My daddy has been working with me to pick up items. First I was bringing items to him because that was what I thought he wanted, but as soon as he stood up and asked me to pick up an item, I got confused and didn’t know what to do. My daddy started to get frustrated and sat down again and let me practice bringing him items.

Since my daddy is smart, he realized that I was starting to learn fetch, so he decided to start teaching me that by naming it since it was what I was doing.

My daddy realized that as long as he had treats, I would bring him the item to get my treat. This is a lot better than in the past when he would throw something and I’d just start playing with it. My daddy was really proud of me because he had been wanting to teach me to fetch for a while now.

After I played fetch my daddy decided to try to have me pick up an item while he was standing. He dropped a sock on the floor and told me to pick it up. I picked it up, but I put it in my box (another trick I learned) and then I took it out, and walked around with it. My daddy said “just wait her out.” After I realized I wasn’t going to get any treats, I decided to take the sock to my daddy and hand it to him. My daddy got so excited and started clicking his clicker. Then I got treats!!

All of this made sense and then after a couple times I got board and wanted to play with the sock. My daddy let me play with it for a minute and then decided to try a different item. He put a lint roller on the floor and I didn’t want to pick that up, so he got my West Paws Bone and I just stared at it. He told me to pick it up a couple times (something he isn’t supposed to do, he should have only said it once) and I realized I needed to pick it up to get a treat. After about a minute I decided to hand it to him and the light bulb went off! That is what my daddy wanted! He put it on the floor again and said “pick it up” and I did!

The next morning he had me show Grandpa what I learned and I did it for him too! Everyone was so proud of me! I know I need more practice, but this is something I can do. At first my daddy wasn’t sure I would do it, but he is seeing the progress now and understanding even more on how I learn.

The next step is for me to pick up household items, instead of just my toys. Then it will be to pick up anything someone points at and says “pick it up”.