Nico zooming down the trails with a piece of birch bark in his mouth. We are still working on the seven principles of Leave No Trace. Thankfully, Nico has been getting good at the "leave it" command and eventually put the bark down. It's just Nico and I working from home now and he's been surprisingly good (knock on wood). Today he spent almost the entire day hanging out by himself in the living room. We have a Wyze webcam (https://amzn.to/3iJgmLa) on his crate which covers half of our living room so I can watch him while in my office area upstairs. The cameras are really inexpensive and have good quality video, motion detection, etc.
A week ago Shelly and I purchased Ruffwear Treat Trader's (https://amzn.to/3fkDIUY) so that we always have treats on hand to reward Nico for good behavior and redirect from bad behavior. We put them on when we get up in the morning and leave them on until we go to bed. They have helped immensely with Nico's training. Now we are able to consistently and instantly reward for desired behavior. They also have a small pouch for poop bags. I'm a big fan of Ruffwear products. I still have harnesses, life jackets, collars, and leashes from Khyber that stood years of use and abuse in all kinds of harsh conditions.
With Shelly back to work at her office this week, Nico is forced to tag along on my work adventures. Today was his first time joining me on a day of stream sampling. We drive 158 miles around the Ausable River watershed to 30 sites to collect water quality data. At most of the sites, he stays in the truck while I get out to do the sampling. He howled and howled every time I got out of the truck for the first half of the day. And then he practically blocked me from getting back in because he would be anxiously awaiting for me to open the door. After a dozen or so times of this, he started learning "back," which is to get in the back of the truck where his bed is. By the end of the day, the howling was much less and when I approached the truck he would either jump into the back on his own or respond to the command. There are a few spots I let him out to pee, the same spots Khyber would get out during the many years he joined me on this routine. Nico will get the hang of it eventually. If you want to support these daily Nico photos and my conservation photography work join my community of supporters below.
