Class 0412

It was a lovely night for a class. What with working so much I was pretty brain dead. We work working on front crosses. Annie was being pretty good except for being distracted on one run through by the dogs who live there. I caught her and didn't let her finish. The next run through she was distracted but worked through with me.

Diva was introduced to contacts via a plank on the ground (we'd already done this at home so it was not "new" to her).

Also did some call to hand. Put dog on stay, stand behind but beside a wing. Call dog to hand. Step behind wing some, put hand out so dog is coming to hand. Teaches dog to go to hand. Progress until you are behind the wing. Then teach dog to wrap around wing to hand.

Directionals: Teach dog left and right with a wing. Stand behind wing, start by luring the dog the direction you want it to go, click 1/2 way around, treat all the way around. Work both sides and use the command, left and right. Once dog begins to offer add difficulty by starting a little further away from the wing so that it becomes a send.

Rear cross on leash....walk with bait in both hands give dog command to turn (I use back) lure with treat, turn yourself, treat with opposite hand. Add speed.

Switch and ?: Teach dog to switch sides behind you.

Also worked on some focus work on leash. Putting dogs in circle. Put dogs on sit stay. Step a stride away. Then one person would cross the circle, and sit-stay their dog in new position. Then another would go to that persons position. Then worked it with downs. Also practiced walking dog around the circle of sitting dogs.

2020 work: If you opt for 2020 contacts do tons of target work where the dog will run to a target and keep its nose to it, until released.

Class 03/29

I had to miss my class because Rod was out of town and I took Kt skating. Kt was able to have class with Diva.

They worked on tunnels, straight and curved.

Jumping Shaping: Teaching dog to jump: Kneel down beside jump. Take some bait and lure your dog over the jump, treat when dog jumps. Then just put your hand down by jump standard (about a foot from bar) and wait for dog to offer the jump -treat when your dog does. Work from both sides of the jump. Slowly raise the bar. Diva was up to 18" in one session offering the behavior very nicely.

Kt also introduced Diva to the table. Be sure to treat on table not when dog jumps off. You want the reward to be for being on the table, not getting off of it.