Dogs update

Finally got round to doing some bits with the dogs. I have decided to really concentrate on box work with Neo and Jamie. Focus Fox on the box and then me, and get Barley picking up a ball. Not too much to achieve!! LOL!

Neo does a neat box but it is a bit 'head on'. There are two methods of teaching the box that I teach. There is the 'jump on, jump off' and the 'run around'. I find that the method depends on the dog. I was teaching Neo the run around way as he jumps too high on the box otherwise and is a big heavy dog, this can tip the box (he also used the boxloader to jump off once and kicked her in the head - oops!). I put my foot on the box and got him to run on and then off the box in a circle around my leg. I taught him this as a youngster which gave him a lovely box but I have noticed lately that he is getting a bit mouthy on the box which slows him down. I will do a bit of this every evening and see how he goes.

Jamie has always been hit and miss on the box but I did alot of work with him over the winter and it knocked 0.30 second of his time putting him down to 4.2/4.3 and making him much more consistent which is excellent for a beardie. However, again, he has slipped a bit so I did some more with him tonight, he remembered and did some beautiful jump on, jump off boxes! I use this method with him as he is much more manic then Neo and much lighter. This method works really well for him.

Didn't do much with Fly as box work ruins her box. She has a beautiful natural box, which in her prime (ahh the good ole days! LOL) made her very fast. I just reminded her about putting all the feet on the box. I have seen some recent pictures of her and she is getting rather lazy on it. Can't really blame her at nine years old, I think her sense of self preservation is kicking in a bit as she is more careful on the box these days. :-).

With Fox I have been trying to focus him on going to the box and coming back to me. He does lovely runs when there is no other dogs in the ring but as soon as the box loader on the other team starts shouting for their dog he freezes! He stands at the start line waiting for the other dog to run and then just runs up and down the netting staring at the dog in the other lane, This is bloody infuriating as we have clocked him doing 4.19 not even really trying!!! GRRRR!!! I had a variety of toys and treats out to see what he was most mad about and surprisingly it was the ham and sausages!! He is not a foodie as all so I was fairly surprised about this, I could even distract him from chasing Neo with the sausages!! Woo Hoo there is a light at the end of the tunnel!! I am determined to have him competing next year. We need new dogs in the top team and he would be a valuable addition at that speed.

Finally little Barley, I did a bit of box work with her with food and then did some clicker training getting her to touch the ball. She will run at a ball while it moves but as soon as it stops moving she looses interest. This is a bit disappointing as she liked a ball as a tiny pup but has gone off them. I have to do clicker training because as soon as I say anything to her she rolls on her back - bless her! We did a short session and she got the idea of touching the ball to get the click very quickly, smart pup.