Morning Session

I was watching Bella and Zane play this morning. They are so different. Bella is so quick and light - she's like a little wood sprite flitting around. Zane is. . . . not. It's hard to come up with the right description for him. My first thought was a rhino or hippo. But he's not short and fat. But he does kind of plow through things. Then I thought of a high school basketball player. But he's not that long-legged overgrown type. But he is kind of "galumphy" like they are. He's definitely not graceful at this point.

Here's Zane's training session this morning. We started with "get the paper", moved on to "wipe", and then finished up with jump through a hoop. He has "get the paper" down now. Wipe needs more work. And he is getting jump through a hoop.

I've had some questions on why I'm shaping the hoop. Too many times when a dog has been lured through the hoop, they won't do it unless they have that hand motion. I need a nice, independent hoop. Several later tricks need him able to do it on a verbal cue only. By shaping it, there is no hand lure to fade. He is also learning exactly what is required for this - he will have spent enough time experimenting with different behaviors that he will know exactly what *is* required. I'll do the same thing with the broad jump.