Thursday, April 18, 2013

Things that hop.

Hi there!
Mom was pretty proud of me tonight! Check out this photo that she snapped!


Can you see those two faint green circle outlines above my head?  Those are bunnies!  My nice neighbors think a litter was dumped because there were babies spotted wandering the neighborhood last year.  The brown and white one has been living in their back lot and yard off and on since the summer.  She was pretty boring when she was on her own.

Recently, a chocolate bunny moved in.  Boy, did things get exciting.  They love to play together!  It's so fun watching them hop around the property.  They look really yummy, too.  Just imagine... fresh rabbit!  Better than squirrel! Sophie (that's my bio-mom, by the way) and I couldn't contain ourselves.  Poor Mom had to come outside over and over again to settle us down when the bunnies got too interesting.

I made major progress tonight, though!  As you can see, I was fully engaged in training with Mom when those bunnies were about 50 feet away.  Even with them playing and running towards me--as close as 20 feet--I was still more interested in training.  I offered lots of sits and downs.  Silly Mom even had me "look at the bunnies!"  It was a neat game.  Mom says it is the LAT technique and that it's really helpful for reactive pups like me.  We practiced running back to fence to watch them calmly, too.

Mom had some really smelly treats for me during our practice session--NutriSource Soft & Tender Lamb Treats.  She's going to have to pick some more up tomorrow because we finished the bag.  They were yummy enough to overcome my prey drive tonight, which is saying something.

I saw the bunnies again on our walk.  They were only about ten feet away!  That was a little more challenging for me, so we did a quick review of our yard work and moved on.  I love going on walks; there's so much to see and smell!  I discovered the art of marking this past year, and Mom begrudgingly lets me do it, as long as it isn't on people's yards or on delicate shrubs and flowers.  We practiced heel, a longer loose leash walk, waiting at crosswalks, and also did a lot of "look at Mom" stuff.  I don't mind her interrupting my walks (usually) because I get tasty treats most of the time.  Tonight I got to gobble down Natural Balance LID Duck & Potato treat roll pieces, which my mom isn't above carrying around in a dorky treat bag.  Sometimes my reward is just moving on with our walk, though, which is pretty motivating!

This was taken at the end of our walk (it was just Mom and me).

Do you like my new Julius-K9 Belt Harness?!  I do!  I tested out the velcro chest strap tonight when I saw a cat slinking away from the sidewalk.  (I actually love cats--our old kitty, at least-- but the ones that run away... they may as well be birds, squirrels, or bunnies.)

Blogkeeping note: Mom tends to be wordy, but don't worry, not all of our posts will be this long!

That's all for tonight!  I'm laying next to Mom on the sofa and am ready to get some zzz's after my long day, which I'll tell you more about tomorrow!

Oh! I almost forgot!  A not-so-smart bird actually landed in our yard tonight!  He must not have realized three bird crazy setters live here!  I got to point him, but I'm a creeper.  He flew away before I got dangerously close.  Maybe next time!

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