Fun With The Tarp

Today I finally played with Chance again. We played through our Seven Games and he was great, very light and responsive. He did everything exactly how I wanted him to and was quickly Left Brain, well he was until I brought the tarp and ball out. He got very high headed and then wanted to move his feet away from the two objects. I did lots of Approach and Retreat with the tarp which was stretched out on the ground. Soon his confidence built and he was able to stand on the tarp and then happily began to paw at the tarp.

We then went and did some other things for a bit then came back to the tarp, I began to rub it on his legs a bit while he stood on it, at first his head went up but I kept up the steady rubbing and he began to lower his head and lick and chew. We went away from the tarp again and this time when we came back to it I rubbed his shoulder and withers. He moved his feet a fair bit but I kept with him, and as soon as he stopped moving his feet I would take the tarp off and give him a break. Wait for a lick and chew then rub again, then repeat. Eventually I was able to put it over his back and walk him around with it on; it blew around his feet and legs. He still wasn’t 100% confident with it but you could see it building. Shall be interesting to see how he responds next time. We didn’t even attempt the ball today, save that for another day!