Toy identification.
Tuckers nailed:
Duck
Bone
Squirrel
Kong (that one is easy as he often brings it to me and lays it at my feet when he feels he needs a treat..lol)
My dilema is his collection of balls (no smartass comments)
If I say ball he'll grab the closest one.
So I think im going to try and give them each different indicators and see how that goes.

Yucky weather (first snow, then rain) kept us inside today. Lenney worked on her basic OB commands, I worked on timing (that split second between "yes" and giving the reward) and also on maintaining neutral body position when giving verbal commands. Also trying to retrain her from a "Lean Back Into It Sit" to a "Keep Weight on Front Legs and Scoot Butt Under Sit" -- made some progress on it (-: The best part was her smile again afterwards -- I think she would have been happy to do more when I finished our sessions. Despite all my worries about the whole "establishing pack structure" thing, I am really continuing to see great results -- including how happy she seems to be just doing stuff with me!

Some weeks ago I went to a tracking meet and discovered that everyone else crated their dog when travelling. I was surprised at how relaxed all the dogs were in their crates when they were not working...they were just chilling out! I had Lusi in a harness at the time when travelling.

Since then, I've worked hard to improve Lusi's perception of her crate. We had made some strides in our agility classes in the fall and after the session finished I continued to work on the crate games.

Today was the first time I moved the crate into the truck so that I could take Lusi down to the barn. The drive is about an hour and a quarter each way and Lusi travelled and then waited peacefully, all curled up cozily in her crate for me in the truck while I worked the horse. We had lunch together and a long walk and then returned to the barn for a second session with the horse.

When we got home Lusi had another walk and this evening she is one happy Dal and I am one happy Dal owner knowing how happy she will be whenever we are travelling, at the barn or at a competition or meet.

We had a bit of an adventure today. Our house is being renovated and we have a renovation fence around the perimeter of the property. I have been giving Jethro some off leash time in the yard to build his confidence and calm in relation to life outside the yard, and also to build his off leash recall and responsiveness. We were busy working on the property and I suddenly noticed things were very quiet and Jethro wasn't on his usual couch/lookout on the front porch. With a thudding heart I checked the front gate and it was latched, but I still couldn't see him anywhere on the property. I started whistling, one of his many signals that I am looking for him. Sure enough, he comes from around the corner, out on the sidewalk, walking toward the front gate. He had slipped out of the yard somehow and was out in the big, wide world.

I kept my voice light and fun, and welcomed him to me, out on the sidewalk. He came to me happily for a scratch. I gently took his collar and guided him into the yard and up onto the gated front porch. Whew!

I am even more motivated to keep up with our program, and continue building his relationship to me and his recall. It was almost as if he knew that this was just too strange, for him to be out like that, and he sought the familiar place of being near me rather than separated. I don't know. I do feel darn lucky.

And then I found where the fence had parted, giving him a quiet escape route.

Juno and I have still been praciticng agility. Tunnel, chute, jump, table, weave poles, A-frame, tire, dog walk; I think everything but teeter. We have combined and talked about cross overs. I really haven't paid much attention to the lingo used in agility yet, sorry. We have been focusing on entering and exiting properly, OB before starting; and having FUN.

It is simply amazing the personality changes and accomplishments this guy has gone through over the year. He hasn't showed avoidance much since we started this and just a little bit of distractability/loss of focus in between rounds. And then of course there is me and my keeping up and ready to give direction of what is next that needs work. A lot of fun and bonding

deleted, duplicate post

Before work this morning, Sadie was being a little stubborn; she likes to be right in the middle of things while I'm getting dressed. She refused the "Back" command twice, so I called a timeout and took her to the "work area" (den for indoor work) where we "danced". This is Sadie's favorite heeling exercise and includes some backing; some on command and some at heel. We then did some straight-up "backs", some "looks", and then outside for a brief off-lead walk, which is a reward for a good session. While outside, we also had a brief game of tug. She's just now to the point of adding rules, so we did one "out", a "we're done", then I released her for a quick lap around the open field.
P.S. She's not usually allowed in the bedroom while I'm getting ready to go somewhere, but she's been very good lately and that serves as kind of a reward. Too bad she abused the privelege, but the resulting timeout was very productive.

Intro'd teeter yesterday and crossovers while pracicting agility. He did surprisingly well on the teeter with the platz at the center. I'm going to make a wobble board today to work with him with that unstable ground feeling

Confidence is up quite a bit, 'played' with the bite pillow post the teeter exercise and he was willing and holding head up, initating interaction vs avoidance. Happy boy

Down stays with the dogs 2+ acres away on the other end of the field, for 20 minutes while I chatted with a friend on my cell. Shrug...gotta pass that time somehow. Sometimes my male will creap a litte on long downs...working on stopping that.

Thanks to overtime at work, and a heat cycle, we missed four months of club time. Last night it was back to the club, where we resumed our work on reactivity and socialization. Tried to engage her to play on the field, but she was too out-of-sorts and the distractions and scents were too much. Got a lot of pointers from the head trainer and helper about transferring the solid work she does at home to the field and going back to basics on the recall, as I'm still having the occasional refusal from across the lot.
Today, it was homework again, and she was flawless as is often the case. Gotta get out more and getting her to engage in different places.

Edited by Duane Hull (02/23/2012 04:42 PM)
Edit reason: lost count