Freestyle class and other stuff

First a side note. Thanks to , http://koovamyalovestory.blogspot.com/ ( I hope that is your link),"Painter Pack Mom" who sent me a note to my email about a sheltie in a Georgia animal shelter that was to be put to sleep on Jan. 20. He has now been pulled by Georgia Sheltie rescue. Yea!!

I tired to take Miley to the training field this morning but it just wasn't to be. I looked at the radar before I left and it didn't show any rain in the area yet. So I left my house around 8 am . Well I didn't get but half way there and it started pouring down rain. So much for that.

I did get to go to Guiness's freestyle class. A couple of new people showed up today. It's hard on the new people to come to class I think. Three of us have been going since the beginning, so the dogs know more than the people who joined the last class. It's not really that they know more, its just that they have the tricks down better. The dogs worked hard today. Some times she breaks the class up and a few people work at a time. But today everyone was working at the same time. When I finally looked at my watch it had already been 35 minutes. That's a long time for dogs to be doing tricks constantly. Usually I will take a break and take my dog outside but today it was pouring down rain at that time. So we kept working. One thing everyone needed to improve on was getting the treats out of our hands so the dog works without a lure or immediate reward. Some people could put their treats on a chair near where they work. But if you know Guiness, that's not going to work. He is food obsessed. So I had to go get my cooler and put that on the chair so he couldn't get the treats himself. We then worked on doing three and four tricks and then run to the treats. Its kinda like agility when you start sequencing and they get a treat at the end. With Miley I sometimes run several small courses and then we run in the house and gets some treats. That way its more like a trial, you don't get the treats right away. If you dont do that , the dog may thing they are doing something wrong because they arent getting a treat. Then they will stop working.
Guiness was defiantly over the whole thing by the time we finish. The last thing we did was make up a small routine to some music. Guiness wasn't to focused and I think it was just to much for him. I'm going to have to do a better job with giving him breaks. He came home and went to sleep.
It finally stopped raining around 4 pm so I was able to take the dogs to the park and walk them about 1 hour before it got dark. Yea!!

Freestyle class

Tonight I took Guiness to his freestyle class. I missed the last class because it was on the same day as the agility trial. Its always a fun class to go to. Stress free. Not that other dog classes are stressful but this just seems so relaxing. Basically you are just teaching your dog tricks. Guiness loves food alot , so he works very hard and learns quickly. Tonight we worked on getting the dog to follow behind you. You walk with your hands behind your back and the dog is suppose to walk with you but stay right behind you. Guiness had a hard time with this, so we will need to practice. We also worked on having the dog go through your legs to a chair that had a treat on it and then he has to back up between your legs again. The treat brings them through the first time and then you can squeeze your legs together and the dog will back out. Remember to add verbal cues to all tricks. Like "through" and "back". In freestyle you have to divide the ring into 4 quadrants and you must cover 75% of the ring. Its also a good idea to to label the corners of the ring, 1,2 ,3,4 and create in your mind your pattern. Like 2341. You will start in corner 2 and go to corner 3 , then 4 and then 1. This helps keep you oriented in case you get disoriented while doing your dance. Also you don't have to go all the way into the corner and your not to get to close to the fencing. You can get penalized for using the fencing to keep you dog going straight even if you didn't mean to. Also no part of the dog can go pass the fencing , so if they are to close and the tail hair goes through , your out. We also practice making our dog stay in place while we walk and skip around them and move your arms in all different ways. Its a fun, goofy class. Then we all had to make up a dance to the same music. It was fun. We are not great but its fun and if your dog or you mess up, you just add something else. Hey , kinda like gamblers. Ha!! Some people have taught their dogs some cool moves, I wish I had video so I could remember exactly what they did. I did remember to bring Guiness's crate. Now he doesn't bark when other dogs are taking their turn or the teacher is talking. Yea!

Last freestyle class and other things

Guiness had his last freestyle class on Monday. Everyones dog is calm and patient except mine. Barking and wanting to work, unable to relax until its his turn. Anyway, she gave us a short routine to music. We first practiced it without the music and then added the music. It was difficult. Its very hard to keep your dog going to keep up with the music. Most people get stuck in getting their dog to do the trick and then get behind in the music. Guiness did well. He feels more comfortable on my left then on my right. We did a heeling pattern with a spin to the left and then into a heel again. Then you brought he dog all the way around in front of you and around to the right side. Then heeling on the right with a spin to the right. Left side was much more successful than right. At least in agility you get to go at your dogs pace or your pace. In freestyle you go at the music's pace. Guiness does things fast. So his circles are really wide because he is covering more area but needs to keep with the music. He probably needs faster music but the teacher said you should start with slow music. Also she said that when she first started, she copied someone's routine. Once she learned it, then she started changing parts of it until she made it her routine.

Miley's 2o/2o is getting better. She is understanding the feet on the board and off the board. Now I just need her to understand that she cant release until I tell her. This weeks practice has been on and off. Tuesday she was on fire but yesterday she seemed a little slow to me. I tried to work on making the table more valuable. I guess I did to good of a job because she started by passing obstacles just to get to the table.

I took the dogs to the park the other day. I walked them in the middle of the day hoping to avoid the bicycle people. We did good until we got back on the main trial. I didn't hear the bicycles coming before it was to late. So now I have rope burns across my knuckles from trying to get Guiness under control. I usually don't use a flexi-lead at the park because of this but that day I thought I was safe. Usually the bicycle people ride in the morning and evening but I guess that's not always. So now when I get on the main trail , I need to lock the flexi-leads so they are short.

Freestyle class #4

Class was very different this week. The instructor brought her dog and showed us different moves and how she trained them. About half the time was spent watching so Guiness was beside himself. He knew I had treats in my pocket and just kept barking. I really couldn't get him to stop. I didn't bring a crate in because all the other classes we worked the dogs the whole time. So to keep him quiet , I gave him little pieces of cheese. I know , not the right thing to do but I was looking for a quick fix so everyone could hear the instructor. We worked on a couple of new moves which I cant describe because you probably wont understand what I'm trying to say. So much to work on and names to think of the move one way and then the other. We are to bring some music next week and tell her some moves that we think would go with the music. Poor Miley got no attention yesterday and to pay me back she decided I should get up at 4am. Ugh!!
Did I tell you about how my dogs ( Guiness) are maniacs at the fence with the beagle next door. Sometimes my dogs start it by barking and the beagle comes over and starts in. But sometime the beagle starts it by coming over and barking( if that what you want to call it). Well I have a surprise for them . I ordered a birdhouse that emits a sound that only the dogs can hear when they bark. Its suppose to stop barking. We will see.......

Freestyle class #3

Well, its hot again. Last night is was 85 degrees , which I guess is better than 95. Class is very fast paced. I felt bad that I didn't practice at all last week. I kept having bad headaches and then I was to tired from the agility trial. I didn't want to be disrespectful to the teacher by not practicing. If someone is taking their time to teach you some thing, then you should practice. Anyway, last night we went over everything we have learned in the last two classes. Luckily she didn't make us show her individually what we have learned. Then she added teaching your dog to nose touch your hand in different places. Then when your dog has that , you teach them to nose touch you hand with your hand up a little higher so your dog has to jump up to touch it. We also tried to teach the the dogs to touch a little ball that is at the end of a dowel rod. This will give you more extension and teach your dog to work further away from you. Then she showed us a scallop. Your dog can sit or stand on your left side, he stays and you move over to his opposite side by turning to your left , which would bring you in front of the dog and then continue rotating until you end up on the dogs other side. Then you bring the dog around to your other side, by bringing him around the front of you and then around to your side. I'm sure this doesn't make sense. But both your moves mimic each other.
Tonight she played music and showed us how you add the moves to the music. We are not ready for that but it was neat to watch. Next week she will bring her dog and show us some of their dance routines. Its been to hot the last few classes, but a cool front is suppose to be coming. Next week we are to bring a tug toy to class and the ball on the stick. This class is very tiring for the dogs. I thinks it because they are constantly working all at the same time. In agility, each dog works one at a time. So your dog has time to rest. No rest here. By about 5 minutes until the end of class Guiness was done. He just stopped working. Ill have to be more careful about that.

Ive decided to reteach Miley a 2on/2off for contacts. It is very obvious that a running contact isn't going to work for us. I saw this friends dog do some awesome 2o/2o contacts with such speed. That's what I want. When I was deciding on contacts I hoped that Miley was small enough to stride right through the contact zone but she has a huge stride. Its at least a 5 foot stride when going over the dog walk. So tonight we worked on that. We also worked on running to a 4 inch table. She jumped right on every time. Isn't that how it always it. Perfect at home. Ha!

Freestyle class #2

Class was lots of fun. I'm not sure why, it just is. The instructor is very nice and supportive. We practiced everything we worked on last week. We had to, one by one, show each move and she gave us tips to improve the move. The one thing I didn't get was ,when doing the heeling and then you have your dog turn out away from you, that you need a different word for turning out left and turning out right. I was just saying " out" for both sides. But when you are performing your dog may be in front of you. So you need a word like "out" for the turn out to the right and then maybe "rout" for the turn out to the left. (You can use none sense words) . This week we added a bow to the tricks. I need to make sure to get Guiness's elbow on the ground before treating. We also practiced giving his paw. Guiness's knew how to do this but only with his left paw. I kept trying to get him to do his right and he was getting confused. He started backing up. So the instructor say to use this. Click and treat and say "back" to teach your dog to back up. If your dog starts offering something else , just go with it. Back to the paw trick. Once your dog has it, then start to get him to touch his paws to your feet when you lift them up. We also practice teaching the dog to move away from you and toward you when in heel position. We are terrible at this. One thing, my dogs don't really know how to heel. I hate teaching it and I'm terrible at making the dog understand what to do. But maybe one day I will be successful. The class is now all shelties because the lady with the lab decided it wasn't for her. At the end of class Guiness was very tired. He jumped in his crate and went right to sleep. When we got home Miley gave Guiness an ear full of barking. And not the kind of barking that says, " I'm so happy to see you". She was mad.
Miley has been off this week. When Ive been trying to get her lined up at the start line, she been circling me and not coming in. She hasn't done this behavior in months. I'm not sure what is going on. She did that Sunday and today. Today she ran as fast as she could just to run. Not really paying attention to anything she is doing. Flying off her contacts. Ugh. Im not sure what to do. On the other hand, Guiness has been coming on some of the morning walks again. Yea!!

Freestyle class

Freestlye class was lots of fun. Guiness was very excited to be there. I was worried that he would be reactive because he has been acting that way in the neighborhood. But he was fine. He was whining to play with the other dogs. There were 4 shelties and one lab in the class. First we worked on heel walking with the dog on the left and then the dog does an outside turn away from you as you turn around. So the dog will go from your left side heel to your right. Most of the dogs wanted to turn into you when you did the turn. So she said you can use elaborate gestures to get your dog to do things and slowly fad them out. We then worked on getting your dog to go around a chair, first clockwise and then counter-clockwise. Don't treat your dog in the same place as he comes around the chair or you will teach your dog to stop there. If you think of the chair as a clock, give treats at 6, 9 12 and 3 o'clock. As your dog gets proficient with the going around the chair ,add your body into it. Put yourself close to the chair so now the dog has to go around you and the chair. ( not every dog needs to learn it this way. Some dogs you can teach just to go around you) Just don't always reward the dog in front of you so he thinks that's the end of the behavior. Once the dog has the behavior then you start to add your movement. Like you turn in the opposite direction as the dog goes around. We also worked on on teaching your dog to spin in each direction and weave through your legs. Weaving through the legs should be done with dog entering through the front and from behind. We worked on roll over. Guiness can not roll over. When he lies down , he doesn't roll off to one hip. So that makes it very hard to go on his side and roll over. Last we worked on backing up. This was a fast moving class with lots of homework. You need to work on all these things with a command for each one. The last thing she wants us to introduce was pressure to your dog. If you put your hand lightly on your dogs hip, he should press back. You will have to work in this for a while for you dog to get it. We need this to teach our dogs in the next class to move with us sideways when you use a touch stick on his side between him and you. I know this was a lot, but she stressed fun and not drilling you dog. If he gets it right , stop. Celebrate and don't do anymore. Wait a day or so and do it again. None of the dogs were proficient with the tricks. Its all homework. Probably the worse part was it was 95 degress out and no air conditioning in the building. The humidity has been 90% everyday for the last week. So it was hot!! Its suppose to cool down after tonight. Thank goodness. Last night we walked the dogs at the park. It was miserable. Twice I doused the dogs with water ( which Miley hates). I told my husband I wasn't walking there again until the weather changes. I was covered with sweat after walking an hour and it was 7:30 at night. Yuk!
I ran Miley through a short agility course. The first run she was very excited and dropped almost every bar. So I got the video camera out and started taping. Then she didn't drop any bars. Weird huh. It was a short 5 min. session because I needed to go to class. When I came back from class I ran her again. She was perfect. Not one dropped bar and fast as lighting.