Here are the main points I picked up:
Heelwork (Jo Hill/John Higgins):
* Fast food circuits. They need to be so animated that Jesse runs at full pelt, they need to be at a good distance and with me motivating him.
* Get Jesse to find the heel position himself rather than cue him and help him all the time. He needs to want to be in my heel position and get heavily rewarded for it. This will get him motivated to keep up with me and hold the position without me doing the work for him. And in turn I will be able to start trusting him more, which I don't at the moment(eventhough he doesn't really give me any reason not to).
Recall (Kamal):
* I must put Jesse on a variable schedule with all exercises, especially with recall and retrieve though! * To build up Jesse's confidence with these exercises when he is distracted, I need to make them more exciting and faster by getting him to run through legs, getting him to jump up and run away from him etc. And then once in a while to get him into the present properly and heavily reward him.
Retrieve (Kamal):
* Variable schedule as well.
* Building up his confidence by proofing him heavily. We used food, first waved in front of him and click/reward him when he eventually held on to the dumbbell. Then pretend to put a treat on the ground, and again reward when he held on to it. This worked fairly quickly with him. The more confident he gets with holding by proofing it well, the less likely he will be influenced if unsure about something in the ring!
General:
* Put him on a variable schedule with everything.
* Get him to do more for a reward - full rounds during training, not just reward after each exercise.
* Keep motivation up by keeping things moving, motivated, fun and fast!
* Play more, and get him to be able to play around food as well and to be able to switch him on and off when needed.
Learnt so much again! What a great day!
And here's a picture taken by Mari Ylivinkka on the day (we were both a bit windswept).
