Oct 30th - at the barn

Tonight was an AWESOME training night! Normally the 4 hours is so long but it just flew by and I was very proud of my pups. Thanks to Andrea and Linda, I was able to get video of both Abbey and Baxter running. The video of Abbey are on her own blog so I won't bother to put them here. It was a bit painstaking but I was very happy to get some of her.

First we started with the puppies and were doing some lead outs. I didn't think that there was any way that Ripley would ever allow for this lead out but after some shaping and use of toys for rewards (strategically thrown out by Andrea) we were able to get him to understand some of the concepts...a huge breakthrough if you ask me. We finished off with some weaves which reinforced to me that I need to get my butt back in the backyard and work those 2x2's.

Next was the big boys turn. Both Peso and Baxter did really well, I was very proud of Baxter. He wasn't turning as tight as we would have liked when the tunnel was in front of him but again with some reinforcements we were able to get some tighter turns. He nailed every weave entry which I was thrilled about and maintained some really good sit-stays.

The class usually follows the boys but because we only had 2 students come Andrea had me work Baxter for the other hour. We set up a pre-starter type course for them which Baxter also did. In between his turns he maintained really good control over himself, doing some sit-stays etc and never once barked at the other dogs (and even Peso was playing the odd time). Linda was nice enough to tape B's final run and he ran it clean! I know it wasn't anything difficult but still, he was running full out, had good contacts and kept the bars up and had a good startline :)

Our final hour was spent doing some harder courses with Abbey and Chase. Andrea figured out some other options and added weaves and teeter to the course. Abbey was being an idiot at the weaves popping the last pole to get to the frame but otherwise did some nice stuff, kept her contacts and jumped the 16" jumps really well. Andrea taped those runs which I am starting to collect now.

Soo...as you can see, great night for the Thirsks :)

Oct 29th - lesson

So today Andrea and I went to Arlene Lehman's place for private lessons. We started with the puppies first doing some gridwork, then touches and finally working on the tunnel without using any commands. The gridwork was good, Ripley was a bit off balance going in due to his vulture type sit but finished it nicely. The touches actually got a bit better. The tunnel exercise was to have Rip sit calmly beside me then release him with my body facing the tunnel. Once in, I was throwing the toy to the exit.

Homework for Ripley:
His sit-stay is better than it was but still needs to be worked on - work on less exciting places and build.
We talked about Ripley's refusal to hand touch. I need to be firm with him when he uses any teeth or vocals and I need to feed from the same hand that he is touching.
Need to find stairs or else build a plank for him to nose touch off of. *make sure to have lots of food ready and put food on target the second he does the touch. I can put tape down if he is pushing it around.
Need to work on the "it's your choice" game with food. This way he will know that food is coming and not move his head towards me.
Need to work on the tunnel entrances without verbal or hand commands.

Baxter's session went well. We started with the same grid work as the puppies. He had trouble getting into the last bounce instead he was leaping over the last two jumps together. We then moved on to a tunnel - jump - frame/tunnel/jump sequence. We did not give any commands expecting them to come out of the tunnel and take the frame as it was directly in front. If we wanted them to take the tunnel, we needed to use a threadle arm to get them off the straight line. Baxter went into the tunnel each time but was just anticipating the change but was not really coming into my arm. The final sequence we had to keep the dogs on our arm past the frame/tunnel and go past the jump then allow them to jump back over it. I needed to use treats to keep B on my arm for this.

Homework for Baxter:
Need to work on "it's your choice" game with food the same as Ripley
Need to make sure when using threadle arm to reward for coming into my arm

Oct 28th - the barn and SDC

I had such a great day with B today! I had only 3 students for the competitive class so I decided to run B in the class. I found some good courses to work on from a Clean Run magazine that I thought the group would like. We had a great time talking about different ways to handle them which was fun. B ran awesome keeping most of the bars up (only taking them down when I got in his way for crosses) and nailing every single weave entry! and this was all at major speed. I am sooo happy with him. I talked with Tracy Sklenar today about his weaves and I feel that he is definitely doing what she thinks I should be doing :) He also maintained his sit-stays and this was with other dogs playing so he was pretty charged up.

Here is a copy of what we did tonight. I did a mixture of front and rear crosses.

Prior to the class I brought Rip into the arena. He did some weaves which were good and I also worked on his jumping. I think his main issue is me running when he is jumping. I am not sure what is exactly happening but I am guessing that he is looking at me when I am running or else he just flattens. I am hoping that Arlene will help me with this tomorrow or else when I head to Ottawa and see if Tiff can see what is going on.

After agility I headed to SDC to do a bit of flyball with B and Abs. After speaking with a few people I have decided that it will do him good to get to play. He completely loves it and I could see in his face that he was having a blast. I can't believe how he hasn't done it for so many months and was a super pro at it. He is now laying beside me sleeping away like a happy healthy dog.

Till tomorrow...

Oct 27th - at the barn & home

So tonight I decided to retrain Abbey's weaves using the 2x2 method, so she is on day 1. Unlike the boys, she is not a dog that has learned to offer behaviors. For this reason she found it challenging that I wasn't telling her what to do. I had the one set open fully and was able to get back about 1' back for her to go around and wrap. On the offside she was able to figure it out pretty easy but on the onside, she was trying to weave properly. I am excited to see how this all pans out. She is doing so great these days, I would love her to have some nice entries like B is having these days.

After that I headed to the barn for a night of agility with the boys. Ripley started first with a set point jump with some physical distractions under the spread jump. He had some pretty good sit stays without being in the vulture sit so I was very happy about that. He rounded nice and drove to his toy. He then did a jump grid that was for bending. He also did well on this one too, going along the straight line quite nice. The final grid was a 5 jump set at 6' 7' 8' 9' between them, all at 6" high. He had some really nice sit-stay's and did this well. The final exercise of the day was weaves. Ripley got quite high at this point and when he did get the entry, he did well but he missed quite a few entries. It is pretty obvious that I need to work more weaves with him in the backyard. Rip was driving nice to his toys today, enjoyed the ritz crackers as his treats and had some nice "with me's". Overall - good day :) Too bad I couldn't remain still for agility with him, he seems to like that better.

Baxter was next and he did all the same exercises as Rip. He had some nice sit-stays, bends, straight lines. When we finished off with weaves I was very happy with him! He really understands to dig in to get that entry and make it into the next pole...I am sooo proud of him!! Even when he is pumped and driving hard, he is digging in. I forgot his snoot loop at home and that is something I need to remember. He has a hard time getting into and out of the arena worrying about the other animals.

Oct 23rd - at the barn

Another night at the barn, man was it cold and dirty...I think it is going to be a long winter.

I started with Ripley and it went downhill fast :( I just don't know what I am going to do with him anymore. Oh well, it has been a shitty week, so this just fits right in. The only good thing about his session was his dogwalk. He did a nice drive across the lowered dogwalk to the target plate and had some nice nose touches.

Baxter's session went much better, so that was good. We started with the double box work that Andrea organized. We started with front crosses first and B did it really nicely both directions. He kept all the bars up, read the crosses well, and kept his start line stay. We then moved on to rear crosses which B didn't do as well. He kept taking down jump 5 so with Andrea's help we worked the sequence of 3-6 and then 6-7 to keep his head down instead of watching me. We finished off with some dogwalks which he did well. One of the key things that I need to work on with him this week is to reinforce his stay without moving his front feet. If I move away from him laterally, he moves his feet and body to look at me. In order for him to find his line, he needs to stop doing this.

Here is the double box stuff we did for future reference:
After we were done with the class Andrea did a mini class for a couple of us and I ran Abbey. We worked on jumping skills which went really well. We have moved Abbey to 16" jumps now which is going well but is a bit of work for her. We started with a pin-wheel where she had me send Abbey from a distance, throwing a treat tub after jump 2 ensuring she was staying out in the pin-wheel. She did it well both ways but did need to have 2 bars on each jump.

Next we did a 180 and threadles. We started with distance on the 180 which she did well again. The threadles went well also but I have to remember to stand up straight when I turned my upper body.

Next we did 270's. Andrea threw the treat tub out to ensure that she stayed outside of the circle. It worked well and she finished off with some nice 270's without too much help from me.

The last thing we did was the dogwalk. With a target plate at the end, Abbey drove straight through to the target and maintained the contact :) I am hoping with a winter of that, that her contacts will be much more solid.

Oct 21st - at the barn

We started with the puppies first again tonight. Tonight Andrea came up with the idea that we will help each other to ensure that the puppies sit up straight at the start line. When Phe is going, I will feed her only at a nice sit until Andrea is ready to release her, and then Andrea will feed Rip. The first exercise was the set point jumping which we did with a swedish oxer. Ripley had never seen this before but he did not even think twice jumping it quite nicely. We did 2 at 10-22 x, then 2 at 16-26 x and then back to 2 at 10-22 x. Our next exercise was doing the set point type grid on the slice with a 6-16-6 jump pattern at 6' apart. We did 2 on each side and then moved it to 6-22-6 for 4 on each side. We then finished this exercise by doing 2 at 6-16-6 on each side. Having Andrea feed Ripley in a nice sit position was a GREAT help! I was very happy and it seemed like he was much more in control of his body. The final exercise with the puppies was the dogwalk. We have decided to work on less stuff each night but to make it more worthwhile and I felt it really worked. Ripley was holding a nice stay, running across quite nicely and doing a great target! I was very proud of my boy and then way he handled himself.

The big boys were next. We did the same 3 exercises with them as we did with the puppies. We had to be careful with B that he didn't look at me during the set point sessions. I have to make sure that it is his toy that I am using or else it has no value. Once we had his toy in the equation, it was very nice. For the dogwalk we also added a jump before and after the dogwalk at about 18' away. We were trying to get the dogs to drive onto the dogwalk. Baxter gave me some good contacts even when we did quick release and then tried again to fool him. We then worked on his sit-stay. He was doing a good job of sitting and staying for the whole length of the dog walk and the 2 jumps. The first couple of times when I went back to reward he self released. Andrea helped me by feeding him in place so that he didn't self release. Once he understood I was able to turn and walk back without him releasing.

Oct 19th - at home

I had taken a bit of a break with Ripley on weaving in the backyard. I put together the 4 poles and a slight opening on the first set. Ripley had some trouble remembering to go through the final two poles. Once he understood, he did some nice weaving. His entries were very nice though, so I was happy with him.

I also did some jumping with Rip. I only have 2 jumps at home right now so I used a bar on the ground, then a jump at 6" and then the third jump at 22". I started with the third jump at 12" away and continued to move it 1" at a time and then back again. Rip did a really nice job of jumping the 22", so I was happy and we ended on a happy note.

I then worked with Baxter. I did the tough entries by themselves and then I brought in 2 jumps. I was asking him to take the jump and enter at very tough angles and he did a great job! I was very happy with him. We also worked on 270's and threadles inside the 270. He kept almost all the bars up so that was great also :)