On your mat...

We were watching a program on telly, Downsize your Pet.

Some people have no IDEA ! Anyway, it lead to the Boss deciding on a new thing for us to learn...

We take my sheepskin (Actually it's my mates from when he was a puppy human) with us in the car, and when we go to work he puts it down and tells me "Jake...on your MAT" and I have to stay there. He doesn't seem to mind if I SIT or DOWN, as long as I STAY.

Sometimes I get a TREAT for it !

Apparently Zac was really good at MAT.

Give a dog a break huh...

You'd think that with snow deep on the ground...and having sat up 'til 3.oo am watching the All Blacks play South Africa, the Boss would have given me the morning off training today eh...

You'd THINK!

There's something irresistably smelly about snow, I don't know what it is, but it's very distracting stuff. The Boss got a bit cross when I was sniffing and not right at HEEL when we were doing weave between the dogs, and made me go back on leash.

At least he cleared away some snow so I didn't have to DOWN/STAY in it.

Not often anyway.

Bring back SUMMER !

Short legs...

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrhh!!!

You try being belly deep in THAT stuff.

The Boss knows how cold it is...I jumped into bed with him after my morning sniff outside...

Hahaha!

Hurry up & light the fire.

Brrr.

Training lineage...

The Boss does another kind of training himself...(called wing chun...and it looks even more boring to me than SIT/STAY!), and said it was important to acknowledge those whose methods and systems are employed...especially once you begin to make progress.

So, with a CGC cert. under my collar, I should say thanks to Malcolm Downey, ex RAF handler now based in Auckland. It was him who taught my Boss how to speak dog properly and showed him what is possible for a well trained dog to do, (without suppressing our essential dogginess). Both of the Bosses and Malcolm spent about three years working with a group of dogs, and it's that experience which shaped my training.

Also, Gary Wulff here in Wanaka runs basic obedience courses which we have attended most weeks since I was about 2 yrs old...so about 3 months. These have been really great for teaching me how to behave around other dogs...some of the CGC exercises would have been much more challenging without that experience.

So thanks guys...very appreciated!

Citizen Jake...

I am now officially a Canine Good Citizen.

There was 11 of us attempting the test, and 7 of us passed. Most of it was pretty straight forward. It was COLD and RAINING though, which was a pity, but the organisers were really good (especially as it was their first time too) and we got through it in pretty quick time.

What we had to do:

• Be wearing an up to date registration tag.
• Be well groomed.
• Be carrying a poo bag.

• Allow the evaluator to groom my coat, look at my ears, and pick up my front paws to be examined. (I still don't like being brushed, especially when I'm cold...but the Boss said I had to put up with it just for the exercise)
• Allow the Boss to look at my teeth and down my throat (which I still don't like!) and run his hands all over me.

• The Boss had to answer 8 questions on responsible ownership of a me...(6/8 was the pass rate but he got 8/8...smarty!)

• Show good food manners...ie SIT/STAY until allowed to eat, and not beg when the evaluator had a biscuit in front of me. (Boring old dry wine biscuit...like I'm gonna beg for that!)

• Accept a friendly stranger walking up and giving me a pat.

• Sit quietly while the Boss had a chat with another stranger with a dog. (That was tough because the friendly strangers dog really liked ME!)

• Walk through a gate to fetch a bag without getting in the Bosses way or pulling the leash.

• SIT/STAY while the boss went about 5 mts away, then COME back to the Boss.

• HEEL on leash.

• HEEL on leash past a trio of noisy people with their dogs, and a jogger.

• Be tied to a stake without complaining while the Boss was out of sight for 5 minutes.

• Allow a stranger to take me for a walk without the Boss present. (I'd have to point out here that the stranger was NOT handling me well. I was on the wrong side, and allowed to be at the end of the leash rather than told to HEEL...the Boss was a bit disappointed with that!)

• Play with my tug-toy, then release it on command. (I didn't see this myself, but apparently someone failed this test because their dog was GROWLING while playing TUG. ..SO WAS I! That's what you do when you play tug...it's not vicious or anything, just part of the GAME!! If that's all they failed on, ie they let go when told, I'd be asking for another opinion!)

And that was it. Sounds like a lot, but it really only took about 15 minutes per dog, and there were a few good chuckles to be had while waiting my turn for each exercise.

The Boss was really stoked that we got a special mention at the presentation afterwards, it turns out that we were the only ones that didn't belong to an official training club, and hadn't been through a specific training program leading up to the test. We've been invited to represent the Selwyn Dog Training Club here in Wanaka until the Boss gets a local Club incorporated.

The Boss is also hoping to attend an assessors course to enable him to conduct tests here for other people.

That was all on Saturday. On Sunday, we went and watched some Dog Agility trials. Boy, I thought I was pretty fast and good at jumping, but some of these dogs were AWESOME. The Boss reckons we're going to give it a go, but I've got some training to do first I can tell you!

We were also told that my level of training should be enough to begin obedience trialing, so we'll be looking into that as well.

All in all, a good result!!