It's all cleaned up now, but holy moly! From now on he is going to be riding in the back with the seats down. It's much safer and easier to clean, but I had all of my stuff from MN with me on the drive back.

This morning we got up early and took an hour walk around town and down to the park. I am trying to keep things simple and not push too much at him all at once so we worked on using the Premack Principle with regard to his insatiable want to pee/sniff trees. I figure if I can get that out of the way, teaching him to LLW is going to be much, much easier. I worked on a combination of "leave it" and treat for leaving it, and then every 5 trees or when he was showing a lot of interest in a tree I would have him sit, then release him to go sniff the tree.

I don't think he understands all that well, mainly because I have issues with consistency and changing criteria during the middle of something. It is definitely one of my biggest faults as a trainer. I need to spend a lot more time before training sessions and walks deciding exactly what I want from him, and then sticking to it. Otherwise there isn't much point in training at all.

He did well, and we sat for a little bit on one of the park benches. I had forgotten how much Frodo loves to run and go crazy in tall or wet grass and I think he nearly ripped my arm out of it's socket a few times! Thank goodness he is in a harness. Next time I will remember to bring the 20ft training lead and use it to my advantage.

This afternoon we also did some mat work from Nan Arthur's book Chill Out Fido. In the early stages it is mostly getting the dog to associate the mat with good things and rewarding for calming behaviors. He did fairly well, though I don't think he has the association down yet. He did lay down on it though and he was calm, though we were in my bedroom, a very boring place.

I am planning on taking him for another stroll tonight and working on the trees before I go to my car meeting.