Stopped at MPSC on the way home from work this evening. Lots of folks there so no chance to just hang out with the dogs. I don't think that they cared too much since one of our friends had his nephew with him. The nephew (embarrassed to admit that I don't know his name) is a real nice kid, about 13 or so I guess, and is into baseball. FINALLY, someone who could really throw the ball for them!
Worked on barking with both of them and then let the boy throw the ball for them. They are both POOPED!!! I was thrilled that both dogs (Tor, too) would play with him. This is the first person that Tor has played fetch with other than me and after a few runs he was perfect. Came straight back to the boy, jumped up into his arms, and gave him the ball very easily. Really, really pleased to see that. Plus, it was just fun to see a young kid having so much fun with a couple of really cool dogs :-)
Vic loaned us his bungee line. I was surprised to see how much happier the dogs were to work on that. Gata's bark & hold was much more intense using that than a standard backline. But boy does it STRETCH! Gata probably was lunging 4-6 feet on it. Definitely impacted where I had to stand with the tug.
Tor is funny. He is a terrible demand barker but he can't really bark when his prey drive kicks in. He is so easily aroused/over-aroused. So will have to work on his barking in a much calmer manner. Got some OK barking by essentially creating a "demand barking" situation with him on the bungee line and me rolling a ball around on the ground with my foot just outside his reach. Though he barks pretty much every time I shake out anything or slap my shoes together or whatever movement/noise combination you can think of, the clatter stick resulted in over-arousal and no barking, for now. We'll keep working on it.
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