Saturday, March 26, 2011

A Week of Training: Saturday


Blaze
  • No formal training.
Luna

  • Recalls: On our long walk, she was on her 50' line...I called and fed several times. Not as much as I would have liked, because it didn't look like she was ready for that.
Griffin

  • Field Retrieve: We did 5-10 formal field retrieves...sit...wait...item tossed... release...dog back to me... I didn't ask for a return to heel, but did start tugging immediately.
  • Field Blind Retrieves: 3 reps, I placed his preferred item (a linkable toy Blaze brought out or a large stick Griffin was in love with) when he wasn't looking, called him over, had him get into heel, and sent him 15-20' to it. He was quite excited.
  • Recalls: A lot of reps. 1/3 for a handful of food and the rest for tugging on my glove. It's really amazing how reinforcing tugging is for him now. He was sticking close to me and I wasn't getting too many opportunities to call him from further out! We did a lot of this while Blaze was busy playing in water and Luna was exploring in bushes.
Our adventure was a 90 some minute walk in the back fields. I often take all three dogs, but today I had Griffin loose, Luna on a 60' line and Blaze on a flexi. When we got to a nice spot, I tethered Blaze by the shallow water so he could dig and play and Luna just explored up the sides of the creek. Griffin and I were able to play together.

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