Getting closer in front during the recall. On short distance Harley will sit one stride away from me.

Got to the point where it was pretty good. So off to the wood for some fun time. Now need to teach some breaking to Harley.

He was a bit too close on recall, like I was on my butt he sat on my knee

 Quote: Ariane Gauthier

... He was a bit too close on recall, like I was on my butt he sat on my knee

Thanks for the info for Rally Obedience info. The dog trainer at the school asked me if I thought of entering Bindi. I would like to go and watch one and see what it entails and will look on u tube and watch them.
Tonight we are going to reveiw, bindi and are are doing what you guys are, healing, sit and down, and now working on stand from a distance, from a sit and down. Recall with a wait and down and sit, and just practice in heel and some fun touch work and leave it work. I am working on the hand signal for stand. I am trying to get all the hand signals down and practiced with her so distance work will be more proficient. she is a great little dog. I am always the problem when she doesn't get it. She is doing well on her finish and front work.

Then tonight I will work with cody, he has already asked me to work with him. He loves it. We are working on heel (still he has a real problem with that, he loves to walk fast and rush ahead (he is very hyper-but so very smart. he is the little black dog in the picture below. Working on wait and touch, and come and down. WIll begin to work him at a distance soon. His biggest problems are barking and he does not like traffic noise. Trying to build his confidence level in busy outdoor areas.

Then Tara. She needs the most work. will work with her on heel, sit , down, come and begin to perfect the hand signal and not use words so much. She is very smart and has excellent proficiency at what she knows. Work on touch with her, and soon start to teach her spin or some other little trick.

I am trying to work all three dogs in the evenings. ANd walk Cody in the morning and train him in the morning as well. He enjoys going through our little getto agility course we have set up in the back yard. We used to play ball but now he is fixated on lizards and wants to hunt and catch them instead. walking bindi in the afternoon so she can go and visit her human friends at the mall.

Well that is it for me this week. Will repeat this training all week, except Wed and thurs evening.

So blessed to hear what you guys are doing. Sharon

Went to the proofing new obedience class today. (I had to argue my way into 'not beginner' last week rather than participate which is a long and irritating story but at least I'm in the right class for proofing what we already know)

The group heeling was right off the bad and a disaster with all the too-close passing and the one guy with the not-very-controlled bulldog. It got her into an "I'm going to kill them all!" state of mind which was tons of fun to pull her out of. Thank god for that bungee bar tug. Whipped it out of my sweatshirt and suddenly the other dogs didn't matter quite so much. Focused heeling was still a trial but she'll get there.

After that it was fine. as expected. We were the demo-dog about 4 times for different exercises (both finishes, turns a figure 8, and a spin) and the instructor had me show the rest of the class the rubber feed tub method for place/touch/spin etc since her dog doesn't like the feed tubs. I let a woman with a corgi borrow mine and her dog got it right away. It was amusing to watch.

Nothing fabulous was learned but she needs to get used to focusing when her biggest issues (other dogs) are stuck next to her.

We continue to work on behaviour modification with sudden environmental change. Yesterday on our walk we encountered three dogs in a row and Jethro did great at calming himself by volunteering to retreat with me to avoid the possibility of going over threshold. The fourth dog, though, he couldn't handle, so we headed home. I'm finding the length or distance of our walks cannot be pre-determined. I have to watch his stress levels and if he starts having trouble, it is time to go home.

I have started playing Name Games with Skipper and Jethro, to build up their recall. I'm working with the Really Reliable Recall method. We are working our way up to a practicing three times a day, for building recall conditioning.

Silly trick training! I'm teaching jump into my arms....we're almost at the finished product now. Cute vid from partway through the process....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyCiIqh0iyM

Today I trained ME to pay more attention to my boys.
Body language, voice tone and all.

Harley was just better focus, super fun heel with tones of energy. Got to fix that come thing, he is either too close (like on my feet) or a bit far. Dexter was the best he can, slow but doing every thing ok.

Caramba (my horse) had better balance and was not leaning his left shoulder at the canter. Focused on even rein contact and poll up.

So I worked on ME

Worked on focus in the empty lot between a busy gas station and bank. Also worked on focus with a staring Manx cat. He did very good with the cat, he really hates cats. I just marked when he didn't look at it.

Its supposed to rain all day today but later we might do some heeling in the field and I could make him stay in the rain...he doesn't hate it that much.

It seems that one of my dogs....she will remain nameless ..has decided that she no longer has to do changes of position from a distance. NOT! Guess that will be on the training agenda for tomorrow. Snarky little bitch! Good thing she is cute. LOL

Did a sit stay in the rain (almost pouring)...my back to him...he was great until almost 2 minutes he laid down....so close. I corrected him by just walking up and repeating sit! I walked away and waited and looked back, him looking very miserable and rewarded him with a bunch of liver treats. Then played chuck-it fetch. Sorry Logan, for the torture.