Sunday Practice at the Barn

We had a great practice in the horse barn Sunday!  Stewie really needed to run and stretch his legs after the recent snow and cold. We have been practicing our tugging, using Susan Garrett's Brilliant Recall program for guidance. Stewie's tugging has really improved! He tugged inside the barn, and also outside with other dogs and horses present. He was really keeping his focus on me.

Click here for a recent Susan Garrett post on tugging duration.

Revisiting Crate Games by Susan Garrett

Today since it was raining, I got our the Crate Games CD, and brought in Stewie's travel crate. We have not done this formally since last winter, but Stewie remembered it. He has a memory like a little elephant! We had a great practice with some of the games, and the cat was a handy distraction.
Tomorrow I will bring over my son's dog Cleveland to really up the distraction factor.

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Weave Work Day 8

Today I added two poles to the far ends of my set up. So now Stewie will be weaving 6 poles, with a second set of 6 poles about 15 feet away. I set up the tunnel again to get him building up some speed and set the exit of the tunnel at about 8:30 on the clock. Stewie missed the first 2 tries, but still wanted to keep working, and he made the next two tries. He had to work hard to make it and not enter at the 2nd pole.
Then we changed to the other side. This time it was a jump at about 8:00 into the weaves. He missed the first try and then went on and nailed the next two tries. We went back to the tunnel entry and he got it and we ended on a positive note.
Great job Stewie!

All all Agility Participants!

Your Help is Requested.


Hello all,
I have a friend that is doing her PhD studying injuries in agility dogs. She needs all of our help. She has put together a survey for any of us that have participated in agility. It doesn't matter if your dog has suffered an injury or not, in order to get good data Kim needs to hear from everyone! Here is the link for her survey
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Fh0ILhkcrDFizdmntlaFcQ_3d_3d

See Susan Garrett's blog for more info!
http://susangarrett.wordpress.com/2009/03/30/a-first-for-agility/

Weave Work Day 7

We didn't do any agility work on Sunday since it was raining and we had a full day of agility training on Saturday. We ran out and did a few fast weaves today between raindrops. We started with a curved tunnel at about an 8:00 position and sent him to the tunnel from about 20 feet away, so that he would approach the weaves at speed. He got the entry and went on to weave both sets of poles very well!
I varied the side he was working off of and used a jump also before the weaves. He did 90% success rate, we did 9 or 10 repetitions and he only missed one,and nailed it the next time.
Good job Stewie, Elite Weavers here we come in May at Northeast Agility's May 2-3 trial in Greenfield, MA.

Also, we had a great time and learned alot at the workshop Saturday, I will try to get that post out tomorrow.

Weave Work Day 4

Today I set up another set of 4 poles about 15 feet away. I sent him through the 1st set, and stopped to reward him as Susan Garrett recommends. Then I set him through both sets and then rewarded him. Then a put a jump about 12 feet away at about 9:00 and send him through both sets. He is weaving very well.
Then I started him in the opposite direction so the new 2nd set of poles was at the beginning and he ran by that set and went to the 2nd set. I just told him to try again and he got it right the second time.
We did about 8 repetitions tonight and I was very pleased. Stewie is weaving confidently and very fast, and driving to his pouch with a high value treat inside.
It was a good day 4.

Weave work Day 3

Stewie and I had a really short session today, since he was more interested in sniffing around the yard, and we had already taken a pretty long hike.
We started back at 9:00, where we had left off yesterday and he got his first entry, missed the 2nd and got the third. After I let him play for a bit, we started on the other side of the arc, at about 4:00. He got the 1st one, missed the 2nd, and I thought he was going to miss the 3rd try but he really worked hard to get it. It was great, and we ended the session with a jackpot.
I thought this was great progress, since Susan Garrett, says it is good to fail sometimes so the dogs learn what we want them to do.

Weave Work day 2

Stewie and I worked on a set of 4 weave poles again today. We did more round the clock training, up to 9:00 and Stewie nailed every one! We ended on a good note and I let him spend the rest of the time exploring the yard looking for moles, one of his favorite things next to agility.
Hopefully by the time we trial in early May, his weaves will be fast and furious. We need to get one more Elite Weavers Q to get his Weaves Title.

It's Spring, time to train agility

Happy Spring! I celebrated by getting some equipment out in the backyard today. First we worked on some weave pole training. I'd gotten Susan Garrett's Excellence in Weave Pole Training
this winter and finally got started on it. I started Stewie on 4 poles and started right in on working the entries around the clock and I did quite well with throwing his bait pouch at the end of the weaves. Stewie was very enthusiastic about weaving and we did a few reps and ended on a great note. We will spend some more time on it tomorrow.
After dinner we went back out to the yard and did some work on directionals again. Today we worked on lefts again and he got 9 out of 10 correct.

Elephant Trick, in progress.............

Here is some video of Stewie's trick progressing.
Remember I am very new at this!

Our Elephant Trick in progress

Susan Garrett suggested the "elephant trick" for help with hind end awareness on her new DVD, Excellance in Weave Pole Training.
First I clicked for one paw on the flower pot
Then both paws
Now Stewie is holding the position for a couple of seconds
Still clicking and treating for holding the position. Tomorrow we will work on rotating his hind end around the base of the pot.

Try to tire out the Terrier

This winter has been really tough to get Stewie enough exercise. We haven't been spending much time outside. So we are doing a lot of activities in the house. We practice go on's to a target at the end of the hall. We also practice our contact behavior using a mouse pad. We are learning a new trick that is supposed to be good for hind end awareness, putting his front feet on a stool and circling around it. I call it the Elephant Trick! We started shaping that the other night. Stewie already knows to put his front feet on top of the stool. I will take some pictures soon and post them. 

Winter is also a great time to practice start line stays and verbal releases, and Crate Games, Stewie loves that! 

Any good ideas to tire him out, please send them our way!

Crate Games!

I brought Stewie's portable crate into the house, and tonight Stewie got in it and wanted to play Crate Games! So I got our Crate Game CD out and did a little refresher. We did quite a few of the games last winter and they were fun. Stewie was much better in his crate at trials this past season. It has a lot of fun games in it and is great for doing some thinking games when it is too cold to exercise outside.
I would recommend this DVD to anyone who uses a crate and wants their dog to love it.
Click here to go to Susan Garrett's website

Susan Garrett's 2 x 2 Weaves

Well I ordered Susan Garrett’s 2x2 Weave Pole Training, 12 Poles in 12 Days (DVD) on January 2nd, and can't wait for it to arrive.
Some of our club member's are going to view it and then make a plan for some training sessions in Jan and Feb. Hopefully it will come by this weekend, so I can spend some time reviewing it.