While heading to California today, we stopped to stretch our legs at a rest stop. It was a perfect place to do Ellie’s week 9 exam. We did 10 retrieves with no ECs. Yay! I thought she was going to lose it a few times because the wind was blowing like crazy and there were a lot of people walking around. She held it together, didn’t refuse to fetch on command, didn’t drop her dumbbell and SHE DIDN’T BARK AT ANYONE! For anyone who knows Ellie’s MO, that is huge. Oh, and I forgot to mention she’s in heat. Sitting is a challenge but despite that, she did well. I’m so proud of her.
Ellie’s Week 9 Exam.
ReplyDeleteWow, what a fabulous Lesson 9 EXAM! I could see everything happening (thanks Mike), Ellie was quite distracted, especially towards the last retrieves, the wind, the man talking, birds?, and her being in heat (makes sitting uncomfortable), this was a GREAT EXAM on multiple levels. And no barking??? Woohoo, Ellie!! Excellent handling Mary!!
ReplyDeletePASS and SO WELL DONE 👏👏
I remember doing these retrieves with Ruth in front of the front door at Maverick. Super high distractions, tons of traffic, the door constantly opening/closing, yup, THAT was a great training session. Remember, at this point in the retrieve learning you still have control because of the Set-up. That changes in Lesson 10 as the control diminishes. The learning dog, UNLESS you have done the work connsistently against tough, unusual distractions, will refuse to obey "Fetch" because you no longer have the Setup so the learning dog's perception is you no longer have control. That is not so, but things can get dicey, ugly, loud, 🛑 and so MUCH harder to a new EC, the double EC, because of the shift in mechanics.
ReplyDeleteLesson 10 is 'where the rubber hits the road' in this Retrieve Class. Everything you have done up to this point is put to the test. It's where all the weeks/days of consistent, steady retrieves shows up, in ♠️ spades. Does your dog believe 'You said what you meant, and meant what you said?' We shall see..
It will be interesting to say the least!
ReplyDeleteNice, Mary! 🎉❤️❤️
ReplyDeleteThat was amazing Mary. I loved how E would pick up dumb bell and look around at everything going on but not once did she not complete the task. Great job. You have worked so hard with her.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kat and Trina! I really wasn’t sure how she was going to do with so much going on, especially when the 2 guys approached from behind and started asking questions about our dogs.
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