Of course, Juno (and Loki) loves training – getting your undivided attention, lots of praise & pats & treats, plus having a “fun game” to play (which is what all training exercises should be for dogs) – which dog wouldn’t love that??!!

I think they both Heel beautifully. We have trouble with left turns too – well, not the one where you turn into the dog (we call this an About Turn, as opposed to a U-turn) – that one is quite easy but the other kind, where you turn left on the spot and the dog has to swing his hindquarters round towards you is much harder, especially for bigger dogs. It’s basically a form of pivoting and I found that Honey got much better at it after we practised a lot of pivoting (initially standing on a raised box/book) so that she got better rear end awareness.

You may find Heeling easier if you walk a bit faster – it helps set a rhythm. And then vary your speed, so that you’re running, followed by really slow walking, interspersed with normal walking (and of course turns) to keep it interesting for the dog and also really test them!

Hey – you know that exercise where you send Loki over the jump is actually an advanced Obedience exercise? I think it’s in the CDX or UD or something and it’s called “directed jumping” I think…pretty impressive!

Keep up the great work!!

Hsin-Yi

And you’re so right – the way to have a bomb-proof stay is to keep practising in different places and going out of sight, having distractions run around, etc.

I just loved this post – so many wonderful things about it! And I also just LOVE the fact that you keep proving all those people wrong – the ones who keep going on about Sibes not being trainable and making breed excuses…AHEM! Total rubbish! Sure, there are certain activities that certain breeds are better at but all breeds can be trained in basic obedience – it’s just down to their humans taking the time and effort. I actually think that owner of “difficult” breeds have an easier way of wriggling out of doing training because they just quickly blame the breed and use that as an excuse not to do anything or not to expect much from their dog! Juno is just a wonderful ambassador for the breed – and a great credit to you as a trainer. I once interviewed a professional trainer who said that almost anyone can train a high drive, working type dog – the dog is practically doing half of it himself for you – but it takes real skill to train a “difficult breed” so you should be really proud of what you’ve achieved!!

Right – off to watch your video now…

Hsin-Yi

I was wondering about labor laws myself. And amazed that you resisted the temptation to photoshop one of them into a forklift!