Well with her big sister out of action due to being sore the decision was made to put Kenzie into CCD at the mock trial this morning. I am extremely pleased with how she went and it was a lot better then I expected.
It didn't start off entirely great with me arranging to be moved one dog later so I could video Tash and Riv. Well didn't that set Gillian off. I think she just likes to antagonize me. Any way we did get into the ring after I nearly thought what was the point and I would just head home when they said I was going to be last dog in the ring.
Prior to going into the ring I had Kenzie out and waiting. Not by choice because I thought I was going in and then they put another dog in. Still not settled on a pre-ring routine for her. It was reasonably warm in the sun but that didn't stop her too much. Not sure if I'll put in place a similar routine to Ness's where I grab her and go. At the moment she is only a baby so needs a bit more time to settle. Her attention on me is to die for :).
Now to her ring performance. Her heelwork was nice. Considering we have done very little in the way of positions, proper ring heelwork or changes of pace she did very nicely. It was also the first time she has done a figure 8 around people and given her timidity towards people I was thrilled with her work. She lost a bit of concentration each time I rewarded and I rewarded quite heavily, including having food in my hand which I wouldn't usually when I am training. I know she isn't dependant on it so my goal was just to reward everything and keep her from becoming stressed. Think I achieved that well. Considering she really didn't have a stand in heel position before last night to actually manage one of those in the ring I was very impressed. She was nice and attentiv and her turns were really quite nice. I also talked a bit more during the heelwork than I would normally but again not to concerned at the moment. I have to be careful it doesn't become a habit but she hasn't really done anything resembling a heel pattern with positions so I did what I could to help her :).
Now to the stand for exam. I had absolutely zero expectations for this exercise and considering she isn't happy with people patting/approaching her she did great to keep 2 feet still. Still a long way to go but it does give me some hope that she might yet manage to get in the ring. Sure she might not ever be entirely comfortable in the ring but I saw a lot worse from other CCD dogs.
Her recall. Geez she is such a cutie. She held her wait which was something I didn't think she would do. She came in with nice speed and her initial front was pretty nice (although she did then stand up - can't have it all). I used both her name and a recall command which is something I don't intend on doing other than for the fact I am not happy with her recall command yet.
Overall it was a nice introduction to the ring for her I felt. Sure she showed she is still only a baby when it comes to being in the ring and there is a lot of work to do but it did prove to me she is a hell of a lot closer then I would have thought.
Here is the video from this mornings round:
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
CBS Training Week 4 Should I Shouldn't I?
Just returned home from CBS training week 4 after a break due to a public holiday last Monday. I have to say I have returned home from class tonight with a bit of a mixed view on whether its worth continuing.
Kenzie was doing really well before class approaching people and dogs. Maybe she is maturing and finally growing out of some of her fear issues.
Class tonight - we started with some targeting while waiting for Deb to finish her first session induction class. I decided I would do a bit of heeling and recalls with Kenzie instead. Her heelwork is lovely but her fronts need work on her recalls as she comes rocketing in and those darn defective Winpara brakes kick in LOL. Also did some sendaway to her mat work and she was happily racing to her mat and the mat was sliding out from underneath her hahaha.
Deb showed up and we had to get the dogs to target the metal bucket from before as well as a new plastic basket type container. Kenzie readily offered her perch work trick when presented with an object she could conceivably put paws on.
Next up we placed both objects and our target sticks out and had the dog interact with each on command. Kenzie was great as usual.
We then moved to an area which had small kiddy plastic chairs as well as the metal bucket and the baskets. We were to heel the dog around and then have them interact with the objects when requested. Kenzie immediately offered two paws up on the kiddy chair and started her perch work trick. Think I can safely say that is well and truely generalised. There was also a plastic bag in the mix which we had to get them to target. Again no real drama there.
Back to the chairs and we had the dog hold and retrieve a foam ring off a coits set. Kenzie thought that was the best game and was happy to retrieve it with nothing other than a chance to throw it again as a reward. I took the opportunity to razz her up and then place the ring down and click and reward the wait.
Also did some sit stays. She was nice and rock solid tonight. Happy with me walking away, shaking her tuggy and even got to the point where I could start to walk towards a formal return without her budging - yee har :).
We played with the kiddy tunnel - Kenzie is of course an old hand at this one but even she thought she could run past it and then duck back in the end or she was to fired up to concentrate and would run past. No problem with driving through it though.
Tricks - well she was happy doing a drop from a stand but the rest she wasn't so great at. I think I have been trying to push distance rather than rewarding the response to the command so need to work at that.
Also need to decide on my unique behavior - have a couple of thoughts but need to finalise one before next week.
So where does that leave me - general observations are that by about 3/4 of the way through class I am exhausted and Kenzie is as well. I am giving her 100% and expect 100% in return so not sure what to do. Her training is great but I am not sure we are getting anywhere and its hard as she can easily do a lot of the work. I don't believe the class is helping her with her real issues which are the fact she is timid of people.
Guess I am not sure where to go from here. I am keen to build her trial type behaviors which obviously this class will not do but also don't want her burning out and working when either of us aren't able to give 100%.
Hoping to put her in the ring at SA soon and also intend on entering the mock trial at Dover this weekend just so I can see what I need to work on and how she reacts and get a gauge on how we are progressing. She is a little dynamite though and loves her games and just thinks training is one huge game.
So the question is should I or shouldn't I continue training at CBS - argh I hate decisions and this one is certainy a tough one!!!!
Kenzie was doing really well before class approaching people and dogs. Maybe she is maturing and finally growing out of some of her fear issues.
Class tonight - we started with some targeting while waiting for Deb to finish her first session induction class. I decided I would do a bit of heeling and recalls with Kenzie instead. Her heelwork is lovely but her fronts need work on her recalls as she comes rocketing in and those darn defective Winpara brakes kick in LOL. Also did some sendaway to her mat work and she was happily racing to her mat and the mat was sliding out from underneath her hahaha.
Deb showed up and we had to get the dogs to target the metal bucket from before as well as a new plastic basket type container. Kenzie readily offered her perch work trick when presented with an object she could conceivably put paws on.
Next up we placed both objects and our target sticks out and had the dog interact with each on command. Kenzie was great as usual.
We then moved to an area which had small kiddy plastic chairs as well as the metal bucket and the baskets. We were to heel the dog around and then have them interact with the objects when requested. Kenzie immediately offered two paws up on the kiddy chair and started her perch work trick. Think I can safely say that is well and truely generalised. There was also a plastic bag in the mix which we had to get them to target. Again no real drama there.
Back to the chairs and we had the dog hold and retrieve a foam ring off a coits set. Kenzie thought that was the best game and was happy to retrieve it with nothing other than a chance to throw it again as a reward. I took the opportunity to razz her up and then place the ring down and click and reward the wait.
Also did some sit stays. She was nice and rock solid tonight. Happy with me walking away, shaking her tuggy and even got to the point where I could start to walk towards a formal return without her budging - yee har :).
We played with the kiddy tunnel - Kenzie is of course an old hand at this one but even she thought she could run past it and then duck back in the end or she was to fired up to concentrate and would run past. No problem with driving through it though.
Tricks - well she was happy doing a drop from a stand but the rest she wasn't so great at. I think I have been trying to push distance rather than rewarding the response to the command so need to work at that.
Also need to decide on my unique behavior - have a couple of thoughts but need to finalise one before next week.
So where does that leave me - general observations are that by about 3/4 of the way through class I am exhausted and Kenzie is as well. I am giving her 100% and expect 100% in return so not sure what to do. Her training is great but I am not sure we are getting anywhere and its hard as she can easily do a lot of the work. I don't believe the class is helping her with her real issues which are the fact she is timid of people.
Guess I am not sure where to go from here. I am keen to build her trial type behaviors which obviously this class will not do but also don't want her burning out and working when either of us aren't able to give 100%.
Hoping to put her in the ring at SA soon and also intend on entering the mock trial at Dover this weekend just so I can see what I need to work on and how she reacts and get a gauge on how we are progressing. She is a little dynamite though and loves her games and just thinks training is one huge game.
So the question is should I or shouldn't I continue training at CBS - argh I hate decisions and this one is certainy a tough one!!!!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
More Jump Grids and an Obedience Update
Well last night was our usual club obedience night - Ness gets put through the ring and usually I try and do something with Kenzie. Since I had dragged Tash out to train I used the opportunity to work a figure 8 with Kenzie using Tash as a post. She was a bit distracted but got it together in the end. She did some lovely prancy heelwork. I got Tash to hold her while I did a few restrained recalls with her. I am trying to avoid doing to many recalls from stays if I have the opportunity of somebody to hold her. Need to work on her fronts though as they aren't particularly good without a lure.
I attempted a SFE with Tash and Kenzie wasn't to bad. I am able to back off the constant feeding and she will still stay standing.
Have asked about putting her in the ring at training and apparently I just need to put my name down so we will give it a go soon as I am keen to see how she is travelling.
The breakthrough for the night was with her circle work for agility. She finally decided she was capable of giving me inside circles - yee har. Her outside circles are nice. My only concern is she tends to be a bit opinionated and want to have the last word.
Ok on to today/tonight. I have been setting up a jump in the yard and building value for her jumping by throwing the jolly ball as a reward as well as doing some set point type exercises. She seems to love this game and was offering quite happily taking the jump.
Tonight we had agility training so I took the opportunity to take out her jump hump and play some set point and straightline jump grids as well as do a bit of tunnel practice.
Her tunnels were great however she spooked with Julie B walking past the end and then went and ran and hid in the tunnel. Bugger. Was able to get her back out and engaged though and she was happily running through without too many hassles. No spinning back and coming out :).
Her set point work was great. She was a fraction too driven so I need to place some emphasis on control. I was working her on a 300/400 height jump. She will do both sending to the toy as well as me leading out and then releasing her to the toy.
I then set up a straightline grid. Each of the jumps was spaced at approximately 2 medium paces or the length of a jump bar and a third roughly. She was great. Really driving nicely over the 5 jumps as though she had been doing it her entire life. Nice even action. I only had the jumps set at 200. She would drive to the stationary toy with me on either side as well as confidently driving to the toy with me out by the toy. Her understanding of her release command seems to have improved but as I said I still need to do some more control type work as she is likely to break if left to wait for to long. I did 4 of those - 1 each sending with me on either side and then 1 each of sending her to the toy with me on either side.
I then thought I would spice things up a bit and try varying the height of jump 2 and 4 with me sending her to the target. I only attempted that twice and both times she crashed jump 4 but had good rhythm over the first 3 jumps. Will have to attempt that one again later but I figured possibly I had asked for to much so decided against trying to get it done correctly on this attempt.
Finished off the evening with a bit of a walk at the race course. Very pleased with her progress and all of a sudden it appears to have clicked. She is really driving quite hard to the toy and her future agility career is looking really quite promising :).
I attempted a SFE with Tash and Kenzie wasn't to bad. I am able to back off the constant feeding and she will still stay standing.
Have asked about putting her in the ring at training and apparently I just need to put my name down so we will give it a go soon as I am keen to see how she is travelling.
The breakthrough for the night was with her circle work for agility. She finally decided she was capable of giving me inside circles - yee har. Her outside circles are nice. My only concern is she tends to be a bit opinionated and want to have the last word.
Ok on to today/tonight. I have been setting up a jump in the yard and building value for her jumping by throwing the jolly ball as a reward as well as doing some set point type exercises. She seems to love this game and was offering quite happily taking the jump.
Tonight we had agility training so I took the opportunity to take out her jump hump and play some set point and straightline jump grids as well as do a bit of tunnel practice.
Her tunnels were great however she spooked with Julie B walking past the end and then went and ran and hid in the tunnel. Bugger. Was able to get her back out and engaged though and she was happily running through without too many hassles. No spinning back and coming out :).
Her set point work was great. She was a fraction too driven so I need to place some emphasis on control. I was working her on a 300/400 height jump. She will do both sending to the toy as well as me leading out and then releasing her to the toy.
I then set up a straightline grid. Each of the jumps was spaced at approximately 2 medium paces or the length of a jump bar and a third roughly. She was great. Really driving nicely over the 5 jumps as though she had been doing it her entire life. Nice even action. I only had the jumps set at 200. She would drive to the stationary toy with me on either side as well as confidently driving to the toy with me out by the toy. Her understanding of her release command seems to have improved but as I said I still need to do some more control type work as she is likely to break if left to wait for to long. I did 4 of those - 1 each sending with me on either side and then 1 each of sending her to the toy with me on either side.
I then thought I would spice things up a bit and try varying the height of jump 2 and 4 with me sending her to the target. I only attempted that twice and both times she crashed jump 4 but had good rhythm over the first 3 jumps. Will have to attempt that one again later but I figured possibly I had asked for to much so decided against trying to get it done correctly on this attempt.
Finished off the evening with a bit of a walk at the race course. Very pleased with her progress and all of a sudden it appears to have clicked. She is really driving quite hard to the toy and her future agility career is looking really quite promising :).
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Susan Salo Jump Grids 8 March 2009
Well what better way to spend the middle day of a long weekend other than playing with the girls. We started out the day with a lovely walk/swim/retrieving session at the beach. Bumped into another DOL person with there two rough collies Luka and Molly. Kenzie had a lovely game with Luka :).
Kenzie was having a mad feral morning so after we got back from an outing to petstock I thought I would set up a bend grid as well as do some set point work. Compared to her attitude when we played in January she was soooo driven. She was happily completing the bend grid in both directions without hassle. Whereas before when we played she was really hesitent and unsure about what she was suppose to be doing this time she did fantastically. I finished up with some set point work. Again she was lovely. Really driving to get to her toy and accelerating forward. Keen, eager and so very enthusiastic. I was using her jolly ball as the reward which she just loves :). Still need to do some more work on her sit stays though as she was a bit too keen and sometimes would release herself rather than wait for a release from me.
Finished up the session with just rewarding her for offering to drive forward over the jump and building value for the jump.
Kenzie was having a mad feral morning so after we got back from an outing to petstock I thought I would set up a bend grid as well as do some set point work. Compared to her attitude when we played in January she was soooo driven. She was happily completing the bend grid in both directions without hassle. Whereas before when we played she was really hesitent and unsure about what she was suppose to be doing this time she did fantastically. I finished up with some set point work. Again she was lovely. Really driving to get to her toy and accelerating forward. Keen, eager and so very enthusiastic. I was using her jolly ball as the reward which she just loves :). Still need to do some more work on her sit stays though as she was a bit too keen and sometimes would release herself rather than wait for a release from me.
Finished up the session with just rewarding her for offering to drive forward over the jump and building value for the jump.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Show Training at the Rottie Club
Well just for something different tonight and to give Kenzie a chance to get a bit more socialisation in we headed down to the Rottie Club tonight for show training.
I was extremely happy with how she behaved. We had to stack them and then the first instructor would examine them. Kenzie was unsure but she let her get within a few feet without freaking :). Then we had to gait them out and back or in a triangle or around in a circle and stack them up again.
They then switched instructors and we repeated it. Kenzie was even better with Narelle. She actually approached her without freaking out. She crouched on the ground the first time and Kenzie tentively sniffed her hand and then let her touch her while I was feeding.
Teegan also did a bit of touching her while she was standing and she was good.
Had to laugh I know why I am not ever intending on doing CCD with her. The lead just gets in the way. She was a bit of a pogo and pretty feral kept trying to jump up and grab the lead when gaiting. She also tried to pull me so she could run around the cones in each of the corners.
Oh well a bit of fun and she certainly got exposure to a variety of dogs and people and some trains as the train line runs right past the ground.
I was extremely happy with how she behaved. We had to stack them and then the first instructor would examine them. Kenzie was unsure but she let her get within a few feet without freaking :). Then we had to gait them out and back or in a triangle or around in a circle and stack them up again.
They then switched instructors and we repeated it. Kenzie was even better with Narelle. She actually approached her without freaking out. She crouched on the ground the first time and Kenzie tentively sniffed her hand and then let her touch her while I was feeding.
Teegan also did a bit of touching her while she was standing and she was good.
Had to laugh I know why I am not ever intending on doing CCD with her. The lead just gets in the way. She was a bit of a pogo and pretty feral kept trying to jump up and grab the lead when gaiting. She also tried to pull me so she could run around the cones in each of the corners.
Oh well a bit of fun and she certainly got exposure to a variety of dogs and people and some trains as the train line runs right past the ground.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
CBS Training 2 March 2009
Well another week of CBS training last night - week 3 in gold class or our forth lesson so far. As is usual for a Mon afternoon I took both the girls to the dog pool. Kenzie loves swimming in circles and is really quite excited at the pool. Woofing at Ness when Ness is swimming if I don't put her in over the side for a swim. She seems to enjoy swimming in her own little circles.
Any way now to training last night. Wasn't sure class would be on as there was quite a bit of rain forecast. I had rung and checked and since Kenzie was being feral and running and digging holes in the yard I thought I would drive there anyway and the girls could have a bit of a play if class didn't end up being on. We got there nice and early and Kenzie had a bit of a run with Darcy another BC. Well ok not really she spent the entire time bouncing up at me wanting to do something rather than to much playing silly girl. So we did a bit of circle work as well as some heelwork and then she harassed Ness a bit (of course Ness being Ness was only interested in finding food).
We had just gone out to start class and it started to rain :(. Deb moved us under the school verandah so we could continue training. The first exercise was suppose to be heelwork. Kenzie spooked so I couldn't get her to work. Not sure if it was the combination of the enclosed space, shadows or the echos that spooked her. I was able to take her off to the side and sit the exercise out and gradually see if I could get her back under the verandah. The class did a bit of heeling and at that point the rain had given up so we moved back out to the oval.
When we went back out to the oval Deb had placed out 4 discs in a large square and on each disc she had placed a toy. We had to heel the dog up to the disc and then around the disc before releasing them. Kenzie was on fire. She did some lovely up and happy off-lead heelwork and wasn't the slightest bit interested in the toy. We did this a few times. Once with the dog on the outside of the circle where the toy was and once with the dog on the inside.
We then moved onto targeting. I discovered I hadn't packed my normal target stick so I had to make do with my second one. Kenzie was happily following it around the place. Then Deb set up one in the middle and we had to send the dog from whatever distance we were happy with. My first one I did was about 3-4 paces and she went really nicely. We tried again from slightly further back and again she was successful. Clever little girl.
We did another heelwork session this time around objects "toys" placed on the floor. Kenzie did extremely well apart from once when she thought it was about time she was allowed to grab a toy rather than continue heeling. First bit of distraction heelwork I have done with her and she passed with absolutely flying colours. She continues to amaze me.
New trick was to have the dogs fetch a plastic bottle with food in it. Only thing is you could only reward them with the food in the bottle. Kenzie was happily retrieving the bottle but then I am not overly surprised as she will readily fetch most items.
Refresh on the old tricks tonight - spins/twists from a couple of paces and duration on the bow. Kenzie its great in a bow once she is in position but still has no real cue for it. Her spins are good but her twist still needs work.
We then worked on sits and drops from a distance and introduced a stand. For the most part I am getting somewhere with the drops and sits but occasionally she will scoot forward on her sits (not great from a trialling perspective). Fascinating though in that she was actually offering some quite nice kick back stands from a sit. If I give her her command to back up and C/T after 1 step she kicks herself into a stand :). Need to work on putting a proper stand command on her though. Especially considering I am intending on putting her in the mock trial at Dover on the 22nd of March and she still has no SFE or stand stay.
We finished up with some sit stay work. Kenzie is great so long as there is nothing to freak her. Deb had us hop up and down and that movement of another person spooked her. She was also distracted by the assistant instructor standing a few meters from where the class was happening. Unfortunately we still have a bit of work to do in the people department.
Any way good class and Kenzie is certainly a little star. Happy with her progress but do need to get my act together and start to get more serious about training her. She is such a quick little learner and seems to enjoy working so I hope that will put us in good stead when I wish to trial her down the track.
Any way now to training last night. Wasn't sure class would be on as there was quite a bit of rain forecast. I had rung and checked and since Kenzie was being feral and running and digging holes in the yard I thought I would drive there anyway and the girls could have a bit of a play if class didn't end up being on. We got there nice and early and Kenzie had a bit of a run with Darcy another BC. Well ok not really she spent the entire time bouncing up at me wanting to do something rather than to much playing silly girl. So we did a bit of circle work as well as some heelwork and then she harassed Ness a bit (of course Ness being Ness was only interested in finding food).
We had just gone out to start class and it started to rain :(. Deb moved us under the school verandah so we could continue training. The first exercise was suppose to be heelwork. Kenzie spooked so I couldn't get her to work. Not sure if it was the combination of the enclosed space, shadows or the echos that spooked her. I was able to take her off to the side and sit the exercise out and gradually see if I could get her back under the verandah. The class did a bit of heeling and at that point the rain had given up so we moved back out to the oval.
When we went back out to the oval Deb had placed out 4 discs in a large square and on each disc she had placed a toy. We had to heel the dog up to the disc and then around the disc before releasing them. Kenzie was on fire. She did some lovely up and happy off-lead heelwork and wasn't the slightest bit interested in the toy. We did this a few times. Once with the dog on the outside of the circle where the toy was and once with the dog on the inside.
We then moved onto targeting. I discovered I hadn't packed my normal target stick so I had to make do with my second one. Kenzie was happily following it around the place. Then Deb set up one in the middle and we had to send the dog from whatever distance we were happy with. My first one I did was about 3-4 paces and she went really nicely. We tried again from slightly further back and again she was successful. Clever little girl.
We did another heelwork session this time around objects "toys" placed on the floor. Kenzie did extremely well apart from once when she thought it was about time she was allowed to grab a toy rather than continue heeling. First bit of distraction heelwork I have done with her and she passed with absolutely flying colours. She continues to amaze me.
New trick was to have the dogs fetch a plastic bottle with food in it. Only thing is you could only reward them with the food in the bottle. Kenzie was happily retrieving the bottle but then I am not overly surprised as she will readily fetch most items.
Refresh on the old tricks tonight - spins/twists from a couple of paces and duration on the bow. Kenzie its great in a bow once she is in position but still has no real cue for it. Her spins are good but her twist still needs work.
We then worked on sits and drops from a distance and introduced a stand. For the most part I am getting somewhere with the drops and sits but occasionally she will scoot forward on her sits (not great from a trialling perspective). Fascinating though in that she was actually offering some quite nice kick back stands from a sit. If I give her her command to back up and C/T after 1 step she kicks herself into a stand :). Need to work on putting a proper stand command on her though. Especially considering I am intending on putting her in the mock trial at Dover on the 22nd of March and she still has no SFE or stand stay.
We finished up with some sit stay work. Kenzie is great so long as there is nothing to freak her. Deb had us hop up and down and that movement of another person spooked her. She was also distracted by the assistant instructor standing a few meters from where the class was happening. Unfortunately we still have a bit of work to do in the people department.
Any way good class and Kenzie is certainly a little star. Happy with her progress but do need to get my act together and start to get more serious about training her. She is such a quick little learner and seems to enjoy working so I hope that will put us in good stead when I wish to trial her down the track.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Almost 11 months
Where has the time gone - hard to believe Kenzie has been here for that long. Well my little midget BC is growing up. Weighed her today and she is 13.3kg :). Will do a proper update in the next day or so - probably after training tonight if its on.
ETA. A few photos from Friday night when I picked up my new car :).
First up both girls in the car:
Kenzie free standing on the front lawn:
I can sit pretty too:
ETA. A few photos from Friday night when I picked up my new car :).
First up both girls in the car:
Kenzie free standing on the front lawn:
I can sit pretty too:
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