Moku's A Ball-Rolling Fool!

Daily CHALLENGE & ACTiViTY Summary

Dog’s name: Moku

Date: Thursday, November 19, 2015

Physical Fitness

As soon as Moku and I arrived at my house, we headed out on a pack walk around the neighborhood. We went the typical .8 miles and some change, because we looped around the fence to the elementary school while doing a little desensitization exercise with squealing 1st through 5th graders on the blacktop during recess. Moku swam when we arrived home. I also tried to incorporate some physical “ups and downs” into his cognitive exercise. Meaning, he kept laying down, so I created situations in which he had to get up to go get a ball or a (2 calorie) treat, so that we weren’t just working in a tiny radius around Moku’s static body.

Cognitive Fitness

We had fun in this arena today! We worked some more on the “drop it” concept/action, which we elevated to having Moku drop the ball into a little soft-sided toy bin. You’ll see and hear all the details of how this played out in the video. You will also see the even more fun training game we played next, which was to begin teaching Moku to roll a ball to me. I would explain more here, but I think you will really enjoy watching the process unfold in the video.

Social Fitness

We were quite reclusive today, to be honest. Moku’s friendship with Clancy does continue to grow, which is fantastic. Moku is with me in my room for a lot of the day, but we take play breaks (in between napping, exercising, outings and training) during which Clancy and Moku bounce around, and lay next to each other happily munching on Nylabones or various toys. Otherwise, Moku and I just had some private, quiet time together, aside from our walk. I did consciously reflect today on how my bond with Moku has grown, and how well we’ve learned to communicate. Certainly, we have our frustrating moments. But they are learning experiences (for both of us, I hope). And in the end even the hurdles make me love Moku all the more.

Emotional Fitness

Here, we worked on what Bonnie Bergin would refer to as “synchronization”. Or, as Cesar Millan would remind us as a preface to the exercise, “Dogs are our mirrors, but do we dare look into their eyes and see our reflections?”

When we arrive at my house (or anywhere else we happen to be going in the car), Moku’s excitement level skyrockets. He gets whiny, and I’m sure feels like if he doesn’t get out of the car and into the house within one second, he might burst! Well…my Dad might interject here, a favorite line/theme from his favorite book, Stranger in a Strange Land, which is that “Waiting is fullness”. Very Zen concept, which I interpret, dog-training style, into what I always note are exercises in self-control. In other words, waiting builds character. Things are more worthwhile when you have to exercise patience in order to attain them. And when not everything in life comes to you by way of instant gratification, you become stronger, more appreciative of what you have, and better able to work toward bigger goals that are the result of having achieved smaller ones.

Now, am I suggesting that Moku contemplates all of this philosophical jibber-jabber while aching to hop out of the car and through the front door, on the other side of which waits his buddy Clancy, ready to play? No. But I do believe the same principles “sink in” when practiced by dogs, (when the practice of them is required by the people in their lives), and becomes a part of their learning process…and in fact, their way of being in their own skin and in the world.

Primal Fitness

Like the Labrador that he is, Moku swam in the pool, even though the air temperature was super-chilly, and the water temperature even chillier. It felt great to him; it was refreshing after a swift jaunt around the big block. We also worked on retrieves, which – obviously – is a primally-wired activity for a Labrador retriever!