Loki’s back in school after his holiday break. Today, he surprised me with “mostly” good behavior. The trainer calls him the “alligator on a leash.” I can't imagine why. Maybe because our classes used to go a little like this:
Me: Sit.
Loki: grroowwlll…arrggghhah…grrrrrrroowwllllll…arggghhh…grrrrrrrowlll. (Show some teeth, bite the leash, then sit.)
Me: Heel
Loki: grroowwlll…arrggghhah…grrrrrrroowwllllll…arggghhh…grrrrrrrowlll (Show some teeth, jump up, grab my arm with his front legs. If the mood is just right, grab my arm with his mouth, then heels.)
Me: Down
Loki: grroowwlll…arrggghhah…grrrrrrroowwllllll…arggghhh…grrrrrrrowlll… (slowly lowers half way) grroowwlll…arrggghhah…grrrrrrroowwllllll…arggghhh…grrrrrrrowlll. (slowly lowers ¾ way) grroowwlll…arrggghhah…grrrrrrroowwllllll…arggghhh…grrrrrrrowlll. (slowly puts belly on ground and if his teeth are close enough tries to bite my hand or arm.)
Now Internet, I swear to you, this dog is practically an angel at home, on walks or anywhere else with me. I can tell him to do anything and he will just do it, with no back-talk and no incentive other than “good boy.” In fact, a few weeks ago, I gave him the “stay” command from another room as he was coming in from the dog door because I didn’t want him walking on mopped-wet floors. A few minutes later, after the floors were dry, I walk to the mud room to find him frozen in front of the dog door, waiting for me to release him from his “stay” command. I shake my head and wonder how anyone could abandon a dog like this. Then I give him his release command and ask “why can’t you be this good in school?”
He's all like, "Damn it mom, I don’t wanna lie down or sit or heel in front of my friends. I just wanna show them who's boss, flex my awesome muscles, run up those ramps, go through the tunnels, leap over the bridge and just get my frackin’ treat for it."
But Loki loves to pull out the crazy for school. I proudly raise both my hands high when they ask who has a naughty dog, so that everyone is aware of who we are. Sigh. Sometimes I understand why he got kicked out of one country and 3 homes in the US.
Loki sure loves to use his mouth. At any given time he's either talking or biting. He's a 24-hour tug machine. So I borrowed a “bite sleeve” from our trainer. We thought we'd put that mouth to work and teach him what to bite and when. For him, it was love at first bite. Check it out. He’s already begging me for his very own sleeve.
(Sorry my movie embedding skills are so lame. Click the Quick Time Movie above to play. Or click Loki & the Bite Sleeve to play an MPG in Window's Media Player. You can also right click on the link to save it to your desktop.)
WOW- I need one of those sleeves! I had a huge surprise at the park a couple of days ago. I was wearing a big, black, burly winter coat. Sugar attacked my arm, and grabbed the sleeve-- just like Loki in the above movie! The "off" command worked (she stopped and sat), but I've been trying to figure out what to do about her "new" behavior (without destroying my only winter coat). This sleeve might be the answer. Loki and his mom are very clever...well, Sugar is whining at the computer, and she grabbed her favorite toy when the movie ended. Time to play...Karen