I don't blame Dexter and Harley for wanting to stay inside and out of that type of weather!

It has been warm the last few days here. Around the 60's to 70's. Today was Bindi's rally training day. She did very well, I was feeling pretty ill and shaky but that didn't deter my bindi girl. She only messed up once and didn't drop quickly into her down as she usually does doing the moving down. She did very well though. Proud of her. Only snag was someone didn't keep their eye on their dog and while Bindi was in her crate, (door closed) it came up and put its nose against the crate. Bindi felt that was very rude and began barking, the other dog barked back and that ticked Bindi off and she was really upset. She quieted when I told her to. (I was walking the rally course and she was put away in her crate) Other than that, she did well. Once out of the crate she was not the least bit interested in that dog who sat right next to us. Bindi isn't aggressive toward dogs, she just does not have much interest in them...especially at school. when she trains she is dead serious and even when I try and break and play with her, she really doesn't want to. She does play however when we are at home.

I had a question. She goes down when I saw down and give the hand signal. For rally to make sure she goes down really quick, do you think I should get her speed up and use the cue "drop" or should I try and perfect her down with the old cue down.

I am very thankful today that I got to go to training and be with my Bindi girl. She is doing very well.
Tuesday night Terra goes to her first night at school. I am taking her to proof what she does know in a strange place and see how she will respond with new people, sounds and dogs.
cody, still working on fear issues.
Sharon

 Quote: Duane Hull

and worked on some "platz", which I'm differentiating from her "down".

Sharon;
I haven't had any luck getting her to improve her down, which I a poor job of when I laid her foundation, so I decided to reteach it as a new behavior, and am having some success. I did the same thing with her "fuss". I had taught a loose "heel" previously, and wanted it sharper for trials.

Did some very good ob work in the barn. Then we played with our 2x2 and some nosework. The nosework was kind of wild. Harley was running maddly, jumping, barking and what not. He also killed a bag of shaving.

It was colder today then yesterday and tomorrow with the windchill it is going to be near -38F. Going from the house to the barn is a challange, even playing in the indoor is out. My chuck it ball is frozen hard in 2 trows, and the dogs are shivering.

I got Dexter to play fetch again in the house. That must be the good side of the deep freeze. Dexter now actualy what to do stuff as long as it is not outside or in the barn.

bindi does a good down, but with rally you have the moving down. I would like to see her drop quicker, so been thinking of teaching her a drop command. That way as we move in the heel, and I say drop, she would just drop.
You have encouraged me. Thank you.
Today I watched a video where the instructor talked about making a dictionary of all the words your dog knows, with it list the physical cues. I am wondering what physical cues all of you use. I want cues that bindi can see from a distance. I have never participated in competition obedience before but if I get the privilege I want my physical cues for Bindi to be able to be seen from a distance. So would any of you mind sharing with me with your physical cues you use for your dogs? Thanks
Things we are working on:
Bindi- Begin the drop, and practice her scratch cue.
Terra-heel, wait, come, sit practice
Cody- place, heel, front, cue.
Me- making my cues perfectly clear, going over my word cues and making sure that there aren't any that sound similar to others. Practicing the rally signs, and my posture in heel.

have a great time training your pups. sharon

today all the dogs and I worked on: down, wait, enough (being quite when barking).
later we worked on:
Bindi: scratch cue, drop cue, come, play with her with tug.
cody: place cue, front, heel, wait, come (review)
Terra: come, heel, sit, down, wait (review)

Me=review rally cards, work on each dogs dictionary.

Enjoy hearing what you are doing, May God bless all your training efforts.
Sharon and her pups, Terra, Bindi, Cody.

Health update: Terra blood work- came back normal. Cody- His blood work came back normal low. Both have improved greatly.

Two more firsts for Sadie... Tonight at the club, I got her to play tug under distraction (a familiar dog doing OB 25 feet away).
She also did her first dumbbell retrieves over a jump.

A few months ago, I didn't think she would progress much further than we had already gotten. Now she seems to be blossoming.

When I made plans to track this morning, I didn't realize that we'd have a very stiff breeze. Also didn't count on a tractor 75 ft away and a construction crew in the distance.
I was careful to watch how I laid my track, and Sadie did well, albeit a little squirrelly on the crosswind legs and two of the turns. She seemed very goal-oriented (a big step up from just looking for bait) and worked through it all like a champ.
We extended the bait-free start, moving 15 paces downwind. I varied lots of factors; bait frequency, stride length, length of legs, etc. Totalled four turns, four articles, and up to 12 paces between baits.

After removing the flags, she heeled all the way back to the truck, 200m, in an excellent focused fuss. Attributed that to a higher value reward that she usually doesn't get for regular OB.

We then played tug 50-75 ft from the tractor and two workers. I got a refusal at first, but I made my presentation more dynamic, gave her a miss, and BAM, she engaged. She got more intense as we played, so I did too, lifting her off the ground and growling at her (she loves that). One little issue; she anticipated the last out. I'll have to remember to not always sit her before the out.
Next, we did some holds and brrrings with the dumbbell, at the same distance from the crew (which was no longer a distraction at this point). We then did a sit and down out-of-motion. I released her for a run and practiced my redirection/proximity cues, as she now wanted to go check out everything that she had previously ignored.
I had mistakenly left the door to the truck open. When I said "we're done", she ran and jumped in the cab. Didn't have the heart to make her get in the portapet. Let her enjoy the ride home with me.

It has been so cold that not much was done in the last few days. Even the indoor arena was too cold.

So today was 2x2 class and it was a class full of crazy high energy dogs. Well one was crazier.

Harley gets the concept but our entry suck, it showed that we were short on work. The weather will be more normal for the next week so more fun time in the forcast.

smart dog, say an opportunity and took it! sharon

Yes, Sharon...at the risk of tooting my horn, I think it's a good example of how well a dog can understand "We're done", and apply it. She stayed engaged for 45 min, then turned off immediately.

It has also become a good aid for household behavior.