Saturday, June 28, 2008

Overcome Spitting Syndrome

She said we can't afford to lay all our chips on agility anymore. If I didn't made any progress after years of agility, is time to redirect our focus on something else. I don't think getting a qualifying score for Pre-Novice and Novice Obedience will be much of a problem. No running in the ring that will trigger me to go berserk. The exercise we fear most is 'stay'. But that we will resort to more proofing, then cross our paws and pray.

Nonetheless, overdose of heeling and stay for Novice can really make me a dull girl. Why not stimulate your mind with some of the Intermediate and Open exercise. We started off with retrieve, not retrieve and spit, but retrieve and hold to show your respect. But why dumbell? I can understand we heel on left, because hunter on field carry their gun on right, and when we walk oppose to traffic, we are suppose to be on the left. 'Out of sight stay' are meant for dogs who used to stay outside the store, while their owner went in shopping for grocery. Anyway people are fear of dognapping currently. But dumbell? I can't reason it. A plush duck might be more reasonable. Okay, I'm saying this because I'm just a poor bugger who still can't retrieve a dumbell.

While being stuck with the retrieving part, we proceed on how to complete the retrieving exercise. Mastering the 'hold'. This is what we call 'backchaining' method. I have a major item spitting syndrome. Whatever I fetch, I will spit on her feet and trained her to pick it up. This behaviour really doesn't contribute much to our dumbell work. It had took me months, with lotsa troubleshooting, especially holding it until its being removed, not to drop it when you see your owner's hand came close to it. Whenever I did that, she redraw her hand, let it drop and indicate to me, I'm screwed. After 2 freaking months, finally a breakthrough. Is not a surprise though, since I need 2 years to learn how to stay for 10 second and another year to stay for 1 minute.

~ Looking dumb is the only expression and I can make out of this situation ~

She decided not to train on tennis balls because when we played flyball, I don't think she had this dicipline of demanding me to 'hold' it.



~ 'Sit and stare' not longer works in my household. They treat me as Sue Storm, the Invisible Woman ~
~ But who can resist this? 'Sit, stare and bowl', the new trend of begging. Food, please....... ~

Last Friday, Ms Owner went for a movie marathon. 3 movies in a day, The Happening, Get Smart and Wanted. Who the jerk who told her that 'The Happening' isn't scary?! It freaked the hell out of her and she ended up only watching 60% of the film, while the remaining she blocked the whole screen with her bag. But 'sci-fi' had been one of her favourite genre. Luckily, there's nothing gore. Get Smart is a forgettable movie, nothing impressive and the worst is, she can't bring herself to laugh. Maybe she was too concentrate test messaging with Ms Sister, discussing how many Euro Cup T-shirt they should purchase at Jusco. They were being sold at 70% discount!



~ The Happening, Wanted and Get Smart ~

'Wanted' was really crazy action movie with all the 'curve bullet' moves that doesn't comply with the law of physics. Angelina Jolie doesn't have an impact on the movie, we wonder why her big gorgeous face was plastered on the poster, suggesting to us that she was the protagonist. Afterall, we got to enjoy some superbly impressive action moves, they even wreck the new version of Viper, which made us weep and there's a twist in the end.

Coming up next: Malayia 3rd Olympic Day 2008: A Review

10 comments:

Hero & Casper said...

'Sit, stare and bowl'... Yeah, who can resist this?!? Cool tricks!

Molly the Airedale said...

You can ace anything you set out to do, Pacco! You're one smart girl and MS owner is one gifted trainer!
Thanks for the movie reviews! Mom and dad don't go that often but now they'll know which ones NOT to bother with!

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

Anonymous said...

The Happening is THAT scary? WOW I don't think I wanna watch it.

Deefor said...

It sounds like your humans are getting stubborn. Refusing to do all the things you taught them They can be like that.

Get Smart used to be a funny TV show-- long time ago. Guess I'll wait for the videos. Thanks for the reviews.

Deefor

Lorenza said...

Hi, Pacco!
Another nice trick! I hope they feed you after that picture!
Kisses and hugs
Lorenza

Amber-Mae said...

Pacco, you really look cute with that food bowl in your mouth. I still can't hold my food bowl coz it's just simply too heavy for me & I don't like the taste & texture of it. Yuck! By the way, you left your favorite rope toy at BU yesterday so I brought it back home & now it's safely with me. I played with it earlier on & it was great fun & it smelled great too! What scent is that you put on it? Hee!

Butt wiggles,
Solid Gold Dancer

Chris and Ricky said...

Pacco, I know what you mean about dumbbells! I don't understand them either. Mom has been working with me for MONTHS trying to get me to just take it and hold it. I only want to take food and eat it. I don't want ot hold anything. We are sort of backchaining the retrieve too. This week I actually held the dumbbell for 10 seconds and this was a major break through for me. So you are already way ahead of my progress! Keep up the good work!

Anonymous said...

Ace won't hold anything he doesn't want to. He retrieves forever and ever but spits his ball out immediatly. I haven't tried to get him to hold anything, but I know it would really test my patience if I tried to teach him that.

Cynthia Blue said...

LOL that is a very cute hold! It's a hard thing to teach. i clicker trained Lucy's dumbbell retrieve and it's so good! I wish we could have gone into open. :(

Biggie-Z said...

Pacco, you are so smart! We are such opposites - stay was the easiest command for me and we don't really know how long I can stay because my mom always gets bored and wants to do something else. In fact, "ok" (release) was harder for me and sometimes I just stay even when she says "ok". Down stay is the best, because then you can just take a nap. :)

Biggie