June 15, 2008

White Dog and Buster had Agility Class by themselves today. As usual, Buster was ignoring his "Down. Stay." commands. Accidentally after he successfully completed a run, I praised him by effusively cheering "Good Girl!" His ears perked up and he came right over for a reward pat. Jesse and Rita, his "mom", noticed Buster's reaction to my praise and decided to experiment. The next time he followed a command, they said, "Good Girl!" Again, Buster got all excited. White Dog helped us to deduce that being in a class of all female dogs has caused Buster to equate "Good Girl" with positive recognition because he heard the other dogs receive it so often...yet only he was called "Good Boy." Poor Buster has merely wanted the same praise White Dog, Daisy, and Poppy get all of the time. "Language is an amazing tool," White Dog proclaims.