Yoshi & Trek Training Diary

Yoshi and Trek Training Diary - March 2012

By Ellen Clary (Copyright 2004-2011)
(reverse date order)
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Sat Mar 31
Raining and windy today - decided not to go to the trial.

During a break in the weather in the afternoon too Yoshi on a longer walk.
Went down High St and saw a yellow lab. I had him heel and he succeeded for a bit them started to bark at the dog. i pulled his leash and he went right back to heeling with effort. What's interesting is that High St. is a wide street but we're not normally on it.

Later on we were going down Gibbons and a guy was petting a lying down dog on the sidewalk. At first I didn't recognize it was a dog then I asked if it was a dog and he said yes, so we crossed the street. As we were walking by I hear the other dog start to woof and the guy petting he started rapidly talking to the dog. Concerned that fido was going to charge across the street, I picked Yoshi up. But the dog didn't come over. Then we saw the same Yellow Lab and the other dog started to bark. The other dog didn't go anywhere so i think it was being restrained by the owner. We stopped one house distance from the corner and let the YL walk past. The very cool thing is that Yoshi didn't even tense in my arms. He was find just as soon as I picked him up.

So I've been thinking about how to convince Yoshi not to crowd stock and to Stop. I'm thinking that getting a clicker out and tossing treats might be the most well understood way. I could get a vibrating collar but using more familiar methodology might work better. The time of him eating the treat would actually help not hurt as the point is to teach him that he can take his time and still control the stock without issue. He worries so much about controlling the stock. I'm thinking that more work on goats or ducks with a clicker would work. The cool thing about the goats is that we all can just stop and I can toss treats. With the goats I need to stop him and then move a little and stop again. I think particular goats would do well for this.

Fri Mar 30
AHBA Trial in Woodside
As I wrote on Mar 23, both dogs are doing JHD. Yoshi on ducks and Trek in goats.

Email to corgiherders:

Team JHD!
Both Yoshi and Trek earned AHBA Junior Herding Dog test titles today in Woodside, Calif. Yoshi on ducks and Trek on goats. Trek is not really much of a herding dog yet, but is now fine with tagging along with the adorable pygmy goats and has moments of brilliance and actually knows the herding commands better than Yoshi. (She will become a duck dog once we can get her to listen around then as she finds them way exciting.) We decided that Yoshi isn't ready to trial tomorrow so Trek got to be a stand in.

This is a good example of how mellow goats can be. The only real problem with them is they can be a little sticky and you do have to shoo them from time to time especially with a dog that is not very powerful like Trek. With pushy Yoshi they move right along.
Video of Trek: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzhx6VtpfoM
This video is so drama-free it's publicly listed and you can reshare as you like.
Trek doesn't care for the stock stick so while I carry it I mostly just use me arms for directionals.

With AHBA you can get JHD titles per stock. Yoshi actually already has a JHD on sheep.

Tomorrow and Sunday two of Tony Hung dogs are going to have a go at trialing on the ducks. Yoshi did well with them today, but he still has a tendency to go too fast and crowds too much.

Similar to last week, Yoshi's first run was relatively fine (too fast but ok) and the second time we had some trouble and had to go back to get the ducks twice. Staying ahead or just to the inside of the (ducks on the fence) worked well but if Yoshi came up too close they would turn sideways.

Trek's second time in the goats started eating the grass and the wouldn't move for Trek so I had to whack the ground with the stock stick to finally get them going.

Yoshi	Trek

Thu Mar 29
Yoshi noon walk.
Saw an Aussie on Lincoln and we were just going to heel past but I could tell he could easily do that so instead we sat and watched the dog go by. He did fine at first but then barked and lunged while chewing a treat which I always find supremely annoying.

Later he wasn't sure if a baby carriage was a dog so I treated as such and we heeled opposite it a couple of times back and forth.

Wed Mar 28
Noon - just let the dogs charge around the yard chasing squirrels which is amazingly good exercise for them.

Evening Trek walk. Her backup is doing pretty well now and she is volunteering some nice heeling.
Right at Santa Clara and Gibbons she put the brakes on in a major way. After a bit I was able to happy talk her into continuing, but she was definitely worried about hearing whistles. She got less stressed once we got to the corner but she was still stress panting some but coped. I don't know if she realizes that if the crossing guard isn't there there won't be any whistles.

I'm just glad that agility really doesn't use whistles anymore and that herding rarely does.

ODTC class is tonight and I'm taking guacamole to class for her Rally Advanced title, but she's not going to like it but we're mostly going to be working on sits and downs and the rest I'm not as concerned about as her heeling is always terrible there.

Well it was better than I thought it would. Sits and Downs were perfect. The we did a stand for exam and that was fine. Even did a Rally halt version too.
Then a jump came out and she started to pout. I did get her to go over the jump and eat a treat on a target and come back over the jump. Then I put her Thundershirt back on and she just sat there and would not move while people worked on heeling and I went over and petted Hazel's Saint Bernard Samantha. After a while I went back over and got her to do some heeling which went surprisingly well even though she was stressed. We then did recalls and she did that very well. I then took her to the car while everyone else wrapped up with fronts and finishes.

In May there are some trials that we could do. April is for Yoshi
May 5 Poodle
May 6 Davis
May 18 Pembroke Specialty

Tue Mar 27
Yoshi morning dash walk. I didn't even bring treats so it was just exercise. No dogs no drama.

Now at noon it's threatening to rain (and will all night) so Trek will be thrilled and I'll get wet. Very windy so no umbrella this time.

Later: wasn't too bad. I was wondering if the wind would provide enough white noise to let her go by the whistle-bearing crossing guard. I'm not convinced that it helped that was but the approach to the whistle was more doable possibly because the sound was being carried in a different direction. She approached the corner without issue which is unusual, however after 3 whistles she was tired of it and wanted to go faster (we were past him and on Gibbons) though she was rewarded for each one and would eat. It's similar to the first couple of teeter crashes are ok but then it becomes not. Leslie McDevitt thinks the Bite Threshold Model might sort of apply here. A dog will be ok up to a point and then lose it and bite. She was uncomfortable until we got past Santa Clara. Rest of the walk was fine.

It started to rain so agility class was canceled.

Mon Mar 26
Yoshi walk
He did see a dog across Gibbons actually we crossed Gibbons to pass the lab and he did well. Also saw one of the Fountain GSDs approaching but we continued towards them because I was pretty sure they would just turn down the next street and they did. So Yoshi got to safely approach a dog without any drama. Phew.

Trek evening stroll. Went to the park worked on heeling and fronts and recalls and stand. Worked on stand a lot and went back to kneeling down beside her using my right fist and left hand on her tummy and alternated between sit and stand. She's getting it but needs more work.

Sun Mar 25
Trek Obedience trial Countywide DTC at the Fairgrounds in Petaluma.
It's two trials in one day. Morning and afternoon.
Hazel was the Novice judge in the morning so we couldn't enter that class, but we were entered in Rally twice (am and pm) and Novice Ob once in the afternoon.

It was a really great day for us. In the morning she got her Advanced title with a very nice run that was only messed up because of us not being able to do a stop and sit (duh - If I had only thought to say "sit."), We then moved up to Excellent for the afternoon and got a mercy Q which was completely surprising to me.

Novice was a tough one Going into sits and downs we were qualifying, not a great run but ok. We got through the sit and 2 minutes into the down she sat up. ARRRRRGH. Visions of Cali, but it wasn't treat begging like Cali was. She was more concerned about what was going on in the next ring as the was some utility jumps being set up.

Oh and the big news is that she did a stand for exam for a male judge!

Rally Courses

		Advanced Not getting the Halt-Sit right was incredibly silly. We did the 1-2-3 thing perfectly in my mind but there was a hesitation at the beginning and that got graded as a no sit which I think was too harsh. The video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5UR6RVJZVk&list=UUFKXtWqtc-eu-MKrNE1jCOw&index=1&feature=plcp
		Excellent We of course completely messed up the back up part twice. The stand and walk around I thought went fine after we tried it again but apparently Trek moved when I got back to heel position. Given that we'd already repeated it we were stuck with the -10 as you only get to retry it once. I'm just thrilled that she mostly got the Stand from heeling without sitting down. I think Qing her was a gift, but we'll take it. Her pivot left was iffy, but ok.

This was Trek's obedience scoresheet going into sits and downs. Normally her off-leash heeling is better but someone (I know who but I don't need to say) moved a chair about 20' from the ring and some other things during the pattern and discombobulated her. It mucked up her recall front positioning too. I think she'll get better with experience as the various sounds are not constant like the agility teeters are.

And it was different noise that messed up her in the long down too. I haven't decided on whether to give her Melatonin before a trial. It's not a drug so it's legal, but probably not in line with the spirit of the rules.

Sat Mar 24
Rained intensively all day

Fri Mar 23
Dogs Herding
Yoshi did goats and then ducks and on a whim I let Trek go around some mixed stock and she seemed interested enough that we had her work goats for a little while and she seemed to have a nice time though obvious pretty tentative. I have to remember to use a happy voice otherwise she worries that something's wrong.

Yoshi's goat run started off nicely as I was able to stop him and the goats and then could get him to go further out by tossing a treat and then have him down and toss a treat etc. Why didn't I do this earlier? it worked very well and the goats were happy to just stand there while we worked on it. The rest of the run was terribly rocky as I would lose the goats and have trouble getting them back and Yoshi went back to crowding them. Later on Linda said that he probably wasn't really ready to trial in goats yet though he can do his JHD on ducks. So instead Trek is going to try a JHD on goats.

Then it was time for ducks. I'm having issues with him getting too close but it doesn't have the same ramifications as it does with sheep. If he gets too close the ducks tend to stop and let him overrun and they turn right around and head for the pen. So it's pretty vital that he stop when I ask him to which doesn't always happen. Linda wants me to be all over his case when he pretends not to hear me when I say Slow or Stop. I try but I'm not very good at it. I like the idea of just grabbing him by the collar if I can as it's more direct. We did the JHD mostly correctly the first time but subsequent one's didn't work as well. The time that worked I or Yoshi was on the inside of the ducks after the first panel so they couldn't turn into the middle of the field like they did in the rest of the attempts.

It also mad a difference if I was in front of the ducks and walked backwards and Yoshi was behind. Also the time that worked I was blocking the ducks from cutting in and Yoshi came up and joined me. I'll have to make a video clip to show Linda to ask what worked during it.

Thu Mar 22
Finally able to walk dogs
Yoshi noon walk. He still knows all his Rally stuff and still have fabulous heeling. His Rally trial isn't until near the end of April, but he's ready for it.
His herding trial is in just over a week and he's not ready for it but we'll just have to cope as best we can. We're going to practice tomorrow afternoon.
Saw a dog approaching and we went off down a side street and waited for the dog to pass by. we went a house length and a house width but that was so easy for him I almost which I had been closer but it was nice to see him succeed so well. I'm really happy with how well his doing at this distance. I do need to rachet it up a little but it's nice to have him not stressing.

Trek evening walk
It was windy and I had a very happy dog. We went over to Lincoln Park and worked on obedience. We walked down High Street and the traffic wasn't bothering her which is interesting as the wind probably created some white noise like the rain does.

In the park we worked on figure 8's and other heeling doing obedience style and rally too. Recall front we mosly good after one time blowing by me but after a reminder that I wanted her to sit in front of me she then nailed it consistently. Finishes are still a little incomplete unless I over signal it as usual. The only real issue was the Stand. She gets so excited when I return she would immediately sit. Consistently to the point that we went and worked on recalls and then went back to it and it was better. It was fun to see her so happy to work.

Afterwards we walked in the park and I let her run off leash and she had a great time.

Tue Mar 20-Wed Mar 21
I have been ill for a few days and I'm no longer able to just ignore it. Let the dogs have a grand time racing around the yard chasing the squirrels in the trees.

On Tues I did introduce Yoshi to going out to touch a target (a red ball on a stick that goes in a stand.) Then I had him go out and touch it and then down.

Mon Mar 19
So I checked Trek's NADAC progress:

Results for 07-10120, Trek

Points	Class	Total Points	Title	Date Earned	DRI	Silver/Purple	Platinum	Host Club
10	NJC	10		1/13/2008				Haute Dawgs Agility Group Jan-08
10	NAC	10		1/13/2008				Haute Dawgs Agility Group Jan-08
10	NAC	20		12/4/2010				Haute Dawgs Agility Group Dec-10
10	NAC	30	NAC	12/4/2010				Haute Dawgs Agility Group Dec-10
10	NAC	40		3/12/2011				Haute Dawgs Agility Group Mar-11
10	NAC	50		3/12/2011				Haute Dawgs Agility Group Mar-11

Funny how she has several Novice standard Q's and only one Jumpers Q. Can't remember if there's some odd distance component of even the jumpers classes.

Checked the calendar and very often there are events at Elk Grove. Wish it was closer. NADAC has moved to Orland area so there now are events in Red Bluff also. I love how agility hits all the California hot spots. Ha.

------
Yoshi evening walk
Rally practice. His heeling rocks. He's a little uncertain on the front but it used to be perfect so it will come back. His right hand finish is rocky but doable and the left about turn is puzzling to him but that's ok as I can get him through it mostly. I have to get him to drive around in front of me to touch my right hand.

Also when he was at the end of the leash I would sometimes have him down which went well though he can't resist taking a step towards me first. I'm also going to teach him to drive out to a target and down.

Did see a wee dog. I nearly missed it but people walking dogs have a certain body language and she was carrying a white plastic bag. We went down a side street but missed them and looped around the next block and they actually started to come down the street we were on so we crossed and I was able to set it up the way I wanted it to be. I had him sit while the dog approached and he did that very well so we then started heeling past the dog. I did have to tell him to heel a couple of times to get his attention but he did it and seemed to be happy about it. The other dog was small, but mellow and not challenging him at all.

Sat Mar 17 - Sun Mar 18
Trek agility Dixon. This is the time where I make decisions about her agility future. I'm hoping it will rain and it has been all week

Not at all happy about the teeter sound. Gave her gave her 1.5 mg of Melatonin which helped some but she still isn't thrilled but she wasn't having a meltdown.

So I have a decision. She doesn't want to be around teeter sounds at all. She finds it very stressful and doesn't even like to be in the ring with contact equipment save for perhaps A-Frames.

I still can't quite explain why she's ok with the class contact equipment. Probably because it's a familiar setting and it doesn't make a sound very often.
Anyway she's not happy at agility and it's not fun to see. It is nice to see her enjoying jumpers but she really doesn't like the teeter sounds around.

I think it's time to have her stop going to agility trials except for NADAC and the occasional Jumpers and Steeplechase runs.
though now that I look at this it was just the Standard courses that she didn't like. She actually came close to Q'ing 3 additional times in the other courses

	Saturday Fast - She would have Q'd if a bar on the double hadn't of dropped at the last moment.
	Our Fast Plan which would have worked if we hadn't dropped that bar. I need to remember the last jump is just to stop the clock and does not count for one point. For Open you need 55 points. In this course the send was 10 points (3-5-2), plus 20 points for the "Send Bonus" so you need to get an additional 25 points. You can do the Send at any time it just worked out well to have it at the end here.
	Open Standard. Pathetic as usual. No contacts at all save for the table. We finally left.
	Ex JWW - She Qed - that is her second Excellent A JWW Q.
	Sunday Time to Beat Fun class would have gone better if I wasn't late that day and didn't walk the course It ran much faster than i thought it would and got there just before our run Fortunately Beverly saw us and let me know as I walked up and I convinced them to let me move her to the end of the 8s. I got enough of the course by watching some of the others. Didn't run it that well, but it went ok save for a long conversation about doing the A-Frame. This course involved doing the A-Frame twice and the second time which was a nice surprise.
	Open Standard. Sad as usual. No dogwalk. No A-Frame even. We excused ourselves.
	Ex JWW. She seemed to have a nice time and out ran me on the back straighaway and went off course. Later on she had a refusal so the off course is just as well as I would have been way annoyed about that. It was nice to see her having a relative good time.

Thur Mar 15
Yoshi morning walk
2 dogs moving away he saw them before me but all he did is make a guttural sound and the looked to me for a treat. At Gibbons we saw a small dog and his person standing there chatting with the crossing guard. Yoshi looked at the dog and stiffened. He looked, I told him to Leave It and got no reaction, then I said Come and that worked, reward. He looked back. I said Leave It and that did nothing. Then said Come and he came right back. and did the whole thing again. The whole time the other dog was stiff and posturing.

Trek's moving stand seems to be working well. As we're walking I say Stop and then Stay and it's working. She doesn't sit and I can actually walk around her. This is perfect for Ex Rally and I can modify it for Utility.

The Stand from a Sit is improving though she still wants to touch my right hand but I think it will be ok.

Also did some work by a hedge and her backup is working fine with it. Though without the hedge it's still diagonal.

Wed Mar 14
Trek Stand from Sit.
She's sitting on my left.
I turn and move my right fist downward and say Stand and it work mostly. Part of the time I'll open my fist and give her a treat, though I'm working on rewarding her after the fact so that she doesn't always want to touch my fist. My concern is that a Rally judge will thing I'm luring her. At first I was using my left hand to help her stand which helped. Lori was suggesting I use my left foot to poke her tummy. Trek jumped way up when I tried that so don't think I want to do that again though Lori thinks I'm reacting to her over reactiveness, but I think she's far enough along to not need to foot method.

Tue Mar 13
Agility class canceled

Raining all this week. Maddening.

Mon Mar 12
Daylight Savings time - hurray!

Yoshi noon dog walk. Fine. Did a backup along Jim's fence and he was great.
In the yard I and Yoshi were out side working on sit stays and a squirrel appeared and I knelt down and held his collar and fed him occasionally for holding the stay.

Trek evening walk. Went past the school which was fairly quiet, but she was still pretty cautious, and when we went over to Broadway and she wasn't real happy about the traffic noise even though there wasn't much of it. We should probably work more around traffic.

Sun Mar 11
Big day. Dogs are going to herd geese at Nola Jones'.
Today is the day that decides whether they go to LA for the herding trial.

Well.
It's been twice for Yoshi and he's really not that passionate about them at all. He kept charging the fence at any dog in sight. Terri was nice enough to come and video tape and you can really see that he'll only reluctantly herd them. It's frustrating to see because when he does work he's so talented but he really isn't that interested in the geese. Nola thought last time it's because the geese were kinda boring to him. That's certainly possible, though he likes ducks though ducks are small and toy like. I have no idea how he's going to be for Runner Ducks.

Trek time on geese.
On the other hand, bird obsessed Trek seemed to really like it, but Trek just likes doing whatever I'm doing as long as it's not too noisy. Her favorite part of the day was just charging around Nola's with the other waiting dogs and going into the pond. Since the geese are much larger she actually listened better though she wasn't intimidated by them at all. She even went charging up to a large turkey who was in a pen. Nola was concerned about Trek's left knee not bending. Looking at it on the video you can see her hopping gait, but she's still racing around and didn't appear to be in pain.

She did ok with the geese but her favorite was just running around the grounds and jumping in the water trough and going in the pond, and she'll do whatever I want her to do and it's not her passion. I'm still trying to figure out what her passion is. She liked the geese, but wasn't that focused about it.

So I have my answer. We're not going to Los Angeles Corgi Herding Trial.
Maybe Yoshi doesn't need to trial at all. I'm trying to figure out what he loves. He loves order and the birds just aren't holding his attention. He likes the goats some though spins off to charge fences. He's very good at herding but is so handicapped by his worry about the other dogs. He doesn't do this with sheep because they take his whole attention but he worries so much about sheep and charging around and controlling them.

Since we're not going to L.A. I need to talk to Linda about what our training and what direction is should go. Should he keep working on ducks or try to get him to stop around sheep? Linda is going to say he needs to have a Stop. We've been working on that for years and only kinda have it around goats. I can get him to stop close to the goats but not far away from them. Maybe he should just get better at ducks but I don't know if it would translate to larger animals.

Of course now that I've typed all this I'm thinking I could take Yoshi and just do a PT run again, but I'm concerned that he would just reinforce bad habits. Though then Trek could have a hand at the snotty geese since she kinda likes it.
i think it's that geese flap their wings and Yoshi doesn't like that and Trek finds it fun.

Sat Mar 10
Went on a bike ride sans dogs.

Fri Mar 9
Dog Training Day
Trek obedience class with Lori
First worked on heeling past a row of cones
Then halted at every cone
Then serpentined around the cones
She was actually worried about the cones even though she's seen cones many times.
She was stressed in the hall even though I had given her 0.75 mg Meletonin and gave her another there (up to a full dose for her). It helped, but she still isn't happy about the place. If she was always like that I wouldn't do obedience, but she's ok in the outdoor venues and the indoor ones shes on edge, but copes.

Lori talked some about do heeling training with intention.
Have a goal
- attention
- halts
- serpentine

Retreive
Teach the retrieve in parts
- stay
- the actually retreive
- hold
- front
- not mouthing

Keep sessions short and fun.

When Trek did her retrieve, don't step into her but instead step back with one foot if anything.

Don't take the dumbbell right away

Recalls
Trek did ok but it wasn't her usual rocket recall.
She did not want to go near the entrance though it was ok with standing just outside the same door which we did a couple of times to give her a break.

Long line handling
When doggy is on a long line and coming to you, bring the line in hand over hand instead of wrapping it around your hands. If the line is too short when doggy is going out then just follow them out
If doggy had a tendency to wander on a recall then backup while holding onto the line.

Also did Stand for Exam she did ok.

Sits and Downs. I stayed with her on the sit as it was just too crowded to get any real training done. I did leave her on the down but she's really good at that.

Yoshi Herding

First goats. He is still crowding. Linda demonstrated whacking the ground with the stick and he would flinch and move out. Of course when I whack the ground he moves out and them comes right back in.

Then after the goats we went for a walk

Ducks
He was better, but still could crank up and I'd have to yell or whack the ground for him to stop. But after a while he started to work better. The ducks would naturally come off the fence so it will take some work to make the second back panel in the JHD course. So aft er the first pand stop him and try to get him out, or get in front of the ducs and then he will take care of the herding part.

Then after the second panel, let the ducks fade to the center in order to go through the middle panels and then on to the penning area.

I'm wondering if after the trai in April I should have Linda work sheep with him.

I'm wondering what Yoshi's herding future is or if he has one. He works them well with a good handler, and has good drive, but with me he crowds in too much. But I'm wondering what it will do to our relationship, if I'm as hard on him as it might require. When I'm really on his case he starts fence charging, but today he didn't.
It's a fine line - maybe he should try the melatonine. He's better about ducks, but even with them he'll start to go to fast.

Trek didn't work ducks because she'll be working geese on Sunday.

Thu Mar 8
Yoshi easy morning walk

Bought more dog toys since Trek seems to want some toys to race around the yard with.

Noon in the yard let Yoshi go bury a toy and Trek and I played fetch with a small stuffed football.

Wed Mar 7
Yoshi morning walk

Tue Mar 6
Yoshi noon walk. Pretty uneventful. No dogs. Did some Rally practice. Front, Heel - slow and fast, 360s, weaving around, Stand and walk around him. It occurs to me that I don't have cones and they really don't have much experience heeling around cones which is probably why Trek sniffs them (even though she seen them 7 or more times). Guess i should consider owning some. I also need to go over the APDT's Rally signs in detail to make sure there aren't any gotcha's. They have more Stand signs, but in Novice you can position the dog.

Trek agility class
The teeter was on the lower field and she wasn't happy about it making noise around her in the small space so she was so so in the lower field. The upper field she was better though kinda pokey at times. Sometimes I think she doesn't like it but when she doesn't like something it's very clear and she loves weaving and racing through tunnels. She is entered both days at the next AKC trial in Dixon and that might be a swan song. We'll have to see. I suppose I could switch her entirely to NADAC for a while and see if I can stand it.

	Lower Field Course 1 1-2-3 I detail below. 6-7-8 did a Front Cross. 9-10-11 Most can't get there to do a FC so instead RC. I can't remember which we did.
	1-3 was a lateral lead out. Sharon showed the ideal (Derrett style) place to stand. Trek's understanding of lateral cues is not as strong, so I stood closer.
	Lower Field Course 2 At the panel Rear crossed, but it was difficult to get Trek to move in front of me.. Sharon suggested throwing the reinforcer forward. FC at 6 At the teeter the plan was to do the teeter then Serp 9 but Trek was unhappy about the teeter being in the lower field s we just did the teeter and nothing fancy
	Upper Field Course 1 (Blue) Lead out to Dog Walk and to a lead out pivot because there is a subtle turn to get to the DW. At the poles stay lateral of the dummy jump or optionally you can just read cross FC at 8 (see below Want the dog to line themselves up correctly for going over the 14 double.
	Course1 detail FC at 8 to do that the handler should have their hand lower and the dog comes to it just before the FC
	Upper Field Course 2 (Orange) Lateral leadout. Ideally stand @3. I stood just past 2 FC after poles to 7 stay on that side Run past 8 Then after 9 run to 10 and 11
	Upper Field short Course 3 Lots of running Same sort of deal. Ideally Handler at 3, but I was at 2 - it worked. FC at 4 (not sure if I did) Pull and RC at 6

Mon Mar 5
I need to find something that Trek loves beside careening around ducks. I wonder if i should just switch her to tracking. She's such a wizard at it though training her to find anything else but our own track might be a momentary challenge.

Yoshi morning walk. Saw a dog on Lincoln so we crossed and set up to heel past the dog. For some reason i kept the cheese in my hand as a lure instead of giving it to him and he did great but he was glancing to the right and then I noticed that the dog was only about 20' feet away from my right side because they choose to cross the street too while we were passing. I was pretty surprised but quite happy at how well Yoshi did.

Trek walk. I've been walking past Jim's fence on Court for years and it never occurred to me to use it as a backup tool. It worked great. Her backup can now be show in Excellent.

The Stand however is driving me mad, but there is hope.
If we are walking/heeling them when i say "Stop" she just stands. Stop I've been using informally but in Rally I can say Stop-Stay and can probably run then together for Utility.

One possibly signal is my right fist held across my body. It works better when we're moving than when standing, but stands from sits in Rally are rare (though allowed). Utility is always a moving Stand.

I have to figure out whether to continue with Rally once she gets her Rally Excellent. She needs one more leg in Advanced and then she'll be in it. I'm assuming that RE only needs 3 legs. i don't think she's going to be going for a RAE which is 10 double Qs of Advanced and Excellent. She prefers doing things as opposed to just heeling, so I think she'll like Open Obedience much better.

Both dogs are going to Nola's as I'm really curious to see how Trek is with geese.

Sun Mar 4
Took Trek on a hike in Redwood starting at Redwood Bowl. My goal was Madrone Trail, but we took a wrong turn to Redwood Peak and then Redwood Trail then backtracked to locate Madrone. She was going a bit slow, but did come along with me. Madrone goes down and then we stopped at the train crossing. Then climbed backup. What was amazing is that she found her way back to the care through 4 trail crossings including one I thought she'd gotten wrong but people on the trail told me otherwise.

I took photos and they are here.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3111481858670.2140588.1013097814&type=1&l=4039af897b

Sat Mar 3
Yoshi bike-run. Went two full circuits of Washington Park and he is tired. The more tired it was, the less reactive. Barky at first then not so much. Even early on, I would stop him when there wasn't time for me to set up and held him by his harness. I really like hanging on to him by his harness as there isn't a chance for it to come off. After some barking he would relent and then sit for treats. Biking with him is very empowering and I'm getting more confident about it as we go. If I see a dog and we can't just go a different direction them we stop and I hold him and talk to him. But usually we just turn a different direction or go way around on the grass. I like this about the large parks. There is room to just ride around obstacles or dogs. This is different than hiking and it suits him much better.

Fri Mar 2
Yoshi morning walk
I've entered him in an ADPT Rally trial in April and took a look at the signs. They are similar but have a few about calling to heel from a stay and some other ones. We practiced call to heel and did a fair bit of turns and pivoting. He's getting it. I can hold his attention for a length of time during heeling.

Trek noon walk. Pretty casual though I opted to go down High St. and then back down Court thus avoiding the crossing guard whistle. She did hear the whistle when we came back but it was from several houses away and it didn't appear to bother her. Worked on Freeze (Stand) She still takes a step forward but that's ok for now. When in motion it might work to do a Stop-Freeze and once we're in utility run the words together. Tried backing up with my hands in various positions and the most successful was no signal with my left hand at my side.

Later on worked more on Stand-Freeze and I'm frustrated. The stand signal that I was trying to use is just too much like my sit signal.

Signals
Down: Left hand raised elbow bent 90 degrees
Sit: Right hand raised from my side up
Come: Left hand towards my chest

Thu Mar 1
Raining. Trek morning walk. Yoshi noon walk.