Hello Aidan. Do you have any suggestions for games/exercise for Elsa? She has never retrieved properly and although I know it can be taught I feel like I have enough on my plate as the moment. This is really unfortunate in my mind; retrieval is great exercise for a dog. I can play tug of war, but only for so long. You've mentioned nose work and training before but I'm looking for something more strenuous.

I thought I had a great breakthrough when I put her on a 75 foot line and threw a ball for her... she only brought it back sometimes. Just recently I had the great idea to take this same idea out on the street in front of my house. Worked great once, but now smelling things is more interesting to her. Booo.

I also have a weight problem with Elsa. I'm more angry than I can convey through text about the situation but that's not the point; essentially after going to the vet for 2 years a nutritionist decided to tell me that on a scale of 1-9 (1=skeleton 9=jumbo fatty dog) that Elsa is a 9. She changed it to 7 but I'm furious anyways. Regardless of the full story it's put a huge dent in training. I have all day long to train with Elsa, but now it's limited to what and how much I feed her. Keeping her interest without food, or just bland food can be difficult.

Sooo, as the blog about a loose leash outlines the walking part of the problem, I have found myself more limited and restricted with a dog than ever before. And an ugly behavioral problem is making an incredible comeback in Elsa jumping up to get things from counter tops or tables... this problem was going away!! It was one of my only victories!

How can I wear her out and keep her interested?

Thanks,

Chris.