2nd Rally Class

There were fewer people there today. The woman with the Poodle wasn't there.

The course
1. Front and Finish. Tom's finish is coming along nicely. Not yet to the point of not stepping back but getting there. You can not take a step forward in the real thing after the dog does the finish to get them into a straight sit. So, I need to make sure Tom learns to go out far enough to sit straight. If he doesn't go back far enough when he turns he is crooked. In the front I'll need to get him to do it without a step back. Wonder how'd you clicker train that. I should get out the Pamela Dennison book again from the library.
2. Left Turn
3. Jump. In novice you have to unclip your dog's leap send them over the jump and then get them into heel again by having food in their face when they come off the jump. I mentioned Tom zooming and kept him on leash. He jumped quite nicely over the broad jump. I think he really gets the "jump" command. I always wonder how close his definitions of cues and what he has to do are to mine. I usually figure he's picking up on environmental cues. Like he knows dog walk when there's one in front of him but if I said dog walk and it was behind I'd be surprised if he turned around and went up it. And then there are body cues!
4. Strange turn thing where I turn left (into him and pass the leash behind myself and he comes out on the other side. After a little practice he sort of got it. He was willing to follow to figure out what he had to do. I've spent a little time teaching a left heel, to make the point that he doesn't have to stay on my left for agility, so the first time he came out on my right. But he got it the second time.
5. The Spiral Left (dog on inside). I find this one easy. Thing to remember, keep the signs on your right. So you had to cross behind the directional sign to get it right.
6. Halt. One step, halt. 2 steps, halt. 3 steps, halt. I think the dogs like this one. There's a little variation as well as repetition. Very good on this one. Sometimes Tom nails his sits and sometimes he goes crooked.
7. Halt. Step forward and one step right and call dog to heel position. Again, Tom finds this totally intuitive.
8. About turn. I should practice the foot work a little on these. I get the concept but a little muscle memory would probably be helpful.
9. 270 degree right turn. Tell the dog to hurry and person pivots in place. Think of being on a dinner plate. I need to figure out how to put hurry on cue. My clicks (the horse kind) sort of mean that as well as pay attention direction change.
10. Stop and Down. No sit! Tom did well on this one. Should practice a few times but he doesn't have a problem.

Tom was much admired again. Big Smile. For his puppylook and cuteness and intelligence. He is really good at this sort of thing. I need to learn how to teach precise commands because I haven't really before. I've never had the need to have anything more than pet level obedience. There is some preciseness in agility but the movements are bigger and so there's a bit more leeway. It's not like having a sit that looks a little crooked if the dog's butt is an inch to the side.

I got to watch more tonight. Jenny told a woman with a Golden to correct the dog because he was refusing and being really poky to down. Then she explained why she used the correction. And it did work. The dog's performance improved immediately. I thought about how you could have the same affect positively. Bringing out a clicker works for Tom. And upping the treat value can do that too. I noticed that maybe half the people in the class had choke collars and I'm the only one with a clicker. I used it for the attention game mostly. I was worried if it would distract other dogs. But now that I think about it Julie uses the clicker while waiting at agility and neither of my dogs who have been extensively clicker trained react to it all. I think I'll worry less especially because I have the iclick which is way quieter. I love it! Next time I see one in a store I want to get a couple more. Still think I'd opt for the box kind for outdoor work, though.

Jenny commented my Aggie sweatshirt and asked if I knew Mrs. Pelletier. She is friends with and likes Mrs. Pelletier.

I really like the rally commands. Most of them are really interesting and fun and don't seem dreary or pointless. They seem like a small challenge to train and get your dog to do.

Things to work on this week:
Continue Finish work
Maybe some offleash games
Walk to down
Strange turn thing
Try the difficult "halt, sidestep, call dog into heel position" That'll test Tom's definiton of heel position!
Fronts from Heel position
Hurry on 270 degree turns