Creating a monster

Our dog Bruiser is pretty darn smart.  He knows a lot of words and we are always working on keeping him active and his mind busy.  When we first got him we bell trained him so when he wants to go outside he will ring his bell.  This was very easy for him to master.

To challenge him more I had my Dad build him a "dog brick" and within a few days he had that down to a science.  A "dog brick" is a puzzle type box where you put treats inside and the dog solves the puzzle to get the treats.

 Bruiser also likes to play with his shoe.  We trained him to only play with his shoe and leave others alone.  His favorite thing to do with his shoe is to "rodeo".  He gets the shoe just right and then goes in circles with it and then will change directions.

Our next adventure with Bruiser might just create a monster, he will truly be able to boss me around.  We purchased a couple of Bow Wow Buttons.   Right now we have them programed with "Dog Treat" and "I want to go outside".  He is taking to them pretty well.  Today I have already given him two treats.  Last night Mark and I were talking and all of the sudden we heard "I want to go outside". 

After these buttons are mastered we are going to keep adding them and hopefully  we can teach Bruiser to talk to us.