Yeah, poor Sadie. Today you'd think I never feed her or take her anywhere. It's 8:50 am and we've alreday tracked and done some out-of-motion exercises, had breakfast, and now she's laying by the door giving me the stink eye because I won't take her outside RIGHT NOW. Little does she know that when I'm finished my coffee, she's getting a bath.

Her drive was over-the-top this morning. I laid a long (250m) complex track, yet all components were stuff she can do easily. I reintroduced articles and worked some more on letting some line out. The first part of the track was easier and more heavily baited than the intermediate and final portions. In the middle was a 90m leg with only a couple of bait patches to keep her going. I then laid a short incentive track to do first. My intent was that if she didn't want to track, I was gonna abandon the training track.
By the time she finished the incentive track, she was so excited that she was sleddogging it. When we started the long track, she was so frantic that she was sll over the place and blowing easy turns. Then all of a sudden, something clicked. She hit a nice unbaited stretch and settled in, and was exceptional through the remainder of the more difficult, unbaited sections. She was good on the articles, but I helped her by giving her a "down" as soon as she reached them, thinking it would keep her confidence up if she nailed them the first time.
I did some engagement to get her drive maxed again and did some OB. She was solid from the get, so I finished up, threw a party, let her run, and called it a morning. Now I'm the meanest dad in the world. Wicked hormones.

Did some nosework with Harley. Tonight I used coton balls. i placed 12 unscented and 2 scented ones on the kitchen floor.

He was very good found both with clean indication.
I used just one drop of oil to scent the coton balls.

Dexter went for a bike ride but was a bit tired and slow.

Nice track with Harley. About 500m, last leg was 200m, many turns some wide some tight left and right.

I did place 2 ramdom reward on the track but other wise no baits.

I just enroll Harley in an agility class for the fall.

Yesterday Harley did some more nosework with the coton balls, he was perfect! Sniff, indicated, moved to the next traget.

Today I after I gave a jumping lesson I had the dogs play with the jumps too. Harely did send over, fetch over and some agility stuff.

Dexter too did play over the jumps, he also find that going under can be fun.

So no serious stuff today but it was coldish so during a break in a lesson. I though that Harley could warm me up some so I used many known command to get him up on the bench then lay in my lap, all 80# of him, how cute

Cuteness ended when he decided to leap onto one of my student lap and lick her her face clean then he flew off then back of the bench.

Oh my gosh! I bet that was funny! Hopefully no one is hurt. Sometimes I find something new I want to train while I am training something else. Lately Terra has decided in the morning when she wakes up, and gets ready to go outside, she stretches, (looks like a bow to me) So, I am going to start rewarding her for that and see what happens.

Back from camping, situations presented themselves and I mostly worked on Leave it! Watch me!, and wait. My Cody went crazy after a gopher on the other side of our little dog fence we take camping with us. Couldn't calm him down, had to take him inside. He hunts gophers at home. He knows leave it, and watch me, but the gopher only 3 feet away was just too much for him. We will be working on that.

Didn't do much other training, let the dogs just explore and have fun camping.

Did have a training question. This morning I was training my dog bindi, she is about 4 years old, a rescue (at one year) and I was working on her doing distance work. She knows the hand signals, but today would not respond to them during distance work. She is a creeper and when I step away she will creep toward me little by little as I give each hand signal. I have tied her up and of course she knows she can't creep and doesn't. I have worked with her on this for at least a month. When tied she won't creep, when untied, she continues to creep. Today I could tell she was confused, I was frustrated trying to figure out what I can do that will get the message across that she is not to creep. Before when she creeps I have taken her back to her original position and started over, this hasn't worked. I have shaken my head "no" which will usually stop her in her tracks, but this hasn't worked either. I do not have the experience training dogs to know what to do. SHe is a very soft dog and doesn't like to make mistakes. When she senses she has done something incorrectly, she puts herself back in position and tries again. I know she knows the hand signals but now is second guessing herself. How can I communicate clearly to her, without breaking her little dog enthusiasm? Any suggestions greatly appreciated. Bindi is usually very obedient. I do not have a video recorder to record it for you.
Here is what I do. Since it is so hot I take her out in the front under the awning and just do some heeling, front, finish, heel positions. She does great. Today I worked with her on leave it and dropped pieces of cooked chicken on the ground- she did great. Then I had her sit and dropped the leash and asked her to come, then to front, she did great. Next I asked her to down with hand signals, she did great, sit with hand signals, she did great, stand with hand signals great- all because I was close to her. Then distance. Hooked her leash to the bumper of our car in the driveway, walked her to the end of her leash, left her in sit and walked about 2-3 feet from her. Then I asked her to down, all hand signal, she did fine, then I asked the stand, she hesitated, (she couldn't creep forward) and did nothing. She had room even though tethered. Asked for stand nothing. Later did it fine without her being tethered. So, help please.Sharon

Worked on right side heel position and spin around in front of me to heel position, shes almost got it in one sweeping spin but not quite there.

It's funny to watch when shes excited she will sometimes spin 360 around and around me, "is this what you want daddy"

Sharon I'm just guessing here but it's possible you need to work the down more in non distracting areas before adding distance. Have you generalized the down in different contexts, can Bindi hold a down in front of other people, with other dogs around, a cat or the gopher?

Yes, Bindi holds a down very well with distractions. One that does bother her is the bouncing of a ball near her. However, other than that she does very well. I think she knows she is doing something wrong, not understanding she is creeping toward me, and does not want to make an error so she just isn't doing anything. Tonight when I put her to bed right now, and I used the hand signal for stand, she hesitated and didn't do anything. I just asked for a sit, and a down and she did them fine, then went back to the stand hand signal and she did stand and I rewarded her. However, she is not on a leash. I really do not know what to do to help her to understand she is doing the moves correctly, its the creeping that is wrong. I am at a loss. I can tell she is very discouraged. I think in a couple of minutes I will get her out and work some real easy stuff for her and try and build her confidence. But as to how to teach her to do the signals at a distance and not creep, I do not know how to communicate this to her. She has never worked with a cat, but in front of other dogs yes, and other people yes. It isn't the position that she doesn't know. She is second guessing herself. I am not making myself clear to her.
That is what I need help on. Like I said before, when I attach her leash to something and she can't creep, she won't. But even after a month of not being able to creep, once the leash comes off, she creeps. Help appreciated. Sharon

Edited by Sharon Empson (09/29/2012 11:44 PM)
Edit reason: more information needed

ok just finished going through some behaviors she performs easily to help build her confidence. We had a lot of fun. Then I asked her for the behaviors using hand signals only for down, sit, stand. She did them. But was hesitant when I asked, she was worried about making a mistake. Once she did it (without a leash) she was her old self again. I think I am just going to stick to the mark (a square piece of wood my husband made for the dogs to learn pivot rear foot work. She stands with her front feet on.) rather than on tethering her, at least for a while. But still looking for any advise I can get. Will work more on generalizing her behaviors all around town too.
Thanks. sharon