We MEANT to Train Today...

After posting training videos to the training levels list yesterday, I was feeling really inspired to train today. But things don't always go how we plan. DH was off work for the day. So we ran some errands (the girls came along in the car.. they love car rides). By the time we got home, I was beat and aching.

We had lunch late and relaxed for a while inside. Then the rain finally cleared so we took the girls with us out to the pony pasture (the ponies are on summer grass). They got to run around and sniff and play while we set up poles in prep for some horse training I need to do. Been using the pasture as an arena when DH and the girls aren't playing in it.

While out, we premacked some recalls (Called them to us one at a time, praised the come, and sent them back out to sniff). Both are coming better after last night's hot dog training. Then DH went in to get the frisbee and ball.

While he was gone, I got the bright idea to pull my hat off my head and throw it like a frisbee. Both girls caught on to the game fast. I did some stay training. While Molly held a stay, Shawnee fetched my hat and did her FIRST EVER deliver to hand. She usually drops things at our feet. It was a one time thing, but I am optimistic she will learn it eventually--maybe not until I train her formal retrieve, but some day.

Then they played for a while with DH. Both brought the toys to me intermittently to include me in their games. As usual, copious stays thrown into the mix. It was fun and it did use their brains as well as their bodies. Now I am aching horrendously and feeling just about ready to bed.

So even though we didn't do the training I wanted, it was a good day for the girls filled with lots of real-life practice.

BTW, Shawnee peed on command a strange place again. she's done it in the past, but I feel more confident that she "gets" it as she gets older--not just that she is so desperate she just goes.