Storm the Introverted Office Dog

Days 19-20 of February's daily training goals. Ironically, our walks were much less structured thanks to the snow. So we practiced our training at the shop.

Thursday, thanks to the snow, we didn't have a lot of visitors to the shop, so Storm got to roam about the store floor as he pleased. He got extra training time, extra play time, and plenty of snow walks. And we got some extra work done around the shop.

Today was our biannual vet visit. Storm is recovering from his 2 shots and blood draw.

Days 14-18 of February's daily training goals. We've still been doing our daily training walks. It might be working ...

Happy Valentine's Day! Days 9-13 of February's daily training goals.

It's been a tough few days for us personally. Last night was the first night in several days that we had done our nighttime walk. But we did try to poke in some training here and there.

Day 10, we did a tiny walk with my spouse with the pure intent of clearing our heads. Storm got some treats, but thankfully with a normally calm Monday night, Storm wasn't tested very much.

Day 11, I sat on the couch and threw tiny pieces of treats throughout the dining room and kitchen and had Storm play "find it", with easy "comes" between treats. He loved it.

Day 12, we did some work around the shop and house doing simple commands.

Day 13, we did our normal nighttime walk. A few people came close-ish and Storm wanted to get upset, but I quickly caught his attention and he ignored them.

Days 7 and 8 of February's daily training goals.

On day 7, I knew our night walk would be cut short, so I tried doing a training walk in our backyard at work. It's the most interesting spot we have so it would be the most difficult. But I love seeing my little dude exploring and sniffing everything and actually being a real free-willed dog, so it was harder for me to keep focused.

Day 8 was business as usua, and we walked by 2 dogs and only minorly lost our s**t. 🎉

Day 5 and 6 of February's daily training goals.

We both start our days pretty slowly. Neither of us are exactly morning folk, but by our evening walk, we're ready to go. Similarly, we were a bit lazy on the 5th dealing with life, but on the 6th, we got back out there with a long walk and even sat "near" another dog as it walked by. (Near = almost half a block)

Day 4 of February's daily training goals.
We've been doing nightly training walks with treats. It's not necessarily more miles or always a longer time period. But he does come home more tired.

Day 3 of February's goal to focus on training. Today, we got into work early and used the empty store to practice longer distance "come" commands... mixed with a little "find it" work since I took several turns before calling him.

Sometimes, I debate not bringing the dog to work. It is easier to move about the shop when I don't have a clingy dog above the store floor. But I often decide to bring him in so that I don't have to drive home and let him out. Instead, I'm forced to take him on walks behind the shop.

I always feel calmer after these walks, especially on busy days when I didn't think I wanted to bring him.

Storm rates this snow day at the shop as a "1 ear up" level of excitement.

Happy Birthday to our old-soul 3 year old! He just wants to peaceful sniff his yard (the backyard of the shop), eat treats, take naps, and get pet by the 5 people he likes the most. And he's got the white goatee to match his cranky old man personality.

It was Storm's first snow day, so of course I documented his whole evening walk.

This is Storm, as I was telling him we had to get up and go to work. Happy .