Bob starts agility!

The baby boy is growing up!

The little man is almost 9 mos old now, and this week we have started actual agility training. Up to now we've played with the clicker, working on some simple behaviors (sit, down, and interacting with a box). The only thing slightly approaching "agility" has been the start of RTO (Rear Toe On) behavior on a short plank.

Earlier this week we began jump training. To avoid wasted time while he searches for cookies in the grass we've worked on the deck. Thank goodness for small dog. : )

Jump progress
Day 1 (for those interested, pretty much steps 1-4 from Foundation Jumping)
Session 1 - . Learned to offer jump over 4" bar. Lured only about 2 or 3 times for him to "get it." After several happy, successful jumps, went to 6".
Session 2 - He went from 6"-12" (2" increments) with no problem. Once dropped bar at 12", but I had dropped the treat when he started takeoff so that's my bad, not his. Aside from that, never even ticked the bar.
Session 3 - progressed to me standing, and tossing treat to different spots, instead of just base of jump. Never touched the bar, and still happily offering.

Day 2 (rainy, cold, windy and awful! So only one time outside to train)
Session 1 - I began to vary my position, so he is always going away from me to take jump (Found. Jumping step 5)

Day 3 (cold and damp again, numb fingers making treat dropping difficult!)
Session 1 - I moved the jump so he is jumping away form me, TOWARDS a solid barrier.

The two "Bobs"

"Big" Bob (Sergei Bobrvosky)

Small" Bob

Accomplishments in the last week

Bob has learned to come up the steps onto the deck, lift his leg to pee (occasionally), play tug with Daz sleep in a little crate (with no door, it just sits in his pen), run to his pen when he sees me getting his bowl ready and chase Neat out of the little dog bed when he wants to nap there (if you've seen Monsters, Inc, she sort of thinks of him like the monsters do children <g>). Started learning to stack like a good little show doggie.

What he has NOT learned is to sleep quietly all night.... <yawn!> I don't really think he wants out to pee. I think he's lonely. Poor guy!

Bed all to himself!

We've gone from this...

...to this.

This is hard work!

"stacking" with Auntie Pam

Good friend Pam Williams came over to visit Bob this afternoon.  Pam does the structural evaluations for many conformation and agility folks in the area. I value her opinion on canine structure. Bob is just over 6 weeks old, so really too soon for a real structural eval, but she did like what she saw AND she found his testicles (yay!). I never can find them...

He was not terribly cooperative about his rear today. (of course, this was after the testicle check... <g>) He was keeping the rear legs tucked under more than we wanted. He doesn't really have as much rear angle as this looks. 

I truly love his top line though. I will readily admit his mother's isn't as nice as I would like. The "hanging" picture is very representative of the puppy I see standing at alert in the yard. 

Big time wrestling

Yes, they are blurry, but that's because they were moving! Daz and Bob love to wrestle.

So funny!

I change out the set of toys in his pen every few days. Just did a total clean out of paper (though it really doesn't need it), mats and toys. He's just running from one thing to another checking it all out.

Is he still there?

Neat is somewhat less than enthusiastic about sharing her big comfy bed with Bob I'm afraid.

If I can't see him he's not really there!

But really, who could resist this face??