SAR, Obedience and the Wubba
SAR Training
Tuesday night Mason and I met Eric at work and we headed over to an open space land that has a huge field in the middle of it. The grass was at least 6 inches over Mason’s head. After we determined which direction the wind was blowing, I took Mason to a mowed path over on the far side of the field from where Eric was going to hide. We waited awhile and then headed out to grid out the field. I had no idea where Eric was hiding besides that it was on the far side so my grid was kind of sloppy (he tells me). Oh well, I will keep practicing. We got pretty close before Mason started on the scent cone but he did find him and that’s what’s important. After he got his tug reward Eric took him back to where we had started and I hid. Eric knew exactly where I was going though so his grid was a lot better and while it took Mason awhile he was quicker at finding me. I love watching him work the scent cone - it’s so neat! He was pretty hot and tired after this so we headed home.
Obedience Class #4
We had class finally on Wednesday night. It was originally supposed to be our last one but with all the cancellations it is the third to last one. I tried Midas with both his flat collar and his prong collar on and switching the leash between the two. He did farely well. We did a practice test where she ran each of the dogs through the testing points and then at the end we worked on what was harder for each of us. Midas and I have to work on loose leash walking. While it’s 10x better than it used to be, in that he is not hauling me all over the place, he does seem to like to keep the leash pretty taut, which is a no-no for CGC. He did have a moment of excitability which would also have disqualified us, but I can be content with the fact that the other dog started it 
. He’s doing a ton better with the whining, but if there’s a dog not in our class but still within his sight, he whines - which is also grounds for disqualification. The next two weeks (before the test) we will be practicing a ton on these things. I would really like him to pass.
Water Wubba
Midas’s foot is finally doing well enough that I felt we could do a little bit more work on The Catch as his last event it was clear he had forgotten the goal of the game (and my throws need more work). I also got him a Water Wubba as his new dock jumping toy since the Tug was retired for Mason’s use in SAR. I’m glad I decided to practice this as it took a couple of tries before I figured out how I had to hold it so that he could consistently catch it. He was all revved up for the game too. He sat and stayed perfectly and was extremely tense and alert and blasted out of the sit to me every time. It was fantastic. Next I brought Mason out. I left off with his training at the point where he was consistently lunging after the toy. He has come leaps and bounds since then. He has a strong enough sit that I can get a couple of feet away from him and he is now jumping and catching the toy. I didn’t have him go too far off the ground and still his landings seemed a little hard to me so we only did a couple of times (with loads of praise) before calling it quits, don’t want to hurt his tender joints. I think we’ll have another great dock jumping dog…if we can ever get him to jump off the dock .
Loose Leashin’ It
Tonight I took each of the boys for a walk to practice loose lead walking. With Midas I decided to completely forgo the prong collar and just see how things went with the flat collar. It went really well. His walk went as well on the flat as it’s been going on the prong, which is a HUGE difference from when we started the loose lead training. We do have to work on it being taut and also on our left turns. But, progress is being made. Hopefully enough so that by the time the test comes around he’s got it down pat. Next up was Mason. He has a habit of straining at the leash until he can’t breathe and is literally gagging. This is usually in an attempt to get to where Midas is. I decided that if we got him strong in walking without Midas then our attempts to walk with Midas would be more successful. He is great with the “checking in”, which is looking up at me every once in awhile. He did extremely well. He did pull a couple of times but by switching directions and praising a TON when he was in the right position, for most of the walk he was where he was supposed to be. That was really exciting for me. He is so eager to please that once he gets the hang of it, it should go really quickly.
Potty Bells
On a side-note. I hung up some cute potty bells and began to teach Mason to ring them every time he needed/wanted to go outside. At first it was a struggle to get him to ring them before he got so excited he leaked all over the floor. Now though, he is eager and willing to do it. I say “go ring your bells” and he races over, smacks them with his nose a couple of times and then (wiggling all over) bolts to the door. All that is left is to teach him to do it when we aren’t telling him to
