The first time I took out the clicker and paired it with food, Delilah just about lost her mind.  She was so excited by the food in my hand that she couldn’t focus on what I wanted from her.

I reached out to a reward based trainer and asked, what do you do with a dog that is over excited.  She said, “Try using a food with a lesser value to her.”

I didn’t have the heart to write back and tell her I was using a green bean.

Times change.

Just as people grow and develop, so do dogs.  Delilah has become accustomed to learning with food rewards. And it’s great to have a dog that’s willing to work for whatever you have in your pocket.

When Delilah and I took a trick’s class in November my fellow dog lovers were surprised to learn that I was using banana chips for training.  I was surprised by their limited imaginations and their willingness to buy into the “since your dog loves it, it can’t be bad for them” theory.

Ooops, my bad.  That’s a post for another day. 🙂

When Pamela over at Something Wagging This Way Comes, threw down the training gauntlet I didn’t pick it up immediately.  In fact, I mulled it over a bit in my head.  What could I work with Delilah on?

When it comes to trick training my imagination is as limited as the imagination of what people in my training class use for treats.  We are definitely NOT Team Shiva here.

Full Disclosure

Our Rally class started this month.

Yes I am taking part in the train your dog challenge, but I had professional help.  But not a professional videographer as you’ll note in the video.  Hubby was a great sport about it though, even when I made him take the video over and over again.

I discovered something during our last Rally class, Delilah has what is called a “Show Heel.”  You’ll notice it immediately when you see it, it’s when the dog is looking at the handler while they’re heeling.  At first I thought it was bad, but Ariane explained and said it’s perfectly fine.

You’ll also see that awesome About Turn that took me five years to figure out.

Yes, it’s true.

I heeled my dog with a chick pea.

Hubby wanted me to practice heeling her off leash, but I wanted to look like I knew what I was doing, so I kept the leash.

Sampson on the other hand heels very well off-leash.  At least in the house. All bets are off when I take him outside and he has all the distractions of people, other dogs, squirrels and chipmunks.

As I mentioned we had to do this a number of times.  One time a light was shining in the wrong spot, another time Hubby made some jerky movements with the camera and one time….well I’ll let the blooper explain it.

You can really notice Delilah’s show heel in this last video.  You’ll also notice the horrific light shining at the camera, hear the TV in the background and see the extra that wasn’t paid to be there.

So how did we do?  Do you think Delilah has a show heel?  Did you participate in the train your dog challenge?  Do you have an unusual treat that you train your dog with?  Did you know Train Your Dog Month is a robust blog hop hosted by Something Wagging This Way Comes?