The power of cheese – Friday 7th March 2025

The power of cheese

Mum has discovered the power of cheese. Not just any old cheese, she’s using Emmental. I’m rather proud that when a problem arises the solution is Swiss, but I digress. Pebbles hates the car. Instead of getting better, she’s actually been getting worse about going into our crates in the boot. Yesterday, poor old Mum had a real battle persuading her to stay in so she could close the door. Mum managed to bruise her head and arm in the process – you should have seen it – and decided it was time to take action.

Training

That’s where the cheese came in. It was the highest value reward she could find in the house. Mum cut some cheese up into cubes and took Pebbles out to the car again. She put the ramp in place and got Pebbles to go up the ramp into the crate and sit in exchange for a piece of cheese. And repeat. Mum didn’t close her in or make her stay there too long. She simply got Pebbles to sit calmly to be rewarded with cheese. Then she moved on to Pebbles having to lie down for the cheese. To be quite honest, Pebbles was ready to sing the Hallelujah Chorus if it meant she got more cheese.

The final step was for Mum to be able to remove Pebbles lead and close the door – without injury to either of them. All in exchange for cheese. Now we just need to see if it works again today.

Dog field

To be honest their training time at the dog field didn’t go nearly so well. The missing ingredient was clearly the cheese. The treats Mum had taken were not good enough, that and the fact that Mum thinks Pebbles is teething again so she was in a grouchy mood. By the end of it, Mum’s mood wasn’t all that good either. Training treats need to be of the very highest value for Pebbles to work. With me, to be honest any old piece of food would do. I’ve never been all the fussy, but Pebbles is clearly a treat connoisseur.

Love and woofs

Wilma

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