Bubble wrap obsession

This week we’ve been challenging ourselves with lots of foundation training for agility. While that’s fun, I’ve really wanted to put some variety into our daily sessions to give Jaxon lots of fun and keep him challenged.

This week we’re training on a different surface everyday. With our daily training, I like to keep it short and fun for Jaxon, keeping it to 5 minutes at each end of the day. I train these sessions at mealtimes so I have Jaxon’s attention.

Basically this week is a n exercise in getting Jason to walk on different surfaces.

To allow the best results, I’m looking for independent choice of moving onto a surface, rather than me telling Jaxonn what to do.

Start with your choice of surface, and lay it down near where you’re training. The idea is that when your pup explores the surface, you click or use your marker word, and reward.

You really want to reward your pup for being adventurous. Any positive action towards the surface should be rewarded.

Eventually your pup should be able to walk onto, stand on, 2 on 2 off, the surfaces you present.

It’s a fun game of discovery as you test out how adventurous your pup is, and gives you some indication of anything they struggle with.

For example, I know that Jaxon hates wet grass, so wet grass has been a surface challenge this week.

Here are some of the surfaces we’ve been training on:

Bubble wrap

Tin foil

Plastic lids

Shoe racks with mesh across them

Wet grass

Plastic wrap on box lids

Most of all, just have fun. We’d love to hear what you try for a silly surface challenge!