Training Time!

Finally got another day where it was fairly cool (as cool as you can actually ask for it to be in the middle of July) and where it wasn't raining. So since I had already finished all the work at the farm, I decided to pull group 2 out to work with them. These first few training sessions are mainly just to evaluate each individual dog and find out where they are in their training.

Group 2 of dogs (Riley, Wrangler, and Daisy) are doing well for the most part. Riley will never fully be trained as a competitive dog in any sport, but he is my baby and as a pet he is well trained.

Wrangler loves to please me. So I can teach him to do just about anything I want within reason. He is not a toy motivated dog at all.  No toys, sticks, or balls for him. He just wants food and attention from me. His heel needs a good amount of work. He has a hard time focusing while he is walking so that will take time. But his sits, downs, and comes are pretty good. Just need to tone it up some.

Daisy is exceptional at her heel. She does have a hard with staying right at my side at times (she likes to slow down too much and switch sides) but other then that she is the best at it. She has an amazing come. I don't even have to call her name first, she just turns around and rushes back and sits in front of me every time. Her sits and downs are solid as well. She appears to have come the farthest out of all the dogs. I believe my plans for her involve Flyball and/or agility.

So this was the follow up on Group 2's evaluation. More updates will be coming soon. I plan on taking the dogs off more, working with them more on house manners, and there will be updates on breeding Sadie and lots more. 

Training Has Begun!

I have finally kicked off the training program for the dogs. So excited about working with each of my beautiful dogs. It's actually pretty surprising how good they are already doing even though we just started. But I always knew I had smart, talented dogs and of course waiting till they weren't the hyper little puppies they used to be is helping....a lot. They have quite a bit more focus now then when they were four months old.

The best part about the beginning stages of training is that I finally get to see what each individual dog will be good at. While Luke might be good at Rally - O, Daisy would be better at agility. So its cool getting to see them work and what field of training would be best to take them in. But of course Flyball is the main sport. Everyone except Wrangler would be amazing at it (Wrangler isn't a big toy dog. He just wants his mommy time).

Anyway, here's what we worked on today with three of the dogs. I try to pick at least two things to work on the dogs with. Now most of the dogs know sit, but they still have to work on tweeking it some. No sit is perfect. There is always work to be done.

Now, Sadie's training is going great. She is so quiet and calm and pays beautiful attention to me for the most part.  She is going to be an easy trainer because she picks up on everything so fast. Her heel is going to be decent. She likes to get distracted but she was getting the hang of it toward the end of the session. Her come is gonna take time, but we just have to get her somewhat excited in order to get her to come running full force. The last thing I worked with her on is her down. The other day she couldn't get it at all but today she was nailing the down like crazy. So hopefully things are beginning to stick with her some.

Cassie is going to be a pain unless I can really get her excited about training. She just doesn't want to move, not even for cheese. So I guess hotdogs will be the next try. I think she has just gotten lazy and doesn't want to do a darn thing now except lay in the house on top of the air vent. I drug her through a heel, pushed her into sits, and she did her comes at a very slow walk and in a semi-circle form (not really sure what that is about). Oh well, I'll give it another shot soon, but this time with hotdogs.

Luke is going to be one of my favorite dogs to work with. His attitude is amazing and I just love watching him work. He gets so happy about being outside with me and all he wants is to please me. He's pretty solid on his sits but I need to tweek it. His sits are more like fronts which is fine. I love having a dog that will do a front for a sit, he just doesn't realize that I need him to be able to sit at a distance and at my side and where ever else I might need him to be. So today I worked on his heel (which he was amazing and held such a beautiful stride) and then on his sits at a heel position. He had some trouble at first but he was catching on by the end of training.

All in all, not a horrible day of training. I'm gonna see about working Wrangler and Daisy (maybe Cassie) tomorrow but it depends on time and weather. More play by play updates will be coming though in the near future.

2012 National Dog Show

My Picks

Hound: 13 in. Beagle, Treeing Walker Coonhound, American Foxhound, Wirehound
Working: Rottweiler, Great Dane, Neapolitan Mastiff, Great Pyrenees
Toy: Shih Tzu, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Affenpinscher, Havanese
Sporting: Pointer, Brittany, Golden Retriever, Field Spaniel
Herding: Bearded Collie, Australian Cattle Dog, Australian Shepherd, Belgian Malinois
Terrier: Irish Terrier, Russell Terrier, Scottish Terrier
Non-Sporting: Dalmatian, Tibetan Spaniel, American Bulldog

Winners

Hound: American Foxhound
Working: Great Dane
Toy: Affenpinscher
Sporting: Field Spaniel
Herding: Bearded Collie
Terrier: Wire Fox Terrier
Non-Sporting: Tibetan Spaniel
Best In Show: Wire Fox Terrier

House Manners with Luke

House manners are key things to work with your dogs on and the best way to do that is to have the dog out in the house, free to wander. Yesterday, I worked on house manners with Luke. Luke as always been really wild and hard to get calm, but deep down I could tell he was really sweet and easy to train. At first I was only going to leave him out for about 15 minutes but he did so great that he stayed out in the house for 3 1/2 HOURS! I was really surprised on how well he did. I took him outside and worked him on the gentle leader for the first time, just trying to get him used to it. I then took him in and let him hang out with the family. He loved all the attention he got from my younger brother and sister. He didn't miss behave once. He never had an accident or got hyper. I was sooo proud of my boy! We did find out that he doesn't like squeaky toys. LOL. We worked on how to behave during meal times, how you can't eat/lick/sniff things on the plates, and how to lay down and rest outside the cage. He did extremely well on all these even if every time I got up to get something he jumped up and followed me. But I don't mind it. That as been one of the things I've missed since Rascal's death. Luke as really opened my heart open again and I love that sweet boy. He will be a great obedience dog.

The plan is to work all the dogs like this. Not sure if Luke is going to like the idea of the others getting out and not him, but we will see. I believe Wrangler is next on my list. He may be a little harder to do, but I look forward to it. Come back soon. I will be keeping you guys up to date on House Manners with all the dogs. Happy training days everyone!

2013 Calender Contest

I'm so happy to announce my first contest!!! I will be holding a calender contest. You will enter a picture of your dog/dogs and a 100-200 word paragraph about them. Winners will go into the 2013 Legacy Kennels & Rescue calender. The contest begins today and ends December 1st at 12:00 AM. Email your pictures and paragraphs to waikikibeach2008@hotmail.com.

I will be picking 12-13 photos and putting one of my own pictures on the front of it. Calenders will be available to buy. A price as not been set yet.

How To Train Your Dog For Flyball: Part 2 TUG TIME

Alright everyone! So your dog can catch the ball about 80%-90% of the time. Which is fantastic. The next step will be a little tricky to explain and teach, but it's a very important piece in the training of Flyball. So let's see if we can get through this with the least amount of confusion.

Now that your dog can catch the ball, you would think its time to move onto the jumps. Nope. Not yet. The next step is to train your dog to come running back to you at full force without wondering off and here's how we do this.

It takes two people, you and your helper. Your helper is going to take your dog and stand holding him back (like the picture above) right behind the start line. Now you should be standing about 1/2 way the run track holding a tug, Frisbee, treat, or ball, etc. or whatever else your dog may like. Your dog should be facing away from the jumps and box and looking straight at you.

Now that you guys are in position, you call your dog's name and take off running full force, holding the reward in your left hand and down at the dogs level while you running at a slight angle to the right. DO NOT LOOK BACK AT YOUR DOG! That last part is very important. When you look back, you slow down which in turn can make your dog slow down or you could trip.Below is a picture of how this should work.

See how the person is running away from the dog while calling his name and holding the reward down. Do not stop running till your dog reaches you. Once he does, reward him a lot. Let him know how happy you are and get him hyped up to go again and again and again. I was able to run Rascal 13 times with only a 5 minute break between half of those. That's how excited he needs to be. You need to pump him up a lot and then charge!

After this, if he continues to do everything right, move him back a foot at a time till he's behind the first jump (your jump should be set at the lowest height for now). Then you train him like you have been without the jumps and slowly keep moving him back. Some dogs grasp this concept really fast and others take longer. Take your time and train him right. It's worth not having to go back and retrain. Old habits are extremely hard to break.

Here's another picture. If you have more questions then please comment below. I will be glad to answer any questions. Have a great day everyone!!!

P.S. The dog should not be carrying the ball back over the jumps at this time. The only time you need a ball is when working on ball work or as a reward.

NEXT:  How To Train Your Dog For Flyball: Part 3 BOX WORK

How To Train Your Dog For Flyball: Part 1 BALL WORK

Before  we get into anything to do with balls, I want to explain the method of training I'm using.

The method we use in flyball is called backwards chaining, and this is where you start at the end and work your way to the front or in this case we start with the dog running back to you and work our way to where you send the dog for the ball.  Now, you may be somewhat confused by what I just said, but don't worry, you will begin to understand as I take you step-by-step through this process.

Now, I know I said that we work backwards which means, like I said, I should be showing you how to work your dog on running back to you, but think about it for a second.  When the dog is running back to you, what does he have?  A ball! Your dog is bringing the ball to you, so we need to make sure that your dog can do this before we work on anything else.

Okay.  So let's get started.  The first thing we start with is your dog and a couple of tennis balls or racket balls, or whatever ball works the best with your dog (squeaky balls are not allowed in competition).  I would recommend doing this activity outside, so you don't break anything.

The next thing we are going to do is get our dog into a sit and make sure to get his attention.  Gently toss the ball at his mouth. The goal, of course, is for the dog to catch the ball.  If he does then praise him, even if he catches it and immediately drops it. I would treat him too even if your dog normally just accepts praise. Try this for about 5-10 times and if he continues to catch it then it's time to move him on to the next step.

No the next step is not doing jumps.  Be patient.  Flyball takes a lot of time and patience in order to train a dog to exceed.  The next step is to start throwing the ball higher over his head and watch him jump to get it.  Even if he still sits there, that's ok too, just make sure he catches it.  Once your dog is doing this about 100% of the time, you can start the next step which is bouncing the ball.

Now you may wonder, "Why are we teaching them to catch a bouncing ball?"  It's because, sometimes when a dog hits the box and the ball comes out, it will, at times, hit the dog's mouth and bounce off.  The ball might roll away or bounce somewhere.  If this happens, you want your dog to be able to get the ball back the fastest way possible.  If it's rolling, then your dog will probably just chase it down and grab it.  To me, that is probably the fastest way, but if it's bouncing, the fastest way for him to get it and get it back to you is for him to catch it on a bounce.  You might also be thinking, "Well, my dog can do that?"  But you need to ask yourself, "Can he do it 100% of the time, without the ball hitting his teeth and bouncing even farther away?". Yes, I expect my dogs to be able to do this, but I train them for it and practice with them on it.  I'm not saying they can preform this task 100% of the time, but they don't get rewarded if they don't. So here's how to do this.

Start with your dog in a sit and bounce the ball lightly so it comes up about eye level on him. If he catches it, then reward him and repeat again about 5 times.  Gradually work to where you're bouncing it about 10 feet high.  Don't reward him unless he catches it without it bounces off his teeth.  Once your dog can do this, start bouncing the ball away from him.  Let him chase it but only praise him if he catches it on a bounce.

After your dog can perform this task fairly well, then you can move on, but make sure to practice this every once in awhile to make sure he doesn't get rusty.

I certainly hope you enjoyed learning how to do this.  I hope to one day have videos of me training my dogs to do this so you will have something more to go on. But if you have any questions or need help with a problem your dog is having then just post a comment and I'll try to help you out.

Hope you all have a wonderful day and remember, training is meant to be fun.  Train Away!!!


NEXT:  How To Train Your Dog For Flyball: Part 2 TUG TIME