Detsembri teise poole AG trennid

Kuna ma olen olnud laisk ja lohakas nagu Oskar Ohakas ja blogi mittejooksvalt täitnud, siis lihtsalt teen 1 lühipostituse 4 trenni kohta.

21.12 AG I
23.12 AG II
Kui nüüd kristalselt aus olla, siis ma täpselt ei mäletagi enam nende tundide ülesehitusi. Igal juhul oli esindatud slaalom risti astsevate postidega, hüpperajad (otse tõketega ja viltu olevate tõketega (koer jookseb ikka sirgjooneliselt)) ja poom.



28.12 AG I
Olime trennis täiesti üksi. Pidev jooksmine ajas naha seljas täiesti märjaks.
Jooksime tunneleid, sest treener pakkus välja, et võiksime osaleda 2. jaanuaril toimuval TAKO tunnelite mitteametlikul võistlusel. Harjutasime veel ka poomi kontaktpindu ja tegime mitmeid hüpperaja kombinatsioone. 
Kuna tänases trennis oli päris palju hüppamist, siis näitas treener meile venitusharjutusi oma koera peal, mida meie püüdsime järgi teha. Kodus proovisime venitusi veidi kauem hoida - Ruudi peab selle tegevusega veel harjuma.



30.12 AG II
Viimases trennis harjutasime veel tunnelirada eelseisvaks võistluseks. Lisaks harjutasime poomi (mõlemalt käelt; maiusega; mänguasjaga; terve poom, pool poomi; erinevad vabastamise ajad) Jäin tulemustega rahule. Lõpetasime trenni seisva kiige peale jooksmisega (Ruudi tegi seda tuima näoga ja kiiresti: ei mingit probleemi).

J6ulud

ootus

väss 

Rahulikke jôulupühi!



SK

Although it was Ruudi's birthday today, neither of us was not in the best condition. I did many mistakes and Ruudi was quite disconcerted.

• Heeling in the new way. We had not practice it much at home and we had not decide what should be the new command: juurde, heel, sivulle, kõrval... So we used the old command "kõrval" ("heel"), perhaps we will use it from now on and try to retrain Ruudi. The exercise itself had quite good results. At home Ruudi did not want to go behind me to take the turn but now he did not have problems with that. Henceforward we use only the new way of heeling.
• Turns to the left and to the right. I have to practice it, so that I do not send wrong signals to Ruudi with my body language. At the moment Ruudi stays a bit behind while we have been heeled some distance. I guess that is so because he tries to presage going down while heeling (we just have practice it too much... my mistake again).
• Turn back. I will use the turn to the right. Ruudi tends to go forward instead of turning back but perhaps it was so because today the contact was not so good (I also played a big part to ruin the contact as I did some exercises for too long etc). 
• Staying down and recall. Ruudi stayed down somehow but came to me when another dog was called... In general this exercise have been quite good... but today...
• Contact. 2 dogs were sitting and one was walking between them. Quite OK but the sniffing :@ I do not know what is going on. Is it a late teenager period or what but Ruudi prefers sniffing to anything else...

It is hard now but we do not give up!

Ruudi, palju õnne sünnipäevaks!

AG II

• Track with two jump, tire and tunnel. The purpose was like in previous time to get the dog under control after the tunnel and before the tire. Problem is that after slowing him down he is a bit confused (he barks at me) and has sometimes problems to take the jump after the tire. So we have to practice the "edasi" ("ahead") command.
• Dog-walk. I was continued walking but Ruudi stops at the end of the dog-walk. Good. I am happy. Next steps are:
  
  • to accelerate myself at the end of the dog-walk
  • going under the angle from the dog-walk.

 General problem: nosing around on the training site.

AG I

• Tire jump, tunnel with angle. We ran it from both ends. Only problems were calming down and sniffing in the start.
• Wave poles. Quite wide and quite high. No problems. Good speed.
• Practicing dog-walk contact areas. Good. Specially if this very distracting situation is taken into consideration while one of Ruudi's training buddy swoop to the other side of the training site and run there with a beeping toy in his mouth. However, I was able to keep contact with Ruudi!

SK MA võistlus

Ja kohe järgmine päev startisime TAKO korraldatud mitteametlik SK võistlusel, 12.12.2010.
Kohtunikuks Natalja Garaštšenko .

Kugi tegemist oli nö debüütklassiga, mis on SK lihtsustatud variant ja kus võis kasutada maiust, olid mõned elemendid siin raskemad kui eelmine päev olnud võistlusel: lamama ja seisma jäämine liikumise pealt.

SK Debüüt klass on mitteametlik võistlusklass nendele, kes ei ole varem SKs ametlikult võistelnud, see on SK Alg klassi kergendatud variant (harjutused: liigipääsetavus platsist väljaspool, püsilamamine 1 minut, kõrvalkäimine ilma jooksmiseta (1 pööre paremale, 1 pööre vasakule, 1 peatus lõpus), siia-käsk (ilma põhiasendita lõpus, koera võib hoida abiline), seisma ja lamama minekut  liikumiselt tehakse 5 sammu distantsidega (käemärk lubatud), üle tõkke saatmine toimub ilma peatuse ja põhiasendisse võtmiseta (käemärk lubatud),  üldmulje).
Kõikides klassides on lubatud iga võte lõpus koera premeerimine; Debüüdis
on lisaks sellele lubatud mänguasja või maiust nähtavalt kohal hoidmine.

Platsiga tutvumisel Ruudi nuhkis päris palju, mõtlesin, et nüüd on failure, aga võistlusel oli Ruudi väga tubli. Jällegi jäin temaga rahule!

Nagu ette arvasin, oli Ruudil probleeme liikumise pealt seisma ja lamama jäämisega. Ta küll seisis ja lamas kui ütlesin, aga püüdis ikkagi edasi liikuda või asendit muuta kui ma ise edasi läksin.
Püsilamamine oli suht OK, Ruudi üritas tõusta vaid korra. Kõrval olevad koerad olid "rasked koerad", sest nemad liikusid pidevalt ette koerajuhi poole, mis põhjustas Ruudis parajalt segadust. Tema silmadest võis lugeda: "Kas juba võib vä? Noh, aga nüüd? Kas ma juba võin tulla vä?"
Kõrvalkäimine oli ilma rihmata parem kui rihmaga.
Tõkke ületamist tegime 2 korda, sest ma ei teadnud, et koer peab pärast tõket debüütklassis seisma jääma, sest reeglites (vt ülalt) oli öeldud, et "üle tõkke saatmine toimub ilma peatuse ja põhiasendisse võtmiseta (käemärk lubatud)".

 

Piltide autor Livia Kask

Tulemuseks 184 p. Viieteistkümne koera hulgas seitsmendad.

Kokkuvõtteks, enne võistlusi on koerjuhil ikka närveldamist, sest on kartus ise midagi valesti teha ja koerale vale signaal saata, aga üldiselt oli väga hea kogemus! Tundus, et Ruudile võistlusmomendid küll stressi ei tekitanud :)

A-Koera Jõulukuu KK (ma) võistlus

Otustasime end proovile panna ja osaleda enne aastaseks saamist ka mõnes (sõna)kuulekuse võistlusel.

11. detsembril toimus A-Koeras mitteametlik kuulekuse võistlus. Kohtnikuks oli Tiina Madisson.
Osalesime kutsikaklassis, kus võistlesid kuni aastased koerad.

Võistluste juhend (reeglid)

Tulemus: Võrratu 99,5 p ja klassivõit!

Tulemus detailsemalt:
1.Raporteerimine ja ligipääsetavus (10 p) 10 p
2.Kõnd rihmaga (20 p) 20 p
3.Isuma jäämine (10 p)  istub kiirelt, age ei püsi, saab lisakäsu -0,25p 9,75 p
4.Lamama jäämine (15 p) SUPER 15 p
5. Juurdetulek (20 p) ees veidi viltu -0,25p 19,75 p
6. Käsklus "Seisa" (10 p) SUPER 10 p
7. Mäng koeraga (5 p) SUPER 5 p
8. Üldmulje (10 p) koera ja koerajuhi koostöö SUPER 10 p

Tulemused leiab ka A-Koera kodulehelt.

Jäin koeraga rahule, kontakt oli hea.


Ruudi platsi ääres võistluseks valmistumas:

Kõrvalkõnd ja käsklus "siia":

AG II

In Thursday's AG class does not have so long waiting pauses between the exercises then in Tuesday's AG class. There is always something to do on Thursday :)

• Guiding. Two jumps on the left side, two jumps on the right side and a tunnel connecting the sides, so at first the dog takes two jumps from one side then tunnel and finally two jumps from other side. 1) We practiced guiding the dog being only inside the track, so the guiding hand stays the same. 2) We practiced guiding the dog using the blind cross after the tunnel, so you run two jumps being inside of the track, then after the tunnel you change the guiding hand and run outside the track. Good.
• Dog-walk. I have always stopped at the end of the dog-walk to teach contact area to Ruudi. So now I tried to continue moving at the end of the dog-walk. At first Ruudi did not stop as supposed to but quickly he released that he has to stop to get the treat. Of course we have to practice it more. Good.
• Wave poles (crossed). Different modes: tight but higher, wider but lower, something between those two. In the tight case I heard the sound how Ruudi's body was hit against the poles :) Couple of times Ruudi got out of the slalom, but in general he performed well! I am happy!  
• Track with jumps and a tunnel. The main purpose was to get the dog slowing down and get him exactly following your hand. To slow down the dog, the cramped hand is used in front of the dog. If the dog came out of the tunnel he had to take the 90 degrees turn to the jump, so after the tunnel you had to slow him down and you had to guide him to take the jump as straight as possible. To practice the hand sign, you stop the dog with the sign and give him a treat if he stops correctly. To run this track I had to memorize all the turns that I had to take. At first I though it is nightmare but after running the track without the dog, it did not seem so frightful anymore :) Although I still cannot understand how it is possible to memorize the whole track i.e. in competitions?! In general, the slowing down needs practicing, although in the class Ruudi released what I expect from him.

Ruudi barked in the cage during the pauses. How to get rid of this behavior? I got some tips to calm him down: I just hit the cage exactly when he barked. It quite worked!

AG I

First exercise was almost like the warm up track on previous Thursday's AG class: 6 jumps in U-shape (2-2-2). First attempt was not good. Surprisingly Ruudi missed the last jump. But two following attempts were successful.
In this exercise we practice patience at the start as well.

Second exercise: 2 jumps and a straight tunnel in one line. The purpose was to send the dog to the end without going with him but staying at the start. Ruudi did not have problems with that as the toy was in the end of the track. 

Third exercise: 2 jumps and a straight tunnel in one line. Now I was running with the dog but not showing the hand signals. The attempt was successful at once if the dog was on my left hand, but having Ruudi on my right hand, he misses the tunnel while he was busy with barking. Oh... Second attempt was successful (just in case I gave a small hand signal before the tunnel).

During the whole class Ruudi was too exited (he was barking in the cage all the time; he barked and jumped on the field; he ran around with a toy and did not come to me when I was calling him etc) and I had to constantly calm him down.

 Finally I did some obedience exercises with him. Good contact.

Mis vahid?

Pole enne koeral kampsunit näinud vä?

Andke see siga sealt ülemiselt riiulilt juba ükskord ometi mulle kätte!

If you give him the latex pig from the bookcase then you are gone because Ruudi just living on you back and demands playing with him. That repeats everyday. (Assume Tiina now knows what that really means)

Sunday SK

This week was the week of changes. On Thursday was a new AG class and on Sunday was a new SK class. So now our AG and SK trainer is the same person -  Anne Tammiksalu.

• First of all we show to the trainer how Ruudi heels. Ruudi comes around me. I do not know why we chose this way, because there is an other way as well - dog comes right away on your side. As there are multiple (possible) negative effects when the dog comes around (let alone that Ruudi could be quite slow when heeling in that way), we decided to learn the new way. How to teach that? At the beginning the dog faces to you and then you step back leading the dog to come and turn around behind you. And then you lead him to come by your side. Another thing to figure out is the new command because the "kõrval" ("heel") was already used. Alternative could be "sivulle" (Finnish word for heeling).
• Secondly we practiced the fixedness as it is necessary in AG and everyone in our training group really needs this training. Although the results were quite good, this needs to be practiced more.
• Thirdly, recall. I have never seen so slow dog! I do not know what happened. Guidelines speeding the dog up when recall: run away, throw the toy and play with your dog.

As regards all the activities, the main thing to remember is that you cannot stand dully if you do the obedience exercises! This all should be fun for the dog! Make it happen! Play with your dog!




Meanwhile there was a tiny thought to participate in unofficial obedience competition on December 12th, but now I really have doubts...

AG II

On Thursday we took part in a new AG class where are more advanced dogs. Before the class I was a bit afraid of it because I did not exactly know what will happen there. But it turned out that my hesitation was unnecessary.

• Warm up track. 6 jumps in U-shape (2-2-2) and a tunnel connecting first and last jump. We ran it from the both ends. Ruudi was fast and flew over the jumps. Good.
• Secondly we practiced the waltzing steps (6 jumps were placed as zigzag). I went too close to the jump so Ruudi took too big arcs. I should send him to the jump from afar. But in general, it was good.
• Blind cross (6 jumps were placed as zigzag). This is really effective way to have your dog to take very sharp angles turning back from the jump. Ruudi was quite fine, but again, I have to practice this one so I could pay attention to every detail: to Ruudi (is he on the track), to jumps (not to go too close to the jumps, Ruudi knows what to do anyway), to steps (to turn myself correctly; at the beginning it is confusing as I just have learned the waltzing). And all this become more confusing if you have to run from other side and turn yourself contrariwise :)

In addition, although the clearness was not the purpose of the practice, Ruudi tends to pull the jumps down

AG

• Hurdles, two ahead and one on the side (left and right). Firstly we took two ahead hurdles with calling back like previous AG class. Secondly all three hurdles. Result was good. Ruudi knows what to do. I have to practice a bit the steps. Ruudi still lacks fixedness in the start.
• Seesaw. We practiced just running to the top of the still seesaw. On the top there was a treat for the dog. At first Ruudi wanted to jump on the seesaw from the side but once I put him straight everything was fine. Speed was good.
• Slalom with the crossed sticks. Good. Ruudi kept his head as low as expected.

In general the contact was good, less nosing around.

While other dogs were practicing, I tried to do some stay down exercises with Ruudi and some "8"-s between the hurdles ("tik-tik" and "tak-tak").

Spot The Snowman

(click on the photo to see the full album)

SK

• Staying down (1,5 minutes with treats). Good.
• Heelwork (with turnings to the left and to the right). Just perfect! We are able to do the 360 degrees as well.
• Going down in the middle of the heelwork. From perfect to not satisfactory (my fault!!!)... I did this exercise too many times and I made a mistake in one attempt by giving wrong signals to Ruudi. After that Ruudi was not sure if he has to go down every time or not. However, finally we managed to correct this exercise.
• Stop in the middle of the heelwork. At home I could not figure out how to teach it, because every time I stop Ruudi sits, which is right behavior in the heelwork in general but not in this exercise. I asked our trainer Piret how to make it clear to Ruudi. She said that it is better not to ruin the correct behavior and I should not stop in the middle of the heelwork and when giving the command I have to throw a toy behind me - so Ruudi will learn to put his breaks on to go after the toy.
• Again one stay down exercise (1,5 minutes with treats). Very good.
• Recall. Very good.

AG: tantsud tähtedega

• We learned three different ways of calling back the dog if sent him over a hurdle. In addition to the right steps and turnings you have to remember to call the dog right away he has pushed himself to the jump. You cannot be late in that. Everything sounds very-very easy but if you begin to try it, then the result is failure at first :) Ruudi was of course fine but I have to practice it so that I do not have to think about how to turn myself correctly and call the dog in the right time. One of the way is known as waltzing. While it was others turn to practice it with the dog, I was waltzing with myself like lunatic - "dry training" you know ;)
  
• Running the slalom if the sticks are really low. Ruudi likes slalom. In a bit lighter version Ruudi performed 100% OK, but in the harder one he sometimes came out before the end of the slalom.

If it goes like planned then next week we already have two AG classes in a week!

***********************************************************************************

However, it is stormy outside but Ruudi absolutely loves fresh snow. It makes him crazy! He is just running around and is so happy about it. Imagine, you can eat it, you can play with it and there is so much fun about the slippery ground!
Returning form the evening pee was of course with the snowball!
Remains of the ball:

Now he is searching for that ball he just has eaten :)

Little taste of the real life

This weekend, during the hunt, we managed to wound one male red deer. Our country boys are really stupid and went searching for it right away with three Laikas and one Labrador. They totally ruined the track. But.... there was one part of the track untouched. So I took Ruudi and tried the "real thing" the next day because I thought I knew exactly where it ends - on the field crossing the path. The rest of the track was already ruined.

But the real life is different. It was raining (has been raining the whole night) and the track was 20 h old. Ruudi is too confident and he started running fast - I just don't know the method to slow him down - I tried but.... he made he's first mistake after about 200 m (look on the map) and even didn't notice it. I felt that something is wrong (becasue I wasn't sure even myself where the track is) because I didn't see any footprints. So I went back to the place I was sure the track is and we continued from that place. And the track WENT ACTUALLY THAT OTHER WAY!

It used to be a lot of blood visibe on the ground the day before but this day I didn't see anything and Ruudi also passed the resting place (so we missed it). All in all it went totally wrong and I cotinued the path just so, to see how Ruudi behaves.

It wasn't difficult for him to find the second resting place. Maybe it was because it had a lot of blood or because we went along this the day before. At the second resting place it was me who found the track because Ruudi was totally confused (because the track was already ruined the day before). But.... Ruudi started going along that and again made a mistake after a while because it was visible that there were no footprints. So I went back to the last footprint and we continued.

The last part of the tracking was already unclear to me. I didn't see any evident footprints and Ruudi was following something.... yes, it was a footprint but was it this deer, I don't know. Our forests are full of animals and therefore footprints. It is so difficult to differentiate. And blood was not anymore on the track at the end. Specially when it has been raining the whole time.

To conclude, I hope Ruudi didn't get any permanent damage because of that. The weather was absolutely awful, the track was 20 hours old and ruined buy other dogs and humans, and it was HALF IN WATER. Ruudi had to manage tracking in the water like this:


Water was freezing but Ruudi somehow didn't mind.

The map: 4,4 km, 2 hours and 30 minutes.

• First mistake - because Ruudi(me) was too fast and stupid.
  
• Second mistake - I can forgive this because the track was already ruined.
  
• Epic fail - the track was already ruined but Ruudi didn't smell the ground enough.

Leia pildilt koer, tüdruk ja telekapult

From Blogi pildid

SK

Beginning of the class was not so good but in general it was OK.

• Sit stay in the line. Did not go as I had expected. Ruudi tried to propose other things after sitting awhile: he went down,  then up, moved himself in the sitting position. He was really restless... Oh... I was not in the mood anymore.
• Recall. Ruudi's speed was good but the finishing position was too much to the right (viewed from my side). Have to practice it!
• Heelwork in pairs. Although we have practiced it at home, it was not so smooth. Ruudi had a good contact with me but still he oscillated a bit when heeling.
• Heelwork with turning around myself. This went quite good.
• Heelwork with left and right turns. At home we have tried right turns but not the left one because I did not know which leg I have to use to take the first step. It cleared out that there is no difference, just use the one that suits for the dog best. Ruudi reacts to the right leg better than to the left (he goes too far from me if using the left leg). Turnings were satisfactory. Practice the closeness to the knee (Ruudi sometimes tends to stay a bit behind in turns and sometimes a bit far too)!
• Class ended with some fun aglity exercises. These excited Ruudi so much! Although other dogs were all around (we tried these elements all together), I still could release him from the leash. I had very good contact with him and Ruudi did the elements as guided not letting himself disturb by the other dogs at all. Well done, Ruudi!

AG

In this class we were dealing with stablity in the start. Although Ruudi in normal situation does not have big problems to stay in the position if told but in AG class it is quite challenge for him because the excitement. At first I just set him sit but as I had took few steps toward my starting position, Ruudi's bottom was up from the ground and this kind of position was certainly not a sitting one anymore! So I had to go and set him to the correct position again and again... However, couple of times Ruudi was able to stay in the position and we could run the track which contains jump, tunnel and jump in one line. As Ruudi proposed rather going down in the start so I decide to take advice from the trainer and set Ruudi down in the start instead of sitting. That worked and we run the track which now finished with the jump once right, once left side of the tunnel.
That was all for this time.

Almost 11 months old

SK

Heelwork, heelwork, heelwork. That was the name of the SK (obedience) class today. Different exercises were done as regards heelwork.

Firstly, just plain heelwork along the aglity tunnel with sending the dog back through the tunnel. Tunnel was the real enticement for Ruudi. Fortunately he was interested in it only two times of several ones. Contact was quite good. Command is "kõrval" ("heel").




Secondly, running with dog while there were hurtles between the dog and me, dog-side hand was extended to the side to direct the dog. I assumed that Ruudi is coming to me between the hurtles but fortunately this did not happen! Ruudi realised what to do.


Thirdly, going down in the middle of heelwork while you keep going on. That was just perfect! I was very happy about that.
Then we did more heelwork passing by different obstructions (AG equipment) to distract the dog.
Another exercise was sending the dog around the hurtle and hurtle posts. A new thing for Ruudi was that sometimes if I tell him and show him so, he has to go around both of the hurtle post (command "ringi" ("around"), but sometimes he just has to take them one by one (commands "tik-tik-tik" and "tak-tak-tak"). Ruudi understood the difference so quickly and I understood how important is your body language to the dog!
Finally, staying down in the group for 1 minute twice. Ruudi had continuous contact with me. But 1 minute (it was actually a bit longer time for Ruudi) is too much for him right now. For 45-50 seconds he is really-really fine, but then he believes that perhaps he is doing something wrong and comes up or sits instead of staying down.
Class was finished by running through tunnels so the dog would be happy about the lesson :)


Homework:

• Stopping the dog in the middle of the heelwork so the dog should just stop (no sitting, no lying down is  accepted).
• Left and right turns in heelwork.

Use clicker while exercising.

AG

In today's class there were 2 big dogs more than usually. So, it was more disturbing situation for Ruudi.

What we did:

• Slalom with crossed sticks. Ruudi is always exited to pass through the sticks! I use command "kepid" ("sticks"). Sticks are crossed as lower as possible. For Ruudi it is still no problem.
  
  
• Dogwalk contacts. Same exercise as last time. On real dogwalk Ruudi did fine! I was happy. For bigger dogs there was a thing constructed like the end of the dogwalk : it was a bit lower and those big female dogs had left their smelly trace there, so it was harder for Ruudi. He was quite disconcerted and just kept his nose down. Hello Ruudi! Nose has to be down when doing the blood track, not here in AG hall.
  
  
• Practice a jumping technique. 5-6 hurdles placed straight ahead with certain distances as the dog has to learn the correct jumping technique. Our trainer told if the technique was right you would not even hear the sound of jumping. We did this exercise for the first time. At the beginning Ruudi took last 2 hurtles at once. Then we put the toy into the basket so that it would not be so tempting for him and placed it more near to the last hurtle. That worked. Ruudi took the hurtles one by one. Command "edasi" was used. That means passing through all the obstruction straight ahead.
  
  
• Sending dog around obstructions. Circles and "8"s. Today we used two hurtles and sent the dog around them using the commands "tik-tik-tik" and "tak-tak-tak". This exercise went very well.

But I have one problem with Ruudi. It has been so for a while but it just grows bigger. I just cannot satisfy him anymore. Today we went to the AG class and also took a walk with training elements in the park (the weather was very-very bad: windy and rainy) and still... he just comes to me and looks at me with a ball or a toy in his teeth. His eyes are shouting at me: go ahead and play with me, throw the ball so I can bring it to you again or play with me some pulling game! Come on, let's do it NOW! Moreover, he is so persistent while doing that!
If I blog, Ruudi looks very disappointed:









I asked for additional AG class from our AG trainer to have a training twice in a week but unfortunately she does not have anything to offer as regards suitable time and our AG level... :(

Laupäeva pärastlõuna Vääna-Jõesuus

There is no hunting in this weekend because we stayed in Tallinn. It is so-so hard now to tire out the dog!
Saturday started with easy walking on Vääna-Jõesuu beach.


(click on the photo to see the full album)

ED (obedience) lesson in the new place

From now on our ED (obedience) lessons are held in TAKO hall. There we can use much more space than so far. Today we had 7 dogs in the class, 3 of them were completely strangers for us. Before the class started, our aglity trainer saw us (her AG class was next to our training site) and gave us a waring that in the ED class there are 2 very big and dangerous dogs (fortunately one of them was "disqualified" because there had been a attack last time or something like that). This made me careful, I did not know what to expect. But it was not so horrible at all as there is enough space for every dog. Besides, Ruudi had a very good contact with me today.

What we did during the class:

• Heelwork. Although Ruudi did quite well a short distance, we HAVE TO practice it MORE! He just goes too ahead from me.
• Recalling the dog while other dogs sitting in a group in both sides of the way. Ruudi was very good in it. In both roles: in sitting (good contact) and specially in recalling part. Although I think that he should have been more near me when he finished.
• Dumbbell. We practiced holding on the dumbbell. The purpose is that the dog should hold on the dumbbell very-very strongly, never drop it down. We did it like the following. Put the dumbbell in front of the dog (3-4 meters) and if the dog is looking at it, give the command "võta" ("take"). Dog takes it and should bring it to you. Then you play a drawing game with him using the dumbbell. Next step should be: dog should be holding the dumbbell during the heelwork and should not let go of it. Ruudi likes the dumbbell but when getting it, he would like to run with it a bit and after a while he brings it to me. The next step is a bit too big for us right now.
• Sending the dog around the obstruction. This exercise is similar to the exercise in AG, so I use the command "tik-tik-tik" to send dog from right side and command "tak-tak-tak" to send the dog from left side of the obstruction. Piece of cake for Ruudi, BUT somehow he likes to bark during this activity :S We have to get rid of this behaviour! Also I should try to take longer distance to send dog around the obstruction.
• Tunnel. Then we did some AG elements, like running through the tunnel. Ruudi likes tunnel very-very much and he gets so excited then. 
• We finished the class with a little jolly competition: running through the straight tunnel, sending dog around the pillar, then again the tunnel and then finish. Who was the best? Ruudi was :). He did not care about other dogs, although we were running in pairs. He just wanted to run and be as fast as he can ;) His contact with me was good - I'm happy about it!

I very much like the new spacious training site! 

AG

Today's training contained 3 elements:

• Sending dog around the cones making "8"-s:

Send the dog from the right side of the cone to take the turn around it. Show the way with your dog-side arm (right). Use command "tik-tik-tik". Then immediately meet the dog at the left side of the cone and guide him to the next cone using your dog-side arm (left) and command "tak-tak-tak" so that the dog is doing the turn from the left side of the cone. Repeat this by sending dog around multiple cones.

• Learning dogwalk contacts:

Put the dog on the dogwalk and let him to go at the end of it. All the time you are moving with him and at the end of the dogwalk you stop. Let him to understand that the right finishing position is if his front legs are on the ground and his hind legs are on the dogwalk. If the position is correct, praise and caress him by saying: "Tubli, see on poom!" ("Good, this is a dogwalk!"). In the future the command "poom" ("dogwalk") will be used. Then give him a treat and dismiss him. Repeat the exercise guiding your dog from both sides of the dogwalk.

• Tire:

Put  the dog on hold (for example using command "istu" ("sit")) in front of the tire. At first, go to the other side of the tire and call the dog to jump through the tire and throw to him a toy. Then repeat the exercise running with your dog from the beginning showing the way to the dog using your dog-side arm. At the end throw a toy to him. Command "rõngas" ("tire") or "hopp" ("jump") is used in ths exercise. Repeat the exercise guiding your dog from both sides of the tire.



Ruudi performed quite well but as we weren't able to do these exercises enough during the lesson (short of time and many dogs), we practiced them during our evening walk after the lesson in the Snelli Park (actually it is Dome Park (Toompark) as I read it from the sign in the park :D) and in the dog garden (there are tire and dogwalk, additionally A-frame as well). We finished our day by taking a trolley bus for two stops :).

Jooksuaeg ehk "Run, Forrest, run!

Today was a uphill running competition for dogs at Tankimägi near Keila organized by Keila Koerasõprade Klubi "Ipson".
After exhausting hunting day we still decided to take part in it!
Surprisingly lots of dogs were registered - 122. Although there were classes for babies, little, medium, heavy and big dogs, a special class was for JRTs! :) 9 JRTs were in the list.

Unfortunately, I couldn't take any photos, perhaps I will later add some links to other blogs or homepages where you can find some pictures.


Results. Regardless of being quite fast, Ruudi lost the 3th place to his very-very fast friend Kusti and got 4th place :)

Well done, Ruudi!

p.s. don't take notice of my misspelled last name ;)

It was very nice event. I think we would participate in it next time as well!



Waiting for his turn:

Harder blood tracking

This time the blood track was quite serious. It is wrong to call it a blood track because it didn't contain any blood at all. Maybe it was even too tough - it was made only with a deep frozen wild boar leg - the track was 24 hours old and the terrain was long grass and quite wet because of the rainy days. Ruudi smelled the starting point but was unable to find the right path in the beginning. He jumped around and smelled the air. I was constantly thinking how to teach him to smell the ground instead of air - but no command can be productive in this case. So I tried to be calm and tried to praise him if the nose touched the ground. We somehow still reached to the first "resting place". I didn't throw any peaces of flesh in it so Ruudi was very confused and didn't know what to search - although he was VERY keen on searching something. I'm not sure if Ruudi smelled something or it was my guidance but working together we somehow reached to the second turning point. Ruudi marked it quite well because I put a very small peaces of flesh in it the day before. Then again we had some troubles to find the correct path. Ruudi jumped around and smelled the air. Luckily the last part of the track wasn't in the long grass. Once Ruudi got there, the nose went down. Yes! Good, Ruudi! And the nose down we reached to the "animal".

I think it was a very good training for Ruudi. Now he understood that it's not the fast running but slow searching on the ground. But still the track was too difficult because it was in a wet long grass and 24 hours old very light footprints. The German guy said that water and wet grass is one of the biggest troubles for a dog. I must do this every weekend or Ruudi will not get the touch of it.

But.... before all that, we had a full hunting day. Ruudi was also quite tired after that because he had jump in the meadows again, play with the Jämptland puppy, attack the raccoon dog, dig in the ground and make sure that one wild boar is dead.

Here is some video and picture materials about that:

(click on the photo to see full album)

Friday, beginning of the weekend

This weekend will hopefully be cool for Ruudi. Last weekend we had a hunting day full of swimming in ice cold water and I was afraid that it will decrease he's eagerness because he was slow and shivering a lot....

...but no! The moment I started changing my clothes, he understood that it is the "forest time" and Ruudi started jumping up and down.

From Blogi pildid

We only made a short walk about 1,5 km.

From Blogi pildid

And checked the old fox holes but not a sign of life in there...

From Blogi pildid

This weekend I will try a little harder blood tracking. Making the track only with a wild boar leg - no blood nor dragging bloody fur skin. I don't have the special shoes so I made the improvised stick. I made the track today about five o'clock and I'm a bit in doubt if Ruudi can follow it tomorrow morning or not. Looking forward to see if Ruudi is able to smell something or not....

Social life

Autumn that was full of mushrooms

(click on the photo to see the full album)



Usual walks in the neighborhood

(click on the photo to see the full album)


(click on the photo to see the full album)



Ruudi's friend Doora

(click on the photo to see the full album)



Some new things

(click on the photo to see the full album)



Hunting as Maarja sees it :)

(click on the photo to see the full album)



While Maarja is blogging

Hiking

Pictrues are talking themselves.

Saaremaa, Mullutu laht August 19th and 20th:
Ruudi was very brave and balanced dog. He just walked and span around on the boat edge... in the middle of the open water :)

(click on the photo to see the full album)


Naissaar, September 11th:
I think Ruudi wish that all days would be like this!

(click on the photo to see the full album)

Aglity

Ruudi has taken part in aglity lessons already since summer. The beginning was quite promising but trainings are only once in a week, sometimes more rarely. I wish Ruudi could train more! He likes it very much. Such a pity that you can exercise mostly in special hall with special equipment. That limits a lot. Also I think that if Ruudi had a better handler, he would already be in higher level.
Ruudi and me have exercised with two trainers: Sirje Tammsalu and Anne Tammiksalu

Usual lesson starts with some warm-up exercises, i.e spinning around himself, doing 8's around me. Then we excercise different elements: tunnel or jumps or slalom or tire jump or see-saw or dogwalk. And suddenly the lesson is already over :(

Trying to keep you on track with Ruudi's doing in the AG field!

Obedience lessons

Sometime in August Ruudi started to go to the obedience lessons (trainer is Piret Kannike). The start off was expressive: Ruudi had such a good contact and obeyed me so well but after some lessons he begun to act like a clown: all other dogs were much-much more interesting than me or treats or play. It was quit obvious that Ruudi was having his teenager period. But we did not give up and continued our trainings, although Ruudi sometimes did not want to behave himself at all. However, he also has his moments.

Here are some videos filmed by Kusti's owner in our obedience lesson sometime in September.
Recall (siia):


Sitting in group (grupis püsiistumine):



Current situation is that lesson by lesson Ruudi becomes better and better! Ruudi has more contact and he is keen on doing something cool with me and Lauri. Now the main thing to train is the heelwork. That is the base! Right now Ruudi tends to go forward while doing it. In the future I try to blog how Ruudi is doing in his training lessons.

If all is going well, members of our training group can perhaps compete already in January in beginners class (said by our trainer). But actually, as I have seen some obedience competitons... this could be quite stressful...

Dog shows

We have participated in one official and two unofficial dog shows.

* First one was National Dog Show in Väimela (Southern Estonia) on 14th of August. Handler was Lauri.We had not done almost anything to train Ruudi to behave in the show, just had got some tips how to act there from the Ruudi's friend (Kusti) owner. Finally we cut the tip of the Ruudi's tail to the right JRT tail shape :)

Class: Puppy
Judge: Natalja Sedõh, Russia
Panelists in the puppy category: 1
Description (in Estonian, original is in Russian):
Masajas, hea kehaehitusega, täidlane koon on hea, pikk kuiv kael, nõrk käelaba, näitab meeleldi, hambumus on õige.
(in English (sorry possible incorrect definitions in English): low; good body type; rotund muzzle is good; long and dry neck; weak paws; showing himself gladly; correct bite)
Result: Promotion Prize (Special Prize of Estonian Kennel Union), Best Puppy (Best Puppy of Breed)


(click on the photo to see the full album)


 * Second show was the unofficial JRT show on 3th of October organized by the Estonian JRT Union (EJRTÜ). By that time I was decided to go to the show training (5 times within 5 weeks) with Ruudi (trainer is Kärt Pingas). Mainly because to get experience in that field and of course it is so much fun to do interesting and cool things with Ruudi! Even Ruudi's outwards paws are not obstacle for me and Ruudi. Also we had participated in the show training carried out by Estonian JRT Union (here are pictrures from that training event on Kusti's homepage).

Class: Junior
Judge: Inga Siil, Estonia
Panelists in  the junior category: 5 (2 male, 3 female)
Description (in Estonian):
9-kuune, 29 cm kõrge, õige hambumus ja kõik hambad, liialt tugev pea, suurepärane ilme, kael, ülaliin, saba asetus, väga hea esi- ja taganurgad, suurepärane kere proportsioon, piisavalt tugev luustik, seistes randmed väljapoole, sügav rinnakorv, suurepärane füüsiline vorm, õige karva struktuur, suurepärane värv, suurepärane liikumine, temperament, esitus
(in English: 9 month old; height 29 cm; correct bite, all teeth; too strong head; excellent look, neck, upper line, tail position; very good front and behind angles; excellent body proportions; bone structure is strong enough; wrists are outwards if standing; deep? chest; excellent physical shape; excellent movement, temperament, presentation)
Ranking: SP (suurepärane) excellent
Result: Best Male Junior


(click on the photo to see the full album)


* Also we have participated in charity dog show BIG Match Sow (on 17th of October) where the purpose was to train myself to present the dog. We were in puppies class (up to 12 month old dogs) and qualified to the second round (final round). Although the judge did not gave any description in this show, the judge was fond of Ruudi's presentation. She told this when she gave a red ribbon to us that indicated getting to the final round.

(click on the photo to see the full album)


Now 2 show training lessons to go. Things that we have to train are looking forward when cantering and accessibility wihout cheering too much.

Filling the gap

I really don't remember when I wrote the last post in here. Let me check it... um... it was the 1st of August! Long-long time ago...
Why so? But all of these two people who read this blog know how Ruudi is doing :)

As the time flies it is more and more hard to fill the blogging gap which is now almost 3 month. Of course I wish I was writing posts continuously, i.e. commenting Ruudi's achievements in obedience or agility exercises but this certainly does not mean that our first excitement is now over and Ruudi is bored doing nothing. On the contrary, life with Ruudi is so interesting and I want to spend all my free time with him!!! Actually, I am doing it as much as possible. Perhaps you could say that first excitement of blogging is over :)
In the future I try to keep up with events and write posts when things are just happened. I do not promise anything, but at least I try...

Following posts summarize some main things that Ruudi has done. Mostly in pictures.
* Dog shows
* Obedience exercises
* Agility exercises
* Hiking, walks, having fun, everyday life etc

Hunting season + blood tracking training

This weekend, the big game hunting season has started and after my enormous toothache I was able to take Ruudi to the "big" hunting. What we usually do is, we surround one section of the forest with gunmen and start searhing through the area with a line of chasers. So, me and Ruudi were the chasers and we always took the center line of the section. First section was a swamp and quite tough. Ruudi had to jump up and down in the meadows of the bog, swim cross the rivers and dodge fallen trees. I was quite sure that the first chase would be quite difficult to him but as can be seen in the next picture, Ruudi brought one long stick and asked me to throw it :) Ok, you ain't seen nothing yet...

From Blogi pildid

After the second chase we got one deer and I let Ruudi to meet him and Ruudi was very interested and at every possibility tried to rub himselt into the blood of the deer. You know, one true hunter needs a good desguise.

From Blogi pildid

Covering himselt in the blood was not enough. Ruudi had to pull the animal away. He was so active and eager that even the visiting Germans said that: "Good dog, good dog!"

From Blogi pildid

The next day started with a little play with other hunting dogs and Ruudi is just a perfect dog. He get's along with everybody. Absolutely not angry to anybody.

From Blogi pildid

Riding in a pick-up car is also fun. No troubles at all. Covered in blood and a dead wild boar next to him only make it more interesting.

From Blogi pildid

In the end of the last hunt, we went to a dead wild boar and Ruudi started barking at him. I was so pleased and praised him for that. He did it for at least 30 minutes or more. Just perfect!

From Blogi pildid

To conclude, I was very pleased with the weekend. Ruudi did not chase the living game which is good because I still have hopes to make him a good blood tracking dog. And I was very pleased that in the end of each track he found a wounded animal and started barking at it!

We took at least 10 km of very rough terrain, and I mean very rough. Ruudi had to jump around all the time and swimming through the water - not to mention at least 10 km more to move around. And then, the DOG STARTS DIGGING IN THE GROUND AFTER THAT!! Whatta!? Laikas were drop-dead tired already and were looking at Ruudi like watching a UFO.

I had marked down a blood track the day before and I was afraid that Ruudi is too tired after the hunt to do that - but I had no other option than to try. So I was absolutely exhausted myself but still took the long red rope, commanded Ruudi to sit until I "investigate" the shoooting place (marking the start of the track) and then took Ruudi to the beginning of the track and..... DAMN THAT DOG!!! I was too slow to command him anything. He was just so keen on starting searching along the track that.... I couldn't do anything than just follow. The track was 24 HOURS OLD!!! And Ruudi was reading it like a book. The only trouble is that he is too fast and keen (unfortunately too fast for a blood tracking dog). He ran passed the track at the first 180 degrees turning but luckily understood the mistake quite soon and after a few jumps, started going along the track again. The second 180 degree turning he somehow luckily got it right away and it took only a few minutes to find the "dead animal".

I was so amazed. The dog was covered with fresh blood (wild boar, moose and red deer) and just had a two days hunt. He took 24 hours old track and he was reading it like a book. I was just impressed!!! Maybe.... maybe Ruudi will become a good blood tracking dog after all.

Blood tracking - first steps

So, finally, today I took the time to "properly" train blood tracking with Ruudi. We have participated in several courses and trainings but I have been so lazy to do it properly myself. Well OK, I have done 10 m tracks with him for a simple treat but.... ...now I took the roe deer sking with a head (that I shot a week ago), marked down the track (by just dragging it on the ground) about 80 m total length with one change of direction about 80 degrees. The german Schweißhundstation said that the track MUST be at least 4 hours old but I have to admit that I used it after two hours. And it was visible that the smell was too strong for Ruudi. First I tried to command him with two separate commands "track" and "search" because he doesn't know the "track" command but knows the "search" command. But he instantly started searching and was even too fast and keen for a blood tracking dog. But I was so happy to see that he didn't only smell the air but also smelled the ground quite a lot. The next time I will let the track age at least 4 hours or more because there was still quite a lot of cent in the air but I want him to understand that in the "real life" he can get the reliable information only from the the ground. So he started searching very fast while being on a leash about 7 m. That 7 m leash seemed to be too short. Again, the German guy was right, the leash has to be very long - and it is the most important part connecting the dog and the master. It is like an umbilical cord. I realised it now - the dog can freely run in the perimeter but he still has the feeling that he has to work with you. It was a brilliant way to keep Ruudi "on the track" without guiding, commanding or telling anything that would ruin the whole meaning of searching. Basically Ruudi was a bit fast for a blood tracking dog but he was able to mark down the "resting place" at the turning and was able to follow the track until the prey. All in all I was very happy how he worked together with me and found the prey. I have to get myself together and start doing it every weekend. I will reuse the roe deer skin next weekend. Next weekend is also start of the moose hunting season - very interesting times. And I also have one wild board leg in the deep freezer for more difficult tracks.

From Blogi pildid

Cranberries

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First hunting experience

Today I finally had a change to go hunting. The plan was to go waiting in a tree stand and preferably meet roe deer, fox or raccoon dog. I took Ruudi with me to introduce tree stand to him and explain that he has to be SILENT in it - but nooooo.... if a raven passes by, he has to bark! Luckily I was able to shut him down by sayng that "Good, Ruudi, I noticed it, but now we have to be silent. OK?" And he somehow understood me and went to sleep. It is BOOOORING to wait in a treestant.

From Blogi pildid

But Ruudi only had less than an hour to sleep until one roe deer came with one youngster. Usually roe deer has two childs but that one had lost one already. And when I started moving and aiming and my pulse was 200 - Ruudi has to bark!!?? Damn that dog! "Good Ruudi, be silent now" And the old roe deer looked at my direction and I was sure the next minit she is running but.... luckily she cooled down. At last I was able to make my shot and hit the young. I went down and let Ruudi to run forward to the killed animal and Ruudi almost missed it but still, a meter far from the prey he suddenly smelled it (surprise!). And then he acted like it was him who shot the deer :)

From Blogi pildid

Back at home of course we had to skin and cut the animal. Ruudi got a piece of liver and the whole heart but that was already enough for him because he was "helping" me in the whole proccess and you cannot say to a cook or chef that you cannot eat that you are doing.

From Blogi pildid

So Ruudi looked like coming from a war. We had to go to sauna with him. And there is nothing better than evening sleep after a hard day out.

From Blogi pildid