Training Fronts with Molly

A few nights ago I was "doodling around" as I think of it with Molly and her dumbbell retrieve.   Molly has gotten to the point, with much self control work, where we have a hold.  When I started to work on some short retrieves, it was pretty clear that Molly doesn't have the foggiest idea of what "front" position is.   Molly's knowledge of front is basically a "good enough for rally" call in with hand guidance.  Ein is a bit more advanced, we started off with the lure in with hands technique and have recently sharpened up with the use of platforms.   Perri has done well using a stationary sit platform, she absolutely adores platform work.

For Molly, a platform is more challenging for both of us, though we are working hard on that.   I thought a better fit for Molly would be a pivot platform.   She has been heavily rewarded for pivoting to heel position or just for spinning around, so we are working through that.   I have also been slipping on videoing my training sessions, but I decided tonight I needed to do so.  These are our 3rd and 4th sessions of working on this skill and we are enjoying ourselves.   I wanted to look at my timing as well as if I was clicking the position that I actually wanted.

And I thought, why not post my unedited training sessions.   They aren't too long!  The camera angle kind of sucks.   By the second video I feel like Molly is definitely catching onto the concept of what I want.   She absolutely cannot handle me having the treats in my hands - they have to be in my sweatshirt pocket -it is just too distracting for her at this time.   I am trying to give multiple treats in the position I will eventually want her head to be in.   And I note that I need to do some reps with myself moving in the opposite direction (counter clockwise vs clockwise.)