We had great weather and good company for our Wednesday training session at the kennel. Since the dogs in the kennel had enough training to hold stays with distractions, we put them to the test and made them form an obstacle course for Rugby to go through.

We practiced with each dog individually before setting them up together and the whole process went smoothly!

Starring…

Clover (Beginner Group Class graduate), Jefferson (Week 3 of his Standard In Kennel Training program), Koda (Puppy Private Lesson graduate and on Week 2 of his Bare Basics In Kennel Training program), and of course Bourbon, Rugby and Star the Leash Free Living demonstration dogs.

We had a great turnout at the Power Training Session today at Waterbury Recreational Area. Thanks so much to the dog and owner teams that showed up to train with us! I love seeing so many well behaved and mannerly dogs in one place! It was a blast!

I showed up to class a little early on Tuesday to see if Rugby could generalize his “go around” trick to something a little more familiar than an indo board. I used Bourbon’s legs as our posts and had Rugby practice going around her front legs and her back legs one at a time (Thanks so much Bourbon for holding your Stand/Stay like a champ). Once he got the hang of going around her legs I asked him to keep going and to do a figure 8 with his new obstacle. He was a little unsure at first but he did pretty well and got around a couple of times before he cheated and went in between her back legs.

We have a new and exciting tricks class planned to start for the first time at the end of this month. Keep checking back here and on the Trick Training page for more info!

I somehow forgot to post about our latest Obedience title. Oops!

Zach earned his Companion Dog Excellent title last month in York, PA with a 190/200. I didn’t get a chance to record his third leg, but I do have video from his second leg a few months before (below). Rugby made the trip up with Zach for moral support and kept him company before he showed. So proud of Zach and his new title! Congrats!

We borrowed some of the Leash Free Living dogs out of Day Care and Boarding last week for a St. Patrick’s Day photo shoot. Taking group photos is so much easier with trained dogs! This group has three dog reactive dogs, two dogs with less than 4 days of training under their belt and one dog that has only been through the puppy program.

While we did get a couple of great shots where everyone is looking photogenic, my favorite of the group was the one above. Beau was trying to really hard to behave and had to excuse himself from the group a couple of times to do that. I like that most of the big dogs noticed and gave him a “I don’t think you are supposed to do that” look as he left.

Classes are cancelled today because of the ice, and since we are stuck inside I decided to play some games with Rugby and Bourbon. I started our session by teaching Bourbon to go around a post. That only took a few seconds since she is a genius so I asked Rugby to try too. He learned it a couple of years ago when he was working on his agility training, but we haven’t used it since then.

He picked it up quickly so I decided to make it a little harder for him, and lay the post on its side. That wasn’t much of a challenge either so I added jumping into our game. It took him a couple of seconds (and a few commands) to realize that jumping was an acceptable thing to do with the post. I left that part in the video since it is adorable to watch him think so hard. Then I asked him to alternate between going around the post and jumping the post. I thought he might get tricked during this game into just jumping the post from the side I was sending him, but he is too smart for that and did exactly as he was asked. Rugby was quite pleased with himself for winning this game.

Bourbon had another turn after Rugby and I started teaching her to put her front feet on the post while it was laying on the ground. I sat next to it and held it still while she tried for this session and even without it moving it was difficult for her. I’m hoping with some practice she can balance her front feet on the post without any help from me.

Both dogs are ready for a nap now, although I’m sure Bourbon will be begging for more in a few minutes. She is insatiable.

Bourbon finished her Companion Dog title last weekend at the Potomac Valley Shetland Sheepdog Obedience Trials and earned two legs towards her Rally Advanced title.

Here is a video of Bourbon on Saturday in Novice, where she earned a 193 and first place.

Here is a video of Bourbon earning a perfect score in Rally Advanced for her second leg.

We have a lot of things to work on before we start on our Open title, but I think we can manage to do that this year. Bourbon will be in the Rally ring again sometime this Spring/Summer for her last Advanced leg and to finish her Excellent title.

This photo took forever to take, since Bourbon had to re-learn how to bow, then hold the bow and tolerate Rugby standing on top of her. We were inspired by this photo that showed up on my Facebook feed the other day. I think if we practiced this a few more times, Bourbon and Rugby would look a little less awkward but… not worth the effort.