Vehicles, Grates, and Moving Doors

The target learning for Kolby today was moving vehicles. I have noticed on our walks up and down our street that he is a little skitterish about movement from cars. What better way to introduce him to their commonality than to stand by a busy road in town.

I chose the newly opened shopping center because, except for one store that does not seem too popular just yet, there are few distractions. This will change when the strip mall becomes fully occupied, but for now it is just what we need five minutes from my house.

We walked the sidewalk strip mall, weaving in and out of the bicycle racks and doing Unders at benches before trekking across the large parking lot, and down another sidewalk to sit not far from the "highway".

And there we sat for ten minutes watching cars of all kinds, and a variety of large semi's pass in front of us. We were not so close where drivers could see us, but we could certainly see and hear them. It was the perfect distance for Kolby's first start at something that he has been leery of.

just starting to stand to jump at the lens

There are many good features about Kolby's character, but I will have to say that his auto Sit is amazing, and while he does not have Stay even close to perfection, he will Stay because he wants to. He is a Sitter!! Works great for me! He sat and watched the vehicles, and then he would look at my eyes (being rewarded each time) for a solid 10 minutes.

He only moved when I got out my cell phone to snap a photo. Go figure that would be the distraction.

Once he seemed bored of watching cars go by - we reversed our steps and went back to walking, Unders, and weaving. I commanded his Hurry at a grate that was at the base of the trees on the sidewalk. There was enough open dirt at the base of the tree for Kolby's current size and for him to choose the dirt or the grate ... and he chose the grate! WooHoo - that makes the third different (appropriate) surface he has done his business upon.

Freshly bathroom breaked, we moved onto learning about the moving doors of the tiny, new grocery store. He was not phased. I am not even sure he saw them, he was that disinterested. Okay.

He walked into the store, but I carried him to the back to the Produce and Meat Section. He smelled and observed from my arms, but he kept checking in with my eyes. How do I know? Because his eyeball was about 5 inches from mine and his nose was pressed against my lips. Ha! He is so adorable. No licking occurred, so he was all good.

Returning back to the front of the store, I had him Sit in a Heel and watch the doors again. Still disinterested, but he maintained his sit while the Register Lady chatted with me about CCI. Kolby was impressing her that he was so calm and well-behaved for 11 weeks. Yep, that's what this is all about. Positive behavior from day one.

Scoring an A+ for our hour outing, and Kolby is now zonked-out on his bed on top of three chew toys and a stuffed Raccoon toy.