Katie’s day starts out just like every other house dog. She gets out of bed, leaving the bone she slept with there, stretches, and heads to the water dish. After drinking, she checks to see if the food fairy left anything in her food dish, then she comes back into the bedroom to see if I am out of bed. This is her normal morning routine. We go outside so she can do her business and check the yard for nightly intruders (rabbits) then back inside for breakfast. On the days that I have computer work to do, she takes her place on the couch and sleeps away the morning. However, on days that we go out to work, she has to be in the working frame of mind from the moment we leave the backdoor till we arrive back home. As with any type of dog training, the basics need to be positively reinforced all the time.
Katie decides to take the day off!
There are days when she just isn’t in the mood to work and wants to stay home. She’ll refuse to get into the vehicle and sits by the backdoor. There have been days where she will go back to bed while I am getting ready and refuse to leave the bedroom. I always make sure she isn’t hurting or sick, then I coax her out with a tennis ball and promises of fun, including the jeep ride. Katie loves jeep rides! During the summer months when I have the windows out of the jeep, there isn’t a day that she doesn’t want to work. If I put snowshoes in the jeep during the winter months, she is right there too. Its mainly the cold, rainy days that she wants to stay home.