The pups' certificates came in today (clearly, this goes a lot faster when I submit the paperwork online rather than through the mail). We even have an extra brag with this - according to the organization's website, Reyna is the first German Shepherd Dog to get an Expert title.
Reyna is now officially Vereyna, RL1, ETD, CGC.
Duncan is officially D'Cans Dark Warrior Dreaming, RA, RL2, PT-s, JHD-s, ITD, CGC.
And Kodiak is officially ReyDunc's Wiley Little Bear, RLP, NTD.
Yesterday was a big day for the Hamlin pups. Reyna finished off the requirements for her Expert Trick Dog title, Duncan completed the requirements for his Intermediate Trick Dog title, and Kodiak did all the exercises needed for his Novice Trick Dog title. It was amazing! The pups all worked really hard yesterday (took us about two hours, I think). I really love the Trick Dog stuff. First, its tricks! Its just fun. Second, you can modify the tricks to accommodate dogs with health problems (like Reyna). And third, you don't have to pay huge entry fees and schlep all over the place hoping everything goes well during your one try. Instead, you just have to have a witness sign off on the tricks and you can do them over time and/or via video. Its great!
First up was Reyna. For the Expert Trick Dog, she had to complete 5 exercises. We chose Contraband Search, Find the Object with My Scent, Shell Game, Track a Person's Scent Trail, and Weave Poles.
Reyna completed her Contraband Search last week, which is pretty impressive since she wasn't feeling well at all. For this exercise, Reyna had to find a specific, non-food scent - we used tea tree oil - and indicate the object. If you watch her nose, you can see exactly how the air has moved the scent from the box in the corner, up the side of the table, and along the wall to the front of the room. Her article indication is nice and clear - pawing at the object.
The Track a Person's Scent Trail exercise was really easy for Reyna - she's never forgotten her SAR training. We did this exercise back in May, shortly before she got sick. I didn't realize just how glad I'd be we did this one early - at the time, I was thinking about the coming heat. Reyna hates to work outside when its hot, and who can blame her for that? Suzie is the handler in this exercise and I'm hiding. When they left the building, Suzie gave Reyna a scent article to sniff so she'd know who she was tracking. You can tell Reyna's really following my footsteps when her head is down, and she's air scenting when her head comes up.
While we were out tracking, we had Reyna Find the Object with My Scent. Like the Contraband Search, she had to clearly indicate the article, which in this case was one of my socks.
Weave Poles - which she did yesterday - are hard for Reyna. With her hips all wonky, she can't weave like the dogs who do agility, but we're allowed to adjust the poles to accommodate that. We're going to keep working on these, because Suzie and I both think that with more time she can make it look a bit more like regular weave poles. But you know, if she can't, its okay.
Reyna also played the Shell Game yesterday. She has to indicate which cup is hiding the treats. She's such a silly girl!
Next was Duncan. He had to complete 12 exercises for Intermediate Trick Dog. We chose Find Hidden Treats, Leave It, Heel Forward, Hide and Seek, Leg Weave, Pick a Card from the Deck, Over/Under, Which Hand Holds the Treat, Figure 8's (2 points), and Pull a Cart (2 points).
Figure 8's are considered an Advanced trick, which is why he gets 2 points towards his title for these. This is something he learned years ago for freestyle, so he's pretty good at them.
He's not so good at Finding Hidden Treats, though. I thought about editing out the first part of this, but its such a great example of his personality. Duncan is willing to try pretty much anything I ask of him, but he's just not a nose dog.
Okay, yeah, this one's a gimme. After all, if he couldn't Heel, he certainly wouldn't have any rally titles.
This was another fun one. In Hide and Seek, Duncan has to come find me, which he does very easily. And then it got a bit silly when we tried to get out of the tunnels. Duncan really loves tunnels.
Leave It is another trick that Duncan learned a long time ago. Sometimes, if I distract him at just the right time, he'll actually forget there's a treat on his paw.
Leg Weaves are something Duncan and I never put into our freestyle routines. I really think they're harder than Figure 8's, but that mostly due to Duncan's size. I don't know many people who could look graceful trying to swing their leg over such a tall dog.
The Over/Under is another easy one for Duncan. Suzie missed almost the entire "over" portion, but if you watched the video of Duncan's Level 2 run, you know he can jump.
Duncan was not in the mood to Pick a Card from the Deck yesterday, which is why I'm so glad you can use tricks done on previous days.
Pull a Cart is another trick where the video option is really beneficial. There's no way I could get all three pups and Duncan's cart in the truck so Suzie could watch him pull it during a regular session. This video clip is from last year, but he's still working on his carting skills. Its considered an Expert trick, so it also gets 2 points towards his Intermediate title.
Which Hand Holds the Treat? Well, that would be the hand Duncan is chewing...
Finally, it was Kodiak's turn. I'd spent most of the last week recording as many tricks as possible at home, just in case we got to Suzie's and he decided to be afraid of air. Hey, its happened. For Novice Trick Dog, Kodiak had to do 12 exercises. We chose Come, Crawl, Down, Fetch (Not to Hand), Take It, Catch, Hoop Jump, Jump Over a Bar, Kennel Up, Place, Tug, Shake Hands, Side, Sit, Spin Circles, Stay, Touch Target, Touch My Hand, Tunnel, and Walk on a Loose Leash. Yep, that's right, Kodiak's an over-achiever - he did an amazing 20 tricks! And even more impressive, we only had to use one of the videos I took at home. He did all the rest of the tricks yesterday at Suzie's.
Catch, Take It and Tug are some of Kodiak's favorites. I brought some of his squeaky toys with us so he didn't have to worry about unfamiliar items.
Crawl is something Kodiak learned just in the last week. Suzie says he looks like an inchworm, and I have to agree. He's so stinking cute!
Fetch (Not to Hand) is something Kodiak loves to do. He spends a lot of time every day running after a ball or toy and bringing them back to me. For this trick he doesn't have to actually put the toy in my hand, just get it close to me.
The Hoop Jump has been a huge challenge for Kodiak. Those tire jumps are terrifying for a formerly feral pup. He's finally conquered his fear - for now.
If you thought the Hoop Jump was scary, well, those uprights make it really hard for Kodiak to Jump Over a Bar. He's still scared of the one sitting in my back yard. But this...this was just amazing. Not only did he go over the bars without me, he even went over some that were fairly high for a pup his size.
Kennel Up is the trick that we used the video from home. Suzie has a crate at her place, but I really didn't want to stress Kodiak by trying to get him in a strange crate. Besides, he was really cute in this one.
This one is a bunch of basic obedience stuff - things he has to know to do puppy level rally - Walk on a Loose Leash, Sit, Down, Stay, Come, Place, and Side.
Shake and Touch are tricks we started working on not long after Kodiak moved into the house.
Spin Circles is a relatively new trick for the pup. His "Twist" to his left seems to be a bit better than his "Spin" to the right, which is why that one made the final video cut.
Target is also fairly new. The goal is to go to the object I point to and touch it with his nose or paw. We have a little target pad that we use, and sometime Kodiak likes to mix things up by grabbing the target pad and running off with it.
Tunnel is at least as frightening as the jumps. I finally had to borrow a tunnel from Suzie and leave it in the living room for several days. He may not be tearing through the tunnels like Duncan, but at least he's willing to go through it now. And did you notice? It actually moved a bit and Kodiak didn't freeze or panic. Thats major progress.
I'm so proud of all three pups. They've worked really hard for their respective titles, each in their own way.
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...
Today was a big day for Reyna - she earned her Intermediate Trick Dog title! (I still have to mail in the paperwork in order to get the certificate, but all the hard stuff happened today.) Reyna had to perform 12 tricks from a specific list, and she did a lovely job.
Reyna's first trick was "pick a card." She did it on the first try, but Suzie missed the photo op. This is Reyna's response to Suzie's suggestion that she do it again...
Here's Reyna "identifying objects." She knows "squeaky," "rope," and "ball." She's learned to put her paw on the correct item (when she feels like it).
A not-so-great photo of Reyna "sitting pretty." Poor Suzie just isn't used to my camera, and I'll admit, its not the best for those quick action shots.
Reyna's "waving good-bye."
Reyna likes to use her feet, so she paws my hand to indicate "where's the treat."
Reyna has a lovely "paws up."
"Wipe your paws" is a trick Reyna initially learned several years ago - and then she started eating the rugs...
This first clip shows a few tricks - "food refusal," "hide and seek," and "over/under."
And this video shows a very impressive "Easter egg hunt" (finding hidden treats). This is the first time we've ever asked Reyna to do this trick, so she really had to figure out for herself what we were asking.
For those who are counting, her 12th trick was "heeling forward."
This is Reyna's opinion when asked how she felt about earning her Intermediate Trick Dog title. Let's face it, she's always more interested in chasing her tail.
Reyna was such a good girl today! I'm so proud of how well she did!
Both pups earned their Novice Trick Dog titles last week (the certificates arrived yesterday). To earn the title, the pups had to perform several tricks in front of a witness. The tricks were from a list provided by the organization that sponsors the titles. Tricks are worth one or two points, depending on the difficulty, and 15 points are required for Novice. Reyna is nearly ready to go for her Intermediate title, and I have no doubt that she'll earn her Advanced and Expert Trick Dog titles. Duncan will take longer to get there, but that's okay, since he's working on Rally these days.
