Monday, February 27, 2006

Tracking

It was a good morning down at Southside, a bit of a breeze. Ann brought Basco, Kay had Loki out.

I wanted to move forward with Aron's tracking so I did two shorter tracks with a 135deg corner. I also tried using the counter rythmn to modulate his speed with the leash on the fursaver under his shoulder. Both worked quite well. He worked thoroughly and came to a stop on the corner, sat for a second on the first attempt, searched for the track with his nose and turned the corner and continued along to the end. There were only two sections with 4 peices of food on the whole track and some at the end.

Madison ran a long track with 2 90deg corners, She also only had 2 sections of 4 pieces of food. She got a bit frantic without the food, but settled and worked through it after a "No" ... "Such".

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Protection

A beautiful afternoon at Port Royal School. Jojo brought Gunner, Ann had Basco, Mike was visiting again with his mixer pup, and William brought Kiara and his new GSD Errol.

We worked on a few of the excercises learned at the seminar, particularly with Aron. It was pretty cool that he responded so well to the pressing green, the three green exercises and the out to Blue, the open to grey, and the green to grey.

Madison had a much harder time, as she is very vocal even in prey (she is mixing grey and green) She had a harder time settling in green without letting go of the sleeve. In the end it was good for her as she became a little more settled and confident. I think she may improve her overall performance if I am able to clear her green in this way.

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Obedience (Rain and Seminar Talk)

It was a wet and raining night at NEC. Ann, Kay, Jojo and myself spent most of the evening discussing and reviewing the information from the Raiser Seminar and how much of it can fit within our current training.

The highlight of the evening was Madison's mad dash for a rat while out for a stroll around the grounds. Her prey drive was in high gear and she got it. She thoroughly enjoyed playing with it and tossing it around.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Raiser Seminar

WOW, what else can I say. Wallace and Rhonda did a great job with all the logistics. The classrom work was phenomenal, the overheads helped crystalize the information. The practical training showed his techniques. A good time was had by all. I cant understand why anyone would have missed it.

Couple of pictures are posted here:

A group shot at the end.
Phil & Cherie Behun, Yener YĆ¼ksel, Wallance Payne, Gaby Raiser.
Oliver Neubrand, Dennis (yes me), JoJo, Rhonda Southern and Dr Raiser.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Atlanta - Raiser Seminar

JoJo and I are in Atlanta for the Dr Raiser Seminar at South Metro Atlanta Schutzhund Club. So far we have gone tracking with Wallace Payne and had a couple club training nights, with another one tonight.

With the little explainations that I have heard so far I am really looking forward to his seminar.

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Tracking

Ann and I met at Southside this morning for tracking. The wind has begun to pick up, Gale force warnings in effect.

Aron ran a fairly complicated track cleanly, indicated his article well and left almost no food behind.

Madison had a harder track with a strong wind. She did really well other than in one stop where a tight corner near the crest of a rise confused her. I held her from advancing until she worked it out and from there to the end she was excellent.

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Protection

It was a good day at Port Royal School field. Ann had Basco, Jojo brought Gunner, Jermaine had Capone, Paul came with his puppy, Margaret brought both Jetta and Riggs, and Maureen worked Callum in AKC Utility.

Aron really worked well. We ran 4 blinds, showing him the helper 2 blinds out and he finds the 2nd helper in every blind. We also worked a defensive excercise, challenging over the sleeve, slowly putting the sleeve on and finishing with a high bite.

I did all the flat work from the Ob routine with Madison. She did well, recallign between the crowd, in motion commands in a group, holding her stand while someone touched her...

A good day in all.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Obedience

Thursday at NEC
Full house as Ann borught Basco, Jojo came with Gunner, Paul brought his 8mos Dobe pup, and Katrina had her pitbull.

Jojo did some basic obedience work with Paul and Katrina, while Ann and I worked jumps, retrieves and the recall.

Aron was awesome. I was very impressed with his performance, he remembered the excercises from the last training day and was fast and precise. The jump was set at 20" high by 3' wide. He retrieved the tug and the dumbell.

Madison was very good also. She ran through the exercises earned her food and rarely required correction.

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Tracking

We met Ann and Basco out at Southside this morning for tracking.

Aron ran his track at 20mins, there was about 20kts of wind but he did really well. THere were 2 pieces of food left on the track and he figured out the corners, the article and the wind by himself well.

Madison ran her track at closer to 30mins. She got confused again at the crest of a rise where the strong wind was creating some strange patterns, but worked through it and continued to the end. On the way back to the car she was off leash and she followed first Basco track and then Arons looking for any food that may have been left behind.

Saturday, February 04, 2006

Protection

It was a great day up at Port Royal School. Ann borught Basco out, Jojo came with Gunner, Jermaine brought Capone, Maureen had her Golden Calum there. Mike, a britsh fellow new to the island brought his mali mix Guiness for some basic obedience and there was a 8month dobie that came to be tested.

The focus for Aron was running 6 blinds under extreme distraction. I used both helpers. Jojo in the evens, and Jermaine in the odds. I started with Jermiane cracking the whip and shouting at him from #2, sent him to 1 where Jojo was waiting to do a run out, then as Jojo ran to 3 with Aron straining at the leash I sent him to 2 where Jermaine was now quietly waiting for a hold and bark. This continued for all 6 blinds with Aron wound up and wanting the 2nd blind out each time and each time being rewarded by the quiet helper.

I brought Madison out to do obedience work with food, while Maureen was working AKC utility excercises and Jojo was testing the dobie with a tug on a short leash. We did heeling patterns, in motion excercises and even ran blinds for food.

Thursday, February 02, 2006

Jumps

Ann brought Basco out and it was a great Thursday night at the NEC under the lights.

Horses had been jump schooling during the day so some of their equipment was still set in the main paddock. A nice little fence was quickly rearranged into a wide oxer (24" high 30" wide)

Aron was wound up, what a blast to work. I made him site 15' in front of the jump, then I walked over it and faced him, called him into me and into a sit in front. This progressed to having him sit while I walked over the jump, placed the tug on the ground, walked back to his side and after a few seconds gave the hup, apport commands The drive buildup from the slow movement and staring throught the tug had him starting to whine a bit as his drive just built and built. We finished when he came back super fast and sat calmly with the tug, so I fought with him for a sec and let him carry it back to the crate. The second trip out was basically repeat of the last excercise, with the addition of a retrieve on the flat, using a 3' section of 4" wood jump rail. He was a bit wild but had a blast and completed the movements at high speed.

Madison followed suit. She has always been a jumping fool. She of course knows the excercise and did it perfectly, particularly when the food bits were close at hand.