Luke W Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 (edited) Well, after my recent posts about food reliance and heel problems, I thought I'd post something a bit more positive! Today I took Barkly down the beach (St Kilda West, off lead area). I'd planned to let him have a run, do a little bit of obedience and encourage him to swim. He hasn't been too keen on swimming yet - loves to wade and run in the shallows though. Anyway - it's a beautiful 26C, blue sky, light cloud and a light breeze. Perfect conditions! The tide is out so there's a stretch of sandbars just off shore. Perfect for wading along off-shore, from sandbar to sandbar. There's the odd deeper stretch between the sandbars which is perfect for Barkly to swim for 10-20 meters or so. Anyway... What a great couple of hours! Barkly finally started to enjoy swimming! After a few reluctant swims on previous days, he finally started simming without hesitation and without needed heaps of encouragement. He actually seemed to enjoy it! Yay!! I ran him through a few commands, sits, downs, stands, spins, move to heel, etc and he did them all with aplomb - under the distraction of the beach, the people and the other dogs...all for kibble! Marvellous. We walked up and down the beach for a while, throwing in the odd command or two or three occasionally, practicing recalls (100%!!! - even from other dogs and people) and wading and swimming between sandbars. Then I got out my Orbee ball and he worked for Orbee! The standard stuff: sit, down, stand, move to heel, front, spin, hand touches. 1 or 2 or 3 commands per chase of the Orbee, with some Orbee tug and chase thrown in for jackpots! We even got some short heel work in (straight lines, left and right abouts, not perfect by pretty good) all with Orbee. 10 steps, left about, mark...Orbee chase! 5 steps, left about, right about, mark, Orbee chase! I'm feeling much more upbeat. And so's Barkly! Anyway...he's now just finished a chicken frame and he's got the zoomies. Some days are diamonds. Edited January 4, 2009 by Luke W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogon Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 ahhh, yes....something to look forward to atm my boy eats, sleeps, sleeps, nips, tugs, growls, eats, sleeps, sleeps, eats and then...um...sleeps! I can't wait for walkies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkySoaringMagpie Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 Go Luke and Barkly I suspect you might find that at the beach you were more relaxed and less fixated on stuff not working and it showed in your handling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke W Posted January 5, 2009 Author Share Posted January 5, 2009 Go Luke and Barkly I suspect you might find that at the beach you were more relaxed and less fixated on stuff not working and it showed in your handling. That's a really good point Anita! We thanks you!!!!!! Got to make sure it's fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nekhbet Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 Great to hear! I love days like that When we go out I swear my Malinois could turn on a 5c piece she LOVES doing her commands in public and works so much better. She even picked up the beg command in a minute for some onlookers (she is SUCH a show off ;) ) and then ran over to get hugs.... a change is as good as a holiday Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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