TUNNEL!

After the kids were in bed tonight, I took the dogs outside to wear off a little steam (theirs AND mine!). I wanted to work Smoke over some jumps and whatnot but I knew I couldn't use food as a reward because the other dogs would be all over that. So I thought I'd reward him by throwing his beloved soccer ball #2 (#1 is all crumbly and pathetic. Sadly, after tonight, #2 is rapidly deflating. On to #3...).

The first thing I learned is that Smoke can't really think when I'm holding his soccer ball. As smart as he is, it all goes out the window in the presence of SOCCER BALL! While I was trying to get him to take the tire, to no avail, Spark the Papillon came over and did it. I was really proud of him for that bit of initiative and intelligence. There's not just one smart black and white dog in this house.

I couldn't get Smoke to sort out the tire with the ball as a reward so I put the tire away before that ended badly. Two inch high jumps seemed much more up his alley. I was able to get him to jump, turn left, and jump again before I threw the ball. I thought that was pretty good for a baby dog. Then I remembered that I had yet to get out my new short tunnel that I got from the lovely Andrea Davis a few months back.

I taped up a few jagged places and stretched the tunnel out in the yard. I thought maybe I could send Smoke through the tunnel and start teaching him left and right by lobbing his soccer ball in the correct direction.

This premise was based on one very big flaw. It assumed that I had the ability to throw the ball exactly where I wanted it. Which I do not. At all. Plus, there was the part where Smoke had to learn how to turn away from me (and SOCCER BALL!) and run through the tunnel. Once again, Spark had to demonstrate how to do the tunnel. Then Smoke worked it out and it was GAME ON. While we did practice a few sends and one or two "rights," Smoke also practiced lots of "ON MY GOSH THIS TUNNEL IS THE BEST THING EVERs". At first he seemed to think he only could enter it from one end, resulting in lots of circles. Then he figured out that both ends could be entrances and had lots of fun. Here's a picture of him having a blast:

Yes, as you can see, this is mostly a photo of my new tunnel and a tiny bit of Smoke's tail. He's faster than my phone camera. 

We're having fun!