Titles Achieved to date...

Monumental A to Z High On Liberty
NW1, RATI, RATN, RATO, NW2, L1I, RATS, L1E, L1C, L1V, L2C, L2I, L2E, RATM, R-FE/N, PKD-TL, PKD-N, ADPL1, ADPL2, TD, UWP, ADPL3, NTD, TKN, L2V, ADPL4, SDS-N, ADPL5, ADPCH, ADP1(2), ADPL1(GC), ADPL2(2), ADPL2(GC), VPN, AP, UWPCH, ADPL3(2), ADPL3(GC), NC, NI, NE, SCN, SIN, SEN, CZ8B, NV, NN, ADPL4(2), ADPL4(GC), ADPGCH, ADPL5(2), RATCH, CZ8S, AI, TKI, AV, AE, AC, AN, R-FE/X NW3-V, NW3-E, SI, RN, R-FE/NS, CZ8G, SC, SV, SE, SN, SEA, SBN, SWN, SIA, SCA, ADP-1(Th), ADP-2(Th), ADP-3(Th), ADP-4(Th), ADP-5(Th), and ADP-CH(Th)... 81 and counting...

Monday, July 14, 2014

Shortie Training

I went to a movie tonight, Dawn of Planet of the Apes.  It was pretty good.  I never liked the original Planet of the Apes movies very much, but I do like the new ones and I was just in the mood. 

I promised Gimme I'd only be gone a couple of hours and we'd train as soon as I got back.  Of course, I just had to check emails and do some other things first.  Its an Adult ADD thing, some stuff is just a distraction if I resist it.  I quickly got on the computer to take care of it and Gimme spent the whole time huffing and sighing.  She really expects me to live up to my promises, doncha know...

So I cleared the living room floor and got out my cards to pick a couple of Rally moves to train.  I got right-about-turn and 90-degree-left-turn. 

Well gosh those were so easy, I got off on a tangent and worked on some backing up in heel.  Except if she sits, she then scoots backwards and as I recall, that's not correct for rally.  So I used my freestyle arm position (hands on hips) and even though we haven't really trained freestyle "hip" (standing "heel") in a very long time, she actually remembered it fairly well.  We were able to get three-steps-forward-three-steps-back very quickly.

Then I worked on her doing the same thing from "center" (standing "front").  I hadn't worked it with the hands on hips, so it took a moment for her to understand it and then voila' three-steps-forward-three-steps-back without having to really teach it.

From there we worked "thigh" (standing off"side").  I haven't trained hands on hips for "side", she still picked it up very quickly.  For some reason three-steps-forward-three-steps-back didn't come as easily there.  Though, once I worked it with her between me and the couch, she got it quickly.  Honestly I don't train "side" or "thigh" anywhere close to how often I train "heel" and "hip", so I'm sure its a factor.

We ended with a quick session of her filing her nails on the nail board.  She has learned to do three scratches with her right paw, followed by three scratches with her left paw.  She's really very good and rarely forgets to alternate, though sometimes she will do two or five scratches.  So she understands alternating better than counting.

Still it amazes me the things she can understand and how quickly she learns stuff.  She is also better at generalizing than most dogs I've worked with.  If Gimme were blessed with a more consistent, better trainer, she'd probably be famous and have her own TV show by now.  Just sayin...

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