Today we worked on Fluency in some of bindi's new behaviors. We worked on speed in the recall. That was about all we did. I did take Cody to Petsmart, and even though he hadn't been for a long time he did wonderfully. He was eager to greet people, even men and we even walked up and down the walk way out in front of the stores, he did wonderfully. we ended soon due to heat, at 10:30 it was over 80 degrees! Now it is 7:23 and it is 90! Yep, summer is here.
Love sharon and her pups.
Happy Mothers day all you moms, of children and pets.
Oh, I am training my ciclid and he has learned to swim through a hoop and now I am training him to touch a target stick, and soon to follow it. he is a smart little fish, his name is Dudley.

Today I went next door to practice some agility.

First time of the year outside with a light rain. It is nice to have a lot of room but Harley can pick up a lot of speed.

It was very interesting to see how he got confused about the weave poles. At the club they were on one solid ground bar. At home they are hold up in cones. There they have to 6 pole track but there is a space between pole 6 and 7. Harley stoped, jumped, missed some poles.
I did back off to 6 poles no problem there then I did 6 pole a large gap then the next 6 still very good. So I will work on closing the gap.

The tether is much faster moveing but that was ok, the tire is smaller still ok. My horses running in the back ground a huge distraction yet at home hedoes not care about them!

With all the extra room it was easier for me to work on my front and rear cross and report to hand stuff. I need more room for me to move and think as Harley cover a lot of ground and fast.

I then watch my friend work her young BC. He is quiet big for a BC and not soft at all. Yet he want to please and work well.
My friend mention that with a large tail less dog turns need more work to keep them tight. I luck is that he has a lot of drive to go forward to the obstacle, so I don`t have to run as much as I do.

So much fun to watch and learn for a pro handler, she also use to do IPO. She said that how tracking is looking good especially because the field we use has a lot of traffic

I am lucky to have this dog as my biggest problem is managing all that energy!

Ariane; You are doing great with the big boy. Be thankful that he keeps you active. You will both live longer.

Sharon; You may have taught Dudley this already, but I had an Oscar that I taught to come to the surface and lay on his side to be petted (of course, he had no desire to be petted, but he really wanted that goldfish!). I could also get him to stick his nose up out of the water.

Work is really interfering with our training, and rain all weekend cancelled tracking. We are getting in a little kitchen and backyard work. Per something that Bob said and Steve pointed out, I have been eliminating body cues from my commands and have started doing position changes with my back to Sadie, as well as adding distance.

Nice weather for tracking so we did that this morning.

I set Harley's track about 1km and did some barn work to let it age. It was mostly on short to medium grass but also some sand/dirt, mud puddle, rough bushes and fallen branches to go over. Baites here and there but most of them on a 250m straight path.

I then layed a track for Dexter. A big 15 steps! with bait in every step.

Dexter was good he went over the scent pad then belly crawled the 10 first steps but did it nicely with his nose. He did stand up for the end, still working each step with his nose in the wet grass.

Harley's was about 1hr old when we started. I brough him to the scent pad with the track not being right infront of him. He found the track easily. He had a bit of a hard time in a turn as we got a cross wind. But as soon as he found the real track his body language was very clear. I can tell were are the baits but he only started to eat them near the end of the track.

I can realy see when he lose the track, go over a bait on want to go around an obstacle to get back on the track. Today I could tell he know when the track was but he realy did try to go round the bushes to follow the track.
He had no problem with the turn on the sand, the mud did not bugged him.

so that was fun!

Finally a weekend off!! Two days of tracking with a nice weather forecast.

Today, we worked on holding the dumbbell and proofing our OB commands with my back to her. She was excellent in every exercise, but could be a little more spirited going out for the dumbbell retrieve.

one more nice tracking day!

Dexter did 2 short track, bait in every steps. He did great, crawled a bit at first but decided that on his feet was better.

Harley got a short unbaited track. I avoided the sand as much as I could. I was not planing to age the track much but someone show up at the barn. The track got a bit too old and the 1 and a bit leg got very dry. Harley was off having difficulty finding the track. As soon as we got to the taller wetter grass he was spot on. Also that field is used by many. 2 persons daily(one with 3 BC, one with a cocker) 1 person on a atv and few more occassional users.

Next time I will place a few bait in harder area but leave the easy part unbaited.

 Quote: Ariane Gauthier

Dexter did 2 short track, bait in every steps. He did great, crawled a bit at first but decided that on his feet was better.

I had this experience and had forgotten about it. The dog changed his mind about crawling almost instantly.

Two productive days of tracking this weekend. Helped start a new dog on Saturday, then tracked with TD this morning. Identified some difficulties in Sadie's tracking and my line handling, and got some key observations and a nice tip from TD. Our progress with the full 33ft line and reducing bait is good, and she was very solid on the articles both days.

Sadie is also doing a great job with the dumbbell-holding exercises.