Leaps and Bounds

Well, I've been feeling neglectful of the blog, but when I walked into the bedroom to find that Mojo had gotten up on the bed by himself, I knew it was time to report in.

Every once in awhile, we've wanted Mojo to come up on the bed just to hang out with us and get some hands-on attention.  He seemed to like it once he got up there ... but getting him UP there was always interesting, because he wasn't buying in to the concept at all.

Jay can pick him up, I can't.  So for me to get him up on the bed took a 4-step approach:

1. Get under his armpits and lift up his front half while he manages to look utterly bored.
2. Scooch him over to the end of the bed while he cooperates not one whit.
3. Get his front legs onto the surface of the bed.
4. Get under his bottom and hope he'll put in a little effort at this point.

Once there, Mojo would be in hog heaven, and I use the word "hog" deliberately, because somehow, this 75-pound dog manages to consume an entire King bed.  No matter how many times he is swiveled to run north and south, within two stretches he's gone east and west and Jay and I are pretty much half on the bed and half out of covers.

Anyway, to have him so close, to watch him relax into us and even sleep so deeply that he would dream (and kick!) has been really nice.  We just wished he would initiate this kind of companionship himself.  We thought he didn't know how to get up on his own!

So imagine my surprise when I walked into the bedroom after work this afternoon to find His Highness curled up smack in the middle of the bed. 

It kind of makes us wonder ... what else does he know how to do that he's not telling us?!

In other news, we've found a toy that Mojo loves and now he engages in games of keep-away and tug-of-war with it.  I'd like to include fetch in that, but he's not bringing it back.  He'll go get it (most of the time), but forgets what he was supposed to do and wander off.  That's alright ... at least he's up for the game!

To Nap, Perchance to Dream ...

It's been a busy day around Casa Mojo:

Jay mowed the front 40 and the back 40 once it looked like the rain was going to hold off, and we're hosting our couple's Bible study tonight so there was some house cleaning to do, as well.  ("Clean" is a relative term here; when measured against many of the hoarder houses we work on in our business, it is clean.  Measured against any other standards, probably not so much.  The housekeeping gene my mom had clearly has skipped a generation.)

Anyway, moving the furniture around to add a few more seats in the living room put Mojo in a real tizzy.  He is a creature of habit, and builds them one very slow step at a time.  There is one place he lays down in the living room, and if that gets altered, he is perplexed and simply cannot decide what to do.  He kept coming out to look at the room, clearly willing it to be back the way it was.  Even though his spot is really not altered, the layout of the other furniture pieces is.  There has been a great deal of pacing on his part trying to work out his options.

As you can see, the option he has gone with is one Jay suggested: to hang out on the bed with him for a bit of a nap before company comes.

He won't jump up on the bed by himself (although after watching him jump into the van at obedience school, it would seem that logistically he could do it), but he will jump off.  And even when he is sleeping up on the bed, his breathing is very quick and and he doesn't go into a deep sleep.  I'm sitting at the edge of the bed typing this, and if I so much as move my foot on the floor, his eyes pop open.  It took about 10 pictures before I could catch him with his eyes closed (or close to it) because he was constantly checking to see what I was doing.

 I suspect this will change over time, once being-on-the-bed is a good habit instead of a New Thing.

But for now, he's getting in some extra bonding time, and counting the minutes until the living room furniture is put back WHERE IT BELONGS!

A Command Performance

Jay made an executive decision regarding obedience training, and it was a good one. 

The fact of the matter is, Mojo worships the very ground Jay walks on, and will do anything for him.  Well, anything that he is able to process at this point.

Me?  Not so much.  It's not that he doesn't like me (Mojo is unfailingly kind!), but I'm his second choice, certainly not the object of his affection.

And so, Jay thought it would be wise if I was the one who took Mojo through obedience training.  And we did some pretty good work together last night.

The goals were a reverse u-turn (or as we like to call it: "left"), and a sit and stay.  At first, "sit" was more of an awkward pose between sitting up and lying down, but as you can see in one picture, he kind of nailed it toward the end, even earning him/me two thumbs up from the trainer.  Compared to the chocolate lab who spent most of the evening upside down, or the terrier who preferred eating the training mats more than walking over them, I think we did quite well.  We even pulled off "stay" (most of the time).  "Stay" and "Pause" are kind of the same thing, don't you think?

Anyway, we made it through, although there was no denying that when class was over, he had real pep in his step as he bee-lined it back to Jay for the walk to the van.

But we did have an encouraging finale: when we got to the van, Jay said "go" and Mojo jumped up and in all by himself.  Up to this point, all entry into vehicles begins with a body plant to the ground and ends with Jay carrying him in.

Every day, another layer of mystery is peeling off of this wonderful dog.  We're just getting a kick out of being there when it happens!

Obedience School: He Aces the First Test!

So obedience school started on Wednesday. We're in a class for non-puppies who need to work on the basics, hence the name: "Basic Obedience".

In theory, we'll be learning how to sit, stay, come, and all those things.  But we have a bit of a hitch:  Mojo cannot be swayed by treats.  And positive reinforcement techniques are pretty much rooted in the concept that a dog you can bribe is a dog you can teach.

Hmmmmmm.

So, we either have to find a treat that Mojo finds utterly irresistible, or we may not accomplish a whole lot in class. 

On the plus side, the first session was dedicated to the art of leash walking, and Mojo was like the poster child for the technique.  There was serious envy in the room, on both ends of the leashes. 

We were also pleased to see that he wasn't fazed by the other dogs (and we have some very vocal pooches in the class), nor did he slink around.  He was fine. 

... we just have to figure out how to whet his appetite to learn all the other stuff he's supposed to learn!

Shop But Not Drop!

OK, this wasn't in the plans for today, but we went totally spontaneous on Mojo today and it had a really awesome outcome!

We went to the forest preserve and clocked another 2.4 miles, and this time he encountered people and several dogs and he handled it like a champ.  A stutter in his step, maybe, but he didn't cower, didn't shake ... he kept to heel and stayed tall.  Didn't even tuck his tail between his legs.

Then, on the way home, Jay mentioned the need to go get the proper leash for obedience class (we start Wednesday!), and we realized when we got to PetCo ("where the pets go") that Mojo could go in with us.  And we said: why not?

What a pleasant surprise!  He stuck very close to Jay, and if Jay stood still too long he had a tendency to go down on his belly, but we walked him all over that store and as you can see ... he looks about as bored with shopping as most guys I know.

One more notch on the old collar for Mr. Mojo.

Well Preserved

Things just continue to move toward "normal" here at Casa Mojo ... as you can tell, I haven't been updating on a daily basis.  The milestones are more like mile-pebbles at this point, and we're all for it.  To us, it means that Mojo's trust in us is deepening and that he is starting to relax.

We still see him retreat when he gets overwhelmed -- and we really can't tell what triggers that sometimes -- and he doesn't do a lot of things (yet) that our dogs have always done.  But he tests the waters to see if what we're suggesting is reasonable, and once he's content that no harm will come to him, he's willing to give it a chance.

But I'm reporting in today because the three of us went on an adventure, and while we didn't know what to expect, I personally had a hunch it was going be a good move, because the one kind of training Mojo has clearly had in his past life was leash training.  We have no idea why someone trained him to walk at heel so well when they mucked up every other part of their relationship with him, but he is excellent on a leash.  So, we decided it was time for a trip to the Forest Preserve. 

And, as luck would have it, we happen to live right across the road from a great one.

So, we combined two new experiences in one today:  car riding and public walking.  The car ride was the trickier of the two: he wouldn't get in the car on his own, but Jay rode in the back with him and he didn't shake or whine or anything.  He was willing to jump out on his own, and then we did almost 2 1/2 miles on the pathways.  He stayed at heel all the time, walked tall, and kept up with us the whole way.  Frankly, he had a blast and so did we. 

We didn't encounter any other animals, wild or otherwise, this time, but we plan to add walks to our regular routine and I think he's going to be a willing participant from here on out.  How much more fun a walk is when you have a dog with you who's good on a leash!

And Wednesday, we all start our 8-week obedience class ... so I imagine there will be many progress posts coming down the line once we get going with that.