# The best obedience class - I love it



## Asta's Mom (Aug 20, 2014)

Sounds like a wonderful experience for you and Babykins. I was so impressed that she did so well with such complicated exercises.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

Asta's Mom said:


> Sounds like a wonderful experience for you and Babykins. I was so impressed that she did so well with such complicated exercises.


I know, I’m shocked and each time she does it. We’ve never done anything like this, it’s a real challenge. Our bugaboo is heeling, that I think is our weakness so I’m hoping this exercises helps that heeling in close. 

It’s the kind of class I wish everyone doing even beginning puppy class has....obviously puppies would be sitting and laying down and coming basic stuff.


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## scooterscout99 (Dec 3, 2015)

Sounds like a really unique class. Good job Skylar and Babykins. I’m going to save your post as an idea for my club, not that we would qualify to take it.

Do you have any tips for how you convinced Babykins to keep the dumbbell in her mouth, since she doesn’t like it? I’m struggling with that and have just started a grad novice class.


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## Click-N-Treat (Nov 9, 2015)

That really sounds like a great class! I wish we had something like that around here. Congratulations on getting a chance to work in there and on doing so well. I can't wait to hear more next week. Tell me everything!


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Wonderful sounding proofing! Making it fun while also harder than actual trial exercises is awesome.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

scooterscout99 said:


> Sounds like a really unique class. Good job Skylar and Babykins. I’m going to save your post as an idea for my club, not that we would qualify to take it.
> 
> Do you have any tips for how you convinced Babykins to keep the dumbbell in her mouth, since she doesn’t like it? I’m struggling with that and have just started a grad novice class.


My Babykins is a wonderful minipoo...... but she is not a retriever - she wants me to chase her. In the last few months she has independently decided that since I've never chased her to get a toy back, that returning it and dropping it 2 feet away is a good idea because she can get a treat for that. I don't know how I trained her to be so good with the dumbbell - it's as if some pixie fairy sprinkled magic dust.

I have worked on the dumbbell in different ways - breaking it down into the retrieve, hold and handing it to me. I've held her under her chin (gently, she is very sensitive and wouldn't tolerate any rough handling) while I petted and scratched her head and ears as a reward saying "hold" and rewarding. I slowly increased how long I would hold her mouth shut.

I've rubbed hamburger and chicken on the mouth part to encourage her to take the dumbbell. We're limited due to her diet - otherwise I would have tried smelly tastier things like cheese or braunschweiger. To this day she hates to take the dumbbell in her mouth and usually keeps her mouth shut - so I've abandoned this method.

There's also the ear pinch and some gentler versions - I've avoided them because she's sensitive. I wouldn't do the painful one, but the gentler version starts with just touching and petting the dogs ear and treating so they are used to you handling the ear and associate it with good things. Then you do a very gentle pinch, not anything that is painful. Some people in my club do this method with good success.

Normally when Babykins comes in front with her dumbbell she wants to spit it out quickly. I've been slowly extending the time before I take it from her mouth. I started by bending over and catching it as she was dropping it. She didn't get a treat if it fell on the floor. I slowly transitioned to remaining standing before I bent over to pick it up the way you see at trials. In the last few months I was taking a little more time before I would reach in the take it. And more recently, as she was coming in to front, I would take a few more steps back - increasing the time she had to keep the dumbbell in her mouth - before stopping so she could front and give me the dumbbell. In class the trainer is encouraging us to not only take steps back but to also let the dog pass through our legs while holding the dumbbell. Or for us to pivot quickly so now we and the dog are facing the same way and to run a little with the dog holding the dumbbell. I'm sure we'll do more things in the class and I'll post them. Seems the key is to keep that dog holding onto the dumbbell and doing unexpected things with it in their mouth so at trial they will hold onto it until released.

The one thing I can't do is hand her a dumbbell and get her to hold it for any length of time. She has to run to get and take the dumbbell - there has to be some turning on of prey drive to excite her enough to pick it up. 

I hope your club can offer a class like this. I was speaking to the trainers helper and she said it's a lot of work - not physically, but mentally thinking of different exercises. The main trainer has decades of experience, she's an AKC judge and has taken all her dogs to Utility - plus she's had all kinds of breeds and has faced all kinds of challenges with her dogs that makes her very special teacher. She watches everyone like a hawk and her constructive advice is incredibly helpful.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

Thanks Click and Catherine,

I'll post what we do each week. I don't think what we do is secret - it's the kind of things people do to proof. What makes this class special is that the trainer is creative and pulls all these proofing exercises into one class. And because I'm still so new to competition obedience, it's all new to me.


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## Asta's Mom (Aug 20, 2014)

Skylar - I also wanted to thank you for the training advice re the dumbbell. Very informative. I am just now starting out with Asta and the dumbbell.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

Asta’s Mom, I’m glad it’s helpful. I’ve gotten some wonderful training help here from others and it’s great to have this community to share what we learn.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

More fun in today's class and a real challenge for next week - wait till you see this one.

We did another heeling rally course - only this time to a metronome. Nothing like weaving through cones and turning 360's and turning right or left marching on time. It was interesting to watch some of the others. Some people didn't connect with their dog which shocked me - and they were called out on that.

We then did heeling with distraction - OMG what a distraction. We took turns walking next to someone's dog (I had Babykins with me, most people had their dog, not all) and we were to call their name, tell them to stop, pull at their clothes, call their dogs name - to be a really, really obnoxious distraction - not just quietly walking next to them. We just heeled a straight line, turned around and walked back. I was lucky my dog actually heeled and kept her attention......which I didn't expect but I did use a food treat to keep her attention on me. Next week will be even worse... the distraction person will be throwing food and treats - I don't think we'll be able to heel with that. And we have to wear a skirt. A while back a judge was wearing one of those tattered bohemian skirts with tendrils fluttering everywhere and most dogs were either fascinated and heeled with the judges skirt, or they were scared and afraid to move. Should be very entertaining to watch. The goal obviously is for you and your dog to focus on each other the whole time and not let the judge in the ring be a distraction. I just don't wear skirts, don't have one - but I do have some gorgeous sari's and I'll bring one that I can wear over pants to be my skirt temporarily. Bonus points because Saris end up with a section that you fling over your shoulder and that can move too (the way you wear a Sari is regional).

We did directed glove work. First there were bowls on the floor and people standing around with their dogs. One of the people had treats for your dog .... we had to sit and direct our dog to the right bowl and as the dog came close someone would reward the dog by tossing the treat in the bowl and then you called your dog back for more treats.

After this we did a single glove recall. First sending out 15' and then 30'. I've never sent Babykins out that far for a glove and she's terrible about not wanting to hold on...but somehow the extra distance got her excited. She ran out full speed ahead to get the glove and full speed back holding it and handing it to me. I was so sure this was going to be a huge failure because I'm still teaching her to hold the glove long enough to hand it to me.

We ended with dumbbell tossing over the jump...... first a proper toss over the jump. The second toss was hard - instead of tossing it over the jump which you are supposed to do - the teacher put out a wing from an agility jump and it was off to the side. We had to toss our dumbbell to the wing to the side......not over the jump. Most dogs watched where the dumbbell went and immediately took off to the side, not going over the jump. I was thrilled that I was able to direct Babykins over the jump then she turned right to grab the dumbbell - and here's where agility came into play, I was able to tell her to jump back when it wasn't the natural path to take. It also helped that we had done that directional glove work before because sending her over, I made sure to direct her attention to the jump and away from the dumbbell. The trick was to direct your dog to jump, then direct them to find and take the dumbbell and then direct back over the jump.

One of the more experienced people has trained her dog to turn it's head and look at her after the dumbbell is thrown and before she sends her dog over. The trainer pointed out this was a smart idea - that way your dog is going to follow where you send them. So we need to work on that.

And here is the challenge for next week - and it's a doozy. We were all given those really cheap flimsy plastic eggs people fill to add to Easter baskets and hunts. We have to train our dog to retrieve this Easter egg. Even worse, next week it's going to be filled with dog treats. OMG. Most of us started to train in class as she was handing the eggs out. I got Babykins to take and hold it - but she started to play with it and opened it up - it's really thin and flimsy. I think I'll go and buy more in case she breaks a few in practice. 

So has anyone taught their dog to return a cheapo, flimsy plastic Easter egg? Any suggestions?


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## Click-N-Treat (Nov 9, 2015)

Noelle would flunk this class. All those distractions would melt Noelle's mind. I am really, really impressed with both of you. Such incredible progress. Great job. Wow! 

As far as retrieving an egg? Um... Get lots of eggs to practice with. As far as the dog treats go, I know what Noelle would do. Open the egg, get the treat herself, then bring me both halves. Good luck!


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

This Monday's class was a real hoot. OMG the fun we had.

It started with another rally course. There was a gating set up in the middle of the room - three sides of a square. The course was set up in two sections - one went in a u shape around the outside of the gate and the second half of the course was a U shape around the inside. We were in teams - one team went around the outside and then into the inside while the other team started at the inside and moved to the outside. As soon as the first person had finished a few signs, the next person in line went in. There were a few signs where we downed our dog etc. but most were just heeling. We did this on leash once and then twice off leash.

I learned two things - 1) we all learned that our dogs were heeling much better off leash compared to on leash. Off leash the dog realized they had to pay closer attention to us and, we knew we had to pay closer attention to them. 2) For myself I was pleased to see that Babykins wasn't distracted by all the dogs in front of her, behind her and on the other side of the accordion gating. I was concerned she would zoom. I think she picked up the cues that the other dogs were working and she had to work too. I've been working her off leash as much as I can when I get some time in the building with a few dogs and sometimes in class as part of getting her ready for taking the Novice exam. OTOH, the trainer wanted us to hold our leash properly - in our left hand and I've always held it in my right hand...... OMG our heeling on leash was a disaster. I wasn't the only one. After the trainer mentioned something that had been told to me many times before but this time I think it will stick. *The leash is not there to keep our dogs with us, properly held the leash tells us when our dog is out of position.* There should be little slack in the leash. I've been using my 6' leash from Novice -I should have been using my rally leash which is 4' so I don't have the bulk of the 6' leash bunched up in my hand. I'm going to look for a 3' leash since I think that's a better length from my dog's neck to my hand held in position on my waist.

We are competing this weekend and I don't want to mess up anything with switching how I hold me leash until after the trial is completed then I'll work on making the change. I'll start using my shorter rally leash in my Beginner Novice/Novice class and I'll keep the 6' leash in a pocket handy in case I need it.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

The fun started with eggs. I had trained Babykins to retrieve the flimsy Easter egg then I hid treats in the egg once I had a good retrieve for an added challenge. 

I wasn't prepared for what happened in class. 

There were two large baskets filled with various sized eggs. Each egg was filled with chocolate for us. 

The game was each team heeled with their dog to the basket and let their dog choose an egg then the dog had to carry the egg to the other side of the room where there was an empty basket for each team where the dog was to drop the egg. 

I was so embarrassed. Babykins was sniffing at each of the eggs, she was pawing at them, she was checking them all out.... but she wasn't taking one in her mouth. In the meantime the other team was getting ahead of us. Finally the teacher said to take an egg out of the basket and place it on the floor and let her take it which worked.... we ran to the second basket - only she was afraid to get close enough to it to drop the egg into the basket. I had to have her drop it near the basket and then put it in myself. We ran three times and each time I had to take the egg out of the basket and put it in at the end - she was find holding and running with it. 

Our team lost - but both teams got chocolate and two people whose dogs did a fabulous job got chocolate bunnies.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

We ended with various dumbbell proofing. 

We set up our dogs in heel, dumbbell in hand and threw the dumbbell backwards - as discretely as possible. Babykins, after I threw and sent her she ran forward a little confused - she heard the dumbbell land but couldn't see it and didn't figure out it was behind us - I had to point to behind me. Then she ran quickly to get it. We were not allowed to turn to our dog or move our body - we had to stand looking forward. Thank goodness I've trained Babykins to come in front from anywhere. She came in front with that dumbbell perfectly - they way I hope she would do in competition. One lady in the class shouted out how beautiful it was - and I was happy to hear that because this lady is a stickler who aims for perfect scores and she's been competing for many years. Some of the dogs immediately ran behind but most were lost like Babykins and needed help - most dogs couldn't return the dumbbell from behind. Some of the people are working on Utility, most on Open and a 3 of us are Novice level. I wonder if the dogs that immediately ran behind and retrieved where the utility dogs?

Then we tossed it forward and someone's beautiful granddaughter stood next to the dumbbell as a distraction - and we were all sitting around in a ring with our dogs. This was cute, most dogs retrieved but with the dumbbell in their mouth went up to the little girl and gave a sniff. Some dogs went to her and ignored their dumbbell. Babykins gave her a look but did her retrieve.

The last distraction was something I've never seen before. Maybe others here have. It's a ball that flashes blinking lights in different colors, makes loud noises (sounds like you are picking up 2 radio channels simultaneously), moves in random movement. To top it off the trainer's dogs had attacked and tried to destroy it so it was taped up and some of the tape was loose and dangling. This toy was a huge distraction, it was giving me a headache. 

Everyone took a turn throwing their dumbbell near this obnoxious toy. The dogs reactions were incredible - some just chased after the toy, some took the toy and ran with it. Everyone was laughing - it was so funny. Almost all the dogs tried to grab this toy. Babykins is often nervous about new things. I was shocked that she ran to this toy and tried to retrieve it instead of her dumbbell. I was able to tell her to take her dumbbell and she did retrieve. There was only one dog in the group that was scared of the toy and started barking. She had to put her dog on a leash and move far away from the distraction to settle her dog. The person who assists training this class is my trainer for WCRL rally and she later told me she would not have done that challenge without first letting the dogs run to sniff and check out the distraction first.


And in my Beginner Novice/Novice class the trainer had us do a heeling maneuver to help dogs heel that I've never done before. We heeled with our dog and had the dog clockwise spin - as soon as the dog was coming out of the spin we turned a right angle - the dogs had to speed up to get back into heel. She also had us try doing it with a left angle from a counterclockwise spin, but we were the only ones who could do this. There's a lot of newbies in this class.


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## MaizieFrosty (Apr 12, 2019)

Can I come join your class? It sounds super fun! Glad you and Babykins are enjoying it.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

Click-N-Treat said:


> Noelle would flunk this class. All those distractions would melt Noelle's mind. I am really, really impressed with both of you. Such incredible progress. Great job. Wow!
> 
> As far as retrieving an egg? Um... Get lots of eggs to practice with. As far as the dog treats go, I know what Noelle would do. Open the egg, get the treat herself, then bring me both halves. Good luck!


I think if we had taken this class last year, we would have been kicked out. Babykins just wasn't mature enough. 

I'm incredibly pleased with how she is handling all these distractions. I think it really helps that most of the dogs in the class are in utility or open - and all are good workers. I'm envious at how beautiful some of them heel. I think she has picked up the vibes that she has to work too.

I've also done a lot of Catherine's 5 cookie games both in heel position and while heeling to encourage that focus when heeling.

Lastly I've been lucky to be asked to join a group of more advanced people who train an hour before our Beginner Novice/Novice class. It's a small group of people and everyone is working their dog off leash. It's helped me with working Babykins off leash around these dogs. At the beginning I worked recall with her on the side of the wall behind the gate. Then I worked her with some directed jumping which she loves in the ring and slowly worked her up to an hour of working off leash. 

Between the 5 cookie games and working with a small group off leash I think prepared her for this class where there's 12-14 people working dogs. Experience and maturity.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

MaizieFrosty I wish all of us had a class like this. There is so much joy, laughing and the trainer is so experienced, so knowledgeable and adapts everything to each dog. When a dog has a problem with an exercise, she knows exactly what the handler needs to do. Plus she's judge so she knows what the judges are looking for. 

I've seen a huge progress in Babykins retrieve. It's a miracle I trained her to retrieve a dumbbell. She refused to return any toy - she zoomed with a toy and wanted me to chase her which I never did. Recently she started to return her toy - dropping it at my feet but refusing to put it in my hand. Now she's bringing toys to my hand, not just her dumbbell. And that silly egg - OMG she was bringing that back to my hand. Since this class I can have her run in heel along with me with her dumbbell in her mouth, she's not spitting it out as quickly as possible. I never did any ear pinch, even the modern gentle painfree pinch - my dog is too soft, and I often wondered if it was a mistake. Now I know I made the right decision.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

I'm also thrilled because the person who assists this trainer is my trainer for WCRL Rally - and there's a small cohort in my rally class who are at that Novice/Open level. She's started to teach us some of the open exercises for training. We're working on the send over the broad jump.

Plus she's starting to incorporate some of the fun proofing exercises in our class. 

The club where I train for Obedience has a very old fashioned approach to training - you're in the Beginner Novice/Novice class until you get that Novice title. In fact there are people in my class who have their Novice, they haven't moved up yet. Then you're in the Open class until you get that title. You finally move to the Utility class - yep, you guessed it, when you have the Open title. 

But that's not how people train now - those who know, start their puppies on all the exercises - that's how Catherine has been training Javelin. I wish my club trained like that - but between my proofing class and my trainer in Rally, I'm finally getting what I need.


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## MaizieFrosty (Apr 12, 2019)

Skylar said:


> MaizieFrosty I wish all of us had a class like this. There is so much joy, laughing and the trainer is so experienced, so knowledgeable and adapts everything to each dog. When a dog has a problem with an exercise, she knows exactly what the handler needs to do. Plus she's judge so she knows what the judges are looking for.
> 
> I never did any ear pinch, even the modern gentle painfree pinch - my dog is too soft, and I often wondered if it was a mistake. Now I know I made the right decision.


How lucky to have such an amazingly skilled and experienced instructor! And I'm so glad you have used force-free methods with Babykins. There is never a need for force. Today I saw a woman in my club jerking her dog angrily with a choke chain for leaving a down stay, and a man in my group forcing his dog into a down by stepping on the lead. :argh:


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## Click-N-Treat (Nov 9, 2015)

Your class sounds wonderful. Can I come next week?


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

MaizieFrosty said:


> How lucky to have such an amazingly skilled and experienced instructor! And I'm so glad you have used force-free methods with Babykins. There is never a need for force. Today I saw a woman in my club jerking her dog angrily with a choke chain for leaving a down stay, and a man in my group forcing his dog into a down by stepping on the lead. :argh:


Exactly, no need to torture a dog to train it. Those harsh training methods are frowned upon at both my clubs. My rally teacher told someone to leave our class for hitting her dog telling her it was not allowed. This person never came back. It was shocking to witness. 

However the first training place I went to used some harsh methods so I left and found better trainers. I think my problem with Babykins dropping into down stems from that horrible teacher forced us to push our dogs into down and step in the lead keeping “6 inches” whenever she was talking to the class. That’s one of the reasons I left, I hated doing it. It was the first training class I ever took and I didn’t feel knowledgeable or confident to contradict the teacher and advocate for my dog. I have since found out this particular trainer has a horrible reputation and quite a few people in my two clubs started with her and left. And she’s banned from AKC because her dog attacked and injured another dog in the old Open long sits and downs. It makes me angry because she could easily have taught us how to lure our dogs into down and keep them down by randomly dropping treats.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

Click-N-Treat said:


> Your class sounds wonderful. Can I come next week?


Click I wish you could join. You would love it because I know you also love to train with laughter and joy. I wish we lived closer so we could train together. 

Wish that Star Trek Transporter was real so all my PF friends could get together to train.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Wow what a packed evening of great proofing! I bet she slept like a rock after all of that. For sure heel off leash usually is better than on leash. I also wish you could train at all levels in your classes, but you can do a number of things on your own too. You can get a set of practice quality jumps from places like J & J or Max200 and you can also order enough pieces of ring gates as you want to define a training space. I usually just put out a set of ring gates to define a go out spot. I also use toys on the floor and noxious distractions like a weasel ball and a little battery operated chihuahua that barks walks and has flashing eyes. Sometimes I hang holiday decorations on ring gates. I am enjoying reading this thread because it is adding to my library of proofs.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

Catherine, on Monday nights we both sleep well. 

This class is in the morning and it often runs for two hours. I can't complain too much because the assistant trainer in the morning, the person who lays out the rally courses..... is also my trainer for WCRL rally in Monday evening at my other club. And the evening class is supposed to be an hour but it often runs to two hours or longer if there's a WCRL rally coming up. Both are supposed to be an hour course.

So my poor Rally trainer is teaching for up to 4 hours while we're students for up to 4 hours on Monday. It's our busiest day.

The reason I'm posting here weekly is because I thought others would find some find proofing ideas fun to work with their dogs.

I do have jumps from Affordable Agility, but I never bought the broad jump ones. Not sure if I need to buy them or if it's enough to train in class? I didn't buy ring gating because my lower level is full of furniture and there's not a lot of room for practice.

As for distractions, I have toys, nose work boxes, cones, stainless steel bowls (both empty and with cat kibble) and anything else I can thing of out on the floor as a distraction. Problem is those aren't distracting - put a new toy that she has never seen before ------ that's a distraction. And they are in rally and nose work - food and toys. 

I realize for some people this isn't new, but it's all new to me.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I use my broad jump boards for things other than training the broad jumps like making chutes for helping to tweak tight turns at retrieves. Recently I've been using them to tone down over energetic retrieves too. My basement is a messy basement so I usually practice out on the deck.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

More fun and games Monday. Half the time was a rally course - and there was the down your dog and walk around..... darn silly dog did go down - slowly but she went down as I was walking around. In AKC you can't stop but WCRL does allow you to stop and down your dog before you walk around so this was a little different for us. We did this with the metronome. The goal is to get us to go through the rally course quickly. Which brought up a discussion about how slowly people go through rally courses - several people there are rally judges (AKC and WCRL) and they were saying they wished people would speed it up - dogs get bored heeling slowly. Obviously there are points where you need to slow down or stop.

What has been nice is each week there has been the heel three steps back - Babykins used to go kind of wonky in this unless we were next to a wall or gate - she seems to been straight now and is working this smoothly. (However she still goes quite crooked in the back up where she comes into front and then she goes back while I walk forward 3 steps). We have two rally competitions coming up (AKC and WCRL) and I'm going to make a point of walking as fast as reasonable.

In the second half we worked on keeping our dogs attention entering the ring - we had to go near the entrance door where they had gates set up. Then we had to walk the gauntlet. In class normally the class sits in two lines about 10-15 feet apart - plenty of room for the dogs to do whatever while someone's dog walks by to get to the other side to do something. This time she had everyone move their chairs so there was about 3' space. Just enough room - and goal was keep your dog's full attention and walk through this at heel. After the gauntlet in the empty area we had to heel while someone walked very close to us shouting commands such as sit, down, fast etc. The person shouting had to be close enough to put pressure on the dog- there were a few dogs that needed a lot more space. I got criticized because while we were encouraged to talk to our dog to keep them in heel and focused on us... I talked too much. I wanted her 100% focused and she was - but I also know why I was criticized - in obedience you can't talk during exercises, only during the brief time between exercises when you reposition. I should have talked less and made this more of a challenge.

Then we repeated walking the gauntlet and did a dumbbell toss again with the someone in the ring shouting commands 

In my evening class the trainer had everyone do the open stand your dog and walk outside the ring to get your leash. No one in the class is competing in open yet and no one had done this. It was interesting to see that almost all the dogs did the exercise perfectly - only 2-3 moved their paws while standing. Babykins as rock solid. I noticed during the weekend that this was one exercise most dogs did well - when they sent you out of the ring to get the leash, it was just a step or two beyond the ring gate. I didn't know that they had changed the rules - this used to be a sit and get your leash outside the gate in open.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

Every week I don't see how the trainers can top the class from the week before... but they do.

This week was a rally course that combined all the exercises from Open, every single one of them. I loved this concept because it was a way to perform the open exercises but it also combined moving your dog through the ring with the rally exercises.

It started off with a dumbbell toss over the jump. After the dog came in front and back into heel, we had to heel to the back for the room and U turn back up to a left turn and we headed over to a figure eight set up using wings from jumps, then the broad jump, then some more heeling and dumbbell on the flat, more heeling to drop on recall (I choose to do a basic recall because Babykins sometimes travels a bit on her drop and I'm working to get that drop immediately when I say it with not traveling forward), more heeling with fast and slow then the signal exercises. I can't remember if I left anything out. It was so much fun, and it was also rewarding to see my dog perform all the open exercises (except drop on recall) and the heeling beautifully. Only one dog at a time was in the ring.

Then we did heeling - just walking to the wall, turn and back with 3 dogs in a row. Then she had us turn and sit in heel while 4 dogs were added, then 5 dogs and finally 6 dogs were heeling up while 6 dogs were heeling down in a fairly narrow area so as we were heeling we were close, and very close passing the dogs going the opposite way. I've done similar things in my CD class but the dogs are more spread out. Often I'm annoyed at Babykins for sometimes looking away at the other dogs as we heel by - she loses her focus, but this time she was 100% focused in a beautiful heel the whole time. I felt like I was floating on air.

Plus I learned something new. Many people in this class have been training dogs in obedience for decades - many have multiple Utility titles and these people are serious. OMG if you watch their dogs heeling, they are gorgeous. One of them, when she dropped her dog on recall - he not only drops quickly, but he puts his chin on the floor between his paws. Why? Well the dogs know after they drop they will be called to come into front - so they anticipate and start to lift their elbows and part of their upper body. To the casual observer they may still look "down" but to the judge the dog is not staying down. By training her dog to put it's face on the floor, she has trained her dog a more solid down so he's less likely to shift his body off the floor in anticipation (her dog is an aussie). She trains her down using a target. I and most of the people have been using uhueys (PVC pipe in a U shape), or PVC pipe or gate or something blocking across the floor when they start training. She used the target and puts food on the target when the dog drops to keep the dog's head down after the drop. I thought that was brilliant. I went home and started to use the target with Babykins. Because she already knew the drop on recall and I've lately been using the cord from my vaccuum cleaner or a stick on the ground - and she was used to running down the teeter to a target - it was very fast to transition her to drop at the target from a distance. My plan is to practice with the target for awhile and then I'll cut the target smaller and smaller to fade the target.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

lily cd re said:


> I use my broad jump boards for things other than training the broad jumps like making chutes for helping to tweak tight turns at retrieves. Recently I've been using them to tone down over energetic retrieves too. My basement is a messy basement so I usually practice out on the deck.


I've been using cones to train broad jump to keep her jumping straight across the whole jump and not cutting off the end. I know people use them to train fronts - but I had such a good trainer early one who helped us train great fronts that I go back to that method as a reminder - basically using my legs as the chute instead of boards.

We worked on broad jump in my evening class - and she clearly gets it. Teaching go around cones from a distance for agility helped. In the morning open/rally course she did the broad jump without any cone and did it perfectly - straight over then turned back to come in front and finish. I was so happy.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

Darn I wrote a long post and it's lost. 

Class started with a run heeling pattern ending in a recall and get your leash.

Dumbbell proofing: 1- turned a black metal folding chair on it's side - dumbbell placed touching the back and seat of the chair.
2. - on top of chair
3. Trainer sat on chair and dumbbell between her feet
4. tall box set next to chair and dogs had to pick dumbbell off box
5. box turned around and dumbbell placed inside with flaps off to the side.
6. flaps partially covered dumbbell.

Thank goodness for nose work - it's given Babykins the confidence to stick her nose on and inside boxes as well as on and in all kinds of weird places inside and out searching hides. Before nose work, I doubt she would have been too nervous to do this.

We also learned to use a target to train drop on recall. Loved this approach so I've switched to it. Once the dog knows to drop to the target, you throw food and when the dog gets it, call them back to the target to drop. Only voice command, no hand signal with this. You the handler also moves around. What you don't do is call the dog to front from the target until the very end of training. YOu also have the dog do recall where they have to run over the target.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

There is a woman who sometimes attends the class with her beautifully trained dog.... I was shocked to learn she has Alzheimer's and one of the members brings her to class. I thought it was odd they were always yelling at her to put her dog's leash back on - she rarely does and she's slow to react. She also had trouble figuring out where to put the dumbbell sometimes. I think it's wonderful that they bring her. Most of the people in this class have been training dogs for many decades, as has this woman, so they know her well.

Sadly this class is being split in half next term- so while we won't have to wait so long for our turn, I will miss watching some of these people work with their dogs.


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