OMG - what a great dog weekend we had, well, mostly :-) It started off Friday night with what is becoming our weekly get-together with Cindy and her dog, Groovy. Mostly, I am supposed to be helping her with her OB, but usually it just turns into a really fun dog training get together. We were supposed to be working on step/perch, into pivots and then heeling. I'm trying to get the back feet perch and pivot around with the front feet with my 2.
I brought the larger of the inflated balance disc pads and we tried to get the dogs to work that. They don't really like it - because it is inflated and they actually have to work a little to keep their balance on it. Gata worked on it a bit with her back end but then worked on the side panel of Cindy's treadmill, recently moved to the garage while they do a project in their basement. That was pretty cute and she demonstrated her ability to move up and onto it with either back foot, etc. Then Cindy worked with her with regular front end step/pivot on the balance disc.
As a reward for all this hard work, I let Gata demonstrate proper bite wedge technique for Cindy. Of course, Gata LOVES the bite wedge and was more than happy to comply - moving me all around the carpeted area with ease :-) Then to make matters even more fun for Cindy. When we swapped dogs and she brought Groovy in he went straight for the bite wedge and wanted to play with it, too. So I played with him on the wedge a little. Totally different kind of feeling but he was clearly having a very good time and showed great confidence and his fun-loving nature :-)
Then she worked him on pivots and ended by showing me a great way to train some foot/leg work with your dog in the down (things like crossed legs, etc.). This was based on some stuff that Kay Laurence talked to them about at the seminar a couple of weeks ago. Really cool - and not at all obvious sequencing. Basically- push dogs leg way back into an unnatural position and when they move it, click, push it back again and treat back there. Shape it, in terms of where you actually want them to move it TO. Of course, I'm wondering if Gata can raise up off her elbows in the down if she has her legs crossed??? Definitely something to think about here ...
Saturday was just some fun OB in the park in the morning. Nothing major here - just continuing to work on the basic skills with both of them. Quite a few sends to the toy to build the speed for SchH send out. Working on the foreshadowing cue with both of them.
Then in the afternoon I took them each for a run beside the bike. It was just starting to snow and was quite beautiful out. Gata did great - trotted most of the way. Better for both us - she works her body more symmetrically and I actually have to pedal :-) Tor was off like a shot - running the whole way. Unfortunately, when a car passed us he decided to try to chase it. Which, of course, led to a wipe out for both of us and the bike. Fortunately, he didn't get loose from the Springer early enough to get run over by the car. But he did almost get run over by the bike. I need to do a minor repair job on the Springer but got it put back together well enough to get us all home safely. A couple of cars passed us on the way home - and he hung back a bit both times, so, hopefully, he learned something.
Sunday we went out to Schutzhund club - Alexandria Club, helper Marty Segretto. It's a relatively small group with mostly German Shepherds, at least from what I've seen. Did a bit of OB with both dogs to start. There was some fresh snow on the ground so I didn't do too much - kind of slick. I find it both amusing and annoying when people think that my dogs' best phase must be OB since they are both Belgians and both have nice OB. Actually, had a few people tell me that they'd had some Tervs in the club previously that were "shitters". I just commented that nobody had ever accused Gata of being a "piece of shit" and that most helpers really like her ...
Worked Tor first in bitework (about 8-10 dogs in) - didn't want Marty to be too tired for him, just in case. But I was thrilled with the way he worked. He outed great - a little slow once or twice, but clean and straight into a silent guard. Marty doesn't like silent guard, but I prefer it and really don't want to give Tor permission to be bouncing around and building/leaking drive all over the field with his barking. Self-control is key with him, and I think his silent guard will be as good as Gata's, if we train it well. In addition, his increased physical maturity and all the bites on the wedge in different presentations really seem to have contributed to his ability in some short sends. I was VERY pleased with him. We even did a TINY bit of obedience for bites at the end and he got the basic idea even if his ability to focus on me was pretty minimal.
Gata was the last dog to work (since I'm a visitor). She was THRILLED to be there and didn't really want to have to work for a bite ;-) Silly girl ;-) But, as usual, she gave me that ultra focused, intense heeling in the presence of the helper for a few short sends. Then we went back to basics on back transport. We haven't trialed in 1.5 years so no point in trying to fake it. I can work it on the ball in the yard, but still need to build it up again in the presence of the helper. She did great and seemed to have a great time working with Marty.
Keeping everything short distances and basic with both dogs for awhile. First, they're both out of shape, especially Gata. So no point in risking yet another injury with her by sending her long. Short stuff will give her plenty of satisfaction and help rebuild those jaw, chest and neck muscles. With Tor, it's just time to start teaching him stuff. And, for him, keeping things at a lower level of arousal will be key to his learning the elements of the routine and to stay clean.
Really liked working with Marty. He has the best feet of any helper that I have worked with except Dave. Quick and light on his feet - well balanced. He also seems pretty open to doing things my way, though, I definitely won't have all the answers along the way. The one thing that I didn't really like was that there was a fair amount of that petty, somewhat nasty, gossiping like at David Dembouski/Kelley Graham's club. I hope I can turn a blind ear to that stuff, 'cuz after that experience I don't have lots of tolerance for it. Not into people taking the fun out of my time with my dogs ...
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