Training vs Trialling

I love playing with mum’s mind. Doing things nicely in training and then running riot in a trial.

Take start line stays. Check out today’s training. Mum let’s go of my collar and I sit there. She acknowledges the judge… She could have gone off and made a cup of tea. Yep I just sat there and waited for her release cue. And then there is what happens in a trial… Hehe.

Contacts too. The contact is that area at the base of dog walks etc that is painted a different colour. One the way up and down I am supposed to have at least 1 paw touch the colour area. Yep tick in training. Ah trial…. Launch myself off contact equipment at the furtherest point possible… Top of A-frame preferably so I can hear everyone gasp. Oh and did I mention stopping on the table.

So here is today’s video. It was lots of fun today. Trying a few funky moves. A couple of bars down but they were more handling from mum (and we had been training for a couple of hours so I was a bit tired… My excuse). All in all a good day back after a week of holiday.

Let’s see what happens when we go back to daytime trials now as we move into winter.

Hope you enjoy.
Bodhi Oooo

Training Tip Tuesday – Step Up

Running a bit late this week. Blame mum. She is traveling for work and hence there is a bit of a communication break down (and I’m busy sulking).

But getting over my sulking what we were working on last week when lots of rainy weather prevented some walks was my ‘step’. This again is part of mum’s preoccupation with my rear end and making sure I know it is there so I hopefully remember to get it over the agility jumps.

So step up itself is pretty simple. Get a low stable step of some sort. We have used the toddler step stool and also a low container that we have turned upside down. Other people we know use a phone book and just tape it up so it is more stable. Then it is simply a matter of using food to lure into the position of two feet up on the step. Once both feet are up mark with a “yes” or clicker. After a few times when the action is starting to come naturally then you can add a name to it. We use “step”.

Once you are stepping up then you can get a bit of side to side movement happening. This  is where the back end awareness starts to come in. Holding front paws in same position, just pivoting those front paws around, use food down just beside the nose to lure around. You might actually find it is a bit strange to move the back legs in isolation for the front legs. When they do move, even just one step, mark with a “yes” and hand over that treat. Make sure you do both directions. It is a bit like a Twist and Turn but taking it in slow mo and you move around with us at this stage.

 

With some rainy weather recently in Sydney recently and some other wild weather elsewhere (check out Elko’s post from Chicago… brrrr) this one is an exercise that can be done instead on a stable surface and bring some fun and also good mental stimulation. There are plenty of other fun things to try over on the Training Tips page so be sure to check them out and if you take videos or photos of you doing any of them be sure to send them over.

If you like catching up on 1st World Dog Training Tips, Recipes or just the fun stories than don’t miss any of our posts… just Follow me over on the side bar. I’m also on Facebook,Instagram and now Twitter (@1stworlddogB) so be sure to swing by and see what we are up to.

Have fun Oooo

 

Snappy H’appy Photo Challenge – Week 1

Very excited to be participating in a new Photo Challenge from Mrs P and Donna over at We Live In A  Flat and co-hosted with FireBonnet. While we enjoyed the My Best Photo Of The Week challenge as it was our 1st ever blogging challenge, what we really loved about it was learning about new apps that can be used to make photos more interesting. So now every week we are going to be challenged with a new app or style, Snappy H’appy…. very exciting.

Training Tip Tuesday – Back to the Stays!

Well we had a Training Tip Tuesday post planned. And it was going to be a fun one… more trick… less of this agility stuff…. and then mum got thinking and chatting to people about my agility start line stays again. Guess it is a nice change from her pre-occupation with my bum strength.

It doesn’t always need to be a walk

Some mornings toddler wakes earlier or for whatever reason we can’t get out for a morning walk. Thankfully mum has an array of exercises for me to do rather than our walk. Check out some of them like Backwards Heel in Training Tip Tuesday.

Only need some treats and then a bit of creativity to come up with some games.

Foodie Friday – Peanut & Carrot Birthday Balls

Just in case you missed it… It was my Birthday this week. Had an awesome week with one of the highlights being my birthday cake… or birthday balls as they were. Mum & toddler made these especially for me and my sister.

What you need to get out of the cupboard and fridge:

•  1 carrot grated.
• 2 tablespoons of peanut butter
• 1/2 cup of rice flour
• 1 egg

What you do with the stuff:

• Preheat the oven to 160oC
• Simply combine all the ingredients together in a bowl finishing with the egg.
• Mix together well.
• Mum & toddler put them in cupcake wrappers for me because it was my birthday so toddler placed the wrappers into the cupcake tray and then mum spooned in the mixture.
• Alternatively you could simply spoon little balls onto a tray lined with baking paper.
• Only needs 15-20mins until it is just slightly hard…. but not too hard!
• Let them cool and share around with your friends (ensuring you get your share!)

To check out more 1st World Dog Treats check out my Recipe Book page.

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Photo Challenge Week 22 – Peek-A-Boo

After all the serious talk about jumping and agility in the last week I thought it was a good change with the photo challenge to just have some fun. This is me and the pup next door Poppy. She sneeks through the fence (no one can figure out where) and comes and visits. I can get a bit grumpy with her sometimes but generally she is a good kid for a play.

For those new to the blog here is some history of Poppy…

Puppy Love 

Teaching her about the Brush Turkeys

Teaching Fetch

Group Walks

And don’t even start me on the romance between Miss Poppy and my mate Hawks…. hmmm.

Ah it is nice to reminisce so that again to Donna for our weekly photo challenge.

Training Tip Tuesday – Basic Bum Strength with the Bar

Wow what a huge day it was yesterday! Our Marketing Monday post which was a bit of a marketing case study from our perspective on One Mind Dogs went ballistic. The guys over at One Mind Dogs were interested in what we wrote and shared it. Now feeling the pressure to back up on the Training Tip Tuesday.

Dog Blog & Marketing Monday – When Marketing Comes To The Dog World

So mum really enjoys her dog sports, especially agility but she also enjoys her job too and hence Marketing Monday. For this reason she finds some recent stuff happening in the agility world a fascinating example of great marketing.

It isn’t just about my bum

A good thing about playing with the One Mind Dogs agility stuff recently has been mum’s renewed focus on her own fitness. The philosophy of cue where I need to go and then get moving to the next cue obstacle, plus a lot more blind crosses (which means mum needs to be in front of me) has meant mum has been doing a lot of sprinting around the course. Go mum!