Day 111

Hops had a fun day today. He got to do lots of nosework, doing two exterior searches and two vehicle searches. There were a total of three hides on two cars for both vehicle searches and Hops had no problem finding them and stayed on the vehicles nicely. He did great on the exterior searches too, finding all the hides without a problem. He found a hide above his head on a wall, one on a fence, one under some rocks, one under some beauty bark, and one under a dog statue (a threshold hide). He is a great little searcher! Before we left for work Hops retrieved a tennis ball thrown further than ever (as far as I could throw with the chuck it). He went racing after the ball, grabbing it and bringing it back right away. I ran away from him as he was returning to encourage him to come and to make it more fun for him. After that I brought Dillon out and Hops chased him while he retrieved tennis balls. Hops did great when I called him when he was away, coming right away even if he was chasing Dillon before Dillon turned back. What he had trouble with was coming when Dillon had already returned the ball and was ready for me to throw it again. Hops did not want to come then. I worked on it and he got better but I am sure this will need constant upkeep.

 

 

At work Hops was great. He was quiet in the crate and did some wonderful rear cross demos. Between classes he practiced a variety of behaviors and played tug with me. He was great with greeting people and dogs and is definitely getting better at sitting for people. There are a few though that still really get him and he cannot help but pee when he sees them. It is funny because he practically folds himself in half he is wagging his body so hard! He also had several play times today. The first was with Eli, an adult border collie and the last with Seek, Cedar and Riser, all border collies. He had a blast running and playing and tugging with them! His recalls were perfect too, coming every time I called. After the playtime I took Hops with me into the rehab room so I could give Rice his laser treatment and Hops relaxed nicely in the crate. When I was done I did some balance work with Hops in the rehab room on the different peanuts and balance disks. He had no problem focusing in the new and distracting environment. Before leaving I gave Hops cookies for saying hello to the cats again. He was interested but still a little wary of them.