Chocice  Offline
Labgirls luv Chocolate
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 Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2011 9:53 am Post subject:  A New Direction for Cadbury |
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As everyone is talking agility this morning, I thought I best update you on what I'm doing with Cadbury.
I joined the display team back in September, however Cadbury was not able to come too as he still hasn't mastered the seesaw. So I became a spare handler and I now regularly run my friend's flatcoat Hector.
My plan for this year was to at last conquer the seesaw with Cadbury so he could be on the team too. But that wasn't going to happen. Cadbury had a wobble again on the dogwalk and started to refuse it. Back to square one, we went (just like last year) and of course until he is confident with the dogwalk we don't dare tackle the seesaw.
The other thing with Cadbury is he doesn't take agility very seriously. He is rather too keen on making people laugh by doing something silly. His latest stunt is to run up to a high jump, pop the top pole off with his nose and jump the lower.
Every week he decides he 'doesn't do' something. Some weeks its jumps, sometimes the weaves. When we finally conquered the dogwalk (yet again) he decided he didn't like the table anymore. My trainer was almost in despair!
As you can imagine this behaviour has made agility frustrating at times, however I still knew Cadbury loved it and was excited to run, so a rethink was in order.
And that's exactly what we have done, after a mini conference with the trainers we have agreed that Cadbury will pursue a new direction that will result in him joining the display team as a 'Jokester' act.
We are training him up to do various tricks and after the other dogs have run a 'proper' course, he will come on and do his silly stuff.
So far we are working on clicker training him to knock the jump down (as he already does), go into the tunnel, then double-back on himself and come out again, walk in between the long over jumps, and go to the table and look under it rather than jump on top.
And Cadbury is incredibly happy about this. He loves tricks and he loves attention, when he gets an audience he wants to make them laugh and now he can. For my part, I feel so much better than we are working together again and not at odds, at the end of the day this is where Cadbury is happy, so why force him to be what he is not?
I suspect he will be a real crowd pleaser when we do our first display  So that's what we are to.
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Sophie
"Well, it is Cadbury...."
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Tractorgirl Offline
lead trained
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| Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2011 9:56 am Post subject: |
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Love it - what a brilliant idea! (Says me who has a bit of a joker at agility too!). Let us know when he is doing his first display.
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Susan, Zadie & Huxley
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Chocice Offline
Labgirls luv Chocolate
Joined: Aug 14, 2008
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Posts: 5752
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53283 LabPounds
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No.of Labs: 1
Lab Names: Cadbury DOB 3/2/2008 and Merlin (Shetland Sheepdog) 17/12/2010
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| Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2011 9:57 am Post subject: |
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Will do, I am sure there will be a vid
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Sophie
"Well, it is Cadbury...."
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sarahjane16 Offline
Dont dig that hole Mole
Joined: Nov 13, 2008
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| Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2011 10:01 am Post subject: |
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 brilliant, glad you are both now happy 
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happione Offline
Loving Lexi
Joined: Oct 28, 2009
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| Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2011 10:37 am Post subject: |
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What fun and what a good idea. It's amazing that sometimes when the pressure is removed to achieve a cetain goal, something else pops up which seems to be perfect.
At last you and Cadbury can enjoy something together without the added stress.
Can't wait to see the video....
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