Day 22

As usual, Hops had a training lesson for his breakfast. We started with hand targeting and he was able to give me three good touches for one cookie. He will also move a good four feet to touch my hand. We then practiced roll over. Interesting that this time it was much easier to get him to roll clockwise then counter clockwise. Next was it's your choice and I was able to toss kibble on the ground while he remained in a sit which is a first, good puppy! He is still releasing immediately upon me saying release and he does not break position when I reward in position. We finished with pushups, and stand stays. For the first time he was able to hold a sand stay on his own with kibble a few inches out in front of him. Pretty impressive for 10 week old puppy! Afterward Jeremiah took over for a handling session and he says he did very well and is getting more relaxed. We both have had to really start working on him taking treats gently. He is getting stronger every day and has been starting to bite hard when taking treats. So we are being very conscious of every treat we give him, removing the cookie if he bites and only releasing it when he is very gentle.

Hops was able to do a long wait at the door from the house to the garage while we cleaned out our deep freezer. He only tried to come out the door a few times and did a quiet down stay the rest of the time. He was of course reward when he stayed.

Later we did another session of Hops watching his big brothers play tug with me. He was much better this time, only making noise when we accidentally invaded his space, then he tried to play too. Otherwise he was quiet the entire time I played with both boys and he even settled into a down.

Hops and I had two games of fetch today. The first was in a restricted area so there was nowhere for him to go but back to me. He did great with it, never keeping the toy, always a least trying to take it past me if not actually bringing it to me. The second game was later and in the bedroom so there was plenty of space to run away with the toy. This time, started by playing tug with him with one of his favorite toys and when he lost it I had him sit and then I tossed a lower value toy. He went and got that one and ran to a dog bed with it, but with coaxing I was able to get him to bring it to me and as soon as he did I whipped out his favorite toy to play tug with him. We did that many times. He always ran away with the lower value toy at first but I was also always able to get him to return it to me and play with the other toy. Good session!

Hops played the nosework game for dinner. He is impressive! We started with containers and he did great, searching until he found he odor box, not stopping at any box but it. We then did interiors and he was so focused! Searching all over until he found the odor. Good puppy!