Good thing it's not shorts season...

It's been raining all day, but I am trying to look on the bright side: perfect opportunity to stay inside and work on Obedience!  Tonight I came home from work with that in mind, and started to cut up some treats.  Naturally, Penny was right there waiting, in case I dropped a piece... and sure enough, I did, and she snatched it right up.  Ah-ha!  Another training opportunity, I thought to myself.  So I took another piece and deliberately dropped it on the ground as I said "Leave it!"  Sure enough, she left it.  I picked it up and fed it to her.  We continued playing this game while I finished cutting up treats.  Each time I dropped a piece, I waited a bit longer to say "Leave it."  By the end, I could drop it and not say anything at all: Penny would hardly even look at it, just glance out of the corner of her eye, then look at me.  Good dog!

Next we worked on Front and Finish positions.  Or, "Come" and "Heel" as I am going to call them - an idea stolen from Jenn!  I want to be able to say "Come" and have her come to me and sit in front of me, no matter where she is in relation to me.  We worked on shaping this a little bit last night at Agility class, so she had a good headstart and caught on pretty quickly.  Once she knew what I wanted, I added the cue.  Right now I am not being too picky with my criteria... as long as she is an arm's length from me and mostly straight, I click & treat.  We can tighten up the position later.  Next we worked on Heel position.  Out of curiosity, I cued her verbally and she spun her butt around so she was next to me!  She wasn't even close to being straight, but I rewarded her for the effort anyway lol.  In conclusion, I do believe she understands what "Heel" means, even if we aren't moving.  So that's promising!  We then did a few Heel, Come, Heel, Come, with some Downs and Sits mixed in to make sure she wasn't just performing a routine and actually listening to what I was saying, and that went pretty well!  Not perfect, but it's definitely something that I think will improve.  Yay!

Lastly, we ended with something fun, a new trick we've been working on...

 

 Almost got it!  :)  It's a good thing it's not summer, or I'd probably be getting a lot of, "Are those... paw print-shaped bruises?!"  Why yes.  Yes they are.  ;)