Brought Chompsky to Geologist Park - where he hasn’t been for MONTHS - to test his recall. It’s fenced in with one opening, but that opening is right by the street, so if a dog walks by he’s encouraged to leave. We stopped going in the past because his recall wasn’t good enough.
Tonight he was good till a dog came by, then it took us 2 or 3 calls to get him to come over. After that we decided to leave, but he Would Not Leave. He’d see his leash and run off in the other direction, using that nervous-play body language he has when he knows he’s trying to get away with something. We’d call him, he’d ignore us. I’ve never seen his recall be so bad before, except just after we got him. I guess he missed that park tons and did NOT want to leave.
We only got him to leave by having Jenn at the entrance while I loudly walked away, playing into his separation anxiety.
We won’t be going back there again until his recall is better!
Yesterday Jenn left her coffee (in a paper cup) on the TV table while she was in the bathroom and Chompsky took it, getting coffee all over the place. He’d been good about not taking stuff for a long time though, and we just slipped up!
Today I brought him to the office and he was almost perfect! He took one thing out of the garbage, but then I tied him up again and he ignored it afterwards when he was untied. He greeted everyone and then napped on his bed. Good dog!
NON-SWIMMING NEWS
GOOD:
- we left him alone at the cottage so we could go see a sucky play and he was great! He had tons of treats that he barely touched, near as we can tell he just slept the whole time. Payoff from my secret plan of tiring him out all day and keeping him entertained so he wouldn’t doze?? PERHAPS.
- he didn’t countersurf once
- could be off-leash at meals and he behaved himself nicely
- when swimming he still loves to fetch and will even fetch to me IN THE WATER, so with two pool noodles I can have him fetch one, return it to me, then throw the other and use the one he fetched for support. Fun ways to exhaust a puppy!
- he napped in the early afternoon Sunday and Monday. In the past he was always too excited to sleep, but he seemed more comfortable this time! Also, it was hot.
- swim training has also made him more into fetching on land, and now he will fetch more reliably. In the past he’d lose interest if you threw things too far! Now he’s down to play.
NOT SO GOOD:
- instead of countersurfing, he did garbage surf three times from two different garbage/recycling bins. We need to keep the garbage closed there when there’s a dog around!
- he tore open a bag of oats that was left on the ground, but then left them when he realized dry oats are boring and gross
- his recall wasn’t great: he ignored us a few times when there were more interesting things (tractors to chase, boats to get dangerously close too)
- we need to do more drop it training because he doesn’t drop it when there’s tasty things in his mouth
