A Dog's Day

The person called Trainer came to our house today. She smelled like many dogs I have never met, and a few that I have met. I had a good sniff... very interesting. The games we played today were harder than usual. I got confused. And a box fell on me. That was scary. I like the person called Trainer, but I'm confused about these games.

Later my person took me to Mt. Doug. I like this place. There is always lots to smell.

 

Also today my Momma C brought home a new toy. It tastes like tennis ball, but it has a funny shape. My people threw it. It bounced and squeaked. That was fun. I chased it. I picked it up and took it back to them, and they threw it again. We did this several times.

Please note - this is NOT fetching. I do not fetch. I was simply bringing the toy back that so my people could make it bounce and squeak like that again. I have them very well trained.

Then the toy went away. I hope it will come out to play again soon.

Running

Running is one of my favourite things. Sometimes I feel like I can fly.

Red Moon Airport

Last night we went to the place called Airport. I found one of my people there who had been missing for several days. My people seem to go missing a lot, but I always manage to find them again.

On the drive home the moon was red and very close to the ground. I assumed the rest-head-on-paws-good-for-restful-watching position. I was glad to be safe with my people.

Contemplation

Hello bone. I left you outside and now you're even stinkier!

Summers at the Park

Summer is good because there is less rain. Rain gets in my eyes. I don't like it. I like no-rain-summer.

I don't like too-hot-summer, but I like people-outside-lots-summer.

Summer is also good because there are lots of dog-friends at the park. I wonder what happens to all my dog-friends when it's not summer?

This is Phoebe. Phoebe chases balls and wrestles. Phoebe is fun.

McKenzie Bight

New place today. McKenzie Bight. I think I know why they call it Bight. Little creatures in hard shells kept pinching and biting my toes. Sharp jagged shell creatures on the rocks bit my toes too. But the water was warm and there were lots of smells. It was a happy place to be.

Today I wondered... Why is some water fresh-good-to-drink and some water salty-bad-to-drink? Why did Nature create two different waters?

Park Friends

Summertime park friends Whiskey and Rosie. They hang out in the shade. I wait in case they decide to run again. In case they chase after a ball. In case I get to chase. Chasing makes me happy.

Full Bed

My bed is full. Excuse me, can you move over a bit?

Shaping Update

Cobi's Person: Our session last Saturday didn't go particularly well. Jacobi was distracted and didn't want much of anything to do with either one of us.

Then suddenly on Sunday a light went on. She's tugging on the cloth sac for 5 seconds and picking it up off the ground. I added a "box game" (put a box down on the floor to see how she would interact with it and then marking a desired behaviour), and she's now placing her paw on the box 3-4 times out of 5. I then brought out a kleenex box, and with very little effort I have her removing kleenexes with her teeth.

So all good, right?

Well, we're stuck again. The problem is getting her to hold something in her mouth. She'll tug on the sac, but will pull it right out of my hands and then drop it. The kleenex she drops immediately as soon as it's been removed from the box. Front the floor, she'll pick up the sac and toss it in my direction, but she won't actually hold onto it.

Just like chasing the ball. Ball is stopped, job is done. Kleenex has been removed, job is done. Sac has been removed from person's hand, job is done.

So what now? Back to half-second holds and rewards for that? I think that's my next plan... Try to mark it before she starts tugging, or tosses it away.

I'm intrigued by the possibility of having her pull a kleenex from a box and bring it over to me. The cue would, obviously, be a sneeze. That seems like a possible goal... So we'll keep that one in the list too...

Summer Evening

Not too hot, nice breeze. Dry scratchy grass for rolling. Romp with friends. 

Much satisfaction. 

Can we do this every night?

Where are you Breakfast?

There was a sad thing today. Breakfast came this morning, but I decided not to eat it right away. Maybe if I waited, something better would be in my bowl. Besides, my person didn't kiss me on the nose. Besides, the door was open and it was interesting outside.

But then Breakfast went away. I waited all day but it didn't come back.

Then Dinner came. But still no Breakfast.

Breakfast, where did you go?

Smelling the Flowers

My people say these smell nice. Their noses are not super like mine. To me, just ho-hum.

My Ducky

Ducky came back! For some reason Ducky was hiding in the closet. Ducky squeaks very loudly when I bite. This makes my people grumpy. But it makes me pleased. Ducky is very satisfying.

Only one strange thing. Ducky was once very big, almost as big as me. Now Ducky is much smaller. What happened?

Cadboro Bay

The Cadborosaurus lives here. What's that? I saw nothing like this Cadborosaurus.

I did make a new friend.
Fun chasing wrestling running wet cool sand.

Strong breeze, good romp.

My people were cold. They didn't share their turkey sandwiches. I don't feel sorry for them at all.

Sunny afternoon

Sun sun sun... warm... nice... sun...

 

Oooooh.... sun.....

 

Backwards-Chained Retrieve

Cobi: New yard. Lots of dog smells. Cool grass, hot sun. Funny white sticks which I jump over. Fun.

New person. No wait, my nose tells me I've met her before, but not here. Also the smell of duck and lamb. Where is the duck and the lamb? In the pouch. Hello, I'll sit here nicely. What do you want me to do? Please share your duck and lamb.

Yes, that is my tug toy. Why are you dangling it there? Why do you get excited when I bonk it with my nose? People are strange.

Please share your duck and lamb.

Cobi's Person: Today we had a private lesson with Sherry from Smart Dog Training. We were trying a backwards-chained retrieve, so starting with the last step, which is getting the dog to put the object into your hand. Although our first problem is getting the thing into her mouth.

Actually, our real first problem is that I haven't done any pure shaping with her. As soon as the treats and clicker come out, she smashes her bum onto the ground and looks for a cue.

Sherry started with holding out a toy and rewarding any touch of the dog's nose to the toy. The next criteria was looking for two nose touches. Then we were trying to move into an open mouth, which was easy because it was hot out, but I think we'd probably get stuck there if we tried it in the house.

So we changed tactics to this little cloth bag full of treats. Immediately Jacobi had this in her mouth, which earned her a click and a treat from inside the bag. So this skipped us ahead several steps. This is kind of cheating, and may never get us a love of chasing balls, but apparently there are frisbees out there that you can pack with treats so this might be enough to get some kind of a retrieve going.

The next step is to slowly lengthen the amount of time she needs to keep her grip on the bag. She only gets a treat if she lets go when I tell her to, not on her own terms. After that we're going to move to pushing the bag into my hand.

So we have some work to do this week. 

Cobi: You want me to WHAT? You can't be serious...

To dig?

I see you are digging in the dirt... May I please join you?

The Thing Called Hose

Glistening water droplets from the thing called "hose", I smite thee with my fangs of doom. Mwa ha hah!

Eek!

Chasing Raven

Raven, my favourite sister. Familiar smell, puppies together, dog of my soul.

She runs, she picks up the ball, she returns. This is called fetching. This pleases my people.
I chase. This pleases me.

Oh boy oh boy oh boy.