TAG | teaching my dog to sit
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S’asseoir Séjour in Dog Agility
0 Comments | Posted by Steve in Dinner with ODC, Dog Training Tips
Tonight we got together for dog agility training followed by a French potluck dinner. The training focus was on s’asseoir séjour – which is French for sit stay. Teach your dog to sit and train your dog to stay to help with control in a multitude of situations.
Agility Training
Ryder sits and stays, waiting for his next command
Today Ryder and I worked on sit-stay. A good sit-stay is important in agility for two purposes – the start line and the table. At the start line, the dog needs to stay in place so the handler can get into a good position to start. At the table, the dog must sit or down-stay for five seconds before continuing.
Ryder doesn’t do a sit-stay very well. To get him under control on the agility course I need to be consistent with the sit-stay. It refocuses him. After every couple of jumps I tell him to sit-stay and walk away so he knows that he needs to listen no matter where he is on the agility field. If he gets up, I return to him and have him stay before moving on. A successful stay where I release him means he gets to take some agility obstacles. Obstacles are a reward for Ryder – this method will not work with a dog who is not motivated.
Since this has worked with Ryder in the past, we are working on it again while he gets back into agility after a medical leave of absence.
French Potluck Dinner
This was a colorful and healthy dinner. When we picked the “French” theme, many of us wondered if you can make a French dish without a lot of butter and cream. Turns out, we found some great dishes. Some of the recipes can be found under “more” below.
Provencale Potato Gratin – 240 calories, 7.5 g fat from Cooking Light. A new twist on potatoes with cheese.
Crustless Spinach, Onlion, and Feta Quiche - 142 calories. It disappeared quickly and we didn’t miss the crust. A crustless quiche reduces the calories by more than half!
Provencal Salad – We loved this salad and everyone had seconds.
Canberry-Apricot Chicken Cutlets – 213 calories, 2.7 g fat. The most outspoken carnivores in the group had seconds of this colorful dish. The recipe is from the Weight Watchers 15 Minute Cookbook – which is a lie. It took significantly more than 15 minutes to prepare!
French Vanilla Almond Ice Cream and Chocolate Cake – “Oh my gosh, that’s good!” “That ice cream is perfect with the cake.” Need we say more…
Next week, join us for Jewish food. But don’t bring gefilte fish.
Try our recipes and let us know what you think by clicking on “more” (more…)
