This is two sessions combined into one post. I had Glory at handling class on Monday night and she is pretty out of control. She is 4 months old now. She will be in a show in two months and I would like her to be a bit more presentable than she is at the moment. Time to get some training started.
So Tuesday evening I did quite a lot with her....possibly too much for her age but we'll break it up more in the future. I did some fun retrieves with her in the shelter at first and let her keep the bumper for a bit so that she did not feel that I was going to snatch her prize away from her. She is on a leash for this so that I can control her a bit. Did a few sits as well but boy she does that very quickly...with no distractions of course (although Addie was in a crate in the shelter too). Next I put her up on the table and did some casting with her....and she takes the directions well. I have to tie her up while I load the food bowls but I am working on having her wait and look at me and watch the cast over before I let her get the treat. It is going well.
I was using a clicker to do the sit and the stand but I got better results without it. The clicker got her too wound up and I would like her to be calmer rather than crazier, so for now I'll just do it with praise. So we did a lot of sits and some stands and it went very well.
After that I took her outside (in the driveway) and wearing a slip collar we started to do the longe line work with her. I did 20 minutes and she was starting to pay more attention at the end. I only did it in a straight line going back and forth instead of a square or a triangle because doing those would have taken Glory and I out to the road and so far she has never been out there and I don't want her to think that she can go out there. As soon as the snow goes she has to be trained to the invisible fence. She will be the perfect age for that when the snow goes.
I did another 25 minutes on longe line over at the farm this am and the horses were there. She was initially pretty spooked by them and was whining a bit but through the session her anxiety decreased and she was sticking pretty close to me. Her attention increased through the session and right now she is passed out at my feet. I am going to let her snooze for a bit and then do some more table work with her. This evening is members night so I am going to take her with me but not to the class. I will just do about 20 minutes more of longe line work with her instead.
My goal is to take her right through Koehler novice program and then to blend her over to Connie Cleveland's training style and we'll see where we go from there.
No comments:
Post a Comment