New harness.

I'd been looking for a harness that wouldn't move under the strain of a giant flexi lead. Our current harness would slip to the side, would scruch up behind Luna's elbows, and generally just looked uncomfortable to me.

I finally decided on the Ruff Wear Web Master harness. Here's Luna wearing it after fitting it on her for the first time:

No, she didn't want to pose, that's obvious! (I woke her from her nap to try on the harness, which obviously isn't cool)

But I'm happy with what I see here. The front strap is far enough away from her elbows that it won't irritate her, everything fits snugly, and I like the look of it. We'll test it on a walk in a couple of hours to see if it is as nice as it looks!

Will be interesting to see wether Luna thinks she can still pee with that back strap or not...

A good place to be.

I LOVE seeing this!

New crate

I ordered a crate for Susan Garrett's Crate Games. I used to have one years ago, but because I still live with my parents who HATE the crate, I no longer had one. Then I learned about Susan Ailsby's reasons for crates, the Crate behaviour in the Levels, and then Susan Garrett's Crate Games. Combine that with knowing that Luna loves to sleep in a den-like place, and I really wanted to have a crate again!

It arrived today, I assembled it, put a nice thick pad in it, tossed Luna's rawhide sticks in there and asked her to check it out. The first time, she went in, then came out again. Kind of like; 'Oh look, a crate. Whatever.' The second time she went in, laid down and went right to sleep. Whoohoo!

Here she is in her new den, her ears pricked because I'm taking the picture;

The only downside for now; it will have to stay in my bedroom at all times. Ah well... There's just enough room to play Crate Games. ;-)

Birthday Girl!

Yay, Luna is 6 years young today! Happy birthday my little lady!

Not much blogging for a while!

Hi all,

Since I'm currently following Susan Garrett's Recallers Course, I probably won't be writing much here, for the next five weeks. Thought I'd let you know before you assumed this blog is dead. ;-)

Have a great time everyone!

Susan Garrett's Recallers Course 2.0

Random cuteness; Luna at 3 months, her first time in the park. "You're my mommy, I'll stick right with you!"

Plan to do our first 5-minute session tonight, we'll work on 3 of the games that Susan considers Critical Core games.

Problem; I don't have a crate anymore. Would love to have one, but nowhere to put it at the moment. So, I'm thinking of doing Susan's Crate Games with a specific mat. My criteria would be that Luna's front paws must be within the confines of the mat at all times, and instead of touching the crate door as a cue to Sit, I'd touch the mat with my right foot and that would be the cue to Sit. That's my plan for now. Hope to work it tomorrow, and I'll report on how it went!

I've also just made a list of reinforcers for Luna, rated in order of value and separated into three categories; food, toys and activities. Interesting! If I'm even half right with my assessment of value, and I'll admit I'm not 100% sure, Luna has LOTS of high value rewards. Cool! I'm sure that's the product of nearly 6 years of working together, but still. A nice surprise!

Off to go train!

Paws Up!

Sorry. I was looking for a paws-up shot, couldn't find it, then saw this one. Hahaha!

Yihaa! We have a new trick!

This week I've been asking Luna to put her paws up on horizontal things while on our walks. My asking consisted of standing by an object and waiting to see what she'd do, or pointing at it. Yesterday I decided to add a cue; 'Paws Up!' And voila, a new trick is born! She can now Paws Up, on cue, on virtually any raised horizontal surface we can find. I've also started asking her for two different things with some objects; 'Hup!' for jumping it, and 'Paws Up!' for putting her front paws on the same object she just jumped. She's still figuring that one out, but if I ask her to wait, and then ask for Paws Up, she gets it! Such a smart pup! ;-)

Paws Up is in Sue Ailsby's new Steps to Success, so next up is reviewing her criteria for each Level and then testing! Whoohoo!