Tonight, having done minimal training at all over the past week, I decided it was time to start getting back into it again. With no deadline now, I can really work the foundation stuff and take everything at my own pace. Having Lynda's workshop behind me also is a huge step in the right direction and I feel I have come a long way since I started this blog!
So first up I took Josh for a jog - the plan being to rotate the dogs so each gets to go running with me alternately. (Note - this is also good fitness for the HANDLER
I really still need a proper training plan, but since I haven't sat down and done that yet, I made the decision that currently I am going to work through weavers and nose touches. So I set up four weavers, had the entry slightly 'open' but the second two poles straight. I pulled out the brand new toys that arrived last week, using the moo tug for Josh and the Tug-N-Treat for Fyre. I did spend a few minutes playing with moo tug with both of them when it first arrived, and had been very pleased with the response. Both thought it was utterly fantastic. The Tug-N-Treat I hadn't used before, so was keen to see what Fyre's reaction would be, as this was my planned replacement for the treat container I have been throwing up til now. (FYI, the website I ordered them from, which is where the links above go, is fantastic - an awesome range of dog toys and other doggy training gear, and it all arrived very quickly too).
I couldn't have been more pleased with both of them. To start with, both were HIGHLY enthused over their toys, showing a very high amount of drive which transferred readily to the poles. Secondly, the weave performance itself was excellent, I got some great entries from both dogs almost right away, which was especially exciting as I have been battling those difficult angles for Fyre in particular. He just loved the Tug-N-Treat (which I will now shorten to TNT to save my typing fingers!) and I very quickly got some very enthusiastic tugging. For anyone contemplating using these, ones of the tips Lynda gave us was that when you open it up to reward the dog to let them shove their nose right in and get the food then quickly snatch it away, close it up and continue the game so it is all very fast and exciting. (As opposed to you opening it and taking a piece of food out to give to the dog - much more mundane and boring). I will try and get some video of them doing weaves this weekend when I have some daylight - and I'll just add here that I can't believe daylight savings is about to end, how will I survive??!!
Fyre also did some nose touches then. (I opted to give Josh a shorter session because he'd already been out for a jog). So, still using the TNT I started by offering a high nose touch (to minimise his likelihood of licking, the behaviour I really want to curb ASAP). Pretty much in between every single correct nouse touch he got the food reward and then more tugging to keep his arousal level high. It was a really great session - he was very excited, and I even managed to get a few touches towards the end that were lower as he got the idea of not licking. Very pleased with the progress made in just a few short minutes.
Although Billie will also work the agility foundation stuff, I decided number one on her agenda was show training, as showing is what I want to get back into once I return from Perth and life settles down a bit once again. So tonight we played tug and did circle work, her on the outside circle left and right, inside circle left and obviously inside right needs more work! Then we played It's Your Choice (IYC) with the food rewards (I was using a handful of beef mince in this case), working up to her leaving the food in my open hand, leaving the food on the ground, leaving the food on the ground and recalling past it to me. Then I began working on shaping her to stand.
Since we have done quite a bit of work on sit (through the sit-tug game) she will readily offer sit, and also a drop which is her second favourite behaviour. She also likes to stand up on her hind legs and either jump or walk around. So to start with I simply clicked for her getting out of a sit. Then she had to actually stand with all four paws on the ground. Then she had to take up the stand position in front of me herself. In between each attempt I was stirring her up, just running around and playing with her with my hands. As soon as I wanted to start shaping I stopped moving and simply stood quietly (another technique as described by Lynda - wow, boy was that workshop worth every penny!) It was then up to her to figure it out.
I was thrilled when after just a few goes she turned out two really excellent free stacks in front of me, simply put all her feet in the right place and stood to attention. Beautiful! Those were given multiple rewards because I *really* liked them. Next step will be freezing her in position once she is there, and then teaching her to move her feet individually as needed, but for now we are just working her taking up the right position straight off.
So overall it was a good night - I really enjoyed it and looking forward to working with them over the next week (at least until I head off to NZ for my holiday - whoo-hoo!)
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