The Joint Care+ Challenge, Week 2

So, Stevie (and not forgetting Mina & Jasper) are now into week two of the Pedigree Joint Care+ challenge*.  This week the challenge involves seeing what the hounds will do for their Joint Care+ treat.

One thing's for sure - they all seem to know when it's time for their Joint Care+ treat as they come running and soon devour the treats.  Whilst Jasper's trick repertoire mainly consists of looking cute and being goofy, Stevie and Mina have a few more tricks underneath their collars!

The hounds eagerly await their Joint Care+ Treat

Stevie has always loved his food and I'm hoping to capture his down stay with a 'leave it' thrown in for the Joint Care+ treat on his paws.... but the pure deliciousness of the treats has meant that the temptation has proven too much for Stevie and he can't seem to 'leave it' long enough for me to capture it in a picture or by video!

I had managed to get Mina to perform her role out the carpet trick for a treat - but somehow I deleted the video evidence: today is not proving to be my day (but you can see a clip of her doing this in a previous blog post)!  So instead, and taking liberties with the Gilbert O'Sullivan song: Knock Three Times, Mina performed her 'Bark Three Times for a Joint Care+ Treat'. Now, if you read many books about greyhounds, they say that greyhounds seldom bark... well, Mina has never read those books and as you can tell she's more than happy to bark on command!



All 3 of the hounds seem to be doing well on the Joint Care+ Challenge and definitely have added zing in their steps.  They do love the treats and scoff them in a few seconds (or if you're Stevie - in a nano second). They're proving to be a really quick way of delivering the joint helping ingredients of chrondroitin, glucosamine, methionine (amino acid) and omega 3(read more here about the ingredients).

I'm not so sure we'll win this week's Challenge but it sure is fun having a go each week and, more importantly, seeing how the hounds' - especially Stevie - mobility and general zest for life improves.

*Disclosure: I have been provided with 6 weeks' supply of Joint Care+ treats by Pedigree  as part of the Joint Care+ Challenge.  I have not been paid for my views and all views expressed are my own.

Roll out the carpet - Greyhound trick training

I'm learning so much through my university studies.  Sometimes it seems the more I learn, the more I realise what I don't know!  Then again, we never stop learning do we?  The same is true for our dogs - no matter what their age. Our dogs are always learning - they're like sponges - whether intentionally or unintentionally you can bet our dogs are learning something from us .

As part of my university progressive dog training module, Mina and I were to take the college tests - a mix of 10 different exercises.  The tests included 5 compulsory exercises and then 5 from a selection of other exercises, one of which was to train a trick of our choice.

At one point, I honestly thought that Mina and I would never pass the module.  Not through a lack of 'trainability' on Mina's part but due to her canine catastrophe tendencies! In June last year she had to have her toe amputated and then not long after she'd recovered from the operation, and just as we'd started training again, she split the webbing on one of her back paws.

Finally, with several injury-free weeks behind us, one of the last weekends in October proved to be a dry enough day to video the exercises.

My favourite part of the test was the trick training... I finally discovered a use for my old yoga mat as the video clip shows.




The ground was a bit lumpy and Mina got slightly distracted by a smell but as you can see, she can 'roll out the carpet'.

So, did we pass the module?  Yes! With flying colours. I'm very proud of Mina - she's 10 years old and a greyhound - living proof that you can teach an old dog and a greyhound new tricks!

I'd be really interested to know what trick, or tricks, your dogs can do or what you'd like them to do...so please don't be shy and do leave a comment.

Remember, every comment left on my February 2012 posts gets entered into our Countdown to Crufts giveaway to win* a pair of Crufts tickets.

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Giveaway is open to UK residents only. Prize consists of one pair of tickets to Crufts for each of the two winners (tickets are valid for the day of the winner's choice).
The winner is responsible for arranging their own transport to and from the NEC.
Closing dates for entries is Tuesday 28 February 2012
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