Maxwell did the third set again tonight, in the middle of regular training. He was very successful, though I may have gotten a bit carried away with my clapping for 10 seconds. I varied the speed and volume of the claps, as well as wiggled around a bit, and he did break. It got him a little wound up, and it took a few minutes for him to fully settle again... but settle he did.
My biggest problem at the moment? I'm getting pretty limited on space for some of the exercises. I can barely walk 10 steps away from the pup in a single direction (down the hall) let alone go to his left, right, and directly ahead.
Both dogs got some refresher training on older cues. For Sadie, that meant crawling, playing dead (BANG!), and directionals. She nailed them all, and even surprised me by finally understanding the directional cues on verbal only! Her understanding isn't perfect, but it's perhaps 75%. And she gives 110% enthusiasm. She nearly took me out at the knees a few times, and definitely whacked herself pretty good in the face with her own tail!
Maxwell got to play hide-and-seek recalls. I love that the game makes something so difficult to train into a real game for the dog. And before you go telling me that recalls are easy, and should be one of the first things the dog learns, I know... it just never manages to make the top of my training priority list. He also got reminder work on bowing, crawling, and rolling over. Plus one good tug in exchange for a cookie.
This weekend we drive up to my parents' cabin in the Adirondacks. My mom will have her cat there. We only overlap for a few hours, but it should be an interesting time. Even with closed doors between them, I predict some over-aroused canines. At least it'll be the start of a full week of playing at the lake!
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