March 14, 2010

Practicing STAY

Well the three "hoodlums" (hehe!) have surprised me.

A couple days ago it was very sunny and warm out. I wanted to sit out on a lawn chair and read. The sun was on the front step and not the back step (we have a gate on the back deck to keep the dogs in) so instead of sitting on the front lawn alone I decided to give the dogs a chance to lay out on the front step on their beds.

First step was to put their beds out there (the step is concrete), and then take then out one at a time and hold them by the collar and tell them to lay down and stay. Rinaldo and Chloe loved the idea but Pickles wasn't so sure, so he went back inside (I just left the front door open so they could come and go as they wanted). But Chloe and Rinaldo layed there like very good dogs! They were puzzled at first why they weren't allowed off the top step but they soon relaxed and snoozed on and off.

Then came our first challenge. Mother and daughter walking by and pushing a stroller. I stopped reading, gave the dogs their stay command and watched them to make sure they did not run over and knock the poor child down. Of course both were very interested in the noise and watched intently. But surprisingly, both stayed where they were and did not even try to get off the step!

Eventually Pickles came out to join everyone, and only had to correct them a couple times throughout the day (once was Rinaldo ran down to the grass and I took him back to the step but then he ran to the back door... which is where they go to pee so I let him out and sure enough he had to pee so bad! LOL)

I even left the front yard to see if they would stay and sure enough stay they did! We even had joggers, more strollers, dogs going by, and even a loose dog in the yard and they didn't wander off the deck!

Anyways, that's my long winded post about how proud I am of my fur-kids hehe.

Next is to overcome Chloe's fear of new dogs, I think she is getting better though!

1 comment:

LuLu and LoLLy! said...

Dear Friendz, HI!! It is LuLu and LoLLy! We have been MIA for a while becuz first, we have been senior citzens all winter, meaning the Human is always taking us to the vet and making us wear swetters, but we are much better now that it is warmer --- and 2, because the Human adopted 2 new rescue puppies, and WHEW!! They are a handful! We are going nuts just trying to help them adjust and frankly, lern the right place to poop! So you can imagin how very imprest we are with all of the outstanding expertees you outstanding packmembers have. Can you come to Texas and help us teech these new ones?! Achually they are getting better -- they can finally sit and come and poop in the right place WHICH IS THE YARD!! Well we have mist being able to stop by so we had to, now that things are finally calming down! We love your pikchur by the lake sign, it is such an awesum pikchur. We think you need to frame that for your Human. Also, we don't have any good books to recommend which is very trajic. We are glad you all are doing so good and also, when Mr. Boyfrend comes back from Florida, if he does not bring appropriate snax as preszents, then you must ignore him for at least a day!! XO Love, your PaLs, LuLu and LoLLy! :)