We’ll be keeping our GranDog Cody for a few weeks so our son can make moving arrangements. Cody is a big German Shepard mix and not too many rentals accept dogs his size, even though he’s a sweetheart.

In the meantime, I’ve decided to work with Cody on a few things. Right now he’s a wonderful dog; he eats well, is relatively quiet for a big dog, has good manners, and is a happy dog. We can tell that our son has worked with him hours on end to make sure that Cody got the right amount of exercise and training. As big as Cody is, he could be hard to handle if he ever got out of line. But with just a bit of tweaking, Cody would be an even better companion.

My first duty is to get Cody to eat only peanut butter and be so full that he’ll bypass all dog food. I do this by filling his hollow chew bone with creamy peanut butter every morning and every evening, over and over and over. This way he’ll get use to eating as many as eight peanut butter bones a day, every day.  I seriously doubt that he’ll eat any dog food by the time I’m through with him. Don will be so proud.

Another thing I’m working on is getting him to jump up on me. Some people might not think this is a good idea because he weighs well over seventy pounds; he could easily hurt someone if he jumps up on them. But worse he could hit someone in the face with his long toe nails. Then again, he could jump up and down constantly stepping on someone’s toes. But I like it when a dog is eye-to-eye with me.

This is an easy one: All I have to do talk in a real happy, high energy voice and hold a treat real close to my head so he can chomp his teeth near my nose as he reaches for his treat. Besides I like the crunching sounds he makes when he slaps his mouth shut.

Oh yeah, I never trim his nails; this way they’ll stay sharp and can make bigger scratches. Don will be so proud.

Cody is such a sweetheart, he really enjoys having his rump scratched. So much so that he’ll prop his rump in my face every time I’m on the sofa. He does this naturally, I don’t have to do a thing. But I am working on keeping him there longer and longer at a time, maybe as long as fifteen to twenty minutes of constant rump scratching.

Once he gets used to fifteen minutes, then I’ll up the time to twenty minutes. Having a dog’s rump in your face could be annoying to some but I think it’s cute. Don will be proud.

I’ve gotten Cody to stay outside for hours on end. Whereas before he was used to being in the air conditioning and would only stay outside if escorted by a human. My way is to have him be out there all by himself; he can entertain himself without adult supervision. This way he can bark at the horses and goats in the back pasture, or the birds that flyover head, or go ballistic when the barn cat walks by.  He didn’t used to bark this much or this loud but now he’s in the habit of barking at anything that passes by. Don could use a barking dog as a guard; the louder the better. Don will be so proud.

Sure Son, I’ll be happy to take care of Cody any time. Just bring him on over. I was working on feeding him from the table when you came and got him.