In the past two weeks, we haven’t been up to a whole lot.
Epic came with me to deliver a CARO rally obedience seminar in Winnipeg. It was her second time in hotel, her first time in an elevator and her first weekend in the portable fabric crate. We survived, the crate survived and no barking in the hotel room at the kids running in the hall!
She was very interested in the TV at this hotel and especially interested in the MiniPops commercial…but I’m not buying her the MiniPops CD!
Since we have our first rally trial coming up next month so I have been spending some time working on the rally exercises that we really find challenging.
“U” turns, 360 degree turns left and 270 degree turns left
Epic has the turning down quite nicely but somewhere, somehow I have taught her that if I make a tight turn to the left, she should probably sit down. Depending on the judge, this could cause a loss of points or an NQ. I could just make a wider turn but, that too would incur deductions in the rally ring so back to the stool/target work we go.
The video below is of me working with her moving to the left using a FitPAWS target instead of a stool. My plan is to click her for moving with her rear off the ground, and to reward her up in a stand. I was a bit late with the click a few times but you can see she is beginning to get it.
Sit – Stand
I have also been working a lot of stand from sit. I’d like to teach Epic a kick back stand where the dog anchors their front feet and stands from the rear as opposed to stepping into the stand. I like this stand because it looks sharp and because it keeps a dog in heel position which sets them up better for a straight down or sit from the stand, in my opinion. I don’t have any video this time but hope to have some next time.
Ayoka Bubar BA, CPDT-KA 