Fran on Friday
Booker, Teddy and Torque
Little angels, right? Ha! That’s what they’d like you to believe. It looks like butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths. Perfect in every way. In reality, our dogs are little terrors. Booker bounces on me to get my attention. Tango licks my pants (yuck!). Teddy barks. And Torque … well, Torque is still very young!
So, how do we get them to relax? Training and play. We find that obedience training, or any training that makes our dogs use their brains, is exhausting for them! Five minutes of heeling practice for Tango (essential in Rally) completely tires him out. Booker needs a little more – we practice his stays and stand as well as heeling. Plus he’s learning a new trick – “Roll over!” So a few minutes of all that tuckers him out. But we balance brain work with tugging and fetch. Tango is not really into playing with toys, so I scritch his tummy. He likes that! Booker can play fetch for hours, but after a few minutes of brain work his tongue is hanging out and he’s had enough.
And then when we’re done, I can tell them to go to bed and I can get some work done! Except that I’m tired too…
