Training with Rajah

Joy

Joy

Location
East Sussex
No photos, so you might not want to wade through this, unless you're a training geek! It's a way of helping me reflect on what I do with my borrowed dogs.
I've been working with Rajah for 3 years now, but I've only recently become aware of how attuned to spoken words/cues he is. Molly is the complete opposite - I've tried it out and I can say any word and she responds to the hand signal/body position (I discovered this when we were at L2 and losing marks for additional commands, which led me to realise that actually she responded just as well if I kept my mouth shut!) - so I suppose I thought all dogs were the same.

Rajah understood 'stand' to mean 'stand up' when he was in a sit, but when I said the same word as we came to a halt in heelwork because I wanted him to remain in a stand, he quickly sat and then bobbed up again. So I started to use 'wait' which works - he understands 'wait' to mean 'remain still in the position you're in until I say something else'. Today we worked on 'call front, side-step' - the first bit was ok (he understands 'front' means sit facing me) but the side-step wasn't very accurate. I suddenly realised that what I needed to say as I stepped to the side was 'front' again - lo and behold it worked! He has such a beautiful nature, so willing to please, I feel it's important I'm as careful as possible to give cues he will understand.

We've also worked at 'send to mat' this morning (which is a Rally L4 exercise) and he's beginning to get it really well. He headed to the mat and as he arrived I said 'down' and he lay down, even though he was facing away from me - then I clicked and went to him to treat.

I've also been back to my 'competition bible', 'Dog Sports Skills: Focus and Engage' by Denise Fenzi. For the last 2 sessions with Rajah I've introduced a new routine, suggested in the book, which seems to be working very well. I had Rajah on a harness while we walked from the car to the off-lead area (park or Downs), then I let him off lead for a free run. When he oriented towards me I did a few simple exercises and then spent some time training the new stuff. Then I put him back on his harness lead and we walked to a new part of the off-lead area that he hadn't already sniffed. I took off his harness and put his 'show lead' (very lightweight) on his collar. I put my bag of treats on the ground and walked him a few yards at heel. Then I removed the lead and we did half a dozen familiar exercises, put the lead back on and ran back to the treat bag for food. Then I put the harness and lead back on, walked back to the original area and let him off lead again for another free run. I hope that this will familiarise him with the routine for L3 and 4 at shows. At our last show I think he took the lead coming off as a signal that he was free to sniff - which in fairness to him it always has been up until now.

Oh go on then, here's a photo :mmm: Rajah when we away last month snoozing in our airbnb

1699882383131.jpeg
 
Jelinga

Jelinga

Location
Malvern Worcestershire
Joy said:
No photos, so you might not want to wade through this, unless you're a training geek! It's a way of helping me reflect on what I do with my borrowed dogs.
I've been working with Rajah for 3 years now, but I've only recently become aware of how attuned to spoken words/cues he is. Molly is the complete opposite - I've tried it out and I can say any word and she responds to the hand signal/body position (I discovered this when we were at L2 and losing marks for additional commands, which led me to realise that actually she responded just as well if I kept my mouth shut!) - so I suppose I thought all dogs were the same.

Rajah understood 'stand' to mean 'stand up' when he was in a sit, but when I said the same word as we came to a halt in heelwork because I wanted him to remain in a stand, he quickly sat and then bobbed up again. So I started to use 'wait' which works - he understands 'wait' to mean 'remain still in the position you're in until I say something else'. Today we worked on 'call front, side-step' - the first bit was ok (he understands 'front' means sit facing me) but the side-step wasn't very accurate. I suddenly realised that what I needed to say as I stepped to the side was 'front' again - lo and behold it worked! He has such a beautiful nature, so willing to please, I feel it's important I'm as careful as possible to give cues he will understand.

We've also worked at 'send to mat' this morning (which is a Rally L4 exercise) and he's beginning to get it really well. He headed to the mat and as he arrived I said 'down' and he lay down, even though he was facing away from me - then I clicked and went to him to treat.

I've also been back to my 'competition bible', 'Dog Sports Skills: Focus and Engage' by Denise Fenzi. For the last 2 sessions with Rajah I've introduced a new routine, suggested in the book, which seems to be working very well. I had Rajah on a harness while we walked from the car to the off-lead area (park or Downs), then I let him off lead for a free run. When he oriented towards me I did a few simple exercises and then spent some time training the new stuff. Then I put him back on his harness lead and we walked to a new part of the off-lead area that he hadn't already sniffed. I took off his harness and put his 'show lead' (very lightweight) on his collar. I put my bag of treats on the ground and walked him a few yards at heel. Then I removed the lead and we did half a dozen familiar exercises, put the lead back on and ran back to the treat bag for food. Then I put the harness and lead back on, walked back to the original area and let him off lead again for another free run. I hope that this will familiarise him with the routine for L3 and 4 at shows. At our last show I think he took the lead coming off as a signal that he was free to sniff - which in fairness to him it always has been up until now.

Oh go on then, here's a photo :mmm: Rajah when we away last month snoozing in our airbnb

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Very interesting to read, I like the way you think out of the box and train the dog in front of you, not one size fits all. I so miss those days of dog training.
 
HAH

HAH

Moderator
Location
Devon, UK
I’ve just caught up on this and it’s fascinating, thanks @Joy . I do admire your training savviness at being able to adapt to your individual dog, and Rajah sounds like an excellent willing character to work with. I particularly like the generosity between you - working out what the other one needs and bingo, getting a break through! I’m such a geek I want to know all the different exercises you refer to (this isn’t a request though, just my peccadillo!) - there’s so much you mention that I’d like to work on with Kipper and Stilton. Looking forward to any further updates, but no expectations!
 
Joy

Joy

Location
East Sussex
Today Rajah and I entered L3 and L4 at Copt Oak (Leicester) but sadly not successful. We scored 167 at L3 - a qualifying score is 175 - and in L4 I retired part way through the round because we were doing so badly. Rajah was just completely distracted and had his nose to the ground and was obviously wanting to bumble off - thankfully he didn't actually leave the ring but we dropped loads of marks for out of position and lack of attention.

I do feel a bit deflated as I have actually been working very hard at ring preparation every week as I planned in my November post, and he's been working really well in training sessions, in unsniffed areas and with treats left in my bag at a short distance. However it's very hard to duplicate the show conditions exactly. I'll have to have another good think when I'm less tired and see if I can revise my training plan.

My one happy moment at the show was when we scored full marks on the L3 bonus - the dog sits at heel, you walk 2 metres away and cue a down, then walk back past the dog (while they remain in down) turn and walk back to their side. A relief that Rajah clearly has this exercise cracked!

It also made me realise I didn't understand what a great worker Molly was in her heyday - placed at every show but the last (when I decided she'd had enough.)
 
HAH

HAH

Moderator
Location
Devon, UK
I’m in awe of what you train for with Rally, but I can understand the disappointment with so much prep. Hopefully you can bounce back given time - there’s must be so many different dynamics to a competition day which add to the challenge, it’s a tough gig.
 
Joy

Joy

Location
East Sussex
@Jelinga You have given me food for thought, thank you. Rajah was 5 last month so not very young, but even so I think you are right and the sniffing could have been displacement behaviour. Come to think of it he had several rolls during the day and a bit of scratching so perhaps he was feeling stressed. I came up a day early thinking it would be good for us both to have a restful day before the show (we did lots of off-lead walking yesterday but no training) but maybe I misjudged it and it was too overwhelming for him.
I'll see how training goes over the next month or so and perhaps try a show that I can reach without an overnight stay.
 
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