Cooper visited our friend Chloe. Again the first order of business was feeding and watering our dog. She wanted to know where Monte was, so he will get to join us on Friday. Our desensitization has been going great with Cooper (and Monte), but we are struggling with generalizing this acceptance to other dogs. We try to come up with something new each visit to push the envelope. Tonight we accompanied Chloe and Chase on a trip to the toy store to get some Ugly Dolls.
I had no idea what they were and they just happened to be next to some drum sets. The drumming of another boy held Cooper's attention, but he wasn't phased, just interested in the different noises. As soon as Chase started playing, an employee came by, took the drum sticks, and stated we had to stop - totally unfair.
Before dinner, we took both dogs for a walk. Cooper needs practice with the LEAVE IT command. He has an affinity for worms, sticks, and goose poop. After a long walk, Monte got his meal, but we made Cooper work for his - totally unfair. We had to practice SIT, DOWN, UP, and COME while reinforcing the marker word, so I hand fed him.
Sometimes he loses his head in the presence of food and tonight was one of those times. He must have been hungry because, if I paused before giving a command, he went through his entire repertoire of "tricks". He would sit, then lie down, stand up, back up, and sit, all within a couple seconds figuring that I must expect one of these. It was humorous to watch and hard to not laugh, but I needed to wait for him to settle down and LISTEN to me.
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