Good boy, Tristan!

Tristan and I achieved another milestone today. As Tristan and I started onto the field for our protection work doing obedience, I asked the trainer when Tristan and I would start doing regular protection work again. He said we'd do it when I could heel Tristan onto and around the field by myself with no help and when Tristan was quiet and paid attention to me the whole time. Done! I looked down at Tristan, told him it was time to show the trainer our stuff so he could do more of his favorite protection work and off we went.

It was as though Tristan really understood. We heeled around the field, Tristan kept looking up at me and we did really well all by ourselves. I'm really proud of both Tristan and myself for getting to this stage. Although it's been a bit tedious, it's actually been a really important exercise for Tristan and I. I learned to make Tristan obey me and to heel properly and he finally "got" obedience from it.

At the end the trainer had Tristan take some direct bites on the sleeve without worrying about proper obedience. It is to work on Tristan's form. He's started to put his front feet out to brace himself against the helper when taking a bite. This started recently after the helper inadvertently blocked Tristan during a bite rather than following through with the sleeve. The trainer spotted it and wants to stop it before it becomes a habit.

Final note for today - Was he smart or disobedient? At the end of training today, I threw Tristan his ball so he could have a nice romp. After a bit, instead of coming back to me, he ran to the car and was ready to get in. It was definitely his signal that he was done. I did make him come back to me, although he was a bit reluctant, because I want him to know he has to come when I call. But I felt very empathetic because I know Tristan was just trying to tell me he was tired and wanted to go home. Too bad dogs can't just tell us what they want especially after being such a good dog today.