Our obedience and rally debuts are this weekend. I looked through my previous postings (Run-throughs Tuesday night weren't so great) and I am impressed by how far we've come.
Advantages of keeping a training log:
- When I'm discouraged I can look back, see where we started and the progress we've made.
- It has kept me on track and making steady progress rather than cover the same things ad nauseum.
- My confidence is boosted when I see our progress.
- Looking over it I can see things that worked well and things that didn't. This will help with the next clicker obedience class that I teach.
- If I ever write a book, I've already got notes!
I've been practicing the basic skills, sometimes in pieces, working on handling distractions. Last week was not the best for getting training time in. I need to learn to say "no" to people who don't share my hobby. Went out to the shopping center again. A little boy no bigger than Casey came over and gave him a big hug. Fortunately Casey's good with kids and odd handling. At Rally class on Tuesday all the dogs seemed to have distraction problems. We did obedience run-throughs after class since several of us are showing this weekend. It's nice to be able to do that even though Casey seemed to forget what 'sit' meant, sat crooked, and was decidedly distracted. Went to the university campus Wednesday to do distraction work and practice some skills as we could. He did much better.
Heeling-When he's on, he's on; when he forgets what he's doing about turns are wide or he lags on the figure 8. Sits are very good when he's on, he sits at 45 degree angle when he's not. Slow pace is good. Fast is good, no leaps into mid-air. Heel off leash was actually a bit better than on leash.
Stand for Exam-Good. He did move a rear foot Tuesday night, but I can live with that for now.
Recall-Very good. Fast and usually a good front. Tuesday it was off to the right which is NOT the hand I treat with usually. Finished right and did good job of it. Usually I have him finish left.
Stays-Very good. Full distance, full duration. The dog next to him got up a few times, another dog down the line got up, other people were returning to dogs and treating them for staying; but the Case-kid stayed put.
I'll post after our trials this weekend to wrap this up. It's been fun sharing our progress and hopefully it helps someone else along the way.
