It feels counterintuitive to just stand there, waiting for good behaviour. Especially when I WANT Rockwell to DO something and he's not doing the thing that I want. And especially if I am frustrated in what I want to do, such as get home after a walk. It has taken me a long time but I have learned from Rockwell that he is simply not going to do something just because I want him to. And he is not going to do it if I get upset either because any attention is good attention. So there I am standing out in the road, waiting for him to get up so I can praise him for being on his feet. And once he is on his feet, then I run to the house and he runs with me because running is fun. Whew.

Really - you cannot MAKE him get up just because you WANT it. We recreated this series of pix but it is pretty much what happens most mornings.

Flopping down in the shade like a sack of wet noodles. Impossible to move.

I thought I might be able to lure him along with the stick he'd picked up.

He's up and running!

So near and yet so far.