This is an amazing video clip given to me by Krystal, Georgia’s mom. Georgia is Echo and Bree’s girl from ‘07

I have puttered around with Sue Ailsby’s wonderful training levels for a few years now but never got far. I just got her new Level books and plan to start in earnest. I am starting over with all of them. The first lesson is Zen, otherwise known as self-control. I worked twenty treats each asking them to move their noses away from the treat held in my closed fist. I videoed Bree’s lesson. You can see that he remembers pretty well from past lessons. He is such a food hound I taught him Dinner Zen in self defense. So he gets some Zen practice every day. Echo is such a respectful dog that she gets almost no Zen practice. She sniffed almost every treat before backing off. Ivy still needs work on the little misunderstanding she picked up. She thinks the behavior is bump my hand then back off. I worked on clicking fast, before she had a chance to touch my hand. I think she is starting to get the idea. I’m curious to see how far through the levels I can get them before the new puppy arrives.

Here is a picture of goofy Miss Pippa sleeping on her mat. I strongly encourage people to crate train. But for some of us space makes it impossible so I train my pups to sleep tethered on a blanket next to my bed. They have all done very well.