We have been training Rally exercises indoors - off-leash at home and on-leash in class. Training outdoors presents many distractions (birds, squirrels, smells, noises, etc.) so it is a good thing to get outside for a little practice. Here are two snippets of an impromptu session from the other day.
Halt-Down-Sit
This was a very promising example of Halt-Down-Sit until my elbows were pulled up off the ground by a reward that was held too high! The correct placement of a reward for a drop/down is close to the ground. As they say, "handler error." Shall we list the other handler errors: setting me up too far away, body/feet not facing same direction as mine, feeding from the wrong hand ... Must use video more often to help catch and correct such poor training habits.
This is a much better example of the exercise.
Oooops, another handler error! This is an Advanced/Excellent exercise - so no need to practice this for awhile. Need only practice the SIT followed by the DOWN (AKC #4). Well, I did say it was an impromptu training session. Apparently, the challenges posed by the great outdoors affect both species!
Good job!
ReplyDeleteGood work! After teaching a really reliable & strong nose touch to my hand, I found it was very easy to get the dog to sit up after doing a down. Really, that's not a terribly hard exercise for a dog to do so don't know why it's an Advanced exercise.
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