Isn't it exactly that! You've got all the time in the world with Red anyway haven't you? I'm still working on lots of the basics with Cassie, who is 18 months now. The class I went to that wasn't really right for us, her recall from 3 feet away was worse than in the woods after a deer!! So much stuff dropped on the floor, treats I think that non Labs had not eaten! At least she fetched you a leaf
She looked so silly @selina27 with it sticking out her mouth, I just had to laugh . I have come to the conclusion the basics just need to be worked on for a long time even when you think they’ve been nailed so your comments about Cassie are really helpful thank you.
I have just had a lovely on lead walk with Red. I don’t usually take her out midday in the village - we go early evening when it's dark now and no one really is out. We stopped a few times and I asked her to sit/stay for a minute - she did that beautifully even with loads of distractions including watching a few leaves swirl around her. We stopped at the village shop - plenty going on there. What was really special though is that she has started to self regulate her position - keeping an excellent position on my left hand side or on my right. She is so focussed on me and although I treat generously, I didn’t take as many treats out today.
KCGCS Bronze class on Tuesday was really not good. I don’t really know why but Red seemed very tired and didn’t want to do anything (she is normally asleep at this time in the evening). Therefore, I felt I was making her do everything which made me feel bad. When the trainer said ‘what do you normally do when she’s likes this?’, I had to say she isn’t normally like this ‘cos she isn’t. All the tasks in Bronze are not a problem for her day to day. The trainer said ‘but she wants to play with the other dogs’ which of course she does and I couldn’t see the relevance of this except to imply that Red would play but not work. Anyway, I came home feeling quite deflated - the journey home was horrendous - rain lashing down and people driving on the dual carriageways as if they had a death wish . For various reasons, we can’t go for the next two weeks. That’s fine. I may not return - it’s not important. I may leave it a few months. We’ll see. Our class today in the field was a lot of fun - we have 6 tricks to learn in the next 6 weeks. One of the tricks where they come between your legs from behind and put their front paws on your feet - she did first time and continued to do - I was even walking forward just a little bit with her paws on my feet - bless her. As we have to miss next weeks that means 5 weeks for Red and me . I ran out of treats two thirds in so it was quite hard keeping going. I tried a furry tuggy toy I had in my pocket which worked for a bit. The trainer then let the 3 dogs have a free play at the end - this is the first time. It was lovely, so lovely to see Red playing . She is now absolutely zonked .
Perhaps Red is picking up on your reluctance to be out and about at that time of night. I must say I don't blame either of you. Cassie and I are very much of the opinion that winter evenings are for spending by the wood burner That's the thing about some of these trainers, they do seem to feel they make quite judgemental comments sometimes. I am definitely envious of your other class though, it sounds super, I love how this sort of training seems to make the dogs very willing to learn new things. No pressure for either of you.
Yes that could be it @selina. It is a shame as we have made friends with a lovely lady and her equally lovely cockerpoo. However, I really don’t see the point of a repeat of Tuesday evening.
Yesterday, we started to put together a sequence of tricks at class. As I haven't been able to practice any of the tricks, I thought it would be hard going but it was ok. Red can spin (anti clockwise) but not twist (clockwise). She can peek-a-boo (middle) but didn’t seem so keen to place her paws on my feet this week - she did a few times and I managed to move my feet with her paws on top. Weaving round my legs is fine - she’s good at this. Roll over is a no no as it’s not something I’ve ever tried to teach and I didn’t think she’d want to roll on damp grass. We have to use a prop and incorporate that into the sequence - the mind boggles and I haven’t a clue. This will all be done to music with us and our dogs dressed up if we wish . We were told to practice but particularly the things our dog can’t do. I use Red’s teatime kibble for training so tried the sequence out later - She was getting stressed as she was snapping a bit for her kibble so I stopped and just hand fed her her tea. This has to be fun. Will give it my best shot if I can keep it fun. Two more weeks to practice then we have to ‘perform’. It’s only in our little group so that’s ok but our trainer wants to video us . Beginning to really feel my age .
Well this last week I have done very very little training. I had a couple of sessions at home - one mentioned above, where Red starting snapping for her food and jumping in a way she never has before. When she started performing all sorts of behaviours I hadn’t asked for - doing a ‘down’, spinning, going round a chair, doing ‘middle’ and loads more in an almost frenzied ‘I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing, so I’ll do the lot’, I thought rightly or wrongly it’s time to slow down and back off the tricks a bit. Instead I have just hand fed her her food. Not sure what that was all about - she is nearly one, hasn’t had a season yet, is a very good girl in the house, good on her walks with DH (apart from a couple of issues) and ok with me on the loose lead one - I don’t want her stressed. So I went to training this morning and just mentioned it to the trainer. He didn’t know either. Anyway, he had Rally planned for us today - (thought of you @Joy) - it was brill. Just 10 instructions but varied. I really enjoyed it. More importantly Red did too and although she got distracted by the rabbit poo, I was better able to lure her back and focus her. I think this will be another thing we will enjoy as she gets older. Never thought at the age of 67, I would be in a field with a puppy, snowing, freezing cold and doing all these different things but having a great time .
Good to read. Cassie has sometimes shown similar to Red ie getting a bit snappy during a training session if she hasn't"got" what's required. She doesn't have quite the repertoire that Red has, but her default is usually to throw herself on the floor as if to say if I settle down is that ok? I find that I have to be really certain in my mind what I'm asking for and hang out for that until I get what I want and then leave it at that. But sometimes it means stopping and going back later or the next day. I'm sure you did the right thing backing off for a while. I had a go at Rally at a fun show, I thought it was really good, brings all the training together somehow.
Your trick routine sounds really good. Perhaps Red was just very hungry when she seemed stressed. Glad you enjoyed the rally.
I was going to ask if she could have been hungry? Shadow can stop thinking and just throw behaviours at me if he’s hungry.
Yes the trainer asked that @snowbunny. I don’t think so (at least not anymore than usual for a Lab) - she has 3 kongs throughout the day. However, it has made me think . The last two days instead of asking lots from her at teatime, I have backed right off everything except hand feeding her from my left hand as she heels. Just click/treat (had more or less stopped using the clicker so trying that again) as she looks at me and treating constantly as we walk around the house. I think I am going to hold back some kibble from breakfast and do the trick training earlier in the day. Trouble is our days are full of so much at the moment, it’s in building that time but not impossible. The last two evenings, we have had superb evening walks - 20 minutes of perfect heel, loose lead, focussing on me, ‘middle’ as people/dogs have approached from other direction on the narrow pathways .
Haven’t updated Red’s log recently as she was poorly for nearly two weeks - still don’t know what it was and the vets haven’t contacted me with the results from the poo sample. I will ring them later next week but assume it wasn’t giardia. Whatever it was it was horrible. Red amazes us in that she lets us know every time she needs to go outside, even when the diarrhoea was at it’s worst. She was sick in the house twice but we managed to get her out the other times. She has put on weight - phew - she got too skinny. I haven’t had her weighed but she’s about 19kg so not a big Labrador and very slender. We have missed 3 training sessions - 2 because she was ill and then the trainer cancelled yesterday’s. For over 2 weeks I did no training with her, then as I reintroduced her kibble, we started again. Wow, has she amazed me - forgotten nothing. All the tricks we were learning for the session we had to miss - her weaves are a bit wonky but everything else spot on. Now I can treat her again on our on lead walk in the evening, she is back to walking beautifully to heel and she is dealing with distractions e.g. people suddenly looming out of the dark in front of us, so well. DH is really enjoying his walks with both dogs. In the house, she is such a good girl. It’s possible things could change but she is very quiet (like Sky). We had a phase of barking at any noise but that’s stopped. Just the very occasional woof. She has gone to the Christmas tree a couple of times but just looks and we have all the presents underneath it. She just seems to go with the flow of daily life here. Earlier this year, I really thought we had made a terrible mistake getting a puppy - I really found it hard. I can honestly say now, she is the best thing that’s happened (shared with Sky) and I am so looking forward to more training and fun with her in the future.
Thank you and I want to add a bit more. Yesterday (Christmas Day) we had a house full - 8 adults, 5 children. My 95 year old mum, 85 year old MIL and pregnant DIL. I was worried mostly about my very elderly mum as I thought Red might jump up at her and mum’s skin is so fragile now. She hasn’t seen a lot of Red since Red was a croco pup. I was over the moon with Red’s behaviour the whole day (no jumping, calm, trotting around taking everything in) but the golden moment was when mum said ‘Isn’t Red the most gorgeous dog, she is lovely?’ I could see mum had fallen in love with her. Just had to record this.
