Upper Hutt CGC Week 4

The test for this week is "Can you still do well at CGC class without any practice during the week?€ It's been a crazy busy week in the Harris household so off to class we go pretty nervous at how we will go with no practice.  As we go through our usual drills of sit, stay, and walking to heel, it's pretty obvious that the answer is no, we won't go well without practice! Sam (Gridiron) bounces out of the stay in one second, saunters behind me again on the heel walking and going through the gate was a write off. So, training tip for this week - to be successful at training requires regular short training sessions throughout the week to  maintain performance and see improvements!

One of the interesting parts of the CGC test is the ability to leave your dog tied on the lead for a period of time and for the dog to be relaxed.  This is something we recommend you don't do with a greyhound as their ability to accelerate rapidly means they can reach a reasonable speed before the end of the lead stops brings them to a painful halt. But in this controlled environment and for this short period of time (about 5 mins) it was safe for all of us to try and, not surprisingly, all the greyhounds demonstrated exceptional ability at doing nothing for 5 mins!  (though please do not tether your greyhound as a general rule!)

This week we were also asked to bring a toy along to practice taking it from the dog.  However none of our hounds were as interested in the toys as they were in the training treats and so getting them to play long enough to practice taking the toy was not very successful, but on the plus side none of the dogs showed any toy possessiveness :-)

To improve the bond between us and our dogs, and to try learning some non CGC tricks, our instructor has challenged us to teach our dog to push a ball.  We have to figure out how to teach it and we have two weeks to do it in.  Sam (Gridiron pictured) loves balls so pretty excited about giving this one a go!  Any tips or tricks on this one greatly appreciated!

Training tips. Practice lots and make it fun!

PS. We have learnt the Dalmation's name this week and it's Mika and he's still gorgeous!
Tania Harris - Hutt Valley Area Co-ordinator