May 8, 2013

Wordless Wednesday: Name Game Challenge

Last week, Pamela at Something Wagging This Way Comes mentioned a fun photo challenge going on at the Raising a Super Dog blog. The blog follows the adventures of Euka II, a puppy in training for Canine Companions for Independence. The challenge was to take of a photo of your pup with his/her name spelled out in kibble.

Obviously for service dogs, this is an important lesson - that not everything on the ground is there for their own enjoyment. But I wondered, could Rita (definitely not service dog material due to her fears/issues) handle the challenge? We've been working on our down/stay, so I decided to try it. 
As you can see, success!

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, we also feed a bit of wet canned or homemade food mixed in with Rita's kibble, but I wasn't about to smear that on the floor...
"Maybe if I close my eyes this will be easier."
Also for additional full disclosure, the only reason she did this was because I had some "higher value" string cheese that I bribed her with. (I was even able to leave the room - I'd forgotten my camera, d'oh! - and she... well, she didn't stay and wait patiently, but she didn't eat the kibble either. She got up to follow me and cheese.)

"Or maybe I'll just look out the window."
"When is this going to be over, Momma??"
I didn't want y'all to think I'd trained her to be perfect, cuz that would be a total fabrication... so for fun I also tried spelling out her name in little tiny bits of string cheese. And this is how that went:
I could never get more than one or two pieces on the ground before she snagged them.

We're still working on the "leave it" command.

You can see a slide show of all the pups that rose to the kibble challenge here. Great photos!

How would your pup do in this challenge?
(If you feed raw or wet food, you're probably going to wanna pass on finding out!)

Happy slightly-less-wordy Wednesday.

18 comments:

  1. Wow. She has such discipline. I'm going to have to try this with Beamer, but his name is longer :P

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  2. Oh we would do just terrible, we are not very good at doing anything like that other than i do a little dance and spin for my treats, and maggie sits really well, and gussie, well he is just bossy!
    stella rose

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  3. Roxy would do fine, Torrey....not in the world. Good training idea though.

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  4. I'll have to give it a try and report back......

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  5. If a kibble drops anywhere in this house you can be sure a Sheltie will be there to eat it.

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  6. So funny...we've just started working on the leave it with Jack. Given his name is short, I might be able to get away with this - I'll have to try it! Maggie doesn't have a concept for patience yet, so it wouldn't work for her.

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  7. Hmm me too, I leave the kibbles but anything half way decent and I am there. Leave it command.....no selective hearing. Have a wonderful Wednesday.
    Best wishes Molly

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  8. you are soooo good! Dakota would have eaten that in a flash!

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  9. Wow, Rita! I am impressed; Reggie is in awe. Jon says "Nice job on the photoshopping, Jackie!"

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  10. I'm pretty good at waiting for my dinner so I've got a fairly good chance of not eating it... but I couldn't say that for sure!

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  11. That is awesome, er pawsome restraint!

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  12. Good job Rita! We would not have waited. :)

    the brown dawgs

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  13. Ha I thought I was just Miss Clever USA and brought those tiny Zuke treats to the Bark Park to work on COME with Max because he LOVES them right?! Nope, apparently not at the Bark Park...I was curious after MANY failed attempts so I put one on the ground...he ignored it! Urrr!

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  14. I admire Rita's restraint! My dogs would never be able to do this. They're used to eating kibble off the floor for treats, so they'd inhale each piece the moment I placed it on the ground!

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  15. Great job Rita!

    I'd like to do this challenge - my name is a decent length, but I'd get Mum to put more hearts and kisses in too! :)

    I'm actually very good at leaving food, well it is only kibble after all!

    Wags to all

    Your pal Snoopy :)

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  16. Sampson would be fine, Delilah would be epic fail!

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  17. Go Rita! I can't see Tavish going for this. Bella might, but even that's not definite...

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