exercise	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Week-end
Awesome Heeling	Cone-to-Cone	Tucked Sit	TS	CtC	TS
Focus	heeling	treats	outside	heeling	treats	outside
Home-obedience	Lazy Leash	Zen Traps	Recall and Distractions	LL	ZT	R and D
Steps to Success	Target Distance	D Settle	S T	T D	D S	S

Cone to Cone heeling – sometimes I add a little ‘run and come to heel’ to keep the fun up, but he is in general improving very nicely. Sometimes the cones shape a square, sometimes a line, a slalom, a triangle or a diamond. Just to keep us thinking and working.

Tucked Sit – he was far too eager to really know what he was doing on Tuesday. Tiredness type arousal… On the other hand, I think maybe I got the first hints of a Kick Back stand in one rep. So not a total disaster. Wednesday we worked harder, trying for a raised platform, and 3-4 more KB hints (if butt up, while legs are still in place, is a hint…) He gets a bit excited, and really wants to use platforms for spinning.

Focus – 10 seconds at heel is no problem. Tiny arm-movement holding a treat, and we’re currently at 4 seconds. And he is obviously working to not look away! 2-5 seconds with a sit outside. Sooo much temptations out there!

Lazy Leash – Wait, what? You mean I have to pay attention even after the treat? I can’t just run and sniff? Oh!

There is some interesting science about what senses take up processing power in the same part of the brain. Why we for example turn down the music in the car to see better in traffic. For dogs the same applies – a deep sniffing and they literally cannot hear you! I was tearing my hair about how the guide book says to ‘let them figure out the problem of a taught leash’, but Fenris didn’t seem to see it as a problem. I could be standing for 30 sec+ before he eased up. But how many times haven’t I ‘woken’ up from a book after several hours, before finally noticing the problem of my sleeping leg and cramped shoulders…

I guess walking the dog is like taking me to a bookstore. Sorry, can’t hear you! #addtowishlist #addtosnifflist

Target – he seems a little less Concerned about the bumping cupboard, but most of the session was just building confidence about targeting the Post-It on a closed door. The second session was filmed but due to me inadvertently having Spotify on in the background, Youtube has blocked it (It recognised Beatles “Love me do”)!

And the third session involved Fenris trying to put his chin on top of an open drawer. Oh well, more practice…

Distance – if I don’t specify a direction, he will go around a cone 5 feet away, no problem.

Settle – Got up to 1 minute settle + play + 20 second settle.

Social and environmental training – a lovely trip to the ‘beach’ in the next village, Tuesday. Loads of smells to sniff. In front of the church there was a man (gasp!) with a truckload of gravel and a tractor (gasp!), working to smooth out the parking lot. Nice open space, lots of distracting smells in the grass banks down to the sea, plenty of treats; Fenris stayed well under threshold the whole time. A very good session.

Met a neighbour Wednesday morning. He was moving towards ‘us’ (actually his car between him and us), and Fenris first stiffened, then lunged. But I dragged Fenris back a few meters, and it passed quickly. Fenris was soon back to sniffing the ditch, while we waved good morning/good bye and the neighbour left for work. So I’ll count it as a win. (The jogger later in the day was less of a win, but 2 out of 3 meetings in two days with decent+ results, is good.)

Tricks – was that a whole second of Sit Pretty?! Building his core strength slowly but surely, but it’s hard for him not to fall either forwards or backwards. Weird thing about High Fives though; he hasn’t figured out ‘Both’ from either starting paw. Only if I start on the left paw (if I recall correctly). The online trick-course has issued a challenge; 3 videos of recognisable tricks (at least 2 from their first level set), with some level of fluency (no luring, starting to fade to hand signals), for the first diploma. I think maybe his Bow, High Fives and the Slalom? If I can get him all the way through the left leg a bit more consistently? The teacher keeps insisting we are NOT to be perfectionistic about it, but it’s a hard habit to break!

Rally – a lovely round on Wednesday. I used my app to generate a few signs (270 right, 3xsit, 180 right, sit/down/stay). And he got his exclusive squeaky-dangly toy for reward – which turned into some anticipation issues with the Stay on the third run (“I know what’s coming! Play!!!!”), but we fixed that nicely. Not entirely without rewards in between, and certainly not full focus all the way, but he did good. (And I did good at planning course, walking course, keeping him with me, keeping the mood up, rewarding Good Enough.)

Fenris would like me to add that butt-washing deserves loads and loads of liver treats. It’s not his fault the deer-ribs upset his tummy, and he shouldn’t be subjected to the indignity of a wash cloth under the tail! (Unless of course loads and loads of liver treats. But even so.)