We’ve been working on the retrieve for about 3.5 weeks, which is a long time for most dogs to learn something… but Hestia isn’t known for her smarts LOL! She’s doing quite well!
In today’s check-in, she demonstrates how she is reliably picking up the hankie from the floor!
To get to this point from the third check in, I gradually lowered my hand holding the hankie closer and closer to the ground as I trained. Eventually I was holding it half an inch above the ground, and after that I started dropping it on the ground.
The next step is to work on her not shaking her head to “kill” the hankie when she picks it up 🙂
The video is embedded below, and underneath that are four pictures. In the pictures and video, I am a woman with long curly brown hair wearing a multicolored striped dress. Hestia is a small white and black dog with a smushed nose and googley eyes. She is picking up a dark blue hankie with pink and white flowers on it.
I loved watching Hestia catching on to what you want her to do. Very very fascinating!! Thanks