Cory's class night 2

Arrived about an hour early for class so we could work obedience.  Decided to set up the scent articles in the same position as yesterday, but stay close to the pile and only put out one type at a time.  Cory continued to have issues with picking up the first, bringing it back or part way back to me, then dropping it and going back to the pile and starting random grabs.  Initially he appears to continue working the pile, but each subsequent time he works less and eventually is just grabbing with no scenting.  Also a few times he left the pile to offer go out behavior, so I think the position is a big factor in confusing him.  Dropped the turn and send, went back down to just two articles, he improved for a rep or two  but then started the grab again and continued to have issues.  Eventually turned around and sent towards the gate for just two articles, at this point he seemed to have given up working and was just doing random grabs.  Decided to abandon for the time being and start fresh another day;  Diane's suggestion was to drop the t/s and front, go down to just two articles, and not ask for a retrieve at all until he was giving a strong indication.  Think we will try that although I may not do the two article part as my dogs always seem to have understood the difference better with more.

Worked sit stay for 5 minutes with me outside the ring, his back to adjacent ring and a fair amount of activity.  Laid down almost immediately, had to go back and reposition, he then held well without moving the rest of the time.

For class we worked primarily on serpentines, he actually did fairly well though he slaloms them so tightly he has a tendency to knock the upright.  Our major issue was coming out of th serpentine and sending on without a spin;  I still am tending to be late with cues.

Robbie came in for a very brief heeling session after class;  he did ok but not maintaining attention quite as well as last week, crabbing quite a bit.  Started working him on a touch to the stanchion;  was getting a good one from about 3 feet back but with barking.  Worked a couple of recalls, he is blasting in really fast, getting a front though crooked and bonking me with his nose, but not really jumping up anymore.  Worked on calling to front from about 6 feet different angles and he is improving rapidly there. 

Robbie's class night 2

Tues night classes at QC.  Got there about 6 and trained Cory first in the utility ring.  Worked on go outs to stanchion (had ring gates set up);  he did well finding the stanchion;  worked a little on not barking by calling him back;  tried to work a little on asking him to sit before getting to the stanchion and he is having a little trouble with this concept.  After a few tries he did start turning on my command, but would down first;  then he started veering towards the bar jump on the left and jumping it on the way out.  Ping ponged sending him all the way out and asking for a touch but no sit, with the occasional asking for a turn and sit (but getting a down) about 3/4 of the way out;  when he thought about the bar jump but straightened himself out I clicked as he passed between the jumps and this seemed to help him understand, though for the most part he continued out and did his touch before coming back for the cookie.  Did a small amt of heeling and signals and he did well.  Doing a little better on staying with me between exercises.  Then put gloves out and worked first just on pivots to gloves;  he has the most trouble with #1.  Did very well getting correct gloves and didn't do too badly with mouthing them, no drops tonight, though he does tend to lean way back on his front.  We were by ourselves mostly till gloves and then people started coming in.  Then did scent articles;  put out 2 of each plus the scented one, in the middle of the ring about halfway towards the jumps and sending from the go out position.  He had a little trouble with this and started his old habit of indicating or picking up and dropping the correct one, then doing random grabs.  Shortened up our distance to the pile again;  it's difficult because when he does this he also starts really mouthing the article and often dropping it in front of me, so it's hard to separate out working on that from the actual scent work.  Will back down to only one type of article out and me right next to the pile, but keep the same position in the ring next time.  Then worked on stays in the utility ring with his back to the adjacent ring, I stayed in the ring with him this time but did a five minute sit and a six minute down.  He did pretty well, he did air scent a few times which I verbally corrected him for;  I went back about 3 1/2 minutes into the sit and rewarded with a cookie.  Had moderate activity outside the ring and in the ring behind him.

Robbie was quite revved up today and was first in the ring for beginner novice.  We had great difficulty with heeling/attention tonight;  the puppies had squeaky toys and a ball in the adjacent ring and he was much more distracted than he had been the week before;  in retrospect our warm up did not include enough heeling outside the ring.  I had to resort to a little food in my left hand again, but he did eventually improve and start working a little better for me;  not without some wandering at the end of the leash and being totally out of position though.  Fig 8 very nice.  Sit for exam is improving, Libby was able to put her hand on his head and leave it for a few seconds and he held his position.  Very fast recall, did front but crooked and I think bounced off me a little.   Left finishes improving.  We were able to come back in the ring and work a little independently after our first run and he was much much better, still needs lots of input but is starting to be able to string together some fairly lengthy bits of heeling.  No pace changes yet.  Need to think about starting to work on stand and probably working stays together with Cory at home.

For agility unfortunately the st poo in our class seems to be fascinated with him and keeps wanting to chase him.  I think it is predominantly play, but he is definitely not sure of that.  She did that on the first exercise and he got into flight mode, would come close to me and bark but not close enough to catch.  Did get him back and tried to keep him on lead as much as possible the rest of the night.  However poodle chased him again at least 4 different times, so he was stressy/flighty all night.  Did ok hitting his contacts on DW and teeter, though he is at the stage where he wants to spin back and look at me on the teeter;  still will bounce off the aframe if I am not careful.  Did do a little weaving, but hard to do dragging his lead and he was having a lot of trouble focusing because he was worried about the poodle behind us.  We need more work on solidifying his contact position and need to work on the weaves with more distraction;  need more solid entries and needs to start driving through a little more.

Robbie's first night of winter class

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!