Oct Part 2 - Bi-Weekly Training Goals

You will be okay!!! It will be fine! The judge is pretty nice, just watch your paces and make it obvious when you go slow, fast, normal.

Here you are, PDubs:

[YOUTUBE]6PQD-ecvtwo[/YOUTUBE]


Please tell me you put the jitterbugging on a separate cue? So cute.

OMFG we did it! I'll have video evidence later (we'll see how long THIS takes to upload), but I got some really, really excellent advice from the woman/musher I got Squash from about how to increase his pulling drive.

Having said that, I need to improve a lot on my end with brake management and so he wasn't PULLING the whole time, and we had some close calls and a lot of zig-zagging... but we also did not stop so I am counting it as a victory.

I'm looking forward to seeing the video!

I'd love to hear what tips you got, as well.

Zip starting coughing yesterday, so he's off work for a few days. We'll work on our overs when he's over the crap.

sassafras - Yay Squashies!! Can't wait to see the video

One day another course will happen........ Though I pretty much want to do Recallers every year until I die I think.

I wish my garage were big enough to work in! All I can do is hide Nose work tins in there LOL. Looking good

Sara - I hope Zip feels better soon

I worked Gabby and Diego at the park this morning. I was NOT good and did a bunch of different stuff with Gabby. She is allowed to heel again just not for long (and NO DANCY PRANCY) so we did a little of that. Heeling in the shape of an "s" is my new favorite. We also played with some hoops. I have an entertaining/sad video of that, but LAUREN TOOK IT SIDEWAYS.

Diego played with the hoops and worked on his downs. He is also getting much better about staying close/checking in. He doesn't use up the whole 50' long line ALL the time now. He also worked on his leg weaves, because necessary.

And tonight since I have three dogs, I worked all three.

Gabby worked stays (her sits were 100% tonight, but I only worked on distance). Starts-my expectation is that she jumps out when I step off, she was 4/5 tonight. And then she worked leg weaves too, because why not?

Diego did leg weaves, spin both directions, down, and crawl. I started fading the food for his spins and crawl tonight. Downs were really nice.

Bailey did all stuff related to her therapy. Tuck sits, fold back downs to stand, and crawl.

And no video, because no helpers yet. But hopefully we'll do more Hallway Training tonight yet...

First of all, she recommended shortening the line. In retrospect that was kind of a "duh" moment, but I think it was partly being worried about running into him and partly that it just didn't occur to me to take his line off the main line. (With both dogs running they each have their own individual line attached to the main line, and I had left his on.)

Secondly, she recommended being generous with the brake to take advantage of oppositional reflex/creating a little frustration. I definitely need to improve my brake handling skills and there are several spots where that's obvious in the video.

The third thing I've done is to take him for longer casual walks before and after the run. He's really, really nosy and this lets him get some sniffs and pees out of the way beforehand and get some sniff/pee rewards afterwards.

Anyway, here's the video. Warning: It's long! But I wanted to show the whole circuit. I had to kick a few times and he fell back a few times, but I never had to stop the scooter to collect him. That stretch where he really wanes, where the sun is behind us, is a really distracting stretch for him for some reason. I'm sure something smells delicious.

From here out, I want to tame the zig-zagging and keep a tight line/keep him pulling from start to finish.

[YOUTUBE]0ZK6NJcYHCs[/YOUTUBE]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZK6NJcYHCs

Thanks, sass! He looks great. You are a very quiet musher. I'm constantly talking to mine.

Hahaha, nooooooo. I jibber jabber the whole way, the microphone on the GoPro is just covered up by the current handlebar mount.


ETA: ANd thanks.

We've been working on Brisbane's sit-pretty every couple if days because it seems to use a whole lot of muscles and he's only good for a couple of reps at a time. I think ten seconds was too ambitious, he can consistently do four now so I've been shooting for five. He also can hold a bow position for 3-4 seconds at a time as long as I don't also for too many repetitions. We've been working on sidepasses, moving feet when I tap them with a stick, and sitting without moving his front feet. I just a wobble board and introduced it last night, Briz immediately jumped on it, it wobbled and clattered on the floor, and now he is significantly less enthused. I ask him to touch it and he hovers his paw in the air over it, which is super cute.

Uly may have finally figured out that down doesn't involve a nose touch. He has a good solid five-second down stay with no distraction on distance, but at least he's figured out that staying put is what I want. His sit-stay is also getting less fidgety, but I am still amazed at how fast he can move without standing up. Uly also discovered the wobble board and its noisemaking properties, but decided right away that it was pretty cool. Brisbane was visibly disgusted.

Ru is still staying for about five seconds sometimes. I'm not actually sure he has any idea what we're doing at all, it might be all coincidence. Also teaching him to sit pretty by propping his slinky back in a corner. Nothing else though because he has a tiny brain.

OK so we've successfully completed 2 long walks in the neighborhood with minimal reactivity. It's super time consuming to walk everyone separately, but if I can keep this up for a few more weeks I think things will get much better, including things I wasn't too concerned about like Bubbles' lack of consistent LLW. And of course Kimma is especially loving the "alone" time LOL. Let's see how things progress.

[YOUTUBE]ZBcJzZ0pwy4[/YOUTUBE]

Go to 1:57 WATCH THE AWESOME!

We will be working on rear targeting this week since we got nothing in last week. haha.