Working on Level 2 Skills

I'm pretty confident in Dare's ability to pass the level 2 "Come" skill. She's coming really enthusiastically from 40' away. :-) I do think there are parts of the "continuing education" portion of this skill that we could still work on. They include calling her with my back to her. (I love how changing your body position can really test how well the dog understands the skill). Putting on and taking off the collar before she gets the treat. Holding off the click till she looks up and cueing a sit.

The "Crate" skill is pretty good too. I think she'll be able to pass this level without trouble.

"Distance" This one I am pretty excited about. I have always wanted better distance skills for agility, and I promised myself that my younger dogs would have a foundation that Zoe didn't get. I decided to take advantage of the big pole that is in the barn to begin with. She is doing fine, but I do notice that she seems to have an easier time going "out" from my right side than she does on my left. Today I got out the jump that I'd been using with Layla and set it next to the pole that she's been going out around. I didn't put a bar up on the jump, but thought I'd start incorporating the jump into the picture for her.

The Down and Downstay and the Sit and Sitstay are all coming along nicely. The formal return after the stay isn't required, but we've been incorporating that anyway.

The Stand is a little behind the sit and down stay. I am still working on building up duration for the standstay. We are not at the full 10 sec. of stay yet, but it's getting better.

Go to Mat is great. I don't foresee any issues with this skill.

Handling: I think we should be able to pass this skill too, especially with the little extra bits of training we did prior to the CGC.

Leashwork: Here is the description. "Handler stands in one spot with the dog on a loose leash. The dog keeps the lead loose for 60 seconds with one distraction. Handler may talk to the dog and use any loose leash cues, but may NOT give cues to Watch, Heel, Sit, Down, Stand, or Stay. This behaviour is about testing Loose Leash as a default behaviour." Somehow, I seem to have totally overlooked this skill. LOL I don't know how, but I haven't even given it a second thought, until I was going down the list today. So...needless to say, I think we have a lot of work to do before we are ready to test this one.

Target: She's got it down pat. :-) "Done!" as Zoe would say. hehe

Watch: She's at about 5 seconds, consistantly, but 10 seconds is going to take a bit more work.

Zen: Seems to have been lost somewhere along the way with the leashwork. Hmmm...if you asked me about what I think some of the most important skills in this level would be, it would probably be the two that I have overlooked. :-P Guess we better get busy.

I hope to have video later this week of training progress.

Training & Playing in the Snow

Anyone who knows me, knows I HATE winter. The only redeeming factor about it for me, is that the dogs seem to enjoy playing in the snow and I like to take pictures of them. So...after the latest storm that dropped another 7 inches of fresh snow, I thought I'd take advantage of the powder for some photos and also to work on Dare's recall for training levels 2.

From the last post you'll see that she needs to be able to come to me from 40' away with no more than two cues. You can either put the dog on a stay or use a helper. We had a helper yesterday, my husband. :-) Dare was doing so well with him holding her and me calling her to me, that I decided to get the camera and take some photos. Here are just a few of the photos. Enjoy!

Training Goals

I have so many things that I hope Dare and I will be able to accomplish together. I'm always on the lookout for something to help me reach my training goals, and I think I've found something really worthwhile. It is Sue Ailsby's training levels.

I really like it because it is a very detailed training outline. I love that! In looking it over, I think it will give us a really good foundation for both Agility and Obedience. The first level covers some basic skills that Dare and I already have worked on. I made a video of her testing those skills today. She did really well. I am excited to start working on level two skills now!