Tuesday

Isis has learned ‘sit’ and ‘down’.

I begin by gently pressing her rump with two fingers of my left hand while holding a treat in my right. I say, “Sit”, very firmly just in case she might begin to recognise the sound. We do this on two evenings for a few minutes. By the third  she has twigged and sits as soon as I touch her.

Now no touch is needed. She sits very promptly when she smells a treat in my hand. There she is wagging away, pink nose twitching, waiting for her reward. She will wait now as I count to fifteen.

When she has mastered sit, I gently pull her front legs forward. Not surprisingly, she growls at me. After three sessions I touch each front leg with  a finger tip and she goes into down position, wagging happily.

She will also sit in the hall and, as long as I am quick about it, allow me to clip her lead to her collar before giving her a treat. This is great progress and pre-empts the frenzied spin which so easily turns into attacking her feet.

Our next lesson will be ‘stay’. I have no idea yet how we’ll do it. I expect that it will be trial and error. It usually is with Isis. She will let me know where I’m going wrong.

Isis came from the Aeza cat and dog rescue and adoption centre in Aljezur, Portugal. For information about adopting an animal from the centre, contact kerry@aeza.org or  www.dogwatchuk.com