Training cont.

I've found with Dudley and Suzi that I tend to 'chat' all round the course with them which I think may make it harder for them to actually hear when I give a command to do something like turn, steady or actually get your feet on the white bit so am really trying not to say too much to Tom. I want him to do his contacts by running to the end and stopping without the need for me to keep shouting a contact command as I do with the other two, to try and achieve this I have been targeting to treats at the bottom and just saying 'up' then praising him for being in the right position, I have also been doing something I learned from Nancy Hudson, I always adjust the position he is in to the one I actually want even if he is nearly perfect.

I train with Leah Gardner and Wendy Card at ANJU and Malcolm Card at Sevenoaks & District DTS and they all have similar training methods so I have very consistant training with all three of my dogs (they all do tell me not to say so much but I can't help it and I think if I stopped Duds and Suzi would probably want to know what's going on!!)

Bisto gravy granule lids are great for targeting to and I have loads in my training bag so I can put one at each contact if need be and as they are flat Thomas starts to look at the ground rather than at me or the next bit of equipment so hopefully wont take it in to his head to go until I say so. I know running contacts are faster but I really want to have some sort of control with him as he is so much faster over them than the other two, they wait for me he doesn't.

With the seesaw I'm still holding him by the collar as he can be a bit kamakaze and having had Suzi run into mid air at shows I'm going to be very sure he understands the tip before we compete.