When she took Ari swimming yesterday, the lady who takes him in the pool was telling my Mistress about a seminar she went to recently. The lady was using her own dog as an example of what can be done with training. This dog did not have normal meals, but had to earn all his food by doing what was commanded. You can see what\u2019s coming can\u2019t you? And Ari is not going to like it. He is not especially food driven and my Mistress had already worked out that if he was getting treats for his training she was going to need to cut down his main meals as otherwise he is going to put on weight. Well from today, my Mistress has decided to go half way. Ari is not going to have breakfast. Now don\u2019t get me wrong, he\u2019s not being starved. He will have all his usual food through the course of the morning but he will receive it in response to doing as commanded. My Mistress says she will start with the basic commands he knows, sit, lie down, stay, wait, come, heel, leave, touch, tap and up and then add in the additional things he has to learn little by little. Apparently he is going to learn \u2018quiet\u2019 which is one we\u2019ll all applaud. Then he is going to learn his right and left turns, be refreshed on twist and twirl and move on to learning some useful things around the house. His first job will be to learn to bring a blanket to my Mistress when she is ill and cold. She has vertigo and often finds if she has an attack that she is also very cold and at those times is not in a position to do anything about it. She also want to teach him to fetch the phone and a bottle of water. You might ask why she hasn\u2019t taught me all those things, but I\u2019m just not that sort of a dog. Ari does pick things up quickly and he needs to work more than I do. I\u2019m happy to just read a book or sit quietly, but he needs to be doing something.<\/p>\n
Alfie\u2019s Diary \u2013 the Book is available at Amazon UK –https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/dp\/B00583ZGSA<\/a><\/p>\n You can find short stories to read at www.alfiedog.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"