Still inspired by Johann, Penny and I are into tricks again. We've started working on a move that Cindy, at K9Kompany, showed us a while ago. We couldn't get it at the time but now it's starting to shape up. We already knew how to do 'spin', with me giving the hand-signal clockwise with my right hand for a spin out to the right and counter-clockwise with my left hand for a spin out to the left. Penny could also back through my legs if I went around behind her. (Apologies about the weird clattering noise in the clips - I don't know how to get rid of it or why it happened.)
Then our next step was to learn to turn the other way - a right-hand signal, with the back of my hand leading, and going counter-clockwise. The command is 'turn' and when we add in backing through my legs I say "back". I think we should fade out the word "back" - I'll ask Cindy about that next week. As you'll see, Penny is wonderful but I'm not too clever!! Cindy told me to give the reward behind, so Penny doesn't stop between my legs looking for it. But, of course, I forgot that.
Then, finally, it started to go more smoothly and Penny earned lots of treats. They were new to me, made by Kramar - dried bits of chicken breast and chicken liver. From the blurb on the packets they look good, with only meat in them, no preservatives or flavours or colours. I guess I could cook up my own dried chicken breast, if it comes to that, and then I would know they are from free-range chooks. But I'm not energetic enough to do that at the moment. Maybe when the weather's cooler.
I think the next step will be to make the hand-signal less obvious. If anyone has any clips of a dog doing this little routine, I'd love to hear about it, so I can go and have a look.
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10 comments:
Hi! This is so good and fun,bravo !
Happy Easter to you and your family!
Thanks, Slavenka. As I said on your blog, I enjoyed your pictures of Croatian Easter eggs. When my mother was a child in Edinburgh, in Scotland, they used to roll boiled eggs down the hill above the town.
Oh, good job Penny! It looks like you're getting the hang of that 'back' trick. My mommy calls it 'flip'. She hardly uses hand signals nowadays coz she wants me to listen to her commands more instead of relying on her hand signal all the time. Well, I usually do becoz MY tennis ball is in her hand! Keep up the good work girl! And your mama is doing a great job by saying the commands in high pitch tone. My mommy always tells her students to say the commands in high pitch voices becoz it does make the dog happy & it's very encouraging. Even if they are men, she always ask them to make their feminine side come out a bit. Heehee!
Love licks,
Solid Gold Dancer
Okay, I'll try to work on moving over to a verbal command. Thanks!
Wow, Penny, you are SOOOOOO CLEVER. I will be glad when the cool weather hits Melbourne and my Mum takes me back to K9 to do more agility and tricks.
Those treats sound good. My mum forgets to buy me treats as I would prefer to chase my ball instead.
your friend,
Jabari
Oh good one! You could get a nice start on musical freestyle! Cool. I just can't back up, no matter what Mum and I do. I spin instead - Mum thinks it's a sheltie thing, but we're keeping it up!
Mum doesn't like to make me work on it too much, cause I get frustrated and spin more and bark at her - another sheltie thing...
Hope you had a great weekend!
Woofs, Johann
Jabari, In one way your mum is lucky that you're not so focused on food as Penny is - you'll stay fit and slim, especially as you are so energetic. On the other hand, having a food-obsessive makes training easier, I must say.
Johann, you're such an agility and tricks expert, it's quite surprising that you don't like backing up. As your mum says, it might be genetic. I wonder if it's even related to the shape of the hips in your breed? Are things like that possible? I think I remember someone saying that GSDs don't have a great idea where their back legs are - might have remembered wrong.
What a cool trick! You guys have been working hard on it.
Yeah, we've been working on it - and Penny has been getting lots of treats! A win-win situation!
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