I must start by saying sorry for the HUGE post, but I'm very happy about things with Watson today!

I happened to have found the original magazines where I first saw Corgis and fell in love with them 7 years ago. It was "Training for Agility" by Popular Dogs series. It has this picture of a Tri-Coloured Pem leaping through a tire jump. After that I was curious and many hours of research later, I was in love with these stubby dogs with magic powers.

I was happy I had found the Training for Agility and the Training your Puppy magazines. I think it's given me a bit more insight to training and teaching my puppy things. I'm looking more and more into clicker training... I've seen it used and it works well, so I think that Watson will take to it well. He's very treat oriented, which is fine for clicker training I believe. I also have been giving Watson Cheerios as treats. Not always as a treat, but when it's repetitive training. I think it's healthier for him. I usually give him the "good" treats ((read Pupperoni/Chicken/Beef bites)) when he does REALLY good stuff. Like pottying outside, or telling me he has to go outside, as he has a problem with going in the house currently. Does anyone have any other tips for Clicker Training and courses that might help with it? Also, what treats do you like to use for training? I've always read it should be something soft and easily swallowed so they can immediately focus their attention back to you, and not spend a lot of time crunching then nosing around for dropped pieces. If you have recipes for soft treats, I'd love to hear them as well!

Onto other news, Watson sits on command MOST of the time. For being 3 months old and us not have had working on it much, this is very good news. He still gets distracted of course by other people/sounds/smells and will move from the spot occasionally, but that's okay! I'm trying to take it kinda slow with him and focus more on playing/loving us.

Something new today that I think shows he'd be good in agility: We have a "cat tunnel" that, ya know, have a hanging toy in it and cats bat it around. Well the dangling parts had been cut out of it, so it's just a simple tube. I opened it up, put Watson in the kitchen and stacked boxes around the exit of the kitchen with the tunnel open. I put a couple of yummy treats in the tunnel to tempt him through the space. He cautiously crept through until he got to me and I praised him and gave him lots of lovin's! I set him carefully back in the kitchen and he came BLASTING through the tunnel looking at me like "Hi! Where's the treats??". I giggled happily, and let him do this several times with treats and love each time he went through until it was time to go potty. I put it up afterwards and thought he would forget about it.

At the end of the day, Joe got home and I giggled going "He went through the tunnel today!" I pulled out the Cheerios, and set the tunnel up. At first he was like "What? I'm supposed to go through that? No, I'm SITTING, I get treats for that right?" So I started tossing a Cheerios or two in the tunnel till he started to run through it. I started doing the tips from the magazines. I used my finger to point to the tunnel and direct him through it, saying clearly "Tunnel". Once he associated treats with the word, he started zipping through it on his own, sitting afterwards to look for a treat. I obviously refused to give him one if he went through without my say so, and he soon picked this up as well. I'm SO PROUD of Watson. As many accidents he has, ((and most are my fault, as I don't take him out soon enough)) he is so smart and understands SO much. I mean, in one afternoon he picked up that going through this tube when I say "Tunnel" will get him a treat and praise. He also understands, for the most part, "Drop It" when he has something in his mouth he's not supposed to.

That probably saved his life this evening. Joe took him for his evening potty break, and on the way back to the apartment Watson had somehow picked up a chicken bone in his mouth, bringing it back in the house. Joe shut the door and turned around to see Watson start chewing. I was in the next room and hear "Watson! DROP IT!", so I ran into the living room to find Watson ducked down and Joe holding a chicken bone in his hand. We don't know where or how he picked it up without Joe noticing, but he did; I believe that teaching Watson "Drop It" may have saved him from being really sick, or even dying. 

Sorry again for the long post! Thanks for any help you can give! <3