Carmie Goes "Off-Leash"

Next on the agenda for the Onion is a solid recall. I forget she is not my dog and hasn't had all of the experiences Ike has. Today my in-laws and I took Carmen, Ike, evil-Joey, and Monty to the Bradley Estate.

Carmen is bloody fast, but she doesn't recognize her name! Swear to gods. The first time I called for her, she stopped and kind of looked at me. Meanwhile Monty and Ike are doing perfect sits in front of me - "Don't you see how quick we came?" So I treated them and then Carmen came. Okay.

Onward....next time I called her I got down on my knees and leaned slightly back. She came flying. My FIL wanted to put her back on leash (i.e. start holding the leash because it was never off her) but I wanted to continue to reinforce that when she came she could keep playing. So, we repeated this the entire walk. By the half-hour mark she seemed to more or less grasp what was going on.

So, two major things to work on with Carmen are the Name-Game and Recalls. Name-Game is toss a cookie, as the dog is chomping it say their name. Eye contact will equal another cookie. This is a puppy game, but Carmie obviously doesn't know her name means look at Julie! or the human who is calling.

Ike had very nice recalls throughout the walk and really seems to enjoy running with Monty and Carmen.