Robbie finally gets the hang of jumping

Robbie has been a bit of a challenge as he decided that it was just as much fun to go under jumps as over them. The official KC jump height in the UK is quite demanding for dogs on the smaller end of the 'Smalls' category, it is 35cm or 13 1/4" high, so for a small Pom it's easy to see the temptation to go under the pole.

We worked on this problem by putting cross poles so he couldn't go under - I also clicker trained him with the 'over' command and finally the penny has dropped. Last night at training he did a full course of jumps, so onwards and upwards from here.

Isabella training

Here is a video clip shot recently of Izzy training

Buzz wins his first Grade 6 Jumping

Pomkins Regal Bee AW(S)

Buzz wins his first Grade 6 Jumping class - it was a very memorable day for us at the East Lothian show- Buzz won Grade 6 jumping with a first class run. He's had a great few months competing with lots of places and has now gained more than enough points for his KC Agility Warrant Silver title which he now has - I'm so proud of my little man!!! Now only 3 more Grade 6 wins to get to go to Grade 7!!

Latest on the training

Robbie and Izzy's training has been progressing really well over the last couple of months - I will put on a clip of Izzy in action, since that video she can now go over the dog walk on full height and also the A-frame. She has managed to perfect weaves and loves jumping.

We did try her recently at a show on a jumping course to see how she liked the environment - the answer was she didn't and she decided to take herself back to our base camp! So I have the new training challenge of a dog who loves doing jumping and agility, but isn't keen on the atmosphere at a show.

I have started doing the 'Look at that' game with her and I'm already impressed with the results - I will try and put a video clip on, but basically you teach your dog to look at something they don't like from a distance, then back at you for a treat. The idea to is to get closer to the object or thing that bothers them, let them look, then redirect their focus back to you. Sound great to me and fingers crossed it helps her!

Tunnels...Jumps and a 4 Pole Weave

Isabella has been really keen lately to do all her training - a lot of this enthusiasm seems to be coming from Buzz, she copies him all the time. 

In my latest Vlog - you can see her chasing him through the tunnel, then over the jumps - she started to try and follow him through the weave I had set up . So I thought I would expand on this and see if she got the gist and sure enough, she seems to understand it all. Now I'm just trying to get her to associate a word with the action and I think she's really starting to get it all. 

Here is a link to the Vlog:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRpXjCT_-PU

Jump up, jump up and get down

Robbie doing the Oingy Boingy

Both Robbie and Izzy have been practicing as often as possible - it's a slow process in the early days, but I want to get everything just right and make sure they understand what they are doing. Robbie has taken to wanting to run under jumps if I raise one side - so in our back garden we have put a pole in between two planters - it's about 6 inches high - so low enough that he can't really go under it, but high enough to jump.  

During a training session this past weekend, he put on the above 'Oingy Boingy' show - just to show me that he can jump when he wants too....just on his terms!!! :-)

Pomeranian Training - Vlog 2

This is our latest training Vlog on Youtube. Robbie and Izzy have been practising their 'waits' at a distance, going left and right, getting familiar with the surface of the dog walk by walking up and down an old piece of one.

They love the tunnel, I think they would spend all day running through it if they could - so that's probably the favourite part of training at the moment.  we have also started the  2 x 2 weave training - it all seems a bit illogical at the moment, but if we stick with it, they should be able to eventually do independent weaves from any direction.