I thought people might like to just share what sort of training activities/goals you have at the moment. This beautiful fall weather makes it possible to get out and do more, and I find myself with a laundry list of things we're working on.
Some of you may recall me whining about my agility class. It has worked out - it's still exasperating and frustrating, but the difficulty has made me more focused on my dog. We practice jumping at home, and offlead obedience. I really should invest in some weave poles, because she's already pretty good at jumping, and since she's always been willing to go through a window, the tunnels present no real challenge. In class, we practise mostly the 'watch me' focus stuff, then sneak a few practice runs while the others' backs are turned.
In non-agility training, we're working on behaving around horses. We go and watch the riding lessons at the barn where I ride and curiously, despite her motion-reaction behavior with other dogs, she's pretty good around horses.
I spend most of the time watching her and feeding her treats when the horses trot/canter past without her reacting to it. Rest assured I watch her like a hawk for any tenseness so she never gets a chance to scare a horse, I don't take her into the barn or at all near the horses, and the barn owner's okay with us sitting a few feet away from the rail near the outdoor ring.
I was reading a book about herding and got interested in the idea of having my dog take the 'herding instinct test' someday. One of the requirements was that the dog have a reliable distance 'down' so now we're working on that too. She really doesn't understand that one - it's different than anything we've ever done.
And on a more prosaic note, we're working on training me to keep to the feeding/outing schedule. On cool/wet mornings and evenings, my dog refuses to go out, makes herself scarce so you forget it's time, etc., then stealthily utilizes the rug. She's 99.99% housetrained, but reserves the right to keep that last .01% leeway. I love my dog, but sometimes I miss her 110% housetrained predecessor.
Some of you may recall me whining about my agility class. It has worked out - it's still exasperating and frustrating, but the difficulty has made me more focused on my dog. We practice jumping at home, and offlead obedience. I really should invest in some weave poles, because she's already pretty good at jumping, and since she's always been willing to go through a window, the tunnels present no real challenge. In class, we practise mostly the 'watch me' focus stuff, then sneak a few practice runs while the others' backs are turned.
In non-agility training, we're working on behaving around horses. We go and watch the riding lessons at the barn where I ride and curiously, despite her motion-reaction behavior with other dogs, she's pretty good around horses.
I spend most of the time watching her and feeding her treats when the horses trot/canter past without her reacting to it. Rest assured I watch her like a hawk for any tenseness so she never gets a chance to scare a horse, I don't take her into the barn or at all near the horses, and the barn owner's okay with us sitting a few feet away from the rail near the outdoor ring.
I was reading a book about herding and got interested in the idea of having my dog take the 'herding instinct test' someday. One of the requirements was that the dog have a reliable distance 'down' so now we're working on that too. She really doesn't understand that one - it's different than anything we've ever done.
And on a more prosaic note, we're working on training me to keep to the feeding/outing schedule. On cool/wet mornings and evenings, my dog refuses to go out, makes herself scarce so you forget it's time, etc., then stealthily utilizes the rug. She's 99.99% housetrained, but reserves the right to keep that last .01% leeway. I love my dog, but sometimes I miss her 110% housetrained predecessor.