This morning it was cold and sunny.
07:30am – man oh man, I love this guy! He is consistent like the day is long – truly he has mastered his routine. Wake up, pee, drink, pee some more, poop, maybe poop again, grab his pine cone and help me with breakfast.
11:00am – session 1
Babe is going to be a big boy!
Today I had to put his collar on the last possible extension. This is the earliest I have ever had to do this with all the other puppies we have had. He is growing and getting strong.
One of Babe’s favorite things is the Ultimate workout with the ball. I think he would continue this forever if it was an option. His tracking of the ball is not great but he loves the game.
Today I worked on discrimination of signals. He did really well with this. When we first started the session I worked this and he did well but had a lot of energy so after I got a lot of that energy out I worked it again and he excelled in it. Great session today with Babe.
He is such a pleasure to work with.
4:00pm – session 2
Babe was loving life today – warm, sunny, windy with lots of smells. As he is getting older he is becoming more independent. Meaning he’ll spend more time away from me sniffing or exploring. This is the reason we teach a whistle recall so early – on their first day!
I got to the road and he was off sniffing under a tree on the other side of the training field. I hit him with a whistle recall and his response was as expected: instantaneous.
The key to understanding how recalls work is after the initial concept is taught you have to “proof” the behavior to make sure the concept is in their mind solidly.
Other than that, it was more of the same – behavior chains in random order, followed by ultimate workout and flirt pole. All in all a solid day.
6:00pm – play time and dinner.
7:30pm – play time and 1.5 mile walk.
10:00pm – play time and walk.