Lesson Plans: Rip

Last week I took all 3 of the dogs for a private lesson with my obedience trainer.  I'm always keen to improve my handling, and want to make sure I'm working on the right things with each of them.  I worked with each dog, then we created "lesson plans" for each of them.

Don't listen to her - I don't need all this training.

Look how calm and well-mannered I am...

Here's the plan for Rip

Obedience:

• Work on making the "front" position and the "heel" (sitting next to me) positions lots of fun and high reward.  
• Make sure he's focusing in the right place while in these positions.  When in front, he should be looking just above my knees.  In heel at side, he should be focusing on the seam of my jeans about mid way up my thigh.  (I trained Maggie to look at my face in both of these positions, and she tends to forge in heel and sit a bit far back in front).
• Short (moving) heelwork with food lure, and frequent breaks for play.

Agility:

• Continue work on agility basics - tunnel, table, beginning teeter, jump bumps (Susan Salo method).
• Work on "here" (come to side, but don't heel or sit) cue.

Other:

• Lots of socialization - in the past week Rip's been to an obedience show-n-go (goal = ring is fun, judge and stewards are fun, hanging out in my crate is ok),  open training night (goal = meet new people, learn to be a bit less wild when greeting other dogs, have fun practicing in a new place), and to training class with The Husband (goal = CGC in 8 more weeks, attention & manners around other dogs).
• Conformation -- we're working on "wait" command.  I want him to stop in a standing position on this cue (rather than sitting).  We'll also start conformation class again in early Feb.  Right now it conflicts with agility training nights for Ziggy.
• Recall and name games.  Rip seems to be entering the "deaf teenager" phase...

Frequency:

• Rip gets training at least once a day (preferably 2).  It's a coping mechanism, as it wears him out a bit.  AND he gets to have fun, play with me, and get treats!