Weekly Training Update (Feb 8)
We ventured to a new pedestrian- and super-dog-friendly shopping district for this week’s class. Let’s just say it was an exercise in constant Sudden Environmental Changes (visual,
auditory, and otherwise).
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Weekly Training Update (Feb 1)
Because I’m juggling about a dozen work deadlines right now, Lilly and I haven’t been training much … just playing. We even bundled up and took a walk or two this week on days that weren’t just miserably cold. She’s been feeling really cooped up, so I owe her some outings. BUT, we’re still working…
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Weekly Training Update (Jan 25)
Last Sunday as a surprisingly nice day up here in the hills, so Lilly and I packed ourselves up and went to class. Sadly, it was actually kind of chilly in town, and things didn’t go particularly well. Even though Lilly did great at the location last time, the higher-than-usual number of dogs Lilly doesn’t…
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Weekly Training Update (Jan 18)
Lilly and I skipped class this week, but I did take her into town last Saturday to run errands with me. Her prize for being such a trooper was a nice walk down, even though it was
pretty chilly. Tom was also out running around and happened to drive by us while we were on our walk. He whipped into the lot where we always park and waited on a bench to surprise Lilly. And, boy,
was she surprised!
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Safety — Hiking Alone
We may never know the full circumstances that led to Meredith Emerson’s death. She’s the young woman, originally from Colorado, who went missing while hiking alone with her dog (Ella)
in Georgia. What did that creepy man do to gain her confidence? Police have since arrested someone, charged him with her death, and found her body. Ella was found safe some 40-50 miles away from the
wilderness area they were hiking. I assume that a friend of family member will keep her, but I have not heard. HOWEVER, I suspect many of you go on outings alone with your dogs, … -
Weekly Training Update (Jan 11)
Along with the ups and downs of our usual training, Lilly had one agility-like victory this week. Happy dance with me, will you? …
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Distraction overload: ducks, squirrels, rabbits
At Sunday’s class at an outdoor park/path along Boulder Creek, Lilly did remarkably well considering the amount of human traffic, including bikes, scooters, and skateboards. And, she
even did OK at first when she noticed the wildlife in the area. … -
Weekly Training Update (Jan 4)
We haven’t been in class in a few weeks due to weather and the holidays, but this week I continued working on LEAVE IT since that’s an important prerequisite for a whiplash turn recall,
which I’ll start trying to train soon. I also made a more specific attempt to teach the Give Me a Break game from Leslie McDevitt’s book “Control Unleashed.” Essentially, it’s meant to build
excitement for a particular behavior.
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Weekly training update (Dec 28)
Because of the holiday and because it’s been freezing-frickin cold, we didn’t do much training this week. We even skipped class last Sunday — mostly because I had some pre-holiday
crabbiness. I didn’t think it was fair to take Lilly to class when my patience was running so thin. Plus, class was slated for a busy pedestrian mall 2 days before xmas, which takes an already scary
environment for Lilly into another realm, and I just wasn’t up to it. … -
Tips for playing fetch in the snow
It finally stopped snowing here around 10 pm last night, so we got off the mountain today after plowing the driveway. The canyon was snow-packed and icy for sure, but not terrible. We
got Ginny home safely, but we did NOT do any after-xmas shopping … other than to pick up some bags of wood stove pellets since another storm is coming tonight into tomorrow. …