wuffles Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 Next sunday is our first Novice trial!I am still not at panic stations ...yet... Cindy is still lagging about 30cm but is consistennt in that position unless I look at her so I am working on the best hand position I can use (excluding a thumb on her collar ) I have wondered about her drive. I am now convinced that she has ZERO prey drive. Walking her on Sunday with my daughter's dog, Maia - a border collie x - we spot a rabbit. Maia takes off. Cindy hides behind my legs and waits til the rabbit is gone and then gives chase ;) Not concerned about the drive but any hints about the heeling would be gratefully accepted! Does Cindy understand exactly what heel position is? Does she ever get rewarded when she is lagging, or even afterwards (for example, lagging in heelwork but catches up on the halt, then gets rewarded)? Can you get her excited about heeling? Ava isn't a lagger (she is either in beautiful heel position or completely out of position) but I had to do a lot of work strengthening her understanding of position and making it fun for her to be there. Good luck for Sunday! ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ptolomy Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 Next sunday is our first Novice trial!I am still not at panic stations ...yet... Cindy is still lagging about 30cm but is consistennt in that position unless I look at her so I am working on the best hand position I can use (excluding a thumb on her collar ;) ) I have wondered about her drive. I am now convinced that she has ZERO prey drive. Walking her on Sunday with my daughter's dog, Maia - a border collie x - we spot a rabbit. Maia takes off. Cindy hides behind my legs and waits til the rabbit is gone and then gives chase ;) Not concerned about the drive but any hints about the heeling would be gratefully accepted! Just wondering where your shoulder position is if Cindy is consistently lagging 30cm. Any chance of posting another video for us to have a look?? Good luck on Sunday. Debazzled and I fly off into the sunset tomorrow - but we should be back chatting away on Friday Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulesP Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 Good luck WA folks and have fun at the pub Sue & Cindy unless your body position is putting Cindy backwards, as in your left shoulder is back, I would be doing heaps of excitement building stuff using food. Tease her with her fav food until she is bouncing, walk a couple of steps and then chuck food forwards. That sort of thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue & Waldo Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 Thanks for your advice. I have a bad shoulder so I will look at that position. She does know the heel position but has always lagged and before I knew what I was doing with training I was rewarding a lag. I will try and get a video. Good luck WAers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RallyValley Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 (edited) Here is me and Toby's training from the other day, a special medal for anyone that can sit through all 6 and a half minutes of it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu...iYIpM&gl=US I have got some things to work on from the video already but as always constuctive critisim is appreciated. Having a couple of days off because Toby is lame so am taking some time to plan training sessions and review how things are going. Edited April 11, 2011 by RallyValley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmolo Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 Good luck Sue and Cindy!! Congrats to everyone who has had good results recently. Great video RV. I hope you don't mind me commenting. In the first minute or so, i LOVED the speed and placement of your ball rewards. I probably would have ended the session a little sooner, maybe a minute or so BUT i thought you got alot of energy and enthusiasm back at that point by using a ball reward for him again. In the recall where his front is lovely but takes 2 commands to finish, i probably would have wanted to reward in position for the front first before the finish in which case i wouldn't have rewarded the finish except verbally, would then have given another opportunity immediately to flick to heel first time and get the reward. Do you do much doodling with him in heel position? I'd love to see him do some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RallyValley Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 Good luck Sue and Cindy!! Congrats to everyone who has had good results recently. Great video RV. I hope you don't mind me commenting. In the first minute or so, i LOVED the speed and placement of your ball rewards. I probably would have ended the session a little sooner, maybe a minute or so BUT i thought you got alot of energy and enthusiasm back at that point by using a ball reward for him again. In the recall where his front is lovely but takes 2 commands to finish, i probably would have wanted to reward in position for the front first before the finish in which case i wouldn't have rewarded the finish except verbally, would then have given another opportunity immediately to flick to heel first time and get the reward. Do you do much doodling with him in heel position? I'd love to see him do some. Thanks for the comments Cosmolo! Yes when I was watching back I was suprised how long the session went for and realised why I started to lose him I usually try to wind things up under 5 mins (by my mental clock) but got carried away being on camera obviously I had to watch the video back to see the front again, thanks for the feedback on that. Will try that out next time we train. What is doodling? I have heard it mentioned but have no idea what it is... At this stage we are only heeling in straight lines as I want to learn the turn footwork properly before I am doing heeling turns with Toby so he learns consistency from the start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmolo Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 Doodling to me is finding heel from lots of different positions but then doing little quarter turns and half steps both left and right. I find it has done amazing things for improving my dogs (and some clients dogs when they are ready) hind end awareness and understanding of heel position and allows the handler to concentrate on the dogs position rather than on lots of footwork, proper turns etc. I also think its great preparation for turns as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RallyValley Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 Doodling to me is finding heel from lots of different positions but then doing little quarter turns and half steps both left and right. I find it has done amazing things for improving my dogs (and some clients dogs when they are ready) hind end awareness and understanding of heel position and allows the handler to concentrate on the dogs position rather than on lots of footwork, proper turns etc. I also think its great preparation for turns as well. Oh we do this! Especially when I was teaching heel position. If I can find the camera charger tonight I will try and have a session after work tomorrow and film it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spotted Devil Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 Safe journey bedazzled and Ptolomy! Not too much holding up the bar at the local pub...at least until you've trialled RV - it's easy to get carried away with a training session - I have to be so strict with myself. Much easier with 2 dogs though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RubyStar Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 RV, you are doing really reeeeaaally well with Toby! Well done Finding it hard to pick anything wrong so this is all I've got Apart from the finish that Cosmolo already mentioned, when you recall him, trying calling him with your legs already closer together, as I noticed you brought them together after the recall but before the finish. You can't adjust in a trial, which I'm pretty sure you already know, but no sense training differently to how you'd be trialling Love the way you stop and wait for him and reset if he looks away. His heelwork has come along fantastically, you should be proud Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RubyStar Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 RV - it's easy to get carried away with a training session - I have to be so strict with myself. Much easier with 2 dogs though! I agree that it is easier to do shorter sessions when you have more than 1 dog. But sometimes I really wish I still only had the one dog to train and focus on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ptolomy Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 Its 3.25AM last check of the training thread before heading to the airport. Last nights session was terrific, but then it usually is when you are using a truck load of food. Interesting, that for the last week I have seen cracks in the Cider armour - hmmmm - so repair work will be on the agenda when we get home. Good luck to everybody trialling this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leopuppy04 Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 I really need to join this thread more frequently Well I've had session number 2 with Missy Zara on our weekly training schedule. Should be interesting to see how she goes given that I only see her about once or twice a week, so difficult to squeeze in those training sessions! Once again I was rapt with her work. It's improving each time. Her position is getting better and better and much more enthusiastic. Still working on duration, but her understanding of where 'heel' is, is improving each time... now just to work on the walk, bounce,walk, bounce method that she has going Her auto sits need work and her stands need work (stands straight then steps out away from me) but her drops are brilliant. Turns are on a dime. One very happy mummy here As for the other kids - well last few training sessions Leo has taken AGES to find his seekback, and then it dawned on me that he may not like touching a s/b article after I've done some training with Kinta. Anyone have this difficulty where they need a separate article for their separate dogs?!?! It's the only thing I can think of... Kinta's s/b and UD training going well... still many things to work on before we enter a trial (try another 12mths away!), but they are progressing nicely Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mason_Gibbs Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 RV - it's easy to get carried away with a training session - I have to be so strict with myself. Much easier with 2 dogs though! I agree that it is easier to do shorter sessions when you have more than 1 dog. But sometimes I really wish I still only had the one dog to train and focus on! I think if i had 2 i would battle time wise atm, i only have the one and sat and sunday we were too busy to train , did do some retrieving on fri ( with a thrower) and last night. Need to crank up the obedience this week as we have a club comp on sunday Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuffles Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Do obedience trials usually go on through inclement weather (eg. rain) or do they get cancelled/rescheduled? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ness Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 (edited) Nope the only time trials get cancelled wuffles is due to it being to hot (and thats only now we have a heat policy in place before that they would hold them regardless). I have never had an obedience or agility trial cancelled because of the rain . Edited April 12, 2011 by ness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuffles Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 I went to watch one a while back and it was postponed because of rain so I was wondering if that was the norm Our trial on Saturday is at the same club and rain is predicted so I was just wondering what usually happens. Little Princess Ava doesn't like the rain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ness Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 ok maybe here we aren't as soft as you guys - I have been trialling on Ness for 8.5 years and we have never had a trial cancelled due to rain and we have certainly had some very wet trials. The GSD agility trial the weekend before the 2007 Agility Nationals here in Adelaide was really really wet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuffles Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Thanks ness, us Canberrans are a bit soft when it comes to rain, after all until late last year we had forgotten what the stuff was! I would actually prefer for it to go ahead even if it's raining, it's just water after all. I don't know whether Ava agrees, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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