Almost spring! The snow will melt and soon I'll be able to do way more training outside!
Loot is making some progress on his PTSD from the 2 "incidents" at the training club from last summer and then 2 months ago. I'm currently leaving him in the car and training him when all classes are done for the night. But I have been able to bring him out a few times to do some very short turns during one of my classes! He struggles when he's close to the other rings, but is trying ridiculously hard.
I'm also experimenting with "box feeding" to see if that helps him. I heard about it probably a decade ago but didn't have a need for it at the time and promptly forgot about it! It was recently on the FDSA podcast and I'm jumping into the work to see if it helps us work on gates moving without Loot freaking out.
So far I've done many sessions with just feeding him in the box in different locations. Only at the "club" when no one is there so I'm not risking doing too much too soon. It's super clear though that he has an extremely high opinion of his box already!!!
March Videos!
Beginning zen bowl skills! Arlo is brand new to this topic of rewards at a distance! While he technically won't use this skill in this exact way for service dog work, the concept of delayed rewards is so important! Here he's at my step 2- working on listening to my cues of getting a reward from my hand vs a reward from the dish. While all he has to do is eat, this "work" really teaches him that he can't just assume the dish because my mouth opens!
(PS: Bye Bye Cookie class is starting!!! Join us!)
Loot does not have a foldback down from a sit (not a true one from a stand either!). Positions are expensive for him! But I'm doing some work on luring certain position changes for conditioning. His form is there yet, but he's trying! This is my sit to foldback down setup right now.
Working on duration before the reward? There are 2 tracks I work on: "flow" sessions where I mix up different exercises in fun ways and take out all the formal pauses, and "mini chains" where I have more formality and short versions of exercises with all the pauses and waiting! This session with Ginny is a flow session! So much fun! (We discuss these 2 tracks in my Bye Bye Cookie class too!)
This video shows a marking session. I'm working on teaching her the mark is always a straight line, ignore distractions. While I do this primarily for obedience, I really think that this concept has helped my dogs a ton in their recent work on generalizing their mark to the agility startline! (And an ad for my TEAM3 class working on these skills!)
Speaking of marking in agility, before the recent massive snow dumps I was able to get out and do a few sessions outside! I am SO excited with how quickly they've generalized the mark cue even though marking in obedience meant ignoring the jumps, and now I want them to look at the jump! It's all about that straight line in front of them.
Freya can pivot!!! For real now. She's had pivoting on a perch for a long time, and even "pivoting" without the perch but only if I stepped around her. For a TRUE pivot in place where the handler is the one on the imaginary pie plate, the animal has to backup + rotate in! We've been working on this for a while and I think she's finally got how to keep tight in heel!
Have you made these common mistakes when getting ready to trial?! I see them every trial! And for some dogs it's still not an issue, especially for the higher drive dogs and in sports with shorter working time. But if your dog struggles with motivation, or really almost every single dog in obedience since we're talking 5-10min or more, then take a look!
Want a sticky nose target? Train duration on a chin rest first! It's easier for the dog to keep their head down than pressing forward with duration. In this session is Arlo's first lesson in going from a chin rest to a more vertical presentation that will eventually be a nose press. He looks pretty good, but I know he's relying on my hand close to my body to cue that "chin rest" thought.
And finally, scent hurdle racing!! Loot hasn't been able to really participate much in scent hurdle practice ever since an incident last summer with a flyball dog escaping and rushing up to Loot. Loot is the definition of single-rep learning! He had such a good time this last practice when there was no flyball going on! He was still incredibly thinky and not fully sure, especially when we added a (favorite) teammate in the next lane. But he opted in!
Last Chance- Marking Workshop!
Teach your dog to "mark" a line. I discuss this in an obedience context (gloves and go outs!), but have added some more agility stuff in the follow-up video!
Closes today!
Current April Classes
Class starts April 1st! Join us and have some fun! TEAM 3 still has gold spots available if you want to learn how much fun obedience can actually be.
This is where the fun really starts! Work on go outs, directed sends, position changes at a distance, sidesteps in heeling, working with distractions, and so much more!
Check out the prerequisites, I bet you have them!
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This class is all about getting your dog happily working with rewards at a distance. Teach that elusive "zen bowl" skill! Important foundations whether your dog is brand new to the concept or whether you want to start really prepping for trials!
Lots of focus work in this class!
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