Catching up

It's been an insane two weeks, but I'm still getting some training in. Working on the same old stuff. Nothing new and exciting going on here!

We did go to a friend's house and did nosework in her garage for someplace new.

Oh, and he passed his CGC test on Tuesday. It was more a test of my skills to manage him than his skills to pass. Sad, but true. There was a dog there that scared him very much. He could not concentrate because of that dog. (That dog did snap at another dog, so he probably had legitimate concerns.) I used a lot of hand touches to get him back with me through several tests. And for the petting and exams, I used a chin target to my hand to give him something to focus on besides being touched.

So, while I'm proud of him for passing, I also wonder how far training is going to take him. Will he ever be able to handle an obedience ring with strange dogs and people? Will he be able to do a stand-for-exam with somebody dressed funny or wearing a hat (one of his bugaboos)? Will his stays be solid, or will he break for something that scares him? I'm not giving up on him, I will continue to train, but I do wonder how far I'll be able to get him.

Poor Zane

Tonight Zane was standing by the family room door. The door was in that halfway position - not open, not closed - just halfway. I tossed a cheeseball to him. He missed and it rolled under the door to the other side. He kept sniffing it under teh door, trying to figure out how to reach it. He never, ever walked to the other side of the door.

I asked him, "Where is it?" That's his cue for nosework. Bella heard that and ran over to hunt. She started on his side of the door, and within 2 seconds was on the other side of the door getting his cheeseball.

Poor doofus Zane! I think he needs to work on those kinds of puzzles in nosework!

Using back to increase distance

Today we worked more on getting sit-back and sit-back-sit and down-back-down. This chain helps them sit or drop faster and to learn to sit or down while farther away. Zane has a long way to go with it, but here's a start.

My little funny boy

We don't get a lot of visitors out here. We're out in the country and a lot of people don't want to drive the dirt roads. We get quite a few teens and preteens in and out of the house, but not many adults. A friend who Zane hasn't met came over today. Zane just stood way back and barked at her for like 10 minutes. I finally grabbed him, pulled him over to her and fed him chicken by her. "Oh, I get chicken by her! Cool! Hi, pet me!" He just didn't know who she was and was expressing his distrust and fear.

He did 2 nosework searches today - one this morning and one for my friend. He still does some shaping type stuff on occasion, but he also gets down to work and sniffs. You can see the whiplash turns as he zeroes in on the scent.

When doing drop-on-recalls and go-out-and-sits, I like to use a backup to get them to hang back. So for the DOR, I call, drop them, tell them to back up and drop them again. It's really helped Bella learn to drop fast and not creep forward. I was trying the same thing with Zane's go-out and sit today, using the backup after the sit, but his back isn't solid enough yet, so we worked on just backing up instead. Interestingly, he hasn't done his little grumbling thing while training in a while, but he did it while having to back up.

Zane's Obedience Practice

Here's a video of Zane's obedience practice at the park this morning. It is way too long, but I wanted to show exactly what we do - good and bad and funny.

Agility practice

Here's a video of Zane's agility practice from last week. We obviously need to work to make him comfortable on the dogwalk. I would have thought this things like perching on the stool would have helped (learning to keep all those feet in a small space), but he is very uncomfortable having to stand or sit on the dogwalk.

Forgot the most important part

I was so tired when posting yesterday, I forgot the most important part! There are things we know, but don't always remember, and we have to learn them again or in new circumstances.

With the work on Zane going out to touch and then sit. . . at first he kept wanting to walk back to me before sitting. But where was I rewarding him? From my hand! No wonder he wanted to walk back to me. So I started placing his reward behind the target, and gee, he started staying out there to sit. Where you place your rewards is vital!

Of course, when we did the exercise this morning, I had to relearn that again. Sometimes I'm a little slower than the dog.


I learned that Zane's sister also boings out to the dumbbell. I think Beth slipped some kangaroo or jack rabbit genes into this litter. That has to be why they're so boingy.

We also worked signals this morning. I didn't move any farther than 6 feet away as he's not ready for more distance. And I have to watch those sits. From the down to the sit, I want those front feet pushing back, not the back feet coming forward. I will also accept something else he does - popping straight up so all feet move in to the middle. It's almost like he jumps straight up from a down. But the movement of the back feet coming forward tends to make dogs move forward on the sit, and I do not want that. Move back and maintain your distance is what I'm looking for.