Beattie resumed training after Christmas and I must admit that I was a bit nervous the first week I took her as I had done very little with her for quite a few weeks.  The first week back, she was pretty unresponsive, which was not really surprising.  I thought she might be coming into season as she was so lethargic, but could have been the onset of her infection (see earlier post).

We were practising the 'Retrieve' in which the dog is supposed to retrieve an article, usually a dumbbell, bring it back and sit in a front present waiting for the owner to take the dumbbell from doggy's mouth!  Well, that's the theory, but nobody had told Beattie ( I tried but she refused to listen!).  She would retrieve the dumbbell and then drop it on the floor about three paces in front of me.  Frustration!

I had been trying this for several months without any progress being made.  AT suggested I build it up in stages by just getting her to hold the dumbbell and then let me take it from her.  The retrieve should be practised with me sitting in a chair, which I had not done before.  We practised this every day and by the end of the week she would bring it to me without dropping it.  Success!

The next stage was to get her to sit in front of me holding the dumbbell and finally to do this with me in the standing position.  There was one glorious morning when she achieved this for the first time.  I was so pleased I gave her a huge treat and then immediately stopped the training session.  AT says it is better for the dog to finish on a 'high' as there is the temptation to get the dog to repeat the exercise, but terriers get bored quickly, not liking repetitive drills.

Over the coming days she was able to demonstrate that this had not been a fluke and the crowning moment was when she performed a retrieve at dog training this week!

We seem to be making some progress at last!