Zooka's 11th month of life (March 2020) was a lot less snowy than last month. I much prefer it, but I am sure Zooka misses the snow!

So we had some pretty nice weather for getting out on our regular walks. He loves the walks regardless of snow or sun. As long as there is the potential for bunnies. Those are his favorite!

He has actually been doing better on his walks than he was last month. He had been getting a bit TOO interested in bunny hunting and less interested in tuning in with his momma. While he still is very bunny-oriented, he definitely has done much better at tuning in as he had been doing previously.

We are still trying to learn that we do NOT get to chase bunnies when we are on the long line. That one is clearly going to be a long term project. When he does lose focus on me, I wait him out. Much as I do if he's pulling on leash for any other reason. But when I am competing with bunnies, I have to be a LOT more patient.

We are still working on diminishing the desire to chase cars. He has been doing better, but he is definitely not past this phase yet. Most days I can keep his focus or I can see him thinking about it but he chooses to resist on his own. But there have been a couple of times he has take off in the direction of the car. It never appears to be an actual desire to “chase” the car but more like a desire to “run alongside” if that makes sense.

He's never close enough to test my theory, of course, I would never put him any danger. But when he does run, it's usually parallel to the road and not toward it. Though most times, even if he does start off in that direction, I can redirect it.

When I say “This way” he knows I am changing direction and want him to change direction with me. He is pretty solid on this. So when he starts off in the direction the car is going, if I say, “this way!” he almost always quickly turns and comes back in my direction.

This month was when the coronavirus (Covid-19) took off and when people started to stay home more and go out less. So we got in a few outings before things started to shut down.

Before that happened, we had a trip to the outlet mall near us. He always struggles walking from store to store there – he gets easily overstimulated in that environment with so much going on. Typically, though, he is very good once IN the stores.

This particular visit to the mall, however, Zooka appeared to forget that we had ever in our lives WAITED AT DOORWAYS. Since he was a very young pup, we have worked on door manners. Since he was nine weeks old. And he's awesome at it.

Well, up until that particular day. Normally at home, he sits and waits and looks at me at the door without me ever having to say anything. It's just routine. Normally, when out in public locations, I usually have to remind him to Sit and Wait. Which is ok for now. But on this day, oh my! It was a struggle like we have never had before.

He did NOT want to sit at any door going in or out. And he did not want to check in with me at all at the doorways. Wow, it was a struggle. I still expected him to sit and wait, but I did lower my expectations from our norm. I had to or we were going exactly nowhere.

I will still maintain my expectations for the long run, but during adolescence, I am not afraid to adapt my expectations temporarily if I see a dog is really struggling with doing what I want. I don't eliminate the expectation, but I will lower it sometimes.

We started our next round of Polite Pooches in Public in March also, so we met at Redstone Park for this session. He did about the same as he had been doing in settings like this. Not great but not horrible. That's ok, we just need to keep working at it more.

Right after that class is when we in Colorado got our “stay-at-home” order from the Governor. So, Polite Pooches and our public training is put on hold for now.

We continued our training at home. You might recall last month we began working on Around. Zooka is doing terrific with Around (me) so we began moving back to going around an object. We have used a chair and a vacuum cleaner so far. He does quite well when I am within a couple of feet of the object. If I try from more like five feet away, he can't do it yet. We will keep in closer and work up to it.

We have also been working on doing more distance work outside. Things like Down from a distance when we are out in the field. Wait when he is in motion up ahead of me. We are getting going on more of this now, but will do more of this next month.

Before our stay-at-home order went into place, and all of our boarding dogs had to cancel since no one is traveling, we managed to get some good play dates and good play with boarding dogs in. Zooka LOVES having friends to play with. And we love it because it helps burn that teenage energy! He continues to play very well with others.

Toward the end of this month is when we picked up our new foster dog, a Greyhound with Colorado Greyhound Adoption. His name is Presley, and he's a little shy of four years old. We heard rumors that he was a wild child, so we were hoping he would be a good fit for Zooka.

Let's just say that Zooka has been disappointed with his foster brother. Try as he might, it's very difficult to get this Greyhound to play with him. Zooka tries, but mostly Presley just walks away or ignores him. While Zooka is disappointed, it is a good lesson for him in learning that not EVERY dog wants to play with you. At least Presley is mostly polite about declining Zooka's invitations to play.

If you have been following Zooka's journey, you might recall a blog post dedicated to burying objects. The first time we saw this behavior was when he was around 5.5 months old. We are now seeing a new variation of this. Previously, he has on occasion buried an object in the ground outside. Now he has moved indoors.

We normally give Zooka something to do in the evening after dinner. Sometimes he gets a frozen stuffed Kong. Sometimes we give him some food dispensing puzzle toys. Often times we give him a bully stick to chew on. When he was younger, he could not finish off a bully stick in one sitting. But those days are long past. Normally he finishes off a bully stick in the evening.

But one evening he did not finish his bully stick. And he decided to save it for later. Since there is no dirt to dig up and bury objects in when you are in the house (do not tell Zooka about house plants, please) you have to get creative.

Zooka first tried to “bury” the remainder of his bully stick against the wall under one of his toys. He then tried burying it under some furniture. Then between his dog bed and the couch. Finally, he settled on a spot against the wall and behind the floor lamp in the other room. He apparently decided the living room where we were sitting just wasn't going to cut it. And there he left it.

Until the next morning. Zooka was working for his breakfast in what I call our “training room” which is also the main room where you enter when you come to our house. Where boarding dogs arrive and depart from. Where boarding dogs tend to hang out and play during the day if they don't want to be outside. Where we do lots of our training since that room gives us the most space to move around.

About halfway through his breakfast, he went over to the lamp, pulled out his bully stick (we did not actually know it was there until that moment) and left. He never did come back for the rest of his breakfast that morning.

Since then he has “buried” his bully stick leftovers a couple of other times. One time he decided he was going to bury it. . . in my lap and under my laptop while I was sitting on the couch doing some work. Not sure how he thought that was a good idea, but I do appreciate that he thought burying it in my lap was a trusted location.

This boy does keep us entertained!

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