We skipped OB at the club last night, except for long downs while another dog did his OB.
We worked on drive building. TD had some really cool tips and observations that will not just help me work with Sadie, but also with my decoy training. Sadie offered some really nice barking.
We finished the night with some really good dumbbell work. I think her rapid progression through the dumbbell training is one of the accomplishments that I'm most proud of.

Day 2 of the 2x2 for Dexter was much better. We did move forward! He was very energetic for himself.

Dexter the begining of 2x2 weaves
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljtOXfEWNpQ

Harley did some nosework. Again just one hide but he had to search the full barn and tack room. He was very good but stop at some horse feed on the ground. I had to remind him to find it.
His weaves are getting good too.

Harley the 2x2 weaves ready to add a 3rd set
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywvIKgw1eWk

Ariane;

Harley is learning this easily. Dexter looks like he's enjoying it, also. In the videos, both dogs are looking for the treat before they finish the exercise, and you are throwing before they get through the sets.
Would they be sharper if you didn't mark until they completed which ever set you were marking? As well as Harley is doing, I'm not sure I would be throwing the bait ahead of him. Do you think it would work if you marked him at the end, and let him come to you for the reward? From what I can see, you're still luring him, and he is anticipating, but he knows what to do.

Because I have worked for the last 21 days, and it rained daily until about 6 days ago, Sadie and I have not tracked in over a month. We did a little refresher track before I came to work this morning, followed by a short OB session.

Sadie was super-amped about tracking, and I laid it on too small of a field. Because of this, she was edgy and wanting to jump from one leg to the adjacent leg to access bait she could smell. All-in-all, she did okay, but I need to pay more attention to how I set her up. Hopefully, now that the days are getting longer, we can resume a schedule that is more like the schedule we had when we started last spring.

After tracking, we did some OB. We worked on position changes from 7 ft, entering the "fuss", sits and downs out of motion, and fronts.

I also took some time to furminate, and then I emptied the five-gallon bucket full of hair that I have accumulated over the past month. All said and done, I am really happy that I forsaked an hour of work this morning to spend the time with my dog.

 Quote: Duane Hull

Ariane;

Harley is learning this easily. Dexter looks like he's enjoying it, also. In the videos, both dogs are looking for the treat before they finish the exercise, and you are throwing before they get through the sets.
Would they be sharper if you didn't mark until they completed which ever set you were marking? As well as Harley is doing, I'm not sure I would be throwing the bait ahead of him. Do you think it would work if you marked him at the end, and let him come to you for the reward? From what I can see, you're still luring him, and he is anticipating, but he knows what to do.

Thanks Duane

Actually my coach on friday said that I throw too late. In agility you want the dog to go ahead. Also there will be many more pole set in the future (12 poles in total)

I have to trust that Harley will go in the last set and trow the reward when his nose goes in the last set not his head.

Adding the 3rd set was confusing for Harley. At first I hasd all 3 set place in a stair case then the first 2 in line then all 3 in line. Next week we should be able to add obstacles before or after the 6 poles and beready to name the game.

Dexter is now at 2 sets at 4' and each set is place at 9 and 2 o'clock. He is still very happy to try and not giving up but he has a bit of trouble when the entry is not in the reward line.
This week once Dexter is more solid the angle of the sets will be more closed untill they are pararell to each other but offset by about 1 foot. It may take more time for Dexter to get there.

Here it starts to feel like spring may arrive one day regard less of the 6" of slush we got this week

I was excited this morning because I had enough daylight to track before going to work. The weather was mild, and I had a great time in the fresh air laying a nice, challenging track for Sadie. If I had known what lay ahead, I'd have just gotten ready for work and gone in on time.

Sadie was eager but a little rusty and hurried. I had not baited the pad or first twelve feet to the first article. She sniffed twice at the pad, tracked at a lope, then stopped at the article but didn't indicate. Instead, she was airsniffing, trying to determine if there was bait anywhere ahead (I was upwind from the first baited section). I commanded her to down, had her wait while I picked up the article, and resumed my position at the end of the line.

I gave the "such" command, and this time she started out fine, On the third step, she hit the first bait patch at the beginning of a long baited leg, and she settled in nicely. She made the turn, after which was another twelve steps unbaited to an article, with a crosswind. She tracked fine, but again refused to indicate on the article. I helped her again, after which she again settled and finished the baited section nicely, even in the crosswind, albeit a little off to the side at times.

Just as she made the turn into the wind and I braced myself for her to struggle on the unbaited section, her neighborhood nemesis, an unleashed JRT-mix who loves to mark our front yard while Sadie watches from inside our fenced back yard, appears dead ahead, 75 yards across the field. He is barking like he owns the field, too. Naturally, Sadie's head comes up. I lose my cool and am shouting at the butthead to scram, while at the same time trying to give Sadie corrections with the fursaver and commands to resume tracking.

Poor Sadie tries to track, but the distraction is too much, and every few feet her head comes up. Naturally she skipped over the article on that leg (I just picked it up and kept going). Finally, the owner of the little tyrant hears the commotion and calls him inside. I calmed myself and helped her finish the track, including helping her on the last article.

Tomorrow starts remedial tracking again.

Yesterday I took all dogs out and trained them.
Cody=fear issues and walking farther at the shopping center. He did well. He even greeted a toddler (danger zone) and was very gentle. He loves kids.
Terra- is learning to heel. she has done very well. She just prances along so happy. She is making great progress. Tonight she goes to class, we will see how she does there.
Bindi- worked on rally o cards, and heeling. She did very well. Today we were playing with a bell and using the clicker to mark the behavior of her touching the bell with her nose. She did very well. She is pretty quick. When she comes in contact with people I have decided to have her do behaviors to lessen her stress. She loves people but hates people petting her. She is never aggressive or anything like that, you can just tell she doesn't like it. Instead of petting we will offer the behavior, shake, touch their hand and then wave good bye. She knows each of these things, but we will implement them into our visits.
Will be gone this weekend, so won't be training, going to catherine Zinksy obedience seminar that my husband got me for christmas. So, will check back in when I get back.
Future training- bindi- advanced rally signs, and retrieving. She isn't really interested in retrieving. Cody- fronts. fear issues. Terra- waits, heeling, and finding heel position.
Bindi- teaching her the "at ease" cue (laying near me in resting position) and extending her time inside her crate at training. Doing this in preparation for a dog trainer seminar I am going to in April.
Keep up the great work everyone. As the weather improves I know we will get right back at it.
Sharon and her pups Bindi Cody Terra

"Instead of petting we will offer the behavior, shake, touch their hand and then wave good bye. She knows each of these things, but we will implement them into our visits."

And explain before people can touch her that instead of petting this is what she does? That sounds great, Sharon!

OB on the broad grassy strip next to a highway after a morning walk - heeling, sit in motion etc. Did pretty good.

Remedial track this morning, after some off-track article work to get her focused on finding the articles. Concentrated on primary scent motivation and article indication. She did very well.

Last evening, we worked on out-of-motion exercises and entering the "fuss". I then released her for her run, but gave her some random recalls, and started introducing the concept of long-distance downs (actually, down anywhere, any time I tell you). She will do okay with that. Naturally, she wanted to come toward me, but she quickly figured out that she wouldn't get marked until she downed. We did a couple more of these after I released her from the track this morning.