a bit of a boring shot, but I ran out of time (packing has begun) or interesting options ... I do have a "Saxon the smartypants" story that goes with this location though so although it's a few weeks old now, here goes:
so one day retrieving here Saxon ran one way while I threw the ball the other, he didn't see where it had gone, so I got him searching "find it"!
When I do that I try not to help or move too much but I do point which of course he isn't so good at following, you know only goes so far away etc. but he actively searches well, just not everywhere ...
Multiple attempts around the park and he couldn't find it, I could see it sort of in the hollow of the ground about half way between where I was and the tree/path on the other side so I gave his nose the benefit of the doubt.
He was getting tired so I called him in to me and directed him straight across the park with a "go" ... often times "go" pre-empts "clock" or "count" which means go around an object (usually a tree) either clockwise or counter-clockwise so he honed in on one of the trees across the other side and swung around it with gusto ... "surely I'll get my ball reward with this" he was thinking ... he came running back to me in hope slowing up when he realized no ball was to be presented ... I was hoping on the trips from me to the treeline he would catch the scent of the ball and would have found it, but he didn't
so I send him out again "go" and he's a little off center for running right over the top of the ball so I throw in another command "over" which means move to his left, which he followed well but spied another tree that he thought I must mean for him to "around" ... he runs around it and starts coming back to me in hope of the ball again, this time a lot closer to running right over the top of the ball, I thought for sure he'd catch the scent of it, but again he didn't ...
so I send him away again "go" then again "over" to get him in a nice position, he spies the tree and heads for it, this time I pull him up back towards me (not sure what words I'm using, maybe just his name), and just as he's about to run right over the ball again "sit" ... I wait as the ball is maybe a foot or two right in front of him, he still doesn't catch the scent so "forward" (not a command I usually use but something to get him up out of the sit and moving slowly, he's already heading my way anyway) then a quick "down" and the ball is literally 2 inches from his nose ... he finally catches the scent of it ... YAH!!!!
anyway not sure how easy that is to read and understand as far as stories go, but I enjoyed watching him follow my directions so well to achieve our goal in real circumstances, he's such a smart cookie :-)
Tags: Saxon gsd dog off-lead park green retrieve chuck-it play smarty pants 52 Weeks for Dogs
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Biscuit had a little explore
there are a few things I don't like about this picture, and a couple of things I do like, so as a last minute effort it will have to be :-)
oh and this months' lens selection is the Canon 35mm f/2.0
Tags: Biscuit liver spotted dalmatian puppy dog water late afternoon rocks park off-lead backlit sunflare 52 Weeks for Dogs dirty water runoff from somewhere used to be the park puddle but they channelled it for the bird life, I guess that's good oh and there are frogs croaking down there too
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film from Feb/Mar
Tags: 35mm film Nikon F100 Chester dalmatian dog park Saxon gsd Lotus labrador
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so after all the good things I was bragging about Saxon last week, this week I found out that he has been reported to the Council for nuisance barking :-(
I was initially very surprised and I've spent this week investigating as much as I can, with surveillance video and staking out, I need to know more, but yep he seems to be barking for no apparent reason.
I'm not going to go into too much more detail, but am super worried about it and trying to come up with some solutions has taken up most of my thinking.
Tags: Saxon gsd dog park off-lead 52 Weeks for Dogs
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found toys are the best!
Tags: Biscuit liver spotted dalmatian puppy dog park ball tug jump rope play blind shooting from the hip
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