Eerie

After three and a half years of puppy raising, I still learn something at every training class. Last night I was having trouble getting Monte to BACK up. We have worked on it a few times, but not consistently because I wasn't seeing much result.

My problem was that I expected Monte to just move backward as I did. He would turn his body toward me and walk sideways. Once our trainer showed me where to position myself and to shorten up on the leash, positive results were instantaneous and Monte heartily accepted his reward. My reward was learning a new trick. An old dog can still learn a few tricks.

After class we came home, exited the car, but something didn't feel right. The house is eerily quiet. Monte wasn't there. He will be spending some time with the trainer for behavioral modification. He occasionally doesn't play nice and we have limited exposure to puppies to play, so Monte is vacationing at "Camp Douglas" with their pack. It's only been twelve hours, so we still find ourselves looking for "our" dog in his usual locations.