Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Dumbbell & Backy-upy


We started training a formal dumbbell retrieve last week and its been (so far and touch wood) surprisingly easy to train. I had attempted to teach Pepper a hold command with normal objects about 6months ago but she never really got it, so I imagined lots of dropping and chewing of the dumbbell. But we just started right from the beginning with tiny baby steps and she rapidly (within 5 minutes!) had a good sustained hold with no mouthing. Such a good girl. And man does she love the dumbbell, we worked lots on building drive for it and now she starts to screech and bounce and yowl when I get it out.
Because its been so wet we've done most of the training inside, I can tell you that a wooden dumbbell vs wooden floors isn't the best, wish we had carpet!

Last night I taught her the turn around and back up between my legs trick. She thought it was very exciting, although would get a little confused and start offering the occasional backwards circle (which shes never been taught) or would just spin and leap.






No, she didn't topple the palm tree, it fell down in the storm we had last week. But its been a source of amusement, with lots of bits to rip off and drag into the house. Such fun.

9 comments:

  1. Great job! I took a retrieve class too. Holding that yucky dumbbell was no fun though. But did get lots of trees.

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  2. Well done Pepper! She learns so quickly!!! We have a half-fallen down palm tree from the storm too.

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  3. Well done Pepper!!! Love your retrieve - it is really coming along. I have been working on that too but you are doing much better than me! Also your backy-upy flip thingy is awesome!

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  4. Oh - I couldn't watch your video for some reason! :-( But I can just imagine Pepper's excitement.

    I've worked a lot on drive for the dumb bell for Honey too and she goes mad when she sees it as well - probably because its one of the few toys that she doesn't have ready access too as well! I had a REALLY hard time teaching Honey the dumb bell retrieve coz when we first learnt it, we followed our Obedience club back in Auckland and used the "forced" method and Honey HATED it! So then I decided to do things my own way and use clicker instead - and she was happily picking it up and holding it in a week! Another lesson I learnt in not always following other trainers and learning to do things to suit your own dog!

    Hsin-Yi

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  5. WOW!!! That retrieve is amazing for only 1 week of work! You already have a nice tight turn, a sit in front, and a good hold!!! Very impressive! I think you can step it up another notch and get your hands at your side pretty quickly and get rid of the hand signal.

    The reverse is looking good too! I usually click and then throw a treat back out so I don't have to reset the dog to do it again. The dog eats his treat several feet away and then backs up again to get the click and another thrown treat.

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  6. Wow that reverse is pretty cool cos its done at a distance. Much harder than our initial close turn and backup. Just a tip with the dumbell, get into the habit of taking it from the dog with both hands (for competitions that's what you have to do.)

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  7. woooow so coooooooooooooooooooool

    Kissslobbers
    El'bow & Hauwii

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  8. Oh Emily - am so excited to hear that you might be coming to Brisbane!! Yes, yes - we MUST meet up! There aren't any great places to walk dogs here (as you've probably heard me moan lots of times!) but there is a nice park where I do take Honey a lot (leashed) which has a cafe that has lots of space around the tables (a prerequisite for Honey!) - so maybe we could meet up there. It's right by the city so should be easy to find. Yes, please do let me know the dates as soon as you have them! I'm pretty flexible most of the time as I'm lucky to work for myself and can usually rearrange things to suit but it's still good to be able to put things in the diary! :-) Can't wait!

    Hsin-Yi

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  9. Pepper is so clever! We haven't practised retrieving dumbbells yet. I am not sure if I will ever become as good as you already are!

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