Haha, the problem w/ that is I may have to move so I have some good technical water to train on. I sure don't have the $$$ for pro training at $700+ / mo. :p
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I'm all for getting help from a pro when you need to. But I didn't understand how much can be done between just you and your dog. I bought a winger with the electronics. Told hubby it would pay for itself in just 6 weeks since I am doing more training on my own.
But that whole water thing... that's a real limitation.
I bet Labradorks has all kinds of water where she lives. We'll just all go camp out in her front yard for a few weeks and visit the watery places around there.
I feel guilty because I don't train as much as I'd like to since it's a whole 45 minutes to really good technical water. ;)
My issue is time. Loading up your stuff, driving, setting up your stuff, organizing with training partners, packing up and loading your stuff (even more fun in the rain!)...
Yeah, unless it's your own property, it's going to eat the better part of a day. Don't plan on accomplishing anything else. Probably a lot more time consuming than obedience.
Yes, it really is. If I want to practice obedience, I can rent a facility for $20/hour. It's 60 minutes round trip, but the equipment is there, set up is like 10 minutes, and unless you're training with other people and chatting in between sets, an hour is way too long. Plus, it's indoors and there are lights (and heat and AC). Same goes for agility. I need my own weaves, but those can be set up in my yard.
I just saw the details were posted here. Still not approved, but instructions are more detailed and there is scoring.
I tried it in my backyard this morning. My understanding for Open A is that the dog is in sit at heel position. You to stand your dog. Then you leave your dog in a stand-stay and walk 15 feet then turn and down the dog. Then walk 15 feet and turn around and sit the dog. So, that's what I did. Not difficult.
I tried Open B and it was fine, also. I don't pattern my dog for Utility exercises and he has a verbal stand from a distance as well. I do verbal and hand signals all the time for fun. I think a stand signal would be wise to go with the verbal. Not sure what that will look like; maybe underhand using right hand?
Yeah, mine don’t have a stand from a distance, but I’m pretty sure I can train it without much issue. Not sure what hand signal I’ll use for it, as the one I use when they are in heel position (hold my fist above and in front of their nose and open it to a flat hand) probably won’t translate well to a distance and them being in front of me. They can all already do the Open A version, but I’m kind of hoping that I won’t be in Open A by the time the pups are ready for it (meaning that Chloe will earn her OTCH and I’ll have to title through the B classes).
My issue with it is I HAVE found a need to enter Open B at times just to avoid ring conflicts AND I don't agree that A & B should ever have differences w/in a class.
For the hand signal, I was thinking of right hand, palm out, push forward underhand. So, your hand is at your thigh. I use a right palm out push forward (think: "Stop! In the name of love) and sit is left hand, palm forward, bend at the elbow, sort of like waving at my dog. I hear east coasters are much more flamboyant in their signals. Do you think that's true?
I haven’t seen that many handlers from the West Coast, only a few from the Midwest. I think it depends but I will say that some of the very TOP handlers around here (i.e. NOC winners) do use very flamboyant signals. Personally, as my dogs get more and more experienced, my signals get smaller and smaller, usually so that I have the option of turning it bigger if they seem to miss it. For example, my sit signal is to start with my left hand at my side, flip my hand so the palm is showing then bring my arm up about to elbow level. My dogs are trained (eventually - Chloe can do this, the pups are still working on it) to sit as soon as my hand flips. I need the bigger signal so the judge can see it and be sure they didn’t sit on their own, but in the event she is distracted I can continue the motion until my hand is up as high as possible (i.e. with my arm straight up in the air). That will usually get her even if she missed the initial one. Any signal is fine as long as it only involves one hand/arm and a continuous motion.