John says that Stout lifted his leg today to pee when he let them out at lunch! Our little boy is growing up... <tear> <sniffle>
And speaking of growing up, tomorrow is his 4 month birthday! He will spend it at the big dog show over in Louisville. Porter will be running agility & trying for his last Beginner Novice Obedience leg.
And Stout will get to see Vivian and maybe even his dad! And some of his half siblings!
So happy early 4 month birthday to Stout and happy early St. Patricks Day to everyone else!
Here are 2 videos that I submitted to Silvia Trkman for our online puppy clicker class.
She only sent out the lesson plan Monday and this is our first session trying these newer tricks. But I wanted to get videos made & submitted so I could ask her a couple questions!
Pivot / Perch Work:
I was worried about starting this with Stout because Porter has never figured it out. I was afraid it might be something that I'm doing wrong. But Stout seems to get it so far, so I'm guessing it's just Porter's lack of foundation shaping skills that is holding him back :)
I am clicking for any movement of his back feet (I only clicked a couple times for putting his front feet up on the bowl - he seemed to understand that). A couple times I shouldn't have clicked when he tried to put those back feet up onto the bowl. But it's hard to see just where those stubby little legs & chubby little paws are going!
The end product will be rotating around the bowl with his front feet on it. Hopefully in complete circles both directions. With no luring from me. This is eventually used for heelwork. Here is a video of her dogs heeling using this method. I had bought this video and tried teaching Porter... :)
Here is the second video I submitted:
I'm concerned with how much he thinks before offering the paw touch.Other people's dogs in the class are throwing themselves at it as soon as it's presented. But when I do wait him out, he very deliberately places a paw perfectly in the center. And it could be because I upped the difficulty by holding the target (it was always on the floor before).
