This was the first weekend in months where I did not have a dog-related activity scheduled.  One of my nose work students emailed me last night, & said that she was available for training today, so we did organize an ad hoc session. Other than that, I was commitment free.

I took the opportunity to work a bit on agility exercises, Parkour for Kiyo, and training Toka to back up and trim his own nails via shaping.

What a *great!* training technique!  Toka’s Auntie Amy had gifted us a scratch board earlier this year, and once or twice I had half-heartedly attempted to work with both Kiyo & Toka.

His Redness has been a complete knucklehead about having his front nails trimmed of late, and I’m tired of the drama. I decided ‘today’s the day!’  and pulled the board out.

Toka is used to offering behaviors because most of his training has been through shaping.  Once he understands what’s expected, he continues to offer better & more accurate approximations of the behavior.

This is a video of his third session. Numbers 1 & 2 were both about 2 or 3 minutes long.  He’s a quick study!  WHAT a clever boy!