Judy, shown here with her award winning dog, Chip, is one of my agility teachers. She recently received an IPad from her very generous and thoughtful daughter so has renewed interest in the internet. Judy is a really good teacher and employs the same positive reinforcement with us as she encourages us to use with our dogs. Operant training. Emphasize the positive, ignore the negative (to the extent that is possible and practical).
With the onset of the rain season, practicing has become a little challenging. However the raccoons which have been terrorizing our place lately seem undaunted by the weather. Every night they tear out my tulip bulbs and throw them all over the yard and I often hear them stomping and cavorting on the deck. A couple of nights ago, they were lined up outside the French doors staring at us as we ate dinner. It is as if we are being invaded by Orcs and frankly, it is a little unnerving. We have tried the cayenne pepper mixture, the Scarecrow (motion activated sprinkler). Nothing seems to work. In desperation I have sent my smaller tulip pots off to a friend's for the time being, but I would like to solve this as I fear they will go for the koi in the pond next, if they haven't already, and I have to be really careful about letting my fearless corgis outside after dark (I keep them on a leash so they won't go after them which could be really dangerous) I welcome any thoughts or suggestions any of you may have.
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