Trinity Turns Me Into A Liar

At training class yesterday we were working on push up sits. Trinity has had issues with this. She likes to push up her front paws then 'butt scoot' into a sitting position. I tried a few times to get her to sit correctly but it wasn't working without luring her to do it. So, I asked my instructor about how to get her to sit without a treat in my hand. We went over a few ways to get her to do it. But we came to the conclusion that it is a distance problem and that I've been using a verbal command prior to the hand signal (in this exercise you don't use a verbal, just a hand signal). I decided to just use the hand signal and if she didn't do it the first time to use the verbal command so she will begin to anticipate the verbal and she will sit on the hand signal. I started to do this and the first time I signaled to her, she sat, correctly. *face palm*

Yup Miss. Trinity she turns me into a lair. I think she heard what we were talking about and decided to skip the anticipation part and just do it. I wouldn't put it past her. She's to stinking smart!

Bragging Rights!

Trinity and I have been continuing our training in competition obedience for quite some time. We are coming up on our 4th session in the same class, but don't worry we haven't failed by any means, the class continues on until we are ready for the novice class.

I have seen her grow so much in the last year and a half, not just physical, but behaviorally to. She has gone from an over excited little ball of energy ready to do anything and everything, to a smart, obedient (sometimes she ignores me but she's getting better about that) girl who learns quickly yet still remains full of energy. She's always loved to play and will take any chance she gets to play with another dog, well so I thought, up until last class that is.

 

We have another dog in our class who also is full of energy. He wants to play with the other dogs and attempted to play with Trinity. We were in a sit/stay in heel position when he came right up to her. Guess what she did? Nothing, absolutely nothing. She never moved an inch, not even to adjust her front feet. I was so proud of her, she got a lot of chicken and praise from me.

By the end of class she was mentally drained, so as our instructor was asking to us I had her lay down. Again, this dog tried to play with her. Now you would think that she would try to play, but no, she shifted her weight and turned her back towards him, as if to say, 'No, this is not play time, it is work time.' Again, I was such a proud momma, stuffing my baby's face with chicken. She deserved it! As we walked out I was on cloud nine, so I told everyone about it.

To think, back a few weeks ago she would have gladly accepted his invitation to play. But she didn't and all our hard work is paying off. I'm so proud of my girl. She's growing up!

Trinity's Training Lesson: Week Five

This week we learned some new things we had not worked on before. Which made me excited, but not Trinity. I get excited and she gets confused because she doesn't know what I'm asking her to do. But she ends up learning what I want from her pretty quickly.

Standing in one spot while turning the back two legs ( I don't know what this is called)

Our instructor gave us a plastic plate to work with and the dog is supposed to put the front two legs on it. She got this pretty well but kept thinking it was a frisbee she needed to pick up. So she kept digging and bitting at it. She broke two of the plates, but our instructor wasn't upset by it, thank god. The goal of this exercise is to have her front paws staying in one position while the back two move. Easier said than done. She was able to stand o it and moved her back legs a few times in the 10 minuets we worked on it. So i think we have some more practice to do on this.

Backing up into heel position

It's like backing up into a parking spot, but with the dog. Its pretty self explanatory, you get your dog to back up next to you into the heel position, then they sit down. She was doing ok with this. Our instructor didn't care at this point if she sat at the end of it, as long as she backed up. It will take awhile for me to figure out how to get her to do it perfectly. But, she has known how to sit on my left side for a year now, so hopefully backing up there won't be to much of an issue.

The long jump

This is where the dog sits on one side of the jump, you go to the other end and call the dog over to you. Well, let me tell you that we tried agility two times. Both times Trinity was more interested in playing with the other dogs than actually doing the obstacles. Plus, she was scared of everything except the jumps, a-frame, ladder, and the weave poles. To top it all off she would run away from me after finishing the obstacle. But this was last year so I wasn't sure how she would do at the jump in obedience. Well, she did excellent! She stayed on the other side, looked at me while coming over, jumped over it, and came right to me for her reward. I was very happy for her!

Next week is our last class in this section. I think that our instructor will have us repeat it before going on. But that's fine and we can work on our skills further.

Trinity's Training: Week Four

What we learned this week.

A sit from a down

This involves getting your dog in a down position on their haunches then have them sit. We have done these before, so we pretty much just reviewed it.

Right turns

While heeling you make several turns some right and some left. We focused on right turns this week. They are easier for the dog because they have to go faster than you, which dogs like. We all lined up and made several right turns In a row Trinity did very well with this, she was more interested in the chicken than the other dogs around her.

Figure eights

In the ring you have two people standing facing each other and you have your dog heel around them. I get very confused with these and trinity has no idea what I'm doing. I have to practice these without her to get my footing right.

Right pivot turn

It's pretty much exactly what it sounds like. You and your dog pivot to the right while standing exactly in the same spot.

Trinity did really well this week. Even our instructor complimented her. I don't know if it was the extra walks or the chicken. My money is on the chicken. :)

Trinity's Training: Week Three

Last week was our third training class. Here is what we learned.

A kickback stand

This is where you have your dog sit at heel position, then they stand up. Trinity already knows how to do this. So we just practiced.


Stand & stay

You have your dog do a kickback stand, then they stay standing, you take three steps in front of them and then pivot looking at them. I already taught this to Trinity. And again we practiced it. She did very well and the teacher even said that she did a good job.

Curl

This is where your dog sits at heel position then lies down on their left side. Trinity did not want to do this. Our instructor even had a hard time trying to get her to do it. So we've been practicing this at home, it took a few tries but she got. So now I have to see if she will be able to do it in class.

Heeling

Trinity is still having trouble heeling while in class. Her brain gets fried by the end of the hour session and then doesn't want to listen to me at all She was too busy trying to get the other dogs, who were waiting for their class, to talk to her. We've been practicing this outside with distractions at home. Our instructor says that she still needs to be lured because she still new at it this.

We have been doing a lot of things in the three weeks we've had our class. All we have to do is practice, practice, practice.

Trinity's Training Class: Week Two

This was posted be posted last week sorry for the wait, google needed to fix the blog before I could post this. So, here it is.

On Thursday we had another training session. Last week we learned a lot of new things that we hadn't learned in the previous class. Those were a lot of basic steps that Trinity just loved. This week was just about going over some stuff that we had learned before.

Touching a target

Last week we went over touch on the palm of my hand. So this week we expanded that and used Mason jar tops as a target. Trinity did this really well and only after a few short times she was able to touch it twice before getting a reward. The goal of this is to have her touch it on the floor. Then once she is able to do that we teach distance between the target and her. You teach this as a beginning step to what is called a "drop on recall". We have been practicing this a lot over this weekend. She is now able to touch it while it's on the floor and with distance between it and her. This is a really engaging activity for her which she loves to do.

A sit and stay

We practiced a sit and stay for a minute and a half. She did wonderful with the sit and stay with multiple reinforcement during this activity. I knew she would be able to do this because she did so well with this in our previous classes.

Entering the ring

This activity included from outside the classroom. I think we need a little bit more practice with this. She was a nutcase entering the ring. She pulled on her leash the whole time while we were walking ring. But unfortunately, I think this is my fault considering we practice where we have play group.

I hope to have her settle down a bit during class. Fingers crossed she will!

It's Back To School!

Thursday was our first day back to training in 2 1/2 months. That's a long time for us considering we have been doing one class a week since last May. We started Intro to Competition Obedience for a six week course. We have already taken this class but untill our instructor allows us to move on we need to take it again. Once we do that we will be in the Novice class.

"I love school!"

This week we started back on our basics. The first thing we did was the 'bird feeder'. That is where you take a treat and hold it out to the side of you, then wait until the dog looks at you and not the treat then you click then give it to them. This is also called 'watch me'. Trinity's a fast learner and she picked it up pretty quickly. She knows the fastest way to get the treat is to stare at me.

"What is the fastest way to get out of the bathtub?"

We also did 'Touch'. This involves the dog touching its nose to your palm. This is considered a treat in the ring because you are unable to carry food with you. Trinity knows this one well and was doing it without pawing me or ignoring my hand signal (which she likes to do a lot with this one).

Like this. "I ignore Mommy when she tells me not to do this."

Another exercise we did was 'finish'. This is called 'around' to Trinity. You teach your dog to stand in a heel position at your left side from were ever they are standing. Our instructor in our puppy kindergarten class taught us this and she has been doing it for a year now. All I say is 'around' and point at my left side and she sits next to me in the heeling position. Sometimes this is hard for her in the class because of all the good smelling stuff on the floor. But we are working on that!

It's just like when I open up the fridge. (That's where the cheese lives)

The last thing we did was 'coming when called'. Now, she's usually good at this one. Our instructor in our continuing education class was very impressed by her when she did this. But unfortunately I was to blame with this one. We did a restrained call and she started to run to me but then veered off to see Zach outside the class ring. Opps! It was the very last 10 minuets of class and I knew she was tired and overwhelmed. I should have been closer to her and made sure that she could only see me and not Zach or the other dogs waiting outside for there class to begin. But we did not make the same mistake twice and we set her up for success by doing all of that. She came to me with no problems the next time.

"I love my daddy!"

This week we are practicing all of this as our homework. I think she'll enjoy competition obedience. She's so smart and I know she can do it!