Bonkers for Sadie: What are the odds?

Friday, January 28, 2011

What are the odds?

Even though it was week 4 of our obedience class, last night there was yet another new face, a little dark chocolate pit bull puppy - a real cutie; coincidentally enough her name is also Sadie. Yes, we now have a Bella and two Sadie’s in class. But it gets even better than that, I finally said something to them about my Bella that I have at home and the other Bella’s mom said “that’s funny because I also have a Sadie at home” and the other Sadie’s mom said “Oh my god I also have a Bella”! What are the odds!? All three of us have our own pair of Sadie and Bella’s!

Anyway after we all had a good laugh, Trainer Guy started the class. As usual we began with some heeling patterns and then moved into reviewing the “loose your dog” game for the few people who missed the first night of class. After “loose your dog” we practiced our “sit stay” and “down stay”. This past week during practice I’ve been taking Sadie’s squeaky toy and tossing it around her while making her “stay” to help reinforce the fact that she is to stay no matter what, she’s been doing a really good job with this. When I did this in class Trainer Guy was also obviously pleased and said “wow look at you go!”. Sadie still needs some work on staying while people are walking around her though, because she did break position when Trainer guy tried to walk around behind her. Her “down stay” went very well however, and she stayed in place even when he waked by. Actually the whole class did really well on the “stay” exercises overall, Trainer Guy doesn’t usually give out too many compliments, especially to the whole class but last night he did, he said that we were all performing this exercise better than his intermediate students!

We also reviewed the “stand for examination” command. Honestly I really didn’t put too much work into it last week, but this week I have kind of a “monkey see, monkey do” idea where if I ask Sadie and Bella to “stand” if Bella does and she gets the treat I’m hoping Sadie will get the idea and pick it up herself.

The new exercise we worked on last night is the “recall”. Sadie is actually really good at this, but it’s nothing new to her. Ever since I started having races with her and Bella (whichever gets to me first get’s the treat), they both usually come running pretty quickly when I call them. Actually Sadie did this so well in class last night, that Trainer Guy even accused me of baiting her with a treat, even though I didn’t even have any treats with me!

Somehow last night either before we left for class or sometime during class – maybe while we were playing tug? – Sadie got a cut on her nose. Even though it was no bigger than a grain of rice, unfortunately she got blood all over my sleeve and pant leg! I didn’t even realize it until I got home, and of course I was wearing light colored jeans and a light grey sweater. Hopefully it will wash out! Other than that though, I’d say we had a pretty good night.

Anyway we have two weeks of class left and I admit that I’ll be sad to see it end. She’s done very well and we’ve had a lot of fun! The next intermediate class begins sometime in February but I also start school again on the 14th, so we may have to wait until after I finish that in April before we can pick back up with her classes. Either way, we will continue our adventures in training sooner or later (I’m hoping for sooner).

1 comment:

JenJanuary 28, 2011 at 1:05 PM
Well, the 3 of you are going to have to get your Sadie/Bella pairs together! and take pictures!

I'm pleased to hear she's doing so well. I really ought to take some initiative (and your techniques) and work on these things, myself.
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Novice Obedience Exercise Descriptions

Heel on Leash: Dog and Handler work as a team, the leash must be loose and held in a natural position. Orders for this exercise are: "Forward", "Halt", "Right turn", "Left turn", "About turn", "Slow" "Normal" and "Fast".

Stand for Examination: The dog stands in position before and during the examination without displaying resentment. Handler is instructed to "stand your dog and leave when you are ready", after positioning the dog the handler stands with dog in heel position, give the command/signal to stay and walk straight forward approximately 6 feet and then turn and face the dog. The judge will approach the dog from the front, using the fingers and palm of one hand, the judge will touch the dogs head, body and hindquarters. Judge will then give the command "back to your dog", handler returns to heel position. The dog must remain still until judge has said "exercise finished".

Recall: The dog must stay where left unitl called by handler and then must respond promptly when the handler commands or signals them to come. On order from the judge the handler will give the command/signal for the dog to stay in the sit position. Handler will then wakl forward to the other side of the ring with arms hanging naturally. On the judges order handler will command or signal the dog to come. Dog must come at brisk pace and sit stright, centered directly in front of handler. On judges order handler will give the dog the command/signal to finish. Dog must move quickly to heel position and sit.

Finish: Dog is directed to "swing" it's hind end around to the left to come to the heel position and then sit, or "heel" around to the right and behind the handler and come to the heel position and then sit.

Sit/Stay & Down/Stay (Group Exercises): The dog must remain in either the seated position or the down position, whichever is required by the particular exercise. The dogs will line up in catalog order along one side of the ring. The leash is removed and placed with the handlers armband behind the dog. Handlers are instructed to "sit your dog" or "down your dog", and then "leave your dog". The handler will walk across to the other side of the ring and stand in a natural position across from the dog until the judge orders them to "return to your dog". Any dog that leaves the place where it was left during the first group exercise will be given an "NQ" and excused from the remaining group exercise.