Week 3 of Cues class

Side note: Savvy has officially discovered girls. The jokes and references to Deja being his girlfriend have now become a reality. He was all over her last week, doing a little flirting dance, and trying to win her over. She was really being a floozy too, because she'd ignore him and then when he settled down she would go over to him, lick his nose, nibble his neck, and then when he got all excited again, she'd walk off.

So this week we worked on discrimination and retrieve work.

For the retrieve:
* work towards the dumbbell on the floor
* keep shaping a hold

For the discrimination:
* select another "hot" item
* build up to 3 items as before

Notes:
*set up each time then release to touch
*don't use the "touch" cue with him, just shape
*if stuck or disengaged, pick up the item after each touch

Chains:
* come up with 3-4 behaviors to chain together

Week 2 Homework

Tonight we worked on the Retrieve and started discrimination work.

Retrieve:
* Watch for tendencies for the behavior
* Start with nose touch and wait out mouth open
* Solid Pick-up - Duration - pick up several times then set thedog up to drop it in your hand, shape into a pick up and put in hand or no treat is given

Discrimination:
* Stick with the "hot" item
*Build up to all 4 items but still touching the "hot" item

For Savvy's hot item I used a glasses case and gave it the cue, "case"
savvy's second item was the glove

Homework this week:
*continue discrimination work, the retrieve and targeting

On another note Savvy did well in heeling class this week. He kept breaking his stays, but that's been the hardest thing to teach him so I can work on that. We did learn that I need to look down at my feet and then over at him, rather than always glancing over my shoulder, as that pushes him back and out. I also need to start keeping my bait bag on the right because it is pushing him wide on his halts. Our biggest challenge I think though is the figure 8's because he is totally in tune to saying hi to the posts and not caring about me. But this will come with time and age. :-)

Cue Class #1

Okay, this is gonna be quick because I need to go to bed but I don't want to forget:

HW:
*work on retrieve (getting him to grab Dumbbell and retrieve anything short distances)
*pick 4 items to use for scent discriminations
*pick 2-3 items for visual discrimination
*pick a behavior chain to work on
*pick some cues to polish

I think that's it, I'll write actual details later!

Casey

Rally and more Rally

So it's been a while since I updated this, shame on me. Savvy earned his AKC rally novice title on May 6! I was extremely proud of him. It was only his second show weekend, and first time showing outdoors. Here's a copy of his new title picture.


This past weekend we traveled to Rhode Island for an APDT rally trial. Savvy wasn't too keen on actually working, so he NQ'ed 3 out of 4 runs. However, the one leg that he got, he did with style. He was the only dog in the A class to Q and therefore won first place!!! Here are some pics of him from the trial.


Our other big news is that he will be starting an advanced clicker training class, and attending a heeling class next week! YAY!

~Casey~

Agility Homework Week 6

Class was fun. We missed a bit the week we were gone, but Savvy caught up pretty quickly. Our homework for this week is as follows:

1) Keep working on spins, and heeling on the right side
2) Start using a chair or jump standard to practice front and rear crosses
3) Start working on targeting the contacts and holding position of either 2 on/2 off, or 1 on/3 off

Louisville

Well we had an interesting time in Louisville. Savvy walked away with his first leg towards his Rally Novice title! He did a pretty good job in the ring and managed to get an 89. Not bad for his first weekend showing. The day before he would have Q'ed but he peed in the ring. Totally my fault I should have taken him out. The rest of the weekend he didn't pee, and held his stays, but had no attention whatsoever. He's only just turned 9 months old I can't honestly ask for more than that from him. He has, however, given me the confidence that once we work on distractions and attention he's going to be an unbeatable dog in Rally and Obedience.

7 months old

Rally practice

Well we're in serious training because in two weeks we make our ring debut! AHHH! I'm not ready!!!!!!! Anyways, we worked in the driveway today and he did wonderfully. We worked on coming front, taking steps backward, finishes, arounds, left about turns, steps forward, and he did really well with them. At this point we still have to tweak and really solidfy the walk arounds, but other than that he's doing pretty good. I'm very happy with the progress he's making and although I don't know how well he's going to do in the ring, I'm 100% positive that we're going to have FUN!

Casey

Agility Week Two

Once again Savvy proved how awesome he is in class last night. We worked on new obstacles (although he has already seen jumps and tunnels, he has never seen the ladder before) and he went through everything with ease. Carolyn even called him a show-off. :-)

I'm so proud though because he got to do the demo for the rear cross. Carolyn was very adamant about how we were doing the flatwork because it is so important. So we practiced without the dogs and then she told us to try it with the dogs. I had already practiced the flatwork with him prior to starting class, so thankfully I had refreshed my memory, :-) I started trying the rear cross with him and Carolyn said how great I was doing, and then told everyone else to stop and watch me because I had some experience with this. At one point Savvy tricked me and didn't do a 180 like he was supposed to and I simply went back, lured a little lower and he did it perfectly. Carolyn pointed out what I did and complimented that as well. :-)

We worked on introducing some obstacles, the ladder, jumps, and the barrel of the chute (w/o the fabric on it). Savvy took all of it in stride. The only thing he was a little funny with is the ladder. He hadn't seen one before and that didn't bother him at all, but he is so uncoordinated that he just couldn't walk through it very easily. He did wonderfully, but would hop through half the time, or only put his front feet in part of the time, pretty typical of the first try with the ladder, but it was funny to watch. Of course he went running over to Carolyn while she was sitting on the floor to say hi and was licking and zooming around her like he does, and of course he peed on the floor, but it was funny to watch, and I'm just so happy to have a dog that is so happy all the time.

It was an awesome class and I'm so proud of my little Savvins. I really think that once he gets the drive for it and starts showing more interest in the obstacles and being challenged a little bit he's going to be awesome.

So our homework for this week is:

1) keep working on targeting from all angles
2) keep working on heeling on the right
3) start working on our flatwork (front and rear crosses on the flat)
4) walking through ladders
5) spinning on both sides
6) board work - click only back feet on board, if he offers 2 on 2 off click and feed in that position

Agility Class

Savvy and I enjoyed our first agility class tonight! My little goof ball was well...a little goof ball. He started out being a little antsy and barky, which is to be expected because he hasn't been to a formal class since October. However he settled in after a few minutes.

We started class with telling Carolyn our goals for class and long-term. So my long term goals for Savvy are to compete in agility because he has to live up to his Dad's reputation. My class goals, however, are to build our relationship as a team, and create a solid foundation to the future.

The first exercise we worked on was hand targeting, which usually Savvy is awesome at. Of course since this was a new place and we're a bit rusty he wasn't as enthusiastic as usual, but still did well.

Then we worked on lid targeting. He did well for the first few touches and then he decided that rolling over was much more fun, leading Carolyn to make comments about him being goofy. So we worked some more on lid targeting and Savvy decided that it was too much effort to bend down and touch the lid, so he laid down with it in between his front legs. This again led Carolyn to make a comment about "Mr. Lazy Bones".

Next we worked on spinning on both the right and left sides, and Savvy did well.

After that we worked on walking on our right side. He did well, he tried to scoot over to my left side a few times, but I was very impressed by how calm he was on my right side.

We ended class by shaping some board work. Savvy was at total ease walking all over it and sitting on it. I would like to see a little more enthusiasm with him though. I'm so used to Fly being so driven for agility, and Savvy just doesn't have it, yet. He will when Carolyn and I get done with him though! :-)

~C~

Homework:

1) lid targeting
2) working on right side
3) spinning on left and right

OCFK Pics

On Course For Kids

I can't believe I haven't updated this in a month. OCFK went extremely well! Savvy was awesome, as always. He only did half the obstacles, and none of the tunnels, but hey he's 6 months old, what more could I ask for? He went into a huge building he'd never been too with hundreds of people, dogs, and noises, and was calm, laid back, playful, and perfect!

Meanwhile back at home, we've had breakthroughs with our new tricks. He'll now shake, wave, high 5, and occasionally spin and twirl (I keep forgetting I taught him it and don't ask him to do them very often). Today we started working on weaving in between my legs while I walk. He's such an awesome little puppy!

Here's some pics I took of him in his first snow...