Tracking rained out Saturday.
Tracked on a virgin field today. A nearby junior high school has a large field that gets no traffic and is well-maintained. The front gate was left open all weekend, so we went there this morning. Excellent tracking with no ants. All phases were solid; sure, methodical, thorough tracking, good indication on the article.Later in the day we did a couple of OB sessions, emphasizing focus (look, fuss) and heel position.

I have created a "lookie" monster. Now that I have been working alot on the "look" command, Sadie associates it with treats, and she is offering that behavior all the time. I can't sit down and relax, because she'll come sit in front of me and start ataring me in the eyes. Talk about spooky...

Brought Harley to a small horse show, it was very hot so he was less excitable. He was a super star! Convince many that Dobes are not crazy killer dogs.

Did some ob there too.

When I am teaching engagement my pups do that too. Sometimes I feel bad for them as they follow me around and stare at me.

Today was 106 degrees at 6:30 in the evening. We were very hot. Didn't do much. Played games, a puzzle, and then a bowling pin game of go touch. Perhaps tomorrow
we can get out early and do some things as we walk.
Sharon

Well it is way cooler today, ok I am freezing but the dogs love it.
Played with some ob in high drive (ball on string) He was good fast with a good out. The down in motion was not perfect, it was more at first like a crawl in motion. The rest was good to me. Heel close to me, nice postion in sit and down. Lots of barking to in the begining. He love that ball.

He was not happy to end the session. he rip the ball out of my hand. Got a good voice correction, which worked fine.

He was very excitable this morning. He crashed over an oxer as he was running lap around the training ring. He is ok.

I don't know if I should call it exuberance or excitability but he sure was one bouncy pup.

Last night and this morning we worked on focus and on article indication.
Tracking at home this morning. Repeated same three tracks as Sunday on a different field. Third track has almost no bait now, and I reduced the bait on the first track.
I added a longer tracking line to the equation, and worked pn letting her step out to the end of the line and feel the pressure. She was fine on the first two straight tracks. However, she got a little confused on the last unbaited track when the line was tight and she was expecting to find bait. I choked back up until I was right behind her and we finished successfully.

Sleep quietly in the morning while Betty drinks coffee ---- pup
Drive 32 head from 2nd to 1st pasture w/o drawing fire from bull who is trying to work and doesn't see why we need to go NOW, i.e. coax bull along w/o pissing him off--Pinker

Love it Betty!!!!

Nice OB on-leash. Practiced stops, changing pace, backing, orientation. Removed the leash , did a beautiful sit-in-motion, then released her for her evening run (which included some long distance recalls under distraction).
After the run, I tied her to the fence and did some position changes from increasing distance.

Now we're cooling down so that she can eat in a little while.

Some days are diamonds; some days are dust.

Club night last night. Club meeting to discuss plans for trial, combined with a flooded field, broke the training routine. Sadie was put off by being left on the side during the meeting. She was reactive and hard to engage. Did try to work on the long down, but she crept and broke the down repeatedly. Discouraging after the good work last week.

Tracking this a.m. was just okay. Article at the end of the second track was a huge distraction. Between tracks, she was a handful; distracted and unresponsive to leash pressure. Third track (unbaited) was a little challenging at first, but once she got going she tracked better than she did on that track Tuesday.

The problem is probably a change I made in her feeding... Wanting to increase her food drive (to build better engagement), I've been withholding her meals until after training. This, or something I'm not getting, is causing her to be frenetic and more distracted. Guess I'll resume her regular feeding schedule and decrease rewards during training.

Well there is some strange thing going on here!

Dexter has speed and food drive and he is even willing to try new stuff.

Harley will NOT down on voice commande. He will down on hand signal and to indicated article and target. He is also slow and not as playful as he should be. He is also reactive to sound (he barks) He seem sound, eat well and poop is good, drink normally.

All other thing are good with him, sit, stand, come, heel, around and what not, but down will no happen without a vocal correction first.

I got to think about this one