Good morning Kosacks! Happy Holiday's from myself and the little Targ in training! Kids go back to school soon, and I wanted to take the chance before that happens, and while the holiday guests are gone and the house is quiet, to give you all a peek at what little M and I have been doing lately, and the progress we have made.
I will admit, that our poor dejected poodie is probably a little annoyed with us, because, we sort of highjacked one of her Christmas gifts. Doing that was not my intent of course, but put simply, as soon as I saw the way M reacted to that little red light, and the way it could be used to advance her progress, I could not turn away from the possibilities.
The idea is very simple. M absolutely -loves- the twinkling little dot that comes from the laser pointer. She will follow wherever I put the dot. So far, she has learned to pounce the dot and close the front and kitchen doors to our little house, and we are working on closing drawers as well, although that is a little more difficult, because of the decreased surface area, but we are getting there. She has also learned to jump into a chair, or up on to the sofa, when I point the dot and give her a “Station” command,
Now I just have to figure out how to get her to come to me and sit still long enough for me to get a hold on her leash, or get her harness on her, or how to get her to actually go -get- something, and bring it back. At this point she seems a bit resistant to retrieving, which is one of the things I will need most going forward.
Still, I absolutely love seeing the progress she is making, and I love the look of happiness she gets whenever she sees me pick up the pointer. To her, it is a game, it is a reward after a good day. Just the sight of that pointer has even become enough to stop her barking at every little thing she sees through her window. I wish my kids saw their schoolwork the same way as often as my Targ does.
Tell me my friends, are there other Kosacks out there who use a laser pointer to train their woozles? What have you trained yours to do? Tell me about it. I could always use new ideas!
2:21 PM PT: New question, because I need a new laser already. Does anyone know if woozles can see purple pointers?