Life on the Leash

Did I have fun training Lola today?

Uh, yeah. She was completely green (”Sit? What’s that?”), but boy did she pick it up quickly.

She was offering “downs” within seconds, as if to say, “Yup, I got that “sit” thing, and now I’m down with the “down.”

We hit a snag when we went for a leash walk. The poor girl was so nervous! It was like Sumner in Zeke’s body … total weirdness. She managed to buck up and do a few trips around the block.

“I’ll rally. I can do this. Trust me.”

Gunner and his friend Elvis stopped by and had a mini battle over a piece of Yak Crack. Elvis started out strong – his size gave him an advantage over the tenacious Frenchie:

Gunner didn’t let the Bantamweight vs. Heavyweight discrepancy deter him. Elvis tried to bob and weave:

But once Gunner had a grip on the prize there was no stopping him:

Gunner says, “Bet on the little guy every time!”

I love how puppies can turn anything into a toy.

My client Zeke was starting to get punchy at the end of our lesson (“punchy” translates to “I’d like to jump on you a lot, and nip you a lot if possible.”), so I found the closest stick and tossed it.

“Sticks? Oh, I love sticks! They’re awesome! You can run around with them in your mouth!”

“You can chew on them! You can play tug with them! They are so fun!”

I only did a few tosses before Zeke decided that he needed to take a knee (the stick fetching came after a mentally-taxing lesson.)

That’s one of the other things I love about puppies: playplayplayplayplayCRASH.

Dogfucious say …

A dirty nose:

Should always give you paws:

When my new client, D., told me that she had an 11-week old English Bulldog puppy, I nearly offered to pay her to allow me to train the guy.

I know I say this about every puppy I train, but DOES IT GET ANY CUTER??

I think not.

Still need convincing? Feast your eyes on this :

Told you.

Young Valentino, or “Tino” for short, was a joy to work with. I don’t know why Bulldogs get bad press for being stubborn or hard to train … this little guy was a training machine. His recalls were glorious, all flying jowls and crab-walk legs. His “sits” were dead-on, to the point where he followed us and sat in front of us every chance he could, as if to say, “See? I’m doooiiing it again! That butt-on-the-ground thing. Don’t I get a treat for this?”

Yes, Tino, you get a treat for that. You get a treat just for showing up.

“Is there a problem?”

“Who? Me?? You think that I’m responsible for that?”

“I have no further comment. Talk to my attorney.”