Flying Poodles

Training… but not for agility

In today’s lesson, Debbie worked with Dancer to try to teach her to sit when told to, no matter what Debbie was doing. It seemed to be a hard lesson for Dancer. I think that’s partly because I’ve been working a LOT on what I think of as “city manners.” This includes walking nicely on leash–Dancer’s pretty good at that, especially if Elly’s not with us–and stopping when I stop, so that I can check traffic before crossing the street. I don’t ask for a sit, just a stop and wait. It’s something both dogs are learning, though.

Another city skill I’ve worked on is having the girls come in from the back yard and head right into the downstairs bathroom, where they jump into the bathtub (it’s very shallow) so that I can wash their feet with the shower spray. Very useful, since the backyard turns into a mud pit whenever it rains.

Besides that, we worked on Dancer’s dog walk contact. By the end of the lesson, she was running smartly into position and staying there even if I didn’t stop. That’s a HARD thing to learn!