Thinking it through

When you are training a young dog, unless you have one trainer whom you totally trust, and you ignore all the advice which is offered freely by well meaning friends and aquainances! a lot of trial and error comes into play. With Ruperts training I wanted to "get it right" an expression I hear a lot when someone gets a new dog to train. Is there such a thing as "Getting it right"? which is where thinking it through has come into play quite a lot recently, The See Saw for example, and now the weaves, I was determined to train the 2x2 Susan Garett method, I purchased the DVD, watched it over and over, made notes and even had Steve make me some very nice 2x2 sets, but in reality it didn't seem right for Rupert and I, and we have now gone on to Swivel channel weaves and are making great progress, we are still at the widest setting and are currently working our war around the clock face, and have decided to use a wing wrap at the start, my only problem is that at the beginning I used the command GO to send him through the channel to his toy, I now want to change that for Weave which will be the command I use in the future but this seems to have confused him a little so tomorrow I will use GO Weave and then eventually drop the GO word.

Last thursday Ruperts Breeder Sheila and I took him to have his Hips X-rayed, when the plate came back the vet seemed very happy with the reult so now we just have to wait for the BVA to send the score back, fingers crossed we should be getting very good one.

Clever Puppy

Our first Puppy class was good fun, it was very basic as Sarah wanted to see at what level everyone was working, Rupert behaved well appart from getting a little over excited waiting for his turn, but settled down as the evening went on. He maintained all his waits and executed both left and right turns nicely so I was very pleased with his progress.

On Saturday we met Toni Dawkins, there are some trainers who just inspire you without really even having to say much, and Toni is one of those people. Again this was a foundation course and we learnt some good tips, we also did the dogwalk which we haven't really done away from home but Rupert didn't faulter, he ran all the way to his 2 on 2 off position while I ran wide not moving until I gave him his release command, I was well Chuffed!

Yesterday we had our weekly session with Jo, these sessions are getting more like a workout with the SAS every week!! only joking Jo LOL!!! what can I say, Rupert was brilliant, I sometimes think the agility fairies have been training Rupert while I sleep!! he did start off by knocking poles, and thinking about it at both Puppy classes he was jumping small which must be quite confusing so from now on I'm going to ask for him to be on medium.

Today my legs are aching!

This week Rupert is having his hips X-rayed for his hip score, this will determin if he will be acceptable to go to Stud, although I have no plans to put him to stud, if the opportunity arose with an approved bitch at lease we would be ready. So fingers crossed for a good outcome.

Mud Glorious Mud

I hate this mud! Rupert had a lovely groom last night but after his walk this morning looks like a mud monster again!

On the training front things are progressing really well, I gave the see saw problem some thought and decided that I would release him over a jump and throw his toy gaining some distance between him and the noise of the bang, this has worked a treat, we started at Jo's on Sunday and I held his collar for the tip and let him find the contact which worked well, then at this mornings session I held his collar for the first attempt and then let him have a go on his own from both sides - result, he didn't give it a 2nd thought, happily working the tip on his own and confidently finding the contact (still without command) I released him onto a jump and threw his toy - Excellent. So the plan is just to let him have a go each time I visit the paddock to keep it in his mind.

Our homework this week has been flick flacks and pull ins. the flick flack training is going ok, only faulting with his enthusiasm with me trying to race to get into position, however he actually works much better when I drive from behind, and I must make sure I work on both directions which I am very lazy at! Pull ins on the other hand are a little more difficult, especially as I am doing them straight after a flick flack! maybe on Friday I'll do the pull ins first. He is getting the first two, but then his speed takes him over the jump rather than through the gap, still plenty of time to perfect them, and its a lot for him to take in all at once.

Tomorrow night is his first night at Club, I'm really looking forward to working him in a group, although I know he will be over the top to begin with, having to work on patience will be a good thing.

Happy Birthday Rupert

So on 30th December 2010 Darian Snow Bear (Rupert) became a year old. Where has the time gone? My sister Sara collected her puppy on 29th December who is Ruperts half brother (same Mum) his name is Teaser and is such a cutie, but I don't remember Rupert ever being that small!?!
I started Ruperts weave training and am very pleased with the progress so far, however letting him set that pace may have been a mistake! he just wants to learn more and more which although a good thing in many respects is a bit of a problem when I'm still getting my head round whats the best way to progress! so I've only done the basics until I next see Jo on Sunday.
Before Christmas Rupert was only doing the dog walk on small height as he wasn's sure when I raised the planks, but this week he wasn't bothered at all by the height and was zooming over it into his 2 on 2 off position, I also introduced the A frame and in only one session he is confidently running a lovely A frame into his contact position, the See Saw on the other hand is a different matter! I have only done it holding his collar and managing the tip for him, but he gets spooked by the noise it makes after he has been released so I plan to use something to muffle the sound for a week or so, but I'll keep you posted how that goes.
We have booked ourselves onto a Toni Dawkins training day on 15th January so we are really excited about that.

Darian Snow Bear

Rupert's Kennel name is Darian Snow Bear and as you can see he lives up to his name very well, It's very difficult at the moment as we have about 1 foot of snow settled everywhere we go so Rupert rather likes it outside and as a preference will just play and roll about in the snow rather than sit by the comfy fire! Because of the snow there hasn't been any agility training for a couple of weeks but Steve has made me 2 sets of 2x2 weaves so from Friday onwards our indoor weave training starts. I have decided for the first few sessions to really work on the entrance to the first two weaves from any angle and hopefully increase to 2 sets of 2 weaves and so on until we have a full set of 12 but hopefully by the time we get to moving the first two sets closer together we will be back to training outside. (fingers crossed).
Rupert and I would like to wish everyone a very happy Christmas and New year and hope Santa brings you all you wish for - Rupert is wishing for more snow GGgggrrrrr..

What a Star

I'm so Pleased with Rupert's progress, last night at Clubs Christmas Party was the first ever time he has performed in front of a crowd! and he didn't let me down, he was slightly nervous on the start line, but once I reassured him he was rock solid. I thought I would be nervous with people watching but not at all, I had my mind totally focused on Rupert and never gave the spectators a second thought and he rewarded me with 2 super cross behinds and his first ever pull in! it was a little messy but that was me panicking rather than him and it resulted in a pole down! but what a star he was. I have to say it's all down to Jo and her time and patience which she gives for free!
Rupert will be 12 months old at the end of December and although rather earlier than I had anticipated I have decided to begin his 2x2 weave training during the Christmas break - the reason for this is purely a time issue, I have 11 days off work it's that simple! Ideally I would have left it a few more weeks, but I think he is more than ready to have a go, obviously if I feel its too much I'll just practice the basics but I have a feeling as usual Rupert will set the pace and it will be up to me to keep up. I hope to keep a diary of our progress - good and bad so keep watching, and feel free to add any comments which you feel may help.

Training plans

Unfortunately we haven't been able to get to Jo's for training over the past few weekends but very kindly she has emailed me some training plans to work on, these just include getting him to work on in front, he absolutely adores his space hopper toy and when strategically placed he is working brilliantly, the trouble I have found is that he is fast, and by that I mean very fast! Maisy is a very fast nimble dog but because she is confident at working in front, will take a line untill she hears a command without question, but Rupert obviously has no idea what I really want, he likes me not to crowd wings and will take a line happily but when I get too far back he has a little look over his shoulder taking him wide of the jump (unless his toy is at the end of the line and then he would jut 100 jumps to get there) you would think the obvious answer would be to run faster! obviously this is not the correct answer I am no Linford Christie, so the answer is to slowly build up his confidence so that he too will take the line whilst listening out for a directional command from me. In Jo's email she does state quite clearly that there is no rush for Rupert to perfect the patterns, and I'm sure once there is any height to the jumps this will slow him down to a more comfortable speed. (well thats what I'm hoping)
Yesterday we were at Earls Court for Discover dogs, Amy had entered Rupes in the handling as a practice for Crufts, he took the atmosphere in his stride and although they didn't gain a place Rupert looked the part well and Amy was thrilled with his performance.
No training for Rupes during the week at th moment due to the dark nights so I've gone back to some obedience indoors, we are back at Jo's on Sunday (weather permitting) so I hope she can see some improvements, he sure was pleased to see her at Earls Court yesterday, bless his little furries..