Chan

My 3 yo BC has been prescribed confine him so that he only walks and he may have 6, 5 min potty/sniffing walks so I feel your pain! I bought a couple of food dispensing toys (the Kong wobbler and the King gyro). I also have distributed a meal of kibble in a muffin pan and put balls or other toys in each cup on top of the kibble so he has to move them to get to it. I put him in a x pen to feed him so he gets some exercise by walking around it getting the food out. Ive also used the muffing tin to do a little nosework by putting a treat or kibble in one tin and covering all of them with balls/toys so he uses his nose to find the treat. I purchased one of the food puzzles as well that has levers to flip and disks to move. He is clicker trained so we are also working on stationary tricks like putting his chin on the ground and I want to teach him to cross his paws, hes learning play dead also. He will also stay in a down while I roll a ball to him and then he rolls it back to me with his nose. Another trick in progress is pick up one front paw or the other when I say 1 or 2 or point to them. Some of this may be more activity than your foster is allowed but maybe you can use a few of the ideas. . Best wishes drurng the confinement, Chandra

I'll speak up just so airbear doesn't feel totally alone I too bathe my dogs a couple of times a month. The also sleep on beds, lounge on furniture and stay in hotels regularly and we have red clay in our area plus I really like a dog that smells "baby fresh". I use Crazy Dog, Baby Dog shampoo - it smells like baby powder. I have an indoor professional size dog tub - one of my best purchases ever! Their skin is in great condition and their coats are soft and silky (esp. after a bath). I will also go so far as to admit the occasional blow drying Chandra

I tend to crate them at night so I can leave the panties off and allow air circulation. I just used the dog panties they sell at Petsmart. Maybe a thicker pad would help?

Finn. Makes me think of Irish which makes me think of red

Rook had one or two of these early on. I believe the judge's comment was "oh. My."

Deleted duplicate post. I am quote challenged.

I have a stop on the DW and a running a frame for pretty much the reasons you listed. I did start off training a running DW and it was either great, or not so much. It is hard to clearly communicate criteria. Initially it was fun to work on and then it became not fun so we switched to a stop. Easy peasy since he had a stop on the teeter. I basically used the Rachel Sanders box method with a few tweaks (a stationary alley pop to run through, placed about 4-5' from the base of the frame). I did lots of ground work before putting it on the frame and have done minimal reps on the frame to fine tune and proof it. Rook has run in about 8 -10 trials (multiple classes with frames per trial) and so far only 1 miss on an exit with a sharp turn to the left. I practice the aframe once a week on average for maybe 5 reps. Some weeks not at all. If it was something I had to practice a lot to maintain I might change my opinion of it. I love it :-)

So you used her book and method to teach both your stopped DW and running A frame Kristi? The frame looked great on the video you posted recently. I used a combo of the Rachel Sanders method plus tweaks by Tracy Sklenar for Rook's running a frame and love it. I'm getting ready to start with my golden and I'm always curious about new methods. I'm very intrigued by the comments about teaching a stopped contact but early releasing and that staying good throughout their career since that seems contrary to most "popular" opinion and what I've seen as well. Kristine, Have you received your book yet and what do you think about it?? Thanks, Chandra

Congratulations - what a striking boy!! I look forward to hearing updates about how he's progressing. Sounds like a neat dog!

Absolutely

Congratulations!!

How cool!! Congratulations!

Bar looks great!! I'd like to know how you did the timing thing? That would be oh so handy for many things :-)

I have done it successfully with two dogs. I used a method very similar to Diane's. I start with them in front facing me and I use my right hand to turn the dog to his left and my left hand to turn the dog to his right. Once they are turning readily I add the cue (right or left) as they turn and begin fading the lure. Once the lure is faded I work on true understanding of the direction- mixing up L vs R with verbal only. Then, I work on it from my sides and at a distance and take it to equipment. The first time I taught both directions at the same time. The second I taught Left first, then right. I didn't see a huge advantage either way. The angle of the turn can be sharper or more gentle and they seem to read it well, either from the context of the course or based on my distance behind them. Also, I tend to repeat, as in "left, left, left" for a tighter angle vs a softer "left" for a gentle curve. It has definitely come in handy when I've found myself further behind than I planned. I do try to plan what direction I want to be calling as I walk the course - being mindful of those spots I might find myself eating dust . The advantage to using R and L is that if I'm behind the dog's R/L and mine are the same so it is possible to wing it if necessary Have fun with it - it really can be quite handy!