Coaching from Janita and Freya's first clear round in A1

Training with Janita

It has been a long time since we have had a training lesson. It was really nice to get some new ideas and reminding of my old bad habits. At first we did a course from start to finish without caring of mistakes. I did this first with Pixie. First I was able keep calm but yet again Pixie’s forcefulness made my too busy in my mind. We did ok but most of course went in a half chaos. Next was Freya. I thought this course would be way too hard for her. She did really well although we had our braking points in whisky turn and some points where she needed read the course in long line. In the end I was very proud of her!

After course training we started to work on the little parts. I learned how little things like my look can affect my dogs ability to read the course right. It was very rewarding to see how a little change made my dogs run really smooth and with confidence. Especially you could see the difference with Freya. If she knew the plan she jumped with good technique. But if she wasn’t sure of the plan she did duck jumps and try to correct my handling errors. Freya is so sweet when she tries to correct my mistakes and do her best to do right. I have learned so much with her but I think I will learn even more.

With Pixie my goal is to be calm, calm and calm. It is sometimes really hard because she is so forceful mover. This makes me feel a busy in my mind. I have started to trust her better and I have my moment when I can watch her do her work in peace. Actually the moments that I have no hurry have increased a lot lately. I just need to build this feeling last in every course and on every jump or task on the course. This is not an easy thing for me. It’s hard to admit that I have hard time of concentrating of total of 30 sec. I think the high speed and fast action makes my adrenaline run and my aggression high. This combination makes me a sloppy handler. I have done a lot of work to make myself more calm and present on the course. I have a constant battle with competitiveness and hunger to win. This is my biggest fault but I hope to win this battle and find my inner peace on the course. We will see how it goes! :D

Freya getting near A2

We have finally run as a team and made 2 clear runs in Rauma. Freya was a bit tired but did really good. My goal was to stop handling in careful way. I had set a goal to run as I would if she was a A3 level dog. This time the goal was set perfect and we became a confident team. Here are the videos of our two winning runs :D

I have too super agility dogs. I hope to be able become as good as handler to them as they are agility dogs.

That's all for now!!!

MPF

Obedience tasks

Box training

Freya has been working on her open class tasks for while. Our biggest trouble has been the box work. She has mixed markers of the box with the big marker object that you use in a jumping retrieve in the higher class. We have done now few box training with a toy in the box. My goal has been to remind her to go to the back of the box and not to go around a marker object on the front. I tried to shape the right position at first but this didn’t work from a long distance. I hope this works and she starts to do her box work as good as she used to.

Scent discrimination

Freya has been a little wild when she does her scent discrimination work.  She goes with fast gallop and does the smelling work wonderfully. Our problem has been that she even if she picks up the right one, she has to make checking round before she brings the right one for me. I need still built her confidence to make her bring the right stick right away to me. Her return speed has been always super but her work on sticks needs some adjusting. She has done this task in many places. It has been very interesting to see that it has been the hardest on a sand field. Freya has done her best work on grass. I have wondered if the moist in grass makes the scents even stronger and this way easier for the dog. At least with Freya it seems work like this.

Jumping retrieve with mark object

This new task in the highest class has so much fun. It has so many little parts that you need train with your dog. First you need teach the dog to go around a big marker object. Then the dog needs to learn to do sit-down- stand 2 meters after it. Next to learn how to do this between two jumps and dumbbells. Then learn to take right or left side on retrieve when asked. So lots of little things the dog learns to master.

My both girls have a little different background to start this work. Pixie has done very hard jumping retrieves and has had a very hard time to give the up the jumps. On the other hand she has trained positions by going around a tree so this part came together pretty easy. Pixie had also problems of going around the mark object and coming back because she has been thought to stop at the mark object. Freya has started everything from scratch so it has been much easier for her to learn the new concepts of the task.

At this point Pixie has done the whole task. Her only problem is the sit position. This seems to be the hardest from a top speed. Right and left commands came together pretty easy and she had no problem of going forward with same cue as in controlled retrieve. Freya has done only position and retrieves but so far so good. She has also some work with position but we are getting there. I hope to get more speed and accuracy to her work. Also we need to start tackling the jumps. All together this has been a super fun task to train and really learn to.

All for now!

MPF

Freya has start her agility carrier

It has been more than exciting to start competing with a new dog. Time has really flied and Freya has reached a competition age. We had had our up and downs but Freya has become a pretty cool agility dog. She is very light to handle and her speed just keeps improving. We have still lots of work to do. After these two competition days we a list of homework but I think we have done pretty good so far. Here videos from our first two competition days:








I love little girl!! She will be a start! We need to do some work and need remember that she is still a young dog. I sometimes forget her and trust her like she was a A3 level dog. It won't take long that she is a A3 level dog but we will have our learning moments ahead.

Just a quick note.... I have few days before go back to training a group!! I can't wait!!!

MLPF

Planning is the big part of the game

Think – Plan – Do, Bob Bailey

I have forced myself to write training diary again. My plan has been to make my training more focused and efficient. Too many times I have done just some training and realized that I haven’t been training the right things. Training diary has given me a change to be more analytic of my training and make every training count more. I have kept diary for three weeks now and it shows. Both of my dogs have advanced much quicker and our training time has been reduced a lot. I actually have got much more energy to train because I have proven record of our improvement.

One thing I have also taken under training is me. I have planned different training session just improve my mechanical skills as a trainer. Target stick training has been one the task I have done. This is a simple task for dogs but it gives me a change to improve my rewarding speed and also my accuracy with clicker. I have had a bad habit of keeping treats in my hand to speed up my rewarding. I have been determent to learn to be as fast as that when I take the treats out of my pocket.  Dog like this training and I usually use their evening meal so super treats are left for competition task training. I also use a timer in this training to keep the training session short to improve my concentration and also my dogs.

I have also started to analyze my training more during the session. I stop and write notes or even watch my training session from video. This is still a habit in training but I hope to make as every time thing. Training analyzing between different little session has help my reduce frustration in my work and also from dogs. The little time that it takes to THINK what has happened and what is the next goal (PLAN) gives me more effect to my training (DO) and better result with dog. This is something I have read many times over from training manuals and guide books to animal training. It’s just hard to change your habits. I hope that I will have strange to do this change to training and really become even better dog trainer.

As I have learned from many books and courses – training is really a mechanical skill that you need to practice. Planning of training is also a big part of the deal when you want results. I have known these things for a long time but change need time and effort to be part of life. It’s the same thing with mental training but life has really become more interesting when I have found goals that I want to work for. My goal is to improve my training and mental work. One of my treats for myself is the Clicker Expo Europe. When you have something look for you have strength to do your best! 

MLPF