Did He Get It?

Copper

So... it's not exactly gorgeous, and definitely not great quality videography but... I was pretty impressed with Copper yesterday during a long distance 'Away' session!

Copper eager to follow instructions Apr 7, 2025

It's been over 2 YEARS since I did any formal 'Away' and 'Come by' work with him, and never from a distance until a couple of days ago when I did 'Come by' with him from a distance ONCE with a similar timeframe for figuring it out...but didn't catch it on camera.

(VERY occasionally, I'll use 'Come by' or 'Away' to get him to untangle his 8' lead while we're walking - like maybe 4x in the past year - but off leash commands in a field are a completely different kettle of fish!)

Anyone unfamiliar with dog training would think, one direction vs the other direction = same thing, but it's NOT in the dog's mind. It's an entirely new scenario when first learning new aspects to something. Even the same command will be treated as brand new if the dog is placed in a new situation where it's never been taught before until the dog has enough experience in a variety of scenarios to be able to transfer concepts across. That's why a young dog will seem like it's completely forgotten the 'sit' command that you taught at home when it gets to even a different room in the house, let alone out and about whether there are distractions or not. They have to learn that sit still means sit here, there, and everywhere.

But Copper figured it out within ONE minute (the timeline of the video is NOT edited in any way (except to add the meal at the end).

And there is no gate back there, he has to push under the fence!

Man, he's quick!

Very happy with this home bred boy!

Love him!