- 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
Rajah when we away last month snoozing in our airbnb
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
Rajah when we away last month snoozing in our airbnb
