Bus Stop

Bus Stop

Ellen had to work on Thanksgiving, so Dante was all mine.  I got back from a wonderful ride with Kevin and Shari and turned my attention to Dante.  Knowing I wanted to get home to make an apple pie to bring to the feast I was going to, I didn't think I had enough time to make riding worthwhile.  I decided to take him out on a walk.

Immediately upon taking him out of the barn, he looked straight down to the end of the driveway.  That is when I remembered his favorite game, Bus Stop.

Years ago, when I was desensitizing him for traffic, I invented the game of Bus Stop.  I would lead him down the driveway and stand him there.  Whenever a car would come down the street, I would ask him to put his head down and click and treat him for standing quietly. 

It took a bit for him to relax with the game, but soon he understood it.  Each day that we played Bus Stop, we would get closer to the street.  Eventually, we would stand by a huge boulder at the end of the driveway.  Dante learned to love this boulder.  That was his Bus Stop.

The cars would come from the left and from the right.  I would turn his body so that they would approach from the front and from the back.  Each time, he would get him click and treat.  On really productive days, someone would pull their car in the driveway or a really scary vehicle would go by.

Dante is so good with traffic these days, there is no reason to play Bus Stop, but he still loves the game.

On Thanksgiving, as we stood at the end up the driveway, he was holding his head very still with his nose pointed to the ground.  He was begging for a treat by showing me how good could stand with his head down.  That wasn't good enough for me.  He had to wait for a car.  When a car approached, I pointed to the ground, he lowered his head even more and got his click.  Then we would wait for the next car--and there were a lot of them.  Traffic was heavy, and Dante was happy.

He certainly didn't need to play Bus Stop to further his education, but he was so happy to play it.  It was time well spent.