A Training Weekend

This has been a training type of weekend- Yesterday Pixel, Brit and I went to the agility field and got a lot done in a small amount of time. I wanted to see if Pixel really understands her dogwalk- in a trial she is consistently blowing off without even attempting a 2on2off. I have not corrected her because I blamed myself for not teaching her properly. Ha!! Yesterday I did lots of proofing with her and she offered me the behavior every single time. So little miss princess will be having a rude awakening at the trial next weekend. If she comes off the contact we will be sacrificing the run to redo the target. If she makes an effort, but it isn't quite right I will just stop her (sit) and then continue on. Now that I am sure she understands what Target means I feel okay giving her a consequence for not doing it.

Brit is doing well on her target work- we have moved back to the dogwalk plank and she is as realiable as she is at home. I am pleased with how quickly she is picking it up. I also did a bit of "The Happiest Place" game- which she thought was super fun. I've blogged about the game before- but included a description at the bottom of the post. :) We also did a few one jump drills. She can figure 8 nicely, and has nice tight turns on a decel cue now. I need to buckle down and get in as much training as I can before winter comes...

And yesterday afternoon Wicca got to see Sheep! She has been turned off Sheep for a few years now- showing no interest. All it took was her being rolled by an ornery sheep and she wanted nothing to with them. Yesterday she was eager, excited, and had a lot of fun. It was very informal- no instructor, just at a friends place. I think it is what she needed- no stress related to the sheep. I gave her freedom and gave her lots of encouragement. I am going to try and get out a few more times with her. I am excited that she seemed to enjoy herself again!

This morning we got up bright and early and got in some great obedience training at a local park.

Brit can now heel for about 10 steps, and I've added in automatic sits. She has a great happy attitude while working and is wagging the whole time she works. I love that. We've started fronts at home, and this is the first time we've done them in a new place- she is not as accurate outdoors as she is at home so we've got to work on proofing more at home. At this point there is only one step into front for her- once she is 100% at this I will ask for two steps, then three, and so on. I also introduced her to the dumbbell for the first time, as I thought she has no problem. Because I have taught her what fetch actually means she understands to bring back what I want- regardless of what the item is.

I warmed Pixel up a bit and broke down each "hard" exercise for her- retrieve over jump, and the broad jump. And then put her away. After I worked the other dogs I had someone put me through a modified routine (just the retrieves, BJ, and heeling at the end). And she did it! Her fronts were nearly perfect, and she was eager and fast on the Broad jump and the retrieves. I am so pleased with her!!! Her heeling was spot on- with no cookies, or talking from me for the whole pattern. It felt nice to put stuff together. It's been a bit of a struggle. I am really looking forward to the trial in November!

We ended with Scenthurdle. Pixel actually made a mistake. lol. It was my fault though as I wasn't really focused on her. But she had fun, and is generally a reliable dog so I am not too worried about it. Our next race will be in November aswell- that is if we have enough dogs that can race... Scenthurdle is an interesting sport, and I have a love/hate relationship with it. Some days I am thrilled to actually have people who want to do it, and are training and doing well- and other days I don't know why I bother. Today's practice was in the middle- on one hand almost everyone on the team came, and I was happy with how well the newer dogs are doing. But I could do without some of the shit and responsibilities being in charge of a team comes with. lol. But as I said- mostly it was a great practice.

Catch went home today- his Momma was very happy to see him- and Catch was beside himself to see her and his brother Chase. Two weeks is a long time!  I will miss him -(although Brit may not. lol) he is a very good puppy.

All in all a good weekend! This afternoon the dogs and I are just going to hang out and relax. Maybe read a book, and sit outside and enjoy the end of summer.


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Happiest Place explanation
I learned this from Terry Simons. The happiest place is just that- teaching the dog that the best place to be is on the end of the contact. You can do this two feet on the board, or four feet depending on your dogs contacts. The first step is to just feed the dog- the WHOLE TIME they are on the board. A Hotdog or Cheese string works best. You can't run out of food. Release before you run out. Once the dog is excited about the position and eagerly chowing down you then start to pull your hand away. If the dog leaves position you close your hand, until they get back in position then you resume feeding. They learn super fast that the food ends when they leave the board. You can do this on all the contacts- the teeter included. Oh, and you just get the dog to hop up on the board- not do the whole thing. You have to be there, ready with the food. It is also important to think about head position while you are doing this- feed low. I have found this works really well for all levels of dogs- it is a good way to proof your position, and a fun game to do with puppies. We do this in all of our intro classes. Hopefully i've explained it well enough!