October 23, 24 & 25, 2009 - 12 Weeks Old
Ava went to first Agility show in LaCrosse, WI. Stayed in hotel with me, Greta & Liza. Ava had her own crate at show. Did excellent! She even napped in the crate at the show. She also would tug at ringside. When watching dogs run, she got very excited! Couldn't have gone better.
November 1, 2009 - 14 weeks old
Ava went to Greta's Gym for more training today. She continues to gain confidence and loves working, warm-up routine, wobble board, travel plank (2 on 2 off position), see wood run, tug and chase. Also worked down/drop. She is starting to get it.
November 3, 2009
Introduced Ava to the bang game using operant conditioning. She took to it immediately so I increased the complexity and she still loved it!
November - December 2009 - 3-4 Months Old
Ava continues to amaze me by her progress! She learns quickly and loves training! She is very responsive to operant conditioning.
In November & December she traveled a great deal to hotels and shows. She attended 4 days at Hounds for the Holidays and did fabulous in crate for all 4 days. She will even tug ringside!
She is doing exceptional on her warmup routine; her tugging; her sit/drop with a wait and the durations are getting longer and longer.
I've introduced her to all stages of Susan Garrett's crate games and she loves it! I can now use the crate for her restrained recalls!
We have been doing shadowing all over gym. Her focus on me is great! So far, I really am the best game in town.
She loves the ladder and has very good rear end awareness already.
See wood run is one of her favorites and her speed is increasing with each session.
Her 2 on 2 off on travel plank has been very good with releases with me in front, in rear and along side of her. I have advanced her to the down plank of the dogwalk. She will now run from the top of the down ramp to end position with or without me! Her position at end is perfectly "straight ahead" no matter where I am! Yeah! When I go zooming past her in position, she stays in place! I have been mixing up where she gets rewarded.
January, 2010 - 5 Months Old
Ava (with Greta & Liza) went to Mel & Deeta's for the first time when RC and I went to Mexico. She was well behaved and had no accidents! I think that tells me she is 100% house broken. In fact, when we got home, she actually went to the door to ask to be let out!
Ava is now my demo dog at my Agility 101 class and she is handling it beautifully! Well focused, even with all the dogs barking! She will perform all her "skills" with all the people, dogs and distractions. She stays very focused!
February - March, 2010 - 6 - 7 months old
Ava's training is going great! I can have her off her leash practicing all her skills even with other people and dogs around. I know her love for tugging has really cementer her focus!
With her contact training, I have been increasing the challenges with:
1. Speed
2. Food & Toy distractions at end of contact and she remains in place.
I have started her on 2 pole weave entrances and she loves the game!
RC and I were gone for 2 weeks and Ava, Greta & Liza remained with Deeta and Mel. Ava did well. They still have her in crate at night.
April 2010 - 8 months old
Ava is growing and learning so much she amazes me! I am taking her to an intermediate obedience class at Diane Craig's Arrowhead Dog Training Academy in Duluth). Ava loves to work and offer behaviors (thanks to clicker training). She is really doing well in this class.
I have now started some small sequencing with her. I had Dr. Kalinowski x-ray her to check growth platelets. They are not closed yet so I'm doing practically no real jumping. But with jumps at the 8 inch height (I figure this is a lot less than all the jumping she does off furniture etc.), I do let her practice following my hand signals over the jump.
The other day she pounced onto A-frame contact. Remained in place until I released her, then over the jump into a tunnel! Coming out of tunnel she pounced onto the contact of the dog walk with me running past to the final jump. I then released her and she finished. Wow, she was amazing!
May 2010 - 9 months old
Ava's end contact behavior is getting better and better. I can place her at the top of the down plank on a dogwalk and she runs down and gets into her 2 on 2 off! She will do this no matter where anybody is.
She really understands her job!
I have continued working on 2 pole weave entrancess. She has worked up to finding entrance all the way around a semi-circle.
Her see wood run is now raised up by 2 pedestals and she runs fast and confidently across it!
With the teeter in the highest bang position, she will slam into her 2 on 2 off.
Ava's Shadowing is coming along fabulous! She will follow my handes (both sides) no matter what I throw at her. She is basically "heeling off leash" on both sides and when I throw in a front cross movement, she follows perfectly.
June 2, 2010 - 10 months old
Ava turned 10 months, but today was a red letter day! It was the first time Ava went up and over a contact!
I set the A-frame at a lower height and the very first time she ran up and over and got into 2 on 2 off position! Wow! I love good foundation training! I then proofed her with all distance skills - behind, laterally and running past. She was absolutely solid in her 2 on 2 off!
Today I also started her on the channel weaves at about 3/4 open with guides. She flies through them and loves it!
June 7, 2010
Ava is loving her contacts! Today I had her on a teeter for the first time. She is going up and down and getting into 2 on 2 off. She is a bit "tentative" on the down, but each time is getting more and more confident. The chicken in the 2 on 2 off really helps!
RC helped me work through the chute with Ava. He would hold the fabric chute open as Ava raced through getting chicken and a click upon exit. Little by little he would lower the fabric until she was racing through with the fabric closed.
I also had RC make tippy boards. Ava loves to "slam" them down and get into 2 on 2 off position.
June 15, 2010
Ava is going over full size A-frame with complete success!
June 21, 2010
Ava went to Greta's Daytime Playtime today for socialization!
June 22, 2010
Ava loves the teeter now! She has figured out "where to stop" to ride it down and always gets into 2 on 2 off position, even when teeter bounces back up a bit!
I used Ava as a demo dog for contacts today during classes and I forgot I hadn't put her over dogwalk before - but no problem for her, she ran up, across and down and into her 2 on 2 off position! Ava, you are amazing!
June 26, 2010
Ava came with to Cudahy, WI for Greta & Liza's first outdoor show of the year. The weather was hot and very wet! Mud puddles and lots of rain. Great outdoor training experience for Ava. We practiced walking on leash right and left sides with many distractions. I ran Ava through her warmup routine and over the practice jump, too!
Ava will be 11 months old on July 1st!
