WORKING THE BALL

It must be almost the hardest thing in the world to be a pug in training in my house. Joule loves to play ball. lately, I've been adding extra elements to our ball tossing games besides just fetching. Sometimes, she just has to lie down before I will throw the ball. Occasionally, she thinks the ball has left my hand and tears off madly. Once she realizes there is no ball out there and turns around, I ask for a down as she is in mid-flight. I am hoping that this will translate to a snappy drop on recall in the obedience ring. Sometimes, she must stay in a sit or down or stand until released and then she can chase after the object of her desire. Sometimes, she must stay while I play with Jin right beside her. Other times, she must stay while I hop around, flipping the ball about by its rope and generally making a fool of myself. While she loves to retreive, these games seem to make the adventure even more exciting. I like to mix it up and keep her guessing so that its not boring. each time I through the ball, she is asked to do something different than the previous time.

In a recent puppy class I was in with Dana Pike, she talked a lot about start line stays. When her dog is in a stay at the startline, she says "ready, ready, ready" to build excitement before releasing the dog to run. Not that a lack of excitement is much of an issue in this household ( after all, I have pugs...not those lazy bcs) but I like the idea of the speaking to the dog at the start line with something other than the stay command, something that tells them they should stay put but that good things are ahead. So, I am incorporating this into my ball games. When Joule stays, I tell her to keep staying but I have added "ready" and then her release. My clever plan is to lay the foudnation for a start line stay. I have no idea if this will really work but its worth a try. And, the main reasons I started this blog were to keep track not only of our trianing but also to have a record I could look back on to determine if the methods I used had the desired results in the end.

In addition to taking the edge off what is a very edgy bitch, I find that the added intellectual component of our playtime really does help quiet her mind and make her a bit more bearable. I will have to devise some new activities to add to our game to keep both her and I on our collective toes.