Agility

Chance and I have started agility lessons.  A really nice positive trainer who wants the dog to work for a toy reward so very much the sort of thing Chance loves.

She is learning to do things like run round cones in either direction to learn how to wing wrap.  She loves doing things like this and all great fun for her.  She also needs to learn more self control around her toys so she will wait until released and also go in the opposite direction which was a huge challenge to her.

Chancey greybeard

She will not be two until the end of August but it is fascinating to see that as she grows Chance is developing a grey beard.  She says it is all the stress of living with me and Molly.

Spring sunshine and a few photos

I have an elderly Digital SLR camera I rarely use but been looking at new cameras recently and actually decided to compromise on a new lens for my existing camera.  It is a fixed 50mm lens so very different to the zoom I am used to using recently but to be totally honest I think it is worth the extra thought and effort.

I did have to crop this one quite a bit - sisters - they clearly love each other!!

Really like how happy they both are in this one.  We practice recall lots on our walks, for treats, a ball to the thrown or just a few words about how good they both are.

It might look like rubbish to everyone else and it just a bit of shredded tennis ball - but as far as Chance is concerned it is treasure.

 And finally a few from our regular posing tree.  Molly is a total pose master.

Chance is getting there - but prefers action to posing to we had a go at a shot of jumping over the tree.

Spring sun

A rare day off in the week and it was sunny so we went for a trip out.  Lovely visit to a water park where one of the dogs behaved perfectly - and one ended up back on the lead as she spent too much of her time hunting.  No prizes for guessing which one was the naughty one!!

Long way down - sometimes I am very glad I have put lots of work into lead walking so we could do this with no pulling.

Slightly annoyed looking swans ....

Molly says nothing to do with her ..... she went back on lead shortly after this.

Chance discovered the water was slightly deeper than she expected at one point!!

That was Easy

I bought the girls a Staples "Easy" button for some fun.

They need to press the button to make it say "that was easy" to get their reward.  I love the different styles they have.

Bob

Jut after Christmas we had a puppy come to stay for a few days.  The last pup who came to stay was Chance so I was not sure how Molly was going to react but she was really good and other than grumbling if he bothered her she was really good.

Chance had never really had much to do with a young pup so was not sure quite what to do with one so opted for much avoiding and warning to leave her alone too. So slightly grumpy but I was really pleased with both of them for accepting a pup into the house for a few days.

Bob was lovely - was I tempted to keep him?  Not at all - nice to have a reminder just what hard work puppies are and how easy life is with my easygoing pair.

When to train

Someone asked me today how many times a day they should be training their dog and after answering it made me really think about how I live with my pair and where training fits it.

Unless we are training for something specific any training we do tends to just fit in with what we are doing and is mostly aimed at us all just getting on with our lives. We are all very different with our needs and agendas.  This afternoon was one of those lovely warm autumn days so I decided to try and clear some of the garden. Chance lives to play so whilst I was cutting things back, pulling weeds out and generally clearing, she was following me every step of the way with her trusty tennis ball being dropped repeatedly in front of me.  She is a happy girl and attempts to ignore her just result in the ball being placed in different places, different ways, or at one stage being replaced by a large soft toy cat.

Would you throw this then?

It is hard to resist such persistence and optimism so every now and then I give in and throw her toy, but usually ask her to do something first, so a sit, a down, a wait or even a bit of heelwork as I walk to the bin to drop in some weeds.  Her needs are being met - she wants to play and every so often gets her way, mine are too as an occasional play keeps her attention on her toys and off stealing my gardening tools.

Molly as ever is more complex and her agenda changes.  Sometimes she gets stressy and guardy but these times are less and less as we learn to live peacefully together.  Today she was happy mooching around quite content to just have a word and fuss every now and then.  Once I had finished with a bit of garden clearing it was time to have a quick tidy up of Molly after her last haircut.  We tend to do it in stages these days and work on the garden table outside.  We did a bit of tidying up of her face, legs and feet all with a wonderfully co-operative dog - who is rewarded frequently for her co-operation with treats.  Again we are both getting our needs met, she jumps onto the table when I ask her to, allows me to handle her and trim her as I need to and she understands she is free to get down if she wants to but will be rewarded for staying and accepting the handling.

Yep - I am in charge!

The majority of our training works like that - just lately Chance has decided to get really silly when she sees cats, so if we have time whenever we see one we have a short session of behaving and settling for some nice calm sits and giving me attention rather than the cat.  If we are learning something new we will have some quick training sessions for that mixed in with some of the things they know and like doing mixed in with the new stuff.  If either of us are struggling or get frustrated we go back to the stuff we are good at and enjoy before ending the session.  

If teaching something new and you are trying to progress you should be able to see the progress you are making even if it is only tiny steps.  If after a few sessions you are going nowhere or backward it is time to review what you are doing and if the dog truly understands what you are aiming for.  You may need to change approach or change tack entirely.

So - how often - to be honest it depends, I probably do some training most days, but the vast majority of the time it is just fitting in with our lives so practising recalls when on walks, nipping into the pet shop to stock up with the dogs being sociable and not stealing anything etc. Formal sessions get fitted in when I have time and the inclination!  It was inevitable someone was going to have to endure some training after all this thought - poor Chance drew the short straw - but at least she was able to eat the word after the photo!!