next trainer... =)

so i took dandy to a local trainer - wonderful lady!

she evaluated him and said his only real problem is he's not getting enough exercise and i am not enforcing my leadership position enough. basically, i'm the landlady when i should be Goddess.

she's agreed to train him for agility but only after i've really worked on tightening control, improving his recall, and getting his energy levels down to a slow simmer on a consistent basis. keep doing what i'm doing, just do it more.

jobwise, she had reservations about my "garbage retriever" idea (training him to pick up roadside garbage and bring it to a bucket or container). she recommended i train him to pull a cart in the summer and a sled in the winter - it would allow all of us (me, him, my 3yr old daughter, and the cats) to all walk together. as it is, we can't because my daughter is SOOOOO SLOOOOOW and just as distractable as he is that it takes us 20 minutes to move fifteen feet. by then, i'm literally chewing the inside of my cheeks so as not to snap "ffs, MOVE IT!!!!!!!!!" and stifling her natural wonder at the manifest beauty of mother nature or some such crunchy hoo.

w00t!