Week 3 EXAM # 1 is uploaded

Link to Week 3 EXAM # 1: Body Bend Readiness Test

Week 3 Class Videos 7/28/21

Fix Lagging

Stand Mechanics

Week 3 Day 17 - the adventures of my Pack, Sugar, Pree and Boaz/Leenie training against Jeanne/Sophie & Janet/Riley

Wanted to share that Leenie is doing very well.  Have to chuckle as she's showing her true self. For instance, when doing the Week 3, Day 17 training at Jeanne and Janet's place, I had Leenie watch me work Sugar and Boaz on field drills. She was SO pissed that SHE wasn't working doing field drills, I caught her attempting to eat the metal rods of my crate. She got into trouble for that.  Also, she SO targeted the bumper pile when I headed out to do LL warm -up with her, but as you can see, I simply did an immediate Left Training Turn into her as she headed towards the pile. And that was the end of that targeting.

Also, I had Jeanne work Sophie in a pseudo 'tunnel' on LL.  Sophie was belligerent and determined to get to Leenie.

Here Leenie decided to accept Sophie's challenge and lunged for her. I caught her and did a staunch "OUT!...ARE YOU REALLY SO FOOLISH?" and then Leenie opted to ignore 'that GSD'. 

Then each student worked their dog on Place, then finally (as it was so muggy and HOT), it was time to do the Week 3 EXAM # 1: Body Bend Readiness Tests.

Finally, it was time for me to load my 3 dogs + Leenie in her crate and head to prospective homes. EVERYONE and EVERY DOG was hot and tired.

And this is what happened to Sophie after life happened and derailed any dog training. Sophie was a typical aggressive GSD once again.

Class,

Jeanne has had some tough life situations which caused her to cease training Sophie. Life happens like that, it just does.  So, we are doing a restart to get Sophie back up to speed in the hope they will be ready for the upcoming Retrieve Course 2019, beginning Sunday, Jan 6.

The Koehler curriculum is designed to be a consistent, steady layering of training.  When the training has to slowed down, stopped, or to much time between lessons, the dog backslides almost to the beginning. This is what has happened with Sophie, so yesterday instead of a Random Recall lesson, we backwashed all the way back to Week 1 Longe Line training. And just like s dog forgets their lessons, so also does the handler.  Life everything else in life, if you don't use a skill, especially a newly learned skill, you lose it.

So, it took about 8 minutes of some staunch LL training for Sophie to remember where to remain and for me to coach Jeanne into remembering her early mechanics.

A good start over.  Jeanne has instructions to do the QT twice a day (any family member can do QT) and to do the training protocol with Sophie from Week 1 LL.  Sophie WILL remember faster than an unlearned dog, she just needs clarity in communication again from Jeanne to succeed.

Onward ho...


Roxanne

Jeanne (now a Graduate Student) and her wild GSD, Sophie. This is Week 2.

So much to remember!!! Are my feet correct when I turn? Is my arm down by my leg? If she's too far ahead did I fix it properly? Ditto too far behind? I think I did some right. I know I did some wrong. I was thinking so much about doing it right that I believe Sophie felt my brain overwhelm through the leash and wasn't always sure what I was asking her to do.

Sophie didn't always sit straight by my leg, so I moved her into position. She had distractions and would look away or behind me while sitting, or get up and move away when I didn't ask her to heel yet, and I wasn't quite sure what to do to correct that.

I didn't always let my arm hang down naturally by my side, it looks clenched, although it didn't always feel that way. And I need more practice sliding my hand down the leash. I did the trick beforehand where I clipped the leash to my pants and practiced turns and the slide... but it's definitely different when you have a live, thinking dog on the end.

So once again a work in progress.

A Week 2 Class from MD.

I cannot emphasize the importance of each of you truly memorizing these mechanics.  Each mechanic is taught so you CAN achieve success with your dog as each mechanic gives the dog clear information and communication so it can succeed. By default, when your mechanics are poor, your dog has none of the help it needs to succeed.

So, whatever it takes for you to learn these mechanics WELL and to be proficient in them WITH your dog, figure it out and do it.

Here are the photos from Saturday which I did NOT post publicly, but for your learning and understanding, I will post them here for you.  BTW....are all of my mechanics perfect each and every time? No, but I know muscle memory wise how the mechanic should feel and can quickly adjust as needed. None of you have the stored muscle memory to pull from - yet - so you are struggling. Everyone struggles to learn these mechanics, EVERYONE, myself included. You are no exception.

What does it take for you to practice a new skill until it is automatic? I don't know about you, but for me, I had to practice every mechanic with Fido until it was automatic when I was at Applewoods Dog Training as a brand new student.  Used to embarrass my husband Wayne as he'd follow me up the stairwell in church and I'd be doing my turns in pretty shoes.

He'd say, "Do you HAVE to do that now, here?"

I'd reply, "Yes, as its the only way I will learn."

So I practiced all the time, here, there and everywhere. ALL THE TIME.  Physically, I am a bit of a glutz, I can't dance, have no natural rhythm or beat, and character wise struggle with consistency, patience, logical sequencing and good timing.  It took this dog training to teach me to walk a straight line, carry my body erect, square my shoulders, keep my eyes ahead, and understand/implement Sequencing, Timing, Mechanics & Repetitions.

I AM NOT A NATURAL AT ANY OF THIS TRAINING, NOT AT ALL.  But I am bulldog headed persistent when I want something bad enough and I wanted to learn this training so I could have a great relationship with my dog. Once I learned it, I wanted to share this with other dog owners so they too could have a great relationship with their dog.  If I can learn to do this, so can you.  Just takes a commitment to learn it. Once learned, you will always have this Koehler language of communication stored in your head, your hands and your muscles.

Here is what your leash position while heeling SHOULD look like:

Here are leash positions from Saturday's class.

I share these because I want you to be straight about what you see in these photos.  Without correct leash position, your dog CAN'T succeed as you are so confusing your dog with unclear, muddy and very inconsistent communication.  As nicely as I know how to say this, class, fix your leash position while heeling and 90% of the issues you see here will disappear.

You dog can't be any better than you are.
You are being unfair to your dog by not doing your homework in learning to handle your leash with clean mechanics.

FIX your leash mechanics and do what it takes to learn. It will make life a whole lot more pleasurable to you, to your dog, and then there will be this 'magic moment' when 'Snap' you FEEL it done correctly and immediately your dog will respond differently/better/pay attention to you.

You have to do your part to expect your dog to do its part.