We are working on "fixing" virtually everything with Oriana in Utility

The first thing is her stressing up. We are trying to get her to harness that energy. We are working on getting her to keep all 4 on the floor during heeling for signals. This has been VERY difficult for me. I am double leashing her, and trying to walk straight, not trip, react timely, with the CORRECT leash AND treat at the right moment in the proper position is almost painful. She seems to being much better but I feel like I have three left feet although after 3 months I am told I have it down pat. Sure does not FEEL like I do. And we are working on not looking away during the signal portion.

Articles have developed a little "confidence" issue, especially the leather. I am about to try a different way to teach it from the start.

Gloves we are working on the back pivot. To improve this the past week we have worked on her backing up, thus teaching her how to use her rear. We have made great strides here.

Moving stand is now an issue with the stop. Prior she stopped nicely but would wiggle so much on the exam that she moved. Now she is fine on the exam.

Directed jumping has gotten much better. If you remember our video her first step was a verticle leap with a loud bar. We have almost got that to totally disappear. Her line is nice and straight. And she has returned to being solid on the directed jumping part of the exercise.

My original goal when we stopped showing was to be able to start up again by January 1, I do not think we will be ready by then.

And now with adding Brooke to the pack I need to dedicate time to her.

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I've completely slacked off on training. I need to get back at next week. Ranger is still doing his weird thing where he goes in front of me, turns left, and then sits in front when he does "fronts" instead of just doing a little semi-circle to get in position. Not sure what the heck is going on or why he decided to do that. Oh well, I'll work on things next week. Along with a brush up of basic commands.

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Member of the "Crazy 4 Collars Clique"

Want to see the menu of a raw fed dog? Check out my blog!

This thread has given me some neat ideas for proofing

Hank, I feel like I've been MIA (well I have... busy summer). I didn't realize you had a new baby. Brooke is adorable!! Congrats! I'm struggling with the go outs apparently all of a sudden, but I find that they're really not that easy to teach. Maybe we dont have as many of the pieces as I thought.

We'll see what we have after the weekend. I'm really hoping for 2 new titles this weekend (one on each girl). We've also been dedicating a lot of time this summer to birds and have finally got to a stage where Paige will at least relax her jaw to let me shove the thing in there. She hasn't gotten to the point of picking it up on her own yet though. Oh well. Next summer, I'm thinking I need to finish that pesky Ch and get it out of the way too, but for now there is just so much on the go at once.

BJ

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www3.telus.net/kohanagoldens - Under Construction
Ch. Auroragold Sun on Sydney Lake CD AGN TD RE CGN VCI "Sydney"
Auroragold's Legends of Kohana RE CGN "Paige"
Kohana's Bread and Butter "Pickle"
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A Goal Always Begins With a Dream

I just realized I skipped right over our field work.

We have made good progress on Oriana "sharing" her bird with me. We did qualify in the one Junior test we ran this summer but I really want to get iit a little stronger so we will wait till next year to come back out. We are entered in a NAHRA Started test this month and hope to finish that title. Delivery to hand is not a requirement in started as well as the WC. We are working on doubles. We are fine with bumpers but take us to a test and throw in a live flyer and something gets short circuited. We will try again at my club's test next month.
Brooke is starting to do some real short play retrieves and is having a blast. I am taking her with us starting this week to training to let her see what it is all about.

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Day 8 update....

1. Have worked on sits/down stays every single day this past week. Because at class we realized he was breaking at 56 or 58 seconds, I decided to go a little longer in our training. He is now doing 2 minute sits and 4 minute downs. I really like this, because at some point we will be doing the 3 and 5 minute stays.

2. Training out every day - we had a couple days where I just trained at home, but for the most part we did do both the store front or downtown pavillion for training.

- I did the pavillion today and was thrilled when I maintained his attention throughout. Keep in mind this is a spot where there are a cazillion ducks and geese waddling or flapping around and jumping into the pond right there. Also, it is busy on Sunday afternoons with all the families out walking with their kids and dogs (which reminds me of the 26" female weimeraner we met on our celebratory walk post training - she was HUGE) . There is also a little construction work nearby and he ignored the banging sounds. Huzzah.

- We also did dumbell training at the pavillion. I got bold and start throwing the dumbell a distance so he had to run past geese and ducks and people on the retrieve. He did GREAT!!!!!!!

- I did a second round of training tonight with the figure 8's. Four laundry baskets + raggedy duck. I kept it light and fun with a lot of retrieves.

What am I worried about regarding the show coming up in 2 weeks?

1. Stays. He still does break his stays if he gets too nervous. And he's one of those dogs who feeds off of my emotions. IF I'm nervous. Then he gets nervous.

2. Focus. I'm nervous about the on leash heel when we first enter the ring. There is a chance he will stand there going 'duh' on the halts. If we survive that, then everything else should be OK until we go back into the ring for sits and downs. :[

3. Me. I get shaky and extremely nervous when showing. Also, I fell down six stairs yesterday (collie and golden rushing past me knocked me off kilter). Then today I was doing "go gos" while training at the pavillion, and turned my ankle a little (I got up and went right into pace training, including 'fast', but it looks puffy right now). Right now I'm thinking how horrible it would be if I'm too stiff and achy to train this week. Ack!

(plan of attack this week)

1. I'm going to work on surprise halts while we go for walks.

2. Timed stays every single day. I've been doing them inside the house because I want him to be absolutely successful while we are reinforcing. Will move outside this week.

3. F8's (toy + laundry baskets) every single night in addition to the formal training earlier in the day.

Rah.

Got our judging program and we are definitely not the first dog in the ring. Yay.

I'm trying to figure out how long the drive is going to take me, so I know what time to leave home. I'm leaning towards 8AM - which was the same time we left last time we showed at this location (and arrived just in time for the class before ours).

It really is too bad that I'm too cheap (and afraid of bedbugs) to stay at a hotel near the show. o_O

(strolls into empty room and sits down for confession)

Good News:

I've been training stays and f8 heeling every single darn dang doublecanker day. And I'm happy to say the stays are 100% better than they were. And his figure 8 is awesomesauce.

At home we are doing 3 minute sits and 5 minute downs twice a day. Once in a secure quiet place and once in a more high traffic or distractive place. He's sticking the stays. And on weekends we've been doing 3 or 4 stay sessions a day.

If there is one thing I truly regret is the fact that I just started working hard on proofing stays NOW. I should have been doing this all year long. Darn it.

Bad news...

Jacks had a horrible fun match this past Friday. I was really upset about my sloppy handling and the fact that we had two seperate runs + stays, and he broke all both sits and both down stays repeatedly and looked like he didn't know what he was doing out there.

I think when he's stressed and nervous, his brain shuts off completely and he goes into spastic "I'm afraid of the world" mode, this despite him being brilliant just the week before at a different fun match.

And this despite the fact he was cool and relaxed before we went into the ring. We sat next to a woman with a four year old golden who was showing signs of stress (fidgetty, panting hard, climbing on his owner) and Jacks was lounging on a hip with his paw tucked and looking like he was born in the bustling "show" atmosphere. Pretty much the way he is when I've taken him to actual shows for proofing.

When I put him into the sit stay and left him, his eyes just popped and he went into neurotic mode for the rest of the stays.

And the jumpy-on-sidelines golden was perfect. Sigh.

T_T

Confession:

So anyway, we are showing tomorrow morning. I signed up for this show a month ago when his stays were solid in both class and fun matches. Before we hit this new bump.

I am not confident that he will stay tomorrow (in fact, I'll be AMAZED if he stays). And I'm seriously thinking about showing with a paper bag over my head.

Actually, the paper bag might help his attention if he's spastic tomorrow.

The judge is the same one I did a run-through with my then five year old Danny. At a show where Danny broke his stays and ran around the ring and then out of the ring to find my mom. . . . That would be Danny who attended classes and fun-matches all his life and never broke any of his stays evah. *laughs hysterically and waves violently chewed down fingernails around*

So...

Rather than waste the money I spent for the entry fee, I'll just go in and show. And we are going to have fun and learn from the experience.

The BAD

As expected... Jacks broke both the sit and down stay.

The Funny and Hopeful and the Confusing

He knew breaking was bad - which is one improvement, at least. He stood up on the sit stepped forward a couple steps and lay down and did a down stay for the rest of the minute. Then the down stay he stood up and did a creeping forward stand stay. It got to a point where I motioned for him to come to me. I had no idea what else I should do. The judge said nothing and the steward said nothing. It was just me standing there and Jacks creeping forward an inch for ever half minute. >..<

I can fix the stays in a month though. If I keep practicing every day, and my oldest sister will help me. She will stand next to him and correct him on the spot if he breaks.

The YAY!!!!

This doesn't matter because the stays disqualified him, but I just glanced at the results for the show and know that if he HAD stuck the stays, he would have gotten first place.

We lost three points for the stand stay (this was because I put him in a crappy stand and he fixed his feet so he wouldn't fall over). According to the judge who I talked with afterwards, that's all the points we lost.

He strutted and pranced and gave me perfect attention throughout!!!!! It was our first show and he was acting like he was having fun and showing off.

The UGH

We arrived early and got to watch A and B for Utility and Open. In Utility there was somebody either using treats or just had treats flying out of pockets. I'm pretty sure I know who it was, but it was so unfair for the dogs who followed, because the spilled treats were right in line with where the dogs were sent out for the jumps and retrieves.

In our class there was somebody who was cheating a little, doing the "tongue in the cheek" to fake food in the mouth and angling her head for the turns and finish. I didn't notice this (and I'm not sure if she qualified) but my sister was pretty ticked off.

FWIW - I didn't do any of that and I'm pretty sure I'd get caught if I did. If anything, I stomped my feet a little harder on the offleash heel to make sure Jacks stayed with me for the upcoming about turn. Totally allowed.


OH!!!!

And the one dog we saw at this show and a different one and thought looked a lot like our Danny... I looked him up when I got home and had to grin when I saw he came from Danny's breeder.

FWIW -

Poor little guy has been sleeping since we got home. He revived himself long enough to be fed, receive his joint pill and eyedrops and treats, and now he's sound asleep again. Long busy day for him.

What I plan to work on + the stays = Helping him figure out that he isn't going to die if I'm a distance away from him. I stepped away briefly to visit the ladies room and my mom and sister (who were there with me) told me he was trembling the entire time. This is the first time I've had a dog this tightly bonded to me. It's both a gift and a curse. If only I can get him more confidence away from my side for the stays...

Aww, sorry to hear about the show Meg but at least you got a positive and forward-looking attitude! How old is your guy? Also--I wondered about your match and the handling being 'cheating' Maybe some well-versed obedience people can clue me in but I don't think that is cheating, but I do think it is considered an extra command and will be docked as such. It's also a match too so the person may have been doing it for training purposes. I may do the same in a week when I take Scout to a match and take the NQ or docked points because for me it is training

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AND--for training now I need to dig out my Rally book. I'm going to hold off a little longer with obedience for Scout, but we are going to go ahead and hit the Rally ring next month! Hoping for some positive and fun ring experience and a title. Wish us luck!

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