contagious

[Adrianne]

I have a rotten cold again...am wrapped up under the duvet with tissues and a lemsip watching doc martin repeats. (almost worth having a cold) Cupar is next to me and Boo is on my feet. O/H is watching something on the tv in the other room... Think my sniffles and coughing are annoying him. He wiped the steering wheel and gearbox before driving my car earlier! Do you get the idea he doesn't want to catch it?

[Kimmikins]

Wow, it must have travelled through the interweb wires, because I'm literally in the final stages of beating my horrible cold! It started on Tuesday, but I can't really take time off my course, it'd be to much to have to catch up, so I had to struggle on for the rest of the week. Come Friday I was a sneezing, snotting, coughing mess! The instructors took pity on me, and a couple of dodgy simulator runs were given generous marks so that it doesn't affect my overall progression.

Yesterday I was miserable! I dosed up on tea (including gingersnap peach, yummy! And good for clearing your head ) and barely moved from the sofa. Tim didn't have to wipe anything down, because he's the one who gave it to me!!

Hope you're feeling better soon, it's rotten having a cold. Duvet, hot liquids and lots of rest should get you back on track

[Jordan]

Hope your feeling better soon, just dont sneeze in a southernly direction!

If this weather would make up its mind what its doing, one day freezing next day gorgeous, no wonder we get colds.

[kimthecat]

 Sorry you both have nasty colds and hope you feel better soon .

 No colds going around my area yet !  The weather has been very windy and wet and I've had to put the central heating back on .

[kristina]

Bless you,hope you feel better soon,take it easy keep warm a bit of hot Toddy at bedtime.Kristina

[Adrianne]

finding myself moaning like a man with flu! loads better tho ..made sure I worked out of doors so as not to take it into anyones homes..still got 'sticky stuff' and my nose is all cracked because I used toilet tissue instead of balmy soft Kleenex! working from home tomorrow so will hopefully feel better after a day at home. won't sneeze into the wind I promise! I know exactly where I caught this cold ..I had a yearly check up at the doctors exactly 3 days before it started - surgery waiting room.
Hope you are on the mend too Kimmikins. x

[Jordan]

You can be sure if you go see the Doc with one thing you'll leave with another! have a good day at home, try and take things easy!

[Adrianne]

feeling loads better this evening...had a great day working from home ..made a good start on my advice notes for handing out - doing a mammoth one on leash reactivity. took my two to the park bright and early and got some emergency stops done, some sit/stays and some really sharp u-turns off leash. Bootsie doesn't always join in, and I don't make her if she doesn't want to, but she was full of enthusiasm this morning. Cupes was funny, he shouted at me for every cue I gave him...I had fun.

[Jordan]

That sounds good.

We really should do more dedicated outdoor training havent done that for a while ........my walks in the country are my de-stressing time so we just roam far and wide with a command here and there thrown in so to speak. Although i am working on loose lead walking in new places, so when we hit town instead of coming home the quickest route, i am making detours so he gets 5 or 10 minutes practice most days instead of a dedicated lead walk that ends up killing me. He can do it perfect in the house but outside has still a long way to go.

Question.......how on earth do these people get their dogs to do heelwork.........its like the dogs glued to their leg LOL

[Adrianne]

its all done with mirrors!

Seriously its done with the 'watch me' cue and a handful of treats, dog on left, treat in right hand.. right hand on left hip as a visual signal ..phase out the treat in hand as asap, and reward from another source, have a tight 'walk on' a tight U-turn and a tight finish /wait/stop command then a release...start off low distraction, low duration, low distance, increase intensity of all 3 as you make progress!

easy when you know how - easier when your dog knows how!

[kristina]

 


Wish I knew too Jordan close to heel no chance around the garden stuck like glue once outside the gate a no go????Kristina

[Jordan]

Well i cant beleive what we just did today!

After reading Adriannes post i thought it was time to get back to outdoor training as we hadnt done much over the winter. So up on the track I went straight in with a stop command as he ran past me and he did almost instantly ............one of his best, hand signal for a sit and wait, again top marks. Great start! So on we went we were out for 2.5 hours working on and off in different enviourments with play time in between. But what impressed me was his heelwork. I dont usually carry treats on walks as Domino has no interest in them outside....he prefers ball play as reward. We were on the road track just past the stables and it was all quiet so I decided to give heelwork a go with some distractions but nothing too unfamiliar as we pass this way most days. I put him on lead so he learns the connection of lead and heel walking and put him in position. We did loads of forward, stops, turns right, turns left so we were working in the one spot not continuing our walking with him at heel. Took him a minute to get into the way of it but he did brilliant pretty close to my heel............definately not glued to leg lol..... and was really working well with the turns etc leash was very LOOSE! YES!!!! Loads of ball play and praise. Continued on our way with more training of different things followed by play then more heel work in a similar level of distraction as before and again he did great. Tried again further on but it obviously had higher distractions as he was not so focused but our final shot at the playing field was back on track so we ended the training at that and had freetime in the field and a play in the river before heading home. On lead walking was pretty good too, he was tired by this time but hes definately improving.

Our local rescue is having an event in a couple of weeks so thinking of taking him to see how he handles the excitement, people and dogs now.

[Adrianne]

Here's one to add to Domino's training - the 'emergency stop' aka the 'stop and drop'
Begin by breaking down the whole command into small and achievable parts...train in a low distraction ( indoors) environment and add the 4 D's as you make progress...

Distractions
Duration
Distance
Diversity (change the environment)

While in a textbook recall..stop your dog mid way back to you and either hold him in a stand (wait) or put him in a down or a sit from the distance between you...hold the position and then release him to finish the recall...I use a 'close' cue here.

Don't practice getting it wrong.. Ensure he is capable of understanding what you require by trying it to him in easy parts.

I have neglected Cupars emergency stop, he had it a year ago, but I haven't practiced until a few weeks ago - he hadn't forgotten and can be really belting at speed towards me now.. I leave him in a stand and wait... Then ask for a sit..then a 'close' to finish with hand targeting. he is able so far to concentrate around his mum maybe one other dog, but not practiced with more dogs around him than that.

It's not an easy task..advanced training and relies on trust and communication...but I believe Domino and you have the ability. X

[Jordan]

You have such faith in us Adrianne!!!

Not a lot of distance to work with in the house but will give it a try. Adding distractions are hard, could do with an assistant LOL We've never done hand targeting or any targeting for that matter will have to look into that.

Can you do too much training, that is learn too much at the same time? just wondered as were working on a few other things just now already, mostly advancing things like the watch me which still need a lot of work.

[kristina]

Funny you guys should mention the emergency stop,thats exactly what dog training on Sunday was all about this week amongst other things too the basic stuff which I have to say did not go well with Xena and I,my fault entirely the field was long in the grass and I am terrified of falling down the rabbit holes so I was concentrating more on looking out for the damm holes and not on her.Also it was a sad day and there was a feel about everyone,one of our trainers died suddenly on the Tuesday before of a brain tumour that no one knew she had 53yrs old a lovely lady so I think on Sunday there was little enthusiasm about which of course I totally understood and I really thought that all the girls put on a very brave face and tried there best just to get on with things.
Also the puppy class is the biggest yet some beautiful pups 1 being a massive,well Adrianne I don't know here it looks like a Leonberger but it's a type of Shepherd I have never heard of? 5months old and it  is very aggressive to all the other dogs beautiful to look at and the young lady who owns it has a real job just hanging onto him,any ideas on this breed?
A Cocasion Shepherd?? my spelling is not good,looked in my books nothing there either that relates to this dog,trust me I would not want to be bumping into him on a road walk or loose down the woods.
The woods are a no go right now too as the nasty bug is back making dogs sick,lordy I am fed up with all this,dog snatchers sick woods,so just road walking and garden,but it's been hot so not much of that either Xena doesn't like the heat!!! lord knows how she's going to handle the Summer,I have been hosing her off she just  loves the hose pipe.Kristina