The
Chihuahua Chronicles

My Basic Training:
Lesson One: Wait
SOMEDAY I'll have these humans trained!

Sit, Wait, Stop...
...oops!!!

Come, Here, er... Go!...
. . . oops!!!

Words, Words, Words

SPRING has sprung in Interior Alaska, and my family is taking me outdoors every day now. We are working on the "Wait" command. The camera isn't working very well but you can get a general idea of how it went.

I'll tell you, when they first started training me in this, I felt like Eliza Doolittle in "My Fair Lady"... I could have sung, all I want is a room somewhere! I heard lots of "words, words, words". My first word to learn from the Dourte's was "Wait."

Are you wondering what the difference between "Wait" and "Stay" is? When Deb or one of my Girls says "Sit" and I sit, and then she passes the palm of her hand in front of me and says "Wait". I'm learning that "sit" command at the exact same time, but I have a general idea what she means. I am supposed to sit, while she steps away and I am supposed to wait, until she says "Okay" and then I can move.

Joelle told Deb there is the "old" way of teaching sit, and a "new" way. The old way, she helps me get in the proper sitting position and says sit. It worked. The new way is to take a piece of bait, and "entice" me to sit. (They called treats bait, isn't that cute? What do they think I am some kind of FISH?) My human passes the bait in front of my nose, over my head and down my spine to my tail, and somehow I'm supposed to get the idea to sit, as I try to follow this bait. Hah. I don't usually bother with tail chasing, and this bored me. It made a lot more sense to me for Deb just to tell me to sit, and when I looked at her like I didn't speak English, she showed me how, then told me how good I am. (Who needs bait? I could get REALLY fat, with all the bait I'd get and go fishin' m'self!) Anyway. New dogs may be learning the old trick the new way. It'll be interesting.

I am training Deb and my Girls about "Wait" because it's possibly going to be one of the hardest commands for me to master. Imagine... the anticpation and excitement of preparing for an agility run, and being eager to run, jump, weave, tunnel, teeter and so forth as I just LOVE to do... but...

...There's this "requirement" thing, where she has to leave me and go DO stuff and take a look at the course. All the time she's doing that, I have to sit there, not move, and wait.

I took it very slow and easy with her til she learned her cues. I sat when she showed me how, then waited as she took a few baby steps to the side, and then back to me. Then she said "Okay!" which is our release word, and hugged and petted me and told me I'm so good and so smart. We did it a few more times, and she took a few more baby steps to the side, and a couple to the front, while I sat and waited for her to comeback and tell me "okay".

Now she can tell me to sit... step away... drop my leash and walk off. I don't move until she says "Okay!" and I don't go to her unless she says "Come!"

Joelle explained that we will take it easy with this and practice it about five minutes per day until Deb and my Girls get the hang of it. You have to understand their attention span is pretty short, but they'll learn. They'll have this down perfectly in two weeks and then we'll move on to Lesson Two.

Below, Annie is showing me the "poles" they set up for me to weave through. They're not the right kind, but I showed them that I remember pretty much what to do anyway!