Moku's Wednesday

Daily CHALLENGE & ACTiViTY Summary

Dog’s name: Moku

Date: Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Physical Fitness

We walked 1.9 miles along the Kern River trail today, and also took our usual nightly neighborhood walk, of .8 miles. Moku swam some, and also ran around the yard after toys (albeit briefly before plopping down to chew on one of them until it was time to go inside).

Cognitive Fitness

Today we worked on retrieves! Sounds like a super simple lesson for a retriever. But interestingly, the process of teaching a dog to retrieve a “still item” works a whole different part of their brain than does throwing something, inciting their prey drive and retrieval instinct. This is more an exercise they need to think about; a cognitive puzzle to solve. My goal was to have Moku picking up items and dropping them in a basket – you know, so he can clean up his own toys someday! But we did not get that far. It occurred to me that Moku and I really hadn’t yet worked at all on retrieves, so we kind of went back to basics. You’ll see more about how the process works in the video. Moku also worked on getting treats out of his cool treat-cube thingy, a good workout for the brain.

Social Fitness

Moku helped Clancy stay calm on our “pack walk of three” today on the Kern River Trail. He acted as a balancing force between Clancy and me, so that Clancy’s nervous pulling was somewhat diffused as the energy passed through Moku-in-the-middle. While Moku certainly has his over-excited moments, he also very sensitive to other dogs’ fear or anxiety, and lends his own calm to help them. These are pack dynamics at the core, and so interesting to watch how one’s behavior changes dependent on the others’. We also pack-walked with Clancy and Ginger later in the evening.

Emotional Fitness

For Moku’s emotional AND primal fitness today, I’d like to refer back to our walk with Clancy. The pack dynamics; the energy adjustment and self-control Moku showed in response to Clancy being nervous in a new situation. These are all definitive of who Moku is as an animal, a dog, a Labrador, and a being made of pure light and love.

Primal Fitness

See “Emotional Fitness”.