Both Mint and I are learning

Hi! It's Cinnamon.

Yesterday Mint had his first tricks lesson with my dance instructor who had taught me in my beginners dancing class late last year.

The instructor had been so busy with her work that for a few of months she hadn't been able to come to Ardmore New Zealand Kennel Club Exhibition Centre where I practice dancing every Thursday. Yesterday I met her for the first time since the national dog dancing camp in February. When my Mum told her at the summer camp that we were going to get a new Beagle puppy, she said that we should start training the puppy as soon as possible once we got him. But, she didn't have a chance to show us what to do until yesterday.

To start with they did 'Nose Touch' using a clicker. In 'Nose Touch', the handler lures the dog with some treat in one hand and does click-and-treat as soon as the dog touches the hand with his nose. Mint did it very well, so they proceeded to the next step, 'In Front', where the dog gets click-and-treat as soon as he comes and stands in front of the handler. In this exercise, the most difficult part for many dogs is that he has to stay standing instead of sitting in front of the handler, which is what dogs are usually taught to do.

Usually, in 'In Front' exercise, the handler throws a treat to make the dog go there to get the treat before coming back to the 'In Front' position. But, my Mum told the instructor that she didn't want to throw treats, because she didn't want Mint to learn picking up food from the ground. It is said that dogs recognise the difference between picking up food from the ground after a click and doing the same thing without any cue, but Mum believes that Beagles don't think that way. She thinks you should never allow a Beagle to pick up food from the ground. So, she is always very careful not to drop a treat when practising dancing or tricks with me, although in every training session she still drops one or two pieces of food, which I happily pick up and eat.

Yesterday the instructor came up with a really good solution. She suggested teaching Mint targeting first and making Mint go to the target and come back. In yesterday's lesson they used a little frisbee as a target, and it worked pretty well although he may need some more practice to figure out what he is expected to do.



At Ardmore I did some social obedience training in addition to dancing. I practised heeling on a slack lead, meeting another dog without barking, staying, recalls, and some other exercises. I think I did very well, but my Mum was not completely happy because I tried to jump up several times when I shouldn't. She thinks I need a lot more practise. Phew...



While I was doing obedience training, Mint was playing with a cute girl. He looked so happy!