[quilter]

I need to replace Casper's morning game. It goes like this. He poops. I bag it and take the bag to the trash can. He sits on the little hill in the backyard and watches me. Stalks would be a better description. At the moment I cross from the side yard to the main lawn, he takes off and body slams me. Sigh. I've tried Off, Sit, be a tree, tossing a toy. I could bag at a later time, but really don't want to add yet another trip to the backyard. With the short days in Seattle, I'm already putting off the nighttime pickup until the morning.

Casper learns really, really fast. I think if I can come up with something different for him to do, I could fix this pretty quickly. I need some ideas for a new "game". The situation is that I'm coming out of the side yard. We live in the suburbs, so that's a five-foot path of grass along the side of the house. I walk into the main yard which is about 30x50 feet.

Fetching seems like an obvious choice, but he slams me on the return. I've got that nearly fixed by holding a treat. He sits for that and I've reduced it quite a bit. Just making sure he knows it's return/sit, not return/jump/sit! So I'd prefer not to use fetch as the new game right now.

If it matters, this jumping thing is only a problem in the backyard where he can really get some speed going.

 

[dborgers]

Find a fenced in school playground or football field where there's plenty of room to run. Buy one of those tennis ball 'claws' that can throw the ball a long way. Take him regularly. Sounds like he's really needing to run off energy. Even when they're grown, big dogs need to run.

Tennis ball fetch over distances is not only fun for them, but great exercise.

 

[LibertyME]

LOTS more recalls on leash and in the house that end with him in sit. When he is racing toward you, how far away from you are you telling him to sit? ......You could tether him while you scoop. Body slamming is a sure way to earn yourself a new knee!

 

[laprincessa]

Max and I walk a mile every morning. When we turn down the driveway to come home, body slam
Every single day
I try not to let him get behind me, I tell him "off," I do everything I'm supposed to do.
Body slam
My chiro loves him

 

[quilter]

Good idea, I will work on the recalls. I can't remember how far when I tell him to sit. Probably 6-10 feet? He's not in any mood to listen.

Max and I walk a mile every morning. When we turn down the driveway to come home, body slam
Every single day
I try not to let him get behind me, I tell him "off," I do everything I'm supposed to do.
Body slam
My chiro loves him

I'm pretty sure this has something to do with outdoor time being over after the cleanup. Note that outdoor time is followed immediately by breakfast, so it's not a bad deal. Now that he seems to have control over the pooping thing, he's waiting until the absolute last second to go. He really likes the "be a tree" routine, because that buys him another 30 seconds outside everytime he can get me to "be a tree." Smart puppy, but I would gladly give him a couple of minutes to enjoy the yard.

 

[Jige]

How about hooking him to a leash and practice his heeling while you dump the poopbag. You could work on him sitting nice to have the leash put on and going through the gate after you and then you could do a down at the garbage. Then walk at different paces back to the yard and after he sits nice you could remove the leash and toss a ball as a reward.

 

[ozzy'smom]

OMG...I'm sorry but I can't help laughing.

I know they can be frustrating but the image you created with your description is priceless. I'm just imagining what is going on in his mind and how much fun he thinks this "game" is! He probably looks forward to it every day and thinks you're the funnest mom ever!

 

[laprincessa]

OMG...I'm sorry but I can't help laughing.

I know they can be frustrating but the image you created with your description is priceless. I'm just imagining what is going on in his mind and how much fun he thinks this "game" is! He probably looks forward to it every day and thinks you're the funnest mom ever!

It must be a fun thing for them to do, because Max does it every time we go to the field as well. Did I mention that my chiro loves him?

It's my fault when he does it in the field, he's just so excited and happy. The driveway thing, I think he's happy that we're almost home. After the body slam, he grabs the leash and tries to take himself home.