Well having not done too much over the winter I thought it time to get back in the game so my daughter, Kodi and I duly hopped in our car and headed over to Surrey for a training session with Dave Currier.
We arrived in the afternoon to be greeted by a suprised Dave as apparently I had forgotten to mention that Kodi is a longhaired weimy! Dave was equally surprised at what a big lad Kodi is too.
We went into the hall to start work and as Kodi was a little wary of his new surroundings Dave let him off for a look around the hall and a quick chill out while we chatted about what I was looking to achieve.
I mainly wanted an assessment of the working relationship I have with Kodi and then of course where I could improve. We started by working on heel work where once again Kodi proved what a fast learner he is and how dim I am in comparrison! We worked without treats, just a motivational toy … yes he did find it very motivational 🙂
We worked on waits and stays but not in a way we have done them before, I have always been taught to command wait or stay but this was about asking Kodi to sit or lie down and him doing nothing else until told otherwise, it answered a lot of conflicting questions I had with regards to obedience v field training. I can understand more now why its better to choose a direction you think you want to head with a pup as too many directions can end up quite confusing for both dog and handler!
I have a lot of work to do on my body language and tone of voice as I really am not using it as effectively as I should and this discovery alone made the trip worth while!
It was a lovely day and Dave said that Kodi is a lovely lad whom he thinks has the ability to work really well.
Well, its now been a couple of weeks since we saw the wonderful Dave Currier and I am happy to report that the heel work is still going well.
In fact the lead work has been going so well that I have also taking up jogging with the hairbear too!