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Looks like I waited TOO LONG to write about our success completely rebuilding Clover's agility teeter-totter training last summer. It was going so well that Clover even did the agility teeter-totter at our group class in early October 2017. Alas, in recent weeks, Clover has gone back to treating the agility teeter-totter like her sworn enemy (again). If nothing else, dog training gives people the chance to practice patience and creativity. Thank goodness I shot some video of what worked last summer so that I can try the same things again. Cute 1-minute video ahead.
Cooperative care for dogs is an important and growing topic in the worlds of dog lovers and veterinary medicine. Cooperative care for dogs simply means training dogs (typically using food rewards) to be compliant partners in the care they need. This could be anything from regular dog grooming and dog care tasks such as keeping toenails the proper length to prevent breakage or injury to teaching your dog to maintain certain body positions while being examined or even while getting an x-ray or ultrasound by your veterinary team. One of our canine heroines, Clover, helped me shoot a little video demonstration of what cooperative care means here at Champion of My Heart.
It took a while to find a used dog agility teeter-totter to buy, but we finally did just before Clover’s third birthday. It’s going to take some time to fix Clover’s teeter-totter worries that have been brewing for nearly a year now, but Tori figured it all out in basically a day and a half. Cute videos ahead! Continue reading
Remember me saying that Clover and I had plans to take a big step in her dog agility training? Yeah. Never mind. We’re not ready, at all. True story. Our first-ever agility seminar turned into abject failure, leaving me floundering and trying to make the best of a bad situation. Continue reading
When Clover was around 7 months old, I put her on a waiting list to get into a dog agility foundations class with a trainer my experienced agility friends recommended. A full SEVEN MONTHS LATER we started taking agility classes (in mid-July 2015). That’s how hard it is to get into a good agility class anywhere close to where we live. As we approach our second anniversary of agility training and look at taking the next steps (perhaps the start of Clover’s dog agility career), I figured it was time — finally! — to write something about it. (P.S. I’m also looking for some advice on a few things, if you’re so inclined.)