Today was a pretty low-key day, partially because of work, but largely because it's back up over 90 degrees again and, well, ugh. For breakfast we worked on holding an object again. Jedi is still looking for something else to offer in addition to holding the rubber bone. Today, though, because the big disc wasn't there he ended up doing a lot of the pee trick while he held the bone. By the end, though, he was starting to settle down and offer less movement while he held. During post food playtime we got some great turns around the cone in both directions. For lunch we went downstairs and played on the donut and then the paw pods.
I strongly debated taking Jedi swimming before class tonight to wear him out a bit. The only activity he had all day was playing with the hose after lunch. I thought about taking him to the boat dock at Neshonoc to practice jumping in a new location, but ultimately I decided I didn't want to be gross and sweaty for class. Instead I opted to get to class about a half hour early and wear Jedi out with some play time. We played with sends around the posts as well as full turns -- this was the first time I asked for nanana in a new place and Jedi struggled at first, but he worked it out. I introduced a new challenge tonight by asking Jedi to engage with me/offer a behavior with the toy off to the side, ignoring the toy until released. I asked for minor, short behaviors and this was a struggle for Jedi at first. He had some successes, but this is something we'll have to continue to work on.
Jedi got in about 15 minutes of play before class. I left us plenty of time to go out for a potty break, and when we came back inside the other puppies started to arrive and it was time to play with them. Jedi did well during playtime with this group tonight. He continues to get a bit humpy with some of them, but for the most part he played nicely tonight. Considering that Jedi will be 5 months old in a few days and be almost 6 months when the next classes start, this will be his last session of attending puppy classes. He's lucky we're doubled up right now, and he's enjoying getting in as much play time as possible while he can. I'll have to think about whether or not he'll get to come along and work on observer manners for future classes, as his behavior in a crate right now during class is less than optimal.
Jedi did well in class tonight until a point near the end when the toller puppy got to a point that Jedi deemed "too close" to his food and toy pile. I move him around to the other side of my body and redirect him. The second time this happened the little snot bit my hand out of frustration, so he quickly got reprimanded and shoved in the crate (and then the blockade put up so that he couldn't see anything). The barking started then -- I couldn't find the water bottle (and heck, it didn't do much last time), but there was a can of compressed air or something there and I sprayed it at the crate when Jedi barked. This was quite effective! I only had to do it twice. Even his barking during the recalls was better than usual.
We didn't putter around after class tonight since Jedi had gotten his play time in beforehand. Jedi finished his food at class, so he got a smaller second dinner while the other dogs ate theirs. Because it was a small amount I knew there was no point in giving it to him in the crate (it would have been gone immediately), so we went outside and did a couple of teeter slams to pass the time until the other dogs finished their food. Jedi entertained himself after dinner by running laps around the yard while Kizzy barked at him from the deck.
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