Week Two, Day Two

Doing very well except for the jack-in-the-box sits: standing up immediately after he sits, although I am mostly crediting it to the fact that the ground is soaked, and most of the time he sat for a few solid moments before standing again. It does my heart good to see a dog look at a distraction and then immediately look at the handler - you can see the wheels turning! Surprised at how on the ball he is on only day two of heeling, I suppose that's the method for you. Already was beating me to the sit, and stopping with his shoulder more or less by my left foot. Smarty pants or just not a distractable 9 month old puppy? Also, it's been four months since I did this exercise, I sure wish I had kept a journal when I had Catfish so I could compare, but too late now. I did inadvertently say "Catfish, Heel" at one point, Chewy didn't seem to mind. I am reminded of Tony with Sparky doing a heeling pattern, demonstrating that the context of the command means far more than the word itself: "Sparky, Banana! (heel) Apple! (sit)"

Chewy sleeps under the covers, I guess he gets just enough air from the gap my head sticking out from under the covers makes, because when I got out of bed this morning and left him sleeping, I came back to see him with just his nose sticking out from under the covers.