Meet Cisco. Cisco is a 5 year old Yorkie-poo. He wears a coat. Thankfully, his coat does not match Linda's but I hesitate to mention it because it may happen in the future. Apparently, Linda channels Cisco, as she asked "what about Cisco? Cisco wants to do something!' at schutzhund training today. I accept part of the blame for encouraging them. He's just so darned cute! And he is very food motivated and willing, so it's fun to teach him behaviors. Last week we had him doing a spunky relay between Manners Minders.
We had been "blessed" with a recent snowfall that left the conditons perfect for puppy serpentines in tracking. That mushy, snowball-packing snow that leaves a perfect impression of your foot when you walk, is great for laying meandering, multi-turn tracks because you can see exactly where they go! No need to throw markers or place flags. There are only a couple things you need to remember. One is to walk toe-first, so that your toe digs an impression where you can drop the food, and the second is to use food the same color as the surface. String cheese is a good choice. The caution is that if you use a dark colored treat, the dog will use his/her eyes and simply run from treat to treat instead of using the nose. With a small dog such as Cisco, depending on how large your own feet are, you may need to place food in both the heel and the toe. After all, the length of my foot is roughly the same length as his body!
Cisco starts his track.
Here Cisco works out the corner
Tracking on a loose leash
SUCCESS!!
good thing we reminded Linda that they have to complete a BH before moving on to the TR1.
Look out, world!
