Cue dictionary

I took time to write up a cue dictionary for Chimera, since I was having trouble remembering what some of my cue words were. It's at the top of this blog, or here's the direct link.

Need verbal cues for the following behaviors:

• Obedience go-out to distant target
• Reverse heel position (facing backwards)
• Limp
• Back foot target to my hand

TEAM1 attempt - not yet!

Here was our first attempt at the TEAM1 title, filmed in Sherry's living room:



We received a "not yet" due to a few errors, but they are all easily fixable. Here are the notes from the judge:

Lovely engagement; well balanced energy with your dog! Easy set up in heel position.
Find heel: If you use a verbal/hand signal combination, they must be simultaneous. At 38 sec - you gave a verbal and at 39 sec you gave the hand signal when your dog stalled a bit. Clearly your dog knows the behavior! Now get it to a more confident place with one cue!
small training details (Not part of NY score) - watch your body language. Freeze video at 41 and 1:08 sec and note that you're upper body is tilted backwards - keep straight :). I would have had to think about how to score that if you didn't already have the NY for the second cue.
pivot only needs to be 180- I would have scored this as an NY because your dog is "catching up" at times rather than moving with you - (freeze tape at 1:19 and 1:22 and note how far out of position your dog is at these points). You only need 180!
Find front: Beautiful handling up to1:50 while your dog searched for food - no rush - well done. First two were lovely! Third attempt he is not on the board/straight in front position - see 2:13.
sit and down: No sit! Lovely after that.
lovely backing! Speed around cone not judged so no problem there.
Nose touch - You cannot hold the hand signal - you started the signal at 3:37 and were still holding it at 3:40. your dog clearly knows this one! Give your verbal/signal - and then go to neutral and wait for your dog to finish up on his own!
jump was easy for your dog.
Retrieve is there too. Make sure your dog reaches for the object rather than putting it in his mouth (not relevant here but will be at the second level).
beautiful scent work!
beautiful stay too :).
Your dog is well trained - you have this! Watch your handling - that cost you. Make sure that your dog can use that platform/disc smoothly and continuously with no help from you. It's likely that you were a bit nervous and that was affecting your dog's behavior - that's ok! Both of you will benefit from that experience of nervousness and will get better as you accustom yourself to it.

Tricks update

I've been getting back to teaching Chimera more complex tricks that require extra body awareness. (We had taken a break from those while he was on restricted activity for his leg injuries.) Some of the fun tricks we've been practicing are:

• Dig
• Limp
• Crossing Paws
• Pawstand with his back feet up on my arm (something he used to be scared to do)
• Side passes in front
• Weaving backwards through my leg
• Doing backwards circles around me while I turn in the opposite direction
• Turning 180 degrees from Front
• Getting into smaller and smaller bowls
• Holding unusual objects, especially rags, paper, and other light objects that are a challenge for him to hold steady without shaking them

We've been visiting Sherry frequently and he's loving the opportunity to RUN off leash. Today we took the opportunity to record our first attempt at a TEAM1 title in Sherry's living room. I'm not sure whether we passed - I'll post the video here with details once we get feedback.