A Full 4 Legged Day

Today was a full day of training fun stuff!

Maizey tested her L1 target and passed. When a dog tests a behavior it must be tested "cold". Meaning w/ no practice on that day. Some behaviors must be tested w/ no treats and clicker in the room. The L1 target test is as follows, "The dog must deliberately Touch the handler’s hand with her nose on only one voice cue. The hand in position is, naturally, a second, allowable cue." So Maizey's voice cue for a nose touch is simply "touch". Today she gets an A+ on her L1 touch! Tomorrow: L2 here we come.

Today was also bath day, which we usually combine w/ swimming. The tub isn't deep enough to actually doggy paddle(no pun intended;)). But she can wade around and it is the best exercise for her knees. Today we started working on helping her put her face in the water. Turns out cheerios are perfect for this, as they float and gradually sink. I throw a handful in the water and from there it's a simple matter of capturing when she dunks her face to go after the cheerio w/ a click/treat.

Along w/bath day we naturally worked on L2 handling since you should never bathe a dog w/ out brushing her out first. The handling test is, "Dog allows the handler to handle his ears, tail, and feet. This may be done on a table or on the floor. There must be minimal fussing." Maizey handles well, she should after 3 surgeries in a year! But this level builds a better association with being handled as a groomer, or vet would handle her. It also introduces grooming on a table, which we haven't done and is an interesting dynamic.

She also went for a ride w/ me so she worked on sitting nice in her seat, and being calm in the car otherwise known as "car zen." We also did our first barking/hush session at the dog park. But more to come on both "car zen" and "tell me/hush" later. 

Car zen:

"This "car seat zen" is no sweat!"