Well if I told you all of the things that Bailey has enjoyed chewing on in our house, you might say, hasn’t she learned her lesson yet and doesn’t she ever watch him? Well I guess the answer must be yes and no to both questions! Bailey is as much a part of our home as say our cat Ernie. They both get to hang out together in the kitchen and if someone leaves a door open, Bailey ventures to other rooms. Ernie has been with our family for almost eleven years and Bailey,the new kid on the block, loves to pester Ernie. Ernie takes it in stride most of the time. In this picture, he doesn’t seem to care about anything else going on around him. 
So a few things that Bailey has eaten…
- A stretchy footie sock
- Corner of my hearth rug
- My favorite pillow edges, he likes tags and binding edges
- The cushion cover and blanket on the coach in my favorite quiet room
- A big chunk out of my favorite sheets
- Walls, molding, and window casings
- Tags off,well, any he can find
- His favorite stuffies
So you might be asking, what does she do about this behavior
- Takes him to puppy daycare
- Go to dog parks
- Take him on walks
- Lots of attention
And of course….more training
So we took Bailey to basic obedience classes once he turned one years old. He was the ham of the class and loved all of his new friends immediately. He showed off his already learned skills to the amazement of the class:
- Walk without pulling and the standard heal command
- See his dog friends but not insist on playing
- Jump over barriers
- Sit, stand, paw, and down when asked
- Walk by his friends without pulling
He was a STAR student. He was just the picture of obedience until the last day, the day he was to graduate. The last test was to “Come When Called”. The instructor would take the leash of each dog, one by one, and the dog would be allowed to sniff a most favorite treat, the dog owner was to go down one path and then another path then call their dog by name to come and give them the treat. We waited patiently for our turn. It looked easy… every dog ran to their owner… well you guessed it! until it was our turn! I called Bailey, they let go of the leash and well Bailey just pranced off to “smell the roses”. I said to the trainer, see, this is what I have been trying to explain! She said well, that’s a Chow for you. He is very independent! She did however give him a certificate of graduation!! We went home knowing what we had known all along, this wasn’t going to be easy!!
