Wednesday January 17th 2007 - home practice

(Backfilled in October 2009 due to impending closure of Geocities)

Hallelujah again! More progress! Today I used only a normal ball, not the treat one. After a couple of no-ball turns, I put the ball into the unsprung hole and Walter picked it up! This is the first time he's done that. I think the trick with him is to make him believe that treats come out of the ball, even non-treat balls. So even though he dropped it a few feet after doing the turn, I went and picked it up and made as if the treats in my hand came out of it. I was so thrilled that he was picking up the ball that I temporarily relaxed the turn criteria, although by the end of the practice he had gotten in several with the turn. Hopefully after he really gets the hang of it I can fade the treats and bring the tug back into it.