The Little Bear Dog Blog

Oh dear. What was that about good intentions?

I’m off work today having succumbed to a really rotten cold. I can’t remember the last sick day I had, probably a combination of a constitution of a pit pony and the feeling that being a home worker, illness shouldn’t stop me working even from my sick bed!

But today I drew a line and decided that I was going to follow doctors orders in the hope that proper rest would give my cold it’s marching orders and see me well for Christmas.

Having spent all day in bed and with my cabin fever hitting the roof I decided to spend 10 minutes doing some training with Little Bear and Annie.  They LOVE training and against the prevailing advice which says always train separately, at the moment I’m training them together. This is mainly for LB’s benefit as he has quite a low frustration threshold and I found (completely by accident) that the concept of ‘taking turns’ in training increased his focus and responsiveness while also teaching him to calm his pants.  Annie also seems to pick things up more quickly if LB can already do them.

Now, although LB has a fairly impressive repertoire of tricks, Annie only learned to sit a few months ago when she came to live with us so we’re still working on the basics with her. Down is one of the new ones and so being thoughtful (or overly fussy!) I pulled out a throw so that they wouldn’t have to lay on the hard wooden floor.

It was all going beautifully. They were both waiting patiently between turns; LB proved that he is now master of the targeting game; paws were proffered, waved and high-fived on request. Annie did a couple of lovely downs and a perfect down-sit transition. Then, a new one for her, she did a lovely ‘paw touch’ on the target, ‘Good girl!’ I cooed in my really embarrassing dog training voice while holding out her treat and ZAP! One super static electric shock from my fingers straight into her poor unsuspecting nose. Poor Annie and damn the stupid flaming (probably part nylon) throw we were all sitting on.

After seeking refuge on the ‘non-electrifying’ couch and hoovering up a few treats for good measure she got her nerve up and took one gingerly out of my fingers…but only using the side of her mouth and her tongue for fear that her nose would no doubt get another zapping.

Sigh, I was wondering if I should have stayed in bed – and I bet Annie’s wishing I had!