Session 1 Submissions

Since we now have Sunday 10PM deadlines for homework, I got a teeny bit crazy about getting it all done. I spent the past week making a homework chart, planning when to go out and what locations to cover, and just lugging my camera and tripod whenever I went out with Odie.

I made a homework tracker on MS Excel with colors and x's and the number of points achieved for each exercise. It's basically just a checklist to remind me of the number of locations I covered and what videos I finished shooting, and which ones need to be edited in time for the weekly deadlines.

I never tracked my homework when I was still studying. I KNOW, RIGHT?

I'm quite happy with its current status, and ever hopeful that I would complete everything. What's good (and bad) about this tracker is that I am motivated to do as much as I can to accomplish all the homework because I find it hard to deal with an empty box. Each one has to contain something, and I only get to do that if we do the homework. I may have issues.

Here's what we accomplished this week:

Cookie in the Corner was a very fun activity for me, but I didn't know that finding locations for it would be a challenge. Our house isn't big enough for recall drills so I had to move some things around to ensure that nothing gets in Odie's way and no furniture is broken. Oh, and I haven't been to the hardware store yet to make us a long line. A long line is used for agility and distance training. It's this really looooong leash that allows your dog to feel like he's running free while comforting the human with the thought that the puppy will not run off and get lost. I really want to get a long line from the US, but for now, some rope from the hardware store and a snap hook from an old leash massacre should do. Since I didn't go to a hardware store last week, I just connected 3 leashes and hoped for the best.

Cookie in the Corner: At Home from Pauline Gaerlan on Vimeo. 

I was lucky enough to have gone to more outdoor locations than I could imagine. I shot in two locations near our house, and four other outdoor locations. For the ones near our house, I positioned my tripod directly in front of my car. My car became the barrier because I figured, cars passing by wouldn't be shifting lanes inside a village.

I originally planned to shoot the rest on Friday morning. I asked my stepdad for permission to use the car to go to the next village, but my brother had to go to Loyola Grand Villas same time that morning, so I thought Odie and I could check if they have a park we could use. I found this really nice fenced playground and told the driver to park the car, but we saw two signs, one saying "no pets allowed" and the other saying "no dog poop allowed". I love how they just banned dog poop. I mean, would anyone not bring a pet inside BUT bring dog poop?

Luckily, we saw a mini soccer field nearby and no one was using it, so I took advantage.

Cookie in the Corner: Outdoors from Pauline Gaerlan on Vimeo.

We had to slow down a bit in the grassy areas because my treats were cooked chicken breast and chicken liver. With the grass, it was hard for Odie to fish for the treat so there were times when I would already reach my point B and he would be stuck in point A, looking for the treat that I dropped. I guess next time, I should use either really big treats or something with an unusual color.

It looks like Odie loved Push Back and Run more than Cookie. I consulted Doc Marose after shooting the videos because Odie kept barking during this recall drill. I didn't know whether he was enjoying the activity or if he's mad that I'm running away from him with a treat in tow. I was so happy when I found out he was having too much fun from it!

Push Back and Run: At Home from Pauline Gaerlan on Vimeo.

Push Back and Run: Outdoors from Pauline Gaerlan on Vimeo.

This was easy peasy and fun to do as well. After all, what's not to like about running with a dog (and not FROM it)? I love how Odie would sometimes hop like a bunny on his hind legs before running, and how he would bark like a happy seal.

We reviewed heeling in class yesterday, which clarified a bunch of things for me. Teacher did a demo and made me realize what I was doing wrong, and what I did wrong in the videos below. My main issue is that when he loses focus, I wait until he gives his attention back to me instead of me proceeding to where I want to go. I also have to work on my delivery of treats because we would usually pause for him to get a treat and that's not very ideal.

Heeling: at Home from Pauline Gaerlan on Vimeo.

Heeling: Outdoors from Pauline Gaerlan on Vimeo.

I don't usually speed up my videos, but come on, watching a person walking a dog back and forth can be tormenting.

All in all, I'm happy to have reached the maximum number of locations, except after finding out yesterday what I did wrong, there's a nagging feeling that I should re-shoot everything. Or I can also charge it to experience and pay extra attention to those points for improvement whenever we play the drills and go on walks. It doesn't make things easier that I have dexterity issues (I do most things with my right hand, but there are some things that I could only do with my left hand, like writing and brushing my teeth) and these come out during training because I don't think about what hand I'm using, resulting in inconsistencies. I hope I get to fix that issue this week. This set of homework was really challenging and I don't know how difficult the succeeding ones would be. Hopefully it wouldn't involve the need for lots of open space because that was pretty hard to find.