Random Assortment

I've been doing lots of "random" training lately.  Not sure why.  I guess there's so much I want to train, and so little time!  Plus, I don't think Kimma and Pentti would appreciate my attempting to keep their attention for long training sessions.  So we shall continue to keep it short and sweet!

I suppose I will separate this post according to dog.

Kimma:
We've been doing tons of proofing, especially with weaves, and prolonged sit/stay and down/stay.  Her weaves have gotten fantastic, except we still need tons of work with the more difficult entries in other environments.  She can do pretty much anything in the yard, but of course taking it to another field = WHHHAAA????

Another thing we've started working on is getting a good, solid heel.  With the help of another trainer, of course.  Goodness knows I have NO IDEA how to go about teaching heel.  So I pretty much am luring Kimma's face to my knee, and treating her like crazy when she gets there on her own.  Then I take slow, calculated steps, and treat her for keeping her face close ("close" is our verbal, BTW).

We do 90-degree turns, and I'm having her start to find her position from different angles.  And then there's circle work!  Kimma LOVES it!  Though she does bark the entire time we're doing it, hahaha.

Hmmm what else...  Oh yes!  Tighter turns involving jumps, and using jumps to work on focus and following me.  It's been so far so good with her focus, however!  Especially because hot dogs are now being use sparingly while training!!!  Oh happy day for Kimma!

Standing waits and trying to teach directionals have also been a bit of a focus.  She likes the idea of doing spin moves (the directionals), but hasn't quite gotten the concept of WHY I'm asking her to randomly spin in place different ways, hahah.  And she barks while moving, so I don't even think the girl can hear my verbal marker anyway!  What a crazy.  But her standing waits have become amazing.  That, along with some Doggy Zen should be good for her impusle control.

Overall, she's becoming quite the little canine athlete!  Still has tons of drive for the obstacles, though he developed a little bit of fear for the teeter for no apparent reason, and with her new-found realization that paying attention to Mom = treats, we're hopefully on our way!  As of now, she's actually eligible to compete in some venues (she's 15 months old), but I'm in no rush.  I want her debut to be amazing, and I'm not even going to bother until we fully become a team.

Then she will truly live up to her new nickname (given by a Facebook friend) - The Flying Finkie!!!

Here's a pic of her at training yesterday, taken by our trainer, Lesley!

Pentti:
Poor guy is still overwhelmed with the outside world.  By outside, I mean anything not in my house or in the yard.  He is now walking perfectly in the yard, but as soon as we head out into the driveway or the lawn, he freezes.  Won't play with toys, doesn't want treats (which isn't all that unusual anyway - he definitely loves toys more than treats), and doesn't even really want to go anywhere.  He just stares at nothing, LOL.

Today we did make some progress on the front lawn, however.  I just kept walking in circles and taking random turns, and each time he ended up next to me in a nice loose-leash position, he treated him, pet him, told him he was the best doggy in the world, etc.  So then we took it to the street and he did so well!  He didn't even care that the mailman was only about 30 feet away putting away the mail!

Other than that, we've been doing some Doggy Zen with him, too.  We have been working mostly with treats, and he's been good.  I'm sure it will be a bigger challenge when we switch to toys, though!

I can't wait to get him in a class...  But I know that I can do a lot of basic work with him beforehand, so I'm not in too much of a rush...  Even though I am...  LOL!