05.30.06
Agir Miss Jakoso
Congratulations to Butch Henderson and Agir Miss Jakoso for placing 5th in the 2006, IDC Weltmeisterschaft this year. Agir had high protection with score of 97 for the second year in a row.
Hot weather
We tracked the dogs yesterday on the hidden soccer fields. It was around 95 degrees and the grass was very dry. The weather was significantly hotter today than it had been any other day. I knew this would be a challenging day for the dogs. While laying the track I noticed many areas infested with ants.
Cosmo: I did a three leg track that had one right turn and one left turn. I have been working on taking the food out of the track, so I put very little hot dogs on the track. Looking back, I think I should have made today an easier track with lots of food considering the new hot weather. In the past Cosmo seemed unbothered by the lack of food in the track, but today was a step backwards. She started doing lazy tracking with her nose high above the track and mostly just trailing the scent versus actually put her nose deep into each step. For the first time ever, I corrected her on the track. She responded well and got more focused on tracking, but correction had to be repeated a couple times throughout the track. I was disgruntled with the end result, but I will give her one free day since the weather had so drastically changed and the grass was crispy. If she tracks like this again, I will have to switch my methods and move to eating only on the track.
Jingo: Mike did an easy track for Jingo today. He did three legs with a ton of food. It was his “reward” track since his tracks have been very difficult and full of distractions and cross tracks in the past couple of weeks. Mike wanted to give him something easy and fun to do. Well, it didn’t go as planned. It was actually one of the worst tracks I have seen Jingo do in sometime. He didn’t quit, but was all over the track and kept trying to indicate. I think it may have been too much food that he was getting overwhelmed with the scent. With his awful track, I decided it may also be that the dogs have yet to adjust to the weather. We will keep an eye on their progress and if the dogs continue to show a decline in tracking, tracking for dinner will be reinstituted!
05.29.06
Taz de Leamareme
Congratulations to Taz and his owners Alain and Chantal Berger for earning a score of 252/300 for his second competition in Ring two category.
Another great descendent of Uligan!
05.25.06
Arab vom Fachenfelde
Congratulations to Aida Ghiasi-Tabari and Arab vom Fachenfelde on earning the ZVA 1A rating for life during the 2006 Koerung!
We are proud and I hope Cosmo follows in her father’s footsteps!
05.24.06
Training the Aus
Not much training taking place this week due to our work schedule. I put together a video from 20 MAY 2006. The video is of Cosmo learning the Aus and Revere command. It is only the third time we have done this with her, but as you can see she is learning quickly.
http://www.vonschlottke.com/BaraBarkNHold.html
Distractions
Cosmo: We worked her on Wednesday with teaching the out. By the end of the session she was figuring it out and actually outing on command. All week I have been working on sitz and platz. She understands the commands, not to move until released, but is still struggling with going from platz to sitz. She will do the reverse, but for some reason she doesn’t want to move once she is in the platz. I have been using treats and corrections to help her overcome this, but she still seems confused. Today I tracked her on some soccer fields and did three legs with the middle leg being really long and very little food. She did great! I felt she was calmer than normal and nailed both her turns I couldn’t be happier.
Jingo: We have been practicing the long down around the house, but nothing crazy. He has been showing great obedience at the club. I felt today was a note worthy though. Mike had made multiple s curves, a 180 degree turn, and other straight legs with 90 degree turns. While we were letting age for an hour, the boys ran across the track to play on the other side of the field. Figuring it was a good form of cross tracks, we didn’t say anything. Jingo started out a little weak in the area with no cross tracks, but continued to get stronger throughout the track. He nailed the area that had cross tracks without problem. On the second to last leg, Ira ran down the track towards Jingo yelling. Jingo stayed right on the track and simply swerved around Ira and didn’t miss a beat. I couldn’t have asked for a bigger distraction and I was proud that Jingo didn’t seem the least bit distracted!
05.14.06
Weekend Training
Cosmo: I tracked her at Rosaryville Park in the late afternoon. The grass was slightly damp from the previous evening’s rain and appeared to have been recently mowed. I am working on decreasing the amount of food in the track and doing more than a schutzhund one track. I did three legs and than about 200 meters of an S pattern. She did great and didn’t seem bothered by the new shape. I was a little concerned we had wandered of course as she snaked around, but was happily surprised when we arrived at her end reward! We have also been working on focus, sitz, and platz. She knows them, but has chosen in the past to listen until something greater comes by. Now I am showing her she has no option but to listen. It seems to be going smoothly, but now she doesn’t want to go from the sitz to the platz, because she thinks she can’t get up! I will continue to focus on this for the rest of the week.
Jingo: Jingo’s obedience has improved drastically since we have gone back to the very basics. Instead of continuing to build on his shaky foundation, we started working on his focus and basic positions since January. I am very happy with his improvements and special thanks to Butch Henderson for his help. Jingo’s tracking continues to improve, but Saturday was a setback for him. After his track had aged, the grass had started to dry in the sun. The freshly mowed grass was like hay bales and kept sneezing throughout the track. He actually lost the track at a couple of points. I haven’t seen him track like this in some time, but I am chalking it up to poor conditions. If he continues to track like this throughout the week, we will go back to tracking for meals.
