Here is a cute story (well, i think it's cute) about my dog, Buddy.
Buddy has an ongoing, off and on, fear of leaving our deck to go out onto the grass. If we work with him, he gets past it, and can trot off the deck, out onto the lawn, all by his brave self.....
..........but, sooner or later, he defaults back into "I better stay up here on the deck..." It's sad, he will sit there on the deck forever, even if he has to pee really bad, afraid to go out onto the lawn...
So, in the winter especially, we found out, we can throw a toy out there into the yard, and he'll follow the toy out onto the lawn. {See, once he is OUT THERE, he is fine, and goes about his business, even plays around, it's justs getting
through his invisible 'wall' at the edge of the deck...}
Then,
when Buddy comes back in, i always point out into yard, and say, "Get the toy!" or "Get Barney" <----if he knows name of the toy we had just thrown out there), and Buddy runs back out, gets the toy that was thrown, and brings it back into the house. sometimes it takes him a lil while to find it, if he'd been out there for a while....
So, one time, Craig let him out, and just picked up a snowball, and
threw the snowball out into the lawn for Buddy to chase after, to get through his "invisible wall", see?
So Buddy chased after
the snowball, got out onto the lawn, and now he is fine, and goes around the yard.
I let Buddy in
, but, i did *not* ask Buddy to go retrieve his toy, cuz, i knew Craig had only thrown a snowball.
BUT, -------
--HERE COMES THE FUNNY PART------------out of
habit, Buddy came up to door, and paused, thinking...and turned around and headed back out into yard....Buddy got out into yard, and stopped, looking around,
funniest expresssion on his face, trying to remember what TOY he was supposed to bring back in.....
then, cute as a bell, he got this look on his face, like, "
Oh! Oh! i know!" and
BIT A CHUNK OF SNOW, and came in, looking so proud, with a snowball in his mouth!!!!!
