Wednesday, March 04, 2009

So Much For That

Who doesn't know that we have a new puppy? Raise your hands. OK.. you people have to leave.

Just kidding.

When we got our Hannah Banana puppy almost 4 weeks ago (holy cow.. four weeks??) we were determined to start out right away teaching her to behave and follow simple commands. Sit, lay down, heel, don't eat my plants.. those kinds of things.

Although both me and hubby are firm believers in never letting a dog run loose, we know there may come a time when she manages to wriggle her way off the leash. (Alright.. we do take her out to play catch almost every day. Minus the leash.)

I want her to know that cars are BAD things. Cars do NOT mean run out in the road. With this in mind I came up with something to teach her when we go out for walks. Whenever a car approaches, I stop walking and tell her to sit. After the car passes, I give her a treat and we continue walking. My thinking is she will come to associate an approaching car with sitting down and waiting for it to pass.

Today we were out walking along the roads in back of my apartment complex where new houses are being built. I see a FedEx truck coming so I stop and tell Hannah to sit. The truck driver waves and since I'm a nice person I wave back.

He pulls his truck to the side of the road and hops out. It's at that point that I recognize him from last week. He'd stopped to deliver a package at our building and paused a moment to oh and ah over Hannah as we were leaving to begin a walk.

So.. today he walks over to where we are by the side of the road, gives Hannah all kinds of attention.. and gives her a dog biscuit.

So now, YIPPEE, cars mean attention and treats!!!!

So much for that idea. *Laugh*

9 comments:

Misty DawnS said...

That's a really good idea! My dad does the same thing with Matouk. You've done great with her so far. But, I can tell you are starving the poor banana - she's withering away to nothing ;-P

I must admit, if I see the Fedex or UPS truck, I get excited too :-P

Has it REALLY been 4 weeks already??? Geesh!

Anonymous said...

Oh boy! The best laid plans.....

Fedex guy probably treats doggies so they will learn to like him and not try to bite his butt when he comes to the door with a package. :-)

Queen-Size funny bone said...

Bad FED EX MAN. BAD BAD

Barb said...

Misty: Sit. Stay.

Tootie: Hannah would only lick him to death. :)

Queen: Exactly! LOL!

Carolina said...

Great idea. As long as you don't walk or live anywhere near a busy road. You will not get far if every car means 'sit', her butt will never leave the pavement then ;-)

Jeni said...

Hmmm. This post reminds me that I gave Hannah Rose an award a couple posts back -the "Scrap Award" -and forgot to notify folks about it. Duh! Senility factors again, ya know.

Barb said...

Carolina: The city where we live is kind of a spill over from the very congested Detroit.. even though we're at least half an hour away from it. But the part near our apartment complex and where I walk doesn't have much traffic.

Jeni: It's not senility. It's selective thinking. ;)

Tricia said...

We've taught our border collie to sit for passing cars, of course all bets are off if there is a ball involved. And our FedEx and DHL guys are nice; but our UPS man has a love affair going with our dog and has been known to stop by with treats even when we don't have a package. As much as Pepeu loves our UPS man he won't run out in the road to see him because he has receive reinforcement from Mr. UPS that it is unacceptable to go into the road. Hannah should do just fine as long as you keep up the training on your end.

Tabbikat's Thoughts

Barb said...

Tricia: Hurray for understanding UPS guys!