Quote: Ariane Gauthier

So it goes this way with them. Name, lure, reward, then spend time fixing the mess.

Another post that made me burst out laughing.

Today we didn't do anything much cause I was sick. We did however work wait into anything Terra wanted to do. Today she started her day on the wrong foot with me.
I asked her to sit and wait for her breakfast, and she looked straight into my eyes and laid down. I corrected her with the word, nope, and asked her again, she sat and then looked at me and downed. So, I turned away from her (the other dogs are in position and waiting for their breakfast) and finished preparing the other dogs breakfast. Then I called bindi and cody individually to come for their food and do something, I think it was sit for Cody, stand for bindi. They got their food and Terra is laying there looking around like, "where is my food?" I asked for sit and wait, it was a miracle...ha! immediate obedience. SO the rest of her day anytime she wanted something, sit an wait.
Last night Bindi and I used her new puzzle, she did very well.
TOmorrow I will work with them as usual again.
Looks like I might have found someone near me who trains for rally at a club. I am going to talk with her tomorrow night. Very excited!
Bindi is doing better on her distance work. The mark is really helping her to stay at her place and not creep forward. May God bless your training and your dogs grasp the concepts you are training. Sharon

It is getting kind of cool/cold here so the dogs have some extra energy. I am trying to put that to good use.

Harley now do the rear cross pretty well in both directions. Weaves are starting to really look like weaves.

I should also take some time to do some nosework.

Dexter was a PITA today. He was in that crazy I want to play with you but only if it bugs you. He even sat on Harley's head while he was sleeping. But as soon as I try to get involved he would walk off. I put him on the leash and did some ob and trying to teach him a new trick.

I then brought them out play and hang out while I rode one of my older schoolie. Some hoe Dex decided that the horse tail was fun to chase. He is 3yo and never did that before. The good thing is that he is some what soft and a extremly harsh voice correction send him off to lay in the sun.

"Today we didn't do anything much cause I was sick. "

How are you feeling, Sharon?

Dear Connie: I am feeling tired and of course soon I will be better with the meds. Upper respiratory infections make you very tired. I have asthma so I have to be careful.
But today I did work with Bindi.
We went for a walk around the shopping center. Bindi enjoyed the attention of many people and they enjoyed her. SHe is doing much better with people. She thinks everyone wants to pay attention to her. Then we went into Petsmart and I practiced engagement with her inside the building. There were a lot of people around so she had lots of opportunities to be distracted, and me call her attention back on me with "Watch". she did well. I even took her into the grooming area, which she hates. She goes there to get her nails clipped. She was good, we went in and she was fed treats, and then we left. She was so happy to get her nails done.
After the RV show and the dogs went to bed in their crates. Bindi and I worked on her game with the box.(an empty box that she offers behaviors on) She has offered in the past to get in it, etc, and to push it around the house with her nose. But tonight she was scratching the top of the box. So i keyed on that and rewarded her. I think I will train her "scratch" and she will scratch on the ground. I also noticed she tapped in two times with her paw. I may train that behavior later on. Then we worked on our "fronts" and "finishes" and pivots to the left. She still needs some work on the pivots. She does ok, but not as good as I know she can do. We practiced mat, mark, and pivots on the mark. We did a little distance work on the mark using hand signals only. She did pretty well. She does not like to lay down on the mark, but she does it. We did a few recalls . We played a little, she didn't want to stop training. We did a few turns. 90 degree turns. I am trying to learn or execute my foot work . I think that is it. I got our her bone and she relaxed and chewed on it. then I put her to bed.
I am excited because the trainer I was waiting for is ready to teach rally o. I have two other trainers who I can go see. One monday night, and one wed morning. So, now I have to choose. I still have my original trainer. She is really helping me with training by lending me books to read. sharon

Still trying to get heeling tidy. My girl works pretty good on leash and at a good pace, I've tried upping the rewards, different treats, toys yet she still tends to lag???? and working my boy changing his commands to french to stop them both doing the same thing, he's getting better and drive for the tugs come along way but he's so much fun i keep forgetting obedience and end up just playing with him

what I did with my dogs to keep them up with me in heeling, is I quit going long distances with the heel. I take one step, and reward if the dog stays up with me. I do not move on until they keep up with the one step. Then I go two steps, etc. This has helped a lot. Also, Do you have any of Michael Ellis's videos on heeling and engagement. That video that helped me a lot. that might be something to think about. Sharon

Also, today I worked with Bindi on some of the behaviors in Rally O. we worked through
turns, heeling, pivots, fronts and finishes. This wed bindi and I go to interview a new trainer that we may be getting for rally o. I do not know anything bout this trainer so I will be asking some questions. so I want to get her ready for a real class. we have only worked on the different behaviors, I have never done a rally course. which I want to do and I want to be trained to do. Bindi did very well today and we took a little walk. The one thing she does on a regular walk is kinda moves out from my side but still stays in heel position. I am not working her in heel so I let it go, and when I tell her heel, she corrects herself. She did well, there were two dogs in the garden center with their owners. They came toward her, I moved her off, at first she was paying attention to them, but did get her attention through "watch me". I would prefer she just ignore other dogs.

Then I took the cody man to petsmart. He did absolutely wonderfully! He gets it now and knows at petsmart it is time for him to be brave and try things. he sniffs things, tries to get up on the fish department ladder, is just heeling along doing very well. Now going up to people, lets women pet him as I give him treats. Today we went on a small walk at the shopping center where petsmart is. He did very very well.
At home we worked on behaviors, and used the box again. He is very well as usual. I am looking forward to the day I can take Cody to training for proofing. He will just love it! And I hope to see what area he excels in. Treeball, or rally or lure coursing, or something.
Did nothing with Terra today. Ran out of energy.
sharon Tomorrow is treadmill day and outside play.

Thanks Sharon, I'll give it a go. I think it's more me and tend to get impatient and don't take it slow enough to build up to a good off leash heel!

Brad;
I'm prepping for my dog's BH, and I'm having the same problem, to a degree. I have to remember to take my time so that the dog has a chance to get it.
Slow down when you are heeling off-leash and concentrate more on keeping his attention than on where you're going. Put his tug under your left arm and make sure he's focused on it by rewarding with it frequently. Once you both get the hang of it, build distance. Start off along a wall or fence so that he doesn't have to worry about staying in position and concentrate on focus.

Last evening I took Sadie out to start proofing the BH routine. We went to a nearby playground as baseball and soccer teams were arriving for practice. There was someone in the batting cage, and the sound of the hits immediately caught her attention. I redirected her and she never broke on the sound after that. We didn't get too close to any of the kids (until after we finished training), but they were coming and going in the distance.

Sadie's onleash OB was okay, but not great. Even though others at the club feel her focus is adequate, I know it needs to be much better. When we transititoned from fast to slow, she got ahead and gave herself a correction on the prong when I slowed quickly.
Offleash wasn't as good. Although she made the turns and stops, she lagged at times, then overran me in the transition from fast to slow.
Our sit exercise was solid, but her down is still very slow. On the plus side, with all of the distractions she never broke a position and her focus on the pickups was good.
After we finished the downs, I threw a big party for her right there in front of everyone, then let her run in a field off to the side, using verbal cues to redirect her if she ran toward any activity. I also threw in a couple of whistle recalls. It was a blast and a true pleasure to see my distance work pay off under distraction.

Although the OB was just okay, it was a great session. We went to a new field and worked under moderate distractions, and she stayed engaged. The things we need to work on became even more clear.

Agility class this morning. Class was inside as it is getting cold here.

Harley was very good during his turn but a nut case waiting. I had to use one of Harley favorit winter trick to make him calm down some. "LAP" were he is permitted to lay on me. Very useful in winter when I teach for long hours and he won't stay in the house, AKA driving my BF crazy.

We changed our contact from 2 on 2 off to just running contact as I am way too slow to work any other way. This stop him from run back to me over the obstacle.

Our crosses are getting there and I am still working on the 2 x2 weaves.

Harley is still the fastest dog in class but also the most confident. The handle on the other handler kind of suck at time.

Our biggest challange are tight turn over the jumps as Harley goes so fast he cover a lot of distance over the jumps and when he lose me direction he just improvise his own course. After all who need a slow clumsy handler.

Only one other dog in class now work for food or toy but it is so funny to see the golden as every thing he does is slow and soft.

I have fun, now if Harley could snooze after class that would be good.

And today it is too cold for Dex. Not freezing point yet but I had to drag him out of the house. At the moment he is hibernating. Maybe later I will get him to do some stuff but now it is hope less. ZZZzzz!