Root Beer Posted May 14, 2007 Report Share Posted May 14, 2007 I just got back from a 3 day Freestyle Dance festival. It was absolutely incredible!! I took along Speedy and Dean. I figured that if Speedy got burnt out, Dean could stand in for him. It didn't really work out that way, but it was good that I took both of them along. I attended workshops on using clicker skills to get precision behavior, like getting the dog to move into heel or side or front or back position from any location, getting better attention and animiation from the dog, training games, and improving duration of behaviors in the midst of distractions and difficulty. It was all really fantastic. I never expected to come out of there thinking that I can help Speedy improve even more with some new training tools, but that's exactly what happened! Best of all - Speedy and I demo'ed on the first evening and it was his best performance ever!! With Dean, it was a good chance to start laying the foundation for his future performance/sport activities! I had to teach him to walk up and down stairs at the hotel. I had no idea that he didn't know how to deal with a staircase before! The performance area in the main building had a basketball net hanging over it and he was distracted by that, so I got to work on conditioning him to work amid that sort of thing. All in all, it was a very beneficial experience for all of us! Three straight days of training workshops - it doesn't get a whole lot better than that for me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allie Oop Posted May 14, 2007 Report Share Posted May 14, 2007 Sounds great! Did you take any pictures or videos? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Root Beer Posted May 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2007 I only took a couple of pictures and they are just of Speedy and Dean with the tents in the background. It proved difficult to handle two dogs and juggle a camera. There might be a video of us doing the demo. They taped some of them. If there is, it will be posted on Youtube soon and I'll post the link here. I hope they videoed us! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tassie Posted May 15, 2007 Report Share Posted May 15, 2007 Wow, Kristine, that sounds like a fabulous weekend. I'm looking forward to another 6 day dog-camp on the Gold Coast in Queensland in October with Mary Ray, an English trainer who does obedience, agility and heelwork-to-music (similar to freestyle) at a very high level, and is a fantastic trainer - also clicker-using. It just inspires you, doesn't it, to go to something like that. (My problem then is finding the time for follow-up - but I'm working on it .) I do hope the video of Speedy's demo comes up on youtube - be sure and post the link. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ness_bc Posted May 15, 2007 Report Share Posted May 15, 2007 Well done to Speedy on his fantastic demo. As for Tassie quit saying how much fun you have at Camp Tailwaggers - some of us are positively jealous!!!!!!!! I am trying to plan another trip to Perth though which isn't quite as good but still great fun. Sally and Ness Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Root Beer Posted May 15, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2007 Wow, Kristine, that sounds like a fabulous weekend. I'm looking forward to another 6 day dog-camp on the Gold Coast in Queensland in October with Mary Ray, an English trainer who does obedience, agility and heelwork-to-music (similar to freestyle) at a very high level, and is a fantastic trainer - also clicker-using. It just inspires you, doesn't it, to go to something like that. (My problem then is finding the time for follow-up - but I'm working on it .) I do hope the video of Speedy's demo comes up on youtube - be sure and post the link. Definitely inspiring!! I've heard of Mary Ray, and one of these days I need to get around to watching some of her stuff. From what I hear, she is the inspiration behind a lot of the well-known musical freestyle people over here! The camp sounds like fun! I know what you mean about the follow-up. I sat down last night and wrote up a training plan for just one behavior based on all I learned over the weekend and it was very in-depth! Just that one thing will take some time. Still, if I follow-through, it will bear a lot of fruit in the long run, and it will make training similar behaviors move along much faster later on. I'll definitely post the link if they put mine on there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samantha J Posted May 15, 2007 Report Share Posted May 15, 2007 I have a Mary Ray dvd/books on her heelwork to music and tricks training. She is fantastic and shows you how to do the moves. I was having trouble teaching Holly the creep before i got that then used her tips. She goes through it all step by step including working multiple dogs. If anyone is interested her web is www.maryray.co.uk she does do orders from US. I haven't seen her live yet but hope to one day. Anyway she is very good and although i don't include the music yet Holly loves doing learning the moves. It tires her out which is always good.lol Kristine - that sounds like it was a fab 3 days. We get to watch the heelwork to music quite a bit over here at different shows and the dogs seem to love it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Root Beer Posted May 30, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2007 OK, if anyone would like to see the demo, it's here: Remember - we're beginners!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G. Festerling Posted May 30, 2007 Report Share Posted May 30, 2007 Very cool! Thanks for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CollieKat Posted May 30, 2007 Report Share Posted May 30, 2007 Looks like you guys had lots of fun. Mary Ray is wonderful. With my previous dog, we did a demo together with Mary and one of dogs Kizzy at Crufts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tassie Posted May 30, 2007 Report Share Posted May 30, 2007 Hey Kristine, thanks for posting Speedy's demo - good job! You guys have lots of moves already, and Speedy sure looks like he was having a great time. OK - school holidays coming up - I"m inspired to get busy working with mine a bit more - well, in addition to agility training for Kirra, obedience training for Fergus, and tracking training for both of them - but we will practise some dance moves. Thanks for the inspiration again. CollieKat, that must have been great doing a demo with Mary and Kizzy. Guess you knew Kizzy made it into the Bitch Obedience at Crufts this year - Mary qualified 3 dogs - Taz as well, and Quincy came 3rd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samantha J Posted May 30, 2007 Report Share Posted May 30, 2007 That was very good Kristine Speedy looked like he loved it It's made me want to start introducing some music to Holly's moves now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CollieKat Posted May 31, 2007 Report Share Posted May 31, 2007 Barb, I don't think that a year has gone past when Mary has not qualified for at least one of the obedience championships at Crufts I grew up basing my dog training on her methods and over the years through seminars and shows, she has taught me a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samantha J Posted May 31, 2007 Report Share Posted May 31, 2007 Looks like you guys had lots of fun. Mary Ray is wonderful. With my previous dog, we did a demo together with Mary and one of dogs Kizzy at Crufts That must have been a fantastic experience, i must get to see her live sometime Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaisingRiver Posted May 31, 2007 Report Share Posted May 31, 2007 Awww... cute video! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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