Jaxom passed basic obedience

[Wrath]

Had a pretty good exam, and was reccomended to go on to Novice obedience.

On the bad side, he was lagging REALLY badly during all of our heelwork. Absolute worst performance he's ever given. Once again, by the time it was our turn to enter the ring, his focus and energy were pretty much gone. We got there a half hour before test time and I warmed him up, he was energetic, attentive, and doing everything splendidly. By test time, he was a plodding, lethargic, scatterbrained meathead. Too hot to put him in the car for waiting and no room for a crate so we brought a rawhide bone to occupy him waiting for his turn. It kept him from pestering other people and dogs, but didn't do much for keeping his energy level up*sigh*

On the positive side, everything else was solid. His recall was a nice trot and he did a good front. He stayed for the stand exam and sit. Had a very harrowing moment before the down stay portion when I put him in a down and before the judge called for everyone to step away from their dog, he rolled over on his back and started flailing his legs. This was the first time I'd ever seen him do this, quite stunned. The instructor was good enough to give me a chance to get him under control so I got him back on his feet, circled him around back into heel position, and put him back in a down. FLOP...he was on his back pawing away again, just having a grand time. By this time I was resigned to have blown this portion fo the test, so I told him to stay and started to step out and the second I started to move, he rolled back upright and settled onto his hip. Tonight was the first night he didn't break the 3 minute down stay and I was chuckling under my breath for the first 2 minutes.

So now we're associate members, paid our dues and enrolled him in Novice 1 obedience for the next term as well as enrolled our other dog in basic obedience (future agility star in the making)

[Luvs]

YAY!!!! Way to go! I knew you two could do it!:D

[Judi W]

Congratulations!

Sorry your heeling stinks. Do you think you will be fixing that in the next class? If not, in spite of the fact that they approved you to advance, you might want to select to stay where you were. Yes, attention might fix it to a degree, but don't get in a hurry and leave your dog behind. :D Our novice class concentrates on handler procedure, ring rules, etc. rather than teaching the basics to the dog and those who arrive without the basics for the dog do not get what they need there. Just a caution. Heeling is your most important foundation. At the trials last weekend, there were a shocking number of dogs in the Novice B class no less, that appeared to have no clue about heeling.

Remember, it is always doing your dog a favor not to rush things. With heeling, you want it to be that the dog is most comfortable in the correct position, and feels "unnatural" when they stray. This takes time as you are actually putting a movie in the dog's mind that plays whether they are distracted or not.

Hey, we want to follow you two through your CD, CDX and UD! There is nothing more fun than the partnership you are forming.

[lblax]

Originally posted by Wrath


We got there a half hour before test time and I warmed him up, he was energetic, attentive, and doing everything splendidly. By test time, he was a plodding, lethargic, scatterbrained meathead. )

its been my experiance that dogs do better when they come in fresh especially rotts the warm up you did with him especially if it was warm out simply used him up.. just simply making him wait at the sidelines would have built him up for the event

[LynnS]

Congratulations!

Although Bella passed the the equivalent of your basic obedience class, I am chosing to repeat it (now with a training club). We need to continue working on our heeling patterns and proof against increased distraction before I would move on. I also have her in class 2x a week now mostly because it's hard to get good practice sessions living in the city (we do practice a bit on walks but it's hard to control the level of distraction). I just feel like we have a lot of work to do before I would move on...

I look forward to hearing about your progress! Sounds like you are doing a great job!

[Wrath]

Judi, the novice class is pretty much the same things we learned in basic, with the addition of off lead heeling. The duration for the stays in Novice are what we built up to during basic (1 minutes sit, 3 minute down), and the recall is across the ring rather than 15-20 feet away, but other than that it should be mostly working on what we learned in basic. My thinking is since it's not a lot of new stuff for Jaxom, we should be alright. I am concerned about the off-lead heeling and honestly I'll be really surprised if we pass this class first time through ;)

Ibax, the fascilities are all indoor and air-conditioned, so weather or heat's not a real issue. I also didn't warm him up for a long time, we did a few minutes of easy heeling, a couple of recalls, and then I ran around with him playing tag for a minute or so just to get his energy up and have him in a good mood. Then he had a rawhide bone until it was our turn.

[Judi W]

All I will tell you is that if the dog cannot heel well on lead, don't take the lead off, even if that is what the instructor is calling for it. You want the dog to have a permanently etched picture in his mind of proper heel position and all this drifting in and out and up and back keeps that from forming. Don't be letting your lead out, then correcting back, or allowing the dog to lag, then correcting or verbal forward, etc. It is waaay too soon for him to be off lead, so keep it on.

[Wrath]

Well, I gave it some more thought and pondered on some of the points you guys brought up and decided to switch Jaxom into the Attention class. This has to be our biggest problem in terms of training. He's smart enough to learn the behaviors pretty quickly and with little effort, but unless he's really into it and paying attention to me then he's just sloppy.

I decided not to double up on classes this term because I really want to focus on building his attentivness, and we may have to do some things that go contrary to formal obedience training, so I'd rather have the freedom to take it back a few steps if we need to. This also allows us to work with Dee through basic and if all goes well they can take Novice next term at the same time :)

[Judi W]

I'm glad. It is important that the basics be done early or you might never get back to them. If you are concerned about being bored, go ahead and start him retrieving. That produces no conflict with what your are training now.

[Wrath]

I've been thinking about taking him out to Schutzhund and start tracking training...he loves to put his nose in the ground and sniff

[patton_jr]

"His recall was a nice trot and he did a good front."

What is a "front"?

I'm also curious to know if there is somewhere I can look for exactly should be learned in each level of Obedience?

Gates has had Puppy Kindergarten. Which was pretty much learning to socialize with other dogs. SIT, DOWN, COME, and started trying to STAY AND HEEL

Then Obedience 1. Which we polished up SIT, DOWN, COME and work more with STAY (in a SIT, DOWN, and STAND), HEEL, and STAND. Heel also being something Gates likes to break from.

Then Obedience 2. Which we only had one class seemed to be going in the direction of combining commands. For what I gathered when we put them in a SIT, it should also be a STAY. That all commands should be done with the STAY being removed.

The class was cancelled since we where the only ones ready to actually be in the class. :(....Now I need to find another trainer.

[Wrath]

Front is basically sitting directly in front of you very closely and looking at you with their full attention waiting for you next command. In theory anyway ;)

I would imagine what exactly is learned in each level of classes varies from one instructor or school to the next. At our club, the puppy classes are primarily socialization, recall games, attention work, and very basic obedience such as introducing the sits, downs, heels, etc. Basic obedience for us was working up one minute sit stays, three minute down stays, recalls, on lead heeling (with about turns, circle left/right, slow/fast pace, and automatic sits), and stand/stay for examination. The novice class is more focused work on all of those behaviors and the introduction of off lead heeling. I would think the cirriculum would be structured to prepare your dog for all of the behaviors required at competion level.