Sly and I attend doggie training school on Saturdays at 3pm. We're going to a place that's about 20 minutes away to a local trainer who's been teaching us some very effective methods. Sly is a good pupil as he's highly motivated by treats (must be chewy and not crunchy) and is not shy about burying his treats in the dirt when he's tired of them.
So far we've covered "sit," "down," "watch," "off," "go to your place," and loose leash walking. We're working on "stay" and today's class started "the recall." Too bad we didn't have that earlier in the schedule because Sly got away
twice in the past week. Well, to be entirely accurate, twice in the last four days. And ironically, a friend just wrote in an e-mail to me that she read that shiba inus were smart (her exact words, "I hope he's not too smart for you!") :) and that they're known for being escape artists.
The first incident happend on Wednesday. I got Sly inside right before we were leaving for work, only to have him dart back out the door as soon as I got him off his lead. So I tried to call him back inside, tried to entice him with a treat and then when that failed I tried to chase him around the backyard. Yeah, right. Me in my heels in the snow/rain mix, and him in a playful state of mind. After 15 minutes I gave up. Our yard is fenced with the exception of the back that is open to the canal. But given Mr. Prissy Paw's dislike for getting his paws dirty, I figured he'd be okay.
I got Bree & I out to the car, and started to back out of the driveway. Only to see Sly's little face peeking at me from the other side of the fence. Muttering under my breath, I pulled back into the driveway and tried for another 10 minutes to get him into the house. No luck. He just wanted to play and make me chase him.
It was a singularly craptastic day. I wasn't feeling well, I forgot my cell phone at home, I forgot my lunch, I forgot all my jewelry - it was just a bad day all the way around. I left work early to make sure that I could still have some daylight in the event I still had to chase the dog. Well, when we got home, there was no Sly in the back yard. We started walking the neighborhood, calling his name, checking with our neighbors. No Sly. Then I remembered my cell phone. Sly is microchipped, a courtesy of the Rescue from which we got him. We get this service free for life.
Sure enough, there was a message from 24hour PetWatch, letting me know that a neighbor named Cheryl had found our dog, and they gave me her phone number. I called Cheryl and said that we'd be right down to get him.
After thanking her for calling the number, I asked her what time Sly showed up at her house. She said 3:30. Since it was only 4:30, Sly hadn't been there all that long. Cheryl went on to explain that Sly had followed a neighbor boy over to her house - this little boy lives in our cul-de-sac. She then went on to say that the boys "went behind your house and saw that your back door was wide open."
Well, we have a sliding glass door and it wasn't wide open. And the only way to get behind our house is to open the gate and let yourself in back there. So, in short, the neighbor boy let out the dog.
But all's well that ends well, right? You'd think so. Fast forward to this morning. Sly was in the back yard, on his lead, and refused to come in the house. He was busy sunning himself on the back deck and playing with his favoritest toy in the whole wide world. Since I had to take Bree to Little Gym and was only going to be gone for just over an hour, I decided to leave him outside.
When we pulled in to the driveway around 12:30, my neighbor Miss Sandy was waiting outside on her porch. She yelled over, "Kelly, I've got something of yours over here." So I called back, "What blew over there?" She said, "you'll have to come and see."
Sly chewed through his lead and made a break for it. Now I have to get a chain or a wire or something that he won't be able to chew through.
Miss Sandy & Mr. Bob didn't know who Sly belonged to, but they called the toll-free number on the 24hr Pet Watch tag that Sly wears, and they were told that he belonged to Kelly M at XXXX Shore Road . . . . and they laughed and said they knew who I was and they'd make sure that Sly got returned.
When we got to doggie training class today I was telling the trainer, Georgie, about how Sly got out twice since Wednesday. She said that we were going to cover "the recall" in today's class and it seemed like it would come in handy for Sly. I remembered that Georgie advised to get a really "high value" treat for today's class because when we did the recall we wanted to reinfoce that the dog would get a really great reward for being (and returning) to our side. I tried twice to get a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store but was too early to get anything. (Guess they don't put them out until the afternoon.) So I ended up getting an Arby's roast beef sandwich for class. Which Sly really really really loved and did a great job at the recall.
Now we need to practice our homework. We totally failed today with "stay" because I didn't practice our homework last week. I was coming down with something and went to bed at 8 every night last week. So it was my fault that Sly didn't know how to stay. But, I will say that the two or three times I did try it, Bree wanted to "help" and ended up giving him all of the treats at once without making him wait. So not only did I fail on the homework, now Sly is confused about the command and I have twice as much homework to do before next week. Needless to say, we go through a lot of treats.
All that running around at doggie training class is tiring for poor little Sly. Bree has no idea that he likes to lay in her seat when she's not in it. :)
I'm pretty sure that Sly ended up at the Rescue because he ran away from home. And I'm pretty sure that the family who owned him is heartbroken that he ran away. I know that the only reason we have him back is because he's now microchipped.
Anne, he is too smart for me. You totally called it.
