Day 132

For breakfast Hops had some shaping lessons. The first was to put his front paws on a flat target which he picked up on right away and was easily able to move away from me to touch it. He did so well I started adding a cue, Paw. The next session was to put his front feet on paw pods. We have worked on this before but he did much better this time. I think working with the flat target first really helped. We then had his first frog lesson (stretch your back legs out behind you). He did pretty well with it but never got his legs all the way back. I am luring this trick, starting him on top of two dog beds then slowly luring him off, clicking and treating constantly as long as he is stretching his legs out and does not pull them forward. When he does pull them forward I just removed the treats and send him back to his bed to start again. After training, we went outside to play. The dogs ran around on their own for awhile then I played some fetch with them then we went to work!

 

Hops had his second nosework class with my mom and did much better for her this time. He still tried to punk her a few times during the container searches (mixed luggage and boxes) but for the most part he worked really well, alerting when he reached the odor container and he did not heel with her nearly as much while searching today. We also did exterior searches and he was spot on with those, getting his nose right on the odor before looking at my mom for his reward, and he found low and high hides. What a good puppy! He was quite tired after class and slept well through the rest of the classes that night. The only time he fussed was when his friend Dani came out to take her turns. He wanted to go play with her! After all the classes Hops ended the work day with a play time with Rice and Tessa. They had fun running around then we went home!

 

Hops had two training sessions for dinner. The first was going all the way around the plunger (video to come!). He is doing great with it, and can still make three complete circles on his own. Time to decide on a cue and name the behavior! Then we practiced the frog position and Hops got all the way into it for the first time.Good puppy!