Useful Games

Back when we first started working with Wendy the Trainer she asked lots of questions about what types of services we'd ultimately like for Charlie to provide.  Near the top of our list were things related to safety, and in particular, herding and tracking Tim.

One game that she suggested to get Charlie used to tracking Tim was hide-n-seek.  It's pretty basic and Tim gets quite a chuckle out of it.  It goes something like this:

1.  Put Charlie in a Sit-Stay;

2.  Give Tim a treat to hold making sure that Charlie sees it;

3.  Tell Tim to go hide (when we first met Charlie we never had Tim hide very far away but now he can even go upstairs and hide);

4.  Tell Charlie to "Find Tim" and then issue the release command ("OK").

It seems to be great fun for both of them and leaves them both feeling successful in the game.  Our plan is to keep honing this skill so that one day, should the need ever arise, we'll be able to rely on Charlie to keep Tim safe.  Just another of the countless reasons we're thankful for Chuck!

Some Things You Shouldn't Have to Ask For

When we first started working with Wendy the Superhuman Dog Trainer I knew that we'd be working on training Charlie to respond to commands like "sit", "stay", "come" and "get the paper."  (Ok, I didn't really think we'd be training him to get the paper but let's consider that one aspirational.)  What I didn't know is just how high Wendy the Superhuman Dog Trainer sets the bar for her student pooches.

Early on in our training, Wendy explained her training philosophy.  That is, there are basically two types of trained behaviors:  1.  behaviors to expect after issuing a command;  and 2.  behaviors just to expect.   I admit being skeptical at first -  it had just never occurred to me that I could train my dog to think on his own.  But after a few sessions I saw the light.

During our first session as Wendy introduced me to her philosophy, she made some suggestions about behaviors that we should just come to expect from Charlie ... without having to ask.  Some examples of this are sitting by the door after the doorbell rings and remaining in a sit stay while I greet the guests.   Another example is allowing me (or his handler du jour) to pass through a doorway first so that I'm not being dragged through the door or being body slammed into the door frame.  Admittedly we have more work to do on some of these "expected" behaviors.  However, Charlie has almost completely met my expectations relative to meal time behavior.  

We've come to expect that Charlie will not work himself into a rabid froth before we put his bowl on the floor.  In fact, our expectation is that Charlie will patiently wait while we prepare the meal, ...

   ... and that he will remain in a sit-stay (without any prompting from us) as we place his bowl and re-fill his water.  Then he waits ... and waits ...

and waits ... until we issue the release command (for us that command is "OK") at which point he usually attacks his meal with the ferocity of a fat camp fugitive.

The more we get to know Charlie the more ideas we have about "expected" behaviors but I'm always open to ideas ... of course, I'm still optimistic about the newspaper ....