Breakthrough
We had our obedience lesson Tuesday night with Chauncey and Jasmine. It was raining off and on all day, so I met Maggie in Orlando at the dog training club's facilities. I arrived about 8pm and paid for 2 run throughs. Most of the classes were finishing up, so I just worked with each one on focus while others were working around us. Once the classes finished Maggie and I used an empty ring. She is an instructor there, so she has a key to lock up and we get the building to ourselves.
I started with Chauncey and we did an open pattern backwards. We did the broad jump first and Chauncey sailed over, hit the target plate and had a beautiful front. The high jump was next (we are not doing any dumbbell work with the exercises right now, just target plates and rewards) and another perfect jump and front. Maggie also does not have me doing any finishes with Chauncey right now, we work on those separately as she does not want her to start any automatic finishes. The retrieve on flat, with no retrieving, to a target plate was very well done. We did the drop on recall and she did pretty good. I am still moving in to her with the signal and reward her once she drops. She is getting much faster with the hand signal, but it still needs a little more work to polish it off. We then did a long heeling routine and she did really good. Another gentleman was there so he came over and was a post for our figure 8. I was pretty happy with what Chauncey was doing, she and I have made a lot of progress. I am going to borrow a video camera next time so I am able to see what she does. After we finished our routine, then Maggie had me get Chauncey's dumbbell out to see how we are doing.
I have not been very good at making sure I practice the dumbbell every day, so at our previous lesson Maggie threatened me if I didn't practice every day, if possible twice a day. So, I made a huge effort and we practiced almost every day. Up to this time I was at the point of holding the dumbbell in front of Chauncey's mouth and giving the take command. After thinking a moment she would take it, which was a huge progress for a dog that would not touch it. As I was getting her dumbbell to put in our training bag, she ran up and tried to grab it. So I told her to take it and she did, no hesitation or refusal. I was thrilled. At class I told Maggie and she did it again repeatedly for us. Now I am able to hold it a couple inches out from her and she will reach forward, take it, and hold it for me. We are definitely making progress and there is light at the end of the tunnel. I have been working her since and she is taking it consistently and now I am moving it around a little and she is still reaching for it. I never thought that we would get to this point as retriever has seemed to me like banging my head against the wall with her. Maggie has been very patient with both of us, trying different methods until we have success.
Jasmine was up next and did very well on her run through, we are still working on getting her ready for pre-novice. Jasmine's heeling is doing great, it is the stand for exam and the stays that are the hardest for her. Holding still when she thinks she needs to be kissing and playing is very difficult. She finally managed a stand without moving and held a nice sit stay, but the down stay was so hard for her. I worked Chauncey and Maggie did Jasmine, while another man put his English Cocker in the middle of us. I am leaving for Chauncey's work, so Jasmine kept crawling to Maggie until Maggie had to give her a pretty good correction and she managed to hold still for a minute. It is coming, but we have to really work on settling down and focusing with her.
We have started dumbbell work with her and she took it in her mouth. so hopefully she won't be as tough as Chauncey was. I think I have made this part of our training more difficult than it ever had to be. I will let you know* hos it goes this week with them.
I started with Chauncey and we did an open pattern backwards. We did the broad jump first and Chauncey sailed over, hit the target plate and had a beautiful front. The high jump was next (we are not doing any dumbbell work with the exercises right now, just target plates and rewards) and another perfect jump and front. Maggie also does not have me doing any finishes with Chauncey right now, we work on those separately as she does not want her to start any automatic finishes. The retrieve on flat, with no retrieving, to a target plate was very well done. We did the drop on recall and she did pretty good. I am still moving in to her with the signal and reward her once she drops. She is getting much faster with the hand signal, but it still needs a little more work to polish it off. We then did a long heeling routine and she did really good. Another gentleman was there so he came over and was a post for our figure 8. I was pretty happy with what Chauncey was doing, she and I have made a lot of progress. I am going to borrow a video camera next time so I am able to see what she does. After we finished our routine, then Maggie had me get Chauncey's dumbbell out to see how we are doing.
I have not been very good at making sure I practice the dumbbell every day, so at our previous lesson Maggie threatened me if I didn't practice every day, if possible twice a day. So, I made a huge effort and we practiced almost every day. Up to this time I was at the point of holding the dumbbell in front of Chauncey's mouth and giving the take command. After thinking a moment she would take it, which was a huge progress for a dog that would not touch it. As I was getting her dumbbell to put in our training bag, she ran up and tried to grab it. So I told her to take it and she did, no hesitation or refusal. I was thrilled. At class I told Maggie and she did it again repeatedly for us. Now I am able to hold it a couple inches out from her and she will reach forward, take it, and hold it for me. We are definitely making progress and there is light at the end of the tunnel. I have been working her since and she is taking it consistently and now I am moving it around a little and she is still reaching for it. I never thought that we would get to this point as retriever has seemed to me like banging my head against the wall with her. Maggie has been very patient with both of us, trying different methods until we have success.
Jasmine was up next and did very well on her run through, we are still working on getting her ready for pre-novice. Jasmine's heeling is doing great, it is the stand for exam and the stays that are the hardest for her. Holding still when she thinks she needs to be kissing and playing is very difficult. She finally managed a stand without moving and held a nice sit stay, but the down stay was so hard for her. I worked Chauncey and Maggie did Jasmine, while another man put his English Cocker in the middle of us. I am leaving for Chauncey's work, so Jasmine kept crawling to Maggie until Maggie had to give her a pretty good correction and she managed to hold still for a minute. It is coming, but we have to really work on settling down and focusing with her.
We have started dumbbell work with her and she took it in her mouth. so hopefully she won't be as tough as Chauncey was. I think I have made this part of our training more difficult than it ever had to be. I will let you know* hos it goes this week with them.
posted by Kim at 4:38 AM
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