well its back to square 1!

Some followers of Bugsy's romp through life know he has a 'thing' for geese.
It's not a good 'thing'.
We've worked for years around bodies of water.

First we had to convince him that water was fun


Then we had to work on the idea that swimming was not only doable it's fun!


Then he discovered geese.







And ever since all trips to water are fraught with tension.

But we worked really hard and he became very disciplined, able to ignore ducks and geese and retrieve his Dokken with vigor.




Unfortunately a few weeks ago we went to the lake with a friend and the change in routine and some geese that wouldn't swim away led to his worst, or for him best, chase yet. He went so far out and was clearly not interested in coming back that I had to get the rescue boat after him. Sigh.
Instead of being tired from having swam about 1/2 mile he had a silly grin on his face and continued to play with my friend's dogs.

Two weeks ago I took him to the lake and tried to do some Dokken retrieves and he wasn't that interested but did a few.
Yesterday we had wild goose chase number 2.
He had zero interest in the Dokken and was just looking for geese. When some came around the corner he took off ripping the rope through my hands and that was that.
After swimming about 500 yds one of the boaters heading out asked if I wanted a lift to go get him.
Um yes please, sigh.

We had attracted an audience at this point most of whom were concerned for his safety (I had put his life vest on so I wasn't too worried) and were pleasantly surprised that once he was towed in, he was still wagging his tail and thrilled to meet some new humans.

So its clear that the Dokken's job is over - well for now anyway. I'm going to have to come up with a new plan to retrain his discipline around his beloved or hated geese.
Pray for me, not sure how much more my heart can take!