Beer & Marmalade

Short update on our new dog Shadow, who’s getting really really bored. He’s starting to move quickly around corners — there’s an energetic pup in there who has been healing all this time. Hasn’t tried zooming yet, and we’ll be screwed if he takes off inside. I hope that if he has the urge to zoom it’s proof he’s well.

He came with an (ugly) collar, and MyGuy found a very spiffy hot red collar with retroflective threads, a sliding D-ring that can be opposite where the tags depend, and white reflector. But because he’s so wary of things happening on top of him, we’ve needed to making snapping on the leash less traumatic.

Today I’ve gone through this routine four times:

• get a handful of treats, shake the container
• call his name
• treat 1 when I can reach my hand to his mouth
• pull back my hand and come! plus kiss-kiss to get him closer, with a treat for each stop along the way.
• when I can readily reach the D-ring, I snap on the leash and dispense 2 treats
• I rotate the collar around his neck clockwise and counter-clockwise a few times.
• another treat
• unsnap the lead
• 2 more treats
• speak all done! & ASLsign FINISH

MyGuy’s leash always leads somewhere very high-value: today he's been taken around the block twice and for three backyard excursions.

Eleven days left until FREEDOM where he can run in the back yard.