Command and Conquer

January 29, 2007. Today has been a very good day. After we dropped Renee off at work, Tom and I went to the park for some fetch. We got almost 40 undisturbed minutes of playing and running as well as some training on the stay command. I only got distracted three times, by people walking across the park. On two of them I just ran up and said hello and then came back to Tom. On the third one, I was on my way over when Tom called me back and I turned around and came back. Some definite progress. Tom was very happy with me.

At lunch time, we walked over to meet Renee for lunch. On the way over, Tom introduced me to a new command called heel. I think it means I am supposed to walk beside Tom’s left side. I was pretty impatient on the way to see Renee and Tom had a hard time holding me with his left hand. When we got to Renee’s work, Tom told me to sit and stay and I did that for almost 10 minutes until Renee came out, and even then I held it until she almost got up to me. We walked up the street to get lunch and I obeyed all my stay and release commands and then sat patiently while Tom and Renee took turns going in for their sandwiches.

After we dropped Renee off at work again, Tom and I started the walk home. He said the heel command, but, this time I obeyed and I walked beside him all the way home on a completely slack leash. Tom was very impressed with me and gave me lots of compliments and pats. Afterwards, Tom sat down to watch TV and I laid down and slept beside him until Renee came back. I was waiting outside for her when she returned.