Monday, April 22, 2024
Week 5 - String Test
What a phenomenal morning! Thanks everyone who came and participated! Seeing Piper's response to the massive tunnel of love drill along with all the other distractions, I can really see just how far she has come. Almost a completely different dog. So very awesome!
Sunday, April 21, 2024
Week 5, Vickster's Test Re-take 1
Here you go. Not quite as long as Mary's test was but it's close!
We tried a number of different ways to film this (ladder wasn't high enough) with the obstacles and following us provided the best overall views. We are still far from perfect, but hopefully good enough to progress to the third week 5 test.
If not, we will try to meet again later this week in the evening when it's cooler.
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
Week 5, Vickster's Test
Here you go. She was more responsive on the first attempt, but I was setting the video without being able to look at it closely and turned it off instead of on. Nothing captured. Doh! This second pass you can see she'd about had it and I was turning into a nag.
And it was extra hard to focus on footwork and turns when it was all I could do to have her stay close. I suspect I didn't do those very well, but hopefully I didn't miss any of the turns. I did see in the review that I missed the exercise finish after the second down, but I think that was the only one.
Your feedback in appreciated!
Tuesday, April 16, 2024
Week 5 Pop Quiz
Here you go... It took her a few passes to remember that they weren't there for her enjoyment, and then she was fine. The Vickster's test run was going well but the deck is too hot to succeed. We'll try it again when it's cooler. Probably this evening or tomorrow morning.
Monday, April 8, 2024
Week 5 Update...
We are making SLOW progress, but it's progress all the same. Can't tell yet how much longer it'll be before I can take the first week 5 test since she still keeps tension on the leash almost constantly. Here are our wins for the day:
1. On LL, she's learned to hear "leave it" and not break at barking dogs behind fences, regardless of the provocation. We had a few new ones this am so it was an excellent opportunity to drill her with them before she gets used to them. She got a bit sassy with me in the beginning, so we hung out there until she got over it.
2. We progressed the "chicken gauntlet" to include weaving through them, sitting next to them, sit/stay next to them, and finally down/stay within 12" of them. The only thing I didn't try yet was make her watch the cat eat them. I don't want that to backfire and have her start to target the cat.
3. She's moving in closer on the leash while heeling, keeping my right hand slightly behind my back helps. I'll be taking her for a second training walk this evening to see if we can't progress that to on trail.
4. She down/stayed wonderfully on the grass. That was a nice progression.
5. The stand/stay is progressing, but slowly. When she starts to get bored, she still sits down.
6. She does much better holding her STAY in whichever position, when she's focused on me. If she gets distracted for too long, she still tends to break. Today I started something new... saying "Piper eyes" or "eyes" to get her to look back at me and every time her did I said "good girl".
Unless you tell me why not to do that, I'm going to continue to encourage eye contact, especially when there are lots of distractions. Obviously, I don't want to make it mandatory because I know she needs to stay whether she can see me or not. It's just to help her while she's learning to tune out distractions.
7. The finish is almost there. I still need to encourage her with leash pressure, but not much anymore.
8. The down is also progressing. Having to change my hand command has been the hardest to layer in for us both. But it's coming along.
That's it for now. Doing my best to juggle a lot of balls and not drop any. I'm very grateful Piper is such a smarty and retains her training with minimal refreshing. Sorry to miss this am. Will do my best to have us attend next Monday's 10am class.