Monday, October 13, 2008

Lessons Learned

We had another training session this morning.

Lesson 1. Sam's not 100% sure which is sit and which is down. Actually, I think he does know, but he doesn't like sit, so if you're trying to get him to hold a sit, it won't happen; he'll collapse into his nice-looking down. We need to work on this.

DSC00799

Lesson 2. Jacey will happily give you her version of sit. And she's ambi-sit-erous.

DSC00800 DSC00802

Lesson 3. The dog trainer has learned to take out only one mat and move it from dog to dog as needed. I'd like the waiting dog to stay on his or her toes, drool, and look interested.

DSC00808 DSC00807 DSC00806 DSC00798 DSC00801


In other news: the striped Clapotis is going well. I've done two of the drops:

DSC00809

* * *

In the afternoon session, I concentrated on down with Jacey. I thought if I could get her to do a good down--like Sam's pictured above--I might be able to work backwards to a decent sit.

No such luck. Jacey doesn't do down the way Sam does...the way Oreo did, the way every greyhound I've ever seen has done. She lies down on one hip; her back half is on its side before her front half hits the ground. I tried Jen's method: I sat on a low stool and held the treat down low, under my legs. She gave me an exasperated look ("Mom, you're making me do a lot of work for this treat"), and then settled herself down on her side.

I've never seen her do down in the usual Sphinx pose. I'd wonder if she had some sort of injury, except that I've seen her do a lovely, perfectly balanced sit without prompting since I've had her. Also, she does her wonky sits on either hip, and she's not indicating that there's any pain either way.

Hmm...maybe I need to try to find a hill and see if that'll change her approach.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The dog training looks fun. That clapotis is going to be gorgeous! :)