14 May 2008

1The video shows Ruby working for her ball. I ask her to leave it and then ask her to do something and then she gets the ball as the reward. The squealing in the background is Ruby as she does get very excited when playing football. I really need someone else to take the video as it is difficult to point the camera in the right direction and play with Ruby at the same time.

I use the same method of rewarding ruby when using trees as well. The rewards she likes most are footballs and tree trunks, both of which are quite difficult to manage. At first Ruby would only work if I was actually holding the ball, but now she leaves it and I send her to it when she has done what I asked. I can now get quite a lot of good heelwork before send her to the ball. I could use treats which would be much easier to manage but Ruby is not very food orientated so she works with much more drive and enthusiasm for her toys. I would prefer to use smaller toys but she won't play with them. Sometimes size does matter.