Day 45

Hops went to work with me this morning and we played fetch, tug and did recalls before nosework class started. He did great in class. He worked the line of boxes very well, sticking with the odor box once he found it and offering downs some of the time. He also did a great job with the interior searches. The q-tips were in a tin and he found it on different parts of chairs, on the leg of the room divider, under a cone, in a cone on it’s side, two feet high on a plastic tub, on the bottom of an X-pen, and on a stool right side up and upside down. He downed at all of the low hides and sat for some of the higher ones (I a not cueing this he is offering it). He was very focused and fun to watch! We played some more tug and fetch after class then he munched on toys and slept during an hour lesson. We then played some more and he played some with Pace (a friendly adult BC). He walked the course with the agility class then in an uncovered crate, chewed on toys and slept during the rest of the class.

 

When Hops went back to work with me in the evening he played with a five month old female black lab puppy for a little while then spent about twenty minutes in his crate before having a potty and play break, then back in the crate for an hour during another class before coming out for a break and then his fun and focus class. He did great while crated and great in his class. The new instructor at Dog’s World worked him through the first part of class before Jeremiah arrived and he worked well for her. Hops did better this week about tugging with Jeremiah in class but he still made Jeremiah work for it! He really got into it though, growling and everything! He practiced all the transports (tugging, heeling, hand in collar/pick up and carry, hand targeting, stay and come and luring) to and past planks, a ladder, a stool, a balance disk, a plastic sled and a tippy board. He practiced quick sits and downs with release to play tug and sit stays with distractions (1-2-3 game). He was a very good puppy!

 

Hops was given the remainder of his dinner by practicing pushups and for the first time I tried the rear cross sit stay exercise. He did great with it. I started by standing next to him, took a lateral step away from him then stepped back and rewarded him for facing forward in his sit, not rotating to face me. Then I stepped to the side and back, again returning to reward him for staying. I did that a few times then after stepping back I tried stepping behind him so I ended up on the other side of him. Every time I did so he stayed put but turned his head to look at me on the new side. Perfect!