Let the Games Begin

So maybe I lied about Rugby being ok with the down. When we went back, he was still....nervous about it. He got to the point of when I knelt down to put him in a place, he was laying down by himself, so I snuck the 'down' command in there and have been using it since.

He really enjoyed the sit game (not mine...I stole it :p), where he is sitting and I move to various places around him and tell him to sit again, and he has to turn and face me...and sit..again. lol. He likes this game the best when I change places really fast and he can't really contain himself so when he turns to face me, be hops straigt up and sort of 'bouces' to face me.

Sooo, this morning, I wanted him to stop the nervousness so we played the down game (stole this one too). I sort of 'fake him out' by starting to put him in a down over and over and then randomly have him down. Rugby though this was soo sooo much fun. He could hardly keep sitting before I actually told him to down because his butt was moving so fast. Now he is pretty eager to go down, and he was plopping down so fast it was hilarious! It was probably a little too soon to do it, since he has only heard the word 'down' for a couple of trainin sessions, but at least he is much much happier and less nervous about it than before, so we can slow down again and get it right now that his eyes are back in his head (ha).

He is wayyy cute, I took some pictures of him infront of the christmas tree that I will put up tonight. :) Now he REALLY needs a haircut and a bath, so we might have to redo the pictures when he is sporting a new hair-do...we will see lol.

Forgot the stand-- He was doing really well last night, and this morning he wasn't doing them at all, so he gave me 3 good ones and we stopped. I think maybe he just doesn't like to do it as much as I have him do it. So after class this morning I went back and put did some more stands (which were very good) and we stopped at 6. It was going to be 5, but he messed up number 5 so we had to do an extra one. He was much happier with his. I think maybe I just have to do the stands a little at a time so his brain doesn't get fried.

AND--I bought some raw dog food books, so once I finish these books I think we might have to do the big switch. Also found a couple vets that recommend this diet and hopefully they can help us out if I ever get brave enough. Wish us luck!