The Little Mercenary

Marley has learned "good boy" often means a tiny cookie (milk bone minis or treat bar minis from the pet store).  He's learned it so well that whenever he comes to us (with or without being called) or performs a requested task (off, sit, come, etc.) he plants his little butt and looks up expectantly.  He expects to be "paid" immediately every time he does something we've asked him to do at any point. 

I think sometimes he jumps up at the edge of the couch so he will be told "off" and be paid.  He only gets his reward sometimes.  We can't feed him cookies all day long, no matter how small.  And he needs to learn "good boy" is a reward. 

But, it is funny to see him plant his butt quickly onto the floor and look up so expectantly. 

What does he plant his butt for?  Come (yes, he comes AND sits), Off!, cookie, his dinner, any time he hears "good boy", to get his harness on/off.

He's also learned (pretty much) "want to go ouside?", "go potty", "leave it".  "No mushrooms" is harder than all the rest.

"No mushrooms"?  Yep - we have some kind of small mushrooms that pop up in the lawn.  We think we see one or two here & there, then Marley starts hunting them and there are ten times as many as we thought.  In the fall, we'll try to spread some ammonium sulfate to help discourage/kill the 'shrooms.  We just don't know if they're relatively safe or highly toxic or somewhere in between, so we can't take a chance.  I've pulled many of them out of his mouth.  They're small when they're fully ripe, then they shrivel and darken and get harder and harder for us to see.  Marley hunts them with his nose.  Too bad they're not truffles ... $$$