My princesses

My photo
Sava Sara Brakada, AKA Xsara was born on 06-27-2004. She was raised in Kennel Brakada spending the first two months of her life on beautiful countryside Gorenjska (Slovenia) with her siblings and parents. As soon as she came to Ljubljana we started a puppy class, followed by an obedience class. She passed her B-bh exam with 96 points (instructor Agility EO winner Polona Bonač). We now continue with Rally-Obedience under Polona's supervision. Our biggest passion however is Agility. We started our first Agility class in October 2005 (club Agility Ilirija, instructor Silvia Trkman, two times agility world champion). When Silvia stopped teaching agility classes, we switched to Daša Zakotnik. We regularly participate in Agility trials in Slovenia and sometimes abroad. Xsara also loves to learn new dog tricks, you can see some of them in our videos. Her other passions include long walks, big meals and playing with dogs, specially her pyr shep sister Tani, her crazy agility pals and her sister Sena.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Teaching Tricks


We are getting a lot of questions about teaching tricks, so I posted some indications in Xsara's Forum. If your dog knows any fun tricks, you can share them with us, we would love to read about them.
One of the most difficult things we had to learn (besides the destroying-things-is-NOT-good lesson) was how to play. Some dogs always love to play, you just show them a ball or start tugging and that's it. Xsara is not that kind. I had to intentionally teach her how to play (I used the food tube because she likes food). She's crazy about her yellow toy now and training is a lot easier this way. However some dogs might never get toy crazy and that's fine, they just need another type of motivation. But I guess the more ways you can get your dog's attention, the better.

17 comments:

i said...

That's true. How do we get them to play with more toys? Happy's only interested in her ball though.

Xsara and Tani said...

That's a good question. I started with the food tube, rewarded her for play and never played until she would get bored, I stopped when the game was at the highest point. Then I started occasionally pulling out some other toy, but still rewarding the play with food and didn't play long. That worked for us. I also don't leave toys on the floor for her to play, or maybe leave her just one toy and then change it every couple of weeks. But I do leave her with a chewable treat or a treat ball when she is alone. There are probably other better solutions for this, that's just what I came up with.

Juno said...

Xsara, this is very very interesting to read!! Now I know you and your mom have worked hard to reach to this level.
I like that album posted on 22nd. Everything I saw makes me smile. I like the one you're checking the kitchen counter!

Thank you for your welcome message to my little brudder!

Momo xoxo

"ME N MY MILLION DOLLAR" said...

it's so nice of u to shar Xsara

Sophie Brador said...

Xsara, Your coat looks a lot like my friend Max's coat. His has reflective piping, so he's like a little glowing streak when he's in the dog park at night.

xo
SB

Xsara and Tani said...

Million Dollar: maybe that's just an evil plan to make everybody teach tricks to their dogs :)
Just kidding, I'm not forcing anybody to train their dogs, I just want everyone to know how much we love it. And if anybody needs help with it, I'll always do my best to help them! I'm not an expert or anything, but it's my passion.

Sophie: Xsara's coat also has reflective stripes (or pipes) on sides. It's a Ruffwear coat, very comfortable and warm, we love it! I hope your friend likes it too.

i said...

Thanks for sharing. That's a pretty good idea. Let me try that out.

Urban Smoothie Read said...

thx 4 introducing us to ur forum...

it must be informative

Xsara and Tani said...

The forum is in its beginnings, but I hope it will grow ...

Juno said...

Hi Xsara, just wanted to come by and sniff around to see how you're up to! I just visited some Cavalier blogs in your country and found your name on their blog. I love being in this big friend circle!!

Momo xoxo

Frasier said...

Hi Xsara
Those are great pictures of you on the sidebar
frasier

Amber-Mae said...

I was born to love toys & food! That's why it's soooo easy for my mommy to teach me anything, even Chloe but for Faith, it's difficult. NOTHING motivates her at all! No food, no toys, no nothing. So all my hooman can do is just verbally praise her. That's why until now, she can hardly do any tricks. I've just posted new tricks in my bloggy, go check it out.

Love licks,
Solid Gold Dancer

Lorenza said...

I love balls and treats too... but I don't do any trick! Guess I have a bad trainer!
Have a good night
Lorenza

Xsara and Tani said...

I'm sure your mom is not a bad trainer! She's probably just not a trick freak :)
Love from Xsara

Marvin -The Hollow Hound said...

Hi Xsara! Pleased to meet you, you are very clever you know!

love and licks from Marvin in Scotland xxxxx

JAZZ AND DIXIE said...

Hi Xsara,
We visited your forum to read about some of the tricks you do! Amazing! We can do a bare minimum and then only with treats!
Well done,
Licks
Jazz and Dixie

Eddie N Peaches said...

We LOVE your bloggie! Come by and check ours out. We're beagley people! Peaches & Bella are 'biggles', and Eddie is a Biggle/Westie. Lady. Who knows.
Momma wants to do Agility with Bella and they took an introductory class. It was lots of fun.
We're gonna link you up on our 'doghouses to visit' list.
We're sooooo glad we found you!
Barooooooooo.
Whoofs & Baroos,
Eddie, Peaches, Bella & Lady