Vito CDX-C!
Vito has his CDX-C! But most importantly he was HAPPY! Vito was entered in 2 runs at the CDSP trial today.
Open Run #1:
I am so proud of him! He showed some stress as we walked into the ring and tried to get him set up, but as soon as I stepped off he forged!!! We've been working hard on setting up and charging off so I'm very excited about his response. I know I'll have to fix the charge later but that should be a much easier issue with him. The rest of the set ups I had no problem with and he was an eager partner. I loved that he had enthusiasm when he saw the judge had his dumbbell and had good speed on the retrieves. The go out was ridiculous but cute :) He was just certain that something was out there for him to retrieve! I was shocked when we got called back in the ring as a qualifier, something about doing the principle part of the exercise...!
Open Run #2:
I still had some difficult getting Vito set up at the start, and this time he heeled with me instead of charging off. Right at the halt he looked away (at the judge?) and then missed me stopping. I gave him a cue to heel but he just stared at me. In hind sight I should have given my left finish hand signal. The heeling was nice but I felt like I was in the verge of him wanting to lag. After the broad jump he didn't want to jump up on me like I asked, but did when I repeated the cue. The rest of the exercises he performed nicely but without the attitude he seemed to have in the first run. But the go out was much better :)
Today really gave me hope for future trialing. I think that we will limit ourselves to only 1 run a day though, just to keep his enthusiasm as high as possible.
Wooooo hooooo!!! Way to go Vito!
He looked like he was having a great time! Nice work!
Congrats! That is ooooooo AWESOME! The happiness and attitude in the first run was just o neat and he looked pretty happy in the second too, you gotta be so proud, that was fantastic!
Love that happy bounce on the "fast" heeling!
Oh congratulations!!! What a wonderful achievement and seriously, if I didn't know you & Vito and had followed this blog, I would never have known he had "issues" - he looked like such a happy, confident, relaxed dog! :-)
Loved watching the video - especially the first round. Yeah, I agree with the forging ahead - I would always prefer that to lagging behind! I find with Honey now that the older she gets, the more lagging becomes a problem as her already never-very-high motivation & enthusiasm seem to wane more and more the older she gets. I think also coz all the exercises are becoming more "old hat" to her - when you've been Heeling for 8yrs (and you never were that into it in the first place), it's really not that exciting anymore! :-)
But I'm so pleased I watched this as you've really inspired me to get back into training more. I've really slacked off a lot lately, partly coz we just had no training clubs or friends or anything in Newcastle last year and partly coz of Honey's attitude the older she gets - it's so much more effort for me so I've let things slide. But now the weather is cooler, we've joined a new training club here in Sydney and hopefully, I'll be more inspired to do more stuff with Honey again. I've been feeling so jaded & uninspired lately (more enthusiastic to train the cat - can you believe it?) - that I can't think of any new tricks to teach Honey at all...
Btw, can I ask you - how on earth did you teach Luke to jump up on your back? I was trying to teach Muesli that the other day and it was just impossible! Did you start with Luke up on a chair, so that he was more level with your back? Coz I tried crouching down on the floor, next to Muesli but just couldn't get her even interested in looking at my back (even though I was holding my hand up there with treats) - I'm really stumped on how to teach it!
Hsin-Yi
Thank you! We have a long way to go before entering another AKC trial, but this org allows the use of treats in between exercises and praise during exercises. It's such a nice organization!
I started Luke's backstall by lying on the floor and lured him with a spoon of canned food. Once he knew to walk on my back I started gradually crouching. It's not his favorite trick, although he does like it better if I allow him to jump on a chair first and then my back. He still likes to look up but then just rub against my legs and I have to keep pushing him back farther out to try again!
Oh thanks, Laura - I hadnt thought of lying on the floor! I started from crouching and maybe that it just rushing it - will try it lying down with Muesli and see! :-)
Hsin-Yi