Still flushed with the success of passing the Kennel Club’s Working Gundog Certificate, the dogs are now being asked to switch their focus from exclusively Gundog work to mastering the new routine for the series of upcoming shows.
We now have a total of 32 tricks under our belt, of which about 5 are new – including the “collar” routine, which should be a real crowd pleaser. This involves Daisy standing with her head in a suspended collar and being told by me to sit / stay whilst I busy myself with Poppy. As I turn my back on her, Daisy removes her head from the collar, goes over to the treats bowl, noshes a treat and then replaces her head in the collar. When I turn round, there she is, back in the collar, looking as if butter wouldn’t melt. I praise her for not having moved and then discover the treats are missing and blame someone else. I go through the routine again, catch Daisy cheating at which point she rolls on her back as if she’s been shot! It’s taken 3 months to train and I hope the presence of a large crowd won’t put her off the first time we do it at the Fair on 4 May.
Fingers crossed!
P.S. Before anyone else says it, I will: this guy’s clearly got too much time on his hands!