Back on Track

Elsa is all fine now, no antibiotics and from what I can see she is fully recovered. A bit out of shape down to a couple of weeks on just lead walking but apart from that she is well and good.

Still decided to not do the BH test on Saturday due to us being a bit behind on the training. I take it as a good learning experience for myself and I will be there watching every move :-).

Today Dave, my training mate, laid a track for Elsa. About 30 paces and then a 45 degree corner. Treats irregular but in the corner.

Result:
Elsa is so keen to track. Happy and carefree. Lovely attitude to the task.

Follows the track nicely but tend to not sniff every foot step and she can loose some concentration at times.

I think:
Train more.

Dave thinks:
I guess he thinks "Train more" but he also gave me valid tips on what to do.

Reverse a bit in the training and lay a scent pad a few times and let her work her way in to that. No preassure, just for her to realize where the food is. Lessen the size of the scent pad and then move on to curved track with food in every foot step.

Personally I think I have moved on a little too fast, especially from not been training very much lately.

Fortunately with positive training methods it does not matter that much, I just reverse a bit in my training and catch up from there.

I hope to do some track training on Saturday after I watched the BH test.

Obedience
Concentration work.
I did sitting on the side, click, play.
Walking around people, click, play.

Need to continue working on concentration. To make it longer and longer for reward. I actually would not trust her concentrating well for 50 paces. Not good news. Really need to dig into that problem. Actually looking forward to it.

Her position on my left side is very good. I have that down to that I was so meticulous about that when she was younger. I walked along walls and before I started walking I had her sitting beside me just looking at me. I also did a lot of walking away from her and when she came up on my left side exactly where I want to have her I clicked her and played with her.

Protection work
Rounding the little tents (please, could somebody tell me what they are called in English?:-))

She is now about 25 meters from the "tent" and rounds it on my command. She is keen and happy, and sort of shines up when she sees the "tent". Good news I must say. Especially since we have not trained it for several weeks.

I click her when she is on the other side, rounding it with enthusiasm. I give her the kong for that.

I will continue with the same training since it looks promising at the moment. I want to move further into the middle of the pitch gradually.

I wish I had my own pitch to train on and why not a club to go to that is open for training every day. I really miss that from Sweden. When I had it I did not appreciate it. Well, I guess I did, but I just did not think about it that much. The club was just there, well, several clubs within an easy driving distance actually. All the equipment ready to use more or less any time, any day. Always people there to chat to and to discuss things with. Now, what happens, I sneak around foot ball pitches when nobody sees me and I discuss with myself on my blog... Lol. No it is not strictly true, I have my friend Mari from Sweden I discuss IPO/Schutzhund things with on msn and I discuss with Dave here in England. I highly appreciate our training time and I so respect his experience and knowledge. Thank you Dave!

Bite Work
Today Elsa did the best bite she has ever done! I was over the moon and so was she regarding how long she held the pillow for afterwards. Dave trains her to only win the pillow (still on puppy pillow) only on full bite and bite in the middle. There she was today, shooting into the pillow, grip in the middle, no fiddling, just gripping, full on and with a lovely drive. We have had her laying down lately to get her to concentrate on the bite. In the beginning she just launched herself on to the pillow without opening her mouth! Bless her. What a Schutzhund. Lol. Anyway, that behaviour soon disappeared when the pillow disappeared. I hope to build on from there. I have bought the harder pillow and a puppy sleeve that I soon will receive. Training looks promising right now and it is so much fun!