Tristan's great, his owner handler is...

Tristan is such a great dog. Too bad his handler is a total klutz. We had a really nice day at training. Tristan tracked well - very calm and steady with this nose deep in the track. I thought the track ended sooner than it did so I stopped but Tristan pushed on. He was right, of course, and took us to the real end.

Tristan also did really well in protection in spite of me. We're now starting his blind search almost by the blind opposite of the one to be searched. It's a long way to send him off across the field especially when the tasty, tempting helper is right behind him. Only once did he try to do a quick u-turn. His other searches were very good. I made a totally idiotic mistake by giving the command fuss (sit or heel by my side) instead of revier (the command to search) as I pointed to the blind. My wonderful smart dog did exactly as commanded and kept sitting there - although I think he was rolling his eyes at my incompetence.

I have to find a better voice for issuing commands. It was pointed out that I sound too stern when I give the revier command - more like I'm disciplining rather than issuing a positive command. I try to sound clear and firm to Tristan so he knows I mean business when I give a command. He's a high drive dog so I know if I'm too wimpy he's likely to blow it off. Somehow I have to find the appropiate intonation that conveys strength, direction and fun without being either too harsh or too soft.
On the way home we visited my old Miata as I needed to clear up a bit of paperwork. The new owner has done a great job of fixing its various dings and the interior looks especially great. I gave it lots of tender loving pats. The Miata was a great car for me and I had so much fun in it.

My Valentine

Such a brave (motivated) dog

Tristan conquered his fear today. There's only one thing that Tristan has ever shown fear of and that's industrial exterior open grate stairs. He's been on them numerous times since he was a puppy but suddenly about three weeks ago he stopped dead in his tracks and would not proceed out onto the open grating. I think he must have looked down for the first time and realized he could see everything below. I've tried several times to get him on the stairs again but he was having none of it.

Today we explored a creek and some wetlands near us. On a paved path by the creek there is a shelter/arena installation and a section where stairs lead down to the creek. Tristan loves water and so wanted to head right to the creek. Oh the misery - so close and yet between Tristan and the creek lurked an evil and dangerous impediment - open grating! Tristan was priceless. First he tried to creep along the edge where the railing and concrete footings were. He soon realized he couldn't stay upright as he tried to tip toe along the edge touching only the concrete. Then he was practically on his stomach with all four paws stretched out grasshopper style. Finally he crept and scuttled along until he could reach the three risers down to the water. My brave hero!

So so training day

It was a weird training day. I won't write too much because I'll just sound crabby and out of sorts. Suffice to say that other training days have been more fun.

Tristan did two sessions of his blind search. He did great on the first series - going around the blind without trying to shortcut directly to the helper. In the first picture Tristan is hard to see but that's him practically on his side as he barrels around the blind intent on getting to the helper. On the second series he started again trying to shortcut the blind. After several abortive attempts he did do the search correctly. He doesn't have any problem getting to the helper once he circles the empty blind.