After watching Honey the Great Dane's video, 'learning to weave,' we decided to give it a try at the club today. Now, we're not planning to do canine freestyle, but I thought it might be fun to try to get Jackson to go through my legs. I see trainers with smaller dogs doing this all the time to get their dogs to come in fast on the recalls, but I could never visualize Jackson running through my legs! Actually, I visualized myself flat on my back if I ever tried that : ) But, now that I've seen a Great Dane doing it, I'm thinking this would be fun to try and it might keep him coming in faster on the recalls. Even now when he is trotting in, he tends to slow down as he gets close to me. Maybe this will keep his speed up.
So, we started with Step 1 today - getting him comfortable putting his head between my legs. That's as far as we got today, as you can see in the video - this may be a slow process : )
Step 2 is throwing the treat further back so he walks through my legs to get it. I'll keep you posted on how that one goes.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Continuing to work on speed
I think the exercises we've been doing to try to increase speed are working. We started last week with increasing the distance for all the exercises and we've dropped the formal fronts on the recalls. I'm starting to see a difference - instead of walking in slowly, he's now trotting in. Real progress! Of course eventually we'll have to put formal fronts in and reduce the distance, but for now we'll continue practicing with increased distance and try to build that 'muscle memory.'
There have been more distractions than usual at the club the last couple days. I think it's a sign that the spring trials are beginning and people are getting their dogs prepared. Distractions are good. He needs to learn to work with other dogs and activities going on around him. We started out with a couple long distance recalls, which went well. Then, he and his training partner, Melody, did a couple recalls together. Border Terriers are faster than Great Danes - at least today : )
He's not missing on his signals hardly ever now, so we may be over the hump on that one. No more avoidance behavior, at least not in practice. And, the articles and gloves went well today. I'm putting the articles on the far side of the ring so I can get quite a bit of distance on the return. I send him to the pile from about 20 feet away, then retreat back across the ring for the return. He's now trotting back to me with the article.
Tomorrow night we start another eight-week utility class. It's been two weeks since we finished up the last session. He's much more stressed in class than in practice, so I will be watching to see if I see any improvement in his performance or attitude in class.
There have been more distractions than usual at the club the last couple days. I think it's a sign that the spring trials are beginning and people are getting their dogs prepared. Distractions are good. He needs to learn to work with other dogs and activities going on around him. We started out with a couple long distance recalls, which went well. Then, he and his training partner, Melody, did a couple recalls together. Border Terriers are faster than Great Danes - at least today : )
He's not missing on his signals hardly ever now, so we may be over the hump on that one. No more avoidance behavior, at least not in practice. And, the articles and gloves went well today. I'm putting the articles on the far side of the ring so I can get quite a bit of distance on the return. I send him to the pile from about 20 feet away, then retreat back across the ring for the return. He's now trotting back to me with the article.
Tomorrow night we start another eight-week utility class. It's been two weeks since we finished up the last session. He's much more stressed in class than in practice, so I will be watching to see if I see any improvement in his performance or attitude in class.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
I've been tagged!
Well, I wasn't going to post anything today, but I've been tagged by HawaiianDane to play the Fourth Picture Game - where you go to the fourth file in your picture folder. Then choose the fourth picture and post it on your blog.
So, here's my fourth picture in the fourth folder in my picture folder! (Jackson and his training partner Melody)
Now I've tagged Bev at FotoDanes and PRGang - (trying to keep it in the Dane family : )
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Trying some new things!
We're trying some new things during our training sessions, thanks to suggestions from someone on an obedience list that I'm on. I think this will help to loosen things up and maybe create some energy. First off, we're losing the formal fronts with the exercises - at least for now. We're starting out our training sessions with a couple long distance and/or restrained recalls to try to build speed and set the tone for the session. No fronts with these recalls, just praise and treats for coming fast - which he is doing.
When we do articles, we set the pile in a location where I can get quite a bit of distance for the return. I send him to the pile from the normal distance, then as he is going to the pile, I go the opposite direction across two rings and wait for him there. With this increased distance between us, he is trotting back with the article now instead of walking slowly. Progress! And, again, no fronts - just praise and treats.
The other thing I am trying with articles is tossing the article toward the pile. This is getting him moving faster toward the pile. I think these new techniques are having the side effect of reducing some of the stress associated with this exercise. He doesn't seem so serious and worried about it.
When we do the glove exercise, I'm also dropping the formal front. This seems to also be speeding up his return with the glove.
I've gone back to using the dowel retrieve for the go-outs. I trained go-outs using a dowel retrieve, but kinda got away from it because he was doing pretty good with the go-outs, however, he really starts slowing down when he gets about two thirds of the way out. I think putting the dowel out is giving him more of a purpose for going out and it really increases his speed. Sits are still slow, but the directed part of the jumping is good.
Overall, I think these new techniques may give us a needed energy boost in our training. I'm going to stick with using these for a few weeks and then evaluate where we are.
When we do articles, we set the pile in a location where I can get quite a bit of distance for the return. I send him to the pile from the normal distance, then as he is going to the pile, I go the opposite direction across two rings and wait for him there. With this increased distance between us, he is trotting back with the article now instead of walking slowly. Progress! And, again, no fronts - just praise and treats.
The other thing I am trying with articles is tossing the article toward the pile. This is getting him moving faster toward the pile. I think these new techniques are having the side effect of reducing some of the stress associated with this exercise. He doesn't seem so serious and worried about it.
When we do the glove exercise, I'm also dropping the formal front. This seems to also be speeding up his return with the glove.
I've gone back to using the dowel retrieve for the go-outs. I trained go-outs using a dowel retrieve, but kinda got away from it because he was doing pretty good with the go-outs, however, he really starts slowing down when he gets about two thirds of the way out. I think putting the dowel out is giving him more of a purpose for going out and it really increases his speed. Sits are still slow, but the directed part of the jumping is good.
Overall, I think these new techniques may give us a needed energy boost in our training. I'm going to stick with using these for a few weeks and then evaluate where we are.
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