal exercise all winter, so maybe (I thought) what we needed was to put the parts together more often so the sequence is embedded in his fuzzy poodle brain. We did that for a week or two and he was still making mistakes all over. One time, it would be uncertainty about the drop. The next time, he wouldn't sit from a drop. Then another time, he would sit, but then immediately come in. 

For the past few days, I've backed up further. I've been pairing all of the signals with a voice command. He's doing so much better, I've begun lagging the voice command after the signal and not saying anything if he responds with the correct action. Yesterday, I only gave the drop command. He did good.

In the back of mind, I'm fretting about whether his eyesight might be getting worse. He's always had some trouble seeing the gloves and sometimes the dumbbell. (Fortunately, no problem with the jumps.) Part of my logic now in doing the whole sequence of signals every time is to get him anticipating the sequence and the rhythm. Possibly, the last two UD legs may be out of reach. If so, I'm okay with that.

Maple has been doing great on signals. It's less than seven weeks to our first trial of the year, so I'm putting more emphasis on Open exercises. I looked for vinyl mats at the flooring store in town (because we don't have a nearby indoor facility and she has balked at jumping on mats in the past), but they didn't have anything similar to typical ring matting. 

With both dogs, I'm focusing on getting them back into shape. None of us have gotten much exercise this winter. Both me and Alder have gained weight. Maple hasn't gained much weight, but she doesn't have the muscle tone she had before winter. Now that the weather is improving and there is more light in the evening, I'm resolved to walk them or take them for a run at least 4 times a week. There's snow today, but, probably starting next week, I'll be able to set up lines of jumps in the yard and do jump conditioning ala Susan Salo. 

Speaking of jumping, Good job Towhee!


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## ashleylp (Jul 23, 2011)

I've been sick so it's really putting training on the back burner. I wish it weren't that way, but my dogs won't preform well if I'm not giving it my all anyway. 

We did get outside for playtime today and that was nice.

Caira also has a weird cut in her mouth. I am thinking that maybe she bit the side of her mouth on accident? It is swollen but not bleeding. It looks like it does when I bite the side of my mouth. I'm assuming dogs can do that too? Poor baby.


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## MaureenM (Sep 20, 2011)

Well, we did it! Got the first leg for our CD. 2cd place too, but the score was 185 1/2. We lost 4 1/2 points on the heel on leash, 1 point on the recall, she wasn't straight, and 9 points on the heel free. It was bad. I'm not planning on any more trials for a while, maybe not til November. She heels free really good at home, and pretty good at class with the leash over my shoulder's. We just started using that light weight line so we'll see. I was nervous, but she seemed more so. I had no confidence when I put her in the stays, she just seemed really stressed to me. Panting, looking around, ect. But she did stay. Of the 8 dogs that were entered, 7 showed, and 2 qualified. I think the 1st place had a score of 187. At this point I'm going to keep an eye open for show N go's, and keep on training and playing for a while.


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

> Maureen Congrats on your first CD leg and everybody gets a case of nerves when they show you did great keep it up.


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## PalouseDogs (Aug 14, 2013)

Huge congratulations for that first CD leg!!!! Sounds like a pretty typical Novice A performance. Getting in the ring is a whole different scary experience for dog and owner than training in the yard! A CD looks easy from outside the ring. It takes a lot of courage to step up to the plate and try, and then to keep on trying and learning when things weren't as perfect as you hoped. A 185 is very respectable score, and a second among 9 dogs is pretty darn good.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Huge kudos for your 1st CD Leg  Congratulations!


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

*Towhee adds NA to her name*

She went 3 for 3 earning her Novice STD title in a week - all with 2nd places 

She is now officially: Sunfire's Desert Towhee CD NA RN CGC CCA


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

^^ that's my baby's talented momma!


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## MaureenM (Sep 20, 2011)

Excellent Towhee!!! What is Novice STD?


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Novice STD is an agility class. The classes are Novice, Open and Excellent/Masters.
STD is the class with all the contact obstacles (AFrame, Dogwalk, Teeter and Table) in addition to jumps, tires, chutes, tunnels and in novice the broad jump is required.

Here is a video of yesterday's STD run with a few bobbles (she looked long & hard at the tunnel at the top of the AFrame and headed towards it so I needed to regain her attention causing me to be out of position going towards the teeter and later Towhee overran the Table). But in Novice you are allowed a few Faults (mistakes), in Open fewer mistakes are allowed, in Excellent only Time Faults are allowed (being over time) and in Masters, which run the same courses as Exc but have titled their in the X classes, you must run under time and clean with no mistakes.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1JSwrF-NU0&feature=c4-overview&list=UU3 CMEFLjvOHj3jEYUDHIy4A


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## boomers_dawn (Sep 20, 2009)

Congratulations team.
Towhee you look very happy and beautiful perched on that iceberg <3


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## TheZ's (Jun 13, 2011)

_Sunrise_, so happy to see all that careful training paying off. Good job, Towhee.


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## MaureenM (Sep 20, 2011)

Sunrise said:


> Novice STD is an agility class. The classes are Novice, Open and Excellent/Masters.
> STD is the class with all the contact obstacles (AFrame, Dogwalk, Teeter and Table) in addition to jumps, tires, chutes, tunnels and in novice the broad jump is required.
> 
> Here is a video of yesterday's STD run with a few bobbles (she looked long & hard at the tunnel at the top of the AFrame and headed towards it so I needed to regain her attention causing me to be out of position going towards the teeter and later Towhee overran the Table). But in Novice you are allowed a few Faults (mistakes), in Open fewer mistakes are allowed, in Excellent only Time Faults are allowed (being over time) and in Masters, which run the same courses as Exc but have titled their in the X classes, you must run under time and clean with no mistakes.
> ...


Thanks for the explanation, she looks like she's having a ball!


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

Articles - signal ex. - turns in place - treat toss's all went fairly well this morning , not perfect but coming along we also did 2 unbaited go- outs which he promptly turned and sat before I told him and they should have been a little longer as are the baited go outs . Training at my club tonight and the weather will not be a factor for a change.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

MaureenM said:


> Well, we did it! Got the first leg for our CD. 2cd place too, but the score was 185 1/2. We lost 4 1/2 points on the heel on leash, 1 point on the recall, she wasn't straight, and 9 points on the heel free. It was bad. I'm not planning on any more trials for a while, maybe not til November. She heels free really good at home, and pretty good at class with the leash over my shoulder's. We just started using that light weight line so we'll see. I was nervous, but she seemed more so. I had no confidence when I put her in the stays, she just seemed really stressed to me. Panting, looking around, ect. But she did stay. Of the 8 dogs that were entered, 7 showed, and 2 qualified. I think the 1st place had a score of 187. At this point I'm going to keep an eye open for show N go's, and keep on training and playing for a while.


 Congrats!  

The stress level - if you can get into fun matches with her + any dog shows within reasonable distance this summer, suggest sending in an entry and just going there to set up at the trial (like you are going to show - letting the steward know you are a scratch) and just hanging out for a couple hours watching the obedience, doing a little warm up training, and letting her get used to the surroundings. That helps.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

*Monday Class*

Was interesting... and I felt a little sad.  

Jacks hasn't been 100% the last week. I've been watching him closely but other then him having some sneezes in the morning, he hasn't outright been sick. It's just him moving a little slower. 

I debated about bringing him to class because of the possible cold, but couldn't leave him home. He gave me the pudding face.  So brought him with and did very minimal stuff with him. 

He did DOR (2 of them) - and then I brought him over to do the broad jump which was a total fail. This falls in line with that article link I posted over in the obedience/agility area, but the more I tried to work him through his issues, the more frenzied and stressed he became. More mistakes he made. 

The lady who was working with me finally suggested just stopping and doing something else. <- I put him back in the crate and pulled Bertie out. 

On one hand it's so nice to see Bertie actually doing a 24" broad jump (waited until he was in the air before I tossed the treat, asked for fronts), and jumping 16" for the high jump. 

The lady commented that he's something of an overachiever watching him... 

On one hand, it was a relief working with him after fighting it out with Jacks. But I just feel so disappointed that Jacks has fallen so far behind again.  This summer - we have a lot of work to do. Or hard decisions to make. I don't think he's done yet - especially as there's some rehab things we haven't tried yet + there is a chance this is all purely mental for him. I'm fairly sure majority is mental.

*Bertie* -

*Heeling* - some control/position issues, but over all, he was working his little puppy heart out. Because he's a thinker - the doodle portions before and after group heeling are a BALL. He's my first golden who can do lateral fronts and pivot fronts effortlessly. Same thing with scoot sits heeling BACKWARDS. That (I think) would break Jacks little brain!  

*Recalls* - I did these on our own, and discovered something for proofing. He gets unsure when there's somebody standing to my side. It caused him to come in crooked and sit AWAY from the distraction. Homework! 

*Retrieves* - I'm thrilled to say that he absolutely WANTED the dumbbell today. Normally it's not that easy getting him to Reach for the dumbbell when I'm holding it up in front of him. He was reaching repeatedly for the dumbbell and taking and holding it. Imagine that. Bad thing (though in a way I thought he's the cutest thing when he does this) he's so excited about retrieving that leaping up and POUNCING on the dumbbell to kill it dead before fetching it up and bringing it back to me. : We worked on placed dumbbell and so on and worked him through so he was scooping the dumbbell up cleanly.

*Stays* - Both dogs has solid stays tonight. Full length on sits, and about half length on the downs. With Bertie his sits are a lot better than the downs. But even the down stay was good tonight. 

That's it -

*** Class tomorrow and then planning on going to class on Wednesday (hopefully early enough to train both guys a little) -


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

In reviewing a few of the runs from this past weekend, one thing became very clear to me. Towhee, for the most part, is a fast & confident dog, independent and most times carefree. However, she has a very high desire to please and loves to work and can become a bit overwhelmed and even unfocused when trying to please so hard she becomes uncertain. So why do I seem to be babbling?

Last week I received a new piece of training equipment that needed some odd sized batteries which came in today and I loaded up and tried my brand spanking new Treat & Train  A remote treat delivery piece of equipment.

Perfect Timing!! While I originally bought it to allow for rewarding Brady along the correct lines for his 2x2 weaves, this will work marvelously to help Towhee learn to drive with complete confidence through her weaves (which she normally nails but is not truly independent of my position) and to drive to her 2on 2off positions. Independent of my movement and position and especially not reliant on my horrible aim 

So this evening I spent some time 'loading' the Treat & Train with each dog and they all reacted somewhat true to form

Faelan was all over the device certain he could figure out how to help it feed him

Towhee was dancing around delighted to be doing her downs and sent back when she heard the beep and then got to eat

Brady was more intent on figuring out the remote in my hand than in connecting cue-remote-food but did decide the 'beep' was a very good thin since it preceded food

Casey was delightful - attempting to play this new beastie into opening its mouth to feed him.


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

Last night training just so so . Heeling a little sloppy with going wide on abouts and a crooked sit. Fig8 was good DOR recall just beautiful but front wasn't straight. HJ and BJ 3x each went over fine fronts not there. Go-outs were very nice both toward gates and against solid wall. ROF nice and so was MSFE but his coming to heel slower than I want and his sit was crooked but this exercise was done at end of training and I think he was getting tired . He did get the correct glove the one time we did the exercise but it took a second order to leave my side , he is just so unsure and doesn't want to make a mistake even though we had done treat toss' s several times. Training this morning at SCKC.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Each dog had a 3 minute session this morning as I was preoccupied with a few things and had very limited time.

*Falean*: We did some signals, some heeling with a focus on left turns, left abouts etc.

*Brad*y: We worked on some heeling, some moving stand for exams and started the fold back down from heel position. I also spent a bit of time returning to him from the SFE.

*Towhee*: Heeling, Fronts, finishes and Drops from in front of me with her moving.

*Casey*: Heeling, signals, recalls and fronts.

All the dogs did well – btw; there usually is no predetermined order for which dog is worked when – they kind of race each other into the training room and Casey has a tendency to hang back to avoid the crush of goldens trying to get in the room LOL so he usually ends up being the final dog trained.


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## Laurie (Sep 20, 2009)

Lexx and I attended the Marie Sawford obedience seminar this past weekend. It was Lexx's first time having to be crated for extended periods of time over a 2 day period. I was very proud of him as be behaved like a perfect gentleman. This is despite being barked and lunged at by another Golden and growled at alot by a NSDT dog whose crate was beside his. 

Day 1 of the seminar was geared more towards puppy obedience although there were no puppies there. Lexx was one of 2 dogs that were under the age of 2. We did some working but for the most part, we probably could have skipped day 1.

Day 2 was more handling and heeling/focus work along with proofing/distraction. He didn't get as much working time as some of the more experienced dogs. Most of the dogs there were Open and Utility dogs.

I'm not sure I got alot out of the seminar to be perfectly honest....maybe some handling tips and some good tips for proofing. I was really hoping for more working time with Lexx but with 20 some odd dogs there, it was difficult. For Lexx, however, it was good practice being crated and working around alot of other dogs. He received a gold star from mommy for both of those!!

In watching some of the other dogs doing open and utility exercises, I realized that Lexx isn't far behind them in his execution of those exercises and in some cases (ie. go outs, directed jumping) is just as good. Our biggest hurdle right now is dealing with distractions.

Marie herself was good. She kept us entertained and was fun. 

I really want to get back into some structured classes so am hoping the club we've been going to will have Open classes starting in March.


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## coaraujo (Nov 2, 2012)

Laurie said:


> In watching some of the other dogs doing open and utility exercises, I realized that Lexx isn't far behind them in his execution of those exercises and in some cases (ie. go outs, directed jumping) is just as good. Our biggest hurdle right now is dealing with distractions.


This is how I feel (we're a bit farther behind though ). When we're in working mode in class (like this morning) Oliver goes through all of his obedience behaviors really well. His heeling today was great, peppy with a lot of focus. We were even weaving in and out of other dogs and besides a few glances at first, he got into the groove right away and his eyes were on me. I feel like I'm that person who can walk into the obedience ring and pass the CGC with my eyes closed (I know we're not ready for any actual obedience titles yet) and then i'll be the person walking out of the building getting dragged out the door by Oliver. I do want to compete, and I know this is the competition training thread, but what I'd really like is for all of our training to translate into the real world too. I can't seem to make it transfer over. I think I'm going to start my own ad-hoc obedience class with Oliver. Once a week we'll go to a new location for an hour and train different behaviors - to work on distractions, proofing, and generalization. 


Oh and stupid me signed myself up for both hunting and handling class at the same time :doh:. For me hunting takes priority, so I'm going to have to email my handling instructor and see if we can work something out. I got class - happy and just signed up for everything . Hunting tonight, its been so long - can't wait to impress our trainer with all the progress we've made!


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

I will generally take separate classes with puppies - one based on manners while another will be based on competition obedience. With Brady in Puppy Manners Classes I usually left the building or worked on attention during play sessions since I really think teaching your pup to play with all available dogs is a really bad idea, but participated in the other exercises 

They are different skillsets and while they do have overlap, I find both sets of class types useful. Manners Classes for older dogs are generally also available 

ETA: I received an email today from field teacher that a sampler class will be held on Sundays evenings at ODTCW - the class has openings if that might be something you are interested in? (ODTCW)


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## coaraujo (Nov 2, 2012)

Sunrise said:


> ETA: I received an email today from field teacher that a sampler class will be held on Sundays evenings at ODTCW - the class has openings if that might be something you are interested in? (ODTCW)


Oooooo definitely, would it be like the regular field training sessions (kind of pick up training at whatever level your dog is at?) I'll ask field teacher about it tonight!


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Sunrise said:


> Last week I received a new piece of training equipment that needed some odd sized batteries which came in today and I loaded up and tried my brand spanking new Treat & Train  A remote treat delivery piece of equipment.


 Is this something you could hook to a "go-out" stanchion? Imagine having that tool as opposed to walking all the way out there to reward a go-out-touch/sit.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Megora said:


> Is this something you could hook to a "go-out" stanchion? Imagine having that tool as opposed to walking all the way out there to reward a go-out-touch/sit.


 LOL - I *was* thinking of starting more distance with both Towhee & Brady with it  It would need to be faded but I can see it building drive and the willingness to move away from me !!


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

I think it is a week of obedience, a week of rally, a week of agility and a week of dancing with your dog type of thing (I only read it once though so it could be different) - but all training tends to have common ground 



coaraujo said:


> Oooooo definitely, would it be like the regular field training sessions (kind of pick up training at whatever level your dog is at?) I'll ask field teacher about it tonight!


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## coaraujo (Nov 2, 2012)

Sunrise said:


> I think it is a week of obedience, a week of rally, a week of agility and a week of dancing with your dog type of thing (I only read it once though so it could be different) - but all training tends to have common ground


It sounds very interesting and I think it would be really good for Oliver. He seems to be going through a bit of a fear period, so doing confidence boosting trainings like using new equipment might be goof for him. In today's class we walked through a course with wobble boards and (forgive me, idk what they're called - the beam things that dogs walk up and down ). The wobble boards made him very nervous. Once he went up and down the beams a few times he got a bit of confidence and was very proud of himself .


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

It's always something , today Nugget took the BJ the first time but had a terrible front so I set him up to do over and this time he ran up to the first board and STOPPED . This really ticked me off as he pulls this lazy nonsense and I know nothing is wrong so he earned himself a real hard correction with the prong collar on and then I set him up again and I got in front of the jump about 12 feet and called him over it . The jump boards could have been spread out to 6 ft.and he would have cleared it he knew I wasn't fooling around anymore. His heeling was improved over last night and the rest of the open exercises were decent with mostly fronts as the main flaws again his DOR was really nice. In the utility ring we did some treat toss's and then threw a glove and on these he left me on the first take it take and came right back then we did a formal DR which after forcing him to take the mark and holding hi head so he had to see the target sending him to the #3 glove he got it and then repeated with the same scenerio only on the #2 glove after changing the rock filled gloves locations. The treat toss's are starting to work where he isn't always looking at me instead of the mark line he is going to be sent on. The rock filled gloves are doing the trick also as he has gone to them but only looked at them and never attempted his over achieving trick . It's a long road trying to undo the mistakes his and mine on this exercise but I can see a light at the end of this tunnel.the DJ exercise and go-outs were pretty good only one go - out wasn't too good a little short and off center by about 3-4 ft. His MSFE was very very nice with a great lockup and not moving a muscle while he was gone over by the instructor so this made me happy today and made up for a little bit of our errors today. The worst thing today all my fault was forgetting my training bag with everything in it but I'm sure it will be there Thurs. 


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## sammydog (Aug 23, 2008)

Congrats to all of those with new titles and legs!

With Lindy this month we are doing more jump work (no bars). Working on lateral distance, sending to jumps, rear crosses and front crosses. Continue to work on running lines and wrapping. Started serp work and 180s. Still working on side cues, front side vs backside. Also started to work on our 2o2o contact behavior. Lots of foundation! Soon we will start putting more and more pieces together.

Here is a video of Lindy from the last few weeks, we have been trying to tape more sessions, you learn a lot from them!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_tAnbd396k


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## coaraujo (Nov 2, 2012)

sammydog said:


> Congrats to all of those with new titles and legs!
> 
> With Lindy this month we are doing more jump work (no bars). Working on lateral distance, sending to jumps, rear crosses and front crosses. Continue to work on running lines and wrapping. Started serp work and 180s. Still working on side cues, front side vs backside. Also started to work on our 2o2o contact behavior. Lots of foundation! Soon we will start putting more and more pieces together.
> 
> ...


Thank you for posting the video, I really enjoyed watching it! What is 2o2o contact behavior?


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## sammydog (Aug 23, 2008)

coaraujo said:


> Thank you for posting the video, I really enjoyed watching it! What is 2o2o contact behavior?


Thanks! 2o2o is short for 2 on 2 off, it means two feet (front feet) off the contact and the two back feet on. We will use it for the contacts. I will also be adding a sit to the end of the contact.


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## coaraujo (Nov 2, 2012)

Hunting class was a mess tonight. Sometimes I think I'm in over my head with dabbling in these dog competition sports. They're so hard. I couldn't compete with the smells on the ground at the training center tonight. More than once both boys refused to pick up the bumper because they got fixated on some smell on the floor. Like literally fixated, with drooling and licking and me having to physically pry them away. There are two other dogs in the class, they didn't seem to find the floor that interesting. Oliver also went after one of the dogs in class. We were on the side working on a walking hold while a woman and her dog were doing pile work. Oliver was doing great when all of a sudden he just took off for the dog in the ring! He chased the dog away from all the piles as if those piles belonged to him or something. It completely freaked me out. I've never had that issue with Oliver, he's usually the dog that lays down as another approaches in a more submissive manner. My field trainer didn't seem phased by it though, and neither did the woman. She was very nice and I apologized profusely. We ended on a good note though, doing successful overs and backs with happy running celebrations to increase excitement and motivation. Oh the ups and downs of dog training. I'm tired, Oliver's tired. Time for bed.


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## coaraujo (Nov 2, 2012)

sammydog said:


> Thanks! 2o2o is short for 2 on 2 off, it means two feet (front feet) off the contact and the two back feet on. We will use it for the contacts. I will also be adding a sit to the end of the contact.


Oh I see, thanks! Watching you work with Lindy reminded me a lot of Susan Garretts training.


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## sammydog (Aug 23, 2008)

Thanks! Sorry about your class... Everyone is entitled to a bad day and training always has ups and downs!


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

> coaraujo it's easy to get upset when things don't go the way you want BUT stick with it if it were easy everyone would get a 200 every time they showed. Read some of my posts as I've been battling the glove exercise for what seems forever and still am. You will succeed but it's not always easy or fast but when you do it's a lot more satisfying.


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## coaraujo (Nov 2, 2012)

Thanks everyone for your encouragement! Bad days definitely suck, but I think they're also important for training. I think it shows I need to take a step back and look at my training. Clearly there's a disconnect somewhere. I'm hearing conflicting advice between trainers that's getting me really confused now .


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Bad training days happen - they are hard and you want to always improve but sometimes it just does not happen. It will get better!! Sometimes it gets worse, sometimes it might get way worse if it is say an extinction burst, but you have come so far and are doing a great job!

About the conflicting advice: that happens too. One of the reasons that I am very cautious about physical classes and have pretty much decided online classes are my friend  I still go to a few physical classes but the instructors know me and where I am on my current journey - I have had to leave a few much loved trainers because they just could not see the dog I was currently training etc. 

My only suggestion to you would be to look at your dog and decide which line of advise you think will work best; how to approach the same problem can have dozens of different ways but you need to decide which approach best matches you & your dog. 




coaraujo said:


> Thanks everyone for your encouragement! Bad days definitely suck, but I think they're also important for training. I think it shows I need to take a step back and look at my training. Clearly there's a disconnect somewhere. I'm hearing conflicting advice between trainers that's getting me really confused now .


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

My dogs had this morning off - I am cranky. No particular reason, just cranky. So although training might have put me in a better mood, I also might have been impatient so ... no training ...


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

> Sharon You aren't alone I have some days when the last thing I should do is work with Nugget , I get up not feeling great or I'm tired or just aggravated with something mostly Mother Nature lately or someone or some co.trying to take advantage of me or when whatever I'm trying to fix or improve on with Nuggets training just isn't working and thankfully most of the time like yourself I'm smart enough to just leave well enough alone at least till I'm in a better mood.


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## Laurie (Sep 20, 2009)

I am sooooooo excited. I just received confirmation that one of the nearby Retriever Clubs will he holding retrieving classes!!! One of the instructors was also our obedience instructor so we know her well. 

I have worked alot with Lexx on retrieving with bumpers and dokkens so he definitely knows how to retrieve. He loves to retrieve and swim and also has a very good `deliver to hand`. I think our biggest hurdle with this will be getting him to take a dead bird in his mouth!!! He has before but he`s not too sure about it. I guess I should be putting his in the Field Training forum rather than this one!

Last night we did a little obedience work. We tried some of the retrieving proofing we learned at the seminar (basically it`s to see if they actually understand what `take it` means by moving the dumbbell to different locations). Lexx passed with flying colors!! You could tell we hadn`t done any actual training in a few days as he was totally into it and did everything amazingly well. I should have brought out the articles!!!

Tonight we have agility and on Sunday we start the weaves course (5 weeks).


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

Played the treat toss game with Nugget trying to get him to "MARK" the treat and then after about a half doz. toss's I throw the glove and have him mark it. He is getting a little better at it but I still must hold his muzzle and direct his head to the line as he wants to look at me most of the time, can't expect overnight success as he has been taught " watch me " for a long time and this back to basic retrieve is along with the rock filled gloves starting to work but a formal exercise done correctly is still in the distant future. Training at SCKC tonight and a friend will bring my bag of training stuff which I forgot on Tues. As I told her first the hair goes then the mind.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Faelan, Towhee and I went to agility class last night - what an awesome class! I learned 2 new handling techniques that I hope to apply in the future, a way to teach another move plus we all learned a few things about Towhee - the instructor took my little jumping bean after

1) She tripped me and I went down hard enough to be rolling and banged my head on the pause table - ouch

2) She became so focused after 1 time of the instructor hiding a treat on the down side of the AFrame she just could not resist that Frame and I honestly was hurting and had had about enough of her silly ways so the 3rd time she headed toward that AFrame rather than the jump 15 feet away, I said 'Done - I'm done' and Pam, my instructor, said 'Let's see if she'll work for me'

and even Pam was like, whoa, Missy, you're a trip!! Bounce, bounce, bounce, couldn't sit still all for the chance of working with this very nice lady!! Bounce, down, sit, jump, bounce, down, trying looking cute, spring up 

Faelan of course was his usual excellent self - yes he made mistakes but he has never collided with me to get to a tunnel rather than the table I was clearly indicating!!

My dogs so need to get out & get their exercise - snow just go away!! You have so outstayed your welcome and 250 pounders can walk atop the snowpack without sinking. Vets are seeing an inordinate amount of injuries from limbs going into pockets while the rest of the dog keeps moving - and my dogs need their exercise!!! 

I did not work them today yet - my arm and shoulder hurt badly, my knees look like I'm a 2 year old just learning to walk, my back hurts and I have a head ache - thanks Towhee <sigh> Good thing she's so darned cute


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## sammydog (Aug 23, 2008)

What moves did you learn??? Hope you feel better, sorry about the fall... BEEN THERE!


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

> Sharon I hope the aches and pain go away quickly , I to fell a couple of weeks ago trying to make a correction on Nugget and slammed my head on the concrete floor . Even though it had matting ( the thin green kind) it hurt . And again they have several inches of snow due for us over the weekend. Won't this miserable winter ever end and if it does I'm going to have to poop scoop for a week because I haven't been able to do it for almost 2 months yuck!!


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## coaraujo (Nov 2, 2012)

Since were all sharing I fell during hunting class on Tuesday too when I ran after Oliver when he went after another dog in class. Tripped over my own feet and half crawled/ran out of the ring. I hope your bumps and bruises heal quickly! I also hope this stupid snow goes away, im absolutely fed up. And were getting more all weekend ! I live in a 900 sqft apt, Oliver and I are fed up with being stuck inside. 

Eta: I dont even want to think about all the poop bombs hiding under that snow 

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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

One move was called the 'squishy' or mamo LOL 

with two jumps pretty much level with each other and maybe 3-4 feet apart and wrapping #2 jump coming through the gap (basic 180) to head for #3, approach the first jump straight (say the dog is jumping left to right with the dog approaching from your left, continue to point your chest straight forward as you slide to the other side or the gap, bring your supporting arm (in this case the left) across your chest as you slide towards the right jumps stanchion, cue the dog to take the second jump and change to the opposite arm as you step slightly back towards the center of the gap, cue the wrap and bring the dog through the gap to obstacle #3 - it is incredibly fast and the dogs just know how to 'read' it, turning tightly and we (the handler) don't get stuck with our weight on a rear foot so can take off fast as the dog is wrapping #2 through the gap.

The 2nd move was more of a tweak that I would not have thought of - for say a slightly offset serpentine requiring a cross at #4 for the correct tunnel entrance (ie either opening is a possibility from the approach line of sight) - setting up close to the landing side of jump #1, use a backee up with an immediate tight wrap around the jump stanchion closely slinging your dog around your hip as you come through the gap, this causes a few extra strides that beautifully straightens out the serpentine, allowing your dog to accelerate enough to easily perform a rear cross at jump #3 into the correct tunnel entrance. 

I don't know if I'm describing them well - and both Towhee & Faelan read these perfectly - I wonder if they are coming from the One Mind Dog ideas? I didn't ask Pam but wow, they allow me to get out of my dogs way easily in tight spaces and allow the dogs to maintain a lot more of their momentum.


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

Good training night heeling - fig8 nice BJ done 2 x very nice with 2 straight fronts and I only finished him once but it too was straight. Recalls first one straight plenty brisk enough but a way off front no finish was done, second recall was DOR and it was a beautiful one with a straight f+f . ROHJ was ok but fronts weren't great nor was the front on theROF . The best part of the evening was in the utility ring where I did a few treat toss's and then the glove was throw and Nugget left my side on the FIRST take it and did retrieve the glove. This was done 2x more but what is making me happy with this there wasn't any hesitation and he seemed confident and he got his praise and treats . He never doesn't leave my side at home but at my club or at SCKC it has been taking a few take it take it's to get him to leave me and a step or two in the direction of the glove to be retrieved so I got the 3 steps forward and nothing backward . He may mess it up next time we do the glove but right now it is coming along with a positive condition . His go outs tonight weren't the greatest as the baited ones were very nice but those without bait on the Stantion he cut a little short at least a pt. worth but he did take every jump correctly and with help from me the f+ f were good. MSFE was very nice great lockup but a forge when we started the heeling part. 


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## sammydog (Aug 23, 2008)

Sunrise said:


> One move was called the 'squishy' or mamo LOL
> 
> with two jumps pretty much level with each other and maybe 3-4 feet apart and wrapping #2 jump coming through the gap (basic 180) to head for #3, approach the first jump straight (say the dog is jumping left to right with the dog approaching from your left, continue to point your chest straight forward as you slide to the other side or the gap, bring your supporting arm (in this case the left) across your chest as you slide towards the right jumps stanchion, cue the dog to take the second jump and change to the opposite arm as you step slightly back towards the center of the gap, cue the wrap and bring the dog through the gap to obstacle #3 - it is incredibly fast and the dogs just know how to 'read' it, turning tightly and we (the handler) don't get stuck with our weight on a rear foot so can take off fast as the dog is wrapping #2 through the gap.
> 
> ...


I am so bad without pictures or a video, if you video I would love to see!! It seems like a lot of the OMD stuff is floating around lately.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

sorry, no videos. And with our snow/ice pack it is not safe to train the dogs other than in indoor facilities, so I am glad you asked for specifics so I can refer back to this thread  

I have Faelan entered in a few Utility trials next week and may not be going since he hasn't had full length Go Outs or gloves in months at this point <sigh>


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## sammydog (Aug 23, 2008)

Someday! I don't envy your winter! We have a rain storm going through, so no outdoor training for us for a few days. My yard is a pond.


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## Hombrespop (Sep 3, 2012)

Just sent out entry forms for 3 trials , Nugget needs 1 more leg for his CDX hoping the broad jump doesn't continue to haunt us !


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## Laurie (Sep 20, 2009)

Took Lexx to the building this morning to train. We ran through all of the Novice exercises. He did very well. His on leash heeling started out a little rough but we regrouped and did it again; this time much better.

We also did some dumbbell retrieves on flat and over the jump....all done very well! 

Go outs and directed jumping awesome! 

The club we train at is hosting an obedience trial at the end of March. I have 3 days to get my entry in but I'm waivering between pre-novice or Novice. I know he is more than capable of doing the Novice exercises but I'm still concerned about the distractions getting the best of him. What to do, what to do??????????


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