Dylan: Official Good Dog

Dyl passed his Good Citizen Dog Scheme GOLD this weekend. I was pretty sure we were going to fail, so every exercise we passed was a relief and a bit of a surprise! We have trained, but not as much as we should have done. Emergency stop gave me the most worry, since Dylan wouldn’t hold his wait correctly. He did his cheeky agility wait instead, which involves creeping forward as soon as I turn my back.

Very pleased with his off-lead work however. He offered “proper” heelwork, shoulder to leg, for the whole duration, instead of the looser off-lead type we’ve been working on. He was a bit bemused as to why I wasn’t encouraging the flashy obedience heelwork, but he was determined in his own mind that he was correct.

We’re going to start training properly for obedience now! That’s the goal for 2015, a few Pre-Beginners, maybe the GCDS Qualifier, and see how we get on. We have passable heelwork on and off lead, need to neaten up the turns quite a bit. Down stay is good, sit stay needs work! Recall is alright, I’d like a neater present but we’ve been working on it and he’s improving. I need to train a retrieve if we’re going to do Beginners, since we have absolutely no formal retrieve at all.

May end up auditing one of the heelwork classes at http://www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com/, but the Dec 1st term start was not good financial timing. Maybe when it gets to February, but March is always incredibly busy so maybe not!