Ravioli just turned 4 months! He's a sweet boy who would currently rank his top 2 motivators as snuggling and toy play!

And like most sighthounds, he is sensitive soul who wants to climb inside me when he's unsure. Right now we're slowly building skills with food and doing as much foundation work as I can with toys as his motivation is so much higher!

We dont have a high number of "skills" taught, but I'm pretty happy with where he's at right now.

His biggest challenge remains being crated/penned, and we've been doing a ton of managment to avoid leaving him alone as we build up his ability to handle being out of sight.

Like how most behaviors go, we made a ton of progress on departures, only to have it come crashing down. I am taking it as a sign he's on the verge of conquering it and is getting out the last of his big feelings.

Here is his adorable 4-month-old video!

Ring Confidence Group

In case you've missed it, I have a free Ring Confidence training group on Facebook! Join to read!

This post was on choosing enviornments for our dogs where they can feel safe. For dogs that struggle it's too easy to overhwhelm them despite our good intentions

This post is on handling runthroughs when you have a specific obstacle/exercise you want to work on.

This post is just starting to teach Ravioli a ready to routine. He prefers cuddles for his acclimation time, and then the video shows I start the 1st 2 pieces to my ready to work routine: stationary focus and moving focus.

July Training Videos

Here are 7 videos from the past month's daily uploads of training. Just click on the picture to be taken to youtube. (And if you prefer the unedited versions, head to facebook or instagram!) I hope these videos give you some helpful tips to try or inspire you to train something new!

Spoiler- they're almost all Ravi!

Toy skills we've been working on a ton due to Ravi's high desire to play over food.

First on the list is an offered drop. I tried this after he already knew how to switch tug toys pretty well if I made the 2nd toy exciting. Then I found I had higher success if I structured him to be on this big platform as I waited for an offered drop to get toy #2. We had lots of reps of him thinking boinging at the toy was the answer, but then get to this session!

Moving engagement is SO important for my dogs in all the sports they do. Here Ravi is learning to follow me whether I go forward or backward.

Chin rests are another core foundation to help with stillness! Here Ravi doesn't quite know it, but his content to leave his head there as I have the food further away.

Multiple transitions before the reward! Transitions are the #1 thing I do for all dog sports, and here Loot is working on duration in the sense that he's seeing my formal setup, pause, and then "exercised finished" routine but we go to setup again instaed of getting a cookie.

Ginny has done a lot of go out work this month. Mainly I'm testing her ability to go straight. In this video I added a target off to the side that she needs to ignore.

Baby backup foundations! I want this for rear foot target skills in general so the dog is committed to keeping their feet on the target.

And tiny pivots in heel where he's actually offering some motion towards me.

Pop Stand Workshop

Teach a pop stand even if you don't do obedience or rally because it's super fun! Workshop is over but you can get the recording for one more day!

Click here!

Upcoming August Classes

Class is starting!!! Still a few working spots left in TEAM2 if you feel stuck with your obedience work and want to have some fun! (It's ok if you haven't taken level 1!)

Learn how to keep the happiness and focus you have outside the ring as you move inside the ring!

Ring Confidence

Retrieves, fancy front work, marking a line, pivots, more!

TEAM2: Comp Obed fun!

Follow me on the social media platform of your choice to try and catch all my daily training videos. I hope they inspire you to try something fun with your dog! And join my free facebook group on building ring confidence for dog sports!