Fed Ex delivery

Who doesn't love a delivery from Fed Ex?! If that big brown truck is showing up at my house it's because something fun was ordered and is now arriving on my doorstep.  Today's little cardboard box contained three bottles of liquid.  Specifically the three scents you need for Canine Nosework. It wasn't supposed to arrive until after Christmas, so I was pretty ecstatic when I saw the truck pull up today.  I have wanted to do Canine Nosework for a while now, ever since I heard about the fun new sport taking over the U.S.  The problem was always that I couldn't get the scents up here in Canada.  Well last week I looked into it again and this time they had a Canadian dealer listed, so I went ahead and placed my order.

What prompted my recent Fed Ex delivery was the news that Denise Fenzi is offering a Canine NoseWork course through Agility University starting in January.  And unlike other training schools that start your dog finding food first, her plan is to teach the dog how to find and indicate to the three scents right from the very beginning.  That makes much more sense to me and I had to sign up!  I would love to offer NoseWork classes in the new year, so I'm pretty excited to get started with my own dogs.  And I'm happy to have something new to teach Strider.  It will challenge his mind to learn a new skill and keep him young without adding physical stress to his body. It is a great sport for young and old dogs alike!  Now the only problem is I have to wait until January to get started :(

I have also been doing a lot of obedience work with Spryte lately.  I find it gives us a nice break from agility.  I really need to work multiple sports with my dogs or I get burnt out.  And since the ground is covered in snow, it's time to move inside and work on Open and Utility.  Both are going well and we have mini breakthroughs each week.  I know we are improving because I have started adding distractions into our training. Things like heeling while I am swinging a rope toy around and throwing stuff , or fronts while I am squeaking a toy, or toys laid out with the utility articles and other similar types of distractions.  Generally when I add the distraction for the first time Spryte will struggle a bit and make a mistake. I always let her work through it and then we reach success and she is more confident in the exercise and what her job is.   I need to consciously remember to keep adding new challenges and distractions to each session, and not fall into the trap of being lazy and doing the same old routine. It is the only way she will improve and learn to work through anything that I set up for her.  Seeing her overcome a new challenge is one of the best parts of training in any sport.  It keeps it fun and exciting for both of us.

Here is a recent picture of Quinn (HyperHounds the Mighty Quinn) that was taken last week at a Christmas photo shoot. I had to share, he looks so handsome. Puppies are now 4 months old.  The other puppies are all doing really well too, I just don't have any recent pictures of them to share.