Distractions are training friends:)

Monday the weather was shifting and getting colder. The dogs had romped'n'played for some time in the snow, so were brought inside to get warm and rest. I wanted to work Sugar doing scent discrimination on his articles as well as working on Figure 8's.

However, there was no one available to help or be my posts....but hey I thought...we have lots of well trained dogs here at Applewoods. I decided to get creative by combining dogs, commands, and training into a great training opportunity for all the dogs in the picture.

While Sugar did indeed get his opportunity to work on articles, Sandy stared longingly at 'whatever those things were on the ground in front of my nose' and hoped she'd be invited to play with them. She wasn't invited, but she did hold her Stay position on the Place table while I worked articles and then did Figure 8's with Sugar.

Then it was time to trade places and put Sugar on command on the Place table as I worked Pete, off-leash doing Figure 8's. Finally, Sandy had watched and seen how her two 'yard mates' did this new Figure 8 game and she was ready for her turn. Pete was put on the Place table as I worked Sandy around the two watching dogs.

It was an outstanding moment for ALL the dogs involved as the 'peer pressure' enabled Sandy to see what was being done and how to do it correctly. Who needs humans to help you train when there are other training distractions like this? Distractions sure are great for training, arent' they?

Roxanne