- Location
- East Sussex
Today I've been at a Somerset show doing Level 3 Rally with Tess. We got a qualifying score of 185 but I was a bit disappointed as she didn't perform as well as she can. Every so often she just stopped and looked around. However I did enjoy meeting up with other competitors and genuinely enjoyed their successes - the L1 winner was almost in tears with happiness so you couldn't help but be delighted for her. Watching other people perform also helps me learn by thinking about whether I am doing the good things they do and also avoiding the handling errors they make.
This afternoon Tess and I had a good long off lead walk at Herne Hill in Ilminster and we're staying overnight and heading home tomorrow.
I've had a chance to sit down and think through our problems and come up with (yet another!) new training plan. I think I need to train in many more different locations and also train using a ball as a reinforcer. Tess values a ball much more than food, but I've been reluctant to use it other than as a general short play at the end of a session because it's hard to do quick reps with a ball, and if I have one in my pocket all Tess can do is bounce up[ and down saying 'Gimmee the ball, gimmee the ball!' However I think I can use food when I'm training new exercises, so food in a pouch, and use the ball to sustain concentration. So ball in bag left on ground, 2 steps of heel, run to bag and get ball. Then gradually extend. My hope is that the desire for the ball will trump all the distractions at shows.
And here she is with her beloved ball!
This afternoon Tess and I had a good long off lead walk at Herne Hill in Ilminster and we're staying overnight and heading home tomorrow.
I've had a chance to sit down and think through our problems and come up with (yet another!) new training plan. I think I need to train in many more different locations and also train using a ball as a reinforcer. Tess values a ball much more than food, but I've been reluctant to use it other than as a general short play at the end of a session because it's hard to do quick reps with a ball, and if I have one in my pocket all Tess can do is bounce up[ and down saying 'Gimmee the ball, gimmee the ball!' However I think I can use food when I'm training new exercises, so food in a pouch, and use the ball to sustain concentration. So ball in bag left on ground, 2 steps of heel, run to bag and get ball. Then gradually extend. My hope is that the desire for the ball will trump all the distractions at shows.
And here she is with her beloved ball!
