Training today:

Tom I worked on building a sturdy foundation for getting my cell phone when it rings. The criteria was to nose poke and he got a treat. I cut up a cheese stick which was helpful. Made me faster in reinforcing and made me stop the training session before it went too long. Next, mouthing is required. I also worked on his "take it" cue to see how many things he'd pick up with one cue. Pill bottle, food lid, cork, lint brush, plastic frog he'd hold my heavy water bottle which is much bigger than everything I've taught him to pick up before. He refused to pick up a bumpy shell. Huh? I didn't press that one.

Opal has trouble entering when she has to enter the non cage side from an angle and needs to go out. I tried tossing a treat out there and that helped. I was hoping to take off more cages tomorrow but I think I'll leave it on, fix that and take more off Tuesday.

I gave both dogs marrow bones. Opie was so cute. I waited a second to see who had better waiting behaviors to give the bone first. Tom sat and looked at me. I reached out to hand him the bone. Opal turned to look at Tom and immediately sat. I want to think she did it because she knew he was being rewarded for something and copied. I'm pretty sure sit would have been her default anyway.

Second Tom session. I gave him a marrow bone and then realized I wanted to train. He was letting it defrost and I picked it up and put it on the coffee table. He was nervous about it being there but did do a little cellphone training. Then he stopped and stared at it. When he started again I let him have it after a few more clicks, it being the reward for the last click.