New Tricks

Riff has a couple of new tricks.  (Good boy!)  One is "Roll Over."   The series of photos below is fun because it captures Riff's expressions and body positions while he's rolling over.   

Riff likes to Roll Over really fast (which is his typical M.O. for...ummmm.....everything) so we don't typically see these kinds of details.  My husband captured these shots with his Canon Mark IV on a continuous shutter setting, no flash, at an ISO of 10,000 with exposure compensation down 1 and 1/3. 

Another of Riff's new tricks is "Sit Up."  Not be be confused with "Wave"....as shown below.

.....or "Up Here," as shown below.  (He is, in fact, supposed to gently put his front feet on my chest for "Up Here.")  But....he's a youngster.  He gets excited and offers a bunch of different actions - as fast as he can! - during some of our trick sessions.  He's getting better...but today the SLR camera had him on overdrive.  He LOVES the shutter-sounds, and he gets hyperactive when the camera comes out.   

"Sitting Up" has been a tough trick for him.  Perhaps, because he has such a narrow butt, it isn't easy for him.  At first he would just kind of fall over.  (It isn't easy for him to do a "static" trick, either.  He likes MOTION!)  

Or the trick has been tough because I haven't been clear enough about my expectations.  Either way, it's taken a while for us to figure this one out.  I'm happy, though, because today he's much more comfortable with this trick than he was a few weeks ago.  One of the adjustments he made (on his own) was to splay his hind feet out more, like a hare, rather than keeping them pointed forward and close together.  YAY, RIFFSTER!!!! 

(His neck seems to have "telescoping" capabilities.  Like when he wants a treat.  Or something on the kitchen counter...)