Ponto speeding up a little when running on for the toy over the three jumps.  Will video again tomorrow to see if speed has really increased.  Nice tight turns round the wings of the one jump to tuggy.  Also tested her today to see if she would recall past some very smelly mackerel and she did.  POA tomorrow:

Video running on over three jumps and her turns.
RZ practise
Lots of PBJ games and drop toy and run games.
Crate games.

Agility Training at Sopley today.  I did my best to follow SG's guidelines on being a good student.  Jo was really helpful with how to get Ponto to run on.  I think following Recallers more assiduously than I did in Recallers 2.0 is really the answer.  Ponto also woke up with a gammy ear.  The vet has given me some stuff to put in her ears, this is the third time this year.  I hope the new antibiotic gets rid of it.  She behaved so well at the vet's, I didn't use her halti as she didn't like it behind her ears.  She walked loose lead from the car to the vets.  We went in and she lay down beside my chair and ignored the other dogs in the waiting room.  I can't believe how much she has improved.   We played nose touches and throw the toy and run in the garden this afternoon.   POA tomorrow . . . practise running on at jumps, think about making it into an even better game.

Ponto doing one jump with tighter turns.  Improving, will move on to speeding her up and maybe adding a follow up jump.
Ponto going ahead of me.  At one point on the video she appears to take an extra short step.  Then she is more confident the next time and jumps smoothly.
Hand touches - progressing well, did these in bedroom and kitchen.  Using plexiglass as well now.  Have to be vigilant when it is on the floor as she is tempted sometimes to touch with feet as well as nose.
Forgot to test the sit when I am running with the toy, will carry over in tomorrow's POA.

POA for today for Ponto:

One jump practising tight turns with front crosses.
Back chaining running on from me over three jumps in a straight row.
Nose touches.
Testing whether she will go into a sit or a down when I am running with her holding her toy.

H - garden for all today  except nose touches - do these anywhere, anytime and when we are out on our walks.
Time - 30 seconds to a minute each time.

Agility Training at Sopley today.  Wow I am on a buzz, definitely in the zone after taking Ponto to training this morning.   We played crate games, played and she focused on her way to her turns to run.  Then WHAM, BAM, the other people were standing with their dogs on lead chatting and one dog, a big black labradoodle pulled to run to Ponto wanting to play (but of course Ponto's attitude is that a dog wanting to play with her is a threat to her existence), the owner lost grip of her lead and the dog was where Ponto and I were playing tug before going to the start line.   Ponto's hackles raised a little but thinking on my feet, I upped the game of tug as the owner and the trainer got control of the labradoodle, Ponto continued playing despite the slightly raised hackles.  I then played tug, drop and run with her a few time moving to the other side of the agility course and once I was sure she was really 100% focused on me, we went back to the start jump which was only a few feet away from the other people and their dogs standing chatting on lead.  I decided to be daring and put her in a wait, but only stepping away from her, not doing a lead out.  She focused on the jump and we were off and she did a nice run.   Thanks to Recallers and to learning to really play a situation which, for my very reactive dog, could have ended disastrously, she proved to me that working with me is playing with me and never mind the rest of them.

POA for today, tomorrow and everyday - play the tug recallers games.

Ponto has started doing her perch work, but still as a tendency to bark when she is confused and thinking things out.  We played loads of hand touches, RZ, and tuggy recallers yesterday.  The only time she doesn't find lots of value for her toy is coming out of her crate when at agility training.   At home she happily ignores other distractions like the dogs barking next door, food on the ground, my dogs running around at the same time.  Susan Garrett gave us the challenge to think of something that we are struggling with and invent a new game to play in order to achieve it.   Decided that today I will use food when I release her from the crate, stay pretty near the crate and then start running when she gets to the RZ and the food, then produce the tuggy.

Agility Training yesterday.   Ponto still not wanting to run fast out of crate.   She ran well but still needs to build up more drive.   Decided to play lots of tug games with her, because although she loves playing tug and works to a tuggy toy, she will be distracted from it if other dogs are too close and I need to work on this.

On Being a Good Dog Training Student

I downloaded Susan Garrett's epamphlet on "Being a Good Dog Training Student", and went to training today having planned beforehand what I wanted to do, including crate games and focus over one jump at the start. Fortunately in the course Jo had set we had the turn I had been practising but had had difficulty with.  Jo put me right as to where I should position myself, although the others were doing the turn round the jump the other way. It was a lightbulb moment.  I also practised visualising the bits of the course we were doing beforehand.  Ponto was very happy to drive fast into her crate but more reluctant coming out and had a Don't Want to Don't Have to moment regarding playing with her tug.  At home we never have this, but it was the first time playing crate games at the agility field and she is always nervous with other dogs around.  However, by playing dive to get the tuggy we overcame the problem to a good extent.  Also, although she focuses on the first jump at home, she tends to look at me at training - again because she is concerned about what is going on around her.  I through her toy over the first jump and then released her to it.  This seemed to speed her up for the next bit.  Going to continue working on this regularly.

Not good at record keeping

One of my downfalls with my dog training is not keeping my record keeping and plans of action up to date.  However, today I worked with Dylan on running over three jumps, having been left in a wait.   Fast turns, 360 fast spins.  Restrained Recalls and crate games. Dylan was shy of the crate but is now participating slowly and building up confidence in crate games.  His restrained recall was lovely and fast on both sides.  He tended to flatten the middle of the three jumps.  Will ask on recallers if anyone knows how to cure this one.

Ponto didn't believe in the restrained recall on my own using a lead wrapped loosely round a post, even though I did it just how Susan did it with Swagger.  She stayed where she was assuming she was tied up and doing relaxed isolation instead.  We did get there in the end, but her restrained recall from her crate is very good now.  She had no problem with going over the three jumps, being sent over and being left in a wait and called.  Ponto is now at the stage where I can throw a toy, run around, anything and she stays in the crate till released.    Tomorrow I will leave her in the crate and run Dylan in the garden to test her even further.

Percy was also a little confused with a restrained recall using the lead round the post.  Her crate games are coming along.

Motivational hand touches and other things.

First of all let me say that all my contact practice last week with Dylan paid off.  He came 2nd in agility on Sunday!  Not by the skin of his teeth but by doing his contacts properly, right to the bottom etc.

Today we went for our morning beach walk, practised hand touches, spins, recalls and RZs while there.  I had to put Percy on her lead as she was determined to find a dead fish to roll in again and I wouldn't have had time to bath her before leaving for work.  Need to work on that distraction.

It rained most of the day.  Alela's stitches are looking fine and she has brightened up now after her operation.

We played indoors this afternoon, doing motivational hand touches, walking backwards from me, right across the room and playing the bed games.

POA for tomorrow:  Random, fast sits and downs.  Aim 10 fast sits and downs from each dog.

Games played today

On the walk on the beach.  With all three dogs: Whiplash head recalls, CGs, IYCs, RZs (loads).

In the garden:

Dylan:  Tuggers, like Susan Garrett with Swagger.  Dylan is much more into his tugging now but seems to have a preference for one tuggy so we played with three tuggies.   - 9/10 successful I think.   He also got his down contacts well and is speeding up in the weaves.  In the box sits, downs and stands - 10/10.  Walking across my wobble board from one bed to the other.  8.

Ponto:  Crate Games - brilliant with distractions, did a restrained race back to the crate from further distance.  Using four two by two weave poles now.   In your box sits, downs and stands - 5/10 for these but it was less so progress happening.  Walking across wobble board from bed to bed 6.

Percy:  Send aways using her ball.  She is old, dislikes tugging anything, only plays with a very soft ball, so we practised that.  Very good at her in the box sits, downs and stands - 10.

POA for tomorrow while at a show.

Sit tugs runs.   Can you do it in a box downs, sits, stands.  Crate games close to the car.  Plenty Look at Thats for Ponto as she is not competing but continuing to practise not being reactive to other dogs.

Did I stick to POA's - yes!

Alela was spayed and is home safe and sound from the vet, if still a bit dopey.

Ponto is improving in crate games well.  She waits and comes out and now runs back in after collar grab.  Hand touches very good these days.   Played In a Box with her stands, sits, downs.   Sits from standing, stands from sits or downs, but often downs instead of sits when I am in strange positions and if already down.  I had a lightbulb moment and realised that in early training I had always said "Up sit".  Decided to change word for sit to "assis" (i.e. French) this is beginning to work better than sit in the In your Box games.  Ready to move to two lots of two by twos.

Dylan v. good in your box downs, send away downs, down when coming to me.  I am also teaching him down on his contacts to ensure that he reaches the bottom every time.  Down and touch basically.

Percy - well we started the touching the paws on the wall game.  So far, one paw on the card I am using to begin with.  Might decide to play put your paw on my foot as well.  She thoroughly enjoyed herself, but I know a little often works well with her.

All of us enjoyed ourselves immensely playing together.

One year later two further training methods in between

Teri Martin in the Recallers 2 Group asked if anyone kept a blog.  I did last year, but like many of us Recallers (Susan Garrett's training online) my weakest point is my record keeping.  As with this blog, I did it well for a month and then gave up on in for a while.  Teri has inspired me to use this for my record keeping.   As for Ponto, she is still improving.  Having taken her out of agility for almost a year, she now competes occasionally again, the problem being me and my nerves that she might misbehave again.  However, last Sunday at the show I ran her with her toy, not for competition in the first Steeplechase, and then competed in the second Steeplechase, no incidents from Ponto and I easily managed to front cross at the last jump bringing her well back into the ring to me so she didn't even think about running off to chase away the other dogs.  However, some of her biggest improvements have come since I started using Leslie McDevitt's Control Unleashed book, especially keeping her calm before her run, rather than hyping her up, and doing loads and loads of "Look at That" around the rings and on the beach, in fact anywhere when we are out.  She now looks at other dogs, such as a group of collies racing past us and then looks to me and gets treated.  I then decided to do Susan Garrett's Five Minute Recall Course online.  I am still doing this course along with joining her Puppypeaks course.  Since commencing the Recallers with all my dogs, Dylan's speed has upped immensely in the ring.  His drive is so much better.  And the biggest bonus is that training, even the reactivity training has all become such a lovely game for both me and the dogs.

Right, if I am going to use this blog as my record keeping I better put down my POA for tomorrow:-

• Take Alela (border collie whippet cross 14 motnh old pup I'm training) to vet to be spayed - so obviously no training with her apart from perhaps a collar grab and a quick sit, tug and run in the morning just as a game before we go.
• Ponto - crate games, hand touches, are you a gambler and continue retraining weaves two by two method.
• Dylan - are you a gambler - especially for the downs, extreme maintenance on his contacts, Deke Game.  Dylan also visits the Nursing Home tomorrow where he will be practising (performing) his mixture of tricks for the benefit of the old people again, so will have a lot to do.
• Percy - my old red setter - I think I'll start clicker training her to put one front leg and one back leg on the wall.  She enjoys learning new clicker tricks.

Tomorrow I will comment on the above, what we did or didn't achieve etc.

Anthea Rocker is fundraising for Dogs Trust

Anthea Rocker is fundraising for Dogs Trust

Rabbits

Well Ponto was just as dog aggressive when on lead at the show last Sunday.   Found a good article on Lowering Arousal: How to Train Impulse Control by Dee Ganley (http://www.deesdogs.com/documents/LoweringArousal.pdf) which I shall put into practise with all three dogs, most especially Ponto.  Her hide and seek is still very much improved.  This morning she caught a rabbit unfortunately, although as the countryside here is riddled with rabbits I guess it is not too distressing.  Her reaction was to let me take the rabbit.  She then thought perhaps this is a tuggy toy like the one she uses in her agility training, we had a short tug, I asked her to drop it then disposed of the rabbit.   After that she came along with me just as she would had it really been her tuggy toy and I put it away.  Not sure what to extrapolate from this behaviour.

Continuing the regime

Ponto is very good at hide and seek now and comes back quickly.  At home, they no longer jump and bark when I come in.  They still get overexcited at visitors, but when ignored, no eye contact, no touch, no speak to the dogs, they settle pretty quickly now, so hopefully the irritating behaviour of them trying to get attention when anyone calls at the house will die out completely in the end.  Ponto has been a lot better on lead passing other dogs, but Dylan and Percy went nuts when a cat ran quickly across the road in front of us this morning and yelled how they do if a fox does the same.  I've decided that if they do that again we will turn and go in the other direction.  Will ask the behaviourist about this when she comes.

Improvements in hide and seek

Hide and seek on the morning walk worked a lot more quickly this morning.  She came back more speedily although not instantly like Ponto and Dylan.  Only once did she try coming and going off again before coming right to me, but there was also another dog on the beach by then and she didn't pay attention to it but then returned to me, so that is a good improvement.  The evening walk went well, a lead walk down to Christchurch Quay.  We passed several dogs on lead.   When there was not much space to give her I put her in a sit and waited until the other dogs passed by and although she did look at one Cavalier King Charles Spaniel that was rather excitable and pulling on its lead, she remained seated and didn't growl, so that was good too.  So far the regime of becoming truly the leader of the pack for me is having a good calming effect on all three dogs.

Agility Training Today

Well I have continued with the program and it is already showing benefits.  Ponto was much calmer at training and only at the beginning outside of the training field did she bark at a dog, not agility dog.  I quickly tutted her and put her into a down.  She calmed down.  But the best thing was when I had put Percy and Dylan in the crate as the first hour of training was Ponto's, Dylan whimpered a couple of times and then was quiet.  Usually he yells if I take one of the other dogs away from him, although if all three are crated next to each other he is fine.  Today he waited happily and patiently in his crate for his turn.

New Regime

Since speaking to a holistic behaviourist yesterday, I have decided to implement a new regime for my dogs, including Ponto in an effort to improve all three but mostly Ponto's dog to dog aggression.  The four main facets on which I shall be concentrating are food - gesture eating before feeding them; walk - taking control on the walks; perceived danger - for example when the doorbell rings and they all bark; and finally, status within the pack, i.e. that I am leader, dealing with my separation from them and my return home.  It is imperative to implement every single part of this regime.  I am going to have a full consultation with the behaviourist in July.

As I have partially implemented the above for years, it was all to clear where I had let things slip, so back to basics we go.  The walk this morning being the first part of implementation.   Leaving the house, fine, the dogs all waited while I stepped out of first the door then the gate.  We had a lovely walk down to the beach, it was sunny at 5.15 a.m. today.  When we came to the grassy part where the rabbits live, I let the dogs off their leads, walked a little way, turned back and hid from them in a shelter.   Percy was back, as typically she is, within seconds.  Dylan was on the lead anyway as he is lead walking since he hurt his back leg jumping earlier in the week.  Ponto came back pretty rapidly this time.   We continued on our way and a few minutes later Dylan and I hid again in some bushes.   Again Percy came back straight away and waited with us, Ponto, however was on a rabbit hunt.   We waited about five minutes this time, she came back but dodged coming too close, and ran off to continue her rabbit hunt.  As she now knew where we were, we went back through the gate and stood there. This time she came back more speedily but again dodged coming close enough to be caught and went off to look for rabbits.  I think, as she hasn't exhibited such dreadful behaviour for a while, and she is very bright, that this is a test of wills, mine and hers.   Not to give up, I didn't panic, did not call her once in all this process but we continued on our way down to the beach.  We walked up at the top level, Ponto went down onto the beach.  We stopped up at the top level until she eventually came back, sat down in front of me as if to say, "Okay, I'm here now, happy?"  At this point I did catch her rather than just praise her for returning and letting her off again.  Ponto had pooed on the beach so Dylan and Ponto had a lead walk back along the shingle by the shore so we could pick up her poo, Percy remained off lead until we were at the part of the beach where we need to go up by the beach huts and dogs are to be on leads there.  Ponto walked nicely, not pulling the whole way home.  My mother thought Ponto looked sheepish, but I think she imagines this.  Ponto was very calm once home.  I did the gesture feeding routine and made them wait by their bowls until I said they could eat - no problems there.

I went to work and on my return, practised the status within pack part by ignoring them when I entered the house until they settled quietly.  This took all of a minute I should think - better than normal.  A little later we played in the garden, one at a time with balls and practised flatwork exercises which they just think is the greatest fun on earth. I then fetched my son from the station and gave him strict orders that when we get in he was not to immediately say hello to the dogs.  He wanted to but I explained that he mustn't.  They were very excited to see him, but he ignored them and it only took a couple of minutes before they were all settled quietly as he sat and talked to his Grandma in the living room.  So far things are going all right I think.

Back to work in the afternoon, and on my return I knew they would be silly because they always are as they know this is feeding time.  When I came home they were excited, waiting for me, but not as boisterous as usual, maybe they had taken in the earlier entrances in the day.  I came in, hung up my bag, and went and sat with my mother in the living room.  There were a couple of yodels from Ponto, who then suddenly lay down near my feet quietly.  Percy went on her chair, Dylan took a little longer to settle.   I got up when they had been quiet for a few minutes and they followed me quietly to the kitchen to prepare their meal.  Again I gesture fed as in the morning and all went really calmly.   I then had my own meal and Percy didn't come near me.  The others don't anyway,  Percy just went and lay down - what a surprise.   After watching Eastenders I took them for a half hour lead walk.  Percy was the only one I had to correct for pulling occasionally.

Dylan seemed pretty tired at the end of the walk, so possibly his leg is still bothering him.

We are all upstairs in the bedroom now, all three are lying quietly as I type this.   I'll wait to see what the morning brings, but tomorrow and for a couple more days, Ponto will stay on lead, then we will play hide and seek again and see who wins this time.