Higher Learning (For Dog & Handler)
We have been doing a lot of training since I last posted. Chauncey is now getting ready for open competition. She has made great strides in her retrieving work. We had a a lesson last night with Maggie. We spent the beginning discussing our rally trial this past weekend. We were entered in Eustis trying to earn our 7th RAE leg. Our first class was the Excellent B. We started class fairly well, but at the Back up 3 Steps Chauncey wasn't able to get it correct. After that exercise Chauncey started lagging more and more, I could feel myself getting frustrated with her. We qualified in Excellent with an 81. I then put Chauncey in her crate and walked outside to calm down. I walked around and took several deep breaths. I then sat down relaxed and reviewed the course for the Advanced class. A couple dogs before the start of our class I got Chauncey out of her crate, gave her a few treats and started to warm up. I ran through several exercises and and then played around with her to get her revved up.
Our turn was up, we entered the ring. As we started, I could tell that Chauncey was not with me. We made it to the Off-set Figure 8 and Chauncey was lagging and I didn't get her up with me and she went around the wrong side of the cone, so we had to repeat the exercise. As we came up to another exercise I completely misread it and forgot the halt sit before giving the stand command. I did the exercise wrong and then realized it as I came back into heel position, and then redid the exercise. I was completely flustered by then. We managed to sloppily finish the course. We NQ'd and deserved to.
Maggie and I discussed what happened at the show. Basically, Chauncey was getting mixed signals from me and I wasn't there for her. I have been dealing with ring nerves, so I apparently still have more to deal with. Maggie also decided that Chauncey is too dependant on food/treats during training.
We started our lesson by doing heeling, I hid my treats and used praise and playing as a reward. Maggie wants me to use that to be able to engage Chauncey's focus on me in the ring. If I notice her lagging or freezing up on me then by adding praise and play, I can regain her focus and give her encouragement in the ring. We want to finish our RAE title, but also have to prepare for open and the failure rate in that ring is tough so we are trying to prepare. Chauncey really liked the playing and praise and I was able to see her re-focus on me when she was drifting.
After heeling, we worked on our retrieve. Chauncey's retrieve has come along way and taken a lot of work to get here. I got to the point where she was taking it from my hand anywhere, but when placed on the ground she refused to pick it up. At one lesson Maggie said that she was taking too long to make her decision so she forced her to pick it up by pushing on the back of her head towards the dumbbell. Chauncey screamed like Maggie was killing her and even placed her mouth on Maggie's arm at several points. After a few sessions Chauncey picked it up on her own. We started adding small steps to each one. I am now throwing it about 6 feet in front of me, sending Chauncey for it and calling her to me while running backwards for about 20 feet. She is also retrieving over a 12" jump and jumping back to me with it in her mouth. Last night we worked on both and she is really making nice progress. Our goal is to be ready by Labor Day weekend to compete at DOCOF with my club's, ODTC, team.
We then worked on the broad jump. Chauncey knows the broad jump very well when I am in the correct position. Now we are working on her jumping correctly when I am standing in any position in a 360degree radius around the broad jump. The first time I was in a different position, she couldn't figure out that she was supposed to jump. Now I am giving the command from numerous positions and she is clearing the jump with no problem.
I then left Chauncey on a sit stay while I worked Jasmine. We started with our warm up routine of heeling, getting her relaxed and heeling smoothly. Jasmine really heels well and tries so hard to go slow and keep in heel position. She is by nature very fast and forges, so we work slowly with many about left turns to get her controlled and using her rear to drive. She catches on so quickly and is a very high drive dog. As Maggie says I will never have to worry about revving her up, but keeping her under control. I love high drive dogs, so much fun. After working on heel work we did some figure 8's and then Maggie held her while I changed Chauncey from a sit to a down.
We worked with Jasmine on her dumbbell. We are just starting, so she is just doing a take, hold, give right now. She is getting the idea now so we have progressed to the touch game. I put a small amount of squeeze cheese on the dumbbell and hold it it different positions for Jasmine to move and touch it. She got the idea very quickly, so over the next week I will vary the touch game with cheese on the dumbbell and then try having her touch it without cheese and the cheese will be added after the touch. Once we were done with the dumbbell work I released Chauncey and put her in the truck to relax while we finished up with Jasmine.
We worked Jasmine over the broad jump, doing the same rotation around the broad jump as Chauncey. Jasmine loved this game and never missed a jump command. She catches on very quickly, so I have to be very careful to teach things carefully or it gets in her brain wrong.
Okay, so that was a very long post to catch up on what we have been doing. Will be back soon with more.
Our turn was up, we entered the ring. As we started, I could tell that Chauncey was not with me. We made it to the Off-set Figure 8 and Chauncey was lagging and I didn't get her up with me and she went around the wrong side of the cone, so we had to repeat the exercise. As we came up to another exercise I completely misread it and forgot the halt sit before giving the stand command. I did the exercise wrong and then realized it as I came back into heel position, and then redid the exercise. I was completely flustered by then. We managed to sloppily finish the course. We NQ'd and deserved to.
Maggie and I discussed what happened at the show. Basically, Chauncey was getting mixed signals from me and I wasn't there for her. I have been dealing with ring nerves, so I apparently still have more to deal with. Maggie also decided that Chauncey is too dependant on food/treats during training.
We started our lesson by doing heeling, I hid my treats and used praise and playing as a reward. Maggie wants me to use that to be able to engage Chauncey's focus on me in the ring. If I notice her lagging or freezing up on me then by adding praise and play, I can regain her focus and give her encouragement in the ring. We want to finish our RAE title, but also have to prepare for open and the failure rate in that ring is tough so we are trying to prepare. Chauncey really liked the playing and praise and I was able to see her re-focus on me when she was drifting.
After heeling, we worked on our retrieve. Chauncey's retrieve has come along way and taken a lot of work to get here. I got to the point where she was taking it from my hand anywhere, but when placed on the ground she refused to pick it up. At one lesson Maggie said that she was taking too long to make her decision so she forced her to pick it up by pushing on the back of her head towards the dumbbell. Chauncey screamed like Maggie was killing her and even placed her mouth on Maggie's arm at several points. After a few sessions Chauncey picked it up on her own. We started adding small steps to each one. I am now throwing it about 6 feet in front of me, sending Chauncey for it and calling her to me while running backwards for about 20 feet. She is also retrieving over a 12" jump and jumping back to me with it in her mouth. Last night we worked on both and she is really making nice progress. Our goal is to be ready by Labor Day weekend to compete at DOCOF with my club's, ODTC, team.
We then worked on the broad jump. Chauncey knows the broad jump very well when I am in the correct position. Now we are working on her jumping correctly when I am standing in any position in a 360degree radius around the broad jump. The first time I was in a different position, she couldn't figure out that she was supposed to jump. Now I am giving the command from numerous positions and she is clearing the jump with no problem.
I then left Chauncey on a sit stay while I worked Jasmine. We started with our warm up routine of heeling, getting her relaxed and heeling smoothly. Jasmine really heels well and tries so hard to go slow and keep in heel position. She is by nature very fast and forges, so we work slowly with many about left turns to get her controlled and using her rear to drive. She catches on so quickly and is a very high drive dog. As Maggie says I will never have to worry about revving her up, but keeping her under control. I love high drive dogs, so much fun. After working on heel work we did some figure 8's and then Maggie held her while I changed Chauncey from a sit to a down.
We worked with Jasmine on her dumbbell. We are just starting, so she is just doing a take, hold, give right now. She is getting the idea now so we have progressed to the touch game. I put a small amount of squeeze cheese on the dumbbell and hold it it different positions for Jasmine to move and touch it. She got the idea very quickly, so over the next week I will vary the touch game with cheese on the dumbbell and then try having her touch it without cheese and the cheese will be added after the touch. Once we were done with the dumbbell work I released Chauncey and put her in the truck to relax while we finished up with Jasmine.
We worked Jasmine over the broad jump, doing the same rotation around the broad jump as Chauncey. Jasmine loved this game and never missed a jump command. She catches on very quickly, so I have to be very careful to teach things carefully or it gets in her brain wrong.
Okay, so that was a very long post to catch up on what we have been doing. Will be back soon with more.
posted by Kim at 12:54 PM
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