Katrin was asking whether the Bug has an official nickname from John yet – and to date he does not. Going on 5 months and no official unofficial name?! Monty had one in three days! John does love saying, “Oh, that dog o’ mine” in a certain cadence to Bug. It gets Bug GOING!
Last night I got my first taste of the wily corgi way from Bug. Bug and I have been working hard on down. Not hard enough that he is doing it on cue, but I have been making him do down in very exciting places (hoping to capture the sheep pen excitement) like the barn and at trials. Bug doesn’t give it a second thought. Hooray!
Last night we introduced the dogs to two new pieces of equipment – the table and the chute. I was afraid he might roll in the chute but had no such fears related to the table.
He easily hopped up on the table, but wouldn’t down. It was really strange. Katrin is a proponent of having a default behavior for the table. So if you are competing in AKC you are automatically right 50% of the time. CPE doesn’t require a contact behavior and I believe it is a down in USDAA. I aim for a default down.
Bug wouldn’t down. I couldn’t figure it out. Katrin made me just “wait, Julie” even though I was willing to just ask him for a sit. I am such a sucker! He was nudging my hand and being a nudge – unusual behavior since I have been asking him for downs frequently. Finally he downed and then did it quiet quickly after that.
Lesson learned: Bug is not a Schnauzer in Corgi clothing. Patience! He was playing me. Oye!
On the teeter Bug was not as confident as last week and would only eat cookies from Katrin. It didn’t matter what I had.
When we were not working on new equipment we practiced jumps. Bug was a little bit odd about them and when we went to practice the chute, Katrin commented that he seemed to be bunny hopping. Most likely his pelvis is out – hence the oddness about jumping (and probably the teeter too). It is AMAZING what a difference it makes. I can see the difference adjustments make the most with Ike, but little things with Carmen and Bug prove to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is very effective.
No chute issues for the Bug. When he gets wet and I try to dry him off he takes being covered with a towel as an invitation to ROLL about and be silly. So I suspected the chute wouldn’t be a major issue – unless the issue was that he thought he needed to roll his way through.
He was much more excited about the tunnels this week.
We also practiced our contact behavior on a board (wait) and Katrin reminded me NOT to race my dog. Especially my dog who is oh-so-much faster than me!
This week with Bug I need to:
- Practice Contact behavior on my board
- Practice downs on the table – might have to saw a wee bit off the legs, but other than that it is finished!
- Practice down in more exciting places and get off the lure!
- See the chiropractor!
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