Dog School - Take Two

So a week after Charlie's less than stellar debut at Dog School he's made considerable improvement.  We were determined after last week's fiasco to make some progress on things like attention and stays and I'm happy to report that Charlie didn't let me down.  He continues to be distracted by other dogs (as it happens, our town is one of those California towns where it seems that every man, woman and child has a dog) but he surprised all of us last night when working on his "come" command and successfully ignored one of his favorite golden retriever buddies strategically placed between his starting point and me.  He was truly impressive.

More noteworthy this week is Tim's continued affinity for Charlie.  He looks for him constantly and asks for him when he's not with us.  We're also starting to see Charlie seek out Tim which is REALLY good news.  At the suggestion of Wendy the Trainer, we started playing a game we call "Find Tim" where we give Tim a treat to hold and tell him to go hide.  We then tell Charlie to Find Tim and he happily trots to wherever Tim may have chosen to hide.  The exercise tends to end with lots of giggles and smiles.

Tim's love for Charlie was undeniably evident this past weekend when Tim became ill and ended up in our local Children's Hospital for a short stay.  In spite of his condition Tim repeatedly asked for Charlie.  Then when we finally arrived at home, he immediately sought him out and gave him loads of love.  Theirs is truly a unique bond.