Yes, so much so that she was so happy to have been working from home the day she read about it because she could start training us IMMEDIATELY. *rolls eyes* But as usual, I caught on quickly and knew exactly what Mother wanted. Unlike somebody….

I just thought she was doing something like the walking-on-her-feet trick that’s why I kept putting both my paws on her foot!

[This is not the end result yet. The final behaviour should be the dog raising each leg following my cue with my raised legs, but the dog should be doing it independently at a short distance away from me.

Romeo picked it up fast. He pawed my foot immediately when I offered it to him. Juliet took a bit longer. She didn't quite understand what I wanted. I do think she was abit confused - she wanted to put both her front paws and her weight on my raised foot. So I tried to get the behaviour by putting my hand on my foot (like shaking hands) and also wiggling my foot around. A combination of that worked!

I also started off training them with a blister. Now it's a painful wound, no thanks to the kids and them digging in their nails!]

I cannot understand Mother sometimes. What the heck is she making us do now?

She is teaching us to walk on her feet! Wheee! So much FUN!

Sometimes I think you’re high on something…

[1 May 2012]

Whee! I’ve gotten much better! We are doing more steps now! Mummy is pleased!

It’s Labour Day. A day to rest. ZZzzzzz……

We played abit of ball, did abit of obedience training and also worked on my weave entries. Mumsy has been doing abit at home, but decided to make use of the space (and lack of dogs) at the dog run to train weave entries too. Romeo did some training too but he’s abit slow. Ssshhh! Don’t tell him I told you so! Hee!

Mumsy decided to use only 4 poles so as not to overdo things, then when I got the right entry, she clicked, waited for me to reach the end then pressed the Button which opens the Treat Box.

Mumsy calls the Treat Box a “remote controlled treat dispenser” and says it allows her to stand at one end at let me do my thing and encourage me to run fast out of the weaves.

Well I did a short compilation of some of my weaves training progression! I think I’m doing real well! Mumsy is so proud of my weave entries and was amazed I would wrap the first pole after doing only 2 short sessions of weave entry training before today! HAH! I showed her! I’m smart beneath all this cuteness!

You can see a video of today’s work at the end of the clip!

So we can stop Mummy from travelling! Or so we can go along! Wheeee!

Umm ya ok.

[This trick was trained using shaping. Took 2 sessions to train - the first session I got both to get in with 4 legs, that was easy, and also got to the point where they could get in themselves with the cover closed though Juliet was a bit more wary of the cover over her. Romeo didn't offer to lie down until the 2nd training session. Juliet got over her fear of the cover during the 2nd session but I cued the down behaviour. Videos were taken at the end of the 2nd session. I'm going to try and get them both to squeeze into the luggage next! While training Romeo, Juliet climbed in with him at the same time and it looked hilarious!]

Yay! I’m an Advanced Trick Dog! Almost at your level and I’m 2 years younger!

I’m Expert Trick Dog and Mother says she’s going to look into getting me certified  as Trick Dog Champion. *sticks out chest*

…… Yay! I’m an Advanced Trick Dog! Almost at your level and I’m 2 years younger!

[Video clip from 14 June 2011]

Ya, notice how close the toy is to the box, to make it so easy for you! And you still didn’t get it! Hah!

I was lazy and wanted Mummy to put it in the box for me. But Mumsy ignored my laziness, so I had no choice. I got yummy treats for doing it though! And Mumsy could throw the toy further away towards the end of the video!

I think Mother started by holding the box directly below your mouth when you were holding the toy right? Until you got the idea that the goal was to put the toy in the box.

Yup and I learnt it fast!

ROMEO

Did well overall. He was more focused (from lack of balls?) and quite fast but not to a point I had trouble keeping up. Out of the 2 runs which he didn’t get a Q in, one was open jumpers and the other was novice agility.

Agility (novice) #1: I can’t remember why he didn’t Q for novice agility!! ARGH. Oh wait. I think he missed a down contact and might have knocked over a bar. Note to self: write down post-trial analysis earlier!

Jumpers (open) #1: Though he did not Q, Romeo did very well. He followed my cues and executed them well even though it was a course full of twists and turns! It was my fault he didn’t Q here – it was a wrap around jump and I didn’t pull him off enough to do the wrap and he took the jump straight on instead.

Went home with 1st in Agility novice (2nd course) and 2nd in Jumpers open (2nd course).

JULIET

Oh my little baby girl. My little pocket rocket. Juliet also performed very well. Despite her lack of experience (she’s only been training for a year afterall), she read my cues and handled the course far better than I thought she would have. Juliet had great focus as usual. Eager and rearing to go. Didn’t get any Qs this time round, running 2 x agility novice, 2 x jumpers open, but saw where the problems lie.

Agility (novice) #1: She had a problem with her weave entry. Need to work on this! I also didn’t pull her back far enough when I tried to help her find her entry on the 2nd and 3rd try. Stupid me! She also popped out after the 10th pole. But she did a nice rear cross for me from a jump to the table. I wasn’t confident and wanted to do a front cross, but she’s too fast for me. She also hit all her contacts! So proud of her for that!

Agility (novice) #2: I pulled her out too far (to take a tunnel entrance at 90­­°) and she went for the other entrance instead (tunnel in a U). She was on my left. Again, MY FAULT. I forget sometimes how small and how tightly she can turn and how I needn’t give her as much space as Romeo. Could have also solved this by having her on my right, then doing a rear cross to get to the tunnel exit.

Jumpers (open) #1: I thought she did brilliantly! I must be honest – I had my doubts. She’s a great gal but she is still new to the sport! But I got excellent focus from her and was pleasantly surprised that she could handle the course! I was very proud of her!

Jumpers (open) #2: Now the second jumpers course is the one that disturbs me the most. I was up until then very happy with her performance (can’t fault her really!). Here was what happened:

I took both her and Romeo near to the entrance of the trial ring because there were only 2 dogs between the both of them and I wouldn’t have time to run back to where their tent was to get the next dog. Juliet was up first, so I tethered Romeo to a nearby pole. I had grabbed a handful of treats (bak kwa) and was using them to get Juliet revved and focused (same routine as always). Then before I knew it, it was time for us to enter the ring. I still had quite a large chunk of treat left and didn’t want to stuff it down Juliet’s throat (thinking she would be so full and satiated she wouldn’t bother with me), so I gave them to Romeo.

J and I enter the ring. I lead out and she jumps over.. maybe.. 4 or 5 jumps? Then stops. I can’t remember if she turned to look in the direction of the ring entrance, but I remember that her ears flew back. She wouldn’t take the next jump. So I squatted (yes), and coaxed her over the jump and she eventually did go over. I thought her momentary lapse of concentration was over, but no. 3 or 4 jumps in the form of a pinwheel, and she was facing the ring entrance, and OFF SHE WENT towards the entrance. I gave up and the judge said “She sure is having herself some fun!” or something to that extent, and left the ring running after her. The silly silly girl ran out of the ring and straight to her brother. As if to say “hey you, you took my treats! Give ‘em back!” This is what I think anyway. I think she could not really focus after she watched her brother eat ALL HER FOOD. Sigh.

This behaviour isn’t all too surprising, considering how earlier last year, when we were training obedience, I had left her box of treats on a bench, to which another dog was tethered to. Juliet could not pay any attention to me. She was constantly looking at the bench and the dog, as if wanting to be sure that her treats are still there and the dog hadn’t stolen them all! Food is Juliet’s kryptonite.

So anyhow…

TRAINING PLANS:

Romeo 

1. Reduce verbal cues! I get so out of breath it’s not funny! I’m quite confident that Romeo will take jumps even if I don’t call them out. Ideally I would like to only use verbal cues when I don’t want him to take the jump directly in front

2. Improve handling (goes with #1 above). Need to pay more attention to how I move and try to get more fluid handling.

3. More contact work!

Juliet

1. Weaves in general and entries in particular

2. More distance work (Funnily enough, she’s more sticky than Romeo but can do better distance work at training, BUT I am more confident doing distance work with Romeo in a trial. Weird.)

3. Working with/around/near/on FOOD!

1. Spinning

2. Need a tissue?

3. Rollover

4. Put away your toys!

5. Circling backwards

6. Basketball star

7. Are you shy?

8. Close the door

9. Moving leg weaves

10. Static weaves

11. Treat in the hand

12. Get in the bag!

13. Digging in the sand

14. Under the Romeo bridge

15. Circus dog – walk the ball

16. Playing the piano

17. Bow

18. Kiss each other!

19. Walking on feet

20. Marching to the beat