Just quickly.... I trained high jumps, drops/fronts, moving stands, and signals when I got home. I love having 3 sisters who don't mind dropping what they're doing to play judge for me.

High jumps - just did 20". I've been keeping a very calm and "you are so funny!" tone with him when he does act nerdy, and it helps. The first jump he balked about returning with the wooden dumbbell over the jump. So he took his dumbbell and went running into my room and flopped down on his bed with a guilty look. I told him to come and rewarded him when he came running and did a perfect front in front of me. That loosened him up and he did perfect jumps after that. We did a handful and you could see his confidence perking up with each. I just have to make sure we stick to the 20" jumps for a while.

Drops were perfect - I did one signal only and one verbal only.

I quickly told my sister what to do and say for the moving stand and signals and that worked out great. I'm doing a VERY EXAGERATED hand signal for the return to heel. I'm trusting you guys and my instructor that this won't turn into auto finishes on the fronts.

@Nugget's Dad - remember he's not even a year old yet.

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Always loved, never forgotten, all our previous boys -

AAACK! I apparently have a teenager (Brady) on my hands - and an adult (Faelan) who feels if puppy can act out, well he might give it a shot as well!

Brady (16 weeks this Friday) is testing boundaries, and is a noisy dog when crated and I am in his line of sight. Inordinate amounts of time are being spent on pee & poop event watching and waiting for a certain somebody to be QUIET so he can be let out of the crate - or I disappear until he quiets down! Unfortunately for my fellow trainees, they also get to hear the puppy! (Thank you for your patience, maybe some cotton balls? or gun ear protection? )

This morning on our hike, Towhee headed for the hills with Brady at her heels - and then I heard a Hawk - boy was my mouth quick to open and they must have heard the seriousness in my tone since they both came running!! BTW; flying puppy ears are hard to not laugh and be happy to enjoy LOL Recalls have been practised for today at least.

Faelan is pushing boundaries that he has never pushed - he actually climbed onto a chair to climb onto my desk to snatch a wing off my monitor that was supposed to be Brady's; and I was only out of the house a few minutes with the other dogs. He is also pushing his field teacher <sigh>

Towhee is anxious to work, but I just have not had the opportunities what with everything going on. Poor girlie actually fronts to me while I am walking trying to engage me in training.

Casey has decided being a cuddle bunny is his new life's calling and oh, btw, if puppy gets to poo in the middle of the yard, well he should be able to as well <sigh>. Lucky he is so darned cute and doesn't mind my coming to him holding a scooper and a flashlight!

Maybe tonight will go well

But for now, I received these pics of Brady at training yesterday

Attached Thumbnails

   

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Golden moments shared with
Casey, Faelan, Towhee & Brady too !

and forever in my heart, my golden Bridge boys
Rowdy & King

We just did open floor today.... I took my camera with because I thought I'd be the only one there, but nope. That didn't work out.

We did kind of a random mix of things as I had to work around the other people using the floor.

Broad jumps - again, I did the three jumps. 1-target, 2-tossed, 3-nothing. Clean jumps. He was landing WELL past the last board and not doing any corner cutting. And I might be jinxing him, but when I say "over" he is actually looking at the boards - so maybe he's finally making the connection!

High jumps - I deserve kudos for sticking to the plan and keeping the jump at 16". He did great jumps the entire time - over and back to front. A couple times I really THREW the dumbbell far or slightly crooked and he was detouring the path back to the jump. I'm telling myself that we have plenty of time to build the jump back up 2" at a time. After watching at that trial where I saw what could go WRONG in an open trial, I do want to really make sure that my throws do not have to be perfectly straight in order for him to grab the dumbbell and come back to me. So while I'm fixing the jump anyway, might as well fix other things too.

Directed Jumping - Heeheee. This is so cool teaching him something new!!!!! I set the bar jump at 12" and left the high at 16". Put the gate between and used one of his stuffies to cue the signal. And by gum he actually was getting it! I was alternating between high and bar. And there were a couple times where his body was turned towards the one jump... I did the signal towards the other jump - and he actually swivelled around and took the correct jump. *bounces up and down*

Drops/recall - I did both signals and verbal.

Heeling/figure 8 - He did fine, but looked tired out there. So I reverted to a couple treat tosses to perk him up.

And then we went home.

Side note: New Moon = Gag

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Always loved, never forgotten, all our previous boys -

When I showed in open I got a couple bad bounces and the dumbbell went off to the side and then a lady at a trial told me to put back spin on the dumbbell and I practiced doing that and found I could get a lot more control and it would bounce a lot less, give it a try it. Might just help. PS you hold the dumbbell on its end and throw, with your fingers on one edge and thumb on the other and flip your wrist in an upward fashion as you release it

Sunrise, Brady is looking very handsome. Sounds like he's having an influence on the whole family.

Nuggetsdad,I'm going to try your suggestion on tossing the dumbbell. I'm really bad at it. I need to practice that and my footwork on about turns without the dog.

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Zoe, Rockwall Nantucket Breeze, BN, CGC, Delta therapy dog
Zeke, our introduction to the world of Golden Retrievers

Saturday I'm driving 3 1/2 hours each way to go train for a couple of hours with someone.since I'll be going through Houston I might make a stop at a raw food store and pick some stuff up.

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Jodie

AJ's Maiden By the Sea CDX RE (Annabel - retired)
Mud E Paws UDX OM2 RE OBHF (Conner - retired with 28 OTCH points)
Sunfire's Flying Head Over Heels UD BN RA (Flip)
And the odd one of the family - Colby Jack Teeter Smack CDX GO RA (Colby - Lhasa Apso)

I actually got in some training this morning before dropping Faelan and Brady off for field training.

Faelan & I worked on scent articles, but I confess only after he started nudging the bag one set is stored in as we were walking by LOL I am working him on a flexi to both build his drive to the pile and make sure he comes fully back to front position with his chosen article - right or wrong, he needs to bring it back without stopping. Luckily he is probably correct 99.99999 % of the time. He occassionally anticpates the send to the pile as well so the flexi helps with that too.

Towhee & I worked some heeling, including slow and about turns. Off lead with tugging as her reward.

Brady got some recall practice while Casey got to get treats for touching my palms. Easy-peasy.

All the training was done indoors since it was cold, and dark! The dogs don't mind but I do Since it was done indoors, the grout lines in my kitchen floor assisted my footwork and check fronts! I did forget my metronome though ( Freudian perhaps ????). My obedience instructor keeps on me (as she should) about stepping into Towhee for some reason on our about turns (not much but an inch or so is enough to cause Towhee to go wide next time), so the lines are at least as much for my footwork as anything else

Hopefully I will do more tonight - I missed agility class last night mostly because I went to sleep by 7:30, my eyes and throat had been irritated and scratchy all day so after a nasty commute I just stayed home rather than head out for another 80 miles or so of CT Highway driving.

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Golden moments shared with
Casey, Faelan, Towhee & Brady too !

and forever in my heart, my golden Bridge boys
Rowdy & King

LOL, that he is

My original obedience instructor actually had me buy a small hula hoop. He would watch me practice throwing my dumbbell into that hula hoop for hours!! And then he started filming it and we would have to go inside and watch the tapes.
Then he started putting things like bowls and jart circles down and I'd need to get the dumbbell to land in them. This is the same man who would have me walk 100 yards through fields etc and drop a quarter, come back and have to find that darned quarter. Aggravating but it really does help your handling to walk a straight line, turn tightly and even know where your dumbbell will land

Still have that hula hoop and practice throwing my dumbbell on grass, pavement, cement, stall matting, thin matting etc.

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Golden moments shared with
Casey, Faelan, Towhee & Brady too !

and forever in my heart, my golden Bridge boys
Rowdy & King

That obedience instructor sounds like quite a taskmaster. But at some point it did dawn on me that in general, the dog's never going to be better than the handler. (Anyone disagree with this?)

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Zoe, Rockwall Nantucket Breeze, BN, CGC, Delta therapy dog
Zeke, our introduction to the world of Golden Retrievers

I had a great agility lesson this morning with Filly. Now I am heading out to meet a student's new BC puppy

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Susan

UCD URO1 HighRoller Fast Track Filly CDX, RN, NA, NAJ, CGC
River Run Absolutely Riveting CDX, RE, CGC
UCD Hot Gold HankyPanky CDX RAE CGC (retired)





"Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment." ~Jim Rohn