Number 9    

We finally have a dog.

We have had Ning for 5 years.  As a puppy she was very friendly to all other dogs.  As she grew she became more and more attached to humans for her emotional support.  In fact, whenever  she’d encounter other dogs on a walk she would hide from them under Roger’s feet. We always felt she thought she was human.

As traumatic as relocating her to Costa Rica was she now has finally found her inner dog.  

We take her to the park every day and play ball with her.  We actually take her off the leash and she runs around like crazy.  We have a little tennis ball that we throw and she will retrieve it.

  

So now we finally have a dog, but in creating this dog we didn’t realize she would see all the balls in the park as possible balls she should retrieve.  There are lots of people in the park playing soccer.  She sees people running after balls and off she runs.  It doesn’t matter that they are playing a soccer game, off she runs to join in on the fun.  She usually gets petted by the players.  So how do we train a dog that a ball isn’t always a ball?