Church was interesting

Bear and I got to church a little early so we could pick an out-of-the-way spot. We sat way in the back next to a side aisle on the right. Every time the pastor said, "Rise." Bear did. Actually, he had a wonderful attention reaction. When I stood up, he stood up and waited for a command. When I sat back down, he laid down and chewed on the bone I brought for him.

Everything was going swimmingly until we got to the reading of the names of people who have died. There was a long pause between each name and all I could hear was Bang!, Bang!, Bang! from Bear picking up and dropping his bone. I now have a new challenge; find something softer for Bear to chew on.

Then we had communion. The church offered to bring communion to me but I declined because I am physically able to go up to the front. When it was our turn, we got up and waited in line. Bear was perfect and I could hear little whispers going on. "Oh what a beautiful dog.", "Look at the dog.", "Puppy!", etc. It was our turn to kneel at the alter. I did and the paster came and gave me a piece of bread. Bear was very interested in that because of course, I was at his level! I quickly put it in my mouth while he watched me waiting for his piece. Then while I was kneeling, Bear decided to chew on the gourd display that was so nicely laid out on the alter steps. I shoo'd him from there and we went back to our seat.

The church service went well. I wasn't sure so I sat in the back. I think we'll work our way up to the front. After church, many people came to talk to me. They wanted to know about Bear, what he was doing, how I got involved in training service dogs, etc. After most everyone had left, a woman I know and her daughter stayed to talk. Things were fine for about 5 minutes. Then Bear decided to bark - at the little girl. She got pretty scared and I could not get him to stop barking. I did explain to the little girl that he isn't mad at her because his tail is wagging. I thought he maybe wanted to play with her. I'm still not sure what he wanted.

All work and no play? NO WAY!

Ahhh......This is a wonderful Autumn activity in Minnesota. We raked all the leaves into one great big pile and we threw the tennis ball in! Happy hunting!!

Here are Bear and Grizzley wrestling in the leaves while Kiya is ball hunting in the background.

WOW! Don't those two look fierce. This is a typical wrestling session. Bear is very vocal when he plays. It's not so much barking. It's more like an imitation of Chewbaca(sp?) from Star Wars.

It's official: OUR CROWNED KING OF THE LEAF PILE!

More Training

Bear is demonstrating the "touch" command. We started on the floor like this and then we moved to the wall. It was easier for me to give him the command "rise" to get up on the wall and then "touch" to press that touch light. Now, if I say "touch" and have my hand on something like the handicap button on the door, he immediately jumps up and bangs the button with his paw. This is another command I love to use! It usually bring a lot of attention from people watching too.

If I set that touch light on the floor and don't say anything, Bear will immediately go over to it and start pawing at it, then look at me for a treat. He definitely has this command down.

Our next step is to use "nudge" and "touch" to close doors, drawers, and cupboards. 

Here is Bear using the "nudge" command. He turns on the touch light and gets a treat. He's so funny. He'll keep banging his nose into it to turn it on so he can have another treat. I almost can't keep up with him. So far, this command has been used to get him to push smaller things with his nose like elevator buttons. Paws are too big but those little pointy noses work great. I am amazed at how strong they are too. We were at another puppy raisers house and her dog was banging his nose into the door so she would let him in. It sounded like someone knocking! 

Here Bear is demonstrating the command "rise". Next I'll be working on "hold" so he can take a coin purse, rise up on the counter in stores, and pay the bill! I wish he had his own credit card!! Bear already uses "rise" when opening handicapped doors. It's helpful if I need to get him up higher and then give him another command. 

Balloons! We found out he hates balloons in Phoenix. So, we try to bring them home whenever we can and let him sniff them. The novelty has pretty much worn off. Any time these dogs are nervous or skittish about something - they just identified a training issue that needs to be worked on. We work on those issues over and over until they are no longer issues.