Jan 29 2007

Four days without training! I've been a little obsessed with a linocut this week.

Caiman
20x LUturn in hallway. He's anticipating the reward on the butt swing so I think we can move on.

Kona
20x Moving sidestep, food off my body. Going pretty well, so I tested it afterwards while heeling. No go. My hands need to switch places - I think we'll have to figure out some transition steps from what we've been doing to incorporating it into heeling.

Jan 24 2007

Caiman
20x LT around island
20x L Uturn in hallway
20x Repeat previous. He will start to sit if I hesitate on my turns (happens because he's still in my way a bit) but that will lessen as we work out the kinks.

Kona
20x Moving sidestep. Did not reward any counterclockwise turns - he had to have his head near me and be trying to keep his rear in the right spot as well.
20x Repeat. The slightest change (location, direction we face, treats in my hand) throws him off, so I need to be careful to repeat this sixty five million more times.
20x Sphynx down, lured first 5x and then no food in that hand for the rest.

Jan 23 2007

Caiman
20x LT around the island, c/t for swingin his butt around. Repeated twice more.

Kona
We had class last night. He still needs work on L turns and L pivots but that is really just polishing. Need to practice the Around finish - mostly my leash handling during it. Moving sidestep is new to us, but in class he was able to move his rear over while standing beside me so I think we can build on that.

20x Working on moving sidestep. He is figuring out that he can do the LT movement with his butt, without sitting down, but wants to toss his head to the left as well (pivoting himself counterclockwise). Can't have food in my hands to lure the head or he totally loses his brain.
20x Repeat
20x Repeat, but only c/t if his head was pointed forward or towards me. He's getting it!

Jan 21 2007

Caiman
20x db on floor about 3-4 feet out. Helped him get closer on his front almost every time. I think I need to fix his front before continuing on with the retrieve because I'm now working on two things at once.
20x Sue Eh's FrontRay training with c/t for passing the line at my toes. He tended to stop, but if I waited he moved forward again. Next time click for movement.

Kona
20x L Uturn in hallway with lots of kids distractions.

Jan 19 2007

Caiman
10x pick up db from floor, no sit required
10x pick up db from floor, sit cued
20x pick up db from floor about 2' in front of my toes. Tossed treat to reset him each time. He offered sits most times and had no problems except for one time that he started to choke on the treat and had to spit the db out. He re-picked it up without a prompt from me.

Kona
20x L Uturns in the hall (2 were actually greater than 180 degrees)
20x 270 degree LT doing a circuit around the main floor, turning left all the way.

I have decided that if I can maintain this record keeping & training momentum going for a month then I will buy myself new training journals for the boys. I figure that a month of note taking will use up most of the rest of the current book anyway, and a reward may keep me motivated. My goal is at least three recorded training sessions a week, not counting our Monday night class. There are five classes left, so if I can keep this up until approximately the last class I will reward myself.

Jan 18 session three

At some point this afternoon I realized there was no point in me meticulously copying out my entire training journal. It should be enough to summarize each session, and that is much more likely to be kept up. I alternated dogs, as usual, but want to see how the record looks if I separate them.

Caiman, kitchen, Orijen kibbles, dumbbell
20x pickup from floor, asked for sit before delivery if he got up
20x pickup from floor, tossed treat each time to cause him to get up, asked for sit if he didn't offer it before deilvery. Most times he did.

Kona, various rooms upstairs, Orijen kibbles, down at heel
20x lured down in heel position, sometimes with food in luring hand, sometimes without. At class on Monday he was downing in a big curve around and in front of me, so we need to work on the concept of downing beside me, and staying straight.

Jan 18 session two

Kitchen/hallway. Orijen kibble. Alternated dogs.

Caiman
20x - db at mid-shin. 1x he didn't raise his head (about rep 5). I waited, he dropped db on my toe. Said "ouch!", picked it up, held behind back for several sec. and then retried. No other probs.

Kona
20x - LT around island. C/t for swinging his butt around.

Caiman
20x - db held just over toes. 2x errors in a row around rep 10 but no other probs.
1. Dropped db. Recued "take it" and he picked it up and raised head nicely.
2. Downed while taking db. Cued "sit", he did, and raised head nicely.

Kona
20x - L U-turns in the hallway

Caiman
20x - db on floor in front of my toes. Too big an increment - he had real problems with first three reps - multiple ignored cues (physical & verbal), lots of whining and attempted eye contact. Waiting him out didn't work but eventually got him to pick up the db each time. Next 17 reps went smoothly - almost rapid fire - although he was standing and I didn't ask for a sit.

Kona
20x - repeat prev.

Caiman
20x - repeat prev. All good. Next time ask for sits again.

Jan 18 2007

Caiman, kitchen, Orijen kibble. Sitting in front position. Cued "take it" every time, and c/t when his head was raised to normal height and I could put both hands on the dumbell.

20X - db held at normal height. Minor variations on my part as far as what my hands did and when I clicked.

20x - db at knee level. NO PROBLEMS getting him to raise head so I could take db - it was a non-issue.

20x - db held just below knee level. Good!