New Class and . . . Renewed Class

No video with this post, but I wanted to write about our experiences at classes last night!

Last session, Bandit and I were struggling horribly in Rally FrEe class.  Not with the sport, but with the floor.  Every time we would go into the room where that class was held, his nose was going right to the floor and I could not get him back for love or money.  This was not simple distraction.  Whatever was on the floor was just beyond his capacity to deal with.  His teeth would chatter like they do when he finds a scent outside that he is going to mark over.  I am not sure if there had been a female in heat in there, or if a dog was leaking urine, or what.  But he would pick up that scent - and it was all around the room, not just in one place - and his brain was gone.

I came to the conclusion that I needed a change of direction with Bandit, and so I decided to take a break from Rally FrEe class and put him in a Rally class instead.

I did this for several reasons.  For one thing, Rally is held in the other room.  Bandit was not having issues with the floor in that room, so I saw this change as a way to lower criteria a bit.

Second, I felt that Bandit and I were trying to work way too high above our pay grade in Rally FrEe.  I wanted to take him into a class where we could do more basic work, and where I would be free to use obvious physical cues, so we could just bring what we are working on more to his level.

Finally, Rally has been good to me and to my dogs.  Speedy and I, after crashing and burning in Agility classes, got our start in Rally.  Dean was my Rally star - he adored the precision work - and he and I earned an ARCH title together.  Tessa does have a Level 1 World Cynosport title, but we have done most of our Rally in Cyber Rally-O, and Tessa just loves it!

So, into Rally we went!

The class was everything I could have hoped for!

After I got him set up, we joined the class on the floor, and the instructor had us do some Engagement work.  Bandit did very well with that.  He was funny because once we finished the exercise, he riveted his focus on me!  He clearly wanted more of that!

Next, we did a little exercise where he sat at heel, and then did forward releases.  He did great with those, and, best of all, he very clearly enjoyed them!

After that, we all took a turn making circles around a row of cones, one cone at a time, one outside, one inside, etc.  Bandit rocked the outside circles.  He just glides along with me when he is on an outside turn.  He struggled a bit on the inside circles.  We have been working on that, but he hasn't mastered that concept yet.  No matter!  Food lure on the nose, he got a chance to feel what it was like.
Finally, we got to heel in a huge circle around the room to leave the ring.  The edge of the room is challenging for him - lots of scents.  But he did well.  Once we got moving, he was right there with me.

Then he got to relax in his crate while other dogs took their turn on the course that had been set up.  He did pretty well with that.  He definitely settled much more than he ever did in Agility class!

When it was his turn, we went out with loads of food!  My plan was to just help him through the course to see what we would see.

We hit a bit of a challenge at the start because the course started right by an area where people were gathered.  Oooooh . . . he wanted to go visit in the worst way!  But I was able to get him with me - really relatively easily - and off we went.  At first he was more interested in the people on the sidelines, but as we worked our way through the course, he actually got into it.  He often looked up at me with great interest shining in his eyes.

He did struggle on the inside turns, but as we went along on the course, he seemed to start to master the idea of them.  His outside turns were just spectacular!

Bandit had two major moments of brilliance out there.  His halt-sit walk around was perfection!!  Just those few sessions of the stay work have paid off big!  And he did an absolutely lovely call-front-finish right (with the sit).  He even did the sit in front readily.  I haven't trained that much since we have focused on Rally FrEe where he maintains a stand in front.  He seems to be able to do either/or very nicely.

At the very end the side-step bonus sign was out.  I helped him through that and he did a nice job!!

The only thing that was really a total wash was the halt-pivot left halt.  But we haven't trained that exercise at all - we have only done pivots on a pivot pan.

So, that is something we will start working on.

All in all, I am super pleased.  I think the class is perfect for him.  He loved it and I think he learned quite a bit.

Now . . . it turned out I couldn't step away from Rally FrEe altogether.  First, I enjoy the social aspect of the class.  I have friends in there, and I enjoy the training time with them.

Also, new things are about to happen in Rally FrEe - things that I think Bandit and I can reasonably start working toward.

So, I decided to go from Rally class right over to Rally FrEe, and to just do half the class!!

One big and important thing about this - Bandit is completely up for this.  If he were tired or burnt out at the end of Rally, I would not have done it.  I would have put him in the car, gone over and said "hello", and then left.

But, really, Bandit was ready for more.

And, even more than that, he was actually in a great frame of mind to go into Rally FrEe class.  He was warmed up, focused, and I had a sneaking suspicion that he was going to have an easier time keeping his head up than he had before.  I was right.

The instructor had us all go out on the floor and choose a sign.  Our goal was going to be to refine the exercise - improve on it.  So, I needed to choose something that Bandit could do.  I picked the spin into center.

Bandit's head was in the game!  He was attentive and eager to work!  And we actually did improve the exercise!  After just a few minutes, he could do that exercise, off or the left or the right, completely on verbal, without me even having food in my hand!  And no nose to the floor!  It was beautiful!

Then we did one more - the 270 left.  In Rally FrEe this is not done exactly as it is in Rally.  In Rally FrEe it is done as a large circle.  This was exactly what I had been hoping to work on with Bandit, and, again, by the time we were finished, he could do the exercise very nicely, off both my left or my right (270 right in that case, to have him on the inside).  I did keep food in my hand to help him, but he really did understand what we were doing!

Finally, we took a turn on the course.  There were still instances of nose to the ground, but I was actually able to get him back and then he could work.  1000% improvement!!

I credit that improvement to several things actually:

1. Maturity - Bandit's brain is finally starting to come together and I notice that he can suddenly do a lot easily that he used to struggle with.

2.  Training - I do believe that all of the training that Bandit and I did over my Christmas break is paying off with him having more desire to work with me in this context.

3.  Warm Up - I think that coming from the Rally class really set him up nicely to work in the room with the floor that is more difficult for him.

I also want to say that I was very pleased that he transitioned from Rally to Rally FrEe so seamlessly.  Although the two sports may seem very similar on the surface, they are actually more different than the same.  There are many distinct difference that I can see some dogs struggling with if they were asked to flip back and forth from one to the other.

So far, Bandit seems to be taking that transition in stride.

I am super excited to go on from here.  Lots of training to do this week.  I promise a video next time!