Sweet Pea Goes to School

 Mom and Dad said I have to go to school.  It involved a ride in the EmmaMobile so of course I said lets go!  I had no idea what they were talking about, but whenever we ride in the EmmaMobile we usually end up somewhere fun and eating yummy food.  We drove and drove and drove and drove and when we arrived I met this new lady and she was very friendly.  She tossed food in all directions on the ground and I sniffed them out and ate them.  Then Mom and Dad did the same game with me.  Then Dad and the teacher lady did this game where food was placed way in front of me and the teacher showed me the food and then took it away and showed me where she put it way in front of me and I tried to go get it but we would get almost there and then Dad turned around and we were going in the complete opposite direction, Huh?  Then we turned around and I tried to go to it again and then - repeat.  What's this about?  Finally I made it!   I did notice that if the leash remained loose I was allowed to continue walking toward the food, but if I got in a hurry and tried to pull we turned around and went away from the food, Hmmmm.  I wonder what this means?  The teacher gave Mom and  Dad a lot of papers to read and I heard Mom and Dad say we have homework to do.  What's homework?

On the way home we got BURGERS !  They are so yummy.

We have been doing our homework and let me tell you it's kinda confusing and I really can't pay attention that long.  Don't they know there is more important things to do like sniff and bark and sniff and bark and sniff.  Why am I eating food off the ground?  Why are we walking forward then turning around and walking back then turning around and walking forward?  Do they know we are never going to get anywhere that way.  I'll do whatever they want because they give me food when it's not even meal time.  I've been getting things like cheese ravioli, hot dogs, string cheese, zukes, Three Dog Bakery cookies.  Keep this homework stuff coming because the increase in yummies is awesome.

Here's a little peek at me doing my homework. Can anyone guess which one of our blog friends inspired our choice of music?
     Hint:  He's relentlessly huge, brindle, lives on an estate, has a Pea too as a member of his family,  and his name is said in the song.

Answer: Mango

Hey Mango, did you hear them say your name?  It's called "Mango Walk".  Arf,Arf,Arf, isn't that just soooo funny?  It's called Mango Walk and I'm learning loose leash walking and my friend his name is Mango.  Funny!

Gotta go all this homework has made my brain tired.  I think I'm going to go take a snooze.


Pee S:  Here are some helpful links to Loose Leash Walking if anyone is interested.  We only use kind and respectful training techniques.  No prong, pinch or choke collars.

Links:

• http://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/2001/lltotal.htm
• http://pitbullrescuecentral.blogspot.com/2011/03/loose-leash-walking.html
• http://ahimsadogtraining.com/blog/leash-walking/
• http://www.marinhumanesociety.org/behavior/Handouts/LLW.pdf
• http://www.dogstardaily.com/training/pulling-leash
• http://www.dogstardaily.com/files/Walking%20On%20Leash.pdf

Maybe our next post can break it down step by step how I am learning this valuable "trick".  Mom likes to keep it light and fun and calling it "obedience" just sounds depressing.  If it's fun we will both want to do it.  Everything we learn is a "trick" and the process of learning it is a game.  We always end our lesson when we have "won" the game which means we have successfully achieved our goal or successfully completed a step toward our goal.  The foundation for any trick or behavior is to have our attention.