On Thursday nights we go to obedience classes at our local dog club which, lucky for us, is in our suburb. Before class Obi has a run around in the off-lead paddock, then we head to class for an hour. A bit of residual wildness before class. Saying hello to Marissa, one of the other yellow Labs in our class. Or, rather, this is Marissa saying hello to Obi's bottom. Our class and our instructor, Mike (who is excellent). Down to some serious business now. Everyone had their turn at heeling. We have to do three different paces, automatic sits, and a drop on the move. We also had to do 'loose lead walking', which is a bit more casual than heeling but which still involves three paces and a down. We have to do position changes - sit, drop and stand (any order). He has crept forward a bit on the stand - need to work on that! Time for a down stay - 2 minutes. The yellow Lab closest to the camera is Clifford. Obi is next to him. We have a few more weeks of class and then we have a test. If we pass that, we can go on to the next level. We are also doing Flyball, which is on Sunday afternoons, so I'll see if we can get some pics of that too
Re: Obi's obedience class P.S. Here's a sleepy 'after' photo - with his microfibre car polishing sponge (which used to be mine until it was appropriated).
Re: Obi's obedience class Love these pics!! Especially the residual wildness....hee hee....looks like he's doing well in class! Sleepy puppy is so cute!!!!
Re: Obi's obedience class Really good to see the pics and hear what you do - I've only been to puppy class so far, so it's good to see what grown up school might be like! Love the sponge pic!
Re: Obi's obedience class Oh Rachael,he's lovely and he doesn't take his eyes off you...what a good boy ;D thanks for posting all your photos. Im trying to find something for Dexter here.We did puppy obedience class when he first came,it was at a doggy daycare...I did the 4 week course,there were 20 dogs on it one week...it just felt,messy,noisey and not well organised!i dont think the trainer even knew we were there.We were in the middle of sorting out Dexters upset tummy too so I was using kibble for rewards ......Er a room full of chicken,sausage and cheese treats.... Dexter spent more energy trying to beat his classmates to their treats rather than focussing on his exercises! I've thought this week that we need to find something to go to....we can train and practice successfully in my front garden.....we can cross the road and do pretty good in an empty park....give or take.......but introduce dogs and people and we aren't very successful! I need a contained environment with distractions to build on before we tackle the park and what you attend would be just perfect!I know I'm never going to find it but I am sure there must be something better than the free for all I went to last time! Let us know how you do in your test......I'm just off to google Flyball ...think I'm a bit dim!x
Re: Obi's obedience class Thanks, guys His level of attention is really good. Once we get into 'class mode' he is pretty focused. Towards the end of the hour-long class it does waver a bit but that's only to be expected. I'm really pleased with how he's going Flyball is a relay sport in which teams of dogs race each other over jumps to retrieve a tennis ball and then run back over the jumps to take the ball to the handler. Four dogs race on each team (though teams can have two reserve dogs). It's hugely exciting and the dogs love it. I did flyball with my first dog, Nicolae, till he was about 7, with the team at our dog club, 'Canberra X-factor'. Once we had enough black Labradors doing flyball to have a team of 6 black Labs. We called ourselves 'Black Lightening' - it was a major hoot. Here's a link to Nicolae's 'Flyball dog of the month' page - there is a pic of 'Black Lightening' up in the top left http://www.flyball.org.au/dogweek/dogweek-nicolae.htm.
Re: Obi's obedience class Now I would love to see a video of Flyball.Nicolae was a handsome one for sure and a very clever one.....it's a skill to pass panty hose of any length successfully through your system!
Re: Obi's obedience class Fantastic photos Rachael , look at Obi`s face, the concentration is palpable , bless him
Re: Obi's obedience class Ack the pantyhose....my last dog as a young 'un went through that stage....one day on a walk he stopped to do his business. He was taking his time so I had a closer look and saw something hanging out his rear....let's just say it was a good thing there was no else around to see what happened next...
Re: Obi's obedience class Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ;D ;D ;D ;D you should write a book about your dog owning experiences priceless x
Re: Obi's obedience class Oh lordy! Charlie is a "pop sock" (those short stocking socks for wearing under jeans) fiend - I'll redouble my efforts to make sure they are all out of reach!
Re: Obi's obedience class Thank you - made me laughter this evening!! Keep up the good work with Obi - no doubt our labs LOVE to work!!!
Re: Obi's obedience class Thanks, guys They sure do love to be given a job to do - whatever that might be. I had a friend with three Labs and one day she noticed something blue poking out of one of the dog's bottoms. I don't know if you have Chux, but that's what it was - a long piece of blue cheesecloth. Liberating it was quite a delicate exercise. And also quite stomach-turning, apparently. No doubt you can relate, Lisa. ;D
Re: Obi's obedience class I can totally relate.... The worst part being I really had no idea what exactly it WAS...for a wild moment i thought his intestine was coming out!!!! And due to the elastic nature of pany hose....yah. Stomach turning is a pretty good term for the whole exercise....
Re: Obi's obedience class Yesterday it was Charlie's ears and my sandwich.....today it's doggie bowels with my cereal!how did I wait so long to get a dog ;D x
Re: Obi's obedience class Bahahahaha ;D Good thing I hadn't just taken a mouthful of tea - otherwise it'd now be all over my iPad.
Re: Obi's obedience class Yes, been there too... Not for decades, luckily, but Leo was a terrible raider of bins, and had to have plastic bags, er, liberated from his rear end a couple of times. Once by the vet. Truly he was the greediest of greedy Labradors.
Re: Obi's obedience class Pulling, pulling....frantically wondering "what the heck IS it????".....seriously a moment one never forgets....
Re: Obi's obedience class LOL x 100. Here are some pics from our flyball lesson today. We do a number of different things in the lesson. One is recall practice, with other dogs running around. We also practise going over jumps. Here. Obi is having a go at two jumps in a row. The height is 8 inches, which is the lowest height. The highest height is 16 inches. The height that a team has a jump depends on the shoulder height of the smallest dog in the team - known as the 'height dog'. On reflection, that hat was not a good fashion choice.... Although we were doing 2 jumps as a warm-up, Obi can go over four jumps, which is what he'd have to do in a race. First, the dogs just learn to come back to the handler over the jumps. Eventually Obi will have to learn to run away from me, up to the spring-loaded box to get a tennis ball (which is just behind the person with the yellow hat) then back over the jumps. You learn it all in bit then put it together. Here he is going over four jumps. The dogs have to learn how to jump onto the box properly to get their tennis ball. They are not allowed to run up the box and slam into it with their front feet. They have to do a 'swimmers' turn on the box, with all four feet (much better physically for the dog). They start out with a tilted platform, with no tennis ball. Obi gets a click and treat if he gets all four feet on the black surface. Nope, no cigar for that, son! That's better In the two pics below he is learning to turn on the actual box (still with no ball). That was enough training for one day. Time for a run!
