Agility Practice

There will NOT be an Agility practice this Sunday. The next meeting for the Beginners will be next Wednesday at 7 PM.

Beginner's Class-Third Night

Your trainer, Kathy, thinks you all need to focus on working your dogs every single day! It only takes 15 minutes a day and you can even break that up into smaller time segments. Remember, it shows whether you have worked your dog or not during the week and your trainer always knows:) We had some brand new kids and dogs last night and you will find yourselves a little behind. That is ok, just work hard and you will catch up.

By the next training session Kathy would like you to be able to complete these exercises with your dog:
Sit Stay- - 2 minutes
Down Stay- - 3 minutes
Stand Stay- - 2 minutes
Heeling- - add circle right and circle left
Recall- - across room, instructor holding dog in place
Leave it
Beginning Rally exercises

Class 2: Notes from your trainer

I heard that everyone has been working very hard with their dogs. That is nice to hear!! Your trainer has given me a list of exercises that your dog should be able to complete by the next class. Remember, a few short training sessions during the day can make a big difference!! So, here goes:

* Sit stay - 1 minute
* Down stay - 2 minutes
* Stand stay - 1 minute
* Heeling - including automatic sit and the following commands: fast, slow, about-turn
* Recall - 2 ways to work this- - - 1) toss a piece of food about 6 ft away.....when your dog starts to eat it, call "Belle, come" 2) while heeling, start backing up and call your dog to you "Cedar, come"

Please remember, next week we will not have a training session. Instead, we will have the monthly meeting of the county-wide dog club. We will meet at the 4-H building just like we always do, in the Bison Room, but don't bring dogs!!

Good Work!!

Great job last night at the very first dog training session! Here is what you should be working on this week: 10 second sit-stay, 30 second down-stay, and a 10 second stand-stay. You should also practice heeling. Your dog should be able to walk 10 steps with you on a loose lead. That means you shouldn't be jerking or pulling your dog along! If you were unable to make it to class and are not sure how to teach your dog these commands, please e-mail me and I will do my best to help you.

Also, according to my room reservations, we will be in the Bison Room again next week, but after that we will meet in the 4-H Hall. I know it is a tight squeeze to have all those dogs, kids and parents in the Bison Room, but we will make due.

Work hard this week. It only takes a few minutes of work each day to make a huge difference.

Class Schedule!

Beginners 101

We will meet 5 times for the beginners only. Please note that the graduation from beginners 101 will be held on a tuesday due to a scheduling conflict at the 4-H building. All classes will be held at 7 PM. Here is the schedule:

Monday, Feb 4.
Monday, Feb. 11
Monday, Feb 18 (This is not a training session so no dogs tonight, this will be the dog club meeting)
Monday, Feb. 25
Wednesday, March 5
Tuesday, March 11 Graduation for Beginners!!
Monday, March 17 (Dog club meeting, no dogs)

Beginning March 25 we will allow the advanced students to join the group. Please note there are a couple of tuesday sessions due to scheduling conflicts at the building. Here is the schedule:

Session 2: Showmanship and Obedience
Tuesday, March 25
Monday, March 31
Monday, April 7
Tuesday, April 15
Monday, April 21 (No training session, dog club meeting)
Monday, April 28 (Class will be outside in the parking lot)
Monday, May 5
Monday, May 12
Monday, May 19 (No training session, dog club meeting)
Monday, May 26
Monday, June 2
Monday, June 9
Monday, June 16 (No training session, dog club meeting)
Monday, June 23
Monday, June 30 (Class outside in the parking lot)
Monday, July 7 (Class outside in the parking lot)

That will take us up to the county fair dog show which will be held on July 12. We will then take a short break and will resume classes in August only for those qualified to go to State Fair.

The first meeting of the new year of 4-H Dog will be January 28, 2008 at 7 PM at the Extension Office at 21st and Ridge Road. Leave the dogs at home and come find out what we will do this year!