My Pocket Chocolate Rocket!

[Beanwood]

Took Otter and Bramble for a lovely walk after work. Going to miss this when the evenings really draw in. But for now, I really enjoyed this walk! Otter was much calmer, well by "calmer" I mean I had a nano second of attention, and some real improvement in lead walking. Not sure what some people thought as I walked in endless boring circles in the middle of a field with Bramble yawning in a settle!

I hid a dummy through a gap in the hedge in a tree trunk at top of this memory. In the meantime, we had another dog pester us, eventually we managed to walk to the bottom. I very much doubted with all that distraction that Otter would take up the cue to take the retrieve, but she did! She is not used to running downhill, which is why she overshoots me completely, I had my heart in my mouth as she comes flying down the hill!

She is doing so well, I am so very, very incredibly proud of her

 

[Stacia]

@Beanwood, a good long memory. You will probably find that retrieving outweighs any distractions and Otter does look very keen

 

[Jacqui-S]

lovely girl

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

Wow, that's amazing how far (and how fast) she goes!

 

[Joy]

Fabulous!

 

[Candy]

Wow! What a GoodGirl!

 

[Anne123]

 

[Granca]

Well done, Otter!

 

[Loraseal]

So fast and you can see she loves it!!

 

[FayRose]

Wow, well done Otter. That does call for a good degree of concentration. I can't send Molly much more than a quarter of that distance.

 

[Selina27]

Well done otter

Lovely to see, such energy and enthusiasm !

 

[edzbird]

Fast! Lovely to see her utter enthusiasm for it. Well done that girl.

 

[Natalie]

She's just brilliant! You must be so pleased with what she can do now, given her early injury and operation..

 

[Beanwood]

Bit of fun steadiness...Casper joins in too!

Dummy thrown left and right...Casper takes the right one, just love the twinkle in his eye!

 

[Jacqui-S]

So fast she overshot
Thought Casper was going to do a lap of honour there....

 

[FayRose]

I so love Otter's enthusiasm, she must be an absolute delight to work with.

 

[Stacia]

Good steady girl. Have you thought of using a different word for going left or right? Get out, out, or away for left and on or out for right?

 

[Beanwood]

Good steady girl. Have you thought of using a different word for going left or right? Get out, out, or away for left and on or out for right?

Yes, good point. I am thinking "away" for left and "out" for left?

For now we are at the concept stage, getting Otter to watch me and my hand signals first, then will add the verbal cue later. Direction is a very new thing for her. I need to really get her steady, so she can focus on me first. Well, that's the plan!


Here she is, working on a bit of direction with steadiness. Otter needs to watch me carefully for cues. I just use my body language, arm out and leaning in the direction I would like her to take. Otter LOVES this game.


I have a steadiness workshop booked in a few weeks, going to ask for more advice re: directions at that workshop.

Here she is....

 

[Stacia]

She is a steady girl. It is often better to use this exercise against a hedgerow as the will learn to go left or right in a straight line. I tend to use 'get out' or 'out' to both left and right, but a lot of people say 'away' for left and 'out' for right. It doesn't really matter what you say as long as consistent and the dog understands it means go left or right. I say 'back' for going straight back. Have a great time at the steadiness workshop, I envy you, I miss those days of training.

 

[Beanwood]

Have a great time at the steadiness workshop, I envy you, I miss those days of training.

Hey! Meet you there? You could come down and observe, your feedback would be so useful