Well, Sanity passed the 1 foot reach test and then went on to pass the 1-1/2 minute hold test yet again. This time she held the dumbbell will doing the group sit/stay with the Thursday evening novice class. Time to move on. What is going to be really interesting is to see how she handles the idea of movement. Right now she it totally committed to doing the fetch and/or the hold while in a sit and does not want to move at all. Amazing how long a neck she can grow when needed.
Her down on command continues to improve and she is beginning to show signs of understanding the need for holding that down/stay even when I am out on the floor working with other dogs. The hardest part for her is to hold her position when she is just "sure" I need help. I just keep on reminding her I will call her when I need her. Right now she doesn't have enough experience to be making those types of decisions on her own.
Yesterday I totally forgot to mention THE SQUIRREL. I don't know who caught it originally. I don't know who killed it. What I do know is that Sanity ended up with it. She was so proud of her catch. Strutting around like a queen when I noticed she had something in her mouth. I actually thought it was yet another stuffed toy that she had managed to sneak outside. Called her to me with the intent of having her take it back inside. As she got closer I started to have my suspicions about what it really was. It had a tail. It was furry. It was also wet, covered with slobber, the dust had turned to mud, the mud was sticky enough to hold leaves, twigs, bits of bark and as she got closer yet, eeeeeeyyyyuuuuccccckkkkkk!
It was a very dead, totally gross squirrel. "Sanity, SPIT! Good girl, comeonoverhere, that's it, right here. Sit. Good girl. Now SPIT. Yes that really is what I want you to do. Spit that nasty thing you think of as a trophy into the poop shovel. Good girl. Try again, S P I T. Oh what a good girl you are." And so she ever so reluctantly spit/dropped her wondrously nasty trophy into the poop shovel and I removed the dead from the area all together.
The command "Spit". Each and every single time I get a new dog, I swear I am not going to teach the spit command. No way, instead I will teach them to drop it or something similar. Yet when the time comes that I finally do need such a command out pops the word SPIT. At top volume and in a do it now or die voice. And so, once again I have a dog who now understands the difference between give and SPIT. No way to I want something that yucky put in my hand.
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