We had a little time off with me preparing for a trip to New Orleans and trying to catch up with all my school work before I embarked on the journey. Then I was gon for 5 days. Bottom line, I haven't done much training at all since the show n go.
I did take Morgan out and did a couple of weave poles with her yesterday when the sun was shining. (only time this week so far). I moved the poles closer so that they are just 1 inch (maybe 1.5 inches) apart. Interestingly, Morgan can now do the left side entry better than the right side entry. When she did a couple of left entries correctly, I quit. We'll work on the right side entries again when the weather gets a little better.
I took Morgan with me to the chiropractor's and we stopped at a strip shopping mall with a pet store. Morgan and I tried to do some attention work and heeling without treats. I had to resort to my Terri Arnold training with a pop when she looked away and praise when she looked back. IT WORKED! It took a few pops but she learned pretty quickly that looking away was not an option. Yay! We had to do quite a few turn arounds on the heeling for her to 'get' that I wanted her to pay attention with heeling as well. This she isn't as good at yet. However, before I quit, I made sure that she paid attention for about 6 steps and sat when I stopped. I wanted her to look up at me too, but that didn't happen. However, it was good enough and I know I need to do it again very soon to solidify it in her little brain.
All in all both were okay sessions. I think she is learning something. My only complaint about what I am doing is that I am not doing enough of it. That said, my first goal is to do something consistently every day outside and inside. Then we'll work up to the 'more often.'
Training Morgan, a six year-old standard poodle in obedience, agility, freestyle, and hunting.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Morgan's Show n Go experience
Today, I took Morgan to a show n go. At least we thought it was a show n go.
The flyer said that it was a B/OB Rally Fun match. It ended up being a B match. However, I told the judges that we wanted to show for exhibition only. Anyway, my goals for this show n go were to treat it like a trial in that we set up crates and chairs and water, etc. just like we were at a trial; to get her attention on me and see if she would play with me. Success on both accounts. Yay!
I had decided that I was going to take food in the ring because the goal was not to see how she would perform in competition but to train her out-of-ring behavior for now. Problem is that even though we could show for exhibition, we couldn't bring in food. I decided then to see if I could trick Morgan into thinking I had food. It worked for the on-lead heeling which was EXCELLENT. She realized that I did not have food for the figure 8 and that is when her performance started to fall apart. I gave her a pop out of sight of the judge but it didn't help. We tried off lead heeling and when she didn't halt, I put her back on lead. It was pretty bad but not as bad as her performance in Charleston. I guess there is something to be said for that. I had just lost all attention.
We tried Advanced Rally off lead, the thinking was that we did great at the agility show n go yesterday off lead and maybe if she had more to do in the ring she would do better. NOT. She was fabulous on the right and left pivots, the 1,2,3 steps in front position, on the moving down, and just about any exercise we had to do. Problem was that in between those exercises, she wandered off. She came back on command but she never really heeled. We had the offset figure 8 which had nothing in the bowls but she had to inspect the bowls but responded quickly to the 'leave it' command.
I learned a couple of things. I can get Morgan relaxed enough that she can pay attention to me outside the ring. In fact, she can play with me outside the ring, which is fabulous. I can get her relaxed enough so that she leaves other dogs alone. Also, I put her in a sit stay with my friend holding her leash and she didn't move the whole time I walked the rally course. Her out of the ring behavior is now at a point that I am VERY pleased. At the trial at the end of January, she was so horrible-jumping on people, sticking her nose in other dogs' crates. It was embarrassing. She doesn't do that anymore. Yay!
We will work very hard on training without food and playing in the ring. We will reinstitute the daily 5 minute training that we did with Sue Garrett's class this summer. As far as PCA is concerned, she will be entered in Beginner Novice so she can get her title. Even if her heeling does not improve, she will probably qualify for that. J I'll do the parade with Merlin on Tuesday and the Parade of Champions with Morgan on Wednesday. That is enough for me to do and surely enough money for me to spend J This takes the pressure off of trying to get her ready for PCA. I need goals but deadlines tend to be recipes for failure for me with my dogs.
Kathy
The flyer said that it was a B/OB Rally Fun match. It ended up being a B match. However, I told the judges that we wanted to show for exhibition only. Anyway, my goals for this show n go were to treat it like a trial in that we set up crates and chairs and water, etc. just like we were at a trial; to get her attention on me and see if she would play with me. Success on both accounts. Yay!
I had decided that I was going to take food in the ring because the goal was not to see how she would perform in competition but to train her out-of-ring behavior for now. Problem is that even though we could show for exhibition, we couldn't bring in food. I decided then to see if I could trick Morgan into thinking I had food. It worked for the on-lead heeling which was EXCELLENT. She realized that I did not have food for the figure 8 and that is when her performance started to fall apart. I gave her a pop out of sight of the judge but it didn't help. We tried off lead heeling and when she didn't halt, I put her back on lead. It was pretty bad but not as bad as her performance in Charleston. I guess there is something to be said for that. I had just lost all attention.
We tried Advanced Rally off lead, the thinking was that we did great at the agility show n go yesterday off lead and maybe if she had more to do in the ring she would do better. NOT. She was fabulous on the right and left pivots, the 1,2,3 steps in front position, on the moving down, and just about any exercise we had to do. Problem was that in between those exercises, she wandered off. She came back on command but she never really heeled. We had the offset figure 8 which had nothing in the bowls but she had to inspect the bowls but responded quickly to the 'leave it' command.
I learned a couple of things. I can get Morgan relaxed enough that she can pay attention to me outside the ring. In fact, she can play with me outside the ring, which is fabulous. I can get her relaxed enough so that she leaves other dogs alone. Also, I put her in a sit stay with my friend holding her leash and she didn't move the whole time I walked the rally course. Her out of the ring behavior is now at a point that I am VERY pleased. At the trial at the end of January, she was so horrible-jumping on people, sticking her nose in other dogs' crates. It was embarrassing. She doesn't do that anymore. Yay!
We will work very hard on training without food and playing in the ring. We will reinstitute the daily 5 minute training that we did with Sue Garrett's class this summer. As far as PCA is concerned, she will be entered in Beginner Novice so she can get her title. Even if her heeling does not improve, she will probably qualify for that. J I'll do the parade with Merlin on Tuesday and the Parade of Champions with Morgan on Wednesday. That is enough for me to do and surely enough money for me to spend J This takes the pressure off of trying to get her ready for PCA. I need goals but deadlines tend to be recipes for failure for me with my dogs.
Kathy
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Agility run thrus
I took Morgan to the agility run thrus today. It was REALLY hot so I knew that might be an issue for her. I got her out of the car early so that she could see what was going on and get a change to get Ho Hum about it. She was VERY good. She even lay next to the Bouvier under the tent. I was very proud of her. During her run, she did the first sequence very well except she did kinda fly off the teeter. I would have liked more control. We will have to work on that. She was not as fast as I would have liked her to be and she dropped a bar (my fault for turning her too quickly). She did the dog walk and a triple. Even gave me a 2o2o on the dw. Yay! In all, I was happy with her performance. I didn't sign her up for a second run because it was just too hot.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Obedience Training
I taught my fun and games with Novice class tonight and brought Morgan with me. She stayed in the car for the first 30 minutes and then I brought her out after we practiced all the Beginner Novice exercises. I was charged with doing the heeling pattern while their dogs did their stays. Morgan was VERY ADD. It took about 10 minutes to really get her attention. I tried the heeling pattern 3 times before it was relatively acceptable to me. One of my students stated that she looked very unhappy and really did not want to do that. I told her that it was my fault that I used a lure way too long. I took out a cookie and gave Morgan one and palmed a second one and we did the heeling pattern again. It was like a different dog took over her body. She was animated, and she heeled like she does in practice. It was beautiful.
We have a shown n go to attend on Sunday. What I plan to do is to get her there early enough that she will relax and then I will take her into the ring with that one cookie palmed in my hand to keep up her attitude. I don't want her to get used to this hang dog performance because there are no cookies. In this case the time we have had off from obedience has been a little too long (over a week). I think she needs at least one day off but no more than three.
I have to say that I am really discouraged and feeling anxious about PCA. I am hoping that as usual, when I feel discouraged with Morgan, she redeems herself somehow.
Done.
We have a shown n go to attend on Sunday. What I plan to do is to get her there early enough that she will relax and then I will take her into the ring with that one cookie palmed in my hand to keep up her attitude. I don't want her to get used to this hang dog performance because there are no cookies. In this case the time we have had off from obedience has been a little too long (over a week). I think she needs at least one day off but no more than three.
I have to say that I am really discouraged and feeling anxious about PCA. I am hoping that as usual, when I feel discouraged with Morgan, she redeems herself somehow.
Done.
Trying Again
I am an awful blogger. I just can't seem to get in the habit. That's the same problem I am having about my training. Anyway, I'm trying something new this time. I will try to do a blog right after I finish training. Also, I will try to keep it short and sweet so that I know I will do it. I'm going to try to limit myself to 5 minutes for each blog. Hopefully, that will work out better.
I just got finished training weave poles with Morgan. We are up to 4 poles, slightly on an angle and about six inches apart (width). Morgan is drilling through them like a champ. I don't know how they figure it out but she has and she is so funny, she turns her head to go through the poles. I've seen other poodles do this. At first I thought she was trying to rub her head on the poles but that doesn't seem to be it. It is just what she does. She was losing momentum with the bumper I was using so I pulled out a new toy and she went nuts over it. She started out really gung ho about her weave poles but started slowing down after a couple of reps. I just played tug with her, moved the poles closer together, and started again. Bingo. We did a couple of reps and while she was still energized, I quit. I put the toy away (she was still trying to grab it). I figure it will be good for about a week and then I'll have to come up with something else :)
All done (in less than 5 minutes). This may work.
I just got finished training weave poles with Morgan. We are up to 4 poles, slightly on an angle and about six inches apart (width). Morgan is drilling through them like a champ. I don't know how they figure it out but she has and she is so funny, she turns her head to go through the poles. I've seen other poodles do this. At first I thought she was trying to rub her head on the poles but that doesn't seem to be it. It is just what she does. She was losing momentum with the bumper I was using so I pulled out a new toy and she went nuts over it. She started out really gung ho about her weave poles but started slowing down after a couple of reps. I just played tug with her, moved the poles closer together, and started again. Bingo. We did a couple of reps and while she was still energized, I quit. I put the toy away (she was still trying to grab it). I figure it will be good for about a week and then I'll have to come up with something else :)
All done (in less than 5 minutes). This may work.
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