Homework List - Mid-May

Here's Bungee, just looking good, like everyday!








Here's her homework list,
(...or why we don't get to our blog every day! :-))

Fitness
Hill climbing - walking not running on long, steep hills, alternating days, 40-45 min.
"Dance" - standing up on rear legs, moving forward & back, turning.
Stair climbing, again, walk not run - we get lots of this in a 3 story house.
Several of the tricks & turning moves add to the rear-end build-up list.

To bring you up-to-date, when we returned home from 3 months in our RV, Bungee was really flat in the quads. Opportunities for conditioning had we been home over the winter would not have been much better with the snow & ice winter brought. After veterinary consult with Dr. Leslie Woodcock, we came home with a plan to start putting some proper muscle on her for safety in agility. Leslie's clinic has a fabulous physio pool & underwater treadmill but as it is really far and our training schedule was not set at last visit, I opted first to see how well I could do with her improvements from home.

We are going for a re-check, a turn in the underwater treadmill for strengthening and a swim in the pool Wed. evening. As Bungee has not yet learned to swim or been "in water" other than a bath, we should have lots to tell you about by Thursday!

Jump Grids
About once a month I set up puppy-beginner jump grids for Bungee that I've documented and learned at Susan Salo seminars.

When she was younger she would work grids with me one morning a month. Now I generally school her with jumping for 2-3 consecutive days, with about 15-20 min. of grid work spread over 2 or 3 sessions in a morning or afternoon. Then we take a break for 4 - 6 weeks with little to no jumping. It has been 2 weeks since her May grid work. This week we did do some work over a single jump on a low height, while working some handling skills.

Bungee's session this month included these grids:
Set-Point Jump with "Spider"
Even Grid
Progressive Grid
One-Stride Grid
Bend Work

There is one other grid for diagonals we may work on once at about the 3-week point, using jump bumps only. We will do only 2 or 3 two-minute sessions one morning, just to work evenly on different leads (if she is right-footed or left-footed working both helps her become equally comfortable on both leads). Once she is older these are the kind of things I will leave set up for a week at a time, and hit them for about 1 minute every day in warm-ups, start-line practices, etc.

Balance
Four Paws In A Bowl - I use a soft, flexible silicone rubber, water bowl from "Planet Dog". Bungee will stand in any small thing but this is really comfortable for her and rolls up to travel.
Bungee started balance work so early, she can balance on just about anything including:
Dyna Discs of all sizes, two small Dyna Discs stacked, Dyna Discs of various inflation levels increase or decrease the challenge to balance, round balance boards, big & little Buja balls, giant peanut ball, big Balance Ball, a step stool, wobble board, a log, a narrow stump, a big pillow, whatever "opportunity" we have around.

I shaped Bungee to get on a single Dyna Disc and on a wobble board about 12 weeks of age, before advancing to other things.

For safety & fairness I help stabilize anything that will roll!

Rear-End Awareness
Perch work - (Bungee's perch work is amazing!)
Back-up - looking for distance with head down
Lifting right rear leg - up & down 10 times
Lifting left rear leg - up & down 10 times
Back-up 3 or 4 stairs to our backyard deck or front porch
Back-up into crate
Back-up over a low board
Back-up around a bend, two bends
Ladder Work - Walking through ladder on ground, carefully using all 4 feet.
New: Back-up through Ladder on ground, we're at 6 rungs at present.

Note: Backing up through a ladder is Stage TWO of this exercise. STAGE ONE Ladder work is walking through forward, carefully with all 4 feet.

If your dog can back-up on cue, and walks carefully through a ladder using all four feet comfortably, and you decide to try this, here is a tip: start at the last rung and back over one rung only, then two, then three, etc., as the dog can handle it.

Tricks
Tricks are too much fun some time! (we have serious homework to do too you know!) But, they all serve a good purpose, even if it's just for fun, the list is always growing.

Sit Pretty (front paws up), strengthens back, hips & thighs
Dance - (stand on 2 back legs, Dr.'s orders)
Stretch
Take a Bow (also good stretch)
Sit & Wave Right Paw
Sit & Wave Left Paw
Cross Your Paws
Catch It! (catch a ball - pure fun)
Back Up and do any of the above
Doggie Yoga
Say Your Prayers
Find the Keys
Clean up your dishes (bring me your bowl!)
Watch Me - I've always taught this and like having a "watch" command on cue with all my dogs, not really a trick but didn't know where else to put it

Tricks we're avoiding
Any moves that send Bungee to pass behind me
Any moves that require tapping or pushing things with paws such as turning on those battery operated lights you press on-press off (to eliminate ANY confusion in contact position for nose touches and/or risk of "busy feet" at contact position).

Games
Crate Games* (see end of page for more info)
Sit-Tug-Sit ***
1, 2, 3 Go*** a start-line game
The Bang Game*** a teeter game - Kvarkin kids Mia knows this one!
The Elevator Game another teeter game (I think this one has been around forever, I remember breeders doing this with pups back in the 80's, but the name is new & pretty cute)
Two-Table Game*** (also could be a spin-off of Crate Games & 2 crate game)
Two-Toy Game*** teaches handling & understanding motion
Hide & Seek - just like you played as kids only with your dog, this one's our own game, it's great for recalls, laughing when your dog finds you (or laughing silently a tiny bit when they can't!) Great for generally keeping it light.

Agility
Circle work - handling
Contacts - nose touches off travel plank & stairs
Wrap it tight - bend work over one low jump
Side & Close (starting to be a bit out-dated with handling today)
Lining up (hands-free!) in a sit to my right or left (start line)
Front-crosses on the flat
Rear crosses on the flat
Sit stay
Chase Recalls
Release - always & forever...proofing the release
3 Directionals:
1. Left - awesome improvement!
2. Right - awesome improvement!
3. Go - drive ahead
Plank work
Introducing various pieces such as the tire - 6" setting, chute, table
One Jump work** - very limited work at this stage due to Bungee's age/growth, using just a jump bump or a 6" (13 cm.) bar, mainly to put value in jumping
**see One Jump work at bottom for more info
Weave Poles - not yet, but soon! We'll put this one on You Tube from day one. Very excited & anxious but we'll be good & wait until growth plates are closed.)

Obedience
Recalls - for speed & drive
Front - for position
Sit
Stand
Down
Long Sit
Long Down
Heel
Finish (we will do a swing finish so as not to conflict with agility handling)
Attention - and focus (!! our hardest lesson !! :-) Busy little Border Collie, so easily distracted by other dogs in obedience! ...not enough action as agility I suppose!


Is That All?
I have probably forgotten things here & there. Training time is probably only about 15 minutes a day total, usually spread between several small sessions throughout the day.

The important stuff (handing/contacts/strengthening/basic skills) we get to a couple of times a week, other stuff we're lucky to see once every week. I tried to shape one new trick every week for a long time. But now "real" homework has taken over. If you are like me you find that your dog reaches an age somewhere about 10 months to a year, where it seems agility homework increases exponentially. From then on it seems a challenge to keep everything topped up. But, we do it for fun and it is, I'm sure the variety keeps it interesting for both of us.

*Crate Game - You've got to learn this game! No matter what sport you do with your dog, this is perhaps the best, definitely most useful, most all-around beneficial game you will EVER play with your dog! I learned it 1st with my Border Terrier, creating big improvement in speed and drive, both in need of some repair after my earlier training mistakes. I taught it next to my very high-drive field Golden with brilliant results that stayed with her for life, allowing her to have the finest impulse control and start lines as any ever seen. Bungee is now my 3rd dog to learn this game and really enjoys it. The benefit she will know in her competitive career is enormous. Check it out - It is great stuff!

**One Jump work (a workshop and/or DVD) includes 17 agility handling exercises you can teach your dog using just one jump - brilliant stuff! Click on the name for a link. My "red dog" Ketch, field Golden extraordinaire, can be seen in this video for a brief moment, as we were there for the filming on one of the many times we've been to this seminar. I can't recall if I got in the shot too or not, but Ketchy OF COURSE makes it all worthwhile! :~))

***P.S. To give credit where credit is due, at least 95% of the rear-end and body awareness training, agility games, lots of other stuff mentioned here, plus all of the shaping we do, we learned from Susan Garrett or someone she brought to Say Yes, including Bob Bailey and his band of traveling chickens.

As you can see, we have enough homework to keep us busy about a year if we never took another class anywhere! But we continue to take classes, enjoying them thoroughly and in fact, excelling in them. I find that teaching these things, especially the 1st year of a dog's life before they can really do anything with equipment, keeps my dogs highly motivated, confident, happy, and helps brings me to the start line with a ready dog.