You may remember a couple of weeks ago we were challenged to get our dogs to push a ball with their nose. (Not a CGC requirement but a fun activity to improve the bond between hound and human). Tonight's it's Show time.
We all have a crack with varying degrees of success. Sam (Gridiron) will push the ball if he thinks a treat is underneath it€¦ but it's all about the treat and not about the ball!. Sasha (unraced) has a delicate touch for the ball but is very good at it! Our instructor is working an awesome collie called Q (see photo) during our classes and without any practice Q has it sorted in two goes. Those dogs are amazingly smart! The movie link is a video of Sasha and the trick. She certainly has figured out how to get that treat! :-)
My Movie
But back to CGC. Tonight we go through all our usual drills but one I haven't mentioned in much detail is going up and down stairs. You and your dog need to go up and down stairs with the dog walking calmly beside you with a loose lead and not bounding ahead or flying off the last step like our boys do at home. The training trick seems to be to keep the momentum up as you approach the stairs and keep it like a normal part of the walk, ie don't make a big deal of the steps. The first time Sam stood resolutely at the top of the stairs and refused to go down but now he's going up and down the stairs like a champion although he can forget himself and skip the last couple of steps if he's in a rush to see what's at the bottom!.
As Sasha (unraced) is the star of the week here she is perfecting her sit stay with Jacqui. Right off to practice on some more steps higher than the two we have at home!