"Roll Over" and "Stay"

 So our training has kind of leveled off.  He's good at the following commands:

• Sit - Hand held in a fist lifted up in front of you.
  
  

  

  I love taking a short break
  during my work day to
  just chill on the 
  tramp with Jack. Throw the ball
  a few time, and take a quick
  pee break and get back to work.

• Lay Down - arm lifted up with hand held out laying flat. Give the command while lowering the hand.
• When ever we work on "Bring it" after he gives it to me, I make him "Lay Down" in order to throw it again.  Now I don't even have to issue that command, he knows that's the next step and will often go straight to a laying down position so he can go run for his ball/toy again.
• Go get it - Given when throwing a toy/ball for him to go get.  As soon as he gets it in his mouth, issue the Bring it command:
• Bring it - Issue this command if he has something in his mouth. To get him to bring it to you.
• Same as "fetch". I just prefer the word Bring it.
• Drop it
• Circling pointed finger at the location below you where you want him to put it.
• Hands - Hand held out flat ready to accept the ball/toy to be placed there.
•  When I want him to put the ball in my hands instead of drop it.
• Find it
• I'll use this on a variety of objects which I'm getting him to associate the various scents with. He will go into high alert with this command and go find the ball/bird/toy he may think you mean (unless you show him prior to hiding it).
• Where's your duck?
• His tail and his ears will perk up. He could be dead asleep and if he hears this, he's instantly alert and runs around looking for his duck toy.
• Get in your bedroom
• Signal to go get in his little bedroom hidden near my office.
• Let's go on a walk
• I do this one right before going on a walk mostly for me to see him get all excited right before we go.
• Go Pee
• He's still working on this one.  If it's late at night and dark out back, I'll go show him what I mean. He'll give my mark a good sniff and leave his own right there too.  What a good boy.
• Come, Wait, Stay
• Sometimes I'll let him come with me out the front porch.  As soon as I open the door and walk out, I'll hold it open and say "Come" and he'll come out.  As soon as he actually gets through the door I'll say "Wait!".  He'll wait at the top of the stairs while I shut the door behid him.  Then I'll go down the stair while he waits.  
• I'll walk away form the porch and turn around, point at him and sternly say "Stay!".  At which point I'll go get the mail and watch behind me to make sure he isn't getting naughty. Which he's been naughty his first 5 or so sessions.  But he's to the point now where he will stay while I walk all the way to the mailbox, get the mail and come back. 
• Come!
• I will then reward his patience with a very encouraging from, while I pat my knee getting him excited to come to me after he was so disciplined. I'll give him all the love in the world for doing that flawlessly which he is getting much more consistent at.

I figured it would be nice to teach him a new skill, even if it's not super useful.  So I thought we'd work on "Roll Over".

I showed the boys what kind of build up we needed to get to that point.

He ran this trail with so much energy. It was nice
to let him just go.  He did good about 

1. Sit - Fist held up with a bent elbow 
2. Lay down - flat hand motioning downward
3. Roll Over - Make a fist and roll it in a clockwise circle.  

He will only roll to his left, which is the direction I'm rolling with my hand. I'm ok with that.  I'll make sure that when we start the series of commands that he's in a position where he can roll to his left without any obstructions.  It only took a couple days of practice before he's pretty good at it.  

Jack enjoying the little bear river trail in Mendon

I think he's pretty stubborn at times because he knows what he needs to do, but sometimes will hesitate.  So I won't give him his treat unless he complies.  He needs to know that he won't get his way doing a "half butt" job.

Jack joined me and the boys at the aid station
for the Logan Marathon which Cathi ran.
Jack loved the Little Bear River Site we were
stationed at.

Limber Tail Syndrome

 So this past month we went up to Logan for supporting Cathi at the Logan Marathon. We took Jack with us and he enjoyed the Logan river.  There are occasionally birds along the waters edge and he'll love chasing them trying to catch them.  He'll wade in the water and he seemed to enjoy it thoroughly.  

Jack giving Sam some love

The day after coming back I noticed his tail tucked under his legs almost all the time, even when we would play fetch, etc.  It was as if he had damaged his tail somehow, like it was seriously limp and wasn't wagging at all, even when it should be going nuts normally for something fun we would do.

I was getting worried.  I texted Makenzie about it and she had no idea.  I was on the verge of calling the vet for an appointment.  But I thought I'd do some google searching.  Sure enough I got the right keywords and found this:

Limber Tail Syndrome

Just look at that tail. He's on high alert
trying to catch those birds.

J

Oh my gosh! This makes so much sense! It's caused by cold water.  Cold water that damages the muscle/nerves in the tail which is temporary.  We just got back from Logan, and he got his tail under the water a few times. And that was some cold water.  I know cause I was gonna go for a swim actually.  I'm pretty
cold water tolerant, but when I got up to my waist I realized it wasn't gonna be a long swim, maybe a couple minutes.  It was in the high 40's I'm guessing.  

Sure enough about 4 days later his tail was back to normal. But it was quite troubling seeing him in that state.  A dog without a tail (to me), just isn't a dog.  I've had a Bulldog and a Cocker Spaniel before with little knobs for tails.  They just aren't the same.

Jack has a Fitbark device on
his collar that tracks how 
many steps he takes.
This little guy got in over nearly
15 miles of running on Satuday
when we were in Logan.