Tip Tail

Yay! I’m so excited. For a while there I didn’t think she’d ever take the dumbbell on her own.
I’ve been putting squeeze cheese on the dumbbell for her to lick, which she really likes. And no matter how many times I’ve read, in clicker training books, that a dog will naturally just open her mouth [...]

Okay I know I know it’s not like I don’t do regular training with my dogs, but I’m excited because Tatum is going to be going to regular obedience and agility classes soon. Probably with the start of April. Should be fun.
Levi’s obedience is winding down, he’ll still do ASCA which will be fun.  And [...]

Teaching the Heel has always been difficult for me. Plus, it is what Novice Obedience is all about!  Ugh.
So it’s time to teach Tatum to heel. And I want her to have a nice solid fun heeling that she will do even without treats. Ha! It’s a challenge with this girl, because she [...]

Whew! What a weekend! I am dead tired. At the end of the first day I thought having a 3 day ASCA trial was a great idea (ASCA  is Australian Shepherd Club of America). However, today, after the third day was over, I think two days are better!  I’m dead tired. So are my dogs, [...]

So in order to qualify in Open Obedience with Levi, we need to practice! Actually, not practice, I need to teach him what I want him to do. Since he doesn’t really know! He is a good boy and is always trying to do what I want. Unlike Tatum.. who wants to know what is [...]

The obedience trial in Idaho Falls was fun. Mainly it told me that Levi is not ready for Open! He was in Open A, and while he did some good work with his dumbbell, his broad jump and his drop on recall are not quite up to par yet. [...]

Well, what else would my dream job be? I love working with dogs. And I would love to do it full time. working with the people would be harder, I’m sure, than the dogs. But I hope I can develop the observational skills I know are so critical.
I made this little video.. [...]

Today I took Chase, Muffit and Tatum up to a Bark in the Park event in Park City, Utah.  Our flyball team, the Thunder Paws, did a flyball demo a couple of times and so I figured I’d take all three of them up, and do some obedience practice with Chase while we were there [...]

Levi’s new dumbbell came in the mail today! We LOVE it! Levi carried it around right when we got it. Of course.. he was probably thinking it’s something new to guard from Tony, but that’s okay. As long as he likes it, that’s good!
The one I was using for him.. the ends were [...]

Yesterday was a busy day. I got maybe three hours of work done in the morning… then the dog things started. And, of course, dog things are more fun that work so work got the back seat.
I met my friend for a split private lesson with our obedience instructor. [...]