Omg 16 days and nights without my pup was hard! I mean we were having fun in Florida and walking 20k steps a day but it’s so good to get her back today! She’s been fab off lead this afternoon so I don’t seem to have lost her training!!! I was worried!

Let’s start a training chain. How it works is that we take turns sharing an exercise or training challenge with the group. Everyone can give it a go at home and share their videos or daily training posts. We then tag the next person to share the next exercise. You can either film it, type it up or share any way you feel comfortable. Just have it ready to post by Sunday 😊

The dogs have had a pretty chilled time over the past few days. Kairo tagged along to the garden centre/furniture store, where she was super well behaved and calmly watched the fish in the pond. They had lots of different types of carpet/rugs/mats out, so it was great exposure for walking on different textures. Other than that, we’ve just been working on various bits and pieces at home. It’s all picking up again from tonight though, as Kairo has a hoopers 1-2-1 followed by her first scentwork class.

I had been meaning to teach obedience style scent discrimination and retrieve so that was going to be my contribution to the challenges that @Holly Pearson threw my way. However it is a little complex and now a cyclone hitting so will just go with one prepared for something else. The exercise I call Jar is just getting the dog to run to a placed or thrown treat jar and lie down next to it. It is one I now teach first night on a puppy class as a challenge to teach before the class ends. It is like using a dish for remote reward but the closed container has some advantages. As well as teaching a down at a distance the treat jar rattle is a great attention getter in the park. Also I see this as gaining a source of focus in the park away from me I can control so one or two jars can be used for games in the park that help with off leash control by building them up on a long line first and then using the game to test off leash ears in a distracting environment. When getting new people to do it I avoid showing them the end result with a thrown jar to stop them skipping ahead - they need to be good on the waiting for the dumb human to open the jar before adding the throw or you get a dog retrieving or eating the jar.

I feel like I've been slack with posting even when I'm still checking in on here daily. Reno nearly complete, builders are gone and house is looking more house like. I've still be training just not posting 😬 It's alot of the same plugging some simple things but I feel like it's helping with them listening better. - I'm still pulling the whistle out - I've been doing a lot of on lead work which I'm seeing improvements with Igor - Igor did his first camp out in my daughter's van. They have been converting a van to upgrade from the roof tent so they tested it out at the weekend. He smashed camping life, pulled up a chair and watched the world go by. Me and Phoenix met up with a fellow dobe who's moved to the area. Only young 10 months but he is enormous. I'm pleased I went with my better judgement and just went for a walk with them. He is a lovely boy but my word he is a handful. Puppy energy in a dog his size is alot. He made phoenix look small. He also made me realise how well behaved phoenix is compared to puppy stage. She said Hi nicely then just went about her walk. She actually did me proud with how well she was listening. I've still been training on Wednesdays doing a mix of some hoppers, scent work and general listening skills with Igor. I'm seeing some good improvements with him lately and I'm enjoying the change.