Tuesday Training 38
I actually have a ton of training news to talk about - from walks, to teaching class, to training Marge - but I'll just stick with a couple of things for tonight since it's so darn late.
Rally Practice
Walks have been few and far between lately (I'll get in to it some other time - let's just say that the summer has started to catch up with Marge a bit), so I took a ring rental on Monday before I helped out with the pet agility class for some training and exercise time. Marge and I covered a little bit of everything - worked on some fronts/finishes, some handling stuff in agility, and ran an APDT Level 2 rally course. Here's one of our attempts at the rally course.
As you can see, I rewarded her often and carried the treats in my hands. Since Marge will be off leash at our next trial on August 14, I really wanted to reinforce her staying close to me and keeping her attention on me. She hasn't been formally trained to heel, but she is getting closer and closer to doing so (I still do ponder about a career in Novice Obedience for Marge, but that's for another day, too).
Her only error was on the Call Front - Finish Right sign. She anticipates the finish. I don't want her to get in to the habit of doing something before I cue it, so that's why we went back and did it again. Her turns were absolutely lovely, though! I still need to use my hands and exaggerated body motions to cue the turns, but still. Look at those 360s at the end of the course!
O Little Playmate
Marge waited very patiently in a crate for about an hour while I taught the class. Afterwards, I invited one of the students (a fellow club member) to stick around for a few minutes to let her Chihuahua, Napoleon, play with Marge. They have met before and absolutely adore each other (and I REALLY like Nappy, he is an awesome dog with a very bright future in agility), and I thought some off leash playtime would be good for Marge.
They did very well together. Marge allowed herself to be chased - she's usually the one doing the chasing - and did lots of play bowing. I saw that after five minutes or so, Marge started to get tired; Nappy still wanted to play and tried to egg her on, but good girl Marge just ignored his behavior. Seems like they might be really good playmates for each other - perhaps we'll do the same thing again in a couple of weeks.
19 comments:
Good for you Marg! Best of luck on August 14th. You will be grreat!
Woofs and Licks,
Maggie Mae
Nappy, what a cute name. Diana
I can't get over how attentive Marge is during your Rally practice. Great job!
I'm glad Marge & Nappy get along so well. What a size difference!
It's good to see Marge having fun!
When I see Marge working i find it difficult to see her as a fearful dog. She looks so confident!
I'm going to let you slide this time, but next time I want video of Nappy and Marge's playtime!
Marge is lookin sharp!
May the Luck of the Dog be with you on the 14th :)
Roo
Marge looks so enthusiastic and happy! Her tail's always up in the air and waggin'.
The last pic is GREAT!
So much joy in one shot!
Ya Marge you are so busy. Good luck in your upcoming even. We know you will shine...
Big Sloppy Kisses
Gus, Louie and Callie
Awww its so nice for her to have a little friend. Do you normally have treats in your hand or do you put them in your mouth (Ive had classes where we did this)
Don't forget! We've moved to dogisgodinreverse.com
That's GREAT news about Nappy and Marge. I love the play bow photo! I wonder if Nappy's small size makes her less threatening to Marge.
It seems like you're basically doing off-leash heel training by rewarding Marge for staying in that position. She's doing great. I'm glad that you both have the escape to the training ring when walks aren't so good for you.
I love the rally video! I really would like to try that with Layla, but not until we get some semblance of attentive heeling. I LOVE how well Marge does her finishes, they look perfect.
I didn't want to post this on Facebook (yet) because my co-workers are sneaky snitches who like to go out of their way to get people in trouble.
I'm not entering the Princeton trial yet, because it's still up in the air whether Pat, my brother and I will be able to go to Disney. If we are able to go, we'll be leaving on 9/18.
I requested a withdrawal from my Profit Sharing (our company's version of a 401k) because that's the only chance I have of coming up with the money for the trip. I wasn't planning on being out of work for 5 months and I certainly didn't plan on Pat being out of work at all, so it kind of messed up my budget for the trip.
Anyway, the reason I couldn't say it on FB is because you need to have a specific reason to request a withdrawal, like a foreclosure, death of parent, etc. I figured, even though she wasn't biologically my mother, I lived with my Grandma for years (more than half my life) and she was the closest thing to a mom that I had. So I checked off the "death of a parent" box and if they approve it, we're going to Disney. If not, I'll hopefully get into the Princeton trial. But my co-workers are such bitter, miserable, unhappy people that they would go out of their way to report to the company that it wasn't a "parent" and I was committing fraud, all that.
But if we don't make it to Princeton, I have to go to other trials in the fall. With the one day that we made it to a trial this year, Layla's in the top 10 Novice level Malamutes for the national club. I want to try to get a higher ranking for her.
Sorry to ramble in your comment box again!!
Wow! What a cool playmate you've got there!
Play bows,
Zim
Oh Marge looks great with her little playmate. FANTASTIC practice, Marge looks like she might be a natural for obedience, she has such a happy attitude when ever she works, you have done a fantastic job training her and keeping her happy and loving it. Good job
Marge is such a happy worker with you! I bet she would do well in obedience too! She and Nappy are cute together and I'm glad they get along so well!
Marge is definitely on her way to agility stardom and it's great that she made a new friend as a bonus for all of her hard work!
Thank you for joining in on my 4th installment of THANKFUL FUR 3 THURSDAY this morning! Now that I have 2 gals hosting it with me we just might help others meet new friends and have fun at the same time!
Great reward- playtime! play bows, chasies.. can't beat that. you're an agility rock star!
TULA
Thanks fur joining my THANKFUL FUR 3 THURSDAY but after someone wrote to tell me that I didn't do the Mr. Linky code correctly I had to re-do the whole thing and use a different widget. This widget is simple but it requires you to add an email (which is not displayed) so if you would like to re-enter please do. Since I don't have your email on file, I couldn't (and wouldn't do it w/o your permission).
What a fun video! <:O]
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