The Clock Starts Over

Today's match, inside at the First Dog Training Club of Northern New Jersey where we've been attending classes, could have gone much, much worse.   Sealy did better than I had any reason to expect (given the modest amount of  practicing we did) but she didn't achieve anywhere near her potential.  We had two entries:   for the first one I decided to do the stand and off-lead heeling on lead, and formally (no talking to her), and then for the second to do the stand and off-lead heeling off-lead.

I need to work with her on attention (especially when I'm not talking to her, encouraging her), fronts, and the automatic sit.   In the long down for the first entry the dog next to her got up, came over, stood over her, and finally nuzzled her side, at which point she broke.  In the long-down for the second entry,  the same dog did the same thing, but this time Sealy didn't break.  Yay Sealy!   

Countdown - 3 Days!

Truth be told, I don't do too many other things in my life aside from working, and my dog Sealy is my main outlet for NOT working!    There are the daily walks with her, both in the woods in the morning and late evening, and in the afternoon in the neighborhood and dog run.  (In her company the amount of human interaction for me increases ten-fold.)  I love to watch her run and gambol, and her sheer joy exuberance in the world is a model for me to emulate.  She's a happy, happy, dog - good for Monique-as-a-Melancholy-Jaques to be around.   I find working with Sealy on these obediences exercises fun, and even though we're not as "ready" for the match on Saturday as I'd hoped to be, knowing there would be intermittent reports on this blog of our progress helped me train more than I likely would have otherwise.  

Sealy's recall has always been fast, like a rocket, but in the last few days she's begun to stop herself by rebounding off me at the end (instead of sitting in front).  Part of this is that as I've increased the distance, and the time before I call her (and distractions) she's gotten herself rather wound up - it's hard for her to wait to start with, and now the release for her of finally being called by me results in her imitating a popping champagne cork.   First I tried adding back in the sit command (she's so fast it's "Sealy, Come! Sit!!!"   at 30 feet), and then  I went back to shorter distances (and on-lead) so she can't get up much speed and can be right more often.  Handler error here - I tried to do too much too soon.

My four goals from nine days ago were:  automatic sits when heeling, straight fronts on the recall, stand, and fading my feet from finish.  While there's been progress on all of them, the two that "most improved" are the stand and the finish.  Based on what I've watched Novice trials online on YouTube, I still think she could qualify on each excercise.  This is amazing to me - the scoring seem to be far higher than it was years ago (15? or so) , the last time I did this, when I was working with Suki. 

Dear, sweet Suki... this is her near the end of her life, at about age 14.   And let's not forget Leika, either, the dog before Suki and my first dog.

Countdown - 5 Days!

Sealy and I have mostly been training outside the past few days,  so there have lots of distractions (for both of us).  Yesterday and again today a cherry tree was in that state I like so much, the  three-in-one state  (simultaneously blossom, flower, and leaf).  

How in the world did I ever go from  having 9 days left to train, to only having 5 days left?   Oh well... I have been doing a little bit each day, not all that much, but a little bit.  Which is a lot more than I was doing before holding myself publicly accountable on this blog (then it was just one day a week in class).

It's  been  interesting to identify the gaps in Sealy's knowledge -  once I take away this cue, or that one, it's been evident that she often really doesn't understand what I'm asking her to do.    Once I teach her - show her, help her - she does gets things, especially when I reinforce it every day a few times a day for several days in a row.   Starting tomorrow I'm going to try and do one run-through each day, so Sealy gets used to concentrating for longer periods, and I get used to the flow of one exercise to the next.  

Countdown - 9 days!

Yesterday was H-O-T (92 degrees) and I didn't work Sealy.  Hell, I could barely work me!   I did, however, realize that the progress Sealy made on the finish the other day wasn't as good as I'd initially thought.  Handler error strikes again - yeah, sure, I faded out my feet, but I was still giving a command and a signal, and I can only use one or the other.  Arrg!  


Early this morning we did some quick sit games on the way to a grassy area near the Hudson River not too far from the apartment.   Her sits were quick and straight (it helped a lot that my left shoulder wasn't all twisted back).    Now to get that into healing patterns as the automatic sit!   You can see from today's photo even after a short walk (before 7am) she was panting a bit.  And today was a lot cooler than yesterday! 


I also realized that I need to work on my footwork more - at the school where I'm working now the instructor encourages the slow-slow-sit approach for automatic sits, and I haven't been consistent in remembering to start this on my left foot.   I've also been sloppy about my left and right turns.  When I do these correctly - surprise, surprise - Sealy does much better.  


For a break I watched some of the Crufts competition videos on YouTube!

Countdown - 11 days!

The good news is that with a modest amount of work last night I managed to fade moving my feet from the "finish" command (at the end of the recall the dog sits - straight! - in front of and facing the handler, and then on finish command moves into heel position, sitting by the handler's left side).  Yay Sealy!    Dogs finish either with "flip" on the left side (moving towards the handlers and then pivoting) or a "swing" (moving forward to the handler's right, and pass behind the handler's back, ending up sitting by the left side.)   I've taught Sealy both ways to finish, but always liked the flip better, so worked last night on fading my feet for that one.  A little bit of work, quite a lot of success!   One goal down, three more to go - now my goals are to work on with Sealy in the next ten days are:

 

1) getting Sealy to have a quicker, straighter automatic sit during the heeling and figure eight exercises (I tend to drop my left shoulder back, and could do a better job easing into the halt with my footwork);

2)  a semblance of a straight front after the recall (as opposed to bouncing off me);  and 

3) getting more distance away from her on the stand.

PS Today marked the usual "boom" of the change of seasons here in New York.  It's hot like summer!  (Although not yet humid, thank goodness.)  Tomorrow is supposed to get up to 89.  Way too hot, way too early to my way of thinking, but then I actually do like snow...

Countdown - 12 days!

Twelve days left before Sealy's first practice match (Novice A).  

(For the people out there who don't know the first thing about dog obedience:  think of this as a sport where the human and canine partners work together as a team.  It's quite wonderful to watch - the dogs obviously enjoy working! In fact the regulations specify that it's essential for the dogs to demonstrate willingness and enjoyment.)

Yesterday I printed out the regulations  (Novice is on p. 43-47) and read them over carefully.  I also wrote up a list of common handler errors I've witnessed in the past - things that I need to remember avoid doing myself!  

Here are the Novice exercises and how's Sealy's doing so far:

Heel on Leash and Figure Eight – these exercises show that the dog has learned to watch its handler and to adjust both its direction and pace (faster or slower) to stay with the handler. Together these are worth 40 points.

Sealy's attention (looking at me) wanders when I'm not talking to her and praising her, but it's probably good enough to qualify.  Her about turns are good, she sometimes lags on the right turn and crowds on the left turn.  She has good changes of pace.  I need to work with her on the automatic sits (and with me to avoid twisting myself around to try and see her!).

Stand for Examination – the dog stays in a standing position off-leash as its handler walks six feet away, and continues to stand without moving as the the judge approaches the dog and  lightly touches the its head, body and hindquarters, and the handler returns to the dog.  This is worth 30 points.

Oh, this is a hard one for wiggly happy Sealy who wants more than anything to jump up and greet people with kisses and licks!  I'm still working with her on-leash for this, and so far have only moved about two feet away, not six.  When the person approaching her makes eye contact she's far likely to move her paws;  with direct no eye contact she's much steadier. 

Heel Free – the dog and handler perform a heeling pattern with the dog off-leash.  This is worth 40 points.

I haven't done this at all with her yet, so far have just placed the leash over my shoulder.  At the match I will ask to do this on-leash since she's not ready yet off-leash. 

Recall – demonstrates that the dog will come to the handler on command.  30 points.

Sealy has a reliable sit, a very fast recall, but no front and is still getting help from me (my feet) for the finish.     

Long Sit - the dog must remain sitting for one minute in the presence of other dogs while the handler stands across the ring.  30 points.

Sealy's very steady on this (I've been working her far longer periods of time.)

Long Down – the dog must remain in a down position for three minutes in the presence of other dogs while the handler stands across the ring.  30 points.

Sealy's very steady on this (I've been working her for far longer periods of time.)

In summary:  we likely could "qualify" (awarded at least half the points) on all the exercises except for Heel Free.   My goals for the match, what I want to work on the most in the next 12 days:  automatic sits, straight(er) front,  getting more distance on the stand, and fading my feet from the finish command.

Now...time to leave the computer and go practice with Sealy!

The Egg

I'm not big on religious holidays of any persuasion, but today is Easter and yesterday while hiking with Sealy I did come across a large egg-shaped boulder...glacial erratic... if it had only been on the equinox!

Speaking of Sealy, maybe I should blog about her?  (More regular postings for sure!).   Here she is on Bluff Point at the northern tip of Connecticut earlier in the week - the photo looks out eastwardly towards the Long Island Sound.  If it had been a clear day supposedly one can see three states (New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island) but this was right around the rain storm that flooded the area, especially Rhode Island, where  I-95 was closed for 2 1/2 days.  Amtrak trains, too.

Aren't photos of black dogs fascinating?  So much facial expression!   (A good thing she has a red collar and red tongue!)

I've entered her in an obedience match later this month, so perhaps I'll document her progress here (which might spur me to train more regularly than once-a-week-in-class!).  

April marks the first time registered mixed-breed dogs ("Canine Partners") have been allowed to compete at sanctioned AKC Agility, Obedience, and Rally events.

I never, ever, dreamed that the AKC would move in this direction back when I was first introduced to obedience training as a sport twenty (?) years ago, first with Leika and then with Suki (who both mixed-breed dogs) so I was pretty shocked - to say the least - when I heard that the AKC had begun seriously discussing the inclusion of mixed-breed dogs in non-conformation activities.  I was stunned last April when it actually adopted that policy.  I was delighted in January, when the word came down that mixed-breed dogs would be allowed to compete in the same ring as the purebred ones, with the purebred ones, and earn the same titles.  (Originally neither was the case, although it seemed to me to be only a matter of time before those "separate-but-equal" distinctions would have to fall by the wayside.)  Kudos to the AKC!   The January decision is what prompted me to enroll Sealy (AKC #MA00246801).