One of the reasons I enrolled Mom and Dad in obedience training is because they need to learn to resist temptation for their safety and ours. Sure we all know the “leave it” and “drop it” commands, but this is about avoiding getting into that situation in the first place.

Take for example if we see a ball abandoned on the opposite side of the street. Dad can’t resist a free ball. However, it would be dangerous to suddenly drag me while tethered to him across the busy street to retrieve that ball. Also don’t get me started on how embarrassing it is when enjoying a walk on the beach, and Mom rudely joins in another dog’s game of fetch with Asa leading the way. Speaking of Asa, he too needs to work on resisting temptations. We visit an elderly friend who plays a unique game in which she puts tennis balls on the feet of her walker and then pushes it around. Asa would love to change her rules and turn it into a game of fetch, but that just wouldn’t be nice to take her tennis balls.

Therefore, this week Mom and Dad’s trainer is continuing the monumental task of teaching them to resist temptation. We began this lesson last summer by teaching Mom, Dad and Asa that there is a time and a place for fetch. Back then we all mastered the skills of sit and stay while someone played with a ball nearby. Their trainer taught all of us that there are times you just have to sit the game out.

Now we’re increasing the temptation by putting us in motion. We began the lesson with a simple assignment. Walking at a heel, I guided Mom, and Asa took Dad, past a lonely tennis ball sitting on the floor. Understanding the task at hand, Mom and I walked past the ball multiple times with ease. Ok, I admit, I like bacon scented squeaky balls better, so it was easy for me to ignore the tennis ball, and Mom already knows not to play fetch inside the classroom. So we may have had an unfair advantage over Asa, who had a much more difficult time with Dad.

Asa really wanted that ball. He instantly forgot the instructions the trainer told him about guiding Dad past the ball at a heel, no dragging, no lunging, and most of all no playing! Instead, working on pure impulse Asa grabbed the ball, over and over again. I must hand it to him though, he did it so fast a few times that Dad didn’t even notice and kept on walking! However, since that wasn’t the assignment, the trainer made him drop it, and repeat that walk several more times until Asa finally figured out that he too needed to leave the ball alone, not just Dad.

Dad’s behavior was also problematic here, because he knew the ball was a major temptation for Asa and would warn him as they advanced not to grab it. Well that’s all nice when Dad knows the ball is there. But when out and about there isn’t usually a warning when a ball may pop out of nowhere. So in the controlled setting of the classroom, Dad had to let his defenses down and let Asa figure it out on his own what was the acceptable response. Sure it took awhile, but Asa eventually figured out that he just had to ignore the ball and walk past it. In addition, Dad learned he could trust Asa to make the right decision. After all, remember walking is a team effort.

Then Mom and Dad’s trainer really started to get on my nerves. Not only were we moving, but so was the ball! Once again he asked us to guide Mom and Dad around the room at a heel while he would play with the coveted tennis ball. Sometimes it would roll past us. Other times he bounced it. And a few times he tossed it in the air and fetched it himself! All very tempting, even for me. But again, we had to stay focused on walking at a heel and not break to go grab the ball to play.

Needless to say this class was mentally exhausting for everyone. Dad had to pass up a free tennis ball, Mom couldn’t start playing fetch, and Asa had to forget his motto of no tennis ball left behind. As for me, I had to resist showing off my awesome fetch skills to their trainer. But by the time we left that class we all had a good grasp of resisting temptations. Problem is, during the winter there aren’t a lot of people out playing fetch for us to practice this lesson, and any balls lurking on the side of the road are buried under snow and ice. Therefore, our assignment for the week ahead is to figure out what are our other temptations, and we’ll work on those in the weeks to come.

Now before you go worrying that by using a tennis ball to teach resisting temptations, we may never play fetch again. Don’t worry! There was more to this lesson. The trainer also wanted to show Mom, Dad, Asa and myself that there are acceptable times and places to play with a tennis ball. Like when Mom sees the ball in our backyard, or when Dad brings our ball to the beach with us. So after finally understanding today’s lesson, Mom and Dad’s trainer said our new favorite release command of “dismissed” and invited us all to play a quick round of fetch before heading home for the day. After all, all work and no play, makes Mom and Dad’s training a dull exercise!