Halloween Class

Rugby went and participated in class for the first time last night. He was soo good--I was really impressed with him. We did stays from wayyy farther and for longer than we have done them before and he behaved better than I could have asked of him! :D Here are some pictures of him doing his 'stays'...he went as a Panda. :)

Yappy Halloween

No formal work today, instead we went to a halloween party. Rugby was soo brave, especially with the multiple great danes there. He did very well though and made lots of friends and also had lots of admirers. We have a picture from the photographer there, but I snapped a few snap shots of a couple of the dogs costumes before we left. I will put those up this weekend after I *hopefully* pass my calc exam! He is now officially worn out from meeting all those people and dogs and passed out on the couch next to me :). Rugby is going to a halloween class tomorrow, and then trick or treating friday. He has much to look forward to!

Oh, and he did end up going as a panda in the one that is too small. The good didn't go over his head, and it didn't cover his whole back, but that was okay...he was still the cutest. Joy was able to fit the bigger one, so they were a matching pair. :) The other dog that went with us, a cardigan corgi was a bat. :)

More Placing

Rugby practiced his places somewhere new yesterday, on a more elevated place board. He did really well, and we were able to get further than 4.5 feet (to 6 ft), although I would not say it is 'solid.'

It was quite amusing though one of the times he placed he caught a glimpse of some little white dog in the mirror, and had to tell me about it. When I called him off the place board we went over to investigate and you should have seen how confused he was when he found ME in the mirror! He would look at me through the mirror, then look straight up at me....then look at himself in the mirror. He was quite confused! :p

Later we practiced some stands which he 'forgot' how to do. So I just went back to helping him up and we did it over and over again. He did towards the end give me one where I didn't have to help him, so I am not sure if he really had a brain lapse or just didn't feel like it. :p

The attention it still there, he just stares at me while we work. It is a really good thing!

Rainy Day

You can see how sleepy Rugby was after a nice long training session....

Yesterday Rugby was trying his hardest to chase the neighbors away by barking at them through the front door. I was all the way in the kitchen, and I though...might as well try and knelt down with a 'Rugby come.' Much to my surprise the little stinker spins around and runs as fast as he could to me! I was really happy with him. :) Those 'comes' off the place board are starting to pay off.

Later in the afternoon we practiced some more placing. He is getting really good at it. We can place from a solid 4.5 ft away, but after that it is a little questionable. We also did a couple of sit stays since we sort of have been forgetting about them. He didn't miss a beat though and picked them up right where we had left off (6 ft for 2 min). He has been having to stay and wait right inside the door when we come home from walks while I go put his leash, etc away. I am going wayy more than 6 ft from him there, but it isn't really for any significant amount of time. One thing I noticed last night while we were working was the attention he gave me. I haven't ever had that much attention from him before. We were inside yesterday (since it was 40* and raining), so that proably explains it a little bit....a lot less distractions. Even still, I was impressed with him.

We did have someone watch us stand the other day, and turns out he is just a show off. :)

Mini Class

Yesterday Rugby and Duke the doberman went for a walk together. We worked on our heeling, sits, stays and stands. He was really distracted, but was able to hold it together. His stands are getting really good :). He did have to work more than usual because he was distracted, and he was soo tired by the time we got home. He just curled up in his bed and took a nice long nap. :)

Blah

Rugby and I skipped today, and went down to the farm. (This was very stupid of me as I had just given him a bath the morning, but hindsight is always 20/20 right?) He ran around like crazy and played with Joy, the jack russel. We worked on our recall a little, not 'formaly' but when I actually needed them. I found that it is hard to get his attention if he is paying attention to something else (like a really good senct), but once he realizes I am talking to him he is more than willing to oblige, and come over to me.

Tonight we went for a little walk and worked on our auto-sits and stands. I am not sure if the two are related, but every once in a while when I halt he will not sit, but instead just stop and stand beside me. I can not figure out if this is because he is forgetting to sit, or he thinks I am going to ask him to stand anywayz. Either way, he has to sit but it would help me better deal with that if I could figure it out. I am leaning towards the "forgetting" reason, just because every time we stand, he has to sit before and after in order to make the stand 'distinct' in hs little head. lol I will have someone watch us tomorrow and see. The Stands were pretty much the same...maybe we moved up to an 87% from an 85%? Slowly but surely...we will get there :)

Review Day

We were very productive today to make up for the lack or motivation/time yesterday. We did some places which he did very well at again today. It was earlier in the day, so we had some dogs and kids and people walking by for distractions. He did bark at them, but he did it all while keeping all his paws on the place board, so I let him. Also, I have been trying to release Rugby off the place board most of the times with the come command since I haven't quite figured a good way to incorporate it into our training otherwise.

We moved on to some stands, which were also improved. They are there with only my fake helping him up about 85% of the time. He just need lots more repetitions, and he has got it! :)

Rugby decided though, that since he has to learn all this new stuff--he will only sit when he thinks it is a good idea. I have been slacking a bit on practicing random sits, etc but he has no excuse not to do his automatic sits, and sits when heeling. Sooo--Rugby was reminded how fun it is to sit. :)

I am pleased with how well he did today, he got better at everything we worked on (just not all at the same speed).

Lazy

Rugby didn't do anything today :( He was just my little buddy when I was running around today but we didn't do any work. We might practice a few 'places' later tonight, just so he doesn't feel bad for missing a day.

He saw those shi tzus that we watched all last week again today and he got so excited. He likes having friends. :)

Stand

This morning Rugby practiced his heeling. He was quite distracted, but got along okay. We did a few stands but they were a little dissapointing.

This evening we did a bunch of stands untill he figured it out again. (has been a while for this too). Now he will stand (most of the time) just when I put my hand down under him (without me lifting up for him). We will do a few tomorrow and hopefully he hasn't forgoten by then! :p

Rugby has been getting scared of silly things lately, and barking at them. I guess it is just his age. Today the wind blew over a potted tree we have out front and when we went out to potty, you would have though the world was ending. Rugby couldn't believe someone would just throw a tree in his yard like that! And this evening in the middle of our stands I took my jacket off and threw it on the couch. He thought that was really scary too. I guess it is just the age he is at--luckily he gets over it quick enough. Fun times.

Place

Tonight Rugby was re-introduced to the place. We started before, but haven't worked on it for at least a week. He did wayyyyy better than expected. He not only remembered, but he really out-did himself. By the end he didn't need the initial "leash pushing," just the direction with my hand and he went all by himself, and sat down on the place board. *amazing*

When we were on the third side, working our way around, three times in a row he went on without me telling him to do silly boy. He just realllly wanted to be on that place board. He did have to keep trying untill he waited for me. ;)

I am going to try to build up some distance, and work on getting Rugby a negative space. What a smart boy he is!

Rugby

Okay, It is time for me to make Rugby an official training blog at least to motivate me be consistent with the training ;) As an introduction-- this is him. He is 5 months old now. :)