Classic Recall - continued...

Well last night I took a little time to practice our classic recall over a jump, I really wanted to focus on achieving true collection with all the girls.

Pyper - she is pretty good with her jumping skills however she does have a tendency to touch or even drop bars so I thought I would us this opportunity to help her remember to pick up her feet.  To set this up I brought the jump into the living room...well this was really due to the fact that it is 95 degrees outside more then anything...anyway with the jump set up at her jumping height of 12" I practice the classic recall over a jump.  She was not collecting as well has I would've liked so I moved the jump parallel to the couch roughly 16-20" away.  Then I repeated the classic recall drill, this made a huge difference but still not exactly what I wanted.  Next I knelt down beside the jump facing the bar, with a treat on the landing side of the jump (opposite side Pyper was on) I asked her to jump rewarding her from my hand on the floor (so very very low)  Then I would repeat but back to the opposite side.  If she touched or dropped the bar she did not get the treat.

Hallie - well she was a little different story....I brought her out to start practicing and she decided that she was not going to listen so she went right back into her kennel.  She did eventually get her turn.  So Hallie knows to pick up her feet so she does not usually drop bars but she does have a tendency to jump with extension a lot so I really wanted to concentrate on her jumping with collection.  She received the exact same exercise as Pyper, the only thing done differently was to move the coffee table to the opposite side of the jump from where I was kneeling as she was going around the jump instead of over....silly girl.  And I added Crystal to the equation, I had her stand 16" away on the landing side so that it would encourage her to give true collection, it worked but not without some challenges.

Mia - she is really starting to get the feel for agility, I think she is beginning to understand that it is fun and rewarding.  Now having said that she did have some challenges.  :)  She had the same drill has Hallie including moving the jump parrallel with the couch, with this she decided instead of jumping collected she would just us the couch as an object to bounce off of back to the treat....so then I added Crystal 16" away.  This proved to be very challenging for Mia.  She tried to go around, so we moved the coffee table opposite me so she couldn't, she even tried to go through the jump which obviously failed because the bars fell but eventually she figured out that she needs to go over.  And she started jumping collected with really nice form.

On another note, last night Crystal and I went to the book store and I came  home with a new book. "51 Pyppy Tricks" by Kyra Sundance, great book!  Totally recommend it!  I am now in the process of teaching all the girls to figure 8 between my legs....they loved it!

Foundation Recall - Linda Mecklenburg Style.

This past Saturday night I attended a 3 hour foundation jumping clinic hosted by Martine @ J-Canine Pet Resort (http://www.j-canine.com/).  I had a really great time working with Mia and Hallie and I think they had a good time also!  :)

So today I thought I would blog about the clinic, sharing with you what I learned.  As all of you know I am focusing on learning Linda Mecklenburg's agility methods so it was rather fitting that the clinic was all about her foundation recall variations.  There are 6 variations; Classic, Serpentine, 270, Directed, Back-up, and Extension.  Today I want to talk about Classic.  (If you would like to read the entire article that I am getting my information from please see July 2008 Clean Run article Handling Your Dog in Awesome Style, Part 4 by Linda Mecklenburg.)

Classic Recall over a Jump

Dog is in a sit-stay on the take off side and
 the handler is on the landing side facing the dog.

The dog and the handler are the same distance from the jump, this distance should be the same as the dogs jump height, so in my case 16".  This will help ensure the dog jumps with collection over the jump.  Cue the dog using your jump command and hand signal, once the dog has committed to the jump turn toward the outside of the jump luring your dog into a heel position.  Treating at your side low to the ground.

Same set up as above however add handler motion

The next step is to add motion, starting with handler motion.  Set  your dog and you up the same as above, however once the dog has committed to the jump turn to toward the outside of the jump take a few steps forward luring your dog into a heel position.  Again treating at your side and low to the ground.

Now add dog's motion. Please note that when you add dog's motion you will not have handler motion. Baby steps, one thing at a time.

 

Lastly you will have dog and handler motion.

These exercises are ones that you will want to practice off and on for the rest of your teams career as it never hurts to get back to basics. Also be sure to practice all of these recalls on both sides, left and right, they will feel different to you and your dog so you will want to practice.

Front Cross vs Read Cross

This week I have decided to practice my crosses, front and rear.  I found this nice article in the April 08 Clean Run magazine, Backyard Dogs by Mary Ellen Barry.  This course is small enough for a back yard and only requires a handful of equipment, you can substitue the tunnel for a jump set  vertically.

As you can see in the below examples you can practice both front and rear crosses with the same sequence.  This is something that would be great to practice with your dog as it will help you decide what you should do when these types of sequences are presented, understand how your team should handle it.  Should you Front Cross or Rear Cross....?

Meet Willow.

When we lived in Canada we had a Congo African Grey parrot named BeeJay but we had to rehome her when we moved to the US.  The people who we rehomed her to said that we could get her back if we ever moved back to Canada.  So since it was determined that we would be moving back to Canada, Crystal and I have been really excited about having a parrot back in our lives.  Well Crystal emailed with the lady and I guess BeeJay has really settled into her new family so we will not be getting her back after all.  We are really happy that BeeJay is happy but also sad as we miss her.

So after some discussion Crystal and I decided that we do indeed still want a parrot....So meet Willow.

4 1/2 weeks old

We are not sure if it is a male or a female but we have already started calling it a "her" and its name is Willow.

I am really excited about the new addition for many many reasons, one being the training challenge.  Since moving to the US I have really taken a liking to animal training and think that a parrot will be a fantastic challenge.  Parrot, especially African Greys, are very intelligent animals and can learn unbelievable things.  They can learn colors, shapes, numbers, letters;  they can also play memory games, learn to shoot hoops and ride skateboards.  So as you can imagine my little training brain is now in overload.

If you like African Greys then you should check out The Alex Foundation http://www.alexfoundation.org/  Also search youtube.com for Alex the African Grey to see just how smart he was.

Also I am sure you have seen Einstein, she was on Animal Planets "Pet Star"  check out her youtube.com video also.