Thursday, February 3, 2011

Let the Games Begin

Dallas has begun testing us.
I mean, really testing us.

She's been with us for nearly two weeks now, and I caught her digging a whole halfway to China in the backyard. I still don't leave her alone out there (even though we have a fence) for more than 5 minutes, and continue to watch her through the window. So apparently she digs FAST. So now we're working on how not to dig.

Another thing she does is not come inside when she's called. I mean, its cold out there. Like record-breaking cold for NC. And I'm a California girl- so its REALLY cold for me. But apparently her internal thermometer is broken because when I call her to come inside, she refuses to budge.

I remember my mother nonchalantly just leaving, when I was a kid. Oh, she never really did, leave me. But if I wouldn't come, when called, she told me that she would leave, and waved "good bye" and no matter how engaged I was in whatever I happened to be doing, I'd come running, fearful that she really would leave me. Perhaps it was a cruel tactic, but it worked. I spent my childhood with one eye on my mother, to make sure she never got lost.

I tried that on Dallas yesterday. No luck. I could almost see her waving "see ya later alligator!"

Now that we've mastered "sit" and lie "down" we are working on "come" and "stay" which seem to work a lot more effectively if I have treats in my hands... additional proof of this testing period.

Dallas in her Snuggie, exhausted after a long day of testing her parents.

1 comment:

  1. It is a very difficult thing to train for, off-leash. Having a lot of land and a large yard, I use a training collar. With Natasha, I never had to go to the shock level, she was "reminded" to come with the tone alone. Rooster gets involved in gopher hunting and needs a stronger stimulus. Geoff is good with positive reinforcement alone, but not the other two. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete