I've been a bit crap again with the challenges! Sorry! I love this exercise and it can be used to shape all kinds of things, and for strength and conditioning if you wanted to build up to cavalettis and stuff. The easiest way to start is without anything but the two bowls, dropping food in once your dog looks at the other bowl. You can then add in a cone or similar for the dog to go around in order to access the food (you're only dropping the food in the bowl once they do the thing). Its meant to be a silent shaping exercise, but I'm using it to strengthen my left and right wrap cues hence why I'm making noise. In the beginning with Aster, i mistakenly gave the cue before she attempted the thing when really i should have been giving the cue as she was doing it. You can do this exercise with jumps, tunnels, contact mats, going under things... get creative!! X https://youtu.be/359n-A-VxAM?si=icKuBrOTraZ5x2NC

So Igor went for his camping weekend. They started in the roof tent then quickly decided the wind was getting worse so 2 adults 1 dog ended up sleeping in the car 🤦 luckily they have a suv but it's safe to say Igor was the only one who got a decent night's sleep. The rain came down so hard it flooded there bed in the car and then Igor was sick on there bed 😬 not a great start. Thankfully the weather improved for Saturday, still windy but they raced. He did around 3 laps in the rotation of the relay and considering all the upheaval of a rubbish start he took it all in his stride and behaved so well. I think he is happy to be back on the sofa now. It's definitely quite without him here but it's given me time to spend just with phoenix. We started on the challenge, played a few games and had some lovely walks. she's been a pleasure and has probably loved having all the attention.

So today we were out with family for a birthday and Mabel was left home! Once back I took her to the huge fields at Ram Hill, it’s VERY open and I’ve had long line on here till today! I arrived and walked into field and I let her go! She’s fast and races but she always comes back, it’s heart in mouth slightly for me, hubby would not flinch at how far she runs at all and I do love watching her race. In the third field she actually flushed a bird….. and came straight back to me, no chasing! Woohoo! The video is first few minutes but she did not slow down for 35 mins! We did do some hunting on way back through first field which was fun!

They were both fairly sleepy yesterday we did a little of running some basics just to get dinner but they weren't really interested they literally ate & went back to bed. Today was better they were more back with it & we went to class. We did some searching tiny king bits in the wall. Phoenix will insist on giving me them so im trying to get the reward in before she pulls it out of the wall and spits it at me. Igor was a little lively almost over tired still & his focus was short & slightly erratic but he managed a few searches & we did some tunnel and jumps, again abit of a wrecking ball over the jumps lol Phoenix has been super attentive & eager with training & listening lately. I'm hoping she's maturing & coming out of the rebellious stage. The biggest thing I've noticed is being able to call her off. Doberman can play hard and rough & the excitement levels can be redirected.she went through a phase of getting too fixed in on play or chasing Igor (who also instigates the rough housing) to know when to stop. I started slipping the lead on a long time ago when she wasnt listening or getting too wild, just until she calmed to a level to let her off again & I noticed last week that I can actually call her off now. I'm not sure if it's place dependent but In the garden & inside I've asked her to stop & she's come back to me & we play tug or I chuck a treat. Hopefully it's clicking. I haven't caught up on the challenge yet that was on my to-do list but I will get that in this week. For now have a photo of Igor trying on his pjs for camping this weekend.

Conditioning last night. I’m so not feeling the current plan so it was a drag haha. Back to working with Canineapex end of the month and I cannot wait. Did some Kong searches last night. Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be the scent tube? Video attached 🤣 Abby had an absolute ball with the searches and Franks indication is getting better each time. Need to make effort to include scent training every day. It makes them so happy 🥰 Focus heel this morning. I’ve never trained it on right side and I really like it. First two steps are pretty good if you ask me 😊 https://www.instagram.com/stories/thecoastaltails/3733398093967169735?utm_source=ig_story_item_share&igsh=bnlqcGRnMW5qM3Zp Finished out walk with a SAT search with the worlds slowest retrieve 🤣 https://www.instagram.com/stories/thecoastaltails/3733476961427731726?utm_source=ig_story_item_share&igsh=dGduZWkzZGNmaWFv