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

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!

Where has time gone? July Trials in Omaha

Wow, I didn't realize how long it's been since I posted last!
Quinn earned his RN title at the Qwest Center in July. It was a huge show and he didn't do as well as he has in the past.
He was very upset when he saw Bazz, a Siberian Husky and a Doberman playing together before we went into the ring. He barked at them in an attempt to get them to stop. He was frightened of the row of small dogs in the grooming area barking every time a dog walked by their crates and I was caught unaware and didn't spend much time warming him up or getting his attention. We got a 93 because he spent the first 5 obstacles settling down and focusing on me.
Overall it could have been much worse. When we went into the ring with all the other qualifiers, he was NOT upset by the clapping or the other dogs in the ring. Back at Seward he was very upset by the 'uncontrolled' dogs in the ring with him.
I also entered Missy in Agility and handled my sister's Siberian in conformation and Papillon in Agility.
Missy went into the Novice Jumpers ring and because of poor handling on my part we got a wrong course.
When we went into the Novice Standard ring she did very well until we reached the chute. She ran in then came back out, I sent her in and she got to the fabric then backed out. I sent her again (3rd Refusal) and stood over the end calling her until she came out. The only thing I can figure is they were using small sandbags in the chute and she's never seen them before. Another thing to train for.
After she came out of the chute she basically had lost her mind and was not quite to zoomies, but certainly was not listening to me. When she blew past a jump and hit the A-frame in a wrong course I called her and we left the ring. For much of the rest of the weekend, she did better in Jumpers than Standard. Though she never left the ring, and she came to me when I called her. Obviously we weren't quite ready to compete.