My crew had last night off I, however, read up on their 'assignments' for the week.

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

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

What online classes are you taking for your dogs?

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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

Grins - several

Daisy Peel : Faelan & I are taking the Agility Foundation (yep, even tho he has his EXC title it always goes back to the foundation). My agility instructor takes these foundation classes as well.

Agility-u:
Faelan (was to have been Towhee but she is otherwise occupied) Learn Your Dog 3 (The Toolbox). This week we are working on wrap Front Crosses with drive out of the cross.

Brady: Making the Choice: Self Control Games to Maximize Performance
Brady: The Tricked Out Puppy

Of course, all the dogs do all the exercises
Towhee was also started in Daisy Peel

It is really fun and I cannot wait to see how this broad foundation approach works with Brady I am looking at taking Denise Fenzi again when she has her Heeling course at Agility-u. I audited her Playing with your dog class

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

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

The internet is acting up, so best to punch this in and hope for the best....

Went to class tonight -

Tucked Jacks in the "tent" and took Bertie out onto the floor for training play time. He was a lot of fun out there. I even did go outs to a stanchion (I forgot to pack a binder clip). He got the idea fairly quickly what the target was. <- I do have cheese to squirt on the stanchion if necessary and I may do that with Jacks to get him over his touch issues (I just realized at class I could do that). Bertie doesn't need it at least. As soon as he got the idea, he was running out there to gently nose touch that stanchion.

I did treat toss comes with him - and he was running out so fast he was actually SKIDDING as the bouncing treat changed direction or if he outran the treat. And comes were equally enthusiastic.

I'm happy to say that with the training, as long as he knows we are training and he's working for food he has a good head on his shoulders when off leash. He's only focused on me.

I kept it very light and went back to chit chat with the other person who always comes early to get extra practice in before class.

Jacks was a doll. We got through articles a LOT faster today so we had time to talk about other things to do and practice other things.

Jacks' articles reminded me I need to still be setting up a practice retrieve to remind him he's retrieving before we start. He still needs that reminder. He did do the "finds" very nicely though. Instructor watched and suggested I give him more time to see if he will pick up the articles on his own. And she suggested spacing the articles out a bit more to make it easier for them right now learning to scent. <- I'm going to practice this at home, see if I can set up the patterns without my mat.

I moaned about how much I missed novice with its simplicity. Not the training part - just the part about how much STUFF you have to carry to class. I even moaned about how how I can train articles anywhere around the house, but the setup portion (my chair or table to set all the articles, treats, etc) is a bit more complicated than just with novice where you just needed a good collar and leash.

And we did signal work and a little bit of directed jumping.

Signals did not go very well - I'll admit we haven't practiced them in AGES. Jacks was anticipating the come intensely. He was butt-bouncing. I didn't correct him when he broke and came running to me, but since I didn't reward him either and took him back, he stressed up and started getting silly trying out all different kinds of things to earn treats. >.<

Directed jumping was - different - then how we learned at the Monday classes last fall. I like this method a LOT better, because there's less you have to wean off. And I got ideas for teaching this to Bertie as well.

This was putting Jacks in line with the inside jump upright while I stood in line with his inside shoulder. I was tossing a treat to lure him over the jump, but she said I could use a toy as well.

Jacks was REALLY ON as far as jumping. He kept anticipating the jump and popping over while I was trying to get set up.

And then we finished with Go-outs. Jacks did these VERY WELL. He even had one of the other ladies at class coming up and asking us how I taught him the go-out, especially the sit part. He has a rapid spin sit - actually this is problematic since he anticipates the sit and will spin sit in the middle of the send vs going all the way to the target sometimes (why the idea to squirt cheese on the stanchion vs using a clip at this point was such an epiphany). <- I went blank, because we've done so much since I started training go-outs that I don't remember what specifically WORKED as far as the sit. I think I was running out with him and luring the sit up close, and then over time increased distance between us when I asked for the sit. Because it was always the same (turn around and sit), he learned it fast.

I'm not sure if I'll train the sits that way with Bertie or do the treat toss sits like our instructor recommends? It's tempting to go with what I know. But then she knows a LOT more ring-proofed methods of training utility dogs, so yeah...

That was what we did today.

And Bertie piddled while meeting a fellow trainer's flatcoat after class. I've never had a dog do a submissive/excitement piddle before. That was a complete surprise to me. o_O As was the inch or so of snow that fell in the hour that we were in class.

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Always loved, never forgotten, all our previous boys -

Bella didn't seem to be as focused today (neither was I, maybe that was the real problem), so I just kept it short and simple. I've been told that it's better to just cut the session short if it's not going particularly well.

Tried egg and cheese flavored Charlee Bears for the first time. They're a little larger than I thought they were, but they are surprisingly easy to spit with accuracy. I can load up with about 5-6 at a time, and they don't get soggy over the course of a few minutes, and they actually taste OK for a dog treat. I spent abut 15 minutes at Petco looking through the dog treats. I didn't see another one that I would be willing to put in my mouth.

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Grasslands Liberty Belle "Bella" CGC (5-7-2012)

Linda Koutsky sent me a new idea for stays with Flip. She wants me to start doing more stays with downs first, then sits. Then when I go in the ring, as I'm putting up the leash and everyone is getting ready, I'm supposed to put him in a down, calmly petting him while we're waiting, in hopes of getting him settled. Then when the judge asks if we're ready I get him up in a sit. Not sure if it will make any difference to Flip, but I'm willing to try it!

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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)

Puppy pushups and recall games.

He's been just excellent at walks in the neighborhood this week. When I contacted breeders two years ago, I said I wanted a dog that was healthy, friendly, and would go for a walk an hour a day. So, we're good. Last night and tonight, we came across bunnies. I said Leave It, and he did! We've been working on bunnies since last summer.

While on our walk tonight, something happened at the high school and all the alarms were ringing and the lights were flashing. We walked by to look. Casper is perfectly OK with the noise and flashing lights. Which is kind of amazing, because he was slightly ramped up on walk.

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After seeing your post, I decided to put Casper's registered name into K9-data. His pedigree suggests he should be capable of more than just being healthy, friendly and going for an hour walk a day. Can't imagine he isn't going to be a very handsome boy. Did you visit Rush Hill when you got him? I loved the photo they used to have on their website of all the Goldens in the old VW convertible.

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

That's just my short list! My dream list includes rally, obedience, and agility. I think he's going to love agility, he just needs to grow up a bit more. He still has his puppy coat, so I'm sure he has some more maturing to do.

We tell people he's a beauty pageant dog. People tell us all the time how beautiful he is. It's weird, because my last dog was a collie and I thought everyone thought collies were the most beautiful dogs.

I did visit Rush Hill twice. Once when the puppies were four weeks and once when I picked up Casper. Chaos, his dad, is a big dog with a big personality. He has presence. I don't know how else to describe it. I haven't seen it in any other dog. It must contribute to his success in the show ring. He was eight years old then. Wow, I hope Casper looks that good at eight. Of course, we met Casper's mom, too. She was sweet, friendly, and keeping an eye out for her pups while we were messing with them.

All the dogs ran up to the gate to see us when we visited. Even Casper's grandmother, Blossom, was there. She was 13 and completely silver. I'm hoping for a long time with Casper.

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I'll admit it, I'm jealous. Looking forward to hearing how Casper progresses. Hope that he inherits some of his dad's presence and his grandma's longevity.

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