Elka, now and for the future (400th post!)

So, here we are. 400 posts! It sounds like a lot, doesn't it? I think it sounds like a lot.

I certainly didn't (and still don't) have a finite "arc" for this blog in mind, so I guess it was inevitable I'd make 400 and beyond. I just wanted to mark the milestone!

So, what to talk about? Woefully unprepared, I asked on Twitter what the topic ought to be, and maggie68d helped me out. Elka, obviously. Her achievements and what we've been working on. I thought it a splendid plan!

Book Review: Brain Games For Dogs, by Claire Arrowsmith

Since I'm working on Elka's Trick Dog Titles (just 4 new ones left until Intermediate Trick Dog is ours!), and since it sometimes takes a lot to occupy Elka in the house, I frequently check out every book that intimates that it's on tricks and training and other such things.

Brain Games For Dogs, by Claire Arrowsmith, is a slim volume, but it shows basic obedience and tricks that you can do to engage your dog's brain, and have a lot of fun in the process.

The Clicker Crossover: Paradigm Shift

I wish I'd picked up a clicker sooner.

A month or more ago, when I got food for Elka at the Tractor Supply Company (the only place around here with Taste of the Wild food), I saw a bunch of clickers hanging on one of those little plastic racks in the aisle, and thought, "hey, why not?"  Why not sooner, is the question, really.

Command Clinic: Sit

I don't know if normal people dream about the first thing they want their dog to learn. Or if people have thoughts about it, and then those dreams fall by the wayside, when they learn that things like "Sit" are learned far more quickly than, say, bite inhibition.