The results of Deke's first training session

Meet Deke

He's the newest addition to the Messinger family. He had a hard start and was starving when Colorado Animal Control picked him and his 5 brothers up. A rescuer from Moab got them. She said they were so skinny, their hip and rib bones were sticking out. She fed them then set about finding them homes. Deke came to Ben and I.

So now that you know the story, you'll understand when I say that Deke is highly food motivated. We started this morning with cheese. Both of us were at ground level. He was all over me trying to climb me to get at the cheese on the counter. I said "sit" over and over and grabbed his tail. Evey time I wrangled his butt to the floor, he got some cheese. After about 20 pieces, he'd sit when I touched his tail, but the sit didn't last too long. So then I took longer getting the cheese from the counter to his mouth and he only got it if his butt stayed put. He learned to hold the sit while he watched me get the cheese off the counter. Then we switched to peanut butter since the pleasure lasts a long time. Here's the final result.

Here's what he was like when we switched from cheese to peanut better--for comaprison.