Formal Training Begins

Yesterday I began documenting formal daily training sessions with Toby to track his progress.  We are doing short 10 minutes sessions.  We began by working on the beginnings of "leave it" (where he is rewarded for not fixating on the treats in my hand) and on the "sit" command.  Filming the sessions allows me to go back and watch my own techniques so I can improve, and make is easy to see and appreciate his quick progress, making training more rewarding.

learning to play

Toby has recently learned to play with "toys."  Not normal dog toys usually, but the most popular plaything we have around our house: empty toilet paper rolls.  Only recently, after living with us for going on a month, has he figured out that he can pounce on them and throw them up into the air and carry them around and chew them, and boy does he enjoy it!  He runs around and jumps into the air excitedly, tossing the chewed cardboard scraps over his shoulder.

Then, he discovered a new interest: empty plastic bottles.  Truman loves the sound they make on the wood floors, so I gave Toby one (under supervision) and he chased it around making a racket.  Toby took interest, and then something completely new happened.  They began to play tug-of-war.  It was awesome to see this frightened, skittish little guy suddenly figure out one of the greatest joys (I suspect) of being a dog.  They were evenly matched.  Sometimes Truman would win and run off with the bottle, sometimes Toby would win.  But they were tugging hard, with Harriet acting as a useless referee, barking at them when she felt they were acting inappropriately.

Seeing him playing, carefree, not anxious that I'll abandon him, appearing so well adjusted and normal-dog-like, it was clear that he's coming a long way.

Since he's coming along so well, I feel like I can also poke fun at him a little.  Recently, I figured out who he reminds me of.  Behold, the likeness: