Walking the Plank

On the 1 July, we announced that I am officially going for the Expert Trick Dogs title! (Tricky Dogs!)

By then I had already done Footsies while walking – I learnt that along with Darcy but this is just to recap what it is all about, and we did Footsies while dancing with Mum.

But we need a total of five tricks from the List! Mum had to choose tricks that played to my strength. I am expressive with my paws. With help from Ju-Li, I managed to do “shy” or Cover Your Eyes …

This was definitely cute.

Onto Trick #3 … Balance Beam Double Rail. We call it “Walk the Plank” –

Now you might think that’s easy but it required getting me to ascend onto the plank without being scared. The goal was to walk across these two planks that were set apart.

This trick began with putting the two planks together and as soon as I was comfortable walking across it, Mum started to move the planks apart, one centimetre at a time until it was about 8 centimetres – the width of my chest. I had to focus on walking straight and putting one paw in front of the other.

They needn’t be high because while practising I could possibly misstep and fall off. Safety is key.

I finally did it last week … as you can see, I walked gingerly across.

And as soon as I got the pass from Julie – it took Mum less than five minutes to clear the planks and put everything back into place in the living room!!!

May’s comment: George does everything for treats. I honestly don’t think he knows why he is doing it. Actually, neither do I!!! LOL! So working with him takes a little longer because his focus is on the treats instead of following instructions. He would just go wherever I lure him with treats without being aware of what is around him and what he is doing.

Back and forth we went until he got the idea I wanted him to walk across the planks. When he was no longer afraid to get up on the raised planks I moved them apart a bit more each time. He would just follow the treat and walk across as he wished – conveniently walk on one plank. Then slowly but surely he was able to balance and crossed with legs on both planks. He walked gingerly but he did it!

Now, what drove me on to get him to Walk the Plank is because I couldn’t stand having the two planks set up in the living room any longer!!!! LOL!

As soon as Julie from Barnaby Trick Training approved our video, those planks were immediately returned to our neighbour, the books back on the shelves and magazines stashed away.

Now onto Trick #4! Psychologically it’s helpful to know we are at least half way through!!! Still can’t decide if we will do Nose Work/Scent Work or Cross Paws. Both of them seem a distant future as George frantically paws at everything I put in front of him! But we won’t achieve it this summer – maybe our target is before end of year! Fingers crossed.

If you are interested in teaching your dogs to achieve trick skills, feel free to join in and train your dog. You can also contact Julie of Barnaby’s Trick Team for 1:1 training at julieckite@hotmail.com