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Thalia

QY10

Well-Known Member
Thalia will officially be starting Rally Obedience tomorrow morning.

Thalia has such an abundance of energy and is very smart, so I think Rally will be a good sport for her body and mind.

The trainer suggested that low resistance weight work be a part of her work out regime to burn off the excess energy and to continue to condition her body.

Anyway, I am excited for us and I really hope that Thalia enjoys the new sport and that her and I can continue to bond. She is my baby girl, after all.
 

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QY10

Well-Known Member
Thanks!

Thalia is a VERY driven girl and she loves to be working to please her people, so I have faith that this is something she could really excel in.

On the other hand, she has a mind of her own sometimes!!! So, it also has the potential of going completely sideways LOL.
 

QY10

Well-Known Member
First session was earlier this morning.

Thalia caught on really quick. She caught on a lot faster than I did, in fact.

She seemed to LOVE it. Big smile and a wiggly bum the whole time. She was absolutely exhausted after 45 minutes and all we learned and practiced was sit, swing and heel. It's right up her ally.
 

DalCielo CC

Well-Known Member
First session was earlier this morning.

Thalia caught on really quick. She caught on a lot faster than I did, in fact.

She seemed to LOVE it. Big smile and a wiggly bum the whole time. She was absolutely exhausted after 45 minutes and all we learned and practiced was sit, swing and heel. It's right up her ally.

Rally's a lot of fun. You'll find most of the deductions come from misreading the signs and not mistakes from you partner. LOL
 

QY10

Well-Known Member
Rally's a lot of fun. You'll find most of the deductions come from misreading the signs and not mistakes from you partner. LOL

I can totally see that!

I honestly thought Rally would be boring and that Thalia wasn't disciplined enough to get it. She marches to the beat of her own drum. She makes a total liar out of me. I tell the trainer that she knows the "up" command. He asks to see it and she rolls onto her back. I tell him that she cannot go down and then stay and she ends up doing it perfectly. >_<

So now I am totally into Rally (our second session is next weekend) and proving to this trainer that I'm not just some uncoordinated punk. He's a total no bullshit kind of guy. I never thought I would see the day where someone would tell me that I need to be assertive, but he totally said that I'm not assertive enough with Thalia.

Learning this stuff with Thalia is so beneficial too because I can start working our other 2 dogs at the same time. Everyone in the household is benefiting from having a bit more structure in our lives.
 

DalCielo CC

Well-Known Member
Yep, the quickest way to get egg on your face is say "watch this new trick we've been working on". Which is usually follow by "I don't get, they always do it at home".
 

QY10

Well-Known Member
HAHA it's so true!


I have to say, Thalia is picking things up pretty quickly and she is so eager to please.

Her heel is getting really good. She will do sit stay, down stay and stand stay for 20 seconds each. We are working on our figure 8 and right about turn, but she is pretty good with the left about turn. Also, she is getting good with the regular right and left turns.

I have noticed that since working with her, we have bonded. She has become such a Velcro dog!! Always sitting on me, laying with me, cuddling with me. It would almost be suffocating if I didn't love her so much! :p
 

QY10

Well-Known Member
It took 3 weeks, but we have nailed spiral right, spiral left, serpentine and come 4 (or 7 in our case).

Very excited to show off our progress at Rally class this weekend. :D
 

QY10

Well-Known Member
There will definitely be videos in the near future! Perhaps this weekend I can talk my fianc* into working the camera while Thalia and I practice.

And figures, it would start raining today. Hooray for practicing in the pouring rain. I wish my house was big enough to practice inside.
 

QY10

Well-Known Member
Just got back from a Rally session with Thalia.

New things to work on are:

"Watch me"

And just practicing my fancy footwork so that I don't trip over Thalia and so that she stays in a perfect heel no matter which way I go.

Oh, also making sure that when we "halt", she goes into a perfectly straight sit stay.

Jason is working today, so hopefully tomorrow I will be able to get some videos and pictures of Thalia and I practicing.
 

QY10

Well-Known Member
MVI 8380 - YouTube

Here is a video of Thalia and I.

Jason has to be THE WORST camera-man EVER and I personally think it's a ploy so that I don't ask him to participate again. :p

So, I am sorry for the constant focusing in and out. I have no idea what he was doing, but think maybe he was trying to use the touch-screen to focus?
 

QY10

Well-Known Member
She really is! She is so eager to work and to please. Angus is not nearly as motivated... actually, he has zero motivation. :p
 

Hector

Well-Known Member
She really is! She is so eager to work and to please. Angus is not nearly as motivated... actually, he has zero motivation. :p

Looking good you two! What does Angus do that makes you think he has zero motivation lol? Make a video please haha.
 

QY10

Well-Known Member
Thanks! Just got in from another practice in the yard. WOW, it's warm today and our front yard really lacks shade, but it's the easiest spot to set up the cones.

Maybe it's not that he's not motivated, but he's VERY laid back and has no sense of urgency. He likes to take his time, observe things, sniff things... he really likes to soak in his surroundings. He likes to sniff the grass, the flowers, watch the bees buzzing, look at the birds.

No matter how excited and encouraging my voice is, no matter how yummy the treat (most treats end up just caught in his slobber and jowls and end up falling out of his mouth, so he's not that motivated by them...).

Even asking him to sit... He will sit the first time that I ask him to, but it takes him forever! First, he has to look around him to make sure he's not going to sit on anything and then he will ever so slowly make his way into the sit position.