Most of the time, Blondie kept me from freaking out about being single. She needed me and that felt good. She obviously had not been allowed on any furniture in her previous
home. I had to teach her that it was okay to sit with me on the couch and sleep with me
in my bed. She was so beautiful that just
watching her move from the couch to the floor took my mind off my
problems. She would gracefully put her front paws on the ground first
and then step down softly.
Teaching her was fun. I used food to mark any new behavior I
wanted, which I later learned was a form of dog training based upon the reward
based method. Blondie's favorite reward was turkey, all kinds of turkey; white meat, dark meat,
roasted, honey based, grilled, fried, oven baked, bbq-ed, free range or frozen,
sliced, cubed or even turkey salad. If I really wanted to drive her wild, all I
needed to do was put a turkey in the oven. As the smell permeated my apartment, Blondie sat in front of the oven just watching and waiting, her nose turned up sniffing the air in ecstasy.
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