2024 Goals for Asha

[Ravenbird]

Set up containers outside today: In level Excellent, I will have 20 containers and 3 hides and 2 distractions with a 3 minute time limit. I put out 20 containers (they can be anything from boxes to backpacks) and 5 hides.
Ima gonna tell you right now the reason I video: seeing mistakes you never knew you made. This was the first run, I haven't done full out containers in this number in ages, and took it outside because not that much room in the house. Distractions were buttered ritz crackers in a container (with screen lid) and a toy - she ignored both. She hunted fast and furious and alerted perfectly. I was so happy I got a video so I'd have bragging rights. I come back in and review the vids and realize that when she alerted on the 4th hide I thought we'd found that one already and told her to move on. Talk about sinking to the lowest! When I saw what I did I wanted to crawl under a rock! She alerted perfectly, I started to call it then said - wait I think you got that already, find another. No praise, no treat, ugh. Sharing with you here to admit my mistakes and to say to anyone training, videos are invaluable reviews of your dog AND you in your journey! Even thought I set this harder than my level with 5 hides instead of 3, the difficulty was for me keeping up and I even knew where the hides were. Maybe if I didn't know I would have known she hadn't found that one? I don't know. Scent work tip: MANY people want you to go methodically by each container but a few let their dog hunt and follow their nose....however the dog chooses to. Because of Asha's speed and intense hunt drive I choose to let her do it how she wants and not hold her back. I've always felt she loves this sport because nobody tells her what to do or how to do it. I'm not going to change it, but I just learned today that she can go faster than my head can keep track. Lesson learned. Here's Asha being a star and me being brain-dead on her finding the 4th hide:

Here's another run, re-arranged the containers and hides. One glitch where the alert wasn't clear, asked for clarity and she went over to a different hide and alerted on that one, so probably blowing odor? It was hot today and a little breezy. But again, Asha was awesome, I'm so proud of her! Both videos show she found all 5 hides in less than 1:35. Woot!

 

[JanS]

Awesome job!

 

[Katyusharocket]

I love watching these! Thank you for sharing them. I like your point about the videos being a review tool.

 

[MichiH]

Set up containers outside today: In level Excellent, I will have 20 containers and 3 hides and 2 distractions with a 3 minute time limit. I put out 20 containers (they can be anything from boxes to backpacks) and 5 hides.
Ima gonna tell you right now the reason I video: seeing mistakes you never knew you made. This was the first run, I haven't done full out containers in this number in ages, and took it outside because not that much room in the house. Distractions were buttered ritz crackers in a container (with screen lid) and a toy - she ignored both. She hunted fast and furious and alerted perfectly. I was so happy I got a video so I'd have bragging rights. I come back in and review the vids and realize that when she alerted on the 4th hide I thought we'd found that one already and told her to move on. Talk about sinking to the lowest! When I saw what I did I wanted to crawl under a rock! She alerted perfectly, I started to call it then said - wait I think you got that already, find another. No praise, no treat, ugh. Sharing with you here to admit my mistakes and to say to anyone training, videos are invaluable reviews of your dog AND you in your journey! Even thought I set this harder than my level with 5 hides instead of 3, the difficulty was for me keeping up and I even knew where the hides were. Maybe if I didn't know I would have known she hadn't found that one? I don't know. Scent work tip: MANY people want you to go methodically by each container but a few let their dog hunt and follow their nose....however the dog chooses to. Because of Asha's speed and intense hunt drive I choose to let her do it how she wants and not hold her back. I've always felt she loves this sport because nobody tells her what to do or how to do it. I'm not going to change it, but I just learned today that she can go faster than my head can keep track. Lesson learned. Here's Asha being a star and me being brain-dead on her finding the 4th hide:

Here's another run, re-arranged the containers and hides. One glitch where the alert wasn't clear, asked for clarity and she went over to a different hide and alerted on that one, so probably blowing odor? It was hot today and a little breezy. But again, Asha was awesome, I'm so proud of her! Both videos show she found all 5 hides in less than 1:35. Woot!

Fantastic!!!

 

[jazzies mum]

Great job! I can see that Asha really loves it!

 

[Ravenbird]

I'm still training, just other stuff going on that I'm not getting much posting & sharing done. Nose work trial was in August, so now switched gears back to obedience, working on CDX. No up-to-date video of where we're at on the broad jump and distance commands, but those are coming along. Retrieve dumbbell over the flat, over a jump (26"), and drop on recall are short clips I have here of my progress. Also, I used the Kong stick for a toy instead of a ball as it's way easier to fit in a back pocket!

Also a fun clip of something we learned this week - doing caviletti, this is the 4th day of working on this and the first time Asha got through the whole row without spinning back or crashing into them. As she gets better & smoother, I will make the small jumps further or closer apart, put them at different angles to make her pay attention to her approach to them. This is to increase her body awareness of her approach to the high jump and broad jump and in Utility the jumps taken from a right & left angle instead of head on.

All these exercises are fun to teach and fun for the dog to learn even if you don't want to trial, except I would NOT recommend the down on recall until way later after you have a 100% recall. For younger dogs or puppies? Oh how I wish I'd thought about cavaletti before! It definitely has taught self awareness in just a few short sessions!

 

[Katyusharocket]

I'm still training, just other stuff going on that I'm not getting much posting & sharing done. Nose work trial was in August, so now switched gears back to obedience, working on CDX. No up-to-date video of where we're at on the broad jump and distance commands, but those are coming along. Retrieve dumbbell over the flat, over a jump (26"), and drop on recall are short clips I have here of my progress. Also, I used the Kong stick for a toy instead of a ball as it's way easier to fit in a back pocket!

I am always impressed with the work you and Asha accomplish together! You guys are clearly on the same page and it shows! That cavaletti is pretty neat, I had never heard of it before now.

 

[Rits]

Good girl! Love that close and straight front for the retrieve!

 

[remy]

awesome job!!

 

[Ddski5]

That’s so good.
Very clean- can tell the hard work is there.

 

[Ddski5]

Most of the time my post are done on the fly at work so they may appear short and to the point….

To expound…you can really tell the consistent detailed work you have put in because of Asha’s focus on you and her purposeful certain movements. There is no guessing or floundering going on here. She is rock solid and knows what you want!!

Just really really good stuff.

 

[Ravenbird]

To expound…you can really tell the consistent detailed work you have put in because of Asha’s focus on you and her purposeful certain movements. There is no guessing or floundering going on here. She is rock solid and knows what you want!!

Just really really good stuff.

I do appreciate all the compliments. I love the drive that Asha has and her determination to get things right. I've always said she loves anything if she can go fast & furious, so teaching her to slow down and concentrate is the challenge. If you compared this to a finished dog it really isn't that impressive at all, but I'm incredibly proud of her progress and mine as well. I could start a comedy channel if I posted all the videos in between...

 

[LifeofRubie]

It's so fun watching you two work together! She seems to enjoy it very much! Good Girl, Asha

I love the drive that Asha has and her determination to get things right. I've always said she loves anything if she can go fast & furious, so teaching her to slow down and concentrate is the challenge. If you compared this to a finished dog it really isn't that impressive at all, but I'm incredibly proud of her progress and mine as well. I could start a comedy channel if I posted all the videos in between...

Rubie is very much a "just do something as fast as possible" dog and as soon as I ask her to slow down, she kinda shuts down. Speed is what would've made her a great agility dog but asking her to think prevented us from going too far

 

[Ravenbird]

We can consistently send across the cavaletti with me staying behind now. This is not something that will be in a trial, it's just a fun thing for both of us to do and teaches her to gauge herself as I change the distance between the jumps. Anything for a ball, she says.

 

[Katyusharocket]

Anything for a ball, she says.

That is really cool! I would keep the ball on a rope away from my fingers, too!