Last night's class

Obedience Class notes

Bungee did so well in last night's obedience class, she definitely redeemed herself from going zero to "ewww" in under 15 minutes time, earlier in the day. In fact, the instructor told us that with a little clean-up to her sits & downs she would be ready for a CD soon. I was a little shocked actually as I didn't think we'd worked nearly enough, but her heeling is nice and her skills are coming along. CD stands for Companion Dog and is "Level 1" of our obedience system. This means I better get moving on acquiring her CKC registration this week.

Her focus for me is really improving. I think her heeling could be a lot better but all things considered, she is really doing well. Poor Bungee, in heeling, most of the work to improve is mine. I do all sorts of things I shouldn't such as dropping my shoulder on her sit and poor footwork in the turns. There is so much emphasis on handler's carriage & form that I never learned properly. I'm afraid I've never cared for all of that much either, but I am now eager to get on with it correctly for her sake. I am also learning to find the best pace. If I am the right pace for her she holds a beautiful position.

Sits on leash, particularly at the start are a little hard for her as she would like to move a bit. Not as in move far, just as in fidget around. First it's the front feet, then it's the bum. Rarely both at the same time and she doesn't break her position completely either, but it is unacceptable. We have to do a lot of reinforcement for stillness & not shifting about & ruling out moving before a cue. Not a problem.

Sits during heeling are sometime a little crooked but her feet stay still when we come to a halt during heeling. If she is not straight in her sit then it's usually her rear that has swung out a little. So we have some homework for that one. During the long sit she holds her feet & body nicely still and maintains her position.

She is not too keen on "down", so just to say: "down" she is not quick to drop wherever she is, and some time she doesn't wish to go at all. However when we go over and do the long sit & long down she does both on the 1st cue every time and holds them nicely. I did not bother to tell the instructor how she can drive into a down in the crate game or table game like a flying jet coming in for a landing, as this is not agility! But this is something else for us to fix.

She does a very nice long down so far. Last night was really a challenge as the agility field is next to the obedience building, and there was a class of puppies on the field during our obedience class. The large barn doors to the field were wide open for the nice fresh evening air and Bungee and I wound up right in front of the giant open doors in the line-up! But she kept her position nicely. I was really proud of her. She got lots of cookies during that one!

I came home with all sorts of walking homework patters to practice for myself and the regular homework stuff for her, with emphasis on still feet in positions. I noticed she anticipated me a bit on the 1st recall, but the drive back to me is beautiful. I started out teaching her "Front" (obedience recall) from a chair and she is driving eagerly back, sitting nicely and close too. Stand for exam is going well.

Pirjo wrote to me about the Finnish Level 3 that her and Fun are working on and it really encouraged me to work hard too.

Lots to keep us busy this week plus agility skills, hiking & hill climbing too. Everything already needs mowing again as well so that will take up lots of time too. Spring growth amazes me every year. You'd think I'd get used to how often we must mow by now.