August 16, 2012

I split the first part of HH into two 35 second pieces, and tried to begin choreographing it with Belle at my side.  I quickly discovered that out in the field, she does not begin when I move.

I gave it some thought, and decided I will teach her a new cue, V or vite, which will signify she is supposed to leap into action.

Other observations from today's video:

Have a toy in my hand when we walk out to take our place.  Without it, Belle's attention is everywhere but on me.  Hopefully, she will eventually find as much joy in FS as she does in agility.

If I'm going to fiddle with the Walkman, I should put Belle into a settle instead of just leaving her hanging until she drifts away.

We need to work on getting a bow as we stop.  Belle goes into a down for some reason.

Rather than following up a couple of Fontaines with a jump through my arms, I think it would look better to have Belle move around to my other side by either moving in front of me.  Another idea would be for her to back around to my other side and then we start backing and moving forward with her in that position.

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Last night I worked on getting Belle to reverse weave using the method Carolyn Scott demonstrates at the end of her Canine Freestyle video.  I was able to get her to move backwards through my leg starting on my left side, but it was very difficult to get her to stay close enough to me to back through my legs when she started on my right side.

This morning, I introduced Dusty to the idea of backing around me.  I used the corner method, but I had to add a chair to form a third side on the box.

Beginning to Choreograph

I went out this morning to lay out a working space that meets MSDA requirements, which are 40x50 with the longer measurement being the front and back of the ring.  I thought the space I had already delineated would have to be cut down.  Oh, so wrong was I.  My old space was about 40x30.

Once I had the new space marked, I began the interesting task of trying to set the camera so that the entire space could be seen without panning.  Should be easy enough, but in the bright sunshine on the tiny screen of my Kodak Playsport, it is impossible to see the markers.  I finally had to run the camera and walk the front boundary of the space.  I found I still had to move my camera back a little more.

Now to start choreographing.  I chose "Heranando's Hideaway" since it will work for both dogs.  I went out sans dog, cued the camera and started to dance.  Since my neighbors can't hear the music, they must think I've absolutely flipped out.  I was originally planning to work a little with each dog, but by the time I finished moving through the song once, I was too tired to do any training.  I can't believe how much more exhausting it was to move through a larger space.  I would have thought if anything it would have been easier.

If you draw a line through the space from the back left marker to the right front marker, I have noticed that I hardly enter the space on the right while dancing.  I tried to compensate for that this morning by beginning the routine in the back right corner.  Now to see how I did.

I watched the tape.  I did a good job of covering the back half of the space, but failed to utilize the front.  Also, I think I failed to use big stretches at a time, i.e., my moves seemed to occur in small areas.  Actually, I watched the video again.  The front markers are off-screen.  I think I did use the front of the ring also, but I have to make sure the front markers are in frame.  I'll make sure to use the cones in front and the jump standards at the back from now on.  Also, I think the music suited itself to working in quadrants as opposed to covering the entire field with a single move.

August 12, 2012

This morning, I decided to work a little bit of heeling with each dog before running the agility course I had set up.  With Belle, a little bit turned out to be much too long (about six minutes).  However, I discovered that although she is looking up, she is not looking at my face.  She is looking at my hand.  RX:  Make sure Belle is looking at my face before we take our first step.

Dusty, of course, stares at me intently.  Has nothing to do with my ability as a trainer and everything to do with the fact he is too focused on me.  We have to work on getting Dusty’s rear to not flare out to the side when he is looking up.

August 9, 2012

My mpg speaker arrived yesterday, and I tried it out today.  I used march music for both Belle and Dusty, but I ended up dubbing in the theme from Rawhide for Belle’s first session.

The MSDA Seminar group is working on heeling and attention this month, and when I went out that is what I fully intended to work on.  However, I ended up working each dog for too long and had to throw in some spins and such to reward them for the heelwork.

Points to Remember:

Keep pure heeling practice short and intense.  30-60seconds

Belle lags when we go slow.

Dusty doesn’t quite get spin and twirl when we are moving.  I must remember to keep my hand lower for him.

Dusty's rear flares out walking on either side of me; Belle's only flares out when she is on my right.

 

Have to mark all four corners so I don’t go off-camera.

Heeling and Focus

This morning, I decided to work a little bit of heeling with each dog before running the agility course I had set up.  With Belle, a little bit turned out to be much too long (about six minutes).  However, I discovered that although she is looking up, she is not looking at my face.  She is looking at my hand.  RX:  Make sure Belle is looking at my face before we take our first step.

Dusty, of course, stares at me intently.  Has nothing to do with my ability as a trainer and everything to do with the fact he is too focused on me.  We have to work on getting Dusty’s rear to not flare out to the side when he is looking up.

And Dusty, Too?

I’ve been working with Belle for the last few weeks on a fairly regular basis.  Since I’ve never done this before, it’s probably taking us longer to learn stuff than it would if I was taking instruction or had a syllabus to follow.  On the plus side though, I usually work/play with Belle two to four times a day for 2-5 minutes at a time.  We just work on what strikes my fancy at the moment.

I was trying to gait Dusty when it dawned on me that he would be an excellent freestyle dog, so I started working with him also.

Today, I videoed both dogs so I could try picking out some music for them.  It took Dusty almost a full minute of bouncing around before he exhibited a modicum of self-control.  I must remember to deliver food into his mouth.  If it falls on the ground it takes him forever and a day to find it.  Also, Dusty does not seem to like to bow, so we need a substitute behavior.  I think the leap into me and down might do the trick (so to speak).

When I began with Belle, I had a tug in my hand.  It was definitely much too stimulating for her.  It’s a shame her bark is so high-pitched.  My neighbors probably hate us both.

Music Choices - Belle:

I Fought the Law (I could wear an orange jump suit; Belle could wear a K-9 vest)

Respect (Harley Leathers)

Born to Be Wild

Do You Love Me

Tequilla

Music Box Dancer

Putting on the Ritz

Cracklin’ Rose – instrumental

Hot Diggitty

A Bushel and a Peck

Whipped Cream

Espana Cani

In The Mood

Rebel Rouser

Music Choices – Dusty

Heard It Through the Grapevine

Do You Love Me

Putting on The Ritz (cane prop)

You’re the One that I Want

Da Doo Ron Ron

Let’s Go Trippin - instrumental