Tonight was really good for Jack and me. When we arrived at the ODTC building at the fairgrounds, we helped finish the setup of the rings with jumps. So once we were done with that, I took Jack into one of the rings and we worked on some retrieves with toys. We played the "Choose to Heel" game for a while and finished up with some more retrieves.
Once it was time for class, we were ready to go!
Our first exercise was with hula-hoops. Our instructor, Linda, had laid out 6 hoops in the ring, 3 on each side. Our job was to heel around a single hoop. We made large circles, one with the dog between us and the hoop, so we were going counter-clockwise. The other way, clockwise, was with the dog on the outside, which made the dog go faster to keep up. The purpose of this exercise, or game, was to figure out the right speed, and stride, to use to keep your dog interested. With the dog on the inside, you can know right where your dog is -- you can see him and make eye-contact with him. With the dog on the outside, you are looking where you are going, which is away from your dog's location. There is an element of trust here. You can't see if your dog is in heel position. It really helps to have a second pair of eyes watching to see when your dog is where he is supposed to be - heel position - so you can provide the cookie feedback to your dog.
Our second exercise was the Drop-on-Recall, where you call your dog to you and signal the dog to stop and drop to the floor and then call them the rest of the way to you. With this one I had 3 drop sticks. I placed them in different locations on the mat. I first did a straight recall with Jack running non-stop to me. The next time I tried another straight recall. The third time I signaled Jack to drop at the first drop stick. He did good and slid into a drop and slid into the drop stick. I was happy with that. I tried another one where I would have him drop at the last drop stick, the one closest to me. Jack missed it and just ran over it and finally dropped about 2 to 3 yards from me. Oh well, one more time we tried, this time at the middle drop stick. Jack was sweet! He dropped to the floor and slid into the drop stick. I was happy with that! He dropped as soon as I told him to that last time. So we ended on a positive.
Our third exercise was Directed Jumping, where you have your dog in a sit at one end of the ring, you at the other, and two jumps between you. It is easier to see in your mind's eye if you think of a baseball diamond. Home plate is where you are. Your dog is at 2nd base. The bar jump is at 1st base and the high jump is at 3rd base. At the beginning of this training, you teach your dog to "Follow your hand". Your right hand will direct your dog to your right, over the bar jump. Your left hand directs your dog to your left, over the high jump. Now, of course, the jumps might not be in those locations all the time. You just are trying to teach your dog to jump over the jump that you are directing him to and coming to front and then finish the exercise. Now Linda teaches the parts in order to put together the whole. That is great with me. I would rather nibble at something and look at it from different angles than have everything shoved down my throat with no explanation of what to do or why to do it.
Anyway, on to the directed jumping. The baseball diamond we worked with was smaller than the actual ring size. I placed the jumps at an angle where Jack was square to them no matter which one I directed him to jump. I placed the jumps about ten feet apart. I had Jack sit at "2nd base" while I stood at "home plate". Test one - I directed Jack to the high jump. Jack ran towards the jump but, at the last second, decided to run around the jump to get the cookie. Oops! I goofed! I was too far away from the jumps. So I moved in closer. Test two - I directed Jack to the high jump again. Success! He jumped the jump, got the cookie, I backed up and called him to come front and he ran to front! Yippee!! Test three - I directed Jack to the bar jump. Success! Yippee!! Test four - I moved further back and directed Jack back to the high jump and...Success!! Test five - Original "home plate" position - I directed Jack to the bar jump and he jumped it, got his cookie, and came to front! Wonderful, smart dog!
We finished the night on successes and are looking forward to Prep-to-Show, Wednesday night. Let us see how it goes after a week of practice.
Walking in Obedience!
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