Does this count as a stretch, Mum?
With all the Agility we’ve done over Summer, I’ve come to realise just how fit you really need to be to get the speed up with your pup. Especially if you’re doing the One Mind Dogs method, you’ll need some good stamina and speed out of obstacles for a quick run.
More importantly, there has been a lot of conversation around warm-ups for agility. Both for Humans and for Puppy dogs.
My husband is a personal trainer & running specialist (convenient), so I asked him to put together a quick warm up routine for us humans to do before an agility run.
Going through the tyre! Photo courtesy of Le Hammer.
It’s been a busy Summer, and we capped it off with one last day training with the great team at Canine Fun Sports. Le & Keith worked hard to challenge us, teach us new tricks and keep us having fun.
Ready!
One of the mainstays for all dog activity is the position of heel. Very often you will first learn this position in your Obedience class, and while the dog is on the lead. It’s great, however, to mix up your training and practice the heel on both lead and off lead – in a controlled environment like your home, garden, enclosed dog park etc.
As with all our training, short bursts work wonders to keep your pup interested, having fun, and thinking! I recommend 10 minutes a day – 5 minutes at morning and evening meals – to get a new behaviour in place & start reinforcement.
Along with our One Mind Dogs trend this week, here is a video of us trying out some OneMind Dogs method – the Jaacko.
No where near great yet, but you will notice a couple of things if you’ve watched some of our videos before.
We are getting speed with motion!
I’m not tripping over Jaxon.
Some work yet on flapping arms and flying arms, yet it’s a good start.
Photo courtesy of Le Hammer: Summer Agility Camp
What a big weekend! We attended Summer Agility Camp with the Canine Fun Sports team – Keith & Le.
They have a great set up at their home base in Castlereagh, and we were (OK, I was) excited to be spending the whole weekend learning more about agility!
If I’m good I’ll definitely get treats!
We’re getting ready for Summer camp! As well as organising toys, human food, shade, and seating, I decided to try some high value treats for Jaxon’s rewards. The camp is three days long, so I knew I’d need an arsenal of treats.
Thanks to our friend 1st World Dog, we have e a great recipe book in Foodie Fridays to choose from that are tried and tested.
I chose Liver Fudge and Kangaroo Meatloaf (I call it meatloaf as I accidentally added flour) to try out.
Waiting….
Every dog needs a few good tricks up their sleeve, but one of the mainstays for every dog is “wait”.
This is a handy command that comes up in many places, and can even give your puppy a good reputation for good manners.
As with all our training, we suggest just 10 minutes a day over the week, broken out by 5 mins at mealtimes (ie: morning and evening).
Jan 7
This gallery contains 8 photos.
It’s been a long week, and we’re all so busy already! It seems that 2014 has had a roaring start with no slow down in sight. Back to our first training session of the year, and it was another hot morning. The dogs seemed really happy to get back to it, and there was a […]
It’s Christmas & it’s Wednesday! What a great day to work off all that Chrissy tucker by spending 10 minutes a day training a new behaviour.
In the true spirit of Christmas, today is all about Giving. Yes, that’s right – that elusive “Give”!
So handy when you want the ball back, or the toy, or your slipper…(that’s another story).
Wednesday rolls round all too soon, and today’s workout is all about tips for keeping your doggie from jumping up.
The best place to start for this is reinforcing what is generally known as “four on the floor”. Now, we’re not talking about cars here, but having the dog’s paws (all four of them) on the ground during training and rewards.
10 minutes in the morning or evening, or 5 minutes for both is really all you need to keep your dog interested, working and having fun.
You can start this really easily from when your dog is just a puppy, and all the way through their lives, whenever you need to reinforce the behaviour.
Simple exercises such as walking together, come, heel, and stay can all be places where you reinforce this habit.
And it’s as simple as holding off your reward until the dog has all four feet on the ground. This is especially for owners of small dogs, who have a lot further to go when treating. You may also find that small dogs tend to jump a bit more for attention. I’ve certainly found that a hard habit to break with Jaxon, who loves food and attention.
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