Mr. Griggles

Dennis and I went to Seaport Village today. Because Flash had to stay home, we brought him a new toy, Mr. Griggles.

He likes it.

Smarty Pants

Today was a rainy day. Dennis went to the Port so Flash was homebound with me all morning. We did some fun things: Go-Gos, cookie on the nose, and stay/here.

First, I put him in a sit/stay position, walked across the room, stood for a minute, and then called him too me. He was great, never broke once.

Then I put a cookie on his nose, said Leave It, and when I said Okay, he flipped his nose and caught the cookie. Wow, he was great.

Finally, and the best of all, we did Go-Gos without a leash. First, I said Get to Ready and he sat down on my left side. I told him to stay. Then I walked the length of the dining room, put a cookie on the floor, and walked back to him. And this is the best part: I leaned down without touching him, pointed to the cookie with my left hand, and said Look. He looked but didn't break his sit/stay. Yea!!! Then the easy part: Charge! and Get the Cookie! He did all that and came back to me for his extra cookie.

What a smarty pants.

More Assignments

Today was a regular Wednesday--horse lesson and dog training. Flash was pretty good during the horse lesson as long as Doc was walking. When we started to trot and canter, Flash got more excited. Still, he was much better. He didn't try to jump up at Doc or bite at his back legs.

Later in the afternoon, Rachel came over for Flash's training. We showed off our progress in heeling in the back yard. Then Rachel said we should do it outside the yard where there are more distractions. Great.  So we went out the gate and down the drive to the road in front of the house. I think Flash did very well. He walked on a loose leash most of the time.

Our other assignment is to practice getting Flash to come when called. We're going to put him on a retractable or long leash have him sit, then call him while reeling in the leash. So we're going to be busy this week.

On His Own

Flash was on his own most of the morning. Just before I left at 10:30, he appeared at the door so I let him in the back yard. He had to stay out because he was wet and dirty, his usual appearance.

When I got home from the movies, he was happy to see me and the bone I brought from the grocery store. Later we put the horses in without too much trouble. I kept my eye on him and he minded pretty well. He needs some herding training. Who's going to do that?

We also did some heeling in the back yard. He's getting better, but not there yet. Will he ever be?

Today Flash had his first hamburger patty plus a few fries. He came with us when we took the truck to Lowe's to pick up a new mower. Afterward, we went to In 'n Out Burger and sat in the truck eating our lunch-dinner. Oh, boy. Flash was really interested in our burgers until he got his own. We had to feed him a few fries to keep him from eating our lunch.

Leave It

We've been practicing a new trick. It's a Leave It trick. With Flash sitting in front of me, I put a cookie on his nose and say, "Leave it."

We've been doing this for a few days now. At first, Flash would try to get the cookie right away and I'd have to say "No, leave it." Most times the cookie would fall off. I'd retrieve it and try again. Pretty soon Flash would leave it until I said ok, but then the cookie would go flying with Flash after it.

Yesterday the cookie would just fall off his nose onto the floor as Flash tried to get it. Today we had a breakthrough--he flipped the cookie and caught it. Ha. Just what we wanted.

Big Swim

While Dennis and I were watching Bill Maher this morning, we let Flash run around the property. Later, we called him and, of course, he didn't come. Then Dennis got on the paging system and called him again. This time he came running. When he got to the door, he was soaking wet so we figured he had gone for a dunk in one of the ponds. There are several shallow environment ponds on the property and, gauging from where he came running from, he probably plopped himself down in one of those. We have yet to see him swim, but summer is coming.

Around noon, after he was dry again, I practiced "Heel" with him in the back yard. I think he might be getting it. He actually walked by my side after a few rounds of him dragging me or me dragging him. Basically, I think he did good.