PUKA'S ONGOING TRAINING OF THE HOUSE SITTER

 POST # 503

Every now and again, Puka stops barking for a while, and that should be my cue to find out just what she is up to.  It's been a slow learning process for the house sitter.

If she can get it, she'll most certainly do so.  It, in this case, is anything that is within reach.

This past week, I caught her red handed, red pawed???,  with a variety of items in her mouth.  Socks, shoes, hair brush, scissors, and finally this morning,  my toothbrush.  My solution to trying to stop this behaviour was to close all of the doors that lead into rooms where my possessions are located,  but every now and again, I forget to close the door behind me.  At least when she's involved in this behaviour she's quiet, so it's not all bad.

Puka is careful not to chew up any of my things, and she worked out pretty quickly, that if I want to get them back from her, there will most definitely have to be a treat in exchange.  Sometimes it takes multiple treats, like the day she took my scissors.  The back door was open,  and she bolted out into the yard with them.  I was most concerned that she might injure herself.  The more I tried to get the scissors away from her, the more she ran just out of reach.  Taunting me.  So out came the treats bag, her favourite, dried sardines.  Usually, just shaking the bag is enough to get her to come running.  But not this time.  I guess she decided that if I really wanted to have my scissors back, it was going to take more than just one dried sardine.  I stood on the grass, just in front of her, and dropped one on the ground.  She continued to hold the scissors in her mouth.  A second sardine. Her jaws continued their grip on the scissors. A third sardine. Still no luck. Finally a fourth was placed on the grass in front of her.  The drool which began dripping out of her mouth at the sight of the first sardine, was by now a waterfall splashing on the grass in front of her. She decided that four would be a reasonable reward in exchange, so she dropped the scissors.  I was most relieved to get them back.

After that incident, I thought that I was being very vigilant with closing doors and keeping her away from things, and then just prior to starting to write this post, she came out to the living room with my toothbrush in her mouth. I was pleased to see that she was considerate enough to hold it by the handle.

You guessed it.  I forgot to close the bathroom door yet again, and she was quick to take advantage of the opportunity, and teach the house sitter the rules one more time.  For whatever reason, in Puka's mind, a toothbrush was only worth one dried sardine, so I managed to get it back without too much effort.  

I've got one more week to go here, and I'm going to try my hardest to keep all the doors closed.  I wonder how successful I'll be?

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer