Always Listen to Your Mommy!

Here are some tricks from Jingles’ Genesis Story. What happened was Jingles’ Mommy needed to go hunting to get Jingles something to eat. Jingles’ Mommy told Jingles, “Jingles, you stay right here in this box. I’ll be back soon with something delicious for you to eat.” Jingles said, “But Mom, I’m hungry right now!”

“It’s good to be hungry,’ Jingles’ Mommy told her. “Always remember, A Hungry Dog Fights Harder.” Jinges’ didn’t understand. Jingles said, “I thought I’m not supposed to ever fight?” “That’s right,” Jinges’ Mommy said, “Remember. Stay right in this box and you won’t have to fight.” Jingles’ Mommy looked at her and added, “Stay in this box you’ll be safe.”

Well, after Jingles’ Mommy was gone, Jingles got bored. Jingles poked her head out of the box and looked around. She was sooooo bored! A squirrel came over and challenged Jingles to a game of chase. Jingles said, “No way! My Mommy told me to stay in the box!” The Squirrel said, “I understand. You’re just a little baby.”

But Jingles wasn’t a baby! The Squirrel was already bounding away laughing at Jingles! Jingles said, “Hey!!! And she chased that Squirrel right up the tree!”

Jingles went straight back to the box and got right in so she’d be safe. Her Mommy was going to be SO proud of her when Jingles told her how good she’d been!

Jingles was tired after chasing that Squirrel and in all the excitement, she wasn’t even hungry anymore! Jingles snuggled up in the bottom of her box where it was nice and warm and went right to sleep.

Jingles woke up a little bit later and was REALLY hungry.

To Be Continued

It’s been a lot of fun creating this routine. Jingles had to really learn to wait for her cues, one of the hardest things for her to do. She was always the forgotten dog in previous households-being the fifth and smallest papillon in one family! She’s still the smallest Pap around, but she has the biggest heart! You’ll see her fall a couple of times in this video and yet she doesn’t even think about taking a break. There have been falls I’ve seen her take in the past where I’ve been really concerned about her, but she showed no signs of any type of injury or even pain. Several times when this has happened, I’ve taken her out of active training rotation for two weeks and just worked on her stays and low-effort behaviors requiring more thinking than athleticism.

As you’ll know from reading other posts, I believe that working on eye contact and staying in sits and downs through lots of distractions and triggers is really the most important thing to work on. This type of attention is the foundation that all behaviors are based on. It is simply impossible for your dog to know what you are asking him to do if he isn’t paying attention. Heck, it’s hard enough to communicate when he is paying attention to you!

Don’t wait for an injury to work on eye contact, but don’t let lack of space or inclement weather prevent you from training-You can work on eye contact and stays just about anywhere!

Good Luck and I hope to See You Down the Road!