4/3 part 2

I decided to stick another sibling out in the big field to see if Kenzi's response would be the same. It worked again! She ran full throttle up to J and started barking. I've got something I can build on.

4/3

For the past few I've been able to get my very wonderful little sister to help me with Kenzi throughout the week. She follows instructions very well and puts up with an enthusiastic, driven, body slamming pup. Not bad at all for an 11 y/o!!

So this morning instead of out to the usual field, I sent H out to the big field. I took Kenz out and let her loose before wee reached the field. She bee-lined straight to H and started barking enthusiastically for her frisbee. Yay for success!!!

3/27

I decided yesterday that I'm going to make Kenzi look for her frisbee before she gets to play with it. The idea being that I can get her used to the idea of searching for her reward. This way I can hopefully build her search drive even when I'm just working with her by myself.

She seems to be catching on quickly. I stuck her frisbee in the weeds 3 different times this morning and each time she actively looked for it, caught the scent and enthusiastically grabbed it to play.

3/26

I said I wasn't the greatest at keeping up with a blog...

Anyways, Kenzi is making progress. She waits very nicely at her kennel when I let her out. She sits 'til I leash or release her :-)

Her frisbee drive has increased nicely. She loves to chase it or tug it. And she is FAST. That pup can grab her toy faster than anything... Her focus is improving bit by bit.

In looking for a food reward that grabs her attention, can be kept in the car without spoiling, and is fairly cost effective, I came up with Moist and Meaty. Ugh. But she really likes it as a treat. So I'll use it for a while.

2/6/2010

Kenzi went out and about with me today. She went along to Holland where I did some errands and had my tires rotated. She did very good sitting inside at Discount Tire. She so wanted to go say hi to everyone, but did figure out that laying quietly on the floor was rewarded. So she gave that a try, too! She did fine with all the new noises, sights and smells.

I picked up more flying squirrels today as they seem to be becoming her favorite toy. They are already Kipp's favorite so it's good to keep them on hand!

Since her toy focus has gotten pretty good out in the field, I took her into the woods today. It turned out pretty well. She is still quite interested in a myriad of smells, but I could get her excited about a frisbee game. I was very happy to see that.

January 30

I took a couple frisbees out to play with yesterday instead of the tug. I think she likes them better. My reluctance to use them before was based in her desire to grab one and run with it, but after a few minutes yesterday I had her coming back to me to get another one thrown. So I'm going to leave the tugs for a few days and work with frisbees instead to see if it makes a difference in her focus and attention span!

She likes the recall idea

So I'm on day 6 of the "event" recalls. Kenzi loves, loves, loves them. I've switched tugs from the fleece tugs onto a leather one. I'm going to wait for a week or two before getting more of those just to make sure this type holds up well with her, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to be switching. The leather is easier for me to get out of her mouth and I think it's going to hold up much longer than the fleece. I'm going to start ducking behind something after I call her as I want her to start using her nose. Should be interesting to see how that works...