Third session of this class. Didn’t learn anything new, just honing in on current commands and finessing things.

Heel work

We started walking dog to dog, and I used a biscuit treat this time and it worked so much better and kept Artemis’ attention on me.

Then we walked to a slow pace – and here the biscuit treat held up too!

Then we commanded the dogs to go in a down position on our left side. Artemis went down in front of me instead of to my side. The trainer said this was because I said down and pointed with my right hand as a signal, whilst if I point with my left hand then she will stay to my left – so I’ll have to put that to the test.

Stay plus distractions

From this down position we went straight to a stay command.

Another dog and owner walked around each of the other dogs, posing as a distraction. Artemis surprisingly did not move!

The trainer asked me to stand close to another dog, and Artemis did not move either!

Then we all came back to our own dogs and the trainer said to run away. Artemis did not move! She stayed in the down position and sniffed the air. I was so impressed with how well she stayed!

Novice recall

Next we did novice recall at the same time. Artemis is fine with this – she just runs straight towards me with crazy eyes.

Angled recall

Then we all did an angled recall at the same time, which is facing perpendicular to your dog so they run towards you and then turn 90 degree to a present position in front of your feet.

Artemis did pretty well here, as we practise this at home.

Hold and give

Artemis’ second time doing this.

The trainer advised I play with Artemis more: tap the floor and tap her with the tube to get her interested in it. I was confused before, as the trainer said the tube wasn’t a toy, but apparently my hold command is too firm.

So the trainer played with the tube and threw it around and Artemis did go to hold it. Then quick praise and give command to get the dog to give the tube back.

This I will definitely need to practise more at home.

“A” recall

Artemis was on the lead, I asked her to wait, then walked to the end of the lead, and called her to heel. Artemis did good, I could have said heel earlier – I did it at the end of the lead instead of towards the end of the lead. And I also have to continue walking instead of stopping when she heels.

So I can practise this one at home without a lead.

Conclusion

Lots to practise at home. A recall seems like it’ll be ok. It’s the hold and give command that we may struggle with!