Back At It

After some un-needed time off because of surgery, we have been rather quickly getting back into the training routine again.  I started tracking with Dieter initially to help burn off the lack of mental stimulation but keep his body as quiet as possible.  We quite soon after started a bit of obedience exercises again.  Not ideal, however knowing my dog well and knowing his anatomy I carefully observed for any signs of exercise intolerance or that perhaps we were pushing things too quickly.  There were a couple times that he went away early to rest, much to his chagrin.

Yesterday we worked him for the first time at club in protection.  We tried to keep things fairly simple and see if we can just ease him back into the game.  He got to work on a helper he hasn't worked on for quite sometime as well, so that was a change for him. Prior to time off we had just started working on sending him into the blind.  He has a bad habit of being a bit pushy/dirty/whatever you want to call it during the hold and bark.

I am obviously biased, but I was happy with how he did!  Here are a few video clips of our training Sunday!

Heeling for a Bite -

So the blogger is not allowing further video uploads and I need to return to work...stay tuned...hopefully I will be able to post a few later.

As per the puppy - some may be wanting an update on her progress! She has an unbelievable amount of prey and toy drive combined with an excellent grip.  And she LOVES to jump! I swear she has springs in her hindlegs!  However her food drive is moderate and the only way to describe her personality is a that she is only always thinking of what is in something for her.  This is a huge contrast to what I am used to with my quite biddable and compliant young male with food drive that is almost slightly pathological.  I am taking things a bit more slowly with her compared to him.  I refuse to train a dog when they do not come out wanting to interact/play/work.  I will not be a cheerleader for her - if she comes out of the crate ready to bring it, we play.  If she prefers to sniff the ground or watch the squirrels she goes back in the crate. This has already made a big difference to her attitude, but we have a way to go.  She also does not interact all the time with my male, she is limited to a few minutes per day once we have had our "play" time.   I am finding her to be very different from Dieter, and she is constantly living up to the term bitch.  She has a short temper and a diva attitude.  I think she will make an excellent sport dog as she matures.  However she will force me to be constantly on my toes and improve my abilities as a handler.  I also feel that she will mature to be a fairly small female perhaps only 50-60lbs.  She is quite small framed but agile and fast.