First, I should say that this blog is great reinforcement for me. It keeps me motivated when otherwise, I'd fall into a slump and quit training (this happens frequently).
I worked with both dogs last night after a long day of working in the garden; Peach is still on hiatus since she's in season.
Basil had a lovely session. I think we finally made some progress on the glove! I started by doing a few tosses, which I then marked (clicking for marking), and then sent him for the glove. After that I did some blind tosses while he was eating treats, and our previous "toss/mark/send" pattern seemed to help remind him to LOOK for something out there when I mark. Great!
Worked on articles, too...pile of 10, about 5-6 paces out (so 10 feet). He had a little difficulty finding the first one, a leather, but after that did great.
Did signals, too--WOWEE!!!! Amazing! A couple anticipations on the down, but I don't think that's too big a problem. I worked him at 12 paces first, but then moved up to 15. EXCELLENT!
Finally, we also did some directed jumping; he missed a couple jumps, thinking that my right jump signal was my recall signal, but I made sure to slow down my signal and to lean a bit. I think he's doing really well with directed jumping....I'm so thankful that he did agility. It makes this a lot easier.
Teagan also had a great session. We worked on the high jump again, and I don't think she attempted to return around it once. I shortened the ring gating up to about 2 feet or so, and she did great every time. I've been clicking as soon as she returns over the jump, which means she's dumping the dumbbell and running for the ball, but that's okay. We'll add the front back in later.
We also did some drops on recall; she does fantastically well with this and likes it a lot. I've been starting lately with several recalls first, using "here" as her recall command for the drop, and clicking as soon as she begins moving toward me (to reinforce movement toward me, rather than waiting for a drop, or, worse, actually dropping). I do 4-5 of these, and then throw in a drop, which she nails every time. After that, it's a little tricky to get her to do recalls without anticipating a drop, but she seems to be getting the idea. I find that once the dog understands how to drop while moving toward you, you don't have to practice it often...I have to practice straight recalls FAR more often.
We did a little work on off-leash figure 8s, which was fun, and then we did a single, 4.5 minute out-of-sight down in the driveway. I'm reinforcing once a minute now, so she's doing wonderfully well...after that, we all went for a run on the property so the dogs could relax and have fun!
