John started teaching Alladin a type of fetching game yesterday using a suction-cup toy throwing star as the target. John was getting frustrated because he wanted Alladin to bring it all the way to him before giving treat and praise, but I reminded him that that’s Step Five, and just picking the toy up in his mouth is somewhere like Step 2, and he should really be glad that Alladin was already at Step 2 after only 5 minutes of this game.
This morning after breakfast, we played again. Alladin now knows this sequence: John throws the star and it sticks to the wall. When the star falls off (either naturally or with some paw-help), Alladin puts his teeth around an end and lifts it with his mouth. Then run over and get the treats. If he moves while the toy is still in his mouth (before dropping the toy), then extra treats!
He is confused when John throws the star and it doesn’t stick. Doesn’t yet know what to do for that scenario. But when it sticks, he pays all kinds of attention.
So, perhaps in the distant future, we will have a new trick for Alladin to knock off the suction cup toy and bring it to John.
What can I say? The movie we rented last night really sucked.