Star had a busy week. He went with me and a friend to work dogs on a ranch about an hour away and we spent a lot of time out of doors. There are standards of good behavior for visiting and Star learned them when we went to the ranch. In my continuing efforts to socialize Star and develop our bond, we have increased play time. It's not enough for him to love me, I want his complete devotion and feel that it's important to our working relationship.This week's lessons:
- Time to visit
- Time to play
Here's an excerpt:
I am making every effort to patiently wait him out, while doing whatever I can to increase his confidence. One of the things I am trying is play time. I want him to internalize that I am fun and trustworthy, so I am making time almost every day to rough house and play with him and he is responding. We wrestle and roll around together, he bites my feet, rolls on his back beside me and mouths my hands and arms while I rub his belly. The other day I took a blanket and played peek a boo. He ran around dragging it and I grabbed hold when he flew by and threw it over his head. He would struggle to get it off then fly around the yard again. He clearly enjoys this time together and it increases our bond. So cute.
On a light note, I have chosen winners for the BorderSmith Caption Contest. How clever everyone was with their entries and it was hard to choose just one, so I awarded first and second prizes. Check it out on the BorderSmith Blog.
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