Chip Trial Day 4

SUMMARY: Just a couple of updates.

Monday night, dinnertime, I held Chip's bowl and looked at him, and he sat on his own! Yeah! Took only 2 tries to get it to the floor without him standing up, but I did have to put a hand on him the 2nd time to be sure.

Tuesday breakfast and dinner, very fast sit! Still have to put a hand on him to remind him to stay in place, but he picked this up pretty quickly, as expected.

He is really a good boy. He's starting to get the idea that neither Boost nor I will actually chase him when he absconds with a toy, and seems to be bringing them to me more and more often. I play tug with him, let him have the toy, tug some more, ask him to Give, tug some more, give it back to him, things like that. He seems to like that and trust that i'm not going to take it away from him.

He seems to like doing Zoom Zoom Zoom in the yard, and he's so much fun to watch run.

I've been sneaking in collar grabs and moving him a little bit while we're playing or getting treats so that he's more comfortable with that. He had been shying away when I'd reach for his collar, and he still (when not distracted) doesn't want to move forward when I pull on his collar. Tiny baby steps of encouragement.

Yesterday we went for a drive; he got Tika's crate while Tika was up front and he seemed concerned about it but was basically a good boy. Today I tried all three loose in the van while driving down the street to the post office, and things were OK except when he accidentally jumped on Tika while getting out of the driver's seat and she was NOT happy; I had to talk to her a bit and pet her and tell her that he didn't mean it. He really wants Tika to like him and keeps trying to get her to say he's OK. But at least he has Boost.

Everyone is relaxing more and more. Chip has just been snoozing like the other dogs on the floor of the office while I'm at the computer. This morning's walk was only about half as long as the last couple of days, as Tika was dragging again.

The two tiny dogs around here are getting used to him, although he was a bit overwhelming for them at first. This evening one of them almost played with him, and he was pretty gentle with her.

I've been practicing more getting into the crate for fun, rewarding when he stays in there after I've told him to go in (if he goes in on his own, he can do whatever he wants), and getting him used to "Break!" to come out.

He still hasn't figured out the dog door on his own, and I'm not yet to the point of wanting to teach him. So I'm just letting him out and in several times a day, or when the other dogs go out (because he wants to follow them).

I think that's about it.