Club Hudson

One of the things I like best about Belle's visits to other foster homes is the new skills she picks up. Her most recent advancement comes in an area that is taught early on in the Perfect Puppy - "Wait" before going through doors.

Now some of you may be thinking, "why is Belle just learning this now if it was taught in Perfect Puppy?" Well, the truth is, I'm still learning how to generalize some of the skills that we learned. In my own defense, I'm going to fall back on my old standby - Belle's the first dog I've ever had. And training isn't a natural "instinct" for me. But that's what is so cool about the way Helping Paws has us handle vacations and other absences from home. Even for those who are naturals at this training business, we can always learn something new from our fellow fosters. In this case, Cathy's solution for Belle's rushing the door when it was time to go out, was using that oldest of cues, "wait". Not at the door, where I was doing it - but back about five feet from the door. (Can you hear the lights and whistles finally going off in my head?)

As Joe used to tease me whenever I had similar "doh" moments, I can be taught!