Didn't get a chance to post yesterday. Did a bit of a mish mosh of things during their session yesterday. Did some recalls with them as a pair. Enclosed area, no real distraction. Then did a down stay with one, and took the other like 20-30 feet away and did some work on "look". Then down stayed that one and went back and forth between them. One working the stay, the other working the look. Then, I gambled and did off leash heeling for the first time. Surprisingly, even though I didn't have a real "plan" for it, they both did really good. Only did it for a second, and only once apiece. But it was cool. Still, kinda flying by the seat of my pants here. Still have a lot to learn.

A little heeling, Send Aways and Recall, recall, recall - as per the new video. There were some pieces I was missing in there. It's a great vid. I highly recommend it.

Good tracking this morning. The third track is starting to resemble the tracks I was doing before I implemented the Patterson system, in complexity and length. Some days she wants to skip over the unbaited scent pad; today she took her time and checked it out systematically, almost in a grid search pattern.

She has started to understand the OB element of tracking. Distractions are usually overwhelming to some extent, but now she will resume tracking on command, even when there is something she would like to check out. Trying to get to the point where she will totally ignore the distraction, but today's garbage truck (and minions) was just a little too close.

Articles are still a huge distraction. She was really sound on them before I went to this system. I can't put my finger on why. Also having a little trouble moving back on the line. At times she seems a little too dependent on me pushing her.

Nosework with Harley. Trickier hide and some easy one.
In a close cabinet, on top of a portable heater, in a stach of jump poles, in the spare tire of the horse rig, in a traffic cone and on a top shelf of the storage area.

He was a bit of a spaze when he could not get his nose very close to the traget as if he knew when it was but could not figure out how to let me know.

He would go around, run, bark, jump, stand on his back legs, tried to jump on me, nose my treat bag.

I just waited for him to calm down and point/look at where the traget was.

Did some basic ob with Dexter, he was good even seem happy and motivated. With him less is realy more. But new stuff is so hard even with baby steps. Still trying to get a send around, still at luring around the cone.

Got crazy busy, and didn't get a chance to "work" the dogs. Only their normal daily stuff.
But, on a good note.... I got the Michael Ellis recall DVD!
Very excited to start over on that one! So much good info there.

Today Bindi and I worked on heeling, and turns, 90 degree turns. I need to work on my foot work, will do that tomorrow. She did well. We even worked on backing up in heel position. She is a great dog. I am looking forward to being a better trained Master.
We had fun. I got a late start today so the rest of the dogs haven't been trained yet, it got so hot. Today is was a chilly 97 degrees. Whew!

Some fetch game and more nosework with the traget way out of reach. So harley has to show me but can't pull it out and get to the target just the smell.

Did so easy stuff with Dex but I need to be more fun for him. I feel like a cheerleader with a very not impress crowd. The good thing is Dexter is every body favorit but me. All my clients and friends would pick him and offer to baby sit him but no one want Harley. Don't know why, must be something about the fact that Harley never stop and Dexter rarely go.

Proud of my girl...even if it means going out in the yard for tug at 9:45 pm. Best game of tug since I got her.

Went to the club this evening. Worked on segments of our BH routine, including reporting in with another dog and heeling through crowd. Worked on long down while two other dogs did their OB routines. Did some jumps, heeled with gunfire, and some out-of-motion exercises.

After OB, I put Sadie away (usual routine), watched the Rottie do some agitation with our primary helper, and caught the pitbull.

When we came home, Sadie came out of her travel kennel ready for action. She brought in the newspaper (for which she gets a very special treat), then she grabbed her squeaky dumbbell and began to initiate some engagement. Carpe noche, right? This is something I've been waiting on for a year and a half, so I grabbed her Orbee and outside we went for a great game of tug, complete with some beautiful outs and focus.

Great walk in the wood. First wild turkey so recall pratice. Harley so want one for dinner.

Deer ran off in the hay field, both dog where off before I could see them as they were a bit ahead of me. They both came back. Dexter slowed down and troted back, so good for him. Harley did a frontend turn around too fast for the backend and nearly fall off his feet shoting back to me. I was out of treat (all used on the wild turkey) So I used the leash to play tug to reward them.

Didn't even get to post yesterday.
Tried to work on the "look" command. I try to do it marker training style. And I am consistently surprised at how bad I am at that. Like, I watch videos of people doing it badly, and thing "god they're terrible..... I would never do that THAT badly". The I precede to do it just as bad or worse. It's really a train wreck. I use the wrong words when trying to mark. I say the right mark multiple times. I fumble for the treats in the pouch behind me. Or I drop them. It's really almost comical how many things I screw up in 5 minutes!
So....
Today, I worked on heeling ON A BIKE!!!!
Yeah!
I do a lot of harness sports (weight pull, bikejoring, etc...) with them, but I decided to also develop a tighter "beside/Heeling" style of bike riding.
Now, that went AWESOME. Definitely challenging.
Milo gets really amped, and wants to forge ahead, or nip my ankles out of excitement.
Bella is really environmentally challenged. So having to stay next to the bike is hard for her.
Mabel heels like a champ.... but will eat any living thing if I'm not on top of it.
But despite their individual challenges, they kicked ass!