Doing my best
Well I’m doing my best. Mum and I are getting a little frustrated with each other’s methods but we’ll sort that out. Form my part, I’m not impressed by the lack of more extensive rewards when I get things right. For Mum’s part, she’s not impressed by my demands. We’ll compromise eventually.
I did my first set of exercises straight after breakfast yesterday. It wasn’t even 7am! We are trying to find a slightly higher surface for me to put my front paws on. I’m using the ramp folded down, but it is still a little too low for what I need to do it. Mum is going to find four large books of equal size today to see if we can prop it up a bit.
Consistency
Mum really needs to be consistent with her instructions. It’s no good her saying one thing and then another and just leaving me to work it out for myself. I’m used to ‘stand’ and ‘stay’ but it’s the first bit where I’m only supposed to put my front paws on the stand. When I’ve done agility training I’ve had to put all four paws on. Now it just has to be two. Mum is starting to use ‘front’ and as long as she remembers, we’ll get somewhere.
Head turning
Again here, I’m doing my best. Turning my head from side to side to stretch my neck would be going better if I was given the treat more often. I know the command ‘watch’ so know I have to follow it with my head, but every so often and tempted to lunge and try to take it out of Mum’s fingers. One thing we’ve found is that I can turn my head further to the left than I can to the right at the moment, so I can see the value of practicing. I just need more rewards for my efforts.
Sessions two and three
My second session is straight after my lunch and before I go outside. Having just eaten does help a little bit with wanting the treats, but not much seeing as they came out of my meal allowance in the first place. The final session of the day is not until the evening, but that’s ok as long as it’s before I want to go to bed.
Raised food bowl
I need to buy a raised food bowl too so that I don’t have to bend down so far to eat. I’ve found one that I like that will go with the colour scheme when my new room is finished. Now I just have to persuade Mum to buy it for me. My justification is that the one Alfie had years ago, which was cheaper, went rusty. To me that makes sense to have a nice wooden one with my name on it instead. I just need Mum to see it the same way.
Love
Wilma
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