My plan has been to take Stetson to a new place once each week to work with agility equipment so he will be adequately "socialized" to various working environments, turfs and equipment by the time we trial over Labor Day weekend. This past week, I rented the agility field at The K9 Ranch in northern Canton, Georgia. The field is really nice, and is very secure with a solid, gated fence around the perimeter.
He had a great time. As soon as I let him off lead he found the teeter and expectantly took it, looking for the target at the end. So far, so good.
He learned about the broad jump, which was a total no brainer for him, I said "go over" and he launched across without thinking twice about it. I also introduced the panel jump to him. As soon as I put the panels up, I sent him over and he never hesitated.
The only area we really had an issue with was jump sequencing. He was just zoning out as if he didn't understand what "over" was, or maybe he couldn't see a jump in front of him until he ducked around it at the last minute. Whatever the source of the problem, he clearly wasn't tuning into the command "over" and that it meant for him to jump the obstacle. I decided to capitalize on what he already knows and use that to accomplish the jump sequences. He knows "go" from our work in obedience with the stanchion and learning "go outs". Not only does he know it, he's fast, fast, fast on the "go" command for "go outs". I stopped calling "over" and began calling "go" - when I did this he began to get some obstacle focus and very quickly we had a five and six jump sequence going. Fun stuff!
Here, he's happily resting on the table while I reload bait.
When I released him after a challenging jump sequence, and went to get a drink for myself, he gave me a voluntary Aframe with a lovely target search.
I am so proud of this dog. We started out eight months ago as strangers. He hadn't lived in a house as a pet/companion dog before. I personally haven't seriously trained a dog other than the Siberians and their learning habits are very, very different from a herding dog. Both of us needed to learn to bond far beyond the boundaries that either of us had ever stretched ourselves to before. He came into our home assuming that someone here would be in charge and worth his trust and confidence, while I assumed that he'd eventually get over his insistent need for everything to be the exact same routine day after day after day. We were both right. The results continue to bring me to a place of gratitude as I close my eyes on another week and dream of the days to come.
He had a great time. As soon as I let him off lead he found the teeter and expectantly took it, looking for the target at the end. So far, so good.
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| Teeter Volunteer |
He learned about the broad jump, which was a total no brainer for him, I said "go over" and he launched across without thinking twice about it. I also introduced the panel jump to him. As soon as I put the panels up, I sent him over and he never hesitated.
The only area we really had an issue with was jump sequencing. He was just zoning out as if he didn't understand what "over" was, or maybe he couldn't see a jump in front of him until he ducked around it at the last minute. Whatever the source of the problem, he clearly wasn't tuning into the command "over" and that it meant for him to jump the obstacle. I decided to capitalize on what he already knows and use that to accomplish the jump sequences. He knows "go" from our work in obedience with the stanchion and learning "go outs". Not only does he know it, he's fast, fast, fast on the "go" command for "go outs". I stopped calling "over" and began calling "go" - when I did this he began to get some obstacle focus and very quickly we had a five and six jump sequence going. Fun stuff!
Here, he's happily resting on the table while I reload bait.
 |
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When I released him after a challenging jump sequence, and went to get a drink for myself, he gave me a voluntary Aframe with a lovely target search.
I am so proud of this dog. We started out eight months ago as strangers. He hadn't lived in a house as a pet/companion dog before. I personally haven't seriously trained a dog other than the Siberians and their learning habits are very, very different from a herding dog. Both of us needed to learn to bond far beyond the boundaries that either of us had ever stretched ourselves to before. He came into our home assuming that someone here would be in charge and worth his trust and confidence, while I assumed that he'd eventually get over his insistent need for everything to be the exact same routine day after day after day. We were both right. The results continue to bring me to a place of gratitude as I close my eyes on another week and dream of the days to come.
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