Zinnia is so big and calm that sometimes I forget she’s still a puppy. So when she does act like a wild thing sometimes I need to be reminded that training never stops when you have dogs. It’s not a straight line.
This morning I took some treats with me when I let the sheep and donkeys out into the pasture to graze.
Zinnia has been running wildly through the sheep and into Fate as Fate makes her twice daily circles around the flock. It throws everyone off when she does this.
One of the good things about Zinnia (and there are many) is that she is incredibly responsive to food. She would even rather eat than run through the mud. So this morning I had her lay down and stay while Fate got her morning run and fulfilled her Border Collie obsession of circling the sheep.
At first Zinnia took off after Fate but after a few tiny training treats reinforcing her to “stay”, that’s just what she did.
And she didn’t seem to mind at all. Actually she preferred laying down and getting treats to chasing Fate.
And Fate preferred it too.
