# training plans for the week of October 30 to November 5



## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Tomorrow (Sunday) I have a rental (obedience / agility)
Tuesday Ms Towhee has obedience
Wed all 3 dogs have agility
Thu Obedience drop in with Faelan
Mon & Fri depends on weather - ie; how much of the white stuff melts

Sat & Sunday weather permitting, Faelan and Towhee have agility trials


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## MarieP (Aug 21, 2011)

@Barb: I didn't know that you have another agility trial next weekend. Looks like you will have a few times to work on that first JWW jump 

The weather down here is getting cold! Not ready for winter yet. Riot and I are moving onto walking fetch. He is coming along really well. I haven't gotten may refusals lately, but he does occasionally drop the dumbbell. I pinch him for this. After I pinch once, he is REALLY motivated to get the dumbbell the rest of the session. So FF will continue to be an everyday thing this week.

Not sure about Sunday. I'm thinking some heeling work, followed by a little bit of 3 handed casting.
Monday: Off
Tuesday: Marks with my hubby because we both have the whole day free. 
Wednesday: casting, heeling, start working harder with stays
Thursday: marks
Friday: probably off
Saturday: casting, heeling, hand thrown marks with a diversion thrown during the return

I've also started to incorporate a little drill that my friend taught me. I leave Riot in a sit and then walk and drop three or four bumpers at different distances from him, spread apart in the yard. Then I have to get him to pick them up from closest to farthest from us. I have found that it's a really good exercise for ME, because I have to work on figuring out if/when he is looking at the right one and send him at the right time. We usually do one or two of these each day as well.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

yep, more trials next weekend, then that's it until January.
I had planned to keep him kind of quiet this week so he'd be well rested for the trials next weekend, but having seen how driven he was yesterday, I'm thinking that plan isn't necessarily a good one!
One thing that Dan said we're going to do this week is fetch/no fetch using a mixture of birds (probably live) and bumpers. Should prove interesting to see how good his obedience is!


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## DNL2448 (Feb 13, 2009)

Sunday-
Doo: Three handed casting, go-outs, begin directed jumping
Breeze: Two sided heeling, recalls off stays, ladder drill, agility drills
Tag: Heeling, stays, keep your gall darn nose off the ground

Monday- about the same, perhaps head to the school
Tuesday-evaluate our progress and go from there
Wednesday-off
Thursday-meet with our obedience group at the training hall (I don't have to work)
Friday-meet with our obedience group at the training hall (I don't have to work) plus agility lesson with Breeze.

We are going to have to make this week and the first part of next really memorable as I'm going in for surgery next week. Unless I can get DH to work the dogs, which he has no idea how to do, they will get nothing for a long time.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Be sure to let us know what day the surgery is so we can keep you in our thoughts and prayers. 
You will be sooo much happier once this is done


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Hey Laura, I'm thinking you'd better spend the next few days in intensive training before your surgery.
Be sure each dog learns a few new commands.
Like...
REMOTE CONTROL
CELL PHONE
SLIPPERS
etc.
Then you can work on their retrieving while you're recovering!! 
Dooley.....fetch the remote


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## GoldenSail (Dec 30, 2008)

Today we had our group training and afterward I got to run Scout on her PB as it was at my friend's house. The cover is really high and tough--but good for the dogs to negotiate. She had a case of happy running today on the marks. Not sure what to do about it but hopefully I will be able to find time to go meet with this pro my friends are training with and like. It would be nice to get the occasional lesson, but he doesn't do lessons on weekends and is at least an hour drive away too...

Her PB were really good though. I am very pleased with them. This was our second time running them. The cover was so high and all there is to mark the blinds is a little pink ribbon which was very difficult for myself to see. I don't think it is going to take much before we are running the blinds full distance. I was 3/4 of the way today and it was our second go at it.


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## DNL2448 (Feb 13, 2009)

hotel4dogs said:


> Hey Laura, I'm thinking you'd better spend the next few days in intensive training before your surgery.
> Be sure each dog learns a few new commands.
> Like...
> REMOTE CONTROL
> ...


I'll have to do that, though will be careful which dog I send for it. Tag sometimes confuses fetch with chew :doh:


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

This afternoon will be some field work. Probably some simple marks, my training partners will not be able to make it. There will be a lot of modified training because our mentor will be going for surgery tomorrow.

Tonight is obedience class.

Tuesday is a private with our obedience trainer.

The rest of the week will be a mix of yard training with singles and doubles in the field.


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## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

I have no idea what I am doing this week now. Gabby was at the vet this AM so I have to see how she feels. I am hoping just a tummy ache, but we will have to see. I posted under the health section. 

Supposed to have obedience class with Teddi on Wed. But last week the trainer was not there. I need to call her and check on this week. Also Teddi was a bit too heavy at the vets last week. Almost 66# I need to get at LEAST 3# off her. Before we go to MSU for her hip check or Dr D will tell me off. He wants her closer to 60#. Poor Teddi she won't like less food more exercise. She is a princess. 

So I will post as I do things.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

it's a very good thing I didn't plan to accomplish much training this week, sheeeeeeesh.
My training partners BOTH couldn't make it this morning, so nothing is getting done today. Nothing got done yesterday, either, but that was my plan for yesterday. Ah well, there's always tomorrow.


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## GoldenSail (Dec 30, 2008)

Well PB this morning had its highs and lows. She ran the first one beautifully full distance, high cover, with a ditch, and full distance no problems. Second one I had to handle a little for the first send, but after that she was fine for the full distance. 

The low came with the third mark. She had done such a good job with the other two that I didn't anticipate problems. I moved up on it, but not much. She went just fine but for some reason or other veered to the left (terrain maybe?) I tried to handle her back without success. As I tried to get her back she ended up going for the last PB which had no bumpers. Ack! This was also the first time on a PB that I saw her pop--or give up and turn around waiting for direction from me. Bad bad bad. I did end up moving her very close to the PB so we could be successful and slowly backed up from there. I hope I learned my lesson. 

The pop scares me the most though so now I must figure out what you do about it and when. At this point in her training though it doesn't seem appropriate to correct for it yet.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

hotel4dogs said:


> it's a very good thing I didn't plan to accomplish much training this week, sheeeeeeesh.
> My training partners BOTH couldn't make it this morning, so nothing is getting done today. Nothing got done yesterday, either, but that was my plan for yesterday. Ah well, there's always tomorrow.


Careful now Barb. You can always find SOMETHING to do with Tito. Sounds to me like you lost two good days.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

I had a good private with our obedience trainer. After the lesson, I stopped at Burger King to refuel and then headed to the field since our training grounds are 20 minutes from the private lesson. We did some pattern blinds and basic casting drills. I made sure to include some "walk around" time in the field, giving Buffy a chance to investigate all the smells.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

we had a great agility private lesson yesterday, gearing up for the trials this weekend. 
Looks like we're going to lose today, too, however, it's raining like crazy and we have 30 mph winds out of the north, making it cold and nasty out. 
This is the 4th Thursday out of the past 5 that it has rained when we were supposed to go to Dan's. Not sure if we'll go today or not, we go if it's drizzling but this is ridiculous.
I really hate to miss today because we have only 3 or 4 lessons left before we end for the winter. 
Sigh.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

My plans have derailed. Major storm, snow is melting but the ground is mush, power is spotty and Towhee might need surgery. Finding an open, vet was a challenge, but we managed. Spooky driving around CT at night though. Her regular vet regained power so I brought her in for follow up yesterday, missing the agility class.

Hopefully, the antibiotics will kick in and the swelling will go down, she has a baseball sized lump from most likely a salivary gland infection under her jaw. Tests results are still pending, but she was dancing and singing for her breakfast this morning


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

sending lots of good thoughts and prayers for Ms. Towhee!!!


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

A cold, wet, windy lesson today. If we weren't within a couple of weeks of the end of our training season, I would have canceled for sure.
DH went with me. With fishing season pretty much over, he's taking a sudden interest in hunt training, which is good because I just might end up with a bird boy after all 
We started off with a "fetch, no-fetch" drill in the obedience yard. This involved alternating birds/bumpers, about 6 feet apart, in a straight line. I think there were 3 of each out. Dan heeled Tito along the line, and the first time around Tito had to fetch each item when told to do so. Of course, he lunged for the next bird in line when told to fetch the bumper, and Dan had to do some FF review with him. The dumb dog did it several times, too, you'd think he'd learn the first time. SHEEESH. 
When he was reliably fetching the correct item, Dan heeled him along the line and only had him pick up random items, not every one. This went better, with Tito picking up only that which he was told to pick up. I was a bit disappointed that he originally lunged for the bird when told to pick up the bumper, but Dan laughed and said all dogs who like birds do that, not to worry. 
Next we hopped into the birdmobile and went off to a new field that we haven't used before to run some blinds. Dan planted 5 cold blinds, in order from easiest to hardest. Or so he thought. He explained the factors to me, including the wind, the hill, cover changes, etc.
The only thing was that he didn't anticipate a problem we ran into on the first blind. Interestingly, I did. There was a cropped farm field adjacent to where we were working, and in the field about 50 yards out was a mound of hay/corn/something that sort of looked like it might be a couple of birds. Yep, you see where we're heading with this. So when I sent Tito on the blind, which was only about 50 yards out, he FLEW past it and headed toward the mound. That didn't surprise me, but we did get into a bit of a battle over which way he was going to head after that. I have to say I was kind of disappointed in him, that independent streak reared its ugly head big time. Anyway, we worked thru it, and he did a nice job on the next 2 blinds. The following one was a rather difficult (according to Dan) blind because it was about 200 yards away, up a hill, and thru a couple of easy cover changes. VERY strong crosswind. I set him off, and he scalloped a bit. Right as he went to correct it Dan told me to sit him, and I did, and as I did Dan said "no no, let him roll with it" but it was too late. Due to the hill and the distance and the cover, we could barely see each other, and he missed a couple of casts which we felt were legitimate confusion, not blowing me off. I ended up having to move up quite a bit to get him to succeed with the blind, and when all was said and done Dan said it was actually his fault, he told me to sit Tito right as Tito made the correction himself for the wind, and some other stuff I don't remember but whatever.
The final blind was about 150 yards out, again up the hill, again with the crosswind. This one was glorious. Tito took off, scalloped a bit, and made the correction himself for the wind (Dan called it resisting the wind), and got the bird with no help. We quit on that blind, because Dan said he was THRILLED with what Tito had done. Something to the effect of wanting to veer off course because his instinct told him to, starting to do so, but then realizing that he *had to* go where I had sent him, which he did, and voila, there was the bird. 
The other thing Dan was really, really pleased with today (I sort of was too annoyed at his being independent on the first blind to be pleased) was the nice straight lines Tito was taking, even on some fairly long blinds. 
After that we moved to a different field for some hand thrown marks. The concept for today was running thru the old AOF, so the marks started close (about 30 yards) and ended up at 180 yards. For each one he had to run thru the old AOF to get to the next mark, so by the final one he was running thru several old falls. Also there were some interesting cover changes as we got to the farther marks, but that's something that Tito has never minded so the real concept was running thru old falls. He really stepped on all the marks today, I was very happy with him in that area. The only one he didn't step on was the last one, he ran past it but not very far, realized he had gone too far, and hunted back intelligently (quartering!) to find it quickly. Now THAT really tickled Dan. 
There was a hedgerow between our starting line and the last 3 or 4 marks, and we all laughed because Tito VAULTED the hedgerow each time rather than running thru it, even with the bird in his mouth. Guess that's what happens when he has just run agility trials 
I sure wish our training season wasn't coming to an end. I feel like we need about 10-12 more weeks of this to have him really solidly ready for SH. 
And the final end of the lesson today...Dan reminded me how much talent and instinct he feels Tito has, and reminded me that he plans to breed his little golden bitch to Tito when she turns 2 and passes her clearances    . Independent streak and all!


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## DNL2448 (Feb 13, 2009)

We had great training both Thursday and Friday after my pre-op appointments. Dooley is working so good, I swear he is almost ready for Utility (well, maybe not that ready) at least he has a lot of parts and pieces. 

Breeze is doing well too, we had an agility lesson last night and we started using jumps, which she is enjoying. Me, I have to learn so many positioning things that I am all befuddled. I have been doing a lot of dogless foot work and DH saw me working in the driveway, on the way to water the cows, and gave me the "your weird" look. 

Tag is actually getting better with the sniffing. I am trying to redirect his attentions plus I put him in a prong collar and it doesn't take to much pressure to get his attention back. Thanks everyone for your suggestions via the thread and PM's. 

We were going to go to class again today, but it is snowing and the roads are slick (I drove to the post office to see if my GRN arrived yet-it hadn't), I don't want to take a chance with all three dogs driving all the way into the "big city" on them. If it clears up and roads get better (not likely) I'll go, if not, I'll work in the shop.

I have six more days to work the dogs, and I took all week off so it should be a good six days.


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## sammydog (Aug 23, 2008)

Laura, Sounds like a nice week so far!! There is a lot to absorb when you first start agility. But I think it is like that with any new sport! 

Barb, I always love reading about Tito, I would not be upset at all that he wanted a bird over bumper! Sounds normal to me!


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## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

Trainer training today!!! We had a great session and the weather was extremely cooperative. It was an extremely sunny 50 degrees. Gabby was a bit disappointed she didn't get to go swimming. She kept trying to sneak off to the pond. She did make a swimming pool in her crate, spilling her water inside of it. 

We started doing our whistle sit work for the trainer. That has been going well. Now he wants us to start come and sit on the whistle, using the heeling stick to enforce a quick stop on the whistle. He hopes the next time we go train (3 weeks) we can try it in the field. 

The group started running blind drills. Since we don't do "blinds" we worked the shorter piles with FTP. There were two piles. I chose to work the left pile first, starting close working back to the start line. The second time to the line, we were to choose the opposite side from where we ran the first time, close first backing up. Then after running the new line from the start line we were supposed to run the first line from the start line. Gabby nailed the exercise. I was very pleased. 

Then we ran double marks. Because the blinds had been out there, and the advanced dogs had run them, Darrin got creative on how to throw the doubles as to not mess with the dogs heads. He removed all the bumpers, but he left the stakes in the field. So he positioned the bird boy between the two side "blinds" had him toss "north and south" of the bird boy, with the closer mark as the go and the further mark as the memory. We did this first on the left side of the field then the right. 

Gabby did really well on the first double. She lined and stepped on the "go" bird. On the memory bird, she started running toward the go stake again, but then turned left ran behind the bird boy, along the tree line to the second mark. It was a strange line for that mark BUT more than half of the dog ran it that way. Even the experienced dogs. Gabby did not watch any dogs before her run. It was odd. However, it got stranger on the next double. Most of the dogs, ran the memory mark first. Including Gabby. She then stepped on the shorter mark which was supposed to be the original go bumper. Quinn did that double in the correct order. She was one of the few. 

It was a good day. Learned a lot of informational things too. There was another dog, just a smidge further along than us, but the handler isn't much farther. It was good to listen in on his work too. We don't go back until the Sat after Thanksgiving, weather permitting.


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## MarieP (Aug 21, 2011)

The weather was beautiful today, so I took Riot out to the park for a little bit of 3 handed casting. He did great! I was really proud of him. He missed maybe one or two backs, but overall had great focus. There were also some very big distractions, involving some people playing volleyball. He was even able to work with the ball bouncing around and people yelling. What a good pup! 

Tomorrow starts another week! Ahhhh! I just registered for my last semester of nursing school last night. Things are moving so fast! And tomorrow is my one year wedding anniversary! Eek! Maybe hubby will throw a bumper or two for us as a present :bowl:


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## DNL2448 (Feb 13, 2009)

Happy Anniversary! 

Our weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful! So we stayed inside today, chewed bones and watched NCIS and Bonanza (DH went hunting with his buddies).


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