Today I would like to show you my new tricks I have just learned and I am learning at the moment.
Well, Mum was thinking about teaching this trick to Mint so that she could use it in his new routine. But, before starting to work with Mint, Mum tried it with me. First she said "Mark", so I went to the hula hoop on the floor and sat in the hoop. Then, she said "Dig", so I dug under the hoop with my nose. It was so simple!! I did it successfully at my first try!
The next trick was actually not what Mum wanted to teach me. She wanted me to do the pivot with my front feet on Mum's feet. But, as soon as I put my feet on Mum's feet, I felt like jumping. So, I jumped!!
As many of you may know, I have done the handstanding leaning against Mum's leg in some of my dance routines. Because Mum didn't want to cause injuries in my back, she didn't try teaching me to do the handstanding with no support. But, because my physical condition has been so good recently, she started practising the walking handstand recently. This is still a work-in-progress and it may take long for me to master it, as Mum doesn't want to overdo it and cause any injuries. But, this is how I am doing it right now.
Finally, the following video is Mint's, not mine. He has been practising to catch a Frisbee in the air. Partly because of Mum's bad throwing, he has been struggling with it a bit. But, he has finally learned to jump to catch it in the air!!
Today this certificate arrived along with some ribbons from a recent video event of RFE (Rally Freestyle Elements)!
This is a certificate for my new Freestyle (dancing) title called Vet MF/X (Veteran Musical Freestyle Excellent). I used to enter regular classes without the "Veteran" prefix, but last year Mum decided to switch me from regular classes to Veteran classes (for dogs who are eight years old or older) because she was not sure how long I would be able to continue to dance decent routines. At that time she was trying to stop my barking when I was dancing, but I couldn't stop barking because I was very aroused when dancing. I still bark sometimes but I managed to keep my mouth shut when we videoed my routine for the video event.
In a routine videoed for a previous video event Mum incorporated the "chin rest' in the routine in an attempt to calm me down so that I wouldn't start barking. This time she changed the part and replaced the chin rest with a simple move where Mum ran backwards while I ran forward keeping the position in front of her. With this performance I got my second qualifying score in the Veteran Intermediate class and as a result I got the Vet MF/X title.
I hope I can keep my mouth shut again when we video a routine next time!!
In the same video event Mint entered the Intermediate class. Mum was not sure if Mint's routine included enough advanced moves to qualify, but he did qualify as well. As it was his first qualifying score in the class, he will need two more Qs to get his Excellent title.
However, I am very impressed that he performed in such a difficult environment for the video. He did it in a park where we had found many chicken bones on the ground a few days before the videoing!! Mum was shocked when she saw many chicken bones on the ground, because she was planning to video Mint's routine there a few days later. Then, she let us find bones (As far as I remember, we found more than ten bones!) and picked them up before we got them, in order to clean the ground.
Here is Mint's performance in the park. In fact the judge commented "Nice work in an outside environment!"
Last weekend I attended a two-day seminar by one of the world's best dog trainers, Kamal Fernandez!!
Do you know Kamal? He is a professional dog trainer based in England. He had been to New Zealand a few times to do seminars before. But, Mum didn't attend them because she thought that we were not up to that level. However, this time she didn't only sign up for the seminar as soon as it was announced but also she even secured a working spot for me!
Do you want to know how we knew him? Well, we learned how to heel nicely through his online courses at Fenzi Dog Sports Academy (FDSA), and that's where we came to know him.
Of course, we had learned how to heel from several instructors before that, such as several instructors at our dog training club as well as a few other instructors who taught us privately. We also learned it through a couple of other courses at FDSA. But, nothing worked better than methods that Kamal taught us. So, Mum and I really looked forward to the seminar!!
In the seminar we learned a lot of foundation skills rather than specific skills for each obedience exercise including heelwork.
Before our first work session, Mum asked Kamal to ask others to make sure to close their food containers so that I wouldn't go to hunt for other dogs' treats. But, Kamal said that her request was unrealistic and instead he showed Mum how to teach me to ignore others' food. It seems I should expect Mum to do that exercise with me a lot :-P
However, I think it was an unnecessary concern. As long as the training is fun, I won't go anywhere but near Mum! If fact, I had no trouble staying focused on her during the seminar. Mum just needs to remember to prepare larger pieces of treats so that I can find them more easily!! Look! Kamal was saying the same thing!
During the two days the most difficult exercise we did was "Simon says"!! We dogs had to sit wherever our handlers put their hands on. I had no problem when Mum put her hands on her head, shoulders, or hips. But, I sometimes made a mistake and lied down when she put her hands on her knees. When she put her hands on her toes, it was really confusing!!!
Anyway it was so much fun overall!! Mum, thank you for attending the seminar with me!!
On Sunday I went to the North Shore Dog Training Club Obedience Championship and competed in the Novice class for the first time! This time I entered the Novice class because I graduated from the Special Beginners class, the lowest obedience class in NZ, two and a half months ago.
One of the reasons I couldn't graduate from the Special Beginners for several years until recently was that I couldn't stay sitting or lying in the competition environment where there were other strange dogs around me. I practised stays with Mum and Cinnamon countless times on our daily walks, but I couldn't resist my temptation to stand up and walk to Mum in real competitions.
However, I suddenly felt confident and succeeded in my stays in a competition in late May, where I won the class, and in another competition in early July, where I won the class again, and those two wins graduated me from the class.
It seems that Mum had considered the North Shore show on Sunday as a practice run, because in the Novice class I had to do stays with Mum facing away from me, and Mum didn't think that it was possible for me.
Anyhow this was my on and off lead heelwork, recall, and dumbbell retrieve.
Hee hee I missed a left turn because it was right after I had a yawn :-P Don't say I shouldn't have yawned! You know you can't stop those natural physical reactions!
After this, we did the stays. Mum looked very worried, but in fact I was very lucky that I was at the far end of the ring from the corridor and I had no other dogs on one side, because I was the last dog in the running order of the class. And, I stayed!!
There was a long wait until the results were announced. And, before the prize giving started, Mum and I were called for a run off. At that time, we didn't know what place the run off was for. It might have been the fifth place, in which case I wouldn't get any placing if I lost.
At the prize giving it turned out that I had won the run off and got a 2nd place!
Mum says that it must have been beginners luck. But, whatever it was, I was very happy because Mum looked very happy!!
I just learned a new trick. Although I say "New", it is not actually brand new. This is an advanced version of a trick I learned a long time ago.
More than two years ago, I learned to jump on my mum's feet as I wrote about in my post here. But, at that time, because Mum was so worried about my physical conditions, especially my hip dysplasia, she didn't push me much, and she stopped practising the trick once I had learned to jump on her with my front feet on her shins and my back feet on her feet, as you can see in this video.
But, when we found a low post in a park recently, she asked me to jump on it, and I did it easily.
Also, thanks to physical and balance exercises that I have been doing for the last couple of years, I have had no issues with my hips recently.
So, Mum tried asking me to jump on her with all my feet on her feet. And voila!!
Now it has become one of my favourite tricks!!
I am nine years old and still learning new acrobatic tricks!!
Ooops! We didn't post anything for nearly a half year... Yes, Mum has been busy as you may have guessed, so she couldn't help us write posts for our blog.
Well, since my last post about Rally Freestyle Elements (Rally-FrEe), both of us have gained a Rally-FrEe Intermediate Title and a leg toward a Rally-FrEe Masters title. Also, in Musical Freestyle Mint gained his Musical Freestyle Novice title and I gained my Musical Freestyle Veteran Novice title.
Do you think I am talking about titles too much? I agree. To be honest I don't care about them. It's only humans who care about them. After all they don't bring us anything we can eat unlike local dog sports events where we can sometimes get food as prizes :-)
Having said that, I am going to talk about titles again as the title of this post indicates. The difference is that the titling program that I am going to talk about involves FOOD!!
Do you remember that Mint gained his Trick Dog Champion title last year? When he did that through video submissions, he was able to enjoy food rewards during his exercises. So was I when I did exercises for the title I am going to talk about ;-)
Fenzi TEAM Titles is a new program launched recently by Denise Fenzi, the CEO of Fenzi Dog Sports Academy that offers a wide variety of online courses. Mum is a big fan of Denise because she is always cheerful and supportive. Thanks to Fenzi courses, Mum has learned to make our training lots of fun for us as well as for herself, instead of putting us under pressure and stress.
In the Fenzi TEAM Titles program, as the name TEAM (Training Excellence Assessment Modules) indicates, the progress of your training is assessed and tracked, unlike real obedience competitions where only the accuracy of the finished product is judged and compared.
For example, the Level One assessment comprises the following exercises:
Engage the dog for 10 seconds without formal cues and show focus in heel position
Find “heel” position from 6 ft (2 m) away (three different angles) AND pivot 180° with foot target
Find “front” position from 6 ft (2 m) away (three different angles) with foot target/platform
Position changes from 5 ft (1.5 m) away with a foot target/platform
Go around an object AND back up
Send dog to vertical target placed 5 ft (1.5 m) away
High jump or bar jump (height or width must be minimum of ⅓ dog’s height)
Touch a retrieve object
Identify correct article (out of 3) by scent
“Stay” under distraction with handler close by
Also, this program's stance on dog training is symbolised by the "Not Yet" designation that is given to unsuccessful attempts. In general the results of examinations are either "Pass" or "Fail". But, in this program you never fail. Receiving the "Not Yet" designation is like you are advised that you need to learn a little more to achieve the required level of excellence, and the judges always let you know why you were "Not Yet" and how you could improve.
And, the best part of this program is that in the basic levels you are encouraged to use food as external reinforcements and you can do it at home where there are no other dogs around! Yay!! That perfectly suits me!!
It was so much fun to try it out and here is my successful submission for the Level One, after a "not yet" attempt where Mum made a few mistakes.
It looks like fun, doesn't it? Would you like to try it? For more information about the program, visit the Fenzi TEAM Titles website.
After posting about Agility, we haven't been doing Agility much, because a physio who saw Mint recommended that he had a break from the sport.
Well, when Mint saw the physio, he was not lame or anything. But, Mum was very worried about strange movements of his muscles around his body. It is natural for us dogs to wiggle if the side of the body or the tummy is scratched, isn't it? But, in Mint's case, almost anywhere caused a large section of his body to twitch.
After a thorough examination the physio told Mum that Mint had several sore spots, which in fact explained why he didn't want to walk on his hind legs the day before. Also, he had been dropping rails when doing Agility, which was strange, considering that he can jump really high. So, now he has been having a break from Agility, and instead he has been getting Mum's massage and doing some stretching and muscle strengthening exercises every other day, if not every day.
Well, I just realised that we hadn't posted about Rally-FrEe much! OMG! The only post about Rally-FrEe in the past was two years ago! And it was about my failed attempt at demonstrating Rally-FrEe! At that time we had never done the sport, but a half year later Mint and I started competing in video events, as there aren't enough competitors to hold live events in New Zealand.
So far, we have competed in five Rally-FrEe video events and earned our Rally-FrEe Novice titles. In our last event that took place last month we entered the Intermediate class.
Last year there were times we didn't want to do Rally-FrEe at all, because Mum always got stressy when videoing our rounds. But, it seems she has changed her approach, and she looks more relaxed when she does it. If she feels relaxed, we feel relaxed too and can perform better. And in our last event we got qualified with very good scores.
For those who don't know what Rally-FrEe is, here are our video submissions for our last event.
This is my round, which qualified with a 2nd place on 189/200.
This is Mint's round, which qualified with a 1st place on 191/200 points.
When my round was videoed, no one else but the cameraman, our dad, was around. But, when Mint's was videoed, there were so many people around, because Agility class was brought inside as it was raining heavily outside. I was so impressed with how well Mint performed despite so many distractions!
On Saturday I was super busy like a big celebrity!
We went to our first competitions this year and there I participated in three different disciplines, Rally-O, Obedience, and Canine Freestyle.
The competitions were held in Mangawhai, nearly two hours from our house. Usually for competitions in Mangawhai we need to leave home very early before six o'clock, but this time even the first class I entered didn't start till 10am. So, we left home at 8am and arrived at the venue at 10am.
The first competition I entered was Rally-O Excellent, the highest class in Rally-O. Well, more precisely my class is called Excellent A for beginners in the Excellent class. If you qualify in Excellent A three times, you will advance to Excellent B.
As it was my first competition in the Excellent class, Mum was just going to practise new advanced exercises in the competition, rather than pursuing for qualifications or placings.
In fact it turned out that there were many rules Mum didn't know.
After my first round in Excellent, where Mum forgot to make me lie down at the "Halt-Stand-Down" station before the Finish, the judge told Mum that handlers in Excellent were not allowed to tap their laps, which she didn't know.
Also, when Mum was walking the course for my second round in Rally-O Excellent, she got puzzled seeing the sign "Three Steps Back". But, then, an angel appeared from behind, asking her if she knew what to do at the station. She was so lucky! The angel kindly demonstrated what to do for her, which Mum says that she greatly appreciated.
I really enjoyed both of my two rounds in Excellent, so I did everything that Mum told me to do. I even did stays nicely without breaking them! In Rally-O Excellent there is always a stay in the ring while another pair is doing the course in the same ring.
Mum especially praised me for being a good boy when we had to wait for four minutes in the ring without food or toys after our round and before my stay. While waiting for the judge to come back to the ring, I played with Mum in the ring.
This is a video of my second Rally-O Excellent round:
This video shows how I played with Mum while waiting for the start of my stay:
After my two Rally-O rounds, there was a loooong wait.
Next, I did Obedience. When I was doing Rally-O, it was drizzling, but when my class Special Beginners started, it had cleared and started to get very warm.
Near the entrance to the Obedience ring, I found some interesting smell, although I didn't know what it was. When I did the heelwork on and off lead and the recall, I didn't get distracted by the smell much. So, I was able to work nicely in the ring, ignoring the smell. But, when I did the group stay, I couldn't resist the smell any more! So, after staying for forty seconds or so in the one-minute Sit Stay, I got up and went to the spot outside the ring to check the smell again. Mum looked very disappointed, which I do understand, but you know I just couldn't resit it, as it was very warm and I was very tired already.
Here is a video of my heelwork and recall in Special Beginners:
In fact, after the competition, the judge praised me for them a lot ;-)
Then, after a short wait, the prizegiving for Rally-O started. Can you believe it? In the second competition I, Mint, got a 3rd place and a qualifying certificate in Rally-O Excellent A!!
Mum says that that was the last thing she had expected. Humph! Does that mean that she doesn't trust me? But, that's OK. If Mum is happy, I am happy.
My day didn't finish here. There was the Paws 'n' Music (dancing) competition next!! I thought "Are you serious, Mum?" as I was exhausted by then. So, I couldn't perform well at all.
Well, Cinnamon, who didn't enter Rally-O or Obedience, also entered the Paws 'n' Music competition. As she was not so tired, she performed her Heelwork To Music routine well enough to win the Elementary class. Well done, Cinnamon!
It was a very long day but finished with nice ribbons, although I would have liked some special treats much better than ribbon!
We went to NZDAC (NZ Dog Agility Championship) over the Labour Weekend, 23-26 October. Every year the biggest annual Agility event in NZ is held in a different location, hosted by one of the five regions in turn. This year it was held in Tokoroa, about two and a half hour from our house, hosted by the region 2, the Central North Island.
Because Tokoroa is a small rural town, there aren't many accommodations. So, we stayed in Rotorua, forty minutes from Tokoroa.
As the event started midday on Friday, we left home in the morning on the day and arrived at the venue, Tokoroa Memorial Sports Ground around 9:30am. More than anything, we were overwhelmed by the size of the whole venue! We had never seen such big sports grounds. In addition to the space for 8 Agility rings, camping sites, day tent sites, and huge day car park areas, there were multiple spacious dog exercise areas (each was bigger than most parks in our neighbourhood!).
Over the four days from Friday to Monday, there were three Jumpers events and three Agility events. We had entered all of them, but on the last day we decided to scratch our entries for the last Agility event and came home early to avoid a heavy traffic of people coming home from their holidays.
In total Mint and I had eight runs each, and Mint got five clear rounds (CRs) while I got four CRs. We didn't get any ribbons, but I think that we did pretty well, considering that we hadn't done Agility much for the last six months as we had a winter break from Agility. We are especially happy that all our Jumpers runs went CLEAR! Now Mint needs one more CR in Jumpers C to get the JD (Jumpers Dog) title.
Overall Mint got three CRs in Jumpers C and two CRs in Novice.
I, Cinnamon, got three CRs in Jumpers B and one CR in Novice.
Apart from Agility, we also had lots of fun with other dogs every day!!
Our next Agility show will be at our club's grounds this month. I hope we will do even better!!
I am sorry we didn't post anything in September because Mum was too busy to help us write a post.
On the weekend (both Saturday and Sunday) our dog dancing team "ChoreDOGraphy Connection" participated in Auckland Pet & Animal Expo again. When I participated in the event for the first time 4 years ago, we were a team of only two two dogs, a friend and me. The next year no other dogs were available, so Mint and I did it. But, last year there were nine of us, and the team consisted of eight dogs including us.
These photos are from Saturday.
I was the first dog to perform. As always, I barked a lot while dancing :-P
Woody did a nice Heelwork to Music routine.
Gypsy and Pip did a pairs routine, which looked like fun!
Fletcher's routine was dynamic!
It seems that many people thought Solace's mum was a real nun.
Sam's routine looked stylish :-)
Mint didn't bark like me, but he didn't look fully awake.
Sofie did an awesome routine as always!
On Sunday I did much better and I didn't bark at all while dancing! I did put my nose to the floor once, but it was Mum's fault as she dropped a treat!
Mint did better on the second day too, but Mum forgot the last part of the routine, so she had to do some improvisation.
By the way, can you see the stains on the carpet in the video? They were made by horse manure on Saturday after our show. When Mum and her friends found them on Sunday morning, they were very worried that we might get distracted by their smells. But, we were absolutely fine!!
I hope the audience enjoyed our performance as much as we ourselves did.
Recently Mum has been very strange. She wants to play with me, but she doesn't give me any treats or offer any toy to play with. How strange!
Mum says that playing with no food or toy is called "Personal Play" and that if I learn it I will be able to ignore other dogs better, or at least that's what Mum is hoping.
Here is a video of our practise session yesterday. As you can see, Mum was moving around overly excitedly. Sometimes I even found it a bit overwhelming.
This morning Mum was doing a little better, although I lost focus from time to time.
Now I wonder what our play will be like when we have mastered it.
I am excited! I am an RA(Rally-O Advanced) dog now!
Yesterday I went to a Rally-O championship and did two rounds in Rally-O Advanced A class.
If you get three qualifying rounds under a minimum of two different judges, you can get an RA title. Although I had been competing in Rally-O Advanced A for over a year, I hadn't got three qualifying rounds yet, partly because Mum often makes mistakes and, for example, she turns right when she is supposed to turn left or she doesn't stop when she is supposed to do so. However, I have to admit that sometimes I am not focused, giving Mum a hard time trying to keep my attention.
And yesterday I finally got my third qualifying round in my first round of the day and became eligible to apply for an RA title!!
As you may already know, I get distracted easily if Mum doesn't have food on her, and I know that she doesn't in competitions. So, I always feel temped to sniff the floor as soon as Mum says "Heel" at the beginning of my round in competitions. Yesterday again I couldn't resist the temptation and put my nose to the floor at first. But, Mum did a good job keeping my nose off the floor for the most part of my rounds.
This is my first round.
There were two judges in the ring, as one of them was a probational judge. When we were out of the video screen, I had an urge to check out a sign before me. But, Mum's yell brought me back to what I was supposed to be doing, and in the end I got a qualifying score, 97 points! And on top of it I got a 2nd place!!
The next is my second round.
Again I couldn't help but sniffing the floor at first, but later I became more focused. However, I don't know why but it took me a second or two to recall what "Stand" meant, and after standing up, I couldn't stay still. Looking at what I was doing, Mum got upset and forgot to stop at the end of the exercise when she was supposed to do so! Fortunately she realised what she had missed before the next exercise, and she requested a repeat, but it cost a three-point loss and my total score of the round was 93 points when I needed to earn 95 points or more to qualify.
Well, Mum still looked happy because I got my third qualifying certificate in Rally-O Advanced A. If Mum is happy, I am happy too!
Cinnamon and I have been practising our dance routines in preparation for an upcoming international video competition. But, to tell the truth, it is not fun at all!!
Yes, I like performing with Mum, but that is partly because I can get a lot of treats just like when learning or practising tricks. But, Mum doesn't give me any treat when videoing a routine. And, my brain stops working if treats stop coming.
This is one of my videos recently filmed.
As you can see, if treats stop coming, I start to wonder why I can't get treats, and I become unable to think about dancing. For example, leg weaves and paw lifts are very easy tricks. But, I cannot do them well in a routine without treats in Mum's hand or pockets.
Cinnamon has been having her own problem too. In her case, she can't stop barking if no food is coming!
If she doesn't bark, she gets worried about the environment and keeps looking around during a routine.
Woo-hoo! I, Mint, have earned the Trick Dog Champion title!!
I didn't think I could make it so fast. But, it turned out that I had got a pretty good variety of tricks already. All I had to learn for the title was the Shell Game, where I had to find one with food hidden it it from three plant pots that were placed upside down.
This is the video that I submitted to earn my Champion title.
I, Mint, am sorry we didn't post anything for such a long time!! We have been very busy for the last year, but finally we have got time to write a post here.
As you may know if you follow our Facebook page "Cinnamon and Mint the Beagles", we have been working very hard in every sport we do. We have been doing really well especially in Agility this year. We have been working very hard in Canine Freestyle as well, but we haven't had as significant achievements in the sport recently as we did two years ago. Mum has stopped competing in Obedience and Rally-O with Cinnamon, because she gets very nervous in the ring of the sports. Her anxiety in and around the Agility ring has improved a lot and now she rarely reacts to other dogs in Agility venues. Mum thinks that is because Cinnamon loves and enjoys Agility so much. In fact she has had two wins in Agility Championships this year and graduated from Jumpers C and Starters, and now she is competing in Jumpers B, Novice, and Intermediate. I have been doing well in Agility too, but I am not as fast as Cinnamon, so I haven't been able to graduate from Jumpers C yet.
Well, have you seen the title of this post? Yes, it's about how clever I, Mint, am!! Do you remember that we worked on "One New Trick A Month Challenge" three years ago? Wow, three years ago!? It's been a long time since! After that, we continued to learn new tricks but not as many as we did in 2012. Also, Mum has always said "Cinnamon is very clever and quick to learn new tricks, while Mint is very clumsy although he does them diligently once he has learned them". I thought that it was an insulting comment on such a clever boy like me. So, I decided to start performing my clever tricks to earn "Trick Dog" titles.
Do you know a world's famous dog trick instructor, Kyra Sundance? Her books about how to teach dogs tricks are very popular around the world. Recently we found out that her programme "Do More With Your Dog!" offers "Trick Dog" titles, and Mum decided to try them with me. When Mum told me about it, I was very excited because she chose me over Cinnamon!! Yes, she knew that I was a clever dog as well!! Yay!
Under the "Do More With Your Dog!" programme, there are five trick dog titles, "Novice", "Intermediate", "Advanced", "Expert", and "Champion." So far I have earned from "Novice" to "Expert". So, my next challenge is "Champion"!!
This is a video of tricks I performed to earn my Expert Trick Dog title.
Sorry I had a long break from blogging again. I repeatedly asked Mum to help me post something but all she did was say "Yes, I will when I have time". But, finally she had some time to help me today.
Well, l meant to post a video of a new trick every month, but Mum was not cooperative enough, and neither of us learned any new cool tricks last month. So, today I will show you something we tried for the first time instead.
Have you heard of Rally Freestyle Elements (also called Rally FrEe)? If you know Rally Obedience (also called Rally-O) and Canine Freestyle (also called Paws n Music or Heelwork to Music), you could guess what it is like.
Rally-O
In Rally-O you need to do exercises described in signs placed around a course. In Canine Freestyle you dance (do tricks) to music. Rally FrEe is something like a fusion of both. You are required to do exercises described in signs at stations on a course, but the exercises are more like dance moves and you will do them to music. There are also Free Choice stations, where you can do any move of your choice. Also, in Rally-O you don't only need to do every exercise correctly but also finish the course as quickly as you can. But, in Rally FrEe your run is not timed, although you may want to finish it before your music finishes of course.
Mum was very interested in this new dog sport but didn't have a chance to do it until recently. In early March our dog dancing team ChoreDOGraphy Connection and a few other people and dogs did Rally FrEe for the first time in New Zealand as a demonstration at a Rally-O Championship held in Mangawhai. Because it was a demonstration, we had been given the course a few weeks in advance so that we could practise before demonstrating in front of an audience (Normally the course is given to competitors a week before the competition so that they can decide what moves they will do at Free Choice stations). However, Mum was very lazy as always and we didn't practise it to music at all until the demonstration. So, now you can guess how it went, can't you?
Well, Mum says that I was very naughty, but I think I did well, considering the lack of practise. At least I really enjoyed it!! Here is a video of it. (The music stopped in the middle of the run because of flat battery but never mind!)
I think you can see how much fun I was having doing it. What do you think? Was it a success or a failure?
It's time to show another new trick I have learnt recently.
My new trick is "Jumping on Mum's feet"! What do you think I do in this trick? How could I jump on Mum's feet? Do you think it is something similar to so-called "Cop Cop" trick? No, this is something different.
I will give you a hint. Look at this picture. This is how I finish my new trick.
Now do you know what I do in this new trick? See if you guessed it right!
We are going to learn more new tricks, so stay tuned!!
Yes, you got it right. It's true that Mint has got a girlfriend for the first time in his life!
Well, if you have been following our blog, you may already know the girl. In my first post of the year I wrote about her. Do you remember that Mint performed with a twelve-year-old girl in a Paws n Music (dog dancing) competition last October. Her name is Amy. Last month Amy and Mint set out for a new adventure together! They made a debut as a handler/dog pair at an agility trial!! Amy had never attended any agility classes, so it was a big challenge for her!
After the dog dancing competition last October, Mum asked Amy if she was interested in doing agility with Mint too, and her answer was yes. So, at our dog training club Mum asked an agility instructor if she could let Amy have a run on a course with Mint just for a try, and it went really well, so Mum entered Mint with Amy in an agility competition in January.
However, because there was a long summer break, they didn't have a chance to practise agility at the dog training club before their first competition. So, instead, Mum invited Amy to do some practise in our backyard. They had two short practise sessions in our small backyard. When she came, we also had some fun doing silly things like this!
Their first agility competition took place over the last weekend of January. Amy and Mint had two runs, all in the Jumpers C class, each day. On Saturday their first run went really well! It didn't went clear only because Mint knocked off one rail. Their second run didn't go as well as the first one, because Mint started sniffing. On Sunday in their first run Mint started moving before Amy gave him a cue to start, so she missed a chance to give him a command for the first couple of jumps. However, they did really well for the rest of the course. In their second run of the day Mint got naughty again and took off to check out something outside the ring not once but twice!
Although they didn't get a clear round in their first competition, I think Amy did really well!!!! As I said, she had never been to any agility classes. Nevertheless, she handled Mint really nicely as you can see in this video of their first run on Sunday. Well done Amy!!
Last week Amy and Mint attended an agility class together for the first time, where they did really well. I look forward to seeing them running together in their next competition, which is going to be a ribbon trial in early March.
Do you remember that we took on the One New Trick A Month Challenge in 2012? It was a lot of fun to learn new tricks throughout the year. Last year we were so busy that we couldn't repeat the challenge, but this year we are going to learn more new tricks!
This is the first one we learned this year! (Well, it took me more than two years to learn it though (^_^;) )
Hope you enjoyed watching this new video of our new trick. Stay tuned for more new tricks!!!
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