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.