Sunday, January 29, 2012

What we've been doing

I want to get trick titles on my crew. We've been working on various foundation exercises just for this goal. Well, not just for the trick title, but for now, that's my motivation.  (You can find more information about trick titling here, Trick Title )  In my opinion, there's no such thing as too much training. As long as you're having fun and your dog is having fun, why not do it??

I looked over the application, looked at what was required, looked at what we needed to learn. I already had two of the books I needed, so I ordered the third. Then I made my chart. When actively training, it can be hard to remember who already knows what and who needs more work in what. Charts are good for this!

It was very interesting to go down the list and figure out who knew what already AND knew it well enough to pass 'the test'. For now, to me, passing means being able to do it in the house (easy), in the backyard (average) and in the front yard (a little bit hard). For myself, that kind of proofing is necessary. It tells me they really *know* it.

Some of the tricks don't need that kind of proofing. It makes no sense to me, for example, to play the muffin tin game in the front yard.  I like this game, it makes them think. Sure in the beginning its just them following their nose. But I've seen it evolve, you can see the wheels turning in their head while trying to figure out how best to move the ball.


 By the way, a mini muffin tin with mini balls makes this an equal opportunity game.











The Novice Title, Intermediate, Advanced and Expert are all done wherever you choose with a witness signing off on it. A Trick Dog Champion title requires you send in an unedited video of you and your dog doing those tricks. Most of the later level tricks require props that I'm guessing the average owner just doesn't have. Well, I know, I don't have at least. The good news is some of the things are easily built at home. (Yes, DH now has a list of things he needs to build for me!)






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