ah, back to classes this week.
wednesday nights are now different. first, rah has graduated from his novice 3 class on wednesday night, and berlin has graduated from her attention class - moving rah up to open on thursday (either teaching during the day, or regular open at night), and berlin up to novice 1 later wednesday evenings at TD. however, since i wanted to enroll rah into flyball this session, everyone had to take a break from TD. so, i took the opportunity to enroll berlin, ms. puppyface, into beginners at hk9.
she did well - they were in class 4 of 6, we started out with some LLW, did some sit stays, sit for exams, stands, and then change of paces. did group stays, and berlin did really well for that. i need to formalize a stand for her that is a kickback stand, but her LLW is very nice (especially considering these were totally strange
dogs for her!), but she doesn't have any automatic sits at the halt (i've never asked for these). her stays were very nice!
stayed for the attention class to watch, since i will be able to get her into attention 2 next session while rah finishes flyball, and worked articles with rah - worked the pile nicely, finishing up week 5. i dont think berlin will have a problem with the attention class either - they are just doing moving attention (in the front), some stationary, and just took their first steps with attention yesterday - berlin's already working 10-15 steps in a nice heads up heel, so we've got that. her biggest issue will be her maturity, since shes still a baby pup.
then went to flyball - rah's the only real experienced dog there. worked on some dead retrieves, determining which way your dog turns (rah of course had to be a butt - the dog that always always always turned to the right decided to turn LEFT??), worked on some fast jumps and getting them to one step them and turn right back to come over. then we set up the easy box - purely just a box they can use for targeting, and had them run up to it, grab a ball, and come back over the jump. rah had fun!
fast forward thursday night.
started with stays and rah held them ALL without ANY ISSUE all night off leash YAY RAH.
did some heeling - rah did well, i asked him for straight sits and physically placed him into the sits and then the last one let him do it himself and he was perfectly straight, so that was nice! terry noticed we all slowed down when she called turns, so she started counting out the beats of the turns and we were able to hold our paces much easier, which helped us all. then she showed us some ways to get the dogs to swing their butts out of the way on the lefts, and also a proposition that is being set forth for the OAC about how a left should be done (having the dog back up with the hindquarters) and we worked that - rah loves it - did squares and backed him up for the lefts and he figured that game out with the first turn!
did some set up games with step ups, get backs, etc. then we set up for individual exercises. i started with the broad jump - while karin worked high jump with simon, and there were toys on the ground for her as a distraction. rah did the first BJ beautifully, and then the second one he fell apart. blew me off after the jump, ignored me and ran to a toy, got a correction for that, and then didnt want to set up and hold a wait. finally got him over and called it quits on that.
moved onto high jump (ha) - just worked cookie marks over 16 inches, he did well. i was using hot dogs, and its hard to throw them - cheese is much easier. but he didnt refuse a jump at all during this time, so thats good. moved onto retrieves on the flat, which were good and clean. did some fig 8's and they were also nice.
moved onto utility -
first we did pivots - i forgot my footwork, so terry showed me again. i think im going to have an issue with rah "shopping" if i turn him to the right, and then also end up with him not sitting straight. while some dogs have issues with rear end awareness, he's sharper and quicker if i turn him to the left and have him jump out of my way - we tried it both ways and he "got" the pivots much quicker going to the left, and i actually did left for not only glove 3, but 2 and 1 as well.
then went to go outs, which were straight, fast, lovely and perfect. his turns and sits were so lovely it was amazing. full length of the ring, too.
directed jumping - we were back to him not wanting to hold the wait, but he was more than able to go over the jump once i indicated him to go over the jump. no refusing, no avoiding the jump. once he went over the jumps, i rewarded him with another go out, since he loves them so well.
worked gloves, which he proved he is not able to handle without shaking again, so we switched to cookie marks, which he did well. then we moved to articles, and he finished up week 5 with a bang, doing it perfectly, what a good boy.
worked signals, and he did them nicely - i need to work on getting a sharper faster down with less of a signal from me. ended there, since we were all exhausted...
Friday, May 30, 2008
retroactive dog camp day 1
since i neglected to post the dog camp narrative here, you can have the copy.pasted version from my LJ :) and tonight hopefully i will update about how training went on wed and thursday!
the original post:
my god is doggie camp hilariously fun.
katie, for future reference, your dogs would be fine there, even if you brought two of them. MANY of the dogs there are reactive, they are VERY conscientious about red bandana dogs, and make an effort to make sure in classes, etc that reactive dogs are kept away from each other, etc. of course there are certain people that are retarded, but they are everywhere - most people are very good about all of it. we have red bandana goldens, shih tzus, terriers, you name it. they are also VERY positive oriented (you can use prongs on your dogs for controlling, but all the classes use either verbal markers or clickers as the basis for teaching) so you would definitely have a blast here in the future.
my dogs and i are exhausted.
started off with super stays - its a progressive class, and this was the first of three. gave me some interesting things to think about, and some stuff to work with. i will say in the 45 minutes of class working ONLy stays, rah didnt break a single one?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? go figure. and he was totally fresh, not tired at all. tomorrow will be outside.
then to recalls - i worked berlin in this (Was going to do rah, but figured berlin needed it more). was inside, and we started with restrained recalls, and then added in distractions including toys, another class behind us and people clapping, then someone running behind the dog and with the dog while the recall was taking place. berlin rocked this class, and ran like the little rocket she is.
lunch break, then berlin did the first session of her inducive retrieve. its an interesting concept, but i will say that rather than training a retrieve for the ring (which is what rah has), susan trains a retrieve of ANYTHING - her dog will retrieve anything she tells it to. to be honest, rah will not? (ETA: actually, rah will retrieve anything I tell him to except candles, so I am happy with that!) so i will see how this works - its pure positive, but it has a definite method. berlin is doing very well and loves it so far :)
FLYBALL for rah! it was geared towards dogs that had never done flyball before, which rah has, but it was still fun. we just did jumps today, but rah got to do jumps off leash and had fun. then after class, dawn the instructor played with him and had him do some boxwork, and said she would help me find a team and ask some of her contacts to get him onto a team, and then she tugged with him for 10 straight minutes and he was in HEAVEN.
then, heaven changed. because my dogs. FELL. IN. LOVE.
my dogs coursed.
LURE COURSING IS HEAVEN ON EARTH. rah is a lure coursing fool. berlin is a little lure coursing fool. they loved it. they were marvelous at it. rah barks his head off. rah shredded his soft crate in my truck when i put him away and let berlin run, he was so pissed off and wanted to run again.
i cannot express to you how amazing my dogs found lure coursing.
hopefully the photographer got some good pictures of them :) she also said she wanted to do a session with them for her photos - she does shots for calendars, magazines (AKC gazette, family dog, etc) and for personal stuff, so any of her shoots for you also are for those things - and she wanted my dogs :) so we did that, and then i hung out for an hour waiting for the "olympics" where rah, the bottomless pit, helped his team come in third for eating almost everything in the eating challenge except the pickle (his team blew away the competition by eating olives, marshmallows, pineapple and such) and then killed the competition by being the only dog that would attack the bubbles in the bubble popping competition :)
now we are home and they are sleeping and we can go back tomorrow and first on the agenda is MORE LURE COURSING YAY.
and day 2:
oh my god, dog camp is fun.
coursed again this morning and rah broke it when he caught the lure :) woohoo.
superstar rah has done 1.5 hours of stays including some off leash outside (45 minutes) and has only broken ONE!! ONE!!!!! im really pleased with this - i know duration wise we have only gone up to a minute or so, but even in class, by 10 seconds he's typically fidgeting, he's broken within that time period, etc - and he's NOT doing that here. the time he broke during this was when we went too far - part of his issue is when i talk to others. i put him in a stay, walked away, and started talking to all the other people. he waited 45 seconds and then popped into a down. when i walked towards him he immediately went back into his sit. trainer said we moved too fast. she's given me a LOT to think about and pointed out one big thing to me that i really see could be causing rah to not "get it" for me. i hope this works.
tracking - fun, but very pet oriented. berlin still did a REALLY nice job sniffing, but the trainer was kinda confused, since i did it schutzhund style (the only way i know how) and didnt follow her method.
recalls with berlin - off leash and outside (she did drag the 40 footer one time) and she did SO AWESOME - first was past a person, then past toys, then we did a hidden one, and she turned so fast she dug up grass :) super baby girl!!!!!!!!!!!!
induced retrieve class was good, i have to work on that tonight - she is giving me full teeth on the bar, but i have to get her to hold it tonight (not verbally telling her to, she has to offer it to me herself).
rah's flyball class was good - we worked on trying to get rah to get all 4 feet on the box :)
berlin had her CGC prep class and she did pretty much everything great and she wowed everyone with her heeling and they were astounded and her prancy feet :)
then we had an informal troubleshooting session where people got to ask questions of all the trainers and they gave me some good ideas for rah's countersurfing issues.
im telling you, i will definitely be going back next year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
now, dinner and tv!!
day 3 update:
rah continued his wowness with superstays, rah once again caught the lure, we had a private flyball session and another good flyball class, berlin ALMOST passed the CGC and we came home with some good loot and awards.
well rested, very happy and relaxed, and planning on going again FOR SURE.
anyone in the area that can get to it, should definitely go:
www.campbarkinghills.com
the original post:
my god is doggie camp hilariously fun.
katie, for future reference, your dogs would be fine there, even if you brought two of them. MANY of the dogs there are reactive, they are VERY conscientious about red bandana dogs, and make an effort to make sure in classes, etc that reactive dogs are kept away from each other, etc. of course there are certain people that are retarded, but they are everywhere - most people are very good about all of it. we have red bandana goldens, shih tzus, terriers, you name it. they are also VERY positive oriented (you can use prongs on your dogs for controlling, but all the classes use either verbal markers or clickers as the basis for teaching) so you would definitely have a blast here in the future.
my dogs and i are exhausted.
started off with super stays - its a progressive class, and this was the first of three. gave me some interesting things to think about, and some stuff to work with. i will say in the 45 minutes of class working ONLy stays, rah didnt break a single one?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? go figure. and he was totally fresh, not tired at all. tomorrow will be outside.
then to recalls - i worked berlin in this (Was going to do rah, but figured berlin needed it more). was inside, and we started with restrained recalls, and then added in distractions including toys, another class behind us and people clapping, then someone running behind the dog and with the dog while the recall was taking place. berlin rocked this class, and ran like the little rocket she is.
lunch break, then berlin did the first session of her inducive retrieve. its an interesting concept, but i will say that rather than training a retrieve for the ring (which is what rah has), susan trains a retrieve of ANYTHING - her dog will retrieve anything she tells it to. to be honest, rah will not? (ETA: actually, rah will retrieve anything I tell him to except candles, so I am happy with that!) so i will see how this works - its pure positive, but it has a definite method. berlin is doing very well and loves it so far :)
FLYBALL for rah! it was geared towards dogs that had never done flyball before, which rah has, but it was still fun. we just did jumps today, but rah got to do jumps off leash and had fun. then after class, dawn the instructor played with him and had him do some boxwork, and said she would help me find a team and ask some of her contacts to get him onto a team, and then she tugged with him for 10 straight minutes and he was in HEAVEN.
then, heaven changed. because my dogs. FELL. IN. LOVE.
my dogs coursed.
LURE COURSING IS HEAVEN ON EARTH. rah is a lure coursing fool. berlin is a little lure coursing fool. they loved it. they were marvelous at it. rah barks his head off. rah shredded his soft crate in my truck when i put him away and let berlin run, he was so pissed off and wanted to run again.
i cannot express to you how amazing my dogs found lure coursing.
hopefully the photographer got some good pictures of them :) she also said she wanted to do a session with them for her photos - she does shots for calendars, magazines (AKC gazette, family dog, etc) and for personal stuff, so any of her shoots for you also are for those things - and she wanted my dogs :) so we did that, and then i hung out for an hour waiting for the "olympics" where rah, the bottomless pit, helped his team come in third for eating almost everything in the eating challenge except the pickle (his team blew away the competition by eating olives, marshmallows, pineapple and such) and then killed the competition by being the only dog that would attack the bubbles in the bubble popping competition :)
now we are home and they are sleeping and we can go back tomorrow and first on the agenda is MORE LURE COURSING YAY.
and day 2:
oh my god, dog camp is fun.
coursed again this morning and rah broke it when he caught the lure :) woohoo.
superstar rah has done 1.5 hours of stays including some off leash outside (45 minutes) and has only broken ONE!! ONE!!!!! im really pleased with this - i know duration wise we have only gone up to a minute or so, but even in class, by 10 seconds he's typically fidgeting, he's broken within that time period, etc - and he's NOT doing that here. the time he broke during this was when we went too far - part of his issue is when i talk to others. i put him in a stay, walked away, and started talking to all the other people. he waited 45 seconds and then popped into a down. when i walked towards him he immediately went back into his sit. trainer said we moved too fast. she's given me a LOT to think about and pointed out one big thing to me that i really see could be causing rah to not "get it" for me. i hope this works.
tracking - fun, but very pet oriented. berlin still did a REALLY nice job sniffing, but the trainer was kinda confused, since i did it schutzhund style (the only way i know how) and didnt follow her method.
recalls with berlin - off leash and outside (she did drag the 40 footer one time) and she did SO AWESOME - first was past a person, then past toys, then we did a hidden one, and she turned so fast she dug up grass :) super baby girl!!!!!!!!!!!!
induced retrieve class was good, i have to work on that tonight - she is giving me full teeth on the bar, but i have to get her to hold it tonight (not verbally telling her to, she has to offer it to me herself).
rah's flyball class was good - we worked on trying to get rah to get all 4 feet on the box :)
berlin had her CGC prep class and she did pretty much everything great and she wowed everyone with her heeling and they were astounded and her prancy feet :)
then we had an informal troubleshooting session where people got to ask questions of all the trainers and they gave me some good ideas for rah's countersurfing issues.
im telling you, i will definitely be going back next year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
now, dinner and tv!!
day 3 update:
rah continued his wowness with superstays, rah once again caught the lure, we had a private flyball session and another good flyball class, berlin ALMOST passed the CGC and we came home with some good loot and awards.
well rested, very happy and relaxed, and planning on going again FOR SURE.
anyone in the area that can get to it, should definitely go:
www.campbarkinghills.com
Friday, May 23, 2008
just another thursday
no class last night - as i posted in my private journal, berlin was sick and i stayed home with her, so she and rah missed the last nights of their classes, unfortunately, for the wednesday night session. oh well, berlin feels much better now which is all that matters!
tonight, open and utility. heeling in open was pretty nice - started out on lead, then we moved to off leash, and rah did very nicely. sits were pretty straight - one i would have nicked myself one full point for, but the rest were nice. he was forgey at one point, but i got him back.
after that, we worked on transitions to the retrieve on flat - having the dogs attention on us and getting the db and giving it back - and keeping them focused on us, not the db - which can be very hard for a db crazed dog like rah, but he did VERy well .
then we brought out the broad jump and the high jumps. i just worked on getting him to set up near the high jump, touching the jump, etc and he did well. then, when i was changing the jump height, he decided to jump on his own and took down the entire jump OF COURSE and it almost nailed him. however, i was able to get him to come over and touch the jump quickly and we ended that session on that. moved to ROF and he did about 10 of them just fine under some heavy distraction and I did some hard fronts on him (turning 90 degrees when he returned to make him readjust), did broad jump (2 very very nice ones) and then he came back and did some touches to both of the high jumps and he was fine - I even sent him over. Cannot be upset with that!
(didn't finish this last night, so i did it this morning, and wow, my typing last night at midnight was quite atrocious i was so tired)
took a quick break and then we started utility -
we started with moving stand, and Rah did quite well - he's got the moving stand part down! He was fine with Terry doing a full exam on him, and we haven't put it together with a full call to heel, but I call him partially to my right side and that's where we end it. did a few of those...
moved to articles. i forgot my instructions on week 5, so i had to kinda make things up. but rah did a nice job working articles - kinda did some changes. worked further from the pile than janice says to, took him off leash, and did some restrained ones because terry wanted to see if when i added a lot of speed (all i have to do is hold rah's collar back, he leans in and puts on the afterburners) would he give me frantic grabbing of any article v. actually still sniffing - i was pleased to see actual still sniffing :) i think i will try to bring his articles with me to doggy camp this weekend and work them each day, so i will be able to move to week 6 next week (bad me didnt work articles pretty much at ALL last week!)
then i did modified gloves, again with just cheese. terry says she is working on something that will help rah with his glove shaking issue. if he grabs them and i say hold, he stops shaking, but he still gets one shake in. if i say it too early, he turns to look at me sometimes and doesn't pick them up, so i need to work on timing. i do need to remember not to lean down when i tell him to mark the gloves - my dog is 32 inches tall, fer crissakes - part of the benefit of having a dog that tall is i DONT need to bend to mark him.
moved onto go outs - he did some nice full length go outs, and i came in only about 5 steps to tell him to sit, which he did. very very nice.
directed jumping was an issue this week - not because he was fearful, but because he was being a butthead and didn't want to do his job - and THAT is how he takes out jumps. i had been using his toy to get him over, and he got so involved in the toy that he stopped thinking and paying attention, he was so involved in the toy. when he started blowing me off to run around, i walked away from him and into the office and terry grabbed him and kept him for 10 minutes, then SHE did directed jumping with him :)
finally worked signals, which he did well.
this weekend (starting tonight!!!) we have camp !!!!
http://www.campbarkinghills.com/
i cant wait.
im feeling pretty down about rah's obedience performances tonight and so many mistakes that i have made with him (or for him)... i know i know, hes my novice A dog. but its not fair that such a good dog ends up with me as a novice A dog, when such drive and such is being squandered.
this jumping issue and this stay issue really worry me.
tonight, open and utility. heeling in open was pretty nice - started out on lead, then we moved to off leash, and rah did very nicely. sits were pretty straight - one i would have nicked myself one full point for, but the rest were nice. he was forgey at one point, but i got him back.
after that, we worked on transitions to the retrieve on flat - having the dogs attention on us and getting the db and giving it back - and keeping them focused on us, not the db - which can be very hard for a db crazed dog like rah, but he did VERy well .
then we brought out the broad jump and the high jumps. i just worked on getting him to set up near the high jump, touching the jump, etc and he did well. then, when i was changing the jump height, he decided to jump on his own and took down the entire jump OF COURSE and it almost nailed him. however, i was able to get him to come over and touch the jump quickly and we ended that session on that. moved to ROF and he did about 10 of them just fine under some heavy distraction and I did some hard fronts on him (turning 90 degrees when he returned to make him readjust), did broad jump (2 very very nice ones) and then he came back and did some touches to both of the high jumps and he was fine - I even sent him over. Cannot be upset with that!
(didn't finish this last night, so i did it this morning, and wow, my typing last night at midnight was quite atrocious i was so tired)
took a quick break and then we started utility -
we started with moving stand, and Rah did quite well - he's got the moving stand part down! He was fine with Terry doing a full exam on him, and we haven't put it together with a full call to heel, but I call him partially to my right side and that's where we end it. did a few of those...
moved to articles. i forgot my instructions on week 5, so i had to kinda make things up. but rah did a nice job working articles - kinda did some changes. worked further from the pile than janice says to, took him off leash, and did some restrained ones because terry wanted to see if when i added a lot of speed (all i have to do is hold rah's collar back, he leans in and puts on the afterburners) would he give me frantic grabbing of any article v. actually still sniffing - i was pleased to see actual still sniffing :) i think i will try to bring his articles with me to doggy camp this weekend and work them each day, so i will be able to move to week 6 next week (bad me didnt work articles pretty much at ALL last week!)
then i did modified gloves, again with just cheese. terry says she is working on something that will help rah with his glove shaking issue. if he grabs them and i say hold, he stops shaking, but he still gets one shake in. if i say it too early, he turns to look at me sometimes and doesn't pick them up, so i need to work on timing. i do need to remember not to lean down when i tell him to mark the gloves - my dog is 32 inches tall, fer crissakes - part of the benefit of having a dog that tall is i DONT need to bend to mark him.
moved onto go outs - he did some nice full length go outs, and i came in only about 5 steps to tell him to sit, which he did. very very nice.
directed jumping was an issue this week - not because he was fearful, but because he was being a butthead and didn't want to do his job - and THAT is how he takes out jumps. i had been using his toy to get him over, and he got so involved in the toy that he stopped thinking and paying attention, he was so involved in the toy. when he started blowing me off to run around, i walked away from him and into the office and terry grabbed him and kept him for 10 minutes, then SHE did directed jumping with him :)
finally worked signals, which he did well.
this weekend (starting tonight!!!) we have camp !!!!
http://www.campbarkinghills.com/
i cant wait.
im feeling pretty down about rah's obedience performances tonight and so many mistakes that i have made with him (or for him)... i know i know, hes my novice A dog. but its not fair that such a good dog ends up with me as a novice A dog, when such drive and such is being squandered.
this jumping issue and this stay issue really worry me.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
UKC trial and error
the UKC trial took forever. got there and got the last
two crate spots so my dogs wouldnt have to be outside
in the car, and waited... and waited. the one judge
took about 15 breaks (no lie) - it took her 3 hours to
do 11 dogs. THREE HOURS. rah didnt go on until 4 pm
for the first trial.
amazing heeling. amazing. amazing set ups, wonderful
transitions. i lost 3 points for crowding me and 2
points for crooked sits on lead/fig 8, and only 1
point for a crooked sit off lead. he was SO ON, it was
amazing.
and he broke his wait and ran around the jump. blew
first place, lovely friggin trophy too, high scoring
rescue. i pulled him from the other three trials.
everyone loved him, came up to me commenting on it, ,
but he just shut down right in front of the jump,
wouldnt set up, didnt want anything to do with it.
judge was nice, she let me work him in the ring and i
restrained him and sent him over the jump and he did
it, so i ended on that. did everything else ok.
heartbreaker.
decided to just leave at that point - he had a good
time in the ring, ended on a good note, and he
otherwise did AMAZING in the ring, couldnt have asked
for more (except going over the jump!!!!!!!) and by
then i was dehydrated and exhausted from waiting and
just wanted to get home and rest. next time they trial
im going to bring my crate up the night before, and go
up later in the day and not have to wait all that
time!!!
i have to figure out how to work through this jump
issue, it's really getting frustrating.
he's fine with directed jumping now, but i use his toy
as a motivator for that.
i think i need to get those jumping books on how to
teach your dog to jump.
two crate spots so my dogs wouldnt have to be outside
in the car, and waited... and waited. the one judge
took about 15 breaks (no lie) - it took her 3 hours to
do 11 dogs. THREE HOURS. rah didnt go on until 4 pm
for the first trial.
amazing heeling. amazing. amazing set ups, wonderful
transitions. i lost 3 points for crowding me and 2
points for crooked sits on lead/fig 8, and only 1
point for a crooked sit off lead. he was SO ON, it was
amazing.
and he broke his wait and ran around the jump. blew
first place, lovely friggin trophy too, high scoring
rescue. i pulled him from the other three trials.
everyone loved him, came up to me commenting on it, ,
but he just shut down right in front of the jump,
wouldnt set up, didnt want anything to do with it.
judge was nice, she let me work him in the ring and i
restrained him and sent him over the jump and he did
it, so i ended on that. did everything else ok.
heartbreaker.
decided to just leave at that point - he had a good
time in the ring, ended on a good note, and he
otherwise did AMAZING in the ring, couldnt have asked
for more (except going over the jump!!!!!!!) and by
then i was dehydrated and exhausted from waiting and
just wanted to get home and rest. next time they trial
im going to bring my crate up the night before, and go
up later in the day and not have to wait all that
time!!!
i have to figure out how to work through this jump
issue, it's really getting frustrating.
he's fine with directed jumping now, but i use his toy
as a motivator for that.
i think i need to get those jumping books on how to
teach your dog to jump.
Monday, May 12, 2008
approaching week 5
worked the pile tonight and rah did something very amazing - i had set up the pile (we start this week with 4 articles already in the pile for the first retrieve) and while i was putting berlin in th kitchen, rah ran to the pile while my back was turned, sniffed them all, and then returned to me without an article.
he returned without one, because i hadn't scented and placed one yet - so he made the RIGHT CHOICE. he could have just picked up anything - he's never come to me in the past WITHOUT one, because there has always been one there for him!, but he didn't have one to pick up (granted right now they are both hot scented and still have a small dab o' cheese)... so he just came back to me.
very proud, very proud.
he returned without one, because i hadn't scented and placed one yet - so he made the RIGHT CHOICE. he could have just picked up anything - he's never come to me in the past WITHOUT one, because there has always been one there for him!, but he didn't have one to pick up (granted right now they are both hot scented and still have a small dab o' cheese)... so he just came back to me.
very proud, very proud.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
short and sweet sundays
that unfortunately don't involve scent articles today, which makes me a very bad owner BAD BAD BAD BAD me.
tomorrow i HAVE to work stays and scent articles - this will be the third week rah is on week four now, because we're only working articles 2-3 times a week!! he only has one more pile (or two??) to work before we can move onto week 5, so by class thursday he will be onto week 5. and we NEED to work stays because this weekend he's entered in 4 UKC shows (because i am a glutton...)
worked berlin for sits and platz with the clicker, got nice speedy accurate ones woohoo.
tried to do more target training with rah as the agility chick wants us to, but its so hard with him, i need a target that wont move or to do it anywhere but the living room. he will target it anywhere, but he doesn't understand to stay on the target until released unless i tell him to stay there.
did go outs the entire length of my driveway, which was about 50 feet, WOOHOO. and he was good for the turn and sits, too! then we did directed jumping twice on each jump without any issue, and practice recall over the jump since its in UKC.
short and sweet. with no articles, like i said. or stays. bad me.
tomorrow i HAVE to work stays and scent articles - this will be the third week rah is on week four now, because we're only working articles 2-3 times a week!! he only has one more pile (or two??) to work before we can move onto week 5, so by class thursday he will be onto week 5. and we NEED to work stays because this weekend he's entered in 4 UKC shows (because i am a glutton...)
worked berlin for sits and platz with the clicker, got nice speedy accurate ones woohoo.
tried to do more target training with rah as the agility chick wants us to, but its so hard with him, i need a target that wont move or to do it anywhere but the living room. he will target it anywhere, but he doesn't understand to stay on the target until released unless i tell him to stay there.
did go outs the entire length of my driveway, which was about 50 feet, WOOHOO. and he was good for the turn and sits, too! then we did directed jumping twice on each jump without any issue, and practice recall over the jump since its in UKC.
short and sweet. with no articles, like i said. or stays. bad me.
Friday, May 9, 2008
blowing you off...
as posted to the dobe obedience list :)
I think I get to write the book on this, since Rah did it to me not once, not twice, but I believe three times to me... at NATIONALS!!!
Everyone was so supportive with lovely things to say (including the judges), and we've come a long way. THere are a few things that I learned, that I kept in mind, and that I had to remind myself...
1) Rah was and still is, a young dog. At most, he is not even 3 years old. Most likely, he is only nearing 2.5 now , and while he is leaps and bounds more mature than he was in the past, his maturity level is still about half that of my 7 month old bitch puppy most of the time :)
2) My dog ran around the ring loose most of the time because I was not focused on him and did not have his attention on me. In rally, he gave me clear signs he was going to run, and I should have never attempted that fast towards the ring gate (it LOOKED like a jump, of course he was going to take it as a jump). I need to stay connected and not wander from one area to another and hope my dog follows me - that may work for some people, but with Rah at least, that's asking for danger - left to his own devices, he will do Very Bad Things. I have to stay connected and let him know we are still working at all times.
3) You need to know your dog. The one trial, I lost him when I let him jump up in between the heel free and the recall, he got too "up", and he was so into jumping on me, biting me, and his release that I had no real hope of reigning him back in and getting him to set up for that recall. He does much better if I just heel him in between all exercises, with me verbally praising him, I can calmly pet him DOWN his neck and face, but I cannot stimulate him any further. Rah exists on the border of frantic ping-pong like kinetic energy and all it takes is a slight push from me and he's over - while we can do these releases in training, in the ring my stress level and his make for a combo that means he has to be under tight control at all times, and I have to be connected to him all the time keeping a lid on the two of us :)
4) Most of the problems in the ring, as always, are mine not his. He reacts to me - be it a lean on a halt, tension down the leash, me forgetting to signal a turn, or do you chatter when you train but now you can't in the ring. If we screw up, most of the time it's my fault, not his. I am a strange, strange person in the ring - I walk funny, talk funny, breath funny... I'm amazed sometimes they come near us at all. Or maybe you all get less nervous than me, but as a Novice A person sometimes it is all I can do to get myself in the ring.
5) Delayed reinforcement. say it again - delayed reinforcement. I still reward my dogs heavily for every single thing they do sometimes - Rah has trouble maneuvering his 32 inch frame into nice tuck sits, and I STILL reward him for nice ones. Rah has trouble staying straight, he has trouble with many things. I reward anything I like, and I will continue to do so - but I reward intermittently and my dogs never know when or where the food comes from. They see me walk over to the training bag to get food, sometimes it is hidden on me, sometimes it is in my mouth, sometimes the toy is on my body, sometimes we run and get it, sometimes it is on the floor and I release you to go find your toy and get it. Sometimes you get rapid fire treats, sometimes you have to work for 5 whole minutes without anything and THEN you get something. Sometimes we set up and just release - my dogs never learn to anticipate anything and never know when or where the reward is coming from.
6) Did I train for this level of distraction? It's not fair of me to ask my dog to perform things he is not capable of, or things I have not trained for, expecting him to generalize. Some dogs are amazing and wonderful and come preprogrammed with an OTCH button, but for the rest of us poor folk with regular old dogs, we need to do it the hard way :) You can't take a dog that has only worked at one or two locations to a gigantic busy venue and expect that they will work anywhere near the same level they do at home or at your training facility. You can't take a dog that trains indoors and expect them to be able to necessarily work outdoors without noticing the butterflies (RAH) or the bees (RAH!) or the birds flying over the ring (RAH!!!!!) and get distracted. Yes, you can all know the truth, I never proofed Rah for bees in the ring, and I'm still trying to figure out how to do it safely, but I completely lost his focus outside the ring when he started chasing bees :) Works your bits and pieces in a ton of different locations, and if your dog isn't succeeding more than it is failing, lower your criterion and back up a step and make sure your dog is right.
7) My dog runs around the ring as a release. He gets stressed out, and he needs a physical release so that he can keep going - he is after all, only human :) When he is frustrated, concerned, confused, not sure what is expected of him, I am not clear on what I am asking of him, he's concerned about what is being asked - sometimes, that comes out and he just bolts. He isn't running away from me - he has his eye on me the entire time. He is simply running because it feels good and he DOESN'T WANT TO PLAY MY GAME anymore. Is that acceptable? No - but then I have to ask - why was my game not the most fun game there is? Why wasn't working with me the most rewarding thing out there -- and then *I* need to fix that. Why was running aimlessly around the ring more fun than working with mom? I'm not saying they cannot look elsewhere, etc - but when I want to play or do something, I want my dogs to WANT to work with me, I don't want to drag a dog out there on the end of the leash. I like that my dogs push me to work.
and finally -
This is only obedience. I am doing this for fun. Rah doesn't care of he qualifies or if we get any ribbons. In fact, his antics are so self-rewarding I have to make sure you folks stop laughing at him when he does cute things that are Very Bad in the ring :) We are here only because I want to do this, and if it's not fun, we stop, plain and simple. The world does not end, the sun does not rise and set, because of my heeling. In the end, *I* know I have an awesome dog, and while I would love everyone else to be able to see what an awesome dog he is, he is only held back by somebody's inept handling.
I'm not a perfect handler - and these things don't work for me all the time, or maybe not even most of the time. If Rah and I were perfect we'd have an OTCH by now and he'd be hand fed tater tots by the little imp puppy while he lounges on the couch, retired to a life of luxury with his db. I'm still trying to work out my own ring nerves, and god knows I am trying to work out how to handle a dog like Rah. But we're doing this because we actually LIKE obedience, and love training.
JMHO, as always.
I think I get to write the book on this, since Rah did it to me not once, not twice, but I believe three times to me... at NATIONALS!!!
Everyone was so supportive with lovely things to say (including the judges), and we've come a long way. THere are a few things that I learned, that I kept in mind, and that I had to remind myself...
1) Rah was and still is, a young dog. At most, he is not even 3 years old. Most likely, he is only nearing 2.5 now , and while he is leaps and bounds more mature than he was in the past, his maturity level is still about half that of my 7 month old bitch puppy most of the time :)
2) My dog ran around the ring loose most of the time because I was not focused on him and did not have his attention on me. In rally, he gave me clear signs he was going to run, and I should have never attempted that fast towards the ring gate (it LOOKED like a jump, of course he was going to take it as a jump). I need to stay connected and not wander from one area to another and hope my dog follows me - that may work for some people, but with Rah at least, that's asking for danger - left to his own devices, he will do Very Bad Things. I have to stay connected and let him know we are still working at all times.
3) You need to know your dog. The one trial, I lost him when I let him jump up in between the heel free and the recall, he got too "up", and he was so into jumping on me, biting me, and his release that I had no real hope of reigning him back in and getting him to set up for that recall. He does much better if I just heel him in between all exercises, with me verbally praising him, I can calmly pet him DOWN his neck and face, but I cannot stimulate him any further. Rah exists on the border of frantic ping-pong like kinetic energy and all it takes is a slight push from me and he's over - while we can do these releases in training, in the ring my stress level and his make for a combo that means he has to be under tight control at all times, and I have to be connected to him all the time keeping a lid on the two of us :)
4) Most of the problems in the ring, as always, are mine not his. He reacts to me - be it a lean on a halt, tension down the leash, me forgetting to signal a turn, or do you chatter when you train but now you can't in the ring. If we screw up, most of the time it's my fault, not his. I am a strange, strange person in the ring - I walk funny, talk funny, breath funny... I'm amazed sometimes they come near us at all. Or maybe you all get less nervous than me, but as a Novice A person sometimes it is all I can do to get myself in the ring.
5) Delayed reinforcement. say it again - delayed reinforcement. I still reward my dogs heavily for every single thing they do sometimes - Rah has trouble maneuvering his 32 inch frame into nice tuck sits, and I STILL reward him for nice ones. Rah has trouble staying straight, he has trouble with many things. I reward anything I like, and I will continue to do so - but I reward intermittently and my dogs never know when or where the food comes from. They see me walk over to the training bag to get food, sometimes it is hidden on me, sometimes it is in my mouth, sometimes the toy is on my body, sometimes we run and get it, sometimes it is on the floor and I release you to go find your toy and get it. Sometimes you get rapid fire treats, sometimes you have to work for 5 whole minutes without anything and THEN you get something. Sometimes we set up and just release - my dogs never learn to anticipate anything and never know when or where the reward is coming from.
6) Did I train for this level of distraction? It's not fair of me to ask my dog to perform things he is not capable of, or things I have not trained for, expecting him to generalize. Some dogs are amazing and wonderful and come preprogrammed with an OTCH button, but for the rest of us poor folk with regular old dogs, we need to do it the hard way :) You can't take a dog that has only worked at one or two locations to a gigantic busy venue and expect that they will work anywhere near the same level they do at home or at your training facility. You can't take a dog that trains indoors and expect them to be able to necessarily work outdoors without noticing the butterflies (RAH) or the bees (RAH!) or the birds flying over the ring (RAH!!!!!) and get distracted. Yes, you can all know the truth, I never proofed Rah for bees in the ring, and I'm still trying to figure out how to do it safely, but I completely lost his focus outside the ring when he started chasing bees :) Works your bits and pieces in a ton of different locations, and if your dog isn't succeeding more than it is failing, lower your criterion and back up a step and make sure your dog is right.
7) My dog runs around the ring as a release. He gets stressed out, and he needs a physical release so that he can keep going - he is after all, only human :) When he is frustrated, concerned, confused, not sure what is expected of him, I am not clear on what I am asking of him, he's concerned about what is being asked - sometimes, that comes out and he just bolts. He isn't running away from me - he has his eye on me the entire time. He is simply running because it feels good and he DOESN'T WANT TO PLAY MY GAME anymore. Is that acceptable? No - but then I have to ask - why was my game not the most fun game there is? Why wasn't working with me the most rewarding thing out there -- and then *I* need to fix that. Why was running aimlessly around the ring more fun than working with mom? I'm not saying they cannot look elsewhere, etc - but when I want to play or do something, I want my dogs to WANT to work with me, I don't want to drag a dog out there on the end of the leash. I like that my dogs push me to work.
and finally -
This is only obedience. I am doing this for fun. Rah doesn't care of he qualifies or if we get any ribbons. In fact, his antics are so self-rewarding I have to make sure you folks stop laughing at him when he does cute things that are Very Bad in the ring :) We are here only because I want to do this, and if it's not fun, we stop, plain and simple. The world does not end, the sun does not rise and set, because of my heeling. In the end, *I* know I have an awesome dog, and while I would love everyone else to be able to see what an awesome dog he is, he is only held back by somebody's inept handling.
I'm not a perfect handler - and these things don't work for me all the time, or maybe not even most of the time. If Rah and I were perfect we'd have an OTCH by now and he'd be hand fed tater tots by the little imp puppy while he lounges on the couch, retired to a life of luxury with his db. I'm still trying to work out my own ring nerves, and god knows I am trying to work out how to handle a dog like Rah. But we're doing this because we actually LIKE obedience, and love training.
JMHO, as always.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
just a brief rundown
to be elaborated on more when i am not so tired, maybe tomorrow night.
agility:
weaves - yay!
chute - awesome
the wave - interesting :)
starting dogwalk - was good then bad. it's not paranoia if people are really out to get you.
learning 2o/2o - WOW!
target - rah is worse than a 4 month old puppy.
berlin's attention class -
yay good playing
doesn't understand collar pops yet
yay we finally start heeling
good stationary attention from side, good from front.
need to work more on the games.
rah's class:
heeling - motivating the fasts. straighter sits when off leash? both on short side and on long side.
worked off leash and very very good.
SFE's transitioning to other SFE's and confusion between stay and wait.
fronts - yucky! trying angles and holding dogs head to make them straight.
stays.
thursday:
open heeling yay yay yay. finally a straight sit after fast normal halt.
issues with ROH again not wanting to set up. good ROF, good fig8. worked marking games with terry, not moving behind that now, to get his head off the ground and back on me.
restrained recalls very straight fronts.
utility -
good gloves - holding. good marking, but tries to take all the cheese at once. need to work on him looking up but not using my arm to get him to do it, because he confuses me putting my arm back down with the "look" i use for go outs.
articles - worked more of week 4 very good job!
go outs - awesome. awesome awesome. sitting from halfway across room. work just the sit part so he understands that.
directed jumping actually not bad.
signals and moving stand on my own, ok.
ill elaborate all tomorrow, im just too tired tonight.
agility:
weaves - yay!
chute - awesome
the wave - interesting :)
starting dogwalk - was good then bad. it's not paranoia if people are really out to get you.
learning 2o/2o - WOW!
target - rah is worse than a 4 month old puppy.
berlin's attention class -
yay good playing
doesn't understand collar pops yet
yay we finally start heeling
good stationary attention from side, good from front.
need to work more on the games.
rah's class:
heeling - motivating the fasts. straighter sits when off leash? both on short side and on long side.
worked off leash and very very good.
SFE's transitioning to other SFE's and confusion between stay and wait.
fronts - yucky! trying angles and holding dogs head to make them straight.
stays.
thursday:
open heeling yay yay yay. finally a straight sit after fast normal halt.
issues with ROH again not wanting to set up. good ROF, good fig8. worked marking games with terry, not moving behind that now, to get his head off the ground and back on me.
restrained recalls very straight fronts.
utility -
good gloves - holding. good marking, but tries to take all the cheese at once. need to work on him looking up but not using my arm to get him to do it, because he confuses me putting my arm back down with the "look" i use for go outs.
articles - worked more of week 4 very good job!
go outs - awesome. awesome awesome. sitting from halfway across room. work just the sit part so he understands that.
directed jumping actually not bad.
signals and moving stand on my own, ok.
ill elaborate all tomorrow, im just too tired tonight.
Friday, May 2, 2008
one step forward, two steps back
wednesday i got home from work in time to let the dogs potty, toss the stuff i needed in the car, and speed off to TD.
started with agility - rah did fairly well. we started with chute, which rah loves. then she added in a couple of tunnels after the chute, and rah was not only the only dog that was able to do the full sequence without any balking or refusing, but he actually ran them at full speed, like a good boy who actually knows what he is doing.
then we split the class up and worked on "hit it" on the teeter, which rah likes. then rotated through and did some weaves, which rah doesn't like. then we moved to doing some ground work and foundations - learned to work around the wings of the standards, putting the dog in a bunch of different positions around the standard and having them come AROUND the standard and run in between the wing and you, on both sides of you. then she showed us some drills for rear end awareness, and what she wants us to work on at home. then we worked on "outs" (im calling them "away" though, since rah already has a go out) - having the dog go away from you and run around an obstacle and then come back to you, on both sides. then onto aframe, and rah didn't do the last thing (walking the teeter on the ground) since i had to get berlin out and warm her up.
berlin's class was good - she's SO SERIOUS! i try to get her to play and she's like NO MOM WE ARE WORKING NOT NO TIME FOR PLAYING. did attention, stationary and moving, in front position and in heel. worked on some release games, worked on some head position, she did well. she wants a more fast paced class though she's so silly. i dont think she's ready for novice next session, i think i am going to try to put her into attention at Hk9 maybe while rah does flyball...
then i worked mercury for his class. working mercury is so different from my dogs - he wouldnt play with me at all, but he was more than happy to eat my food. we did some heeling, and i cannot for the life of me remember what words lydia uses for heeling, so i had to make that up. did some squares of heeling, he did ok. did some set ups, worked attention. practiced stands with a clicker. did a few fronts, tried to do some DOR's in between exercises. did a fig8 and he did really well with that. stays were fine.
then rah's class - we started out working fasts and we pretty much did everything in fast the entire night - i was like, do we have to work fasts the night that i have already worked three dogs in three classes and im on my fourth class and nearing hour FIVE of classes? did drifting, which he adores - i need to remember to NOT RACE HIM, which just gets him going faster and faster and faster. and linda probably thinks that i am just a terrible handler because we fall apart. then we worked the short end of the room and did fasts into about turns at the wall while in the fast.
broke into small groups and worked figure 8's and rah wasn't too terrible. i cant for the life of me remember what we did for the rest of class, but its safe to say that we ended with staysand i was exhausted and barely made it home.
thursday berlin and rah got to meet their new dober-friend, cinny, and rah for over 2 hours at the ball field, and they were exhausted. probably not the best idea for pre-class, but he had fun :)
started with open heeling, rah did pretty good - our signals were clear, rah did a nice job, he was doing well and was giving me good attention. worked broad jumps and rah did well with that, worked ROF and he was fine, DOR was fine. however, when i went to do his ROH he kept popping out of his sit when i tossed the db so we tried to fix that and he got freaked outand hit the jump which scared him. rah and his jump phobias... i just left the jump and came back to it later and he was fine.
onto open - worked signals first - did pretty well, but i am going to have to work that stand up against a wall too, since he wants to swing his butt out when i give him the stand from heeling. his downs and his sit from the down were nice though. she had us heeling a pattern into the stand too, so it was nice.
then we did articles, and rah moved onto week 4 of ATC - and terry said he was working th epile nicely and really using his nose! woohoo! this week cheese is on the underside of the bar on half his retrieves.
worked his gloves and he has a solid hold on the glove and i can tug on it and he wont shake his head, which was nice. we did the mark with three pieces of cheese where the gloves would be (he has not yet earned the right to have his gloves back out there yet because he shakes them) but i have to remember not to lean over him when i mark the gloves, because i give him conflicting signals.
then we did go outs and rah loves loves loves loves him some go outs - he loves the "look" command!
then the disastrous directed jumping. im sad that class ended like this - i decided not to do his moving stand, but really he was so emotionally drained after this, there was nothing left from him. he had started not wanting to set up in front of the high jump with the whole ROH issue prior that night after i corrected him for not staying in his sit for the toss ofo the db - he doesn't do it on the flat, ONLY over the jump, so i didnt even let him retrieve it - i only tossed and brougt it back and tossed again, rinse lather, repeat. so when we got to the dj, he wouldnt set up. we set him up the jump chute since i assumed he would avoid the jumps like last week - and he ran out of it and OVER TO TERRY (what?!?!?!?!?!?!) to avoid them. terry held him and i called him over and he went over the bar jump twice, and we ended that jump.
he did the high jump in both directions (giving me a chance to work both the right arm and left arm directionals) without any issue, but that specific bark jump is so frustrating - he hates THAT JUMP in THAT CLASS.
i worked DJ at home tonight, and he had no issue going over. he still needs to pay attention more and i have to remember not to move him too fast - if i get him too far from the jump too fast he still runs straight to me instead of going over the jump, but thats not avoiding the jump and running away from it, thats just coming to me to get his reward.
im wondering - when i work DJ at home, i use a tennis ball in my hand - i wonder if i used it in class, how that would work for him? something to consider.
started with agility - rah did fairly well. we started with chute, which rah loves. then she added in a couple of tunnels after the chute, and rah was not only the only dog that was able to do the full sequence without any balking or refusing, but he actually ran them at full speed, like a good boy who actually knows what he is doing.
then we split the class up and worked on "hit it" on the teeter, which rah likes. then rotated through and did some weaves, which rah doesn't like. then we moved to doing some ground work and foundations - learned to work around the wings of the standards, putting the dog in a bunch of different positions around the standard and having them come AROUND the standard and run in between the wing and you, on both sides of you. then she showed us some drills for rear end awareness, and what she wants us to work on at home. then we worked on "outs" (im calling them "away" though, since rah already has a go out) - having the dog go away from you and run around an obstacle and then come back to you, on both sides. then onto aframe, and rah didn't do the last thing (walking the teeter on the ground) since i had to get berlin out and warm her up.
berlin's class was good - she's SO SERIOUS! i try to get her to play and she's like NO MOM WE ARE WORKING NOT NO TIME FOR PLAYING. did attention, stationary and moving, in front position and in heel. worked on some release games, worked on some head position, she did well. she wants a more fast paced class though she's so silly. i dont think she's ready for novice next session, i think i am going to try to put her into attention at Hk9 maybe while rah does flyball...
then i worked mercury for his class. working mercury is so different from my dogs - he wouldnt play with me at all, but he was more than happy to eat my food. we did some heeling, and i cannot for the life of me remember what words lydia uses for heeling, so i had to make that up. did some squares of heeling, he did ok. did some set ups, worked attention. practiced stands with a clicker. did a few fronts, tried to do some DOR's in between exercises. did a fig8 and he did really well with that. stays were fine.
then rah's class - we started out working fasts and we pretty much did everything in fast the entire night - i was like, do we have to work fasts the night that i have already worked three dogs in three classes and im on my fourth class and nearing hour FIVE of classes? did drifting, which he adores - i need to remember to NOT RACE HIM, which just gets him going faster and faster and faster. and linda probably thinks that i am just a terrible handler because we fall apart. then we worked the short end of the room and did fasts into about turns at the wall while in the fast.
broke into small groups and worked figure 8's and rah wasn't too terrible. i cant for the life of me remember what we did for the rest of class, but its safe to say that we ended with staysand i was exhausted and barely made it home.
thursday berlin and rah got to meet their new dober-friend, cinny, and rah for over 2 hours at the ball field, and they were exhausted. probably not the best idea for pre-class, but he had fun :)
started with open heeling, rah did pretty good - our signals were clear, rah did a nice job, he was doing well and was giving me good attention. worked broad jumps and rah did well with that, worked ROF and he was fine, DOR was fine. however, when i went to do his ROH he kept popping out of his sit when i tossed the db so we tried to fix that and he got freaked outand hit the jump which scared him. rah and his jump phobias... i just left the jump and came back to it later and he was fine.
onto open - worked signals first - did pretty well, but i am going to have to work that stand up against a wall too, since he wants to swing his butt out when i give him the stand from heeling. his downs and his sit from the down were nice though. she had us heeling a pattern into the stand too, so it was nice.
then we did articles, and rah moved onto week 4 of ATC - and terry said he was working th epile nicely and really using his nose! woohoo! this week cheese is on the underside of the bar on half his retrieves.
worked his gloves and he has a solid hold on the glove and i can tug on it and he wont shake his head, which was nice. we did the mark with three pieces of cheese where the gloves would be (he has not yet earned the right to have his gloves back out there yet because he shakes them) but i have to remember not to lean over him when i mark the gloves, because i give him conflicting signals.
then we did go outs and rah loves loves loves loves him some go outs - he loves the "look" command!
then the disastrous directed jumping. im sad that class ended like this - i decided not to do his moving stand, but really he was so emotionally drained after this, there was nothing left from him. he had started not wanting to set up in front of the high jump with the whole ROH issue prior that night after i corrected him for not staying in his sit for the toss ofo the db - he doesn't do it on the flat, ONLY over the jump, so i didnt even let him retrieve it - i only tossed and brougt it back and tossed again, rinse lather, repeat. so when we got to the dj, he wouldnt set up. we set him up the jump chute since i assumed he would avoid the jumps like last week - and he ran out of it and OVER TO TERRY (what?!?!?!?!?!?!) to avoid them. terry held him and i called him over and he went over the bar jump twice, and we ended that jump.
he did the high jump in both directions (giving me a chance to work both the right arm and left arm directionals) without any issue, but that specific bark jump is so frustrating - he hates THAT JUMP in THAT CLASS.
i worked DJ at home tonight, and he had no issue going over. he still needs to pay attention more and i have to remember not to move him too fast - if i get him too far from the jump too fast he still runs straight to me instead of going over the jump, but thats not avoiding the jump and running away from it, thats just coming to me to get his reward.
im wondering - when i work DJ at home, i use a tennis ball in my hand - i wonder if i used it in class, how that would work for him? something to consider.
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