Now Tajji’s work is re-engaging with the natural world of
dogs. Whenever possible, we let her sniff the “bulletin board” left by other
dogs (and other creatures – we live in a rural area, so she’s also smelling
raccoon, skunk, squirrel, bobcat, coyote, and most likely mountain lion, as
well as the various domestic cats and dogs on the block).
We’re also learning how to play together. Our last few dog,
also a German Shepherd Dogs, had high prey drive. He would run after anything
that moved and when that drive was engaged, would prefer to chase rather than
to receive food treats. Tajji, like all dogs, notices movement, but she is less
captivated by it. She will chase a ball in a field, but we get the feeling the
primary joy is just the freedom to run wherever she likes. At first, she
wouldn’t bring the ball back. I wonder if that wasn’t in her behavioral
repertoire or if it felt too much like work, like having to do what her handler commanded.
We dealt with the issue by bringing lots of balls to the field. She’d run after
one and then play “keep-away;” when she’d begin to slow down, we’d throw a
second ball, she’d chase and keep-away that one while we retrieved the first.
We didn’t force her to obey. The goal
was play, not training. You could almost hear the gears turn in her mind as she
became more willing – of her own free choice – to deliver the ball back to her
monkey when she wanted it thrown again. Now she mostly brings it back as
opposed to never. She has also figured out how to play fetch in the house by
presenting us with one of her stuffed toys while we are at the dinner table.
Since we wouldn’t get up and chase her, she came closer and closer to us. When
one of us could reach the toy where she dropped it, we’d throw it into the
living room, where she’d bound after it with gusto. Now, more often than not,
she will bring the toy to our hands. And she lets us know she’s had enough
simply by not bringing the toy back.
