Novices!

When Mum told us we are going to do trick training together with Barnaby’s Trick Team – she gave each of us a goal.

She thinks we should be able to get to Intermediate and George might have to settle for Novice. We looked through the list of tricks at Novice level and found quite few that we already know. That as helpful.

We selected these to count towards the 15 points required. Each trick is a point unless you did something from the next level you get two points!

• Balance ‘cookie’ on nose (1)

• Come (1)
• Down (1)
• Crawl (1)

• Jump over a bar or umbrella in our case (1)

• Kisses (1)
• Leave it for 10 sec. (1)

• Paws up on an object which we call ‘perch’ (1)
• Peekaboo between the legs (1)
• Roll out a carpet with nose (1)

• Sit which was easy-peasy (1)
• Sit Pretty which call ‘Say Please’ – and Intermediate Trick (2)

• Stay (6ft, 10 sec) – we did the Intermediate which was stay out of sight so we got two points for this (2)

• Touch my hand (1)

And we did an extra trick … which is stand on hind legs and walk.

Hooray! We have each scored 15 points! And we got our Novice Trick Dog Certificates and Ribbons!

Mum said, if George can get to Novice, anyone can!

May’s comment: It was encouraging that when looking through the list of tricks required to get a Novice Title they included many that we already know. Some of the tricks we did were Intermediate level so we were ahead with points. Doing this methodically basically ticked off boxes and encouraged us to see what we can do next.

Don’t worry, these are not the only tricks you must do. There’s a long list of various tricks at every level. We chose the ones that I know my dogs could do. Not all tricks are suitable for every dog. Certain tricks require high energy and I know Darcy and George are not.

When speaking to a dog trainer, she assessed that George is actually easy to train because he gives so much more back for a treat. At the moment he is over-excited about the treat in hand because he doesn’t get that I am trying to get him to do something for it. In his frenetic state-of-mind, he loses all sense of communication. I need to spend time with him to get him to understand what I want from him.

Darcy on the other hand, I have to be very precise with her. Her poodle intelligence demands that I be very correct. A wrong level of eye contact or a wrong wave of the hand could mean something totally different for her. So its a bigger challenge for me. But she’s a quick learner if I stay consistent.

I have, in the process, learnt about my relationship with the two of them. But so proud of George – he’s not just another little street dog, he can do tricks!

If you are interested in being more engaged with your dogs, check out Julie James’ Face book page – Barnaby’s Trick Team.