Poor Loot. My sensitive boy has struggled a bit this last month when training at our club.

He's already been a bit on edge in scent hurdle practice since a (friendly) dog from the next-door flyball practice slipped into the ring and rushed up to him, about 6 months ago.

On edge meaning not really functional once the flyball team arrives! (Although he did 2 very happy restrained recalls last practice!!)

But thankfully his issues with scent hurdling didn't seem to seep into our obedience training at the club. He would be a bit hesitant walking into the building, and then quickly size up what we were there for.

At least until this last session of classes started.

Loot practices obedience with me before I teach. During that time, one of the classes going on in another ring has a reactive dog. The club often uses solid barriers to "box in" dogs struggling and reduce some of the dog's visual stimulation. Unfortunately for us, the dog knocked over his box, twice, in a barking episode. The first one was startling to Loot but he recovered, and then the next episode he was just done.

Each week since we've been able to do a little more taking food and playing with toys, but generally he's not training there until after all the classes are done and we're the only ones in the building again.

He's extremely sensitive right now to any moving of the ring gating!

I am hoping that once that particular dog is no longer there, that Loot will be able to make further progress. But sometimes things happen and taking it super slow is the only answer.

If he can't easily chase cookies in the direction of the other ring, then that is my answer that he can't train!

Fronts

January was also my month* of doing all things fronts. I invited people to join me in training daily fronts on facebook. And I trained 3 dogs, plus the cat!, each day on their fronts.

In case you missed it, I made a blog post of the steps I use to train front pivots!

And a fun video!

*Well it was more like an official week of training. And about a week before that. So half a month I guess!

January Videos

Onto a recap of some recent videos that I think may be helpful!

Starting with a Freya video despite her recently starring in a newsletter devoted solely to her training! Here I'm working on Freya's pivot in heel. She needs more practice on the backup around me that is required for a true pivot in place! I use a rear foot target to give her something to aim for as well as get those backup thoughts in.

This next video works on "surprise distractions." Basically, distractions that are placed without the dog seeing us put them down. It's not an obvious "trap!" I work on adding these distractions to Ginny's ring entrances. Spoiler alert- I said "all done!" after the last rep I did and she instantly dove to the food instead of coming with me to put on the leash! The power of being in "work mode" vs "real life!"

Pivot perches are amazing at teaching the dog how to rotate to find different positions! I see many people hesitant to teach front pivots because they're worried the dog may be confused. And while there is some initial confusion, use your treats liberally to help them through it! They quickly learn that where your feet are make it impossible to do anything other than 1 position.

Teach a tucked sit! Good for conditioning as well as helping your halts and fronts in obedience. Make sure you're pulling the treat forward and up to get that weight shift. And while this video shows the dogs doing a full sit, I usually break it down and click for just the rear feet coming forward for dogs first learning!

Position changes with Ginny. This is teaching her to do her position changes in front of the go-out spot so that as she does a position change, she expects to turn around and boop the stanchion before she gets her cookie. It helps to anchor her in place!

Sticky targets. If your dog doesn't yet know one, it's a great skill to teach without needing any space or equipment! I start with a chin rest as it's easier for dogs to push down rather than freeze their nose.

This video is sadly not the beginning stages, but it shows bringing your chin rest into heel! If I'm not slouched I start to get my my fingers straighter and not quite under her chin but more the side of her nose!

Current February Class

Class is in session! Sign up and follow along for the next 5 weeks!

From TEAM to Trials: Building Chains for Novice Check out the sample lecture on going from pivots in heel to forward heeling!! (Scroll down on the registration page, it's there!) ​

It will be a mix of working on the "skills" (lots of heeling! fronts! exams!) and then an introduction to ring prep skills and rewards at a distance. This class is designed both for those who don't know where to start, and for teams who have done a bit of everything but still feel a bit hesitant to pull everything together. ​Work on the individual pieces or start taking your chains on the road! We'll discuss acclimation and ready-to-work skills to help your dog work in different environments.

Upcoming Workshop

I'm bringing back out my marking workshop! The skill of looking straight ahead before sending is needed in 2 obedience exercises: go outs and directed retrieves (gloves). But it's often used in agility at the startline too!

Save the date for registration 2/22, with the workshop released March 10th!
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Follow me on the social media platform of your choice to try and catch all my daily training videos. I hope they inspire you to try something fun with your dog!

PS: I love getting emails! Send me a note on what you want some guidance training and I'll see if I can point you to a video or two, or perhaps write a post!

Thanks for reading!

​Tandem Dog Sports​