I am pleased to once again co-host this week’s Follow-up Friday Blog Hop with Heart Like A Dog.  Thanks so much to Jodi at Heart Like A Dog for asking me!

It’s the the blog hop that lets you wrap up your week and leads you right into the weekend.

Hosted By Heart Like A Dog
Hosted By Heart Like A Dog

Thank you for all of the great comments this week.

Monday Mischief–Bring On Spring!

No Spring here yet.  As I was writing this last night, we were getting more snow showers.  What good is that extra hour of daylight when it is always snowing?

Frozen Training

raisingdaisy commented:

I’m always so impressed at the sharp whistle-sit response of your dogs. Daisy would just keep on running.

You are very kind, but the brown dawgs do not always have sharp whistle-sits and sometimes they keep on running as Thunder demonstrated the week before.

I Am Pretty Sure Thunder Is Auto-Casting Here--The Bumpers Are Behind Him And Left, Not Right
I Am Pretty Sure Thunder Is Auto-Casting Here–The Bumpers Are Behind Him And Left, Not Right

Sometimes the dog is confused, but sometimes the dog is working its own program (or auto-casting).  When the dog is working its own program, it might get an e-collar correction as a way to stop the dog or to get its attention.  With handling, what you hope to achieve is a dog and handler working as a team, but there can definitely be bumps along the way.

Storm did not qualify for her first Senior test because she blew the water blind which was the last thing she had to do.  She decided that she knew where the blind was better than her handler.  She did not.  Thunder had the same issue with a Finished test last year.  All he had to do was complete the water blind, but he decided to work his own program and got an NQ score for his effort.

So you see our dogs are a work in progress and need drill work.

murphydogs asked:

Those are complex drills, is there anything specific you’re looking to accomplish with your guys when you set them up, or they just variations on handling drills?

We are working on control.  The idea is not for the dog to do the drill perfectly.  The idea is to be able to stop the dog and change its mind so that it will take a cast to a different pile of bumpers.  What you want to see is the dog making an effort to take the cast you have given.  It may be off line, but you are looking for effort.

At tests there is always something that can cause the dog to go off line, or refuse a cast.  In the Master tests it is not unusual for a blind or two to be run in between where the marks were thrown.  A dog may want to go back to the old fall looking for a blind, (again as Thunder did the week before).  So we work on these types of drills to hopefully minimize this at a test.

Thunder Nice Whistle Sit
Thunder Nice Whistle Sit
He Is A Bit Confused, But Is Making The Effort To Take The Left Over Cast
He Is A Bit Confused, But Is Making The Effort To Take The Left Over Cast
Success!
Success!

A Visit?

The same thing happened the last time we had Freighter with the trainer.  We were missing him a lot.  He was happy to see us, but he got over it very quickly.  Kids!

Freighter From Last July--Not So Interested In His People Here Either
Freighter From Last July–Not So Interested In His People Here Either

It is supposed to be a bit warmer and maybe, just maybe, we will see the sun for training this weekend.

Have a good one!

Thanks again to Heart Like A Dog for allowing me to co-host.

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19 thoughts on “Follow-up Friday 3-22-13”

  1. Always interesting to hear about your training techniques and comforting to know the dogs do their own thing sometimes!!!

  2. Love reading about your training exercises…Each mistake is a learning opportunity Happy FUF

  4. I learned something new today “auto-casting”, Doggy does it a lot.
    I’ll now sound smart when I tell my friends “Doggy is an auto-caster” whenever he doesn’t sit when told.
    Have a nice and warmer weekend.

    1. LOL auto-casting is more than just not sitting. It is moving their own direction. I bet Doggy doesn’t do that! 😉

      1. Ohhh yeah, he does, I say sit, he goes to the kitchen, I say stay he goes for the ball, I say bring the ball he sits.
        He’s an auto-caster lol

  5. Thank you for co-hosting!! I love your FUFs and I love how you explain what and how you do things. Do you keep notes while you are out training? You take so many pictures, I wonder how you keep track of everything?

    Oh and if you see spring this weekend, please tell her CT needs her. 🙂 Have a great weekend!

    1. I try to take pictures to help me remember what we did and I have those organized by date. If I am going to draw a diagram, I have to do it a day or so after training or I will not be able to do it correctly (and maybe I still make mistakes…lol). Thankfully our trainer explains what we are doing and why or I would not have a prayer. 🙂

      Thanks for asking me to co-host. I always enjoy it. 🙂

  6. I hope you get some warmer weather for the weekend. It is cold here and blowing a gale. The park was not nice today as the wind slaps your face. Hurry up Spring.
    Have a fabulous Friday.
    Best wishes Molly

  8. Spring paid us a visit for a few days… but yesterday afternoon a blizzard gave us 6″ of that white stuff with more on the way! The dogs are thrilled. LOL (Me, not so much)

  9. Very interesting… I love learning about dog sports. It sort of makes me want to get into dog sports with Maya & Pierson (Maya, dock diving; Pierson, agility). But then I think about all the work involved! 😀 You all are great. It looks like both you and the dogs have a lot of passion for it.

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