Fun Class
Class went well tonight and had some inprovements in our training. I am doing better with my footwork and body positioning, which has been a big problem in the signals my dog get while handling. It is so nice to be able to train in daylight now and not have the mosquitoes attack us the whole time.
We started with Chauncey and her heel pattern. Her setups (straight sits to start) are much better, she and I are working to get it straight and correct the first time. Chauncey has a lot of training and correcting problems that I have allowed over the years, so it is taking some extra work with her. We worked on her stays. She keeps crawling on her down stay, very slowly and sneeky, her legs just keep getting longer until she has stretched herself a good distance. Maggie wants me to put her in a box (a 4-sided PVC square that gives them an exact spot to stay in) for her stays, so I can tell when she is crawling and to help give her a line not to cross. We are also working on our transitions, normal to fast, slow to normal, etc. and I have lot to think about during these times, it will take some practice to get us all coordinated together. Maggie took Chauncey at the end to try fast transitions, Chauncey did about 2 with her and then decided that she did not want to be with Maggie anymore. She turned backwards, tried to go around Maggie, lagged terribly, and Maggie just kept working. Maggie did finally give her a correction (okay, maybe a couple), because Chauncey was just being obstinate. Finally, she did some work with Maggie and the Maggie let her come back to me. I put her in her crate to rest and got Blueberry out.
Blueberry is going for socialization right now, after she is comfortable at Maggie's, then we will start some formal work. Blueberry gets very shy at new places, so I am trying to really work with her to help her be braver. Maggie just holds onto Blueberry while I have my lesson with Jasmine, it gets Blueberry used to walking around with someone else and is a distraction for Jasmine. Maggie's husband also is coming out for a little while and holding Blueberry also, since she is very shy with men. She is starting to like him, but does not come right put about it, she kind of wags her tail a little and sneaks up to him.
Jasmine is doing very well. She does not take as much time to warm up and get her settled down now. We always start class with our heeling pattern (an L-shaped pattern, with left, right, and about turns), to get her focused and take the edge off her. She usually starts her heeling with a huge leap in the air and then after several patterns has settled to a quiet heel. We also worked on figure eights, which she is doing very well at changing her pace for the slow and fast. We did some recalls, which kind of flopped as Jasmine decided that she couldn't hold her stay. So we worked on just telling her "sit", leaving her and immediately returning to reward. I did this several times and then Maggie held her for a couple recalls, just to get the practice in. Our next practice was the high jump (which is only about 16") with a target plate. We do this off lead, which is a big thing for Jasmine, and I have her sit, give her the "look" command, so she looks over the jump at the plate with her treat on it. I tell Jasmine to "get it" and she jumps over gets her treat, as soon as she lowers her head to ge the treat, I tell her "come", and she jumps back over to come and get another treat from me. She loves the jump exercises and knows to look for the plate. Maggie moved the plate few times from left of the jump, to straight, and then to the right of the jump. Jasmine nailed it every time and never once offered to go around the jump when returning. After the high jump we worked on the broad jump, for Jasmine, this is set up with 3 boards and a jump over it (about 18"), so she doesn't learn to step over the broad jump but to jump it. On the side away from us there is a pole set up (a swish pole) and the plate is set up just beyond the pole (about 4"). Jasmine is to jump the broad jump, go to the plate for her treat, and return around the pole to me. She loves the exercise and did very well. We probably did it about 5 times and she did them all very well.
Jasmine is ahead of Chauncey with the jumps, mainly because we are spending more time correcting Chauncey's heeling problems for the national Poodle specialty in June. I hope she will do well and maybe we will place there. Jasmine is a blast to train and loves every minute of it, she just absorbs everything and learns quickly. I think Blueberry will do well also, once we get some braveness into her.
We started with Chauncey and her heel pattern. Her setups (straight sits to start) are much better, she and I are working to get it straight and correct the first time. Chauncey has a lot of training and correcting problems that I have allowed over the years, so it is taking some extra work with her. We worked on her stays. She keeps crawling on her down stay, very slowly and sneeky, her legs just keep getting longer until she has stretched herself a good distance. Maggie wants me to put her in a box (a 4-sided PVC square that gives them an exact spot to stay in) for her stays, so I can tell when she is crawling and to help give her a line not to cross. We are also working on our transitions, normal to fast, slow to normal, etc. and I have lot to think about during these times, it will take some practice to get us all coordinated together. Maggie took Chauncey at the end to try fast transitions, Chauncey did about 2 with her and then decided that she did not want to be with Maggie anymore. She turned backwards, tried to go around Maggie, lagged terribly, and Maggie just kept working. Maggie did finally give her a correction (okay, maybe a couple), because Chauncey was just being obstinate. Finally, she did some work with Maggie and the Maggie let her come back to me. I put her in her crate to rest and got Blueberry out.
Blueberry is going for socialization right now, after she is comfortable at Maggie's, then we will start some formal work. Blueberry gets very shy at new places, so I am trying to really work with her to help her be braver. Maggie just holds onto Blueberry while I have my lesson with Jasmine, it gets Blueberry used to walking around with someone else and is a distraction for Jasmine. Maggie's husband also is coming out for a little while and holding Blueberry also, since she is very shy with men. She is starting to like him, but does not come right put about it, she kind of wags her tail a little and sneaks up to him.
Jasmine is doing very well. She does not take as much time to warm up and get her settled down now. We always start class with our heeling pattern (an L-shaped pattern, with left, right, and about turns), to get her focused and take the edge off her. She usually starts her heeling with a huge leap in the air and then after several patterns has settled to a quiet heel. We also worked on figure eights, which she is doing very well at changing her pace for the slow and fast. We did some recalls, which kind of flopped as Jasmine decided that she couldn't hold her stay. So we worked on just telling her "sit", leaving her and immediately returning to reward. I did this several times and then Maggie held her for a couple recalls, just to get the practice in. Our next practice was the high jump (which is only about 16") with a target plate. We do this off lead, which is a big thing for Jasmine, and I have her sit, give her the "look" command, so she looks over the jump at the plate with her treat on it. I tell Jasmine to "get it" and she jumps over gets her treat, as soon as she lowers her head to ge the treat, I tell her "come", and she jumps back over to come and get another treat from me. She loves the jump exercises and knows to look for the plate. Maggie moved the plate few times from left of the jump, to straight, and then to the right of the jump. Jasmine nailed it every time and never once offered to go around the jump when returning. After the high jump we worked on the broad jump, for Jasmine, this is set up with 3 boards and a jump over it (about 18"), so she doesn't learn to step over the broad jump but to jump it. On the side away from us there is a pole set up (a swish pole) and the plate is set up just beyond the pole (about 4"). Jasmine is to jump the broad jump, go to the plate for her treat, and return around the pole to me. She loves the exercise and did very well. We probably did it about 5 times and she did them all very well.
Jasmine is ahead of Chauncey with the jumps, mainly because we are spending more time correcting Chauncey's heeling problems for the national Poodle specialty in June. I hope she will do well and maybe we will place there. Jasmine is a blast to train and loves every minute of it, she just absorbs everything and learns quickly. I think Blueberry will do well also, once we get some braveness into her.
posted by Kim at 8:31 PM
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