I am so pleased with his progress. He is not swinging his back end out on the about turns any more, which is great, he doesn't drift off my leg so often and his concentration is improving.
The running order for Cefn Coed came today and we are drawn to work 6th in Novice, which couldn't be better as this is how we worked at the West Of England show. I can use the novice round as a "training" round if I need to.
I have started to re-teach sendaway with a down at the end instead of a stand, which we used for working trials, and he is happy to down, so no problems there so far. I need a good reliable fast send before adding in any "markers" into the equation.
Wednesday 29 April 2009
Saturday 18 April 2009
Lokis' Obedience Training Progress
After our amazing day at the West Of England Border Collie Club show, I have entered Loki in some obedience shows. We are doing Cefn Coed, CwmBran, Cheltenham and Taunton. We are also going to Golden Valley and Caerphilly agility shows. This will be a busy year as there are the flyball tournaments to fit in too!!
I took him out into the garden to train the other day and discovered that if I’m not feeling 100% and don’t put a lot of effort into working with him, he doesn’t bother either!
Today we went out in the garden and in the 20 minutes we were training, the want and attitude were there in bucket loads!!
We started with small left circles to get him in the correct position and to remind him that he has to be “on” my leg, then from left circles we added a short straight line – lovely, attention and constant contact with my leg.
We then tried small right circles and after a shaky start, he was much more consistent in his position.
His presents are much better – have to work on his wait though, he is enjoying the training too much lol.
I will have to remember to only do one, maybe two retrieve training bits at one time as he gets over excited and starts being silly!!!! I am pleased with his work so far. Let’s hope for some dry weather so we can consolidate our work so far.
It hasn’t been easy trying to remember how we taught turns years ago ( I haven’t trained a dog for competition obedience for 12+ years – it’s a long time to think back!! It’s coming though, once you get into the right frame of mind and in a training situation, it just sort of pops back into the memory again.
I took him out into the garden to train the other day and discovered that if I’m not feeling 100% and don’t put a lot of effort into working with him, he doesn’t bother either!
Today we went out in the garden and in the 20 minutes we were training, the want and attitude were there in bucket loads!!
We started with small left circles to get him in the correct position and to remind him that he has to be “on” my leg, then from left circles we added a short straight line – lovely, attention and constant contact with my leg.
We then tried small right circles and after a shaky start, he was much more consistent in his position.
His presents are much better – have to work on his wait though, he is enjoying the training too much lol.
I will have to remember to only do one, maybe two retrieve training bits at one time as he gets over excited and starts being silly!!!! I am pleased with his work so far. Let’s hope for some dry weather so we can consolidate our work so far.
It hasn’t been easy trying to remember how we taught turns years ago ( I haven’t trained a dog for competition obedience for 12+ years – it’s a long time to think back!! It’s coming though, once you get into the right frame of mind and in a training situation, it just sort of pops back into the memory again.
Wednesday 8 April 2009
Video of our round
www.youtube.com/watch
This is Loki's obedience round.
The begionning is very ragged - my fault for not getting him focussed enough before going in! But once we got going, I thought he was very good, considering the little bit of training we have done!!!
This is Loki's obedience round.
The begionning is very ragged - my fault for not getting him focussed enough before going in! But once we got going, I thought he was very good, considering the little bit of training we have done!!!
Saturday 4 April 2009
Loki the obedience dog!
We couldn't have had better weather today at the West Of England Border Collie Club show. It was sunny but cool.
Grace got 4th out of 4 in veteran in the breed show, and came last in working bitch, so the judge didn't like her - so what, she behaved beautifully, did what I asked, when I asked. I think she enjoyed herself, which is the whole reason for showing her again.... Mission accomplished!!
Loki was his usual sniffy, wanting to say "hi" to everyone self and I thought he was not going to get his brain in gear and concentrate! Wouldnt blame him as I've not done much training at all!!
We worked the novice round first and what a surprise..... he went in the ring and as soon as he was set up, he became a different dog!!!! Apart from his retrieve, he did really well. I didn't bother doing stays with him.
Kim, my friend from flyball came to film his beginner round for me so that I could see what needed to be worked on. The first exercise was heel on lead and after a shakey start, he suddenly switched his brain on and worked like a little superstar! Recall was not bad - crooked present, but then he's never done a straight one yet!! Heel free was beautiful. Yes he drifted, but he was paying attention and worked really well. Retrieve was his downfall in novice, so I wasn't hoping for much.... He sat and waited whilst I threw the dumbell, I sent him and he picked it up and for some reason I said "in" which I don't normally..... he came in and sat in front with the dumbell in his mouth!!!!! I was so so pleased with him.
I went back after showing Grace to see where he'd ended up... only to be told that he was needed for a run off!!!
Run back to the van, chuck Grace in, get him out, do a warm up - badly, runback to the ring, do another warm up. He has no attention - oh well, he is at his first ever obedience show, what can I expect?
We have to do heel free again. I set him up and his on switch kicks in and off we go and he is working. I am so proud of him. And the icing on the cake is that Jenny his breeder is tere to watch him!!
Loki ends up winning his run off and coming in 4th place!!! I am over the moon with him. And I have the film to remind me!!!! I have no idea what he lost.
Grace got 4th out of 4 in veteran in the breed show, and came last in working bitch, so the judge didn't like her - so what, she behaved beautifully, did what I asked, when I asked. I think she enjoyed herself, which is the whole reason for showing her again.... Mission accomplished!!
Loki was his usual sniffy, wanting to say "hi" to everyone self and I thought he was not going to get his brain in gear and concentrate! Wouldnt blame him as I've not done much training at all!!
We worked the novice round first and what a surprise..... he went in the ring and as soon as he was set up, he became a different dog!!!! Apart from his retrieve, he did really well. I didn't bother doing stays with him.
Kim, my friend from flyball came to film his beginner round for me so that I could see what needed to be worked on. The first exercise was heel on lead and after a shakey start, he suddenly switched his brain on and worked like a little superstar! Recall was not bad - crooked present, but then he's never done a straight one yet!! Heel free was beautiful. Yes he drifted, but he was paying attention and worked really well. Retrieve was his downfall in novice, so I wasn't hoping for much.... He sat and waited whilst I threw the dumbell, I sent him and he picked it up and for some reason I said "in" which I don't normally..... he came in and sat in front with the dumbell in his mouth!!!!! I was so so pleased with him.
I went back after showing Grace to see where he'd ended up... only to be told that he was needed for a run off!!!
Run back to the van, chuck Grace in, get him out, do a warm up - badly, runback to the ring, do another warm up. He has no attention - oh well, he is at his first ever obedience show, what can I expect?
We have to do heel free again. I set him up and his on switch kicks in and off we go and he is working. I am so proud of him. And the icing on the cake is that Jenny his breeder is tere to watch him!!
Loki ends up winning his run off and coming in 4th place!!! I am over the moon with him. And I have the film to remind me!!!! I have no idea what he lost.
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