Tibby's Hips

I have been working with Tibby on 'beg' for a few weeks now. She still keeps falling over. Sit up or beg is part of our homework for the 2nd lesson of ST puppy class.



This is what Silvia said: "you definitely don’t want her to fall! First, make sure she sits correctly before asking her to sit up. For now, also help with something behind her back (a sofa?) that would allow her to lean against if necessary and put your paw target so that she can get some support from it when putting front feet on. Click and reward when you feel she is well balanced. It definitely takes practice to find balance and build muscle to be able to hold this position, that’s why you want to offer some support at first, as you definitely don’t want her to be falling over!"

This is what another classmate Mary said: "Scout, my TT, does “sit pretty” very well, but it took a long time for him to build up the core muscles to be able to hold the position. I found that working against a wall or other stationary object with his back to it helped him a lot in the beginning stages. The wall added support so we could concentrate on getting those front feet off the ground without him falling over. There was a lot of falling over before we came up with this solution."

So TT owners can your dog sit up? Is this a TT thing?

Tibby's Graduation

These are pictures from Tibby's Beginning Obedience Graduation.

Tibby says "Hi!" to Pearl's mom and then to Pearl.

Trying to heel.

Heeling.

This little brown dog's name is Mocha, he won 1st place in the puppy group.

We didn't win anything. :(  I thought we did a really good job, but we didn't get a ribbon.

Sit stay.

That white/grey dog in the corner was called Sliver.  She was 9 years old!  She was a retired show dog.  We couldn't say "Hi" to her though, her owner said she didn't like other dogs.

Isn't Tibby cute?!?  We worked hard on sitting straight, so the instructor wouldn't yell at us.

Down stay.

That tea cup poodle in the background was named Midnight.  It won 3rd place in the puppy class.  Yes, it is on its back.  I think the rating was rigged.  Look at Tib's excellent down/stay!!

Good eye contact!  Which is something they never taught in class.  They said eye contact was dominance and we should make sure our dogs weren't dominate to us.  :( Wrong.

In class Tibby had a hard time with down.  Now that we have started to learn with the clicker she does down all the time (maybe too much).

Tibby and my mom.