Paper Boys
I don’t train my dogs as often as I should. (That’s Dog Trainer Confession #1. More to come.) Since they know all of their “good manners” stuff (sit, down, stay, come) when I work with them we usually focus on tricks. They love it, and get very excited when they realize that the hot dogs I’m chopping up are for them and not some strange dog that they smell all over me when I return home from work.
I’m running out of tricks to teach (Zeke has an impressive array of skilz), so Master Biscuit suggested that I teach them how to fetch the newspaper from the end of the driveway. What a great idea! That’ll keep me from showing the neighborhood my embarrassing assortment of dog-themed pajamas every morning.
We had our first session today and they did great. My goal was getting the guys to actually put the paper in their mouths, which turned out to be quite the challenge . Many of the tricks I’ve taught them involve their paws (waving, high five, basic targeting), so they bashed and batted the newspaper with their paws until they finally clued in that I wanted a mouth touch, not a paw touch.
Zeke caught on first, which was no surprise. The guy is scary-smart, and he loves training. Sum enjoys it too, but he tends to get more frustrated if he can’t figure out what I want right away, and winds up yodeling at me. “What? Why are you ignoring all of these wonderful paw touches? I’ve got perfect form!” He finally figured out what I wanted, and by the end of the session he was gingerly taking the paper in his mouth. As always, Zeke was miles ahead of him, already picking up the paper and dragging it a few steps.
The newspaper ended up in decent shape, but the bag took a beating:
My next step with Zeke will be out in the back yard, tapping into his innate love of retrieving. We’ll play a few rounds of fetch with the newspaper, then I’ll plant it somewhere in the yard and send him out with a “go get it,” a cue he already knows.
Poor Sum will be bringing up the rear with some very basic “take it” training.
Will Zeke’s newspaper-fetching skills save me from my daily pajama humiliation? Or will Sumner-the-slow-learner leap ahead and become my paper boy? Stay tuned …
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