One key thing to note! practice any trick you decide on everywhere you can -- you'll find you get really nervous in the show and Lexie Lu will pick up on that and may not preform! (happened to me at my first agility ribbon trial)
If you're going to be with your dog you could try some "dancing" moves. If you trained a little bit during every ad break you could easily get them down by the show.
Spin. (sessions 1 - 3) lure the dog in circles in one direction with a treat. once she's really got it, start putting a word to it, only AS she's spinning.
session 3-5 start moving your hand away and making your circle smaller
session 6-7 stand up and work on reducing how much you have to turn your hand.
8-10 have the dog at your side and ask her to spin
Do the same in the opposite direction using a different word - be aware they will follow the direction you turn your hand more readily than your word.
If your dog doesn't get it take a step back -- you went too fast for her.
Leg weaving take a step and leave your legs far apart, lure your dog through with a treat, take another step and lure her through again with a treat. slowly work on standing up and just pointing with your finger.
(again about 10 sessions of a couple of minutes (no more) will have these pretty solid!)
Then take a bow! with your dog standing put a finger under her belly not actually touching, lure her head down with a treat, if she goes to drop her butt that's when u use the finger to just gently touch her to let her know that that's not what you want. when she's in position start putting the command to it.
Then you've got a routine to wow the judges! I use these and a few other things as a warm up for concentrating the puppies' minds. Everyone's always impressed when we "bust a move"!
If you trained one thing in one set of ad breaks on TV every night you'll ROCK! |