Day 94

We went to work early this morning to do some vehicle hides and Hops did better than the first time. He stuck to my car better and had some good lessons about wind and vehicle hides. Then my first lesson arrived, a very friendly 10mo Old English Sheepdog and she and Hops played for awhile before the lesson started. They both had a blast running around and chasing each other. Hops then slept through her lesson and my first class.



When we went home for my break we did some peanut, doughnut and balance disk work. I am going to try to do this every day with all three dogs for two weeks like the instruction video says too. He already seems to have great core strength and loves working on all the balance equipment.



Back at work Hops wanted to do nosework with the rest of the class and was a little fussy. When I covered the crate though he quieted. During the short break between that class and the next I took Hops on a short traffic walk in the dark and he was calm and comfortable. Then he and Rice raced around the agility arena, Hops barking as he chased Rice around and around. I then had Hops do some tunnels and chutes with chasing me and playing tug as a reward. I tried rear crossing a straight tunnel and not only did he continue forward to the tunnel despite my lateral motion behind him but he repeatedly turned the correct direction coming out! Good boy!



Hops was good through the next class then had his fun and focus one class. We started with pushes and pulls around chairs and out in the open, then I set up stations for the students to rotate through. At one station they practiced backing to a plank then staying in two on two off position despite treat, toy and motion distractions. In another they walked across a tippy board. At the next station they practiced doing forward sends around a jump standard then running through the short chute, and at the last station the digs ran through a long, dark, curved tunnel, then through a jump standard to the table to do auto downs. Jeremiah said Hops did much better focusing on him this week though he was still biting him. Hops also played tug well with Jeremiah between activities. After the stations the dogs did a short course consisting of a jump standard, a table, a jump standard, a curved tunnel, a plank, another jump standard and ended with the chute. Hops and Jeremiah did a great job with the sequence and boy is Hops fast!



For dinner I had Hops practice some of the cues he knows (sit, down, stand, face, back, roll, say hello, touch, heel and side) and he did a great job not getting them mixed up. I end the session by working on being able to release one dog at a time. I started by having both he and Rice in a sit and one cookie on the ground. I said Rice release and blocked Hops when he tried to get the cookie. I reset them both and this time said Hops release and let him get the cookie. After a few reps Hops was able to keep his sit while I released Rice and still get up right away when I released him. Later I brought Dillon into the game and Hops was able to stay while I released Dillon and Rice to cookies on the floor. Smart puppy!