Trick of the Week

Dog Blog Post #297: This weeks trick was either a huge success or a total failure, depending on we define things.

IF the goal is to display a trick at the end of the week that matches what you set out to train at the beginning of the week, then I failed.

IF the goal is to have a trick at the end of the week, then I succeeded.

This week's trick is...

Play Shamu!

(Hey - if you can think of a better name, I'm all ears!)

This all began in Family Dog class, when Wendy was showing "Touch" (remember that one? Dog touches hand?) Henry knows that one, and so she used him to demo it, then she showed how you can use the behavior to train new things... like Sit Pretty.

So she holds her hand about a foot above seated Henry's head, tells him to Touch, and he dutifully raises up on his haunches to touch her hand with his nose. Ta-da! Cool trick, no?

Flash forward to the end of the week, when my Sitting Pretty puppy isn't sitting pretty at all. In fact, he's decided the purpose of the trick is to smash the top of his head into my hand as fast as he possibly can. Of course, I didn't like this flavor of the trick, and keep moving my hand up higher and higher until I ended up with what you see above, which looked (to me) just like a killer whale rising out of the water to touch one of those things they rise up out of the water to touch.

Hence, "Play Shamu!"

Does he know this verbal cue? Are you nuts? He does know to touch my hand, and will attempt to touch it no matter where it is, even if it is 5' above the ground.

We are still polishing the "other" trick, and so you will have to wait another for that one.

Moving on to the Daily Shoot...

Make a photograph the features a subject made of wood today.

While I have lots of large things in the house made of wood (the floor, many bookcases, furniture...) it seems I have very few decorative items so constructed. In fact, strolling through the house, I came up with exactly... none.

Thankfully, when I went to make myself some lunch, I spotted the wooden breadboard. Yeah! I put it on a kitchen chair near the slider in the kitchen, rested the camera on the chair between the slats, and waited for a dog to stop by and see if there were any cookies in it for them.

There weren't (I didn't want to promote drooling on my bread board) but they hung around long enough for me to get a few shots (scattered about.)

Editor's Note: As promised, although I'm not sure of much use... My little Sony point and shoot has timer function on 1/4 of the larger button near the bottom on the back (little clock picture). If you push it once, you get a 10 second timer. Push it again, you get a 2 second time. Push again, you turn it off.

For Zachary, I set up the camera on the tripod, set the 2 second timer, get him set in position and tell him to stay, reach over and push the button, drop the hat on his head (or make noises, or wave my hand or whatever), and the camera goes click!. For Henry, I usually have to use the 10 second timer as his stay isn't that great yet and I need the extra seconds to get him set AFTER I push the button. I love the timer button almost as much as my tripod, and couldn't imagine taking pictures without either.

Editor's Note #2: I've gotten some great comments on how people pick which pictures go into their blogs. Perhaps I should summarize them? Not today, this is already too long, so feel free to add your $0.02 if you haven't already!

Editor's Note #3: And yes, as this seems to come up in the comments every so often, the only camera I use (and own) is a little Sony compact point-n-shoot that fits easily in a shirt pocket. My "top-of-line" :) is the DSC-W55 (3 years old?) its backup is the slightly older but essentially identical DSC-W50.

And finally, today's (non-dog) Scavenge Challenge picture (Reflections)...

I was playing with the ISO setting, using macro mode and a tripod. It's the plastic holder that the Godiva chocolate truffles (alas, all gone) once sat in.

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