Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Lessons from "Step Ahead" Level 2 Obedience Class - Class #5



Second last class last week, before today's fun games night. Last class Andre took the reigns and trained with Duke.

Reviewed:
  • down at a distance (remember to reward in the 'down' position

  • doggy push-ups (then progressed to push-ups with dog to the left)

  • stand stay (then progressed with instructor coming by to distract the dogs by walking by, bouncing a ball and something totally irresistible to Duke, a squeeky toy)

A new exercise that Duke failed at was doing 'sit/stays' with having every other dog stay, while the other dogs completed their 'come' command. Unfortunately Duke released from his stay every time the other handlers called 'come' to their dogs, even though it wasn't Duke's turn to 'come'. Amazingly half the dogs were able to maintain their stays even though dogs next to them ran towards their owners.

Next the owners and dogs did a heeling exercise where 'watch', 'touch', 'down', 'turns' and 'stand' were commanded while walking.

The last exercise of the night was Rally Obedience. Where 2 sets of 3 pylons were set up with 2-3 commands. For example: Sit-down-walk around, Sit-stand, sit-down. The object is to go to each pylon station and try to get your dog to complete the set of commands as fast as possible.

Rally Obedience is apparently an up and coming dog sport. Treats as rewards can be used during competition but treats can not be used as lures.

Again tonight, Duke's attention and concentration levels weren't great and he was easily distracted.

After this course, it's time to work on everything we've learned so that he can do them as fast as he can sit or go down.

No comments: