Friday, April 06, 2007
In Training: Working like a dog

I know I'm a golden retriever. By nature and breeding I'm supposed to "retrieve" things, right? I don't think so. It took me a long time to master this one simple skill.

Maybe I just enjoyed being obstinate a little too much. Maybe I'm just a slow learner. Maybe I just wanted to see if I could push the humans to the brink of madness. Maybe it was a little of all the above. I'll never tell. Hee hee.

For months the humans in my life would tell me to fetch something and I'd run right out and plop down next to the object and smile sweetly at them. Sometimes they'd even try throwing something to entice me to go after it and for a moment I would lose myself in the chase and actually grab the object. However why would I want to hold on to something that I can't eat, and why can't the lazy humans come get it themselves. After pondering on these issues I'd drop the object, plop down and smile sweetly.

You'd think about 4 months of this game the humans would grow tired of it and move on. Apparently not, and I finally relented and retrieved a toy for my human. She was so happy and I got a handful of treats, I admit her reaction caught me a little by surprise. So I did it again to see what would happen and I got the same reaction. Even my teacher was overjoyed by this simple yet silly trick.

Ok so maybe picking something up and giving it to a human isn't such a terrible thing to do. In fact if the treats and loving keep coming like this I'll bring stuff to the human all day long! And so I did. Well I tried. Ok so the idea didn't work out as I had anticipated. Apparently there are rules to this game and I can't just grab everything in reach and give it to the human and expect treats and loving. The human needs to ask for the item first! Why do they make it so complicated?

Over time I also learned to open and close doors, turn lights on an off, push buttons (power doors and elevators), pull socks from the feet, put the laundry in the basket, assist in putting my vest on and removing it, open and close drawers, load and unload from the van, lay down under a table while the humans eat and not grab food at every opportunity. You know those little plastic bags that contain a plastic fork and knife at fast food restaurants; I even learned to tear those open for my human. Her hands don't work well.

Getting accustomed to working out in public was very hard for me. Heck I'm always going to be a puppy at heart and I am so cute I do attract attention. In fact I often hear some kid scream out "Look at the doggie!" within moments of entering a store. Not to mention the kids and adults who will come up and pet me without even asking for permission from my human. Personally I love the attention. I love it so much I totally forget my human is on the other end of the leash and will spend the next several minutes trying to lure other humans in closer with my never-ending cuteness. "Yes come, come to me. Pet me," I enjoy the attention but once I realized out how much it bothered my human I did tone down my socializing a bit.

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