Agility Foundation I - No class

We have no classes again until June 9th, so we've just been practicing our normal homework and working on spinning left and right.

CGC Obedience - Class 5

We had a small class this week. I think a lot of people left early for vacation for the Memorial Day holiday. This week, the instructor introduced finish. Bailey already knew finish in both directions, so we just took the time to practice finishing both ways. Next, she introduced a "choose to heel" exercise and handed out big plastic kitchen spoons with peanut butter on them. Bailey already does a decent heel, so I only rewarded him selectively. He did ok, but sometimes loses his focus especially if there is something tasty on the ground. We spent a lot of time walking around the other dog/handler pairs to get practice with walking in a crowd. We met up in a circle again and practiced greeting a friendly stranger. Bailey must have still had peanut butter on his mind, so he was somewhat jumpy. Bad boy! We also worked on leave it. He did ok, until the stinky liver treats came out. Those were very hard for him to leave alone. :-) Clearly, my dog is VERY motivated by food.

We went to Petsmart after class, but the scale was broken. I think his weight has been holding steady. I'd like him to gain about 5 lbs, but I want to make sure that it comes as muscle, not fat.

Agility Foundation I - Class 3

This week was a fun class. We spent the first few minutes working on targeting, which Bailey does really well. He loves that little white circle. :-) She also did an exercise where we put 10 treats into our hand and set the timer for 30 seconds. We had to target, click, treat at least 10 times in the 30 seconds. We did it, but it wasn't easy. The hardest part was figuring out how to hold the clicker, treat, and target. We also showed off our new tricks this week. We showed Through, where Bailey goes between my legs. Once that was done, we were divided into three groups to work the stations.

Our first station was working on circle work outside. We've been working on the spinning left and right during the week, but Bailey still has a really hard time spinning to the left. The right spin is really easy for him though. Next we started a basic rear cross. Previously, we had done some work where the dog turns into you like the following:
D ----------\
        <---/
        <---\
H ----------/

This week, we changed it up a bit so it looks more like the start of a rear cross:

        <---\
D ----------/
        <---\
H ----------/

I'm not sure that my picture really explains it well, but basically you are going along with your dog and you ask him to spin away from you. While he's spinning, you also spin towards him and pick him up on your opposite side. Bailey seemed to understand that pretty well. The idea behind this exercise is that eventually, we can get the dog to understand our shoulders so that he can do a serpentine in front of us with just the turn of your shoulders. I remember seeing a clip like this in the Success with One Jump DVD. Finally, we worked on the static retrieve and the 1-2-3 Game. Static retrieve is where you put a toy out in front of you and send the dog to go get it. 1-2-3 is just a way to rev up the dog. You say "Ready, 1, 2, 3" as your dog gets more and more excited to go. Then you release the dog to the toy. I think Bailey already knew that a little bit because I've played this game with him before.

Next we went inside and worked on the ground exercises. Buja, boards, and ladder were here. The table was also set up here so that the instructor could check our quick downs. Bailey did a good job and the instructor said he has the fastest down of the dogs she had seen before. Good boy! We also added the A-frame to this week's ground exercises station. It was mostly for familiarity, so we didn't practice any 2O2O behavior or anything. Bailey LOVES climbing on the A-frame and dogwalk, so we were pretty excited about that. The contact zones were a different color (red), so that threw off Bailey at first and he balked the first time. Once he realized it is the same, he had no problem.

Finally, the last station was working on the beginning of jump work. Claudia did a demo with her dog showing us how the dog should look going over a jump. Then she brought out a mini jump with what she called a spider. This is a device attached to the jump meant to encourage collection. Bailey totally missed that concept and was convinced he could just jump the whole thing. I think it would have helped to put a bar on the jump instead of just a speed bump, but I think eventually, he caught on. Next we worked on shaping the dog's body over a jump. Bailey tends to jump with his head up too high, so this is going to be a lot of work for us to practice.

We have no class next week because of the holiday, so plenty of time to practice between now and the next class. :-)

CGC Obedience - Class 4

Class went pretty well this week. Bailey seems to really like the focus of having a job to do. The first thing we did was set all the dogs/handlers in a straight line with about 6 feet of space between each. Then one by one, the dog/handler teams wove through the line to practice walking through a crowd and heeling. Of course, Bailey knew exactly how to do this because of all our practice with figure 8 in Sub-novice and Novice obedience. Then we did stand for exam, sit stay, and down stay. Bailey also excelled at this. The assistant instructor even mentioned that he was the only dog not to jump on her. :-) Next we did a recall through a tunnel of dogs. Bailey went first and did probably 30-40 feet with no problem. He did a perfect front, but didn't want to finish around me. I think he really prefers to finish by just spinning in a little circle on my left. It's also easier to get him into a square sit if we finish that way. Either way, he rocked at the recall. Lastly, we did some distraction work. One of the instructors rode a bicycle past us while the other walked by with crutches and squeaky toys. Once he heard the squeaking, Bailey's attention went out the window and he didn't even notice the crutches. Once the squeaking stopped, he decided to be afraid/barky at the crutches, so we stayed a bit later so he could just hang out around the lady on crutches. Seemed to work, but we'll see how well he does next week.

Agility Foundation I - Class 2

Second class at ACA seemed a lot less hectic. We arrived and met as a group to discuss targeting. We already know how to target, so this was basically just a review for us. Then were divided up into three groups again to work the stations and rotate.

Our first station was the floor exercises (boards, buja board, ladder, etc). We tried to do the ladder backwards, but this was way too difficult for Bailey. They also had a much more wobbly buja board than normal and at first, Bailey was quite nervous about it. I kept him on it for a while and he learned that if he just sits smack in the middle of it, there isn't too much movement. Stinker! :-)

The second station was working on toy drive and bungee stays. Bailey has negative toy drive especially for anything other than his latex ball, so this is pretty hard for us. I have to figure out how to build some toy drive in him. He does pretty well with the stays and recalls though, courtesy of our obedience training.

The last station was the table and tire. We know the table better than pretty much anyone else in the group and Bailey already has a pretty quick down on the table. I think I should also teach him the command "Bench" for get up there and sit, but I'm not sure how to teach the differentiation. We actually ran out of time to really do the tire, but did get one jump each. Bailey likes doing real agility stuff.

Finally, we met as a group again and shared tricks. We showed off our shake, because it was easy and I didn't really have time to teach something new this week.

CGC Obedience - Cancelled

Due to predicted heavy rain and thunderstorms, obedience class was cancelled tonight. Of course, the rain never came. :-(

Agility Foundation I - Class 1

Last night was our first class at ACA. It went well, although it did feel a little bit rushed. I hope we get more focused time on each of the exercises in the future classes.

We were split into 3 groups. My group went outside first to work on circle work. Bailey did well, except that it's clear he's trained in obedience first. He REALLY prefers my left side over the right. It just means we have to practice more on the right side to get him comfortable there. We also started on teaching our dogs to spin. Like circle work, Bailey definitely has a preferred direction. We'll have to practice spinning during the week so he has it down for next time.

Next, we went inside and spent some time on basic exercises like backing, buja board, ladder, perch, and fast sit and down. Because we got such a great start with DGOTC, Bailey didn't have any problem with these exercises. We do need to work on fast sit and down, though.

Finally, our group went to work on stays. Bailey is already pretty good at that, due to the obedience training, so again it was a piece of cake. All in all, a good review of skills we learned with DGOTC.

Next week, we start targeting and add the table and tire. :-)

CGC Obedience - Class 3

We had our third class for CGC Obedience with DGOTC last night. Overall, it went well. Bailey was much calmer than he usually is, and I think that has to do with exercising him immediately before class. Normally, I get home aorund 3:30 and take him out for 30ish minutes to play ball. By the time we have class at 7, he has had a nap and some time to recover from his exercise. He is normally a basket case who can't sit still for 5 minutes. Last night, I took him outside to play right after work for about 20 minutes, then again around 6 pm and played hard for about 20 minutes. He did a very good job being calmer and more laid back in class. He's getting good practice at stay under heavy distraction and we're getting a lot better at walking among crowds including dogs.

I took him to Petsmart after class to work on heeling with distractions and he did a pretty decent job. I also weigh him weekly when we stop off at Petsmart. He keeps losing weight (although very slowly) and is now around 57 lbs, so I upped his food to 1 cup at each meal. I hope he puts on a little bit of weight!