Training 3/13

This post is a bit overdue but this week has just been a tiring week - not sure why, it just has been tiring.

Wednesday we went to training. I brought Seth and Seppel. We worked with Ryan again, we went through the whole Schutzhund protection routine. Seppel was totally wound up. He did pretty well other than doing some serious forging when we did transports and he tried to play dirty a few times and bite when he wasn't supposed to.

I think we're to the point where we just need to start fine tuning everything.

The best part of training on Wednesday [besides the cute guy!], was that Seppel barked! I was even able to send him from in front of the decoy, and he barked! This is the first time we've been able to do this without him making his weird noises. It was very exciting, it's awesome to see him progress. I still think I suck sometimes as a handler, but I feel like I'm getting better and gaining more confidence as I continue to learn more about what we are doing.

After protection we went tracking. I didn't know we were going to track so I had to borrow some bait. We went out to Jennifer's folks place, they have 20 acres. I laid out tracks for both Seth and Seppel. Seth I put food about 4-5 steps apart, Seppel, I put food in every step. Both of the boys did GREAT! Seppel tracked the best he has probably ever tracked for me! When we went to the tracking field Derek [the cute guy from like... two weeks ago!] was there with his GSD Niko. We got to watch his dog track, which was cool because his dog is a lot more advanced so it was cool to see his dog in action. Plus - did I mention, Derek is pretty cute ;)

Our homework for tracking is introducing articles. I hope the weather will get better and we can start practicing. I definitely need to track more. They showed me some different track laying techniques - so we're ready. I was so pleased that both boys did so well since we haven't tracked in some time. It's also something that doesn't come natural for Seppel, so I was so glad that he did so well.

I've been working on obedience with both of the boys. With Seth I'm working on backing with him next to me. He's close to getting it, he's just grasped what "back" means. I hope to get some video this weekend working them. With Seppel we're working on finishing left, and finishing by coming behind me and sitting on my left. It's a work in progress, his 'side' isn't too bad, but he doesn't totally understand walking behind me just yet.

Tonight I also got a wild hair and put the dogs on the treadmill. I love how they compete to get on it - it's become a very fun and positive event in our house. We need to get back into it. When the weather is nice I prefer to bike, but it looks like we're in for some rain. They just all do better when they've spent some energy.. well, they being the boys as I want to spare LiLo's hips. Plus - she's "the good dog". She doesn't need no stinkin' treadmill hehe.