I've got loads to blog about, but for now Tagpi and I are just going to share some videos with you. Since we live so close to the water my mom and dad have been busy training me to be an urban gun dog. One of the things we've been working on is getting me to have a reliable and unfailing adherence to the "take" and "hold" command. I already knew "take," but "hold" was a new concept to me that took me some time to master, especially since my hoomans would sometimes make me hold things in my mouth that I didn't really want to. Holding a tennis ball in my mouth all day comes naturally, but holding a hot dog and not eating it truly is a true test of character. In the beginning of the video my mom is checking my bite to make sure I'm not being hard-mouthed. Later on we involve Tagpi in my training, who did extremely well! After our test we were both rewarded with a generous helping of hot dog.



Another thing we've been working on is being steady until being sent to retrieve. This was a rule my hoomans never enforced before, but I picked it up very quickly and love the anticipation it builds for the retrieve. Tagpi hasn't quite mastered this part of our urban gun dog training, but I'm sure he'll catch on soon. I've also gotten very good at honoring the retrieve while Tagpi is sent out, but Tagpi doesn't like paying the same courtesy to me. Here's a quick video of me going to my river for training and being steady to ball, throw, and fall:



Maybe after Tagpi and I complete our urban gun dog training he can teach me how to be an earth dog.