Rhody Was Here For A Week!

Remember me introducing you to Rhody? The service-dog-in-training who is spending weekends with us? He recently spent a whole week with us as his trainers were busy off-site, and rather than let Rhody stay in kennels and get bored, he came to stay with us.

here he is making his “please can I come inside now” face

We did lots of obedience work during the week – sit, down, wait, stand, off – as well as behavioural conditioning to try and break some of his bad habits! 🙂
He’s a bit of a counter-surfer, meaning he will put his front feet on a table or kitchen counter to see whats up there, and help himself to anything edible if he gets the chance.
He’s also a bit of a bin-hound, and the lid of my kitchen dustbin is now completely broken after Rhody pulled it over and emptied it out twice!
We’ve put a bit of fencing around the pond to keep him out, and if we see him heading for it he gets a stern “NO!” and immediately changes direction.
House training has vastly improved and we only had one accident the whole week!

When he was donated he was a bit overweight, but he’s down to his proper weight for his size and can now get a normal food ration for his twice daily meals, and he is doing the mealtime “sit – wait” so well!

We discovered – when my family came to visit – that Rhody has a real soft spot for children. He literally fell asleep with my almost 7 month old nephew sitting on top of him!

Car travel is a bit of a challenge as he was never taught to ride in the front passenger street footwell. We start out our trips with him in the footwell, after a bit of a struggle, but he doesn’t stay there and its hard to wrestle with him whilst i’m driving which means he either stays seated on the front seat or I manage to pull his lead through the seats and onto the back seat.

He’s a good boy, and he learns really fast. His “high five” is perfect and we’re working on “roll over” now too.

Ooh, and before I forget, he gets on really well with other dogs and is quick to try and get a game started, and he and our puppy-in-training Lennox often snuggle together!

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