Day 30

Wow, it does not seem like 30 days have passed since we took Hops home. He has been so much fun and time has flown by! This morning he had his nails trimmed and filed and was good some of the time, fussy at times too. He was also brushed and was good for that. Next we went to Roegner Park in Auburn for Hops’s first walk along the river. He did great, the new environment did not bother him at all. He was curious about the river but not enough to go in! With a lure I was able to get him to put two paws in (in a shallow inlet) but that was all he wanted to do. He walked very well on leash, pulling a little bit but I allowed it because he was on his harness. He offered lots of attention and was rewarded when he did. He greeted a small female black lab mix and a chi/jack mix and ignored the other dogs we passed. He was interested in most of the people we passed, especially the women. Hops walked along and did some pushups on a picnic table bench. He walked passed other tables without a though but when we passed by the one he had been on before he ran over to it and tried to jump on! Smart puppy! Hops also got to play on playground equipment for the first time today. He was super brave, wanting to climb up even though he was not big enough. When I lifted him up he walked all over, the heights were of no concern to him. He walked across a moving bridge no problem and sat on it calmly while I jumped up and down making it move. What a puppy! Then Rice showed him how much fun it is to go down slides and after a few slides he made the decision to go on his own! He then watched Rice and Dillon go crazy and zoom around the playground and through the puddles! When I let him join them he ran though the equipment chasing them while they ran around the equipment. He barked the whole time, I think because he could not catch them!

After the park Hops went to work with me and slept in the car while I taught a lesson then played with Rice and Dillon. Then it was Hops’s turn and I brought him over to the matted area. I had him do a bunch of pushups on a short raised plank so he could not move forward or to the side, then he did a bunch of downs on the table, then he did some push ups on a small peanut, then I shaped some perch work. On our way out he greeted or played with a few puppies, a dobie, a brittany, and three different small breed mixes.


When we came home Jeremiah and I played our recall game with him in the back yard for the first time. We were able to get over sixty feet apart and he went running back and forth when called. I always rewarded him in heel during the game.

Later I had a long game of tug with Hops. We would play then I would ask him to drop and reward with a treat when he dropped (he did every time, right away), then I asked for a sit then moved away from him. I raised criteria this time by wiggling the toy as I moved away and by increasing my speed. He only made a mistake every once in awhile and when he did I just stopped and removed the toy and he immediately sat again. I was able to get about twenty feet away from him and whenever I said release he exploded out of his sit to run to me and play. Near the end of the session I tossed the toy after I released him then ran away from him and he brought it back! Then he did it two more times with me running away and two more after that without me running away! Yea! Then Jeremiah practiced pushups, visit (lie head on our lap), zen cookie, and it’s your choice while I played tug with Rice and Dillon. Hops was able to focus on Jeremiah with only a little trouble in the beginning. After the boys’ play session Jeremiah practiced rolling over with Hops. He is getting better at it though this time he preferred to go counter clockwise! Strange, last time he preferred clockwise!

Before bed we played nosework with everyone. I had a line of boxes set out to start with then I had one, simple, low, birch hide (most would have been considered threshold hides) in six different rooms. Each dog started with multiple container searches then did all six rooms in secession. Hops did great with the boxes, working the line nicely and downing at the odor box almost every time as soon as he reached it. We have never cued a down, nor are we waiting to reward until he does one, he is just doing it. When we moved to the interior searches, Hops rocked! He was focused and went right to the odor every time. When there was a hide right in the threshold he never even fully entered the room, just turned to the right and put his nose right on it. What an amazing puppy he is! In some of the rooms he even had better times than his brothers! Good puppy!