Since we were one of the only people to show up for the last lesson and last week’s lesson was canceled due to a power outage, we were really just re-doing what we had practiced before. Therefore, the instructor didn’t talk to me one-on-one very much since we knew what we were supposed to be doing/working on.

Adam came with tonight though and he took some photos of us working on heeling and the proper sit position.

For some reason, his stays have been getting worse while at home (according to Eric) so I have to review and slowly lengthen the distance I can go from him in the sit/stay. Then I have to repeat the whole procedure with lay down/stay.

But, no matter how long he can/can’t stay in one place, he ALWAYS comes running straight back to me on his release. No matter what. Other dogs walking by, other people yelling/talking to their dogs…doesn’t matter, he’s focused and knows what’s being asked of him.

We also did a short stint practicing on “focus” which entails putting a treat in one hand (Mason doesn’t know which) and he doesn’t get a click/treat until he gives me good, solid eye-contact.

All-in-all a good lesson again!

Tonight was Midas’s last agility class, but I also signed him up for Agility II which will start in a couple of weeks. He was being a handful when we first got to class tonight but everyone was running all over working on random objects on the course. So, I took him to the very center and worked on him being calm and quiet - it was quite successful!

We got into partners again and worked through the different obstacles. There were a couple of new ones that included a collapsed tunnel, a dog walk, pinwheel jumps and a bigger jump. Midas excelled at all of the old ones, including the tunnel in a U (it was yellow and under the lights, and therefore brighter). He had a little bit of a hard time with the pinwheel because after every jump he would look at me expectantly to get his treat and falter for his command to the next jump. We didn’t get to work on that a lot but I think we can make it cleaner. The Big Jump was no problem at all. The dog walk, which I was expecting to be a slight issue, was not at all. In fact, he took to it so quickly that I had to jog to keep up.

He’s doing so great in all aspects of his training right now and it just makes me so pleased. At least one person each lesson comments on how much his behavior has changed and how nice it is to see someone working with him by being optimistic and proactive with his training. Very flattering!

After class, the instructor had everyone stand off the course and we each got to go through it one-by-one, practicing on any or all of the obstacles that we were comfortable with. Some opted not to try it, but we did. He did great. His only problem was that every single time we would walk BY the A-Frame, he would jump on it - I had no idea he loved it so much lol. Other than that he was totally willing. Very cool class!

Tonight was Midas’s last Rally class, although we have signed up for the next round as well. We had a lot of fun tonight. We worked on staying close and pivoting on his feet during left turns and then we each had a chance to walk through the course and be graded.

We had a hard time with the moving lay down and the sit was also in the wrong position so we practiced that many times tonight. Towards the end he finally started to “get” it.

We did well on the serpentine tonight - I was very careful of watching the leash and only used vocal cues to get him back where he was supposed to be:

For some reason, tonight he was pretty awful about not putting his nose to the ground, not sure what his problem was and I definitely got points off for it, but he needed to respond.

He caught onto the Front command the first day and that stayed strong tonight. I switched to carrying my treat back behind me and it’s working wonders for keeping him in a better position (instead of trying to dance in front of me in anticipation of a treat):

A couple of times when I said the Wait command, he would sit and then walk, scooch, sit. We need to work on that because it looks awkward.

We ended up with a score of 69 - one point too low to pass, if this were a real Rally trial. I was thrilled! This after only 4 weeks of training . Plus, we came in second only to a dog that is also being trained in Obedience.  

The things we need to work on: bumping (this only rarely happens and I’m therefore considering it a fluke ), moving sideways (on purpose, he’s not staying close enough to me), crooked sits, tight leash, moving down and of course the nose on the floor was the highest marks against us.

Tonight was Midas’s third agility class and Eric came with. We had an interesting time tonight. This guy and his little terrier tripped me and his dog growled and attacked Midas while we were running and trying to do jumps. His response? “Oops” and then to walk away. WOW.

He continued to crowd us and our space for the rest of the evening, totally oblivious. Needless to say that Midas was riled up after this (and another incident involving the poodle in the class careening into him) and we had to take a time-out in the corner so that he could refocus.

On this one, I tell him to “walk it” and then after he gets off the board he has to “wait” and then he gets his release word and gets a treat from the target (which is just out of sight of this photo).

We practiced with four jumps in a row tonight. We started off on-leash and worked up to off-lead. He did fine. His only problem is twisting to make sure he’s supposed to go over the next one. I think he would have eventually caught on but we only got to practice this one once.

This is the other jump that we practice, the tire jump. Some dogs try to go under it but Midas has no problem going through

He had a hard time with sliding off the table last week. But, this week there was some carpet on there to help out. His lay down upon hitting the table was, for the most part, much quicker than last week.

The A-Frame was new this week. It’s about 1/2 the size of the A-Frame he’ll have to climb in real competitions. Some dogs were scared to go up it. But, from lots of practice of us posing him and coaxing him into odd positions and onto odd things, Midas took this totally in-stride. His footwork isn’t very smooth yet, but we only did this twice, so I think it will get there.

We practiced the weave-poles again this week with a little twist. We were supposed to do some homework during the last week: teach our dogs to go around an object on their right shoulder with the command “Go Right Around”. I practiced with Midas almost every day . So, this week instead of just sending them through the weaves, they had to go through and turn Right Around and come back around the last pole. He did GREAT at it!

We had two tunnels this week. A straight one and one in a U-shape. The U-shaped tunnel was also a dark purple. Midas did it fine the first couple of times and then seemed to forget when we tried to tie the two together. So, we’ll have to really work on this next week. Here is the straight tunnel:

After class I had an extensive conversation with the instructor about our upcoming dock jumping event and how to handle Midas’s behavior. We also signed up for another month of agility classes!

Tonight was Mason’s second class. I called awhile beforehand to make sure that it was still on since the weather and the roads were getting bad. It was, so Eric let me drive the truck and I headed out a little early. The roads were indeed slippery.

We got there to find a full parking lot, there was something going on in the regular office part. Walked into the training room part and I’m the only one in there. While I was talking to the instructor she got two phone calls from people not coming. Finally, 15 minutes late, one other person showed up.

So, we got a LOT of one-on-one training, which was absolutely terrific. Mason is doing SO good!! It seriously makes my day every time we go there and he is so enthusiastic and he tries so hard. We had a little bit of a rough start though. He didn’t get dinner tonight before class and was a little over-eager to chomp on my fingers. We had to take a time-out and work on taking the treat gently and then start up again.

We worked mainly on heeling and sitting in the proper position. The proper position is right next to my leg and straight with my body. He has a tendency for his rear-end to swing out and then to sit perpendicular to me, like an “L”. This wouldn’t normally be a problem but our instructor thinks that, with time and patience, Mason would excel at Rally!! Which is pretty freaking awesome! She said judges like to see happiness, enthusiasm, quick responses and proper positioning. He’s got all of those but the proper positioning so we practiced that a lot.

At this point, I have to say that he is walking better on a leash in some aspects, than Midas. He looks at me WAY more often and is a lot more observant of turns and where I’m going. But, he’s very motivated by treats so I’m waiting to see what will happen when I start weaning him off. The instructor thinks that he’s borderline being too treat-motivated but not quite there so that’s workable. I’m having such a great time working with my cute little dude!

Since no one else came to class, this was like a bonus for us. She is adding another week on for everyone so we get to have one extra class!

Tonight was Midas’s second agility class and I think there were three more people/dogs added. It was nuts. One black lab, another terrier (in heat, complete with diaper) and a black poodle. Needless to say, a very full class. Midas had a little dog aggression moment which resulted in the instructor having everyone walk past him. He got a click and treat when he did nothing and a yank and reprimand when he was naughty. It was effective.

We worked in pairs tonight too, which was interesting. Me and my partner (who has a Golden and is also in my Rally class) started out on the tunnel. Tonight the tunnel was stretched out full-length. Midas wasn’t so sure about it to begin with but once he got the hang of it, he loved it. I could hear and see his tail thwacking the side as he rushed down it to pop gleefully out the other end and then race back to do it again

Next for us was the board-walk with the wait command and walking the ladder. Midas had a little problem remembering the wait command but caught on by the end. The same with the ladder, he had to go over it a couple of times before he remembered what he was supposed to be doing.

We moved from there on to the weave pulls and a table. Midas’s first time running up to jump on the table resulted in him sliding right off the other end, which was humorous, but not good. His lay down on the table is very slow (also not good) so we need to practice this one more. The weave pulls were fine.

The next set of exercises were our favorite. Two regular jumps and a tire jump. First we practiced going over one jump and hitting the target while on lead. Then we did two jumps, with the target after the second, still on lead. Finally, we worked up to off-lead and over both jumps. Midas caught on right away and completed both jumps extremely quickly. I could tell he really liked this one. The tire he was less sure of, but once he understood he went right through, not once trying to go under or around it.

This class was really neat in that we worked off-lead a little and it was great to see Midas completely focused on the exercises we were doing. His concentration used to be horrible with other dogs running around and having fun, now he has great focus. I loved it! We had an absolute blast!

We had homework assigned this week, we need to teach the command Go Right Around and have him know to round an object, turning to the right.

Tonight we had Rally class again. Eric decided to come and see what it was all about because he really didn’t understand. He also took some photos! Midas did really well again. It’s me that needs work lol.

This was our course:

There were a lot more left turns in this course than in any we’ve done previously. That was really great for us as Midas has a tendency to anticipate what I’m going to ask him to do and going a little ahead instead of staying in the proper heel position.

I like to walk the course first to get an idea of what I’m doing before I confuse my dog.

The first stop was a new sign that we hadn’t seen before. He was to lay down and stay while I walked around him. He struggled with this in the beginning, trying to spin (while staying laying down) and keep me in sight. We had to do a little practice before attempting it again.

We had him lay down and then I put a treat on the ground for him and started to circle around, when he got preoccupied with me, the instructor distracted him with another treat on the grond between his feet. Then we moved up to me keeping a treat as I walked around (sometimes I had to go over his body to make the circle short enough for him to stay):

He finally got the hang of it though!!!

(this one I actually repositioned him to lay down beside me instead of crooked like that - but this is the idea)

He has the Front command down pat for sure now - and he likes to do it, he gets all perked up because he knows exactly what I’m asking him to do.

The instructor was trying to show me how to teach him to stay Close by using a stool, but I’m not good at it. Luckily for me, Midas did it perfectly in the course all on his own. The instructor even called attention to it!

Unfortunately, I really need to work on using voice commands over leash corrections (get points off for leash corrections, voice commands are ok). He does really well following me, I just automatically try to place him where I want him, then praise. But, that’s not good since I can probably place him with my voice alone.

Case in point:

Not sure what we’re doing here, but the dog in the background is the one that I said looked like Midas’s younger brother:

Class was a blast and I can’t wait until agility tomorrow night!

Tonight was Mason’s first Intermediate Obedience class. It is through The Humane Society of Kent County just like his other obedience class. Although, this class was significantly smaller, only 5 of us total, and way more structured.

The objectives for this week:

Refresher on eye contact, sit and down. The difference is that the goal was to not use food or leash correction as a prompt for the behavior and instead use it as a reward. And to avoid multiple cues.

Our homework for this week:

To practice identified areas to be improved and use treats only when increased distractions are present or randomly for established behaviors and to use praise only for good behaviors.

Areas Mason excelled at:

Sit, stay, lay down, focus.

Areas to work on:

Loose-leash walking. He did really well for how infrequently we practice. Really well. I was very proud of him. His worse distraction is not the other dogs, like one might expect, but the treats those other dogs leave behind lol. We even had one of the volunteers that work there come up after watching us for a bit and compliment not only my training style and timing, but Mason’s attention and willingness to please. He also mentioned that Mason looked like a Chesapeake Bay Retriever lol. We get that a lot.

We also need to work on gently taking treats. He is a horrible snapper but class actually went a lot better this time than any time in the past. There’s hope yet!

Tonight was agility. I was looking forward to it sooo much! But, I was also really nervous because I was going to attempt to handle two dogs in the same class. Eric came with us, this our first night, to help me out, just in case I needed helping…which I sooo did!

The class started off with some basic information and clicker training. Midas has the clicker part down pat because of Rally so I worked mainly with Mason. Whose alligator jaws on my tender fingers made me regret bringing him (the dog can NOT grasp the meaning of “gentle” or “soft mouth”). But, he was so enthusiastic I couldn’t help but smile.

(note giant wrinkle on his forehead )

Until he peed.

Not once, but twice. And not in a puddle but in a wildly winding trail as he leapt in excitement for doing what I asked.

All over the brand-new matting she put down. So, Mason has been yanked from the class until that point in time (will this day come??) that he can handle the excitement. Instead we are going to be taking him to an Intermediate Obedience class at the same place his other class was. He was crushed:

I feel really, really bad for the little guy. But, he also proved that he’s extremely clumsy while we were there so maybe we’ll stick to non-graceful things for this pup.

Midas on the other hand did fantastically! I had a blast working with him too! :-D  He wasn’t very enthused when he stepped on one end of the raised board and it dropped to the ground.

But, I guess he figured I must have a reason for asking because once he caught on to what I was asking him to do,  he did it.

(his tail is a blur)

Here’s the rest of the class:

He did well with the tunnel too (once he figured out I was pointing for him to go in, not pointing at something I dropped on the ground lol).

We practiced walking between ladder rungs. I missed the explanation as to why, but I think it’s about having the dog learn where his rear is.

We did some weave pole practice which he did terrific at because it just involved chasing a piece of treat through the proper side. Finally, we finished up with some jump practice. Midas caught right on. We had to move a target out for him to aim at after coming over because he was twisting to check on me the split second before landing, instead of looking ahead.

(I know, not the greatest photo )

The best part? Not only did Midas and I have a blast (poor Eric and Mason ), but Midas’s attention was totally focused on me. He didn’t pay attention to the dogs around us while we were working/practicing. It is great to see that focus on his face!

The boys’ United Kennel Club certificates came in the mail today!! I’m so excited! Now, when we finally get up to competing for real, they can be registered in agility, weight pull, dock jumping etc etc.

From their website, “UKC promotes the interest of owners, breeders and enthusiasts who work to balance beauty and working performance to produce happier, healthier dogs.UKC dog shows are family events designed by and for the breeder-owner-handler. Professional Handlers are not eligible to exhibit dogs for others at UKC Conformation Events. At UKC dog shows, the emphasis is on the DOG, not the SHOW. “

I’ve heard wonderful things about newbies competing with UKC before AKC.  Their motto is “Our Dogs Do Stuff” - I love it!