Advanced Trick Dog

On May 12 (yes, nearly a month ago), Reyna earned her Advanced Trick Dog title. Her certificate came in last week, I think. I know, its taken me much longer than usual to get this posted, but I've been distracted by other things, like Reyna being sick. She's still sick (vomiting and lots of diarrhea today, fun!), but I decided it was past time to post something happy for Reyna.

The timing was actually pretty good for earning the title, because we did it before she got sick. She wasn't feeling really spiffy due to the recent addition of new pain meds, but she was willing (and able) to do her thing. Naturally, Suzie and I both forgot to have the video camera handy, so these clips are all of the second run-through. Reyna did a lot better the first time around, but what can you expect? I'm sure she thought we were complete idiots for asking her to do everything again, after she'd already done a perfectly lovely job the first time.

To earn her Advanced Trick Dog title, Reyna had to perform 5 tricks chosen from a list of 25 choices. Reyna showed off Chorus Line Kicks, Figure 8's, Find the Keys, Play Dead, and Object Guard.

This is Reyna's version of the Chorus Line Kicks. This particular trick is something she came up with years ago when we were first starting in musical freestyle, and its something she still defaults to if she doesn't want to do whatever I'm asking.



Her Figure 8's through my legs are usually a little more impressive, but again, this is the second time she had to do it.



You can't actually see the truck keys, but trust me, they're in the box she flipped over. She picked this trick up in no time at all (she'd done it once or twice the week before). All I did was show her the keys, give them to Suzie to hide, and then tell her to Find the Keys.



Reyna always dies very dramatically and it occasionally takes a long time to Play Dead...



I kept this entire clip, even though the camera is all over the place and Reyna really doesn't do the Object Guard like she's supposed to. But it was just too funny to not show. The idea of this trick is that she puts her front paws on the rug thats on the table and then she stands firm while someone tries to pull the rug out from under her feet. She's not supposed to move or let the person take the rug. The first time through, thats exactly what she did. This time was a different story...



Thats my silly, smart girl!