by TheRedQueen » December 31st, 2010, 10:12 am
I do these things...but I also play games where they have to get into something small (like the hula hoop but with sides). This could help Inara too...with being flexible.
I originally started teaching them to go into a laundry basket to curl up...I saw this idea from a woman who needed her HUGE GSD SD to go on a airplane with her. She taught him to curl up in the laundry basket, and put a cue to it. Because it was small, but with flexible sides, it was a great way to teach him to curl up small. So I started using it in my classes, to help with the SDs in training and puppies. I found it also helped with hind-end awareness, because they have to pick up each foot and place it in the basket.
It's easy, because I don't know of a single person that doesn't have a laundry basket! Of course with The Wiener I had to use something smaller...but most medium-large sized dogs can use a regular-sized laundry basket.
Walking through ladders or low poles on the ground also help with hind-end awareness.
"I don't have any idea if my dogs respect me or not, but they're greedy and I have their stuff." -- Patty Ruzzo
"Dogs don't want to control people. They want to control their own lives." --John Bradshaw