First - Batteries charged as of this afternoon, so I've got some pictures!

At our last Flyball class, Duncan was not interested in treats. He was panting and a little hot and just too excited. We were given some felt to make a tug. Sounds easy. I haven't been on here long, but you should know I'm a little OCD about things. I tried two different types of braid and was disgusted at the results. I un-wound each time and started again. Then I remembered these key chains we would make in high school and this bracelet I made for my husband out of a ton of thread.

The result:


I tied off the one end with a hair tie because we might thread a tennis ball through. That end isn't very long, though. If we don't do that, I'm going to finish the spiral sequence. The macrame pattern is called something 'lanyard' and I alternated square and spiral for effect and because I wasn't sure Duncan would be able to latch onto an end.

I was a little worried about the use of the tug because Duncan has great bite inhibition. When we play, he might mouth me, but he never bites down and if he gets too mouthy (haha) I squeal and he stops. He tried to steal the felt fabric while I was braiding, so there was some hope!

When it came time to put it into practice, I had just finished a set of PVC channel weave poles. (Pictures to come!) Being super excited to use them, I set the poles wide open and sent Duncan through them. He trotted through just fine and looked to me for his reward (smart dog). I put down the tug and amazingly, he latched on and started pulling! I really let him get riled up with it, so he had good memories and feelings associated with the tug. Then, I said "Mine" and took it away. He barked at me in protest, but worked with me very well for that tug! We got the poles all of the way to half closed (90 degree angle from the start point). I must put the caveat that Duncan is an 11.5 lb, 13 inch (recent measurement) Sheltie, so he still didn't touch the poles or even have to twist any. One run, he bounced through small dog style, which is where the dog hops with both feet on one side of the pole and alternates. We did extra tugs for that.

We ended that portion of the training with high spirits. It was about 95 degrees F outside (not including heat index), so we took a break and headed into the air conditioning to hydrate. After a few minutes, Duncan bothered me for some more training and I thought it was a good opportunity to do jump work, as we haven't in a little while. Once back in the heat, he was less than enthused about it. Tugging wasn't paying off as well. I got him to give me a few really good jumps and then we went inside. It was just too hot!

I highly doubt that the tug will be enough to replace treats for everything. Teaching something is waaaaayyy easier with treats if it is something nearly stationary - pause table, entrances to a jump - or something very difficult - for Duncan, contacts. However, when he is hot and has just run (Flyball or Agility) a tug seems perfect.