Lots of distractions today, keeping Artemis on her toes!

Heelwork

We started walking dog to dog, which was fine. Then mixed it up with some about turns and left about turns.

Then we did positions where we ask the dogs to be in a position, ask them to wait, then walk forwards to the end of the lead and walk back again to the end of the lead and then pick up the dog to walk forwards to heel again.

We tried down, sit, and stand; and Artemis was fine for all these – we do practise this one at home too.

Down stay with distractions

Next up was a down stay and distractions were introduced too.

There was a treat placed just yards away from Artemis, she saw the trainer and we both commanded Artemis to leave it, to which she rolled on her back to show her belly! That got a lot of laughs!

We then all stood near another dog, then gathered near the trainer, and then ran to the woods one side of the field.

Artemis didn’t do too badly actually – she stayed in the down position fine. And there were a lot of intentional distractions today, but it’s usually easier when she’s in a down stay.

Send away

Sending away was good and I naturally did this with a hand gesture pointing to the direction of travel, which I didn’t even notice I was doing.

Similar to last week’s session: my “down” command must be firmer so Artemis listens sooner.

The trainer also advised to go with Artemis towards the treat to encourage her.

Hold and give

Artemis’s hold was fine. Give was difficult though.

The trainer advised to have Artemis in the heel position, hold tube in front of her, ask her to hold and then she will stand and then to bring the tube towards me so Artemis ends up holding the tube in front of me – I’ll have to try that at home.

Conclusion

Lots of distractions for Artemis today, but she did really good! Will have to practise give at home more often.