Utility Work

Wyatt is making good progress on the directed retrieve. He is getting the glove we are facing. Of course, they are pretty close at this point. I also have him going out to a target (fastened to a ring gate) and sitting down nicely. He is also doing directly jumping no problem. He is doing a moving stand easily. I have not started scent discrimination yet due to the problems with the metal articles. I have trained the drop, sit, and stand though he tends to be a bit of creeper so I am using a bar.

He is going well in open too though I have not started drop on recall. I may finish his CD first before I do that. Retrieve over jump and retrieve on flat seem pretty routine now. Out of sight sits and down may be the hardest thing in open. He tends to stand up sometimes when I am out of sight. Broad jump is no problem.

In many ways, heeling may still be harder than a lot of the retrieving and jumping as well as the group exercises. I am seeing that I need more power steering commands to fix him when he is out of position. And I still tend to lure him into position when I really need to shape it more and have him fix himself so the understanding of correct side and front position is much deeper.

Of course, with Wyatt, proofing has been one of the hardest parts. We start a beginning open class this week so I hope to start doing some proofing around other dogs.

Thanks for reading and leave a comment on what you are training with your dog!