Schutzhund Progress

Last Thursday Pie ran the blinds for the first time. Today she did it again and understood her job much better. She ran the first blind much faster, because she understood she had to get around it to get the bite.

Then we did bark and holds for the first time. Pie has always naturally gotten lower while barking at something she wants. I would think it was a case of not being 100% confident, but she does it even if she is barking at me to throw her tennis ball. Maybe it is a combination of habit, confidence, and just a Pie thing. I'm not worried because she was doing a tiny bit better even after just one session. The first time on the bark and hold she was a bit confused at who to bark at because the helper wasn't moving, which is the purpose of the exercise. The bad guy isn't being threatening, so the dog isn't supposed to bite, just guard. If he had moved, then Pie would have barked and tried to bite. So Pie barked at a sleeve laying on the ground. She barked at me. She barked at the lady helping me. Finally she found the bad guy and barked at him.

The helper/ training director says Pie is biting much better and I can tell even though I am only watching. Pie has never been a super hard tugger and has always been a chomper, or as he called it, corn cobbing. She would rather chew than tug. And I've accidentally made it worse. It is the helper who has fixed her, and I am very happy about that. I'm learning so much. And tonight there was a new guy who is learning to be a helper. So I got to listen to instructions given to him, which gave me an even better and newer understanding of different aspects of training.

I worked Dottie on the pole. I thought I was remembering everything I was told about working the dog on the pole. Move the toy quickly. Let the rope slide through your hands when they pull (rope burn!,) go up the rope to them and pat. Run. Stop. Pet. Run again. But I learned tonight I wasn't being exciting enough during the tugging. And I was so proud I was remembering to let the rope slide through my hands. I guess I thought if I was too exciting it might make her chewy if I pressured her too much or it would mess up her calm hold. But when the lady helping me got in there and played so hard, Dottie did fine and enjoyed it. So much to learn! And on Sunday I'm going to start to learn tracking. Wo hoo!

There is a carting test coming up in April that I would like to enter Pie and Fancy in because they are both ready. But I need to practice. And my priority should be tracking because if I can learn it, then all the dogs could enter the tracking test at the Mal Specialty. But I'd really have to push to get them ready. So I could either not enter the carting test, or enter without brushing up first... The mature thing to do would be to not enter...