General – he seems moody. Tuesday he utterly refused to go on walks with the teenage son, and had several bouts of resource guarding me from the pre-teen daughter. (He also did number two several times, so it might be a physical discomfort thing that made him less amenable to other stuff.) Today he was back to his cheerful self; morning walk with the son, zoomies, happy naps, eager to play and incredibly snuggly in the early morning.

Yesterday his monthly box arrived (a bit early, I suspect, maybe it’s four weeks instead of a month?) with a squeaky yellow plush Easter-chick (that lost a wing in the first minute of ‘love’, and also the beak within 24 hours), an enormous chew-ring (that he half-ate the first evening, and I’ve put the rest away for later), and loads of treats (including a packet from the Woolf brand that Fenris adores!)

Obedience – position changes at a distance of 1 meter on a platform, his sits and stands are getting really pretty. We worked Stand-stays, both waiting while I move around him, and stopping from heeling motion. We have the tools and foundations to give him a general idea, but it’ll need loads more polishing to get a firm, immediate stop. I also need to be really clear with my signals – hand or verbal. We also worked a long session on positioning and focus at heel. Loads of treats for keeping his head up. His natural motion is nose low and looking forwards, so this is a hard one, but he needs to keep focus up to be mindful of the signals he’s given.

Agility – the equipment arrived today; 4 sticks, 6 low cones with holes and 2 tall cones. That’ll give us either four jumps of varying heights, or 4 weave poles. Fenris seems to enjoy jumping very much, and had the time of his life trying it out. Cavalletti for kibble this evening with four sticks emanating from a central cone turned out to be a lot more tireing than I expected. He really put his mind and concentration into picking up his feet and checking where he was going. Only a handful of wraps before he wanted to do something else.

Scentwork – he seems to like his current food very much, and we had a nose target session on Monday. He throws himself into it – which is nice for speed, but I’m not entirely sure he knows what he’s aiming for.

Vacuuming – 1 session. Tiny bits of hoovering for loads of treats. Fenris is not convinced.

Handling – working on the hind leg nails. So far just touching for treats, and working out a system of startbutton for this behaviour. For most of the handling I can ask for a chin rest in one hand and work with the other, but I need him to lie down for this part, and use both my hands for the clipping. So far, I’m rewarding him for any kind of chin down – on my thigh, on his front paw or on the ground. Solid round of brushing today, at least.