Back to Novice

Since we have 3 tries coming up in March and April for our CD, I am doing 2 daily run throughs of the complete novice exercises and cutting back on open and utility training. I am doing the novice run throughs with less treats and verbal praise. I do make a big point of going somewhere else to get treats after the exercize(s) just like I would at a trial.

I have trained most of the pieces and some of the complete open and utility exercizes with the exception of scent discrimination, drop on recall, and the moving finish of utility signals. I am still working on getting Wyatt used to metal. He will find canning jar tops and will take a metal dumbbell from my hand but still will not retrieve a metal dumbbell. I do want to train scent discrimination when I get a metal dumbbell retrieve. I still have not given him a tuna fish can with the juice still in it. That was suggested as working for most dogs to get them used to the taste of metal.

I have started to train out of sight sits and downs but sometimes have to go back to shorter in sight sits and downs depending on where Wyatt is. I think this is going to be the hardest part of open.

I will need to also do these run throughs at dog shows and agility meets and other busy places to proof everything. I am trying not to anticipate getting a CD (we need 2 more legs) but just take everything as it comes. That is hard.

Here is Wyatt after a particulary taxing workout.