Cohen hadokens!

So, because I wanted to a) do something with my husband and b) see if it could be done, I present to you a possible worlds first: a dog performs a hadoken on cue!

Okay, so it's a little button mashy, but I'm over the moon that she did it. Video gamers and dog training aficionados seem similarity impressed. Good dog!

Fit Dog Friday tip o' the day

Gaping maw and excessive noise optional.

Fit Dog Friday tip o' the day: We do agility (and other high impact dog sports) with a fit dog. We don't do agility (etc) to make a dog fit. 

Agility shouldn't be the most intense workout of your dog's week. Heck, they should barely break a (metaphorical) sweat during practice. Practice is a time where you hone handling and obstacle skills. It is not a time where you tire out your dog. A tired dog is more prone to make mistakes, and mistakes can lead to injury.

Compliment your dog's competitive hobbies with strengthening and conditioning exercises outside of the ring. Body awareness exercises and tricks are perfect tools to teach your dogs how to use their bodies safely, and conditioning builds muscle where you need it so they can withstand the impact of jumping, turning and hitting contacts.

I'm a huge proponent of keeping our dogs at a healthy weight and keeping them fit year-round. Ribs should be easily felt and muscles should be well developed. Keep practice sessions short and stop before your dog tires. Our pets don't live forever, but this is one way to lengthen the quality time we have with them.

Chronological list of cues - count: 62

New cues:

Weave, high five, target w/ back legs, around, tug, "through" (reverse weaving through legs), blow bubbles, handstand (still needs refined), go behind, focus forward "watch it".

Previous cues:

Touch, sit, down, speak, come, stand, paw, stay, bang, roll "over", back up, go pee, go to bed, go outside, heel, front, heel in reverse, bow, jump "up", jump "over", jump into "arms", circle, circle in reverse "beep beep", pivot, spin, twist, weave, find a toy, figure "eight", get it, drop it, leave it, table, tunnel, head up, head down, nose bridge "push", pop, beg, balance on back legs "be people", crawl, "cross" paws, "open" door, "close" door, scoot, teeter, walk (obstacle), mark, formal retrieve, out, quiet, limp.

List of learned cues starting at 9 weeks old to present. Quotation marks indicate word used for each behaviour.

Teaching Cohen a handstand

Process is slow since I've focused on building it up in stages. Plus, it takes a lot of core strength which takes time to build up.

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Step one is teaching your dog to target an object with their back feet.

Steps two - seven are slowly increasing the size of the object your dog is targeting.

Step eight is getting the dog to push itself up from a vertical object. It's around here that I start adding a name to the behaviour.

Step nine is working on duration.

Step ten is the finished behaviour with no wall support and longer duration.

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Steps eight through ten are theoretical right now, since I've not gotten there yet. I might end up changing my plan a bit if I run into trouble at some point. So far the toughest step has been one. Once I got that it was just a matter of time.

Yes, this behaviour seems almost totally pointless, but it's pretty fun and a nifty party trick.

Chronological list of learned cues -- count: 52

List of learned cues starting at 9 weeks old to present. Quotation marks indicate word used for each behaviour.

Touch, sit, down, speak, come, stand, paw, stay, bang, roll "over", back up, go pee, go to bed, go outside, heel, front, heel in reverse, bow, jump "up", jump "over", jump into "arms", circle, circle in reverse "beep beep", pivot, spin, twist, weave, find a toy, figure "eight", get it, drop it, leave it, table, tunnel, head up, head down, nose bridge "push", pop, beg, balance on back legs "be people", crawl, "cross" paws, "open" door, "close" door, scoot, teeter, walk (obstacle), mark, formal retrieve, out, quiet, limp.

Working on: foundation for handstand, removing socks on cue, reverse heeling through my legs, lifting her back leg.