Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Practice Session with My New Friends

It's less than a week to test day. I have been going for group practices with my classmates and sad to say, I have not progressed much....I stole a pig ear again on Monday night. On that same night, we also had the pleasure of meeting Xiong Ba (熊爸), one of the instructors at Dr. Dog. He gave us some tips and it was really enlightening because all of us were too absorbed about mastering the test topics. He said if we don't make it this time, we can always do it again. Most importantly, we must be happy and our owners must establish a good relationship with us. He also advised us to take our time to complete each segment, what they really want to see is how our owners are able to communicate with us. Thank you Xiong Ba for spending some time with us and your kind words of wisdom!


Last Saturday, we met up with a group of Dr. Dog students who are taking the advanced clicker training class for a practice session at the Taiwan University. Clicker Training is a training method using a small mechanical device that marks a correct behavior with a "click" sound. Used together with positive reinforcement, it has been known to show amazing results not only in dogs, but also dolphins, birds, cats and horses.


Our meeting place is at the field at the university where there is an old plane.


Here I am, meeting Dali the white poodle for the first time.


This is Pudding (布丁) and Xian Cao Mi (仙草蜜) in the background.


Just hours before the session, it rained heavily, so we went off to a sheltered area just in case it starts to rain again.


This is Pudding sitting prettily.


Here's Pudding again with me in the background. Noticed the head collar I have on? I have been using it since Day One of intermediate class. Dr. Dog does not use the choke chain for training and they only recommend us to use the Head Collar (also known as HC or Gentle Leader). Like all training collars, they must be used correctly.


Before they start the session, everyone calms down first and sit quietly with their owners.


This is a closeup of Xian Cao Mi (仙草蜜), the black labrador, he wins the prize for the shiniest coat!


Here's Dali, smiling sweetly at the camera.


Awww.....A tender moment of Pudding and her mommy.


Getting to know one another.


This is Xiao Lu (小魯), he is the tallest golden I have ever met! Look at those fine long limbs!


This is me, flashing my Dino smile.


This is Belle, what a lovely Husky!


This is the group, discussing the test contents.


And here is Xiao Lu (小魯) peeking through.


Belle and Dali are sharing some gossips.


And finally a group photo before we end the session. There was another husky missing from the group, I didn't get his name.



Many thanks to Pudding's Mom for letting us join in your practice session and giving me a little yummy bear biscuit.

Mom was mighty impressed with the group, they were all amazingly calm, quiet and obedient. It is a huge contrast to my class where our owners shower verbal praises like there is no tomorrow. Looks like it is going to be lots of hard work for us to be like them.

It has been a pleasure meeting all of you and we look forward to seeing all of you again! Mom was bitten all over by some nasty mosquitoes, so I hope we don't meet them the next time.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am really laughing and laughing.....and Yep~~~there is no tomorrow for us :P
Kerry

Amber-Mae said...

Hope you had fun during your practice session with your friends! Yeah, that Labradude's coat is really healthy & shiny! Impressed...

Butt shakes,
Solid Gold Dancer