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Yes Marie is my helper she’s wonderful!
Sounds good about using a longer toy and positioning it better. I’ve gotten used to Dreamer who loves toys no matter what. So I’m still learning how to toy play with Fix. I don’t want to lose his toy play like I have with other dogs in the past. And I do have a flirt pole I can bring. He loves that thing.
The decel game is fun and he definitely likes the treats! He loves those St Rocco’s!
We didn’t show over those four days. It was Agility only. So Fix just got to come and socialize and sniff and pee and train a little and be cute and silly. I can definitely see less impulse control when he’s tired. I don’t know if that’s harder for terriers since he’s my first, but I also think he’s just a dog and still learns the same way as any other dog, I just need to make sure I adjust to what he needs.
Showing is definitely still tiring for him. We have a really busy next couple of weeks so we’ll see how he does. After this coming weekend I’m going to Colorado for the following weekend for showing so we are gonna be busy. But I’ll bring his training stuff and try to keep up!
We are all having a nice quiet day today!
Thank you! I am so thrilled with this puppy! He really did so well in a difficult environment and he did get so tired today. I kept it short and fun like you said, but today on the blinds exercise he did actually run off to the person walking by lol. So we stopped.
He was a little better for the collection exercise but I had treats so he stayed with me. I still think he ran pretty fast! And I think I remembered to decel! Hahha
I think we are going to take Tuesday off training completely and just have a rest day. We have 3 down days this week, then I’m showing him in breed for four days next weekend so we’ll see how that goes too!
Thank you! Yeah my helper did great not letting him go until he was looking at me. And I’m so happy he’s keeping his engagement with me and not running off to visit! He loves other people and dogs so I’m glad he’s choosing me. I’ll work on the blind cross exercise a bit more without a dog first so I can get my mechanics down better.
To keep things interesting for him today I went back to the bowl bowl with the cone and the driving to the toy when I chase him. I even brought my chair so I could pick up the bowls and the cone and put them away, and still have everything we did be in the view of the video camera. I was really happy with how he was able to switch. I split the session into two videos but it was really the same session.
And I’m playing with him a lot between toy throws because you said he didn’t like it when I took it away so soon.
So the first bit. There was something icky in that new bag of treats so I was slow getting them out, it was a new bag, so I fast forwarded that bit lol
And then the second part. Definitely helped to put the bowls and cone and everything away so he would play again. And this is a little squeaky purple octopus 🐙 that he loves.
Thanks! Today I had a helper and she held onto Fix while I ran. I think he was pretty speedy! My helper told me I did the blind cross exercise wrong tho oops. I thought I would submit it anyway. And Fix was ok with the toy, but the grass was waaay interesting and so I kept this short.
I also did the drive to handler with a helper and I think he did really good. I sometimes forgot to decel lol. But I think he had fun and did well and he stayed with me for the treats. I didn’t do the bowl and cone today but I will do that again tomorrow.
Well I failed at keeping the prop closer hahha. He was doing so well I moved it too far away! Next time I’ll just keep it close the whole time. And I kept this session short because we are at an outdoor trial this weekend for four days. So I’m also having him on his harness and dragging the line because I don’t trust him to not run off and try to say hi to everyone. But I do think he’s getting the idea!
And I don’t usually keep a collar on him because he shows and I don’t want a collar line. But I can put one with his training gear and use it for training to hold him back. I’m really glad he doesn’t mind being held and touched and picked up.
I didn’t have him stay today so he did kinda take some time to search for his throw back treat. But he stayed with me, even though I was fairly far from activity. So I think he did a good job!
Thanks! I don’t think he’s really super fast lol but then I’m used to Dreamer hahha. I think he did well too. So I used a deck mushroom as a prop and he did try to cheat a couple times! So I made it easier and put it close to my knees. I also tried a little play away from the bowls in between but he kept going back to the bowls. He really loves this toy but I could get out the flirt pole and see if he’ll play with that instead.
The next thing we did this morning was driving to handler. I have been working through your Want To Stay Ready to Go program with him too so I tried that a little, but then gave up and threw the cookie back. He’s doing ok with the stays but I don’t want to confuse him either. I think he did pretty good with the driving to me.
Okay I did both games again this afternoon and outside in the grass where I had more room. I did the chase to you game first. The prior videos did show the whole sessions. They were short. These videos also show the whole sessions. I only did the toy chase four times and threw it pretty far. He still does the silly puppy pounce that makes me laugh. And it got me sweaty all that running. I can’t run very fast myself! I played with him a lot between throws which he does really like.
He is a little hungry for dinner for this game so I think he stayed engaged better. Though here he didn’t really want to switch to the toy. He really wanted the treats.
Balance is needed by us! 😀 For these videos I asked him to work too long, which I usually don’t do. Ooops! And I usually do the bowl to bowl game with all my puppies but I have totally forgotten with him so this was his first time. And he got bored pretty quickly lol. I won’t do it so long next time.
I also did a little of the drive to toy game. This is his favorite toy and he went from the food in the bowls to the toy pretty easily. Though again I worked too long and he left me. So we just ended.
I see we can do the pregames and submit video so here we go!
I have done some foot target with Fix already but mostly with food. I wanted to see how he would do out of the gate with his favorite toy. He did okay … Hahha not great. I cut out all the tugging we did between targeting.
The second set I put him on the deck so he could easily find the treats and he did much better.
Okay great, I can get some weights and attach them to the teeter, or even maybe some tunnel bags. I didn’t really notice that it was bouncing a lot. It’s a Mark’s teeter, I think a good one, but my lawn is kinda lumpy too so it’s not a solid flat surface.
I’m glad I made a good call just doing the two reps. :). I’ll try in another day or two again, see what he thinks. 🙂
Today when I left Dreamer at the vet I was close to the agility barn again so took Kaz over. I was hoping to bring both dogs, but just took Kaz. He definitely can’t work for a full hour! But we had some fun. I did set up the straight lines exercise which was a lot of fun. He only did it this once, though. I tried again later the other direction and nope, he was done, so I didn’t push it. I think he’s gonna be a speedy little guy!
I also took him outside because there was stuff set up, and for him outside is a whole new environment. It was cooler outside too. But he still can’t play with toys there. Thanks for telling me to keep at it with the toys, and they will come back. I think I gave up on toys with Jet and Connor early because they were the same way. Play at home but not in different locations. And I so do love using toys! So this is just a little clip of having him run through a straight tunnel outside. I threw the toy, but he didn’t play. And he really needed outside sniffing time so most of the time I just let him sniff and walked around with him. Which was good anyway because we had too much time to work. :). I don’t know if this video is useful at all, lol, but thought I would include it. I didn’t do any teeter work, or much else. 🙂
Hehe yeah I don’t give them butter very often for fear of it being too fatty, but they sure love it! And it’s the only thing my Kromi Maze will take a pill inside. :). Gotta be sneaky with him! I’m not sure if the fat content is higher than cream cheese or not, I need to look! Pouring some melted butter on some other kind of treat is also a great idea, even kibble might work! And yeah everyone loves butter! 😀
So I’m feeling a little better but didn’t have much time today, so just tried the mountain climber again with just a little bit of movement to the teeter. It did worry him a little! I hope I didn’t do too much. And since he was worried, I only did two reps. Should I go back to a non-moving teeter, or should I do this again in a couple of days?
Thank you! He still won’t really play with toys outside of home or the barn, places he’s familiar with, and I don’t really push it. But I do try to play a little and I hope he’ll be more comfortable with play in all sorts of places eventually.
I haven’t done much training ’cause I tend to sit and worry when one of my dogs isn’t at full health, so I’ve just been waiting around for Dreamer’s tail to heal. I think it’s healing well and he should get his stitches out on Tuesday. Hopefully, then we’ll be back to normal activity.
I did get out in the back yard a little this morning. Though now I’m having another stupid physical thing of my own that’s flaring up, so I kept things short with Kaz. And I was out of cream cheese so I used butter for the teeter. LOL he loves butter! He was so into the butter that he forgot how to wrap. So we did some mountain climber reps, then we did a couple of wrap reps to let him know he really can think and eat butter at the same time. LOL. Then we did a couple more mountain climbers. Boy he sure darts right up that teeter for butter! 🙂
Thanks for the detail about the say! I will change my tactic a bit. 🙂 Yeah I don’t want my moving to be his release.
So I have bad news about Dreamer’s tail, the end has to be amputated because one of the vertebrae is in pieces. That’s why it’s not healing. So he’s kinda out for the count and will be for a couple more weeks until he heals up.
Also it’s so hot here, 80 at 8:00 am, and my backyard has been taken up by my deck guy putting in my deck in the mornings. No way Kaz can work through that, so I haven’t been training at home much. Though I could bring the wobbly plank indoors and work that on the tile.
I did the following training after I found out about Dreamer (we’d just come from the vet, this was last Friday) so I wasn’t thinking great so I just stuck with the regular stuff with Kaz. It was also hot again and so we didn’t do much.
I did the teeter and was a bit ahead of him so he would run to the top, I think he did well. The first rep I was a little too far ahead.
A little more lazy game:
And a little bit with the toy, I didn’t really try to send him to a jump out of the tunnel :p
<<<Some dogs don’t really understand the traditional ways of teaching stays – my 5 year old dog had ZERO idea what I wanted when I tried to teach her a stay using what I had done with the others. So, I switched to throwing the reward back to her, making the release the key information point – and the lightbulb went on immediately 🙂 Yay! Kat is just like her, so I know we will get his stay going really well too 🙂>>>
I think what is confusing me a bit, as I was working the stay today, is it seems like if I move when I release, will I be releasing with motion? Instead of releasing in motion. So if I release AND move at the same time, will he think that when I move it’s the release, not my verbal?
I’ve been trying to teach Dreamer Left and Right since we have some downtime, and he is just not getting it at all. Maybe I should ask in camp. My verbals suck. LOL Half my dogs don’t know Sit or Down on cue in lots of different situations.
What I’m understanding about the stay. then, is that really I’m actually training the release, not really the stay. Is that right? I swear this should be an easy concept for me after training dogs for 19 years!
Here’s our attempt at the stays today.
We worked early at the barn today, 8:30 to 9:30., and dangit it was already 80 outside. Pfft. The agility barn is close to Dreamer’s vet, and he’s getting laser on his tail, so I figured I should just rent the barn while we are out there. I keep everything really short for both Kaz and Dreamer.
This was Kaz’s first time doing the mountain climber game not at home. Only did 3 reps, and I did put the cream cheese on the top on tape. He loves cream cheese! It’s tricky loading it and leading him around so he won’t go up by himself. But I think it worked out okay. I didn’t do a wrap (thought about it, had the jump out as you could see) but since it was a new place to do the game I figured he probably needed baby steps again. I think he did really well.
We also worked the lazy game with the jumps and tunnel. My treat throws were awful, lol, but he seemed to figure it out anyway!
Then I ran with him more… I was happy he was able to switch from treats to the toy. :). At the end of the video I considered resetting the jump and going again, then decided nope, that was enough, especially when it was already so hot. And boy does he love the barn. He doesn’t want to leave!
There’s also a little tire set up in the barn so I thought we’d try some lazy game with that. I did it last time we were there, and he was a bit worried about going through. But today he was great! And with the heat I didn’t want to do too many running games that made him too hot and tired.
Thank you for your feedback! Yeah, I figured he was just being a puppy and we just needed to have some fun anyway. That makes sense that his brain couldn’t prioritize both the jumps and the motion so he could only do the motion. 🙂 I can definitely do some of the pattern game, and then go back to the lazy game when we are there. Baby steps for both of us. 🙂
Sounds good about the stays too! He is a tough guy for me to get to stay, I swear my other dogs were not this challenging :p. They all seemed to really pick up just staying. Or else I’ve forgotten, which is also a possibility!
I will try your methods the next time! I’m trying to get a deck installed too so I have too many things going on now and for the next couple of days.
