5 Seconds and Counting

My dog loves to mark his territory. And when I say 'love' I mean his passion is so ingrained into his being that he could be running on 'E' and still lift that leg in hopes that one microscopic droplet escapes. Damn if any other dog or wildlife will think they are alpha in these here parts!

Because of this deep love of his, I can not go running with him. Talk about annoying. Every couple of feet he'll stop to sniff and mark. Or just when I think we're moving at a good clip I suddenly am thrown back because he decided to turn around and investigate an area we passed minutes ago. This frustration doesn't just reside with me either. Apparently my little girl doesn't enjoy his need to mark -- and that's because she constantly needs to be moving (wonder where she got that trait from). Now since I don't want to completely deprive Ollie of his passion, I devised a system that seems to make everyone happy.

If Ollie appears to be lingering over a particular spot, unsure as to whether he should actually mark it, I begin to countdown "5...4...3...2...1". If I reach '1', he receives the "Ollie COME!" command with a yank on his lead. Luckily Ollie picked up on this system relatively quickly. So now when I begin counting down, I'll get as far as '3' before he does a quick lift and squirt and trots on ahead.

Yes, it's absolutely ridiculous that I have to do this, but it keeps us all sane and in a way keeps Ollie in check too. Of course it also provides me with a good laugh and just increases my insanity factor with the neighbors. YAY!