Oops-- It's been two weeks since my last post!

 I've been gone for a while and my sister took care of my dogs, so finally here is a new post:

It's been very cold here (average highs less than freezing,) so I've done little things inside the house. One practice session was solely calling Quinn to heel from various locations.  We started with a step in front (facing the same direction) and built until I was 10 feet away facing him. (The finish on the Moving Stand.) The biggest challenge we had was going to the obedience club for a heeling seminar.  I was actually the teacher. I took Quinn to be my demo dog. I was supposed to have a small group of people (5 or so) but due to some conflicts with an Agility class I ended up with 1 student taking the seminar and an Agility class being taught less than 10 feet away. 

Quinn had issues with some of the dogs doing agility.  Any dog he considered 'out of control' he barked at. Overall he did very well considering he's not used to being in the building with 8 dogs running agility in the next ring. I find that if Quinn views the situation as a 'Dog Show' is much more accepting of other dogs than if he sees it as 'Training.'  At a dog show he'll tolerate a lot more than he would in the real world. I'm not sure if  I do something different, or if it's the number dogs present, but he'll just settle right down at a show or fun match.

I used Quinn to show what a dog should look like when heeling, and then put him in a crate and demonstrated the beginning steps with Sage (Alicia's dog.)  When it was time to talk about proofing, I got Quinn back out and did some more heeling. It was nice practice and the dogs doing agility were  nice distraction. When Quinn makes a mistake I stop what I'm doing, by stepping out of position or just stop forward motion. If I continue to heel, then I've rewarded his inattention. I noticed that he's begun heeling wide on about turns, I'm sure I'm doing something to cause it.  I'm going to have to tape our heeling sessions and find out why.

The biggest reward for teaching that seminar was at the end. When several people were standing around talking, Quinn went up to a woman and asked for attention.  He's not nearly as scared of people as Jojo can be, but he is an Aussie and he's reserved with people.  The fact she was a complete stranger and he ran up (and jumped on her) was a good thing.  She had her Papillon sitting on a chair next to her.  Quinn's met (and lived with) several Papillons, so he just ignored the dog and concentrated on the person. Now if it only warms up enough to go outside and train.



Alicia did a little practice with Quinn while she took care of my dogs, here's her experience with Quin practicing the Stand-Stay:

"While it's true that I very rarely get to work with Marcy's dogs, when they are staying with me, I get to try lots of things with them. This time, Marcy wanted me to work specifically on Quinn's stand-stay. Quinn and I have a special relationship so I knew it would go either very well or rather badly. To my pleasure, it went rather well. I had Quinn get in heel position then gave him the cue to stand. Quinn did a great job of standing but either didn't see my signal for him to stay or was too excited to heed it. As a result, we had to do it again. This time, once I had Quinn in his stand position, I took a few seconds out to "set him up" in his stand position and he responded well to my "stay" and we were successful."

Yesterday we practiced go outs, it's not a Novice exercise, but it's obedience and it gives us something different to do.  I'm using a method, I learned from Shirley Chong.  You teach the dog to hit a target with his/her paw.  You slowly move backwards from various targets until you get full distance.  We're just starting out so I figured we don't need much room.
Alicia taught him to shake hands, so I cued him for that and moved my hand out of the way so he hit the footstool, bingo, he got it.  I had him "whack" the footstool, a traffic cone, (yes I have one in my dining room, don't you?) the sofa, and a plastic storage bin.  He was getting into it We were pretty close to each object, next time we work on it, we'll move a little ways away (18" or so.) To make this Novice related, we did finishes to set up each time, he did very well.

Today I practiced the retrieve on flat. Quinn really loves to retrieve so our difficulty is the stay while I throw the dumbbell. Because it's a challenge I decided to try a Graduate Novice exercise called a Dumbbell Recall.  You hand the dumbbell to the dog walk across the ring and call them to front.  Sound easy?  Well I thought it would be.  I handed him the dumbbell told him to stay took three steps and I heard the dumbbell hit the floor.
I went back set him up again and this time took just one step out (pivoted out in front of him.)  I called him and moved backwards.  He brought the dumbbell to me, yay!  The next time I went out just a couple of steps.  He did a good job.

Since he didn't do as well as I expected, I stopped there and tried something else.  I threw the dumbbell and then told him to heel with me,  The first time he started to go after the dumbbell, I interrupted him and called him back, made him do a pivot and then sent him.  He sat there not moving at all, oops!  I did another pivot and sent him again.  He ran out and retrieved, but dropped the dumbbell at my feet.  What the h--heck?! I did the exercise again and he actually heeled with me and then went out and got the dumbbell.  When I took it from him, I noticed blood on the bell and on Quinn's mouth.  He must have bit his tongue when he picked up the dumbbell, poor boy.  We stopped there and did some heeling and  tricks (walking in between my legs.) He just loves to work, I really feel bad that I haven't practiced with him much this past year.



*Picture By Michael Malak (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Sunday is a day of rest

So I'd planned on having Alicia come over and call a Novice Routine for Quinn and I, but that didn't happen.  I spent the day cooking (rhubarb upside down cake is a big mistake) and reading a book.

Today, after work I took the dogs out in the back yard and had Quinn do a sit-stay while I walked around the perimeter of the yard.  The first time I tried it, Missy enticed him out of the stay.  The second time, I just walked a short ways away and then went back and rewarded him.

The third time was the charm and he finally stayed while I walked around the yard.  He kept an eye on me but he didn't move. He got a big reward and then we went inside--it was darn cold!

Trying it again!

I have a goal for the year, and I thought I'd dust off the old Blog and see if I can use it to help me reach it.
My goal is to take Quinn into the ring and earn his P-CD.
AKC has a new titling class that's Preferred Novice.  It's standard Novice, but the sit (or down) stay is similar to the sit-stay in Beginning Novice.  In other words, no group sit and down!  Yay.
For Quinn that's the only way I'll be comfortable getting a CD on him.  He knows the exercises, but he's frightened of other dogs and I've worked very hard with him quite a bit.  There was a time when I couldn't even take him to a trial. Since then he's earned his RE and BN, so he's improved immensely, but I know I wouldn't feel confident of his behavior in a group of dogs.

So today, I practiced the sit-stay, he did fine, but we were in my dining room, not much of a challenge. My sister brought me a pizza for supper (we shared) and I had her help me practice the Moving Stand.  The first time, he did the stand and held the exam, which is tough because he loves Alicia and wants nothing more than to jump on her and give her kisses.  When I called him to heel, he came to heel, but didn't sit.  Oops, we need to work on that. The second time, I broke it up and did the stand and exam.  Then rewarded him, reset the stand and called him to heel, he did much better.

Tomorrow, I want to practice a full Novice routine, we'll see how that goes!