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~