Monday, October 4, 2010

Day 4: A Day in the Life

Today was a perfectly beautiful Fall day -- filled with nature walks, training walks, training exercises and games, cuddles and fun. A good day for a photo essay on a day in Tintin's Board & Train life in Yachats...

 Tintin slept well all night, cozy in his crate. In the morning  we had  a big cuddle before going out for a sniff walk in the misty meadow. We practiced some recall, and Tintin managed to snack on a teeny bit of deer scat. Yum.


Misty morning contemplation

Hmmm, who's been here lately?

Aha! Deer! Yumm!


The first session of the day was a review of lessons from the day before - we ran through foundation skills such as Sit, Down, Stand, Come, Walk With Me, Bed (go to a bed or mat and lie down), and Touch  (target palm with his nose), using breakfast for training treats. Tintin was eager, quick and  accurate -  he loves fast-paced training with lots of variety.

After a play break, Session 2 focused on Bed, taking it a bit further and building up gradually so by the end of the session Tintin could approach from different directions up to 10 feet away, and plop down on the dog bed. He did great! Then we moved on to a couple of new cues to keep things fresh: Up! and Off! (Up -- jumping up into a car or onto a flat surface such as a vet's exam table or a grooming table) ; Off -- useful for getting down from the same places).he learned these in pairs, hopping happily up and down off the sofa bed. An easy one for him. We also played targeting  - touching with his nose to my palm, first in all directions close to his nose, then following a moving target.

Next  another play break and a cuddle on the sofa -- after he Said Please (did a Sit for permission to jump up) -- first with Julie and  then with me.
Tintin has chosen Julie as his personal masseuse

Rub my belly, please!!!
Furry, blurry and cute - front end

Furry, blurry and cute - back end
FOR SURE there is something alive in here 

A sublime moment
Canine facial art.
After all that fun, Tintin had a little quiet time so he could calm down and relax. Then we drove to Waldport for some training practice in town. Tintin is always good in the car, traveling quietly in a crate. We  practiced controlled exits out of the crate -- Sit-Stay to have his leash put on, and wait for permission to jump out of the car.

We did some leash walking practice around Ray's Supermarket car park - all new and quite exciting so Tintin had a bit of trouble focusing at first, and was too distracted to take treats. So we worked with his harness and lots of direction changes to help him remember to keep the leash loose, and after a little while his leash walking skills came back to him.

Then we worked on a Relaxed Wait outside the store, tethering him to a post at the edge of the store, and building up  in tiny increments of duration and distance. By the end of the session, he was able to wait quietly with no barking while I went out of sight for a count of 20 (initially he barked when  I went 10 feet away and was still in view).

Not my favorite thing - but hey, I am not barking!

Charming the community of Waldport
 After a succesful morning it was time to rest and relax again -- while I had lunch, Tintin held a relaxed Down-Stay in Ranger's bed in the kitchen (no tether needed)
See, I can do it!
I am getting sleeeeeepy ....
 A Really Relaxed Down-Stay!
 

Is it time to wake up yet?
After some play time in the meadow Tintin was ready for a proper nap - in his crate with the door closed. He fussed for a minute or two then flopped down  and went to sleep with his new toy - a yellow duck stuffed with crinkly plastic (one of his favorite home-made toys is a plastic water bottle with kibble in it - he loves to chew on it in and make a lot of noise).
Which one is the real animal?
The rest of the day was spent outside in the garden, practicing recall from time to time, and playing with toys in the meadow and in the house. The last training session was a Relaxed Stay on his bed as we had dinner. he was very good - but enough is enough for a young dog... After that he had to do some serious noisy playing with all of his favorite squeaky and crackly toys before crashing once again.

A high point of Tintin's day was getting to hear his Mamas' voices coming out of my computer while he was eating his dinner. As soon as he heard Gail's voice, he looked up and stopped eating. The same when he heard Noma. On the phone he listened with great interest to the sound of your voices, then rushed around the side of the house to look for you. After we hung up, he went wild dragging a large stuffed sheep around the meadow. He seemed very excited to have contact with you, even if he couldn't quite figure out where you were.
Hi Mamas!

I miss you !!

2 comments:

noma hanlon said...

Hi Caroline, we love reading this blog daily! I must say a few freinds and family have been tuning in as well.
Delightful- thank you so much we know that Tintin is in great hands. A few of our friends have some concern that just maybe he won't want to come home.
Noma and Gail

Caroline said...

Oh, no he's having a good time but there's no place like home, I know he misses you. Glad you enjoy the blog!