Bad Training Session

Posting this isn't going to be fun, but maybe I can laugh about it in a couple of years. I call myself a professional, but I'm sorry to report that today I was not up to par.

Shade and I went training at a local park this morning. We started off on the wrong foot and just couldn't get it back together. I had Emma with me and that didn't make it easier. Normally she's excellent, but not today. Today she thought it'd be fun to scream and tantrum as loudly as possible while following closely behind Shade and I as we heeled. Shade has never done well with the baby screaming and today was not an exception. He became frantic and began trying to sniff about. When he did do something click-worthy, he would take a few fingers into his mouth along with the treat. It hurt a lot (Shade has always taken treats badly while under stress) and I began to get sloppy with my treat distribution. We used hot-dogs today and I typically only use those for trials and tracking. Whenever I clumsily dropped my treats, Shade would put his nose to the grass and begin tracking. It didn't help that this was a new park and there were new things to sniff while he was down there.

We did get a little bit of quality heeling, but it really isn't worth mention. We might have gone 10-15 steps when we have gone more than 70 with ease.

Seeing that continuing to heel was just reinforcing sloppiness, I decided to do some fun stuff with Shade. We climbed on the picnic tables and ran along the benches. He thought that was fun. We also did some long downs on the table. He wasn't sure about it at first, but did a decent job. I didn't push hard, we'd already had enough frustration for one day.

After that, I took him and my crabby toddler back to the van for a ten minute break.

I took him out again after that, and there was nothing. Not even one step. We clicked a few times for eye contact and decided to work on long downs. It was a stupid idea. We'd been at the park for an hour and had achieved nothing. We were both tired. I did four 10-25 second stays and didn't stop when I should have. I didn't end on a good note. What can I say? I wanted to feel good about something so bad that I was willing to be stupid to get it. The 5th time around got me nothing but teeth clacking and paw paddling. Shade was done. He was also on a back tie and that usually means we're going to play tug. He decided playing tug was more fun than staying.

I put him back in the car and headed to a private lesson. I think staying home would have been more profitable for both of us.

First Post!

I just realized that my husband deleted my old training blog. That's too bad. I enjoyed going back and reading about the silly things I did when I first began learning how to be a good trainer. I'm starting my new blog in an attempt to start writing again. I've had lots of successes since I last posted. Both of my dogs have therapy dog certifications, they both have titles in rally, one of them has a title in obedience. Yay!

I recently acquired a remarkable white cat named Phineas. He is currently being trained for demos and will be making his debut at "Scales & Tails" an event being held at the Indiana State Museum. We're very excited! So far, Phineas can spin, sit, come when called, walk nicely on a leash and target. He has a very cute "high-five" and he is learning to run to his crate on cue. I'm hoping to think of some other cute tricks which will endear him to the masses. Any suggestions are welcome.

The third reason I've started this blog is somewhat mercenary. I want to promote and sell my handmade pet collars and my tasty dog treats. I'm hoping to donate a portion of the proceeds to the Indy Pit Crew and I'd like to make a little money for myself. Obedience trials are expensive!