Training...

For a blog that is supposed to be about dog training and a dog that is learning agility, I seem to be dropping the ball these days -- both on the blog and at home. I just went back and reviewed my old TODO list post, and I have to say that our evening training has distilled down to working on Two-On Two-Off contact position and the jump -- and not much else. We do informal flat work with the tennis ball as a reward at work.

For better or worse, we've dropped a bunch of things off our training list. For example, we no longer work with the box. It's not actually an agility obstacle. I think the point of the box was to have a non-agility obstacle that you could cheaply have two of so that you could work on left-side vs right-side obstacle discrimination.

We also don't work with the target plate anymore. I think this might come back to bite us, but for now, since we're working on simply shaping the Two-On Two-Off contact position, I'm not sure the target plate is all that necessary. We'll see about that.

I think a revised version of our Training TODO list would look something like this:

Flat Work
left side almost stationary flat work
right side almost stationary flat work
left side faster flat work
right side faster flat work
pull turn left
pull turn right
push turn left
push turn right
left-hand front cross (right->left)
right-hand front cross (left->right)
break (drive forward to take something)
ok (release)
jumping up to get something (getting excited)
regular down
down on an incline
down at my side
sit and STAY (distraction and duration)
down and STAY (distraction and duration)
play (fetch)
play (tug)
distracted recall

Obstacles
hoop (need to work on distance)
tunnel (straight; curved; s curve)
1 weave pole gate (full circle of approaches)
2 hoops (left side; right side)
4 paws on wobble board
make wobble board move (banging it down)
sequencing more than 3-5 obstacles
** new ** 2 weave pole gates together (rotating second gate)
** new ** the jump (staying close to the jump)
** new ** the jump (sending her out, up, and around the jump)

I think I'm getting sloppy. We're definitely progressing, but I liked our teamwork better when I was more methodical about working through the todo list. I think I might have to make a more formal version and start taking notes in class again.

In other dog agility related news, we might be going to a fun match (for exposure - not for real trial or real competing) in December. Stay tuned!