YES it is STILL winter...

Waking up to the cold this am was just heartbreaking :( Somewhere in my brain, there was a glimmering hope the cold would be slowly trickly away, like the sands of an hourglass, so are the Days Of...

What am I doing? ANYWAY.

Since the evil called cold will not let go of the state of Minnesota (or maybe it's just ME...some demented folk LIKE this crap). I decided to work on some dog things. Imagine that you say?? Loretta? Work on "ddddddog things"?? Spooky huh?

So...the biggie I want to work on is:

Dogs barking while I run my other dogs (HUSH SG...shouldn't read your blog anyway :)...Even and Lynn are really good at this, why you ask? Are they amazing pups (well yes) are they like THE SMARTEST EVER (yes for sure!)...but in reality...I trained it :)

So...why didn't I train it in my other dogs? Well...are you ready for the excuses? OK....GO!

#1 My dogs were raised in the land of sheepdog trials, they will sit and watch dogs running on SHEEP all day, quietly and you would't even know they were there...um, yeah. Not so much for agility...next excuse...
#2 Ace doesn't, so THERE!
#3 Zip never did because Ace was apparently so damn boring to watch run agility it wasn't an issue.
INSERT KLINK---who is SUPER DUPER MEGA AWESOME fun to watch!!! Damn...
Zip begins barking...I um, yeah. Didn't care...did I just type that? Shame on me :)
#4 Gator was LOVELY in his kennel as a puppy...and then suddenly as an 11 month old decided AGILITY WAS FUN and barking was fun and HE is the worst...BY FAR the worst.
#5 Crackers is an angel in his kennel...Andy trained that...again as Dana Pike says, "Training, you should try it!!!"
#6 I train mostly by myself...or with Andy. Here is the issue...I want to reward but it is REALLY hard to reward when I am actually working another dog...see my dilemma? I don't have students to help me reward, I don't have a husband who is willing to feed dogs during the time I am training mine (as he is watching and trying to pick up things I guess?).
#7 My dogs only bark when **I** run....that has to count for SOMETHING RIGHT?

OK, I am done wallowing in my own lake of excuses...let it go, moving on :)

I found a new little buddy to help me :) Meet my friend :) A remote reward training device :) I have named him Stewie :) Off of Family Guy :) I think he looks like a Stewie :)

Stewie has been assigned the task of training my dogs to be QUIET in their crates when I work another dog :) I am sure Stewie didn't expect this to be that hard, but unfortunately for him, I have 6 very HIGHLY food motivated dogs and also very driven and LOUD dogs...

Stewie is now a BFF with my dogs in their crates while I am working another dog :)

Zip tries to take his lid off to access a JACKPOT, thus now it is duct taped closed (to the makers of this product, really...a LOCK for the lid would be nice...K?

Gator lays down and stares at it, and is still not 100% sure of where those treats come from (nice boy, but not always the sharpest pencil in the box) but is always surprised when a cookie DROPS OUT OF NOWHERE into the holder :)

Even knows where the treats are (duct tape WOO HOO!) AND knows where they come from, so she tries to INHALE them from the tiny whole....which sounds more like a sucking sound and fills the entire tray with foaming bubbling saliva..YUM!

Lynn lays quietly and waits politely for the cookie to drop, how cute!!

And Klink just stares and DROOLS, and wags her tail when she hears the beaping for the reward.

PERFECT...no barking :) Other than Even's weird sucking thing she is attempting, which I feel will wear off when she needs to BREATHE...such an odd little dog :)

So that is the plan, one by one I will be taking them out and working each dog, as I am doing that I am hitting the button on Stewie that is in their kennels and TADA! Training TWO dogs!

The WORST dog, Gator...took to it immediately :) He is now up to every 30 seconds in between rewards (it is an auto feature! ROCKIN!). Zip is still requiring a bit more cookies...but improving. The girls we are just working good habits and reminding :) Klink is doing THE best currently, watching for up to a minute in between rewards :)

Quick, easy and you can train it all by yourself!!!!

They sell this one and one other at www.cleanrun.com However there are other places you can get this particular model cheaper! So internet search!

Here's to HOPEFULLY a quiet group of dogs at the next trial without Andy having to yell at them! :)