Tea time and Feb pics

I don't like coffee, I don't drink it at all. Tea is my thing, black tea, no sugar, no milk. Darjeeling is my favourite. And I'm going to have a tea dog! Well, at least for a while. I wanted to try something else than agility with Kumma, and decided to take him to scent discrimination training. This is completely new for me, and I find it really fascinating. Smell of tea is used in training, but similar training method can be applied for any other smell and purpose. Perhaps chanterelles and other mushrooms? Missing gloves and socks? Car keys? Kids?

Now it's too cold for IGs, but here is some evidence they are not always hiding under the blankets

I'm never hiding, I'm Mr Action.

Shall I look like this when old?

Does this artificial greying make me look smarter?

Relaxing

On the other side

Our garden fence is not a limiting factor for Kumma anymore. On the other side, there is neighbour's puppy, a fun friend to play with. With the help of high snow level this new buddy can be easily reached. No need to jump, just step over. Great.

Weekend

Yesterday Kumma had an opportunity to burn energy with our neighbour's puppy (4-months-old bichon havanese). We had a walk in the woods, and puppies were wresting and running. In the beginning it was a bit out of control, as both of them were over excited. Pretty soon they got their brains back, and I made some recalls and playing with Kumma, and then let him run off again.

Today I was working at our agility club's trial, and Kumma was with me in the office. He was able to relax in his crate for several hours, even if people came in and out all the time. He has a short playing session with another puppy, and I took him outside a couple of times. At the end I had a playing session with him, and he was very excited and well focused. This was good practice, as next weekend we'll have a jumping seminar again.

I took him to see some agility trials during summer time, guess we should start it again. Indoor trials are so different, more noise, less room.

I have started writing our training update, but meanwhile, here is something in video format.

Hoppu 12 years

Our lovely grey superfast cute beautiful elegant fun serious small but huge personality Hoppu has his 12th birthday today!!!

We celebrated by having a nice walk in zero degree weather. It was raining, but never mind, we enjoyed.

2001

2001

2002: half brothers Hoppu and Musti. They have a strong relationship...



2002: same guys (gays?)



2002: half brothers and soulmates at SIC Open Show

2004

2005

2006

2006

Training videos

Old and new tricks

Hoppu will be 12 years next week. I bought a present for him in advance: a dog finder toy. Both IGs have tried it and have learned to find the treats under the bones. It can be made more difficult by adding bones. Good and easy activity for cold winter days. Kumma might use too much power with this toy, so he hasn't tried it yet :)

Today I had a lovely evening walk with all three dogs. Air was still, and temperature was just below zero. Hoppu and Neeo enjoyed exercise, Kumma would have enjoyed faster pace. We met some retriever dog friends, and Kumma had short energy burning playing session with them.

Yesterday there was our weekly puppy class at our agility club. Some basic handling training with Kumma: front and rear crosses. Front crosses were really good, even though my timing needs practise. Rear crosses were done with a toy hidden behind a second jump. We did only a couple of repetions, and I noticed Kumma didn't have his usual drive. I decided not to train him anymore, he was clearly not focused. I think he was still tired from Sunday jumping seminar, and no wonder, he worked a lot there and experienced many new things like resting in his crate next to other dogs. We ended the puppy class evening by having a nice walk, Kumma playing with an aussie friend, and me chatting (about dog training, of course) with her owner.

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.