How Hartley Redeemed Himself!!

[Stella]

Hartley (15 month F1 LD) was a very very bad boy yesterday!! We went to a local park to play fetch, something we have done many times without incident. And for whatever reason, he ran after the ball, picked it up and ran off with it. He would NOT come back. Everytime I got near him he ran off again, he even teased me by running up to me and stopping before charging off again. I had our new puppy with me (14 weeks old), so I was a little hampered in my attempts to catch him. I was so disappointed in him. When I did catch him, after he had tired himself out by running around like a crazy thing, I marched him home at a fast trot!

But today, we went to Dog Team Training and he was so good. I was really proud of him, he did his 5 minute sit while we were all running around the room, skipping, rolling around on the floor (very funny to watch I'm sure!!) and basically anything else we could think of as a distraction; and he is the only dog in the group who can to the drop on recall without verbal command. The instructor even suggested we think about entering him in obediance trials.... funny.... if only she had seen him the day before.

So, I guess we need some more work on our recall with distractions. He will do it perfectly every time from a sit or down stay, but when he is off sniffing it is another story!! Needless to day he has just had his off leash privalages revoked.

[Stella]

The worst part of the whole thing was that this is a local neighborhood park. You are not supposed to have your dog off leash there!! But, we had seen other people doing it and have now been there a lot, and never had a problem before. A whole bunch of people have their yards backing onto the park and I was worried that someone would realise I didn't have him under control and call the City Animal Control people on me! So, no more playing there for a while.

[Adrianne Matzkin]

I swear they are twins!! Samantha has been such a brat with sticks. I tell her to drop it, her butt goes up in the air, her chest on the floor and as soon as I just think about walking towards her, she is off playing 'keep away'. I have been so annoyed with her. I started just walking away like I am mad at her and she comes running to me munching on the stick.
But the gods got back at her for 1 brief moment - she got one stuck between her teeth - I was very lucky to pull it out very quickly without any damage. But you would think she would have learned that sticks can hurt - you would, wouldn't you?!?!?!?
DH keeps reminding me what I keep telling him 'she is just a teenage'.

[Sandy]

Was this the park you told me about? We went to McCann's yesterday to pick up a new leash, and they have a fenced area that we could let Toby have a run in. He just delighted in running wild and free, and we practised our recalls, and he came quickly every time! I was so proud of him. It's a small step but a good one.