Project Go Dog: Famous Last Words I Guess and Also the Welcome of Spring *Maybe*

OK, so I was reading some older posts, looking for a picture and I found this statement regarding The Pup from when I first met her. Ahem:

(Direct Quote)

"she is certainly amicable and will no doubt be easy to live with"

...Bwahahahahahahaha!!!!! Ah, irony, I am your beotch. I will go set the table so that I may eat my words.

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Anyways!

I’m remaining cautiously optimistic that spring is on the way for real now.

So is The Pup. She had finally thawed out from the weekend in the elements which means we can play!

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We’ve been working on our homework from the ST class this week: duration and independence on sit-up (which we call “monster,” since that’s what she looks like when she does it), turning perch circling into leg taps on both sides, slamming drawers shut and advancing 2o2o into a handstand (“where’s yer butt?”)!

The perch work is our toughest bit right now. When she figured out the circling thing, it was a huge Ah-HA! moment for her so she is not inclined to let it go now. (It was right before! It MUST be right now!! Stupid Leader!) She was particularly strong on the right turns and continues to barge past my left leg half the time in order to make the full circle. The will of a Border/Staffy rears its head once again. She is picking up on stopping at the right leg though, which makes sense since she didn’t care for full circles that direction anyways. We are supposed to be advancing to the point where she will follow me around in a circle to tap my leg (and then TA-DAA it becomes heeling!), but that might take awhile. She so badly wants to be in the front zone that whenever I move she takes that as the cue to spin away. For now, we are working on reward the side zones and waiting for the next Ah-HA!

I do love her progress on the handstand trick though. Learning this trick was my main goal with the class! I tried with The Dog, but she has a lot of junk in the trunk so she could never really balance right to not topple over once her butt got above her head. But The Pup has a giant baseball head which allows her to balance perfectly for this trick! She is quite the natural. I’ve gotten a few actual balanced handstands from her, but am trying not to push it until her core develops more. (Back muscles are very well developed, but not the tummy yet. Still have a puppy pot belly.)

And I REALLY didn’t want to reward for the drawer slams, but it’s on the homework so we did a few for the record. The Pup already thinks that manipulating the environment is the best thing EVER. If a drawer is open, she will shut it. Regardless of whether or not your hand is in it. So yeah, not really keen on building her confidence in this area any higher. Given her teeter obsession, she is good for now.

Here’s the video of everything so far:

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At any rate, spring had BETTER be here- we finally start outdoor classes tonight. As The Dog decided to show what an opportunistic pig she is (let’s just say she made quick work of a batch of cookies she found), she gets the week off to recover from her extremely upset stomach. As further punishment for her naughtiness, she won’t even get to come along for the ride and will have to stay home while I go work The Pup and teach class. Whaddaya think of THAT, Dog?

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I’m not THAT mean though, she still gets to play a little at home with The Pup. (Maybe I am that mean, this might actually be considered severe punishment from The Dog’s point of view. Hmm…)

Before the brawl begins, it's all false promises and sweet talk.