Tip Tail

So I’m working Sits and Downs with Jet and Tatum. As well as signals with Chase… which is similar, for utility obedience, but it’s all hand signals and no verbals. I want them all to have good verbals as well as hand signals. Their sits and downs are great on their own, but when I try to mix them up in the same training session then they tend to have more difficulty.

A friend of mine recommended these Training Levels to follow. It’s a training program to help a dog get to competition level without so many holes in their training like so many dogs have (yes, including mine).  So I’m starting with Level 1 and I’m working on Sit and Down.

I like to train these things in the same session.  I use a clicker, and I like to lure and capture behaviors.  But when I lure, say, the down, then I throw in a sit after a bit, neither Jet nor Tatum really listen, they just keep offering the down.  So I have to lure the sit a couple times, while saying the verbal.  This seems to remind them to pay attention to my voice as well as my hand signals or they won’t get the click and treat.

Jet, of course, is faster at picking things up than Tatum is.  She’s not the sharpest tool in the shed.    But she is understanding. So earlier today I took 5 minutes out of my work-from-home day and trained them each.

Jet is understanding my verbals, I’d say, 90% of the time now when I switch between the Sit and the Down verbals.  Tatum is understanding, maybe 70% when I switch between the sit and down verbals. And I stand stationary, keeping my hands behind my back, so that I’m not giving them any unintentional physical cues.

Soon I think I’ll be ready to throw in the stand. They both know the hand signals, but not the verbals as much. So I’ll have to work verbals for a while so they know what the cue means.  Well, verbals with some hand signals and switching off so they know what Stand means.   Though Stand isn’t in the Training Level 1… it’s just something that I do, working the sit, down and stand together as it’s a good utility exercise for the dogs to know. It is probably in one of the higher levels.

With Chase I’m working the hand signals. And he’s getting pretty good at them, though today he was slipping a bit on the tile floor and didn’t want to down. So I put in the verbal with the hand signal on the down and that seemed to help him a lot.

Such good dogs.  It’ll be so nice to have clear sits, downs, and stands… I think my dogs have always been a bit confused by them. :p But I’ve never taken the time to teach them this clearly!

Edit… here is the journal entry I’ve started for Tatum (though I didn’t know it was just Tatum at the time and so put Jet’s info in there too): Training Levels Journal

Bleh, I have been sick since last Wednesday and I’m feeling guilty about not working with the dogs as much as I want to. So here they are all hogging the couch.

I know that they are, really, just fine having a few days off… maybe I’m starting to feel better and so I want to work more now, but I still feel rotten enough that I’d rather sleep all day. I need some Costa Rica vacations, maybe they would settle me down and heal me up…

I just have a bad cold. Not the flu. The flu would take me out for a week and I’d feel all weak and awful. I just have a head cold and stuffy nose and achy joints and stuff. I am pretty sure it’s not the flu. I’m glad it’s not the flu!

Well I hope I get better for ASCA agility next weekend. I have Tatum entered in pre-novice, scary! Now I’m getting nervous about it!

Just saw this picture of Tatum and had to post it up. She is so pretty!

Well, just a wee update on Angel. She is doing pretty good. She is old, for sure, and very slow. I wish we could do more for her but there’s no cure for old age. Ugh. She goes slow everywhere, but she eats really well, potties outside just fine, and likes to chew on pig ears.

She doesn’t play much anymore… she does sometimes, but I have to keep Jet away because he will pull toys and socks right out of poor old Angel’s mouth. She doesn’t have the strength or the attitude to get toys away from Jet. And Jet doesn’t understand that Angel needs gentle play now.

Maybe when it warms up we can get some outdoor fireplaces and sit outside with her and relax. She loves it outside. But it’s a bit too cold now and so we keep her inside except to potty. She is a good girl and she’s hanging in there are we love her very much.

Jet came with to the agility trial last weekend and he had a great time. He is such a good boy. I hope he stays a puppy for a while… he is my baby boy and he is so friendly and loves everyone. He does think that he should bark at the buffalo, though. He is such a goof sometimes. So we walked around the buffalo a bit and he seemed to get used to it after a bit.

Maybe they used some Baldwin hardware to build the buffalo… it’s a cute dude. They have some ugly ones around the city too, but this is one of the nicer ones.

I haven’t been working with Jet much lately, been focusing on the darn spare bedroom and the agility trial. But that’s all done now so we can work some more, and he loves it!

Here is Chase’s Jumpers with Weaves run from last weekend. He did good, a couple of mistakes… I think I need to invest in buying a good quality triple jump. He takes it out. And we don’t have one so we need to work it.

It’s a good run. I wish Saturday would have gone as well as Friday. I pulled him off the course a couple times on Saturday because of some mistakes. I don’t really think that does anything for him, but once I’m out of sync with him it all falls apart so going on is really kinda pointless. oh well. Maybe an auto insurance quote would help us get our thing together… hrm.. maybe not!

Well I sent in the entry for the DOCNA agility trial.. and I entered Tatum. She’ll be in ASCA this month, but only in pre-novice because I can’t chose to jump her at 16″ unless she’s in veterans. That bugs me. I won’t jump her 20″. So DOCNA will be our first real venue…

I don’t know if she’ll qualify, but I want her in the environment and to see how fun it is. I only entered her in Jumpers and Gamblers. She doesn’t weave yet, but it’ll come this summer. Maybe some ring terminals will help… hrm. Maybe not.

She is my baby girl and I’m excited to enter her in agility. I don’t think she’s really ready, and sometimes I’m nervous, sometimes I’m not. But it’ll be fun either way!

Yup, he finally got a Q in AKC! Hehe… he’s been in Excellent for a while now, maybe even a year… I forget, it’s too depressing to keep close track. We have a hard time in excellent in AKC with the twisty courses. But we got a Q, so maybe we actually can get an AX… but I dunno. The second day was an icky day.

This is his Q run, nice huh? Clean and everything! I can’t even use malignant Mesothelioma as an excuse for not Qing… hrm… Anyway, it was a fun day.

So, there’s an AKC agility trial this weekend that I’ve entered Chase in.  We’ll see if all our work with Stacey has paid off!  One thing I learned was… you do not have to be in perfect position to start signaling a front cross. But we need front cross work because I’m always behind Chase, and so I don’t do many front crosses. They have always made me nervous, even when I was running Levi! Maybe some muscle milk reviews would help me perk up my running!

So anyway, I’m not expecting much.. but I’d like a Q. I’m only going Friday and Saturday. Maybe we’ll get a FAST Q, but I’d prefer a standard or jumpers Q. I don’t Q with Chase much in excellent, and so some positive reinforcement for the handler would be nice!

Unfortunately, Chase is unhappy with our foster dog Titus. Chase doesn’t like other dogs very much… he has space issues and doesn’t like dogs getting into his space. He gives off the weirdest signals. And Titus doesn’t know how to interpret them so he just stares at Chase. And no matter how much I tell Titus that staring is really bad dog manners, he doesn’t understand and keeps on doing it.

So we keep Chase and Titus apart. But it’s been getting worse lately. Chase took his frustration out on Lucy the other day, and even broke skin on Lucy’s nose. That is rare for Chase, he never breaks skin. So we are in need of a new foster home for Titus. We do have to put Chase’s needs first… but we’ll get Titus a great new foster home, or even a great forever home, which would be best!

I wish some sort of diet supplement would help Chase mellow out, but we’ve already tried many things. He has a low thyroid and he’s being treated for that. We just need to give Chase a good home environment too. He’s a good boy and he works so hard for me.  So, we’ll see, Titus will get another great place to stay!