Yay Taenzer!

As I've probably mentioned here before, one of Taenzer's "things" is to pick things up and bring them to me. She's been doing this since she was a puppy, and I always reward her with a treat and make a huge fuss over her, so she's received lots and lots of positive motivation. Now I often ask her to pick up things I drop--gloves, keys--and sometimes I challenge her to pick something unusual up, like a book or an old toothbrush.

Tonight I was getting my nightly Dove dark chocolate Promises--they're just over an inch square and wrapped in foil with little sayings on the inside, like, "Take a moment to appreciate others." I dropped one. As usual, she was in the same room with me, so instead of bending down to pick it up, I asked her to pick it up and give it to me.

And she did! She didn't try to eat it or run off with it or swallow it whole, she picked it up and put it in my hand!

I'm such a proud mom. :) And yes, she was lavishly rewarded. Maybe we'll get to the point where she'll retrieve a hotdog.