Ever since Sheba was a puppy, it was impossible to find a trick that this willful ridgeback was willing to learn. You could count on her for any real-life drama (the greater the need for her assistance, the better!!!), but when it came to simple dog tricks, she could not see the point with them and found them utterly silly and degrading to any intelligent free-thinking canine companion. I tried convincing her but no avail, and being at that time too well-aware of her allergy to sticking to procedures just for the sake of it, I kept my battle to the one area I would spend the following three years convincing her of: namely the need to respect traffic..

So imagine my joy then I per chance last weekend stumbled upon a trick that she not only enjoyed, but did really well! I must have tried it a couple of times before but it wasn’t a hit back then. This time however, it was as if we had done it ALWAYS… I place a canine cracker on her nose, told her (as if our lives depended on it !) to hold still-

…and then watched her fulfill her part superbly as she waited for the green light to attack the delicacy that had so mischievously positioned itself on her nose! She was brilliant! I missed the part where she threw it into the air and caught it with a snap, but lol, she loved the trick so much, we’re bound to get it on photo soon!

A meter away, Ronja was voicing her interest to do the same,

…but teaching this half ridgeback the same trick proved a little more complicated…

RONJA: “No, we cannot have the cracker on our nose. We just can’t. Crackers belong inside the mouth, not on top of it.”

Needless to say, once the cracker finally got to rest of Ronja’s nose, it did not last more than nano second before she dropped it on the ground.

SHEBA: “If Ronja’s cracker falls into my zone after she has failed fulfill her MISSION, does that make her cracker mine…?”

Wish you all a wonderful weekend!

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