Obedience classes

We started classes in obedience, now in our 3rd week. I thought it would be horrible but reality is kinda funny. First class Leo went through the roof at beginning barking at ceiling lights and shadows, second class beginning was almost as exciting, third class was nothing special so I think we can get rid from Gentle leader for next class. As in real life Che is giving me about 80% of attention and Leo gives me 110%. I am very hopeful Che and Doug will start their own obedience class on Friday so it might improve. Che is obviously is Doug's dog and D is not placing many challenges on him so we need it I feel.

 As this present obedience class goes, it is strange feeling. I feel we are so much better than most people in either class, but Leo should be in novice and Che in beginners LOL

 We are still green and Che gives me plenty of puppy sits and crooked fronts, Leo is much better but still lags behind and stuff, althought I am doing Leo and Che  OFF leash.

 I was thinking earlier how horribly it is going to see all that leash jerking and  it is painful. All those endless Sit sit sit sit... jerk pull...

 watch me watch me watch me... jerk pull... really upsetting... I thought I would need titles to make a difference in that place... I still think my word won't count for anything but I am glad to see  that at least I am muddling stil waters and making people pay attention and possibly putting few other thoughts in people brains.... because my boys perform and I would say I have best focus in either classes... some speople said " they shelties" some people asked about GL... people are seeing results from different training....

Herding

 Had great day today! Feel really good. I think it was big hurdle to overcome.
 herding represents a great amount of self reinforcement to the dog even when it is bad herding, much more than agility IMHO because it is instinctual behavior. I've noticed that initially I am not even in the picture, it is much fun just to chase sheep. Then comes the part when lightbulb goes off "oh mommy you are here too".... then " oh boy, it was so much fun but now we are suppose to have rules?"
Now we are about 6 lessons into herding, for the first time I've trusted myself to trust my dogs to know what they are doing and I think it was biggest obstacle I was facing. Sure enough, they knew it all along. Today they did what I asked. Actually much similar with the way we do agility- my body motion told my dogs what I wanted. I do not see how it will screw up our agility. 

New Training

Our new training is going great! Facility  set up every time when we come in so lots of things to practice. Bad part - need to do my own pans. So Che- he started wandering off when I asked for sit and he did not want to... another great DWDH/ dont wanna dont hafta moment/ well since he ended up missing his run, he did not like that result and was much more cooperative at next one. Few more times  like this and he will get the message. I think he does like his agility but just as many things in his life he likes it to be on his terms. Which is a pity since he is good dog and listens well, when he wants to so running with him in agility is a pleasure/ at times/. Still need to work on RC with him and weave entrance. Our independent weaves are joke . I do have 2x2 DVD so need to retrain. Also he took off course twice to the tunnel and he is not a tunnel freak so it was my late cues and his overextention in jumping that led to it. So need to work on tight jumps and earlier cues. What else?
 On Leo- he can have great speed and motivation and loves and listens well. I have very little send on him but teaching tight turns will help. He is less in tune with me and   more veclro which kinda does not make sense. He does not get commands as well as Che does and he looks more at me than obstacles. So next week hopefully grids will come to help with increasing value for obstacles. Probably one more session with treats in my pockets and then we need to start working on the system rewards like actual trials.

How to teach dumbell exercise

Che retrieves anything and brings it back, puts in my hand. So no problems there.

 It is well known that dog will drop anything in their mouth when they sit. So how to I overcome that? I need to build duration of holding dumbell which I suppose should be separate exercise, but for holding anything at sit position how do I teach it?

 One thought I have is to increase value of the object- i.e. should  I start with holding a bully stick?

I was the COOKIE!

Can't resist to brag! Yesterday I was the cookie! My youngest boy was running agility course during the practice when another sheltie, his BFF in real life run on the course and started inviting him to play, playbowing, nudging etc, she was pretty persistent too and followed us half of the course. My boy had eyes only for me, I was the COOKIE!
well, me and agility
all that distraction proofing is staring to pay off... now where can I find a live rabbit?: cement truck might do too but rabbit might be easier...

Talk about heart attack

  Car chaser  Leo got himself untied from long line while I was relaxing in hot tub, I see peripherally that monkey is beelining for outside and then I hear " whose dog is it?" and of course we are next to area with golf carts running, people play ball, cars moving, kids running on the bikes, people playing shuffleboard etc and I am OMG! I never going to get that monkey back… still climbing out of my tub, screaming "near me" while running inside of the house to get some smelly treats and squeaky toys and sure enough, monkey sits under the door… " mommy did you want something?" Talk about having heart attack LOL
Thank you Susan and Say Yes team!
 P.S. Of course I was so happy that monkey came back that I left cheese I was rewarding Leo with on the table and who do you think snack up in the room and ate half of a brick of cheese?

Can I have ONE velcro dog? Please...

and so it goes, yesterday Leo had decent off leash class, kept heeling with me nicely... then he went deaf- I have no other explanation, was put in a sit and then did not release... kept sitting.... and sitting... and sitting

 Doug got it on camera so might be able to post.

 Now what happen after... we had our usual agility foundation class and Mr Leo went wild- complete zoomies, running, not coming, it took several people to catch little monkey... of course Leo has big shoes to fill following Che but  I really do not like road they both going... can I have a velcro dog please?

Is Che a dog that walks by himself?

I think yes, that is what Che would love to be. He is great dog but at times he is hard to manage, he won't go into crate, will stop at walks, will pull after furry rats. As a result, he is not likely to be family pet that is easy to live with.

 I think I 've mismanaged "positive is not permissive " ...Che was allowed to countersurf, refuse this or that, those Dont Wanna Dont Hafta moments are all over his life.

 Che would clearly benefit from less permissive but still very positive attitude taken by everyone in the house. We just have to work thorough DWDH episodes to let him know that yes, he has to do what he is told. Just as Miss Universe that sill lives in our house, he is to have freedom but freedom has rules to follow and has to be earned.

do I sound like a fan of Susan Garett classes?

I think even on sheltie forum we hear almost every day question" How do I stop my dog from/... insert whatever.../ behavior?"
  Such an essential difference in thought process- start with thinking what you actually want your pup to do...
And some clips in program are really worth it! Like SG puts puppy crate on balance discs so new pup has crate that moves- useful for any breeder that possibly plans to ship their puppy or any agility prospect who needs to know that moving objects are fun...another my favorite is build a trail out of balance disks and walk the pup from one doggie bed to another... I tried with my monkeys and yep, it was difficult, took us couple of days... now I am not surprised why Che bolted when he went on rubberized contacts first time ...
 another clip that probably is worth entire course price, S did explain her  stay duration shaping for the bed- I am getting most marvelous stays in all our classes with pups  with just minutes  of training, never had good stays before and now feel like a queen:biggrin2:...

Too many lessons?

Noticed that my fast sits and downs are slaking again. So today we returning to Day 14 Random sits and downs game. With all this PP/ puppy peaks/ goings as well shaping legs challenge I lost my recallers games for bit. It was main problem with last year recallers, I did months of playing something had sunk in and we found " our" favorite games leaving everything else behind.  Not this time-
this time we are sticking with the program.  Have not done good record keeping yet, although am writing down more.
 Any good suggestions how you organize yourself between PP lessons, recallers lessons, shaping and other things we need to practice like we are doing foundation agility basics. I am not finding pulling out cards out of baggie helpful for me, too random feeling. Kind of need to know in the evening what I am doing in the morning.

had an interesting conversation

Recently I had interesting conversation with dog trainer I respect greatly... she answered me when I mentioned new puppy peaks series that while she is very respectful of SG and her amazing success she would not be able to follow Ruff love because she wants her dogs to be family pets first and that is not what SG dogs are...
 and I though to myself, once upon the time when I started recallers 1.0 program I had about same idea, that yes, I am not professional trainer neither do I care about winning WC so I can not expect from my dog what SG has with her dogs... but somewhere along the courses I have taken my thoughts have changed. Ruff love was never about putting limitations or restrictions on dog's life and thus not letting it be family pet, it is all about building relationship and finding joy in this relationship.   I remember LOH in one webinars mentioned what sold her on SG training, when she arrived to see SG dogs run to the door then stopped, turned on a dime and waited for DaMama tell them  it was ok to go and play/ meet with new person... I still don't care if we ever win any titles neither I think Ruff love is for everyone or that ANYONE has what it takes to be amazing dog trainer... but I do know  now it is very possible to have a relationship  I want and find a joy in it with my dogs...

so what is ruff love?

And then it hit me.... revelation... ruff love is not about not going to pooch park and not letting pup socialize with other dogs, it is about making me DaMama in the pooch park as well, part of the pack, team leader of pooch park experience... Ruff love is about going to pooch park but not standing there chatting with buddies or checking your iphone but running with your dog, playing games, making sure that you still The cookie of the day to puppy....

so we started puppy peaks

 It is really not a course but I am treating it as such. Played games with both boys yesterday and today. Today game was about several tugs .... I start playing with one tug  and pup is going, next I am switching to see which choice pup will do- choose to play by himself or join DaMama. Now who is going to guess which one played with DaMama and which one carried toy all on his own...

 Leo was all about Da Mama when tugging although after we were done and I left pile on the table he took his favorite tug to play himlsef/ note to self put it in the drawer/ but my oldest  Che was giving me lots of DWDH/ don't wanna don't hafta/ once he got a toy in his mouth.

 Now to decide who is the King of this house...

Leash reactivity is gone

Yep, just like that. I have my happy well behaved, confident puppy back.
What has worked-
 behavioral obedience classes where Leo learned that he does have a choice to have different response to stimuli
 Crate Games- introduced all kinds of distraction in a playful manner which allowed Leo to build confidence and good choices
 Autocheck in
meditation- firmly placed in my mind picture of my puppy being the friendliest dog on earth, it did traveled down the leash....

memorable weekend

well, memorable it was  but not in a good way...
 I am feeling very discouraged. We had similar situation 6 months ago at another trial. We spent tons of time on training, classes with great trainers, redoing foundation, getting better recall with SG online class.... and as a result one run out of 6 was semi close to what Che normally runs in his classes...  so his feedback to me was he is deeply not ready to handle trials and I am lousy trainer...
 Where do I go from there? How can I identify what that I did that contributed to  this stress and what I have not done  to help it. Sure I can continue to do what I have been doing but it appear to be ineffective...
 And should I even ask my dog to do it if he is so stressed during trials... maybe he is not meant to be an agility dog?

Re: WC UKC trial

actually what I realized that second time I did just about exactly our routine from class- sitting in the chair, pup is settling, few look at me, touch target, Its Your choice control games played while pup in near my legs... Che was similar to class situation- goof in the run was my own, particle of food was  near the box and Che came out of it to pick it up and I decided to not force the issue and rather have a run together than attempt to finish one obstacle.
 We will see tomorrow if the said remains true- if I repeat our class routine will he have zoomies?

WC UKC trial

We had trial at our training place today. Che is used to more complicated courses although we rarely get full field course, mostly just half. Anyway first run- total goof. I attempted to do transitions went for jog and potty outside about 10 dogs ahead of us, then about 5 dogs I did  watch me, RZ, RR, 360 RZ, hand touches, GOMS with some food, pretty much stationary games but with little moving.  Che was eager, happy. When we came to start line Che started looking around, looking for DH... caught his attention by CG, Look at me and off we went, unfortunately he took 2 jumps and went running around. It did look like he was stressed, he was barely recallable but eventually we managed to do most of the course.
 Second run- , happened about half hour later, I kept Che in the crate, played CG stage1-1b, took him out about 5 dogs ahead, then " settle" GOMS, IYC,  I was sitting in the chair so everything was in place.  Che started run very relaxed, kept up with me, picked up speed as we run. We were almost flawless except I made goofy mistake at the box so I think we still NQ.  56 sec course so I am not talking about speed. But my goal was met at this run- I got Che run with me during trial.  It was our 3rd trial. First one was about the same a year ago and second was absolute disaster at different facility 6 month ago.  Grrr, I am missing something significant there....