Get out!

I love my pack.  That's my Mom and Dad.  I stay with them all the time.  If they are in the big room, I go there and snuggle on my couch and look at them.  If they are sleeping, I'm in the bedroom cuddled up in my bed.  And we always walk together. 

Sometimes they go away out of the house.  I don't like it.  I don't like being all by myself.  But I do!  I like some of it!   I always get special treats when they leave me.  I used to get biscuits.  So I would take one to the bedroom and enjoy it in there.  Then I'd go to my couch and, guess what?  MORE biscuits!  Oh, boy!!  Then I'd sleep with my happy tummy until they got back.

Now I have something new!  It's EVEN better!  It's a toy!  Mom puts little tiny treats in it.  They are smelly and tasty. Yummm.  I have to get them out of the toy.  It isn't easy!   But it's fun!  Mostly fun when the treats fall out!  Sometimes I have to bop it around all over the room!  Ha!  

So I don't mind when Mom and Dad leave 'cause I know what's going to happen.  Oh, boy!   A biscuit AND my special toy!  Go on, get out of here!  Hurry up!  I can't wait!

We will never know what Harry's tiny puppyhood was like, but this boy does not know what to do with toys.  Throw a ball and he looks at you.  Give him a pull toy and he drops it.  The closest thing to a toy he has are old dirty socks, and he isn't much interested in them, either.

Determined to introduce some sort of play into his life, I found an "interactive" toy by Kong.  The top screws off and the bottom is weighted so it wobbles and goes back to being upright.  Treats are placed inside and the dog has to nudge it with nose or paws to get the treats to fall out of the small opening.  I had to get on the floor and show Harry what to do.  I wasn't sure if he "got" it until we had to do grocery shopping one day.  Whenever I leave him, he gets special treats.  It's a trick I learned long ago from a dog trainer.  This way the dog anticipates with joy rather than sorrow or anxiety that you are leaving. 

My first clue was that Harry got visibly excited when I took the toy out.  I bought tiny training treats to put inside.  I gave him a biscuit and he ran for the bedroom, as usual.  I left the Kong toy by his couch in the living room and crossed my fingers.  When we came home, the toy was all the way across the room and empty!  He did it!  Good boy!  A second time was also successful, with the toy winding up in the dining room.  And a happy boy who looks forward to his play times!