Thursday, April 20, 2006

Obedience

It was a quick night at the NEC. Willie DeSilva came to watch with a breeder he deals with from NB Canada. Ann brought Basco, and Jojo brought Gunner.

We worked some heeling and voraus, long downs etc etc....

A bit of a demo for the conformation show people. A couple hold & barks, a couple escape bites it was a good short evening.

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Protection

It was a good afternoon of work given that it was a holiday weekend. Families were flying kites on the school field and we all worked together well, and put on a good show for the neighbourhood. Ann brought Basco, Jojo had Gunner, Jermaine brought Capone, William brought Errol and Kiara, Charles and Dean brought the GSD puppy, and Margaret brought her puppy. Lisa came to watch with Wendy and Andrew.

I worked Aron on up to 4 blinds. The control is coming well, but he did start to skip from 2 to 4 once. I will need to emphasise the return to me next session. We worked some targeting. All in all a good training day.

I did helper work again with Basco, Capone and Errol.

Tracking and Protection

Tracking at Southside
Ann brought Basco and Kay brought out Loki for Easter morning tracking. Kay even hid hotdog in plastic eggs for Loki to find on her 1000yd AKC style track.

Aron ran his well although the strong wind had him 1ft to the side for about 20 ft of the 400pace track. He indicated the 3 articles very well, missed one corner but turned to other 3 well.

Protection at Happy Valley Park
Ann went to cook for the Family lunch, Kay and I made the trek to Smiler's. Jojo brought Gunner and Nitro(pit), Smiler worked the Red and his Chocolate puppy. Jermaine came and help work the dogs.

I returned to running a couple blinds with the tug in my hands and Aron was fast and came directly to me and on the third repetition I sent him to the next blind when he was still 10' away and he charged into a beautiful hold and bark. I worked him again on some targeting excercises.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Obedience

A good thursday night at the NEC on Vesey St. Ann brought Basco, Jojo worked Gunner. Lisa was visitng from Halifax and stopped by to watch with Wendy.

I worked Aron and Madison in heeling, in-motion excercises and the Voraus. Aron is coming along well. I need to think through the trial excercises and make sure I have all the pieces covered.

Sunday, April 09, 2006

Protection

Well I wasnt much for training this morning but I went along without dogs. The arm is a little sore, the bruising is developing etc etc. It was a good morning, bright sun, loquats on the tree were ripe. Ann worked Basco, Frank brought his puppy, Smiler worked the new puppy and Big Red and Jojo did the helper work.

Saturday, April 08, 2006

Protection & Real Bites

It was a beautiful afternoon up at Port Royal School. Jojo had Gunner, Ann worked Basco, Jermaine brought Capone, William had Errol and Charles brought the puppy.

We started with an obedience session. I worked them in heeling, recalls, in motion excercises and voraus. The session wasnt too long, the heat was kicking in and I wanted some energy for protection.

Aron worked the blinds, hold and bark, call out, sit from hold and bark and escorts. I also did a couple of 2 stride attack bites from a down to help his targeting on the courage test.

I worked the second round of dogs doing the helper work. It felt really good and fluid today. The only issue was when working Errol for William. He is primarily a personal protection dog, so the work has a different focus. I was working in close, threatening, applying pressure and he managed to pull an extra foot of line from William and grab my right arm, sans sleeve. He eased the grip immediately so I pulled out and gave the inside of the sleeve. He switched over and held firm while I applied much more pressure and fight. After a couple more bites and a back up attack I stopped to check my arm.

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Obedience

It was a good training night at the NEC. Daylight Savings has kicked in so we were able to train to 8:00 without needing the lights. Ann btought Basco and Jojo came with Gunner.

I worked both Aron & Madison in heeling, sits, downs, stands, sit in front, and voraus. It was a good time.

Sunday, April 02, 2006

Tracking and Protection

We had a good morning tracking at Southside. Ann brought Basco and Kay had Loki.

Aron and Madison ran one track each, not too long with no food on the track. Aron had 2 articles. I was quite pleased with both tracks particularly with 3 weeks off.

After tracking Ann and I headed to Happy Valley Park to meet up with Jojo to work the dogs. Smiler brought out his chocolate puppy(pit) and Big Red (pit) and Johnny had his pit.

I repeated the excercises from Saturday with Aron and Madison. Aron was not a clean running the blinds as usual. He stopped enroute to blind 4 on command and returned to me to run 2 but he hasnt missed a blind like that for a while. Even on Saturday with Jojo cracking the whip before he reached 1 and again before he got to 2 he was clean. Escorts were good, again he was forging on the back transport but never more than 8-12".

Saturday, April 01, 2006

Protection

This Saturday's protection session was a good one up at Port Royal School. Jojo brought Gunner and Star(Ingrid's puppy) Ann had Basco, Jermaine had Capone and a new Rott bitch, Mark Monk had Ceasar & Nancy, William brought Errol, and Charles stopped by with his puppy.

Aron did 2 sessions, running the blinds and doing the back transport and side transport for the first time. He forged on the back transport as is to be expected, reacted well to light popping on the prong, kept his eye on the helper, hit hard on the attack and outed into a clean hold and bark. His side transport was really good, maintained eye contact with Jojo, was clean on the transport and hit with a solid strike when given the bite at the end of the transport.

Madison came out was great energy. She ran 2 blinds with a confident hold and bark, managed to hold her grip through the drive (a huge acheivement for her). A second attempt with a run out of blind 2 gave her the confidence to chase Jojo down quickly and hit with a strong bite.

Jumpers

Ali took the Horses down to the Jumper show at the NEC today.

Desi (Hannovarian mare) came third in the 3' jumpers with a clear round putting her into the jump off where a second clear earned her third on time.

Isabella (Belgian Warmblood mare) won the 3'3 speed class. This is a single round class and Issy went clear and won by 5 seconds.