Flying Poodles

Contacts…

I have been working contacts with Dancer for a long time now, and I think I’m really really close. She understands her job, and about 75% of the time, I get a good contact. I mix up the methods: contact plate with treat; contact plate without treat; no contact plate and a treat; no contact plate and no treat. With a contact plate–she always stops. With a treat but no plate, she almost always stops. Needless to say, it’s the no plate/no treat combo that needs the most work.

Debbie has a method where she buries the edge of the contact plate just a bit. Then more and more… If there’s even a tiny edge showing, Dancer stops for it. Dogs have amazing awareness of their world. I wonder what it’s like to see the world the way a dog does: acute hearing, acute smell, a few less colors but heightened contrasts? I can’t imagine a world with the wealth of scent information a dog experiences!