SCHUTZHUND IS COMING, SCHUTZHUND IS COMING!!

My club took a little break over the holiday. Several of us have small kiddos, and were going to be busy! We're back at our regular schedule on Sunday, and I'm STOKED. It's been far too long since I've tracked my dog... so tracking will be interesting. Obedience hopefully will be fun as our TD (Training Director) has some fun stuff planned (such as heeling backwards through weave poles!). We've got a new/different decoy, so Koenig will have a good time getting back onto a sleeve. Yay! Yippee!! Hurrah!!! Did I mention I'm excited?

Today I got off work exceptionally early, and had some fun stuff planned for my boy. Until I walked outside to find the weather SUCKED. Thank you, NorthWest Washington winters. You're gross. I hate you. It was low 50's, breezy, and WET. Yuck. Koenig had to make due with our normal Train-Play, Play-Train routine. (Not that he has an issue with this!! We worked on positions, and a little heeling interspersed with lots and lots of fetch to make the brindle house-safe again.

So, what happens when you wimp out of the training plans for the day, and are super excited for SchH?

My bag is all packed for Sunday (like it nearly always is, I keep most of my go-to dog training gear in a duffle bag. Everything else gets to live in several rubbermaid totes in the storage closet. What I realized I hadn't done for awhile was made training treats!

Training treats. It's a super complicated procedure. ;) I chop up a little of all Koenig's super yummy treats, into tiny, pencil eraser sized bits. (and if you're treat collection is anything like mine, it can mean a lot of chopping)

Rubbermaid of doggy treats. 

There is no way I'm going to spend the time chopping up some of everything, so I generally choose 10 or so types of treats. Grain-free, and soft are generally the picks. (99% of what I buy is grain free anyhow. Sometimes I just make an 'oops' purchase and don't check the label) Soft+ Small is best is training treats, because any time your dog slows down to chew you're going to loose his focus. He's thinking about chewing the yummy crunchy treat you just gave him. If it's small, and soft, he'll just swallow whole, and be ready for whatever is coming next! (or, if you own a Koenig-like dog, they swallow anything whole and don't chew, so I can use some crunchy things as well. Makes for more variety, I guess)

Selection of the night. 

I always add some kibble to his mix. Since he's got such a high food drive, he's not disappointed by a treat 'only' being a piece of dog food. When it's kept in a baggie in the fridge with yummy things like freeze dried liver, Z filets, cheese, and turkey lunch meat, it all takes on a delicious flavor- so Koenig tell me)

All chopped up!

I dump all of this, plus the kibble into a big bowl and mix it. This batch made just enough to fill up 2 quart size zip locks, which is several treat pouches worth!! :D 

Done!

Stick it in the fridge, and if you can't use it all before the cheese petrifies, or the turkey molds, you've got problems. ;) 

I'm off to go do another round of fetch. Probably won't have much OB this go round, since it's dark, cold, and nasty outside. Combine that with me being a weenie, and having 2 rowdy kids putting off bedtime, and it's gonna be bare minimum for the brindle one tonight.