Click for cheese

Sophie was clicker trained in her puppy class and first few obedience classes. She got the point of the clicker and did well learning the basics. I stopped using it mostly because I do not have the coordination to hold a leash, treats and a clicker (I am clumsy!!)

We moved to marking behavior with "yes" or "good girl", phrases she gets and knows means treats are coming. You say good girl in our house and a black lab will promptly stop whatever she is doing and sit in front of you with a tilted head as if to say "I hear the magic words...now where are those treats".

Sophie's contacts on the A frame and Dog walk have deteriorated in the last few weeks. I saw it at the trial, she wanted to run and was barely sticking them. We have always had iffy contacts to be honest.  I tried jackpot rewarding when she would stick the contact, saying yes etc etc. But it didn't seem to click with her.

Thursday, I thought to bring the clicker to practice. She is off leash so I only need to worry about treats and clicker, even I can manage that. We worked first on the base of the dog walk. Clicking every time she hit the two on two off. She got that pretty quick. So I started having her go over the dog walk, I would say contact and she would offer it, click and treat.

Not only was she nailing the contact but she started picking up speed on the dog walk, something she had not done since she slipped off a few months ago. She was grasping the concept that going over the walk, offering two on and two off meant a click which meant a treat. She got the concept so well that she was trying to speed over the dog walk!

I am not sure why the clicker works so much better than yes in this context but I am ready to run with it! Now just to learn to not be clumsy!

Class today, she kept trying to add the dog walk to whatever run we had so she could offer the contact, click and get cheese. I created a monster lol!

Ugh...so my fault.

I had one of those, I broke my dog moments. You know the moments I mean. When you did something and probably shouldn't and now your dog is acting a little off.

Well, Sophie and I usually take lots of walks outdoors and her nails get naturally filed that way. The last few weeks at work have been awful, lots of late nights and crazy clients. So our walks got cut out and her nails grew. In the back of my head, I made a mental note to get her to the groomer for a nail clip asap. Unfortunately, it slipped my mind before class.

We went to agility class last week and Sophie was having a good week. Then she sort of slipped on the top part of the dog walk. But she went over it a few more times in the day and I thought nothing of it.

Cut to this week's class. She would NOT go over the dog walk. Absolutely refused. Did it once and was almost crawling across the top part. I felt like the worst mom ever since if I had clipped her nails she wouldn't have slipped last week and therefore now be freaking out.

I gave her a break, pulled out the good cheese treats and tried again after class. NADA.

I won't be in town this weekend so I decided to take Sophie to the outdoor agility field that has rubberized contacts on Sunday to try to get her over the freak out.

I finally got her to go over it. But she has definitely lost speed and takes it super cautiously unlike before where she flew over it. Ugh, I feel so bad!

We did some circle work to get her excited/happy. She sure can move fast. I need to work on my speed LOL.

She figured out the dogwalk!!!

Sophie went over the dogwalk!! After months of refusing to do more than put two paws on the dog walk, she did it.

I took her to the agility club's outdoor location which has a rubberized dog walk. I spent a good 15mins rewarding every time she would put at least 3 paws on the walk.

On a side note, she can stretch her neck a lot trying to get treats while not moving her back paws.

All of a sudden she had four paws on. I rewarded and then she took a step and hopped right off. We tried again and this time she took a few steps before she realized what she was doing. I think the light went on sometime halfway across the dog walk. She looked down and her muscles bunched like she was going to jump but we kept walking and she went down the walk.

After that she was having a blast going up, over and down. She even remembered to offer a 2on 2off contact at the end (since she won't do the teeter or dog walk up until now, we have only practiced her 2on 2 off on a board but apparently the knowledge transferred to the dog walk)

So very proud of her!!!!

A fun and busy weekend + doggy backpack recs?

Sophie and I had a fun activity filled weekend (just how I like my weekends!)

Agility class on Sat went well! Our instructor split the class in two. Those more advanced and those of us with dogs who need a little more coaxing. She then set up two sequences. One was jumps in a circle and a tunnel aimed at building speed. The other was a 6 set of weaves, tunnel, tire and jump.

Sophie loved loved the circle work. She was jumping at 16 (which I believe is low for her but I am not aware of how measuring occurs for agility). She picked up speed nicely and followed directions.

She did well on the other sequence too. I just need to work on getting more of a lead on here. She is much faster than I am!

Then we brought out contacts, one side of the room did teeter and the other the dog walk. Sophie will still do neither but we had progress. No longer freaked out by the sound of the teeter slamming!!

The instructor set up a makeshift dog walk for the cautious dogs. She set up a table with a ramp. Sophie was happily going down the ramp, more cautious going up. Then the teeter was modified and she walked across it a few times. Major progress!!!

In trying to reach our goals for this year on Sunday, I convinced my parents to accompany Sophie and I on a hike. We went for a 2.4 mile hike through the woods. Great weather and wonderful scenery. Sophie did well with speeding bikes and other dogs while on leash.

I have decided she needs a backpack. I was carrying water for her, me and parents, plus her bowl, treats and assorted items. Does anyone have suggestions on a good doggy backpack?

The rain cancelled our flyball practice for today.

But we did make it to agility this morning. We had an opportunity to work on front crossing and jumps which Sophie did well on. Also got to do some work on weaves. Weaves are so far one of her favorite things.

Then we tried the dog walk for the first time. Well, dog walk needs to be added to list of things Sophie dislikes which include the teeter. Lots of work ahead to get her comfortable on both of them!

Two weeks until our next flyball tournament! If we have a very good weekend, Sophie may earn her FDCH-G. If not this tournament then likely next :-)