Training today

Kimmy and I just got back from yet another training session with Carole. It's a beautiful - if a bit chilly - day here in Luxembourg, the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and we're both in a good mood :)

We tried "apportieren" today - that's what is called "retrieve" in English. I have been trying to teach Kimmy to retrieve on my own, but while she got the first part (go get it), she didn't seem to grasp the second part (bring it back to me!).

With Carole, though, she suddenly knew what she was supposed to do, ha ha ;) She ran after the dummy as if her butt was on fire, grabbed it and tried to make a sharp turn at the same time, slipped on the wet grass and fell on her side, lost the dummy from her mouth, and frantically grabbed it back and got back on her feet and ran to the trainer. I almost peed with laughter. She is such a goof! ;)

Then it was my turn to try and Kimmy was soooo excited to run and get the dummy, and I learned that the trick to coax her to bring it back is to start going backwards as soon as she has the dummy in her mouth, while calling her excitedly to me.

Then we tried a variation - instead of letting her run after the dummy immediately after throwing it, we held her back with "wait" command, and then gave her the permission to run after it with "Find the dummy!" command. She loved it! Carole said this is also a good way to teach patience, since she can't run after it right away and must wait for the command.

So this we will now incorporate in our daily fun sessions.