Trick of the Week: Perch

Yay Squash!

Yesssssss awesome!! Go Squash!

Haha I don't know what's better, the double perch or the gallery of creepers in the background.

I'm so freaking impressed! You are so going to be my go to when I get my grey puppy!

I think that's a really really good idea!

You Sass, you are my hero.

She really is so light on her feet! I love watching her so much. I love how she lands and it's like "I'm here, feed me."

LOVE IT!! Also, totally laughing at you.

And I know, I actually messed something up with my back working on the footstall and have taken a week off. My legs feel like jelly when I'm done but that goes away, I don't know if I just twisted weird when working with Traveler or what. Hoping though this will help strengthen my back!

I'm glad you're doing this with Gusto though! He's such a perfect size for it



Here's the shoulder stall I've been working on, though I might backtrack a bit and fix her foot placement. It started out good but as I've gotten higher and higher she decided to do one shoulder rather than utilizing both of mine.

Also, I'm not standing like Sekah yet! I'm on a stool so that I'm higher than if I was kneeling and lower than straight out standing.

[YOUTUBE]_pGP-oQqO94[/YOUTUBE]

And for some more inspiration for all those of you with big dogs. Here's TuffStuff's (Jes) Boone perching on things! Remember he's well over 70 lbs and 25 inches at the shoulder.

Go Boone! Big dogs can do it too. <3

Also holy crap I want a shoulder stall SO BAD now. SO. BAD.

I'm thrilled you posted a video. I wasn't too sure how I wanted the perch to look - paws over shoulder, or the dog standing. I'm still not sure what I want, but I like weighing the pros/cons. What was your decision making like with this? I also like how you're not moving much to accommodate the dog. It'll look really nice when you're done.

Also, I totally thought Trav was Didgie to start, and was surprised when a dog appeared from a direction I wasn't expecting.

Pretty much my thought process went like this "What else can they stand on? My shoulders! This is going to be painful, I better wear a jacket."

I never really thought about the paws over the shoulder like you are doing. I did/do have a trick with Traveler I call piggy back where he jumps onto my back while I'm standing and hooks his front feet over my shoulders.

It's slow going though and really painful when the feet miss and go down my neck!

Siri naturally throws herself onto my shoulder when we are shaping and she gets frustrated. Maybe that needs to be a thing?

Cohen and Didge look awesome like that.

I think I shall call it "parrot"

YES this needs to be a thing. She's so small too, it should be such a snap versus teaching a larger/longer/HEAVIER dog to do it!
DO IIIIIIIIIT

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10202876023080539

It will be a snap if she ever learns to put on the breaks

Bah, come see me if we ever get a back stall. lol. And by back stall... I mean my dog throwing herself at my back and clinging her her front legs over my shoulders and her back end just hanging. I swear that's where this will end up. :rofl1:

You want me to climb up on a moving, rotating chair? Ummm... ok, I guess....

This is as far as we've gotten with the back stall. And I'm not sure how to proceed from here. She's so long and tall that I cannot lure her enough to get her back feet moving... she just stretches her giraffe neck. Not really sure how I'll get those back feet. I'm hoping just working on her putting all four feet on smaller and smaller objects will help.

This was pretty good. Of course right after I shut off the camera, her next attempt she walked up to the darn thing and put all four feet right on it just as easy as you please.

[YOUTUBE]4KevG0Gt4kE[/YOUTUBE]

I will admit that, mostly for my own comfort (read: safety), my shoulder stall is done with me kneeling, not standing.

Isn't it amazing how it can take so long for an idea to click... and then once it does your dog is no longer convinced that she doesn't fit?

[YOUTUBE]YorlMGFpY_8[/YOUTUBE]

So she's not exactly like "hey, I gots dis" but... at least she has a clue.

Okay, so I have Siri jumping straight on, onto my knees. Any suggestions on how to transfer this to actual feet? Do I just pull my knees up to my chest and ask her to hop onto my feet? Or is there an in-between step that I am missing?

Yay, this is so awesome! Love all the pics and videos.

Those shoulder stalls are unreal! That's so impressive.

We've just been perching all over everything.

Holy jeeze her tongue is long! Also, she's stinking cute!

When I was bemoaning my stumpy arms and this exact same problem, Adrianne gave me the awesome suggestion of using a wooden spoon with peanut butter, AKA arm lengthener. And that's what did the trick for Squash!


I love the shoulder stalls. Love them. But... I'm not going to try them, lol.