monday with magda // duck dynasty edition

Lately, we've been training more and more with Magda. This is for two reasons, first we have found that teaching her new tricks takes as much energy out of her as, say, a 45 minute walk. And when the temperature is 2 degrees, you would much rather train. Second, she seems to have gotten the impression lately (again) that she is in charge, and we are reinforcing to her (over and over and over again) that in fact we, who feed her, are in charge. These vizslas? They are a bit stubborn.So lately, we've been working really hard at two tricks. One is getting her to balance things on her head. Especially food. Do not expect photos of this for a very long time as it is HARD. But we are working on it. The second is to have her hold things in her mouth and stay. Preferably, things that she would like to "kill" or chew. This duck toy up here was presented to her about 1 minute before the photo was taken.While the photo up there isn't really that great, the fact that she's not shaking the bird to death or tearing out the fur or the squeaker heart is mighty impressive (to me anyway).So that's what we've been up to over here. How 'bout you guys? Got any good tricks or training tips you want to share? Put them in the comments because I could sure use 'em!And for your internet share of the day, I'm sending you over to the new collection on the Amano site. I would love, love, love to have either the silver feather earrings or the gorgeous gold dipped guitar pick earrings... hint, hint valentines....Oh, and as I type this, Mags has ripped the stuffing out of the duck. See? That didn't last long.