Just pick up and start where you left off

Well Mum forgot about doing this blog for a week or so what we going to Super Trainer Live at Absolute Dogs and everything but I'll just start again today.

What went well yesterday.

1. Training at Amy's - good jumping weaves and seesaw.
2. Training from Pups to Perfection at the gate by Amy's so we generalised a bit from this morning's session.  Ponto was a bit cheeky and kept just wanting the purple toy but I knew about toy switching okay.
3. Mum finished planning the trick show for 4 December.

Plan for today.

1. Ponto and I are going to do the Trick Show for the old people at the home today.
2. I get to do my washing line trick again - we hadn't practised so I had a quick go this morning and was just brilliant at it.  How on earth did Mum think I might have forgotten even if it is more than six months since I did this.
3. And this afternoon we're going to have a good long walk no matter what the weather is like.

What went well today?

1. Mum put up four jumps in the garden so we could practise the handling we did at Amy's and I got it first time!
2. We went to the beach for a walk with Barbara and Charlie.  I tumbled over on the pebbles and have a small cut underneath my left eye - but the whole walk was fabulous - had loads of fun.
3. Mum ordered the DVDs from Richard Curtis's site.  She is getting really keen on doing more HTM with me and I just love it.

To do tomorrow:

1. Practise our suitcase trick and start writing the plan for the Christmas tricks show at the Home on Dec 4th.
2. Have a lovely 1-2-1 walk with Mum.  Dylan was very stiff on his front legs after our walk at the beach today so he will be going out with Ponto on lead tomorrow.
3. Practise our start line stays and the handling from Amy - also do it from the other side - Mum will need to move the jumps round.

What went well today?

1. The sun was shining.
2. Mum seems to have figured out her mechanics for the blueprint backside with fc. So we are getting better at that.
3. I was great at getting in my suitcase then doing the ringstack, four feet in the bowl, jump on Mum's back.

Also we had a really good long walk at Hengistbury Head, just me and Mum today, she took the others out before we went out.

Plan for tomorrow:

1. Go to agility training, but while there rehearse our trick for Saturday.
2. Mum needs to do both her housework and Grandma's as Grandma's home help is on holiday.
3. Have fun.

What went well today?

1. We had a great time at Chris and Barbara's and I did my suitcase, ringstack and four feet in the foodbowl tricks.
2. First thing Mum stayed on the patio and sent me to the weaves (a little way away) and I pushed through to the end at speed all inependently.  Mum was very pleased but as it was pouring with rain we didn't do anything else in the garden early.
3. Later on when it was sunny before our beach walk we played blueprint games.  Mum needs to watch the video again when she says come and I wrap around the backside then check and join her.  Good thing about this is that we tried.

Plan for tomorrow:

1. Work out tricks routine for the fun show and practise it.
2. Mum to watch that video and we will try that blueprint exercise again.
3. Ponto to continue with NBN exercises and PNU work.

What went well today?

1. I went to the rest home with Mum and did my suitcase trick, four paws in a small food bowl and the ringstack amongst many other tricks as well as saying hello to all the folk there and putting big smiles on their faces.
2. Mum gets irritated if I yap a lot but tonight I went into the kitchen and I barked loudly three or four times.  Mum got up from the living room to see what the matter was as she thought that maybe I needed to go out to potty.  However, when she put the light on in the kitchen she saw me standing near Percy who had the paw on the empty water bowl.  I knew Mum hadn't heard Percy banging on the bowl so I needed to tell her to refill the water.  As soon as she understood and picked the bowl up to fill it with water, I ran back into the living room and settled on my bed.
3. Barbara from across the road telelphoned to say Chris wanted to see the dogs tomorrow, so that gives us another chance to play the suitcase game in another location before the fun show where we are going to use this in the best trick competition.

Plan for tomorrow:

1. Like this morning we will do some more blueprint work.  Mum evaluated my understanding of Jump today and was pleased how I ran ahead and extended myself over the jump and forward to the PNU (well upturned dustbin).
2. Go to Barbara and Chris's with Ponto and play the suitcase game.
3. Mum needs to do the housework.

What went well today?

1. I am getting excellent at getting in my suitcase both at home and away.  Did this trick at Amy's followed by my ringstack and then putting all four of my feet in a small food bowl.
2. Also my check turns to 2 pnus were good at Amy's.
3. Ponto had a lot of fun, especially when I was naughty and didn't come when Mum called so she left me alone in the field and trained Ponto in the barn - until I did come back of course.

Plan for tomorrow:

1. I'm going with Mum to the rest home to visit the elderly people there and cheer them up. This is quite hard work as, as well as getting cuddles, I do all sorts of tricks too.
2. Mum is going to do the weekly house blitz cleaning . . .
3. We are going to try the threadle to backside blueprint game.

What went well today.

1. Mum and I have now really got a handle on the first three exercised in the Blueprint so we move on a bit tomorrow.  Hopefully it will be nice and dry in the garden at breakfast time.
2. I am doing just great at getting in the suitcase again after a small blip last week.
3. Had a great walk in the woods today.

Plan for tomorrow.

1. Mum is going to review my training records and make her plan for the next month.
2. Mum is also going to do this for Ponto.
3. Mum will remember to cut up the liver cake.

What went well today?

1. Had loads of fun playing for my breakfast and got right inside the suitcase first time.
2. Great walk in Mudeford Wood with Mum and Dylan.
3. Going backwards nice and straight now, just need to add going a bit further.

Weather was bad later today though so we didn't do much in the garden.

Plan for tomorrow:

1. Depending on the weather, set up a sequence in the garden similar to that which we were practising at Amy's on Wednesday.
2. Get Mum to write out plan for the tricks competition.
3. Have fun!

What went well today?

1. Agility training at Amy's, turns out that Ponto is good at teaching Mum so she is better at handling on my turns.
2. Recallers 5.0 coaching call really inspired Mum and gave us a chance to play the bacon and eggs game.
3. Mum was very pleased at how I stayed calm and quiet on my bed while she showed Barbara how to play the first IYC games with Charlie.  His first choice of behaviour was to turn his head away, and it was fun.  Charlie is 12 and has never done any shaping at all before.

Plan for tomorrow:

1. I got a bit nervous in the suitcase today so we are going to take it back into the den tomorrow.
2. Mum is going to set up the sequence we were doing at Amy's and we will practise that.
3. I'm going to work on getting my stand at a distance when I'm not on a bed or in the crate.

What went well today:

1. Blueprint games in garden first thing.
2. Followed by videoing morning fun in the living room (see below).
3. Two and a half hour hike along the beach and cliffs.

To do tomorrow:

1. Mum has to go to the hairdressers first thing.
2. Go to agility training at Amy's.
3. Practise trick sequence for end of November.

So what went well today.

1. I won two out of three Senior Steeplechases at UKA in Cheltenham today!  Woo Hoo.
2. It rained a bit but not on us when we were running.
3. Mum thought I was a really good boy, and I know I was.

Plan for tomorrow:

1. Directionals.
2. Blueprint
3. Trick Sequence

And here is a picture of me with my rosettes from today.

What went well today?

1. We played Susan's Retrieve Game first thing this morning.  I got a bit distracted by the squeaky but for the first go at this Mum was pretty pleased with me.
2. Had a lovely walk on the beach doing some retrieving of the tennis ball from the sea.  Charlie and Barbara came with us too which was fun.
3. Mum sold a painting.

Plan for tomorrow:

1. Watch Retrieve Video again and check the list of games and choose five of them to play over the day.
2. Practise trick routine.
3. Have a good relaxing walk.

Oh and here's the video of my first attempt at this particular retrieve challenge:

Oops - Mum has missed a day or two again but I forgive her.l

Best thing happened for her yesterday was the H360 Coaching call.

Best three things that went well today.

1. I went to the Rest Home with Mum and everyone loved me.  I was also very well behaved and Mum was so proud of me.  We kept being asked to do cop-cop - seems to be a crowd puller that trick.
2. Then we went out for a walk with Ponto, Percy and Dylan. It was lovely and sunny and warm.
3. When we had had a rest back home we played the first Blueprint games in the garden. Mum has videoed this but has not watched it yet.

Plan for tomorrow.

1. Blueprint games.
2. Get the painting ready for the guy picking it up.  Mum was glad she sold this one as it has funded lots of fun training camps and stuff for next year.
3. Practise our trick routine for the upcoming fun show "Best Trick" class.

What went well today?

1. I have perfected getting in a suitcase.
2. I ran and jumped onto my Mum's back and she managed to crawl along with me still there.
3. I did my ringstack all the way through in order to get a yummy treat.

Plan for tomorrow:

1. Mum is going to continuing making her video of us for the H360 Course.
2. We are going to agility training at Amy's and I always love that.
3. We will practise the suitcase, ringstack and jumping on Mum's back and cop cop to make a short trick sequence for at a fun show on 22 November.

Mum missed doing the blog on Saturday and last night because we had a visitor, Alan, for the weekend and yesterday we got up very early and drove him back to London so we could look for his cat who had disappeared on Saturday evening before his girlfriend went to work.  Luckily Kitty came back after we wandered around calling him.  After that we went for a walk under the river to Woolwich, we sat and had cups of tea or coffee at a cafe, then did some shopping, then walked about three or four miles along the River Thames to Greenwich.  At Greenwich we went for a ride in the Emirates Cable car over the Thames.

The Emirates Cable Car

Me and Alan on the path along the Thames

The Thames Flood Barrier, 02 Arena and view of Canary Wharf

Along route I did some lalas, waits, sit pretties and other fun games.  I looked out over London on the Cable Car and then because we had walked a long way, we took the Dockland Light Railway back to where Alan lives.

The drive home took us ages as we decided to go through Central London and there was an awful lot of traffic and masses of people, however, I was so tired I slept the whole way home.

What went well today?

1. I can now put the coins in through a smaller gap in my money box.  Mum is very pleased as I picked this up easily, but then I am very good a my ringstack and can also balance a ball on a cone so this type of thing is familiar to me.
2. We played contact games, running along a thin long flat plank in the garden.  Alan, my Mum's youngest human child came to visit (he is a grown up) and he held me lightly in a restrain while Mum called me.  Loved that game.
3. I also went for my walk to the beach with Percy today and we played on the sand.

Plan for tomorrow:

1. A long walk for me on my on with my Mum.
2. Practising the little routine we are going to do as "best trick" in a show near the end of November, including the suitcase.
3. Have a quick weave game too in readiness for the trial on Sunday.

What went well today?

1. This morning we had loads of fun in the den, there are some videos of what we did below.
2. Then we had a lovely walk and I played check check and lala round some posts and trees and Dylan and I both played "on" on a tree stump and then some retrieve on the playing field.  We also met our friend Charlie while we were out.
3. Mum bought me a money box when she took her Mum out for lunch today.  It is a tin shaped like a London bus.  At the moment she takes the whole lid off and I pick the coins up from the floor and drop them in.  The first time the noise startled me for a moment but then I realised I'd done good 'cos I got a nice fishy reward so I did it again.  Now I am expert.

Plan for tomorrow:

1. Mum is going to make the entry to my new money box a bit smaller so I will start to learn to find the hole to drop the coins in.
2. Play matwork for our contacts.
3. And, of course, we'll have a lovely walk where we will also play retrieves, waits and all sorts of other games.

Just look at some of the games we played for breakfast today:

Pick up my Toys (and a spoon and allen key)

Get in the suitcase

Walking backwards onto a wobble cushion

Going forwards round my Mum

What went well today?

1. I am now running really fast round Mum forwards in both directions.
2. Practised NRMs while at Amy's for agility training and I got it!
3. The new local fun dog show told my Mum they would add a "Best Trick" class to the novelty classes just for us.

Plan for tomorrow:

1. Lots more fast sits, downs and stands.
2. Proofing contacts - well that is Mum's job to make sure she is similar to how she is in the ring so I don't get confused.
3. Have a really good long hike along the beach and cliffs.

What went well today?

1. Mum says I'm getting really fast going from sit to down to pretty to stand now.  
2. I say that she is making the criteria much clearer for me.
3. We played lots of contact games today.

Plan for tomorrow

1. Mum's getting up early to do the housework upstairs.
2. We'll have a shortish walk in the woods in the morning and play recaller games and practise various tricks and lalas etc.
3. Going to agility training in the afternoon and Barbara and Charlie are coming to watch.