Tuesday Training 24

***Before we get to our regularly scheduled training update, we want to make everyone aware that Mango Minster is currently taking place -- Marge's category, Sporty Dogs, is being voted on tonight and tomorrow morning! Go on over and pick your favorite.***

All I really have from this week is the dumbbell work. Walks have been good, I've not been shy about doling out praise and cookies for Marge getting through any difficult patches we may come across (like the strange, distant smoke alarm-like sound that has rang through the air a couple of nights during our walk, or the street sweeper that rolled by us this AM) and we've been having a good time. Louie and I went on an awesome walk this afternoon which featured multiple zoomy bouts! She was having a blast and is enjoying the cold weather.

On to the dumbbell. Some of you expressed that you don't know what it is or what it's used for. Well, all I can really tell you about it is that it's a part of obedience competition at the Open Level (the 2nd level, which comes after Novice). It's exactly what it sounds like - a dumbbell shaped object, which the dog must retrieve on the flat and over a jump. A lot of people start training dumbbell work from a young age as it can be hard to teach depending on the dog. I'm not looking for any CDX title right now, but I figured I'd give that little bit of background for those who don't know.

We've had a few sessions with it -- just some basic shaping. I started out by showing it to Marge and simply clicking/treating her for any interaction she made with it - mouthing it, pawing it, sniffing it. As she got better at playing around with it, I made my criteria more strict, only rewarding her when she used her mouth on it. Then, she only got clicked for picking it up. Then, for holding it. Then, for running out to get it if I tossed it.

A lot of that for Marge is familiar, as I've already done some basic retrieving exercises with her. Marge's biggest trouble occurs with sitting still with the dumbbell in her mouth. She feels she must move around with it.

Here is a snippet of the session we had today. The original video was over 10 minutes long, but it crashed my computer and I had to shorten it.

As you can see, she's doing pretty well with picking it up and even going out to get it. It's a little tougher to get her to sit still with it, but I'm trying. I wanted to focus solely on having her sit with it before moving on to any other part of the training, but because she's finding it so tough, I need to shake it up to keep it interesting and fun for her.

She spaces out a couple of times in the video - it was the height of the afternoon and there was a lot of bustle in the neighborhood, so that explains that.

We'll see where it gets us - I could be going about this completely wrong, but I'm confident that she'll get better at it and maybe we can have a complete behavior (retrieving it and sitting in front) in a couple of months. I'd appreciate tips for those who've trained this in the past.

Sorry I've been absent this week - school has got me absolutely exhausted. I have early morning classes four days of the week, so it's taking my body a little longer to adjust to the new times. I will catch up with everyone tomorrow.