Emmett and Lucas had a big day today. A service-dog trainer from Utah is visiting our town, and we signed the boys up for a two-day session of clicker training, agility, and advanced obedience. The training was held on a farm – the first time the boys had ever been to a farm! It was wonderful to have a wide-open, fully fenced-in space for them to run and play with the other dogs. In the pasture beyond the fence, a horse trotted around, but as soon as Lucas got a whiff of that big boy, he ran over barking his little head off. The poor horse retreated behind the barn, and throughout the rest of the day, whenever he tried to make an appearance, Lucas and two other dogs that he apparently recruited, dashed over to bark the horse back behind the barn.
The agenda mixed work and play – three minutes of focused work followed by five minutes of play – from 10 to 4. We started with some basic clicker exercises and worked on shaping a new behavior. Lucas learned “back up” while Emmett worked on “crawl.” We worked pretty extensively with hula-hoops, encouraging the dogs to walk around, through, and over. Last was agility, something the boys have never really had much opportunity to try. They both LOVED the tunnel. In fact, we struggled to get them to stop running through the tunnel! They even ran through it together, side-by-side, several times. The weave poles proved to be a bigger challenge, though they both mastered the table.
I, of course, forgot my camera, but toward the end of the day, I got out my phone and snapped a few pics of the boys doing agility work.
When we got home, Emmett and Lucas crawled into their beds and haven’t moved in nearly four hours. Tomorrow we’re working on additional tricks – we were instructed to bring shoe boxes. Hmmm. Wonder what we’ll do with those?
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