Doodles are Amazing

[cheryl & oliver]

I had to tell you all this and tell me if I am nuts.  Today we took Oliver over to one of my DH's clients that trains dogs for retuning injured soldiers.  she has mostly goldens and labs,( 5) of them and they are just beautiful.  she has 2 other trainors that work with her, and her home and the kennels where she keeps these guys is absolutely spotlessand fully air conditioned  She has three of her own dogs that live in the house with her, very well trained, I might add.  Well Oliver was kind of shy there, I was kind of surprized.  He loved her property, fenced in and plenty of room to run and play, which he did, but he kept looking to Ira and me to make sure we were there. When he was just sitting and resting after his running, she asked me if she could give him a small piece of cheese.  She sat down on the ground with him, and offered him the cheese, he looked at her, then at me, and then he shook his head no, I almost fainted...For him to refuse cheese????..Never, but then I took the cheese and offered it to him and he gave me his paw, sat and took the cheese.  She offered him another piece, and he looked at us again, and shook his head no???Could he really be saying no???..We were floored...his biggest concern was that we weren't leaving him, and he was very happy to get back in the car with us...Very Interesting...She is going to come to our house and do some training with him for us, and my DH is going to do some accounting for her in return...

[Elizabeth & *Kosci*.]

What a lovely polite Oliver you have, to shake his head in a No, what manners!!

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

What a sweet boy Oliver is.  I wonder if you had said to him "it's ok" if he would have taken the cheese?

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Oliver, You are one smart dog...no piece of stinky cheese is worth getting left with a trainer!

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

Wow what a deal!! So cute that he refused it but then took it from you. We took our doods to an indoor playground and all they did was sit in front of us like we were leaving them with all these misc. crazies chasing the same ball. They were relieved when we put their leashes on. How cute though!

[Ellen, Brûlée, and Tira]

That is so cool!  Did Oliver seem shy about accepting this lady's affection, or was it just the cheese? 

 I wonder if you could reinforce this to train Oliver to not accept any treats/food from someone he doesn't know...That could be really good.  Let us know how he responds to taking cheese from her when she is at your home.

Really bizarre re: the head shaking "No!"  And to do that 2 times!  Leaves me shaking my head!  ;)

[Sharon & Monty]

I have no trouble believing that Oliver would do this.  Monty will not take treats from strangers either.  It was a bit of a challenge when we were doing training classes and had to switch dogs, he never wanted any of the treats that they had!  We didnt train him this way.  If I bring the treat home, he will eat it later.