Crate game epiphany!

It was a rainy day today so we hung out inside, did some shopping, etc. etc. So today was a good day for crate games!
OhLa is now sitting at the back of her crate or downing when I go to open the door. I don't really care which one, so long as she chooses one and doesn't do a halfer ( sometimes she tries to cheat by doing a half down, which is OhLa speak for I'm ready to bolt. Not okay there girlie!). I can reach in and put the leash on without her standing up or leaning forward, I can stand up and I can even tug on the leash and she stays. She gets it, at last! I tug on the leash and she leans back, good girl! She releases like a rocket on her release cue too, perfect!
Today's great success though is not about the sit, the down, or even the leash (as good a feat as that one is), it's all about TURNS today.
In agility, a dog needs to learn to naturally turn into their owner. Take a jump, turn in and come back to handler, do a tunnel and turn into handler etc. This way the dog stays on course and you use the natural draw of the handler to maintain a connection with the dog. Surprisingly enough, dogs need to be taught this behaviour. Every dog, like every person is right or left handed. They prefer to turn one way over the other. In OhLa's case, she is a right turner. Every time she goes into her kennel she turns to the right. As a handler I know (thanks to people smarter than myself) that I need to train her muscles and her brain to work equally well turning in either direction. (Remember the good old days of "off side"? yah well, there's no such thing, just a dog and handler that have not learned to work on their less desirable side. We want to prevent this, and teach OhLa to turn into her handler, no matter where she is. What better place than the crate! I send her in, give her a little poke on her left side and she should turn into me since I am on the left of her crate and the left side of her crate door is open. Yeah well, not so much! I must have poked her twenty times, she was really insistent on the right hand turn! She finally got it and she received her entire breakfast as a reward. Session two I only had to poke her about five times before she caught on again, lots of rewards for doing it right! Session three I only had to poke her twice. And at supper tonight? She did it ALL BY HERSELF, smart girl! Hooray! So tomorrow we'll do some more left hand turns and then I'll open the right side of the crate door, stand on the right, and see what we get! Lucky for me the way her crate is positioned, the left hand side of the door will be open unless I move the crate away from the wall. This is good, as it will pattern her heavily to the left, her weaker side every time she goes into her kennel.

Today she is busy bringing me every sock she can find in the house (some of which came out of the clean laundry basket thank you very much!). She loves to show me her "prizes" which is very sweet; plus we get to practice bringing it to my hand, to which I of course remark on how lovely this particular sock is and return it to her, but only if she shows me some nice self control and takes it when given to her. Fun games!