Checking In - Blog Hop

Rugby and I have spent more time working on a reliable recall than any other command (although it is soon to be surpassed by his go-out command). I want to know that when I say Come, Rugby will stop what he is doing and come directly to me. That means even if he is in the middle of playing, or chasing the rabbit that lives on the side of our house, or passing up the french fries that were left on the side walk. Come means come. It also means that in order for him to be successful, 10% of his attention must remain on me when he is busy doing all of those other things.

Combine that fact with all of the other skills he has learned through his Obedience training and Rugby is a great hiking companion. He had his first chance in a while to practice his hiking with some of his friends from Applewoods and I was thoroughly impressed with him. Not only could I relax knowing that Rugby would recall with a single command, but he also started to check in. Without any prompting from me, when Rugby ran an unspecified distance ahead on the trail, he would stop and wait for me to catch up. Smart dog!

I love that Rugby can use his vocabulary to learn how to self-regulate and take responsibility for his actions. We are already looking forward to the next hiking trip.