A Little Doggy Breakthrough

It's no secret to anyone that meets him, that my dog is not the smartest dog in the world. He's not stupid exactly, just very very easily distracted. He's always had problems with playging fetch outside. He can do it in the living room perfectly, but as soon as there's grass & bees to contend with he tends to run after the frisbee & then either lie down & roll on it, or ignore it & sniff around or run off.

Well today I had a little flash of inspiration. It all hinges around the idea that he hates being left behind & would much rather be the trail blazer up ahead. We did lots of great clicker training in the yard with liver treats to get the idea fresh in his head; then when we were out on the walk, instead of throwing the frisbee ahead & hoping he might notice, i threw it behind me & immediately walked of briskly leaving him behind. It worked! 6 times in a row he came trotting up to me with the frisbee in his mouth & dropped it to collect his reward. Clever doggy! Ok after that he forgot how to bring it back again, but he has a very short attention span & practice will make it automatic.

He's not stupid, he just learns in his own special way :)


Tron with the infamous frisbee.