The club was just a big mudbath! My dogs, the little princesses, didn't want to lie and sit down in the mud. So I mostly practiced standing stuff and some jumps..
There was also the agility kick-off meeting. And it was nice! Gonna be a lot of fun to start with the agility again. I just have to be more careful about warming Vazy up properly....
Today I'm sick and at home, so no training tonight. That sucks, cause it's great weather outside!
Now I've signed up for two competitions with Vazy in may. I hope to pass the LP I title with her, so that I can move on and compete with Aila in class I and Vazy in class II... That would be fun, we have to cross our fingers! because I've only given myself 3 chances to pass the LP I....
Today I'm going to train obedience at the club, then I have a meeting with my Agility training group. Tomorrow I plan to go training with Jessi, hope it's as nice weather as today!! Wednesday is probably back to Kista, but we will see then..
Today we went for a really long walk of 2 and a half hours.. We followed a cute little river up to a nice lake and back. Vazy found some chunks of ice that she loved so much she couldn't let them go! She had to run with one in her mouth the whole time.. But then she dropped one down a cliff.. And she really wanted to go get it, but she's also scared of hights...Luckily!
On the way back we did the same searching game as yesterday. It was fun! But I dropped my phone and didn't notice until we had gone quite a long way.. But we found it finally..
(ps. I've got a love-hate relationship with these photos! Sometimes I just wish I could remember the normal camera, so I wouldn't have to use my phone!)
Well, just came back from our nice walk. We went walking in the forest on the way to Dalarö. I walked them on leash for about 20 minutes to warm up, since I got some advice how to avoid hurting vazy's legs. then we also did a searching activity, where mathieu went hiding far in to the forest, and then they had to look for him, afterwards we did the same for me. It took some time for them to find me, but they always do.. so now they're nice and tired.
Tonight we're having a party. So I better rest and have a shower.....
There is nothing much happening with the dogs at the moment, so that's why I haven't been writing so much...
On monday it's the kick off for the agility though, so that will be great! I hope that Vazy will manage well this year, without hurting her legs.. Hopefully I'll be able to take an agility course with Aila too, so that I can start training with the group as well..
This weekend I'm planning on taking a really long walk, doing some running and some obedience, hopefully tomorrow..
Now I have to go get their food at a shop in Haninge.
What happened to spring?! I've been freezing my hands off at the club tonight. It went well eventhough it was almost noone there. I was expecting some people and dogs, but there was only two instructors with their "students". I went where they told me that the training normally was, and I found 2 people. They helped me to put up the "square" with the cones. Vazy still don't understand straight away, but she got better after a few times and made several really nice ones. I can even add more distance already. She was happy to train, but it was a bit harder with other dogs. I trained all the normal stuff, but also that she has to stay down or standing until she gets another command. She understands really quickly though!
With Aila i started training the heelwalk with "stand". It went really well for being a first time. She can stop now with a hand command. First I tried to throw a ball over her head, like they said in the book (or, fake a throw, and then throw when she's stopped), but she only went crazy! So I did a heelwalk and put a treat in her mouth which made her stop. I did that about 4 times, then I could already take away the treat, and she stopped when I put my hand in front of her nose. Then I could make that geste a bit smaller too. That's about how far we got. We trained some "down-stay" aswell. And all the dogs from the courses came (about 10?) and then she started barking. But she still stayed. I guess I have to go more often to the club! I also practiced the jump, and she understood straight away! I also tried the jump with "sit" on the other side, and she managed that 2 or 3 times. Not so bad for a second time with the jump!
Yeah, I won't write everything down, but she's doing well!
Now my mum has left. So tomorrow the dogs will be alone with Jens walking them for lunch.. And tomorrow is also the big day for my mum. She's getting her new aussie "Myami". Look at their blog here; http://myami-aussie.blogspot.com
Have a nice night. Tomorrow I'm hopefully going to the club. But I REALLY hope that it will be a bit warmer...
Today Kicki came over because we were supposed to train outside my flat, on the field. We went for a walk and then we tried to train a bit, but nothing worked. Aila didn't even know what "down" meant, and vazy just wanted to sniff on the ground. I was hungry and it was cold. But then we went in to eat, and we got the idea to train indoors. That was super fun! We started shaping the dogs to put their heads on the ground when they lied down. All of them managed super well! It's gonna be good for the future when they do that when lying down in group. They will stay focused and won't look at the other dogs.. For Izla it's gonna be really good, because she can't bark and push her head down at the same time.. We will see how that goes. Next training is on wednesday, then we'll go to the club in Kista.. Gonna be interesting to see if they will manage. It seems hard for them when the snow has melted away and it's great smells everywhere. A lot of people start coming out of their homes, staying outdoors more. So it's definitely harder for them now.. Well well, just need more practice!
Tonight I've been out running with the dogs. So funny! I've bought some harnesses (did I tell you already?) and Vazy pulls me while I'm running. I have to run the fastest I can to keep up, but it's the first time that I acctually enjoy running. Mathieu is coming with me, and has got Aila pulling him.. We're gonna be in great shape if we continue like this. I look forward to spring, then my plan is to train agility on mondays, run on tuesdays, go to the club to train obedience on wednesdays, run on thursdays, and train obedience on sundays.. with a few days of only long walks.. We'll see. Tomorrow I'm gonna go do some more training though, gonna try some of the tips I got from Madelen, and maybe some new stuff...
Yeah, forgot to write that I tried to see how much the dogs could do "competition style". That means that I avoided training as usual, but rather saw what they could do without getting rewarded for little progress (and losing their reward for small faults). It's not easy! Especially when you can feel that the exercice is not done the way you want it to.. But over all I'm happy with the results.
Please comment on things you see, and on ideas how to change them.
Thanks Madelen for your tips! I will try it out...
Today I've had my mum help me with filming all the exercices from obedience class I for Aila, and class II for Vazy. So now I can evaluate my training, and ask you readers for advice. If it's anything you can see that needs working on, just tell me! And please give me some tips on how to do it too..
Vazy down-stay with me playing with a ball and with Aila next to her. I really have to teach her that she can't get up before she gets my "sit" command, 'cause she gets up before that all the time now..
Vazy heelwalking. It acctually looks better from a distance than from my point of view. I think she's advancing a bit too much, and she's not sitting straight, but I'm quite happy with the result anyway..
Vazy heelwalk-down. Here the problem is really that she gets up too early again. But I haven't been practicing the down like this for ages. So it's not too bad. I guess I could have an external reward behind her so that she won't take those 3 steps..
Vazy come-stand. I haven't been practicing this at all! I acctually thought it would come in higher classes, but when I looked today, it was there. So this is something I REALLY have to work on!!
Here you have a failed "sending forwards". I noticed that I've always put out the square in front of her, so then she's been focused on it, and mostly on the cones. When we took her away while we put it out, she didn't see it! Then she got confused....
But after a few tries she got it! Now I just have to practice more on not showing her when I put the cones out, and also with more distance.. But it's only been a few months, and we got a few more months before it's competition time.. So that's alright..
Vazy - retrieve. I haven't been able to practice this for AGES, cause she has a broken tooth, and I think it hurts a bit. I don't wanna ruin everything for the future, so I'm gonna wait until I've had her tooth taken away to practice more. She got the will though. So it shouldn't be too hard later on..
sit- down-stand from a distance. I've really had some problems with this! She always wanted to move forward always taking a few steps for each command. But it's already better, especially with the reward behind her.. I'm quite happy with her progress, eventhough I know she can do the "down" better than in this video.
Now over to Aila! Here she is doing her "down-stay". She's doing really well for being so young and all. She can stay eventhough I play with Vazy and a ball in front of her.. But she has to practice down-stay to sit a lot more! She can do it from "simple down", but when it's "stay" as well, it's harder, because she's used to getting the release command "aller"..
Aila - heelwalk. She is soooooo FUNNY! Look at her bouncing and turning her head. I just love it, eventhough I'm not sure the judges will. I have to practice the right turn a bit more, I kind of forgot about that, since the left turn is so much harder I've mostly done that. You can see how confused she gets when I turn to the right!
Here is her heelwalk-down. I have to practice more for her to sit and stay. Because she really wants to follow me.. Then she also needs to practice more down to sit. That's hard for her!
I haven't started training the "stand" yet. But I think I'll start with that next week, because I think she knows the "down" well enough by now..
Then we have the retrieve. She's making some progress. Right now I'm trying to get her to pull on it, without getting up from the sit position, so that she'll stop chewing.. We still have a long way to go. But she really loves it, so that's not a problem..
That's all folks! I haven't done everything, like the jump for example. I have to go to the club to practice that a bit more. If anyone cares to join me on wednesday nights, just give me a shout..
Yesterday I went to show some clicker training to one of the teachers from my workplacement. She has bought a bordercollie/golden x lab puppy.. She was eight months old. She's gonna really enjoy the clickertraining I think! I showed the "clean your toys"-trick and also how to get her in to a little box (but the box was too small, so it was impossible.) Then I showed some obedience and a bit of target. It was quite hard for my little ones, because there was soo much things happening around all the time. But the managed well anyway! Training this weekend again, THEN I'm not gonna forget the camera! (I need to see how Vazy is doing her heelwalk now, so that maybe I can find a solution to the problem...Maybe it's me?)
March 11, 2009
I just realized that I haven't put any pictures for a long time. Here's one from this sunday. I hope that I'll remember the camera for next training. Then I'll put some pics, and some films..
So much fun training when you can really see how much the dogs enjoy it. Today I went with my mum to do some training. It was fun and we had some break-throughs. Vazy was going to the center of the square without focusing on any cones. And from all directions! I hope that it will continue this way. Then I only need to start making the distance greater. Right now I'm only like 3-5 m away.. Aila could concentrate on heelwork for a long time without a treat, and she seems to think it's fun just to walk there. So that's great too. We also worked on the retrieve. Now I'm trying Kicki's tip; to teach her to pull on it a bit to stop her from chewing on it. Working quite well, unless she starts pulling like crazy. She can do that sometimes. I also practiced some more heelwork with Vazy, and she's really got a tendancy to walk to much forward. I haven't noticed that before.. or has she done it before? My mum said she was wagging the tail like crazy as well, so that's fun. How she's changed since last year, when we both thought it was boring heelwalking. But she's got too much will to please, so when I walk slowly, she wants to do everything at once. Turn left (back legs), turn right, back and move in to position.. So I feel that she's not so sure exactly what position I want at the moment. I guess I have to be more clear.. I hope that I can afford fixing Vazy's tooth soon so that we can restart the retrieve with her..
By the way. Aila was going crazy last night! Around 1 o'clock she started wining and running around. After a while I thought I would see if she needed to pee, and when I came out in the livingroom (they're sleeping outside our bedroom most of the time) she went nuts! I've never seen her jump around as much! It's weird since she's getting more exercice than she's gotten for a long time. Anyways, now I'm too tired to write any more. I feel that everything takes too much time, and I feel like I'm gonna fall in to bed already at 10 every night!
Next training I'm gonna ask my mum to make some films.. I've also promised some people to show how I'm teaching Aila the slalom... Can someone remind me what the other thing was?
Now we're back from training. It was not so focused on competition obedience, but rather "everyday obedience". So my dogs are not so used to that anymore. But Aila wasn't barking so much, and was just crazy in general. Jumping and "singing". But she didn't care so much about the other dogs.. So that was good. Vazy was a bit too calm, not really in the mood for training. I think she's got a bit of pain in her toes. I've got some painkillers from the vet, so she will probably feel a bit better with them. Then I have to start stretching her toes too.. She was quite insecure with the other dogs, but was doing well otherwise.. I talked to Jessi and we're hopefully going to train on monday and tuesday. I just wish it would be a bit warmer by then!
Nothing much is happening lately, so that's why I haven't been writing. This week 2 of our training sessions have been canceled.. I have a hard time motivating myself to train alone.. But today we're going training anyway, so that will be nice. I'll write more about that later. Maybe I'll get some pictures as well. I plan to train more next week. I also really want to sign up for some competitions this spring and summer.. Whenever I get some money left over I will.
Well.. I'm on work placement right now, so I don't have as much time for the dogs as I would like. Luckily my mum is here and takes long walks with them during the day. I have to plan lessons all night really. Tonight I was supposed to go training, but finally we couldn't meet.. So I guess I'll do some extra training this weekend. Maybe friday-saturday-sunday.. They are also renovating the bathroom, so it's a mess in here. No space for training indoors. That's life sometimes though. Just a bit sad that I missed a nice day with some nice sun and all..
I have to go plan some questions about Al Gore´s movie....
what a day. I wasn't feeling at my best today! A bit too much beer yesterday maybe. Was supposed to go training with Kicki, but didn't manage to move. I was just too tired. I didn't go out until like 4-5 in the afternoon. Luckily I have a great boyfriend that went out with the dogs... I also had to was all our clothes today. 5 machines! It took most of the day finally...
Anyway, went for a walk in town to get the painkillers for Vazy, since she has some pain in her back paws sometimes.. It's so funny now that Aila has realized that she can easily get good stuff by walking on heel.. She's doing it all the time now! And she's super fast at sitting in position when I stop. Amazing what development in only a few days.. Before she would never come to me during walks and want to do stuff.. Yesterday we went for a walk in the forest, and there it was the same. Eventhough she had a huge forest of animal smells and funny stuff, she chose to walk on heel with me! That's funny. I also can't help laughing when she's walking next to me, because her step turns in to one of those "horse dressage" walks. Haha!
Hope to manage to do some more training this week...
