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.