i don't want to be hasty ... but ...

I almost hate to jinx it, but I think there might be some progress in the "teach Tip the formal obedience retrieve" front.  I reread the inducive retrieve instructions, and realized I had not been doing it exactly as they said.  so yesterday, I did exactly as the directions said:  put dumbbell in dog's mouth, praise, release, and reward.  Reward was liverwurst.  3 reps of that then breaks for a bit of heeling and try again.  do this 3 times.  By the end, Tip had a look of dawning comprehension  in his eyes, and was no longer trying to force the dumbbell out of his mouth.

Today, we tried again.  Tip started to hold it, and I kept the dumbbell in his mouth for a second or two before having him release it.  and he started to try to hold it.

On top of that, we had a decent session working on sitting at heel position.

Bo was going completely berserk, poor guy!