Bean Soup and Carrots

So we all use toys while training Agility, right??? Okay well, if you don't, then I don't know what you're training... but I do!

So this blog is all about the sheltie, right? .....Q! So I thought to write about her a little bit... about all the interesting toys that we use while training in Agility...

The first week after she arrived she fell in love with her little baby tuggie... grabbing, pulling, tossing, you name it.. the tug was IT. We could recall to the tuggie, send her to fetch the tuggie, the works. SUPER.

Then..... she spied the little mini flexible frisbee! OOh wasn't this fantastic, because as mum throws it, it glides and I can run and it lands as I get there!! And lekker flexible too! Like a nice tuggie that flies. This was a good day!

Next came little plush toys - a bit bigger than we were used to, but she liked them noneltheless... as long as a leg could fit in her little beak and we could tug, it was great! A duckie, a puppy, a giraffe, a frog, and then a monkey... yes, these were all nice. The best of these... a white ducky with a long neck.. so she could pretend it was a tug.

But still the favourites for training Agility were the tuggie and the little frisbee, even though the little puppy tuggie was replaced by a more appropriate tug.

Meanwhile her big sis had a litter of fluffy border collie puppies.. and these were included in her pile of favourites, especially the biggest boy whose head made the perfect sheltie-seat! The ears were also pretty nice to chew on and yank around, as were the wagging tails! But alas.. these fluffies grew fast and eventually got to the same size as her, and the kind hearted baby that she was.. she shared her beloved toys with them and helped teach them what each item was, and how it was used!

As big sister got back into training with HER favourite flying squirrel frisbee, this became the object of Q's fascination.... watching Chak charge after the bright orange flying toy excited her to no end, but the toy was just too big for her. But as good luck (for her) would have it, the squirrel got worn out pretty fast and it tore in half and lucky Chak got a new one. This left 2x little mini squirrel bits for someone to claim as her own.... So.... happiness and her squirrel pieces were firm friends, and she added these to the top of the favourite toys list (with the tug and the mini frisbee).

Little did we know it, but the tug was soon to drop drastically down the list..! One day a friend arrived with a toy that was given to her staffy years ago by me, that he no longer played with. She thought one of the Aussies would like to play with it, but once the Q-bean spied this, it was TICKETS to the Aussies' new toy! A long, thick, massive, ropey TUG.. and I mean a HUGE TUG - one that would actually be appropriate for a Bernese Mountain Dog! Day in and day out she would beg for the TUG.

During training her eyes lit up when presented with the TUG.... she would come harder, faster, teeth bared to chomp this monster TUG, yank it roughly and even lift herself off her own feet to keep control of the thing. On winning the game, she would drag it around her like a crocodile attached to her face (that's how big it was compared to her!).

While training, I always try and keep a toy/ toys on me somehow.. most often tucked into my clothing...... now picture this....... Me, Nadine, running this little Miss Q-bean, all sweet and delicate, with enough rope tucked down the back of my pants to tug with the whole CLASS of dogs at once! Not a pretty sight, and quite hampering on the occasions when it slid down a pants leg! BUT... that's what she wanted... that's what she got...

I always try and vary the rewards, so we try loads of different things. After the TUG came a series of plastic coffee tin lids (disposable frisbees).. not so easy to tug with, but nice for chasing....

A Rogz toy, a faceless hedgehog, and a stuffed fake toy were next in the string of toys, but none graduated to the top of the list. A wubba toy seemed to peak her interest for its flying and tugging qualities... and this was a little better for mum to tuck in a waistband (although the drool DID stick more loosely to this toy, and often sloshed off and drenched my outer-and-under-wear!) 

Then came a tennis ball (yes, late in her little puppy life!) The ballie, used mainly for contact releases grew extremely popular, and was sometimes replaced with a rubber ball.
So........ Bean-soup LOVE LOVE LOVED this contact release game because the ballie is her first toy to shoot off, and bounce off things, and change direction fast. Yes, the ballie definately made it to the "list".

So essentially, we have a TOP 5 list of Bean-Soup's favourite toys: (in this order)
1. The doebis TUG
2. Flexible frisbee/ frisbee squirrel bits
3. Ball
4. Long necked duckie
5. Wubba

So there we have it. A nice selection of interesting and lovable goodies to work (play) with!

So the other day I was making supper and I dropped a carrot..... by the time I bent down to get it.. it was gone! I followed the crunching sounds, and lo and behold, Bean-soup was eating the carrot on her dogbed! Cute, I thought, and left it at that. Somehow it just did not occur to me to use "what she likes" for TRAINING... but she was up in a tic.... bouncing around me with her cute little play growl as if to say "take it... take it... I dare you!" So I did, and what a nice game we had with a CARROT.... haha I thought, CUTE.. Tug tug... crunch!

A week later I wanted to play with her, and went to get a toy and remembered the carrot... so I got one out of the fridge. Once I got outside, her eyes lit up and she raced onto the bottom of the A-frame and offered me the position for the CARROT!!

So... we have a new training tool.... and it's pocket-sized!!! Woohoo! And best of all.. on the way to the trainaing area, I can have a little snack (only before the first throw, of course!)

Bean soup and carrots..... who knew!