Clean Run - April 2017 - 65
me and their toy instead of me
having to bust my butt to work at
the engagement that it felt like a
huge step backward.
This was the Mojo of a couple
months ago, not the playful little
boy I had felt like he had been becoming. Normally I try to make a
match like a real trial, keeping my
toy in my pocket and not letting on
that I have the all the goodies with
me. Other than praise and sometimes going in to pet the dog on
stopped contacts or the table, I
don't get out my toy until later in
the run and hope to surprise him
with a really exciting reward for
a great contact, weaves, or turn.
Mojo was so distracted, however,
that I had to show him I had the toy
right off the start line and reward
him every few obstacles. I had so
many things in my mind-was he
not really ready to compete? What
had I done or not done to have him
behave this way today? Was he 1)
stressed, 2) willfully disobedient,
or 3) just a young intact male?
I think it was a bit of all three. As
much as I dislike feeling like I have
to bring out high level food rewards
for distracted dogs that is just what
I did at ringside before his second
run in the match, which was slightly better. The third run was about
the same but I felt we were making
some progress with him tugging
on his leash after we entered the
ring. My own behavior that day did
not help. It was a stressful drive in
bad weather and traffic and I got to
the site distracted and late. We regrouped that evening and the next
day Mojo was back to the pup that
I really did think was ready to play
this game with me.
He never made me work to get him
to play again that weekend. If he
looked at all distracted I asked for
a trick or a sit and when I released
him he automatically took the
leash and tugged. My dogs have
been asked thousands of times to
do a quick sit or trick and then be
released with "break" to get their
toy. The cues of "sit" and then
"break" almost always trigger the
April 17 | Clean Run
response I want-the dog taking
the toy or leash to tug with me. I
also took time to sit by the ring
and just hang out with him doing
a bit of play and cuddling as well
as practicing down stays or tricks
that ask for control like head down
with duration and sit pretty where
he has to physically work to hold
the position. We both enjoyed the
hang-out time and his focus got
better and better through the twoday show.
Mojo's Skills
Two months ago I identified the
tire, table, and weaves as some
of our biggest weaknesses. The
tire and table are fine now and
the weaves are almost there. I
handled weaves at a distance in
multiple runs and one time even
layered a jump while he was weaving so I could get to a front cross
in order to handle the running Aframe. I did have one blow out of
the weaves. Before Mojo completed the weaves, I told him to "go
tunnel." This is something I can do
with my older dogs and they won't
leave the poles early, but he took
me literally and headed toward
the tunnel, skipping the last two
gates. I took him back around and
he finished them the second time.
Mojo usually gets better every
week in training, but a few weeks
ago we had a terrible training week
where we really took a step backward. My dog trainer brain knows
there are always ups and downs,
but sometimes it is hard to deal
with the training failures and not
feel like one yourself. I am always
reminding students, and myself,
that as long as we are continuing to move forward over longer
chunks of time, like a month or
more, then we should be pleased
with the progress. You are always
going to have setbacks of a day or
a week; in some cases, when we
have really confused our dog about
a skill we thought was trained, we
could have longer stretches of
training disasters. Getting your
signals crossed can happen at
times, but then it is time to take
a step back to try to evaluate why
our dogs are confused about cues
and skills.
My Training Hit List this Month
1. Teeter: I hate to say it, but even
after hundreds of great teeter
performances at home Mojo is
still coming up short on that
obstacle at shows, giving me a
4-on end behavior rather than
2-on/2-off as he is trained.
2. Running contact turns: Turns
off the dogwalk and A-frame
are also close to the top of my
"hit list." Mojo is learning to
do a left, right, go on, serpentine, and backside cue on the
dogwalk. This month I need to
move that skill to the A-frame
as well. I am using a target mat
and a Treat & Train to work
those skills and so far I am
happy with his progress.
3. Weaves: Handling drills with
independent weaves.
Mojo's Novice Report Card
* Start line: B. Good lead-outs
and stays, but he needs to
drive faster off the line. I am
going back to crate games
in the field to get him jazzed
about coming out of the stationary positions. Once he is
up and running he is a little
fireball.
* Directional skills: B+. Mojo
knows left, right, go on, back
of a jump cue, threadle cue,
wrap/collection cues, and to
come in close on "come to
heel" cues. He will occasionally
misinterpret a left or right cue
when he is in extension.
* Jump patterns and handling:
B-. He is getting better every
day but we are not ready for an
International Jumpers course.
Lots more short alphabet drills
in our future.
* Tunnel/contact discrimination: A! Since he loves his
contacts he is happy to forego
taking a tunnel even when one
is in close proximity.
65
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - April 2017
Contents
Clean Run - April 2017 - Cover1
Clean Run - April 2017 - Cover2
Clean Run - April 2017 - Contents
Clean Run - April 2017 - 4
Clean Run - April 2017 - 5
Clean Run - April 2017 - 6
Clean Run - April 2017 - 7
Clean Run - April 2017 - 8
Clean Run - April 2017 - 9
Clean Run - April 2017 - 10
Clean Run - April 2017 - 11
Clean Run - April 2017 - 12
Clean Run - April 2017 - 13
Clean Run - April 2017 - 14
Clean Run - April 2017 - 15
Clean Run - April 2017 - 16
Clean Run - April 2017 - 17
Clean Run - April 2017 - 18
Clean Run - April 2017 - 19
Clean Run - April 2017 - 20
Clean Run - April 2017 - 21
Clean Run - April 2017 - 22
Clean Run - April 2017 - 23
Clean Run - April 2017 - 24
Clean Run - April 2017 - 25
Clean Run - April 2017 - 26
Clean Run - April 2017 - 27
Clean Run - April 2017 - 28
Clean Run - April 2017 - 29
Clean Run - April 2017 - 30
Clean Run - April 2017 - 31
Clean Run - April 2017 - 32
Clean Run - April 2017 - 33
Clean Run - April 2017 - 34
Clean Run - April 2017 - 35
Clean Run - April 2017 - 36
Clean Run - April 2017 - 37
Clean Run - April 2017 - 38
Clean Run - April 2017 - 39
Clean Run - April 2017 - 40
Clean Run - April 2017 - 41
Clean Run - April 2017 - 42
Clean Run - April 2017 - 43
Clean Run - April 2017 - 44
Clean Run - April 2017 - 45
Clean Run - April 2017 - 46
Clean Run - April 2017 - 47
Clean Run - April 2017 - 48
Clean Run - April 2017 - 49
Clean Run - April 2017 - 50
Clean Run - April 2017 - 51
Clean Run - April 2017 - 52
Clean Run - April 2017 - 53
Clean Run - April 2017 - 54
Clean Run - April 2017 - 55
Clean Run - April 2017 - 56
Clean Run - April 2017 - 57
Clean Run - April 2017 - 58
Clean Run - April 2017 - 59
Clean Run - April 2017 - 60
Clean Run - April 2017 - 61
Clean Run - April 2017 - 62
Clean Run - April 2017 - 63
Clean Run - April 2017 - 64
Clean Run - April 2017 - 65
Clean Run - April 2017 - 66
Clean Run - April 2017 - Cover3
Clean Run - April 2017 - Cover4
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