barry581 (04-13-2019), coopersmom (04-22-2019), hunter (04-21-2019), Jen5200 (04-13-2019), Jollymolly (04-14-2019), SamsonsMom (04-13-2019), Snowshoe (04-14-2019), SunDance (04-13-2019), Wwwoodchuck (04-24-2019), zd262 (04-13-2019)
I took the boys out for a hike this morning. About 6 miles round trip in off-leash friendly BLM wilderness area near me called the Oregon Badlands. We hiked out to Badlands Rock, a big outcropping of volcanic jumbles. Thor can hike a lot farther but this is about as far as I'll take Barley since he's just a year old. Soft sandy soil for good paw conditioning, too.
I've been working with Barley on his off leash recall. Barley is a much bolder and independent dog than Thor and he has no problem running off to explore on his own. He's also not as food driven as many labs. The distraction is usually a much bigger reward than even the best treat. But you know what he loves more than anything else? Fetch. So I've started carrying some balls along on our hikes and instead of treats he gets a quick toss of the ball. His recall is nearly 100% since I made the switch. We usually just walk the BLM land behind our property so I wanted a change of scenery/change of smells to see if other things might distract him. There was a huge population of butterflies coming through this morning and that was all new to him, it was hilarious watching him bounce after one butterfly after another. They provided a perfect new distraction to work with. I'm super proud to say he was 100% on recall today, whether the distraction was a butterfly, another dog, people, or fresh horse poop (ew).
We encountered a woman on the trail who declared Thor and Barley to be the "two happiest dogs she had ever met." That made me happy too.
Thor and Barley boldly leading the way.
Come on! Stop taking photos and catch up mom!
Posing for smiles in front of Badlands Rock
Barley, as usual, tries to find the biggest stick he can carry. Then I tell him to leave it and he spends the next half mile huffing and giving me the stink eye.
Approximately 30 seconds after we got home:
barry581 (04-13-2019), coopersmom (04-22-2019), hunter (04-21-2019), Jen5200 (04-13-2019), Jollymolly (04-14-2019), SamsonsMom (04-13-2019), Snowshoe (04-14-2019), SunDance (04-13-2019), Wwwoodchuck (04-24-2019), zd262 (04-13-2019)
These two are awesome!
I think Brooks is more fetch motivated than food motivated too. Tennis ball, frisbee, bumper, Dokken, real duck. Doesn't matter as long as he gets to retrieve it!
MightyThor (04-13-2019)
Yep! I've realized my two have very different emergency recalls. Thor's is "who wants a cookie?" and Barley's is just "Ball!"
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