New Toys

Well, I had to go to the feed store today so I picked up some new toys for Louie. They did not have one like I had been using unfortunately. I asked the store owner what dog toy he recommended for mule fetching. Thankfully he's known me a long time so is already clued in that I'm a bit "off". I couldn't decide so picked up three toys. A rope bone, a bone shaped toy covered in tennis ball material, and a rubber "hot dog" (as in dachshunds) toy. This one would be easiest for him to pick up but I didn't know what he would think of the rubber.

We had a big snow storm coming so when I got home I had a lot of chores to do before I could play. When I was done with chores I headed right out to the barn with the new toys. I started with the rubber one. Before presenting it to Louie, I rolled it in the dirt, then washed it and then rolled it around in the grain bit hoping to dull down any weird smell it might have. I tossed it down in front of Louie and he sniffed it, took one tentative bit on it to pick it up, spit it right back out and would have nothing further to do with it. Not even for the best treat in the world was he going to touch that thing. The rope bone had better results. But, he was suspicious now and not pleased with this change in toys. I then got out the Tennis ball bone. He was sort of interested in this one until he picked it up and it squeaked. It was his first experience with a squeaky toy and he dropped it instantly and vacated the area like the world was coming to an end.

So, I spent about 30 minutes desensitizing him to the sound of the squeaker. Louie did get over it and then seemed to kind of like it. And if nothing else it was a good lesson in trusting me. He would not do a full fetch with any of the toys but would pick the two up if dropped in front of him. When I fed Louie that evening, I dropped the rubber toy right in the middle of his hay. When I left the barn he was carefully pawing the hay away from the toy before eating it.