:(
Today I actually got around to reading the AKC rally regulations, and Faith and I are not allowed to compete in both Rally Novice A and Rally Novice B in the same trial. :( This means that we will probably do the A class for both days. Now if only I could figure out how to fill out the entry form....
In other boring news, I have decided I need to keep a more formal training diary of sorts. I tend to have several different exercises in progress at once because otherwise, Faith and I both get bored. However, my memory is very bad and I often forget that we started working on something, which really delays progress.... I figure this is as good a place as any to make this list, so here it is.
New tricks we have just begun:
-scoot (moving backwards in a down)
-crawl (moving forward in a down)
-find it (identifying the article that smells like vanilla)
Newish tricks that are older than the new tricks:
-settle (lying on her side)
-belly (This is Faith's favorite position. This is what she does to get my attention. I'll be sitting in my big chair reading or watching TV and suddenly I'll notice that Faith is staring intently at me upside-down at my feet with four poodle legs sticking straight up in the air. And of course, I usually succumb to her cuteness and give her a tummy rub.)
-roll over (This one doesn't need that much explanation, except that Faith usually refuses point-blank to do it. I tried teaching her this ages ago with simple luring, and she picked it up pretty quickly. However, I think I made some mistakes in asking her to do it in new or distracting environments before she had really mastered it. Right now I think that she thinks that this trick and the previous two are pretty much the same, so I'm trying to distinguish among the three.)
-get your leash (finding her leash and bringing it to me)
-stand for exam (one of the CD tests. Faith will stand reliably for me, but she's not ready to get examined by someone else, alas.)
-leg weaves (Freestyle disc dog in the making, yo)
-down in the middle of recall
Tricks that Faith does reliably with a visual cue but not with a verbal cue:
-play-bow (for stretching before flyball and agility)
-front (For AKC rally, the visual cue is perfectly acceptable. However, for APDT rally, my visual cue *could* be interpreted as luring (even though it really isn't), which is a problem.)
-sit pretty (This trick used to annoy me, but it's useful for warming up for flyball and agility. And now I think it's cute.)
-back up (not in heel position)
Tricks that Faith has recently mastered (for a given value of mastery):
-tap (touch her nose to my proffered palm--easy to teach, but impressive when one's dog has to jump up to accomplish it)
-high-five (This happened accidentally when we were doing "sit pretty" warm-ups and Faith just stretched her paws up.)
-put it away (This trick involves Faith picking her toys up off the floor and dropping them in the toy box. Right now she needs a lot of direction to tell her which toys to put away, which I hope eventually to decrease.)
-bark (Kristen hates this one because she's convinced that Joey watches Faith receive treats for barking on cue and then barks more himself. We're also in the process of learning a quieter bark.)
-stand-stay (with walk around)
-foot (putting her foot on my foot. This sounds very useless but it was for an idea I had to make her fronts better.)
-back up (in heel position)
-jump (over my leg)
-hop up (jump up and put her front legs over my outstretched arm)
Hmm, writing it all out makes me want to have a training session right now! But Faith is asleep.... And I should probably be asleep as well. Tomorrow!
In other boring news, I have decided I need to keep a more formal training diary of sorts. I tend to have several different exercises in progress at once because otherwise, Faith and I both get bored. However, my memory is very bad and I often forget that we started working on something, which really delays progress.... I figure this is as good a place as any to make this list, so here it is.
New tricks we have just begun:
-scoot (moving backwards in a down)
-crawl (moving forward in a down)
-find it (identifying the article that smells like vanilla)
Newish tricks that are older than the new tricks:
-settle (lying on her side)
-belly (This is Faith's favorite position. This is what she does to get my attention. I'll be sitting in my big chair reading or watching TV and suddenly I'll notice that Faith is staring intently at me upside-down at my feet with four poodle legs sticking straight up in the air. And of course, I usually succumb to her cuteness and give her a tummy rub.)
-roll over (This one doesn't need that much explanation, except that Faith usually refuses point-blank to do it. I tried teaching her this ages ago with simple luring, and she picked it up pretty quickly. However, I think I made some mistakes in asking her to do it in new or distracting environments before she had really mastered it. Right now I think that she thinks that this trick and the previous two are pretty much the same, so I'm trying to distinguish among the three.)
-get your leash (finding her leash and bringing it to me)
-stand for exam (one of the CD tests. Faith will stand reliably for me, but she's not ready to get examined by someone else, alas.)
-leg weaves (Freestyle disc dog in the making, yo)
-down in the middle of recall
Tricks that Faith does reliably with a visual cue but not with a verbal cue:
-play-bow (for stretching before flyball and agility)
-front (For AKC rally, the visual cue is perfectly acceptable. However, for APDT rally, my visual cue *could* be interpreted as luring (even though it really isn't), which is a problem.)
-sit pretty (This trick used to annoy me, but it's useful for warming up for flyball and agility. And now I think it's cute.)
-back up (not in heel position)
Tricks that Faith has recently mastered (for a given value of mastery):
-tap (touch her nose to my proffered palm--easy to teach, but impressive when one's dog has to jump up to accomplish it)
-high-five (This happened accidentally when we were doing "sit pretty" warm-ups and Faith just stretched her paws up.)
-put it away (This trick involves Faith picking her toys up off the floor and dropping them in the toy box. Right now she needs a lot of direction to tell her which toys to put away, which I hope eventually to decrease.)
-bark (Kristen hates this one because she's convinced that Joey watches Faith receive treats for barking on cue and then barks more himself. We're also in the process of learning a quieter bark.)
-stand-stay (with walk around)
-foot (putting her foot on my foot. This sounds very useless but it was for an idea I had to make her fronts better.)
-back up (in heel position)
-jump (over my leg)
-hop up (jump up and put her front legs over my outstretched arm)
Hmm, writing it all out makes me want to have a training session right now! But Faith is asleep.... And I should probably be asleep as well. Tomorrow!