Recognising the fact that fitness is all-important in agility (for both dogs and handlers), and that I was sadly lacking in this area, I decided to start up daily power walks for myself and the dogs (let's see how long this bold resolution will last). I will be the first to admit that whilst I am happy to do a good, long, fast walk with one of the dogs, I am not going to do it with all three every day (I simply don't have the time anyway). So they are going to have to alternate, with the focus being on building up Fyre and Josh mainly, as Billie is still just 12 months and thus has not finished her growing, so I don't want to put any strain on those young bones and joints. Josh got to be first tonight by virtue of the fact that he was the first to appear at the back door. We had a lovely walk actually, it was a beautiful mild evening. Wonder if I'll be so enthusiastic if it's freezing and pouring with rain??
When we got home, with plenty of light still left I set up the two sets of 2x2s and did a few with Josh after he'd had a chance to have a break. I had moved them further apart again and rewarded entry to the correct first set of 2x2s a couple of times as well as for doing both sets in sequence. Entries on the left seem to be his weakness (perhaps I spent too much time working the right with him after Fyre's weakness on the right entries - typical!) Fyre himself had a great session, very excited with his plastic snap lock container of food, and though it took him a few tries he eventually did several very nice entries and sequencing the two together. What I need to work on with him is motion (handler motion that is) as currently he is too busy looking at me if I am moving with him than he is looking at where he's going.
Then, in my effort to make circle work more interesting, I invented a new game which I have called Touch and Go. This game works on building drive for nose touches, and teaching the dog to follow my shoulders. Initially I was going to use a clicker to mark the nose touch but quickly discovered I could not handler the food and offer a hand to touch AND hold a clicker, so I simply used 'Yes' as a marker.
The game goes like this - I hold both hands, with the food in one for quick access, in front of me, just above waist height (so I can't be tempted to lure the dog to the correct spot) then just start walking with one shoulder 'open' to the side I want the dog on. When the dog gets in position I can then choose when to offer my hand for a nose touch - I may offer it right away, I may continue walking with the dog maintaining position, or I may do a U turn or front cross. Once my hand comes out the dog touches and I mark and throw a (reasonably large and visible) piece of food, then as the dog goes after this take up a new pattern with an 'open' shoulder once again until the dog runs back to take up position again.
Considering this was my first attempt at this game that I had just made up off the top of my head, I was very pleased with the result. Josh has a very good nose touch so he found this quite easy I think, but both dogs improved their position relative to me and their turns - sometimes I would have them come up on one side then do a front cross and as soon as the dog turned into me offer my hand - this resulted in them responding more quickly to my shoulder turns and also turning more tightly. I did the same on U turns. Fyre took a little while to settle into position the first time as he was very excited and gambolling around (as he does
I did have to issue myself another speeding ticket however - since we were going so well, I thought I'd try putting in a low jump with Josh. This went ok the first few times, with me working around it and occasionally turning so he was encouraged to go over it, however he often squeezed between the upright and me rather than going over, and when I tried to set him up to go over he became a bit stressed and wanted to avoid the bar altogether, so I finished there and immediately decided NOT to use the bar with Fyre. My next session with Josh and bar jumps (I might do this before his dinner tonight) will simply be re-building some confidence for him to take them, so I will put one up and just reward him for going over it from whatever angle and direction he chooses. Then we will gradually work up to taking bars from a standing start, which admittedly had been spotty for him up to this point.
Fyre also needs work on his nose touches, since he tends to want to lick rather than nose-touch, though one certainly can't fault his enthusiasm for it!!
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