Day 8: The reason my dogs hate me

Jan 10 2011 . . . I thought I had things kinda under control with the keeper dog. Generally obedient, doesn't bite the pizza guy and things like that. Then we started raising puppies for Canine Companions for Independence and we saw a need to change a couple of things.

Think about it for just a sec. A service dog has an important job to do and can't be distracted from the task at hand. If a person with a service dog chooses to have a relaxing meal at their favorite diner, well the dog certainly can't be hoovering the carpet all the way to the table, right?

So the most basic of dog brain concepts (if it's on the floor, it's mine), is out.  Here are the boys, Jager on left and Micron on right, ignoring a tasty treat under their noses. No lines of drool between snout and floor. That's not for them and they both know it. Actually, I'll take those biscuits away and set them aside.  They will get a reward, but not the Iams biscuits on the floor.

I had another shot sometime back that I shared on a social network. In this one, the dogs were ignoring treats that were resting on their paws. One of my friends so kindly captioned it "why dogs bite their owners."