Mom and I were watching TV the other day and saw a dog that had learned some really basic sign language so we thought we would give it a try. Thanks also to Eva and her post about silent commands, it made Mom get to work with me :) When you think about it, farmers out on the land use hand signals and whistles to indicate what they want; especially to Shelties and Border collies - so it is is only a natural extension of that. Mom has always used a mixture of gestures and commands with me as she isn't fond of clicker training. So after about ten minutes of practice - here I am. Mom started with the words "lay down" but added the sign language for "lay down" too. She kept doing the hand signal but gradually stopped saying "lay down". At the same time she also used the sign for "sit up". At the end of 10 minutes I had it and Mom and I have been practicing all morning. Mom says this is certainly a very quiet way of training ! This is just a short video of the final result, we figured you didn't want to see all the practice bit.
As for Mom she is feeling better today. The doctor removed the drains and these things called "bolsters" which were either side of the wound. Having those released removed a lot of the tension and it isn't hurting so much now. She goes back in a weeks time to have all the stitches removed. The surgeon and my Dad were both REALLY happy with how it is looking.
No comments:
Post a Comment