Last night I got to see Victoria Stilwell perform in Salem; talking about her career, her training methods and demonstrating with adoptable dogs from Willamette Humane Society.
Before the show Victoria came to the shelter to pick out dogs for that evening’s show and got to tour the shelter and meet staff.
Eight shelter dogs got to perform onstage with Victoria. This is Olivia with our wonderful volunteer, Linda. Olivia demonstrated how great pitties can be. Even better than Olivia’s 15 minutes of fame was the fact that she got adopted today.
Victoria reminding everyone that breed specific legislation isn't the answer
Seeing Victoria work with the dogs, reminded me again that I have a very smart dog who would greatly benefit from some attention and training.
I don’t mean our tripod Romeo. Smart isn’t quite the right word for him. And this is all the enrichment he needs to be ready for a long afternoon nap…
Julio, our 5 pound terrier mix, is our problem child. He is entirely too smart and very energetic. He also loves attention and food. So he’s perfect to train to do random things.
This evening I was inspired to work with Julio to see what I could get him to do. I got out the treat bag and waited to see what he would try. We happened to be near his crate and at one point he pawed at the crate door. So we made that his new trick. After less than 10 minutes, he would push the crate door closed at my signal. He’s a smart one.
And guess who is passed out at my feet at the moment. Yep, a happy Julio. I guess we’ll have to work on another trick tomorrow.