Since I posted about Epic being worried about our cart this past Monday, I’ve been mulling over how I might approach our next session to encourage her out of her cart induced paralysis. Today, I decided to use her supper as a reward instead of the yummy soft treats I use at agility class. She loves those soft treats but, if it was a contest of treats vs. supper, she’d choose the bowl – Any day! Of course, feeding a dog raw food, certainly complicates things when it comes to using meals for training rewards.
I could just bite the bullet and use my hands to feed her mouthfuls of food, but I’ve tried that and…GROSS! Instead, I feed Epic mouthfuls of food from a spoon. Yes, that’s right, my princess eats off a spoon. I’m pretty sure her breeder taught her that in the whelping box.
One spoonful at a time, we were able to move across the yard getting 1-2 steps per ‘spoon’. This was a HUGE improvement from Monday when there was a lot of standing, a lot of stretching and very little movement.
Here’s a short video, showing part of today’s session is below.
One thing I’ve noticed in the video is that I really need to take a look at the cart shafts and make sure to place them further forward in their loops on the harness. Placed further forward, they won’t be poking her in the shoulder and that, in turn, may make her feel more comfortable.
Ayoka Bubar BA, CPDT-KA 