Iorek came to his first flyball tournament this weekend.
I learned that he cannot be in the same building as the other dogs. Even on Friday during warm-ups he barked his head off and nothing exciting was happening except a few people using duct-tape... He never does that anywhere else. Go figure.
Sabotage (my six year old JRT) also debuted at this tournament. She also barked her head off and had to be moved to the car with Iorek. Two dogs with the same problem = something I've done... I don't think it's a good or bad thing but it's kinda annoying to not be able to have your dogs so close.
Iorek did fantastically well after Saturday racing. I was most impressed when a dog from another team crossed lanes to see Iorek and he never reacted at all...
Box work is just around the corner.
Here is a video from the Saturday.
Monday, 7 November 2011
Sunday, 25 September 2011
Iorek is almost 8 months....
Iorek has become a real tug monster... he is also doing a great job of transferring from the ball to the tug... it must be soon time to add jumps and a little box work!!!
Good Luck Porgy-Pie!!!
Saturday, 28 May 2011
Monday, 23 May 2011
This weekend our flyball club brought Kelly Robbins (from Rocket Relay) in for a weekend flyball boot camp to help us re-energize us club going forward. As a club we had an amazing weekend --- it was so exciting spending an entire weekend with great people in a relaxed setting learning how to become a better trainer. We worked the majority of our team dogs and it was the perfect time to bring Kelly in because we have a nice mix of different dogs at different ages. Iorek was the youngest and over the weekend Kelly and I were able to work with him 4-5 times.
Warning - brag moment coming up! Kelly said that Iorek was the best shaping whippet she had ever seen and that for his age he was one of the most powerful whippets she had ever seen. She was also very impressed with his structure. Thanks Susan --- you obviously know what you are doing when it come to breeding.
In the training sessions we had, Iorek worked on target work and some restraint recalls. We also identified a ball obsession problem and Kelly showed us a strategy to deal with that problem. Kelly also taught us a start to finish program that we can use to train him to become a successful flyball dog. It was great to know that Iorek has so much potential and that I just need to stick to my training guns in order for Iorek to be successful.
Warning - brag moment coming up! Kelly said that Iorek was the best shaping whippet she had ever seen and that for his age he was one of the most powerful whippets she had ever seen. She was also very impressed with his structure. Thanks Susan --- you obviously know what you are doing when it come to breeding.
In the training sessions we had, Iorek worked on target work and some restraint recalls. We also identified a ball obsession problem and Kelly showed us a strategy to deal with that problem. Kelly also taught us a start to finish program that we can use to train him to become a successful flyball dog. It was great to know that Iorek has so much potential and that I just need to stick to my training guns in order for Iorek to be successful.
Saturday, 7 May 2011
One step forward... Two steps forward...
Iorek came to his second flyball practice today and he continues to display incredible keenness and focus.
Last practice we started doing some simple recalls on the flat and since that worked so well I thought we might want to try something a little harder; side by side recalls and passing recalls. And since we're doing something a little harder why not use Sprite - aka the regional killer and puppy terrorizer. Iorek was fantastic. His focus was solely on me and the reward. Other than trying to do the same exercise with Lyra - I can't really think of a way to make recalls on the flat much more challenging... maybe next practice! Here are a couple of video's from practice.
Side note - It's pretty neat that Sprite the oldest dog on the club -- 12 years young (and can still run 4.4's) is helping the youngest dog.
Last practice we started doing some simple recalls on the flat and since that worked so well I thought we might want to try something a little harder; side by side recalls and passing recalls. And since we're doing something a little harder why not use Sprite - aka the regional killer and puppy terrorizer. Iorek was fantastic. His focus was solely on me and the reward. Other than trying to do the same exercise with Lyra - I can't really think of a way to make recalls on the flat much more challenging... maybe next practice! Here are a couple of video's from practice.
Side note - It's pretty neat that Sprite the oldest dog on the club -- 12 years young (and can still run 4.4's) is helping the youngest dog.
Monday, 25 April 2011
Pocket full of Kibble...
There are days when I regret not feeding raw food... and then there are those perfect West Coast days where a walk in the woods and a pocket full of kibble can cure any melancholy mood.
Melancholy mood...
As a die-hard Canucks fan, last night's, game 6, 4-3 overtime loss, was unbearable. But life goes on, and, alas their is always game seven. It's hard to quantify how many 1000's of hours of time I have invested (emotionally) into this team... I am beginning to understand how Leaf fans feel.
West Coast day...
I love the rain. I am also so lucky to live a mere 5 mins. from the beautiful Delta Watershed Park. The Watershed Park has the perfect canopy for rainy day walk.
Among my many goals for Iorek (or as Tamara calls him - Yorgi) is to make sure he knows his name (duh), has a strong recall (double duh and safety), and he learns to harness his chase drive. So this morning I did a quick and brief clicker training session and then stuffed the rest of his kibble in my pocket. Instead of taking all the dogs I decided to only take Iorek and Lyra. I felt one high-drive dog, a toddler, and a huge forest full of joggers, dog walkers and wildlife was distraction enough! I made sure to start the walk off with a crazy high rate of reinforcement... Iorek got at least 50% of the kibble in my pocket in the first 5 mins. Then I tried to stick to a variable reinforcement plan --- you know between picking Rendall up from falling, throwing the stick for Lyra, and just enjoying the beautiful day. The first few times Iorek blasted after Lyra I would call him back right away --- each and every time with success. Then I started letting him chase Lyra around a bit and then call him back... continued success. I made sure that I had a fair amount of kibble left over before we got back to the car so that I could boost up the rate of reinforcement near the end --- Iorek should get the idea that even thought the walk is ending good things still happen... overall it was a very successful walk and training session.
Lyra had an even more successful walk... other than the giant stick she insisted on carrying around she also caught and killed a rabbit. I wont bore you with the details other than the fact that Iorek didn't really know what was going on and that Rendall saw his first kill... his reaction - started laughing and ran the other way as I quickly disposed of the widdle wabbit.
Here is a video of Lyra and her stupid stick... iphone video -- so the quality is a little so so -- Rendall thought the stick was funny as well.
Melancholy mood...
As a die-hard Canucks fan, last night's, game 6, 4-3 overtime loss, was unbearable. But life goes on, and, alas their is always game seven. It's hard to quantify how many 1000's of hours of time I have invested (emotionally) into this team... I am beginning to understand how Leaf fans feel.
West Coast day...
I love the rain. I am also so lucky to live a mere 5 mins. from the beautiful Delta Watershed Park. The Watershed Park has the perfect canopy for rainy day walk.
Among my many goals for Iorek (or as Tamara calls him - Yorgi) is to make sure he knows his name (duh), has a strong recall (double duh and safety), and he learns to harness his chase drive. So this morning I did a quick and brief clicker training session and then stuffed the rest of his kibble in my pocket. Instead of taking all the dogs I decided to only take Iorek and Lyra. I felt one high-drive dog, a toddler, and a huge forest full of joggers, dog walkers and wildlife was distraction enough! I made sure to start the walk off with a crazy high rate of reinforcement... Iorek got at least 50% of the kibble in my pocket in the first 5 mins. Then I tried to stick to a variable reinforcement plan --- you know between picking Rendall up from falling, throwing the stick for Lyra, and just enjoying the beautiful day. The first few times Iorek blasted after Lyra I would call him back right away --- each and every time with success. Then I started letting him chase Lyra around a bit and then call him back... continued success. I made sure that I had a fair amount of kibble left over before we got back to the car so that I could boost up the rate of reinforcement near the end --- Iorek should get the idea that even thought the walk is ending good things still happen... overall it was a very successful walk and training session.
Lyra had an even more successful walk... other than the giant stick she insisted on carrying around she also caught and killed a rabbit. I wont bore you with the details other than the fact that Iorek didn't really know what was going on and that Rendall saw his first kill... his reaction - started laughing and ran the other way as I quickly disposed of the widdle wabbit.
Here is a video of Lyra and her stupid stick... iphone video -- so the quality is a little so so -- Rendall thought the stick was funny as well.
Saturday, 23 April 2011
Iorek's first flyball practice
So Iorek came to flyball practice this morning... he has come a few times before but basically he was just their to socialize with his new human team members and to show off how cute he is...
Today was a business day, and besides he was not the cutest puppy --- that honor goes to Dana's new Duck Toller puppy (ridiculously cute and fuzzy). Iorek did his first set of restraints. I was very pleased with his desire to chase the tug and once he got the hang of it I could barely run fast enough. Each time I made sure he played with the tug and eventually won (I let go and praised him for his amazing tugging abilities). Later when his big sister was running I brought him out in his crate and let him watch... he went a little crazy - one time when I looked over he was trying to eat his way through the crate door. That answered one question I had --- will he be crazy for flyball? But now I have to make sure I am careful to balance his chase drive and his drive to a reward.
Today was a business day, and besides he was not the cutest puppy --- that honor goes to Dana's new Duck Toller puppy (ridiculously cute and fuzzy). Iorek did his first set of restraints. I was very pleased with his desire to chase the tug and once he got the hang of it I could barely run fast enough. Each time I made sure he played with the tug and eventually won (I let go and praised him for his amazing tugging abilities). Later when his big sister was running I brought him out in his crate and let him watch... he went a little crazy - one time when I looked over he was trying to eat his way through the crate door. That answered one question I had --- will he be crazy for flyball? But now I have to make sure I am careful to balance his chase drive and his drive to a reward.
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