{"id":722,"date":"2014-04-03T07:00:40","date_gmt":"2014-04-03T11:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.yourdesignerdogblog.com\/?p=722"},"modified":"2014-06-01T07:26:17","modified_gmt":"2014-06-01T11:26:17","slug":"c-catch-atozchallenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.yourdesignerdogblog.com\/2014\/04\/03\/c-catch-atozchallenge\/","title":{"rendered":"C is for Catch – #atozchallenge"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nThanks for liking us! Sadie and I really appreciate all the love!
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I’m always trying to think of new tricks I can teach Sadie. When she was little I thought it would be cute if I threw something to her and she would catch it. So I researched different methods and strategies for teaching a dog to catch on command. The most common method is to hold a treat above your dog’s head and then drop it. When your dog opens his or her mouth to eat the treat, say catch so that he or she associates\u00a0that action with catching. Unfortunately Sadie refused to be trained this way. No matter how I tried it, Sadie\u00a0refused to open her mouth,\u00a0always letting the treat hit her and then fall to the floor, where she would find it and eat it. So I gave up with food. I tried throwing various toys at her to try and get her to catch them. Again, she would just let the toys hit her in the head and give me annoyed looks. But then\u00a0I bought the cupcake. It’s a small latex squeaky toy in the shape of a cupcake and Sadie absolutely loves it. I tried throwing the cupcake to her a few times, and to my surprise, on\u00a0the fifth try she caught it! From then on Sadie\u00a0has loved playing catch. She\u00a0keeps getting better and better at it, catching all kinds of objects and\u00a0even making\u00a0some leaping catches.\u00a0I tell her to get ready and it’s so cute to see her hunker down into pouncing position with her butt in the air, tail swishing, and a look of total concentration on her face. And when she successfully makes the catch she is so proud of herself it is a joy to witness.<\/p>\n

This post is part of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Check out Slimdoggy<\/a>‘s blog hop below for other great pet blogs taking the challenge<\/a> with me!<\/p>\n

This post is part of the Thoughtless Thursday blog hop brought to you by Ruckus the Eskie<\/a> and Love is Being Owned by a Husky.
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