Tags: training

• Training Challenge…Week One

  As planned we went somewhere different to train on Friday. Not part of the plan was the rain. So, Dare and Raven got to do some agility in the rain, and the good news is that none of us melted even though we got pretty wet. LOL Actually I think the dogs liked it being a little cool. Dare has been to this place before, but just as an observer when Layla was working at the agility field. Raven has [...]

• Training Challenge: On the Road

  My cold seems to be giving me a little break during the days now. Just recurring at night to keep me awake coughing, but I’m grateful for the improvement! In the meantime, I’ve had time to do some thinking. I know that one of the areas my training can use improvement is in taking the dogs to places away from home (other than classes), to help them generalize behaviors. For some of the dogs, it isn’t a huge problem, but [...]

• Distance Drills With Motion

  So, today’s drills proved to be quite a bit more difficult than the previous ones. Isn’t that always the way it works when you start adding motion and a little speed to things? What was once so clear and simple can turn into a real mess. All in all though, the girls did really well. On her first run through, Raven apparently thought that my hand signal for the “out jump” looked enough like the obedience hand signal to drop [...]

• Too Many Options?

  So, there is discussion on one of the lists that I’m on about how entries/support in some of the various Obedience venues in Utah seems to be dwindling lately. Specifically in regards to ASCA and UKC obedience. The discussion seems to branching out into the other dog sports too though, including agility, and field trials. When Zoe and I first got involved in Agility we competed in NADAC/ASCA. It was a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere and we had enough trials within [...]

• Carnivals, Parks, Puppy Play Day and Some Distance Training Too

  Talk about a grab bag of stuff today. LOL First, I got a call from a friend that is trying to get her puppies out and about to as many new places as she can. She heard there was a carnival in town and thought it would be a new experience for the puppies. So, I drove into town and met her there. Well, the problem was that even though they set up the carnival yesterday, they weren’t opening it [...]

• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

  So, I’ll start off with “the good”. We got to spend yesterday at another Stacy Peardot-Goudy workshop. The weather was pretty nice in the morning…while I was auditing. That all changed though as soon as the afternoon session was about to begin. A rain and hailstorm rolled in and stayed the rest of the afternoon. Thankfully, they had the workshop at a location with the option of moving inside a barn if needed. I was so grateful for that! Regardless [...]

• Layla Update

  So, we went back up to my friend’s house to train today. I was hoping to see if we would have a repeat of last week, or if she’d be back to her normal self. So, same building, same people as last week, and just as I was hoping…the same little girl stopped by after school to visit with the dogs. The good news is that today, Layla was much more focused. She was still very, very noise sensitive today, [...]

• So Far, So Good

  It’s shaping up to be a great week in lots of ways! For one, the weather is getting better. Walks for the last two days have been really nice. Today I only wore a fleece jacket and midway through the walk, I took it off. This is the first day this year that I’ve be able to be outside in a t-shirt! Woohoo! My husband’s new job is going really well too. I guess the employee that he replaced did [...]

• Still Not Spring

  I’m trying to convince myself about trying out a new schedule starting tomorrow. I was thinking that it’d be a good idea to try to get up earlier with my husband and maybe walk the dogs first thing in the morning. The problem is that I’m not great at getting up early. Odd, really because I’m not really a night owl either. Add to that, the fact that they are forecasting more storms for tonight, tomorrow and Tues. isn’t giving [...]

• Slow Motion Video of Layla’s A-Frame

  So, I spent the better part of yesterday trying to figure out how to edit video to play in slow motion. I downloaded a couple programs, couldn’t figure out what I was doing and finally looked again at the program I had, and noticed that it was an option on there, but I’d just overlooked it before. What a dork! Seemed to be a theme yesterday. I was absolutely oblivious. I got the funniest video of Dare training that shows [...]