Have I ever mentioned what an intelligent human Mom and Dad’s trainer is? A remarkable man! A brilliant man! He really knows his stuff as a trainer. Case in point, he noticed that I was lacking motivation in training my humans. Oh sure I was going through the motions, but I was lagging behind walking in my heel, and was slow to go into my sit when we stopped. He immediately diagnosed the problem of I needed high value treats as motivation! Take that Dr. Doug and your silly diet recommendation! Clearly Mom and Dad’s trainer knows what is best for me.
Talk about mixed messages. The day before I was told by my veterinarian that I need to lose a few pounds. Then the next day Mom and Dad’s brilliant trainer tells them they need to feed me extra delicious treats to get me to snap to attention. Even better, their trainer went on to say that Mom and Dad should cut back on giving Asa treats! Yes, “Mr. Ideal Body Weight,” as Dr. Doug called him, shouldn’t get training treats because he’s way too enthusiastic. Whereas I slowly get into position, Asa comes lunging towards their side, licking his chops waiting for his reward.
Therefore, the plan for this week’s heel work is for Mom to return to her pre-training ways of being a treat dispenser solely for my pleasure. Or at least that’s how I interpreted it. As an added bonus, the trainer made it so I can “accidentally” score more treats. He told Mom that she needs to change how she rewards me. In order to emphasize that she is my right paw human, and that I need to be on her left side, treats must always come from her left hand. Well being right handed, this confused Mom, and while practicing in class she would use the wrong hand. Their trainer would immediately take notice and tell her to do it again, but with the left hand. This way doubling my treats without Mom even realizing, because she’s too busy remembering left from right! Well played brilliant trainer, well played!
Asa, in contrast, will be getting no treats to help get him to focus on the task and not on the reward. This of course has Asa very confused. First he was taught that lunging away from Mom and Dad was bad. Now they’re telling him that lunging at them and tackling them isn’t good either. So he needs to curb his enthusiasm a bit. However, he’s so easily distracted that without the treats Dad has to use different techniques to gain his attention.
This is where things get really funny. The trainer told our normally low key Dad that he needs to increase his enthusiasm. We’re use to Mom being our cheerleader and praising us. However, now Dad has to give Asa a good “Woo Hoo!” every once in awhile. Yet we don’t want to swell Asa’s already oversized ego. So Mom and Dad’s trainer cautioned they need to use different positive phrases instead of “good boy.” Because similar to our former release command of “ok,” “good boy” gets used way too much and loses it’s meaning.
So checkmate Dr. Doug! You may think I need to go on a diet, but Mom and Dad’s brilliant trainer proved otherwise! Ok, so after hearing about my vet appointment, their trainer did concede maybe I should lose a few pounds. However he recommended reducing my boring meals in proportion to my high valued treats. So that means giving me even more delicious treats!
