Jumping seminar

I spent today at a jumping seminar with Kumma. Instructor was again Vappu Alatalo, and the seminar was organized by our agility club HAU. There were three groups of dogs, depending on experience. Here is what Kumma did (everything with jump bumps), and some notes of each exercise.

Basic grid (equally spaced 6ft): there was some lack of motivation, and as a result not enough speed and energy. Leaving a toy as a target, and getting Kumma to play with another one was something we haven't done before. One more thing to practice :) I've been rewarding a sit too much. If I'm increasing Kumma's drive by playing with him, rewarding with treats can decrease the drive. Jumping itself was good, Kumma managed all grids. I kept changing my position, left and right, close to Kumma and close to the target.

Expanding grid (6-7-8-9ft): at first Kumma was distracted by the audience. It worked best to place Kumma in a sit position, run to the target, and release fast. Nice jumping!

Basic grid with zigzag jump bumps: since Kumma was affected by the audience, all participants came very close. I left Kumma in the sit position, run to the target, and released him. Wow what a great pup! No hesitation at all even if he has never seen this exercise in front of him. He was not distracted by a group of people around him. Good jumping! Third time I sent him to the target, and this was fast and good as well.

Bending, five jump bumps as an arch (180 degrees) and a U shaped tunnel: two repetitions, first to the tunnel then jumping. Again, no hesitation, off he went to the jumping part so fluently I almost couldn't believe my eyes. Same to the other direction. According to Vappu clockwise direction was slightly better.

We got plenty of advice what to practice with jump bumps before even introducing a jump bar:

• Basic grid with jump bumps in different directions or slightly offset
• Handler distractions, starting with static positions, adding movement gradually, lateral distance up to 15m
• Bending
• Set point with a special puppy setup

This was an excellent day offering a lot of new learning opportunities and great performances. The more I know about this method, the more I like it. It just makes sense.

December puppy training

I have spent again many fun training sessions with my big puppy. Here are some notes.

2-on-2-off: Kumma offers 2o2o very well on a dogwalk (usually only a downside ramp supported by a table), and understands a release cue. To have a forward facing 2o2o, my position is still in front of him. Next I plan to start rewarding him by throwing a treat/toy, and once this is working, I can start to change my position, then add movement, lateral distance, distractions... Yesterday I introduced a full size dogwalk to Kumma for the first time. Not a slightest sign of hesitation, and a nice 2o2o at the end. What a great boy!

Teeter: Kumma has seen only a puppy teeter so far, its height is only 15cm. He was rather confident on it last time, and offered 2o2o without any cue. We could start soon working on a real teeter, with supporting tables. Perhaps some noise training as well.

Jumping: basic grid yesterday. Kumma had fun, but didn't quite match his steps with the jump bumps... He started nicely, but couldn't manage the last part of the grid. I want to see real body control before adding any height (poles), let's see when that happens. We'll go to Vappu's jumping seminar again in January and February, good to have more advice and experience.

Spin: a new trick is spinning is both directions. Only a couple of sessions behind, and I'm still using my hand as a cue/lure.

Weaving: only teaching to weave between my legs at the moment. I plan to use 2x2 method for Kumma, I used a very similar way to training with both Hoppu and Neeo. I'd like to start weave pole training on the backyard, so I need to wait a couple of months as there is 50cm of snow in the garden. Perhaps in April we could start, when Kumma is 12 months old.

Recall: more distraction training at home with treats on the floor. A fantastic puppy, finding his way carefully through the treats to me. Could add some toys next time. We are also practising recall outside during our daily walks. I can leave Kumma sitting, and run away from him, and then recall.

Meeting other dogs: Kumma has still been very social to all dogs he has met. He is eager to meet other dogs, but he is also able to focus on me when I ask for it, and pass other dogs easily. It is more challenging if I have all three hurricanes with me, but even then Kumma is the one behaving nicely.

It is time to start thinking and training handling skills. We have done some foundation training supporting handling, but it feels a bit difficult to start. Perhaps I'll review some DVDs during Xmas vacation.

Temperature is going up and down, mainly down. Hoppu and Neeo are mainly staying inside, it is just too cold for them to have a real walk. There was a little accident, and Hoppu's eye was bleeding. I was really worried, but fortunately it was only a scratch on the eye lid. I've done some clicker training with the IGs as well, and they just love it! Tomorrow I'll take all three to agility training, some fun and fast drills for veterans.

Last weekend Kumma visited Nuuksio with his aunties Fun and Grim. It was beautiful and snowy, and Kumma enjoyed  BC company. He got big chunks of snow between his toes, but wasn't too bothered about them.

Jumping: set point

Jumpint training with Kumma this week: a set point exercise with a wider setup.

Sade

Warm congratulations to Hoppu's mum Sade, best IG veteran at Helsinki Winner show, at the age of 14!

2-on-2-off training

Contact training with Kumma some weeks ago.

Kumma 8 months

These pics were taken last week.

Another kind of agility

I spent one and a half weeks without my hurricanes due to travelling, it was tough. All three were taken care by a good kennel. For Kumma it was the first time, I'm sure it was stressing for him. Hoppu and Neeo recovered fast, they have plenty of experience. It feels good to be at home again, and today I made a nice long walk with Kumma (too cold for IGs).

Our walk raised some thoughts about walking on leash, and by coincidence there was a related question in Viiru's blog today (Kumma's brother). In the ideal world I would stop each and every time my dog is tightening the leash, and moving forward only with a loose leash. In the real world my puppy is full of energy after a day inside, it's freezing cold outside, and I might have two other dogs with me. In the ideal world I wouldn't take my dog walking with me on leash until he is skilled enough. In the real world I need to offer him exercise and experiences. Walking nicely on leash is mainly about accepting. How much pressure and pulling do I accept? I have not been able to be as consistent as I would like to. Kumma is reacting pretty well to my stopping by loosening the leash. Whenever I'm walking only with him, I'm able to control him better and react faster. Today I realized that in addition to reacting by stopping (negative punishment) I should reward good behaviour more often. Not only walking on my side with eye contact, but walking anywhere around me with loose leash. If only I could handle treats fast enough without taking my gloves off...

During our family vacation to Tenerife we went to see another kind of agility to Loro Parque. I was impressed and warmly recommend this park. Our children enjoyed it too :)