Monday musings

Monday is my “late” day at work. I go in late. I work late. Although I’m not thrilled about working until 8 or 9 p.m., it’s great to have a few extra hours on Monday mornings to play catch-up after the weekend.

I spent part of that time with Phoenix this morning trying some of the new things I learned at the Bridget Carlsen seminar over the weekend. We went outdoors as soon as the sun was up. Yeah, it was 30 degrees at 7 a.m. Yeah, I was training in gloves and earmuffs. Yeah, it has been suggested that I am not completely mentally stable.

The Farmer pointed out that it was cold and I had not been seen training outdoors in anything resembling cold since last November. He refrained from pointing out that if asked to go outdoors and do work, I would whine, “But it’s too COLD.” Dog training is a great deal different from work. Obviously.

We had a great session and I was delighted to see Phoenix light up when given some new approaches to familiar obedience exercises. Or maybe it was because it was 30 degrees out. Or because he wanted his breakfast. Or maybe because I was stepping up and doing my part to keep him engaged and not just going through the motions.

Trying new stuff is always fun and makes me think, “Well, duh, why didn’t I think of this?”

I’ll write a bit about jackpot training in an upcoming post but if you get a chance to attend one of Bridget’s seminars, do it. Nix and I had a working spot but I would have still learned a great deal if I only audited. It’s always fun, though, to get out on the floor and work your dog at a seminar and get one-on-one feedback from the person whose techniques you’re trying to implement.

Nix is picking up on several cue words already. Granted, they are ones he recognizes from day-to-day use but now I'm working to use them very selectively and put more intense value on them. One, for jackpotting, is "Supper!" For him, this applies to any meal, any time. I think I'm re-creating Pavolov's dog, since "Supper!" is a pretty powerful drool inducer.

The other one is "Stick!" Stick equals tug - leather, jute, french linen, etc. Where's your stick? Get your stick! Bite that stick! Kill that stick!

Supper and sticks are mighty powerful words.

Okay. Break over. Back to work.