05-19-2009

I've been working with Duece and Ziva around the yard. I throw a rubber frisbee and Ziva usually gets to it first and brings it most of the way back to me. Then Duece grabs it and brings it the rest of the way. Sometimes they both grab it and it becomes a tug-of-war most of the way back. I'll just let them be puppies and we'll build on it as we go along. I think that was the frustration problem where I wasn't patient enough. We have a couple of large empty wire spools on their sides with an old flat-top washing machine between them. I can get Duece to jump up on one and then move across the three with stops for treats. Duece is learning he sometimes needs to take a run at something to get up on it. Ziva tried 2 or 3 times to jump up but when she couldn't quite make it she took a look around and climbed up a stack of pallets and jumped over to the spool. She is pretty independant and figures things out pretty fast. Duece has been slow to jump up on the utility trailer, but with Ziva already on the trailer getting treats, he seems to forget his fears and finds himself jumping up on it before he realizes what he's done. It's a lot more fun working with them when I let them do it at their own speed. :-)