Saturday, March 12, 2016

Barnhunt Practice

Today I took both dogs out to Newberg for a Barnhunt practice!  I wanted to see if Miley had more interest in the activity and I wanted to see what Dominic thought of it.  Miley still will not do the tunnel, but that's something across the board that we're working on.  I feel like she'll get there, she's just going to be a late bloomer.  Maybe even a really late bloomer.

Both Miley and Dominic had two correct indications.  Or more accurately, I correctly recognized their indications two times each.  Handler error on calling it was more on Miley's run.  And Dominic was more distracted by my hands on his third try, so I incorrectly called the tube.  Probably because he was showing more interest in where my hands happened to be at that moment, but the third time.  He DEFINITELY shows an interest in the tube containing the rat.  Unlike what Miley got at the workshop we went to last month, Dominic didn't get an introduction to the rat ahead of time or get to work through various containers before going to the competition tubes.  We decided to go for it with him and see if he would be interested in the tube out of the three that was different.  And he did!

Dominic was also a little super star at going through the tunnel.  It took a little food reward to really encourage him to go through initially, but by the end, he was popping through the tunnel while the instructor and I were chatting.  Good puppy!

We'll continue doing periodic practices for a little bit before I enter Dominic in an instinct test.  He has to be at least six months old to compete regardless, so he's got a couple months before he hits that mark.  I'm giving Miley time to show more interest before I do anything more with her.  I don't want to force her into doing something that she isn't really all that into.  Luckily enough with this sport, they're either into it or they aren't.  It's not something that I have to worry about allotting regular training time for.  Which makes me very happy. :)

I did make sure to record their sessions in the ring and I've cut the video down to give some highlights.  It was pouring while we were practicing, so the background noise is a little loud.


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