Class

Zap was great in class today! There were race cars practicing at the fairgrounds and he ignored all the people and noises! In the back during the obedience class we played and we worked on sending to the crate from a distance and stayiong in the crate while i dropped toys and treats and people walked by. Then we worked on sits, downs, and heeling. He heels sideways so he is really understanding the position. He sat in his crate quietly when I needed him to....overall, I was extremely impressed with my boy! He even tugs enthusiastically with distractions.

Running Contacts and Obedience

We have an 8 foot plank set at about 7-8 inches high currently that we are training contacts on. I have a jump set after it and Zap is running straight through the contact every time! We are doing contact sessions about once a week tops and he seems to be grasping the concept very well.

We are also working on our "waits", recalls, and heeling. His stays are getting better and we are working on sends to the table and lead outs from the table with lots of distractions. I am using the table as a variation of a crate in crate games. His recall is very solid and he is a very good retriever, haha. He is learning the heel position and he would have solid heeling right now if I wasn't so lazy/poorly motivated to train it. We also work on left and right spins and jumps wraps, though not often.

Spring Goals!

I am going to start taking Flick up to my friend's house to run in agility so I'll take Zap along since she has a ton of big kennels to hold dogs right by the field. We have been working on tricks, obedience, and foundation work for agility. We only do an agility element, whether contacts or jump wraps, once a week....he's young. We have been going for a 1+ hour walk almost everyday lately. Shadow and Libby are mainly outside most of the time and Flick sleeps in Karyn's room and goes with her wherever she is during the day. This means I just have two 2 boys around all the time so Li and Zap are becoming close friends.
In early spring, we want to work on:
-Heeling
-Obedience
-Recalls
-Control Games
-Left and Right
-Tricks
-Crosses, mainly rears

Along with a few contact and wrap sessions.

This is an interesting turn I became aware of last fall. Li does these very well. They work very well for tight turns because as soon as he sees me turned the other way, he turns. If I stay next to him with my arm out, he sometimes just keeps running straight if I don't turn fast enough. Anyway, I want to try them with Zap eventually, because they make sense to me. A lot of trainers love fronts, with some rears. I like to explore lots of different options like blinds and ketschkers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjVO4CJ0nLI

Well, that's all.
-Ria