Stress, Attention, and Training
Monday, February 27th, 2012 Posted in training | 1 Comment »Dancer and I have been taking a Control Unleashed class with Greta Kaplan. Without having made it to every class, I can still see a serious difference in Dancer's attitude about working with me. In Sunday's class, I was working ...
Leash targeting
Sunday, February 26th, 2012 Posted in life with poodles, training | 1 Comment »This is going to sound really petty, and I'm sure saying this will come back and bite me as some future date, but I really get annoyed at novice handlers when their dogs finish a lovely run and then the ...
Training accomplishments of the day
Thursday, February 23rd, 2012 Posted in training | Comments OffRush is now doing the teeter at half height (in my back yard) with enthusiasm and style--and a nice two-on-two-off stop. Two years ago, I spent a lot of time working on persuading Dancer and Elly that it was no big ...
Today’s five minutes….
Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012 Posted in training | Comments OffIt's raining out and it's coming down sideways. (I guess it's coming down and being blown sideways, to be more accurate, but whatever...) Anyway, that meant that when I took Rush out this morning to do his morning teeters, I ...
A few minutes at a time….
Tuesday, February 21st, 2012 Posted in training | Comments OffI've got a whole bunch of things I'm working on with Rush right now. There's targeting the tile (front feet); teeter; waits/releases; down; recalls; crate training; loose-leash walking. So it seems like every hour or so I grab ten treats, ...
Learning to learn
Monday, February 20th, 2012 Posted in training | Comments OffI've been working with Rush using operant conditioning techniques since the first day he came to me, and of course Vikki did the same even before that. But yesterday was the first time I could actually see that Rush was ...
Training contacts, part zillion-and-one
Tuesday, February 14th, 2012 Posted in training | Comments OffAfter this weekend's disastrous dogwalk contacts, I spent two nights (those middle-of-the-early-morning hours when I lie awake and think about agility) (tell me you don't do that, too) trying to figure out how to help Dancer understand exactly what I ...
And news from Dancer….
Monday, February 13th, 2012 Posted in trials | Comments OffDancer and I (and Rush, see previous post) went to a CPE trial this weekend. It was an astonishingly successful weekend.8 runs; 7 Qs, five of them first places and two of them second places. It does help that there ...
First, Rush….
Monday, February 13th, 2012 Posted in life with poodles, training | Comments OffI spent Saturday and Sunday at a CPE trial with Dancer (who was competing) and Rush (who was not, of course, being as he's not allowed to compete for another 6 months). While we were there, I worked on these ...