Elka's First Title!

I mentioned in this post that there was a new kind of title I wasn't previously aware of, Trick Dog, in four different steps (Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, Expert).  It's through the Kyra Sundance website, Do More With Your Dog.  I read through Sundance's books before, and when I heard about the title, I thought "Elka can do that", and I thought "I can do that".  I've been training her all along anyway, and while I'm not sure she'd pass the CGC tomorrow, tricks are something my smart girl can do.

Sit and down were obvious shoo-ins.  To achieve the Novice Trick Dog title, Elka has to know and perform 15 tricks from the "Easy" list, without physical coercion, and with no more than 50% of the tricks completed with a lure. A witness has to either physically sign off on having seen the dog perform the tricks (if you're mailing in your application), or provide an email address for verification, if you're ordering online.  Our friend Bryan provided his email for, as he said, he's seen Elka perform her "entire battery of tricks in the hopes of getting the corn chip you're holding".

So, the 15 we "submitted" for the Novice Trick Dog title were: Sit, Down, Tug, Shake hands (either paw), kisses (our cue is "Give me a kiss"), spin circles, Tug, back up, come, crawl, doggy push-ups (essentially, doing down-stand-down-stand), take it,  touch my hand, drop it, and walk on loose leash.  When I asked Bryan to sign off, I actually said "Well, I'm not sure if you've seen her walk on a loose leash", and he said "Oh yeah, she did it for me when I took her out this afternoon."  Oh. Well okay then.

In addition to the title, and the certificate, there was also one of those rubber wristbands in our envelope, stamped with "Do more with your dog!" It is modelled below by our lovely Elka, who made all of this possible.