Playtime with Cadence

This past winter, Guinness and Cadence were in Grade 2 together at a “professional” school. They do not allow the students to interact, so dogs and owners never really get to know each other. Serendipitously, we met on a Labrador Retriever’s Yahoo Group this spring, so we arranged to meet at a dog park today. Initially, they played with anyone and everyone, then they seemed to gravitate to each other naturally. Who knows? Maybe they did recognize each other! They certainly had fun playing together. Both left the park exhausted and very dirty!

Teaching Mom Who's Boss

I rented a dog video (“Eight Below”) recommended by a friend, to watch this evening while home alone. Guinness is not used to Mommy watching TV. He begged for my attention again and again. I was sitting with my feet on a hassock. He climbed up on the hassock, then tried to walk up my legs. His next ploy for attention was jumping around in the kitchen with something he was not supposed to have – the hand lotion bottle. He had not touched that or the soft soap container in months. Except for dish cloths, he is very good about leaving things on the kitchen counter alone. But he was desperate for attention. From the kitchen, he went to the dining room, of course. I closed the door, and the chase was on. He ran upstairs. When I reached the top, he ran down. I chased him out of the dining room again; back upstairs. I closed us into the master bedroom and he raced in circles around me. When he paused, I nabbed his collar, and he forfeited the prize. Thankfully, there were no holes in the bottle.

Another Major Advancement

I have been thinking for the last few weeks that we are ready to try leaving him uncrated for a few minutes. There hasn’t been a time yet when I really wanted to try that – either he was going with me or I would be away too long. Today, it was too warm for him to make a brief half hour trip with me. I took him to the sofa on the lower level, told him “down/stay.” As soon as I picked up my keys, he was behind me, but I told him he had to “wait.” When I returned a half hour later, he was at the door to greet me, and the house was exactly as I had left it. Hurray! Then I continued my day and realized he was not around. I looked downstairs, and there he was lounging on the sofa. I assume he stayed there while I was away too. What a good boy!

Indulgence

A neighbor’s home was broken into in broad daylight last week. We have beefed up our security measures making sure that the alarm is on all the time. My knight in shining armor is away for a couple of nights, yet I have a dog – my best protection! Why would I close him into his crate incapacitating his defense ability? So Guinness had the privilege of sleeping with mommy last night! He did VERY well! He was a good bedfellow.

The Game Continues

We have eliminated most of the alluring objects from Guinness’s grasp – flowers, plants, wastebaskets, my shoes (he doesn’t bother Grant’s shoes), washcloths – making the house a temptation-free zone for him to roam. However, he misses the catch-me-if-you-can game. I left my closet door open this morning, affording him the opportunity to grab a shoe. Later, I heard him bouncing around upstairs, meaning that he has something he shouldn’t. Since the house has become sterile of his favored booty, the excited activity means that he has found something else suitable as a game piece – this time, a remote control.

The game now has a strategy: begin the chase in the dining room where he can run around the table making it impossible to catch him.
Solution: I close the door to the kitchen and chase him out of the dining room to the living room.
Alternatives: From the living room, he can escape to the – a) den, b) kitchen, c) lower level, d) upstairs.
Den: This means the game is over, because I close the doors and he has no where to go.
Kitchen: He has a smidgen of a chance here if he runs around the table, past me, and out the doorway again. Usually, I do corner him behind the table and game is over.
Lower level: This choice can extend the game a bit, because he can keep me at bay around the coffee table. That can also give him the opportunity to race back upstairs. More often than not, I am able to corner him and retrieve the prized game piece.
Upstairs: He will find himself closed in and cornered in any of the three rooms he chooses. The game does last a bit longer in the master bedroom, because he has learned that staying on the bed is defeat. If he runs in a dizzying circle – on the bed, off the bed, round the room, back on the bed, off again, etc. – he can prevent me from catching him for a while. But his latest angle is to stand in the master bedroom doorway and wait for me to catch up to him at the top of the stairs. At that moment, he dashes past me at top speed back down the stairs to another room.

Unless the item is valuable and in mortal danger, I am in hysterics before the end of the game.

The breeder suggested that the chase can be stopped by sitting in the middle of the room playing with his favorite toy. But he doesn’t have a toy that he likes better than the forbidden object! If I have no patience, treats will win the game, though, it does take coaxing for him to decide that a cookie would be a nicer end than to continue playing The Gingerbread Boy. Can you believe it? I treat my dog for stealing contraband!!!

Playing

Tonight, he decided that it was time for mischief. First, he stole Mom’s shoe. Then he tried to play with Dad’s Panama sun hat. When that was put away, he pulled out Mom’s straw sunhat. We heard him running around upstairs and knew he had something that he knew he should not have. He had found the money pouch Mom had left on the stairs. Next he found a handkerchief to chew up. All of this was a ploy to play games and get attention.

Pool

He had fun playing in his pool today

Parade

Today was The Sound of Music Festival Parade. We took Guinness, and he was amazingly good! He found many who wanted to pet him, and many who complimented his handsome looks and jovial behavior. Only one man was annoyed by the slimy lick on his hand as he walked past.

The Relaxed Retriever

Every week we see improvement in Guinness’s behavior. We can leave him to wander the house without checking on him every second he is away from us. Tonight he had been away from us for 15 minutes or more before we went looking for him. He was lying on the sofa downstairs in the dark, relaxing. Just last week, he would not allow this blanket to remain on the sofa. He had pushed the small decorative cushions on the floor, so I stuffed them behind the couch and pulled out this old blanket we purchased for Hershey to rest on when we were out of the house (he never got on this sofa when we were home). Guinness pulled it off the sofa; I tucked it in on three sides; he pulled it off; I tucked it in on four sides; he struggled and tugged to get it off. Now, one week later, he leaves it alone.

The Posey Pooch

He looked so pretty among the peonies that I grabbed my camera.

















Forcing him to stay among the peonies for photos was too tempting. He took a lick, bit off a bloom, then began the pursuit game. My niece says that *I* am the retriever!

Pruning help

This morning, I was pruning shrubs while Guinness was wandering through the garden. I noted that the deciduous bushes I planted are now so big and full that Guinness cannot be seen when he is wandering through them. As I continued, I noted that had bitten off a major branch of the forsythia! I was not happy that he was helping me prune. Then I saw that he had also bitten off a smaller branch tool. I finally realized that he was caught! His leash was wrapped around the bush twice and he couldn’t move! He was eating his way to freedom! Poor baby…

Learning

I told the teacher last week that Hershey’s Petsmart classes in San Diego included an exercise of being on a sit/stay or down/stay at the front door of the store as customers and their dogs passed through the doors. She liked that idea, so we tried it tonight. Training amidst extreme distractions is paying off! McCann’s sterile atmosphere is not conducive to learning to behave in the real world. Snorts is on the left and Baxter on the right.