I initially bought a few toys for Emmett: the fleecy bone (now we have 3), a rope to chew and tug, 2 squeaky skins (no stuffing), some tennis balls and some nylabone chew things. All were fun for a bit. Well, the fleecy bone is still THE favorite but mostly as a pillow! But the other toys lost their luster after a bit of play.

Then there was the issue with the antique bear being SO desirable. Thankfully that Bear is tough! But, I had the idea that maybe other stuffed toys would be good and also a Kong and that rotating toys would keep things fresh.

Friday, the order from Chewy.com arrived:

Ok, now we have variety and I thought enough variety that I could cycle toys as the latest is always the best. And I got Auggie some treats which thankfully he loves, so he can participate in the click-treat game.

The stuffed toys went on the rocker.

Antique Bear was put out of Emmett’s reach and yes, I do know that tv is an antique itself. It plays DVDs and hooks up to Roku so does all I need :)

Back to toys.

The out of favor toys live in a basket out of Emmett’s reach and will make appearances as needed. Note the plastic water bottle … it is favorite toy which should give you a clue which way this story is headed.

It took a while, but Emmett finally saw the new stuffies in the rocker.

The moose (brown) won out over the alligator (green) and monkey (brown but with handles).

Yea for the moose!

Kong was a big hit. I watched several videos about how to introduce Kong to a puppy with no Kong experience. I’m not sure Emmett needed instruction. He emptied that little Kong in about 10 seconds.

Yes, well. The overall favorite “toy” ??? Any shoe.

Almost 17 years ago – May 18, 2001 – I brought home Karl, my last puppy. (Bear I got as a 6.5 year old).

Hmmm.

My cat Gus, was about 4.

Same, same.

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree or something like that.

Meanwhile…

Follow me, follow you…

Relaxing in the front yard.

Lights out for a morning nap.

Week 4. It had a rocky start and my timetable fell apart. Some training fell apart. I gave myself a time out. For me, when things all seem to fall apart and it doesn’t seem like I have time to do anything but HURRY UP … I find that is exactly when I need to slow down. So, I put Emmett in his play pen, made myself a cup of tea and went into the far room to sit quietly and regroup. That did the trick, all got back on track and the remainder of the week went well.

Everything we’ve learned so far, we keep doing. Pooping has been happening outside. Piddling is mostly outside, but when not, it is on the piddle pads and I’ve reduced the number of pads around. Emmett is growing. Auggie and I love him more every day. Good times!

We started working on Leave It. Different from Drop, Leave it is “don’t touch, don’t take it, don’t even think about it” :). It will be a good thing to know. It will take awhile.

Here is the video that shows how I’m teaching it:

***I’m going to be doing some classes with Emmett primarily to train with distractions, but also so that an experienced trainer can assist with how I’m doing as far as timing, etc. That trainer recommended the site that is the video source: Smart Dog University (Laurie Luck, trainer) . Both the website and the youtube channel have great information and all is easily searchable. I really like Laurie Luck’s calm approach to everything.

***Toys, etc. I’ve been buying all things pet from Chewy.com . Prices and quality are good and they ship fast with free shipping for over $49 order. The stuffed toys are Kong brand and seem very well made. The stuffed toys can be expensive ($12-20) and these were not ($7-9).