This ball doesn't squeak, but it sure is fun to nom on!
On Saturday my aunt and uncle came over. Uncle Jason is entering a video contest and he wanted a dog for it. Well, hey! I'm a dog! So, just under a month ago, he sent a "basic list of behaviors" to my mom, and we worked on learning them. I don't know as many tricks as my siblings, so there was lots to do. Mom said that even though I knew the least, she picked me for the role because of my steady temperament.
I had to learn to play dead, to bark on cue, and a few other things. Mom says she wishes she had taught me a "marker" spot, because it turned out we needed to do a recall with a standing stay before I got to a certain point. She said teaching a marker would have been more simple, but we sure made do with her just asking me to come, then saying "wait!" before I got there. I was a little confused at first, but I did great! Oh- did I mention it was at night?
Hopefully we will be able to show you the video soon. Uncle Jason is doing all the editing and shooting some more scenes. I hope he wins the contest!
We adopted Riot from the BARC animal shelter in 2009. I spent a lot of time working on things such as sitting for greeting rather than jumping on people (he was a terrible jumper), walking nicely on the leash (talk about pulling!), and potty training. I taught him some really simple stuff, like sit, stay, down, and shake, but other than that didn't do much with him in the trick department. (Kitty: "He's a dummy!")
This is the first picture of him!
Recently I was asked to train one of my dogs for a few simple things for a video. I can't give a bunch of details just yet, but I chose Riot for his steady temperament. Aero would have been first choice in terms of ease- he already knows all of the cues I needed- but Riot better fits the bill aesthetically. It's been really wonderful working with him. To be honest, I was in a bit of a "training funk," where I didn't really want to work my dogs much. Riot and I are really enjoying the bonding time, and he's doing great.
I needed a bark cue, so here he is with that. We've already added the standing stay (another new thing) and a bit of distance.
We have another week before shooting, so I'm very confident that he's going to do just great! I will continue to work with him even after the video is done, as we are having a lot of fun. He's a pretty creative dog! I feel like I'm learning things about him that I hadn't noticed before, and he's been with us for 4 years.
