Level 2 Agility and Lady

Well folks Level 2 Agility is in our grasps. Lady qualified for the class tonight, I was quite thrilled. Lady wanted stick around and jump at the fun run, but that little thing I like to call a job was interferring. I have to go into work on a Saturday,

I am getting so addicted to Agility, I ordered weave poles that are in a set of 6. I also felt plucky and ordered one for my mom and dad. This should help mom get over her major surgery, weaving through the poles. - Hey it could happen. ( I am sure they will make their dog Dolly use them)

I will miss our classes that we are taking right now. I sure would to take them again. Especially "Foundations for Success" I love that class. And lo and behold I love clicker training. I have learned (as I have maintained all along, the dog doesn't need training, I do) that the dogs catch on faster with the clicker. I don't know why, but they do. I experimented with not only Lady, but our old dog Maggie and the parent's dog Dolly. All are learning the power of the Clicker! Can anyone tell me what "Charging the Clicker" means, I still don't know.

Clicker training not so bad after all!

Well, i am improving on my Clicker training and not hating it so much. Lady is fighting tooth and nail - literally you should see my arms - not to roll over in the blanket. She is on board for the second class, which is Foundations for Success, a great class, but I see more Shaping Behaviors in her future.

One thing that happened was I was suppose to be training her on "nudging" a ball and Lady started to put her paw on it, so now we know how to "touch" things. It is really cute. Brianna brought her dogs over yesterday and I was giving a demonstration and asked her to touch Ari (poodle mix) and she did, it is a pretty cute trick. Lady is also perfecting her "line up", hand bump, "go", the box game etc.

During the roll-over exercises, I have Lady fighting me all the way and our old dog Maggie performing the trick behind us to get the treat. Maggie is the one receiving the reward in this scenario. I know Lady will get this trick one day, but probably not by the end of our class. Despite it all, I will not give up, if anything it makes me more determined! The dog can weave six posts now and I was sure she would never succeed. Pereerverance!

Clicker Training for Dummies, Hint: I am the dummy

Lady and I are trying to learn clicker training. Rather, I am trying to learn clicker training, but not really succeeding. At our first "Shaping Behaviors" class, we were talking about clicker training. The subject of "Charging the Clicker" was brought up, and I thought "leave it to Mike to get me the cheapest clicker, mine is manual and I can't charge it". True to my form, I vocalized that my clicker was manual, I couldn't charge it.

Apparently, after a "charged silence" and looks of disdain, I discovered that "Charging the Clicker" did not involve electricity. I am very good at being a dummy. I still do not know how to charge my clicker and the dog does not seem to be very excited about the "click" no matter how many treats I give her after the "Click". I will "charge on" in my torturous behavior modification training however.

I've got the Agility Blues - By Lady Stamp

This picture is of Lady at her last night of Level 1 Agility. We started "Shaping Behaviors" and "Foundation for Success" last night. Man having two classes back to back is tough. What is even tougher is getting up the next morning. When did I get this old?!

The classes are great and once again, it is really me that is receiving the training. In both classes the stress is taking the emotion out of the training, which is hard to do, and I have a base understanding of my behavior affecting the dog's behavior. So much to learn.

I was extremely enthused last night because, between classes I worked with Lady on the poles and she ran her Weave through six poles, six or seven times. She needs to do four poles to get into Level 2. While this delights me to no end, I also realize that with Lady when she is "on", we're good, and when she is "off", nothing will happen. I am hoping the classes we are taking right now, will teach me to teach her to always be "on"!