Tonight was the first night of Robbie's winter session classes.
Prior to Robbie's classes, I brought Cory in and worked him a little. It was quiet but there were a number of other people there and a couple of other dogs working. We started out with a little heeling, then worked on his drop with tossing treats behind him because we've been getting some late drops. That seems to sharpen him up every time. Worked flat retrieves a little with focus on no barking, hitting fronts, and not mouthing. Then did scent articles; since we have just recently started taking them on the road I kept metal and leather separate and started with metal. He was a bit hectic and had trouble finding the first one (either avoided it or kept missing that part of the pile). When I sent him back he found it with no problem and did not miss any more that night. Worked in the front ring by the K9 Cupboard in that corner right up against ring gates; about 5 feet from pile initially letting him watch me put them out, then when he has a couple successful ones added the turn and send. I think we did 3-4 reps on metal and same on leather. Had people talking and eating right behind the ring barrier which did not seem to be a huge issue for him. Then was able to set him up in that ring along with Bobbie Kohl's Jody (who he has frequently been next to in trials) and do out of sight stays. He went down on the sit right at 3 minutes; I went back and and corrected him up; then left him another minute to 90 seconds; let Bobbie go back and release Jody while I stayed out of sight. He was definitely looking for me by the time I came back in. Did the down stay by himself. While we were working on stays everyone was coming in getting ready for classes so there was quite a bit of activity.
Now Robbie's turn; his first class was Beginner Novice runthroughs. I predominantly put him in this 3 wk class to have a chance to ask him to work in public with distractions. He is coming along nicely at home but at times at the club you would think he has never seen a leash. He warmed up nicely for me in the aisle and was fairly focused. I kept food in my right pocket during our run through; we set up and did the heeling pattern; I talked to him and praised quite a bit and stopped half way through to reward with a treat. I thought he did REALLY well; he heeled with attention and I would guess kept focused on me 90% or better of the time. He still tends to crab and forge a little and have sloppy sits. We did not attempt a fast yet! On the sit for exam (our first attempt at this, I'm sure it will take a while!) I kept pressure on his leash and asked Libby not to make eye contact and to just do a quick stroke on his head. He did turn his head and wiggle a little but stayed. Repeated twice while we had the chance. Then the sit stay; as we set up for it 2-3 puppies from the puppy socialization class in the next ring escaped into our ring and were bouncing and running all over; one viszla puppy came over and was sniffing and licking him. I held his collar and had him stay and surprisingly, he did not attempt to get up and stayed focused on me so you can bet he got rewarded heavily with the fresh pet treats! On the sit while I walked around the ring I did a fairly small diameter circle, both because he is green and because I am still gimpy; he stayed but did twist around to watch me and shifted his front feet a little. May have to think about a box or target to keep his feet on. He stayed on the recall and flew in, but did jump up on me and his front was crooked. Overall I was VERY pleased with him though, as he was much more focused than I expected. In the next ring there were probably 20 puppies at least running and playing so it was quite distracting, but he handled it well.
We had to leave for the start of our agility class (Adv agility 2) so only got one run in. For our agility class we started with a jump-jump-tunnel followed by another jump and front cross to wrap him back into the tunnel. He did ok, but I was way behind him coming out of the tunnel (partly because I am still really gimpy). Did a little one jump work working on collecting, then worked on lowered dog walk and aframe. He hit his contact on the dogwalk, but is not as committed as I would like to holding it and not thinking about his rear feet enough. On the aframe if I am not careful he still wants to jump off and THEN get back on and get his feet. Still needs lots of work. Did reasonably well holding a down stay while we set equipment; still needs work but has made huge strides. Overall was VERY pleased with him tonight, think his brain is finally starting to gel!
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