Posts tagged ‘Training’
Back to School.
- In the Garden.
We’re back at Puppy Gurus to learn advanced obedience for the next six weeks. This is really about training the humans more than the canine… We’re going to be learning the “Instant Long Distance Down”, target training using a target stick, the agility weave plus a novelty trick or two just to keep us on our toes. There was also talk about re-enacting scenes from Hamlet but we think this was a joke…?
In other news, Phoenix has grown big enough to now sproing off, around and over the sofa, plus when our guard is down, to break into the bedroom and briefly go ape on the bed. We try not to think of hip scores and fragile puppy bones – denial is always the first course of action in this household. At the height of hysterical excitement it’s like her brain short-circuits and she tries to do everything at once; sit, stand, chew, wag, steal, shake hands, bark and dribble. It’s a sight to see.
The Graduate.
Officially Socialised.
Phoenix graduated from Puppy Gurus tonight! She’s officially socialised. She is now the proud possessor of a purple rosette and a certificate. We haven’t attempted to pin the rosette on her crate because she would just chew it into tiny purple shreds. But it’s there in spirit.
Phoenix can now “do” – sit, up (which is stand), down (which is er…down), wait, come, stay, fetch, drop, shake paw, stand (which is stack), heel, off.
'Stifficate.
About two weeks ago she suddenly clicked into “learning mode” with a vengeance and is now at the stage where she can be taught just about anything and can pick it up almost immediately; so far we’ve taught particle physics (God don’t get her started on quarks), brain surgery and hatha yoga. We think this is because she has settled into her environment and is really happy and confident in every aspect of her home and routine. She knows what’s what and what’s expected of her. She’s also sleeping through the night now too. Which is nice.
How to get Your Dog to Do Whatever You Want.
All of these except the chive flavoured one.
Who knew that Primula Cheese contained a secret ingredient that initially captures your dog’s attention and then cunningly hypnotises it into doing whatever you want. One squeeze of the tube and your animal companion is your cheesy chopped love slave forever more… Hurrah!
Mmmm! Cheesy Goodness.
In perhaps not an unrelated link, we weighed Phoenix today and she comes in at 14.1 kilos which is quite a lot for her breed and her age. She’s gonna be a big gal (as nearly everyone who meets her says after glimpsing the size of her paws.)
Puppysitting for Dummies.
Tim went to collect Fred, leaving Adam alone with Phoenix all day. Adam went into a panic, unsure what he was supposed to do if the dog vomitted, howled or freaked out. He knew that unlike with babies you can’t slip the pup some brandy (damn those animal welfare laws) or chocolate (because this would lead to death). So in the great British tradition, a leaflet was prepared and all was well in the land of mutt:
Instructions for Adam 1.
Instructions for Adam 2.
A.D.D. hits Show Ring Horror.
Ringcraft pre-stack positioning.
First proper ringcraft session for Phoenix under Judge Glenys Sykes of Daraquist English Setters. Phoenix was typically excited and indeed excitable in the midst of twenty-odd other dogs. She was highly praised for her spirit (!), although a little more control would certainly have made the evening less like a wrestling match and more like a dream walk in the ring…
…still, everyone was extremely complimentary (at least to our faces) and hopefully Tim’s handling skills will slowly improve alongside Phoenix’s concentration.
Ringcraft examination.
There were lots of really nice people at the session and we met some of the heavy hitters in the gundog show world .
Phoenix’s status as an only dog at home seem to mark her out as being notably more “animated” than any other puppies present, all of whom came from multi-dog households. Once again, all we can do is persist with her canine socialisation programme, and hope that we can get her as focused in the ring as she is at home.
Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow.
Rewarded for Sitting for Tim.
Sticking her tongue out at The Man.
Uh-Oh Snow…
Bouncy in the First Snow.
We didn’t make it to Puppy Gurus because of the extreme weather – snow fluttered down and cars crashed everywhere, stopping us from getting out of the little valley we live in. Tim was particularly peeved because he’d been working on the whole sit-stand-down thing all week, and had primed Phoenix for a perfect performance* in front of the doggy posse. Oh well.
* OK passable performance if truth be told, but this is the internet and everybody lies on the internet, so we’re sticking with perfect!
Megadog.
Meet 'n' Greet
Ringcraft Day! Phoenix was invited to a meet ‘n’ greet at the Ilfracombe and District Canine Society, with a view to joining in the ringcraft training a little later on. We were warmly welcomed by Maria and friends, to an extremely busy dog and people packed town hall, where ringcraft practice was already in full swing. This wasn’t a quiet gathering or bohemian soiree, more like a full on dog-fest with over 30 canines and fifty people.
We were there for two hours where both Phoenix (and us) engaged in non-stop chin and tail wagging (respectively). Notable meetings for Phoenix included a gaggle of King Charles Spaniel puppies, a truly enormous dog Weimaraner, a lovely maternal long haired dachshund, various golden retrievers and a plethora of Staffies. All of whom were very happy to get to know Phoenix.
We had a high level of excitement all throughout the evening but Phoenix calmed down by the end of the evening. Extreme doses of dog seem to be working already.The other notable event of the evening was meeting the first (and perhaps only?) person to know what breed Phoenix was. He came over and said “I used to look after 12 of these”!
Full On Wrestling Match!
Puppy Gurus Day! This was the first time we took Phoenix to her (our?) obedience class. Unfortunately, her vaccination status is such that she’s still not able to be let on the ground with other dogs. However, she was able to “mingle” with the other vaccinated puppies in class.
She started as she meant to go on, by submissively urinating on the floor in front of an ultra-bouncy collie. It was all a little frustrating because her lack of contact with other new dogs means that she “over-reacts” when she does finally get to socialise with the canine kind. All our previous training obviously gets filed away somewhere in the deep recesses of her doggy mind.
Hopefully, this is something that will improve rapidly after tomorrow when we can start mixing her with the general dog population. On the plus side, Phoenix did (eventually) remember how to sit, lie down and stand after bribery with garlic laced liver chunks (yum!). Ultimately, she was more interested in meeting and greeting the other five pups. Roll on tomorrow and the biog wide world….
Heel, toe, heel, heel, toe.
Alert.
Training to walk to heel has been going on for about four days and Phoenix is beginning to get the hang of it. She’s still over stimulated by the outside environment so it has to be a balance between letting her explore new things and keeping her attention on Tim and the walk. Best way around this has been to walk her at dawn and dusk when there’s less info available to her and she can can focus on the task in hand. However, there were still enough stops to investigate badger and fox trails.
Phoenix has graduated from her PVC blue baby collar* onto her first proper clip collar which is doing the business with the flexi lead making heel training easier because it was impossible for her to ever pull on the lead. So Phoenix has the freedom to move around and the choice of coming back to walk to heel without getting into a tangled mess.
Flexi leads aren’t normally advised for training purposes but for heel training it’s proving to be invaluable.
*actually it’s soft felt but it looks like PVC.
Belatarr Hungarian Wirehaired Vizsla. 