06.25.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 20:38 by Administrator
Today was a good day at training. It started off a little shaky during Cosmo’s track. The one thing she loves to do is track, but for some reason today she decided to blow off the last leg. I think the problem lies in the fact that I am removing food and I fed her prior to the track. Normally I need to feed her or she will become almost hectic in the track because she is very food driven, but on this day it created problems. It was hot and tall weedy grass. The track was a Schutzhund one length track, with two right turns. She started off strong and nailed her first corner. She continued down the second track with nice intensity and nailed the second corner. A few steps into the third leg, she stopped and turned to look at me. I really think she was wondering why we were tracking since she hadn’t found much food. I gave her a pop on the lead and repeated my command for her to track. She looked at me and platzed. I repeated my command and she tried to get in the fuss position. She has never been corrected during the track and I believe she was truly confused about why she was being corrected. I pointed to the ground and repeated the command and helped her forward until she found a hot dog. She finished the last leg with lots of encouragement, but I was extremely frustrated. This is the one event she does so well, it is hard to see her have a bad day. Butch told me it is important that I introduce articles now because there is no point for her to track without something to look forward to. So my project for this week is to introduce articles to her. It shouldn’t be difficult since I have already trained this as a young puppy, but haven’t introduced it into the track.
Feeling frustrated with tracking, I wasn’t sure what to expect with obedience. She did a great job and is doing a tremendous job with focus. I have never had a dog with such great focus and I am glad that I took the advice to spend a LOT of time with foundation work. It is really paying off!!
We finished with protection and I was very pleased to see she is finally piecing the Aus and Revere together. She was outing without correction and immediately going into revere. She was biting hard and full, showing lots of intensity. I was glad the day finished on a strong note and hoping for more good days of training 
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06.22.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 15:42 by Administrator
My green Guy and Melon Girl spawn hatched today. Keeping my fingers crossed for a nice show prospect!
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06.17.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 20:01 by Administrator
Don’t feel like writing much since I am near exhaustion as of lately due to my schedule. Cosmo seems to be figuring out the bark hold and is starting to calm down since more control is being put on her. She tends to tire towards the end of training because she puts so much effort into her bite work. I am thinking I should start biking with her to help her improve her endurance. Although, I think she could shed a few pounds too! Maybe Cosmo and I will go on a diet together 
Jingo has made significant progress in his obedience and control and I am looking forward to when Mike trials him this fall. Today Jingo did some work with the bark and hold and focus during protection. He seemed to figure out what was expected of him quickly. Dirty is Jingo’s middle name, but today he stayed clean with few reminders.
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06.10.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 20:09 by Administrator
Two steps forward and one step backwards is the theme I felt today with Cosmo. She hadn’t been worked in bite work for almost two weeks due to club members competing at recent national and international events. Cosmo had been making significant progress with the Aus and Revere, but today she acted somewhat confused. She was outing on command, but continued to be dirty and try to bite under the sleeve. I gave her some pops with the leash to pull her out, but she was slow to recover and start barking. It is frustrating because she did so well in our last training session. I need to learn the virtue of patients! Like Butch says, not all training days are going to be good days. On a positive note, Cosmo did a wonderful track at Roseryville Park despite the high winds. The grass was lush and thick with some cross tracks from people who had tracked the night before.
Jingo had a good day as well. Mike made a large Schutzhund three track in the same conditions as Cosmo. Butch came along and gave us some great handling tips and pointed out some areas that Jingo could improve on. Jingo has a tendency to charge forward for the first few steps of the track and after articles. He showed nice intensity throughout the track, but did stray off a few times. With the great suggestions we received, Mike will refocus on some areas of Jingo’s tracking and hopefully we will see some improvements!
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06.09.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 20:05 by Administrator
Cosmo: I hadn’t worked her for almost two weeks since I have been preparing for my state board exam. When we arrived to the hidden tracking field, I was disappointed to find the conditions worse than the previous time. The grass was not only dry, but seemed to be very sparse with multiple tire tracks running through from the tractor who mowed it. The wind was picking up and the temperature had dropped by ten degrees due to a thunder storm rolling in. With the given conditions, I decided it would be best to lay tracks and immediately track the dogs without aging. I made Cosmo’s track three legs with two left turns. The middle leg was extremely long with little amounts of food and for the second time I put zero food in the corners. When I brought her out to the track we had a little mishap at the very beginning. She started to track and stopped when I tried to adjust the leash on her she came back to me. I think she thought I was asking her heal, so I re-started her and she took off without problems. I was glad she nailed the corners and kept her intensity throughout the track. A couple times she cross checked when we came to tracks, but she quickly continued on once she new the tire tracks were not the correct track. After a short rest, I brought her out for obedience while Jingo did his long down. I was surprised with our break, how much she had improved. She seems to have really grasped the sitz and platz concept. I was able to walk around with and every time I gave the command platz she dropped. I could put tension on the leash and she wouldn’t move unless I gave her the release command. Same with the sitz command. I am looking forward to see if she does the same while at the club tomorrow!
Jingo: Mike made an interesting track for Jingo that ran along a fence line and had straight and curving legs with minimal food. The track was aged at most 15 to 20 minutes. Jingo started out well, but during the first leg he stopped and appeared to think about marking the fence he was near. Mike told him no and resumed tracking. He did a wonderful track with one false indication on a plastic straw that blew onto the track. Again he was told no and he got up and continued to track. He didn’t seem to have any problems with the corners, but did a lot of cross checking in some of the sparse areas of the track. Also the wind had significantly increased during his track and with the dry conditions I was pleased with his over all performance. Mike did the entire Schutzhund III obedience routine with Jingo. I was very impressed that Jingo turned in a wonderful performance with no corrections. He did some of his typical bumping in the healing, but with one correction he backed off. All the exercises he completed quickly and precisely. My only complaint was the he was a little slow platzing on the send out. During the long down he appeared relaxed which is a nice improvement for Jingo. He didn’t attempt to get up even though Cosmo was running about like a crazy pup.
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