Can your dog do tricks?

See we've got this new dog, a golden retriever to be specific. His name is Cooper, or Pooper, or Coop-Doggy-Dogg (if he's feeling the funk, mostly he's not though, but Bill and Jo-Jo seem to bring out the best CDD I've ever seen!). He's a joy, terror and endless love all wrapped up in a big ball of 7-month old puppy fur. When we got him, we naively thought "How hard could this be? We have a cat, so we're good with animals." (though don't ask the Dewitt Animal Hospital, 'cuz I'm sure those bitches would tell you different. F-them. That's a whole 'nother Blog!) So where was I? Oh yeah, we picked him up and brought him home. We were so happy because we were 'parents' now. (Everyone says get a dog to see if you're really ready for kids. I thought they were full of shit, I was wrong. There I admitted it Brian, I said I was "wrong"!) We got our little bundle of joy home and quickly found out... he was the most un-housebroken dog we'd ever met! And he crapped enough for 10 dogs! WTF?!?!

So we embarked on our crusade... to not only house train our dog, but to make him the smartest dog ever! Okay so he may not be the smartest dog ever, but it'd be nice to have him know that our house is not his toilet... and maybe he could learn to sit, lay down, stay, and shake too?!?!

Being the nerd that I am, I got on the internet and Googled away! I checked everything from "crate training", "house training", "dog obedience". I read anything and everything I could get my paws on! (nyuck-nyuck!) I had learned about all sorts of theories of the right and wrong ways to teach Cooper how to "act right!" The unfortunate thing is a lot of the things I read fell on both lists!?!?

We settled on rewarding the "good", saying a firm "NO!" when we witness the "bad", and doing nothing when we learn about the bad after the fact (ie. walk into a room and find a steaming pile of poo with Cooper no where to be found! Gross I know, but it happens and there's nothing you can do because he's already forgotten about it. I wish I had an "out" like that!) Our method seems to be working. He now sits at the backdoor when he hears "nature's call" and it's been almost 2 weeks since our last "accident!" (Knock on wood!)

He seemed to catch on pretty quickly so I thought I'd work on a few more obedience skills. He has to take medicine twice a day because the poor guy has allergies (he fits right in at our house!). I figured that was a perfect teaching opportunity. I have his attention, I have something I need him to eat, it's wrapped up in something yummy... why not make him work for it, right!?!?

We started out with "sit", which he's an old pro at now! He sits for everything... his stick, his toys, whatever. He knows if he "parks it" (like Brian says!) he's gonna get something good! So with that under our belt, we worked on "lay down", which he gets, most of the time. Sometimes he's so damn eager for the treat though that he pops right back up and I still haven't figured out how to get him down without putting my hand on the floor. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

"Shake" has always been one of my favorites, and our dogs when I was growing were the Master's of Shake! They were ambidextrous shakers, if there is such a thing for dogs. Medicine time quickly became "Let's learn shake time" for me and Cooper. For almost 2 weeks straight, I would say "Shake, Cooper" and he would look at me and hear, "Mughesr, Cooper." So I'd grab his paw and shake it, all the while repeating "shake!" It started to seem ridiculous. There I was grabbing his paw and repeating the word shake like some sort of Rainman. And like I said, this went on for weeks. I felt like giving up. I was a failure, and Cooper was destined to be the dumb dog on the block. And then it happened...

I remember it vividly. It was Sunday, January 7th, 2005... around 8:00am, medicine time. I looked at Cooper and said, "Sit. Good Boy. Shake?" And he did it! He very gingerly pulled his paw up, trying very hard to keep his balance... and he shook my hand! I freaked out! I was so excited! I started shouting "he did it! He's so smart! he's the smartest dog EVER!" I gave him a big hug and treats, of course! It's one of the proudest moments I've ever felt. Brian didn't believe me (he's my doubting Thomas, and I love him for it!). So I said, "Fine! Here's a treat. Ask him!" And he did... and Cooper shook his hand too! Now we both were super proud! This was a huge day for us! He's been in the family less than a month and he's not defecating all over our house and he's shaking hands, baby!!!

We did what any proud 'parents' would do. We packed him up and took him out to Babci and Dziadzi's house. (They're his Polish 'grandparents', for those of you who aren't familiar with the terms!) We were so happy to show off his new talents! He shook away! They were so proud too! We all sat around talking about how he was the smartest dog ever....

and then he peed on their new living room carpet!! So maybe he hasn't figured out that their house isn't his toilet, but with a couple of weeks and 10 pounds of doggie treats we can conquer that too!