I think that in Nicki's priorities i rank as: #1 food provider, #2 romp-buddy and #3 pillow.
Tonight we could add: #4 towel-boy. As usual, Nicki was pesting wanting to go out around 9 p.m. No sooner had we got ten paces from the door than i felt a ten or sprinkles… By fifty paces it was definitely drizzling.
Nicki wanted to forge on; there was news to be checked out. But at about 200 yards, drizzle turned into a light squall. Fortunately, i was wearing my blue Patagonia and cowboy hat and so was kept pretty dry. Cowboy hats are like umbrellas.
Although Nicki had nothing but his shiny fur, he wanted to forge on which we did. There is a lesson in politics here. When walking off leash, Nicki always checks backward to see that i am coming… or rather what i am preferencing -- because in the dog wolf world alphas lead from behind. At the same time, i'm always checking to see where he would like to go and also where he shouldn't go for one reason or another. We've reached a good level of trust here.
I could see from behind that Nicki was getting dogged, so when he next looked back, i spun around and he was all too happy to "lead" the way back.
Once home, i put my hat and coat away and sat down on a chair with a towel. Nicki sat before me. I held the towel up and he raised his body so i could dry him. I dried his head and then motioned for him to get closer, which he did so i could dry the rest of him off.
I never trained him to do this. The first time i took a towel to him he was afraid it was going to be something bad. It wasn't and certainly by the third time, if not the second, he had figured out on his own that toweling was a good thing.
I've never trained him in walking either. He seems to have figured out that if he checks-back he gets more off leash time than otherwise, and that if i do leash him its for some non-punishment reason, and that for some unreasonable reason he can expect a lot of human barking if he eats certain things.
It's time for #3.
