2/52 for 52 Weeks of Abbey

Lazy Sundays and a Sleepy Abbey

1/52 52 Weeks of Abbey

Abbey's first shot in 52 weeks of Abbey. 52 Weeks Challenge!

Adventures, Amazement, and Awww!!

Today, it was a beautiful Saturday morning with the temperature topping out at about 65 degrees and the skies an ever beautiful blue. Abbey and I had a date with the Dog Scouts to go hiking in Matheson Hammock park, right across the street from Fairchild Botanical Gardens. We were joined by our fellow scouts...or, I should say our fellow current scouts. The group has changed lately since I last talked about the Troupe. We now have 2 big black labs, Oso and Rookie, and a Golden Retriever, Daisy. Of course, my wonderful Abbey wasn't phased by that! She loves her new large friends! So there we went, hiking through the bust and taking a dip in the pond. Afterward it was time for class. Time to work on the important pet parent, being a better dog scout, making sure our dogs are the best behaved pooches out there...yeah yeah, that stuff.

Abbey, the wonderful and perfect, was tested to her wits end with...SUPERVISED SEPARATION!! Well, we have been trying to work on this but I only had one session so far. I wasn't expecting fireworks, trust me. I really had been expecting her to go completely APE actually. So I left her in the hands of my friend and told her to sit and I walked away to go and hide behind a tree. Silence...WHaaa?! I peaked from behind the tree. There was my little girl staring off into the spot where Mommy left, being quiet and waiting hopefully for me to get back. WOW!! No barking, whining, screaming...was this my dog?! I came back sooner than expected because I thought to reward her for the amazing behaviour. Afterward, I walked away again. Yes, again. I went farther away this time and hid under another tree where I was sure she wouldn't see me. Once again, WOW!! She sat there quietly again, staring off into the distance just waiting for mommy to come back. Nice and quiet, nice and calm. GOOD GIRL, Abbey, we may just be on our way to that CGC.

The "Awww" moment. When we were discussing Dog Scout duties in the grass and all the dogs started rolling over in the grass for belly rubs. =)

That's all for NOW!

And Now We Run!

Running Contacts Practice

Graduating to the NEXT LEVEL!

First we cut up the tasty treats!

Then we put them in a bowl!

And then we did some focus exercises with the treats on my lap. (Toy retrieve)

Mmmm...and then we put them on the floor with no way for the handler to deny the access. And that's HAM!!

Were we successful in maintaining handler and obstacle focus?! YOU BETCHA! The first couple times she did "consider" the food. She sniffed it and ran by in our first rep. This continued for 2 reps and then she began to ignore the food. If at any point Abbey goes all out for the food I do interupt her. Why? Because Abbey is an outright beast when it comes to the consumption of food. One second it's there and the next second you might as well slap yourself because it's gone.

Here is the video of Abbey and our 3rd session. All of the videos Abbey and I are making ARE unlisted so if you want to see any of the training prior to the big results video at the end, you will NEED to read the blog. THANK YOU!