Introducing Jackson's co-star, Jolee

Ch Robindanes She's So Fine CD CGC aka "Jolee"



Now that Jackson has achieved his quest, I guess it's time to shift the focus a bit and include his littermate - Jolee - on this blog. I've periodically mentioned her in posts and featured her in a couple videos, however not everyone has met her. (We are now a two-Dane family so there won't be any more surprises.)

Jolee is six years old and spent her early years in the conformation ring, thus obedience training was kind of an after-thought with her. I did start some obedience training with her a couple years ago and then rushed her into the ring to get a CD (companion dog) title on her so she would have a title at both ends of her name : )

So, what are my goals in training with two six-year-old (almost seven-year-old) Danes? Not sure, but I think this next year I am going to focus on continuing obedience training with both of them to help keep them mentally and physically challenged. I don't have any obedience title goals in mind at this point, but want to continue learning from training them; try new training methods; and improve and expand my training knowledge and skills.

And, as soon as the weather breaks - we're going to get back into tracking.

Stay tuned : )

Good bye Beemer

Ch Mesaba Razzle Dazzle aka "Beemer"

May 23, 2001 - February 18, 2011

I debated about posting this today, but decided it would help bring some closure. Everyone that has pets knows that someday they will face the loss of that pet. However, the sadness of that day is compensated by the years of love and companionship you share with them.

Beemer was our first conformation champion, mother to Jackson and Jolee, and a joy to live with. We will miss her terribly.

Regrouping

My name is Kathie - I'm an obedience training addict.

There, I've said it. Being addicted to obedience training as I am, I couldn't just quit when we reached our goal. So, I started thinking about what new goals could I set now to keep me motivated. What I've decided for the time being is - to continue training Jackson to try to improve his execution of the various exercises, and to improve and expand my training skills. I probably won't enter many trials with Jackson, but I may enter a few local trials at times to measure our progress. I think it's going to be interesting to see if things improve now just because we don't have the pressure of attaining any titles.

I'll be continuing with the previous goals I set to accomplish the improvements - incorporating a lot of play and treats, and learning new tricks. I think I'll probably drop the tug thing though. He's just never going to be a tugger :)

Now that the pressure is off Jackson, I've also started doing more training with Jolee. I don't know if I'll enter her in any trials, but I'm sure having fun trying a lot of new training methods with her - primarily using the clicker. Her personality is so different from Jackson's, I think it's really going to expand my ideas on training.

Which brings us to the following video - clicker training Jolee for articles. Up to now, I've not done anything with articles with Jolee, so I thought I would try clicker training them. I used the traditional tie-down method with Jackson and he is very reliable with the scent discrimination exercise. But, I thought it would be fun to experiment with something completely different with Jolee.

These are our first two attempts with it. I put out three metal articles - one which I scented - and clicked and treated whenever she would hesitate over the scented article. In following sessions I will look for more committment to the scented article before I click, and so on.
Please excuse the background noise. Note to self: turn off the tv when taping :)