When we first rescued Lucy from the shelter at three months old, we had an elderly dog, Blackie. An old gramma dog, she wanted things quiet around the house, but if you've ever had a puppy around, quiet is NOT what Blackie got. Lucy wanted to play, not alone either but with Blackie! But, Blackie wanted nothing to do with this little growing bundle of energy.
Eventually, Lucy almost doubled Blackies weight, but she knew her place was to submit to the elder dog, except of course in the middle of a zoomie around the living room. Mid-zoomie was not a time to stop for anything or anyone...except Mom of course.
As I would come in from work, greeted by hundreds of kisses, lots of tail wags and way too much excitement from an untrained one year old lab, revelation finally came. It was time for training. So, off to PetSmart we went me and Lucy. She was the star pupil. Aced every test! She's so smart and Blackie helped train her from the beginning. However, we still had issues when I came home from work.
She loved to chew on her bone and we got her to start looking for her bone as I came in the house. When I walk in the door, I stopped greeting her and started asking her, Where's your bone?" Immediately, she went looking for it. No more jumping, no more knocking me down the stairs. Problem solved. Sometimes, she had her bone waiting for me at the back door, but it was in her mouth, tail wagging as she waited for praise. So, we started making sure she had to actually go look for it to give me a chance to get up the stairs and in the house. LOL
After a while, she got the hang of leaving me alone till I got up and in the house and we didn't have to play that game any longer.
Then, we got Wrigley. At 6-8 months old we rescued him from the woods in mid-January...Michigan winter. Not fit for man nor beast in that weather but here is this beautiful boy, thrown away. Anyway, we brought him home and the back door problems started all over again. It took me a while to remember what we did to correct the problem with Lucy but when I did, Wrigley took to it like fish to water. He LOVED the game! Lucy didn't need to go find the bone, she just needed to get her bit of attention, but Wrigley, oh my goodness, his bone is always kept in his crate, so he always knows where it is. He barges inside, and snatches it hurriedly and runs over to where we are to show us he has it. Then, if that wasn't enough, he prances the length of the house as if to say, "Look at me...I have my bone! Look at me everybody...Look at meeeeee!" It's the cutest, funniest thing you ever saw. When we acknowledge his bone and what a good job he did at finding it, he will plop done and start chewing. No jumping, no...glad your home, nothing, it's all about the bone. If it wasn't for the bone, he'd be all over us.
So, my question to you is...Where is your bone?
Eventually, Lucy almost doubled Blackies weight, but she knew her place was to submit to the elder dog, except of course in the middle of a zoomie around the living room. Mid-zoomie was not a time to stop for anything or anyone...except Mom of course.
As I would come in from work, greeted by hundreds of kisses, lots of tail wags and way too much excitement from an untrained one year old lab, revelation finally came. It was time for training. So, off to PetSmart we went me and Lucy. She was the star pupil. Aced every test! She's so smart and Blackie helped train her from the beginning. However, we still had issues when I came home from work.
She loved to chew on her bone and we got her to start looking for her bone as I came in the house. When I walk in the door, I stopped greeting her and started asking her, Where's your bone?" Immediately, she went looking for it. No more jumping, no more knocking me down the stairs. Problem solved. Sometimes, she had her bone waiting for me at the back door, but it was in her mouth, tail wagging as she waited for praise. So, we started making sure she had to actually go look for it to give me a chance to get up the stairs and in the house. LOL
After a while, she got the hang of leaving me alone till I got up and in the house and we didn't have to play that game any longer.
Then, we got Wrigley. At 6-8 months old we rescued him from the woods in mid-January...Michigan winter. Not fit for man nor beast in that weather but here is this beautiful boy, thrown away. Anyway, we brought him home and the back door problems started all over again. It took me a while to remember what we did to correct the problem with Lucy but when I did, Wrigley took to it like fish to water. He LOVED the game! Lucy didn't need to go find the bone, she just needed to get her bit of attention, but Wrigley, oh my goodness, his bone is always kept in his crate, so he always knows where it is. He barges inside, and snatches it hurriedly and runs over to where we are to show us he has it. Then, if that wasn't enough, he prances the length of the house as if to say, "Look at me...I have my bone! Look at me everybody...Look at meeeeee!" It's the cutest, funniest thing you ever saw. When we acknowledge his bone and what a good job he did at finding it, he will plop done and start chewing. No jumping, no...glad your home, nothing, it's all about the bone. If it wasn't for the bone, he'd be all over us.
So, my question to you is...Where is your bone?
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