Have you seen Treiball? It's a sport in Germany where the dogs herd the large exercise balls into a goal. It looks like a total blast, and I've been working the basics with Bella. But it got me motivated to start Zane's mat work.
I put the mat down, and like any normal, nosy dog, he looked at it. I clicked and tossed 4 treats on it. While he was eating the last one, I said, "Ok!" and picked up the mat. Then I put it back down. Repeat about six times, then the mat went away. Oh, after the second click, I did start cuing a down on the mat before giving him his treats. I don't do this with all dogs, but felt I could with him. Soon he'll be running to that mat and throwing himself down on it!
While we were outside this evening, we did a little bit of Choose to Heel. It was so hard because Waffles, the cat, was out there too. Play with the cat? Choose to heel? Play with the cat? Choose to heel? It was a hard choice! And it was only kibble, so not the most motivating food.
This evening I also got out his dowel for some more "take it" work for the retrieve. Then I pulled out the dumbbell and did it with that. Tomorrow I'll pull out metal and leather articles (he has a small one of each that he plays with). Then I'll start finding creative things to hold.
He's starting to love to play in the water more. We have tubs of water outside for the dogs to drink out of. Zane puts his front feet in and either just soaks his feet or digs at the water. You can't get mad because it's too cute!
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