It was a muddy day today! There was a particular part of the field that was very squelchy and muddy and none of the dogs wanted to sit or go down there! Artemis did ok today, considering the state of the field!

Heelwork

We started off with heelwork at a normal pace and then moved to a slow pace.

Passing person to person and then dog to dog. And the trainer threw in a few about turns too.

Stays

Next up was a down stay. The trainer then asked us to go to the woods and hide behind a tree. Artemis did well here.

Then the trainer asked us to stand by another dog, but I just stood by Artemis and another nearby dog because the trainer said that she’s not ready to have me out of her eyeline so I had to stay where Artemis could still see me.

It was ok to go to the woods and hide behind a tree because Artemis saw me go towards the woods, but she would not yet be able to handle me walking off behind her and she would want to turn around to try and see/ find me.

Off lead heelwork

Then we did some off lead heelwork, and as usual all the good treats were taken out!

We walked at a normal pace, then at a slow pace, and did some about turns too.

Artemis did really well here, I was very surprised, considering she was not as good last week.

Angled recall

Artemis is usually really good at recall and she came hurtling towards me fine – this we have been practising at home.

Send away and A recall

Next up was send away and this week the cone set up was very different: 2 rows of 7 cones creating a straight line, whilst usually there would be a stopping point – this time it was an open ended trail.

I asked Artemis to heel, did not place a treat at the end of the cones, said “away” and she moved forward. I walked alongside her, but she was keenly sniffing my hand for a treat!

I asked her to go down and she did. Then I asked her to wait, walked past her and around the cones and then asked her to heel and she came running to me.

The trainer advised that next time I follow behind Artemis instead of walking alongside her, so she’s less distracted by my treats – this made sense. The aim is for the dogs to go forward and then listen to our down command and then go down immediately.

Conclusion

Interesting to learn that although Artemis is getting better with stay, she still needs to see me in her eyeline – this makes sense with her separation anxiety at home too, actually.

The send away and A recall was interesting with the new cone formation, it goes to show that dogs kind of do know what we’re asking them to do – so, good progress!