We've been a bit lax in our training. This heat is so oppressive that we never want to go anywhere...plus we can't train for more than a few minutes at at time. That being said, we had an AWESOME day in class the other day with both Bentley and Lexi. We're lucky in the our summer classes allow us to work on a variety of short skill sets.
Last week we worked on contacts which was beneficial for both dogs. Bentley did awesome. Some of the sequences were hard as he's one of the few dogs with a running dogwalk (dogwalk into the tunnel under it!), but he didn't miss a single one!
Lexi also did well. I've learned that she needs commands earlier than Bentley does, which is something I'll need to learn. She missed a couple contacts (remember, she does a 2o2o) because I didn't tell her soon enough, and she didn't slow down fast enough on her way down the equipment. I was amazed, too, because she was doing handling exercises that she has never seen before like it was nothing. I was able to flip her out to a tunnel no problem!
Enough about class, here are two short training videos on the A-frame.
I know what you mean about the heat! Can't that part of summer just be over? We have at least 8 more weeks of the oppression.
ReplyDeleteTraining looks to be going very well. At one point in Lexi's video you said "What happened?" Weeeellll... it looks like she wasn't really ready for the distance and thought being near you might get her more treats than staying put. I'm not sure putting her back on the contact is teaching the correct behavior, but hey - I'm a newbie! I admire the contact work, as I just don't think it would work with us.
Chelle, I am totally over this heat/humidity thing. It's just no fun! Can't wait until it cools down some.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments about Lexi--you're right. She's still learning what things to value, and sometimes I forget that!
We have always been taught to put her back on, I guess just to show her what is right. I know some people don't like it, but even in my obedience classes I always ask for the behavior (provided they know it), then if I don't get it, gently reinforce it (like slide the dog into a sit). I then release, and then let them try again. Most of the time they get it the second time. Different training methods for different people :)