AM - beach training. Working on heelwork and building up Franks fitness. He is so long and built little different so I’m really trying to work on his strength and hopefully have a little flicky feet one day. Plus getting him used to eating with his head up. Beach is also great because he doesn’t keep looking forward for any obstacles coming up. PM- we are all hot and over this week so little indication practice and mini conditioning session https://www.instagram.com/stories/goodboy_frank/3542348176454100549?utm_source=ig_story_item_share&igsh=bHpzNmRydmg3OGhj

Dillon starting to get the hang of close walking and we did around 300 yards on pavements, with close and a few leave it commands without breaking. Some success this morning as he turned perfectly onto the cycle path without losing heel and didnt freeze, so possibly starting to break the fear/anticipation of going onto the cycle path where he often meets dogs. Towards the end of the lead walk, turning back on the pavement area, some improvement here also with less freezing and less coaxing needed. I recognise that the fear/freeze situation where he meets dogs (that he's not familiar with) will be a longer term challenge, but good to see he's becoming less fearful of actually moving into the area where he meets dogs on the cycle path. Close walking on grass also likely more of a challenge for Dillon due to the smells around.

Can genuinely see improvement with Drax locking onto me. Our walks are now much more fun orientated..when i recall him it could be cocktail saussage or ball or frisbee...Drax loves toys. Ive now trained him to wait while i throw ball..then when he makes eye contact i release him to fetch....hes so smart...only weakness is his desire to bound upto every bloody dog in the world still! Lead walk training today .hes getting great at this(Nick B thank you for advice re different lead set up) lead pressure training is going well, stop training is good....just need to keep it up!!

I had grand plans today of working on distractions in a real world walk at a local reservoir. I haven't been taking Peaches to this location much as I'm pretty sure it's the location they used to film Watership Down (filled with rabbits). I noticed the rabbit activity had died down as it's winter and thought I'd see if I could transfer some of the work I'd done with Sheep to Rabbits. I had a good walk here the other day, and even got an automatic recall from a rabbit at distance, but today was a little more challenging. Looking back I didn't set her up for success. I moved in too close to where I knew the rabbits hung out and one bolted across the green. It's moments like that I realise just how powerful a 60kg dog can be. Lucky for me I'm a big bloke 🤣. Lessons learned and we reconvene tomorrow a little more humble 💪. No video (thank God 🤣)

Well, finally I have a bag of kibble. I ordered some and paid extra for it to come on Wednesday morning. Then I got a notification to say it was delivered on Tuesday - except it wasn't. Turns out the driver didn't bother to put a card through and my neighbours been hanging onto it for a few days waiting for me to come around to collect it 🤦‍♂️ I like to use the kibble for training because it means I can just use their breakfast and I don't have to grab anything extra. Plus, the kibble is a good size so I can get loads of reps into a session. Today fueled by my recent hatred of positions, I had a re-think. I went onto Dave Kroyer's academy and watched his position tutorials, and with @Charmaine Willis 's comments in my mind - I thought screw it. Screw the fancy shit I've been trying to employ. Screw teaching the three together. I'm going back to basics, pure lure and reward, then fading the lure - no equipment or gimmicks and I'll just focus on Down today. It's too early to say but it felt productive and way more in my comfort zone. I'll do some more of this and we'll see how we go but I'm feeling optimistic. As a bonus it's a beautiful clear blue sky today which makes training outdoors a bit more pleasant.