Week 25

Twenty-four down (twenty-eight to go.) Do you realize the mid-point in the year is only a few weeks away?

Joy.

Accomplished Last Week:

I cranked out two videos this week (although the ultimate fate of jumps remaining sadly unsettled) plus material for one more.

This week saw the completion of Level Three for both Zachary and Beau (Beau just squeaking by in the waning light of Sunday.)

Core Studies: At last, a breakthrough! After weeks spent dinking around with On The Road Loose Leash with Zachary, making not enough progress to warrant even a footnote here, Zachary now seems to finally get it. (See blogs: Ruts)

Canine Good Citizen:I still have yo-yo on a leash (see Week 24) but he is becoming less… extreme… about it. He’s also spending more time with me than without. At this rate, by the time he’s Beau’s age (in four years) he might actually be good at it.

Zachary’s shiny new Canine Good Citizen manners got a big workout when we went to the Boy Scout meeting in the park. Lots of adults, lots of kids, lots of motion, a few dogs in the distance, a really boring talk (from a dog’s perspective) that lasted 15-20 minutes where I required him to be lying down.

I’d give him an A- on the outing. He needs more “calm” before he gets an A. (In contrast, Beau pulls straight C’s on a good day.)

Rally Not a good week for Rally. I’m struggling finding a place to work on the larger items (serpentine’s, walking backwards…) and I didn’t get time at the Boy Scout meeting like I had hoped.

Weekly Quiz: Zachary’s left turns are a work in progress, but the rest was pretty good. Beau has no problem with this… so long as I’m in the house or yard.

Family Member: Zachary is asymptotically approaching goodness, but he’s remains really far from perfect.

Extracurricular: Finished Contacts (Beau better than Zachary), worked on Retrieve (Zachary better than Beau) – didn’t get to Dance at all.

Just For Fun: n/a

Videoed: TL4 – Crate, TL-3 Leash Manners (Beau)

Released Video: Zachary - Training Levels Three (part 4) with Contacts, Crate, and Heel. Beau - Training Levels Four (part 3) with Distance, Heel, Jump - Broad, Jump - High, and Zen.

Blog: Loose Leash (not), Homeschooling Revisited, Compare and Contrast, Homeschooling - Planning Guide, and Ruts.

Planned for Next Week:

Ok – two weeks left in June, as I’ve decided if the Monday is in the Month, then the week is in the month. So there.

Four more items have been added from my Rally Syllabus, the quiz retains the left turns from last week and adds the left turns from the new items from last week. That’s probably a bad idea, as we’ll get dizzy – we’ll see.

Looking over my plan for June, I note I’ve got some things untouched – and so they have been added (and colored a lovely shade of green.)

I’m going back and thinking again about what it means to Homeschool your Dog and how to create a Homeschooling Curriculum, as I’ve created a web site dedicated to just that. If you’ve read this far and are interested (keeping in mind this site is only a few days only and rather sparse at the moment), visit: http://sites.google.com/site/bzdogs/

(As always, click to see larger)