Hello fellow custodians of canines, felines, birds and everyone who has a pet in their life.

As you may, or may not (if not where have you been?!) be aware – I adopted a beautiful, a strongly independent, cheeky Hokkaido mix by the name of Sasuke. Although he does go by other names… cookie bear, bab-e lion, stealer of the bed and spare bed and WTF did you do to my clothes/kitchen/garbage bag (insert whatever room or item/s were destroyed beyond repair)?!!

Today I bring joyous news and the feeling of pride that I – a custodian of said cookie bear – have finally managed a break through on the commands: sit. stay. down. go(fetch). draaaaawp it (yes that is exactly how I say it!). And no I’m not the one doing the action. Sasuke is!!

About bloody time!!

This training has been going on for a full 15 months and we are now making headway. I guess slow and steady does win a treat! Everyday for the past 15 months I have instilled, from the shelter, sit and paw, adding stay and down at breakfast and dinner time. He always has to sit and give a paw for a treat and he does it automatically now however stay and down were and are a problem because it’s like he has ants in his pants and doesn’t stop fidgeting. At. All. This week has been the breakthrough.

Rebuilding his fitness has been a bit challenging, after he had surgery. Sasuke loathes being outside for short walks, only wanting to stay out long enough to poop and pee. So to wear him out we have been playing with a tennis ball and a strip of dried meat for treats. I throw the tennis ball to the next landing and he runs up to get it, brings it back, drops it and gets the treat. I swear it’s like a lightbulb has gone on in his head and he is now making the connection between my actions and his responses. His breed are known for their high intelligence and their ability to pick up commands quickly – making me think I adopted the one who was the class clown of the pack! 🙂 . Better late than never. What its done instead is that it has allowed us to become closer and build trust together, which to be fair, I value more than commanding him to do something (although it doesn’t hurt to have the ability).

Next up will be….. sleeping through the night. Who needs sleep when you’ve worked a 14 hour day, you have worn your dog out and they wake you up and get you out of bed at dumb ass o’clock to steal your bed. Let’s see what tonight will bring (insert facepalm here).