Yep! Kali and I just took our third private lesson with Mary Kay today - and I am even MORE excited to get her into some group classes. She is so eager to please and so dang smart, it makes teaching her even more fun. She was able to get on all contact equipment, except teeter- and we worked her "touch" command with it and she just drove to her target. It was a lot of fun to see her little mind at work. She even got her weaves moved closer together, with no issue. Next lesson, we'll start sequencing more, but for now, at home, we have a lot of little foundation stuff we get to work.
She is so much fun, I hope to get her off the dock at some point too! We'll see. I put a new video on youtube, that has a little clip of the girls in it, so take a peak! Hope everyone is well!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
Smarty Pants.
Well, I take back EVERY single thing I said about Kali not wanting to please me. She had her very first private lesson with MaryKay to introduce her to agility equipment. Holy smokes, that little girl is smart as a whip! We brought out the clicker, I'd stand near an obstacle and she would work her tail off to figure out what I wanted! She offered jump after jump after jump, she also offered the A-frame, the tire and even the open weave-a-matics! The only thing we had to lure her into was the tunnel, but she picked up on that as well. She is such a good girl!
SO.. needless to say, little Miss Kali has just officially started her agility career. For now, we'll stick to private lessons to work her on the equipment more - as I know she still has her head issues with other dogs - but I'd like to get her into a group class next session. (this session starts this week, so it gives us 7 more weeks to work her in privates)
I have also finished her ILP paperwork and need to pick up the photos from Walgreens, then I'll be sending her paperwork in, so she can hopefully compete in AKC agility!
I still plan on taking her and Pebbles both to the dock, once our dock is built and we'll be seeing if we can get them to be DockDogs as well! :-)
Very exciting day... this weekend, we'll be going to the park (Tractor and Kali) to work some more basic stuff with her and some remote sits with Tractor. Happy Friday everyone!
SO.. needless to say, little Miss Kali has just officially started her agility career. For now, we'll stick to private lessons to work her on the equipment more - as I know she still has her head issues with other dogs - but I'd like to get her into a group class next session. (this session starts this week, so it gives us 7 more weeks to work her in privates)
I have also finished her ILP paperwork and need to pick up the photos from Walgreens, then I'll be sending her paperwork in, so she can hopefully compete in AKC agility!
I still plan on taking her and Pebbles both to the dock, once our dock is built and we'll be seeing if we can get them to be DockDogs as well! :-)
Very exciting day... this weekend, we'll be going to the park (Tractor and Kali) to work some more basic stuff with her and some remote sits with Tractor. Happy Friday everyone!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Touch Command
Today, we worked more on our "touch" command, with the clicker. I am hoping this will lay some groundwork for Pebbles' contacts in agility. (and Kali's too, if we can get her into it!) I had my sister take some video of each of them - they are pretty cute, so I wanted to share. I am still such a newbie to dog training - but baby steps.. together, we'll get there.
I am in the process of filling out the ILP paperwork for Kali. I took some photos yesterday and just need to figure out a good registered name for her. If you have any ideas, let me know! :)
Kali has a private lesson/evaluation with our agility trainer, Mary Kay, on Friday at 9am. We'll see what she says! Tomorrow, Kali and Tractor and I are going out to Lianne's facility so we can do some more basic work - and Tractor will get to do some jump/weave/tunnel sequences!
More updates soon!
I am in the process of filling out the ILP paperwork for Kali. I took some photos yesterday and just need to figure out a good registered name for her. If you have any ideas, let me know! :)
Kali has a private lesson/evaluation with our agility trainer, Mary Kay, on Friday at 9am. We'll see what she says! Tomorrow, Kali and Tractor and I are going out to Lianne's facility so we can do some more basic work - and Tractor will get to do some jump/weave/tunnel sequences!
More updates soon!
Monday, February 23, 2009
Click!
Welcome to the girls of the Variety Pack's blog. I have started this, in hopes that it will motivate me to keep working with them. I'm sure if you're reading this, you have followed Tractor and my adventures via his blog, but I would really love to get Kali and/or Pebbles into some fun stuff as well. Pebbles just graduated from her first agility class and starts the next level in two weeks. She seems to enjoy it and I figure this will give me a place to share videos and blog about her progress. She is a fun loving dog and she is very eager to please. I would love to see if I can get her to go off the dock, now that our club has their very own dock/pool. She likes to swim alright and loves to do anything that involves her and I bonding - but she isn't so keen on going off the edge of even the pool, so we might struggle with that, but I definitely want to try!
Kali, is completely opposite - she isn't so eager to please me, but she has a lot more natural drive in her. She is very treat motivated and works well on several training tools. She is really a smart little dog and I think she is stubborn because of how smart she is. She would be a natural at both dock diving and agility, but right now, she likes to perform on her terms when she is in the mood.
Tonight, I took the girls out, individually and worked them each using a couple different training tools. I focused on the "touch" command - and used a clicker. Pebbles is a little... slower (ha!) than Kali, but started picking it up after just a few minutes and was so bouncy/wiggly the entire time. We also worked a few agility things, including "turn" around a traffic cone and some jumps over plastic bins I have. (hey, gotta work with what we have!)
Kali, on the other hand, picked up immediately what I wanted - on both "touch" and "place" - and when I tell you she is smart.. she is so sneaky! For the "touch" command, she knew I wanted her to touch the contact (a tupperware lid) - well she started getting so excited about her click/treat, that she would whip around to the lid - but not quite get to it and snap her head back to look at me - like she was trying to fake me out. I would just stand and wait, and she would rush back and slap her paw down and then come back to me. She is a funny little girl - and I think if her and I can work together a bit, I can easily get her off the dock! Agility will be more of a challenge for her, but we'll see where this all takes us.
Heidi is doing well still - she has been on Proin now for 2.5 weeks and so far - we are seeing a little improvement. Her stitches came out and her hair is already growing back from her surgery. She also has gained 1.8lbs since her surgery.. yay!
More updates to come - hopefully I'll stay on top of this!
Kali, is completely opposite - she isn't so eager to please me, but she has a lot more natural drive in her. She is very treat motivated and works well on several training tools. She is really a smart little dog and I think she is stubborn because of how smart she is. She would be a natural at both dock diving and agility, but right now, she likes to perform on her terms when she is in the mood.
Tonight, I took the girls out, individually and worked them each using a couple different training tools. I focused on the "touch" command - and used a clicker. Pebbles is a little... slower (ha!) than Kali, but started picking it up after just a few minutes and was so bouncy/wiggly the entire time. We also worked a few agility things, including "turn" around a traffic cone and some jumps over plastic bins I have. (hey, gotta work with what we have!)
Kali, on the other hand, picked up immediately what I wanted - on both "touch" and "place" - and when I tell you she is smart.. she is so sneaky! For the "touch" command, she knew I wanted her to touch the contact (a tupperware lid) - well she started getting so excited about her click/treat, that she would whip around to the lid - but not quite get to it and snap her head back to look at me - like she was trying to fake me out. I would just stand and wait, and she would rush back and slap her paw down and then come back to me. She is a funny little girl - and I think if her and I can work together a bit, I can easily get her off the dock! Agility will be more of a challenge for her, but we'll see where this all takes us.
Heidi is doing well still - she has been on Proin now for 2.5 weeks and so far - we are seeing a little improvement. Her stitches came out and her hair is already growing back from her surgery. She also has gained 1.8lbs since her surgery.. yay!
More updates to come - hopefully I'll stay on top of this!
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