Well, some of you know I have been a part of Friends of Retired Greyhounds, a non-profit greyhound "rescue" out of northern Colorado. I have been a part of this group and on the board for 8 and a half years. After much deliberation, I've decided to resign from my position as Dog Care Coordinator. I'm honestly tired of the crap and how horrible it is being led and handled and how disrespectful the members are. I love the dogs, but it's hard to stay with a group like that.
This extra time will give me time to focus on my dogs, limit stress, and do my summer college classes. I can't wait to have all this extra time and less stress!
On the other hand, my dogs are all doing great. Swift and Skye are working a lot on the flat to improve tight turns and crosses. I will be starting cik&cap with Swifters soon and will be doing my major retraining with the other girls end of May.
I have a trial at Latigo the first weekend in May and then another the following weekend in Grand Junction. Those are the only two I am entered in. I've tried to retrain my dogs in between trials, but it really doesn't work because once the dog is introduced back onto a full course the week before a trial, they freak and are confused because they don't know what to do, the new way or the old?? So, I am going to completely retrain them and then go back to trialing. I will probably go to some local trials just to watch and socialize Swiftins but no actual trialing during the summer. I'm pretty excited to incorporate Silvia Trkman's ideas and methods as well as Linda Mecklenberg's. It should be exciting!
The balance ball is so amazing! Wow, I am so impressed at how strong it has made their core, back, and rear end. All of them have improved with their "pretties", "talls", and everything else. They are doing great. Swift has been kind of weird, I think it's because I've been so tired and haven't been very upbeat... Hopefully it doesn't affect her too bad, I know she can take some things personal lol.
Well thanks for reading, I'll keep ya posted!
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Update 4-17-09
So, I appologize that I haven't updated you all on my dogs training. I am in class, but I will try to update you as much as possible.
I tried a systematic training plan, only for find out that is so not me! I can only work totally random and spontaneously, so that's what I am going to do. Why try something I obviously can't do? So I work with my dogs whenever I am at home. Sometimes it's tricks, or fun obedience, or strength training, or conditioning, it's whatever comes to my mind and I think needs work. I try to keep some notes so I can see their progress, but that hasn't happened in weeks! Whoops!
Anyways, my last update was forever ago, so I am just gonna list the new tricks they have learned and where they are at as far as their training...
Skye:
Target - knows completely
Walk on my feet (from front) - is doing great with this. She is still learning where to place her feet, but it getting good at it and does good at staying on while I walk.
Tall (stand on back feet) - she used to know this, but the reason I am retraining it is because she learned this but then I quickly started teaching her to dance (spin in a circle while standing on back feet) and now when I ask for a tall I always get a dance. So I am just distinguishing the difference, and she is doing good.
Balance ball work - She has learned to get on the egg ball and does lefts and rights, sit, down, stand, hi five, other paw, sit pretty and call kinds of other tricks on the ball. I just got a round ball about the size of the egg and she is doing awesome with that as well. It is a bit more of a challenge, but she is doing great. She is learning to stand tall on the ball (with my help of course) to build core strength.
Bow - we are finishing and polishing this trick, she knows it but we are adding a cute thing to it.
Get your nose - this is an adorable trick, she is slowly but surely getting a hang of this. She understands the general idea of what to do, we just need to be more consistent, stop using the prop, add a command, and polish it.
Indie:
Target - knows completely
Cross your legs - we have done one session with this. I don't really like how I'm training it, I might find another way before continuing. She didn't really get it.
Balance Ball work - She also knows sit, stand, down, left, right, pretty, hi five and whatever else on the egg ball. We are working with the round ball and she is doing great. She is the biggest dog so she has some issues with turning on the ball, but she is getting better.
Bow - she is learning, but keeps wanting to lie down.
Clicker training yay! - I am starting to do some clicker training with her. We are just learning what the click is, getting used to it, and she is learning click=treat always.
Walk on my feet (from front) - She has done this a few times and is so goofy that I think it is going to take some time. She is so over the top when training that she like spins and flips all over when we do this. She is such a goof ball!
Swift:
Target - knows completely
Push it (ball) - she knows this completely. For a dog that was afraid of the awkwardness of the volleyball and terrified of the movement, she offers this trick all the time. She runs up and pushes the ball with her nose and is starting to use her feet, it is so cute! I'm very proud of her.
Crawl - she has done the best with this out of all my dogs. she rarely stands up and is eager to crawl. She has only just started this, so I expect it will take some time.
Tall - She is doing good with this. She knows what to do, we are now slowly extending the time she stands up. She needs a command on this as well.
Balance Ball Work - She knows sit, down, stand, left, right, tall, pretty, and whatever else on the egg and is also going to the rounder ball and doing great. I was so proud of how quickly and how eager she was to do this! I can hardly keep her off the ball! She loves it so much. My scaridy cat dog loves this, I was amazed.
Swift's Jumping work: We are doing mainly tricks, but have introduced jumping. She is doing mainly flat work and has started learning a round jumping style. We are going to start cik&cap from Silva Trkman soon and will then transfer that to jumps and go back up to full height in a month or so. She hates stationary work so the faster we learn cik&cap the better!
I tried a systematic training plan, only for find out that is so not me! I can only work totally random and spontaneously, so that's what I am going to do. Why try something I obviously can't do? So I work with my dogs whenever I am at home. Sometimes it's tricks, or fun obedience, or strength training, or conditioning, it's whatever comes to my mind and I think needs work. I try to keep some notes so I can see their progress, but that hasn't happened in weeks! Whoops!
Anyways, my last update was forever ago, so I am just gonna list the new tricks they have learned and where they are at as far as their training...
Skye:
Target - knows completely
Walk on my feet (from front) - is doing great with this. She is still learning where to place her feet, but it getting good at it and does good at staying on while I walk.
Tall (stand on back feet) - she used to know this, but the reason I am retraining it is because she learned this but then I quickly started teaching her to dance (spin in a circle while standing on back feet) and now when I ask for a tall I always get a dance. So I am just distinguishing the difference, and she is doing good.
Balance ball work - She has learned to get on the egg ball and does lefts and rights, sit, down, stand, hi five, other paw, sit pretty and call kinds of other tricks on the ball. I just got a round ball about the size of the egg and she is doing awesome with that as well. It is a bit more of a challenge, but she is doing great. She is learning to stand tall on the ball (with my help of course) to build core strength.
Bow - we are finishing and polishing this trick, she knows it but we are adding a cute thing to it.
Get your nose - this is an adorable trick, she is slowly but surely getting a hang of this. She understands the general idea of what to do, we just need to be more consistent, stop using the prop, add a command, and polish it.
Indie:
Target - knows completely
Cross your legs - we have done one session with this. I don't really like how I'm training it, I might find another way before continuing. She didn't really get it.
Balance Ball work - She also knows sit, stand, down, left, right, pretty, hi five and whatever else on the egg ball. We are working with the round ball and she is doing great. She is the biggest dog so she has some issues with turning on the ball, but she is getting better.
Bow - she is learning, but keeps wanting to lie down.
Clicker training yay! - I am starting to do some clicker training with her. We are just learning what the click is, getting used to it, and she is learning click=treat always.
Walk on my feet (from front) - She has done this a few times and is so goofy that I think it is going to take some time. She is so over the top when training that she like spins and flips all over when we do this. She is such a goof ball!
Swift:
Target - knows completely
Push it (ball) - she knows this completely. For a dog that was afraid of the awkwardness of the volleyball and terrified of the movement, she offers this trick all the time. She runs up and pushes the ball with her nose and is starting to use her feet, it is so cute! I'm very proud of her.
Crawl - she has done the best with this out of all my dogs. she rarely stands up and is eager to crawl. She has only just started this, so I expect it will take some time.
Tall - She is doing good with this. She knows what to do, we are now slowly extending the time she stands up. She needs a command on this as well.
Balance Ball Work - She knows sit, down, stand, left, right, tall, pretty, and whatever else on the egg and is also going to the rounder ball and doing great. I was so proud of how quickly and how eager she was to do this! I can hardly keep her off the ball! She loves it so much. My scaridy cat dog loves this, I was amazed.
Swift's Jumping work: We are doing mainly tricks, but have introduced jumping. She is doing mainly flat work and has started learning a round jumping style. We are going to start cik&cap from Silva Trkman soon and will then transfer that to jumps and go back up to full height in a month or so. She hates stationary work so the faster we learn cik&cap the better!
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