Short and Sweet

Hmmm... short and sweet. I am not really sure how much I accomplished today, so I am looking back on how far we have come on something I wanted to teach.

One of the things that I REALLY REALLY want Vinnie to do is "fetch". I throw something... he brings it back. Pretty simple concept. I added in a couple twists recently. I am teaching him to "get back" (sit at my left side) and wait for the command to "fetch it". A couple months ago, I was lightly holding his collar as a reminder to wait for the command. Now, he is sitting patiently (ok... maybe not so patiently) at my side and waiting for the command and is pretty darn reliable in the house on that. We are also working on "marking" (not that kind of marking!!) the bumper or dumbbell.

I need to get him out to other places, so the last few days when we walk, I have been taking a bumper (he is SO NOT READY to take the duck on our walks :-)) and we'll stop and do a few retrieves. It's getting better! He is very easily distractable - shiny object!!!

Tonight for his dinner, we worked on just sitting and holding the dumbbell. This week I want to work up to leaving him on a sit with the dumbbell, walking away, then calling him.