I’m a pretty big fan of videotaping a portion of your training sessions so that you can use those tapes to help improve your training.
Here’s the first half of a training session for Brito; it’s about six minutes long:
First 1:05 I’m happy with his directed jumping – he appears comfortable with a send out of about 15 feet and he takes his directions consistently.
1:06 – He confuses my request for a glove retrieve with a foot target. We work through it lightly but I need to revisit that issue.
2:10 Worked on a new type of leather articles and he makes no errors.
3:10 retrieve over high jump – returns around the jump when the dumbbell lands off center.
4:20 – a one minute stretch of formal heeling. He’s forging on left turns and some halts; also forging on the inside corner of the figure eight.
Obviously I could have stopped work and addressed the issues as they came up, but that wasn’t what I wanted to do for this session. I just wanted to work on a variety of exercises and have some relaxed fun. “Flow” training. See what we have.
After watching the tape, I see that I need to make a plan to address the three issues that emerged in the above session: 1. retrieve vs. target 2. return around the high jump and 3. forging in heeling.
My next blog will address one of the issues.
In real life, I rarely sit down and “make a plan.” I’ve been training long enough that I normally have a good idea of how to approach a challenge with any given dog. But if you are a more novice trainer, you might want to get in the habit of ignoring problems when they happen and just move on. Evaluate your options later on when you have a little time to think it through.
If you have an opinion about which issue I discuss from the above three options, let me know in the comments! I’ll pick one for my next training blog, based on your responses.
Any topic works for me but may I just say, what incredible progress with Brito! Not the same dog who made you hate squirrels so much two years ago. You are always inspiring.😊
Retrieve vs. target please, Denise. I love this blog!
Great job I love your training videos I wondered if you were training Lyra ? I never see videos of her and she may already have her OTCH Can I ask if you are showing her ? CD? CDX ? Thanks again Kim
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Oh I’m training her but I”m not preparing her for competition. I’m working on training without classic reinforcers – and experimenting with this and that. I’ll try to videotape her and make a blog in the near future.
Out of curiosity, did you decide not to compete with Lyra, or just are not preparing her at this time? Can’t wait for her video! And hmm, forging in heeling!
I have no idea. I don’t have the energy to work seriously with two dogs right now and I find Brito much more interesting at this time. That may or may not change.
Forging in heeling, please
Returning around the jump … Thanks
Love your blogs Denise they are always inspiring so anything is good for me! Love the way you ignore errors and keep on training. I think this is something we can learn from as it makes for a more confident dog! Would love to see a blog about Lyra working without reinforcers!!
We have retrieve issues, so return around the high jump would be great.