Sunny At Six Months Old

I had a friend lay a trail for Sunny this morning, and after letting it age around 45 minutes, I walked Sunny over to the start point. When we were about 20 yards away from where my friend dropped his scent article, Sunny picked up the scent and was ready to go. I had to hold him back to adjust the lead. The moment I said, "Go to work," he was off. He went a ways then stopped and looked back at me. I didn't move or say anything. He then wanted to play with me, which is what we do on our walks, but this wasn't a walk. He needed to work. After doing this two times, he figured out he just needed to keep his nose to the ground and stay on trail.

The trail ended up being about a quarter mile, with a turn to the right. No cookies were laid out for Sunny to find. The trail was simply following the scent to the end point, which was a toy Sunny likes. He found his toy without any trouble. I threw the toy for him, giving him lots of praise and pets and treats. On the walk home, he stayed in heel, looking up at me like, "I did good, didn't I?" He did. It wasn't just good -- it was great.

I'm really excited to see how much more he improves over the next few months. I see such growth in his obedience work, which makes our walks so enjoyable. We have a lot of fun on our walks. There are piles of dirt, concrete chunks, and asphalt behind the maintenance building that he loves to climb. There are field tiles he loves to walk through and jump over. The other day, he jumped onto a concrete retaining wall that might be three inches wide and balanced as he sat. I was stunned. I thought he would walk the wall, but he showed me he is also able to perch like a bird. 

Tomorrow I think I'll take Sunny somewhere he's never been to run a trail. Maybe I can get Angel Baby to go with me to be the runner who sets the trail. Maybe I can bribe him with a Chinese lunch. 


My Sweet Cuddle Buddy






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