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 Midas’s second class and it went great! He was 50% quieter this time and responded faster to the “Midas, Good Quiet!” command quicker. When we got onto the course he knew what it was about this week and so there was actually some loose-leash walking involved.

This was the course for this week:

There were some tricky ones where I had to think about what we were going to do before carrying it out but this course had more “stuff” to do. Weaving and getting in front etc, so Midas had to concentrate harder and was therefore more attuned to what I was asking him to do. Still great fun!

Tonight was our first Rally Obedience class, it was great!! I loved it. I found the trainer through the Grand Rapids Agility Club. The boys are both signed up for agility beginning next week, but I wanted to try rally with Midas and coincidentally she does both . She had these sweet treat bags that is way better than the one I used for CGC class, so I bought one of those, and she gave me a clicker to use.

I warned her ahead of time of Midas’s recent dog aggression and she said it wouldn’t be a problem. Showed up and there were two golden retrievers and a yellow lab that looked like Midas’s little brother. We started off by being introduced to the world of rally. She handed out little booklets with all the AKC rally information and an introduction to the signs and their meanings. Next we walked the course, without our dogs (she had these nifty wall hooks to hook them to so they couldn’t get into any mischief).

Midas went into his customary screaming-like-a-stuck-pig routine. I was advised to completely ignore him (back turned and yards away) and click and treat as soon as he was silent with the praise, “Good Quiet, Midas!”. That went fairly well. She said that he is going through the process of extinction right now because he starts quiet, escalates to a full-throated scream and then gets quiet again. By the end of the night he was doing much better.

Here is the course we tried tonight:

We each took turns walking our dogs through the course. Everyone else had their dogs on a nylon flat collar and I had Midas on a prong. With the exception of one lady who is also taking an obedience course, we all had similar results. Midas responded extremely well to the clicker, caught right on and did an amazing job through the course. His only pulling problem was to try to sniff the ground as we walked. Otherwise, he was perfect. I had an absolute blast!